By Rob Oxenbridge
On two occasions during the praise and music part of our church service I have undergone an intense experience which I believe to be a message from God.
As the music flowed around the church, as people clapped and sang and praised the Lord, I felt an invisible shell harden around me. The music was beautiful but it couldn't touch me. As I experienced this a great sorrow filled me and tears came. It dawned on me that this was what God was feeling at that moment. People were making music and praising Him but it did not touch His heart and that left Him sad.
I wondered why and it grew clear. Praise and worship music is meant to be a sacrifice. And God can't accept a tainted sacrifice. Cain's sacrifice was refused by God because his heart wasn't in the right condition. Jesus also told us that if we come to the altar with our sacrifice and remember that we have something out of harmony with our brother, then leave the sacrifice there, go and be reconciled with our brother, then return and offer the sacrifice. Also, the church as a whole is in a state of lukewarmness. Many are mistaking a lively, dynamic service as being somehow able to make up for a complacent apathetic week of Christian living.
People are not being honest and real through the week, are not mending damaged relationships, are living in intentional sins, and then expect to walk into Sunday service and praise God for His goodness . . . and expect to have that praise accepted!
We should be challenging our churches to get real with God before we bother with Sunday music. God is not currently accepting the praise of many, because they are offering tainted sacrifices.
As the music flowed around the church, as people clapped and sang and praised the Lord, I felt an invisible shell harden around me. The music was beautiful but it couldn't touch me. As I experienced this a great sorrow filled me and tears came. It dawned on me that this was what God was feeling at that moment. People were making music and praising Him but it did not touch His heart and that left Him sad.
I wondered why and it grew clear. Praise and worship music is meant to be a sacrifice. And God can't accept a tainted sacrifice. Cain's sacrifice was refused by God because his heart wasn't in the right condition. Jesus also told us that if we come to the altar with our sacrifice and remember that we have something out of harmony with our brother, then leave the sacrifice there, go and be reconciled with our brother, then return and offer the sacrifice. Also, the church as a whole is in a state of lukewarmness. Many are mistaking a lively, dynamic service as being somehow able to make up for a complacent apathetic week of Christian living.
People are not being honest and real through the week, are not mending damaged relationships, are living in intentional sins, and then expect to walk into Sunday service and praise God for His goodness . . . and expect to have that praise accepted!
We should be challenging our churches to get real with God before we bother with Sunday music. God is not currently accepting the praise of many, because they are offering tainted sacrifices.
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