Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Trinity Church, where I have the honor of serving as the senior pastor, was born and has been sustained “by word and deed” and “by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.” The following is an incredible testimony of its birth.

When our family lived in another state, we were unsure what God had for us next as we healed from and processed an exceedingly difficult season. I felt inclined to go to a pastor’s conference in Florida. I wasn’t part of the network, but I had some friends going, so I got on a plane and went with them. In the last session, before I was supposed to fly back, I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to go meet with the Lord.

I began driving around to find a coffee shop, but my directions took me to a dead end in the middle of nowhere. My time was running short, so I turned around. I saw a Mexican restaurant, and I pulled into the parking lot. As soon as I sat down at a table, a Florida pastor I’d never met recognized my voice from my online sermons and said, “Pastor Mark!” He told me he had been praying for my family and me. It was so surprising to meet a total stranger who already knew me in a way. This pastor asked if he could pray for me, and I said yes. When he finished praying, I thanked him and returned to my table to eat.

Before I could sit down, though, this man told me God gave him a vision for me. He saw my family and me packing up and moving to a different state in the desert, where it was ridiculously hot. We would plant a church there as a family; it would be fruitful, and God would bless us. Then he asked if that made any sense to me. I told him I was leaving for the airport in a matter of hours to fly to Arizona to meet Grace and our kids. We had been praying about whether God was calling us to start a church there. I called Grace and told her, “I think we got our confirmation.” We came to the Valley and met with some pastors who welcomed us and prayed over us.

A total stranger at a Mexican restaurant had the Holy Spirit so God could speak to and through him. The same Holy Spirit led me away from my original plan of a coffee shop to that Mexican restaurant in Florida so that the pastor and I could meet and he could encourage my family and me. I’m so thankful that the Holy Spirit can speak to each of us individually, take us to where we need to be, and give us a message we need to hear at the exact moment we need to hear it. (Continued on Day 340...)

Today’s Reflection

Have you ever had the Holy Spirit speak through you to someone else or through someone else to you?