What a morning! I am not the type of person to see the devil behind every bush but you could feel the warfare that was taking place this week. It was simply an intense week.
This morning it got more intense.
I woke up this morning and went to the office like every Sunday to print my sermon. EVERY printer in the office wasn't working. The commercial and the personal ones. I couldn't get any of them to print my sermon. That was cool. I worked it out and got to the church.
Today the it was about 34 degrees and pouring rain. Again no big deal. Our people have proven they don't let rain stop them.
For some reason the message was as intense as any message I have ever taught. I taught on communication in marriage (a issue I think is one of the leading causes of divorce) and I hammered our people about communication. I talked about making fun of your spouse in public, making time to talk, etc. For some reason it was very serious in there. We got through the first service and I actually went off to pray for a second because I could just feel something wasn't right.
THEN the second service started. That is when I found out that they had closed I-575 down between exits 14-24 to do something with the power lines. Every one was coming in at the last minute and talking about how they had to take back roads to get to church. Along with the rain and along with the interstate being closed (the main way to get to our location is the interstate) we still were right at 700, but something was not right.
The service started and about half way through I noticed this couple on my left leaving and I could tell they were upset. I thought it odd because I really hadn't pushed anything but I could tell they were upset. I later found out they were a lesbian couple and they were FIRED up because I talked about marriage and communication and said that "men and women were different and in marriage there are problems that stop us from communicating." They were furious that I said men and women and I was so "closed minded." Oh well, we have several lesbian couples and we welcome them with open arms. They all love the church but know where we stand on marriage.
Then we had a baby start crying in the service. For those of you who don't know, we do not allow children over 3 months old in our services. Under 3 months we feel parents are hesitant to leave their children and some children don't even have all their shots. Since we don't have room they can sit in and watch the service we allow 3 months and under in the service. 99.9% of these babies are sleeping anyway. Well not the one today. :) For 10 minutes the baby cried and cried and cried. You would think they would have left the service but they didn't. Finally from the stage I had to ask one of our greeters to please show them where the children's area was. Tough to do, but the message was to important for distractions. Needless to say they weren't happy and let our greeters know it in the lobby.
I am convinced the enemy knew the importance of today's message and was doing all he could to distract. The amazing thing was we had people telling us right and left that it was the best message they had heard and we ran out of CD's from this week, last week and the week before.
I came HARD with the message but I got to be honest, I am sick of dealing with marriages falling apart. I want our people to know God has the answers for their problems and the Gospel is that answer.
We have a blast at church! However some days are like today. They are intense but they are needed.