[:en]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

In today’s message I mentioned about George Matheson, the writer of the old hymn, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.There is actually more to the story than that. According to Robert J. Morgan, in his book, Then Sings My Soul, George Matheson faithfully served the Lord as pastor of a church in a Scottish village, where he became a powerful and popular preacher. God blessed his ministry in spite of his blindness; yes, God’s work is never hindered by man’s limitation.

Even though he served in a village, not a big town, he gave nothing but his best; he always prepared his sermons well. But, there was one Sunday night in which the church’s attendance was unusually low. He had worked hard on his sermon so when he learned that a lot of chairs were empty, he felt a little discouraged. But, that did not deter him from preaching his best.

Unbeknownst to him in attendance was a visitor from St. Bernard Church, a large church in the city of Edinburgh, which was searching for a pastor. As a result of that encounter in 1886 he was called to St. Bernard Church to be their pastor, where God used him to be a blessing to all of Scotland. It’s through that experience—and perhaps many others—that these words came out of George Matheson, “Make every occasion a great occasion. You can never tell when somebody may be taking your measure for a larger place.”

That larger place is of course not necessarily on earth; that larger place is for sure in heaven, though. When God sees our faithfulness to always give Him our best, He takes notice. When He sees that we try to make every ministry entrusted to us a great ministry, He is delighted. The seats might be empty, but remember, He is our audience. He is why we do what we do—week after week.

Pastor Paul[:id]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

In today’s message I mentioned about George Matheson, the writer of the old hymn, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go. There is actually more to the story than that. According to Robert J. Morgan, in his book, Then Sings My Soul, George Matheson faithfully served the Lord as pastor of a church in a Scottish village, where he became a powerful and popular preacher. God blessed his ministry in spite of his blindness; yes, God’s work is never hindered by man’s limitation.

Even though he served in a village, not a big town, he gave nothing but his best; he always prepared his sermons well. But, there was one Sunday night in which the church’s attendance was unusually low. He had worked hard on his sermon so when he learned that a lot of chairs were empty, he felt a little discouraged. But, that did not deter him from preaching his best.

Unbeknownst to him in attendance was a visitor from St. Bernard Church, a large church in the city of Edinburgh, which was searching for a pastor. As a result of that encounter in 1886 he was called to St. Bernard Church to be their pastor, where God used him to be a blessing to all of Scotland. It’s through that experience—and perhaps many others—that these words came out of George Matheson, “Make every occasion a great occasion. You can never tell when somebody may be taking your measure for a larger place.”

That larger place is of course not necessarily on earth; that larger place is for sure in heaven, though. When God sees our faithfulness to always give Him our best, He takes notice. When He sees that we try to make every ministry entrusted to us a great ministry, He is delighted. The seats might be empty, but remember, He is our audience. He is why we do what we do—week after week.

Pastor Paul[:]