Looking around for his briefcase, he picked up his Bible from the nightstand, grabbed his suit jacket, and walked out of his bedroom toward the front of the house. He could not help but hear the words to Psalms 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Truly this was the day he had made, and he could not wait to see what else God would do with it. Smiling, he opened the door to head for Greater Community.
Adam already knew that the Spirit of the Lord was in the sanctuary as he listened to cries of “Sing choir!” “Hallelujah!” and “Praise the Lord!” coming from every corner of the church. From his seat, Adam agreed. He could see the spirit of the Lord on the faces of the worshipers as they clapped their hands, stomped their feet, and lifted their hands in praise to the Almighty. He knew that there would be a great outpouring of the spirit throughout the service.
It took everything in him to contain himself as young Anthony Hodges took the mic and began to sing, “Awesome.” He closed his eyes as the spirit of the Lord took him where no one in the world could, into the presence of God. It was an exuberating experience. His prayer was that one day this would be an experience he would share with his helpmate. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Destiny had just taken her seat along with Miss Sara, Cynthia, and the twins. Adam allowed himself to enjoy the warmth that flooded his soul as he watched her.
She looked beautiful in her canary yellow suit. She had such poise and gracefulness, classy, but not overdone, and she stood out amongst the other worshipers, whether she wanted to or not. He took the time to look at her as she glanced at the worshipers around her. She was young in the Lord, and he had no problem with that because he saw the sincerity in her.
The thing that amazed him was the behavior of the boys. They were dressed in khaki pants and polo-style shirts. Each of them were standing and clapping their hands as if this was the norm for them. Miss Sara would fit right in with the mothers at Greater Community. She had on a beautiful pink dress with a hat to match, and not once did she sit down upon entering the sanctuary. Destiny was clapping as well as smiling, but from the movement of her head, he knew she was checking everything out. Cynthia must have been accustomed to this type of worship as well because she was standing right along with Sara. Her eyes were closed, but he could see her tears from where he was sitting. She seemed to be in that place he was in before he looked up to see Destiny entering the sanctuary.
Cynthia was dressed beautifully as well. She chose to wear no hat, but she did have on a beautiful silver suit.
The church was hit by a wave of the Holy Spirit, and the service took on a new level of worship. The ministerial staff had finished with all of their duties. Minister Susan Falson was about to do the offertory appeal, and Adam knew his time to minister would come after she finished. Rachel, one of the soloists in the choir, moved to take the mic after the offering was completed, and as she opened her mouth to sing the beginning bars of “Just One Touch,” Adam began to silently pray before he stood behind the book board to speak the words of the Lord for the day.
Father, truly you are awesome in all of your ways. Your majesty leaves us, as mere humans, speechless at times. Truly, it is just as the words in this song say; it only takes one touch as you pass by that causes us to know that you will listen to the faintest cry. It is with that knowledge that I ask you to use me as a vessel to change the lives of the souls who are looking to hear from you today.
Adam knew the voice of Rachel because she often sang the lead to many of the selections in the choir. But the voice he was hearing now was one that sounded like the voice of a thousand angels. As he lifted his head and opened his eyes, it was in amazement as he heard a voice, just as strong as Rachel’s, singing the words to “Just One Touch.” With her eyes closed, oblivious to all that was happening around her, Cynthia was crying and singing those words. It moved him more than he could ever say when he heard her sing the words, “Just one touch and he makes me whole, speaks sweet peace to my sin-sick soul; at his feet all my burdens roll, cured by the Healer divine just one touch!”
It was at this point that Rachel stopped singing, so moved by the voice of one who seemed to have been anointed by God at that moment to usher in his presence. Everyone in the church was looking in Cynthia’s direction, but she never once opened her eyes. From where she was standing in the pews, she continued to sing, “And the work is done, I am saved by the blessed Son. I will sing while the ages run, cured by the Healer divine.” The only sounds that were heard by anyone were a chorus of, “Praise the Lord,” “Hallelujah,” “I love you, God,” and, “Thank you, Jesus.”
Everyone was affected by the beautiful voice of Cynthia, and as she finished the last verse, the sanctuary was filled with his glory. When she opened her eyes, Destiny hugged her. Miss Sara was crying in between saying, “Bless you, Lord.”
The twins were both holding on to the legs of their mom, and Adam saw his congregation nudging each other, pointing in Cynthia’s direction.
It was then that he rose and walked toward the podium to do what he knew he’d been called to do. Opening his mouth, he began to preach. “Let the church say amen, for the Lord is surely in this place today. Can I get another amen?” He heard a return chorus of “amens.”
“I don’t know about you all, but I know the presence of the Lord is here. Today, would you open your Bibles to John, the fourth chapter?” Adam smiled when he heard all of the Bible pages turning.
“I want you to take a trip with me to the town of Samaria. Adam looked out over his congregation before continuing. “I want to invite you all to come see a man.”
Adam began by saying, “I want you to listen in on a conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. Having met her at Jacob’s well and being very thirsty, Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman refused because he was a Jew and therefore could not expect favors from a Samaritan.”
