ONE OF THEM

Message Link- https://youtu.be/iop7qmYhojA?t=1436


On Thursday night, As I sat in the front of the general conference service in 2022, as the worship began, there was a crush of people of all ages, races, and sizes coming to the front to worship God.

I sat there for a moment of awe and thanksgiving. 


To be one of them.

To be among the worshippers.


With hot tears flowing down my face, I raised my hands toward heaven and joined in that privilege to give praise no angel can give.  The song of the redeemed.

Those who will lose themselves among the throng of worshippers.


King David is famous because of his worship.

While David brought the Ark of God to Jerusalem, he understood something special.


He did not praise God to lead others in praise.

He did not praise God so God would bless him.

He did not praise God to be noticed or respected.

He took off his royal robes,


I want to be a worshipper.

I want to be one of them!

It’s not a place on the stage.

It’s not simply an instrument to play.

It’s not simply to participate, so I don’t stand out.

I am not trying to lead others in worship; 


I have no role in the service. So I choose.


Oh, that, I would always choose to be one of them.

One of the Worshippers. I want to be one of them… 

What would happen if everyone at every service would lay aside their robes of identity, those things that designate us as something special, and decide as David did… I am going to worship the Lord with all my might. 


Maybe, everyone does not have that mindset in every service. However, each of us would answer the simple call, the essential qualification to be among those. One of those.

To be a worshipper. 

To be one of them.


I have known old saints, even in their … From my perspective; old is constantly being redefined. When I saw old as someone in their fifties, worshipping God.


I saw people in their sixties worshipping God.


I saw people in their seventies and eighties, and even nineties, 


They may not be as loud, long, or fervent, but with all they have, they still have an unquenchable desire to worship God. All their might!


What happens when all those I saw as old, I am that age, and my examples have passed from the scene? Will the younger generations identify me as one of those sainted elders who still worship God with all my might?


I want to be one of those! I don’t think God respects buildings as we do, and we love them. When God was calling the shots on places of worship, he had them construct an ugly-looking tent where the glory was not an object of adoration but hidden so secret that no one worshipped its cost or ornamentation, but they were in awe of the His Glory. The Pillar of Cloud by Day and the Pillar of Fire by night.


Glorious Buildings are a cheap substitute for God’s Glory of the Presence. 


Look at the Catholic, Muslim, and Hindu temples around the world. 


Visibly Glorious, but lifeless and filled with literal dead men’s bones.

I am pro-building churches that demonstrate our devotion and honor to God. However, no building, no matter how glorious, will ever answer the simple definition of being a worshipper.


Oh, to be one of them.


Worship is what beautifies our God to the world around us.



Sadly, in pentecostalism, some of us at times feel we have graduated into the realm of thought and reason, and for some, that moves us from the front worshipping to not the front analyzing. This can happen, and I confess it has happened to me, and I have to repent when I recognize it.


I have noticed that many of us start as young people, and we are fervent worshippers. However, with time and ministry experience, and a level of respect and honor, we are no longer identified as worshippers. Good preachers, good leaders, and good givers; however, you will seldom find us as one of them. 


As a young man, fervent for God, I was almost always one of them. One night after a camp meeting service, my “girlfriend,” who would be my wife, was told by someone, “You got yourself a fireball.” ((Something like that.))



At some point, after I had been pastoring, the Lord challenged me to worship at Camp Meeting like I would like those I pastor to worship at church. I can’t say I have been perfect at this cause I have not. However, I do make a concerted effort to worship like I would like those I pastor to worship in service when I go to camp meeting. 


Here is my challenge for those few that made it this far, can we decide together from this day forward we will be one of them?


Can we surrender our prestige and identity and give ourselves to worshipping the one true God with all of our might?

In pursuit of being one of them.