SRO

What a joy to get to spend time with friends old and new this past weekend! After picking up Andrea Parker at the airport, we drove 2.5 hours, to beautiful East TX. Our friend, Barbara, had invited Andrea to lead a ladies' event called Birthday Bash. Each year, the church celebrates all the women's lives at once! The tables are beautifully decorated by month, filled with ladies born that month.

We spent two nights in Barbara's lovely home, in a gorgeous country setting. God gave Barbara an extra dose of hospitality...made me think about my house, and how rarely we've invited people over in recent years. Oh, I'm so thankful for the time with Barbara. Her sweet face radiates her love for the Lord. And I was able to see her mother, Helen. They both reminded me of the preciousness of Christ.

Barbara's house was full...there were friends who'd come in from all over. Donna, Debbie, & Loretta came from the Dallas area. Darlene drove in from near Houston. Joyce & Liz live near Barbara, but joined the slumber party. I guess you could say it was Sleeping Room Only. (Each gal deserves plenty of blog time....maybe tomorrow?) Others had hoped to come, but circumstances tied them up (you know who you are....and I hope you know you were MISSED!!:)

We had a great time....catching up on our lives, laughing, and praying together. It was a blessing to get to spend time with the girls...some down time. But I have to admit, it took me all weekend to find a place to relax in my mind. Now that I'm looking back, maybe I should have had a sermon at the beginning of the trip instead of at the end.

Barbara's husband, James Kinman is pastor of Central Baptist of Kirbyville, TX. Barry & I call him Bro. Jamie. He's a great man of God...and somehow balances the preaching and pastoring perfectly!!! (OK, almost perfectly!!!)

It had been 22 years since I'd heard this dear pastor friend preach, and I wasn't prepared to be blown away by his sermon this weekend. I tried to take notes carefully, and will now take a few minutes to share some highlights with you.

Opening our Bibles to Mark 2, I settled in, in my mind, that this was a familiar passage. I had been the one in need, at the mercy of my friends and family who knew Jesus and helped me get to Him. I had put myself in the friends' place, bringing others to Christ.

But the pastor explained that he wanted to show us why Peter's house was full. That caught me off guard. I was expecting same-o same-o. Here's a bit of the outline:

1) Jesus was PRESENT. (Peter had welcomed Him)
2) Jesus was PUBLICIZED. (not the house, not the furnishings, not the menu)
3) Jesus was PREACHING. Jesus IS the Word of God. The Word of God must be preached. We are to be ready in season and out of season.
4) Jesus was POWERFUL. The friends broke through the ceiling because they knew the power of Christ. And Jesus proves His power that day. Not only over physical affliction. In V5 He sees their faith and says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." The forgiveness of SINS is GREATER than physical healing.

Bro. Jamie also said the saddest verse about God's house was in Nehemiah, when it is asked "Why was the house of God forsaken?" And the happiest: "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord?"

It all got me to thinking about a book I first read in the 80's My Heart, Christ's Home (by Robert Boyd Munger)....Bro. Jamie's sermon began to pierce my heart. I want my heart to have Standing Room Only...packed full of Jesus' presence. I want to make much of Jesus, publicizing Him. I want Jesus to preach to and teach through my heart. Is His power made known in my heart? Truly? In depth? Is the forgiveness of sins greater than physical healing?

And, now that I'm thinking about it, here's a big question? Would anyone feel like they could cut a whole in the roof of my heart, to carry a friend down for God's help???

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Come, make yourself at home in my heart...filling me to SRO.

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By the way, there were special blessings along the way.
Not only did I get to hear Andrea sing,
but at the birthday bash she sang two songs
that are near and dear to me:
December Rain (Townley/Wilson/Miller)
Let Us Pray (Utz/Wilson)
I praise God for giving these messages....and for the messenger!!!

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oh, here's the passage Bro. Jamie preached from:

Mark 2:1When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

2And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

3And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.

4Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.

5And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."