Sundays are always great! But there are those Sundays that God does something so amazing that the only way you can respond is to say, "WOW! Way to go, God!" That is what happened this Sunday at the Gaylord E-Free Church.
We concluded our 7-week series on the life of Noah by looking at four passages of Scripture in the New Testament where we see that the story of Noah lives on and still impacts our life today. Our Creative Ideas Group did an amazing job with this series and actually built the framework of an ARK up on the stage for the entire series. Each week this set changed a bit in relation to where we were in the Biblical account of Noah's life.
We ended this Sunday by showing how the ark is a picture of today. In Noah's day the world was full of sin and God was going to judge the world with a flood. But before He did so, He first made a way of salvation...the ark. He put just one door in the ark. If anyone would believe the words of God and enter the ark through that door, they would be saved from the coming judgement.
The same is true today. Our world is full of sin and God will one day judge all mankind. Because of our sin we deserve in the end to be separated from God forever in hell. But God has made a way of salvation and He has created a door into that salvation. In John 10:9, Jesus said, "I am the door, by Me if anyone enters in he will be saved." If we will believe the words of God and walk through the door of Jesus Christ by putting our faith in His death and resurrection, we will be saved from that eternal judgement that we so deserve. What a story!
In preparation for this Sunday our Creative Ideas Group added a big white cross in the middle of the door in the ark on our stage. It was very impressive and gave a visual picture that because of His death on the cross for our sins, Jesus is the only door into God's salvation. At the end of the message I gave those who had never trusted Christ as their Savior or who needed to recommit their life to knowing, loving and serving Jesus, to come forward and walk through the door of the ark on our stage symbolizing that they were ready to make things right with the Lord.
How awesome it was as we sang "Amazing Grace! My Chains Are Gone" to see many, many people from all over the auditorium, the lower level as well as the balcony, come forward. I met each one of them at the door of the ark and gave to each of them a hug of support and congratulations. They then walked through the door of the ark with the cross right in the middle of it where on the other side there were counselors ready to talk and pray with them. It was truly a "WOW" moment!
Even after the service was over, as people were leaving the Gospel Center, I watched as other people on their own took time to walk up on to the stage and walk through the door of the ark where many of them paused to pray. What an amazing morning it was! All I could say in response was:
"WOW! Way to go, God!!"
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