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| True unity is coming TOGETHER |
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Pun intended! (lol)
5:13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" 5:14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
I read this while on vacation last week and thought, wow, worship in heaven is gonna be absolutely amazing! (Wiersbe in Be Victorious actually refers to this event as a “worship service”!) The inclusiveness of it (every creature) is astounding! Now that is UNITY!
As I meditated on “unity”, I realized that as God redeems, the general tendency is to join together, not separate. I believe this is one of the reasons corporate worship is so powerful – God is drawing his people together to exalt him. And it gets even more powerful (as we recently experienced) when we are drawn together with those with whom we have nothing more in common but Christ. But then, if Christ is all, then we have everything in common!!
One of the most powerful worship experiences of my life, and I will never forget it as long as I live, was worshiping God with about 35,000 other men at a Promise Keepers rally in JFK stadium in D.C. As we sang Holy Holy Holy together, what a foretaste of heaven that was! The greater the numbers the more exhilarating the experience. Just think of how many there will be when we sing to the Lord in heaven!!
Sadly the reverse seems to happen here on earth. The spirit of antichrist separates and divides. We find all kinds of excuses and reasons to separate ourselves from other believers. I’m sure this grieves the Holy Spirit greatly. I know it’s difficult, but if we were truly able to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”, as Paul admonishes, the gathering would begin now in earnest! Too much to hope for, I know.
In the meantime, it’s good to be back home (from our vacation in the Outer Banks of NC), and good to be back with our friends, loved ones, and fellow believers. And of course, glad to be back online again. Let us worship together!! |
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Coreena |
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November 05, 2007 at 6:50am |
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| I am happy to be the first to be able to star this! How wonderful for the Body of Christ to be working in unity! What miracles we would see. |
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Denise |
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November 05, 2007 at 7:10am |
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| Christ is what we have in common, and to work to spread His word so that others may find Him, but it takes UNITY! Great post |
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Unity = u n i ty'd together
Unity = you and I tied together
.....peace..... |
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True unity does come through corporate worship. But the same comes mostly through praying for one another. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart the other day as I was engaged in ministering to the saints through MyChurch.org that all of us should know one another by reading the profiles of other saints so that we may pray for one another with a real burden.
Job Anbalagan
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Ragland |
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November 05, 2007 at 7:34am |
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The unifying factor for all of us is Jesus Christ. Those who are drawing close to Jesus have accepted to follow his commands. Though we are all spread across the globe the spirt of God (Holy Spirit) unites all of us because we are all the disciples of Jesus. It is good to know that brothers and sisters who are across the face of the earth come together on hearing one name 'Jesus'. I think the day is not far off when every one will come together as one holy, catholic(true), apostolic church. There will be no separate anglican, methodist, baptist, lutheran, pentecostal, assembly of God Church. Once some one say the name of Jesus every one will say Amen! I agree with Mike, Pure hear, Job and Denise and Coreena.
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Thanks for your (pink) comment Coreena! The Lord works powerfully through us when we are unified - blessing us as well as those we attempt to minister to. Denise, we are on the same page! :-)
That's pretty imaginative, apureheart. Thanks for posting it!
Job, I would agree unity does come from corporate worship. (I hope that isn't what I appeared to be saying.) But I would suggest that when believers are worshiping together in spirit and truth, unity is most profoundly expressed and enjoyed (by us and the Father). Unity means coming together, not separating. Yes we can still experience unity in the mystical sense though we remain far apart physically. God draws us together in him! Satan does whatever he can to drive us apart. Something driving us away from other believers? It ain't God. |
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| Amen Ragland! Amen amen amen!!! |
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Coreena |
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November 05, 2007 at 8:38am |
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| Amen to Ragland's comment! |
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| I agree, it will truly be awesome when we worship together in heaven. Welcome back |
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MaKelly |
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November 05, 2007 at 9:15am |
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Mike I'm LOVIN IT
UNTIY & WORSHIP IS MY THING |
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| Wonderful to hear from you MaKelly, mstovall, and Melanie!! Thanks for the welcome back!! |
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So that is where you were... it must have been awesome. My vision of unity is below:
Those who coming together through the power of the Holy Spirit to worship God with our mouths open voicing song, praise and love for Him, prayers for others, our eyes blind to nothing but Him and what He wants us to see. What He wants to hear. What He tells to do. |
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Deb |
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November 05, 2007 at 11:14am |
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| I have taken part in singing with a large group of people, and it is a thrill, to hear all those voices being lifted to our Lord and Savior! I cannot imagine it with the large group that you were involved with, or what it will be like in Heaven, but it will indeed be sublime! Good to have you back Mike! |
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JayKTX |
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November 05, 2007 at 11:14am |
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Great blog. Where there's unity the Lord commands a blessing! A former pastor of mine (Pete Sanchez) set Ps. 133:1-3 to music. It's a powerful song to sing! Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together, when brothers dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil running down Aaron's beard, running down upon his robe, even Aaron's robe. It is like the dew of Hermon, falling down upon the mountains. For there the LORD commands a blessing - life forevermore. |
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Peace is not the absence of conflict but rather the presence of unity.
.....peace..... |
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| Real good to have you back Mike. Unity has been on my mind a lot lately. |
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DeboraJ |
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November 05, 2007 at 1:25pm |
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| Can't wait for it to happen!! |
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Hey Job, I would like to respond to your comment:
True unity does come through corporate worship. But the same comes mostly through praying for one another.
Rom 12:1...I beseech you (a very strong form of begging) commit your bodies as sacrifices to the Lord, holy and pleasing unto the Lord, this is your reasonable service (which is translated as spiritual act of service it its alternate).
Simply, worship is found in the heart of what one does, be it prayer for eachother, serving eachother, praising with eachother, and always being available to God (at work, in the work done, at home, in relationships, etc.)
I am paid to hold a title called "worship leader"...I think that is an oxymoron. I try to teach my congregation that what makes a corporate gathering special is not that God reacts to numbers (which He does...where two or more are gathered...) but that instead God reacts to obedience and it is one special thing when there is a corporate gathering of the saints who are living a life of worship...it is concentrated.
I feel the same move of the Spirit in the privacy of my own home, jobsite, etc...but what is special is to share that experience with others. Many unfortunately view God as being held by some chain that can only be released if the right amount of songs are played.
Praise is an act of worship, receiving the Word is an act of worship, praying with others is an act of worship, walking in the light of the gospel at work is an act of worship...everything done to the glory of God therefor is an act of worship...many never see that.
Mike, while I was overseas, we gathered everynight...and never found it exhausting. I miss that so much. And none of us knew eachother, but we were family. You said all we had in common was Christ...I think until we only focus on that we will never have anything really in common b/c human nature looks out for itself. If we are looking to gather with people like us, we have already missed it...Jesus is not the focus. If we are desperate to be united with the body, differences don't matter.
I cannot wait to go back out to the mission field. I am trying to get this across here...but there is too much other stuff to do apparantly. Being with the body is never exhausting, forcing oneself to feel like something must always be prepared is a different story. I love when company comes over, but I don't plan the dialogue, predecide the evening to the "t"...we just visit and share with eachother and stay for hours...force ourself to go home...
I wish we would do that at church. I am attempting to start a service just for that. I keep being asked to present a layout for the service and I keep reminding them, for this one, there won't be. We will go through the Word, a little at a time, we will sing, we will pray...my wife and I are already doing that and it is amazing. Those with talents will have the opportunity to get there feet wet ministering among the family...this is what I am used to and missing so much.
Job, I wanted to clarify that my comment was not a disagreement, just my two cents on a matter that I hold very important |
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| I also think that we can walk in perfect unity if everyone will do what I ask them to and listen to everything I have to say with absolute agreement... |
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| I also want to add that slow music does not equal worship... |
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Thank you for the warm welcome back, friends!! I did manage to read a few blogs last week, but due to a troublesome internet connection plus priorities (family playtime = #1) I was largely absent from MyChurch. It is good to be back!!!
Jay, thanks for sharing those lyrics. I'd love to sing that song with you sometime! :-)
I need to correct a previous comment (posted Nov 05, 2007 at 10:43am). In response to Job I mistakenly wrote "Job, I would agree unity does come from corporate worship." Job, I misread your comment, thinking you were disagreeing with an assertion of mine in the blog. So I meant to type "unity does not come from corporate worship." ...... I see our unity as coming from God (Ephesians 4:4-6). But our unity is experienced through things like corporate worship, group prayer, service projects and ministry, etc. For me, the most powerful feelings of unity (oneness) come from worshiping with other members of the body. That includes but is not necessarily limited to the singing of worship songs.
