The New Generation of Worshipers in the 21St Century: The Congregation Worshiping

By Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

This book is good for all classes of people, both lay men and clergy men. It covers the lifestyle of a believer, and the ordained way that God intended us to worship Him. This book is meant to revive the worship of this generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9781477277393

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune is currently the senior pastor of the Multicultural Family Fellowship Church at South Bend IN U S A. He is the author of several books including The New Generation of Worshipers; The Spirit is the Crown of the Heart; The Acts of the Holy Spirit; When God Calls a Man; The Legacy of the Hero; A miracle at Prairie Avenue; Devotional Journal Living; Imparted Wisdom in Troubled Times, Making a sense of the senseless situation; Today’s Prayers – Praying through the Scriptures; Securing the Never Ending Peace in Times of Trouble; A series of books > Shaping the Society – Culture vs Christianity. You can order now at AuthorHouse 833.262.8899. Or contact me @ stephkyeyu@hotmail. Com. Telephone – 574- 8851014.

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© 2012 Pastor Stephen Kyeyune. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/11/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4520-0202-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7739-3 (e)

This book has been revised and forwarded by a credible theologian for your benefit.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction To Congregation Worshipping

The Glory Of The Tabernacle

The Glory Of Praising And Worshipping

The Glory Of Evangelism

Death Cannot Withhold The Glory

Worshipping At The Altar

The Order Of Worship By The Holy Spirit

The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

The Order Of The Ministries Of The Holy Spirit

Self Discipline And Order In Church Worship Service

The Glory Of Music, Musicians/Musical Instruments

Praising In Psalms And Hymns

Gospel Songs

The Power Behind The Rhythms Of The World

Musical Instruments In The Bible

Is Dancing During The Worshipping Service Biblical?

The Gesture Of Our Physical Bodies During Worshipping

Worshipping God By Giving

The Right Attitude Of Giving/The Manipulation Of The False Teachers

Sharing Testimonies

Giving Our Faith To Others

Sharing Time Together

Politics And Christianity

Solving Conflicts

Solving Conflicts At The Pulpit

The Impact Of Modern Communication/Conflicts In News Media

The Biblical Ways Of Solving Conflicts

Tolerance Of Others

Accountability

The Ordained Sacraments

Baptism

The Lord’s Supper

Honoring Some Days (Christian Holidays)

Christmas Holiday

The Easter Holiday

Sabbath Holy Day

Embracing The Truth Is The Foundation Of Our Spirituality

The Better Covenant

Preparation Of The Body

Repentance

Preparing The Body By Fasting

The Sanctifying Power Of The Word

Growing In The Grace

The Sanctifying Work Of The Holy Spirit

Jesus Is The Standard Of The Love Of God

About The Author

This book is dedicated to my son Derrick Muyanja.

From my Desk

I want to give a brief testimony to my readers so that you may know where my hunger for the truth of the Word of God comes from. I was a firm believer that the Charismatic movement with the massive demonstration of God’s power in miracles and wonders that we witness today is the last sign following the return of our Lord. I suddenly developed an unfathomable disinterest in the circus of the power show after scrutinizing the reputation of some of the preachers (miracle workers). Their lives did not project the transformed lives because their hands were stained with corruption. God started to work on my heart. He revealed to me that the massive demonstration of the power of God characterizing the end times is going to be the massive transformed lives projecting the righteousness of God. There is going to be such a great experiences of the presence of God than never before. This is what is going to usher in the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In September of last year (2006) I visited Uganda. I was disturbed and embarrassed by the entire picture regarding the holiness of the body of Christ. Uganda had just been listed among the countries experiencing revival with sixty percent of the population claiming to be Christians. There were over six million people claiming to be born again Pentecostals with over six hundred privately owned local Churches around the city (Kampala). It is estimated that there are over twenty thousand private born again local Churches all over the country out of which only about one thousand and one hundred are registered under an organized and recognized body. The tale of their emergency was confusingly scintillating, rendering credence to an explosive revival taking place.

Some observers compared the Churches sprouting out in all places to mushrooms which grow on their own without a committed caretaker. The Churches lacked the definite standard, purity in organization and administrative orientation to hold them together. Individual interests took over. There were frictions between different denominations. The leaders within the same ministries, of recent, been afflicted by a potent mix of intrigue and schisms. The squabbles and battle for supremacy amongst different ministries have left the disillusioned followers to be like cows that have come home in the evening and cannot find their kraal.

One of the most mindboggling phenomena in public procurement was the prosperity of the pastors of the independent Churches and their unscrupulous behaviors. Many of them owned a fleet of cars (saloons and SUVs) with personalized-plates pounding our pothole-riddled city. Others lived in mansions and often threw the most luxurious parties and weddings. Indeed many preachers in the independent Churches amassed a fortune from preaching the Word of God; they earned lots with their perversion of the gospel. Like celebrities, the preachers lived luxurious lives and were adored as extraordinary people who did greater works (miracle workers). Their abysmal performances left lingering questions. Some people referred to these mushrooming Churches as personal businesses intended to generate income because of the reputation of some pastors who maliciously extracted money from people. In spite of the Churches sprouting out at a random in all corners of the city, crime and immorality were on increase even among the laities.

