Sunday….I knew it would be anything but ordinary, but I had no idea how much. It was really hot and sunny. As we left to walk to church I asked God…”God, it’s really hot! Can you please bring us some clouds to make it cooler?” It was still sunny…we kept walking…
This past Sunday was the last service my team Shiloh and I would be attending before we left for Tanzania. Carin was bringing the message, Sarah was leading Sunday School and Heather was leading offering and worship. Aly and I, however, were supposed to go to a Highschool up the road to preach to young adults. Let’s just say…we had nothing planned! We had no idea what was expected of us or even the age of students until we got there.
So, our response was: “Lord lead us! We have faith that you will speak through us and bring the message you want to bring!”
They ushered us in to sit at the front of the stage. As they were about to introduce us to the students, Aly and I looked at each other and said, “So…do you know what you are going to preach on?…NOPE! Do you? NOPE!” I figured I could talk about speaking life and death and Aly figured she could speak something about who we are and who we are not. So, we figured we could mesh to two together and let the Lord create something homemade just for these students.
What did we do with that thought then? Aly and I both got up on stage and preached together!!! Neither of us had ever done that before, let alone trying it with out anything prepared! But, God worked wonders. I wasn’t surprised, because it is the character of our God to show up and woo us like that. But, I was so grateful and humbled that our Daddy in Heaven was in the midst of us so powerfully in that moment.
Aly started OUR sermon by talking about what she had always told people and herself that she WAS NOT: I am a nurse, I am not a preacher, teacher, singer, leader, etc. But, God has definitely showed her otherwise. She is preaching, teaching, singing and leading (an entire SQUAD) on The World Race all to the glory of God!!!
I then spoke next about why it is important to speak life to each other and not death. I told them that the world often tells us all of the things we are NOT but God wants to tell us who we ARE. Speaking life means telling people who God says we are.
Aly then gave an example about how she spoke life over her mother the other day for her birthday. She also spoke about how her last team (her team for the first 3 months of the race) spent 3 months telling her who God said she was and reminding her not to fear but to have confidence and boldness.
Then I realized that on the black board behind me was written “SKIP THE TRAP” and gave steps on how to skip the trap of the enemy. The Lord gave me the words to speak in that moment…
It is good that we learn to skip the trap of the enemy, but if that is all that we do, we are missing the whole point. We are not supposed to just skip it because that we can do on our own, but we were created to discern why it is there then work together to get around it. That is why Christ says we are the BODY! If he wanted us to navigate through a fallen world by ourselves, he would have left it at Adam, let him sin completely, then let him navigate the world. But, he didn’t. He created mankind to work together. For example, if I am the feet and I tried to navigate my way around the traps or pits of the enemy, I would surely fall in them while trying to see other attacks that are coming against me. But, if Aly is the eyes and she and I work together, then she can see what is before me and help me to walk around it rather than fall in (she and I literally held hands winding our way around “traps” and teaching these students what God was saying, haha!).
So, how do we “Skip the trap” of the enemy? We work together as the Body of Christ!
How do we act as the Body of Christ? Build each other up and tell each other what God says – speak life. Realize we were not meant to live life by ourselves. We are designed to help guide each other around the traps of the enemy.
It was amazing and hysterical giving this sermon. Aly and I were both pacing the stage speaking whatever the Lord wanted to say. We came completely unprepared and ready for God to rock us and the students. AND HE DID!!! It’s not that we were lazy and didn’t want to prepare, but we knew that God would speak. The students were so pumped. They were interacting and asking questions, nodding their heads and eating up every word God spoke. He aligned this message perfectly for them!!
This is the God we serve!!! He doesn’t need us! He already has a message to bring every single time, he just wants us to be his mouth piece. We get to take part by knowing his Word so that when he speaks it we are able to speak it too. AMEN?!
Then at the end of it all….they asked us to sing them a song! Out of our whole team ALY and I are the LAST People to sing on stage by ourselves. That was GOD”S HUMOR for sure!! So, we sang. But, I definitely laughed my way through it!
God is such a comical God. I love it! Yes and Amen God!
And then…the thunderstorm came!!!! God’s power and might in physical form!
