Preaching Jesus

Something that I have recently been wrestling with is discouragement. It is the single biggest way for Satan to attack me. I can be praised a hundred times a day for what I am doing but one negative comment can cause me to spiral downward into a bit of a depressed state. The problem with ministry unlike any other job, is that it never ends. When I am discouraged about "work" it throws my life off. That sucks.

I preached this past weekend in the main service.

It went well.
Very well.
I really felt like God was moving in more ways than I even know. Who would have ever thought that a little punk with three years experience and no degree from Spokane would have the opportunity to preach at Rolling Hills in front of thousands? Not just that, but be looked at as legitimate.

As I was driving home I started thinking of all the people that were praising the message. It's the typical "Wow, great job, you were awesome." If I were being honest, I could have sucked it up big time and people would still say that. Still, I was thinking that no matter how many people came up to me, it would take one negative comment to shatter my whole day.

I got home and checked my email. First it was one then two, and finally three emails within an hour of being home in regards to the service. Each of them were long detailed emails about the people's life and how that message touched their lives in powerful ways. It was at that moment God spoke to my heart.

He said "Branden, even if 2500 people hated your message but those three were transformed by my Spirit, it was a success."

See, the enemy wants to make us think that we aren't good enough. He wants us to become discouraged because most of the people in our lives aren't where they should be spiritually. He wants us to feel like we are ineffective and that life is meaningless. What was impressed upon my heart was that it's not about those people. It isn't about the 99 it's about the 1. Praise God for the three that were impacted!

So if you are discouraged and the voice of Satan is tearing you down, remember, it's always about the 1!


Branden