God Showed Up on November 23, 2008

The following was from notes I took about Sunday, November 23, 2008.

It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I lived in a small town in Kentucky called Greensburg. We were to have our annual Thanksgiving potluck and all the normal things you do on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

This Sunday was different.

We had put a dear saint, Eula Lobb, on the Memorial Roll of the Church of the Nazarene and were giving the certificate to her daughter and son-in-law Rev. Bob & Donna Hudson. They came up from Louisiana, where he pastored at the time, to be there for the special service.

We were having a "note burning" as the church had finally got out of debt (for the first time in its history). Our church treasurer brought the note and the president of the bank that we had our mortgage with was present too.

We thanked God for His faithfulness in the life of our dear sister in Christ: Eula Lobb. We thanked God for His faithfulness to His church and His ministry through our church as he provided through the sacrificial giving of individuals in our church family and the sale of some recently purchased property. For the first time since the founding of the church we were to be debt free.

God moved in the worship service. As He was worshiped, His presence filled the sanctuary. Thanks be to God.

Sunday night was a continuation of worship and praise. What a blessing it was as the course of the worship time was altered by people "interrupting" to praise God for answered prayer, special blessings, divine provision, God's faithfulness, and much more. Praise was sung, testified to, and Jesus was celebrated!

We thanked God. I preached briefly about remembering all that God has done in our lives; specifically in our spiritual lives (He does much more than bless us with material things). I preached from one verse found in Exodus 20:24 "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you." (ESV)

That He did in the evening service. As people testified to the grace and glory of our God, He blessed us with His presence. Some people sought after the Lord. Some were hungry for more of Jesus in their lives!

We then participated in the Supper that the Lord instituted and remembered the sacrifice Jesus made for the world on the cross. Jesus said about it: "As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me."

That we did, and again, God blessed where His name was remembered!

Praise the Lord! Thank You Father!