China trip continued....

I had an interesting an amusing thing happened to me while I was ministering at First Assembly in Hong Kong on May 6th.

I spoke on the subject of healing and asked people to come forward for prayer. The altars were filled with people seeking God for physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Tears were flowing, God was moving. It was a powerful moment.

Because I had used James 5:14 as part of my message ("Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.") I turned to one of the pastors during the time of prayer and asked for some anointing oil.

The pastor didn't have any, but sent one of the deacons to find some.

I continued to pray.

About 5 minutes later, I felt a touch on my arm and turned around and it was a deacon standing there with a paper cup. I took it, looked inside the cup and saw what I thought was perhaps apple juice (thinking he thought I was thirsty and needed a drink - and actually forgetting I had asked for some anointing oil).

Believing it was apple juice, I put it to my lips and took a drink. To put it mildly, I was a little bit surprised.

The deacon couldn't find any anointing oil, so he did what he thought was the next best thing, he found some cooking oil and put it in a paper cup.

I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for a day.

After the service, all of the deacons, pastors and myself had a great laugh. I shared with them that I wasn't out to start a new theology - the theology of drinking cooking oil.

Pastor Sun told me after the first service that I probably would preach a lot better because I was "full of the anointing."

But it goes further.

Communion was served that day in both the first and the second service. During the second service, who served me communion? The same deacon who had given me the "anointing oil."

I could tell he was really doing his best to suppress a laugh. And I checked the cup two or three time before I drank it.

What a beautiful thing it is to be a part of the body of Christ. Whether we are in Huntsville, Alabama or Hong Kong, God's family, full of his Spirit, his a wonderful thing.

I'm thankful I am a part of the family of God.

How about you?