Together Series

“Close Encounters”

Pt. 4 - Together

Review – Do a test. What is the process? And so to fulfill that process we must begin by having a close encounter. We started this whole thing off by declaring that we want to be a 2 Chronicles 5 church where the glory of the Lord fills this place and our lives until we can’t stand it and those around us can’t stand not to have it. Then we said that in order for this to happen we had to meet God on His terms. Do you remember what those terms are? Hungry. Honest. Holy. God will not back down or negotiate on these conditions. He will not give in or bend. We meet Him on His terms or not at all. Then last week we said that in order for us to have a Close Encounter we must take time. We must prepare so that we don’t miss kairos moments or divine appointments with God. We cannot afford to save chronos time if it costs us kairos time. We will be required to slow down a little in order to get in touch with God. As we wait on Him we become wound up in Him and we renew our strength. What we wait on we wind up with.

That brings us up to speed and positions us for the final message in this series. There is one final element that we must deal with in order to experience a close encounter with God.

I want to draw your attention back to 2 Chronicles 5 for just a moment. I am not going to read the entire passage, but I want to direct your attention to one statement and then I want to jump to the New Testament and read the account of what is perhaps the most profound close encounter that our world has ever seen or known.

2 Chronicles 5:13 – “13The choir and trumpets made one voice of praise and thanks to God—orchestra and choir in perfect harmony singing and playing praise to God: Yes! God is good! His loyal love goes on forever! Then a billowing cloud filled The Temple of God.

Maybe you didn’t catch the key ingredient in this passage. However, now as we jump forward into the New Testament maybe it will become clear. If not, I will explain in a moment.

Turn to Acts 2:1-4 – again this is perhaps the most profound and powerful close encounter ever described in Scripture. Don’t just listen to what happens. Listen to find out how it happens.

1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Any Pentecostal worth their salt can tell you what happened. We just aren’t very good at figuring out why it happened. Notice that verses 2-4 tell us what happened. Verse 1 gives the key to why it happened.

So let’s try to tie the two passages together for you. 2 Chronicles 5:13 - 13The choir and trumpets made one voice of praise and thanks to God—orchestra and choir in perfect harmony. Acts 2:1 “and when the Day of Pentecost was fully come (which, by the way, deals with the time issue) they were all with one accord in one place.

The key in both passages for encountering the power and presence of God was being together or being in unity.

The challenge is that we all want the power and the presence. However, we are very seldom in total unity. They made one voice. Perfect harmony. In one accord. When was the last time you went to church and found it a place where there was perfect harmony? Everyone was in one voice? In one mind set? All marching towards the same goal and the same purpose?

And yet, I have just shown you from Scripture that if you want profound presence you must have profound unity! We have forgotten this truth even though we learned it in children’s church. You learned it there didn’t you? Come on get a partner and sing it with me. “When we all pull together, together. When we all pull together how happy we will be.” Even as children we stumbled on what may be the most important element to having a close encounter with God. Unity. Togetherness.