Thoughts from the weekend

Whew....busy, busy, day. Our church staff has not entirely been together for a couple of weeks. Lots to catch up on.

The weekend was wonderful. Christie and Andrew came from Michigan (with Georgia), Becky flew in from New York and George drove in from Springfield.

We didn't do a whole lot except eat (and eat and eat and eat) and kind of chill out together.

Georgia is walking now, and I can't wait until she starts talking. I could tell that the words were just about ready to come out.

I am extremely proud of all of my children. And I love them all very much.

Yesterday Sunday morning service....what can I say....powerful...God's spirit moved in a powerful way.

The subject: worship. The way we worship. Why we worship like we do. And then...we spent time around the altar enjoying God's presence.

I was so pleased that our church fmaily responded like they did - wanting to be with God, hungering for more of His Spirit.

One woman was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to use her prayer language.

One thought from my sermon that I want to emphasize.

Jesus tells us in John 4:24, that we are to worship Him in "Spirit" and in "Truth."

We are to worship God in spirit.

I applied that to the fact that many times we experince God in a certain period or season of our lives, perhpas even in a revival.

During this season, or during this times of revival, certain tunes are sung that bring you into the presence of God.

Upon leaving that season, there can be a reliance upon the emotions that you felt while you experincing God with a certain song(s) rather than seeking God's spirit.

For instance, when a song is being played from the 1970's on the radio, it brings back certain memories and feelings. I can almost (and many times exactly) tell you where I was and who I was with when I heard the song.

When Debbie and I were dating, certain songs were labeled, "our songs," because we heard them together and they are very meaningful to us. It brings back certain emotions.

You see, if we are not careful we can begin to long for certain choruses or hymns from the past that just naturally bring about certain emotions and rely upon those emotions and think that we are in the present of God.

Not so. We must constantly seek for God's spirit (with new or with older tunes) as we sing and as we seek to be in his presence.

Don't mistake human emotions for spiritual ones, spiritual emotions brought about by a spiritual encounter with God.

Anyway, just some thoughts for a Monday.