I had a different post planned for today, but last night we had a new speaker at church, and he blew me away! Not only has he only been at our church for the past 18 months or so, has never preached here before and is ‘only’ a lay preacher (ie not trained as a minister), but he made a rather fumbling start by trying to arrange his notes along with the Palm Sunday cross.
But then he began to talk.
It was clear, as it often is, that he was a man anointed by God.
I love that God does not care whether he was trained, a minister or fairly new to the church. He clearly was known to God intimately.
How do I know this?
Because He brought a message in a new, clear and simple way.
So many who talk, pontificate.
They make things complicated which God meant to be simple, and they labour a point until it dies from exhaustion.
Last night’s message was a new-to-us take on an old-as-time story of Jesus travelling through Jerusalem on a donkey.
The main point he tried to make was that the half a million or so people in Jerusalem were stirred. All of them were stirred because Jesus rode through on a donkey.
He reminded us that whilst we know the ending of the story, they did not. His disciples did not.
This humble man, who spoke so simply from the heart, urged us to try to put ourselves in their shoes – to try to look at the experience with fresh eyes…and to allow its truths to stir us.
You could hear a pin drop.
There was no pontificating, no labouring of points and no repetitiveness.
Just good, honest and simple teaching from the Word of God.
Oh that I could read the Bible with eyes and heart open enough to be stirred as if I were there in ancient times experiencing it for myself for the very first time.
Last night was unexpected.
And it made me yearn for more.
Seasons of Joy 