THIRD DAY WORSHIP?

By Doug Fortune

As I ministered in New Zealand recently I was asked to conduct a workshop on “Worship in the Third Day.” I thought, What an awesome topic for this teacher to tackle! I think I had even listed that on my website as one of the topics I cover. After all, I was a worship leader for over 15 years. The more I pondered it, the more I realized that I probably knew quite a bit about progressive Charismatic/ Second Day worship. I could easily conduct a workshop on that. In fact I could dig out my old notes from years past...

Suddenly I began to realize that just as every other Second Day paradigm has shifted, worship was no different. I had to stand up in front of the group and admit that in reality, I was absolutely clueless when it came to “Worship in the Third Day.” Sure, I can still pick up my guitar and easily lead a group in a time of exuberance, transition, and intimacy, weaving in Scripture reading, prayer and prophetic expression. But that’s what we’ve been doing for years. That is still a wonderful thing to do, but that’s what we’ve been doing.

In the First Day, we sang a lot ABOUT God. Songs filled with theology and doctrinal positions. In the Second Day, we sang a lot TO God. Songs filled with intimate cries of love. We even went through a strange phase in the Second Day where we sang about and sang to the devil to ‘beat up’ on him. Thank goodness that didn’t last long! Eventually I guess someone actually read 1 John 3:8 and Colossians 2:15 and realized that Jesus actually accomplished what He came to do; “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil... And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

The Third Day is different. Yes, we can still sing ABOUT God and TO God if we like, there’s nothing wrong with that (however, if you’re singing to the devil, just stop that silliness!). This new Day is different because in the Third Day WE don’t sing, God sings THROUGH us. But how does that happen and what does it sound like? I think I’ve possibly had glimpses, but that’s about it.

For one thing, my concept of ‘worship’ has changed dramatically. ‘Worship’ used to be that musical thing we did before the preaching. It was to prepare people’s hearts to receive the Word delivered by the speaker. Don’t worry, I believe it’s still fine to do that. But I’m not so sure that worship is something we DO, nearly as much as worship is something we ARE. Many are preaching about wineskins, how we DO things. I’m more concerned with the wine that fills the wineskin, what we are BEcoming. I think perhaps there are a lot of new wineskins in the Church today that are missing one thing- the WINE. “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1 Amplified Bible) We can also read in 1 Peter 2:5 about spiritual sacrifices that are ‘acceptable’, “[Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5 Amplified Bible) I believe that the only thing that really pleases God is His Son.

The book of Hebrews is quite clear when it says, “Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a BODY hast Thou prepared me... Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said He, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.” (Hebrews 10:5,8-9) According to these verses, obviously sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin are not acceptable to the Father. So exactly WHAT offering IS acceptable? The only sacrifice we can really offer that is ‘acceptable’ is Christ Himself. Friend, the acceptable spiritual sacrifices that we are to offer is the REVEALation of the deposit of Christ within us.Our spiritual sacrifice is to give back to Him the Life of Christ that is being revealed IN us. I will say that again to make sure we are getting it- our spiritual sacrifice is to give back to Him the Life of Christ that is being revealed IN us. It’s like what God is really looking for is Himself within us.

This sounds like what science would call the phenomenon of resonance. When I am not away traveling and ministering or writing books, I like to cook. Sometimes I sing while I cook. Often our kitchen is filled with the sound of Italian arias. Actually I don’t sing in Italian, the closest I can come is pig-Latin, but that just sounded so poetic as it flowed from my pen... well, actually it flowed from my laptop keyboard, but ‘pen’ sounded so poetic... At any rate, when I sing in the kitchen I sometimes can hear resonation happening. You see, we have this apparatus hanging from our ceiling that our pots and pans hang from. Sometimes when I hit certain notes, a pan will start to ring a bit. That means I have hit the particular tone that is the natural frequency of vibration of that particular pan. It is like the frequency of my voice goes out looking for the same frequency, and when it meets the same frequency in the pan, then the pan begins to resonate. I might mention that occasionally my dog chimes in too, but that’s another story. Different pots and pans will resonate with different tones because they are different sizes and shapes. Each container has it’s own frequency because it is fashioned and shaped based upon its’ intended use.

We are all ‘containers’ of God, we are all vessels, we are pots and pans in the ‘kitchen’ of the Kingdom. “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) According to Zephaniah, I believe that God likes to sing in the ‘kitchen’ too. The Voice of God that spoke your calling and your very being into existence goes out looking for the same frequency, and when it meets the same frequency in the ‘pan’, then the ‘pan’ begins to resonate. We are all different shapes of ‘pots and pans’ in the body of Christ. All resonate differently because we are fashioned and shaped based upon our intended use. You see, Third Day worship is not about a particular style of music. Third Day worship is becoming the resonant expression of Christ in the earth. Third Day worship is resonating the Voice. And what does this resonation sound like? Is it simply one note, one tone? After all, we all like the way our particular ‘pan’ resonates. No, it is the Voice of MANY waters; “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters... And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:” (Revelation 1:15 & 14:2)

Many tones, ONE Sound. Remember, it is God’s ‘kitchen’, He is the one who fashioned each ‘pan’, and we are made in His image. He is the one who predetermined the tone of each ‘pan’. Keep in mind that when I speak of tone and the Sound, I’m not just speaking of music. Third Day worship is not about just music, it is more of a lifestyle than an event. Third Day worship is not so much about something we DO, rather it is all about who we ARE. The main question we need to be asking ourselves is this, Are we reproducing A sound or are we resonating THE Sound? There is a huge difference.

