Forums

This is one of those cases where I really cannot discern the nature of your intent...are you saying the Lord requires people to be comfortable so HE can get some "word" in them...or are you being facetious?  Tatwo...:)

Neighbor…this “worship” you speak of here and I am including your prior descriptions as you have stated  “weekly corporate worship service”…“Worship is…as…serious business” is really “Judaistic” or perhaps “Catholic/Protestant/Evangelical/Pagan” as your description appears in my mind. I mean no offence…the picture your painting as I am seeing it…from your words in this post…looks like a “form of” typical ancient/modern temple worship…right? Think of worshippers going to the “temple/church/synagogue/building/edifice” and engaging in whatever and however they worship typically. How relevant to this discussion is Paul’s writing in Romans 12:1 for example where he explains “service of worship”…as they are translated from the same Greek word G2999 “latreia” defined as “divine service of worship”…let’s see what Paul wrote here…I think it fits…and may be helpful to us as we proceed in this endeavor? “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Here the apostle Paul describes the “spiritual service of worship”…some of the very things you have brought forth here Neighbor…as “presenting your bodies as a living holy sacrifice.” What is that but a consecrated to God…week by week, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, breath by breath, thought by thought lifestyle…of sacrificing ones “personal desire” for their life…to the Holy Spirit…that He may “live His eternal life through us?” Which incidentally…would be the only way that our “living sacrifice” would be “accepted by God.” Typically people think of “sacrifice” as in the case of something that dies…however this speaks of one who is yet “alive…living…who’s existence is upon the alter in the most holy place in the temple of God…right? In Paul’s depiction of our “spiritual service of worship” we are to lay down our personal desires and ambitions…there’s the death required in sacrifice…receive our “unique call” from God in Christ…and in this allow the Holy Spirit to transform our mindsets from the “kingdom of darkness” to the “Kingdom of God” so that we may be able to “prove” what the “good acceptable and perfect will of God is”…agreed? This proving would be through our living and lifestyle…all of it. Which is what the Lord did prior to His delivery of that amazing picture on the mountain that day…no? Now we can see why you so passionately stated…oh yeh I felt you bro…“If my Lord's talk at the Mount is indeed a sermon, I don't think I have heard another from any pastor preacher priest in my lifetime that is anything like it.” I am not saying that corporate assemblies or gatherings are unacceptable…no I do not see them as such…however neither can they be defined as “spiritual service of worship”…to the Lord…in and of themselves. There is so much more to this…I’ll leave it here for now. Tatwo...:)

I can relate...however when these hirelings read from the scriptures it is the same as sermonizing to me because…one…most of them are not called nor qualified to divide the words of righteousness. Two…they typically are not living the life as described by the Lord on the mount that day. He bore the “Image and likeness of God”…the typical sermonizer does not…this bodes poorly for its hearers. Tatwo...:)

I would ask you then Neighbor…why do you say that or why is that so for you? No…simply put no. The Sermon on the Mount was a description of life in the Kingdom of God on earth coming from the mind of the Lord’s Spirit. Any “sermon or presentation” that does not compliment the picture painted by the Lord Yahshua Christ in His revelation there that day…is a counterfeit and false. To this day…when He speaks…when the “Word of God” speaks…He is revealing Himself to our spirits…this explains why the “sons of God” cannot stomach those unfortunate events. For further understanding simply look at the story that precedes that trip to the mountain that day…The Lord Yahshua is operating from the very throne of God in His power and authority…He is literally bearing the “full authentication and pleasure” of His Father and He’s only short time removed from the victory He won in the “wilderness and the three temptations from the dragon.” He then goes to a wedding in Cana of Galilee where He began the manifestation of His glory… He was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. They brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Then He took the “crowds” to the mountain and explained all that “He had done….was doing…and was going to do” which included that soon He would be imparting of the Kingdom of God to humanity…and how they are to live as a result. He spoke with an authority that the contemporaries of His day could not match and the people knew this. To be honest Neighbor…I rarely if ever consider the word in the last 30 years. Early on…as I remember…it seems that the preachers distanced themselves from that word in favor of a myriad of other preferred terms…it did not however change the payload of what was being delivered by the same. Tatwo...:)

The mental picture the word “sermon” creates for me is very much the same as you have described for yourself Neighbor. However my understanding of the invisible realms of the “spirit world” both the kingdom of the dragon and the Kingdom of God…always leaves me highly suspicious of those who spout forth “a lengthy tedious reproof, or exhortation.” I do not believe that this is merely happenstance…clearly the dragon is attacking the sons of God today. I would suggest that today we all should recognize as the “end of the age” is coming forth…so is the increase of the persecution upon the Body of Christ…which I believe that most of those “sermon preaching” characters are setting up for. They make "Christ" seem unpalatable and unnecessary to many...this brings reproach...I do not think that they all realize this either…nor do their congregants in most cases. By my standards…”sermonizers” as you Neighbor have defined them…that is if…I understand you I would agree…they are wolves in sheep’s clothing opposing the Kingdom and the people of God. Tatwo...:)