Message in Community
Just a cool experience…
Yesterday I had my message for New Community all prepped and ready to go by 4:00, and there’s a growing group of staff that gather in the auditorium on the stage just to worship & pray for New Community for about an hour. So I joined ‘em.
So they asked what I would be speaking on and I told them about the whole “stories of deliverance” message that I would be giving and then they prayed over me…and it was cool…I really felt empowered to teach the message I had prepared. And then as different people were praying, there were words & phrases that they used that inside I felt Holy Spirit saying…”you need to say this.” And so, after prayer I went back to my manuscript and added some stuff…particularly to my conclusion.
It was a really cool thing…to think of the message last night, not as “my message,” that “I prepped” and “I preached,” but a message from God confirmed, empowered and strengthened by a community of people.
That is beautiful. There were several instances last night where I truly felt “in the presence.” I absolutely love engaging in study of the OT because, just as you described, it is act 1 of OUR deliverance story. It is OUR heritage just as much as it is for the Jews. To know that God had laid the foundation and was giving the Jews hints of His plan to send His son hundreds of years before the fact is just another illustration of the depth of His love and wisdom. (and sense of humor).
It makes me wonder what signs and events we are passing through right now that when future generations look back, they will say, “wow, look at how God has delivered us once again from the evil of this world.”
powerful stuff…
justin
October 11, 2007 at 8:29 am
Great job!!! Thanks for being open and listening and sensing the wind of the Spirit. I was able to pray with a guy last night that was deeply affected by what you said and felt he needed to cross over that line of faith, to leave Egypt and move in a personsal relationship with Christ. Keep it up.
dave
October 11, 2007 at 8:45 am
The message was very good and the connections that you made to OUR lives was powerful. I appreciated that. As I was listening, it didn’t feel like something that was just “prepped” – it felt and sounded like it was from your heart, from the Holy Spirit. So…thanks for sharing!
Gina
October 11, 2007 at 9:41 am
That’s so awesome….I feel the same way when I’m leading worship. It’s been great to be in the presence of God almost as an “advance” before leading the worship time. It was a pleasure to worship with you yesterday.
Ben
October 11, 2007 at 9:47 am
That is convicting. While I really think this is just part of how God wired me, I seldom finish my prep with much time left. I have often felt led to add things at the last minute, but seldom have much availability to community right before the night begins…
I would have had a really hard time leaving out the burning bush as well.
brandon
October 11, 2007 at 10:01 am
Recently my life went to hell literally. Well not recently but it was over a long time of selfishness, shortsightedness, and destructive behavior that eventually almost cost me my family. In the end my wife left…my son left…and I was alone at the bottom.
It was then when I got on my knees and prayed that God offered me his hand. He said you have been in the desert too long….If you will follow me I will lead you. And I began my delivery from the darkest period of my life.
Charlie’s message affirmed that for me. It gave words to what has happened. And there is nothing more powerful to me now than knowing that God has delivered me through faith – that we walked out together. That I was delivered.
I told my wife last night that I am overwhelmed at the amazing feeling I have that one day I will tell a story to my son about the days that God delivered me. The story of my deliverance.
Charlie – -All I can say is thank you.
And that David Crowder song – - Good stuff at the right time!
Jason
Jason Schifo
October 11, 2007 at 11:06 am
Prayer is power. God is calling us to the carpet. The words I speak are not my own but those of the Father.
Father thank you for Charlie who listens and does.
I would love to see a regular interactive bible study at Northwoods. Isn’t the OT the testimony of God’s character? Don’t you think it is impossible to have true intimacy without knowing His character
Tim H
October 13, 2007 at 12:02 am