Timisoara part two

Okay, back to Timisoara after a short Vienna excursion. So I went to bed on Sunday night knowing that my first go-round as a preacher was forthcoming. A few years ago, I began to grasp this Biblical worldview stuff, and God began to work into me the desire to teach others based on my experience and education. Then, early last year, I got thrown in with a wonderful group of people from my church that provided me with the opportunity to see in Lithuania and Belarus just exactly what this teaching would be like. Even then, however, my role was primarily one of support, taking part in some panel discussions, maybe even speaking for a few minutes. There was no direct teaching from me, though, and that was okay. Last summer, I had the chance to start in on the teaching role by being a part of a team that taught Biblical economics at church. That really wet my feet and got me excited. Then came this year's trip. The structure of the trip didn't really include much opportunity or obligation for me to teach directly. My role this year was to present ideas in the midst of meetings and answer questions as they came up. I was, in my mind, trying to run not walk through the doors that God has opened to me, and I anticipated, even looked forward to helping in a primary role this year.

None of that prepared me to preach in a church, however! To be fair, I wasn't expected to do it alone. Dave and I were pairing up while Bruce was at another church. I went to bed on Saturday very nervous, but not terrified. It was a two or three hours before bed that I found out about the preaching, so I had time for God to prepare me, and He did!

I Peter 1:13 and Colossians 2:8 have really been on my mind during this trip, and I felt like God was giving me the word "crossroads" as a theme to share at House of Worship. A few years ago, I was at a personal crossroads. My Christianity was intact, my family was wonderful, my career was fine, I wasn't struggling with any moral failures, but my worldview wasn't fully and Biblically formed. I am thankful to the Lord that He had led me in conservative thinking and education my whole life, so there was not a lot of garbage to sort through. Nonetheless, I needed to fully inform myself about how the Bible speaks to every sphere of life. I have traversed a personal crossroads.

Secondly, I felt like the members of House of Worship and the Christians of Romania are also at a crossroads. The revolution was 16 years ago, but there is still so much work to do to make Romania a free and prosperous country. They stand at a crossroads between Communist bondage and Biblical freedom. It is time for the Christians there to rise up, prepare themselves, and change their country. They are at a crossroads.

Finally, Timisoara is a crossroads city. Like I explained in my previous posting, the city is a crucial gateway between east and west. It is a true example to the rest of Romania and can be likewise for the rest of Eastern Europe and the continent in general. It is a crossroads city that can be a city on a hill.

So that's the message I brought. The people were responsive, and I felt like God really gave me a good speaking ability and the words as I needed them. All in all, not too bad for my first day in the pulpit. Not that I'd want to do it again. I'll take teaching over preaching. But, in season and out of season, right?

More to come...