Freedom of Worship

The Climax To An Unique Course

Note:  On Sunday,  December 26^th, 2010, I will be participating in the final session , Response To Worship in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

In the past 7 weeks we have learned:

     - The trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is in each believer in Jesus Christ

     - Every person has to face his own personal Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Booths individually with a requirement for each.

     - God’s name is “I AM”, and the rest of the Bible records his character and nature, so that we as believers can give back to Him what He has given us.

     - We have the ability as believers in Jesus Christ to seek the Heart of the Father, thus sharing His love.

     - We can be in proper relationship with mankind if we take 100% responsibility with 0% blame.

     - When the supernatural dissects the natural, we can expect “God Moments”.

     - We are Priests according to the Order of Melchizedek, thus we need to act like priests.

So the last session will be an open session of worship where we can celebrate the trinity in us, acknowledging our salvation, empowerment, and fulfillment in Jesus Christ, worshiping his character and nature through the power of His name, seeking the Heart of the Father while in right relationship with mankind, while acting as priests unto the Holy Spirit.

During this session you can read a scripture, a Logos Word, that has become activated, alive, a Rhema Word in your life, or a new song, or a poem, or a testimony of the power of His Name in your life.  Feel free to minister to one in a Christ-like relationship, encouraging one another, empowering one another as priests of the Holy Spirit.  Feel free to worship musically, verbally, or silently!  It is a time where as Priests of the Holy Spirit, a Priesthood of Believers, you can give back to the Lord what He has given you.

Being the day after Christmas, this should be a special session of honoring Jesus on the celebration of His birth.

The Believers of Jesus Christ As Priests?

The Priesthood According To The Order of Melchizedek

Note:  On Sunday,  December 19^th, 2010, I will be teaching another lesson, The Priesthood of Believers in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

Martin Luther professed the Priesthood of Believers as one of his tenants during the Reformation, yet he did not practice it when setting up church government.  He still advocated the clergy/laity relationship when establishing the Lutheran Church.

Today, the Mosaic system of leadership with priests from the tribe of Aaron has been replaced by the rabbinical system of leadership in the Jewish faith.  Today they have no priests, no temple, and no animal sacrifice.  So where does the priesthood stand?  Is it an archaic institution?

Abraham paid respect to a priest, king of Salem, whose name was Melchizedek, by giving him 1/10^th of all he had, the first recorded tithe in the Bible.  Who was this Melchizedek?  David even records and recognizes him him in Psalms 110:4.  Hebrews 7:26-37 & 8:1-13 records, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying “Know the Lord” because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest.”

So if we are priests to the order of Melchizedek, then what can we do as priests since there is no longer any need for a sacrificial system since Jesus is our sacrifice, our sacrificial land? 

Priest or Priesthood?

The Priesthood Part III: Releasing the Priesthood

Nowhere in the New Testament is the issue of  “a priest” addressed except for Jesus as our High Priest; it only refers to “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God”.  The Body of Christ, His Church, is that royal priesthood, that holy nation, that people of God. The “priesthood” is not individualistic, but corporate, for God wants “His people” to draw near to Him corporately through intimacy, worship, and service.

So when that Body of Christ gathers, God wants to be in the midst of his people.  It is a special time for God to work through His people, His priesthood, to His people, His priesthood.   This is such a different mindset than the one we practice today where we are taught the trickle effect: God works through his clergy, or staff, to his laity, his people, and it should effect the way we celebrate corporate worship when we gather.

I believe worship is just “giving back to the Lord what He has already given you,” so the gathering of the priesthood should be a time when the priesthood gives back.  If during the week the individual believer has been reading the Word, the Bible, daily and allowed the Holy Spirit to teach him its truths, and that written word has become a living, vibrant, active word in their life, why shouldn’t he be allowed to share the living active truth that he has learned and experienced amongst the people of God?  How dynamic and “intimate” would that “worship service” be if he were allowed? 

We “script” our worship services instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them. Scripted services are “safe” because we are in control of them.  Allowing the Holy Spirit to move among His priesthood, allowing his priesthood to speak His written Logos Word, the Bible, to share His living Rhema Word, and to minister that Logos and Rhema Word to one another is scary or threatening to most of today’s church leadership, for they have to give up control for that to happen.

The question is, “Who is in control”?

