Last night I had the privilege of speaking at Primeria Igreja Batista Sao Vicente. I spoke there on Mothers Day, and Pastor Gilberto invited me back to speak again, which is always a privilege. Last night I spoke on God's Word and how He reveals His plans through His word and the Holy Spirit, and also that God will always do what He plans, says, and promises. The church responded very well to God's message, and in the end of the service I shared the Gospel and God moved in many hearts, and 9 people received Jesus as their Lord & Savior and committed their lives to Him.
One young man named Fernando was one of these that received Christ. After the service he told us the incredible story of how he came to be there at the church. He lives in a city called Guaruja, and on Sunday afternoon he was visiting a girl he knows in the city of Mongagua, which is about an hour from Guaruja and about 30-40 minutes from the church in Sao Vicente. He said he has a Catholic background, and that he has been seeking God alot lately. He was talking to the girl in Mongagua about God and religion and church, and how he felt there must be more to knowing God than church or religion. They also talked about evangelical churches. While on his way back to Guaruja he had to go through Sao Vicente, and while he was driving he was praying and calling out to God, asking Him to reveal who He is and to show him more about Himself, and that he wasn't going to go home until God answered his prayer.
The next part of the story is a bit strange. He said when he arrived in Sao Vicente he felt God wanted him to go buy a container of milk from a store, so he went and did that. Next he felt God was telling him to go knock on a door of a house near the store, so he did. He heard a man's voice and the man seemed angry, so he started to leave. The man opened the door and asked him what he wanted. He told the man he was there to give them some milk. The man went and got his wife, and the lady said that her husband was angry because he did not have enough money to buy their child some milk, and that she was on her knees praying to God to help them and then he showed up.
After leaving the family Fernando felt that he needed to find an evangelical chuch, and he was going to go into the first one he saw. At that point he saw Primeira Igreja Batista Sao Vicente, and he went in. He had never been to the church before. He said that he heard me say many things which were exactly what he had been asking God to show him, such as that church or religion will not save us from our sins and will not give us a restored relationship with God, and peace with Him and eternal life. And other things such as if we seek God with all of our hearts we will find Him, and others. He said it was as if God was speaking directly into his heart through my words, which of course is exactly what happened. We always pray that God will send people who are without Christ to the churches we speak in, and God clearly led Fernando to the church last night. God has some special plans for this young man who is earnestly seeking God, and we are thrilled that we could be a part of God's work in his life.
part of the worship team of the church
Pastor Gilberto, interpreter Leticia, and I
Speaking with interpreter Leticia
sharing the Good News of Jesus at the end of the service
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