Friday and Saturday were both full-up with work and so there was very little time to prepare for the service on Sunday. I also had the task of meeting the Chile national team at the airport and being responsible for the delivery of all the team kit to their team base-camp. I had to be at the airport by 11:30am, so everything in-between my ministry time on Sunday was hectic, but the time itself was blessed!
I had prepared a short PowerPoint presentation on our work in 'Shina', after the presentation I showed a short video of testimonies, provided by Albert and his great production company. This shortened version will form part of the a longer documentary that him and his team are putting together, for future awareness campaigns.
After the slide-show and the video, I had four pages worth of sermon prepared! But, alas, this was not be shared, as God had other plans. I shared form the heart for the next half-hour, notes aside, but God alongside! It was really just about what was on my heart: God's goodness - that the problem never lies with God when things don't work out. Faith - that it takes more faith to get saved, than to see someone healed. Revival - that revival starts within. The difference between fact and truth - that we must know the truth and the truth will set us free. That we must be consumed by the word and consume the word, so that we can know the truth, for the truth sets us free.
This, in a nut-shell was the content of what I spoke on. Afterwords God provided some awesome words of knowledge and people were healed both physically and spiritually. For my first real 'preaching' experience in a formal church setting, it was great. Having family, friends and strangers all together and receiving different things from God through the same message was quite an eye-opener for me.
I saw Sunday as the parable of the sower. However, the seed of the word didn't fall on hard, rocky or thorny ground, it fell on fertile soil. This is due to the fact that faithful ministers have been preaching God's word for years before I got there, never wavering in the faith and never giving people a reason to abandon God. The power and effectiveness of a relevant, bible-believing church can't be underestimated!
The nearly-too-good-to-be-true-news can't be kept inside and I am not going to try! If God has shown you something unique, don't keep it to yourself. We are the redeemed, we are set free and it is up to us to help others also reach that place of freedom and liberty! Don't be scared JUST DO IT. It is about time some of us start-living and stop just existing!
In other news:
The pictures of Chile's arrival in the country will be up shortly. They provide a very interesting, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to move a team around, even a medium-sized team like Chile ... They filled up our entire 8 ton truck, which we provided them, even bringing their own dumbbells, can you believe! So much for their confidence in our body-building capabilities!
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