 Worshipers encouraged to be faithful to God's Word By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Amidst music, praise, prayer and preaching June 18, the Presbyerian-Reformed Ministries International service focused on the theme of "Praying for an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the PCUSA." Worshipers sang, Open the eyes of my heart, Lord Open the eyes of my heart I want to see you I want to see you Shining in the light of your glory Pour out the power of your love The Rev. David Pierson, director of youth ministries for PRMI, prayed over the crowd, praising Jesus Christ and saying, "Our praise and our worship will be pleasing. You are looking for those who will worship in your spirit and truth. We pray that you will catch us up into the worship of heaven." Pierson told the audience that it is "very exciting when we begin to live the Christian life in our daily walk with Christ. Experience more of His power in our life." He went on to explain that "faithful intercessors" in Columbus were praying about eight hours a day, "simply listening to the Holy Spirit and following where the Spirit leads. They are praying for the General Assembly - for Christ to be lifted up in this church. The Scriptures are the foundation of this Presbyterian Church. Jesus Christ is the foundation." Then the worshipers sang: We will give you all our worship We will give you all our praise You alone are worthy of our worship You alone are worthy of our praise After more songs and praise, the Rev. Parker T. Williamson spoke to the audience, reminding them that the goal of Presbyterians is "to proclaim God's gospel, God's word – to help this denomination be faithful." Williamson, chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and editor in chief of its publications, went around the room, introducing people from various cities and states – Tucson, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Mississippi, San Mateo, North Carolina, San Francisco. "Do you realize what's in this room right now?" he asked. "You folks cover the entire territory of the PCUSA. What an inviting community of faith we have." Urging everyone to "share some good news," Williamson then told a story about his recent trip to visit the persecuted church in Egypt. "These Christians," he said, "are paying the price for their faith in a Muslim culture that wants to eradicate them from the face of the Earth." Williamson spoke about his visit to a Christian physician, explaining that one can tell a Christian because, for various reasons, they wear a "tattooed cross on their wrist." The physician was sent to a Nubian village in southern Egypt "where the Muslim leaders had eradicated all traces of Christians." The doctor had no clinic, no supplies and there was no Christian church in the area. "But he noticed one thing," Williamson said. "When a boy child is born in that village, the people go out and they take some red dye or paint – they live in mud houses – and they paint a cross on the door of the house. He asked the people, 'What are you doing? What does this mean?' And they said, 'Well, we don't know. We've just always done this. Our parents before have done this. When a male child is born into the family, we paint a cross over the door. We don't know why.' And the Christian doctor told them, 'Let me tell you a story.'" Then, Williamson said, the doctor described another incident. "When a child is born, they hold it over a basin and they pour water over it. He asked the people, 'What are you doing? What does this mean?' And they said, 'Well, we don't know. We've just always done this. Our parents before have done this. When a male child is born into the family, we hold it over a basin and pour water over it. We don't know why.' And the Christian doctor told them, 'Let me tell you a story.'" "Then," Williamson said, that doctor "shared with them the Word of God. After all these years, Islamic forces had wiped out all evidence of the faith – and yet, something had survived in that culture, a seed. Something had survived in that culture that opens the door to the gospel, readying these people to hear the Word of God." Then he read from Isaiah 55:8-11: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Williamson told the audience that there is "one message for you at this general assembly. It is a message for those Nubians, the people along the Nile and people everywhere. God's Word is a purposeful Word. It has been sent out from His very mouth; It is the Word that created the universe. It will not go out from His mouth and among us and return void. He will accomplish that for which He purposed it." "Dear friends, the timetable is His, not ours. What we are called to do is to proclaim that Word. We know what it is. In season and out of season, we are called to proclaim. If we are faithful to proclaim God's word, there is nothing in heaven or in earth that can stop it," he said. "Now, it may take the PCUSA a little time to get that message. It took pharoah a little time to get that message. It took a few frogs. In fact, it took some very awful plagues before pharoah finally got that message. But the world will get that message. Our task is simply to be faithful. We dare not compromise on anything. Don't settle for some shoddy substitute … What matters is that we be faithful. God will bless that. "Live as people of the resurrection," he said. "Hold forth the Word of God and He will reward you with the greatest joy of your life. And together we will know, in this world or the next, the glory of the Lord on high whose Word will be accomplished." |
||
Respond to this article |
||
| 2002
General Assembly news index Home · News · PLC Publications · The Presbyterian Layman Online Reviews · Archives · History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links |
||