Sermon Central
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Where Is God Working?
Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on May 21, 2023 (message contributor)
Pastor Henry Blackaby, of Faith Baptist Church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada began to sense God leading them to an outreach ministry on the college campus. He had never done student work. Their church had never done student work. Their denominational student ministries department recommended that they begin with a Bible study in the dorms. For almost 2 years they tried to start a Bible study in the dorms, and it did not work. One Sunday Pastor Blackaby pulled the students together and said, “This week I want you to go to the campus and watch to see where God is working and join him.” They asked him to explain. God had impressed upon his heart these two scriptures:
Romans 3:10-11 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.
John 6:44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me...
He went on to explain, “According to these passages, no one is going to seek God on his own initiative. No one will ask after spiritual matters unless God is at work in their life. When you see someone seeking God or asking about spiritual matters, you are seeing God at work. That is something only God does in a life.”
He told his students, “If someone starts asking you spiritual questions, whatever else you have planned, don’t do it. Cancel what you are doing. Go with that individual and look to see what God is doing there.” That week their students went out to see where God was at work on the campus and to join him.
On Wednesday one of the girls reported, “Pastor, a girl who has been in classes with me for two years came to me after class today. She said, ‘I think you might be a Christian. I need to talk to you.’ I remembered what you said. I had a class, but I missed it. We went to the cafeteria to talk. She said, ‘11 of us girls in the dorm have been studying the Bible, and none of us are Christians. Do you know somebody who can lead us in a Bible study?’”
As a result of that contact, they started three Bible study groups in the women’s dorms and two in the men’s dorm. For almost 2 years they tried to do something for God and failed. For three days they went looking to see where God was working and joined him. What a difference that made! Over the following years, many students trusted Christ as saviour and Lord. Many of those surrendered to full-time ministry and are now serving as pastors and missionaries all over the world.
Henry T Blackaby and Claude V King. (Experiencing God: How to Live the Full Adventure of Knowing and Doing the Will of God.) Broadman and Holman Publishers: Atlanta. 1994. Page 69-71.
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