This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching in Garland, Texas at All Nations Fellowship Church pastored by Rev. Robert Canady, III.
Pastor Canady is a friend and brother and fellow church planter. We became friends at Friendship West Baptist Church, where Pastor Canaday was then Mininstry Leader of Operation BLAAC, FWBC's Men's Ministry. Operation BLAAC became an influence and force in the community under his leadership. As a result, Pastor Canady was eventually elevated to Pastor of Pastoral Care where his gifts and talents made room for him. God then placed on his heart to plant a church in the North East section of the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex. Well, that was five years ago, and the Lord has blessed. Now in a building of their own, two services and a vision for the future, ANFC is on the move and "Reaching New Heights In Chritst!"
Thank you Pastor Canady for being a friend in Christ. The service was awesomely anointed! The atmosphere was electric! It is easy to preach at All Nations. I felt a special anointing on Sunday. I am learning more and more that pain processes the anointing. We must be crushed, like the olive, before the oil can freely flow and we can be used by God to our greatest ability! Even in your own life, when you are going thru and experiencing the hurt and pain of life, it is preparation for the next level in life. PAIN IS PREPARATION FOR THE PROMISE! We all know the familiar phrase, no pain, no gain! Let God do His work in your life for He is either trying to do one of two things, remove something in you that should not be there or getting ready to put something in you that should be there! Either way, it's a blessing!
It was both a blessing and cathartic for me preaching this past Sunday at ANFC, First Sunday at that. I am grateful for the opportunity to preach and to take communion, asking God for forgiveness of my sins and shortcomings, accepting and recieving another chance and the remembering in honor and respect what His Son Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary for me, and us.
This is a testing and proving season in my life, in preparation for the next level and and I am grateful for every moment. However painful it may be, I understand the process for pain always comes before promotion and production. He has taken some people out of my life, a few with me kicking and screaming trying to hold on, and others freely and at the same time He has added others whom I would have never met had it not been for true friendship relationships. I am thanking God daily as I mature for the gift of relationship. We honor God, we express God and we see God on earth thru relationship. There is nothing more important in life, other than sharing Christ and saving souls, than our relationship with others.
Treauser your intimate relationships, honor your familial relationship, respect your friendly relationships and be open to relationships in the future. For God knows, as my Pastor, Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, says, what you need, when you need it, how you need it and JUST WHO TO SEND WHERE WITH WHAT for your need and He is going to do it thru relationship!
When relationships begin they are exciting and motivating. As relationships mature, they are testing and maturing of ourselves as it relates to others and ourselves. When relationships end, it is most times painful and difficult to process and can either stunt us or propel us to the next season. However, all things work together for the good of them who love the Lord AND are called according to His purpose....don't forget 'that' part of the verse as well. In the end, it is always a moment of growth with the possiblity to mature in Christ.
Hence, I thank God for those whom He brings into my life and for those whom He removes. I pray and hope that my reason for being in their lives is and was accomplished accordingly. I thank God for family, friends (on all levels), and those who just come and go along the way. For no interaction is by accident in the grand scheme of things. It's all in the plan!
First Sundays, always remind me of that. How one that came to be a blessing ended up being crucified by the very ones He came to bless. We are commanded to love, even when we are not loved in reciprocity, and even flat out rejected... keep loving!
For love is the greatest commandment and the greatest expression!
It's all about the LOVE!
AGAPE!
Pastor P
Making It Great In '08!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It's awesome and enlightening to see the maturity being manifested in a person's life. I thank God for your experiences because as we grow in Christ we learn that the anointing flows from the head, and it flows down to the body. As you mature, the body matures. The maturation process is one that we're eager to have but not eager to go through. It's uncomfortable but in the end, it's usually better than we anticipated. The importance of relationships is key because through them that we find out who we really are as opposed to who we want to be and find out that we really ain't all that! We also learn how to maintain the covenant of relationship and the ones we're in relationship with. Jesus had a simple few that he was in covenant relationship with. God knows EXACTLY what we need, who we need and certainly when we need them. I'd rather have a few covenant relationships than many relationships that have no sustainance or substance. A po-boy sandwich with no meat is merely bread and lettuce...WUZ'ZUP WIT DAT?
Post a Comment