A BUNCH OF NOISE

11-20-07

A BUNCH OF NOISE

Hello beloved,

“1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ “ – Ezekiel 37:1-6

Put yourself in Ezekiel’s place right now. What if God led you to a pile of dry bones and told you to prophesy to them? Would you do it? I couldn’t help but to think of when I preach on a street corner on Saturdays. There is a train frequently passing behind me, cars that rarely stop and a car lot full of people consumed with buying a car. I have to admit it sometimes feels that I am wasting my time. Almost as if I am prophesying to “dry bones”. Don’t get me wrong, beloved. I’m not at all comparing myself to Ezekiel. I’m just stating that I can somewhat relate to this passage of scripture. How about you? Ask yourself that same question. Do you ever feel like you are speaking to “dry bones”?

The one thing to remember is that God will watch over His Word. So don’t worry about it. Just preach. Even when it feels pointless. Preach. Even when your voice is drowned out by a train. Preach. God will do the rest.

“7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.” – Ezekiel 37:7-8

Now, apply this to today’s church. Ezekiel started to prophesy what the Lord had commanded him. As he was prophesying, the bones came together, began to rattle and make a bunch of noise. They grew tendons, flesh and skin. By looking at them, you would say they were alive. But, there was no breath in them. So many churches today appear to be so full of life. They come together and hear the Word of the Lord. They make a bunch of noise as they “worship”, but they have no breath in them. The word “breath” here means spirit. So many churches today make so much noise, and appear to have the spirit, but they do not have the Holy Spirit. So what is it? It’s strange fire. And the prophets are completely satisfied with it.

That’s right. The prophets are fine with this. After all, look at what they have accomplished. I mean, they started off as dry bones, and now look at them. They are so full of life. But not the Spirit beloved. And though so many Pastors mean well, they are dead wrong in stopping here.

Well, they are one of two things. They either do not have enough discernment to see that this fire is strange fire or they are scared of what comes next. So, what does come next? Well, read on.

“9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.” – Ezekiel 37:9-10

A vast army. And what does it mean when you have an army? It means you are about to go to battle. And so many churches today are completely satisfied with making noise and letting the “radicals” go to battle. Well, beloved, I must say that if we don’t go to battle and offensively engage the enemy, the enemy will get us where it hurts. And that’s exactly what has happened. If you don’t believe me just look around. Everywhere you see the enemy, you can link it to the compromise of the church. Our kids are being controlled by homosexuals and feminists. Why? Because the church compromised. Our kids are believing the lie of evolution. Why? Because the church compromised. Thousands of baby boys and baby girls are slaughtered everyday through abortion. Why? Because the church compromised! And, beloved, if we don’t repent we will suffer dearly.

So, how do we repent? I can’t give you a formula. All I know is that we have to preach the truth. We have to deliver God’s mail. We have to stand in the gap. We have to rebuild the wall. We have to return to God’s Word! No matter the cost! Is there a cost? Most assuredly there is. But are we willing to pay it? If I’m not, then I might as well just hang em up.

Beloved, I come to you a broken man, yet I am so far from where I need to be. I hope you know that I do not come to you with a “holier than thou” attitude. If you only knew how much of a wretch I feel like. When I say that the church needs to repent, I definitely mean myself. I have realized that, the more I learn, the more I see that I am still a man…that I can’t do anything without the Lord…that I have to die everyday. Why? Because my flesh will destroy me. Yes, I have found repentance, yet I still find myself repenting. And I’m sure I will continue having to repent until I am redeemed; when, on that glorious day, I am relieved of this grotesque flesh that I battle so fiercely and frequently. O that this day would come soon! How I long to see the Lord. Yet how I fear it. It is so scary to think of all that I will have to give an account for; not only things I have done, but I am more afraid of those things that I have not done. All those souls that I passed by and didn’t preach the truth to…all the babies I didn’t fight for…all of the worldly things I couldn’t give up…

We must repent, beloved.

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant

WHAT IS WORSHIP?

Hello beloved,

“But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”(Joshua 22:5)

As I was reading recently, from my daily Bible reading schedule, this verse stuck out to me. I have been doing an awful lot of thinking and writing on the subject of worship lately. A short while ago, I found myself writing, for hours and hours, on Romans 12:1, and this Scripture from Joshua perfectly backs up the conclusion I have come to. What is that conclusion? Well, read on and find out.

Joshua here, is blessing, and giving instructions to the Transjordan tribes, as he was sending them to take possession of the land that Moses gave them. This land was on the other side of the Jordan. (But make no mistake about it. Though Moses gave them this land, and the Lord allowed them to have it, these tribes were not in the perfect will of God. No; the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh; were riding comfortably in the permissive will of God: a very dangerous place.) But, anyway, let’s talk about worship.

