North Florida Back to School Rally!
This past weekend I was in Ocala Florida for the North Florida Back to School Rally! And it was an amazing time. More times than not when I am approaching a weekend of speaking, I am fairly clear before the week begins what God would have me to say. This was not the case this past week. There I was Friday sitting out on the beach in St. Augustine begging God to inspire me with the message that He wanted me to share. Nothing was really coming so I started reading through my Bible staring in the Gospel of Matthew. I didn’t get too far before I started bogging down in some of Jesus’ teachings.
In talking with (lay) Pastor Mike about the weekend he told me that the vision was to empower the audience with a desire to go out and share their faith. As I started reading through the Bible I came across passages that talked about this exact thing. Jesus told the people during the Sermon on the Mount not to “lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Just a few chapters later, Jesus says, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves… Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:16,19b-20)
God ended up providing the Word that needed to be spoke this past weekend. I praise God that with Him on our side, we need to trust that it is truly not me who is speaking, but the Holy Spirit will take over and provide. I encourage you to follow God’s leading to share Him with someone else. Simply pray that God will give you the words to say, and He will!
I had a great time with everyone that showed up. There is more to come in October at the High School Retreat so be on the look out!
Thank you for a wonderful weekend!
matthew
Posted by matthew gamble on August 11, 2008 at 03:50 PM
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That was a really good message last saturaday. I was blessed and I sure alot of others were too. I trying to get God’s message out to my friends work. I was really hard at first. But after your message last weekend, and a lot of prayer I was abled to verbally witness to three people that I work with. The best thing about it, is that they didn’t knock me down, they didn’t make fun of me, they just listened and asked questions. I am very happy that God gave me the opportunity at work to share his word. And thank you for that God spoken message it really helped a lot. And I think it was the sign I was praying for. God Bless!
Posted by Jalisa on August 14, 2008 at 09:07 AM | #Praise God Jalisa! I had a tremendous time there in Ocala and look forward to returning in the near future.
Courage!
mwg
Posted by matthew gamble on August 15, 2008 at 08:52 AM | #Page 1 of 1 pages