EXPERIENCING GOD!

In the final chapter of Isaiah (66), God declares how displeased He is with the worship of His people.  God finds it to be vain, meaningless, and self-serving!  The people ignore God and His messages and do the very things that God has declared evil!  Some have remained faithful, but they are hated by their families who mock God and ridicule them! 

Here we have an incidence where the people are faithfully exercising the practice of worship and suddenly receive a message from God that their worship practices are missing the mark! 

How would that go down in our churches today if we were to suddenly get a message from God telling us that our worship is a colossal disappointment to Him? 

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I learned so much about worship over my years of leading the church!  My education began in my home church during my growing-up years.  It was impacted by worshipping in a very large campus church while I was in college.  Then it was further tempered by the seminary communities that I participated in for over a decade.  Then, suddenly, I was forming and leading worship in small Free Methodist churches.

I prepared studiously and read voraciously.  I experimented with various forms from liturgical to charismatic.  I sat at the feet of those who seemed to be most successful in growing great churches.  I read their books, visited their churches and attended their seminars.  I was not lacking in zeal or effort!

Over time, my passion became focused.  I wanted people to experience the presence of God the way I had experienced it so many times! 

During my thirteen years at the Oakland Church in East Liverpool, Ohio, I found quite a number of kindred spirits who worked with me to create a vibrant worshipping environment.  This coincided with the explosion of the praise and worship movement of the 1980’s and 1990’s.  God taught me so much during these years!

One example:

I began to notice that there were three sensitive women in that congregation who would often manifest the presence of God moving in our midst through the expression of tears.  As I would close services, if I saw these three women using handkerchiefs to wipe away tears, it was a signal to me that God was moving and I should tarry!  This signal never led me astray!

Then, in 1994, the book, EXPERIENCING GOD: HOW TO LIVE THE FULL ADVENTURE OF KNOWING AND DOING THE WILL OF GOD, came out [by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King].  It was one of the most formative books I ever read – and I consumed it! 

I began to form and shape worship with the hope and intention that in the process of our worship, the people would ‘experience the presence of God!’  Frequently, I experienced the presence of God even while I was preaching!  I often had to take a moment to compose myself before I could continue!  Although a man who rarely experienced tears, they came frequently as I was trying to proclaim God’s Word!

My personal pilgrimage led to being the Lead Associate Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Akron, Ohio, where I eventually became the worship leader.  Under Brenda Young’s superb and passionate leadership, this church was exploding with new believers!  Three packed-out services every Sunday were characterized by passion, spontaneity, and spiritual hunger!  People were clearly experiencing the presence of God! 

First-time attenders would often ask us why they couldn’t stop weeping throughout the service.  Over and over, Brenda and I got to explain to them that they were experiencing the presence of God!  It was something brand new to them!

When I returned to being a solo pastor in New Middletown, Ohio, after several years we participated in an awkward national survey where our people literally took about ten minutes during worship to fill it out.  It was sealed in an envelope and sent back to the creators.  Months later, we received the results of the survey and were totally blessed to find that a large percentage of our people reported that they regularly experienced the presence of God during worship!  By God’s grace and through His faithfulness, we were hitting the mark!  PTL!

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Years have passed.  I am now retired.  I no longer form worship.  I sit in the pew with everyone else.  I am worshiping in a tradition that is very formal and predictable.  I have great respect for the leadership of this church and am learning to love the people.  This church is growing – although some of this growth seems to be ‘transfer growth’ – which is inevitable when a church begins to see good things happen.

I yearn to experience the presence of God!  Don’t you?  Experiencing His presence exceeds any other thing I am capable of knowing in this world! 

Fanny Crosby [1820-1950] knew what I’m talking about.  She wrote about it in her hymn, “Blessed Assurance”:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Lord,

If these little glimpses/experiences I’ve had are a foretaste of glory divine, then I can’t wait to be with You forever!  Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Amen.