Tag: corporate worship

  • God our Father estranged from Trinity

    God our Father estranged from Trinity

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places..

    Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 1:3 ESV
    WE began our series by asking, Are christian pulpits erasing Christ’s Biblical line of DOCTRINE?

    The Trinity and Doctrine of the C.E. Church

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..’

    + FOCUS ON THE TRIUNE GOD the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? 
    OR 
    ++ FOCUS on OUR EXPERIENCE as worshipers?

    I introduced this series on DOCTRINES of the Common Era by quoting scripture from the first letter of the Apostle Peter to the Church.

    Last time I strongly suggested that Scripture has NOT changed.

    We looked at several Scriptures from Before Christ and in New Testaments from the years of our Lord written during the A.D. 1st century.

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

    Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Church a Corinth 1:3-4 ESV

    What changed in C.E. church worshipers?

    ‘SOMETHING CHANGED, but I’m not certain when.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    I listed some facts from the A.D. 1960’s and changes in OUR thinking as a church.

    • The minimum wage was $1.00
    • Farmers made up 8.3% of the U.S. labor force..
    • about 65% of Americans were churchgoers.
    • first commercially produced birth control pill was forbidden by many churches
      • EVEN for married couples (a man and a woman)
    • Christian CHURCHES, pulpits and doctrines PREACHED, TAUGHT and encouraged:

    NO SEX before marriage, Divorce is discouraged and THOU SHALT NOT ABORT a baby living in its mother’s womb under ANY circumstances!


    christianity lite - the marketing of jesus by the church in the Common Era

    Although GOD has NOT changed it seems that worship and OUR Common Era approach to worship may have.


    What changed (in Common Era preaching)?


    Doctrine of God in a Common Era of christianity-lite

    Do you REALLY believe? Is DOCTRINE of the Bible a line in the sand for you? OR has DOCTRINE of the COMMON ERA become a blurred line in the sand of 21st century CE?

    NO Doctrine of the COMMON ERA or any other millennia will stand the test of time without defining GOD truthfully.

    Scripture of the New Testament since the A.D. 1st century Gospel always points to the Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit).

    GOD IS!

    The LORD reveals Himself through His creation, the Holy Scriptures, the HOLY Spirit and IN THE PERSON of His Only Son JESUS CHRIST.

    WE THE COMMON ERA CHURCH drift dangerously with the chaff of every worldly sin upon prevailing cultural winds of these last days.

    “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

    Gospel of Matthew 3:12 LSB

    “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” -

    so what must WE do?


    Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

    Gospel of Matthew 28:19-20 ESV – Commission of the crucified, risen and returning Christ to His Disciples

    The Common Era challenge of Trinity

    people receiving the Holy Spirit descending like a dove

    Holy & unholy ghosts & spirits

    https://www.facebook.com/reel/1452049838875053

    Anyone can preach!

    You can preach in the Holy Spirit and shout out in the Holy Ghost! (Preach it, pastor.)

    – BUT – is the word of the Spirit truly that from Almighty God?

    – OR – is the preacher moved by a different spirit, perhaps a ghost of the past or demon opposed to the angels of the Lord God and Jesus Christ?


    I have witnessed the Holy Spirit for a time with a woman preaching or by a man sharing the cup of communion with the beloved saints. Yet it's mysterious power wandering flocks will follow. Beware if false preachers who also claim power from the pulpit or aisles of cloaked darkness. 
    
    Test the spirits and quantify their truth by the Word and by Scripture. - RH

    For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

    1 John 5:7 King James Version
    JESUS at door with DO NOT KNOCK sign

    ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

    Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 3:20-21 LSB

    ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – Rev. 3:22


    The Apostle John preaches Jesus Christ as ‘the Word in the flesh.’

    YET even from the apocalypse of the risen Word many churches of the Common Era will preach and imagine ONLY those events which draw in the crowds.

    .. I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne…


    In the years of our Lord prior to this Common Era a remnant of pastors
    have preached JESUS in the context of Scriptural exhortation to every believer. For the 'knock at the door' passage of Christ's Revelation is a call of repentance to a lukewarm church.

    ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.

    Revelation 3:19 LSB (the Word to those on the other side of the door)

    Many worshipers lack the Spirit and christians of every era fail to have ears to hear the very breath of the Word.

    Through all the years and recent decades of our Lord, few 21st century christians have a problem with JESUS..

    since by omitting the hard parts WE can preach his gospel with so many variations.


    Our estranged Father in Heaven

    hypocrisy - syncretism, traditionalism, liberalism, and many more

    Common Era christians ESTRANGED from fathers

    What changed (in Common Era preaching)?

