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Sermon Twenty Worship (Part Two) But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be his worshippers, for God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”.(john c4:v23-24). What does it mean to have a relationship with the Lord God, what do we know about the Lord God, what image do we conjure up in our mind,when we go to Him in prayer, do we believe that He is sitting upon a great white throne of judgment with a big stick ready to strike us with his wrath if we do something wrong that displeases Him, or do we know or understand the fulness of His love towards us, to many He is the God of love, without any righteousness, to others He is a hard God without compassion! like the Jews of old who believed within their hearts that if you sinned or your mother or father sinned, God’s punishment fell upon you without mercy, like the tower of Selom that fell and killed eighteen people or the blind man who was born with no eyes, those who taught this where not the ordinary people who believe in superstition, those who taught this were the religious leaders of the day, but they where so far away from the truth, and the heart of God. Even when the Lord God told them through the prophets that He desired mercy (loving kindness), and not their sacrifices, they took no notice, and its sad to say that in our society today nothing has changed from the thinking of the pharisee’s, for we may know about his grace, but do we know anything about his nature, other than to call him God, as if we would call the pastor “man” and not by his name, with the Lord God we miss the point and fall short of his mark, we run aroung seeking to serve him, (to serve the Lord God is good if you are called to serve), but Worship is what the Lord desires, for to worship Him is to Love Him, and this becomes clear when you read the first four commandments, or when you read what Christ said to Martha concerning her sister Mary, as she sat at the feet of Jesus in worship, (luke c10: v38-v42), for Mary had chosen the good part, that was to 'worship', both of the sisters loved Jesus, but Martha was more concerned with the feeding of the body, while Mary was more concerned about the feeding of the soul, we know this because of the different reaction of the two sisters at their brother’s tomb, (john c11:v19-v40), Martha said to Christ after she was told by Him, that He was the Resurrection and Life that she would see the Glory of God performed that day, allow by this time her brother Lazarus was rotting in his tomb, remember, she confessed with her mouth moments before that Jesus was the Son of God, Martha believed with her head, but not with her heart, but Mary believed with her heart, for when she came to where Jesus was, she fell at his feet and worshiped him, just as the wise men had done when He was a child, (matt c2:v11). Mary believed with all her heart, that Jesus was the Christ, Martha said all the right words, but Mary did all the right things, and that’s the differents between serving and worshiping, both these sisters loved Jesus, both believed in Him, but it was Mary’s worship of Him that deeply moved Jesus in spirit. I believe that it is safe to say that the Lord calls us first, to learn how to worship Him before we try to serve Him, for there is nothing worst, than the blind leading the blind, you may love the Lord Jesus, and yet never learn to worship Him, missing out on His blessings, this can come about through a number of reasons, 1. you have not died to self, 2. you have not developed a relationship with Christ, 3. you’re to busy selling Him, 4. you have not been taught how to worship, 5. you have not searched for Him with all your heart, 6. He’s not first in your life, no matter what the reason maybe, one thing is sure, that unless you developed your relationship with Him, you are going nowhere for God. To develop a relationship with the Lord God you must go back to the beginning of His word, and realize that the moment you became a christian, you are born-again, that is; you where born a “babe”, not an intellectual, not an expert in the word of God, and you’re not even an adult in the family of God, for according to His word, He only has 'children', for such is the kingdom of God, so humility is the order of the day, no humility no blessing. Let us now start at the beginning of His word, and we find that we where made in their image, after the likeness of the Father, Son and Holy spirit, this means our physical form, not our moral, for man is in moral ruin because of sin, we also know that God is spirit, thus we must worship Him in “spirit and truth”, you may ask the question? how do we know that we were created in His image and likeness of our creator, we find the answer to this within Holy-Writ, (the scriptures) for we find in the book of Genesis, that the Lord God is a living Being who can speak, that He has intellect, He has breath, He has hands, He can walk, He has compassion, He has a heart and emotions, and feelings, a spirit, He has eyes, and a nose, He can smell aroma’s, He has ears and can hear, He is a Genius, He knows grieve and sorrow, and He laughs, (gen c1:v3, c2:v7-v18, c3:v8, c6:v3-v8, c8:v21, c16:v11, john c1, ps59:v8), these are just some of the Attibutes and Properties of the Lord God, He is also a Father, and to His childern he