#i firmly believe adaptations don't have to be perfectly faithful to the letter of a book to be good

[theapostlesnigeria]

HIS WORSHIP - DARE TO BELIEVE?

Now that most Churches and Mosques in the world have closed down as a result of Coronavirus (Covid-19), consequently halting all religious activities and ceremonies, does it mean the worship of God has ceased? As God is still being worshipped despite our religious acts of worship been shut down, then it implies that these shutdown religious ceremonies and activities in our Worship Centers do not really constitute the worship of God. God has moved on with His Worship. I pray you move on with Him.

God’s word is as dispensational as it is eternal. In those earliest days of the Church, the Scripture (then the Old Testament) was on animal skin and papyrus, and at the hands of a few privileged ones. The New Testament then, has not been documented and canonized. All its books then were circulated as individual letters, at the hands of a few local Church leaders. So, there was no Scripture or instructional material easily accessible for the body of Christ. Upon all these, the young body of Christ was being severely persecuted. Therefore, the Church was compelled by circumstances to regularly assemble together, mainly to:

1 - Hear the Scripture and know God's word, and be taught and nourished in the secrets of the kingdom. That's why Paul would tell Timothy: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” - 1 Timothy 4:13. God recognizing the needs and circumstances of the time had to anoint some to meet these varying needs. “...gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” - Ephesians 4:11-12. God is interested in building His Son’s body, not anyone’s profile.

2 - Hear the faith building messages from their Leaders. These came in form of letters. Writing in those days was tedious, so these letters came in single copy, making gathering together inevitable. “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” - Col 4:16.

3 - Be encouraged by their local leaders’ exhortations and others’ testimonies of steadfastness and perseverance, in the face of the persecution they were suffering. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice” - 1 Pt 4: 12-13. A careful look at God's call for the Believer to gather together with others will show the main reason for such call - TO ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but LET US ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." - Hebrews 10:24-25.

But now, our times have changed:

A - God had finally documented His Word into a book - the Bible; making it easily understandable and accessible to all, even in our various native languages. This cost Him the blood of some of His servants: Tyndale was burnt at the stakes and Wycliffe’s bones was dug up and burnt 38 years after his burial. Their crime: translating the Bible into native tongues.

B - We now have the benefits of science and technology - Radio, Printing, Computer, Telephone, Television, Internet, etc. These had broken the barriers that made gathering together inevitable in the days of old.

C - God had built up the body of His Son, far beyond the confines of our own creations - denominations. So, the question is: are you among this grown body of Christ? “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again.” - Heb 5: 12-13.

D - In this our dispensation, God had finally redefined His Worship and moved on with it. This He firmly did when He:

1. Changed His Temple from being a physical structure to now being Christ's Believer - 1 Corinthians 3:17-17; Hebrews 3:5-6.

2. Changed His Worship from being the religious Services and Activities taking place in a physical Temple to now being the manifestations of the Fruit of the Spirit by a Believer in his daily interactions with others - John 4:23-24; Romans 7:6.

God now expects us to adapt His worship to the realities of our time just like David did in his own time after considering the changed realities of his own times in comparison with Moses’. “For David had said, Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever, the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service. According to the last instructions of David, the Levites were counted from those twenty years old or more. The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron's descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God...When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel.” 1 Chron 23:25-32; Ezra 3:10. Note: as prescribed by David and not by Moses. See also Nehemiah 12:45-47.

But unfortunately, all of us are shying away from re-classifying the Worship Of God in line with the realities of our Time, even when God has expressly stated He has changed and moved on with the way He is worshipped. "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and HIS WORSHIPERS MUST WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we SERVE IN THE NEW WAY OF THE SPIRIT, and not in the old way of the written code." - John 4:23-24; Romans 7:6. All are bent on maintaining the Old Order for reasons best known to them. But I think it might be because it guaranteed a sure source of - wealth, empire building, fame, livelihood, career, etc. Many will claim the Word of God is Eternal and Unchanging. Therefore we must unwaveringly maintain the Status Quo. Yes they are, but David still changed them to God's approval. God never specifically asked him to change them. But being a Man who understood the times like the Men of Issachar, he perfectly knew what he and Israel should do. "Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do..." 1 Chronicles 12:32. And he led Israel to Reorder the Worship Of God - ordered the building of the Temple in favour of resting the Tarbanacle; created new roles for the Levites as against their rested ones in the Tarbanacle. If we were in David's time, we would still be using the Tarbanacle instead of building the Temple.