The difference between reproducing A sound and resonating THE Sound is the SOURCE of the frequency. When we reproduce a sound, though it may appear to sound like THE Sound, WE are the source of the frequency. When we resonate THE Sound, the Voice of God is the origin of the frequency. Allow me to illustrate by recalling an old television commercial. They were selling a particular brand of tapes for recording. This was before the days of digital recording on CD’s and DVD’s. On the commercial an opera singer would sing a note that would shatter a wine glass simply with their voice. The catch phrase was, Is it live or is it Brand-X? This shattering of a wine glass simply with the voice is due to the phenomenon of resonance. Here is how it works- the singer must first tap the glass to find its natural frequency of vibration, and then sing the same note (frequency) back to the glass. This joining of the natural frequency of the glass and the frequency of the voice causes an increase in the amplitude of the vibrations, that can result in a vibrational impact that shatters the glass. In other words the amplitude, or the size of the sound waves, goes beyond the physical limitations of vibration that the glass can withstand, thus causing a vibrational impact. The glass shatters, and the resonation can no longer be contained.

God calls us to go beyond our physical limitations. He has already spoken a Word of destiny into the very fabric of our being, and it is ever present within us. That, my friend, is our ‘natural frequency’ of vibration. It is the ‘natural face’ spoken of in James 1:23; “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:” The word translated as natural in that verse is ‘genesis’ in Greek. We must behold our ‘genesis’ face, the face that is in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). As we behold our ‘genesis’ face in the image and likeness of God, hearing and doing that Word of destiny, we begin to resonate. We are offering back to the Father the deposit of Christ, the Word of destiny that the Father spoke into us from the foundation of the world. It’s time to resonate THE Sound! It’s time to crank up the amplitude! We must shatter the ‘glass’ and go beyond our physical limitations! This is worship! The ultimate form of worship is becoming ONE with the One you worship!

As Jesus taught on worship He said, “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. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) I think that as ‘true worshippers’ we need to closely consider these words of Jesus. First we need to ask, Who are we worshipping? Most of us worship Jesus. This seems apparent when we look at the words of our songs and the emphasis of our attention. Worshipping Jesus seems fairly safe, as we can relate to Him a bit better because He was ‘one of us’ when He walked the earth. However Jesus taught that “true worshippers shall worship the Father... for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” Worshipping the Father can seem a bit frightening. Images of thunder and lightning and smoke on the mountain top come to mind. “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:18-19) They stood far away and their assessment was, Let not God speak with us lest we die! In reality, I believe their assessment was fairly accurate. It seems that when we truly worship the Father, generally something has to die. And yes, you guessed it, WE are that something! Let us remember that the very first mention of worship in the Bible is found within the context of Abraham setting out to sacrifice Isaac; “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” (Genesis 22:5) Why is this death necessary? Because you cannot have a resurrection without a death. It takes a ‘resurrection’ to truly worship in SPIRIT because a ‘resurrected’ life is a Spirit life. This is what Paul spoke of when he said, “That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].” (Philippians 3:11) When we translate John 4:24 literally, it says God IS Spirit. It does not say God is A Spirit. It does not say God HAS a Spirit. It says God IS Spirit, that’s what He IS. Our worship must be Spirit to Spirit, nature to nature, face to face, the Christ IN us connecting to God and resonating God... in Spirit and in truth.

If indeed we are to worship in spirit and in truth, then this brings us to the question, What is truth? This makes me think of another one who asked the same question of Jesus, “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?” (John 18:37-38) The word translated as truth, aletheia in Greek, means truth, truly, verity. It is from the Greek word alethes, and its’ root word lanthano which means true (as not concealing), not hidden, not secretly, not without knowing. Something that is not concealed or hidden is REVEALED. Jesus gives us a big hint concerning truth when He said He came into the world to bear witness to the truth. He came into the world to bear witness to that which was REVEALED in His life. The word translated as witness is martureo in Greek, from which we get our English word martyr. It’s meanings include to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine revelation or inspiration, to give (to not to keep back) testimony. He came into the world as a living martyr to reveal what He knew and experienced by divine revelation. Jesus goes on to say, “Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.” Now when we put all this together, we begin to understand that to worship in truth is really to be a living martyr revealing what we know and experience by divine revelation because we hear His voice! As we hear His voice we resonate! We become the resonant expression of Christ in the earth. Third Day worship, worshipping in Spirit and in truth is resonating the Voice of God, bearing witness to the Truth.

Remember that first mention of worship in the Bible we just read of? When did it happen? “Then on the THIRD DAY Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” (Genesis 22:4) Just as it was with the first worship of the Father, so shall it be in this Third Day. Like Abraham, we must lift our vision higher to see the true place of worship. Abraham also said, “...I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come AGAIN to you.” He said Isaac was going to return with him! He believed that even if he sacrificed the boy that the Father would resurrect him. He was determined to bring a resurrection life into manifestation. Like Abraham, we must determine to bring resurrection life into manifestation! True Third Day worship is resonating and revealing the resurrected Christ-Life! Once again, it is time for a paradigm shift. For most of us our concept of worship has been that intimate place where it is just Jesus and me in our secret place of communion. Don’t worry, I believe it’s still fine and necessary to do that. However, to worship in truth is not concealed, not hidden, not secretly. In fact, worship in truth may not even happen in a church building that much. Worship in truth is openly revealing the Christ IN us, resonating the Voice of God wherever we are. It’s time to resonate THE Sound! It’s time to crank up the amplitude! We must shatter the ‘glass’ and go beyond the physical limitations of that which we have called Church! THIS is the time to BE the resonant expression of Christ in the earth. THIS is the time to resonate the Voice! “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.” (John 4:23)