A Great Day for Me

Yesterday was a great day for me.  It began in the Young Couple's group that I lead.  We have been discussing the kind of church we should be.  Three words describe this, caring, compelling and converting.  As we were talking about a compelling church our group erupted with praises for Lighthouse Baptist Church.  Many of the ones commenting are new to Lighthouse, while others have been here for years.  It was so encouraging to hear them discuss their perspectives on our church.  The praise wasn't about the music or the activities, but person after person talked about the spirituality, the sincerity, and the solid Bible teaching and preaching.  I pray that what we do makes a difference and if the testimonies from yesterday are any indicator, Lighthouse Baptist Church truly is.

Then in the preaching service I was blessed again.  I preached on "Jonah's Gourd".  God asked Jonah if it was right for him to be so concerned for a gourd and not for the 120,000 people of Nineveh.  I presented the challenge to make people important and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those we know.  The challenge is to do all we can to duplicate our self between now and Easter.  That is, a family reaching another family, a single reaching another single, a student reaching another student, etc.  Dozens came forward with signed commitment cards and praying that God would help us accomplish the Great Commission in our Jerusalem.

While these were coming forward in faith, another blessing began to take place.  I noticed a family coming forward in the invitation.  For those not familiar, we still have a time at the end of the sermon where we invite people to respond to the message.  Some come froward to pray and make a decision to do what was preached.  Others like this family come forward to receive Christ as Saviour.  This mother and father were bringing their son forward.  He was teary eyed and expressed his desire to be saved.  After going through several verses regarding salvation I asked him if he wanted to receive Christ as his Lord and Saviour.  He said he did and that he wanted to pray.  I then asked his parents if they had been saved.  His father confessed that he needed Christ too.  What a joy it was to lead this precious father and son to Christ as mother wept for joy.  I look forward to baptizing them nest Sunday.

Well, the day wasn't over.  Each week as I preach on Sunday mornings, we also have a service in Spanish. Our Spanish pastor, Aaron Vance, is leaving to go to Colombia S.A. as a missionary.  Soon we will be turning the leadership of the Spanish Church over to a man named Alfonzo Gonzales. I wanted our English church to hear him preach, so last night we invited the Spanish church to join our service.  Before Bro. Alfonzo preached some of the members from the church sang in Spanish.  It was really a blessing.  Bro. Alfonzo's message was very touching as he told about his conversion to Christ.  He was the first person in his family to ever trust Christ as Saviour.  Since then, he has lead everyone but one brother to Christ.  We will miss the Vances greatly, but I believe the Spanish church will remain in good hands.

Sunday was really a great day for me.  Just Saying.