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May 23, 2005

What a Sunday

Yesterday was a great day. The service at Emmaus was right on target with some things God has been saying. Pastor Mike spoke about the storms in life. He said how sometimes the storms are caused by a result of our actions, or by an attack from the devil, or by loved ones, or by God. And sometimes the storm comes BECAUSE we are doing what God asked us to do. Even then, the storm could still be caused by God. He focused on the story when Peter started to walk on the water toward Jesus. Jesus wants us to walk on the storms of life, not sink in them. It was just great to hear yet another confirmation that storms are coming.

In the afternoon, I drove down to Deliverance Bible Church in Hurst, TX (around Dallas). What an awesome night I had there. I arrived there about 30 minutes early, so I was feeling slightly awkward about going in. But if I'm predetermined to love everyone, I shouldn't be afraid to look foolish. If anything, I was foolish for being a little afraid.

Its located in a pretty shabby area next to a couple of other stores and some empty office spaces. There were a couple of cars parked out front. When I pulled into a parking space, I noticed two guys standing right in front of the parking space I was in, leaning on a window talking. I couldn't tell if they were part of the church or not. One of them looked like he was about 70 years old and the other was around his mid-30's with dirty looking skin and he was wearing a cowboy hat. Before I arrived, my plan was to just sit in the car and read until it was closer to service time. After I read a little, I saw two people go in. I figured I'd go in since I knew some people were in there.

Inside, the church looks like it could have been a thrift store or some kind of cheap clothing store. The ceiling was low. There were a couple of poles supporting the ceiling. Rows of fold down chairs were lined up facing the stage. The stage had some nice drums, some bongos, guitars, and mic stands. Behind the stage the wall had a cool painting of a banner that said, "Jesus".

I started wandering around, looking at some of the pictures they had on the wall, and reading some of the little statements they had painted on various parts of the wall. As I was at a table, grabbing a business card and a flyer, this tall, skinny, tattoo-covered, bald-headed (razor bald) guy looks at me and says, "First time here?" He introduced himself as Pastor Cleetus and I told him how Austin raves about this church. He made me feel very welcome, and he genuinely looked happy to have me there. Right when I was finished filling out a visitor's card, he introduced me to Mike.

It turns out that Mike is going to be in NYC all summer doing an internship at a video production facility. He seemed pretty excited about going, yet unsure of how housing will work out. Mike introduced me to his girlfriend Kate. The two were so open and I felt completely at home just hanging out with them. They introduced me to a few people here and there. Then the service started.

I've been to charismatic churches before, but not like this. Right before the band started playing music, everyone was told that they could worship however they want. We could stand, sit, dance, jump, or even lay down -- just whatever we felt comfortable with. And that's exactly how it was. Some were sitting, standing, , dancing, jumping, head banging, lifting hands, clapping, raising one fist (almost like saying , "JESUS POWER!!"). It was great to be in the midst of that freedom. I could act like I was all by myself praising God, because I didn't have to be concerned about what anyone thought. Most of all, there was so much joy filling the place. Everyone was shouting out the joyful songs, it made me laugh because of the overwhelming joy. It's a great way to get a taste of what praising God forever in His presence will be like.

Then the sermon... Once again, God just making it extra clear that we need to love Him with all of our hearts. Cleetus spoke about being aggressive for the kingdom of God. We need to be aggressive about forgiving -- seeking out those who have really hurt us and telling them that we forgive them. We need to be aggressive about turning the other cheek. We need to be aggressive about prayer. Then he spoke some on prayer. Especially when we are asking for a miracle, like healing, we shouldn't stop praying just because the person wasn't healed right away. Sometimes, we need to pray until they are healed. That is the prayer of faith -- praying UNTIL it happens. We looked at James chapter 5. James speaks about praying for a sick person WILL heal them, if it is a prayer offered in faith. Then James points out Elijah. So we looked at Elijah. In I Kings 18:41-45:

Now Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower." So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go back" seven times. It came about at the seventh time, that he said, "Behold, a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea." And he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.'" In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower.

This story takes place after a 3 year drought. The point of this story is to show how persistent we must be with our prayer. Cleetus also brought up a testimony of someone he knew who brought his wife to someone to heal her. She was terminally ill and it was his last hope. This person layed hands on her, and prayed 22 hours for her until she was finally healed. If you read James chapter 5, he says that we must pray for someone who is sick and they WILL be healed - not they might be healed.

After service, I went out to eat with Mike and Kate, along with some others (Naaman, Jeremy, Beth, Mike, John). It was good to just hang out and eat. I got back here in OKC at around 2am. I was pretty tired in school today, but I was happy with that. I was really blessed to see so many people with such a passion and faith in Jesus. It's the kind of people I can really feel at home with.

Posted by fabijo at May 23, 2005 04:45 PM

Responses

Posted by: glassgirl at May 23, 2005 10:44 PM

Posted by: NEO at May 24, 2005 02:27 PM