Sunday Afternoon Ramblings

It was a great day to worship at Debra Heights Wesleyan! Let’s get right to some thoughts about the service.

First off, I thought the two members of Adoration that were in the service today did a great job, especially considering that Nicole’s illness this week prevented them from practicing. The set that they shared with us was absolutely perfect, reflecting exactly what I want for myself and our entire church. And the final song, Breathe, especially hit home. I am indeed desperate and lost with Jesus. May He always be the air that I breathe and my daily bread!

And the message, as I said this morning, was exactly what I needed to hear today. Here’s how it broke down for those who weren’t there. In 1 Samuel 18:17-30, God had started to orchestrate His amazing plans for David, the would-be king. He had given David a place in Saul’s household playing the harp to help the king keep his sanity. He had used David to slay Goliath. He had provided David with a best friend in the form of Saul’s son, Jonathan. And He had made David popular in the eyes of the people, who were literally singing his praise. In short, God was bringing together all the things necessary for David to transition into the throne, and Saul knew it. So the king started working on plans to take David out or, at the very least, bring David under control. And in doing so, he demonstrated that this world can’t be trusted because, as great as its promises are, the requirements are always changing, and they often have no intention of realizing the promise at all. He showed that the world wants nothing more than to control us, ensnaring us with various things that they can use to keep us in check and possible use as bait to get us destroyed. And he proved that the world will stop at nothing in its resistance to God and His people, even after they realize that God is at work, because they’re afraid of losing control and outright opposed to the Lord. Through it all, though, God was at work. And every step of the way, God did something amazing so that, as difficult as it was, at the end of the day, David was still alive, he had slain 200 more Philistines (thus bolstering his popularity), and his wife – Saul’s daughter – was in love with him so that she could not be used as the snare Saul had intended her to be. Because David pressed on, despite the adversity that Saul presented, he was a success in God’s eyes and made an impact on the world around him. And the lesson for us was and is that, if we will press on even when the world is lined up against us, God will give us success and impact, too.

As I said, that was exactly what I needed to hear because, you see, Satan won’t attack if we’re not making an impact. And if we are making an impact, you can bet he’s going to attack (if he’s not doing so already). I’m not going to go into the details of these attacks here and now, but rest assured that Satan has been attacking our church in a number of ways over the last several weeks because we have been making a difference. Last week alone, we recorded 3 first-time commitments and 4 recommitments to the Lord. That’s impressive. Yesterday, we had approximately 40 at Pumpkinville, a great number of which were our guests. That’s astounding. And in the coming weeks, we’re gearing up for our Harvest Dinner, where Adoration will sing and we will present the gospel in no uncertain terms.

Satan is quaking in his boots! And he’s outraged by our continued resolve.

And we are resolved. And we are pressing on. And we will continue to see God do amazing things in and through Debra Heights Wesleyan Church. Because He’s just getting started with us.