This Sunday, Pastor Carl continued The Beloved Community message series declaring that we are A Jesus Community. The service started normal enough but at the end of worship Holy Spirit broken the room with a spirit of breakthrough. Many people testified to the nearness of God as people came forward and were touched by the power of Holy Spirit.
The Church is not at club or an interest group but it is a group of people in a particular place who practice a life of resurrection in a world in which death gets the biggest headline. In a society that celebrates corruption and death we who have been called out of darkness have a different testimony. We no longer trust in ourselves we trust in the good news of Jesus.
In the beginning, the earth was without form or void, cursed by the fall of the enemy from heaven. God planted Adam and Eve in the garden, created from this earth, to have dominion over the enemy and his territories. But sin personified as the serpent came in and seduced the man into following sin instead of God. This set in epic arc of redemption that traveled through the covenant with David and into the sending of Jesus.
Pastor Carl, sensing the leading of Holy Spirit, departed from his written sermon and shared his testimony for the rest of the service. He punctuated the notion that God paid for us with the blood of his son 2000 years ago but we did not give him what he paid for. When we surrender our lives to God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we finally give God what he paid for, our very lives.
As you meditate on this message this week, share with someone your God story.
Meditate on where God has brought you from, focusing on how sin makes you stupid but God brings wisdom and clarity.
Thank God for drawing you into relationship with him through Jesus Christ and that you have been filled with Holy Spirit.