Some of us with conservative orthodox beliefs were discontented over the declaration of our country to be experiencing revival. The reason is because we found our deep-seated conservative ideals being flouted by every such appellation. I was in particular inconvenienced by the entire picture. This in essence was not a hallmark of the true revival; it was as if it was stage-managed.

Driven by curiosity, I battled my conscience to admit that what I saw was a true revival. Revival means renewal or great awakening; It is fine with me however way you label it because it is simply a change of name – a rose will still smell as sweet with any other name! This one looked like a rose but did not smell like one. If what I saw was the true meaning of revival, then I had a reason to question the integrity of that word.

While I was immersed in such complexity, too big for my tender minds to figure out, God started to open my spiritual eyes. My youngest son called Derrick Muyanja whisked me outside and in a small tone told me that, God is rising up a new generation of preachers that is going to experience His power than never before. At first I did not take him seriously. I thought that maybe he was repeating what he heard from somebody. But it bothered me that he repeated the same statement every single day for the next weeks.

The phenomenon did not fizzle out even when I returned to U.S.A. I was doing my personal devotions, studding the virtue of obedience, from a radio talk show on which I stumbled rather belatedly, when I got a strong conviction from the teaching of Pastor Ron Hyre. He repeated the same words that Derrick used say: God is rising up a new generation of preachers who are going to experience His power in a unique manner than we have ever experienced before. This time the message was given in its completeness with an addition statement, The basis of their power is going to be rooted in the righteousness of God resulting from their obedience to the Word of God.

His message was spot on and prophetic. It was not the first time for me to hear these words but this time they appealed to my conscience in a unique way. The words pierced my heart like a two edged sword. I mean the sword that cuts open for fresh understanding and cut off the old unwanted junk knowledge. I was like a person that has been asleep for a very long time and just woke up. I sipped a glass of water and reflected fretfully. It was like life could not go on in its normality until I knew exactly what to do; it was like a constant debt.

Reminiscing on Derrick’s message, I said to myself that is it; now I know what to do. The fissure within me now seemed to have become a gaping crack. I made an ultimate to recompose myself and to get out of the false teachings that I had been exposed to. The procurement opened for me to refocus. I saw the need to begin the process of unlearning the information that was programed in my head. I started looking at the Scriptures with an open mind. I put aside everything that I had learnt from other preachers and asked the Holy Spirit to teach me afresh. The moment I embraced the truth everything started to make sense to me. I regretted for embracing the traditions of men and accepting to be duped by them for such a long period of time.

The purposes of God for my life were apparently clear to me. Go wanted to use me but He wanted me to die to my pride and ego. The best way to preach a crucified Christ is in a crucified manner. Pride is the main hindrance to the progress of the ministry. C, S. Lewis said that, We are chronologically a culture of arrogant people.

God started working on me in a tremendous manner. He crushed my self-determining will in order to mold me in His likeness. I disowned myself in order to be usable. The handwriting was on the wall that God accepted me because of His righteousness in me but He expected me to manifest His righteousness. He did not expect my works to contradict His imputed righteousness. He expected my works to bring conviction to the lost world.

The experience clearly marked a watershed in my spiritual life. I was greatly humbled but behind humility was a caged fighter no one dared to explore. I gained courage, even dared to venture in no fly zone. I perfected the art of criticizing the projected revivals in my country instead of defending them. I asked God to use me to uproot an axis of corruption and frustration of genuine spiritual revivals. The axis has over the years grown and has sucked in most of the clergymen.

Some preachers made false accusations against me that I was a naïve, excited man trying to make a mark on the calendar by throwing down the gauntlet of battle to my own denomination. They were wrong in their speculations. The reality is that God wanted me to get rid of the religious spirit in order for me to usable. I became morally aggressive because something spiritual was cooking inside me. I desperately wanted to be one of the prophesied preachers of the new generation. The definition of a generation according to some theologians is forty years but according to the Jewish prospective it is until everybody living dies. It was revealed to me that the current generation of the preachers of miracle workers is going to be dehydrated spiritually and God is going to raise a new generation of the faithful ones, not necessarily young in age but with fresh anointment to breathe life into a dead situation.

Everyone needs bravery and naïveté in equal measure to make an impact in this life: bravery to face certain opposition and naïveté to believe in the required change. This reminds me of one of the Old Testament prophet called Amos. Amos was not a learned man; he was a shepherd from a small town. He was not an innovator; he simply reminded people of facts they already knew. The only remarkable thing about Amos was how unremarkable he was. Yet God used Amos to remind His people that religious profession and religious procession are irrelevant and repulsive to Him unless they are accompanied by evidence of His grace.

As 21st century Christians, we need to realize that God is saying the same thing to us. The Church today is consumed with tales of experience yet often denying the truths of biblical doctrine. She has bought into psychology but finds occasion to bow out of theology. She has reduced biblical obligations to personal options. She is preoccupied with growth but has lost sight of the God who makes things grow.

You do not have to follow blindly the misconception of the blind. I have included in this book everything that I know regarding how to be a true worshiper. We talk to God with clean hearts when we are on our knees. Although worshipping is part of praying, worshipping is not a onetime event but a lifestyle; it is our primary communication with God. Everything we do in our daily lives contributes to our worshipping. Worshipping involves our brokenness and our willingness to serve God. We serve God by serving others. God perfected the ways, means and manner of serving.

