Posts by Paul Mikhaylenko

What an irony, that the topic of worship, a topic so central to the scriptures, has caused numerous church conflicts and divisions. Unfortunately, many regard worship as merely singing and music, but that shallow definition misses the whole point. Conversely, there are others who take an opposing view saying that worship is everything you do. But this approach also becomes so broad that it offers little help to the one seeking to understand how the Creator God is to be worshiped. The various misunderstandings for this paramount term are understandable. The scriptures are not written as a dictionary, and when closely examined, they offer many different contexts and inclusions for this word. The etymology for our English word, worship, came from the idea of ascribing worth, while the primary Hebrew and Greek words, “Shachah” and “Proskuneo”, mainly refer to a physical posture that demonstrates complete subordination and acknowledgment of the superior. Strong’s Lexicon gives us the following insight in the definition: “to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence”. And this is indeed the prevalent response of everyone who stands in the presence of God. For example, when God appeared to Abraham, it says, “he lifted up ...

Alongside with many other practical topics, the subject of music was addressed in the 2009 Upstream Camp. Perhaps, it has always been that music was a highly controversial sphere of life, an extremely ‘gray’ area of life; a pliable tool ready to be used in any way, yet always maintaining an innocent reputation. The seeming ambiguity in music prompted us to discuss this topic. The intent of the sermon addressing music was not to deal with the subject comprehensively, a topic like this deserves the whole camp to be devoted to it, and even then we would only be scratching the surface. There is a reason why music has been a highly controversial area for Christians, even to the point of splitting many churches. We must therefore admit that it is a very complicated phenomenon presented to any believer. Conversely, the goal of the sermon was to prompt every believer to approach this sphere of life with full sincerity, seeking the will of God earnestly to listen to music that would serve to honor their Lord while establishing their soul. But it must be noted, that by-in-large, and perhaps unfortunately, this battle requires to be fought primarily in the heart ...