After worship yesterday I saw a person who was sitting alone. I went to them and asked the pastoral question… “How are you?” The person’s response both surprised and blessed me…
I wish I could just sit here all day. This is such a peaceful place…
That surprised me because I had just delivered a message about Church Discipline from 2 Corinthians 2:1-11! Imagine… a person hearing a message about church discipline… and finding it part of a dynamic by which God brings peace into their soul?! I didn’t expect to hear that, but it makes sense according to Hebrews 12:11… “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
There is something to be said for what God supernaturally does when He is glorified and praised by His people in the congregational gathering called worship. He grants… gives… and spreads the peace of His Son in abundance. The kind of peace that is tangible… real… felt… experienced… and enjoyed. This person had one of those supernatural encounters with God’s Spirit and the result was peace. That is why they didn’t want to leave the worship center… because they had encountered God there. Knowing that happened with at least one person blessed me.
If being in the worship center of Huffman Baptist Church brings peace to a person, it is for one reason… GOD granted it! HE is the one who bestowed peace! The physical location really had nothing to do with experiencing God’s peace… it was GOD HIMSELF that grants peace. And since God is everywhere… and can be encountered any time… His peace is always available to everyone 24-7/365!
My prayer is that when people come to HBC they encounter God… the God of peace… and when they leave the physical location of the church, they spread His peace to all people for His glory.
Amen!
Note: God willing, I have a perspective or two about Tim Tebow that will post Wednesday and Thursday…