provides, discipines, rebukes, chastises, feeds, clothes, protects, exults, He loves and hates, He can bless or curse, He can kill of make a live, He can destroy or make whole, He can Anoint or disapoint, He can be a friend or an enemy, He can answer or remain silent, we as His childern must understand that He is Holy, Righteous, Just, Meriful, Awesome (omnipotence), All powerful (omnipresence), He is everywhere (omniscience), He knows all things, He is the “eternal one” (Jehovah), He is truth (Immutability), He is the Most High God, (Elyon, the Father). He is the creator (Elohim the son), He is the living God (Eloah the Holy spirit), and we must treat the Almighty with the up-most reverence, and not to take Him or His name in vain or for granted, for the relationship between the Lord God and His children, is one of Holiness and hatred of sin. The greatest property that the Lord God possesses is Love, for “God is Love”, His love is a giving love, for He gives of Himself to those that do not deserve his love, the Greek word for God’s love is “Agape”, it is an action, one of affection and helpfulness, in that we having no hope within ourselves to be reconciled to the Lord God, that He took it upon Himself through His love to act on our behalf, that through Christ Jesus His only begotten Son, we who have received him as our saviour are now acceptable to a Holy and Just God through the atonement at the cross, we have now liberity from sin, but not license to sin. Holiness is the call to His children, be Holy as I am Holy, for Holiness places you within the perfect will of God, and releases the fulness of his grace, (eph c2:v19), the greatest miracle that the Lord God shall ever perform within the life of a child of His, is the transforming of them into the image of Christ Jesus who is the Brightness of the Father’s Glory, (heb c1:v3, rom c8:v29). Grace is the receiving of divine favour, (mercy) the love of God the Father, Son and Holy spirit, bestowed upon guilty man, Where the law of God condemns, His Grace Redeemed, it is when God’s grace (love) is instilled in us that we see ourselves in true light, for it is then that our sinful nature is revealed and the realization of our hopelessness before a Holy and Righteous God is manifested, (isa c6:v5), luke c5:v8). Finding that we have no hope within ourselves, like one drowning in the sea, and crying out in despair, it is by the grace of God that he extends His arm to rescue us in answer to our cries of hopelessness, and placing us upon a rock, that is immovable, (ps 11:v2, ps18:v2), the rock of salvation, it is the Lord God meeting man at his point of hopelessness, and bestowing upon him grace on grace, the unmerited favour of the Lord God and the foundation of our salvation, justification and sancification, (eph c1:v8, c2:v8-v9, rom c3:v25, heb c2:v9, 1pet c1:v2). Grace is the revealing of God’s love upon the human heart (soul), it is the acknowledgment of this love (grace) towards the recipient that is the beginning of the “first step on the way to salvation”, that is, through grace God’s mercy is revealed. 1. The acknowledgment of God’s love, brings the recipient under conviction, (luke c1:v77), their need for salvation. 2. The receiving of God’s love through faith, the acceptance of salvation and repentance, (act c2:38). 3 The consecration of God’s love (grace) in you, is the way of salvation, (act c16:v17), and the exercise of Reverence towards God for the love (grace) bestowed upon you, and the working out of your salvation, (phil c2:v12). Holiness (purity) through God’s (grace), is being transformed into the image of Christ, and is the way of Holiness, (heb c12:v14). It is through grace that the recipient comes under conviction, that leads to repentance and the receiving of salvation, this is termed born-again, a babe in Christ, it is from this period in time when the penitent shall begin their journey on the way of salvation, learning Godliness and developing a relationship with Christ Jesus, being led by the Holy spirit, and learning to walk in the spirit, the Holy spirit which is called the spirit of truth shall endeavour to guide the child of God into the paths of righteousness, but this can only be achieve if you are open to the Holy spirit, He shall never force anyone against their will, this is why so many do not receive a blessing, because they have grieved the Holy spirit, if one has surrendered their life to Christ the Holy spirit shall teach them to pray, read and study the word of God, which shall result in the joy of their salvation, and they shall grow in the way of Holiness. As the penitent recieves the gift of grace from the Lord God they also birth the gift of faith, thus bringing forth justification and sanctifcation leading to salvation, for it is by grace through faith that you are justified, and it is by grace that we are also sanctified, (made Holy through Christ), we are made righteous by faith and sanctified by the truth, (Christ), and this occurs from the moment you go down on your knees, to the time you get back up again, it consist of your repentance from sin, the turning away from all iniquity,(unrighteousness), all that transgresses against the commandments and oracle of the Lord God, and the receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart, (life) as your saviour, obeying His commandments, from this