Do your part and God will take care of the rest
Church family,
It is Wednesday, HOPE Wednesday, our last such Wednesday as we embark upon summer. It has been a blessing to journey with you through our text, The First Commission. I pray that you have been blessed by our coming together traveling through the word that God has given us for this season.
You came. You read. You listened. You asked questions. You made comments. Prayerfully, you learned. Even more prayerfully, you have applied what you learned. Most prayerfully, you shared what you applied and learned with someone else to encourage them along the way.
Through it all, I pray that you have been changed for the better.
What did you do? You made an investment, a sacrifice, of your time to do something for God. What happened? God met you there and provided something that you needed.
Is that not the way that God works? We do not just pray and sit. We wait on the Lord. We pray and we live life with God in mind. And, in our waiting on God, God provides for our needs.
The Apostle Paul had such an experience as shown in Acts 28:8-10,
"It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They bestowed many honors on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed."
Paul, Luke (author of Acts), and others needed provisions to sail to their next destination. Surely, they had prayed to God about the provisions needed. And, after asking, what did they have to do? Wait on the Lord.
In their waiting, God revealed a need. There were sick people who needed to be healed.
Now, a choice and a decision had to be made. They could have prayed and sat.
Or, they could have prayed and met the needs of others while they waited on the Lord.
They were equipped by God to meet the needs of others and God had the equipment,the provisions, that they needed to sail.
These people needed to be cured and they needed to be cured by the people of God to reveal the glory of God.
Paul healed and revealed the glory of God in the healings.
After Paul did his part, God answered the prayers for provisions for them to sail.
Beloved, what are you asking God for right now that you would say is a need?
Beloved, what has God asked you to do for someone else right now to help meet their need that you can surely do if you would stop focusing solely on what you need, if not just want?
What if your "right now" need were conditioned on meeting someone else's "right now" need?
What if God were waiting on you to do for others so that God would then do for you?
Beloved, if God makes you aware of someone else's need and equips you to meet that need, do your part and meet that need.
Know for sure that if God has equipped you to meet needs, God can and will meet your needs also.
Do your part and God will take care of the rest...but, please, do your part.
Do your part and come out tonight to help us finish strong our last lesson for HOPE Wednesday.
Do your part and come out tonight with your ideas for the Summer Mini Lessons.
Do your part and come out tonight and invite someone to come with you.
Do your part and God will take care of the rest.
Remember, God loves you and I love you too.
Be blessed,
Rev. Cain
