My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord

INTRODUCTION:

(found on http://forerunner.com/forerunner/X0585_Asbury_Revival_1970.html)

One morning in 1970, without warning, all heaven broke loose during Asbury College’s 10 a.m. chapel service.

“When you walked into the back of Hughes Auditorium … there was a kind of an aura, kind of a glow about the chapel,” said Dr. David Hunt, a Louisville physician who was then a student.

“I always have been reminded of the verse ‘Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.’ You just walked in and sensed that God had indeed sent His Spirit.”

The service, a routine meeting, was scheduled for 50 minutes. Instead, it lasted 185 hours non-stop, 24 hours a day. Intermittently, it continued for weeks. Ultimately, it spread across the United States and into foreign countries. Some say it is being felt even today.

On February 3, 1970, students and faculty members had shown up at the college’s chapel, Hughes auditorium, for what they assumed would be one more routine meeting.

Students were required to attend chapel services three times a week. Asbury, in Wilmore, a city of 4,300 about 16 miles south of Lexington, is an interdenominational Christian college whose roots are in the Wesleyan tradition of the Methodist church. (John and Charles Wesley, brothers, were 18th century revivalists.)

On that Tuesday morning in 1970, Custer Reynolds, Asbury’s academic dean and a Methodist layman, was in charge. President Dennis Kinlaw was traveling. Reynolds did not preach. Instead, he briefly gave his testimony, then issued an invitation for students to talk about their own Christian experiences. There was nothing particularly unusual about that.

One student responded to his offer. Then another. Then another.

“Then they started pouring to the altar,” Reynolds said. “it just broke.”

Gradually, inexplicably, students and faculty members alike found themselves quietly praying, weeping, singing. They sought out others to whom they had done wrong deeds and asked for forgiveness. The chapel service went on and on

Sandra Seamonds, an undergraduate at the college, was late. She burst through the door and exclaimed, “You simply wouldn’t believe what’s happening at the college,” according to J.T. Seamand’s book, On Tiptoe With Love.

She was right. Her dad didn’t believe. Eventually, he went to Hughes Auditorium to investigate. The 1,500 seat chapel was packed. When he entered, J.T. Seamands felt as if he had been baptized in an unaccountable spirit of love, he said. His skepticism vanished.

“I said to myself, ‘This is not of man,’” he recalled recently. “‘This is of God.’”

‘The Lord walked in’

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WHAT HAPPENED?

WORSHIP BROKE OUT!!!

* When a child of God reminds themselves where they were BEFORE God and where they are NOW WITH God, it causes them to want to give God the highest praise, honor, and glory.

* As we look at this passage of Scripture, we find that all that Mary could say at the thought of what was placed inside of her was, "My soul doth magnify the Lord."

"Worship is the missing jewel of the church." - A.W. Tozer

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE CHURCH WORLD?

So many have gone from being a people of praise to a crowd of complainers.

From Blessing Hunters to Fault Finders

From Joyous people to a Critical Crowd

From Worshippers to Complainers

* So many spend their time always looking at their problems and not the problem solver.

* They go to church out of routine and habit.

* They go in and leave the same way they went in.

* They invest very little if any and they leave receiving what they put in--- little to none!

* A question that everyone that is sitting in the Houses of God around the world today need to ask is, "Why did I come to church this morning?"

* So many across the church world go to church to fill a spot on a pew, pray that the service doesn't last too long, and go home feeling about themselves for going to church.

* God is looking for some people that will say with the Psalmist:

"O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." - Psalm 34:3

* Our worship should freely flow from our hearts, lives, and lips.

* Our worship brings us into His presence.

"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." - Psalm 22:3

* In His presence is:

(1) Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory.

(2) Peace that Passes ALL Understanding.

* In His presence:

(1) We begin to see things and people as He sees them.

(2) Our will fades and His will becomes our desire.

(3) We leave talking, walking, and living differently.

* I make it a point in my walk with God to ask myself, "Have I grown in God in the past year, six months, last three months, or am I the same I was a year ago?"