Benefits of the Son of God no. 35
Knowing
how to Worship God
February 13, 2004
Rev. Brian Kocourek
This morning we will study the
subject of worship and how it is that we can worship God through His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. For our text let’s turn to the Book of Matthew Chapter 14 and Verse 33 and
read, “Then they that were in the
ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”
Now,
the reason I am speaking on this subject today is because many who have come to
understand that there is a difference between the Father and the Son also
understand that the Father is God and He alone is sovereign, and the Son
of God is not sovereign in any way, shape
or form. All you have to do to know this is to understand what the word sovereign
means and then apply it to every Scripture that speaks of the Son of God and
you will find that in every instance he is not sovereign, but the Father alone
is sovereign. The Son of God could do nothing but what the Father showed Him to
do. That is not sovereign. That is showing dependence upon the Father. Jesus
said his doctrine was not His but the Father’s that sent Him. He learned
obedience by the things that he suffered. That shows again that he was not
sovereign, but God is sovereign. Jesus said the things, I teach my Father
commanded me what to say, and thus I speak. That does not sound like one who is
sovereign, because one that is sovereign is above all, and answers to know one.
Therefore
in every scripture that speaks of the Son of God it shows him to be submissive
to the Father, and obedient as well.
Now,
in knowing there are many differences between the Father and the Son, the
natural next question would then be, “can we or even should we worship the Son
of God?” and that is a very good question
that needs to be answered.
Now,
we have just read a verse of Scripture for our text showing that the men in the
boat when they recognized the one on the shore was Jesus, the Son of God, they
came and worshipped Him.
Now,
the Greek word for worship that was translated here simply means to fall prostrate
facing toward the object that one is worshipping. This falling prostrate is a
way of showing reverence and fear to the object of worship, which in this case
was the son of God.
Now,
naturally we should ask the question why would these men who were Jews do this?
These men were taught from their youth that the Scripture plainly teaches, God
Himself and He alone is worthy of our worship. In the Book of Exodus chapter 20
we read,
EXODUS 20:2 I am the LORD thy God,
which have brought thee out of the
And
in EXODUS 34:14 we
read, For thou
shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name [is] Jealous, [is] a jealous
God:
So
it is quite clear that God alone is worthy of our worship and we are to worship
none else but Him. Then why would his Son allow worship? That we must find out.
Now,
in the Gospel of MATTHEW 4:8 We see that Jesus even quoted the scriptures to
satan concerning our Worship belongs to God alone. Again, the devil taketh him up into an
exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence,
Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou worship. Now,
your King James version says “him alone shalt thou serve”, but the Greek word
here actually means to minister unto or worship.
BLIND BARTIMAEUS 56-0407 E-33
Why? When the
devil met Him when He was first
anointed, the Son of God, in the wilderness, and God came into Him, the devil said, "If You're the Son of God, perform a miracle here before me
and let me see You do it. You're hungry, make these stones bread." He
could've done it. Certainly, He could. Said, "Perform a miracle, let me
see You do it. I'll believe You're the Son of God." Well, He said,
"It's written in the Bible." Father's
Word says, "Man shall not live by bread alone." Said, "Come
here a minute. I want to show you something," took Him up on the pinnacle
of the temple, said, "Oh, you're a fundamentalist, are you? You like the
Scripture. Well, let me show you what Psalms says. Now, I want you to jump down
off the top of this temple and go right down to the ground. And just before you
get to the ground, before all the people, then come right back up again and set
up here. Oh, what an outstanding miracle that'll be." That's as bad as
dripping oil off a hand; it's not Scriptural. So the first thing you know, he
said, you know what he said? he said, "It's written here in the Scripture,
that ye shall give the Angels charge over thee, 'less anytime thou dash thy
foot against a stone, bear thee up." But He hadn't dashed His foot against
any stone. Finally, He said, "Get thee hence, Satan. It's worship... It's written that thou shall worship the
Lord thy God, and Him only shall you serve." Yes. He did what the
Father had showed Him to do.
