“CORRECT WORSHIP”

By Neil Tremblett

    An act of worship within itself does not make it right before God. It is not the action (frequency or sincerity) of worship which makes it of value, but the OBJECT of that worship.

    How Do You Determine True Worship?  Even among those who worship God, there will be those who God will not accept as TRUE worshippers! How can we know the difference between true and false, accepted or rejected worship? I want to say that we can know and be sure of acceptable worship by God Himself. I can say this because of what we find in the scriptures, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the TRUE worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (24) God is Spirit, and those who worship Him MUST worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). This verse puts before us a plea for three things. First, God seeks us to worship Him. Would God expect us to worship in truth if He didn’t tell us how to worship? Second, there are TRUE and FALSE worshippers! Notice the word MUST in verse (24). Must, would tell us that there is another way to worship besides “in spirit and truth”. Third, true worship MUST consist of worship that is of spirit and according to the truth. God does not seek worship that is unauthorized or made up of habits!

  Jesus stated, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Can we know what acceptable worship consists of? The Bible tells us so! Acceptable worship can be known but knowledge of it comes only through the Word, because the Word is truth! You determine true worship by the Word of God and NOT man.

    What Makes Up Scriptural Worship?

  PRAYER: True worshippers are people that pray to God, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and IN PRAYERS” (Acts 2:42). Another verse also tells us something about how often we are to pray. “PRAY without ceasing, (18)in everything give thanks; for this is the WILL of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

  GIVING: True worshippers are people that give back to God. “That in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality” (2 Corinthians 8:2). Is there a set amount we are to give on every first day of the week? No! We are to give liberally as we are blessed here on this earth. The giving will vary from person to person, maybe even week to week, but we are to give back to God LIBERALLY as He blesses us.

  PARTAKE OF LORD’S SUPPER: True worshippers are people that partake of the Lord’s supper as often as He says to. “Now on the FIRST day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7).  Remember, through the Word we learn the correct way to worship. The Word here says partake on the first day of the week. Every week has a FIRST day and so, once a week on the FIRST day we are told by God to partake! Do you?

  SING: True worshippers are people that sing. The New Testament church did not use choirs, quartets or special singing by groups in their worship. New Testament Christians sang as they worshipped God. Instruments were not used until centuries later as denominations began to multiply. What was good enough for the apostles should be good enough for us as well today. The Holy Spirit did not authorize anything but vocal music and the WHOLE group at one time. Passages like (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:15; Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12 and James 5:13) show us what is pleasing to God. We can know for sure that our worship is Biblically sound when we sing praises to God! Do you want to please Him or self and man?

    Teaching And Preaching: True worshippers are people that, preach, teach and listen to God’s Word! Remember that in order to have pure and undefiled worship to God, the preaching, teaching and listening to God’s Word is a must. Too many of the preachers today take this responsibility to lightly! “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). You see Paul felt an obligation toward God to preach to the lost. Preaching is a service to God given to Paul from God.

     Be Given To True Worship: We have seen that there is a right way to worship God and that way is given to us by God (the Word) Himself.  What I have seen is that man is not careful when it comes to scriptural worship.  If we are going to call ourselves Christians, we should be happy and content with what God has ordered worship to be.  God says that correct worship is made up of in spirit and truth “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).  Are you one of the true worshippers? The in spirit is not hard to find.  About every worship service is filled with people who are into what they are doing, but is it right with God?  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).  It is my prayer that you will seek worship that pleases God and through it, you will have devotion and reverence for God, who is worthy of our soul’s adoration.

  Remember, not all mankind will enter into heaven. “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? (23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).  God will part the TRUE worshippers from the worshippers! These verses show us a right way and a wrong way to worship God.  To be a true worshipper, we have to do as God has said.  We have seen what God wants from our worship services, the question we have to ask ourselves is, “are we doing what God wants”?  Move with Godly fear today and say, “today and everyday forward I will worship God in spirit and truth”.  My prayer is that you will take this article to the preachers and teachers of our county, and encourage them to teach truth because you want to go to heaven!  Teach them, if they want heaven, they will do as God wants and not as man wants.  “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.  He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. (10) If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine do not receive him into your house nor greet him; (11) for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. (2 John 9-11).  If we want to go to heaven, we will reject preachers and teachers who do not teach the Lord’s will.  Will you start rejecting the untrue worshippers of our county?  Do you care about your children? If so, let them have the truth!        

Neilwt2001@aol.com

“JESUS THE MASTER TEACHER”

By Neil Tremblett

    “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29) “Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why have you not brought Him?. The officers answered, No man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:45-46)

  What made people astonished at His teaching? What made people say, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”? It was the fact that he was the Son of God! Being the Son of God, He has all power and authority! And so, if He is the Son of God and has all power and authority, we should walk and teach as He did. Let’s look and see how He taught!

    His teaching contained negative things. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). When we read this text it brings hope and peace. To the ones hearing this at the time Jesus uttered these word, it was hard for them to handle. There leader was leaving! One who walked and ate with them. It was not what they wanted to hear, but it needed to be said and followed through with.

