Controlling The Worship

Woe be unto the person who doesn't worship in the prescribed way in a Homestead Heritage Sunday meeting. Situations like this are the reason Sunday meetings are not open to visitors. On the rare occasion that a visitor was present, things like this didn't happen. At least not publicly. 

When we were worshiping, I thought of just what it does mean to be lifting our hands and offering the bullocks of our lips as the evening sacrifice or the morning sacrifice. And how, you know, there are times when what we do in worship is truly a sacrifice. We assert something within ourselves to do something because God is worthy of it. But there are other times when the Holy Ghost is moving so powerfully, so strongly, that it's a response to God, amen, and of thanksgiving, of gratitude, of praise for what we feel within ourselves. And it's like Jesus said, a well of living water springing up within us and overflowing in our praise and worship of God. And to be perfectly honest, when I look around and see people that can't even lift their hands when that kind of move is going on, it's very hard for me to believe that the fountain of living water is inside of them; that they have even received the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you Jesus. And that truly is a failure to participate in the sacrifice instead of just coming to eat of everybody else's sacrifice.

Those of you who come to these meetings and never raise your hands in submission and worship in adoration of God, amen, never, amen, raise your hands, amen, you can consider that Eli has just rebuked his sons for eating of the sacrifice but not participating in the sacrifice.

You say you're too timid, you're too shy, you're just that way to lift your hands, but what are you intimidated by? [Ed. Gee, I can't imagine.] What are you shy of? Amen.You're calling shy and timid what is really pride and vanity in your own image, because you won't humble yourself by lifting your hands in surrender unto God. Amen, And that means something inside of you is not broken. Amen, Amen. There's something missing in your experience. Even if you've been baptized there's something missing. Amen, Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. 

I'm not trying to make this a rule. Amen. I'm not trying to do that. There's lots of times when we don't raise our hands and other people are doing it. I'm not talking . . . I made it clear I'm talking about people who never raise their hands in worship. Or if they do it's so seldom that nobody has ever seen it. Thank you, Jesus. 

If you were coming to somebody in a dark alley and they were like this, or if they were like this, which one would you feel safer with? Amen. And why? Amen. It's because you know that somebody is hiding something, is locked up inside themselves, amen, something is locked up inside of them, but when they do this they're saying, "I'm wide open, God. I'm all yours." Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. You don't know what it means to surrender completely to God. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.

And you say, "I'm afraid to. I just can't do it." You're bound. Amen. You're bound by the spirit of the devil. Amen.  Amen. And that's the reason you can't do it. Amen. It may be a spirit of pride, a spirit of vanity, a spirit of intimidation. Whatever it is, it's the devil, and he's got you bound because he doesn't want you to ever be turned loose in God. Amen. Amen. He doesn't ever want to see you become fully God's, to belong to Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. This is simple East 14th Street stuff, but we still feel the Holy Ghost in it, don't we? Amen. Amen. That's cause this church was built on this simple stuff. Amen. This is the foundation of relationship with God. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.