P A S T O R    G E T S   S I C K

 

the  complete title should read...

W H E N   Y O U R   P A S T O R   G E T S   S I C K . . .
l o o k   f o r   t h e   D E S S E R T

Last Sunday Tudi and I had the privilege of going to our daughter Trinda's home church- Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in the Metro Birmingham, AL area

The crew eating lunch after church

We have been to her church a number of times and have enjoyed and have been blessed by Pastor Bob's insightful  Bible based messages...The church is good sized and is an exceptional tiered meeting facility to view the services.

When we were seated with our daughter and 3 of our grandchildren. We were told that Senior Pastor Bob was sick
 - at 11:45 pm Saturday night he called in sick and asked the Executive Pastor Tom
to preach the following day.



THE MAIN COURSE

Tom's message was very good and he centered on these thoughts:

This is why it is said: 
"Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, 
and Christ will shine on you."
Ephesians 5:14

and

Then he returned to his disciples and 
found them sleeping. 
"Couldn't you men keep watch 
with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.
Matthew 26:40



Some of the points Tom brought out from these verses:

-The disciples seemed to be always be tired...
they were encouraged to
awaken from their spiritual slumber

-We need to awaken  from our spiritual
SLUMBER

-The immaturity of disciples was pointed out

-Jesus exhorted them to " Watch while I pray" But they were STILL SLEEPING AND TAKING THEIR REST

Pastor Bob emphasized...

-INSTEAD of being tired spiritually we should have a...

1-Heart swelled with JOY 
2-CHANGED LIFE...because you are adopted into God's  family
3-NEW DIRECTION
4-HOPE of eternity


A WONDERFUL MESSAGE that was both encouraging and challenging but there was something else added...




But wait...YUM!

...DESSERT!

To me Tom's testimony was like DESSERT after the MAIN COURSE...


because THE WORD 
is essential and our foundation...

However
- a solid TESTIMONY is proof that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is lived out and proclaimed- it is our responsibility and privilege to not just hear the Word...

A complete meal...
it's DINNER and 
DESSERT!

PLEASE LISTEN TO TOM'S TESTIMONY and as a result encourage your church to have more testimonies from the pulpit on Sundays
...like Tom,  people who give their testimonies from the pulpit need to clearly give a message of: 1- their life before Christ 2- how they came to Christ as Savior, and 3-what has happened since (focusing on growing in grace and their call to service making Jesus Lord)

When you listen to Tom's message attached below...

 **focus in on the faithful older woman...is there any reason why your church should not abound with men and woman like her???

Please note in his testimony how the older woman and her Godly and gracious persistence impacted his life dramatically leading  to his acceptance of Jesus as his own Savior and Lord...

A WITNESS MODEL is so needed in our churches because...

 ...so often a variety of excuses are made as to why believers don't share their faith...h er deep authentic natural concern for Tom compelled her to humbly share the Gospel...shouldn't we do the same?

I STRONGLY BELIEVE WE HAVE MADE sharing the Gospel far too complicated!!!


WITNESS INSIGHT NOT TO BE MISSED:

TOM'S  TESTIMONY showing THE WOMAN'S SIMPLE  WITNESS is an excellent model of sharing the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ....

IT IS THE result of simply 
 DEEPLY CARING FOR PEOPLE ...and proclaiming Jesus compelled by love
 
Start doing it daily as led... your life will have more meaning and purpose than ever before



~Ted Sprague 

John 3:16...God loved us so much, He gave us Jesus...let's love people so much we give them Jesus (like the older woman loved Tom)



to listen to Tom's sermon and testimony


Also, please check out the Witness Breakthrough website 
below that compliments this weekly email emphasis





witnessbreakthrough@gmail.com