A Place I’ve Been

If we are fortunate enough, there will come a time when we are privileged to witness something that hits us profoundly. I was recently granted such a privilege and by unplanned opportunity. I had traveled to a wonderful small town in Texas to teach.

While there I met some amazing folks that are working hard and pouring themselves out for the Lord, to lead others to Christ, and, I will add, being fruitful in their efforts. I had been invited to attend a Church with my dear friends and missionaries at Hill Country Bible Church.

I had heard a lot about this small church and it had all been positive. I wasn’t hesitant but I certainly didn’t expect what I was gifted to experience. It was a privilege to attend a place of worship. Real worship, something I had never really known, even having gone to many places that claimed to be churches. Hill Country was a place of worship.

I walked in and immediately felt something different, the people there made me feel like a member of their family that had been away on a long journey, and in a way that is true.

I believe as Christians, as sojourners in this world, every time we enter a church it should be the true Church, a place of worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. If that were true then we would all experience what I experienced at Hill Country.

When we attend church we should, in every way, feel a sense of family and experience a feeling of being loved and loving others. That church should and must be a place where when the lost person enters they know it is in every way separate from the world they have known; different in such magnitude that the lost as well as the saved yearn to be there and to return to.

When one that does not know Christ goes to a true church, a feeling of wanting should enter their heart, a desire to have what the believers have—to be filled with a sense of belonging and a feeling of being wanted and loved far differently than anything the worldly life has shown them.

I call this spiritual welcoming. When true worshipers are gathered, the Holy Spirit is present, and the presence of the Holy Spirit will, in fact, create a longing in the spirit of the lost and a desire in the believer to remain.

Have you, the believer, ever witnessed what I have described? I’m not speaking of being a member of a church or church family but being a member of the Body of Christ and witnessing the true Church where souls are hungry to worship the Lord our God; that place where all are as one with one goal and purpose. A Church established by Christ for the purpose of glorifying the one true God!

When a nonbeliever attends a true church, they should leave saying to themselves, “I want what they have; I need this in my life.” Every man was given a living soul, placed there by God the Father, and the presence of the Holy Spirit will create a longing for what the soul has formerly known—the presence of God.

I call this the inherent understanding of the soul. Others have referred to it as spiritual knowledge, but whatever terminology you wish to use, it is there in everyone and the soul longs to return to a closeness with God.

There are some contributing factors that must be met before there can even be a true church where souls rejoice and worship. First there has to be true conversion into salvation. This is a work of God’s calling and the believer’s faith knowing that only the Lord Jesus is the path to salvation and Heaven.

Then the saved soul must love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Only then will the church take form as it was established by Christ. Second is the continual seeking of God through the Holy Word.

Third is humbleness and prayer, for it is through these things God heals. He heals gatherings, communities, and nations. Earnest prayer brings forth the manifestation of the Word. Prayer is powerful in the heart of a true believer, but is only words from a pretender.

In the story of Belshazzar the king of Babylon, the writing on the wall by the hand of God clearly gives us an idea of the inner workings of Heaven relating to the individual. The writing told of a weighing and measuring of the person.

I think it prudent to keep in mind the understanding of this constant evaluation of our hearts so that we are not found lacking and in turn divided from God! I don’t in any way mean to imply salvation can be lost; I do wish to make the point that we should be aware that we are indeed examined in heart and deed.

The lukewarm heart is distasteful to God and the fruitless Christian, a dead branch to be pruned by the vine dresser.

In my love for Christ, I certainly do not want to be found lacking in any way that which I am able to prevent. In closing, I will say that worship, true worship from the heart, not only gives Glory to God, but worship is sustaining to the worshiper—it strengthens and fortifies in heart and mind.

May the Lord find a heart of worship in you each and every day, always.

“You will never Glory in God, til first of all God has KILLED your glorifying in yourself.”

-Charles Spurgeon

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple