Back in Manila and excited to preach week 2 of our “AND GOD SAID. . .” series at Victory Fort 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. While preparing my sermon, I remembered this story. . .
A few years ago when our church was meeting in the Star Complex Theater in the Shangri-La Mall, we had all kinds of drop-in visitors. They ranged from the famous to the infamous: celebrities, politicians, professional athletes, socialites, wannabes, and has-beens. We also had loads of “normal” people and our fair share of not-so-normal people. But never did we have a visitor like “Mary.”
Our worship leader had just finished the last song and Pastor Ferdie grabbed the mic to welcome visitors and make a few announcements. (As usual, no one was listening to announcements. Does anyone in any church ever listen to announcements?)
The auditorium was full. The only empty seat was in the front row, right next to me. It was empty because Pastor Ferdie was standing on stage making those announcements no one was listening to. During the announcements, an usher seated a (late) first-time visitor in Pastor Ferdie’s seat. In a few seconds, I sensed two eyes boring holes through me. I turned and, as suspected, the visitor was indeed staring at me with wild eyes and a sinister smile. The lights were on, but no one was home.
About this time, Pastor Ferdie gave the cue for everyone to introduce themselves to the people sitting around them. She went first.
“Hi, I’m the Virgin Mary. And my three-year-old nephew is the Second Coming of Christ.”
I wanted to say: “Great, I’m Joseph the carpenter. I’ve been looking for you all my life. Will you marry me?”
But I realized that answering a fool according to her folly might cause a major scene, so I decided to respond by saying, “Nice to meet you. And what makes you think you are the Virgin Mary?”
“Because God told me.”
How could I argue with that? God said it. She believed it. That settled it. Or, did that settle it? How do we know if it is really God speaking to us, and not our own imagination or a demon?
To find out more about God’s word and God’s voice, join us at any of our 70+ Victory weekend worship services.
