The Church Service

by Gene Easley

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25).

Nothing in my life has meant more than the spiritual experiences I have encountered in church. Good preaching, good singing, and good worship with the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit--all taking place among people who love God--these can not be replaced with anything else.

All activities in our lives take a back seat to a good church service. I will confirm I have attended boring services. I have been in churches where I could hardly wait for the preacher to give his conclusion and set us free. I recognize, too, that what we call the house of God is not always a place where God dwells. But I have also been in enough good church services that my heart still longs for the house of God.

I have been privileged to hear preaching that elevated my soul to another realm. I have heard singing in a church service that gave me such a taste of heaven that the longings for this world had to flee. I have had my soul so saturated by the presence of God in times of worship and times of prayer at the conclusion of a service that they made me want to return to the house of prayer as soon as possible.

I grieve at how easily we are able to cancel our services today when something supposedly more exciting comes our way. I grieve that the church service has become so routine and so uneventful that among many of our churches we have fallen into a pattern of canceling the Sunday night service on every holiday or special day when the family is coming to town. And many churches have ceased to have the Sunday night service at all. God and worship of Him have taken second place.

May God give us church leaders who will again linger in His presence and cry out for a new outpouring of His Spirit to bring life back into the sanctuary! May the generation that succeeds us not be deprived of the blessings of really having church!

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