“LAWFUL WORSHIP”

Deuteronomy 26:10; I Chronicles 16:29; Psalm 95:6 & 96:9
Matthew 4:10; John 4:24; Revelations 14:7

“Give unto YAHWEH the glory due unto his name.” Worship before YAHWEH our GOD, kneel before his throne in prayer and in praise. YAHWEH our GOD is spirit and we are to worship him in spirit and in truth. Worship of GOD, as  all of mans undertakings, can be done in one of two ways, acceptable or unacceptable. We want to totally concentrate during this study on the acceptable and lawful way to worship YAHWEH-GOD!

At the very beginning of this study we quoted from I Chronicles 16:29, “Give unto YAHWEH the glory due unto his name”. As His people we are to do this because he is divinely worthy to be glorified as is set down in Revelations 4:11. YAHWEH is worthy to receive ALL glory, honor and power, not just part of it, but all of it.  The Psalmist in 96:9 and the writer of  I Chron 16:29 both say to the believer to worship GOD in the "Beauty of His Holiness or in His glorious sanctuary". Come before him and fear  him all the earth, or approach him in fear and trembling. We are to keep reverance and obey him in the Sanctuary for this is the dwelling place of the deity of the Triune Godhead. Fear him who is thy judge, come before him as an humble servant and come in repentance with a contrite spirit and broken heart because of your sins. Rejoice at the mention of his name and praise him above all else.

Deuteronomy 6:3-9 & 24-25; The first step of Lawful Worship is to approach unto YAHWEH according to his law word; “Hear O Israel: Yahweh our God is one (the one true and ever living God): And thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This leaves absolutely no room for man to set up idols. When we say idols we are not speaking only of graven images or statues, this would include anything that man puts ahead of God such as, money, job, home, pleasure and would also include the Lodges (Masonic, Shriners, Elks, VFW etc). If you or your loved ones are in the Social church system you are being taught that the Law has been fulfilled and we are no longer under the force of the law. I tell you that Law and Worship go hand in glove with one another and to ignore one is to ignore both. Verses 1-3 of this 6th chapter tell us this, “We are to learn and keep the Commandments,  fear Yahweh our God in our law keeping so that we, our sons and grand-sons may live a prolonged life and vs 3 says that to do this we may retain good health and increase our family! Law and Lawful Worship are not to be separated as neither is a one time thing, rather they are on going in all our generations. In fact Deuteronomy 7:9 stipulates the following; "the faithful God keepth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” How long is a thousand gene­rations in scripture? The numerical term 1,000 when used in conjunction of YAHWEH-ELOHIM is the Divine measurement of time, or in straight talk, it denotes eternity. Deut 32:40 and 33:27 speak of the eternal God or YAHWEH who lives forever. Psalm 135:13 tells of the name of God which is, or endureth forever, and His memorial which is throughout all generations. Psalm 145:13, the Kingdom of God is an everlasting Kingdom which endureth throughout all generations. II Peter 3:8, “. "one day is with YAHWEH as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.

The following may strike a sensitive nerve in some, if it does so be it, strong effectual prayer helps to heal sensitive nerves. “Before you can initiate a state of Lawful Worship of Yahweh you must have faith in what you believe, and this is where a creed or a confession of faith comes to bear. Prior to moving on I want you to understand what I said is "you must on faith believe what the scripture says. Even if you do not understand it all, you must believe that what you read and study is true and pray for the day when GOD gives you a full understanding or inspired revelation". The baptist church I grew up in had no creed, or this is what I was told, and if this were true it is a great shame.  The word creed is derived from the Latin word “Credo” and it very simply means, " I believe". Now if the church I grew up in had no creed, then they believed in nothing. A creed is a formula or confession of faith adhered to by the many membered body of Christ's Church Militant in the earth. Every major denomination has a creed or uses one of the following; Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Westminster Confession of Faith, Belgic Confession of Faith, Heidelberg Catechism, Luthers Catechism and others. For the preacher who told me that Baptists had no creed I would tell him this; There are 32 articles of Christian Faith and practice which make up a document called the Baptist Confession of Faith. It was adopted in 1689 at the General Assembly which was convened in London England. This Confession, or Creed, was compiled in 1677 and for fear of being persecuted, those who wrote it did not affix their names to it. The confession or creed is Calvinistic in its entirety and was greatly praised by that giant of the Baptists in his day, Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon!  For all of you good Baptists who believe as I once did, that man has the free will to accept or reject Christ I say this, “You have been lied to.” Article 9 of the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 says; “Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own ability to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto;” Romans 8:6-8; Eph 2:1-5; Titus 3:3-5; John 6:44! I call out to you today who worship in an assembly that has no creed, “turn away from the false teacher who binds you to the ways of the world and take upon yourselves a creed of lawful worship.” Do not be afraid to do this because a creed or confession of faith is personal and will bind you to GOD. “I Believe” will be brought into the heart and mind of the believing Christian!

