I went to a similar session 2 years ago at exactly the same venue, and I'm very much thankful for the work God is doing through his life. I remember a verse in the bible that talks about worshipping God in the famous conversation in the bible with the Samaritan woman by the well:"
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
John 4:21-24
Now, what is meant by in Spirit and in Truth?
In this talk Pastor Stephen Tong defined reason as a way we make sense of the world around us and the 2 greatest knowledge fields of man is Science and Philosophy. Science is a quantitative way of experimenting and discovering the truths about the physical world. Philosophy can be defined as a field of thought dedicated to the systematic and rational way of making sense of the world, by thought that is.
However, many fields of knowledge of man add up and still is finite in a sense we cannot fully understand or grasp things beyond the reach of the 5 senses or our thoughts. Hence Faith comes into place to allow us to accept things that we are yet to fully grasp. That though is not blind faith we are talking about. Blind faith is dangerous and I have heard of many stories of how children die of some little illnesses because of the fact that their parents are not willing to seek medical help from doctors, claiming God will heal them. I believe firmly that God put doctors around us for a reason and miracle healings sometimes happen but is out of the norm (that why it is a miracle, as it does not happen all the time)
Putting faith in God doesnt mean blindly believing God without any basis. For the christian perspective, the Bible is a book that records an amazing testament of many 'Faith Giants' whom have placed their trust in God. The faithfulness of God in these accounts form a basic understanding of God's character as One who Loves, is faithful in keeping His promises (covenants), unchanging, Holy.. and etc. If we do not even know who is this God we believe in, how can we be sure of what we hope for?
And that is why we need to worship in Spirit and in Truth. We know that the Spirit will be with us because of Jesus' promise in John 14:15-17:
"16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will bea]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a] in you."
God gave us the right to be as children of God when we repent of our sins and let Him take control of our lives as our personal Lord and Saviour. He also grants us the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Truth to guide us and be our comforter to empower us in our walk with Him. In 1Cor 12:3 it says:"Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit."
He also gave us His only Son, in Christ Jesus who says in John 14:6 :"6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." There is also the Word of God inspired by God Himself in the Bible we have. If we truly pay attention to the truths of the Bible God revealed to us, and practice them, we will be worshipping in Spirit and in Truth.
Anyone who claims to know God cannot just worship alone in Spirit, because he will have a weak foundation in the knowledge of God. Neither can a christian only worship in the knowledge of God, following the Law of the Bible but only as a knowledge itself and in self righteousness.... (this is what we call as Pharisees in bible, hypocrites who 'follow' the Word of God but do not practice what they preach).
Hence, there needs to be a balance of both, in faith and reason, in Spirit and in Truth.
Today I learnt many new perspectives too just hearing Dr. Rev Tong speak. May God really open our spiritual eyes to know Him as well as the hunger to dig into His Word for truths.
Just attaching a faith a reason video here for your viewing pleasure.. alot of it can be found on youtube... XD
On "Is our God the only God or Trinity?
God Bless!!
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