Bended Worship Ministry

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,
that you should follow in his steps.” This is how Peter put it [1 Pet.2:21] and many more places in the Bible you could see such tone continually emphasized, what more of the many examples of those who have followed Christ before us and even now these present times of those who truly and faithfully stand in the gap.

The Lord Jesus himself said [and what more example of an emphasis we need!], “and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” And because we have pampered brothers and sisters with the love and grace of God we see [no matter how we will excuse ourselves] Christians that are not ready for what will come and that are just there going along with the flow of the world. I do not mean to disrespect the love and grace of God, actually, if we truly will tell believers the true intent of God’s grace and love we will see already Christians that are there standing in the gap!

But what does it say?

“To this you were called…” To this I am called. Does this speak to you even as it has spoken to me? Do you see yourself as someone called to this? I know that I am called to this and count it a privilege. And that this will fill my life…my expectations [the Lord faithfully and mercifully give grace].

There are three things here. Notice the progression.

Christ suffered for you

This is the first and it says there…”because.” As a believer it says there that you are called to this because Christ suffered for you! Today we fear tell believers that they will suffer, that the service of the gospel carries along with it a life of suffering. Like one preacher say it…we sugarcoat the truth!

But what is this suffering? Is it just the difficulties of life that everyone else experiences? Here we fall short. We have taken suffering as general, as just the daily difficulties of life. But what does the Lord say “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” [John 15:20]

It says it clearly there; the suffering is…”because Christ suffered for you.” This is not just some difficulties. This is what the Lord meant when he said we will have troubles. It is troubles and suffering that come along from one’s faithful and courageous stand for the gospel! And to this I am called, to this you were called!
An example left

You see this suffering did not stop at us. It is an example the Lord left. We are called to this suffering. We are called to live out the truth of this example. Well, if there is an example, isn’t it meant to be emulated? Paul said “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” [1 Cor.11:1]. How then can we see Christians walking as witnesses if this example is not emulated? And this example of a life that suffers has one purpose- “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering” [Heb.2:10]

“In bringing many sons to glory…” what a glorious calling we have. No wonder the Apostle Paul will say “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him…” [Phil.1:29 notice the tone of Chapters 1 and 2. Is not about the gospel and Paul’s life in it and the Philippians culminating with the Lord Jesus coming down, becoming like a servant with that exhortation in the beginning that this should be our attitude also]

Following in Christ’s footsteps

What a privilege? And who is equal to such a tasks…Paul quipped. God give us grace. But we are just to be willing. We are just to be surrendered. We are just to be there and say…”Lord…here I am.” And this is where those given the privilege to speak…speak! That many may be made willing, that many may see their lives surrendered and that many will step forward before the Lord and say…”Lord…here I am.”

Suffering for others, a thing that truly gives us sometimes a sense of foreboding but let us keep in mind and heart what Paul said “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” [Rom.8:16-18]

To this we are called, that the world may see and realize that Christ suffered for them too and that they may see this example of a life that is willing…yes!…even as we see ourselves faithfully, courageously following in his footsteps.

There’s something that happens in the love of God. In fact many things happen. We are speaking here of God who is the Almighty…to whom there’s nothing that’s impossible. How can I live before this reality and see His very love that was shed abroad in my heart?

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God. Phil.1:9-11

First, there’s an abounding [and that is more and more] in knowledge and depth of insight. The believer will see this. He sees himself growing even as seeks to humble himself [and sometimes God even provides those humbling situations- 2Cor.12:7]. God always do these things as we see in this prayer, these are His clear desire and expectation. He will always give grace to one who will so desire and answer to God’s expectation.

Second, derived from growing in knowledge and depth of insight [1Cor.2:9-16; 2Peter 3:17-18] is the capacity to discern what is best. And what is best but the unfolding of God’s plan that He has for you. What do you see when a believer grows in knowing Christ? You will see him laying down his life. He will have the compelling love of Christ stirred in him. Is this not what’s its says there on Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” See what happens? There will be a growing capacity to approve what is God’s will and not just that, but His good, pleasing and perfect will. God’s word will always speak as one!