I believe that this message is prophetic and timely. Many people have been ripped off spiritually. I challenge you to take inventory of your theology. You do not need more theology but application of good theology. Hope by reading this book you will be inspired and motivated to be part of the last generation of worshipers before the return of our Lord. I have written this book while deeply conscious of how futile it is sometimes to seek to dissuade people from strongly-held views, even when they are based on emotions, not reason. I want to caution my readers that it is ok to disagree with me on certain issues but it is not possible to disagree on all issues. Just because you do not agree with me on a couple of issues does not mean throwing away the whole thing. Ask God’s guidance when reading, remembering that the Bible is our principle authority with undisputed impeccability. In case of any disagreement it should be based on the truth of Scriptures rather than doctrinal biasness or the traditions of men. Please write to me on the given address below. God bless.

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

2029 South Michigan Street

South Bend IN 46613 U.S.A.

[e-mail]

This book has been revised and forwarded by a credible theologian for your spiritual benefit.

INTRODUCTION TO

CONGREGATION WORSHIPPING

Worship, proskuneo (pros-koo-neh-oh); Strong’s # 4352: From pros, towards, and kuneo, to kiss. The Hebrew word "shachah translated worship" means to prostrate which means laying down weak, helpless and completely overcome by God’s presence. It means to show reverence, to adore or do homage. It means paying honor, to bow, humbly ask in earnest, do obeisance, or to show reverence. The word worship comes from the word worth. Worship is rendered to what is worth to you or what you consider to be extremely precious, enough to adore.

God is not extremely precious among many other gods but He is the only precious one whom we worship. He demands that we have no any other gods in His presence: —believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me (Isaiah 43:10). God is not saying that we can worship other gods as long as He is the priority. He is saying that there must be no other God in His presence; His presence stretches in infinity.

The biblical view of God makes God to be remote and separated from a non-repented sinner. The biblical view of God proclaims the closeness of the redeemed people to God their Father. The high view of God produces the high fear of God and a higher degree of worshipping. That is when sight becomes spiritual insight. The Bible says that, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10). The Psalmist said that: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise (Psalms 111:10). The fear of God is not just the beginning of wisdom but the end of wisdom and everything in between. The wisdom propagated begins by listening, then believing and doing. The compromising attitude will always erode the blessings of God. The blessings of salvation (benevolences) are being eroded by our disobedience.

True worship begins with the clean and humbled heart in humility. Worship begins by realizing how small man is and how great God is. By realizing how imperfect man is and how perfect God is. The goodness of God is complete (perfect). Holiness is the goodness of God; it is the very character of God. Holiness is the summation of all that He is. The goodness of God is complete (perfect). God perfects us in Christ in order for us to be credible worshippers. To be intimate with Jesus is to be one (complete) with God. To worship is to be intimate with God. True worship acknowledges man’s position and prestige among all creations. Man is not insignificant among God’s creations because he was created in the image of God. Man’s lost glory and destiny can be regained through Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:22).

True worship involves the clean conscience and the surrendered will to God. The ones who have discovered the goodness of the will of God can confess that, Not my will, but thine be done. They can confess that, For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. God’s will is that all might repent and be saved. God provided the means of salvation by coming down to dwell in man in order to be intimate with him. Jesus suffered death on behalf of every man who puts his or her faith in Him (Hebrews 2:9).

Every creation has the fingerprints of God revealing His glory. The primary objective of the believers is to display the glory of God by manifesting the character of God. We were created to delight in the glory of God. The believers permanently dwell in the presence of God manifesting His glory. This is the secret place, shelter and our place of refuge; this is where we belong.

The glory belongs to God. Human glory is delusion. Humility is giving up the fight for your own glory and fighting to manifest the glory of God. This is a perpetual surrendering to God. Jesus revealed the glory of God the Father. He made it possible for us to reveal the glory of God. The more man beholds the glory of Jesus the more he desires to become like Him. This is a progressive experience until His return. We shall be like Him when we finally see Him in His fullness.

The Bible says that, But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18).

But we that, when He shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3).

Worshipping is letting God be God even in our lives. We were created to display God’s glory on earth. The biblical worshipping involves the spiritual experience that is not the consequence of natural affection but of the new nature born in a natural man. The affection is a result of the spiritual encounter with the divine. Worshipping is emptying your-self and yielding to the only one that counts and matters.

We get together to worship God. Worshipping involves praising God. It is responding positively to God’s love. We praise Jesus because of what He did (justification), because of what He is doing (sanctification) and because of what He is going to do (glorification).

The Christian’s worship is rendered to God alone. He is the Lord and Savior. The sovereignty of God makes Him not just the highest authority but the only authority. All creations reveal the creative sovereign power of God and our redemption reveals the love, grace and justice of the sovereign creator of the universe. His sovereignty means that there is no greater authority besides God. He alone can create, destroy and redeem. If there is any control and regulation to the authority of God, it must be within God Himself.

God’s sovereignty is regulated by His morality. Everything that God does is within His eternal pureness. For example His anger and jealousness are within the perimeter of His eternal righteousness. Everything that God decrees is considered to be holy. God does not do things to become holy but holiness is His very nature, attribute and essence.

Not only God is holy but He cannot become unholy. Good abhors sin. The Bible says that: You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity— Habakkuk 1:13).

It is not His sovereignty that separates God from all creations but His pureness (holiness). He alone is holy and His holiness is not comparable because there is no other God to compare Him with; there is only one God in His holiness. God’s character is based on His holiness and it never changes. His holiness is perfect (complete). We take on His very nature (spirit) and character (holiness) in order to be perfect.

The term holy is often understood in its contemporary usage rather than its true meaning in the Scriptures. For this reason, our study must begin by reviewing several dimensions of the definition of holiness.

To be holy is to be distinct, separate, in a class by oneself. As R. C. Sproul puts it, "The primary meaning of holy is ‘separate.’ It comes from an ancient word that meant, ‘to cut,’ or ‘to separate.’ Perhaps even more accurate would be the phrase ‘a cut above something.’ When we find a garment or another piece of merchandise that is outstanding, that has a superior excellence, we use the expression that it is ‘a cut above the rest.’

This means that the one who is holy is uniquely holy, with no rivals or competition. He goes on to say that, When the Bible calls God holy it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. To be holy is to be ‘other,’ to be different in a special way. The same basic meaning is used when the word holy is applied to earthly things.

The Scriptures put it this way: Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD? Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11); There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides Thee, Nor is there any rock like our God (1 Samuel 2:2); There is no one like Thee among the gods, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Thine. All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; And they shall glorify Thy name. For Thou art great and doest wondrous deeds; Thou alone art God (Psalms 86:8-10; see also Psalm 99:1-3; Isaiah 40:25; 57:15).

In order to understand the holiness of God we must know the Christian doctrine of the total depravity of man. Total depravity is a phrase or name that is used to summarize what the Bible teaches about the spiritual condition of fallen man. It is the T in the acronym TULIP, which is commonly used to enumerate what are known as the five points of Calvinism or the doctrines of grace. Because the name total depravity can cause people to have wrong ideas about what is meant, some people prefer to use terms like total inability, righteous incapability, radical corruption or even moral inability. Yet what is important is not the name assigned to the doctrine but how accurately the doctrine summarizes what the Bible teaches about the spiritual condition of fallen man. No matter which name you use to refer to total depravity, the fact remains that when properly understood it is an accurate description of what the Bible does teach on this important subject.

The doctrine of total depravity states that man is polluted with sin and intents to sin because of the sinful nature passed on from Adam. All of the human faculties (intellect, will, emotions and flesh) were infected and affected by sin (Genesis 3:6; Isaiah 64:6). Man’s depravity is total in a sense that our rebellion against God is total. Apart from the grace of God there is no delight in the holiness of God, and there is no glad submission to the sovereign authority of God.

John Piper says that, In his total rebellion everything man does is sin. In Romans 14:23 Paul says, Whatever is not from faith is sin. Therefore, if all men are in total rebellion, everything they do is the product of rebellion and cannot be an honor to God, but only part of their sinful rebellion. If a king teaches his subjects how to fight well and then those subjects rebel against their king and use the very skill he taught them to resist him, then even those skills become evil. Thus man does many things which he can only do because he is created in the image of God and which in the service of God could be praised, but in the service of man’s self-justifying rebellion, these very things are sinful.

Man is functioning contrary to God’s original plan. The only hope of man is in the promise of God to send a redeemer (Messiah). The promises of the coming of Messiah in the Old Testament became increasingly specific, until it was evident that Messiah must not only be human but divine (see Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 5:2). As such, He must be holy. And so, when the angel told Mary of the child to be miraculously born of her, a virgin, he said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

What makes God sovereign is the fact that He created everything. There is absolutely no creation that is not accountable to the authority of God the creator. The word sovereign is not used in the King James Version of the Bible. It is used 303 times in the Old Testament of the New International Version, but it is always used in association with the word LORD and is the equivalent of the King James Version’s LORD God. Not a single one of those times is the word sovereign used in the manner that it has come to be used in religion in our day and time.

I believe this is the worst doctrine in the Church today. I know that this is a shocking statement and is near blasphemy to some people, but the way sovereignty is taught today is a real faith killer. The belief that God controls everything that happens to us is one of the devil’s biggest inroads into our lives. If this belief is true, then our actions are irrelevant, and our efforts are meaningless.

God’s sovereignty depends on the truth that the world will end up as He pre-determined. The continuity of this universe depends on the divine will and purpose. God preserves what He created. Yes, God created all things; Yes, God is actively involved with His creations; Yes, God is in control of everything but we are in charge of situations and daily happenings. There is accumulated evil because we are evil by nature. Yet God has a limit on everything; evil will not go on forever unchecked.

If we believe that God wills everything, good or bad, to happen to us, it gives us some temporary relief from confusion and condemnation, but in the long-term, it slanders God, hinders our trust in God, and leads to passiveness. Our peace with God means that after we reconcile with God there is nothing to fear. The peace of God follows us in this world even in times of our trouble.

The traditions of man have unfortunately redefined the sovereignty of God to mean that God is in charge of everything that goes on around us even our rebellions. The dictionary defines sovereign as, 1. Paramount; supreme. 2. Having supreme rank or power. 3. Independent: a sovereign state. 4. Excellent. None of these definitions mean that God is in charge of everything that goes on around us. Whereas nothing can happen without the permission of God, He gives us opportunity to repent. God created us in His image. After we lost it in Adam, He extended to us an opportunity through Jesus Christ to recover the lost glory, with respect to our will.

