Since The Spirit Of The Lord Is Here - Now What?

Since the Spirit of the Lord is here Now What?

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING- Byron Cage wrote The presence of the lord is here. The presence of the lord is here. I can feel it in the atmosphere The presence of the lord is here. The spirit of the lord is here. Everybody blow the trumpets and sound the alarm. Because the lord is in his temple let everybody bow. Let all the people praise him now The blessing of the lord is here.

Therefore, I want to use Since the Spirit of the Lord is here - Now What?

Prayer:

Last week I talked about what we have traditionally called the Lord’s Prayer and how that it really is not the Lord’s Prayer, but rather the Disciple Prayer because this is how Jesus told them to pray. Let me establish or rather clarify some misconceptions about this and explain why it cannot be the Lord’s prayer. Matthew 6:12 sates “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” Luke 11:4 says “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil”.

WATCH THIS:- Jesus didn’t have debts & sins or transgressions, if he would have then he would not have been the perfect sacrifice for our sins. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”. So, we see that it cannot be the Lord’s Prayer, as I said John 17 would better be called the Lord’s Prayer and is often called the High Priestly Prayer because this is the prayer Jesus prayed just before He went and died on Calvary’s cross for Himself, the Disciples, and all those in the future that took up the cross and followed Him, including you and me and all those that might come after us.

However, last week I said Matthew 6:10 stated “The kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. I expounded upon how heaven is from Revelation 4 and what was going on as far as worship and how God was seated on the throne in the midst of worship. I talked about how we can say in earth is us (mankind) because according to Genesis 2:7 God formed man from the dust of the earth (ge in Greek) which is us. In order for His will to be done in earth (us) as it is in Heaven, we have to make earth like heaven and praise God. According to Psalm 22:3 “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel (His people)”. So, when we praise Him, He inhabits or enthrones himself in the midst of the praises of His people because earth has become like heaven.

Today I want to expand upon this a little bit. Since this is a New Year let us start it off correctly! Since we know how to cause His will to be done in earth as it is in heaven. Because He inhabits the praises of His people since He is now here from our praises Now there is something we must do and that is Worship Him.

QUESTION: - When was the last time you experienced the presence of God in a worship service? Sadly true, life changing encounters with God are missing from many of our churches. I said last week that this pandemic has killed the spirit of entertainment and now people are crying out with true hunger and thirst for the bread of heaven to feed them until they want no more.

The word worship produces all kinds of images in people's minds. There are those of us that are used to the hand clapping foot stomping shouting types of worship. Some may be used to quiet hands raised and a tear running down the cheek worship. Some may be used to a form of worship that is totally different then what others especially in the western culture are used to. However, the style of worship is not important, but the object of worship is. Understand worship is not to get you here (church), but to get God here, it is not to please you it is to please Him. For to long worship services have been either to entertain or a platform to showcase someone’s personal agenda.

Ok Bishop so what is Worship?

Simply stated worship is declaring the worth of God. The word worship comes from the old English word that means "worth-ship." With that definition in mind, we do not worship God for what we get out of it, but to give God the honor that He is due, recognizing His worth, His value, His place in our lives, and His claim on our lives.