Third is the fruit of righteousness and this is what God is after…that we should be fruitful. But it’s the fruit of righteousness and not just some fruits. God is after a bountiful harvest! He desires us to harvest! Is this what you see in your life? Listen to this word in Hebrews 12:11 that is in the context of discipline [God’s love will always discipline], “No discipline seem pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have trained by it.”

Do you see yourself growing in knowledge and depth of insight? Do you see yourself becoming able to discern what is best? Are you harvesting? Know that God’s love does not end at the cross. His love will always seek a fruitful work in you.

This is God’s will.

“And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”” [Gen.22:14]

When we think of God providing and of provisions we usually thinks of things. The good Lord truly provides us with everything we need, everything that can be enjoyed [and let us be thankful]…even as we asked. But to the Lord, the provision speaks of something more precious, because to Him provision is about Him, the true Bread of Life, to whom everyone who comes will never go hungry and to whom everyone who believes will never go thirsty [John 6:31-35].

This is the lesson that Abraham learned there on the mount. In the calling where God calls us: “As you come to him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ- The Lord will provide.

a. The opportunity of the offering. Is it not God who called…”take now your son, your only son Isaac…” it is God who provides opportunity for the offering [Eph.5:15-16; Phil.2:12-13]. In doing also, God calls us into Himself and there’s no other more profound God has given us to know him more but this. “Oh that God will give us ears to hear, that we will be like the sheep that knows their shepherds voice, then we will hear, we will know and we will see when God provides the opportunity. And God make us willing.”

b. The Cost of the offering. The provision of God speaks of the offering. God called us into life that becomes an offering. And He Himself provided the very cost of the offering and there will be no offering that will be accepted but those that are through Jesus Christ-God’s provision.

That is why in giving us opportunities to offer [as He provides], God calls us to Himself because He calls us in the offering that He Himself made- the offering up of His Son, so that everyone who will believe will not perish but have life.

“…as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.””

“Enoch lived 65 years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walk with God 300 years…” [Genesis 5:21-24]

Life is about walking with God. The experience of life for the Christian is in knowing and seeing himself in a day to day walk with God. And this is His call to us; that we walk with Him…just simply walk with Him. One thing that God desires most is for Him to reveal himself to us [John 14:21-23, the keeping of commands there implying that faithful walk] and this is why He calls us to walk with Him, so that we will be close to Him and readily see Him, to see him in all that he do [John 5:19-20;15:15].

To receive revelations of Christ, this alone equips a believer. God wants that every Child of him comes to know Him and experience Him firsthand! And He calls to each and every one, as if the Lord is saying…engaged me!

Want to walk with God?

There are multitudes of spiritual matters but for this just two:

God just wants you to agree with Him.

When God speaks and tells you a thing, He is not just making some suggestions as if we are to weigh if it’s okay or not, He speaks the Truth. His words are truth; they are the absolutes of life [John 6:63; 17:17]. What’s there for us is to agree. This is why one must need first to be saved because flesh can never agree with God [Gen.6:3; 1Cor.2:14; Rom.8:5-7]. He speaks to the new man, the new creation. And when a child of God is living like that and he is led by the Holy Spirit, and he is mindful of himself as a new man, and a new creation, then he walks with God [He has the capacity always to agree with God. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” The word of God speaks. And I say God speaks Truth [He is the Truth], and He speaks life [He is Life] and he just desires for us to agree.

And then we receive! We see Him and He is before us. Isn’t it what it is when we follow Christ, when we walk with Him? He is before us, and we see Him clear, and he is with us. Praise God!

So now you walk with Him and you agree.

Now what?

God now gives you the Vision.

There may be many visions that we will speak of but to our God there is only one. Yes, we may see visions but this will always speak of that one Vision and that is Christ! Listen to this…”…The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” [Heb.1:1-3]. And to Philip the Lord Jesus said, “…Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…” [John 14:8-11].

Christ is God’s vision for us. He is the revelation! We ask God for visions when God has already given us the Vision. And we just have to walk with Him.

