Restoring the Glory of God in the Church
After Covid-19
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - Churches are beginning to open after several months of being closed due to Covid-19/Coronavirus. There are many changes that are in place or will be in place, social distancing will have a big impact on church as we were used to. Mask being passed out at the door and maybe even temperatures being taken will be possibly the church norm. Handshaking, hugs, laying on of hands, shared micro-phones, possibly the abolishment of choirs are changes that will be different in church after coronavirus. There will be many different protocols for the church and many changes will be in place. Of all the changes that will be taking place in the church after Covid-19 one change that needs to take place in the church is the glory of God must return.
When Jesus died on Calvary’s Cross at that very moment the Bible says that the Veil of the Temple was rent from top to bottom giving access to all into the Holy of Holies, however; when it was torn it revealed that the Ark of the Covenant was not there, the Ark of the Covenant represents the presence of God, and for many many years the ritualistic services were taking place, behind the veil, behind the façade of church programs, church offerings, church meetings the presence of God was not there. Sadly, the corona virus has caused the churches to shut down and in the process of the shutting down of the churches it has been revealed that the glory of God is not there.
It’s time for the restoring of the glory of God to take place in the house of God. It’s time for the church to reposition itself so that it becomes the vehicle which gives God His right to be WHO He is and what He wants to do or accomplish in this world through it.
We don’t need another meeting, another offering, another song, another convention, another banquet, another special speaker, another concert, another project, or another program and still have the changed life be a rare entity in our churches.
For far too long there has been an almost subconscious mentality in the church of today that places emphasis on the outward appearances of Christianity and the spirit of religion instead of concerning itself with what is truly on the inside. We sadly have become conditioned to look at appearance, presentation, professionalism and showmanship and mistake it for real success and the true glory of the Lord above meeting the everyday, pressing, often unspoken heartful desires and needs of souls. James 1:27 says “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”. Too easily we often are impressed by the trappings of the production of the church and fooled by its big names and big conferences. Creating a void separating the culture of the modern-day church from the heart of God as revealed through Jesus in the Gospels and through the early church.
We must stop and ask ourselves the question am I tired of hearing about double portions, debt cancellation anointings, God wants you to be happy, sugar coated church services that have a form of godliness but no power of transforming lives at all. The answer should be and prayerfully I pray that it is YES. Then let us Restore the Glory.
PRAYER.
Restore means to bring back to a former state of being.
SCRIPTURES: - Haggai 2:9 “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts”.
BACKGROUND: - 1 Samuel 4:10-22, 2 Samuel 6 Israel suffered a terrible loss. Israel had 30,000 soldiers killed in one day. They had another 4000 killed the day before. 2 priests, the sons of the high priest Eli, were killed in the battle, and the Ark of God was captured by the Philistines.
When the news got back to Eli, he fell off his seat and broke his neck and died. His daughter-in-law went into premature labor, and with her dying breaths named her son “Ichabod” meaning, “The glory has departed from Israel.” After some 20 years David is now King and he desires to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem = Restoration.
Definitions: - The word Ichabod means the glory has departed, the word kabod means heavy glory. Church either God is with us or He's not.
Glory from the Latin Gloria, "fame, renown" is used to describe the manifestation of God's presence.
UNDERSTAND: - It is imperative that we understand that the glory of God isn’t just a feeling, an event or an Old Testament experience - it’s a culmination of everything contained in the character of God. It has been called the manifested presence of God, but it’s more than just a presence, it’s power, it’s authority, it’s Love, it’s help for those that are hurting, comfort for the comfortless, it’s deliverance and salvation that resurrects, restores, delivers, overcomes and transforms and it belongs in the church.
In the days of 1 Samuel 3:1 says, “the true word of the Lord was rare and there was no frequent vision”. Eli had allowed all kinds of corruption be done in the Temple by the hands of his sons. The Philistines set in battle against Israel and after a terrible defeat at the hands of the Philistines, the elders of Israel decided to return the ark of the covenant from Shiloh in order to save them from their enemies. When the ark came into the camp, there was great shouting and rejoicing 1 Samuel 4:1-5. Amidst all of the shouting and celebration, however, the Philistines attacked Israel again, and there was a great slaughter of death and destruction among them. Israel learned that having the ark of God in the camp, in and of itself, did not guarantee victory. The sad things is that today the church has God's Spirit living in us yet still we so often we don’t see the manifestation of His presence and glory that gives the victory over our enemies. So many times people will come to church bound looking for deliverance and freedom only to leave bound and still looking for freedom, WHY, because just like when the veil of the Temple was rent the traditional services were going on but the presence of God was not there.
