Our First Meeting

There was much prayer and focus prior to last night's meeting and as such, I tried to keep everything loose and not get in the way of God. Since we had done a Saturday night Church for a number of years, the one thing I did not want to fall prey to was the mindset of trying to make the Rapha service look like what had been done before. I simply wanted God to come and for us to glorify Him through our worship and teaching.

The day was spent in preparation. The guys pitched in and cleaned up the chapel, getting it ready for the meeting. Equipment was set up, chairs in place and the room made ready.
The worship team arrived at 6 p.m. which gave us ample time to go over the worship music. This was a big plus that we were not able to take advantage of when we had the morning service. We started so early, it was hard for everyone to get to Rapha so we could run over the music.

The thing I truly liked about the worship was that it wasn't just me trying to hear God on the song selection. We pulled songs from each member and had a collective worship set.

7 o'clock came and we opened the doors to let everyone in. There were several visitors and former clients. It was good to see everyone. My hope is that we are able to get the word out so that everyone who came through the program will feel welcomed and want to come out on Saturday night.

Worship was like a pot of water put on to boil. It slowly heated up as the worship team moved through the songs and at one point, you could feel God's presence in a powerful way. The crowd took over the song we were singing and continued to sing and worship. The team simply stopped singing and continued to play as the room filled with voices crying out to God. It was a moment.

Each song seemed to build and take us to a new level with God. I stood there soaking in what was happening, knowing that we had heard right in making the transition from Sunday Morning to Saturday night. I can't explain the difference between a day time service and a night time service. It seems that everyone was more free and uninhibited in their worship. The room was more receptive to hearing God and not only that, but responding to what they were hearing.

Seth spoke and, as always, brought a powerful word from Matthew 14:22. He compared the disciples rowing and straining to row across the Lake to our own efforts in trying to live life on our own terms and in our own strength......Impossible! Seth has a unique to way of taking the Scripture and putting it in terms that strike the hearts of those in the room.

Ministry time was everything I had been praying for. Many came forward to be prayed for and have God touch them. It was wonderful having a number of people on the ministry team praying, being servants in this work. I stood and looked around the room at all the different groups of people gathered around someone praying and asking God to come and touch them and change them.

God was good to us last night.
But now it is time to lay last night down and begin the journey toward next Saturday. Please be in prayer for the meeting. Not that God would come and duplicate what happened last night, but that he would simply come and be in our midst.
See you at 7 p.m. / June 8th

God on you.......

mb