God really does care about the little things as well as the big things going on in our lives. This can sometimes be translated as minor breakthrough's or divine intervention over a matter of concern or sometimes God is just wanting to bless us and remind us that he is in control. When we recognize that nothing is impossible to him, our faith level rises to meet the challenges that lay ahead.
This is a true account of how God raised my faith level and that of my Church over a matter that was seemingly impossible.
I was at a home group meeting one time and we were discussing the Bible Society quiz which was to take place the following week. Most of the local Churches registered more than one team for the event and spent months in study and preparation. I asked our newly appointed Pastor if we could register a team as well.
Our small Pentecostal congregation was a young church at the time, which had only existed in the area for about a decade but we were always keen to be involved in any combined church event that took place in our community.
Pastor was rather dubious about the whole thing however, and really did not think that we stood any chance of staying in the competition for long, especially when up against some of the older heavy, scholarly, bible literate type dudes from the Presbyterian and Anglican faiths.
Just for fun and I guess he wanted to make his point in the nicest possible way, pastor created a mock bible quiz with four teams of three people in each. My team consisted of two guys, one did not know his bible very well and the other knew a lot about bible stats but not so much about content. Anyway each team had 60 seconds to answer and our team was in front. After the MC [person asking the questions] had asked us a multitude of bible related questions, we had only one more left.
The question was "what disease did the man have who was lowered from the roof of a building by four men, for Jesus to heal?" Well we were stumped! My companions did not know the answer and neither did I because my bible (the "Good News" at that time)) did not mention the name of the disease. I looked at the MC in disbelief knowing that our time was almost up... we just did not know, what we did not know!
As I watched the MC intently, I guess I was waiting for her to tell us that our time was up which would have ended any chance of entering the real quiz. Suddenly I noticed something unusual begin to appear above her head. Letters were beginning to form like someone was typing it in a clearly readable gold color. I began to speak the words out as they appeared over her head. The word spelt "PALSY" I answered just in time.
To make a long story short we won and although Pastor still had his reservations, our team registered for the combined church Bible Society quiz..... This was just the beginning of a series of events which can only be considered as "God Breathed."
Our late registration meant that we had no time to prepare other than praying for remembrance and his mercy. The three of us were so excited about being there and it did not matter to us whether we won or not. We were happy to just have fun and enjoy our time with our fellow brethren. Most teams had members come along to support and cheer them on but none of the members of our little church came, nor did our Pastor. We were not discouraged however but rather excited and determined to do our best.
There were about 20 teams representing a good cross section of local churches. Some registered more than one team and each team consisted of 5 or more members with a minimum requirement of three. There were 100 question given out by the MC overall with10 questions per each round and one minute to answer each question within the set of 10. When the 10 questions were answered on the official quiz forms, they were collected up and given to markers who would then place the results on a whiteboard at the front of the hall so that teams could see who was leading and who was trailing behind. Then another set of 10 questions were asked and so forth.
We thought our team was doing okay but we did not look at the results because we were too deeply engrossed in answering the questions correctly and within the allocated time frame. The last 10 questions came all too quickly and we finally looked up to see how we were doing. We were more than surprised to find that we were first equal with a team from the AOG. The rest of the teams trailed behind significantly.
Supporters then began to split their allegiances and encourage both our teams for the coveted prize of the Bible Society trophy. At the end of the last round, the results came in and our team had won with an incredible score of 98.5% out of 100. Not bad for first timers and certainly not our last.
A pastor from one of the larger churches was curious and asked me how long we had prepared for the event as his teams had studied for a number of months. I was a bit concerned about telling him but because of his persistence, I finally acknowledged that I had studied for about 20 minutes beforehand which annoyed him somewhat but I did say that my other two team mates studied for a day or two, well at least one did anyway...
That trophy was proudly displayed in our little church for a whole year which was a reminder to us all that God sometimes just wants to raise our faith level by blessing us or allowing us to succeed even in the little things...He also reminds us that, "what is impossible to man is truly possible with God."
Be Blessed!
This is a true account of how God raised my faith level and that of my Church over a matter that was seemingly impossible.
I was at a home group meeting one time and we were discussing the Bible Society quiz which was to take place the following week. Most of the local Churches registered more than one team for the event and spent months in study and preparation. I asked our newly appointed Pastor if we could register a team as well.
Our small Pentecostal congregation was a young church at the time, which had only existed in the area for about a decade but we were always keen to be involved in any combined church event that took place in our community.
Pastor was rather dubious about the whole thing however, and really did not think that we stood any chance of staying in the competition for long, especially when up against some of the older heavy, scholarly, bible literate type dudes from the Presbyterian and Anglican faiths.
Just for fun and I guess he wanted to make his point in the nicest possible way, pastor created a mock bible quiz with four teams of three people in each. My team consisted of two guys, one did not know his bible very well and the other knew a lot about bible stats but not so much about content. Anyway each team had 60 seconds to answer and our team was in front. After the MC [person asking the questions] had asked us a multitude of bible related questions, we had only one more left.
The question was "what disease did the man have who was lowered from the roof of a building by four men, for Jesus to heal?" Well we were stumped! My companions did not know the answer and neither did I because my bible (the "Good News" at that time)) did not mention the name of the disease. I looked at the MC in disbelief knowing that our time was almost up... we just did not know, what we did not know!
As I watched the MC intently, I guess I was waiting for her to tell us that our time was up which would have ended any chance of entering the real quiz. Suddenly I noticed something unusual begin to appear above her head. Letters were beginning to form like someone was typing it in a clearly readable gold color. I began to speak the words out as they appeared over her head. The word spelt "PALSY" I answered just in time.
To make a long story short we won and although Pastor still had his reservations, our team registered for the combined church Bible Society quiz..... This was just the beginning of a series of events which can only be considered as "God Breathed."
Our late registration meant that we had no time to prepare other than praying for remembrance and his mercy. The three of us were so excited about being there and it did not matter to us whether we won or not. We were happy to just have fun and enjoy our time with our fellow brethren. Most teams had members come along to support and cheer them on but none of the members of our little church came, nor did our Pastor. We were not discouraged however but rather excited and determined to do our best.
There were about 20 teams representing a good cross section of local churches. Some registered more than one team and each team consisted of 5 or more members with a minimum requirement of three. There were 100 question given out by the MC overall with10 questions per each round and one minute to answer each question within the set of 10. When the 10 questions were answered on the official quiz forms, they were collected up and given to markers who would then place the results on a whiteboard at the front of the hall so that teams could see who was leading and who was trailing behind. Then another set of 10 questions were asked and so forth.
We thought our team was doing okay but we did not look at the results because we were too deeply engrossed in answering the questions correctly and within the allocated time frame. The last 10 questions came all too quickly and we finally looked up to see how we were doing. We were more than surprised to find that we were first equal with a team from the AOG. The rest of the teams trailed behind significantly.
Supporters then began to split their allegiances and encourage both our teams for the coveted prize of the Bible Society trophy. At the end of the last round, the results came in and our team had won with an incredible score of 98.5% out of 100. Not bad for first timers and certainly not our last.
A pastor from one of the larger churches was curious and asked me how long we had prepared for the event as his teams had studied for a number of months. I was a bit concerned about telling him but because of his persistence, I finally acknowledged that I had studied for about 20 minutes beforehand which annoyed him somewhat but I did say that my other two team mates studied for a day or two, well at least one did anyway...
That trophy was proudly displayed in our little church for a whole year which was a reminder to us all that God sometimes just wants to raise our faith level by blessing us or allowing us to succeed even in the little things...He also reminds us that, "what is impossible to man is truly possible with God."
Be Blessed!