    If not our worshipers lifting up with the chaff in the Holy Spirit

    — if not our re-imagining a jesus to our liking —

    THEN certainly our all-too-common era trouble with the Trinity must lie in a single broken relationship: that of Common Era christians with God the Father.

    Revealed Honor to God the Father of Glory

    Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

    ‘You shall rise up before the gray-haired and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.

    From the Book of the Law – Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:32 LSB

    “I kept looking
    Until thrones were set up,

    And the Ancient of Days was seated;

    His clothing was like white snow
    And the hair of His head like pure wool.

    His throne was ablaze with fire,

    Its wheels were a burning fire.

    Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days 7:9 LSB

    a few more facts of Common Era worshipers

    ‘SOMETHING CHANGED, but I’m not certain when.’

    Do YOU know? Can YOU contribute a comment with YOUR opinion?
    • The 1960 Census showed a record proportion married, 67.4 percent, among persons 14 years old and over.
      • In 2022, about 132.3 million or 49.3% of Americans age 15 and over were unmarried, according to the Current Population Survey. [compared to ~33% in 1960]
    • JULY 2023 C.E.
      • Of the 63.2M parents living with their children
        • <18, 76.1% lived with a spouse,
        • 15.1% had no spouse/partner present.
        • The rest [~ ONE in TEN PARENTS] lived with a cohabiting partner.
          • Note: Direct identification of both parents began in 2007, resulting in the ability to identify children living with two unmarried parents.
    Source: Census.gov library

    How do YOU react to God the Father?

    “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

    “.. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

    Gospel of the Apostle Matthew 7:21,11:27b CSB

    “I and the Father are one.”

    Testimony of Jesus from the Gospel of John 10:30 Christian Standard Bible

    Do YOU have a problem with THAT, dearly beloved Common Era christian estranged from GOD our FATHER?

    NEXT: More on this doctrinal challenge of the Common Era… God willing.

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

  • Between Sabbaths – Convocations and Holiness

    Between Sabbaths – Convocations and Holiness

    Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

    Leviticus 23:2 KJV

    Holy Holidays

    We’ve lost something of the holiness of the holidays in the translation. Worldliness seeps steadily into our daily lives and we don’t necessarily relate to what some versions of the Bible call, ‘sacred assemblies,’ or ‘holy feasts.’

    Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

    Leviticus 23:3 KJV

    Do we hear of or even know what “holy convocations” might be?

    Even though raised in the church, I didn’t until I looked it up during my college years. A convocation מִקְרָא is a sacred gathering, a called public meeting for the reading of God’s word.

    Perhaps you’ve noted our digression from holy worship  to a more culturally palatable feast of entertainment at church.

    Priests and religious officials would have taken all sorts of rules (and definitions of work) from Leviticus, which we recognize as the Sabbath Commandment. Yet what many contemporary gatherings may miss or dismiss from Exodus and Deuteronomy is holiness.

    Seasons and celebrations between the sabbaths may be designated as holy convocations; days for feasting — neither a time for fasting, nor ordinary work day.

    The sabbath of the LORD, which Christ points out it is ‘made for man,‘ is, never-the-less, set aside by the LORD for Holiness.

    So what are these convocations? And more importantly, how do their principles apply to us today?

    Note that these seven prescribed seasons of holy rest do not include certain notable minor holiday observances.


    Hanukkah חֲנֻכָּה and Christmas??

    Christmas and Hanukkah both focus on light and God’s faithfulness in helping men (and women) of faith to be restored to holiness.

    The minor celebration of Hanukkah began during the second temple period, about 200 years before Christ and was also known as the feast of dedication.

    The minor convocation of Christmas points to the holiness of God, humbly descending to us as the Son of Man; a baby like all others, yet without sin, like no other man. 

    Jews have recently celebrated eight days of Hanukkah.

    Christians have begun a preparatory season of Advent leading up to the festival of Christmas. 

    Do you feel rested? 

    Has God been a part of your celebrations of this season?

    I mention these holidays blown out of proportion by our sustained worldly emphasis on minor celebrations, because we fail to rest in the Lord.

    Return to the Lord’s rest

    “I hate all your show and pretense—
    the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

    Amos 5:21 NLT

    This, too, is nothing new, as you can see from the rebuke of the Lord through the prophet Amos. His complaint sounds much like that of contemporary unbelievers, when Christians most of all ought to be questioning our own Christmas traditions. 

    God deserves worship שָׁחָה, not occasions of excess and entertainment.

