Why going to Church only on Christmas and Easter makes you a whore!

Post date: Dec 24, 2015 1:03:44 AM

* Having a “one night stand” with God

* Not willing to commit to a relationship with God

* Not loving or respecting God for who He is

* Having multiple lovers (idols, objects of worship that are your main source of joy, peace, comfort, security, love, truth, identity, purpose, meaning, trust, hope, fulfillment, worth, happiness, salvation; taking your time, energy devotion) in addition to God

* See Ephesians chapter 5

* An excerpt from Love Your God With All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland on Worship:

1. Worship directed at God, the intentional ascription of worth, service and reverence to God. Worship:

a) for the integrated believer, everything in life can be understood as an act of worship.

b) expressed in one's overall approach to life, and in every area of life (Rom 12:1)

c) form of occurs in specific acts of praise and exultation, such as, conscious expression of worship in the very act of study in school or in and through the vocation of a believer

2. and Nature of God

a) a person ought to proportion his respect and reverence to the actual worthiness of the object of that respect and reverence

b) God is a maximally perfect being; not merely the greatest, most perfect being who happens

to exist; He is the greatest being that could possible exist

1) no other greater god can come along and God does not grow in His excellence

c) it is impossible for a greater being to supersede God for or Him to improve Himself in any way

1) God is owed our supreme total worship when he is not, we commit idolatry (the activity of giving more dedication to something finite than to God.

2) He is worthy of the very best efforts we can give Him in offering our respect and service through the cultivation of our total personality, including our minds

3) dedication to intellectual growth is not merely to be done for dedication of the worshiper, but as an act of service rendered to God.

a) halfhearted study is an unworthy offering

4) worship should never be reduced to an act of intellect—it involves all that we are

3. Corporate Worship

a) John 4:24: God is spirit and worshipers must worship in spirit and truth

1) worship is rooted in the inner being, should be sincere and earnest and in agreement with God's true nature, His revelation and acts.

2) God is a spiritual being, He is immaterial, not a material object (which are located in specific places and times; are finite) . Psa 139:7-12

a) He is a living, active being (Gen 1:2; John 7:37-39)

3) worship is in response to a God who initiates toward His people, gives them life and shows Himself active on their behalf.

4) the emotions and will can be more sincerely and intentionally directed toward God if the mind has been given the chance to recall, understand, or reflect on truth

b) marriage and worship

1) See Eph 5:31-32

a) in ideal sexual acts in marriage, there is union, openness, mutual adoration and tenderness and a degree of intimacy not found in other aspects of the marriage relationship

b) the same intimacy is characteristic of the church's (believers') relationship to Jesus.

c) if sexual union is to approximate the ideal God intended, then a husband an wife ought to prepare each other prior to that union by thinking true, good, tender, affectionate thoughts about each other, by focused communication etc.

1) see also For Men and For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn

d) if the two simply did the act and went on with their lives, it would hardly be what God intended

e) in a similar way, this is what most of us do when we go to church

1) we need to transition from the Sunday morning rush to a time of intimacy with God and His people.

2) we need a time of warmup for worship, learning and fellowship

f) how:

1) have a handout to be given before main service that have exercise that prep one's mind for the theme of the service; word study; suggested prayer; current news events—something that engages one's mind, feelings, and will to warm up for corporate worship and prep for topic of the day

* The song “Sixteen” and the commentary by the band Demon Hunter sums it up well:

Sixteen, Oh holy day

Your time has come and passed

The rapture we've been waiting for

Has come to us at last

Sixteen for every fake

Sixteen to every whore

Wipe that dirt from off your face

Sixteen is at your door

Oh, voiceless, wasted

You soaked your heart in gasoline

Now light it up and burn

The same cycle ever-turning you is calling

It's calling

The scene is begging for a grave tonight

It always, it always will

You take the name of love divine

And drag it through your blood

Now turn to face what you have made

And mourn what you have done

Oh, voiceless, wasted

You soaked your heart in gasoline

Now light it up and burn

Voiceless, wasted

I came this far to drag you down

And watch you take your turn

Farewell to false pretension

Farewell to hollow words

Farewell to fake affection

Farewell, tomorrow burns

[Having played in bands for well over a decade, I've learned a lot of things about many of the people involved in "Christian" music. I put the word Christian in quotes, because unfortunately, many of the things that I have witnessed lead me to believe that there are a lot of people involved in Christian music that should not be adopting the term "Christian" at all.

For many of us in bands, this is a common tale. For others, it may be news. And don't get me wrong here- I'm not saying that since these people are Christians, they cannot fail. They can and will fail, and that is to be expected. However, there is a level of failure, as a Christian, as a human, without remorse or repentance that begs to be questioned.

"Sixteen" is in regard to the minute. Some people are fortunate enough to have fifteen minutes of fame. For these "Christians" that I speak of, living Godless, perverse lives, I beg for minute sixteen. I beg for the end of their undeserved fame, for the end of spiritual fraudulence, and the end of their time in this scene.

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

-Malachi 3:5]