[scotty]

I am new to my current church but I have been there long enough to know that it is an awesome family of God. The body of Christ I worship with is comprised of some the most kind hearted and faithful followers of the Truth I have known. Our pastor was not comparable to my home pastor of 35 years at first. (personal bias I am sure, God has since opened my eyes) Now, however, they could be brothers of the same blood. My new pastor I have found to be a most anointed man of God with great compassion for the lost. I said that so the following would not be taken as a disgruntled saint against his church, I am sure we are not the only ones.


I'm not a preacher nor was I called to preach.
So I don't know what you would call the following but I am typing it with sorrow, love and brotherly venting all wrapped up in one.


KJV Mark 14:33-38
33. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34. And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
37. And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
38. Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

This happened 3 times.

Our pastor preached one of those sermons Sunday night that leaves your feet feeling like your shoes suddenly shrank a size or two at the toe end. In taking it all in, many of the men in the church humbly accepted our verbal repremands with the shouts of "Amen" , "That's Good" , "Yes" , or as Bro. Goss likes to say "Preach". At one point the pastor picked up his watch and at a glance stated he had a little more then he would close.

Nobody said a word.

Ever wonder if things would have been different had the disciples kept watch? Would there have been a gift(spiritual), a word of wisdom or insight had they stayed watch till Jesus work was done? What did the disciples miss out on?

The sermon continued and so continued his message to the church and so continued our approval of its content. Then he glanced at his watch and said he needed to finish up his statement and he would be done.

Nobody said a word.

What if the the children of Israel had of succeeded in "falling by the wayside" because they were not getting to the Promise Land as soon as they would have liked?

And the sermon continued and so continued the anointed words that were given to our sheperd as a blessing to us, the saints, from the God Almighty. Finally he picked his watch up again and apologized for going so long and that he would touch on the rest of it another time.

Nobody said a word.


KJV Acts 1:4-5
4. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Jesus did not say how long the coming of the Comforter would take. What if the disciples tired of keeping watch as they did in the forest? Would the disciples have missed out on the most wonderful gift to man? I believe God would have searched another group of believers in prayer. Or maybe the rocks would have called out to Him in worship.

When the pastor, the anointed man of God called to teach us the Word and guide us in the Light, cuts himself off because the "disciples" are looking weary or "heavy eyed", what did we miss? Was there something that was going to be said that would have changed our life? Did God have a spiritual exclamation mark somewhere that was never felt.

What about us, the men of the church. The vocal supporters of our leader. The ones who should be keeping watch.

I say from now on as the sermon starts to run a little long and the pastor has work left to do, maybe we should add a little to the outcry of "preach"....maybe our pastor should start hearing the men of his church speaking out "Keep Preaching" , "Carry on" , "Come on now".

Should our pastor even feel he has to worry with the time?

Is our blessing awaiting us at Shoneys?

Are we keeping watch as Jesus trys to work?

And if not, what are we missing?