Ministry

Torn

Vince Lotito — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:45:55 GMT

I am just so torn this morning… Yesterday, was Pentecost and I really felt such an awesome move of God’s Spirit as He ministered to me through the service. And I know that God’s Spirit touched others in the same way; however, I also sense that most missed the anointing… One of the sermon points the Holy Spirit spoke was directed at the mindset of consumerism that many of us possess today. Consumerism is so prevalent in our society that it has become a part the church culture… where many of us come to a Sunday morning service as if we are running some errand, where we look at the “utility” of the service, as expressed in terms of approval (or disapproval). Approval of the worship service, approval of the preaching, approval of the amount of time spent --- and invariably we loose sight of the Lord.

I was just so full of His Spirit that I wanted to remain in His presence… as my friend Charlie said; “I wanted to fall over and worship him.” I was not in the same place as the rest of folks, in their own way, they came over as the service ended, and wanted to congratulate us as for the “great job we did” (they approve), or wanted to talk about other nonsense and other business (onto the next errand)… I was useless, I couldn’t shift gears.. it was fellowship time, a time for the luncheon, a time for coffee, a time for cake… a time for chatting. But I had my meat, doing the Fathers work, I had my fellowship, in the presence of the Savior and I had my worship in the power of the Holy Spirit. The one direction that I was being led in, was to talk to this young couple who had been visiting the church, I sensed that I had to speak to them, and that they were longing… and I wanted to speak with them; however, the business of the moment was so disruptive, that it never manifested itself. It actually took me several hours to wind down yesterday.

And since my prayers have been prayers of mourning – I am thinking, yeah the Lord wants us to be in unity and of one accord… and sensed that people are, and they were, but not about the Father’s business. I am grieving because we are just busy with things, and I see that we are not about the Father’s business… if we’d just spend half as much time and energy on the Father’s business. I pray that we would be about the Father’s business. What is it going to take for us to press in? What is it going to take for us to forsake all else and to pray it through and seek Him and not stop until he blesses us? And then we wonder why we don’t see a mighty move of God’s Spirit… Lord Help Us!

He Never Ceases to Amaze Me!

Vince Lotito — Mon, 07 May 2007 14:26:13 GMT

Incredible, absolutely incredible! I walked out of the Rose Garden yesterday totally blown away. For the last several weeks, I felt this tugging to have the folks share with us. So in our last meeting, I had asked them to think about their favorite Scripture, so they could perhaps share (with the rest of the group) a testimony about inspiration, encouragement, assurance or whatever.

Since then, I was wondering if any actually understood what it was that I was asking and if in fact there would be anybody prepared or willing to share Scripture and their testimony. On Saturday, I had intentions of asking Tom, one of the residents who joined us at the men’s breakfast, to remind everybody to prepare a verse. But better laid plans… as it turned out, I never mentioned that to Tom.

Yesterday we arrived at the Rose Garden early, and as I sat there waiting for the residents to arrive I was reading through Scripture… thinking be prepared in and out of season and see if I was being led to particular Scripture for a message or a word. I was led to Numbers 6:22… but didn’t feel compelled to speak on it… I was led to a few more, as the folks started to arrive.

As they came in I greeted them and as we chatted it soon became apparent, that they had understood very well and most had a Scripture prepared. Sherri and Mildred also greeted the folks and talked with them about what they had prepared and in doing so, discovered that Merriam, one of the residents, hadn’t prepared anything. This of course wasn’t too much of a surprise, because Merriam has not embraced Christ, and holds fast the cultural aspects of her Judaism. Although she is not a practicing Jew, she refuses the Gospel offer, but nevertheless, loves the fellowship and the music and was willing to have something from the Old Testament as her Scripture, that’s where Numbers 6:22 came in.

I was not prepared for what transpired… I was totally blown away… the folks read their Scriptures, shared their testimonies, one after the other. The most amazing part was that God was all over it. This was truly the fruit of our ministry. Sometimes we are so close to the people and the process that we cannot see the incremental changes that spell out transformation. The big changes are easy to see, Tom is the fruit of big change, but the others, and it’s not so obvious, well at least until yesterday, when I got a full dose of the transformation that has occurred in the lives of my friends. And I was totally blown away and I praise God alone for it.

You see, when we first started our ministry at the Rose Garden (some three years ago), the residents, seemed to be frustrated, angry, fearful and struggling… Yesterday it was obvious, they shared a common bond of friendship and love, they read their Bible’s, a few are reading it daily for the first time their lives…(which we learned only yesterday) they cling to Scripture and to God and have hope in Christ… maybe that is what keeps Merriam coming back… and I believe that this is the hope that she senses and perhaps she too can obtain in Christ Jesus…

Part of this revelation to me anyway, is that sometimes we labor so hard, and we speak the truth, we speak it in love, we love, we show grace… and because we don’t perceive certain responses or hear certain things, we tend to think that nothing is happening. But God is faithful, we sow, we water, we nature, but God brings the increase. Truly I thank God, and my heart rejoices. I am also thankful for those that the Lord has provided, Joe, Sherri, Mildred, Joan and Suzanne, the brothers and sisters from SonRise that are my co-laborers in Christ, I thank God for them and their faithfulness..

I guess, now I get to go to the Rose Garden to be ministered to…

The Lord never ceases to amaze me!

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I know it's the Blood!

Vince Lotito — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:31:46 GMT

Victoria, sweet, sweet Victoria. Frail and week, old and tired, confined to a wheel chair, breathing with the aid of oxygen, but nevertheless, with arms raised heavenward, she collects her strength and cries… “I know it’s the blood! I know it’s the Blood! I know it’s the BLOOD! Nothing but the blood of Jesus, that saves me.” Ahhh, what faith, I have not seen faith like this in all of Toms River. Victoria is unmovable, she is determined and cannot and will not be told otherwise. She knows where her strength and salvation lies… in the Blood of Christ.

I met Victoria a little over a year ago, when she had come to the Rose Garden to receive fulltime care she so desperately needs. Victoria is stricken with disease that comes from old age. I remember the first the time she joined us for our Sunday afternoon service…. She was in her wheel chair, struggling for breathe, she wore a big wig, had big looped eye glasses. And as I preached Christ and lifted Him up amongst the residents of the nursing home, she cried “Hallelujah” and “Amen.”

Afterwards, I went over to meet with her, and she was so thankful that she had entered a place where she could attend Sunday services. We prayed for her that day as we often do and the Lord in His mercy has eased her pains. I even remember the couple of times Victoria came to the service with only the aid of her walker, no wheel chair and no oxygen. Victoria, praised the Lord. And when her legs began to fail her again, she came back in her wheel chair, she nevertheless praised the Lord. This past week, I noticed that she was back on the oxygen… but nevertheless, she praised the Lord… and I can still see her sitting there, with her arms raised, shaking her head side to side in confirmation to her steadfast beliefs … saying “I know it’s the blood! I know it’s the Blood! I know it’s the BLOOD! Nothing but the blood of Jesus, that saves me.”

I praise God for Victoria…

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