Restoring The Glory Of God In The Church

Restoring the Glory of God in the Church

After Covid-19

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - Churches are beginning to open after several months of being closed due to Covid-19/Coronavirus. There are many changes that are in place or will be in place, social distancing will have a big impact on church as we were used to. Mask being passed out at the door and maybe even temperatures being taken will be possibly the church norm. Handshaking, hugs, laying on of hands, shared micro-phones, possibly the abolishment of choirs are changes that will be different in church after coronavirus. There will be many different protocols for the church and many changes will be in place. Of all the changes that will be taking place in the church after Covid-19 one change that needs to take place in the church is the glory of God must return.

When Jesus died on Calvary’s Cross at that very moment the Bible says that the Veil of the Temple was rent from top to bottom giving access to all into the Holy of Holies, however; when it was torn it revealed that the Ark of the Covenant was not there, the Ark of the Covenant represents the presence of God, and for many many years the ritualistic services were taking place, behind the veil, behind the façade of church programs, church offerings, church meetings the presence of God was not there. Sadly, the corona virus has caused the churches to shut down and in the process of the shutting down of the churches it has been revealed that the glory of God is not there.

It’s time for the restoring of the glory of God to take place in the house of God. It’s time for the church to reposition itself so that it becomes the vehicle which gives God His right to be WHO He is and what He wants to do or accomplish in this world through it.

We don’t need another meeting, another offering, another song, another convention, another banquet, another special speaker, another concert, another project, or another program and still have the changed life be a rare entity in our churches.

For far too long there has been an almost subconscious mentality in the church of today that places emphasis on the outward appearances of Christianity and the spirit of religion instead of concerning itself with what is truly on the inside. We sadly have become conditioned to look at appearance, presentation, professionalism and showmanship and mistake it for real success and the true glory of the Lord above meeting the everyday, pressing, often unspoken heartful desires and needs of souls. James 1:27 says “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”. Too easily we often are impressed by the trappings of the production of the church and fooled by its big names and big conferences. Creating a void separating the culture of the modern-day church from the heart of God as revealed through Jesus in the Gospels and through the early church.

We must stop and ask ourselves the question am I tired of hearing about double portions, debt cancellation anointings, God wants you to be happy, sugar coated church services that have a form of godliness but no power of transforming lives at all. The answer should be and prayerfully I pray that it is YES. Then let us Restore the Glory.

PRAYER.

Restore means to bring back to a former state of being.

SCRIPTURES: - Haggai 2:9 “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts”.

BACKGROUND: - 1 Samuel 4:10-22, 2 Samuel 6 Israel suffered a terrible loss. Israel had 30,000 soldiers killed in one day. They had another 4000 killed the day before. 2 priests, the sons of the high priest Eli, were killed in the battle, and the Ark of God was captured by the Philistines.

When the news got back to Eli, he fell off his seat and broke his neck and died. His daughter-in-law went into premature labor, and with her dying breaths named her son “Ichabod” meaning, “The glory has departed from Israel.” After some 20 years David is now King and he desires to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem = Restoration.

Definitions: - The word Ichabod means the glory has departed, the word kabod means heavy glory. Church either God is with us or He's not.

Glory from the Latin Gloria, "fame, renown" is used to describe the manifestation of God's presence.

UNDERSTAND: - It is imperative that we understand that the glory of God isn’t just a feeling, an event or an Old Testament experience - it’s a culmination of everything contained in the character of God. It has been called the manifested presence of God, but it’s more than just a presence, it’s power, it’s authority, it’s Love, it’s help for those that are hurting, comfort for the comfortless, it’s deliverance and salvation that resurrects, restores, delivers, overcomes and transforms and it belongs in the church.