For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing. (II Timothy 4:6-8)
I can clearly remember the day God supernaturally allowed me to take a peep into
the future. At that time we lived in an old house in Bloomfield, NJ.
I had just gotten home from church early that afternoon, while my wife had gone
ahead of me to a Youth Retreat in Hope, NJ to assist as a youth counselor for the next
6 days.
So I decided to eat lunch alone in my screened in back porch, which overlooked my
back yard and relax there awhile. When suddenly, I had a vision! In it, I saw a man
running back and forth on a platform, Man, this guy was preaching like a house on
fire. I thought, “Who is this guy?” Meanwhile, he kept preaching and running from
one end of the platform to the other. When all of the sudden, this man stopped,
turned around and looked straight at me. And to my total amazement, when I saw
his face, it was I! WOW
I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. All of a sudden, I heard the voice of the Lord
clearly say to me:
Rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of
those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people,
and from the gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God, that they may
receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me.
When the vision was over. I must admit, it left me scratching my head and
wondering; what in the world just happened? because the truth is, I had never
experienced anything like this before. So I just committed it to God, and went on to
finish my lunch. Later that afternoon, I drove up to the youth camp where my wife
was, to see if there was anything I could do to help. So when I arrived there, I didn’t
say a word to anyone about the vision I had experienced. I simply saw my wife for a
brief moment, said hello to her and immediately went looking for the man in charge,
as I had heard they were short handed. When I found him and made myself
available to him, he seemed relieved. He then quickly asked me, “Can you cook hot
dogs and hamburgers?” I replied, is the pope Catholic? (Lol) Of course I can. He then
asked, “Can you also take care of putting away all the garbage cans tonight?” I
replied, “Sure! I'm here to do whatever you need!”
Finally I went to bed that night laughing to myself, thinking the vision I had, was
probably the result of the pepperoni pizza I ate for lunch, or maybe it was just
simply a crazy figment of my imagination. So I shrugged it off and eventually went to
sleep.
But early the next morning at breakfast, the man in charge of the youth camp came
to me and asked, “Can you preach this morning?” I answered, “Preach?” He said,
“Yeah, preach! I believe you have a word for the young people this morning.” Man, I
couldn't believe it. Me preach? Then I remembered the vision. So I preached that
morning on the book of Jonah. Just don't ask me what the content was, because all I
remember was, me running back and forth from one end of the platform to the
other, just as I saw myself in the vision. So there it is, funny, but that was my
introduction into the ministry.
Called to Pastoral Ministry
Now, let me tell you the story of what I believe was my official call to the pastoral
ministry. It was a Friday night, and we were in a service in New York City, where my
wife was ministering. I remember the service had ended and a few people were
hanging around fellowshipping. When suddenly I heard the Lord ask me. ‘J’, do you
love Me? I said, “Yes Lord, I love You.” He said, feed My sheep. Again, He asked me.
‘J’, do you love Me? So I answered, “Yes Lord, You know that I love You.” He said,
“Feed my sheep.”
By now, I'm embarrassed, because I’m starting to weep in front of all these people.
Yet, they don't really know what's going on, because this conversation was taking
place in my heart, on the inside of me. Then, He asked me the third time, “J, do you
love me?” This time, while weeping, I answered with my voice, “Yes Lord. You know
that I love You!” Then He asked me, “Will you feed My lambs?” And I responded,
“Yes Lord, I will feed Your lambs!” I'm telling you man, I will never ever forget that
experience.
And I know, this is how He called Peter, but nevertheless, it is also how He called me.
Now looking back, I can clearly see, that this was the night He officially called me to
pastor His precious people. And although I didn't start pastoring until many years
later, I believe that was the night God's holy anointing oil was supernaturally poured
on my head, just as in the days of old, when the prophet Samuel poured the holy oil
upon David's head, signifying God’s calling and separation.
Little did I know, that I had been enlisted into the school of the Holy Spirit, better
known as God's boot camp. Let me tell you, this school is not for the weak in heart or
for quitters. I would dare say, what the United States Navy Seals have to endure in
order to become a part of those Special Forces, is no different than what we have to
go through in the Spirit, in order to qualify for ministry.
(Expert for The M&M's of Life by Pastor Jason Alvarez)