Yesterday I woke up around 7:40AM. I thought about getting up to get a jumpstart
on my day, but instead I snoozed until 9:00AM.
I made a bowl of cereal and sat in silence on the couch thinking of
reasons why I shouldn’t go to church.
I managed to
motivate myself into getting off the couch thinking of the word that God was
going to send via my pastor. It seems
like whenever I’m going through something the message for the day is always right
on time. God didn’t let me down on
yesterday.
Pastor McNeil’s message was from 1 Samuel 30. In this chapter, David found himself in a bit
of a bind. The Amalekites had destroyed his land and captured the women and the
children.
1 Samuel 30:8-15 reads:
Then David asked the LORD,
“Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?” And the LORD
told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was
taken from you!” So David and his 600
men set out, and they came to the brook Besor.
But 200 of the men were too exhausted to cross the brook, so David
continued the pursuit with 400 men.
Along the way they found an Egyptian man in a field and brought him to
David. They gave him some bread to eat and water to drink. They also gave him
part of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins, for he hadn’t had anything to
eat or drink for three days and nights. Before long his strength returned. “To whom do you belong, and where do you come
from?” David asked him. “I am an
Egyptian – the slave of an Amalekite,” he replied. “My master abandoned me three days ago
because I was sick. We were on our way
back from raiding the Kerethites in the Negev, the territory of Judah, and the
land of Caleb, and we had just burned Ziklag.”
“Will you lead me to this band of raiders?” David asked. The young man replied, “If you take an oath
in God’s name that you will not kill me or give me back to my master, then I will
guide you to them.”
Pastor stopped us right there in the text. He broke down the verse helping us to
understand David’s predicament. David had issues of his own. He had lost everything and I would imagine
not in the best spirits, but he stopped to help a slave “A black slave in the African
desert” as pastor further interpreted. A
slave who had just assisted his master in destroying David’s home. The slave had been left for dead because he
was sick and weaker than the other slaves.
The master had no intentions of coming back for him, but yet when David
ask the slave who he was and where he came from he still felt as if he belong to
the Amalekite. Pastor McNeil shared
examples that we face today that may reflect the attitude of the slave. Some of us introduce ourselves as ex-cons or ex-drug users. We hold on to abusive relationships, jobs where we may
have been laid off or other situations that God has delivered us from. Like the slave we allow these things from our
past; these situations or circumstances to have power over our lives. God removed those people, those addictions, and
those jobs for a reason. If we continue
to acknowledge these things, they will continue to have power over our
lives. We must surrender to God. HE will release us from the bondage of our
past lives, so that we can look the enemy in the eye and say, “I’m better than
I use to be.”
While listening to the message I was truly motivated to
surrender everything to God and once in for all get in alignment with HIS
way. During prayer time that morning I asked
God to give me a push to get out of the rut that I was in. Thanks to the word the God sent through
Pastor McNeil I got the push that I needed.
Before he completed his sermon, Pastor McNeil said to us, “Don’t
apologize for transformation. Just say: ‘I
ain’t what I use to be. I’m better than I use to be.” Then he asked us to take
out our cell phones and text this message to ourselves, “I’m free. Yes! I am free.”
Shortly after his sermon Pastor McNeil collapsed and was
taken to the local hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Whenever we are faced with losing a loved one suddenly we go
through a series of emotions. We cry. We
pray. We get angry. We ask why. We come up with scenarios that would or could
have saved our loved ones life. We place
blame. We get angry. We pray. We cry.
And then we give it to God. God makes no mistakes. Everything that HE
does is strategically planned out for HIS glory.
During yesterday’s service, I glanced down and read the cover
of a bible of one of the church goers seated in front of me. It read, “God grant me the serenity to accept
the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom
to know the difference.”
The serenity prayer goes on to say:
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
We are sad, heartbroken, angry, and confused. This is our time to stand together and encourage
each other. We have to lift each other up. That’s what Pastor McNeil would say
to us.
Rest in Peace Dr. Jerome E. McNeil, Jr. You will be truly missed.