I hadn't attended a worship service since well before the beginning of the pandemic and my move to Pennsylvania, but the Lord kept drawing my attention to a small local Baptist congregation on a route I frequently used.
I found valid reasons not to visit for a while, but last night I said to myself, "Let the Lord get me up early enough to attend the first service and I'll go."
I got to bed a little late, but one of the stray cats I've taken in saw fit to wake me up before 7am, so I rose early and attended a 9 AM service. I was a bit early so I was able to meet the pastor. As the Lord would have it, he just happened to be teaching through the gospel of Matthew and was in chapter 24.
I'll confess that when he dived into a pretribulation rapture teaching my attention wandered a bit, but he noticed that not everyone was hearing him and explained that it was a debated doctrine and not an essential one to the faith. That I heard, and was grateful for. A pastor at a calvary chapel was hostile to anyone not accepting the doctrine.
There were only a few dozen people at the 1st service, but the worship combined traditional hymns with some contemporary worship music, and the congregation was racially diverse.
I mentioned to the pastor while exiting that we didn't share a common eschatology but shared the same faith and he didn't appear offended but glad, and asked if we could meet over coffee. Praise the Lord, I have a congregation that I can be comfortable worshipping with, one that greeted me in fellowship, one with room for growth, and one where the movement of His Spirit became evident in worship when one of the music ministry leaders had to stop singing for a moment for his weeping, and was held up by the congregation in prayer. I love the assembly of the faithful. I love worship with them. I'm home again.
I found valid reasons not to visit for a while, but last night I said to myself, "Let the Lord get me up early enough to attend the first service and I'll go."
I got to bed a little late, but one of the stray cats I've taken in saw fit to wake me up before 7am, so I rose early and attended a 9 AM service. I was a bit early so I was able to meet the pastor. As the Lord would have it, he just happened to be teaching through the gospel of Matthew and was in chapter 24.
I'll confess that when he dived into a pretribulation rapture teaching my attention wandered a bit, but he noticed that not everyone was hearing him and explained that it was a debated doctrine and not an essential one to the faith. That I heard, and was grateful for. A pastor at a calvary chapel was hostile to anyone not accepting the doctrine.
There were only a few dozen people at the 1st service, but the worship combined traditional hymns with some contemporary worship music, and the congregation was racially diverse.
I mentioned to the pastor while exiting that we didn't share a common eschatology but shared the same faith and he didn't appear offended but glad, and asked if we could meet over coffee. Praise the Lord, I have a congregation that I can be comfortable worshipping with, one that greeted me in fellowship, one with room for growth, and one where the movement of His Spirit became evident in worship when one of the music ministry leaders had to stop singing for a moment for his weeping, and was held up by the congregation in prayer. I love the assembly of the faithful. I love worship with them. I'm home again.