At some point we need to be honest with ourselves and ask the tough questions.
Why are we being defeated? Why doesn't the world respect us? Why aren't we impacting our culture and our communities? Where is the power of God? Why aren't we seeing the glory of God that we see in the early church?
Sadly, we are missing something in this generation. A spirit of carnality, a casualness and a complacency have left us void of the reality of God's mighty power and holy presence. A social gathering mindset, a friendly seeker spirit, a prayer-less posture, and a sin suffering attitude has hindered the Spirit's manifestations.
The church has created a veil that has hidden its true spiritual condition, expensive Mega-Church buildings, glamorized conventions and conferences, and the popularity concept that so many seek make it painfully clear that the fame of men is greater than the presence of God. We have fallen short of the standard of the church.
The genuine glory of the Lord has departed, and it is time for some Samuels to answer the call and say Here am I. We need people who are anointed and called by God to call the church to repentance. Samuel did this in 1 Samuel 7:3 says “And Samuel spoke unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtaroth from among you and prepare your hearts, unto the Lord, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines”.
It’s time for leaders that are anointed and called by God to stand up and say O Zion what’s the matter now. We need to tear down the walls of tradition, tear down the walls of complacency, tear down mediocrity, destroy the form of godliness, restore the glory of God in the church and as the old saints would say start marching, marching up to Zion that beautiful city of God.
It is time for those that are at ease in Zion to wake up, rise up, and hold up a standard of Holiness. The world is not going to get any better but will only get darker and the church must be a beacon of light to the world. God is trying to get the church to judge herself, so that His glory can shine in us, among us, and through us to a lost and dying world. We can never get the world right until we get right and restore the glory of God in the church.
1 Peter 4:17 says “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
It Is Time to Restore the Glory!
20 years after Samuel called the people to repentance and the Ark of the Covenant had been left in Abinadab’s house's, David is now the King and he has a desire to restore the glory of God back to its rightful place 2 Samuel 6.
The first step in restoring the glory of God in the church is there must be a desire to restore it. The Ark of the Covenant did not belong in the Philistine camp, it did not belong in Abinadab's house or Obed-Edom's house, it belonged in the Temple of the Lord. David desired to restore the Ark, the presence of God, back to where it belonged; therefore; he gathered all the choice men in Israel with an eagerness and a zeal to restore that which was lost. What the church needs now are God-appointed men and women of God who have a desire to see God’s glory restored.
There must be the desire for the church to be separated from the world and wholly consecrated to God. Psalm 27:4 says “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple”. That beauty is the Glory of God.
It’s not about popularity, prosperity, fame, the big church, the great attendance but it’s all about seeing and experiencing the Glory of God.
The second step to restoring the glory of God is there must be a change in the mindset of the church. We cannot fall in the snares of big names, large numbers, ever increasing flows of cash, popularity, a social club mentality, and traditionalism that hasn’t worked in years. Colossians 2:8 says “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”.
The early church never had the focus of popularity, money, fame, large buildings, and yet somehow, the modern church has placed great emphasis on appearance, attendance, buildings, popularity, social comfort and political correctness.
Although there is nothing wrong with any of these things in and of themselves, they are not the true indicators of the glory of God. Many-times they are just the veil that has been erected to hide the fact that the Glory has departed. 2 Corinthians 3:13 says “And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished”. Moses covered his face to hide the fact that the Glory of the Lord was fading. Are we hiding the fact that the glory has faded, let us change our mindset! Philippians 2:5 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. We have to have the mind of Christ in the church in order to restore the Glory.
WATCH THIS: - I like to watch Fixer Upper with Chip & Joanna on HGTV. Joanna is the Designer and Chip her husband is the construction worker. She will come in and say Chip I want this wall moved and replace it with a room and windows – that’s in her mind, it is her husband Chip’s job to understand her mindset and bring that to fruition in the house.
Our job is to understand the mind of Christ for the church and bring that into the church and the result will be His Glory in the Church. It’s time to restore the Glory.
It’s time to Restore the culture of the Kingdom of God.
Kingdom culture reflects the values and character of the King. The Kingdom of God culture is a war culture for dominion, kingdom against kingdom, values against values, truth against lies, and light against darkness battle. It’s a spiritual warfare and we have spiritual authority to cast out devils, bind and loose, pull down strong-holds and use the Name of Jesus. Strong holds are mindsets that go contrary to the Will and Word of God.
The sad truth is that in much of the church world, the culture of the kingdom of God has been lost to the culture of hype, greed, religious politics, a culture of a timid and passive Jesus and a church that sadly resembles a political machine or a corporation more than God's culture. God's culture begins with the family, the home, making disciples through life relationships, reaching and caring for others with the gospel and the love of God. It goes far beyond the church walls and becomes all things to all people in-order to win some to Christ.
The true disciples of Jesus are losing their taste for the shallow and superficial and are separating themselves from those entangled in the appearance of spirituality and religiosity. Many people have become discussed with the church as usual because of superfluous programs, hurts, superficial religious politics and leadership caught up in the things of the flesh instead of the things of God. So many times, we would be in church and people were more concerned with where we were going to eat after church instead of how can we help somebody outside of the church.
People are looking for depth in the Word and in their relationships with God, a free-flowing move of the Holy Ghost, personal empowerment and leadership that does not play political games or concerned with Hollywood glamorization. The days of the preacher putting his hand behind his ear and say uhm and oh are not going to cut it today. We must be able to Rightly Divide the Word of Truth.
The church needs to realize that we are the “kerux”. Kerux in the Greek is a herald, a "town-crier" proclaiming critical news for the public a preacher an official representative of the Kingdom of God and well able to deal with kingdom conflict. 1 Timothy 2:7 says “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher (kerux), and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity”. The verb to preach is kerusso. WATCH THIS:- Historically a kerux was an official representative of a kingdom sent by a king to convey his wishes, laws, values, culture and expectations. Without the ministry of a kingdom kerux it was impossible for people to understand how to transition their lives and society to match that of their king. The church must be a kerux and inform the world on how-to live-in line with the King. We need to stop preaching God wants you to be rich and proclaim that God wants you to be Holy. It’s time to restore the culture of the Kingdom of God back into the church.
Return to the preaching the cross.
The cross-less gospel is the greatest lack in Christianity today and the reason for many of the church's failures and the biggest reason why it is becoming increasingly difficult in many places of the world to tell the difference between a real Christian and non-Christian. It is also the most common place where men are tricked into thinking that there can be a shortcut to revival and the power and glory of God. Smith Wigglesworth a pioneer in the Pentecostal movement and considered the Apostle of Faith said: "The way into the glory is through the flesh being torn away from the world and separated unto God.". That’s what preaching the cross will do.
Until the Church gets back to the cross, no real and lasting change is forthcoming. You can listen to empty promises and predictions of how the glory and power of God will be made manifest, how God wants you to just be happy, God wants you to be a millionaire. However, these types of words without implementing the cross will continue to leave us empty.
The process of Restoration requires a spirit of Expectation.
There must be a spirit of Expectation in the church. The spirit of expectation is the breeding ground for miracles. We must expect the glory to return and when it does return be greater than it was before. If you bought a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air 2 Door Hard Top Convertible in 1957 it would have cost about 2800.00 dollars, now if you had that same vehicle today and restored it you could sell it anywhere from 33,000 to 115,000 dollars, but it’s going to take some work. Restoration takes work, restoration involves getting rid of some old stuff and replacing it. Restoration means sometimes things have to be cut out because of decay, corruption, or corrosion. Restoration is taking what once was and bringing it back to its former existence and beyond.
Expect the Spirit of God to move in the hearts of multitudes to repent of their sins and to begin to pursue lives of holiness before God. In many revivals in time past, virtually entire cities turned to the Lord in repentance and faith just think about Nineveh. Crime decreased, bars closed, and life was totally different, because in times of heaven-sent spiritual awakening, people’s hearts had turned to the Lord, and they were pursuing His righteousness.
Expect to see a renewed, mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with multitudes baptized in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, and moving mightily in God’s power. Mark 16:17 says “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues”. Don’t let the Church be robbed of this blessing. It is for the Church today, just as in the early church. Expect and believe God for dramatic manifestations of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit and the almost tangible sense of the Presence of God.
The early church of the Book of Acts was indeed a glorious church. Believe for the same in our day — Habakkuk 3:2 “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known...”
Expect a renewed hunger for the word of God among the people, the Bible says in Acts 17:11 “These [Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so”.
If you don’t expect the glory of God you will miss it and miss out on the blessing.
CLOSING:- As in the temple of the Old Testament, may it once more be said of the church today Haggai 2:9 “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts”. This should be the prayer for all those that desire to restore the glory in the church – Lord please let God’s heart for spiritual restoration of the Church today bring back, and surpass, the glory we read of in the early Church.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