Now,
what then is worship? The
word worship comes from two words, the
word "worth" meaning value or assessment, and the suffix
"ship" which means the state or condition of being. In
this case it is the state or condition of a certain value or assessment we have
assessed of that certain thing that we are to worth-ship.
Now, to worship God or
worth-ship God, shows we are placing a certain value or assessment upon Him. A
very High assessment or value to be exact. Now, if we have the wrong value or assessment
our worth-ship will be a wrong worth-ship, and thus a false worth-ship. Thus
there are many examples in the Old Testament that it was a fearful thing to
Worship God. When ever the Lord appeared to man, man became very frightened,
and for a very good reason. God is the author and finisher of Life. And in His
power He has the keys of Life and death.
In the Old Testament, when
the Priest entered into the Holiest of Holies, which is where the Presence of
God resided with
So
we see that to worship God we must place a certain value or have a certain
assessment of Him. And Jesus tells us in John chapter 4 what that value or
assessment is.
Now,
in John chapter 4 Jesus tells us what the value or assessment is that we are to
use as our grounds for worshipping God. There are two values that Jesus speaks
of in JOHN 4:19 The woman saith unto
him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in
So
you see outside of Spirit and truth we can not worship God. Therefore, these
values are requirements for our worship to be acceptable to God and not
considered in vain. And that is why
those who worship outside of these tow values their worship is unacceptable to
God, and considered in vain. And it is possible to worship God in such a way
that it is totally useless, or in vain to do so…MATTHEW 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for]
doctrines the commandments of men. And you can not hold the same
value for two things, for if you do, then you have two Gods.
MATTHEW 6:24 24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love
the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon.
Irenaeus
pointed out that the wrong connection of the scriptures will give a wrong
presentation of the Only True God and therefore will present a perverted Lord.
In [John 4: 22]
Jesus said, "the gentiles worship what they know not," and He said,
"But we know
what we worship," and that is the Key, you have got to know Him
who you are worshipping or you will be lost in your unbelief. He further stated
"They that
worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." And so
apart from the truth your worship is in vain. You must worship God in Spirit
and in Truth. Worship apart from a True Revelation is satanic, and God will not
reveal anything without it coming via His Prophet. So, any revelation that
comes outside of the vindicated channel of God is a part of the great
deception.
True Worship
brings True Fellowship, and the only way you can truly have genuine fellowship
is by entering into true worship. And you can not have True Worship with a
false Word. [Ephesians 4] tells us, There is only One Lord and One
Faith or Revelation, and we know by scripture that this One
Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the deception will
have to be concerning this One True Revelation. Also it will come via doctrines
of devils. So the doctrine will be error concerning the Godhead and this will
produce error in the people. In other words, as it was in the days of Elijah, the false ministry of that day were
successful in getting the people of Israel to worship God in a wrong way and thus to worship God outside of Truth is to actually worship other God's,
false Gods. That is why they
worshipped Baal, which actually means Lord. So when they speak of worshipping
the Lord, if their worship is based on wrong understanding, they are in fact
worshipping a wrong Lord, and the sad part is they don't even know it. But will
they open their heart to listen? Never. For Jesus said, the reason they will
not receive the Truth is that they have no place for the Truth in them.
JOHN 4:23 But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in
spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God [is] a
Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
Fellowship is
a sharing, two fellows in a ship. Two or more people involved in a community
effort, where sharing what is common to all is the normal behavior. But to be
worshipped is not the same thing. The word worship comes from two words, the
word "worth" meaning value or assessment, and the suffix
"ship" which means the state or condition of being. In this case it
is the state or condition of a certain value or assessment we have assessed
that certain thing.
