We were in a meeting, brainstorming about teaching topics for different sermon series for 2024. We want them gospel-centered. We want them to speak to every heart in the room. We listed them off: "Light and darkness," "Slavery vs. freedom," the Beatitudes, how Jesus comforts the grieving, John 11 when Lazarus is raised from the dead...
What topics would pierce souls?
But then, in the middle of our time together, one of them gets notice that his sponsee overdosed and was found dead in his sober-living home by his roommates.
The others knew him. They started talking about how he had gotten baptized before, how grateful they were for that.
I sat there, stunned. I didn't know him personally, but I know those who knew him, and I am grieving with my brothers and sisters who are grieving.
I'm learning this happens a lot in this community. Those in recovery know many who have succumbed to this awful disease. So many funerals. Even so, it's shocked everyone. It's shocked me. I field texts, respond to social media posts. People are looking for comfort.
And these last couple of days, the weight of what this ministry is doing has fallen fresh. The topics we were brainstorming in those moments were not just fun opportunities; it is life and death. The stakes are so, so high.
Whether we realize it or not, those not in Christ are walking around as the spiritually dead. I wonder how differently we would proclaim Christ if we truly realized that? That if we didn't share Jesus with them, they would die? This man's physical life being snuffed out has brought that truth home to me in a new way; when we get on stage at this ministry every Wednesday night, we're not just opening the Bible for a good time. Satan has so many in iron chains. He wants to keep them bound, in the dark. He wants to kill them... literally. This ministry is to try to save them before it's too late... to save their souls, no matter what comes.
I've been praying for my friends, praying for how this ministry can respond in a way that points them to Jesus and gives them an outlet for their grief.
My heart is broken, but this awareness of the ugly evil so many battle every day has lit a fire in between the cracks. The Holy Spirit is fanning it to bursting in my heart. It's solidified a calling to proclaim freedom to the captives in a way nothing else could...
Pray for those fighting for their lives. Pray for those of us who are trying to shine light into the darkness... Pray for J's friends. They're mine now too.
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