The little church that could.
Many a man has met God in this place.
Many a man has met God in this place and changed.
Many a man has met God in this place and walked out unchanged.
I can truthfully say that the Word of God has been taught, preached and proclaimed from this little building.
How many teachings and messages have I given from here? Thousands. It is a place where a person can find out the truth about themselves in the light of God's revealing Spirit.
I love to spend time in the chapel praying. We have two bulletin boards inside. One on the left side of the door and one on the right. One board is for prayer requests. I encourage every one to come by the chapel at least once a day and pray over the request that are posted. Once a prayer has been answered, it is moved to the other board which is for answered prayer.
When Rapha was originally founded, the chapel was in disarray and was going to be torn down, but cooler heads prevailed and it was kept. I think that it was God who protected it from destruction. Built in 1948 by Brother Floyd Crowe, the chapel was originally known as 77 Road Baptist Church. The timbers used in the roof construction are original and still in good shape today. Here is a view of the ceiling and you can kind of see what I'm talking about when I spoke of the support construction of the roof.
This is our place of prayer. When we started a regular church meeting here at Rapha back in 2006, my wife wanted something different than an altar or a rail to kneel at. She had pictured in her mind, something that was stable and unmovable.....something that would symbolize the nature and person of Jesus Christ. A rock! It was a monumental effort, but we gathered up a bunch of guys and drug a rock up from the creek which runs behind Rapha. Placed it in our sanctuary and it has become the focal point for prayer. I can't tell you the number of times I stepped into the sanctuary and came upon someone draped over that rock, crying their heart out to God! As I tell the guys, "You better learn to lean on Jesus, before Jesus leans on you."
This is a kind of behind the scenes view of the worship team (minus Debbie Handy...she had not arrived yet) running over the music before the service. I have been blessed to have been surrounded by people whose hearts burn to worship God. We don't perform or do special music....we simply bring to the table our worship unto God. Sometimes the worship is intimate and quiet.....sometimes it is screaming-out-there kind of worship. We believe that worship is the highest priority given to man by God. Worship is a lifestyle not a service or meeting where music is involved. Worship is every part of my life. I like the way the Message Bible puts worship in Romans 12:2 - So here is what I want you to do, God helping you; Take your every day, ordinary life----your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life---and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Some may say, "Well, what about sharing the gospel? Shouldn't that take precedent over this "worship" thing?" No! It is the idea of if I am concentrating and focusing my life on following God and allow Him to permeate every area of my life....then sharing with others about what Jesus has done for me will come kind of natural. I won't have to think about doing this, I'll simply do it because that is what one does when one's life is worship to God.
Hey, I want to thank every one who has stopped by the Greene Street Letters . Know that you are appreciated by me and also prayed over.
Until next time....
God on you.....
mb
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