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Bring Back the Joy --- B B t J . O r g
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The following is a speech given for the Teaching Interaction Group on April
19, 2004. The assignment was to give a 10 minutes speech on any topic,
using scriptures and personal stories to back up the points. I revised
the speech I had previously written after the awesome experience of "officiating"
at a Water Baptism during the Women's Weekend Fellowship, April 15-17. BY THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY--BE THE PERSON GOD
WANTS YOU TO BE
Picture a little girl in the 1960s, skinny with brown hair and eyes, wearing a blue dress. On the outside she seems polite, Quiet, inhibited, shy, timid, reserved. On the inside she's always quaking with fear, was afraid of death, nervous, accused, negative, critical and unworthy. As much as she tried, she never felt she measured up. As you've probably guessed, that little girl was me. I knew of Christ and thought I had given my life over to him. Over the years. I came to know more about Christ and begin to apply scripture to my life. That's partly why we came to school, to learn to apply scripture to our lives. Revelation 12:10-11 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. I want to pinpoint that phrase--word of their testimony. That means telling people what God has done in our lives. The eight of us have been together since the beginning of the school year. We've shared some of our hopes and dreams; we've shared our fears. We squirmed through Missions with Betsy. We fumbled through Weddings and Funerals with Tom and David, we survived Praying with Hank. Now we have Teaching with a Penny substitute. This class for me is the culmination of everything we learned in the other classes. We are learning how to speak forth what is in the heart. What is in the heart should come out as our testimony. This weekend, I went to the Women's Weekend. Fellowship. I can only speak for myself. It was a life changing experience. So, today, in the rest of the time available, I will tell you what God did in my life this past weekend. I drove to Winter Park with Jo Reynolds and Abi Elshaw. Jo was working with sound so we had to get there extremely early to set up. Then we had several hours to kill before everyone else arrived. While we were picnicking in the lounge at the Aspenbrook Lodge. We were kicking back with our feet up, munching down celery and carrots between gulps of apple juice. A quiet, shy, nervous, almost mousy looking woman came in. Doris (named changed for privacy) had arrived from Aurora for the Women's Weekend. During the course of the afternoon we exchanged stories. She and I had quite a bit in common. We took a walk to the Administration Building of Snow Mountain Ranch to mail a letter. Then we stopped to check out the pool since I wanted to go swimming at some point during our stay. On the way back to the lodge, she more our less out of the blue, said "The church I go to doesn't believe in it but I have a strong desire to be water baptized." Our of my mouth popped the words "We can do it for you. " "You can!" she exclaimed. God gave me words to explain to her that all people are ministers and water baptism is an outward sign of our declaration before God that Jesus is our Lord. Doris got so excited. Jo and Abi became excited when we told them of Doris' desire. Of course, then the nerves kicked in. I was one scared little girl. I even threw up a couple of times and my blood pressure went higher than my normal which is too high. I didn't feel that I should just take this upon myself without talking to human higher authorities. Talk about scary. Kay and I had several brief conversations. Ultimately she told us to go ahead with it and that she didn't feel that she needed to supervise. Jo advised me to consult the Holy Spirit on who, if anyone, we should ask to join us in officiating at the ceremony. Geri Betts from the first year was the answer. We knew it was God when it turned out that she also had brought her bathing suit. We opted to not wade into a public swimming pool in our street clothes. Before heading to the pool, Doris and I went through a number of scriptures regarding Water Baptism. Although Jo and I had looked up the scriptures that morning, I was grateful for having recently taught the Water Baptism segment of the DE program. Not to mention Greg Fritz's lectures. It sure gave me more confidence. But I also recognize that God and the Holy Spirit gave me the words to say. I remembered that they said in class that there wasn't a formula for doing these ceremonies. So I did rely on the Holy Spirit. We went over the following scriptures: Mark 16:16 Anyone who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Matthew 28:19 Jesus commanded the disciples to go teach all nations and baptize them. Acts 2:38 Peter told new converts to repent and be baptized. Acts 2:26-39 Story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 10:48 Peter said that Gentiles (people other than Jews) were also able to receive salvation. Romans 10:9-10 All that is needed for Salvation is to repent and confess believe that Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected. We chose to do the baptism in the baby pool as it was empty of little people for the moment and behind a low wall. So we were able to be discreet. I asked her about repenting of sins, acknowledging Jesus and that he died, was buried and was resurrected and is living today. Geri gave an awesome sales pitch about the old man being buried and one comes out of the water as a new creature. It was so inspiring that I just wanted to leap up and start shouting that I was/am a new creature. Then we buried Doris. She was glowing when she came out of the water. It was fabulous. She changed from being a nice looking older lady to being beautiful. She looked years younger. I still can't believe it. Being a part of something like this. Doris went on to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit when Kay offered that during our last meeting. I'm just awed. My life has been a history of fear, negativity and indecision. I never felt like I knew scriptures or I could answer anyone's questions about God. I have tended to let Mark do the talking when we get into spiritual subjects in a group setting. Because I've felt unworthy. This weekend, Mark wasn't with me. I could have kept my mouth shut. But I was convicted that this was my divine appointment for the weekend. So even though it was scary, I did what had to be done. Scripture that helped me through this were. 2 Timothy 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I was strengthened. It did happen. What Cecil and other's have told us. That when we put ourselves in God's hands, he will help us. I was able to come up with answers, and come up with scriptures. The big thing that God helped me put into practice was "it's not about self." This was about Doris and her relationship with the Lord. Geri and I both believe that helping Doris become a new woman was one of the most exciting things we've ever done. We just feel so bubbly and want to tell everyone about what happened. This is the result of listening to God and obeying. We want to praise God and testify to his Glory. It's now April 19, 2004. Remember the skinny kid in the blue dress. Now, picture a grown woman in a blue dress. She's been learning who she is, a daughter of God. On the inside she sometimes still quakes with fear--but she also knows that she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her. And on the outside--that grown woman is me. |
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