As always, Adam made the story personal to everyone in the audience by going on to say, “Now, if you don’t know, let me inform you all that Jesus had a rep that not many can duplicate. So when he flipped the script and started to talk about living water, he then turned around and informed her that if she only knew the gift of God that was in her presence, she would ask him for water. Can I give it to you in today’s language?”
Looking at the faces of his audience, he heard some of them shout back, “Say it, Pastor!” or, “Go on with your bad self!” Adam smiled and continued.
“The trouble with this woman was that she put Jesus in the same category of every other man she had met. She didn’t know of whom she was standing in the presence of at that time. She was blinded by the negative views of all the men who had approached her before Jesus!”
Adam asked before he could think, “Can I get somebody to look at their neighbor and say, ‘Excuse me, but you’re blocking my view’?”
Continuing in his extraordinary fashion, he said, “This woman was a notorious sinner, even by Samaritan standards. She had been married five times and was presently living with her sixth lover. Although she was a sinner, there was hope for her because she just met a man that would change her life.”
He stepped back and looked over the church and said, “Can I get somebody to say, ‘I met a man’?”
The church was on fire, and people were standing and shouting their replies loud and proud. The presence of the Lord was strongly on him.
He continued, “She had just met Jesus. He had to pass through Samaria that day to save this woman. He had asked her for a drink because he was thirsty. How many of you know it wasn’t a physical thirst?” he asked. “Just as Jesus is thirsting for the salvation of this woman, he longs to save someone today. Because just like she needed living water, you need the healing waters of grace and salvation.”
Adam paused to asked, “Now, brothers, if you don’t mind, can I ask the sisters something that only they can answer?”
He heard the brothers respond, “Ask them, Pastor.”
He laughed while saying, “Sisters,
how many of you all out there have misunderstood his question, just like this sister, but you had enough intelligence to realize that this man was talking about a special kind of water? You knew enough to see that this brother wasn’t like any of the ones you met before.” Adam asked the ladies, “Can I get some sisters to say, ‘Talk to me, Jesus?’”
The church was really rocking now. Adam told them, “Guess what she asked him? According to John 4:15, she said, ‘Give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.’
“Then my Jesus and your Jesus bluntly said to her, ‘Go call your husband.’ And, church, do you know why he said this, to make her realize what her problem was? She had to know how much she needed him. Her problem was a spiritual one. She was a sinner. That’s why he says, ‘Go call your husband!’ This changed the whole conversation because when Jesus told her to get her husband, she came face-to-face with her problem.
“‘I have no husband,’ she replied evasively. She was startled by this strange request. She was even more startled by Jesus’s next remark: ‘You are right about that. You’ve had five husbands already, and the man you now have is not your husband.’
“She deliberately gives an ambiguous answer. Why? Church, don’t you, like me, want to know why she answered this way? Is she single then? Or maybe she is a widow? But no, church, can I tell you she was neither? She deliberately gives an ambiguous answer.”
Adam said with much conviction. “Church, let me tell you why. It’s because she wants to hide her shame. She is on her guard. She doesn’t want full exposure. Not yet, anyway.
“Now, Greater Community,” Adam asked, “do you see yourself here? We too are good at using evasive tactics. We will admit that we are sinners, of course, but we prefer not to go into any details. ‘I have no husband’ is her curt reply. It is the truth, Church, but not the whole truth. Yet that is what Jesus is after, you all. He wants the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Adam continued by saying, “Now some men may not mind being number two or your back-up man. But that’s not how my Jesus rolls. He doesn’t play second to anyone, so he says, ‘Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.’
“‘Go get your husband,’ Jesus said to this woman.” Adam looked out at the audience and asked them, “What would you say if Jesus came at you with this question?” He went on to say, “You do understand, Church, what he means by saying, ‘Bring me your husband,’ don’t you?”
“Tell us, Pastor, tell us,” was the chorus throughout the sanctuary by men and women alike.
Adam continued, “What Jesus was asking, Church, is this.”
Being so caught up, he was jumping up and clapping his hands, and he even twirled around before saying, “Make Pastor feel like preaching, Church! Jesus was asking her to bring him her sin. Husband here means your sin, or whatever it is that you are thirsting for instead of God. What are you longing for or craving after? What do you live for every day?
“Now, Greater Community, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. But he’ll still ask you personal questions. He wants us to face the fact that we are sinners. If we confess all our sins to him and seek him, then he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore, Greater Community, go call your husband. Tell Jesus what your sin is, confess it to him, and don’t try to cover it up.” He drew in a breath and released it slowly as he watched his congregation.
“Greater Community, what I want you to realize this morning is that when Jesus tells this woman to get her husband, he puts his finger on the wound in her life that has not been healed, and it still causes her to hurt. It was maybe physical trauma, wherein you were torn or a cut to your soul or your heart was punctured and required emergency medical attention. His eyes came back to theirs, studying them for a pulsing moment before he continued.