If we believe in a “royal priesthood of believers”, then we need to let them function as “priests” for the good of the “priesthood”, the “Body of Christ”. Let the “priests” be accountable to God to be prepared for an “intimate worship service.”  Or we can just “script” the service, print it in a bulletin or handout, make everyone aware of the planned order of worship that they are "expected" to follow, having the “staff” share, teach, and “lead worship” while the “priesthood” remains pew or chair dwellers singing the “scripted” songs and listening to the “scripted message” (and of course all the “announcements” the staff deems important), and is only allowed to give through tithing which will support the “professional staff” for all their efforts “ministering”.

Are we going to continue to play it safe, or should we release this priesthood that already exists in every church to “minister” unto the Lord and to His people. It is a different mindset, for releasing is never safe, but the releasing of this priesthood will produce profound results.

The Answer: A Perpetual Priesthood by the Order of Melchizedek?

The Priesthood Part II:  What Am I To Do As A Priest In The Order Of Melchizedek?

God established a priesthood in order for man to “draw near to God” by establishing His Son, Jesus Christ, as the High Priest who is in the heavens interceding for the saints, His believers, His priests. He who is without sin paid the price for sin, and has been elevated above the heavens, sitting at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest FOREVER.

So if we, the believers in Jesus Christ, are of the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, what are we to do?  What is our responsibilities, our duties?  Unlike the Levitical system of priesthood, we no longer have to sacrifice animals on the altar for our sins, for Jesus has fulfilled that, and the Levitical system of animal sacrifice is archaic, thus not even practiced among the Jewish faith even today.  Sounds like the priest under the Levitical system has been stripped of most of his duties.

The purpose of the priesthood is to have people who are willing to “draw near to God” and recognize what their High Priest has done and is doing to practice their calling. 

What does it mean to “draw near to God”?

Intimacy:  God not only wants a relationship with his people but an intimate one. When you hug someone, you draw them near your body, bring them as close to your heart as possible, and often intimately hold them there for a while cherishing the closeness. God wants a people he can surround with his loving arms embracing them, drawing them close to his very heartbeat, so they will not only recognize His heartbeat, but “know” it.

Worship: When one draws near to God, an immediate response occurs: one wants to give back to God what he has been given by God, for one realizes that we are only stewards of what he has given us. That is true worship.  Abram, now wealthy, immediately gives 1/10 of what he has to Melchizedek as his response to God’s blessing. 

Service: The giving back, the act of putting the sacrifice back on the altar, is exemplified through acts of service. Serving and giving are the same. Jesus came to earth, not to be served, but to serve, and his life became the supreme example to us from the washing of feet to obediently dying on the Cross. Priests by the order or Melchizedek are called to perpetually serve forever.

So God has set up a priesthood of believers in Jesus Christ, lead by His Holy Spirit, to be intimate with Him, worship him by giving back what He has already given them, and to serve in obedience. That is a far different priesthood than the Levitical priesthood bound by the Law, but not released by grace. We, the Church, need to reestablish this priesthood by the Order of Melchizedek back into the Body of Christ as it is meant to be.

The Question: What Ever Happened To The Priesthood?

The Priesthood Part I:  The Establishment of a Priesthood According to the Order of Melchizedek not Aaron!

I cannot remember the last time that I have heard a sermon about the Priesthood according to Melchizedek.  I remember it was one of the key components taught back in the 1970’s during the Jesus Movement to the masses hungering for revival, but I can’t recall it being taught in a conventional church service. Why?

Genesis 14:18-20 records Melchizedek’s meeting with “father” Abraham. “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram… Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Sounds like the first communion and the first tithe recorded in the Bible, and this was hundreds of years before the Levitical Priesthood was to be established. Melchizedek, some believe, is a forerunner figure of Jesus Christ.

So what is its significance? David, hundreds of years later, writes “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalms 110:4)  This priesthood is a permanent priesthood that is to last forever, not temporary as the Levitical Priesthood has been.

Hebrews 7 records quite a dissertation about the importance of this priesthood with Jesus Christ as its High Priest and it superiority over the Levitical system.  “The former regulation is set aside because it is weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” (Heb. 7:18) “Therefore he (Jesus, our High Priest) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” (vs. 22-23)

 Because God wanted to reestablish the relationship broken through sin through Adam, God established a priest hood through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, “by which we draw near to God.” The purpose of this priesthood is to “draw near to God”.