God, What are you up to??

By Lynne Cole

Every Saturday at 6pm a group of people descend upon Joe and Melody Bennett and family. It’s been over a year now since God told Joe and Melody to move to Oakland, FL. I for one can say I am very thankful God told them to come. At first Bob and I wanted nothing to do with anyone wanting to start a new church. But God told Joe and William Castro to come visit Bob and I. We love and respect William so we politely listened as Joe explained what God had said to him. (I need Joe’s permission to put his article in the blog.)

Bob and I were looking for a church but didn’t have any idea where God wanted us to worship. We decided to visit the group in Oakland and see if that is what God wanted us to get involved in.

Surprise!!

1. My first surprise was how small the group was. Just 6 people.

2. Next surprise all the children in the house. LOL

3. The peace and presence of God in our midst!!

4. How relaxed and unplanned the meeting was.

5. No one was “dressed” for church.

6. How powerful Joe’s messages are.

7. The Prophetic being natural and a part of the service.

8. God runs the service and often changes “the plans” of Joe and Curtis Sutterfield.

9. They love it when He does!

10. How late the gathering lasted!! (Our first week we left at 9:30 thinking it strange that no one was leaving but us. Next week we learned what “Normal” is for this group.)

11. How excited I became to be at every service.

12. To sit at the feet of Jesus and soak in everything He was saying to me and doing in me.

13. Seeing my very quiet husband, Bob, become more open and being used by God to speak out loud what He was saying!

14. I’m STILL being fed!

15. The peace I now experience nearly all the time.

16. What God is saying to me.

17. The boldness He is giving me!

Do you get the picture? It’s been life changing for me.

The group has grown by 3 since then. Bob and I bring it up to 8 and our good friend Jeanette Taylor, makes 9. We have become family. We arrive around 6pm and leave around 11 to 11:30pm. We leave by then only because some of us have a long drive home. At times they threaten to spend the night. lol

Lately we’ve been asking each other and God:

1. Why are we here meeting in Oakland?

2. What is Your purpose?

3. Where are You going with this group?

God must have had the ear of Joe because Joe started speaking on just that. He gave us an assignment to pray and ask God:

1. What’s His Vision, Purpose and Strategy for us?

2. How do we fit into this group?

3. Where is this group going?

4. What is God saying?

5. What is His vision?

6. What is His purpose and how do I fit into it?

7. What is His strategy, how do we get there?

Well, I was so excited. I prayed for a few days and listened to what God was saying. I sat down one day and wrote 3 medium size pages on my Vision and objective and where I was going. About ½ way thru my writing I wrote: “Why is this not happening now?” When I finished writing this section God said. “DIE TO SELF”

Huh, I’m so wordy. He gets His point across in 3 words. So I did what I do, I did a study on scriptures that have Die to self in them. But not until I finished the assignment with the next one, Purpose, How do I fit. Which caused more questions than answers. Then I tackled Strategy and started out with a lot of questions. Then I wrote another page of things I felt God was telling me.

I’m planning to do a more in-depth look at what God wants me to get out of His “Die to Self” – I know it is something I have to do continually. I also know He uses a few words so we will study His word and pray and learn from Him. It’s not a few moments of study. He feeds us in doses that we are able to handle. He’s not through teaching / feeding me on dying to self.