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Worship on My Terms

25 Feb
Worship on My Terms

As we go through Jude’s epistle, I’ve been posting about the offerings of Cain and Abel.

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain…
Jude 11a

What we’ve seen is that Abel was God’s designated prophet. If Cain’s gift was to be accepted, he had to bring it to Abel. This would have required Cain to humble himself.

“You mean I have to go to my little brother for God to accept my offering?”

The truth is that there’s only one way to worship God acceptably – God’s way. Cain had a problem with that.

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Genesis 4:8

The result was that Cain killed Abel. Cain’s thinking was that God wanted him to worship through the prophet. But what if there was no prophet? Then God would have to accept an offering from Cain’s hand.

Cain wanted to worship God on his own terms. He thought that God would have to accept his offering regardless of how he brought it. But that wasn’t the case.

Cain became the world’s first murderer. He was cursed for this sin.

The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Genesis 4:10-12

What was Cain’s response?

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Genesis 4:13-14

Cain said that his punishment would be unbearable. Why? Not only was he driven from the land, but he would be hidden from God’s presence.

Does that sound like an angry, hardened reprobate to you? I don’t see any of that as he stands before God.

He is starting to understand his situation. He can no longer fulfill his calling – being driven from the land. He can’t find forgiveness in the presence of God. The only advocate that he could have gone to – Abel – is dead. It even dawns on him that he deserves death.

His answer to God sounds sorrowful to me. He sounds more humble that Adam and Eve did when they sinned.

This shows the mercy of God. The conversation between Cain and God still sounds like the interactions of a father and a wayward son.

We serve a God who always desires restoration over judgment. The outcome of this event is no different. Cain was sorry for what he had done. God had a remedy.

In my next post you’ll see how the story ends. It’s probably different than you think.

Question: How has God’s forgiveness affected your life?

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2026 in Prayer, Worship, The Gospel, Spiritual Walk

 

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The Fear of the Lord Part 2

12 Mar
The Fear of the Lord Part 2

I’ve been going through the book of 1 Peter. In my last post I took a side trip to talk about the fear of the Lord. That was based on Peter’s statement about the work of holiness in our lives.

Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

1 Peter 1:17 NIV

We saw that the lord judges our works, not on the appearance, but on the quality. That’s more about the motivation that was involved. Good works may impress people, but God looks at the heart.

The way we learn about motivations is how well we serve the Lord when no one is looking.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Philippians 2:12-13 NIV

I keep emphasizing the fact that the fear of the Lord is more than simply a reverence before Him. This verse makes that point abundantly clear. When Paul uses the word “trembling”, he’s obviously going way beyond reverence.

However, we need to know how this fear should work in our lives. Remember, we’re not talking about being afraid of God. That’s not how He works. The Lord doesn’t want you to serve Him because you’re afraid that He’ll blast you if you mess up.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Romans 8:15-16 NIV

The clear teaching of Scripture tells us that we’re not to be slaves to fear. Some Christians mess this up – they let fear control them. As I said in my last post, what we should be afraid of is messing up the relationship we have with Christ.

This fear is of the loss of some of the good things we have in Christ. It’s like a loving parent who tells their child, “Clean your room or you’re not going to your friend’s party tonight.” The child doesn’t fear the parent, but missing the party.

How does that work in us as believers?

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I John 4:18 NIV

Fear has to do with punishment. That’s the same with the fear of God. Like all children – we don’t want to be punished. Too many preachers and teachers focus judgment and punishment.

The judgment of God is an important truth. But the fact is, God would rather reward our obedience than deal with disobedience. And here’s the beauty of it.

“Love drives out fear”

NOOOOOO!!

It’s perfect love. Mature love. That drives out fear. As a child, in becoming mature, I learn better and better to obey. So, the older I get, the less fear of punishment I have. As my love matures, don’t work because of fear, but because I’m part of the family.

The bottom line is that as love matures, our misplaced fear decreases.

Question: How have you seen this love maturing in your life?

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on March 12, 2025 in Faith, Legalism, Sonship, Spiritual Walk

 

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The Fear of the Lord Part 1

10 Mar
The Fear of the Lord Part 1

We’re now going through a series of posts in the epistle of 1 Peter. He’s been talking about the importance of walking in holiness. In my last post, we left off talking about the fear of the Lord.

Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

1 Peter 1:17 NIV

In looking at this verse we took note of the word “since”. Peter is addressing a people who are calling on the Lord. If that’s the case, then we must get an accurate picture of God as the final Judge.

We saw that He judges our works impartially. He’s not impressed by what we do as much as the motivations for doing them. So, I want to take some time to go into the fear of the Lord a little deeper.

In my last post I talked about the fact that many times we water down the fear of the Lord. Many teach that it’s simply a healthy respect. We need to see that it really is a fear.

It’s not being afraid of God. But being afraid of harming the relationship that Christ paid such a high price for.

Too often we only zero in on what we can get from our relationship with the Lord.

“God wants you happy, healthy, rich, full, entertained, satisfied.”

We have to understand that our eternal rewards or lack thereof are based upon His decisions. Unfortunately, there are times when we become too familiar with worshiping the Lord.

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV

Again, the word reverence in this verse is the Greek word phobo – the literal word for fear. It should be clear from this and other Scriptures that the fear of God produces holiness.

Paul talked about the day of judgment that we will face as believers. It’s not about heaven or hell, but the quality of our rewards. We’ll be judged on how we built upon the spiritual foundation Christ laid down for us.

If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 NIV

The fire is the final exam. But we’re clearly told that it’s not our works that will be tested. When you talk about building, anything listed in this verse can be used to build with. I’ve seen these structures around the world.

Even in the USA there are some pretty impressive houses made of wood. But that’s not what’s being judged. It’s the quality of the worked based upon how fire-resistant it is. God is looking for quality, not appearance.

When we look around the body of Christ these days, a question arises. Why don’t we live as we should for God the way they did in the early church? In many circles worship seems to be optional. We shy away from Bible study and prayer. I believe it all comes down to a lack of the fear of the Lord.

This is an important topic. So, I’m going to take one more post to talk about it.

Question: How much of the fear of the Lord do you see in your life?

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on March 10, 2025 in Faith, Power of God, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Worship

 

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