The most commonly accepted and used creed in the Christian community of called out believers today is the Apostles creed. In this creed you wil find all of the major doctrines of the scripture; Creation, Trinity, Election and Predestination, Adoption, Incarnation, Virgin birth, Redemp­tion, Repentance, Atonement, Salvation, Justification, Sanctification, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, Judgement and Eternal Life along with many others I failed to mention. All of these great doctrines give all the substance and concept necessary for teaching of the Holy Bible. All of these great doctrines came to us in the Bible which was compiled of the writings of certain men inspired of YAHWEH-ELOHIM and reach us by way of His Mercy and Grace. This great Creed was probably written about 400 A.D. and was for the purpose of refuting two very flagrant but popular heresies of that time; Gnosticism which declares that Jesus Christ never dwelt on earth in human form and Montanism which said that the promise of the Holy Spirit by Christ was not fulfilled in the upper room at Pentecost after the Passover Crucifixion of Jesus.

I have heard some in the church say, “A creed is un-necessary because I have my own way of believing with out having to go through all of that.” All I have to say is, “Take Care,” Satan and his demons have their own way of believing also, Mark 1:23-24; It is however a belief that is false and has no creed or confession of Faith. You see, that is what makes the differ­ence, Faith and Belief constitute the HOPE of the believer, Titus 2:11-13. Those two words faith and belief say it all for the elect in Christ Jesus, and the words from this old hymn say it in praise:

“O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemers Praise.

The glories of my GOD and KING; The triumph of His Grace

Jesus, the name that charms our fears that bids our sorrows cease

Tis music in the sinners ears, Tis life and health and peace

He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoners free

 His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me”

To the words of this beautiful song we add this thought, “Thank you Yahweh our God, for by thy Grace we who are called have the faith to say, I Believe.”

Our study today has included some great men from our ancestral past, Ezra, David and Solomon and to these we would like to add Daniel, Peter and Paul;  Daniel 6:10, Acts 9:40 and Acts 20:36 That is only six men,and we all are aware that 6 is the number of man so in order to change that we will add the name of one other man whom the Bible shows to kneel before God in prayer. Number 7 in Bible numerics means, “to be full and complete. Luke 22:39-42, the seventh man on his knees before YAHWEH was none other than God the son, Jesus Christ. Look for one moment at those who kneel before the majesty of the sovereign God, they are prophets, judges, kings, Apostles and the only begotten son of God. They give us this example of lawful worship and it is demonstrated not simply out of fear but because we are to recognize the smallness of our carnal being and nature in com­parison to the Sovereign nature of YAHWEH our God.

In order to first approach unto YAHWEH in lawful worship we must be called of the Holy Spirit and then proceed with a valid presupposition: “All worship unto YAHWEH must make holy his blessed name and must be focused upon his Being. Lawful worship must exalt the name of the only begotten son of GOD, Yeho­shua-Jesus the Christ who is the "one", and bring into union and communion with himself the body-"the many". Lawful worship must also proclaim the deity of God the Holy Spirit and recognize his wondrous working power.

Hebrews 10:19-25; boldness here does not mean that we enter into lawful worship with brashness of character, rather we enter in with spiritual confidence. Or as Titus 1:2 says, “In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”  We are only able to enter into the holiest of holies because we are justified through the shed blood of Christ Jesus. The cleansing power of the act of Christ's Atonement and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit causes us to live our lives separate from the world. It is the Incarnate God who makes it possible for the elect to draw nigh unto him and be committed unto him and the faith once delivered to the saints. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us to “draw near (unto God) with a true heart, having confessed our sins and been baptized.”  We are told to hold fast, or solidly  to our profession of faith in him, and not be moved.” Part of Lawful Worship is seen in assisting the brethern, doing the works of righteousness and assembling together in spirit and in truth, even unto that Great Day of YAHWEH.

I want you to hold fast to this piece of information; In the United States of America today, in some states, every man, woman and child who attends a private home Bible study is subject to be arrested and fined. Home or Cottage ministry in most states is illegal because the Pastor/Teacher is not licensed by the state. I have a creed on that and it goes like this; “The Church Militant in the earth is the body of Christ and is licensed by Almighty God. God the Holy Spirit moves certain individuals  toward the teaching Priest-hood of this Church rather than toward a man or church licensed by the State which espouses a different God.

