B.J.'s First Sermon in Spanish!

About four weeks ago, some coworkers of ours invited me to preach in their worship service...in SPANISH.  We've lived here for nearly a year now, and even though I've been studying the language diligently, I am brutally aware every day of just how much I have yet to learn.  So although there was a part of me that wanted to shy away from the invitation, I accepted, which meant I would have to spend the next few weeks praying, studying and preparing my first Spanish sermon.

All of this said, yesterday was the day, and for me it was a milestone in my life:  not only for my language learning, but also for seeing that God has equipped and is equipping me to serve Him here in Spain.  No, it probably wasn't my finest, most well-polished sermon, and I made various mistakes in grammar and pronunciation (nothing fatal, though), but God was faithful in speaking through me and the people were gracious in listening to a small-town American speak their language.  Afterward the congregation was very encouraging, telling me things from, "That couldn't have been the first time you've preached in Spanish" to "You're already sounding like an Andaluz!" to "Your accent sounds Mexican or Texican!"

The above video clip is a little over a minute long, so feel free to take a view.  The sermon was based on the short but significant story of Simon of Cyrene, the man who carried Jesus' cross, found in Mark 15:21-22.  In the clip I'm explaining how the Romans and the Jews viewed crucifixion and why that's important for understanding Simon.  We laughed, we cried, we felt sick to our stomachs (somewhat typical of my sermon illustrations), and, most importantly, God met with us.