“Worship in the light!”

I worked in Night clubs and Pubs as a bouncer on the doors, where the walls were black, lights flashing and smoke. It is in this type of atmosphere that the truth of the persons identity is clouded. The resistance to sin is reduced and deeds of darkness took place in corners of darkness.

Now to see this in churches, the walls painted black or darkened, the house lights off, with lights flashing and smoke machines is a terrible thing. It is true the church that does this to get people to come and feel comfortable is in error. The sin of profane worship is upon us. Churches like this have not much to offer. The sin of unbelief by having entrainment centric churches where the Gospel is watered down and Jesus is just a footnote. The sin of unbelief in that the Gospel is not the power of God to bring about salvation but trusting in gimmicks is.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (NKJV)

The world is lost and looking for a light. Jesus is the light, but we are meant to be little lights, the Bible that people read. If we are not offering Holiness how can we attract people into the Kingdom of God?

Should we be looking at the atmosphere or gimmicks to get people into the Church or the presence of God?

Light has no shadow! The Bible says, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

One time I had considered a job of being a pastor at a church in Australia and in the process of finding out about the job the person from that church said they were looking for a younger man to attract young people, but he felt I should still apply. I said, “Thank you” and proceeded to not go any further. You may ask the question, “Why?”. The simple fact it’s not about my age, IT ABOUT JESUS in my life and His presence in the church. The average age in our church in China is less than 25 see it’s not about me.

Eli was priest and judge in Israel, divinely chosen to hold these positions. He was a father of two sons Hophni and Phinehas, whom he did not control, and he was at crossed purposes with his role as Judge in Israel. His sons had no respect for God and the sanctuary and its service. They had lost all sense of holiness and significance of service to God.

As Eli before him had done, Samuel appointed his sons Joel, and Abijah; as judges in Beersheba. Neither of his sons walked in his ways and chased after dishonest gain. They took bribes, and perverted justice. There is no ‘dynasty of godliness’; each generation must make its own commitment to God. The elders of Israel came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Questions could be asked, “Did Samuel do something wrong?” “What was the problem with these sons?” “Did the elders of Israel do something wrong too?”

Yes. Firstly, Samuel had broken the accepted tradition by appointing his sons to be judges because judges were selected by God and not by man. They were not to have a succession or dynastic mantle to follow.

Secondly, the elders of Israel were wise and right to say they did not want Joel and Abijah because of the evil those young men did.

Thirdly, Samuel was wrong to overlook his son’s indiscretions.

Finally, it was the elders’ request that were wrong too, even though it had been prophesied many years before that Israel would have a king. It was their motivation that was wrong; “to be like all the nations”. They wanted to be like the world.

David instructed his son, Solomon to follow the architectural and operational plan for the building of the temple (I Chronicles 28:11). In each case, when they followed the pattern, the glory of God was manifested and God’s purposes were fulfilled.

Much of Western Church growth is church migration and methodologies following their own patterns, but often lacking the blueprint of God. The Scriptures present patterns for worship and patterns for prayer. Most germane to our study, patterns can be found, beginning in the Old Testament, for building God’s Kingdom in the earth. The nation of Israel was always moving away from this and the question could be asked today, “Are we also moving away by trying to be like the world?”

The book of Exodus has tremendous spiritual significance as God outlines, through Moses, His system of Law, His Priestly structure and institutional worship for the nation. He established the Israelites as a nation of free people under Him (Exodus 19:3-6). It depicts the return of man to the Garden of Eden, where God will dwell as the Ark and Tabernacle in their midst (Exodus 25-31, 35-40).

In Psalm 99:5 it tells us to exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool, thus alluding to coming to a place where God sits.

Is God sitting in darkness or does He shine with Glory?
Should we bring darkness into His presence? If we do does He not shine on it to remove it from us?
Are we to manifest the darkness or the light?

The Holy Place was a place of worship and duty for the priests. Here they would fill with oil the Candlestick replace the Showbread and burn incense on the altar which represents a further period of formation and submission for and to the journey ahead. The Holy Place is a place of separation and a place of prayer on behalf of the nation (Genesis 1: 9- 13). Candlestick or oil lamp light. LIGHT

The Holy of Holies was God’s dwelling place was in the Old Testament and was filled by His brilliant glory which is BRIGHT LIGHT.

We have a different dispensation with the Holy Spirit living in us. We can enter by a new and living way found in and through Jesus (Hebrews 10:20). We may enter boldly to the throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16) but it must be remembered that we can only do that in a certain humble way as mentioned above.

Read about King Hezekiah found in 2 Chronicles 29:1-36; 30:1-27; 31:1-21. He sets out the order.

We need to follow certain practical Biblical steps of faith, as King Hezekiah did. Putting it simply, it means a renewal of obedience to God, according to the Word of God. If we read the Word of God we will find many instructions, and if we follow them they may bring blessings, but then if we are reading them and God speaks to our heart there will a greater blessing.

2Chronicles 29:1-5 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled twenty-nine years from Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. : 2 Hezekiah obeyed the LORD by doing right, just as his ancestor David had done. : 3 In the first month of the first year of Hezekiah’s rule, he unlocked the doors to the LORD’s temple and had them repaired. :4 Then he called the priests and Levites to the east courtyard of the temple :5 and said: It’s time to purify the temple of the LORD God of our ancestors. You Levites must first go through the ceremony to make yourselves clean, then go into the temple and bring out everything that is unclean and unacceptable to the LORD. (CEV)

Ø Verse 1/ Hezekiah had a position of responsibility to God and the people.
Ø Verse 2/ Hezekiah in obedience to God followed the precepts of his ancestor King David.
Ø Verse 3/ Hezekiah opened and repaired the door of the temple.
Ø Verse 4/ Hezekiah set things in motion by calling the priests to assemble.
Ø Verse 5/ Hezekiah gave two directives.

o Sanctify yourselves
o Remove that which is unclean and unacceptable

We as Christian know that God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1), in Him all that is visible and the invisible, were created (Colossians 1:16-17). If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1John 1:7). We also know that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12) and that we the sons of light and the sons of the day too. We are not of the night, or of darkness (1Thessalonians 5:4-5) and that we have been sent to the world as a light to share about salvation (Acts 13:47) found in Jesus.

People who want to be like the world with tattoos and body piercing to get people to church are falling into the sin of unbelief. Do you notice how many song leaders are getting tattoos on their forearms so when they hold the mic people can see them; drawing attention away from Jesus to the flesh. I am not talking about people who had them before they got saved.
God is looking for people who have a life of worship and churches that reflect that too.
We are children of the light, not the dark!

I know that I may not get invited to many churches but I would rather be on the door of the house of the Lord than anywhere else. Repentance is needed in the House of the Lord.

Dr . Ian Traill

Currency is a widespread acceptance or use of an idea, theory, word, or phrase use to explain an exchange.

Purchase is to buy something using money or its equivalent in an object of worth.

Some find it hard that they are worthy of something. They go as far as say they are unworthy of anything good happening to them.

The devil wants you to think you are worth nothing; thus rejecting the hand of God and His love.

We need to experience the love of God to be saved from hell!

What are you worth?

Relative means not permanently fixed, but having a meaning or value that can only be established in relation to something else and will change according to circumstances or context.

Subjective is based on somebody’s opinions or feelings rather than on facts or evidence.

Standard gauge is the Bible.

What does the Bible say about our worth or value to God?

Under the Law in Exodus 21:28-32, if a servant, slave, man or woman is killed by a farm animal then the penalty for the owner of the animal is the death of an animal, the death of another person or thirty shekels of silver. When we consider the betrayal of Jesus by Judas for thirty shekels of silver and the payment of Jesus blood for our sins we see that mankind dead in sin is worth the death and blood of the man Jesus or at least thirty shekels of silver. ‘At least meaning a slave to sin; is worth thirty shekels of silver’

Jesus fulfils the Law and then under grace we are absolved by the payment of Jesus blood for our sins.

