About Me

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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.

Monday, October 5, 2020

Worshiping the Real Jesus

Note that 2 John 9 says that we must remain in the doctrine of Christ to have the Father.  Paul warns against "another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit." (Cf. 2 Cor. 11:4)  Test the spirits!

Jesus as revealed in Revelation 1:12-17 in the vision that John the Elder saw is the true Jesus as He really is.  Reigning over everything and mighty to judge and oversee all the earth.  The description is in imagery,  figures of speech cryptic language, and symbolism and hard to decipher but scholars have decoded it and made its lessons clear.  Jesus is glorified now and forevermore. We are to put Him in our boxes of convenience and limit His sovereignty, power,r and glory.

Know this:  a different Jesus is going to come the second time in the consummation of history than from the first advent. He came first as Savior and now as King of kings and Lord of lords with a name that no one knows but himself and as called "the Word of God." The point of His two advents is that the Jews never anticipated this and was looking for a deliverer from Rome, as was the conventional wisdom and talk of the day.  They failed to receive the First Advent of Christ.  The Jews were subject to Rome and saw the Messiah figure as another Moses or King David that would liberate them militarily and restore old glory days. 

Worship isn't about us, but to focus our minds on Christ in the spirit and being filled with the Spirit of the Father seeks such to worship Him in spirit and in truth, implying that truth is important. "Perfect love casts out fear" and we are to be in love with our Lord and do it in this spirit, not out of a sense of duty or in a perfunctory manner, merely memorizing the Dance of the Pious.  All of us are equal at the foot of Jesus and He is no respecter of persons and we all may have different gifts, but the same Spirit.  

Real worship is for what He has done (especially for us) and for who He is (we must worship Him as God in the flesh, not some demigod, surrogate of God, or any kind of lesser deity not to be equal to the Father).   We can reevaluate our conception of Him during our worship and actually encounter God.  Worship can reinforce our faith in God and in knowing Him for who He is and what He has done and even will do in the future.  "But we do see Jesus," (cf. Heb. 2:9). 

We will surely see Him in a new light every time and benefit from the encounters of other saints. We must anticipate the beatific vision in heaven seeing Him the way He is in glory  We should never take our experience in worship for granted but as a blessing that God has shared with us and expects us to share.  Worship can become a medication to service and orientation to God's will and plan for our lives.  Worship restores us in the image of God for this is what we are made for: to worship God, and if we don't we will find someone else to worship, for we are hard-wired to do it.  Soli Deo Gloria!