The Good Hand Of Our God: The Story Of Gbc (15th Anniversary Sunday 2019)

The Good Hand of Our God: The Story of GBC (15th Anniversary Sunday 2019)

Chuck Sligh

September 22, 2019

TEXT: Nehemiah 2:8 – “And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.”

Nehemiah 2:18 – “Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”

INTRODUCTION

Nehemiah testified about “the good hand of…God” upon him in verse 8. The Lord has been good to us at Grace Baptist Church, having given us many victories and landmarks along the way. We can truly be thankful for “the good hand of our God upon us.”

Now there’s something about openly expressing God’s goodness that motivates others. Nehemiah had received permission from the Persian emperor to return from captivity in Persia to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls around Jerusalem that had fallen into ruins due to past wars and subsequent neglect. When Nehemiah arrived and told the Jerusalem rulers of his mission, they were skeptical at first. But verse 18 tells us that he told them of “the hand of my God which was good upon me.”

Their response was immediate and overwhelming from these rulers: They said, “Let us rise up and build,” and the verse continues: “So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”

Today, on the 15th Anniversary of the organizing of Grace Baptist Church, I want to share “the story of Grace.” But I tell it not just to tell a good story as a backdrop to a great grill-out after the service. I hope that it will challenge each of you—the recipients of the sacrifice and sweat and expense of others before you—to respond and say, “Let us rise up and build!”

Here’s the story of Grace:

I. FIRST THERE WAS GOD’S PREPARATION

One of the things we will encounter over and again today is what appears to be happenstance, but really can only be attributed to God’s good hand. After pastoring churches for ten years in Wiesbaden and seven years in England, the directors of military missions of the mission board we are with, BIMI, asked us to survey Grafenwoehr to start a church, since word had gotten out that the Army was going to build up Grafenwoehr and bring an infantry brigade to this sleepy little German town. While still in England, I met a lieutenant colonel, who just “happened” (there’s that word) to be at a conference, who was from Hohenfels, who just “happened” to know the details of the upcoming build-up, suggesting a survey trip would be worthwhile.

When I went to Grafenwoehr for the survey trip, I asked if he could show me around and he gave me the tour of Graf post and Graf town and told me what was planned. While stopping for gas, we just “happened” to see a missionary to the Germans named Elsen Portugal, whom I already knew but had forgotten was in Grafenwoehr. This led to a second tour, and to several “chance” meetings with people who just “happened” to have key info that would play a big role in our coming to Graf. Too many “coincidences” were happening: God was clearly guiding us to Grafenwoehr.

II. BEGINNINGS

In March 2003 we moved to the Grafenwoehr area to start Grace Baptist Church. After a series of setbacks, in September 2003, we began meeting as a mid-week Bible study in the German church pastored by Elsen Portugal, whom I mentioned before. In time we felt God calling us to start Sunday services. We began Sunday AM and PM services in May 2, 2004 in the Grafenwoehr Stahdhalle.

Illus. – I’ll never forget that first Sunday morning service. Having advertised heavily, we had a good group of 45 that first Sunday. But because all our mid-week group were teaching or in the nursery or elsewhere, there was no one besides me to welcome all the first-time visitors.

It was weird because no one knew anybody. They all just swooshed in just before church, and then swooshed out before I could even shake most of their hands. And I committed the greatest faux pas of my entire ministry—I forgot to hand out welcome cards for all the people who came—so they all got away!

Almost all, that is. What happened is that the Lord brought back the next Sunday those He wanted to be the building blocks of our church. Only 20 showed up that second Sunday, but God just “happened” to bring back the best core a pastor could begin a church with. The good hand of our God was upon us, watching over us; guiding us.