Fancy Church to Flea Market Ministry the Message is Trust in God!

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

The wind blew blustery under the strong fall sun. Some wore short sleeve and some coats. The half rebuilt flea market half buzzed with life. A strong sense that it is not what it once was hung in odd silence over such a large crowd. They busied themselves adjusting the products laid out under a long tin roof with a concrete floor. The items laid straight on ancient waist high tables made of well weathered pine. The path of the Albany tornado could still be seen driving to this place like bread crumbs in a forest leading to the flea market that had gotten completely destroyed by the January 2017 Tornado that devastated this southern town.  The town had rebuilt the flea market so folks could go back to earning their living on Sunday mornings. A pile of table parts still sat on the side of the huge dirt lot waiting to be put back together like all the others.

We barely made it down the steps of the Coach before we hear a friendly voice calling. “Oh, I’m so glad you came!” said Rita with a huge smile on her face and a warm hug waiting for me. If we were to be here long I felt that we would become fast friends. She bustled through the crowd telling us how the tornado tore down the flea market including the stage platform that her husband, Gary, had preached from for many years. They were told that it would be rebuilt but now it was still just a piece of ground with a pickup truck pulled up with a temperamental microphone speaker on the tail gate.

That Saturday before Thanksgiving on a walk through the campground soaking up pine and live oak fragrance and fresh country air Gary came hobbling out of his camper with the same walk as David. “I had to come out and meet the man that has worse knees that I do.” He said with a grin holding his hand out to meet David. It was almost instantly apparent that he was a fellow Marine and they have a unique brotherhood that fascinates me to watch. It is like some kind of huge foundation of understanding they have and instantly trust one another on some kind of basic level. After exchanging greetings, opening info and pleasantries in our exit David asked if they needed anything because we were heading in to town to church and would be stopping at Walmart tomorrow. They replied with an invitation to their church, the flea market. We settled that we would attend and so we did.

The previous week we had gone to Sherwood Baptist Church. It was one of those big beautiful churches with a school, parking for church school buses. The music was great with a full band complete with violins and French horn and talented singers that knew how to do tight harmonizing. The professional lighting and sound rivaled that of Joel Osteen’s stage and they were all very friendly. David recognized the man that owned the propane store that had filled up our RV and said hello. That had been a fun surprise. We had the fortune to hear the head pastor preach that day. His message was Be Still and Trust: How do you react when you get bad news? That is how you know if you really Trust God.

Philippians 4:19 New Living Translation (NLT)  ¹⁹ And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus”  

The message was profound and the environment was exquisite. The setting was a stark contrast to the flea market. This was one of the first weeks back since the tornado and we were the only official attendees although the message could be heard throughout the flea market as folks went about their business. Upon inviting us Gary had explained that they had chosen the flea market for their ministry because it was as close to the way Jesus had done it that existed in modern times. No songs were sung and the temperamental sound system had a plug that had to be held in by hand. When it went out Gary smiled and adjusted it and continued his message.

I marveled at his courage and devotion to bring the Gospel to these people. Where they listening? Did they care? Maybe the message was just for us? I for one was glad that Gary had decided to do church in this organic way. Rita, David and I sat on a well weathered half torn picnic table bench and leaned back on the table to listen to Gary preach. Rita’s fold out lawn chair that sat in the center of the dirt church creaked occasionally from the wind threatening to close up but held its form. As Gary began preaching about the Sermon on the Mount distractions were everywhere” pickup trucks dropping off products, the aroma of Mexican food being prepared in the adjacent food truck, the cold wind picking up stealing the warmth from the sun and all the hustle of the flea market hummed in the background. David had tears of humor streaming from his eyes at the scene. But once the word took hold of my heart it all faded away to Gary and what message he was here to share on that day.

Matthew 11:28-30New Living Translation (NLT)

²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Galatians 2:20 New Living Translation (NLT)

^“20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

What makes the yoke light? “Love” Gary explained that approaching all of life with the point of view of Love makes everything easy. Love is light not heavy. This is a profound yet sometimes hard to understand concept. How do we do it?  We do it by trusting in Him. Your thoughts govern your life. But if you try to control your thoughts by yourself you will wear yourself out instead let Love change them then your yolk will be light.

