Salt & Light Blog

A Call to Worship in Spirit and in Truth

1/9/2017

In John 4:23-24 Jesus said,
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
To worship God wholly in spirit and in truth means much more than singing a few songs during the first fifteen minutes of a church service. It goes beyond listening to a teacher speak about the Bible. It is a lifestyle, being a hearer and a doer, offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, and pursuing the Kingdom of God and His righteousness above all else.
Romans 12:1-3 tells us,
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
And James 1:19-22 reads,
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Read Joel 2 12-17
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
    gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.
Between the vestibule and the altar
    let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
    and make not your heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

Believer, are you living a lifestyle which bears the fruit of repentance? Are you contending for the faith by upholding truth, living pure, and fasting and praying so that you can walk in the power and authority given to you by Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit? It is time to fast and pray. It is time to contend for the faith! It is time to do the will of the Father through the revelation of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Joel 2:28-32 reads,
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Believer, are you a man, woman, old, young, servant, son or daughter? Then the LORD wants to pour out His Holy Spirit on you. He is calling you to prophesy, dream, and see visions. He is calling you to embrace the power and authority given to you by Jesus Christ to wake up and let the Holy Spirit work through you by prophecy, dreams, and visions. He wants us to heal infirmities by His power, cast out demons by His authority, and do good works in His name! Now is the time. Today is the day.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33). We seek these things by prayer, fasting, and repentance. We seek these things by offering ourselves as living sacrifices to the King of Kings. We seek these things by being doers of the word and not hearers only. Let us worship God in completeness. Let us love the LORD our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our strength and with all our minds and love our neighbors the way we love ourselves (Luke 10:27).

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Revelation 14:1-5 The Lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000 and A New Song

12/29/2015

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Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! Psalm 96:1-3

Revelation 14:1-5 The Lamb on Mount Zion and the 144,000
Verse 1 begins,
“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb”
John looks and there on Mount Zion is the Lamb; not the deceiving beast with horns like a lamb, but the True Lamb, Jesus Christ appears on Mount Zion. The author of Hebrews described Jesus and Mount Zion this way in Hebrews 12:18-24
“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
Mount Zion is in the City of New Jerusalem which at this point in Revelation is still in Heaven, it represents Mount Sinai, where Moses met face to face with God (Exodus 19). Zion came to be the name of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, synonymous today with Jerusalem and New Jerusalem. Zion was the name of the fortress in the City of David, where David lived, where no blind or lame could enter (2 Samuel 5:6-10).
So John saw holy Jesus standing on that holy mountain in that holy city, a place where only the saved may enter and be face to face with God. But Jesus was not alone. The rest of verse 1 through verse 5 reads,
“and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.”
This is the second time the 144,000 are mentioned. They were first mentioned in Revelation 7:3-8 when they are sealed and protected from the dangers of the trumpets. Whether they are the same 144,000, I do not know. Whether the number is literal or symbolic, I am unsure. This is what I know. They are redeemed from the earth, yet Jesus has not yet come for his people in the narrative. They sing a new song only they can know. They are described as faithful and blameless (saved) virgin men and they are the firstfruits of the redeemed (raptured) from mankind.
This leads me to conjecture then that they are special martyrs from the tribulation. Jewish men who came to know Christ and who are killed by the antichrist and the false prophet during the antichrist’s war on The Two Witnesses. Perhaps even the men who were killed for not worshipping the image of the beast. They get to go to New Jerusalem before Jesus gathers the rest of the redeemed, the dead first and then the remainder of the believers. (This is my personal interpretation and supposition).
Whoever they are, they are with Jesus and their worship is so great that it sounds like the roar of many waters and like thunder and harps. 144,000 voices raised together in adoration of Jesus would make such a great sound. John doesn’t share the song they sing. It is a song very specific to who they are as they worship the Lord. And isn’t that what our personal worship of the Lord should be? Shouldn’t our adoration come from the overflow of our hearts? Psalm 96:1-3 reads,
“Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!”
True worship is singing a new song because we tell of what He has done day to day, how He saved us today and yesterday, what great works He is doing and has done. It is not thoughtlessly repeating an old song, mindlessly echoing someone else’s lyrics, nor robotically copying a song specific to someone else. My song is new, because He is doing new things every morning! Even through the worst suffering and the most horrible tribulations, we can praise and worship God because He is always working in us and through the suffering we experience. Lamentations 3:19-24 says,
“Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”
If we have nothing in our hearts to thank God for, then I suppose we will mechanically sing old songs, mindlessly and routinely speaking words that have no meaning to us. Mindless and ritualistic worship is like calling Jesus Lord but not obeying Him. But if our hearts are full of The Holy Spirit, the love of God, and appreciation for what He has done then our speech, worship and lives will prove it. In Luke 6:43-45 Jesus says it this way,
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
I have recently been making an effort to literally sing a new song to the Lord every day. I take my prayer and my praise and I sing it out loud to my Lord. I don’t doubt it is not beautiful, but it is sincere. And as I freely express my love to God, I also do not doubt that He loves the fragrance it brings to Him. As I sing, be it ever so haltingly or off-key, I bring to mind all the reasons I have to love Him, I remember scriptures, names of God, and attributes of my Lord and sing them to Him. While I attempt to bless the Lord (and I trust I am), He blesses me more so. I encourage you to give it a try.
There is nothing wrong with singing a song someone else wrote to the Lord as long as you do so with your heart and mind in the song, as long as the song is true to you and your experience. Singing How Great Thou Art yet not believing He is great is not worshipping in truth. Singing It is Well With My Soul yet being angry because of your circumstances rather than joyful in Christ is not worshipping in Spirit. When you sing We Will Not Be Shaken but you pay no mind to the words, you are not passionately worshipping the Lord, you are tepidly singing a song to the worship leader.
So Believer, I encourage you today to sing a new song to the Lord. I exhort you that whenever and however you worship that your prayer come from your heart and understanding of God, that it be genuine, and that it will be new every morning just like God’s mercies.

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A Call to Worship in Spirit and in Truth

Revelation 14:1-5 The Lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000 and A New Song

Donna Campbell

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