Wow! What an amazing Sunday we just had. As we were in the middle of worship by the Praise and Worship Team, God visited us with a message in tongues. When a physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit takes place, people have no other recourse but to be still and reverent; God, who created a multi-dimensional universe, has stopped His service to communicate with us. This acknowledgement reminds us of Psalms 8:3, 4--it is truly humbling to be loved by so great a Creator. In this message in tongues and interpretation, God tells us again not to worry or be fearful of what lies ahead. If He can handle the rising and setting of the sun, He can certainly handle that which is in the forefront of our minds; God is in control.
After this blessing, we examined the next landmine in the pathway of the believer—sexual sin. A topic that is not always frequently discussed, but one that still needs to be dealt with in this day and age. Our text came from I Thessalonians 4:1-8. Paul was writing to the church of Thessalonica regarding sexual impurity. We can still take to heart the words of Paul in this book and from I Corinthians 6:18-20. We are not our own, we were bought at a price that is not possible for us to pay. So, since we are not our own, since our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and since we have been called to lead a holy life, we should be confident that our foot does not fall upon this easily missed landmine. Interesting note: the study of the Hippie movement of 1967 (in California) described how the movement started off with sexual immorality, lead to illicit drug use, and ended up in Satanism in the 1970’s. Again, sexual immorality is a primary step in being led away from God.
The evening service was equally exciting as we continued our study of the Book of Revelation. In chapter 9 we learned of two of the three woes, or two of the last three of the trumpet judgments. During this time, mankind will suffer unbearably and many will die at some point in these two trumpet judgments. But, we also see that God is still merciful to humans (5 months of pain are a nanosecond in comparison to an eternity in Hell); God wants mankind to turn from its wicked ways and follow Him. Unfortunately, those still alive after this become more entrenched in their sin. Next week we will continue our study of Revelation with Chapter 10; not very often do you see God halt the writing of the Word.
We finished off the night with fellowship and root beer floats—chocolate root beer floats for the more daring. This, by the way, is an extraordinary use of chocolate syrup, root beer, and vanilla ice cream.
Have a blessed week, reread the scriptures and chapters we looked at on Sunday, and come back ready for more of God!
Sincerely,
Pastor Claude