  “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to you! (23) But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:22-23). I really think that some of us that preach the gospel are guilty of this at times in our lives. We seek what we want instead of what God wants. When was the last time you heard a preacher teach or say something that was against God words? We see how God would react, “Get behind me Satan”! But what do we do with false teachers and preachers? Who do we look to as the master teacher? If it is Jesus, then we would teach as He did! Do we as preacher want people to be astonished with our teaching? Then teach as the Lord did and leave the meals and fellowship halls alone because that does not astonish anyone. Everyone eats and plays, but few preach the gospel that saves, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). We as preachers would do well to learn from the Master Teacher where the saving power is!

  “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: (2) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and TEACHING” (2 Timothy 4:1-2). How many of us like to be judged? Not one of us likes it, but almost all of us have been judged and have judged. The difference between our judging and God’s judging is we can be wrong. God won’t be wrong and will judge teachers and preachers by the Bible. He tells us to preach THE WORD, nothing more or less. Are you teaching the truth?

    There will always be teachers who will tell people what they want to hear! Will there be teachers who will tell people what they need to hear? What kind of teacher do you want?

Neilwt2001@aol.com

"Some Things That May Surprise You About the Church of Christ"

 by: Bobby Witherington

Edited by: Glendol McClure

1. You may be surprised that everyone in the assembly is invited to participate in the singing portion of the worship services. We have no choirs, special groups or solos. We use no pianos, drums, organs or guitars, etc. All music is a capella (vocal) as the New Testament indicates it was in the apostolic days (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Contrary to what you may have heard, the singing is good singing, soul stirring and encouraging!

2. You may be surprised that visitors are NOT requested to make a contribution. Local members contribute on the first day of the week, each and every week. This is done without demand in the form of "dues" or "assessments." Free-will giving on the basis of other New Testament principles is impressed as the plan of scriptural giving. No pie-suppers, crab feeds, raffles, or money raising schemes are used! We do not bum or beg from those outside the Lord’s own family. All contributions, if the Lord’s will is respected, are freely given.

3.  If you visit with us on any Lord's Day (the "first day of the week"), you may be surprised to find that we commemorate the death of Christ by partaking of the Lord's supper, which was instituted by Christ and commanded and taught by Paul, the Apostle (Matt. 26:26-29;1 Cor. 11:23-26). In the first century, "upon the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Therefore, since every week has a first day, it follows that the Lord's death must be commemorated every week! Not once every six months, or only on "Easter Sunday"!

4. You may be surprised that no hyper-emotional appeals are made. You will not be urged to act or move in response to the invitation of the Lord until you have sufficient knowledge of the Truth, to serve as a basis for your faith (Jn. 20:30-31; Acts 16:32).

5. It may surprise you that most Christians attend every assembly of the church because they want to, enjoy it, know it is commanded and because they realize that assembling to worship is vital to their spiritual growth and service to God (Acts 2:42; Heb. 10:25).

6. You may be surprised to know that we have no man-made prayer book, no church-authorized discipline, manual or creed and no ritualistic worship (2 Tim. 3:16-17 & 4:1-4).

7. You may be surprised at the manner of our services. You will not hear shouting, screaming or any other manifestation of unbridled emotions. No one will fall out in a faint, roll around on the floor or speak in "unknown" tongues. You will see that the admonition of the apostle Paul that all things "be done decently and in order," is sincerely observed (1 Cor. 14:40).

8. You may be surprised that the service is NOT conducted by a man claiming to be a part of a special priesthood. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is our High Priest and all Christians now make up a general priesthood and can themselves approach God and offer their prayers and sacrifices, it should be evident that no special earthly priesthood is necessary today (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Heb. 4:14-16).

9. With virtually all denominations having earthly headquarters, it may surprise you that the church of Christ has neither earthly headquarters nor an earthly head. Christ alone is head of His body and the church’s headquarters is in heaven, where Christ now sits and rules with ALL authority (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; Phil. 3:20-21).

10. Contrary to what you may have heard, you may be surprised to know that the church of Christ is not intent on condemning everyone to Hell, but invites all to come to our Lord in obedient faith, in faithful service and worship and in Godly living, that one may enjoy the benefits of His grace and strive for the hope of eternal life (Tit. 2:11-12; 1 Jn. 2:25).

11. Finally, you may be surprised to learn that the Lord’s church is neither Catholic, Protestant, sectarian nor denominational. The Lord’s church in the first century was obviously none of these. If we are correct in our claim that we follow His Word alone (admitting that not all "churches of Christ" can honestly make this claim) and in every way seek to be simple New Testament Christians, then we are the same as it was in the first century. Being of the same head, doctrine and practice results in being the same body the Lord purchased or built and therefore antedates both Catholicism and all Protestant denominations (Acts 20:28; Matt. 16:18).

We greatly desire the unity for which Jesus prayed, but, we believe that scriptural unity is found only in Christ (Jn. 17:20-21). Both Catholicism and denominational sectarianism stands opposed to this unity. We stand upon the Word of our Lord alone, respecting His authority in everything and speaking only as He directs us if we "all be one" in Christ as He so fervently prayed (Matt. 28:18; 1 Pet. 4:11). 

Please open your Bible, search the Scriptures, and come visit with us again!