It’s just like when God spoke to the disciples, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them,   a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” [Matt.17:5]

It’s like the Lord saying:

Come walk me, agree with me and let me show my faithfulness to you. Come walk with me and experience me firsthand, my love for you. See me also merciful and kind. I will tell you of the hope I have given you and of my power that is at work in you.

Come walk with me, agree with me and receive what I have planned for you and see how I will fulfill everything and finish this good work I have begun in you.

Oh there’s no end to this!This is God’s desire…that we may just simply walk with Him.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…, “[1Peter 1:3]

Hope is light. A life that is full of hope is a life that is full of light. The word of God says that we have not just received hope, we are birthed into it. And it’s not just some hope as having hope that is like the world which is based on temporal things, it is a living hope. And so we see here that our joy as Christians does not just rest in our knowledge of just having hope but that in the world we become the embodiment of hope. And so the light shines!

New life

As the Lord’s witnesses, this is what we are called for. It’s not actually just telling the world how God has loved, or how Christ died…risen, it’s letting them see new life [1Thess.1:4-10]. There is no equal to the power of the testimony of a new life. It is said there that we have been given “new birth”; that this is into a “living hope” and, are we realizing this. If we are, then there should be the testimony of life there wherever you are, and this hope that we have, this hope that we have become spreads all around. O’ that we come to stand and live true to who we are in Christ!

God is merciful

This is another. When this hope that is in us is testified upon and that the light of life is shining [John 1:4] then is witnessed abroad- God is merciful. You know, the world needs to see God and that he is merciful. And what’s that in God being merciful, it is that…he pardons sins [Ex.34:6-7]. How many times we have encountered someone and him blubbering, “I have no hope, I am too much a sinner, God is angry at me and God will not be able to forgive me anymore!” If they would just see the mercies of God and that he is always willing to pardon! And that’s what it’s said there, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth…” Let us live this new life, and let them see in us this hope that we have that they too may see how great are the mercies of our God.

Jesus lives!

This is one powerful truth and what gives power to everything that we have just said. It is “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” that we have a “living hope.” It is through him resurrected that God in his great mercy has given us new birth. Hope is living because Jesus lives! Yes, Jesus lives! O’ that they may see that what we have is the living God; that he is the life that we have; that he is the hope that we have.

Does our life tell of the hope that is in us?

Do our way of living tell…this new life?

Does our life show God is merciful?

Is the way we live show Jesus is alive?

You don’t have to answer that. Let us just come to God and pray. And let him make us mighty witnesses of the hope that is us.

Acts 2:42-47

Hebrews 10:23-25

What fills our fellowship? When we come together to worship God and to fellowship how is it going? Does it really fulfill what God desires? There’s only one reason really that a fellowship exist in such and such a place, that in that very place there will be an ever brightening witness of the Son He loves, that there the testimony of Christ will be faithfully proclaimed.

God’s word being preached. God’s word being preached is not to make you a better person for you are already in Christ. In his word being preached is an eternal desire centered on the finished work of His Christ. The word of God is not out just to change us but that in our being transformed we may see His longing, His desire to bring many sons to glory…”When I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself” , the Lord Jesus told his disciples. Is this not what should fill our fellowship, our talk? “When the Holy Spirit comes” , The Lord said…”you will receive power” , and for what, is it not for this-“you shall be my witnesses!”

So the question within our fellowship is this- Are we becoming the witnesses that God has called us to be? Does our fellowship produce such kind of men and women?

But God’s desire goes on and is looking for men and women that are ready to stand in the gap, men and women caught in to the vision of that grand temple being built. For sure we are not all the temple, not just yet. There are still many out there that God will bring. Where are now the vessels for such a grandiose work?

What fills our fellowship?

A praying Church. Obviously, if we say a praying Church, we could confidently say that is filled with believers that pray. That’s the word there in Acts, they gathered first to hear God’s word…they pray. Sometimes I have this thought that our fellowship has become nothing more than just a social event instead for it the very venue whereby God does His work mightily. And that’s where this utmost need for a praying Church. In fellowship we hear God’s word and what does it says, is it not about Christ who died on the Cross and him risen. That God is out to save sinners for so Christ came and laid down his life. That God is at work that we may realize ourselves the witnesses of this- His salvation.

