Overwhelmed

What can I say about last night’s service? God is so much greater than good. His blessings, both great and small, renew us each and every day. Often times, we take His blessings for granted and then all of a sudden, He just overwhelms us. We are not worthy of His blessings. Yet, He blesses us because He is good.

You know, it is easy for us to get into the rut of asking why God allows bad things to happen. I believe that question comes from having the wrong perspective on things. When I look at the sin that plagues my life (Yes, this preacher sins), I can not help but understand that I have earned hardship, disease, and suffering. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. What is kidney failure? It is death, they are the wages of my sin. Sin has wreaked havoc on my body.

Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I have some super bad secret sin that no one knows about. It does not take some great sin for something like this to happen. The wage of sin, any sin and every sin, is death. So, why does bad things happen? Those bad things are the result of sin.

Romans 6:23 does not end with death. It has a conjunction. It says, “but the gift of God…” Here is what happened last night at Adamsville First Baptist Church: God gave a gift. The greatest gift He gave last night was His presence. Yes, greater than the gift of $33,000 was God’s presence. His presence can not be earned and it is a priceless gift.

God also gave us the gift of Unity. As churches came together from the Shiloh Baptist Association, we saw the body of Christ unified. We were unified to worship God. We must maintain this precious gift of unity. Our community needs to see our churches unified under the banner of Christ. We must continue to share the hope that we have in Christ.

God gave the gift of finances and a donor for this preacher. I stand in need of a kidney transplant. The Lord not only provided several possible donors, but He miraculously provided the money for the operation, lost wages for my donor, travel expenses, and money for the anti-rejection drugs.

With all that God gave last night, there is no greater gift than what was stated at the end of Romans 6:23 – ETERNAL LIFE in CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD! Regardless of the outcome of the operation or the days, months, or years following: I know that my eternity is settled. God has forgiven me of my sins. All those things I have done to earn this disease, to earn death – they have been blotted out of my account. There is no trace of them because of Christ Jesus, my LORD! Through the cross, He forgave me. He has not only forgiven me, but He has blessed me.

So the question is not why has the bad happened. The question is: Why has God blessed me so? What makes me worthy? Why does He love me so?

I know that there are the biblical answers like “because He loves” and “because He is good.” Right now, I do not want an answer. I want to just sit here in awe of His loving kindness and to express my gratitude for such a great Savior. I simply want to praise HIM for what He did, is doing, and will do!

Thank you to everyone who planned last night’s service. Thank you to everyone that came. Thank you to every church that took up an offering on my behalf. Thank you for every prayer and word of encouragement.

Most of all Thank You Jesus!