A Divine Appointment

By

Vincent Morton, Jr

English 336.002

The smell of buttermilk pancakes, eggs, maple sausage, slow-fried potatoes, biscuits, sausage gravy, and breakfast syrup filled the house. The tables were set; and the students were arriving. The Generation Investigating GOD church group was about to start its weekly Wednesday night service. The room was a buzz of conversations, laughter, crying, and jokes. People were catching up on the week’s events, and speaking about their weekend plans. Pastor Ron Yost asked for everyone’s attention at 8.00 pm to announce that service was about to start. However, the night began with bad news. A girl from the group had to leave to go home because of receiving news that her mother was dying. The unity amongst the group could be felt through how they prayed for this girl’s mother. They showed true concern, and it was as if her mother was their family. Praise and worship was next on the agenda. The room erupted into a chorus of hymnals about Jesus’s life and how to live a holy life. Some students were emotionally affected to the point of tears. Before the word was taught, Pastor prayed and invited GOD into the room to be present for the service and to speak to his children. GIG had officially started.

Pastor Ron taught on GOD’s dislike of sin. He focused on sexual sin to the displeasure of his college- aged audience. He pulled scriptures from the teachings of Paul in the New Testament. Paul spoke on temptation of a sexual nature. He said, “If they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Corinthians 7:9) Pastor Ron spoke passionately about resisting the wiles of sexual sin. He quoted another teaching of Paul when he said “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” (1 Corinthians 6:13) He also spoke on how to resist temptation. He advised everyone in the audience to pray fervently whenever impure thoughts entered their minds. He also recommended not putting oneself into a situation of temptation. He told men not to be alone in closed rooms with women, and women not to fall for the tricks of men. He finished his sermon with four questions to ask oneself before they did something.

1.Can you become a slave to it?

2.Does it bring glory to GOD?

3.Can it cause another Christian to slip?

4 Can it ruin your witness?

After GIG was over, I stayed to speak to the student president of the organization, Kaneisha Howard. I asked her about the affect she thought that the organization was having on the student body. She replied, “We’re hoping to get as many people to Jesus as possible…it’s so important to start work in GOD’s kingdom while your young before your too old to do anything”. She also spoke about how the attendance grew over time. She said, “We started with four people two years ago, and now we’re up to at least 100 people every Wednesday”. I think that it is truly amazing that college students are choosing to come worship GOD with their free time. GIG has truly made a difference in the lives of man students on this campus. Wednesday night was an excellent experience.