STAY WAKE – GOD WANTS TO USE YOU AS HIS VESSEL!
It is a privilege to connect with you again. I have been in Vancouver Island since Thursday for meetings with the Comox Valley and Campbell River Church leadership teams. This morning, I will share God’s Word with the Nanaimo Church family. I am very happy to be able to travel again and be with God’s family in our Province. This is my fourth trip out of the Lower Mainland since the pandemic started. The Lord has been good to us and we feel His daily protection over our lives through the presence of His holy angels with us and the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. I am certain that you will agree with me about this statement.
I have initially included in this message an extensive report mentioning the wonderful things that God has done in our Conference since my last communication with you at the beginning of October. I decided to send that portion to you on a separate e-mail early next week in order to keep just the spiritual part of the message for this Sabbath.
Several years ago, while I was ministering in South Africa, I went to Brazil on vacation with my family. Two days later, I flew from there to New York (NY) by myself to visit my late sister. I was very tired, hungry, and sleepy because of the jet lag when I boarded the airplane for that international trip. All I wanted was to eat and rest. I hoped that no one would sit beside me… . That did not materialize because a gentleman and his wife sat on the vacant seats on the row I was seated. We greeted each other with a smile, and we carried on with our business – I was trying to sleep. Later, when they noticed me praying for the meal that was brought, they asked me if I was a Christian and what did I do for living. Honestly, I gave them a short answer: “Yes, and I am a minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” That sparked a conversation for nearly the whole night. They asked me about my (our) beliefs, and I gave them several Bible studies during 90% of the duration of that flight. At the end, I promised to mail them some Bible lessons which I did, after I arrived back in South Africa. After my family and I moved to Australia, and subsequently to Canada, we lost contact and I never heard from them again.
Many years later, I met with Dr. Milton Afonso, a dear friend of mine who is a very wealthy businessman and a committed Adventist church member in Brazil. He was excited to inform me that one of his good friends (another wealthy businessman) shared with him that he and his wife had met and interacted for most of the night with an Adventist pastor during a flight to NY a few years ago. That pastor was Brazilian and lived in South Africa. He said to him that they were touched by the conversation they had with that pastor. When they received the Bible lessons that he sent to them, they decided to study the Bible seriously. Dr. Afonso asked me if I was that pastor. I was shocked with the news! I told him that that pastor was me and that I did not even want to talk with anyone during that trip – I was tired, hungry, and was fighting jet lag. Then my friend calmly and happily said to me: “God used you, even while you were tired, hungry, and fighting a jet lag, to be an instrument in His hands to win souls for His Kingdom. They were baptized as members of our church some years ago and are serving in leadership positions in our church here.” I was speechless. I shed tears of joy and thanked God for sending those people to sit next to me and for not allowing me to sleep when I talked with them. Although I tried to reconnect with them several times, I was never able to for various reasons: wrong phone number, they moved, I moved etc.
We can apply at least seven spiritual lessons in our lives from this experience:
- If we do not want to speak for God, even the stones will do it (Luke 19:40)
- We never know which soil that the seed we sow will fall on (Matthew 13:3-30, specially verse 8)
- Even during difficult times (i.e. COVID-19) we should never give up sowing the good seed (Psalm 126:6)
- Whether we like it or not, only in heaven we will know the full extend of our witnessing – people are observing us (EGW, Reflecting Christ, 298)
- We will be surprised to find out the results of the influence we exercised on people. (EGW, MH, 269)
- We should never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8; Acts 2; EGW, AA, 47-51)
- God’s loves is amazing! (Psalm 86:15)
Please find below the link to our Conference’s video for this month. I am convinced that this video will bring a blessing to those who watch it!
The Local Church – Abbotsford Seventh-day Adventist Church “Connecting the Disconnected” from British Columbia Adventist on Vimeo.
Happy Sabbath!
In His Service,
Wesley Torres
President