This is the fifth in a series recapping "Waiting 2017". To read from the beginning of the series, click here.
Anointed Fun… But It Seems Fishy to Me!
Anointed Fun… But It Seems Fishy to Me!
As the morning service closed, Pastor Aaron invited anyone who
wanted to stay a few minutes after dismissal to hear a children’s song that
Pastor Taylor co-wrote with Arnelle Heibling.
I’m so glad I didn’t miss “The Jonah Song!” It is anointed, scriptural…and just fun! Get your kids and grandkids and watch and
listen to it below…it’s wonderful!
“…And A Little Child
Shall Lead Them”
Although many who lived far away had to leave after morning
services, many stayed for the afternoon services, which began at 3. I asked my wife during lunch what she thought
about us staying or leaving, as we have 4-5 hour drive and she had to get up about
4:30 in the morning to go to work Monday.
She said, “If God is leading for a service, I don’t want to miss it.” We were both so glad we stayed!
Pastor Aaron thought that this was not going to be a long
service, but God had other plans. Just a
few minutes after the service started, a little seven-year-old child named Boaz, son of Kevin and Amy Heath, got the microphone and said, “Why don’t we
just each say what we’re thankful for?”
Well, things just got out of hand after that. That just started a thankfularama (there’s
another new word!). Husbands started
being thankful for their wives, wives for their husbands, children for their
parents, and parents for their children.
People got thankful for their salvation and for many other things…I mean
really thankful! How long can you go on
just being thankful? Apparently, a LONG
TIME! And it was wonderful! Maybe Boaz said it best when he got the
microphone back later… “I’m thankful for everything!” Not all of the afternoon service got
recorded, but most of this part did. If
you’ll take the time to watch it below, you might find yourself getting
thankful!
Prayer For Haiti
Later in the service, a young man who I love and admire
stood up and testified. A young college
student from our church named Aaron Hart shared some of his experiences and his
appreciation for his pastors. Aaron has
been attending Fair Haven for a couple of years and he is one man who loves
Jesus. As I would share a little later,
he has no support from home…yet. But he
and anyone else in his position can start a legacy. Pastor Aaron was moved by the Holy Spirit to
pray for Aaron’s finances, and to ask Missy to pray for Aaron’s mom. I can’t wait to see what God’s going to do in
his life, and the life of his family as a result of prayer.
Aaron and three others from our church were due to leave for
Haiti on Monday morning. He has joined
Pastor Mike Douglas and Don and Mary Lou Dicus as well as a group from our
sister church in Sarasota, Florida to hand out Christmas presents and the love
of God to hundreds of children up in the mountains in the poverty-stricken
Caribbean island. It was on my heart and
other’s hearts to gather them together for prayer, sending them in Jesus’
name. (As I write this, they are on
their final day of the trip before returning home tomorrow. I’ve already heard wonderful things about how
God is helping them!)
Testimonies
Several people have spoken, emailed and texted me about what
God did for them in the meetings. Let’s
here from some of them:
John Stefan (Parker
City)
I had a wonderful
conversation this week with John Stefan, who is surely a Prince in Israel…that
man, who was once an avowed atheist, is just full of Jesus! He told me that he was as confirmed in his
atheism as Saul of Tarsus was in his Judaism…until Jesus got hold of them
both! He says, “The reason we are here
on earth is to fellowship with God!” John
is a man who hears from God, and, during the meeting, Jesus spoke in his heart
that He was pleased with the meetings.
When I asked him about what was the highlight of the meeting to him, he
related this to me. “What else is
greater than that!” I can’t think of
anything, can you?
Barbara Stefan
(Parker City)
John’s wife Barbara shared this with us:
Before
the meetings and during the meetings I was in a lot of pain. I’m having an MRI
next week plus other tests. The Holy Spirit was moving all thru each service.
