"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8...."Too many people assemble at God's house who don't really believe in the power of God." Vance Havner
I came across a story recently from Vance Havner, where a pastor came across one of his consistently absent members and said, "Well, I haven't seen you in church much of late." "No," he said. "you know how it's been. The children have been sick, and then it's rained and rained and rained." The pastor said, "Well, it's always dry at church." "Yeah," he said, "that's another reason why I haven't been coming."
That story may draw a laugh, but sadly, there's a lot more truth in it than we care to admit. Too often, what we call a worship service has become more of a production that an encounter with a supernatural God. J. Lee Grady writes, "In trying to be trendy and relevant, we've replaced spiritual anointing with cool music, graphics, sermons, and programs that look and sound great but lack any real spiritual punch." The Bible tells of how His glory filled His Temple to the degree that His priests could only look on in wonder. Jack Hayford tells of the New Year's Day morning when he walked into his tiny church's sanctuary and beheld a mist everywhere in the room. He believed it could only be the glory and presence of God, and from that day on his little fellowship became a center of revival, especially among the disaffected youth of the 60's. I wonder, with the prevalence of so many churches using smoke machines, that if such a presence of His Spirit would even be noticed by the majority?
In too much of our worship, unintentional though it may be, we've become so locked into our agenda for the service that we leave no place for His. We have the right desire to draw people to Him, but we've inserted ourselves and what we can do rather than seeing Him totally free and in control of all of it. Despite all our efforts, we end up being dry rather than drenched in His presence. We can only hold people's attention for so long with our religious "smoke and mirrors." At some point they'll look elsewhere for bigger thrills, or simply stop looking and seeking at all.
In our churches, how many are coming expecting to really encounter Him in the Spirit? Or, are they simply satisfied with some good music, a nice message, and few spiritual "fuzzies?" Are we satisfied with sips and nibble of the water and bread of Life, or the crumbs from His table? Do we look and believe for the days of miracles and outpourings? Do our hearts yearn for these to the degree that we will cry out for His awakening until the awakening comes? Or, do we just go on, satisfied with our slick programs that look and sound great, but are mostly devoid of His Presence and power?
I do know this; if ever His power and presence does fall upon us, as promised in Acts 1:8. our days of begging people to come to church, and to be involved in real ministry when they do, will be over. Holy fire brings hearts to Him, and burns up all the dross within when it does. My hunger for this grows by the day. I want to seek this above all. Will you join with me?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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