KHANDIE'S KORNER - "November 30, 2003" | |
Timely Insights into God's Word from Khandielese Reyes | |
This Weeks Message- (scripture taken from King James Version) "No More Futile Sacrifices" Ah
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are
corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto
anger, they are gone away backward. Why
should ye be stricken any more? Ye will
revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there
is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land,
strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a
vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom;
give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Saith
the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I
delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lams, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath
required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring
no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the
calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, EVEN the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul
hateth: they are trouble unto me; I am wear to bear them.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: year,
when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the
LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye
shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Is 1:4-20) In
this reading from the book of Isaiah, The Lord God delivers a strong message through his
prophet Isaiah, to Judah as theyd turned themselves over to sin refusing to repent
and submit to the authority of The Lord. According
to this written word, they had provoked the Lord to anger by forsaking He and His
commandments and surrendering themselves to all manner of wickedness and corruption. Even when they attempted to keep the
appointed feasts and offer sacrifices to the Lord, they were no longer
pleasing to Him as they were not offered up to him out of LOVE for him, but for other
reasons. Thus The Lord declared to them
through His prophet Isaiah saying bring No
More Futile Sacrifices
The
King James Version reads: Bring No More Vain
Oblations The definition of
Vain here comes from the word Shv
meaning
deceptive, false, evil, and destructive. The
definition of Oblations here comes from the word Minchh
meaning a sacrificial offering voluntarily, a present, tribute, and/or gift
Their offerings and sacrifices to the Lord became
useless, ineffective, unsuccessful, frivolous, without any production of result and they
became as such, because the original intent, the sole reason for the feasts and sacrifices
had been removed from the heart of Judah, by the people themselves and replaced with just
a mere form of rituals. The feasts and
sacrifices unto the Lord were to be done as an act of genuine LOVE for Him, not out
of obligation and most certainly not with unclean hearts, for the Lord not only looks at
the outward act in the giving of gifts, in the sacrifice of praise, but more importantly
judges the attitude of the heart. What good
would the gift be unto the Lord, if given by the hands of one who possessed an unrepentant
heart? It would be better not to give at all
until one has done as the Lord commanded through His prophet Isaiah in verses 16-17
saying: Wash
you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to
do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow. IN
ESSENCE
REPENT! As He will not delight in the sacrifices until such is
done! The
message given through Isaiah was not only for Judah, but for the professing believer today
as The Lord would tell the Church the same as told to Judah
Bring No More Futile Sacrifices!! For many within the church today have become as
Judah sinful, laden with iniquity, evildoers, corrupt, forsaken the Lord and have
PROVOKED the Holy One of Israel unto anger. Hearts
being filled with all manner of wickedness and sin, mistreating one another, speaking evil
of one another, refusing to love,
surrendering to bitterness and hate, and coming to the House of Prayer and
Worship to be entertained rather than to lift up and exalt the Holy One
of Israel, The God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and End
to All things, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, The GREAT I AM, the one who SPOKE A
WORD and all came into existence, The ONE and ONLY GOD creator of Heaven and Earth and ALL
that is within! The church has
become a form of rituals with an appointed time to this and an appointed time
to do that. 20 minutes to praise and worship
the Lord through song, 15 minutes to collect an offering, 30 minutes to deliver the word,
10 minutes to invite those who know not the Lord to receive salvation, 5 MINUTES TO PRAY
.. All of which are
futile sacrifices if hearts are NOT right, have not been swept clean, have not been
purified, have NOT been surrendered to the Lord!
The
minutes of praise and worship through song, are we genuinely singing unto the Lord,
The one we profess to be OUR LOVE, OUR HOPE, OUR REDEEMER, OUR SAVIOR, OUR LORD, OUR KING? Although the songs are ABOUT Him, the question is are they sung TO HIM?
Being a singer, you would know if you are genuinely lifting your voice
up in loving worship to HIM, or to entertain those in the service. While singing, are you oblivious to all that is
around, where your complete focus is on HIM, or is your concentration on the reaction
received by the congregation, or the next note that shall come forth from your mouth? The original intent of worship through song was to
HONOR and LIFT UP with a clean and obedient heart, The Lord and to pour our Love upon Him
in admiration, in thanksgiving, in Glorifying His Name.
