Reverent Worship

(The only kind of true worship there is.)

“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiates 5:1-2

THE BENEFIT OF REVERENT WORSHIP: “be more ready to hear” = hearing. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) A person can have ears to hear, and yet not be hearing God’s Word. Reverent worship calls for both regarding and making the response that God’s Word calls for.

THE PERSONAL DISCIPLINE REQUIRED FOR WORSHIP: “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God”, v1. God requires the individual to hold themselves responsible to have Christian conduct, yea, zeal and interest in themselves, to promote the reverent worship of God.

THE VIOLATIONS (VIOLATORS) OF WORSHIP: “…for they consider not that they do evil”, v1. Those who violate the sanctity of worship or fail to involve themselves, don’t see that they have a problem. They consider the “difference” between themselves and what is going on, just to be the hang-up of others. Many fail (care not) to perceive that what may be permissible conduct in secular gatherings, falls way short of the reverence, carefulness, attentiveness and holiness involved in the worship of God in spirit and in truth.

THE OPPONENTS OF WORSHIP: “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God”, v2. The attainment to reverent worship can be completely frustrated by the lack of depth, preparation and/or self-restraint. There needs to be prayer, study, forethought, and discrimination, so as to eliminate ramblings, confusion, error and imprudence. We are to diginify God, rather than just be given over to fitful impulse.

THE ATTAINMENT OF WORSHIP: “…for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth”, v2. The object of worship is to be in communion with God; to walk on holy ground; to partake of spiritual meat; to divest ourselves of all of our preoccupations and assumptions; to come to an open heart and mind to seek and receive what God has to convey.

REVERNT WORSHIP is so fundamental to the faith of Christianity, that we must not allow ourselves to become weak-kneed about it. DON’T let your kids develop habits of sleeping in church. WAKE THEM UP, and keep them awake. Teach them to worship God in church. To be a spiritual dead head in church is to let everything spiritual pass you by.

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The Bondage Of Love

“Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly.” Deuteronomy 7:3-4

Since love binds us to the one(s) we love, it is all important that we only allow ourselves to be bound to those who are right with God. Otherwise, the bond of our physical and emotional love will be a force to pull us away from what is right with God. We will consciously and unconsciously give our loyalty to the one(s) we love, because that is what love is and what love does.

Christ addressed this in Luke 14:26 “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” This “hatred” refers to the necessary pulling back and away from all that will command a loyalty to something other than God and His Word. The first love that is to command the loyalty of our life, is to be our love for God above all else.

It was the bondage of love that compelled Adam to eat the forbidden fruit handed to him by his beloved wife, Eve, even though he knew it was contrary to God’s Word. This love gave him courage to ignore even the penalty of death for doing so.

It was the strength of the bond of love that resulted in Solomon’s heart being turned away from God, to be joined with the false worship of idolatry, in spite of his superior God given wisdom, 1 Kings 11:1-4.

It was due to the loyalty of Sapphira’s love for her husband, Ananias, that she became supportive of his grave spiritual error, see Acts 5:1-9.

Since God, being the author of love, knows the strength of the bond of love, He admonishes His children to make sure they do not yoke themselves together with those who are not right with God: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14) An unbeliever is one who does not agree with God’s Word. “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

The greater the love, the greater the bondage–BE NOT DECEIVED!

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Sin Will Never Be Reformed

Some do not believe in the fact of Satan and sin; in the fact that all are sinners, and that sin and sinners are at enmity with God. They think that everything wrong or bad is just some form of underdevelopment or misunderstanding, that can all be overcome through some form of assistance and development. They understand not that sin will not quit until it has finished with the destruction of sinners, James 1:15.

Thus, there are those who down the accounts found in the Old Testament Bible, where God’s chosen people warred against and destroyed others. They equal this to barbarianism, that these people were not kindred with Christianity. They hold both Israel’s past and present struggles with her enemies against her.

God never used His people, individually or as a nation, to destroy innocent peoples or societies. But rather, in the course of events, as the affairs of nations go, God used Israel’s wars to overthrow the wicked. God used His individuals to overthrow that, which if left and not overthrown, would be for the ruin of souls, as they would exert their godlessness upon all whom they controlled. When God sent the flood in Noah’s day, it was to destroy societies who were fit for nothing except to raise up people in hardness against God, unto their eternal destruction in hell.

Sin will not cease to be sin if it is shown kindness. Rather, sin is at enmity with God and all that is of God. Sin will not stop until it has devoured that which is right and good. See Proverbs 4:14-16, Isaiah 26:10, 1 Peter 5:8.

Sin is the power of Satan, who is the avowed enemy of God, who will never be reformed and who is reserved by God unto eternal destruction in the lake of fire. Sin was the unrelenting enemy of Christ while He was here on Earth. Sin is opposed to everything and everyone that is right with God.

There was nothing but good and good people in the Garden of Eden. But sin did not respect this, nor would it co-exist with it. Rather, Satan and sin worked to overthrow and bring death in Eden.

The first murder committed was not due to any bad circumstances or abuse, but was due to the hatred of sin against that which was of God. In Genesis 4, Cain killed Abel because Abel’s works were righteous and Cain’s were not, 1 John 3:12. The enmity of sin respects no relationship and no union. This is why God warns His people about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Satan will use these relationships to defeat God’s children!

Sin is what’s responsible for all wrongs, abuses, destructions, etc., see Matthew 15:19. There is not way to change the nature or intent of sin. There is only One who can save man from perishing in sin, JESUS CHRIST! The only way to put a stop to sin is to destroy it, and that is what God alone can and will do, to Satan and his angels and all who have not been delivered from sin by the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Letter From A Mother To A Daughter

“My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”…Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl? When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way…remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day…the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I am going through. If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you. And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked. When those days come, don’t feel sad…just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you…my darling daughter.”

SHARING

Law & Grace

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin” Romans 3:20
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24

God’s law convicts the sinner of his guilt, and thus his or her need of salvation by grace. It is not possible to understand the need for grace without the conviction of sin and the condemnation thereof. To just apply the law without the availability of salvation by grace, would leave one hopelessly lost.

Matthew 9:12 – “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” It is only when people realize that they have a problem, does the solution for the problem become meaningful. Romans 5:20 – “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Where the law has not entered, then the offence of sin is not comprehended for conviction unto repentance, and thus the provision of grace is not fully realized.

The Holy Spirit uses the law of God to convict the sinner of his or her sin unto a godly sorrow over sin, because by the law is the knowledge of sin. Only when one is convicted by the Holy Spirit using the law to reveal one’s sin condition and sin, will this godly sorrow be present to work repentance unto salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

BEWARE! of that which claims to champion grace, while denying the law on every turn, saying it has no place since we are under grace. Thus, there is a refusal on the part of some to teach and proclaim the principles of the law as being the true doctrine on sin and righteousness.

Can a person really seek and obtain forgiveness and salvation if they are not convicted by the law of the knowledge of sin? Can a person really understand grace without first realizing what grace is the remedy for? Will grace abound where there is no understanding or knowledge of sin abounding? To preach grace without preaching the law is to omit what will bring the sinner to real repentance unto salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can realize no more of grace than we realize our sin condition.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7

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