In the Eternal City where God is taking the Believer in Jesus Christ to live for eternity, there will be no Temple therein for the worship of God. "I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." - Revelation 21:22-23. If there will be no Temple in this Eternal City, then that means our worship of God there will consist of the life we live therein rather than the performance of any prescribed acts of worship as there will be no Temple for such to take place. Please note that there was a Temple in Heaven to which Moses was asked to build a copy of, and to which Christ entered with His blood to atone for man's sins. "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence." - Hebrews 8:5; 9:24. If there is no Temple in this Eternal City where God and Christ will live eternally with the Believers, then where or what happened to the Temple in Heaven of which Moses built a copy? God did not allow it to be brought into this Eternal City if it was not destroyed. It has served its purpose. There is no place for its associated prescribed acts of worship in this Eternal City as another, The Spirit Worship, has taken over. If the very Temple in Heaven have been done away with, is it His worship He cannot alter? Honestly man is yet to understand and appreciate the awesome and monumental thing God did and achieved in Christ Jesus.

God is gradually moving the Believer to taste the real and ultimate worship of God in Eternity, here on Earth now. This worship in Spirit where we worship God by our lives, the life of manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit in our interactions with others, is simply a copy of the worship of God in the Eternal City. I believe God wants us to have a foretaste of His Heavenly worship right here on Earth to prepare us for the eventual thing. The truth now is that there is a new way of worshipping God, THE WAY OF THE SPIRIT, completely different from the old way: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”- Romans 7:6. This new way of worship makes His worship more individually oriented than collective. Many say that being in the gathering of the saints creates the right worship mood in them. It ushers them into the presence of God. It may be a fact with you. But the truth is: God is everywhere with His Saints. So, you don't have to be in a particular place to be in His presence. He is a spirit. So, you worship Him in spirit (in manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit in your daily interactions with others), not in emotions and rituals; in truth, not in feelings. “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.- John 4:24.

Therefore what does the true worship of God entails in this our dispensation?

My Snapshot: I no longer see and take the religious Rites, Activities and Ceremonies taking place in our Churches and Religious gatherings as the Worship Of God. So I don't waste my time attending them. But attending them is not a sin. I attend them from time to time whenever am invited, but not in the sense of worshiping God, but in an effort to bring Unbelievers to Christ. There is no place I cannot go into if only to bring the Unbeliever to Christ. The truth of me being now the Temple of God is not lost on me as I see my manifestation of the Fruit of the Spirit in my daily interactions with others everywhere and everytime as my Act of Worship of God. God is no longer worshipped in any special and specific location. Neither do I have to go into a specific and particular place to worship Him. The Divine Nature of Christ I manifest everywhere and at all times is my Worship of God. Eventually when I enter that Eternal City, I will be there as I have made up my mind to be there, I will not find the Life-centered worship of God difficult as I have already started it, being what God demands of me now on Earth. Please remember that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob served and worshipped God without a Religion and a Temple. They did it simply by the life they lived everywhere and at all times.

It is interesting to note that all the Jewish religious rites and ceremonies and acts of worship (Judaism) we now consider of no effect, was once expressly ordered and ordained by God Himself. But today, after rejecting God's move in Christ, God left them to move on with His New Way of Worship found in Christ and anchored by the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile they are still steeped in their Old Way of worship, thinking and believing that they are correctly worshipping God. But God has moved on. "Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." - Romans 10:1-4. In the same way, many of us who are still hooked on this Temple-centred worship, unwilling to move on with Him in His Spirit-centred worship, will find out they did not submit to God's righteousness.

GOD BLESS YOU - BRO KINGDOM

INFORMATION SHOTS:

* YOU ARE FREE TO REPRODUCE THIS TRUTH UNDER YOUR NAME AND DISTRIBUTE FOR WE DARE NOT PUT A LOCK OR PRICE TAG ON GOD'S OWN TRUTH - THE GOSPEL - HIS ONLY POWER AND MEANS OF SALVATION TO ALL.

* We can reach the perishing Souls in your village if it is in Northern Nigeria. Just contact us and we would gladly oblige you. All our services are freely rendered. God bless you. 08036529278; 07068299473.