The sovereignty of God is being contested by Satan. In heaven Satan challenged God’s sovereignty and on earth the straw that broke the Camel’s back in the Garden was the statement the serpent made to Eva that, You shall be like God. The message within the words of Satan was that ‘you will not need God to boss you anymore because you will be at the same level with God.’ Satan’s plan has always been to make God irrelevant to His creation. To Satan, disobedience to God is more than just breaking the rule; it is asserting and marking his authority and territory, respectively.

Satan’s deception is aimed to create rebels against God on earth. Brushing off disobedience as trivial is an invitation to a feud; it is allowing Satan to intrude. That is why there has been a crisis of coveting the authority of the creator among the fallen creations.

One of the devastating consequences of the fall of man is the conflict of sovereignty within man evidently visible in his constant attempts to replace the authority of God with something other than God. Emptiness is that desire of man to live forever (eternally) within his current fallen nature.

God created man in His image (spirit) in order to establish the perfect communication with His creation. We were created to be worshipping creatures. Apparently, in the very nature of a person there is something which, like a magnet, attracts him upwards, into an invisible and perfect sphere. The Holy Scriptures call this something in a person the image and likeness of God, which the Creator included in the foundation of our spiritual being (Gen. 1:27).

A non-regenerated man is dead in his sins. Dead means corpus; he is totally helpless; he cannot know God on his own. The impact of sin disabled his ability to know God. Without the help of God he is doomed forever and ever. Without God opening our spiritual eyes we end up worshipping the gods of our own imaginations.

The nature of God in man is the spirit. The fall of man blunted the human spirit, therefore requiring recreation (regeneration) in order to reactivate his communication with God. Salvation is the supernatural work of God on man to restore him to his original glory. God opens the eyes of man to acknowledge that he is separated from God because of sin and to realize that he has no power over sin without the help of God. A regenerated person sees sin as God sees it. He does not take sin lightly because it is an assault against the holiness of God. Whenever he thinks about his sins he trembles before the holy God. Worshipping begins by realizing that we are sinners.

God’s unconditional love made it possible for man to take on the nature and character of God. God left His heavenly throne and came down to the earth to look for man. God became man in order to restore mankind to his original status (His very image). The divine nature (Spirit) communicates with the human spirit. The eternal God is worshipped through the eternal Spirit. In this case we are not artificial admirers of God but spiritually transformed admirers.

The plan of redemption was not an afterthought that was hatched after the fall of man. God created the universe with redemption in mind. The Bible says that, Jesus is the Lamb of God that was slain from eternity (1 Peter 1:19-20; Revelation 13:8). Christ, being slain from the foundation of the world illustrates not only that He was foreordained to be slain, but also that the efficacy, or the beneficial effects of that death, is the same as if that sacrifice had been made before the creation of the world. Thus, Old Testament saints are washed clean in Christ’s blood the same as we are today. In other words, the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice is not limited by time.

The glory of creation is in redemption. The glory of redemption belongs to the Son because He earned it. Jesus went through the hardship and trails of life experienced by all men and overcame. He lived under the same rules that He expects man to obey. The simplicity of the gospel is that God finds man after which man finds God by submission to His Word (commandments). This is the essence of worshipping God. The Bible says that, And you will seek Me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

To be godly is to be in perfect communion with God. A godly person seeks God. To seek God also expressed the movement of penitence and conversion, a going back to God as He came back to man. Seeking God means to find Jesus Christ by faith and to walk with Him faithfully. The grace is the way to God; to walk with God involves emphatic faith (fruits of good works).

In order to find Jesus we must acknowledge who He is (John 8:24). The search for the promised Messiah by the religious Jews was ineffectual because they lacked the actual knowledge of who He was (John 13:33; 20:15; Luke 24:5). The Father reveals the Son (Jesus) to those who want to know Him (John 10:27-29). We know the Father by knowing the Son. God is the trinity but He reveals Himself to man through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Although we are called to be biblical thinkers, we cannot study God and understand Him. The Bible says that, The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Worshipping God is to know the person of Jesus Christ and His works. Worshipping God is man’s greatest responsibility that goes on forever, even in eternity. It is the romancing of the two (Creator/creation). A worshipper’s commitment to the relationship with God is revealed in His worshipping. Commitment to God means loyalty to Christ. We know God by intimately relating to Jesus Christ. This is the deepest form of knowing. It is relating to Him in a personal way. It is manifesting our transformed life constantly. Our relationship with God depends on our commitment to walk in His righteousness. That is when our daily actions reflect the life of Christ. Again, there can be no commitment without loyalty. Our integrity depends on our loyalty to the King of kings. Commitment is not just compliance but absolute obedience. Compliance involving yielding of emotions and minds but commitment involves the total surrender of the will.

Commitment is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism. Anon wrote that, Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.

A non-committed person is double minded and he makes little progress. Thomas Carlyle made this comment: A person with half volition goes backwards and forwards, but makes no progress on even the smoothest of roads.

