Come, Bless the Lord

The core group of New City Church is emerging. Two weeks ago, seventy-two people gathered for our first public prayer and praise meeting. 

This Sunday, July 13 at 5 pm, I want to invite you to meet us again. As much as we need to continue to meet together and welcome new friends, the primary purpose of our gathering is to meet with God. 

Do you know God loves to meet with us? He loves our company. We don’t have to persuade him to be more open to clear his schedule for a meeting with us. We don’t have to make ourselves more attractive to God. We don’t have to incentivize God to show up for a meeting. 

Jesus loves to show up on time for meetings. He said so. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20) Notice, as much as Jesus is available to meet with you alone, he loves to meet with us when we meet with others who love to meet with him. There is something about God’s people meeting together that blesses God and invites the personal presence of Jesus. 

As a church planter in the beginning phases of building a committed core group, one of the only things I have to offer is a welcoming invitation to meet. But more powerful and persuasive than an invitation from me is the invitation to meet with God. When we dare to go to the trouble of attending a meeting at church, we do so in response to the invitation of God himself. As I heard Pastor T.J. Timms say to his congregation at Immanuel Nashville last Sunday, “We don’t have to put God in a more receptive mood. He’s moving toward us with his welcome.” 

God knows we can’t afford to go very long without gathering to meet with him in the context of community. Sadly, some churches seem to have forgotten that the primary purpose of meeting is not to bless one another. As a result, God’s presence seems to be unwelcome or ignored. 

The primary purpose of the meeting is to bless God. He welcomes our collective prayers of faith, songs of praise, confession of sin, and response to his preached Word. That’s the kind of meeting that brings pleasure to God and carries us through the week until we meet again. 

That is the kind of meeting I want to invite you to this Sunday night at 5 pm. We want to invite you to meet with us while we meet with God. We will gather at 573 West Twincourt Trail in St. Augustine near the World Golf Village exit of I-95. We will be sharing space with another group that is meeting in another part of the building, so look for our greeters who will direct you to enter on the side of the building.

And, by the way, if you wonder if meeting on Sunday evening is less pleasing to God than Sunday morning, consider this invitation from Psalm 134.

1 Now bless the LORD, 

All you servants of the LORD 

Who stand in the LORD’s house at night! 

2 Lift up your hands in the holy place 

And bless the LORD! 

3 May the LORD, 

Maker of heaven and earth, 

bless you from Zion.

Come, bless the Lord with us, at night, this Sunday!