Luke 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,
I’ll never forget the early days of Victory Fellowship. Often our services would be explosive, a church full of young people who were newly saved and unashamed of demonstrative worship. Sometimes our Sunday night services would go off into extended times of spontaneous singing. That atmosphere is the closest we get to heaven in this life. This kind of extravagant praise makes some people uncomfortable. You see wild, celebratory singing is not just a style. It is the overflow of joy that fills our hearts. Literally, we can’t help ourselves.
Revival is often characterized by this kind of celebration. It was said that the revival of 1904 in Wales was like that, the services would often go on for ours with nothing but worship and apparently no one in charge. Thousands of people were coming to Christ and ecstatic worship was just part of it. Apparently, Charles Spurgeon had some of that in his church in London in the 1800’s. Here is something he said about that.
“Some of our converts are very wild at times, they grow extravagant. Do not blame them. Why not indulge them? It will not hurt you. We are all so very proper and orderly that we can afford to have an extravagant one among us now and then Oh, that God would send more of that sort to wake the church up, that we also, might begin to praise God with heart and voice with soul and substance, with might and main! Hallelujah! My own heart feels the glow.”
What some think is fanaticism or excessive may be someone responding to the touch of God. I often think of the paralyzed man who was healed in the temple when Peter and John spoke to him. He went walking and leaping and praising God. When was the last time some one went walking, and leaping, praising God in your church? Has there ever been any leaping or praising? Maybe the reason our worship is not as powerful as Wales or the temple in Jerusalem is because of preconceived ideas and restraints we have put on worship. What’s wrong with walking and leaping anyway? At the end of the day, the leper in this story should respond with radical worship. He responded by falling on his face. The paralytic responded with walking and leaping. It’s your move, has the Lord done anything in your life worth getting excited about?
3 thoughts on “EXTRAVAGANT PRAISE”
WHEWHOO YES INDEED… I FEEL THE GLOW TOO. 🙂 YES LORD, SEND THEM, TO WORSHIP YOUR MIGHTY NAME… PRAISE YOU KING, WHO SITS ON THE THRONE. GLORY HONOR AND PRAISE, JESUS!!! YES, JESUS, YOU CONTINUALLY DO SOMETHING IN MY LIFE DAILY, HALLELUJAH… I WILL ALWAYS DANCE AND SING AND SHOUT/ALL FOR YOU KING OF KINGS JESUS…
HALLELUJAH, YOU ARE GLORIOUS KING! 🙂
GOOD MORNING, PASTOR FRANK, WHEWHOO, HALLELUJAH… HAVE A BLESSED AND FILLED DAY IN OUR KING OF KINGS JESUS… LOVE YOU, PASTOR…
A BLOG FULL OF FIRE, HALLELUJAH…. 🙂
HAVE YOUR WAY JESUS/HOLY SPIRIT WITH ME ALL DAY LONG… 🙂
Yes, pastor Frank, I experienced it at Victory a lot. I loved it, and I love Courtney and all the worship team, but now the instruments are way too loud and I cannot worship there anymore. The drums and electric guitars are so loud that it bother my spirit and maybe because of my condition it bothers my whole body. Not the singers, they are awesome, but I wonder if The Lord delights in any musical instruments, or more on the traditional instruments like piano, classic guitars, violin. But this is me, I don’t want to impose my feelings or my voice. I love your preaching and your ministry. I love the worship team, but not the drums and the loudness of the electric guitars. But the youth likes it! So I love to worship at home alone and find the presence of The Lord there, and in a more traditional small Church.
Amen!! Love the freedom of worship at victory love everything about the atmosphere of hearts worshipping our father!! Can’t wait for heaven,,loud 24/7 worship!!! Pray that god would spend more of that wake up in all of us to worship our Savior he is worthy ,I think those of us who really were drawn out of that old man and appreciate what the lord has done!! Spirit break out !