Rejecting Jesus Christ is to close oneself off from God (hard-heartened). Our commitment to God depends on our loyalty to Jesus Christ. When you make a commitment to a relationship, you invest your attention and energy in it more profoundly because you now experience ownership of that relationship. You abide by the rules and regulations pertaining to the relationship. We worship God by adhering to the full counsel of the Word of God. Our loyalty to Christ depends on our loyalty to the Scriptures.

We worship Jesus seated at the highest throne of God. Without worshipping God the internal emptiness of man grows into a monster lusting for other material things for the internal fulfillment. The fulfillment comes by worshipping God. James P. Gills writes concerning an empty man that, —He in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in the things present. But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.

Emptiness is therefore defined as utter bitterness and barrenness of the soul that is separated from God. What is Spiritual Emptiness, or the Void? To answer this, we must first find out if it is possible to discover its essence within our being. Since the essence of Being is complete peace and stillness without reflection or any kind of manifestation or projection, could the essence of Being in itself be called Emptiness?

The word ‘emptiness’ means vanity (chasing the wind). Emptiness is the description of the condition of a fallen man without hope. It is life lived without purpose and meaning. The purpose of this universe is found in the transcendent God beyond this world. C. Lewis said that, If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

A fallen man tends to be a creature of habit because he lacks the guidance of the creator. We are given to PESSIMISM or OPTIMISM. We see bad or we see good. We are torn apart regarding what is moral and what is immoral. We do not know what is beyond this life. Life without purpose is without passion; it is nothing. As one writer says that, Nothingness not being nothing, nothingness being emptiness.

This nothingness is the gateway into despair. Whenever you focus on the I in you, you enter the realm of emptiness. The trinity of humanity is I, Me and Myself. The tragedy is that we can hardly understand ourselves; most times we end up in the condition of delusion and illusion. Illusion speaks about that which you see that is a false impression. Delusion has to do with an impression of yourself. We have this false impression about ourselves that all is well. It’s like that proverbial frog in lukewarm water. Eric Hoffer wrote that, Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.

Emptiness is the reality of our spiritual deficiency. We were created in a different nature that we relentlessly try to grasp in vain. Blaise Pascal wrote that, Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.

Man was created to be subordinate to a higher authority beyond self. A subordinate clause is a dependent clause that cannot stand alone. Man is not independent; he cannot stand alone. There is emptiness and lacking within humanity that cannot be fixed till he fits under the right divine authority. The purpose of life is found in seeking God.

Mankind is constantly in search for power and prestige beyond themselves. At every level there is that longing for acceptance and satisfaction that cannot be fulfilled by natural means until connected to an infinite divine authority. From the early time of childhood within humanity there is that inadequacy and longing to depend, serve and to be subordinate to others. Babies need parents. Women need husbands. Men need families. Families need civil authority. Nations need governments. Basically, there is no man that is his own master, and who does as he wills without restraining power beyond him. As we shall see later, even our will does not function absolutely independently.

Whenever I ask people to give me what they consider to be the most important reason why God saved them, I am usually frustrated by the answers they give. Some come up with answers like this: God saved me so that I can to go to heaven. I want to pause and ask, Were you saved just to have a free ride to heaven? The answer is that God did not save you just to earn a free ride to heaven. God saved the world for one major reason: In order for Him to have intimate relationship with us. He wants us to be in His presence because that is where we belong. Worship is what we do in His presence. The gospel is not primarily about receiving the promises of heaven; it is about accepting God’s offer of His Son Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. Sin is what separates us from God. The remission of sin is what unites us to God.

God created us to worship Him. Worshipping begins by being sincere to yourself and in your heart (John 4:23). Worship begins by realizing that you are separated from God by His holiness. When Isaiah saw the glory of God, he cried that: Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:1-10). It is significant to note that Isaiah saw his sinfulness (and his people’s) evidenced by their lips. Isaiah confessed he was a man of unclean lips and that he lived among a people with the same malady. How was Isaiah able to be so focused about his sin that he saw it evidencing itself in his lips? He was convicted that the words of his lips were not worthy to worship God. The Bible says that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. It is the heart that makes the mouth unclean. Other texts in Scripture say a great deal about the tongue and the way sin is evident in our speech (see, for example, many of the Proverbs like 13:3, also Matthew 12:32-37; Romans 3:10-14; James 3:1-12).

A worshipper seeks to come consciously into the presence of God. That is indeed what Isaiah did. His experience suggests a couple of aspects concerning true worshipping which I want to point out to you. Isaiah desired to fellowship with God and he looked up to see God. God is high and holy, far above anything created yet He stoops to be concerned with the affairs of men.

Theology in this century has put far more emphasis on God’s immanence than on his transcendence. Most preachers and teachers emphasize how God is our friend, our personal Savior. We sing songs like He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His own. These things are absolutely true and vitally important to us. Yet sometimes we forget the other end of the spectrum of God’s nature. Maybe we don’t speak as often as we should of His holiness, His sovereignty, His awesome power and His majesty. Reverence to God is impossible without acknowledging His transcendent aspects.

Praising is part of worshipping. Praises are given to God by the angels in heaven and men on earth. Although worshipping involves words, God’s majestic splendor cannot be adequately communicated by mere words. When a mortal man speaks about anything like the eternal glory, he is like a blind man discoursing about the light which he has never seen, and so cannot distinctly speak anything concerning it. Praising is an attempt to describe the indescribable with words which cannot come close to expressing the glory of heaven. Paul wrote these words: Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him (I Corinthians 2:9).

