First night a success!
Friday night approached with a great deal of trepidation for me. I mulled over not only a sermon title, but even the theme and temperature of the event. When I prayed about being strong toward tearing down strongholds, the Lord reminded me to know nothing else among them except Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor 2). Then, when I prayed about focussing on blessing the people, the Lord reminded me about the Jeremiah prophecy! I asked Josh to take us early to Kancheepuram so I could pray while in the city, discerning the spirits here.
So from Friday 2 to 5 pm I was in the room in the city determined to pray.. Then sleep hit me!
Ok, well the sermon was at least planned. The Lord would have to speak to me in my sleep. Although I still was not settled regarding what I had prepared, the clock was running out. I arrived near 6. The grounds were ready and a handful of people were there waiting. I never had felt so ill prepared since the last 6 years, yet I had confidence that God would intervene in the service. We started a bit late, but the worship was great! God really visited a people hungry for a touch from Him. As songs rolled by, Big dump trucks rolled into the grounds full of people from villages all around. The pastor in charge of transportation did a good job, and the crowd swelled to 1500+… larger than any of the pastors could remember for the first night of a crusade here.
I received the mike at 8:05. That is 35 minutes later than promised, and I had a mandate to make sure the service was over at 8:45! The presence of God really visited me, and the Holy spirit enabled me to preach the sermon with His power, and the message of God really broke through!
The nutshell is that we need pure hearts in order to see God (Matt 5:5, Ps 24:2) and that unless we become humble like little children, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Luke 18:17). I enumerated 6 things that pollute our vision of seeing the Lord as He is. In order to keep my promise in finishing, I had to combine calling people to come up to be delivered from despair with closing the meeting. At least 500 people thronged forward as pastor Joel dismissed what remained of the crowd. I had to lay hands on each one, as people had an overwhelming expectation that my touch would bring the power of God. I went for it and prayed for each one. Although overwhelmed and a bit annoyed at the frenzy of it, I am confident God really did touch each and every one. Thier faith was very active. Their need day in and day out is very real, and my heart is truly attached to the future of these people.
The pastors and the people were very blessed, and everyone here is looking forward to more tomorrow night. Please pray for the harvest to continue.
In dismissing, here are a few pics. I gotta get my resolution right and get some help with the pics.
