How Awesome is this Place?
In Genesis 28:16-17 it says;
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
On Sunday, November 15, 2009 I witnessed God move through a room of people. As I spoke my message, and offered the opportunity for the people to come to know Christ, I watched (visibly) God sweep throughout the sanctuary. As I asked the question for people to raise their hands if they had received Christ as their personal savior, I watched 50-60 hands go up immediately.
This passage came to mind, as I watched God work. I said to myself on stage “how awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God”. I was in awe, and amazement as God lead the message in a direction that brought people back to the cross. So many times we are afraid of going back to the cross, because it’s uncomfortable, it’s heavy, or it hurts. God lead us back to the cross on Sunday….and it was AWESOME! God was present that day! I thank Him for using me!
There is a great book by John Fischer called “On a Hill Too Far Away” that talks about the need to reestablish the cross as the central theme of our ministry. He uses the analogy of a church that he once visited that had an cross bolted to the floor in the middle of the stage where the pulpit normally would be and how nothing could happen at that church, no sermon, no song, no choir, without you having to look through or around the cross to see it.
This month, at our church, we have a large cross that pastor has been moving around the sanctuary. One week it is in one place, the next another, and so on. I really hope that he moves it to center front stage for his last sermon in the series.