By now you have probably heard about the fire alarm going off in the middle of the sermon during third hour last Sunday.  (It looks like the culprit was a bunch of helium balloons which set off a smoke detector in one of our kid’s buildings.)  If you were not there I should say that after 10 minutes our very capable facilities folks were able to determine that there was not an actual fire and most of us went back into the services and classes.

One of the big “Wins” from the event was the skill and calmness with which our children’s workers took the kid’s out of the buildings and kept them safe.  Bravo!

The 11:00 service on that day held literally the most people in a single worship service in a year—maybe ever.  It was cram packed.  Then, right in the middle of the message and five minutes before I was going to give the Gospel, the alarm went off and a woman’s voice was saying, “Please exit the building in an orderly fashion.”

Some people thought it was a part of my message—an unexpected interruption in the message for shock value.  It was not and apparently the look on my face said as much.

I was shocked and I was depressed.  From the platform I watched hundreds of people leaving the building.  Many of them did not know Christ.  I was just a couple of minutes from giving the Good News about rescue in Jesus Christ to all of them.  It was all fully depressing to me.  I was afraid that the service might be completely over.  I was afraid that many pre-Christians were not going to hear the Gospel.  I was afraid that if we got the “all clear” to return to the building that many people who needed to hear about rescue in Jesus would not come back.  Maybe 100 did not come back.  They skipped out just before hearing how to spend eternity with God.

I had control of the service and the message until the alarm sounded.  Then I lost control of something that was very important to me.  I want life to work and I like to be able to make life work.  God knows that.  God doesn’t like Dave trying to control the world.

So, some lessons from a fire alarm and other losses of control:

God was still in control.  God is not overwhelmed by anything.  He is not wringing His hands in heaven about anything.

God was not taken by surprise.  God knew about this from eternity past.  God knows about all the accidents, ambushes, and unexpected developments in our lives from eternity past.  He is blindsided by nothing.

God does some great things when we lose control.  After we resumed the service about 30 responded to Christ—in that single service!  (I estimated, without any “evangelistic exaggeration” that 38 people responded to Christ on Easter!)

God works with power when we are fully dependent on Him.  There are two ways for us to lose control.  Option A is when something like a fire alarm rings and we cannot do anything about it.  Option B is when we voluntarily give control to Him, submit to His Spirit, and strive to understand and align with what He is doing at a given time and place.

In our weakness is His greatest strength.

Spiritually greater things will happen when we voluntarily submit to Him or when we involuntarily submit to Him. 

What are the “fire alarms or other losses of control in your life?”  Guess what?  God is not harming you.  He is up to something.  Please pay attention.