Last night, I spoke at Calvary Baptist Church of Los Angeles for the final night of their youth and young adult revival. This is the congregation that was once led by the late Dr. Manual Scott Sr. The congregation is now led by the able Rev. Virgil Jones. And under his leadership, this historic congregation is growing and bearing fruit.
This is the fourth or fifth year that I have done the closing night of this meeting. And services have been a blessing each year. This year was no exception. The participation of the youth in the service was very encouraging. They were quite attentive to the preaching of the word. And as one of my friends says, the Lord got on my back and rode me as I preached.
I preached a part of the Parable of the Prodigal Son parable last night. I sought to argue the primary point of Luke 15: Lost people matter to God! My goodness, what a story! Better yet, what a mighty God we serve!.
After the service, a sister asked me if I remember what message I preached last year. I thought this was kind of an odd question at first. But I did, in fact, remember. When I told her the passage, she said, "Yep, that was it." Then she went on to tell me that she was scheduled to teach a youth conference last year. And there was some confusion about what the teaching material was going to be. So she took the leader of the events the notes from my message that she had taken down, and asked if they would be acceptable. The pastor told her, if the material is from H.B., he trusted it was acceptable to teach. And she said the young people were really blessed by it. I was deeply encouraged my this testimony. I really thought I had missed it last year. But God was at work to bless people beyond anything I thought or imagined. Praise God for the power of his word!