This Is That!
With the first strum of the guitar the packed room erupted in a thunderous sound of high praise. There was no one voice that stood out among the rest - the rhythmic sound was one of perfect harmony.
A fresh wind is blowing - the reeds of His chosen instruments are reverberating in response. A new sound is echoing among these hills and hollows. For He who was seated on the throne - our Grand Conductor - said, "I am making everything new!"
This Is That!
The scene was Conference Room B of the Days Inn Conference Center in Flatwoods, WV. The occasion was the 20th Annual PrayWestVirginia Summit - June 20, 2018 - the 155th Birthday of our statehood.
Anticipation had been gathering as clouds in the eastern sky - laden with the rich bounty of “latter rain.” Many have since reported the expectation they experienced as they neared our gathering place.
We witnessed a mini-Pentecost. When I stood up to speak I felt a bit like Peter when he said, “This is that!”
The “that” is the sound of a wind blowing through the tops of the mulberry trees - the advancing army of the Lord of Hosts.
This Is That!
In 1970 we walked into our pastor’s office and asked if he would give us something to help us understand the Bible. I can so yet distinctly see him turn around and take a small blue book from his shelf and hand it to us. It was a commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Church at Philippi. The following passage leaped from its pages and indelibly inscribed itself in the flesh of our hearts - the stylus none other than the finger of God.
“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” Philippians 1:27
The great apostle was saying to this beloved church, “I may never get to visit with you again - to taste of the sweet honey of our fellowship. If I do not this is the sound that I want to reach my yearning ears; the sound of blessed harmony whose notes are capable of spanning great distance.” For they ascend as a lasting testimony of true worship before our Eternal God and are reflected back to earth in the Person of His Own Chosen Preeminent One.
And he never did get to see them again - the ones that he had commended as their father in the Lord: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Our hope must be anchored in no other confidence than this - the Father’s pledge to bring to completion that which He has begun.
This Is That!
Our native son, Bishop T.D. Jakes, thundered from the Charleston Civic Center: “A sound will be heard from these hills and hollows that will be heard around the world.”
Now we echo the sentiment of the hymn-writer Augustus Toplady:
"I can only spread the sail;
Thou! Thou! must breathe the auspicious gale."
And come into agreement with the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon: “O for Pentecostal outpourings and Pentecostal labours. Only be sure you have the sail up. Do not miss the gale for want of preparation for it.”
Now we have come down from the Summit - but not to go our own separate ways. We have now been bound together with strong chords of love which can never be broken. Our song is the Song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!”
This Is That!
“in no way alarmed by your opponents-- which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.” Philippians 1:28
