Back from the Dead

It was meant to be. I chose Paul's epistle to the Galatians as my main text for last night's revival meeting sermon.  I preached for 55 mins just as the worship also went as long. Paul fell sick when he preached the Gospel to the Galatians. I got up at 2am with feverish symptoms and took two panadols and sweated it out during the early hours of the morning.  As I preached last night, on occasions I felt numb and cold and on occasions I broke out in a sweat. The aircon was in full blast but the church was full last night so it wasn't that cold. I talked about the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. Two real dangers in Galatians - legalism and libertanism.
The first 4 chapters of Galatians Paul spoke about those who insisted on circumcision who in fact denied the grace of God if righteousness could be gained by works.  I challenged the church not to fall into legalism like insisting on tithing as if it was a badge of honor or gaining brownie points with God. Second, I spoke about not abusing our freedom in Christ to sin or indulge in the flesh.  There is always a present danger in insisting on the grace of God that some would take grace wrongly and live as if God's commandments matter not. Very soon the flesh takes over and they lead a deluded life thinking that just because they have been saved by grace they can keep on sinning. Hence,  Paul challenges the Galatians to live after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

As there were 300 youths gathered last night,  I made an altar call for those to accept Christ for the first time. It is rare that I do that but last night I felt quickened and 8 or 9 young people responded to accept Christ. Then I asked those to want the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to come forward. No tricks involved. No music to sooth the nerves or move the emotions. In dead silence I asked them to come forward and about 25 youths responded. Three Reverends were there from different churches in Keningau and they helped me pray for those who came forward. Only when they came forward I asked the musicians to play a tune softly as we prayed. I did not know how I had survived 4 sessions of intense services. The youths were brilliant in praise and worship but on occasions the music was a tad loud. By the grace of God I had harvested souls for the Lord and many felt the Spirit's infilling in a new way.