    “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”

    Matthew 2:2

    Religious Convocations

    Without drilling down to the detail of ancient worship to the Lord called for in the Law, let’s briefly examine these other Sabbath rests. I invite you to research these scriptures and celebrations further, since I will only comment on each briefly.

    Most scriptures and quotes in this section from BlueLetterBible.org
    Below are festivals linked to this article from Easton's Bible Dictionary.

    1. The weekly Sabbath
    2. The Passover feast:
    3. Pentecost, or the feast of weeks.
    4. The Ingathering, or feast of Tabernacles 
    5. The seventh new moon or the feast of Trumpets (Num 28:11-15; Num 29:1-6)
    6. The Sabbatical year (Exd 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7)
    7. The year of jubilee (Lev 25:8-16; Lev 27:16-25)

    “The Passover was kept just before the harvest commenced, Pentecost at the conclusion of the corn harvest and before the vintage, the feast of Tabernacles after all the fruits of the ground had been gathered in.

    As previously mentioned, Jews celebrated additional feasts after destruction of the first Temple.

    • The feast of Purim
    • The feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)

    The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 16:1; Lev 16:34; Lev 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). 

    Christians cannot overemphasize God’s requirement of holiness, achieved by atonement for our sins.

    God presented Christ Jesus as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

    Romans 3:25

    The Sacrifice and death of Christ, made possible by the incarnation of God in the flesh of Jesus, exceeds the importance of our holy celebrations.

    Traditions of Sabbath Rests

    Contemporary worshipers may not relate to cultures of the times of these designated rests from the Lord; however, hear the Lord’s purpose in these additional Sabbaths made for man.

    On each of these occasions every male Israelite was commanded “to appear before the Lord” (Deu 27:7; Neh 8:9-12).

    The attendance of women was voluntary. (Luk 2:41; 1Sa 1:7; 1Sa 2:19.)

    The promise that God would protect their homes (Exd 34:23-24) while all the males were absent in Jerusalem at these feasts was always fulfilled.

    “During the whole period between Moses and Christ we never read of an enemy invading the land at the time of the three festivals. The first instance on record is thirty-three years after they had withdrawn from themselves the divine protection by imbruing their hands in the Saviour’s blood, when Cestius, the Roman general, slew fifty of the people of Lydda (Joppa) while all the rest had gone up to the feast of Tabernacles, A.D. 66.

    A few details of worship

    Of the new moon festivals the Lord commands: “this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year ‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.’

    All men worship the Lord and all men have rest for this worship.

    Of the Sabbatical year the Lord commands rest for the field, the vineyard and orchard. 

    Celebration of the year of Jubilee each fiftieth year: “In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors…Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years… 

    ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

    Leviticus 25:23

    “You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy.

    We walk with the Lord: our land, a temporary possession of sojourners in this temporary world where we work. The Lord grants redemption to us, the ability to repurchase what He has rightfully given to us from all that is His. Our worship returns but a portion of His abundance to our Lord.

    The Lord’s laws are unlike our own unbalanced views of righteousness and justice. His ways are higher than our ways. Though the birth of our Redeemer is important, Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection challenge the sinners of this world with consequence for our worldly ways. 

    Are you caught up in the restless rush of the holidays?

    1 Peter 1:

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

    Christmas defines the beginning of the life of God Incarnate, His gift to us: “new birth into a living hope…”

    14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.

    15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

    “Be holy, because I am holy. – 1 Peter 1:15b, Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7

    Christ-mass: ‘because I am holy.’

    Be holy, because I am holy. – This is our promised rest, through a babe in a manger, a sinless Savior born for the Cross.


  • I was in the spirit

    I was in the spirit

    I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. – Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John [1:10]

    We interrupt our series on Psalm 119 for a message about prayer, the Holy Spirit and hearing from God.  God willing we will continue tomorrow, 28 January, in the year of our Lord 2014.

    Life in the Spirit

    8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…

    26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

    Luke 12:12 “… for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

    John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

    IF you attended church on Sunday, good for you; yet consider that not all who attend church are part of Christ’s church. Some are not yet saved (in our mortal timetable) and others will turn back to their hearts of stone forever until Judgment. We must consider the witness of our corporate worship and our prayer in church.

    Lord, I want to thank you and praise you for your salvation: for saving me, for Your own sacrifice for my own sinfulness. I thank you for the Cross of Christ Jesus and the Spirit of your Presence, which does comfort me from time to time (for I do not always listen, as I ought).

    IF I pray the prayer I have just prayed in private, it is my prayer to God – my part of a conversation in the Spirit with the Living God. IF I utter this same prayer in the company of believers (church), it becomes my corporate prayer of witness.

