As your reading this you may agree with the younger man. I have heard it said many times that people preaching from a street corner were wasting their time, but are they?
Jeremiah was only about 17 when God called him and he was heart broken over the fate of his people, he begged them to listen to him. Did you know he was known as the "weeping prophet" not just because he cried for what was going to happen to them, he cried because no matter how hard he tried no one would listen to him! He was single and all his friends turned on him so not only was he overcome with sadness he was lonely. I'm pretty sure God was the one who not only called Jeremiah but told him what to say.
Jeremiah 1 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak.
“Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.”
Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak.
“Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.”
Perhaps our Megaphone preacher has a lot in common with Jeremiah.
Then we have John the Baptist, also known as John the Baptizer, he spoke to crowds wherever he went. He was definitely considered weird as he wore clothes of camel's hair and ate locust and wild honey! He had it better than Jeremiah because many listened to him but in the end it cost him his head, literally.
Can you imagine someone telling John his ministry might be better if he would dress like a regular guy and lay off the bugs? Don't you think God had something to do with his attire and appetite?
My point here Gems is who are we to tell someone else how to do what the Lord asked them to do? Even if we don't get it. Now I'm not talking about things that are obviously opposed to the nature of God or the word of God but just because it's different than our normal doesn't mean it's abnormal for God or dare I say, wrong.
Some of the things the Lord asks us to do is just practice, for us to learn to hear His voice and for obedience to see if we will do it.
For example, years ago I was visiting a church I had never been to before. It was a huge church that had 3 other campuses linked into the live service I was at. This is normal today but years ago this was a new concept for me.
I have a regular occurrence with the Holy Spirit when He's getting ready to ask me to do something that makes me uncomfortable. The tips of my fingers get really cold, not the whole finger just the tips. Now I'm already feeling awkward because I don't know anyone so when my fingers start to get cold I say to him (The Holy Spirit) under my breath "I don't know what your up to but don't even think about it!" To which He starts a conversation with me that goes something like this:
Holy Spirit: you know that little song you sing to me?
Me: NO
Holy Spirit: You know the one, I love you Lord and I lift my voice to worship you Oh, my soul rejoice! Take joy my King In what You hear Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.
Me: coy smile, yes and you're the only one who likes it because we both know I can't sing.
At this very moment in the service the worship leader stops singing and says "I just got a stirring from the Holy Spirit. If there's someone out there that has a song for the Lord please just start singing it and the rest of us will join you."
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you mean us like the hundreds possible thousands of people in this building and who knows how many watching in on video???? Those people??
You could have heard a pin drop as the entire sanctuary went silent. And the worship leader just waited..... He just kept encouraging us to respond to the Holy Spirit. I was responding alright there was a full blown conversation going on in my head.
I figured any minute this guy would go onto something else but NOOOOO he just waited and I'm not kidding, no one said a word (cricket sound) by now my finger tips are freezing and in spite of my reasoning and desperate begging I know this is not going to go away.
So here I go, I begin to sing. I use that term loosely, as my voice was literally trembling and using a key I'm sure is not on any note scale known to man.
The guy next to me looks at me with a face of disbelief and the worship leader is kind of squinting his face almost like he's in pain trying to figure out what the heck I'm singing so the joining in can happen soon. Gems it was the longest most humiliating moment of my life and trust me I have had many.
I look back on that day many times and have a good laugh but know I passed the obedience test for sure on that day. What I want you to take from this is we have no idea what God tells people to do or how to do it. Anyone who knew me would have said you ARE NOT hearing from God, we have heard you sing!
So let's just pray for each other, especially when it's out of "our" normal. Pray we will hear God clearly and have the strength to make the hard decisions. Pray the Holy Sprit will convict us if we are off course, trust me He has no problem getting His point across.
Who knows He could be grooming YOU to be his next megaphone preacher. Whatever it is He will give you the words and strength to finish the task.
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