We had another outstanding service at church last night. We had lots of testimonies that were very uplifting that ran the gamut from an elder sister telling about an experience she had when she was a little girl to a new member of the church who moved here from Malawi, Africa a few months ago and gave her first testimony in our church telling of her experiences with the Lord as a teenager in Africa and how He has taken care of her and brought her here to the United States and to Paducah.
When Bro. Mike was just about to dismiss the service, we all were just in a worshipful frame of mind, with our hands raised and thanking God for all He'd done for us, and the Spirit came in in a great way. That was at around probably 8:30 (service started at 6:30). So when the service was supposed to be over, God had other ideas! (Service didn't finally get over with until about 10:30!) People started to pray down front, and we really had a special visitation of the spirit. One little girl received the Holy Ghost, and lots of people got special blessings. It was like the day of Pentecost in the Bible. People were drunk in the Spirit. I myself found myself shaking uncontrollably under the power of God on more than one occasion. I've never experienced anthing like it. A stranger watching would have supposed we were all drunk or high on something!
I was still praying, sitting on the floor of the platform I think (the chairs had long since been pushed out of the way by people praying in the Spirit who apparently didn't notice the furniture!) when I heard someone asking me to come help pray for a stranger who had come in off the street. I went over to the altar and found an older black man kneeling at the altar bench and crying. We prayed with him and cried with him as he turned over his life to the Lord. He reeked of cigarettes and alcohol; his eyes were bloodshot and he was a bit disheveled. I kneeled in front of him on the platform and reached over the little wall to the altar and held his hand as we all prayed with him. What an experience!
He said that he had been walking by the church on his way to a lady's house when God spoke to him and said to go inside that church and see what was going on in there; that he needed some of that. He came in to find us all praying and speaking in tongues and shouting (many of us drunk in the spirit, while he had been drunk in the traditional sense!).
As he knelt there at that altar, he felt a freedom that he hadn't felt in years. He said that he had known the Lord years ago (in a Baptist church), but that he'd been bound in sin for so long he didn't think he could ever come back to Him. He began to shout out "I'm free! I'm free! I don't have to go back there anymore! God has changed me tonight!" Needless to say, we all shouted some more to see this man that God had just led to come into our midst off the street feeling the power of God for the first time with us. He was so full of love for everyone. Eddie had been praying right beside him the whole time and when they were done praying, the man just kept hugging Eddie and thanking him for praying with him and loving him. He was so emotional and thankful that he grabbed Eddie's head in his hands and planted a big kiss right on Eddie's forehead! After he got up, I went over and gave him a big hug. Under normal circumstances, the smell would have been repulsive, but here it was just a reminder that God can still speak to whom He will, even a rank sinner who just came in off the street with alcohol on his breath!
Eddie spoke with him briefly and related the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost when he answered the question about what was needed to be saved. Peter said that they should repent, be baptized, and that they would receive the Holy Ghost. Eddie told the man that he had gotten his repentance out of the way tonight, and that if he would come this weekend we will fill the baptistry up with water and get him baptized Sunday morning. The man said that he would definitely be here Friday night and Sunday morning. Whether the man ever does come back to the church or not, God gave us a special experience by having him come in. I believe we showed this man love that he's likely never experienced before.
What a mighty God we serve!
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