You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide. So that whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give it to you. (John 15:16)
Let’s go back to the 20th of September for a second…
I was nervous, real nervous. I laid on the floor of the church and prayed that He would make Himself known in a big time way. The gravity of what preaching really meant had hit me. I was going to stand in front of a room full of people and tell them about the Creator of the universe!
As God’s always done in my life, He showed up!
I finished my sermon on James 1:2-8 and headed back to my seat. Almost immediately the devil started pouring lies into my mind. “You failed these people, you don’t know how to preach, etc.” I entertained them for a minute or so when I realized what was happening, and I flipped the switch.
Over the years I have learned a few things about spiritual warfare. First of all, it’s real, very real. Secondly, when you’re experiencing heavy attacks from the devil, it’s because God’s doing big things in and through you and the devils doing all he can to thwart your potential. Game changer, He’s already won!
So with a refreshed mind, I took hold of His truth and dwelt there. As soon as the service ended, a sweet old lady came up to me and told me how beautiful and impactful the sermon had been to her. And then my good friend Bojan, who lives here in Sombor, pulled me aside.
We headed outside and he told me his story. As he talked I couldn’t believe how similar this young man was to myself. I felt like I was listening to the Serbian version of Abel! There were things in my sermon that I hadn’t planned on saying, and it was exactly these things that he mentioned had rocked his world! And then he brought up a verse.
Quick back story…
At launch God brought John 15:16 to center stage. Long story short, it literally describes this entire journey to a tee for me! So I’ve enacted it as my trip verse!
So Buyon told me about John 15:16. He said how he hadn’t read much of the Bible at all, but that there was this one verse that God had stuck in his mind, and it was this! Mind blown! I stood in complete awe of the Holy Spirit’s beautiful work! I love God’s friendly little reminders that He’s right here with me and He’s got me exactly where He wants me to be!
So that was that! From having a translator, to the sweet old lady, to Bojan and John 15:16, my first time preaching was one I’ll never forget!
We’ve been crazy busy here, but whenever I get another breather I’ll fill you all in on more incredible moments from last week and my latest venture to Budapest! It was breathtakingly, amazingly, spectacular!
Thanks for all the prayers and support! Continued prayer for my beautiful team and all the people here in Sombor, Serbia would be huge!
Love you all more than you’ll ever know!
Me and my boy Alexander!