You had to be there, to feel the Spirit go thru your body. At the very last service,
I did not think I would be able to stay because of the pain. Someone was
singing a song and there was a line in it about healing. After the song,
someone said, let's sing that line about healing and stand up. Well, I hung on
to anything I could hold to and stood up with burning feeling from pain. Right
after they sang that line, I sat down. Right away I felt my pain go away. To
tell you the truth, I was in shock. I kept moving because I wanted to see if it
was just in my mind. Praise God, it was not. I was able to sit thru the last
meeting without pain!!!!!
(Isn’t that amazing!
It’s interesting to me that, even though we never had a “healing service”
in the meeting, and physical healing was never a focus of the meeting, yet
people got healed! In the first meeting
on Saturday morning, a woman was healed (Magen Gillihan) and in the last
service on Sunday evening, another woman was healed! I’m sure there were others, but those are the
ones we have received testimony about…Praise the Lord!)
“…I have told Pastor Schultze and the girls that everything that was done both on Saturday and Sunday fit together like a hand in a glove. It looked like from the altar call (at the beginning of the meeting until) the thankfulness to close (the meeting)… was all built upon each thing that was done.
The Lord has a way of showing me a person {takes 3 times before I know it is from God} and He showed me the little boy (named Boaz), the little guy the Lord spoke his will through, in sharing about the thankfulness from the people. So I knew he was in order.”Kathy Douglas (Fair Haven, Cynthiana, IN)
“…there are many wonderful things that come to my mind while reviewing the past weekend. There was such a sweet spirit from the time that we walked in the door. During the meetings you could sense the spirit of overwhelming peace and love. The messages that were given by Pastor Mike and Pastor Aaron were rich… The messages that we got through the testimonies of others were rich as well. In the last meeting when a child said "why don't we just tell what we are thankful for"…What a door was opened with that - Praise the Lord! But also as I was reviewing I became very thankful for what we have at Fair Haven. I feel the same love of Jesus coming from my Fair Haven family and I believe that in our services we try to "wait upon God" to lead us.I’d like to encourage everyone to tell their story, even if you have written anything for this series, I’d still like to know…Also, if you want to add your testimony, and can add it here in future updates. As the old song says, “Everybody ought to know who Jesus is!”
Closing Message from Pastor Aaron
Pastor Aaron closed these wonderful meetings with a charge to each of us. I asked him to summarize his message, as this was not recorded. What he stated then and what he shares with us now is worth the whole meeting:
“…When the witness of the Holy Spirit is happening within a believer, it is not OUR witness...It is the Holy Spirit witnessing of Himself! The goal is never to be led, or to seek to be led. The goal is to glorify God, at all times, and in every way. The Lord never leads to exalt us, but to glorify Himself through us. He chooses to work out his Kingdom here on earth through men and women, boys and girls and we get to be a part of it! It’s never been about us, always about Him. The greatest witness of the Holy Spirit is your bible. We must be people of the Word. It is His Word. What a privilege to have access to the Word of the Lord at all times! "I’d just like to say here personally, that I am thankful to God for Pastor Aaron and Missy. It has been a pleasure and a wonder to see how the Lord has used them, especially in the last couple of years. They are truly sold out for God, and it shows in every act that they do. It was really hard a little over a year ago to see them leave for Parker City, although I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was God doing it…Yet look at what God has done through them since then! Praise His Name!
I’d also like to point out the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes whenever there is a gathering like this. There are some that I don’t even know. I do know a few that I’d like to just give a nod of great appreciation to. Pastor Kim Gilbert videoed most of the meeting. I couldn’t have done these recap blog posts if he hadn’t spent the energy to do this. And I know by experience that when you do something like that, it’s much harder to fully engage in what’s going on because you have a job to do. Also, every time that I went to the kitchen, Janice Gilbert and several other Parker ladies were
One More Thing…
The Lord has put some things on my heart to share with all of you before I wrap this series up. I'll be concluding this series on Facebook Live sometime early next week, and then I will repost the video on this blog afterwards...see you then!
To view Recap #6, click here.
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