Some people question whether Paul’s words in the above scripture directly refer to heaven: they may not, but from all that we do know, they are certainly true of heaven and of the indescribable nature of that glorious place. Things which eye has not seen: can you imagine it? Men’s eyes have seen abundant treasures upon the earth. Men have seen golden thrones, palaces, exquisite diamonds, rubies, and pearls. Men can conceive of handfuls of diamonds, fields of jewels, and buildings of gold, glittering in the noonday sun, but men cannot imagine the glory of heaven. It is beyond our imagination. Such is the task before us: to speak of the glory of heaven using words that cannot describe it; to try to picture what cannot even be conceived by our natural hearts. We worship in the spiritual realm. Faith involves seeing by our spiritual eyes what is invisible to the physical eyes. The worshipping faith focuses on the promises of God. Faith brings the future glory in the present.

The glory of God is hidden from the human naked eyes. The glory of God in Christ was veiled in human flesh. That is why Philip could not recognize it and asked Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus answered: Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:8-9). God reveals Himself as He really is, although the knowledge brought about by the revelation may not be everything that God is.

I want to say that how we think about God is irrelevant but how He reveals Himself. It is absolutely the spiritual eyes of a redeemed person that can see God and that can worship Him. Jesus Christ told His disciples that: No longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).

John 14:23 - God dwells in us (born again believers), but we shall finally see God with our naked eyes after glorification (after the veil of our corrupt bodies is taken away). The Scriptures speak of God living with and among His people in glorious terms: Behold the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them … and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads (Revelation 21:3; 22:4).

Out intimate relationship with God commenced with the new covenant that was established by God. God is committed to His covenant. We can count on the faithfulness of God. His love for us depends on His loyalty to His covenant. He loved us unconditionally and nothing will hinder Him from delivering what He promised. The covenant is projected in the intimate relationship between the worshiper (man) and the one being worshiped (God). Worshipping is a two-way relationship: God enjoys the display of His glory by a redeemed man in His presence; man gets fulfillment in the presence of God.

Intimacy is about two people becoming one. In this case oneness has to do with the union of God and man experienced in Christ. Intimate relationship is communal in such a manner that it involves all individual members of the body of Christ, sharing in common from each other and functioning as one spiritual body (Church).

A redeemed man adores God and worships Him all times. God is worshiped at all times even in heaven. Even the end time judgment is preceded by worship (Revelation 4&5). The Bible is the story of God pursuing man to bring him back into His presence. The one pursuing is the one being worshiped and the one being pursued is the worshiper. I want to emphasize that worshipping begins by knowing Christ intimately within the heart. This is the closest mankind can come to God. The redeemed man takes on the nature and character of God; this being the testimony of God’s transforming power that changes the inside of the person. True worshipping involves a sincere heart that depends on the grace of God to grow. A mature Christian sees everything from the prospective of God and does everything in accordance to His will. He gives up what the philosophies of the world want him to be and yearn to become what God wants him to be.

I mentioned that God is being worshipped at all times. Whenever you come before God to worship Him you must be aware that there is worship already in progress. Worshipers must always be in a state of consciousness with concern and awareness that there is always worship in progress before the throne of God. I compare it to somebody walking into the sanctuary late when worship is already in progress. The discipline involved is valuable in that it vindicates the integrity and honor of Christ; at the same time showing respect to other members who are worshipping. A worshiper must have the same awareness, attitude and reverence every single time he wants to worship God; he is joining the worship already in progress that demands the same order of worship.

True worshipping is the defensive mechanism against the devil (1 John 2:14). True worshipping is offensive to Satan; it is like pointing your finger into his eyes. Satan enjoys counterfeit worshipping that is not done out of a sincere heart because such worshipping is rendered to him. A sincere heart abides in the Word of God. It means being rooted in the Scriptures - the words of God are at home in you. The Word of God takes root and brings forth fruits of transformation. Jesus instructed His disciples to abide in His Word with a promise to make their hearts His home. True worshipping begins from within the heart and influences the behaviors of a person.

A fallen man that is not redeemed naturally hates to worship God. The condition of the non-believer is that of anxiousness, desperateness and hopeless. The reason is because of self-lacking and emptiness. The world’s religions are man’s concoction aimed at reaching God by their own merits, means and ways. Man has relentlessly tried to reach God on His own but he has failed miserably. I cannot miss to mention one particular religion in India called the Hindu that claims to have three hundred million gods.

Despite multiple religions by men, there is only one way that is ordained by God to win man back to Himself. That way is Jesus Christ. Christianity is about God’s own efforts to win man back to Himself. Of all the world religions, Christianity is the only faith that provides a Savior: God Himself becomes the Savior. I want to make it clear that Christianity is a faith not a religion. As I said religion is man’s own efforts to reach God but Christianity is embracing God’s plan of salvation by investing our faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ on the cross. Religion keeps God at a distant rather than close and intimately.

So far we have seen that God is pursuing man to bring him back to His presence and man is in desperate situation in search of God in his own ways in order to be fulfilled. Man tries in vain all kinds of pleasures of life to get fulfilled. Philip Yancey said that, God’s tantalizing world is too big for us. Unless we acknowledge our limits and subject ourselves to God’s rule, unless we trust the Giver of all gifts, we will end up in despair.