“That’s why he said what he said, Greater Community. It wasn’t to discourage her so that she would go away and never come back. No, Church, he meant for her to come back with her husband. Bring him here. Bring him to me!”
“Greater Community,” he said, “go and I know that word touched many of our consciences, but he wants your hearts to say come.”
Adam looked around. He was so moved by the response to the Word of the Lord. He saw men and women getting up from their seats moving to the front of the church. Many of them were crying and bowing before the Lord around the altar.
He felt that the Lord wanted him to make one more appeal. So he opened his mouth to say, “Maybe some of you feel that you are too sinful to come to Jesus. You feel that you’ve been out of his will for too long. You’ve even been asking yourselves, how can the Lord do anything with me? Let me tell you on this glorious day that you are no worse than this woman of Samaria. Even if you were, wouldn’t Jesus be able to help you? And doesn’t this story show that he is very willing, too?
“Today, if you hear his voice, then do not harden your heart. Come. Nothing you have done is so bad that it will keep Jesus from loving you. Some of you may surprise others or even shock them, but you can’t shock Jesus.”
Adam went on to say, “Perhaps you’re a regular churchgoer who is new to the area and seeking a church community. Maybe you left the church some time ago and are feeling an impulse to come back. Possibly the Christian faith is something you’ve never explored. Whatever your situations, we at Greater Community invite you to ‘come and see.’”
The outpouring of the spirit of the Lord was so great it was overwhelming. The ministers were at the altar laying hands and praying. The altar workers were busy assisting in any way they could. It took a few minutes for Adam to come down from the high he was on with the Lord. His head was bowed in worship to the Lord. The tears of joy were still flowing from his eyes, but he lifted his head, and when he saw her, he began to weep all the more.
Destiny did not really know when she began to walk, but she was moving toward the altar. She wanted that water that Jesus offered the woman at well. So when she heard the voice of one holier than Adam quietly whisper to her, “Come,” she slowly rose from her seat. As she was moving, she thought about the fact that she had restrained herself from crying during the entire message. But that was before the Lord spoke and told her to come.
With slow, cautious steps, she moved around the twins and Cynthia. She made brief eye contact with her aunt, who smiled and nudged her on into the aisle. She continued to move forward until she arrived at the altar. When she realized where she was and what was happening, she became filled with so much joy that she began to weep.
Pastor Wheeler stepped down from the pulpit. He had a handkerchief in his hand because sweat was still pouring from his face. As he moved between the crowd of new believers and those wanting prayer, he kept his eyes on Destiny. He was stopped by one of the altar workers to pray for a brother, which he did while still making his way toward Destiny.
When Adam finally made it to her, he reached down, took her hand, and smiled at her. He extended his hands toward her, waiting for her to accept his. When she looked up, Adam’s breath caught in his throat. He pulled her closer and asked her to bow her head so that he could pray.
“Destiny, God is ready to receive you right now. I know personally that when we come to him with our sins of the past or present, we are to turn away from those sins and not commit them anymore.” Then he began to pray, “Father, we want you to forgive us of our sins. God, do an amazing thing in Destiny’s life. Take away all of her sins and place them on Jesus. And God, take Jesus’s goodness and his righteousness and transfer it to her. We believe that Jesus died for our sins. We believe that now he sits on the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. And today Destiny is saved and qualified for heaven, and she will be a member of the family of God forever. In Jesus’s name, amen.”
As he stood at the altar, he knew that God was not only changing Destiny’s life, but he knew his was changed on this day as well.
The man next to her smiled and said, “Who? The one in the canary yellow suit?”
“I want you to find out who she is. I’ve never seen her here before.”
“I’ll get on it right away. I’ve never seen him respond to anyone like that either, not even you.”
The woman nodded, acknowledging the man who had just spoken. Putting the Bible in the seat beside her, she stood and left the sanctuary.
Chapter 7
Reflecting on her day so far, Destiny wondered if she had imagined it on today or had she been the center of attention? Maybe she shouldn’t even worry about it, the service had been wonderful and everything else didn’t matter. After standing in line after the morning service to shake the pastor’s hand, he’d invited Destiny and her family to be his guest at a local seafood restaurant for Sunday lunch.
He would be a hard one to say no to, she imagined. So, she took a couple of deep breaths, then walked the final few feet to the restaurant with her family. Pushing on the glass door, they stepped into the beautiful interior. After a quick glance around, she requested a table for their party, then they were escorted to a table. Not long after, she saw Adam waving to few people he recognized, making his way over to where she and the others were sitting. He pulled out a chair while acknowledging everyone at the table.
She was anxious to find out what happened after they left the church. “I hope we didn’t raise too many eyebrows this morning,” Destiny whispered to Adam while the others were placing their orders.
“Nothing that I couldn’t handle. I’m so glad that all of you came. I was really anxious to see you again.”
Picking up a menu, Destiny scanned it quickly. Everything looked good. She was thinking about ordering the fried lobster.
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