Worship?

What do you think of when I say "Worship?"

I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:21-24

The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:11-17

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Romans 12:1

So often we get caught up in bringing God meaningless offerings like the baove passages talk about. What God really wants is holiness. He wants us to lay down our lives for Him. And as we lay down our life on the altar instead of a meaningless offering, He will consume us with fire and make us burn with the Holy Spirit. (Makes us holy! How cool is that, in our true worship He transforms us!)

When I think of worship I dont think of a meeting anymore, I think of Soldiership. Soldiership is the Salvationists worship. It is our response to God. It is our laying down of our lives for service for Him and to Him. It is a promise that we will live for justice, righteousness, holiness and salvation in all of our life forever. That sounds better than a few songs once a week doesnt it?

MTMOEO

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:2-6

Holy Spirit World Winning

I read today that Muslims in the UK are reproducing (babies...) 10 times faster than any other race. Obviously this has impacts on a country. Muslims will get a more powerful voice in parliament, in schools and in the rest of society. From the research I have seen about how Islam spreads throughout Africa, Asia it is mainly by force. It spreads by violence, "Convert or die." or "Renounce this or die." However in Western cultures (like the UK) that are democracised (is that a word?) this approach will not work...

As we are seeing in the UK, Islam is spreading by a rapid birth rate not by violence. It is a genius idea, it has long term goals, but it will work if they keep to it. Eventually if they continue, the Islamic voice will be be one of the most influential in the UK. This reminds me of the China-Tibet issue. China wants Tibet. They came by force, but what they have been doing since is sending other Chineese to to live in Tibet. This way when Tibet gets given the chance to vote for independance they will not win becasue there will be more Chineese Tibetans than ancestrol Tibetans...

So what do we do about all this? How do we convert the Muslim? How do we prevent these faiths from overtaking the ground we as Christians won long ago? Not only that but how do we win? How do we take the message of Jesus to the world in a way they will respond?

Christianitytoday.com printed an article about why muslims convert to Christianity. It was based on survey of 750 muslims from 30 countries. The number 1 reason why muslims converted was by seeing the lifestyle of Christians. They noted the love the Christians had, the holiness that they lived out every day! "The next most important influence was the power of God in answered prayers and healing... Closely related was the finding that some noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus." And there has been many, many muslims recently converted to Jesus becasue of dreams and visions.

What does this mean for us as Christians? It means that if we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus that will see nations and religions turn to Jesus then we need to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. This means holiness. We need to be holy. We can only live a realy holy life by the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to exercise the power and authotiy Jesus has given us to heal the sick and cast out demons. And we can only do that by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And it means we need to be ready to pray. We cannot work this so to speak. These things are all given by Gods grace. We need to rely on ourselves less, and rely on God more.

We need to live a Spirit filled life.

Walk through the door!

A man was sent to prison for breaking the law. The judge loved him though and opened the door after paying the penalty for him. All that was left for the convicted criminal to do was walk through the door. Sadly, stacks of people these days are stuck in their prison cell of sin, death and despair, meanwhile the door is wide open for them to escape.

The door of salvation is open! Hallelujah? Jesus has paid the price for us so that we can be saved. We can not earn, buy or inherit this salvation. It has been done for us. All we need to do is walk through the door. How do you walk through the door? You repent and believe.

It would be silly, stupid, unimaginable for someone to stay in a prison of torture, hellish conditions, pain, shame and suffering when the penalty has been paid and the door is open waiting for you to enter through. It does not make sense to stay in the cell when freedom is just a walk through the door.

So walk through the door. Repent, that is turn from your sinful acts and lifestyle and start following Jesus, and believe that Jesus died and rose again to open up the door to your freedom.

As for those of us who struggle to evangelise, lets remind ourselves that Salvation is not a dirty word, it is life, it is good! So good that we would be silly not to accept. So as you go evangelise in the coming days, weeks and years, remember that Salvation is a bargain! Its free! It is a great deal! It is freedom to those who believe!

And a verse, slightly out of context... "But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out." Acts 5:19 and one in context, "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" Mark 1:15

Outcome of a clean heart

The below are some quotes from Brengles chapter on the outcome of a clean heart from his book, "Heart Talks on Holiness." It tells of some of the changes that take place once you have been sanctified! It makes holiness so appealing, have a read and see what you think!

