God Moved on 9-11-11

As I have indicated in the Bio of my Blog; I said that my blog would be about my family, but mostly about being in the ministry.

I want to share with you what happened when I was invited to preach at the Iglesia Cristiana Ebenezer AOG church in Lowell, Ma. on September 11, 2011.

A couple of weeks prior to this, Pastor Cecilio Hernandez had e-mailed me to ask if I would be available to preach on 9-11-11. I checked my calendar and confirmed that I was not scheduled to preach at my church (Lowell Assembly of God, as Associate Pastor) and that I would love to come and share the Word of God with his congregation.

When we agreed that I would go to his church, I begin to think and to ask the Lord, what would I speak on. The first message that came into my mind was one that I had preached on in my own church about a month prior, which was “Carest Thou Not That We Perish” The text was taken from the Gospel of Mark 4:35-39.

I was confident that I had the correct message to bring before the people. I had not preached in another church for about eight years, and I want to tell you how much of a serious matter it is to stand behind a “Pulpit” and preach the Word of God to folks you do not know.

Sunday, September 11, 2011 arrived, and my wife Lynne and I were very excited about going to Pastor Cecilio’s church; we arrived early to talk to him to see if there was anything special we had to do. The service started and we were pleasantly surprised to see and hear how those folks got into the Worshiping of the Lord. They came to church ready to Worship the Lord and started to worship even before the Service was officially underway. We just felt at home and entered in with the rest of the congregation.

They were kind to us, as they sang the songs in both Spanish and English. We knew most of the words of the songs, but even when Spanish was being spoken, we felt the same Spirit and were able to enter in.

Let me get on with this story, as you have been kind enough to read it so far, and don’t stop now, the best is yet to come.

Pastor Cecilio introduced my wife and I to the folks and I began to share what God had laid on my heart. I had to remember not to ramble on as Pastor Cecilio had to interrupt for me and we quickly got in sync with each other.

The message was about asking God the question, “Do you really care if I perish.” We know that the answer is a resounding YES; He does care. In the Scripture, the Disciples asked Him the same question as their boat was filling with water and they could do nothing about the situation they were in, except cry out to the Lord.

We can and do the same thing when we are facing situations in life, where we can do nothing about the trials of life that we face. The message was delivered and was well received by the congregation.

However; that is not the end of the story; I did not realize the impact that message had until after the service was over and we had walked to the back of the church, ready to leave, when a woman, holding her grandchild (not sure of boy or girl) asked if she could speak to me…….I said sure….then she begin to tell me that she has been going through many trials of late, and they were so severe that she had been thinking of taking her own life.

She stated that when she had those feelings that she began to talk to God and tell Him that she was going to return to church, as she had been missing quite a bit as of late. She stated that she told God, that if and when she returned to church, that He would have to talk to her. “You’ve got to talk to me” she stated.

She went on to tell me that the message that was preached that morning was just for her. She was asking God if He really cared for her because she felt that she was about to be overcome and swamped by the billows of life that we all face sometimes. She stated that God DID SPEAK TO HER, through the words of the message and her hope and faith was renewed.

I am certainly glad that I listened to the Spirit prompting me to preach what was preached, as someone needed to hear that “God Does Care if We Are Perishing” and He will come to our aid, and bring us to a safe harbor while traversing the seas of life.

Yes; God Moved on 9-11-11

Thank You Jesus: