This month my team decided to give each other an individual challenge, so that we could individually work on stepping out of our comfort zone and into what the Lord has for us on the race.
My challenge: preach on the last Sunday of the month.
When I accepted this challenge I really only agreed to volunteer to preach, but there were 39 other people who could have already volunteered before me. Turns out 2 of them already had, but those people prayed about it and chose me to do it. So there really was no turning back.
I prayed for a week about what to preach on and couldn’t come up with anything that felt right in my heart. Preaching didn’t scare me, but I have consistently struggled with being a perfectionist and feeling completely equipped to serve. I know that not being equipped is a lie from the enemy and that the Holy Spirit will always equip me, but sometimes I begin to lose that confidence and doubt myself.
After a mentally exhausting Saturday I was convinced that I couldn’t preach. Of course the taxi got us back in time for church (read my last blog for that adventure), but I really just didn’t wanna do it. My team covered me in prayer and spoke life into me about preaching and I still wasn’t happy about it. I was emotional, exhausted and just not in the mood to preach, but I knew that this was just an attack on my confidence and I needed to suck it up and preach.
When we got to church it was average in attendance. And then people kept coming in. and coming in. and coming in. I think it was God’s way of laughing at my lack of confidence in His ability to speak through me because He packed the house. There weren’t even enough seats; many of the racers were sitting on the floor at the back.
I preached on light.
I have always loved Matthew 5:14-16.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do you light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand where it can give light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.
God made light and it was good. Then we became darkness with our sin. Isaiah promised the Israelites that a light would come into the world, and it did, in the form of Jesus. In John 8:12, Jesus says “I am the light of the world” and then later he tells us that we have been made the light for the Gentiles and we are to walk as children of light (Acts 13:47, Ephesians 5:8-13).
El Shaddai is the city on a hill. The people here are a light to their community and the rest of this dark country. These kids have the brightest smiles and are constantly radiating life with their laughs. They are the light in this country and after spending a short amount of time with these kids I know that they are bringing glory to their Heavenly Father.
That was basically the jist of my sermon.
I loved preaching. I don’t know if it something that I will puruse, but I enjoy diving into the Word and then sharing that with a lot of people. It is amazing to watch the Holy Spirit move inside while searching for a topic and then sharing all those thoughts with others. All I can say is glory to God, because I could never have preached by my own will.
God has great things for the kids of El Shaddai and for all who accept God’s call to walk in the light. Sin and darkness can easily enter into our hearts and take away God’s light, but Jesus came as the light and called us to walk in it (1 Peter 2:9). We can either answer that call and shine His light into darkness, or we can allow ourselves to become the darkness and miss out on His everlasting light.
The choice is really simple.
Walk in the light or become darkness.
What choice to do you make today?