We will hear words about love, about faith, about hope, and forgiving, that we are to trust God and more and all of this has one purpose and that is for us to be able to stand as the witnesses God has called. And here we pray…here we pray. Oh how God desires longingly to see a praying Church! A Church made ready for His every bidding. There is a great absence of a praying Church. We may say we are praying but for the most let us admit and repent, our prayers are just filled with trivial things, things that mostly concern our own personal needs.

Where is that Church that prays so that God may do His work?I ask again, what fills our fellowship?

Encouraging one another. A bringing in to be refreshed and I can’t think of a more fitting reason for this word that in fellowship we are to encourage one another. Hebrews 10:24 put this…”to stir up love and good deeds.” Yes love here is about us loving one another as Christ commanded but there is more to this for there is a place that said…”For God so love the world…” Our love for one another should have the realization of its outward purpose wherein God will show His love for the world. Love and good deeds we don’t need this anymore because we already have it. Instead we are to be its realization to those that are outside. That’s where we are to be encouraged. That’s where we are to be spurred upon so that after coming together we will come out refreshed and even all the more ready to bear the testimony of Christ to a darkened world.

This is God’s intentions for His fellowship; this is the fellowship that God desires.

1Peter 2:21

Matthew 16:24

Few realize what it means to follow Jesus. For some it would mean at the cost of everything we may hold dear in this world but for others, it just mean the profession of him as Savior and Lord. And this is right! Let us profess Christ as Savior and Lord for so he is, but there so much more in him being Savior and Lord especially as the Lord himself taught that a Christian does not just stop believing and knowing this but that he should become a disciple and a witness.

And this is where the true issues lie – That of a Christian becoming and realizing himself a disciple and then a witness. So what does it mean to follow Christ, to be a disciple and a witness? The word of God makes this clear.

To be like Jesus

“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” This is God’s work, this is where His power exerts so mightily if a believer will just be willing and see! “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Again, we cannot be lost here, for the Lord is clear in what he is doing in the believer, in the Church! They must become! We must see them becoming! For it is God who is at work! When the Lord said in prayer in John 17…”Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.” What does it mean? To sanctify is to make holy and who is Holy. Sanctification is by the truth and who is the truth. Everything that the word of God will teach will always have one desire and one purpose and that is after one have professed faith and received Christ as savior and Lord…and that is for him to grow to become more and more like Christ. And if this is God’s work in me how can I not imitate Christ!

The test of the Cross

It starts there, as a test then it becomes a way of life. Why? It is because everything will start with a decision and it will be a matter of the heart, of where it is placed. “If anyone desires to come after me…” the Lord asks. Is it not a matter of the heart? The problem with us is that we look at tests on the vantage point of the negative, of us being sinners. But God does not do so. A test comes to us on the vantage point of who God is, of everything that he has done and accomplished in Christ, of who you are as a child of God and everything he’s made available for you in the heavenly realms. Oh how victorious they are! …They who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Remember Abraham? How God commanded him to offer his son which is a type of Christ. And what did the Lord said after? “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son…”Gen.24:12c. Does God not know? He knows for sure but there is one thing that he desires- a witness! This is where many of us falters little realizing that it is through the Cross that God produces the witness. It’s the Cross that makes witnesses. Read on…”Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” We must all pass through the cross, it must become a way of life for only then life has a witness, for only then salvation is made vivid to those that are still in this darkened world. Like Isaac he passed through the Cross, and like Abraham he must also like have died offering up his only son but what do we have after…is it not life. “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal bodies.” 2Cor.4:11.

The testimony of Jesus

This is testimony of a man who died on the Cross and a testimony of a man who first rose again to life. In this and this alone are salvation made possible for the many more who will believe. Now what does it mean to follow Christ?! What will we see if someone is walking in the footsteps of Jesus?!