Standing before a dozen people gathered in a spacious upstairs room at the Dottie Lynn Recreation Center in Arlington on a recent Sunday morning, Lamp & Light Ministries Pastor Chris F. Matlock reminded the body of believers that when they put their complete trust in the Lord — especially when their faith seems ridiculous to others — He rewards their diligence.
Pastor Matlock, who co-pastors Light & Lamp Ministries with his brother, Davit E. Lambert Jr., was all smiles as he stood in the pulpit sharing the message “Moving in Purpose While Empowered by His Spirit.”
“God wants us to walk in His power; God wants us to trust Him,” Pastor Matlock told the congregation which meets weekly at Dottie Lynn, 3200 Norwood Lane. “Obey and trust God.”
Pastor Matlock, who has recently gotten engaged, said he didn’t wait to get a wife before he bought a 3,000-square-foot home and prepared it for a family. In fact, he couldn’t stop chuckling as he recounted about how his fiancée, Tessie Sanders, wasn’t even on his radar when he began his interior decorating.
“I had a his and hers (love) seat put in my house,” Pastor Matlock said as he told of how children used to tease him for having such a big home and no wife with whom to share it.
“But God gave me the vision of a godly wife,” the pastor said.
When the saints of God are walking in His divine purpose for their lives, the Holy Spirit empowers them to expand their vision by having greater faith, Pastor Matlock said.
For any single person believing God for a mate, Pastor Matlock said, “You’ve got to see that you can be married; you’ve got to see that you can have a house; you’ve got to see that you are blessed.
“He knew all along that I was going to meet Tessie,” Pastor Matlock said. “As long as we walk in His purpose, He’s got us.”
Using as a foundational scripture Jeremiah 1:9-10, which tells of God commanding the prophet Jeremiah to destroy anything ungodly and build up that which is of God, Pastor Matlock told the congregation, “We’ve got to tell people the truth. Do it all in the Spirit. We’ve got to pull down all the things that try to stop us from going to the next level in God.”
The pastor reiterated, “We reap the blessings when we operate in the Spirit.”
God’s good pleasure is to bless His children, Pastor Matlock said. But the way to receive the blessings of God is to trust Him and to dedicate one’s self to fulfilling God’s divine purpose for one’s life, he said.
Pastor Matlock said people, particularly God’s people, tend to operate in doubt, not quite grasping just how much God wants to bless them. He said far too many people of God fail to see that God has chosen them to do great things in the earth. They feel that there’s no way God could, or would, use them to do anything significant.
“Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations,” Pastor Matlock quoted from Jeremiah 1:4-9. “Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”
It is important for every believer to understand that God purposefully created them, giving them an assignment even before they were born, Pastor Matlock said, explaining that if someone feels strongly about something that may seem ridiculous to others, the person with the vision should remember what God told Jeremiah.
“Jeremiah trusted God,” Pastor Matlock said. “He’s called us to tell everybody about God.”
Pastor Matlock reflected back in laughter as he shared the struggles he and Pastor Lambert had when they first started their church. They had their share of storms, Pastor Matlock said, but they kept walking in purpose, not allowing themselves to be limited when resources were scarce.
“He touched our mouths and put words in our mouths,” Pastor Matlock said. “He’ll fight cancer and knock it out. He’ll fight AIDS and knock it out.”
Trusting God with every aspect of one’s life opens the door for the abundant blessings of the Lord, the man of God said.
Donald Lee is a free-lance journalist, author and founder-pastor of Kingdom Living Christian Center in Dallas. Contact him at (225) 773-2248. For more information about Lamp & Light Ministries, which holds service at 11 a.m. every Sunday, Pastor Chris F. Matlock can be reached at (469) 765-7554.