There are many who ask, “How do we know that GOD is present during a worship service outside of the institutionalized church? We answer with Matthew 18:19-20; “Where two or three are gathered in my name (YAHWEH) there am I.” This has to be in effect today as it was back then because GOD never changes, Malachi 3:6 & Hebrews 13:8. God never changes, nor does he ever lie. Heb 6:18 tells us two things of the nature of GOD and those are that “He is the GOD of Truth and He possesses as another attribute, Divine faithfulness and if we look closely at Titus 1:1-2 we will see the same two qualities attested to. By record of the truth spoken in Matthew 18:20 we know that whenever and where-ever we meet in lawful worship, GOD and Christ are there also. In I Corinthians chapter 14 Paul addresses Lawful Worship and sums it up in verse 40 with this,,, Let all things be done decently and in order." This word “Order” means for things to be done Lawfully, and in this instance the operation of worship of the One True and Ever Living God is the subject or topic of  discussion. The many denominational pastors, priests and preachers of the Social Church, and the Prime time TV preachers take every oppoptunity that comes along to drive the stake of apostasy between man and God and it is being done in lust for the all-mighty dollar.  Most of these mentioned are so busy relating personal experiences that Yahweh-God, Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit become almost secondary. Also, for the record, there is no place in Lawful Worship for the collection of money,  foreign missionary programs, social events and building funds. Matthew 6:24 says that the worship of GOD and the things of the world do not mix. Now before you go off on me about "Foreign Missions" you need to read the command of Christ to the Disciples in Matthew 10:5-6 and  15:24. 

Hosea 4:6; “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” What type of knowledge are we speaking of here? God immediately says here in vs 6 that those to whom he has made this indictment shall be no priests to him, because they had forgotten the law of their God. This verse ties together Law and Worship or Lawful Worship. If we go back to the first mention of the word priest where Israel is concerned we will find it in the law at Mt Sianai. When Israel was organized into the Kingdom of God they were given His commandments, statutes and judgements which they were to administer as the law of the land. This is evidenced in scripture in Exodus 19:5-6 and it says that if they are obedient and keep the law and the covenant that they will be, “unto him”, a kingdom of priests. Whether you or I care to admit it, the priesthood is very important in Israel and the duties of the priest cover far more than officiating at the Altar in an ecclesiastic capacity. From Primogenesis we state the following; “It was the purpose of the Aaronic order of Priesthood to function ecclesiastically in the religious service of God’s people. However another Order of the priesthood was established, known as the Levitical Priesthood, and the priests of this order were not set apart for service in the Temple. They had charge of National affairs and from the priestly order the judges lawyers, doctors, tax collectors and men in similar capacities were selected; in fact, the office of the Levitical Order was administrative and the priests of this order had charge of the affairs of God’s Kingdom.”  In essence, what is said in that 6th verse of Hosea 4 is that Israel has been repudiated as administrators of God’s Law. Hosea much like Jeremiah condemned both Prophet and Priest as being profane men who were committing wickedness in the house of YAHWEH. . .Jeremiah 23:11. God’s Israel people. the ones who were to be a kingdom of priests has fallen into apostasy as is revealed in Hosea 5:2 when they are referred to as revolters.

The prophet Hosea declared that the spiritual leaders of his day were the main contributing source to the overall apostasy, and we may very emphatically say the same thing of the social world church leaders today. The evil that they do before the altars of their denominational synagogs prevents any return to God and Lawful Worship, and strengthens the spirit of apostasy within them. Hosea 5:7 tells us that the priests in their treachery against the law and covenant have begotten “strange children.” That word for strange is “Zur” and it means apostate or given over to idols or the idolatries of heathen religions. The sons being born in Israel were practicing the abominations of the heathens, and the parents of this evil generation were condemned for their failure to bring them up properly and teach them the precepts and Laws of YAHWEH.  Deut 6:1-15. Look around you today America and tell me what you see. I see the exact set of circumstances of which Hosea had written so many years ago. By the failure to carry out the divine injunctions they had betrayed Yahweh-God! By our failure to be any different than they, we have committed the same act of betrayal. In Hosea's time the people found themselves as having been rendered vulnerable to every satanic influence. They had become a prey to the arch enemy of GOD for his exploitation and found themselves lost to the kingdom and being dealt with as strangers in their own lands. “LOOK AROUND YOU TODAY AMERICA AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE!”  Have we not become vulnerable to the evil that men do, especially those men who who would curse your God? We cannot and must not attempt to conjoin the Christian Faith with that of the Muslims or any other under the guise of some brand of "Peace under a New World Order".

We must as the family of GOD in the earth return to Lawful Worship, and this means a 100% return as the Israel people of GOD to the Law. Altar wor­ship must be in order and this means that preaching must be from Bible text, not pretext or context. All doctrine must be proven with two or more Bible witnesses. When the worship is begun there must be a reading from the books of Law, from the prophets, from the gospels and the epistles. There should be a singing of hymns of praise and prayer as is subscribed to in scripture. We should stand to read scripture, stand to sing praises to GOD, sit to receive instructions and kneel to offer up prayer and receive Holy Communion. As certain as there is but one True God whose name is YAHWEH and one CHRIST who walked the earth as the God-man Jesus, there is but one way to approach in Worship and that is in Spirit and in Truth, Psalm 95:6-7 & 100:3. In our worship of GOD let us bow down and kneel before him and know that He is our GOD and we are his people. We are His people, or we would not have any interest whatsoever in hearing of Him or studying of Him and His word. If we were not His people, He would not call us to serve and we would not follow after him.