The church was a dirt floor and the sky as a roof, the pew the oldest picnic table I had ever sat on but the message was well delivered and life changing for those who had ears to hear. It was as close as you get to the first church meetings ever.  Sitting there at that flea market it made the imagination go to the first meetings in market places in Israel and Rome preaching stuff no one has ever heard before. It put a new light on the courage that the apostles had to have had. They were in an environment of Jewish folks with a strong firm religion and law and Roman soldiers running around with swords and stuff. It had to be crazy. But people listened to them. That is how powerful the Word of Jesus was and is. To be in this kind of environment in a hostile culture controlled by and even more hostile culture and still folks listened and joined. That is Wow!

If you ever in Albany, GA on a Sunday stop in to Sherwood Baptist or the Flea Market on Sylvester Rd. You will find folks that love God and bring his word. The environments may be at opposite spectrums of society but the message of both was the same: Trust God.

11:11 God is Faithful

The stadium lights lowered and to 25,000 or so women waited in eager anticipation for the speaker to take the stage. It was the last day of the Joyce Meyers Women’s Conference, September 2012.  My sister-in-law Ann reached across her friend, Charee, to ask what time it was. Grabbing my phone and it lit up 11:11. “Wow it is 11:11” I said. Ann you are probably not going to believe this but every day for the past year or so this number keeps popping up. Every morning and every night I will pick up the phone or look at the clock exactly at 11:11. I buy stuff at the store and my change will be $11.11. A customer’s bill will come to $1,111.00.” Looking at me with wonder and curiosity without hesitating she asked if I knew what it meant. I said “I don’t know. Do you think it means something or I am a creature of habit and check the time morning at night exactly at 11:11?” She shook he head and said “No, it definitely means something.” As soon as the words past her lips the speaker

announced “please turn your Bibles to Hebrews 11:11.” All three of us nearly fell out of our chairs. We wanted to start praising Him but we were too anxious to hear what it was about. I had searched the internet briefly and a few scriptures but not Hebrews and I certainly did not know what this scripture was about. I knew that I was about to learn something profound and life changing.

“¹¹ Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” Ann instantly thought it was about me having a baby past my prime but I knew in my heart that I even though I had asked for a child it had not been promised to me. It was the second part of the scripture that surely I had heard before but until that moment not had ears to hear. God is Faithful. Sarah received her blessing because she “judged Him Faithful” This was news to me. I had been taught that we needed faith and that we are given faith, we need to keep the faith. It always seemed to be something that I needed to do. The concept of faith eluded me. How does a person have faith? Yes I believed in Jesus with all my heart. I believed that he died for my sins and was my Savior.  But should I bother him with my little problems? I had been running around trying to prove myself to Him, to myself, to the world. I had been trying to force Gods plan to go the way I thought it should go forgetting all the time that it is God’s plan not mine or David’s or the Pastor’s, etc.  I knew that I had done some things lead by Him in my life and they didn’t always go easy. But now this was a whole new world. God is Faithful. He will do His part. It is not all on us. In fact a minuscule small part of everything is on us. We pretty much just need to show up. God takes pleasure in fulfilling His Promise.

This concept changed my entire life. All my endeavors were for the Glory of God therefore they were His endeavors and He was Faithful so He would see them through. Changing my point of view from keeping the faith to knowing He is Faithful made my yoke light. I instantly let go of the wheel and everything changed.

28Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

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My relationships became sweeter, my business was more productive and lucrative, my health improved drastically. I became 100% cured from chronic Migraines.  But mostly I was happier and more fulfilled knowing and seeing what God was doing around me at all times. We have so many examples of God’s Faithfulness they are too many to list now. This is the first in a series of blogs that will show just how Faithful our Lord Jesus Christ has been and is right now in our lives.

That day on that last day of the conference, the tears of joy flowed as the speaker, Christine Cain spoke about all the ways that God is and has been Faithful.  We only need to Trust Him. Expect that He will be Faithful. Our expectations do not cause Him to be Faithful for that He already is. But we
will SEE it. We will have eyes to SEE. Today as you go through your Earthly worries remember that He is Faithful. It is like being able to read the code in the Matrix. We see the world as it really is, a world where God is Faithful. The world wants us to see darkness, tragedy, cruelty, murder, disease, insanity, merciless, unreasonableness, fear, anger and believe that that is all there is. But the real world, God’s world, for those of us who have eyes to see is Bright, Beautiful, Kind, Generous, Gracious, Peaceful, Free, Open, Joyous and Loving. Remember Him and that He is Faithful.

Often 11:11 still pops up in my day and every time I smile and remember what it is so easy for us, self-reliant humans to forget. God is Faithful.