Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Mystery Of Worship As The Traverse To Glory (Part 4): Sermon By Bishop Gobanga

The woman said to Him, Sir, I see and understand that You are a prophet. Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [Jews] say that Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary and proper to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither [merely] in this mountain nor [merely] in Jerusalem. You [Samaritans] do not know what you are worshiping [you worship what you do not comprehend]. We do know what we are worshiping [we worship what we have knowledge of and understand], for [after all] salvation comes from [among] the Jews.

A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers. God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality). The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He Who is called the Christ (the Anointed One); and when He arrives, He will tell us everything we need to know and make it clear to us.

John 4:19-25 (AMPC)

Worship is a transition between time and glory. It is the transition between the element of limitation to the state of consummate glory in eternal bliss.

Worship is the transition between the fragments from Religion and  is a mixture of truth and tradition in varying shades of grey where worship in the Body of Christ means different things to different people.

In the Body of Christ, worship has been reduced to tradition based on what the fathers of faith have taught.

Worship has also been reduced to an esoteric experience where people want to appear more superior than others. Many churches focus on creating worship experiences instead and miss out on the reality of worship. This is one of the weaknesses of the Pentecostal movement.

Reality is the embodiment of the exchange between the object of worship and the worshipper. God desires that experiences should usher one to another realm of reality.

Worship has been reduced to entertainment in the Body of Christ and therefore the Church has lost its purpose of existence. Unfortunately, we may be born again but have a mindset that worship is based on particular denominational teachings. We need to reintroduce the heart of worship in Church. 

Worship has to be God-centered and worship can only be God-centered if it is Holy Spirit initiated. The Church’s first order of business is to worship God and serve Him and not to run programs. The “script” of Churches must be Spirit-led. Our programs should be submitted to God and the superintendence of the Holy Spirit.

The Church and the people belong to God and not the Church Leadership. We need to allow free flow of the Spirit in the service. The first purpose of any Church body is not to be known but to worship God. When you worship God, He will give the outline of our programs. Worship should be what is prescribed by God.

It takes the faith to access the realms of glory. Worship should be totally devoted to God.

The first purpose of man is worship God and serve Him. Many people leave Church because they have shifted focus from God to man. True worship should be in obedience to God’s word. True worship consists of all attitudes and actions in line with the devotion of obedience of God’s word. Worship and obedience cannot be separated.

Worship is an attitude of the heart whose transport is faith. It is a transition from one point to another. The heart must be transported by faith to connect to God. Unless the heart is sincere and contrite, it cannot connect with God. Anyone who is disobedient to the Lord is not a true worshipper. Every area of your life must be subjected to the Lord.

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1 (AMPC)

The first form of worship is not music but living a life of consecration. All areas of one’s life should be subject to the obedience of God. Your life must be a living sacrifice. There is a place of death to self.

When your life has been placed upon the altar of God as a living sacrifice, then you’ll experience the glory of God. The Holy of Holies has the mercy seat upon which blood was poured. Glory does not respond to anything other than blood which signifies life. God wants our entire lives to be a holy, living sacrifice. Glory comes with judgment c.f. Ananias and Sapphira.

If God wants everything, He wants everything. There was a grace to give in the early Church. However, Ananias and Sapphira disobeyed and they were then consumed. We need to be careful of what we withhold from God. 

Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place? 

Psalm 24:3 (KJV)

Who shall ascend translates to who will ascend to a higher dimension of glory. Who is willing to change his/her perspective so that they may have an encounter with the Lord? You need to change your perspective to access God. 

You cannot go the place of ascension if you are fixated. To go higher, you need to let go of anything lower. To go higher, you need to be light.

Just like a helium balloon, the Spirit of God must infuse us with His power for us to be light and ascend to the
realm of glory.

We need to be faithful to God in so far as a worship. We need to be wary of having a religious mindset.

The word of God serves as a standard by which we should conduct ourselves.

When you are critical of people, you must be wary that God may want to use them to bless you.

The Samaritan woman was sincere but sincerely wrong. This is the bane of many people. They are sincere but miss-out on the heart and mind of God. The Samaritan woman was influenced by her forefathers.

You can be sincerely faithful and committed but end up in hell since you did not know God. The outer man must be broken to minister to the Lord. 

The Samaritan woman needed a revelation of God for her to get out of religion. We must come to the place where we let go of traditions.

Worship is personal. It is an individual’s business with God. Just because generations think that they are right in a mode of worship, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is approved by God.

People are unwilling to change their mode of worship because they want to stick to old ways and yet we shouldn’t be slaves of tradition. Others want hymns and shun spiritual songs. Some are stuck to their imagination of God – creating idols in the mindsets of saints. We must take them down.

Our worship should be dictated by Jehovah God alone. True worship leads to the fruit of the Spirit. This is what counts on eternal scales. 

There are many people who are faithful to a form of religion yet there is no hope for their souls. We need to ask and question the things we do in our Churches.

To religious people, worship is a physical exercise.

Good intentions do not mean they are right before God. Our focus should be Christ. Your intention doesn’t in any way replace the standards of God’s word. Your intention isn’t God’s standard.

The intent of worship is to be nourished in the presence of God. This is the change maker in our fellowship one to another. If your worship is empty, it is not an issue of the music or the pastors. It is an issue of self.

We need to be focused on God and not after His promises. Be caught up in chasing after God’s heart. We need to seek first the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness and all things will be added unto us.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that worship is not confined to a time and a place. God can be worshipped anywhere.

We worship God from our spirits and not minds. Our mind’s follow suit by receiving divine truths. 

We worship in spirit because we are first spirit beings.