11/26/2023
WHAT IS YOUR WHY?
We had just started our gospel group. We purchased a school bus for $800 at an auction. We practiced constantly in a small empty mobile home bedroom, and we were ready. Offerings were not an issue. WE JUST WANTED TO PLAY!!
Pastor Mac Akers at the New Boston, Ohio Church on Shale Hollow asked us to come and play. Rev. Paul Hagen was the special speaker. Being young and inexperienced, we were kind of scared of not being accepted. After all, we had a full band with drums. Some of the guys had sideburns and mustaches, and our hair was on our shirt collar. Our girls wore makeup and modest jewelry. This was awkward with some old school holiness folks, so we didn’t know how this would go.
We opened up the service and turned it over to the speaker. At the end of the message, a hymn of invitation was sung with no response. As the next to the last verse was being sung, a small voice inside me said, “Go ask the speaker if you can sing one last song.” I had never experienced anything like that. I doubted the voice and feeling. Paul Hagen was a holiness guy, and I really didn’t think he liked us, so I wasn’t going to embarrass myself by asking to sing again. The voice spoke again, and I tried to resist it. Finally, I prayed, “God, if this is really you, make me know it for sure.”
About that time a hand grabbed my arm, and I turned around to see who it was. There was no one there. I was sitting on the back row of the church. I felt the Holy Spirit both scare me and empower me at the same time. I went to the pulpit and asked as I was directed . The speaker said yes. We sang and a young teenager came to the altar. We all rejoiced !
Fast forward a year or so, we returned to the church to sing again. I asked if anyone had a testimony. A young man stood up and said, “You may not remember me, but I came to the altar when you were here before . The doctors found a hole in my heart that could not be repaired . They told my parents to enjoy the time they had left with me . God called me to come to the altar when your group sang that last song, and when I went to be examined again, my heart was totally healed !! No hole!!!”
SO WHY DO YOU WANT TO SING? Popularity ? Money ? Charts? There is NOTHING that compares with the FEELING you get from being used by THE HOLY SPIRIT! God will BOOK YOU, if YOU ALLOW HIM TO USE YOU !! We Love You !!
