God met with me powerfully last night. Chris sang song after song about God's grace and mercy. I sat on the front row with my head buried in my hands. I could not sing. Soon tears began to form as wave after wave of memories began to form. Like a motion picture in mind I relived my childhood. The sexual abuse, the lack of an earthly father, the physical abuse, the poverty, the wickedness of things I saw and partook in, and then I recalled how Jesus stepped in and rescued me from all of it. All of it. It overwhelmed me. More tears flowed as I sat in silence but worshiped the King who died to break my chains. I did not sing but I worshiped intensely in prayer.
I cannot speak what God did for or spoke to anyone else last night. All I know is God spoke to me. He ministered to me. He nudged me to share my testimony. When I stepped behind the pulpit after regaining some composure I shared a portion of my past. That seems such a long time ago. It is surreal. Yet I lived it. Some wept as I talked. At the end I asked the simple question, "So what do you do in response to such a great salvation?"
At that point we turned to [II Tim 4:6-8] I preached on pouring your life out as a drink offering to God. Too often we hold back. We want salvation but we do not want to empty ourselves in submission to the Lord. God wants every ounce of our being poured out as an offering to Him. That was the basic challenge of the message.
It was both evangelistic and a challenge to believers. At the end I held up four water bottles. One was filled to the top but had dirt mixed in. This represented all those without a relationship with Christ. The second bottle was half full mixed with dirt. This represented all those who are still lost but who try to make up for it by doing good things. The third bottle was both filled to the top and clear. This represented those who had trusted Christ for salvation but had not poured out their lives as a drink offering to the Lord. The final bottle had been drained completely. Not one drop fell from it as I turned it upside down. That is the picture of what God wants for His people. Lives turned upside down and drained to the last drop.
All passion, affection, strength, energy, faith, devotion, dreams, heart, mind, family, finances, possessions, all laid down before Him and poured out. Every ounce poured out to the last drop. Nothing held back. Total surrender and complete submission. Fully committed. That is the only biblical response to such a great salvation we have come to experience through Jesus.
When I offered the invitation I just knew someone would be saved. Nobody responded. When we invited believers to come to the altar to pour their lives out to Jesus as a drink offering they came by the dozens. Men, women, and teenagers knelt at the altar and poured their lives out to the Lord. I have rarely seen a more beautiful sight. I have seen many altar calls and people do great business with God there. At times in the past I could not even step off the stage because so many people responded to God's word and work in their lives. Yet the sight of all those people pouring their lives out to Jesus touched me deeply.
Knowing last night people were pouring out their lives to God blessed my soul. I knelt right along side them. Once again burying my head on the plywood stage and sinking low I offered God all I am. I held nothing back. Like the song we sang yesterday morning I prayed, "All I am is yours."
We met with the Lord yesterday. We are only in day two of this revival (counting the Solemn Assembly) and I feel the strong presence of the Lord. Greater things are yet to come and God has greater things to be done in this city. Please continue to pray for and with us.
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