As I was reading, the Lord brought Joshua 22:5 to my special attention. What especially stuck out to me was the phrase “serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” The Holy Spirit reminded me that, in Romans 12:1, the Greek word for worship is also service. (The greek word for service is latreia, which means the intelligent service of believers in presenting their bodies to God, a living sacrifice. It is interchangeable with “worship”.) So, worship and service are one in the same. The Scriptures, here in Joshua 22:5, say that we must be careful to serve the Lord with all of our heart and soul. I say “we”, even though he was speaking specifically to the Transjordan tribes, because the Word of God speaks to us all.

When I was writing, recently, about true worship, I used Romans 12:1 to show that the word of God’s definition of worship is service. Basically, when you hit the streets to war against Satan, you are serving God. Therefore, you are worshiping him. Also, when an artist paints a picture for the Lord, that is a form of worship. When the ushers take up the offering, they are worshiping the Lord. The believer giving his or her offering is worshiping the Lord. A preacher delivering a sermon; a writer, writing for the Lord; a father reading the bible to his children; or a teenager lifting his or her hands in praise to the Lord; all of these people are worshiping the Lord.

My point is this; most Christians think that worship is something you do while listening to “worship music”, or it’s something that takes place for an hour or so during Sunday morning service. But, as usual, most Christians are wrong in their theology. Worship is not confined to lifting your hands, jumping around, playing music, singing, etc. Though these things can all be forms of worship, most don’t understand that they are only some of the ways in which to worship God. They are, by no means, the best, or most important, way.

I’ll say it again because it’s worth repeating. Worship is serving the Lord! In Romans 12:1, worship is defined as offering your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. And Joshua 22:5 tell us to serve the Lord with all our heart and soul. That, beloved, is worship.

And finally, here is the point I feel so compelled to bring to you. A large majority of the charismatic church has come very close to making what they call worship into an idol. Here is why I say that. Most charismatic churches put their focus on worshiping the Lord more than anything. And I believe that is how church should be. However, not if the church does not understand what worship truly is.

We have already pointed out that most do not understand what worship truly is. Most would say that worship is what you do, as far as lifting your hands, singing, dancing, etc.; to show your love for Christ. This totally negates Psalm 24, which explains how important holiness is, when it comes to worshiping the Lord. Beloved, allowing God to set you apart and make you holy is both a requirement and a form of worship. Unfortunately, we think that, if a teenager is lifting his or her hands and dancing in a worship service, than he or she must be on fire for God. The parents are so happy to see their child dancing before the Lord, yet are not broken at all when this same teenager has no interest in reading his or her Bible at home. Beloved, this teenager is not worshiping God. He or she is either taking part in “what everybody else is doing”, or is just in it for the adrenaline rush, much like a rock n’ roll concert.

Anyway, my point is that the charismatic church has, for the most part, put “worship” as their main focus. Of course, they would never admit that they don’t properly define worship, but, if you have eyes to see, you will have to agree that they don’t. I would say that, what they call worship, is only a form of worship; and, in many cases, is not worship at all. And a major problem is that most charismatic churches make it more of a priority to have a good praise team and worship band, than to have a holy praise team and worship band.

So, to finish things up, let’s go back to Joshua 22:5. Joshua is giving very important instructions to the Transjordan tribes so that they might stay under God’s blessings, instead of his curses. He listed the following six things:
1. Keep the commandment and the law.
2. Love the Lord your God.
3. Walk in all his ways.
4. Obey his commands.
5. Hold fast to him.
6. Serve him with all your heart and all your soul.

Beloved, this is not the only scripture that backs up my following point. In fact, you will find this truth from Genesis to Revelation. My point is that, if singing songs and dancing before the Lord, were so important, Joshua would have certainly listed that. I would like to say that these are, by no means, bad things. They are, in fact, good things, as long as they are not made the focus.

Now you have to understand that I love singing to the Lord and engaging in joyful acts of Praise. But, the mistreatment of these things must be confronted. The church needs to repent. We need to get back to the truth of God’s word. We need to serve him with all our heart and all our soul.

Well, let’s close things up. I think we can all agree now, that a majority of the modern American church has no concept of what worship truly is. I hope that we now, can see that worship is not confined to acts of praise, which take place during a “worship service”. The Bible is very clear that our spiritual act of worship is offering our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. Now, that might mean something slightly different to each of us. I pray that we all seek God and search our hearts to find what God is truly seeking of us. But, no matter what, we all must die to ourselves. In doing so, we are truly giving God our worship. And it is this worship which pleases our Father, in Heaven.

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant