I
laughed hard when my pastor began his sermon with a funny story. He told us that he drove past
the church during the week and noticed the parking lot full of cars. For the life of him he couldn’t remember any
event scheduled there for that time and racked his brain to figure it out. He joked that maybe he missed an awesome time
of worship or something and maybe the Lord came back for everyone except
him? He found a place to park and walked over to
someone asking if they knew what all the excitement was about in our
church parking lot. He learned all the folks were
looking for Pokémon.
Simply,
Pokémon Go is a video game that links to your phone’s GPS so you can play the
game with other players. The purpose,
if I understand it, is to connect with these people and find Pokémon in the game.
Our pastor’s funny
story brought to mind an old memory.
My
husband returned home late one afternoon from a company trip. He encountered too much stress at the
airport and told me he didn’t want to attend our weekly prayer meeting that
night. However, the meeting took place
in our home! He hunkered down with the
kids, then very young, in their room and I led the group. When the last person left our house, I
checked on my sleeping children and worn out husband. I laughed when he asked about “the
break.” He didn’t understand the silence
after he heard our voices singing praise songs. He wondered if we were taken up and he remained left behind to raise the
kids by himself.
I
will never forget how the Holy Spirit fell on our group for those ten minutes that night. We couldn’t speak if we wanted to. God moved individually in our hearts and we
knew he held us in his loving arms.
Scripture
promises that one day Jesus will appear in the clouds and the church will rise
with Him. Who will be taken up with
Jesus? It will be those that are taken
up with Him now!
I’m
not looking for Pokémon. But I am
looking for Jesus.
For the
Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who
have died will rise
from their graves. Then,
together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be
caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the
Lord forever. 1 Thess 4: 16, 17
The cool thing is Jesus will be found safely. The uncool thing is finding Pokemon has caused people to be in danger. Daughter in law told of her sister playing Pokemon Go and the game telling her to go out in oncoming traffic. Jesus never would endanger us like that.
ReplyDeleteI rather look for Jesus myself :)
betty
Haha, that's a funny church sign.
ReplyDeleteAnd so cool to put there too as it is presently the craze.
Jesus is everywhere. :)
Have a blessed week ahead!
What a beautiful post, sweet friend. I loved reading about how the precious Holy Spirit fell upon your service that night and how sweet that was! I long for those times of refreshing. The world can seek out its outrageous crazes...none of it appeals to me, to be honest. "Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus, You can have all this world, but give me Jesus." Once you have seen Him, the rest seems so shallow and empty. Sending you big hugs, much love, and many blessings, Mary!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a great blessing to stand in God's council, to dwell in His dwelling and to worship in His manifest presence. Beautiful words to hear.
ReplyDeleteThe church sign made me laugh. Creative and hilarious. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would know Pokemon if I found him. ha. I'll stick with Jesus too! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's such a cute story about Tom! :)
ReplyDeleteCall me an old fuddy-duddy, but I can't grasp the appeal of Pokeymon. Sad, so many people searching for gratification from a cartoon they can't see the Real Thing.
Oh sweet lady, I enjoyed reading this this morning. Love your pastor's story about the silly pokeymon. Too funny. But I can truly bathe in your message. Once we had a time of prayer at a dear sister in the Lord's home (who is now with the Lord). I cannot even begin to tell you how the Spirit of the Lord swooped down and enveloped each of there that night as we prayed. All I can say is JESUS! Hugs and blessings, Cindy
ReplyDeletePhysical dangers playing Pokemon Go is one thing...but I wonder about the hidden spiritual dangers that come from technology nowadays? That was also funny about your husband wondering if he was left behind to raise the kids by himself. I'm sure it was an eerie feeling for him during that moment of silence while you and your group were enveloped with awesome kind of experience during that moment of worship. Glory be to God!
ReplyDeleteI know it must be a literal "out of this world" experience and I bet everyone just wanted to be in His Kingdom ;)
With everything that's going on around us, how important it is to be reminded that our focus should be on Jesus alone! Thank you for reminding me. Hugs and prayers.
Amen to that, sister! And what a blessing to use your home to host others and welcome our Father to be worshipped in it. That changes everything for everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome.
Aw POkemon Go is really taking the world today! I always wanna embed this hype in one of our youth service topics because of it's relevance and easy to connect with scriptures, esp the great commission. To GO and make disciples. :)
ReplyDeleteYou have a great day!
I love that sign! It's so cool when churches use a current trend to drive home a spiritual point.
ReplyDeleteRevisiting to drop off my "thanks"for your much needed prayers for my son &my hubby &I. Proverbs 3:5,6 is the life verse I shared with my son since he was little & he tied around his neck ;)
ReplyDeleteAll the glory to our good God we serve! Happy Friday sister and always be strong in the Lord's mighty power !!!
Revisiting to drop off my "thanks"for your much needed prayers for my son &my hubby &I. Proverbs 3:5,6 is the life verse I shared with my son since he was little & he tied around his neck ;)
ReplyDeleteAll the glory to our good God we serve! Happy Friday sister and always be strong in the Lord's mighty power !!!
Praise God, Loved that sign: No Pokey Mon here, only Jesus at that Church. Your hubby was having his own private lesson while you were having your Bible Study in the other room. Made me smile. Thank you for sharing with us here at Tell me a Story.
ReplyDeleteNot interested in Pokemon but am interested in Jesus. That was a great story by your pastor. Have a blessed Sunday!
ReplyDelete