Opportunities

…making the most out of every opportunity… — Ephesians 5:17

I‘m still amazed when someone tells me they really appreciate my “ministry.” I guess I’ve heard it enough now that I actually think of WMD as a ministry. I’ve heard people say God “called” them into the ministry. That sounds so cool, but I can‘t say that. I never had a moment that I just knew this was what I was to do.

For me, everything good in my life started with a simple act of obedience. For example, I met my wife because I obeyed God and left my bar/party band. I didn’t want to…I loved playing AC/DC and Metallica tunes. But, because of that simple act of obedience, I was in church on a Friday night singing to the Lord as opposed to playing in a bar with my old friends. There was a lady in that church that wanted to “set me up” with a nice girl. A VERY long story short…I met Tonya a week later.

In another example, I was never “called” to preach. I got this opportunity to preach once a month at a Methodist church. The only reason I said yes was because I had 2 sermons that I really wanted to preach. This was my chance. However, I never really thought just how fast my two sermons would run out. I quickly had to learn to depend on God, which is exactly what He wanted. I would preach to anywhere from 5 to 20 people. For whatever reason, that never seemed insignificant to me at all. If I was going to pull off one sermon a month, I had to study the Bible. I had to pray. I had to ask God for direction. I had to ask Him for a topic. I had to listen to other preachers preach. God threw me in the fire, made me depend on Him, and grew me like crazy at that little Methodist church. The progression has been amazing…I preached for less than 20 people. Then, when that season was over, I just started getting opportunities and found myself preaching for a hundred people. Then, this past December, I stood before close to 500 people and brought the Word of God…Amazing. Never once, did I ask for any of it. He just keeps putting me in these positions. As of right now, I’ll preach at Boone’s Creek Baptist in Salem on May 29^th. Then, I’ll preach at Golden Corner Church in Walhalla on June 19^th. The ONLY reason I’m not freaking out about this is because of how He has grown me. I know He will give me His words and He will be glorified…not me.

WMD just blows my mind. The first WMD was a small paragraph sent to 5 other people. All I knew was that God wanted the few teachers who said they were Christians to start doing their jobs for Him. He wanted us to start living our lives better for Him. I can’t speak for the other teachers, but this totally changed my life and the atmosphere of where I work. Almost two and a half years later, here I am at my computer at 6:45 a.m. on Spring Break writing another WMD. I woke up, and the Spirit told me exactly what to write. He wants someone out there to take advantage of some opportunity that they’ve been given.

So, what is it? Is He asking you to lead a small group Bible study? Is He asking you to invest in someone’s life? Is He asking you to sacrificially love your husband or wife REGARDLESS of the fact that you may not be loved in return? Is He asking you to write for Him? Sing for Him? Volunteer at church for Him? Maybe He is simply asking you to give up dating. Maybe He is asking you to give up a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship so that you might really develop your relationship with Him and allow Him to bring to you the person He made for you. Maybe He is asking you to remove yourself from a friend or group of friends that “change” you. When you are around them you talk different, act different, and just do things you would not do on your own. Is He asking you to ditch them?

Now, you might be asking…If I do this, where does that leave ME? I know, I know. It left me at home on many weekends alone with my guitar and my Bible, so I sang praises to the Lord and read His Word. It left me going to every church revival I could find. It left me watching old Billy Graham Crusades on TBN. It left me listening to hundreds and hundreds of sermons on tape. It left me growing in the Lord. I’m so thankful for those seasons of life that everybody else would call “boring.“ Check out this last verse which sums it all up…

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” — Hebrews 12:11

I remember standing on the platform at Golden Corner Church and seeing probably 75 hands raised in the air. Every hand represented a person who had just made things right with the Lord.

A harvest of righteousness that started growing years and years before from a simple act of obedience!

Later

Adam