...CommentsAugust 15, 1999
Joel 2:28 (NKJ)
Good morning Antioch! 'This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.' 'It is good to sing praises to the Lord.' I say in my heart and with my voice, 'You are my portion, O Lord, I have said that I would keep Your words.' The Word of God says, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." The Word of God challenges us to examine our hearts and our actions. It is alright to verbally praise the Lord, we are commanded to do just that, but our lives internally must reflect our satisfaction with Him.
My intentions this morning was to go a different route. All week long God has been pouring into me these verses. While we were down in Des Moines at the State Convention God was speaking to my heart after this manner. A manner of rejoicing because you have been cleaned-up from the inside out. Rejoicing in the fact that by no power of your own you have been kept, yet you are part of the keeping work. As a Christian we live in the tension between the 'ought and the is' of live. I am rejoicing this morning because in the midst of this tension God shows up and shows out.
This morning I am reminded how good God is. Brother Vi Norman went to Zimbabwe, Africa on a missions trip for Antioch. God is good because Brother Norman is eighty-three years young and still blessing people with his faith in God. Because of Vi and Bertha there is a new spirit of missions in our church. I praise God for Brother Norman's willingness to be used of the Lord.
Antioch, I challenge each of you to be a blessing to someone else. There is a new spirit of missions in our church, don't let it be caught up in just a few. Let us all participate by dreaming dreams and having visions. Let the young and the aged be about 'Kingdom Building' business.