Yesterday was a great day for me. I went to sleep last night so full of God I was about to burst.
My day began at SVC. I had accepted another speaking engagement here in town yesterday, but the worship center at that church didn't begin until 10:30. I showed up at SVC around 7:15 in order to take time to pray for God's anointing upon the people of SVC. I had invited my good friend Jerry Taylor to preach yesterday and he lit the place up. As usual, God was mighty through him. I've had some great preachers fill in for me, but the hardest Sunday to preach is the Sunday after Jerry has been at my church. The Spirit of God flowed through him leading us to a deeper trust in God. I was tempted to get his notes and preach his sermon at my speaking gig at 10:30. :)
I quickly jumped in my truck and drove to Grace Crossing. My good friend Josh Patrick had invited me to come speak and I quickly accepted. Josh is a great minister/pastor. Every time I am with him I leave with a clearer understanding of Jesus' character and mission in this world. He makes me want to be a better follow of Jesus. I spoke from Luke 5 about radical discipleship. The worship was powerful, but more than that, I was encouraged by a few risks they are taking as a church in order to join God in acts of liberation and justice in the surrounding community.
After eating lunch with a few friends who attend Grace Crossing, I jumped in my truck and went to the best worship service I have attended in a long time. My friend Esther Rush had invited me to a Kairos celebration. I have been in county jails and federal prisons for men, but this was first time to enter into a federal prison for women. Kairos is a ministry that sends people into prisons for an intense 3-4 period of discovering God's amazing love. For an hour and half, I heard testimony after testimony of God's faithfulness.
One woman stood and said, "This weekend I opened up my heart to let God come inside again. Then, I closed the door so that He won't be able to leave." We applauded!
Another woman stood testifying, "I didn't want to come to Kairos, but I had a friend who talked me into it. After the first night, I went back to my cell. I wanted to lash out at my roommate for something, but I couldn't. It was like my lips were sealed shut. The next morning, I walked into the room with all of these women and I wondered why they were here loving me and giving me hugs. I haven't had many people who have shown me love throughout my life. After a couple of days, I was back in my cell and I heard a curse word and my stomach began churning. Then, I heard another curse word and again, there was a churning. I thought to myself, "O Lord, what have you done to me?" At that point, we all stood on our feet cheering. God had truly broken into her life.
Today, I'm enjoying a Sabbath Rest...reflecting on God's presence and power that surrounded me yesterday.
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That is some powerful stuff. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for letting us experience a Jerry Taylor sermon. Wow!
ReplyDeleteJosh,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you got to experience God in powerful ways...
However, taking the Sabbath the following day to reflect can be something as equally powerful. I would love to hear more on that experience as well. How did that experience affect your thinking on life and God?
Great blog! Some former members from my church are now members at Sycamore and they love to hear you preach. They are Mark and Sarah Bird - good people. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteHey Josh. My dad has been involved with Kairos for years. I'm pretty sure he was there that night. We have wanted to attend and have heard great things about it. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen Rock Turns Into Sand
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Jerry Taylor last Sunday; he really got me thinking. When it was all over, I was sure that his sermon was targeting me directly.
The sermon passage in Mathew 6:19 states, “ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, etc..” Over the past weeks and months, the Lord has been working with me on this spiritual truism. Further, he sent Bro. Jerry to bring the word of wisdom to spiritually body slam me last Sunday.
Let me explain. For over 27 years, I have been saving money for my retirement. Truthfully, how many 23 year olds do you know who start planning for the “golden years” at such an early age? I was certain that “delayed gratification” would pay off. Somehow, I convinced myself that there was even a spiritual component in the path that I had taken. Perhaps, even a cogent argument of the parable of the talents as recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 & Luke 19:12-28 could be used to support being worthy stewards of what the Lord has provided us with.
When I was a youngster, my Dad made it perfectly clear to me that I was expected to be “off the family payroll” as soon as possible. Further, it was up to me to “lay by in store” for the future to take care of myself and my immediate family. I started my humble saving plans with $25 per month. The financial representative dutifully explained the concepts of “Dollar cost averaging and Compounding Interest.” I was assured that time was on my side, and that all would be fine. Every year, I would continue increasing the amount saved and was resolute and steadfast in following “the plan.” To make a long story short, now that I am getting close to having 30 years in the school district and preparing to retire, I started looking at the figures more closely. I suppose I started studying the figures last year. I was so proud of what I had done, and yes, I was even sanctimonious. After all, I was not like all of those “sinners” who had not planned for the future. Mmm , does the word pharisaical sound right….I think so.
In retrospect, I see my faith was in my annuity. Well, the Lord saw fit to teach me a lesson that my faith was in the wrong thing. Continuing, I believe that the Lord is teaching our country a lesson about materialism! (He has certainly taught it to me.) Sadly, I thought that my “long term dollar cost averaging” saving strategy over 25 years was practicing what the Lord teaches in Matt 7:25: “The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.” I guess that is what thought; it seemed wise, disciplined and somehow “spiritual.” Again, I say my faith was the wrong thing. Since Sept. 08, I have lost over half of my “nest egg;” my faith was placed in things that the Lord can take away as quickly as he gave it. The scary part about this whole situation is I thought that I was building my house on the “rock” and it turned out to be the “sand.”
I wonder how many of us believe that our spiritual houses are built on rock when, in fact, these houses are on sand.