Virtually every Christian on the face of the earth agrees that worshiping God is central to our Christian experience. What we often disagree about is how to engage in worship, and that is not a matter of minor importance.

I’ve already confessed that most of my life I found "worship" to be a deadly dull affair. It was something I did faithfully from week to week because it built up brownie points for the Kingdom. Or so I thought. Now I realize it merely kept me from having an intimate relationship with my God.

Had I taken time to read the Book of Psalms carefully, prayerfully, and with an open mind, I would have discovered that true worship as defined in the Word is exuberant!Always there have been people troubled by that concept. Somehow they feel our God is unable to handle such goings on. When David danced before the Lord with all his might,even his own wife denounced him for acting like a fool in public. But God loved David’s exuberance. He blessed David for his adoration, and cursed Michal for her uptight attitude. We serve a mighty and loving God who is worthy of our most ardent praise.

Some Christians would say, "Well, I’d like to enjoy an unusual closeness with my God, but still I don’t want to get too emotional about it." If you are married to someone who claims to love you, but doesn’t want to get emotional about it, I feel sorry for you. And concerned for your marriage.

Jesus is the Bridegroom and we, the church, are his Bride. Don’t offend and hurt the Lord by offering yourself as a dead sacrifice, rather than a living one. In the light of what our Savior went through on Calvary, is he not worthy of exuberant worship?

Just before Christ left his disciples to return to heaven, he made a most exciting promise.

Power! Power for ministry. Power to take the Gospel to the far reaches of the earth. Without it the newly birthed Christian church would hardly get out of Jerusalem. The reason we are still in this sin-cursed world 2,000 years later is because the church has lost its original gift of empowerment. And that has been our own doing, it wasn’t God’s plan.

Notice that the needed power was available only through receiving the Holy Spirit.

The detractors in Jerusalem were not incensed over some esoteric doctrine, they were unhappy because of the visual manifestations of the Spirit’s power and authority. Make note of that.

We can never minister for God in fullness unless we have divine power, and divine power comes only through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Period. And when the Holy Spirit moves he does what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. Mere men, even renowned church leaders, cannot control the Holy Spirit. He will not allow them to decide for themselves what is "decent and in order." To make this clear, the Spirit often comes in ways that are offensive to the flesh of man. That is precisely what he did at Pentecost (they’re drunk, that’s all), and that is also what he has been doing ever since in the great revivals through the centuries.

When the fleshly authorities of the church cannot control the Holy Spirit, they rewrite history instead. They clean up the record. Many Christians know there was a mighty revival under Jonathan Edwards, but few know how "messy" it actually was. The power of the Spirit in that move couldn’t be denied, but the record could be sanitized. If you don’t know how the Spirit moved back then, take time to find out. Then you will be better prepared to recognize his work for us today.

Again, many Christians are looking for Pentecost II, but always off in the future. The condition of the world alone ought to tell them it is time for God to intervene. And he has. The greatest move of the Holy Spirit ever is already underway, and my personal conviction is that it will culminate in the Second Coming of Christ as King of Kings. If you are not aware of this Spirit invasion, please write me for a complimentary copy of my booklet "Fire Now!"

There is no more exciting book in the Word of God than the Book of Acts, and the reason is that it deals not only with doctrine but with the manifest power of the Holy Spirit. Signs, wonders, miracles, healings, many of them. These things happened only because the Spirit had come with divine power. Puny men can never match his work, in spite of their impressive degrees, natural talents, technical advances, and large budgets. We will see a new Book of Acts written only as we are fully filled and empowered by the same Spirit. He is here now to provide that filling and empowerment, but millions of Christians are nervously holding back. They still think there must be some way of bringing it to pass with good doctrine and hallowed tradition. Many who have been exposed to the fringes of renewal, but not entered in, have been offended.

Last week God brought me, providentially I’m sure, into contact with a couple who used to belong to my Christian Bible Fellowship. I hadn’t been in contact with them since that time. As we visited, they mentioned that the previous week they had tried worshiping in a certain congregation I attended a few years back. They came away disappointed; it was "dead." People are seeking for a living experience with God.

Naturally, I invited them to worship with us this past week at Potters Wheel, and they came. During our previous conversation the lady mentioned she considered drums as instruments of the devil, so I knew she was setting herself up for an offense. But I prayed they would sense the presence of the Spirit and be blessed. They came timidly into the service and sat stiffly in the back row.

At Potters Wheel we have an exuberant worship. This couple’s eyes grew large as they saw members waving colorful banners before the Lord, and others even dancing in the Spirit. About half way through our time of worship with song and music they fled out the door. Had they stayed long enough for the drum solo, they probably would still be running. I’m not being critical; twenty years ago had I been exposed to such worship I would have passed them during my own flight.

I felt very sad about this couple’s departure. I knew they were honest seekers, and I believe Renewal offers just what they need. They missed their blessing because they were offended at the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit. They join a host; even John the Baptist was tempted to be offended by the One he himself proclaimed in the desert.

To be offended by the Holy Spirit is to be offended by the One who sent him, the Son.

When I first began to move in Renewal, my traditional upbringing turned me off to the phrase, "the worship team." I knew they were referring to the group that led out in praising God through song and music, and that didn’t make sense at first. To me"worship" was what happened when the congregation sat stiffly in pews while the minister preached a sermon. That singing and music stuff was only "song service," which I found immensely boring.

Finally I came to realize that true worship is when the family of God comes before the throne to individually and corporately praise the King. This can be done effectively only as the Holy Spirit moves on hearts, and I pity the poor pastor who has to preach the Word to hearts that have not been so moved. He may share a few dry bones, but they will not change lives without the accompanying breath of the Spirit.

Many good sermons are taught around the world each week, but what really defines a Renewal service is exuberant praise of God. I would even go so far as to say that if one or the other has to be left out, let it be the sermon and not the people’s praise. We are already entering into a time of healings and miracles such as recorded in Acts, but expect to see them evidenced primarily in congregations who are moving in the present flow of the Spirit.

The Old Testament teaches exuberant worship. The New Testament teaches exuberant worship. Worship in heaven will be the most exuberant of all. Let’s get tuned up now.

Michal accused her husband David of acting the fool in dancing so mightily before the Ark of the Covenant. I like his reply. "I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this." Right on, David. Me too.

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