    Is it the same prayer?

    It is the same words, but not the same prayer; for my own life and soul stand before my brothers and sisters in the Lord and also non-believers among us as witness of the sincerity of my words (known only to God) or the motive of my proclaiming loudly in the company of believers the same.

    Personal prayer is an intimate conversation between you and God. Corporate prayer is a public proclamation to God before witnesses.

    Jesus tells a story of two men who went up to the church to pray. One prayed most publicly, as if his prayer thanked God that he was not like those who were not saved. His teachings were that he showed concern for others and for God, but his witness was that his only concern was to be seen at church. Another prayed so humbly he would not even look up to God from the holy place where he worshiped.

    Paul often prays for individuals both individually and corporately as a specific church (a named group of real people with real and specific needs for prayer and supplication). Paul’s corporate prayers have no hint of self-aggrandizement like the Pharisees.  (‘See how I pray as I should and how you likely do not pray?) Paul frequently asks for prayer for himself and his companions, but for the sake of Christ and for the Church. You can read more of Paul’s heart and example by guidance in almost any of his letters to the churches (the epistles). 

    Paul gives further instruction to the church as to corporate worship and corporate prayer. Some of our 21st century worldly ways have accepted as proper that which is non-scriptural and causes controversies unhelpful in building up each church and body of believers. Some christians will stand firmly on the shaky foundation of just a single verse of scripture (or two). I will not do that. Let the Spirit instruct you as to what is right for you and for your particular church.

    Some often heard in church ought to keep silent and others not heard in church ought to be heard from.

    I speak of the gibberish of prayer in tongues without interpretation, prayer for the stranger rather than for the near brother or sister in the Lord, and prayer for proud example of your personal witness (as if evangelizing the faithful in the place of worship). Again, I will leave it to you and the instruction of the Holy Spirit to help you in this (excerpted below).

    Pray for All People

    First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…

    1 Timothy 2:1 alone is worthy of much more of your consideration and that of the worship leaders of our churches.

    8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling…

    11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

    The proper culture of the centuries has been that a man is the head of the woman. Some use this to oppose women preaching and some to oppose women speaking in church or being part of church leadership. My observation is that too many wives are the heads of their christian husbands; some because they insist, but most because their husbands with not step up to bold witness in Christ as we ought. For Jesus said:  “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” [Luke 19:40]

    I, myself, have been guilty of both not speaking when I ought and more often guilty of speaking when I ought not. I have done what I ought not to have done and said what I ought not to have said. (Who is not guilty in these things?) I am poor example to any of one led always by the Spirit, failing in humility to Christ Jesus as our Lord (even IF I lift up my hands as if I am humble unto the Lord). Even now I find I must leave my gift at the altar because of unforgiveness, because I am not humble enough before the Lord to ask a sister for forgiveness seven times seven. [Matthew 5:23-24]

    Yet if I am led by the Spirit to pray or to speak or to sing or to raise hands or to kneel or to exhort or to teach or to preach, I will by the grace of Christ Jesus do what God would have over the will of every man or woman, mostly over my own will in obedience to His.

    • Let us not say, “Thus says the Lord,” when it is not the Lord who has said it.
    • Let us not presume to pray for unknown others as if we are priests and intercessors for the church; as if all do not have the intimacy of the Spirit near at hand and within the body of the Church.
    • And let us not cry out of our own need so much as we plea for it in private and as a church we plead for our beloved brothers and sisters near to us, drawing all nearer to the Lord God by prayer.

    I do not know, but the Spirit knows, what will build you up and what scripture may lift higher your corporate worship of Christ Jesus, our Lord. I leave it between you and the Lord.

    Prophecy and Tongues

    14 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit…

    4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church…

    9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

    13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

    I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. – 1 Cor. 14:15b

    19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

    Therefore, beloved fellow believers and worshipers, let up worship the Lord in holiness. Let us pray and sing and worship corporately as just one stone next to others of the same Temple, singing and praying in thankfulness for the Cornerstone of our faith. Let us build up one another in Christ’s abiding love, faithful to those who will wait upon Him, praying without ceasing, and loving one another in the certain hope of our community of living faith to the witness of all the Lord leads into the church and all who gaze upon Christ’s Temple of His Church from the darkness of this world.

    I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and so I was grieved over our many sins and especially my own. But thanks be to Christ Jesus for His righteousness and for the Holy Spirit of the Living God, Who comforts and guides. He hears our heartfelt prayers.

    Pray also for me, that the Lord would lift me up in the Spirit in loving witness to His way, His truth, and His most holy Life, given for us by His Blood of the Cross.

     

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