"Possessed................................"

There were just two of us, Frank and I, at the rescue mission Wednesday evening, sharing with as many as twenty-five men. It seemed a younger bunch, just a few grey-headed veterans, one no stranger to singing out of a hymnal. Whatever his circumstances, whatever doctrinal point of view he held, it was obvious to me that he was well familiar with Gospel worship. Even more, there was witness of an inner faith with Christ, his spirit connecting with my spirit almost from the start. The rest of the room was a mixture of 40s, 30s, and 20s, men of different history, background, men with enough Bible encounter along the way so as to listen with apprehension toward any sermon trying to convince them other than their own personal beliefs. Frank began, nonetheless, by pointing to prayer and praise as gateways to actually “touching the hem of His garment”. His words, then, would open a door for me to share with our small congregation an old Ray Boltz tune whose own lyrics profess “the source of life is right there in your hands” and kept us “on track” with the Holy Ghost. Indeed, an anointing began to flow among us, with me abandoning my notes and just speaking from my heart. We were made one in the reality of His resurrection, His presence taking us “through the veil”. Living water flowed from His well and we talked of it in terms of it being an oasis to which a man might return again and again, MUST return again if he is to know assurance in his stagger down the path. This, for me, is the bottom line of any message preached concerning the Cross. When I look around me at America as it is today, however, I wonder how well the Church, as a whole, has delivered such theme. Take away the truth of Christ “in” me, in what I do as well as what I say, and all that’s left is religion…