Let us dare to unbox the power of the Risen Christ. The power that has been boxed up neatly and tied with the bow of religion and the label of CHRISTIANITY. 

This is not to criticize the brethren, some of whom are sincere in their faith in Christ. Rather, it is an attempt to expose the lies of the enemy under the disguise of religion. There has been a disinformation campaign from the beginning…..from the Garden of Eden to now. It has been Satan’s mission to block our view of God and insert himself as the intermediary… the one who receives the praise and worship that he craves. A position he will take and has taken by force.

Foundation Rule #2- GOD IS A SPIRIT AND THOSE WHO WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.

John 4: 21- 26 (NASB) Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

ROOT – RULE #2- WHO, WHY And HOW DO WE WORSHIP?

WHO- The ultimate focus of our worship must be GOD- as revealed by Yeshua the MASHIACH (JESUS CHRIST)

WHY- We were created to worship GOD! Our VOICES, OUR HEARTS, OUR EYES and EARS, OUR HANDS and FEET, our bodies move in rhythm and motion meant to glorify the ONE TRUE GOD. Losing our purpose and our ultimate calling has meant that we have descended into a meaningless existence, filled with things and people who are mere reflections of a living GOD. We chase a shadow and die without knowing the true beauty of the LIVING GOD.

If we read the context of the scripture in John, we must begin to understand Jesus’s ultimate battle. “You worship what you do not know” implies that RELIGION has superimposed itself to pretend to show us the way but instead points us in a direction of serving idols, serving ourselves and serving our own way rather than serving the true and living GOD. IDOLS are not only images, but it can also be anything becomes the focal point of our being and our existence. Why do we live? What is the first thing that comes to our mind when we awake? Do we live inside a bubble of rituals?

He exposes the lie- RELIGION is not the way. JESUS Himself is the WAY, THE TRUTH, and the LIFE. (John 14:6) 

HOW- God wants us to worship in SPIRIT AND TRUTH or TRUTH AND SPIRIT. 

First- Let us unmask the spirit of religion. The demon that impersonates the TRUE and LIVING God to whisper that we can somehow buy our way back into GOD’s presence by our purification rituals and by observances. RELIGION presents a form of godliness but denies the true and LIVING GOD.

If we dig up the roots of religion, we will find that we need washing with the blood of Jesus… our roots are filled with the carnal nature..THE FLESH.

Gal 5:16-25 (NASB) summarizes it well

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

CHALLENGE- WHO ARE WE WORSHIPING?

If our fruit, that is the end product of our daily life is not of the Spirit..love, joy, peace, etc, then we need to look closer at our roots to determine who we are serving. Are we worshiping the true and living GOD in Spirit and Truth or are we being deceived by religion?

Was Christianity initially a religion?

The followers of the Messiah…(Jesus was a JEW- this is a HISTORICAL FACT) first called themselves ” the WAY”. It was a path initiated by the Rabbi who taught them that He “was the WAY, the Truth and the LIFE”.

If we think about this, we realize that the Messiah was not sent to create another religion in the world. He was sent to make a way to escape from religion. RELIGION seeks to bind people like the cloth that bound Lazarus as he lay dead in the tomb. But Jesus awoke him from the sleep of death and commanded that the cloth that bound him to be removed.

Why do we seek the “Living among the dead” were the words spoken to Mary, Jesus’s disciple. Today why have we incorporated the Lord in the dead clothing of religion.

Denominations and demon-nations are meant to bind us to rituals and sacrifices. God is seeking a people who will worship in “Spirit and in truth”. Come out from among them and be a Holy People.

Those who hear God are not themselves slaves of a religion. They are the slaves of Almighty God.

RESTORE THE FOUNDATIONS

RULE #1: Love the Lord GOD with all your heart and your soul and might

This is not LOVE Religion but GOD. GOD IS NOT RELIGION.

GOD does NOT EQUAL RELIGION. GOD IS the SUPREME CREATOR OVER HEAVEN AND EARTH.

SHAKE THE ROOT

RULE #1: FORSAKE RELIGION

Forsake the love of fame, the love of self, money, the adulation of people and the things that separate you from the reality of LOVING the LORD GOD with all that is within.

ROOTS ARE HIDDEN BENEATH A SURFACE- HOWEVER POLISHED THAT SURFACE MAY BE.

The majority of us define ourselves initially by our traditions and our culture. Who, where and in what religion we are born into. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhist….. many of us define ourselves as one of this. This is who we are and many times it is the focal point and the well from which we draw inspiration and direction.

Religion is one of the keys that define us. We pledge ourselves and our allegiance to a religion because it defines us … it is who we are. We are born into it and we are ready to die for it. This has been the mindset for ages- from creation until now.

When Cain killed Abel.. it was over an offering aka RELIGION. Cain lost sight of who he was and instead took upon himself the label of religion. 

The question of our identity is not in the family we were born into, the culture, the country nor the religion we were born into. Our identity is first HUMAN. This is our root. We were created… not evolved. We were created with a spirit, soul and a body. And we turned away from God to our own knowledge.

As we come to realize our humanity, we understand that as humans, we are not gods or GOD. And as such, we cannot save ourselves from the justice of our rebellion against our Creator. We need someone to save us…. a divine SAVIOR. 

When we can peel away the covering of religion from our eyes and understand that we were born for destiny in GOD rather than religion, we will know our purpose.

It is difficult many times because we tend to group GOD and religion in the same basket. But they are two ends of a spectrum. Religion binds us to many things and chains us to a destiny of death. God sets us free and enables us to choose to follow Him to Life. He is Life. It is religion that crucified Jesus but by His Love, he made a way of escape for us.

John 8: 31 47 (NASB) says

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”

They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

Religion is not from God but it is a lie of the enemy with the intention to bind us so that we can never see God even if we profess to know HIM. 

Shake this lie from our root and seek to know God.. not from religion but from His revelation of Himself. 

Luke 11:9-14 (NASB)  Jesus says:

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.“For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Jesus declares He is the door John 10:9 (NASB) “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

RELIGION TELLS US THAT WE DESERVE OUR SUFFERING, THAT THERE IS NO HELP FOR US AND THAT WE SHOULD DIE. GOD THROUGH JESUS TELLS US WE ARE MEANT TO BE ALL THAT WE CAN BE, WE HAVE DESTINY AND PURPOSE AND WE HAVE LIFE.

John 10:10- The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (JESUS) came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

If we seek truth, He will find us. Jesus Christ is this truth. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Amen

This day- Choose whom you will serve. 

I Kings 18:21

Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”