However, some (not all) have made it into a form of entertainment, where
although they are singing about him, they are not singing to him. He is no longer the star, the psalmist
has taken his place! The
minutes given over for the collection of offering, are the offerings given out of genuine
LOVE, or given out of fear, obligation, grudgingly, and worse yet giving with the
expectation of receiving something in return. What
good is the gift if not given out of LOVE? If
one is bitter in giving it is best to keep your gift, for the Lord will NOT receive it if
not given out of Love and Obedience to Him. It
is then a futile sacrifice. And
what of the one on the receiving end? Are
you distributing some of that gift to the poor, the hungry and destitute? Are you feeding the hungry and clothing the naked? Are you taking care of the widows amongst the
people? Or, are you receiving to
beautify the building which is made of brick and stone, and of which the Lord has NO
interest in, for HIS CONCERN is for the BODY formed by The Holy Spirit, not the building
formed of stone! His name is NOT glorified
through the neglect of the poor, while stones are being laid. Such He will not receive, it
is futile! The
minutes given in delivering the word, now heres where real entertainment steps in
for many! As some (not all) do not
preach/teach the Word of God that the sheep may learn and grow in the fullness of truth,
but rather for applause, to be glorified by man, and to increase the number of
participants in the Amen Corner. Many
refuse the speak the COMPLETE TRUTH, but rather pick apart the scriptures delivering only
that which itching ears DELIGHT in hearing!
You speak of blessings but refused to speak on the fact that if
one is living a life of total disobedience, such a one can expect NO blessings from the
Lord. You speak of salvation, but
do not share the fact that one must come to the Lord in TOTAL REPENTANCE in order to
receive completely the gift as salvation is not just a matter of reciting a prayer, but of
true repentance in the heart, and of accepting and receiving Christ Jesus The Lord, ALL
through Faith! For when one accepts the
Lords free gift, he/she is to become a NEW creature in Christ. OLD things are passed away, BEHOLD ALL THINGS have
become new and yet many walk away still bound by sin, still surrendered to the old nature
of the flesh, still living a life of corruption while professing to know the
Lord, ALL because the TRUTH of salvation was NOT taught!
You speak of giving to get, which utterly corrupts the
heart of the giver for the he/she gives NOT out of Love and obedience to the Lord, but
gives ONLY expecting to receive something in return.
To teach the word of God is to first be done with the desire to COMPLETELY
glorify Him because you LOVE Him and out of obedience to Him you submit to that which
Hes asked you to do, and then because of your LOVE for the sheep the TRUTH must be
given that they may be fed and GROW in the fullness of Christ so that the BODY may GLORIFY
HIM in ALL things. And those who may be
walking in darkness, may come out of the darkness into the LIGHT through the TRUTH of the
word being delivered, and the EXAMPLE of the light in the body which if its shining
WITH LOVE the warmth of such will welcome the unbeliever in that they to may become a part
of THE LIGHT!
Anything short of this, is futile. And
finally, in the minutes given over for prayer, this is an area where absolutely MORE TIME
MUST BE GIVEN! Not just in asking for gifts,
and seeking something from him, but in fellowship, in intimacy, in drawing close to Him. The church spends less time in prayer than in any
other area. Many do not pray from the heart,
but rather ritualistically believing that the more eloquent and loud the speech, the
greater its heard, but The Lord examines the HEART, not the mouth. The church needs
to take more time and intercede for your neighbor sitting next to you who may have a need,
or praying for the body of Christ in general that we may become ONE even as the Father and
Son are ONE. The church needs to be
crying out to the Lord in total repentance of sin, rather than sitting in arrogance
thinking the hidden sins of the heart are just that
HIDDEN! The church needs to pray more for The Holy
Spirits help to walk in Love, GENUINELY CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER and SURRENDER to this command of the Lord for the body of Christ
CANNOT be divided, thus the attempt to separate one from another in the manner of
denominations, education, economical status, race and such MUST COME TO AN END! We need to surrender to MORE time in
prayer individually as well as a whole! Remember
that what we give to the Lord, we give because we Love him.
What we do we do for HIS GLORY, because we LOVE HIM. In our worship, in our praise, in our giving, in
our sharing, in our preaching the word, in our leading souls to Christ, in our praying,
ALL that we do we DO out of LOVE and OBEDIENCE to him.
Anything less than this
.is futile!
I love you all so very much. Have a blessed week in the Lord and remember: Whatever we do, do ALL for the GLORY of GOD, who ALONE is worthy of the GLORY and the PRAISE! The Lord be with you this day and always! Shalom Uvracha (Peace and Blessings)
.. Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Holy,
Holy, Holy
KhandieleseDaughter & Servant of the Lord God |
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