We have a wide scale from thirty shekels of silver to the death of Jesus. But we were bought and you only buy something you place a value on.

The lips of knowledge are a Rare Jewel

Proverbs 20:15 There is gold and a multitude of rubies (Pearls H6434); but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel. (MKJV)

God’s Word says that we are precious, treasured, valued, crowned, exalted, favoured, and a blameless pleasure to God.

Luke 1:77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, (MKJV)

We have been brought to Christ by the Holy Spirit and then with the knowledge of Him we have confessed our sins with faith in Him; therefore our lips have become rare jewels and these jewels are valuable to God.

In Luke1:77 the knowledge of salvation is to know about Jesus and the redemption of our sins he has given us. God gives us His Spirit who gives us wisdom. Then our lips become valuable as soon as we repent and we share about Jesus and our salvation. We can tell other people about Jesus Christ so that they can be saved and go to the heaven. It is nothing we have done to make us important, it is what God does in us that He uses us to touch other people.

Proverbs 8:10-11 Receive my instruction and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11 For wisdom is better than rubies (Pearls H4480, H6434); and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. (MKJV)

In Proverbs 8:10-11 and 20:15, we can see that if we know Jesus our lips from the Hebrew word paw-neen’[1] are probably pearls and very special. . We will see more about pearls in the last chapter of this book.

Makeup

Some girls put on lots of makeup and red lipstick because they want the boys to look at their lips. They want to tell boys, they are interested by having bright lips, which makes the boys look, that is the way in the world. When you are in Christ your lips will speak of Jesus. They become very special; they are jewels because you know Jesus Christ. God wants nothing but to bless you and for you to bless others with the wisdom of knowing Christ. When you share about Jesus you look more handsome and beautiful (Isaiah 53). People will see in us the comeliness and beauty of Jesus; this beauty comes from within our heart, from our innermost being.

Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (MKJV)

In Ephesians 1:17 we are told that we have spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of His salvation Luke 1:77. Add to this Proverbs 20:15 and we can see that our lips are rare jewels, because God has given us His Spirit. He gives us the knowledge that changes us so we can tell others.

Coal is from the ground, it is cold and you can handle it, but within it is potential heat, which comes from its stored energy. Put a flame to it with some wind, and you will get a fire. It is too hot to hold. When you have the Spirit of God in you, you start to burn. It is after your burn, you become changed. When we first became Christians, maybe inside of us there was a little fire, and when we read the Word of God, God blows in our hearts, and a fire starts as the wind of Holy Spirit blows and intensifies.

You will look different; different from other people in the world. I do not know how many times people have said to me: “Why are you so different?” I say, “Because I am a foreigner?” They say “No, but you are so different to other foreigners we know.” I say, “Oh, maybe I am old because I have white hair.” They replied, “No, that’s not it.” I know what they want to hear, but perhaps they do not know what they are seeking. To answer the question, “Why you are so different?” I say, (tongue in cheek), “Because I am young and handsome.” They say, “No you’re not! So what is it?”  The answer they are looking for, even though they don’t realize it is, “I love Jesus, and I fell in love with Him”.

I have a question: “When we fell in love does that makes us valuable to your partner?” “Yes” Jesus loves us and we love Him. He is valuable and our lips that speak of Him are valuable too, because these are the lips that tell others about Jesus’ salvation. Without someone to tell them, people cannot come to Him (Revelation 3:18).

Hebrews 13:15 By Him, then, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, confessing His name. (MKJV)

The knowledge of Jesus fills our hearts. If you ask people about the emptiness in their hearts, they do not want to admit it, but they know their hearts are empty. You should have the knowledge to make the empty full, through Jesus. God gives us that knowledge to say: “I know what Jesus did to make me complete, I know He lives because he lives in me”.

Do we know that the word we speak can be precious? To be precious, to be valuable, to be important, something with great importance is to share about Jesus to a lost person.

The Revelation

The revelation is that we have been accepted by God, through what His Son did on the Cross.

Acceptance

Accepted is to receive grace, that is, endue with special honour: – make accepted, be highly favoured. Acceptance is “surrender” or “voluntary submission” to act by taking or receiving something offered to you. Acceptance is being loved for who you are and what you could be. It is a two-way agreement with God and man to show appreciation, validation and support.

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved. (MKJV)

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (MKJV)

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

John Newton (1725–1807).

Once we were covered by the filth of our sins like pigs in their mire; and now we are covered by Jesus’ robes of righteousness. His blood soaked sacrifice upon the Cross of Calvary not only covers us but also cleanses internally; removing all sin. It is not our efforts or our self-evaluation that gives us value. Our value is found in the symbiotic relationship we have with the Son of God, the Lord Jesus the Christ who paid for us with His blood. We are sons transposed into the Kingdom of God, justified instantaneously by the faith of Jesus and washed clean. As He shines in us, we shine in Him.

Not only do we get a new spirit, new heart, mind of Christ, the Word of God inscribed on our new heart and the Holy Spirit, which in themselves are tremendous set of changes to bring about our regeneration-cum-renovation, we still get more. We become sons of God transposed into the Kingdom of God, justified instantaneously by the faith of Jesus in us and our faith in Jesus accompanied by our act of repentance.

We are saved by the faith of Jesus

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (KJV)

In Galatians 2:16 it says we are saved by the faith OF Jesus and not by the works of the law. It is Jesus who initiates this free gift of grace on the cross. We now need to take responsibility for our sins by willingly repenting even though our understanding of faith is small, and from this point on our faith in Jesus will help us in life.

In the case Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-10; it was the revelation that Jesus is the Son of God, and the need to repent that set him free. Mark 1:15 urges us to “Repent, and believe the Gospel.” In Luke 13:5 the consequences of not repenting are stressed “But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus commands it in Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’”

He died for me; giving me some value; a currency hard to bear; or is it?

The Christian is accepted by God based on their personal expression of repentance and belief that Jesus came to take away their sins. We have been vindicated and given a new Legal Standing where our sins are not accounted to us anymore. This is all achieved by the Act of Salvation. The warrant of death and sin against us through the fall of man has been absolved and we have been exculpated and exonerated. We have been vindicated, validated, legalized and exonerated by what Jesus has done; therefore we are now sons of God. It is God through His Son who upholds and maintains our position in His Kingdom. We have been exculpated from any effort to win favour from God in regards to our Salvation; we receive this by His grace and love.

We are freed from our fallen state, so does that mean that we no longer have a feeling of insecurity or inferiority? Regrettably the answer is, “Yes”, but it should be a resounding, NO! The Word of God is plain. Galatians 2:20 and Romans 7:24-25 gives us assurance that we are free from guilt and shame.

We are made in God’s image and after His likeness and it is the revelation that we need to accept Jesus as our Saviour that transposes us into the Kingdom of God. We need to accept the gift of salvation that Jesus has given us. God does not have an insecurity complex but He wants us to accept Him as the Saviour and the answer our needs. Acceptance has the values of love, joy, caring, giving, tolerance, strength, serenity and peace outworking from our (regenerated/renovated) spirit to conscious mind. God wants us to accept Him, as He has accepted us.

God is grieved and broken hearted by those who do not accept Him (Genesis 6:5-8, 1Corinthians 2:7, Psalm 69:20). The inverse is true. God is well pleased by the obedient believer. Colossians 1:21-22 “ ²¹ And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities,²² Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father’s] presence.”  (AMP). Colossians 1:14 “In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins” (AMP).

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He has made us accepted in the One having been loved. (MKJV)

To God we are worth everything!

[1] Strong’s, Hebrews and Greek Dictionaries – paw-neen’ H4480, H6434;