Thoughts About Wednesday...

Last night we had an all-praise and worship event at PFB Wednesday Nights.  A lot of prayer and planning went into this event.  We were so excited for what was going to happen.  The only thing: we never planned for what did happen. :)

7:00pm - People came in ready to BRING IT for Jesus.  They praised Jesus through the first song.  I then went up to share with them information about the evening.  After that, Calli came up and read Isaiah 6:1-8 (which by the way is the passage that I'm preaching next week at Wednesday nights to introduce our two-week series on our vision for the ministry - DO NOT MISS IT!!!!).  As she stepped off the stage, the band started into the next song of praise.  About four measures into it, this deep and overwhelmingly loud noise came out from the speakers.  It overwhelmed everything.  Our sound-guy rebooted the system and it still rang throughout the worship center.  So, we worshipped Jesus OLD SCHOOL!!! And let me tell you: I haven't been to a worship service like that EVER!!! A worship center that holds 2,000 people with no sound system was filled with abundant praise and worship to Jesus.  I'm not exaggerating:  I have NEVER been to a worship service like that.

We had prayed that Jesus would be glorified.  We had prayed that he would be the only one noticed.  We had prayed that the Holy Spirit would have his way.  AND HE SHUT OFF THE SOUND SYSTEM FOR THE FIRST HOUR TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.  And as we continued in worship, I went up on stage and shared this passage that I sensed the Holy Spirit putting in my mind:  "'Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!' The LORD of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress" (Psalm 46:10-11, ESV). God stilled us.  He was exalted in Pomona, California.  And he reminded us all of this: He is with us.

As we continued to worship, I received the following text from a recent high school graduate who is living in Alaska, following Jesus' leading on her life, who was watching the live stream of the service on her computer.  Here's what she wrote:  "Such a great night of worship! I'm so gald I am able to watch it.  God does things like taking away the sound system for a reason and I love it.  Usually I can't connect to watch it but tonight it worked :D." After the worship service, I received the following email:

"Hi Brian:
My wife and I watch the service from home every Wednesday.  It is hard for us to be at service so praise GOD for the video stream.

"Tonigh's worship was such a blessing.  When the sound system went into self-destruct my wife and I prayed the LORD would be glorified.  At that point the mics over the house picked up the voices of God's people in full-on glorious worship! We feel God wanted to hear HIS people's voices in pure worship.

"If the enemy was trying to spoil the night it was a no go as we were all blessed beyond anything we could have imagined.

"The entire Wednesday Night team is in our prayers.  We see the LORD doing a mighty work."

Then, after I got home, I started looking through Facebook to see status updates from those who attended.  THERE WERE FAR TOO MANY FOR ME TO TYPE OUT HERE THAT WERE ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY BY THE MOVING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD!!!!!

So, last night, God screwed up our schedule.  He messed up our event.  He replaced it with a true encounter with the Living God.  Some of you may ask, "How do you know it was a holy encounter with the Living God?" Here's how:

• High school girl text me this: "I'm so so glad I was there. I learned one of the most important lessons I've ever learned today. Wow! :D God is moving"


• A young man named Eric came forward and asked me to pray with him.  I prayed for him to completely surrender to Christ.  He didn't ask for that (in fact, he didn't know what he wanted me to pray for).  When I was finished, there were tears in his eye and joy on his face.


• A young man named Joshua surrendered his life to Christ and is supposed to be getting baptized on the first Wednesday of October.


• The prayer team was praying with large groups of people at times throughout the night.

GOD WAS AT WORK! He started with the sound system off.  Later on, he turned it back on and we just kept on going.  But in all of it: Jesus was exalted and salvation visited PFB Church.  All praise be to Jesus.

My Wednesday night peeps: YOU ALL ARE AMAZING!!! And remember: the best is yet to come.  I love you all.  Get ready for the ride of a lifetime.

What a ride,
Brian