moment you are sealed by the Holy spirit and baptisted by Him. It is only when we are in the perfect will of God, (rom c12:v1-v2), that we are enabled to walk in the way of Holiness. When we enter into the way of salvation from the conviction of sin and repentance through grace, we begin our journey on the way of salvation through faith, it is only through the surrender of “self”, that enables the recipient of grace and faith to travel on the way of Holiness. The way to salvation can only come through Christ Jesus, for it was by the shedding of his Godly Blood, that we find redeemption from sin, and it is this great Grace of the Lord God, which delivers us from His coming wrath, (judgment upon the ungodly and a sinful world), for He is our passover Lamb, and His Atoning Blood is what cleanses us from sin. (john c1:v7, rom c5:v11). This can only come about if we walk in the light of His word, for this is our olbigation before God, and the working out of our salvation, (phil c2:v12-v13, heb c7:v25), Christ Jesus is the only source where the grace of God is to be found, it is upon His righteousness, death and resurrection that the power of God’s Grace is fully displayed unto salvation, and it is this salvation (grace) which is given freely to all who would receive it from the hand of the Lord God, for it is by salvation (grace) that the foundation for our redeemption is laid, and upon which we build our relationship with Christ Jesus, to trust and obey!. It is only through God’s mercy (grace) that we are enabled to come to repentance of sin, (2tim c1:v9, rom c11:v6), for it is the work of the Holy spirit, that brings about conviction of sin and the need of salvation within the recipients heart and the renewing of their mind. It shall be our attitude towards sin, not merely just the forsaking of sin, but to grasp the full meaning of sin and its consequeces, that results in a real change within the life of the recipient, true repentance leads to salvation, the jugdment of self and our actions, (2cor c7:v10, 2thess c2:v10, rev c2:v5, 1 kings c8:v47, matt c3:v2, acts c20:v21), bringing about a sorrow after a Godly manner, so as to produce within us the fruits of repentance and the revealing of God’s will for our life. Through repentance we are sanctified, (made Holy) in the knowlegde of the truth, (john c17:v17), and brought to the recognition of sin and a hatred of it,(rom c3:v20), and the acknowledgment of sin within our own nature in opposition to God’s will, (ps 5; 2cor c7:v9-v10, matt c27:v3, luke c18:v23), and the conviction of sin leading to confession and forgiveness, (pardon), the total cleansing of our sinful nature, and the birth of a new creation (born-again), a willing soul that is not forced into obedience, but obeys from a surrendered life, giving in love, (ps51), presenting your body as a living and Holy sacrice, serparating yourself from the world and all ungodliness. Being transformed by the renewing of your mind, (rom c12:v1-v2) in thought, word and deed, surrender, separation and the renewing of ones mind is not a one of event, it is a daily commitment, a process that can take a life time for some, it is the working out of your salvation, (phil c2:v12), (the child of God must live his life in Holiness), for the way to salvation (grace), and the way of salvation(faith) is the beginning of the journey in the way of Holiness, (isa c35:v8) being transformed to the image of Christ, (heb c12:v14). Hence we are by God’s grace and faith justified and sanctified by the truth, (Christ Jesus), but salvation can only be fulfilled (realized), when the recipient stays within the will of God, to go outside of His will, is to built on sand, (2john v8, john c17:v12), to stay within the perfect will of the Lord is to become an overcomer, remember many shall cry Lord! Lord! but Christ said to them, I do not know you, (matt c7:v22-v24, luke c9:v62). Through the love (grace) of God comes knowledge of Him, that is, to get to know Him and form a relationship with Him, for through knowledge comes Holiness, (prov 3:v6), but the key to the knowledge of the Lord God, is Love, for the love of God always comes first, as in salvation, first came grace (the love of God, divine favour), then faith, (justification), and then being sanctified, (made Holy by Christ), then learning Godliness, (true worship), and then having grown in maturity (becoming perfect in God’s grace), having been transformed into the image of Christ, you walk now in the way of Holiness, having achieved full sanctification in your life, (purity and righteousness through Christ). Love! knowledge and salvation is to live as the Lord God would have us live in Holiness, gaining victory over sin, and becoming an overcomer, through the work of the Holy spirit within the soul (mind) of the recipient, through faith, we are justified, (accepted as righteous), and by the truth (Christ), we are sanctified, (made Holy), thus Holiness only comes to the believer, from their relationship with a Holy God, for we are to become partakers of His divine nature, (2pet c1:v4), and share in his Holiness, (heb c12: v10), the fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy one is understanding, (prov9:v10), to hold the Lord in Awe, or to have any knowledge about Him, can only be found in His Love. Amen!

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