Reaping in due time

 

Vitória, Sara, Silvânia, Rafael - picture taken last month, as they sang at the service

On the way home Saturday night after music practice, Abbie asked if Sara or Silvania had said anything to me. It was my first clue that "something was up". They had been together at the "Saturday School Class" (because of space limitations, the Sunday School class for the older kids is held on Saturday afternoons) and the word was out that the two girls wanted to make their profession of faith and be baptized. No, I hadn't seen Silvania after the class, and Sara hadn't said anything to me.

It wasn't a great surprise then that during the invitation hymn yesterday, I noticed the two girls looking at each other, getting up the courage to come forward. Then came the surprise: Silvania's father, Nelson, came "charging" forward. Hey, this wasn't scheduled! Where'd he come from? Right behind him came his son (Silvania's brother) Rafael, and here came the girls...plus Vitória! In a matter of seconds the platform around the pulpit was filled up. I almost felt like I was in the middle of a stampede!

After baptizing 8 on two Sundays last month, we'll be baptizing 5 (at least) in the next couple of weeks. This group presents special blessings:

1) Firstfruits: Vitória and Sara are the first ones to be baptized who were "born in the church" and "brought up in Sunday School". In both cases, their mothers, Ly and Paz, respectively, have been raising them without the support of a husband; the fathers in both families abandoned their wives, but these faithful women now see the blessing of daughters following the Lord.

2) Silvânia and Rafael's mother, Inês, was baptized last month in the first group. Their younger brother, Sandro, is still too young to understand what it's all about. Give him a couple of years...

3) Nelson, not in the Sunday School class and therefore not in the picture---even his wife, Inês, said she didn't expect him to come forward. When I asked him what his testimony was, he said, "This is something I've been putting off for a long time, and today I knew this was it. It had to be today!" He told me later that as I read the opening scripture of the sermon (Acts 18--relating the story of Priscilla and Aquila) and introduced the theme -- anyone can serve God, you don't have to be a "professional", like this couple of tentmakers God used for the spread of the gospel -- he realized he had been using his own "insignficance" as an excuse. He had made up his mind from the beginning of the sermon, and that's why he led the way, even going ahead of the young people who had already made plans to come forward. Inês said that Nelson had told her he had seen a change in her since she accepted Christ, and that, of course, had a great influence on his decision.

Seeds sown, some for many years, others more recently planted.   "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal. 6:9

Added note: I've been preaching through the book of Acts for a number of months, and Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18) were the next topic I knew I should preach on, but I "preached around them" for several Sundays, because I didn't really know how to present this message. I used special occasions (baptisms, Lord's Supper, visiting brethren) to divert from the Acts study and present messages from other passages. This Sunday I knew that I had to stop putting it off; this Sunday was the day I had to present the message on Priscilla and Aquila. Nelson and I both stopped putting off what we knew we had to do.