Worship Him

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:37-40

Doctor Luke's narrative of the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which believers still commemorate as Palm Sunday includes this verse where some of the Pharisees told Jesus to put a stop to the people's loud shouts of praise for Him.

But it was the response of Jesus which really was the head scratcher. He told those who wanted to stop the joyful shouts of praise that if they would keep quiet, the stones would cry out.

One can study this phrase and can get really deep into theology by referencing Old Testament parallels or interpret this comment as literal, rhetorical or proverbial or all of the above.

But to me, we can readily surmise a few things because some of the facts are really quite obvious. One, "some" of the Pharisees didn't really like the idea of people shouting praises, especially directed towards this man called Jesus. Two, some if not most of them really did not recognize who was actually walking among them, even with all of their diligent studying of their scriptures and of prophecy -- and I could dare say, because of, because they were studying the scriptures for the wrong reasons. And three, some were most probably upset, even envious of the fact that the people were shouting praises to Jesus, instead of to them. Yes, how dare them.

True, most of the jews (God's chosen people) did not recognize Jesus for who He really is, and they have stopped shouting out praises to Him. But what happened? Us, gentiles who are nothing but stones, dust even, to them, are the ones who are shouting out praises to Him who suffered and died in our place. He grafted us in, to become His people and He turned our once heart of stone, into a heart of flesh, which has become attuned with the heartbeat of our Lord and Savior. Now, we are the ones (the stones) who are crying out to Him who is worthy of all praise and glory. And this is not to say that God could not literally make stones cry out praises to Him. In fact, a heart who is really in tuned with Christ, can literally see Him in His magnificent creation, in nature, in rocks and rock formations, and these creations cry out that there is a Creator, a loving one, a patient one and He is our Father, waiting patiently for us, His prodigal child. And when one really is able to grasp this concept, one can see with their spiritual eyes that the rocks and all of creaton are singing to their Maker.

Indeed, "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Hosanna in the highest!”

How can we not cry out as well?

Worship

"Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
    Worship the Lord with gladness.
    Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
    He made us, and we are his.
    We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
    go into his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,
    and his faithfulness continues to each generation."  Psalm 100

The people of promise (the seed of Abraham) sang this psalm and all the other psalms, and in fact they sang their jewish scriptures as well, either privately or collectively in their places of worship.

Us, the grafted children of promise do the same thing as we sing songs of praise and worship using the same words from these psalms and our scriptures, or new songs that we sing spontaneously.

And the reason we can do so is because of one thing. It is because we know who we are worshiping and we know who our God is. He is the One True God. And we are His children. He is our ever loving  Abba Father.

I don't know of any other thing for which we should praise Him, in fact I do not know of any other reason to do so. And if you need to know, we really cannot worship Him who we do not know. And this is precisely why first time visitors or those who have yet to know Him, could not and would not be able to understand why we sing in church like we do, and if they do, they feel uncomfortable or awkward. 

Now if we think worship is that "slow" song we sing at church during that part of the worship service typically called as "praise and worship" then we are also missing the point of worship. Worship is not a particular type of song, as it is not a once a week thing either.

Worship is precisely that as written in our scriptures, which tells us to "worship in Spirit and truth". Now one of the more common external manifestations of worship is when we come together and pour out our love for him through playing musical instruments, dancing and singing to Him songs of praise and adoration. And gathering together at least once a week gives us that opportunity to do so, collectively. If you have not really poured yourself out by being totally immersed in the spirit of worship during these "worship services" then you are either missing out of one of the most important events of your week, or that you totally have yet to understand the real meaning of worship, or worse you do not really know who you are worshiping.

Today, I exhort you brothers and sisters in Christ, to really know who He is that we are worshiping and to totally get lost in the spirit of worship, either in the privacy of your home, while driving to and from place A to place B, while walking, while doing your daily tasks and also collectively, when we come together in a safe place where we gather together week in and week out.

Worship, get it down right. And be right with the One True God, not for show, not to actively ask for a favor or any other reason we may have, but to really open up your heart and worship Him who is worthy of our praise and adoration.

Experience God

Matthew 3:11 (Amplified)

 "I indeed baptize you in (with) water because of repentance [that is, because of your changing your minds for the better, heartily amending your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins]. But He Who is coming after me is mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to take off or carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

This verse is recorded in all the four gospels -- stating that after John baptized with water, Jesus will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit. And depending on who you read or listen to, this second baptism would mean different things. But the Word of God is clear on this second baptism and it was unanimously recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (the other John).

Now if you're going to ask me, I would say that because the church started with an "experience" and this happened during Pentecost and every single apostle of Christ did experience His miracles first hand, even Paul during his Damascus Road experience (because he really wasn't with Jesus from the start and was kind of a late bloomer, like some of us, he too got his own "experience") -- so Jesus will also allow us (new believers of today, especially for those Doubting Thomases among us) to have the same experience or allow us to "experience" Him by "baptizing" us with the Holy Spirit.

But get this, only if we want to. God is never one to impose Himself, never had He and never will He force us into anything, much like when He didn't really twist our arm to force us accept Him as our Savior, well I hope not. And like we've discussed in our Acts 2 meetings, God will meet us at the level of our hunger for Him. If we want it hard enough, it is waiting and is available for us.  And so if you haven't really let go and let God yet, then I encourage you to seek this "experience" and God will be right there, ready and waiting to "baptize" you -- believe me, He is waiting.

If you believe in the bible, then you could believe that. And let me assure you, this experience is not weird, it's not scary, it's not crazy, it's not bogus, it's not heretical (as you can plainly see it is biblical) and it's not irrelevant. It's not for show or to make us look more spiritual than others, the Word does tell us to pray in the Spirit, and going through this experience is the only way for us to do that.

And so if you really want it and if you want to obey Him, then ask Him who the Word says will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and experience God like never before. And daily lift your hands to Him in praise and receive the infilling of the Spirit that you need for that day, your daily manna.

Matthew 3:11 “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Mark 1:8 “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Luke 3:16 “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

John 1:33 “He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”