Papa Hair's Sermon

Church yesterday was great. It's always great. The pastor of our church is Gary Hair, my father-in-law. He's wonderful in so many ways, and preaching is one of them. He talked yesterday on Matthew 8.....well, part of it.

A little snippet of his sermon was about how as believers we become frustrated with people that aren't believers. Often times, I am guilty of this. I wonder why lost people don't see Christ as their savior, why they are so oblivious to things of the Lord.

Well, I was reminded yesterday that they don't know any better.

I was also reminded that my prayers are spoken incorrectly. Don't get me wrong, I think the Lord knows our hearts and our speech doesn't have to be eloquent when we pray, but I also want to be praying the correct thing if I can help it.

Brother Gary made the point that we need to pray for Christ to begin the work in a lost person's heart instead of praying for the person to find Christ or for them to change their life. They simply can't.

Not until God pursues their heart.

Christ is the initiator.

He begins drawing a lost person to himself before they have an interested bone in their bodies.

We need to pray for God to open their eyes so that they can even know the goodness of His grace.

I found a cool article on this. Here's a direct quote from that article:

"God initiates salvation by working upon the interior deadness of the person's heart and soul, bringing to life the desire to know Him, and as a result, the person whom God chooses in response chooses God. Just as there is no one who would naturally seek to know God, there is also no one who would willingly reject God's effectual grace towards salvation as His Spirit works upon the person's heart. His grace is completely efficacious, regenerating and converting the totally depraved souls of His chosen people. "

I'm so grateful for my Father-in-law.

He has such a great pastor's heart.
He loves the church.
He loves his family.
He has the most giving, servant heart I have ever seen.
Shaun is a lot like him :)

Best of all....

He loves Reagan more than any other grandchild :) :)

Thanks Papa for the great sermon yesterday. You're the best!

May Christ continue the work He began in our hearts and His church.