Isaiah 29:6 The LORD Almighty
will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and
tempest and flames of a devouring fire.7 Then the hordes of all the nations
that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night--8 as when a hungry
man dreams that he is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a
thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst
unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against
Mount Zion.9 Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be
drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.10 The LORD has brought
over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered
your heads (the seers).11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed
in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to
him, "Read this, please," he will answer, "I can't; it is
sealed."12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say,
"Read this, please," he will answer, "I don't know how to
read."13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their
mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of
rules taught by men.14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with
wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the
intelligent will vanish."15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide
their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who
sees us? Who will know?"16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter
were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed
it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He
knows nothing"?17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a
fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?18 In that day the deaf
will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of
the blind will see.19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy
will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.20 The ruthless will vanish, the mockers
will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down-21 those who
with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and
with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.22 Therefore this is what
the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: "No longer
will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.23 When they see
among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy;
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in
awe of the God of Israel.24 Those who are wayward in spirit will gain
understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.” Isaiah 29:1-24
(NIV)
Then
if Jesus and His father are two separate beings, why can we worship the Son of
God as well as God Himself? Isn’t this considered two masters? No, it is not, because Jesus was so totally subservient
to God that everything you saw him do, it was because god had showed Him what to
do and when to do it. He said because of this, “when you
see me you see the Father.” Therefore, Jesus and God were one,
not like your finger is one, not in that way, but they were One in the sense of
what Jesus did and said was what the Father had him to say and do.
SHOW
US THE FATHER IT'LL SATISFY 56-0422 E-36 Now, it's many times it's been said that no man can see God at
anytime, the Bible said so. But the only begotten of the Father has declared
Him. Philip, here was very inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here
He said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?"
Said, "When you see Me you see My Father." In other words, you see
the Father express Himself through the Son. Him and the Father were one in the
sense that His Father was dwelling in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a
Son, Himself, the immortal, virgin born, Son of God. And then in Him was
dwelling the God the Father, expressing
Himself to the world, His attitude towards the people. See? Well, that's how
Christ and God were one. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
Now, He said, "When you see Me, you see the Father, and why do you say,
'Show us the Father?'
JOHN 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth
ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father? 10 Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself: but the
Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works
Notice
that Jesus made it very plain to Phillip that His Father was dwelling in Him,
and He’s the One that was doing the works. And yet we know that God is Spirit, and the
way, the truth and the Life..
Therefore,
we see in I JOHN
1:1 ¶ That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and
shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested
unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also
may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ.
And
Brother Branham said the same thing in CALLING JESUS ON THE SCENE 63-0804E 135 Notice, how is
He identified, what could He? If the Bible said, Colossians 1:15, that we worship an
invisible God. God is invisible.
Do you believe that? Then this person
coming around here with nail prints, and smoke, and blood, and everything
else, that wouldn't make him God. We worship an invisible God. He's always been invisible until He
identified Himself in Jesus Christ. Is that right? Now, the invisible God
identifies Himself in you. See? You are His temple. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Scripture says so. The Pillar of Fire
that Moses saw was not the invisible God. That Pillar of Fire was the Shekinah Glory that represented that the
invisible God was at hand. When John
baptized Jesus, the Son of God, God, the invisible God, come down in the form
of a Light, shaped like a dove sailing down through the air, the invisible God
identified in the Shekinah Glory. 139 The
same invisible God identified Himself in the Pillar of Fire, a Shekinah Glory,
when they dedicated the temple at Solomon's time. It come in and went... The
Pillar of Fire went in behind the curtains, upon the holiest of holies. The
Shekinah Glory was identified. Now, when Paul was on his road down to
Then
when we Worship God, we are not actually
worshipping the body He manifested Himself to the world through, no more than
we are to worship the Pillar of Fire, or
the rock that followed the children of Israel in the wilderness, or the cloud
in which the shekinah presence was manifested in. Then what about the Body? We know that the
Body is not God, it is not deity, so how do we worship God though His Son?
Throughout the ages man had no concept of
Who God was and how to worship Him. The Jews were the closest but even the Jews
did not understand that God was a God of
Love. They thought only of Him as a very greatt and dreadful God who ws a
Judge. This is because of the experience with Moses in
GOD'S CHOSEN PLACE WORSHIP
65-0220 44 And now, we find out that Jesus said also,
"I came in My Father's Name, and you received Me not." Then the Name
of the Father must be Jesus. That's right. The
Name of the Father is Jesus, 'cause Jesus said to them, "I carry My
Father's Name. I come in My Father's Name, and you received Me not." Then
His Name was Jesus, and Gabriel called Him Jesus, the prophets called Him
Jesus, and He was absolutely Jesus. Before His birth even the holy prophet
called His Name Emmanuel, which is "God with us." Then God was
manifested in the flesh in order to take away the sin of the world, and in
doing so, He was given the Name of Jesus. So Jesus is the Name. And the
Name was placed in a Man, not a church, not a denomination, not a creed,
but a
47
We can different upon creeds; we can different upon manmade theories.
