Preface: The following is the last part of a July 2018 post that I had titled....God Did Not Commission....'Make America Great Again'....and I am bringing it back as my Lord's Day post:
It's roughly twelve hours until men climb into their pulpits or stand behind their lecterns for the weekly American Christian worship service circa 2018......but will God show up? The men will show up.....the Bible will be referenced in various ways.....a sermon will be given according to any one of a number of preaching styles.....but will God show up.
How will you know? How many times in our life have we watched a movie or television show where a young man or women.....boy or girl....talks to a parent or a best friend about love. How are they to know if it is love. The mother might smile and put her hand on her daughter and say something like......'when it happens....you will know.'
Now I don't really know if that's the best way to describe it. I think that multitudes of people think that they love God in the same way that multitudes of young people thought that they were in love with another person but a year later they could hardly remember the feelings they had for the one that they....loved.....but what do I know.....my favorite poet for much of my life was Rod McKuen.....and I originally learned what love was....or thought I learned..... from old Hollywood movies.
I will tell you what I do know.....when the Bible.....the Word of God.....written to you.....when it is opened up to you with the glories of Christ.....the need for redemption.....the precious blood shed on Calvary......and the empty tomb of a risen Saviour.....you will know it! You will know it! We're not talking about emotion here folks.....we're not talking about the coolest feeling you ever had in your life.....we're talking about jumping off the stern of the Titanic as it begins it's dive to the bottom of the ocean.....hitting the ice cold water and remaining conscious long enough to call out to God.....and then waking up in a bed on the Carpathia......saved.
The power of God in the preached Word is similar.....you will know it. You will know that you are in the presence of a Holy God. The words spoken......whether they be spoken with great elocution....or in stuttering....or with a mountain twang.....it makes no difference.....they will penetrate.....you will not have merely heard sounds......you will have felt them.....you will be as lifted up into the heavens.....in the presence of angels. You will know that you are in the presence of the King of Kings. You will then sit there afterwards and reflect upon what you just heard.....and your mind will never have been as clear. Thanksgivings and praise will be pumped from your heart.....through every artery in your body......and you will reflect in wonderment at your being permitted to enter into the presence of God's glory. May God have mercy upon us in America....where the glory has long since departed from so much of our land.
