For those of you who have been following my blog, you probably know by now that I am an open book, especially when it comes to my personal relationship with Jesus. I am perfectly aware that some of you who may be reading this right now, do not share the same beliefs as I do, and I respect that. I will never impose my faith on others, since I feel that it is a decision that one has to make for themselves in giving their hearts to God. But I will share my own personal experience with God and I would hope that in doing so, it may inspire some of you to reevaluate where you are right now in life.
Today, I attended Central Church of God, where Pastor Loran Livingston preached on the immaculate conception. I have said this before to many people that I have talked to and I will say it on here. Central Church is not like going to a conference or seminar. It’s not like a Bible Study. It’s not like a big show of how contemporary the music can be, if you can wear flip flops to church, or if you can bring your Starbuck’s to the service. Nor is it like sitting there and listening to a psychologist analyze you and show you how to reach your full potential, yada-yada-yada. When Pastor Loran preaches, I feel like I am not looking at a man walking up and down the altar just saying stuff. I feel God’s presence in every service and it’s as if the Holy Spirit comes inside him and tells him what to say. How do I know this? At the end of every service, I am amazed at how he preaches the exact words I need to hear at the exact moment in my life that I needed to hear it. Ask another person who attended the same service, and they seem to say the same thing. Yet we are two different people living two different lives. It can only be from God. Pastor Loran, says it like it is, whether we want to hear it or not, and relies solely on the Bible, the Word of God, to back up everything that he preaches. I respect him for that and am thankful to have finally found a church that I can call my “home church”.
Today he talked about the immaculate conception. And I have never heard another preacher put it this way, but when he did, a light bulb went off in my head and I had an “aha!” moment. To sum it up, he was amazed that we as Christians complain about our personal problems, whatever they may be, and when we do that it means that we do not believe in the Bible, the Word of God. When he said that, it was silent as we were all waiting on him to elaborate. And then he went on to say that we Christians believe that Mary was a Virgin and yet somehow bore the son of God (Jesus). We believe that Jesus was able to feed 5,000 people with a few fish and loaves of bread. We believe that Jesus raised from the dead, made the lame walk and the blind see. And we believe all that because that is what the Bible says, it is the Word of God and so it is the truth, right? Well fast forward to present day.
Many of us have complained that our car broke down & we don’t have the money to fix it. Our marriage is in the dumps, it’s a lost cause, & God won’t want anything to do with us after this. Or maybe we couldn’t afford gifts this year, because the economy “is what it is” and we depend on the economy to improve so that we can be in a better place in our lives. How difficult is it for God to solve our own personal issues, when HE was the one who made the impossible happen? (i.e. the immaculate conception, raising from the dead, etc…) Why do we believe that God made the impossible possible, yet we don’t trust Him enough to fix our own personal problems which are so much less difficult for Him than to make a virgin able to carry a baby and bear a son?
I probably did a horrible job at summing it up, but when Pastor Loran put it that way, I realized that I was totally guilty of that. We, in general, do not trust Him enough. We need to know that He is in control and that He knows what He is doing. I think once we can relinquish control of our businesses, our jobs, our marriage, our kids, our health, our finances -EVERYTHING over to Him, we can finally have peace that we all seem to be searching for.
If you want to hear all of Pastor Loran’s sermon from this morning, it was a good one! Listen to it HERE.
I would love to hear your thoughts or personal testimonials in the comments section below!
Also, listen to one of my new favorite Christmas songs: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Casting Crowns.
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