You can go to a Methodist church, you have to be a Methodist; a Baptist, a
Baptist; the Catholic, a Catholic; but when once you're baptized into Christ
and become a member of His Body, there's no differences. The middle walls of
partition is tore down and you're free because you're in Christ Jesus; and you worship God in Spirit and in Truth when
you are in Christ Jesus. It's God's
plan for you to worship Him in Christ Jesus. Now, no church denomination
can claim this; no one can claim that. How dare you to make such claims? To do
such a thing would be an antichrist spirit, be taking away from Christ, to take
from Him. You cannot do that. Christ is
the only place that God meets the worshippers.
And
then in paragraph 49 he says, God never put His Name in any church. He put It in His Son Christ Jesus, when
He and His Son became One. That's the
genuine place of worship. No other foundations is laid, no other Rock,
"On Christ, the solid Rock I stand, all other grounds is sinking
sand." Denominations will crumble and fall; nations will pass away, but He
will remain forever. No other place that a man can find to worship God that God
will speak back to him, no place but in Christ Jesus. That's the only place,
the only place that God chose to put His Name, and the only place that He meets
men to worship. You're lost to believe anything else.
MODERN EVENTS MADE CLEAR
BY PROPHECY 65-1206 174 The Door... Said, "I will make one place.
You won't worship Me in every door that I've give you; but there's one Door,
and in that Door I'll put My Name." And where the Lord puts His Name,
that's the place that God will receive your sacrifice. We've made all kinds of
doors, but God made a Door. God made a Door, and that Door was... St. John the 10th chapter, Jesus said, "I am that Door." God put His Name in Jesus. Do you
believe that? He was the Son of God.
Every son comes in his father's name.
He said, "I come in My Father's
Name; you receive Me not." I come in my
father's name; you come in your father's name. Jesus come in His Father's Name,
so His Father's Name's Jesus (It's exactly), 'cause He came in His Father's Name. "And you receive Me not.
Another will come, and him you will receive." You'll take your
denominations and go on with them. Just go ahead, the Bible says, "They
were raised up to fulfill this place. Blind, naked, and don't know it."
Church, religion, oh, very pious, just the same as Cain was; make a sacrifice,
make everything just the same as Abel did. But by revelation it was revealed to
him what the sacrament was, not fruits of the field and something to do with your
hand. The believer can see the Word made
flesh; the others cannot do it.
Therefore
it is not the flesh that you are looking at but the Word in that Flesh, and
therefore it is God the Word that you worship through the instrument of His Son
Jesus. Remember, we are to worship God in Spirit. Therefore our worship is not
the body, but the one that dwelt in that body and that has identified with that
body and shall be identified with that Body for all eternity because he has
placed His name in it.
LOOKING FOR JESUS
54-0228E E-8 I love to read God's Word, because It is right. And my words will
fail, like any other man's word. But God's Word can never fail. It's the same
always. Well now, we want to speak, as every meeting, about Jesus Christ. And He's the Center of our worship, the Center of our attraction, the Center
of our life, all that we have and want and will be is based upon Him. He
was the One Who came and gave His life for us, come down from God, out of
glory, and was made flesh, dwelled among us. And taken upon Him the sin of us
all, the sickness of us all, bore it away to
And
don’t ever forget, God was in Christ reconciling the world back to Himself.
Then when the people fell to worship before the Son of God, it was not the
flesh they fell to worship, but the God that dwelt in that Son is what they
worshipped. Then if God is so identified with that Body that he chose it above
all bodies to tabernacle in His fullness, and to place His name in, then as
Jesus said, no man can come unto the Father except through
me. Then we should feel
free to worship God through His Son as long as we know that it is God who is
Spirit that we are worshipping in Spirit and Truth. Let is bow our heads in prayer.