Patrick, I truly enjoy reading your contributions to blogs - you are gifted in discerning and communicating truth. Thanks for your posts! |
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| Melanie, after rereading your comment, I just wanted to add that to me UNITY and AGREEMENT mean different things, and that agreement is not essential to unity. Does that sound fair? (I haven't read The Agreement by Dr Thomas yet, but I plan to.) |
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| Thanks Mike, but you definitely know how to start a good conversation. |
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Kristie |
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November 07, 2007 at 6:11am |
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| Glad you're back, Mike. |
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Gene |
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November 07, 2007 at 7:43pm |
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'Got to agree with Patrick, Mike - you really know how to start a conversation. It's like JayKTX says: Psalm 133: 1-3 tells us that unity IS good.
Oh, so, I agree AND in unity! wow!
lol |
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| Thanks Gene! Man it's always good to hear from ya. ~mike |
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Mike, I believe that there is too much disunity in the body of Christ. Indeed, The Body of Christ needs to come together.
What would you say is in the minimal criteria for unity. In other words, for there to be unity, there has to be points of agreement.
Good post! |  |
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| hey Mike, did you forget me |
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| Pastor Tim, thanks for the comment! Minimal criteria for unity? Purpose may be a good place to start. For example, two years ago we attended a special Thanksgiving service at a church where we were just about the only people present of European descent. The music style of their worship was not to our usual liking. And there were probably other points of sharp contrast between us and the congregation we visited that day. BUT.... we worshiped with our BROTHERS and SISTERS in CHRIST, with tears of gratitude streaming, and it was an amazing, Spirit-filled experience which I will never forget! Yes, we got some strange and curious looks from a few people there, but overall we were ONE in PURPOSE -- to PRAISE our Lord!! There were definitely a few points of agreement between us, one being our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.... amen!! |
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| Him Crucified for the forgivness of our sins. I think for to long we've perhaps mistaken unity for uniformity. At least I'm guilty of that. |
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European descent? I have never heard that choice of words before, that is funny.
Hope I agree, I think we mistake unity (striving together for a cause) w/ "You-must-be-like-me." It is the old saying of we will get along if you do everything I tell you. In Christ, we are each unique, and as we draw closer to Him, we become more unique. It is discouraging that instead of enjoying the time our individual paths come together and encouraging eachother as we see them lead away, we demand that anyone not walking our path is missing the Lord and demean eachother.
God help the poor associate pastor who feels the Lord leading him somewhere else, many pastors will "help" him by firing him the moment he mentions it. Many church members will view him has a traitor. The same thing when a contributing member of a body feels like the Lord is calling Him out. |
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Brent |
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November 11, 2007 at 11:29pm |
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Mike - you definitely do know how to start conversations! I ache for the unity you quote from Revelation. There will definitely not be any selfhish hearts as we are all focussing on God and praising Him for His indescribable gift of Grace through His Son Jesus Christ. WOW!! I was able to be a part of the early Promise Keepers in Colorado and the teaching times and praise times were wonderful. They were wonderful because we were unified in our devotion and focus on our Lord and Savour, Jesus Christ. The 50,000 men singing Holy, Holy, Holy together was more than wonderful. We were not all from common backgrounds but we have a common need for Grace and it is great to be unified with those that are different than us, but common in need. Patrick - I agree with your comments on Worship. Everything we do to God's Glory can be Worship and not just the corporate singing time. I was recently overseas and was priveledged to woship with people I didn't know. Very wonderful! |
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Pat, good points about unity vs uniformity. In any discussion of unity, this point ought to come up (and usually does). And the associate pastor who is led to plant a new church should be supported!
Brent, thanks! There are plenty of topics for us to have annointed (by the HS) conversations about, aren't there? And isn't it enjoyable? (Of course it is, or else you wouldn't have said anything - lol) And I really like reading of your yearning for congregational worship in the Spirit! |
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