As we shall see later on, man has no ability on his own to get to God till God comes down from heaven and reveals Himself to man. God finds man as opposed to man finding God. The meeting point of the two is where worship begins. The cross of Jesus brings us face to face with God; the cross is the gateway into the presence of God. Our worshipping of God begins with the revelation of God. It is important to note that worship is from eternity; God dictates how He should be worshipped. Worshipping did not begin here on earth and never ends because God has no end; it is from eternity to eternity.

The union between God and man is the new birth and the new beginning of the relationship whereby God is committed to love man and will never stop loving him. Man commits his will to serve God out of his sincerity (conscience). Our conscience is the seat of morality. The morality of a believer is not in contradiction to the righteousness of God. We were created in God’s image. He wrote His laws (in particular the Ten Commandments) in our hearts, so that instinctively we know what is right and wrong. When we break God’s laws, our consciences speak up, accusing us or ‘bearing witness’ against us. A non-believer silences his conscience by self-justification (I had to do it, I had no choice, whatever it may) or by saying, The end justifies the means (‘so what if I lied, I got what I wanted for my family’). But a believer is convicted towards the righteousness of God, however much he tries to silence it, conscience will always strike back.

Worshipping is an act of Conscience. The word conscience comes from two words: ‘con’ meaning with and science meaning knowledge. It literally means with knowledge. Worshipping is yielding with knowledge of Christ. The knowledge you are exposed to determines the worship. A conscience of the believer should be constantly programmed with the Word of God (righteousness of God). Worship begins primarily in the spirit (motivating intents of the heart) and is revealed within the works our bodies. Worshipping is perpetual and progressive. The evidence of the transformed person is in his or her ability not to violate his or her conscience.

The reincarnation of God took place when God put on human flesh to show man how to live. Before the cross, God displayed His righteousness by the Moral Law written on the two tablets of stones which He handed to Moses. Jesus demonstrated the same holiness by His sinless life. The same life is accredited to a believer so that the Law has no demand on him. The cross paid for the wages of the sins of man. The cross and the resurrection made God’s life available to whosoever believes in Jesus. By the grace of God the same life of Jesus is supposed to be on display in the life of a believer perpetually, this being the glory of God.

God is Holy and everything He does manifests His very holiness. The manner we understand God’s holiness is His being sinless. He is called the Lord our righteousness. It means that He is absolutely righteous and He is the source of righteousness: He is straight without crookedness in Him; He is light without darkness in Him. His work is perfect. He is Just because He is righteous; He righteous because He is holy.

The earth and everything in it were created by God for His glory but everything on earth was corrupted and contaminated by the corruption of man (sin). No one on the earth is sinless. It is the absence of sin in God that makes God unique. He is separated from everything and from everybody because He created all things (He is the creator but not one of the creations). We are separated from God by virtue of His incorruptible nature (Spirit) and character (Holiness). The redeemed ones partake of the same nature and character of God.

The grace of God allows a sinful man to relate to the Holy God. By His grace God releases His righteousness to a sinner who does not deserve it after repentance. Righteousness and justification have the same meaning. God justifies not the righteous but the sinner to righteousness. He declares the sinner to be blameless (righteous).

A fallen man must constantly ask God for mercy. We can never out-grow the need for God’s mercy. Ego and self-righteousness drive man to shun the mercies of God. Sin and self-consciousness are the greatest hindrances to worshipping God. There cannot be worshipping unless we abstain from sin and unless we abandon self-centeredness and focus on God. A non-repented heart cannot free itself from the old corrupt ways; it is dominated by guilt conscience. It is the blood of Jesus that washes and cleanses our conscience.

I mentioned that God is sovereign. God’s sovereignty determines what is holy. By His sovereignty He chose His elect. God’s sovereignty declared the same people to be holy. The doctrine of pre-destination is not easy to comprehend with our natural minds. It is better to receive it by faith because it is there in the Scriptures (Romans 9:10-17). The Bible says that, For He says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (Romans 9:15).

The Scriptures give an example of Jacob, the younger one taking on the blessings that were meant for Esau the oldest and firstborn. In the same manner Jesus Christ is called the first fruit from the dead also the first born of God that deserved the blessings of the mercies of God but was instead given the wrath of God. The sovereignty of God chose to love us when we were unlovable: The love of God extended to us had nothing to do with our merits. Worship begins by surrendering our glory and strength to God who loved us unconditionally. The Lord becomes our strength and peace.

God chose to love us for His own glory. When a sinner repents he enters into a son-ship relationship. God is committed to the relationship rather than to our performances. Paul said that we have got the Spirit of adoption into the family of God whereby we cry Abba, Father (Romans 8:15). The Spirit of adoption within us is the Spirit of Christ, this being the new nature born into us.

God is sovereign because He created everything. God said to Jeremiah that He is the potter and we were the clay. He can do with the clay as He wills. We worship God because of who He is (His sovereignty). Although the sovereignty of God is involved in the salvation of man, God does not use His sovereignty to force man to relate to Him. A changed man willingly takes on the character God.

It is hard to give up the control of our lives and surrender to Jesus. Yet, the way we discover true life is to align our purpose for living with God’s will for our lives. God aligns the desires of the transformed man to reflect