I. A clean heart filled with the Spirit makes a soul-winner out of the man who receives the
blessing... It makes apostles, prophets, martyrs, missionaries, and fiery-hearted soul-winners. It opens wide and clear the channel of communion between God and the soul, so that His power, the power of the Holy Ghost, works through him who has a clean heart, surely convicting and graciously converting and sanctifying souls.

II. The blessing results in a constancy of spirit. The soul finds its perfect balance in God.
Fickleness of feeling, uncertainty of temper, and waywardness of desire are gone, and the soul is
buoyed up by steadiness and certainty.

III. There is perfect peace. The warring element within is cast out, the fear of backsliding
is gone, self no longer struggles for supremacy, for Jesus has become all and in all, and that word
in Isaiah is fulfilled, 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because
he trusteth in Thee' (Isa. xxvi. 3), and the soul is made possessor of 'the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding' (Phil. iv. 7)

IV. Joy is perfected. There may be sorrow and heaviness on account of manifold
temptations, there may be great trials and perplexities, but the joy of the Lord, which is his
strength, flows and throbs through the heart of him who is sanctified like a great Gulf Stream in an unbroken current.

V. Love is made perfect. To be born of God is to have Divine love planted in the heart.
'Like begets like,' and when we are born of God we are made partakers of His nature. And 'God is
love.' But this love is comparatively feeble in the new convert, and there is much remaining
corruption in the heart to check and hinder, if not to destroy it; but when the heart is cleansed, all conflicting elements are destroyed and cast out, and the heart is filled with patient, humble, holy, flaming love. Love is made perfect. It flames upwards towards God, and spreads abroad toward all men.

VI. The Bible becomes a new book. It becomes self-interpreting. God is in it speaking to
the soul. I do not mean by this that all the types and prophecies are made plain to the unlearned
man, but all that is necessary to salvation he finds and feeds upon in the Bible. He now understands the word of Jesus, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' (Matt. iv. 4).

VIII. Temptation is quickly recognized as such, and is easily overcome through steadfast
faith in Jesus. The holy man takes the shield of faith, and with it quenches all the fiery darts of the enemy.

IX. Divine courage possesses the heart. The sanctified man sings with David, 'I will not
fear: what can man do unto me?', (Ps. cxviii. 6). 'Though an host should encamp against me, my
heart shall not fear' (Ps. xxvii. 3). And with Paul, 'I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me' (Phil. iv. '3)' for 'we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us' (Rom. viii. 37).

X. There is a keener sense than ever before of the weakness of the flesh, the absolute
inability of man to help us, and of our own utter dependence on God for all things. The pure heart sings evermore, 'The Blood, the Blood -- is all my plea.'

XI. The cleansed man makes a covenant with his eyes, and is careful which way and how
he looks. He also remembers the words of Jesus, 'Take heed therefore how ye hear' (Luke viii. 18), and again, 'Take heed what ye hear' (Mark iv. 24). Likewise he bridles his tongue and seasons his words with salt, not with sugar; salt is better than sugar for seasoning, but it is only for seasoning.

Want to know more? Read it in full at this link here.

Chasing Holiness?

Holiness has been a gift sought after by many for a long time, some have recieved it, others have not. Some believe we can get it while here on Earth, others dont. Some say we can get it just before we die, others say you can get it now. Some say its the never ending quest. Whatever the case may be holiness can often seem an uncatchable gift.

My thinking of holiness changed recently and I am glad it has. One of my friends reminded me that Jesus is the gift. When I think about it I see that we access salvation by Gods grace by repenting and believing, but the reason we get salvation is becasue of the cross. The same is with holiness. We access Gods grace by repenting and believing, but the reason we get sanctified is becasue of the cross. Our salvation and sancitification only come about because of Jesus' death and resurrection.

The cross is central for holiness. Jesus is central for holiness. Not only does He teach holiness and live holy, but He also died and rose again and sent the Holy Spirit so that we can receive holiness too! Perhaps we need to rethink chasing the gift of holiness and start realising the significance of the cross, resurrection and life in the Spirit...