Numbers 10:1-10; When the trumpets are blown in a certain manner the congregation of Israel was to assemble at the door of the Tabernacle. When but one trumpet is sounded the Princes’ of the heads of thousands gather. When the alarm is blown the camps (encampments of Israelites) begin their movement or journey. When the alarm is sounded the people go to war in their lands against the opressor. The trumpets are sounded over the burnt offerings, sacrifices and peace offerings; and all this is done by the Priesthood. John 6:44; not unlike the call of the trumpets of old is the call which draws out the elect today. No man may come until the call is sounded, yet when it is the elect responds with certainty. There is not a preacher in the world who can save you or bring you to GOD. The so called invitation system that is prevalent in todays churches that is issued to all people regardless of who they are is not lawful. The gift of salvation is meant for the Israel people who are the family of God in the earth...Matthew 15:24

All called out believers in order to participate 100% in Lawful Wor­ship must first be Baptized, or sealed into the covenant, Matthew 28:91 & Acts 2:38. In spite of what we have been taught, there is no work nor task which man may perform where-by he is a contributing factor in his own salvation, Titus 3:4-5! We are quickened or made alive by God the Holy Spirit. He regenerates, sanctifies and seperates us from the world. We are made Holy by Him and made to become obedient to God’s Law Word and we find ourselves to then be totally jus­tified before YAHWEH through the cleansing and healing power of the blood of JESUS CHRIST.. .Heb 9:11-14. Upon being confirmed to be in the faith that was once delivered to the saints, we are then baptized into, or sealed into the New Covenant. Heb 9:15; Those who are spoken of here are those to whom the promises were made in olden times and they were to have been involved in lawful worship of YAHWEH. The key word to the reaching capacity of inheritance is the word “Promises.” YAHWEH promised an inher­itance as far back as Bible history is traced, to Adam and into Eternity before time.  We can trace that promise through a seed line, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the nation of the Israelite people. We do not committ error when we say that “God has designed an inheritance for a certain people and those for whom the inher­itance is designed are the called or the elect of the Bible. The right of inheritance is conveyed by Promise, yet there is an obstacle which stands in the way of enjoyment of that inheritance and that obstacle is transgression of the Law or Sin. Because the sacrifices under the Old covenant couldn’t expiate sins God made a New Covenant with man and this new covenant had a mediator who by his own death did expiate the sins of those called, making the promise sure to the seed called. This is all a very integral part of Lawful Worship and must be adhered to by the assembly of the congregation.

In teaching the word of GOD there is no room to spiritualize the message or the people to whom the message is sent. The Social church may include all people in their message, yet it has no authority to do so. Isaiah 49:3 says, “Thou art my servant O Israel in whom I will be glorified. The Church of the Living God is Israel, the Social church of the world is who-so-ever will. Only those in covenant relationship with GOD will be called and accounted as the Ecclessia/Church or Body of Christ. This is not a new concept of the church, it is as Christ is  described in Heb 13:8, “the same yesterday, today and forever. The Body of Christ will be found in the act of Lawful Worship of YAHWEH-GOD and CHRIST. The Church will in Lawful Worship confess that Jesus Christ is God, that he was crucified, buried and risen from the dead, becoming the first fruits of the resu­rrection. And that He, Jesus, is ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of Power/GOD, and we must confess him before man, Rom 10:9-10, Matt 10:32 and James 5:16.

I Cor 3:11; Jesus is our foundation of Lawful Worship. We read on from here to verse 23; With his body and his blood Christ laid the found­ation that supports our faith. He has made it possible for our body to be called the temple where in will reside the Holy Spirit. We are to care for this body of ours both physically and mentally and spiritually, not giving heed to jewish fables rather applying our selves toward Lawful Worship.

We have no conception of how much more time this generation of ours or the next has before the return of Jesus Christ. All things point toward a brief moment. Now, if we are God’s people, and I firmly believe that we are; If we are the Israel of the Bible of whom we read in Deuteronomy 7:6-7 we need to begin immediately, doing those things which are right and true. We need to make sure and holy our Lawful Worship and approach unto YAHWEH. We need to search the scripture and use the word of God in exercising Dominion in the earth. We must obey the law commands and statutes of God and worship him in spirit and in truth. We must kneel before the throne of God in Lawful Worship....AMEN!!

PASTOR RICK GIESENSCHLAG

CHRIST'S CHURCH MILITANT

Copyright @ 1999 a.d.