God Bless You - Mike and Family

Well, it's come to this moment when we must part. Cut to the quick here. After approximately 1,200 lessons, sermons, devos, and over 300 bulletin articles, we're down to the last time together as preacher and congregation.

I think I've said pretty much all I have to say and I have consciously tried to preach to you the whole purpose of God, as Paul says and describes it in Acts 20:27. The responsibility of the preacher is to preach the whole purpose of God.

In addition to this, I can say that I have tried to live what I have preached. I've not always been successful, but I want you to know that I have tried.

When I thought about this final lesson and what I would say, I realized that perhaps the best way to finish was with a prayer. It's a good way to start things when you do church things. It's a good way to finish when you do church things.

I was reminded of the fact that both Jesus and Paul, the apostle, offered prayers as they were separated from their brethren in order to go to different places. And although I'm not comparing myself personally to the Lord and to the dynamic apostle, the separation from loved ones, however, is similar.

So I thought a prayer would be appropriate for the occasion. Now we know that there are many reasons and ways to pray, but the basic prayer usually has three main characteristics. There are words of praise in a prayer. There are expressions of thanksgiving in a prayer and there are fervent supplications (or askings) in a prayer. And so my farewell prayer this morning contains all three of these elements, directed towards God and also reflecting how I feel about the Choctaw congregation. Don't usually preach about how I feel about things. Hopefully I preach more what the word says about things, but I think perhaps this occasion may may provide some room for feelings, for personal feelings.

First part of my prayer is praise to God.

I praise God in heaven for his beautiful and awesome creation, and I extol him for his mercy in devising a plan to send a savior to rescue sinners like me from assured death and condemnation and eternal suffering. I rejoice each time I consider his word. Rich in wisdom, power and comfort to those who believe. I bless God's holy name for establishing his church and I am continually in wonder when I contemplate how he manages all of creation, both seen creation and unseen creation, to honor Himself and exalt the son, Jesus Christ. How does he do that?

Is he not wonderful for doing such things? I'm happy to begin each day by recognizing His sovereignty and go to sleep each night surrendering myself to His love and His will and His purpose. And so yes, I begin my prayer by praising God. But my praise is also for the Choctaw congregation. You have done so many good works in the Lord's name, that they cannot be counted. Literally they cannot be counted, and I praise you for these.

You have stepped out in faith to build and to give, to support, to try better ways of doing things, to bring the gospel to the lost, and I praise you for that. You have doubled in size in the last 7 years, but have not lost the feeling of family and closeness that has been your best feature as a congregation, and I praise you for that.

You have remained faithful to the word and the principles of restoring the New Testament church, while keeping unity in the body, and fellowship with all of the surrounding congregations, and I praise you for that. And despite your love and your attachment to me as your pulpit minister and to my family, you're letting me go to this other work with grace and kindness and encouragement that has no hint of bitterness or envy and I praise you for that.

My farewell prayer is also filled with thanksgiving to God and to you. Each day I thank God for saving me from the corrupting influence and final condemnation caused by sin. Each day I thank God for each member of my family. And I call their names out before the Lord because each is precious to me in his or her own way.

You know children fuss and fight. They fuss and fight you for a while as they grow up, but I think it's only because they're not yet aware of how much time a Christian father or mother spends in prayer on their behalf. If they knew that, they wouldn't fuss and fight with you so much. I'm thankful for my wonderful wife, Lise, and for my wonderful family. Truly a gift from God that for many years I thought I would never have. And I received them late in my life.

Each day I thank God for the ministry to which he has called and equipped me for. And I am so thankful, you cannot understand how thankful I am, to be a preacher. You see there's nothing in my life, there's nothing in my history, there's nothing in my early training that would warrant me having a job such as this. Whatever I do, whatever skills I may have, were not acquired with sweat and toil or yearning to serve. They were simply given to me, as was the opportunity to preach in the first place. They were simply a gift.

I am at times painfully aware that I have done nothing to deserve this holy task, except to be willing to do it and for this I am grateful. How wonderful God has been to the boy from Montreal who never even read the Bible until he was 28 years old, who was only baptized at 30 years of age and only received formal training in ministry at 35. What a favor God has granted me in allowing me to handle the words of life and support me while I do it.

Each day I thank God for the material blessings he has literally showered down upon me. Too numerous to count, too varied to describe. Every time I am ready to settle for less, every time I'm ready to settle for less, he gives me more than I ever asked or dreamed of having. I have fallen asleep long before listing all of my material blessings in many, many of my night time prayers. That God has been good and more than generous with me is a constant source of thanksgiving in my personal prayer life.

Now my thanks begins with God, but is not limited to Him alone. There are many reasons why I am thankful to you, the Choctaw congregation, as well. For example, I thank you for encouraging me to preach and teach as a full time minister. Many of you may not know this, but when I first came here I was pursuing a career at Oklahoma Christian University and I actually had reservations about going back into full-time ministry. Lise and I had been burned pretty badly by some brethren and we were not sure that the ministry was worth all the pain and frustration that we had to put up with many years.

But your love and your acceptance and your constant encouragement healed many of our wounds, and allowed us to have the courage to try again. And we are so glad that we did.

I thank you for not being afraid to step out in faith, to try things in order to build the congregation up. Some things kind of wacky. Some things kind of far out. Oh sure there was always a few negative ones who always saw everything that could go wrong, but for every one of them, there was always 50 who were willing to step out in faith. And I appreciate you for doing this.

I thank you for responding to the word of God. Some did so by being baptized and some did so by being restored. And some responded by telling me in their own private way that they were touched by the lesson or they were going to try to do better. Perhaps that's another thing you don't realize, that there are a lot more people that come forward in the foyer than come forward here up front. More people come forward to me privately than come forward before you publicly, but it's all the same thing. It's all before God.

Some simply showed their response by becoming more loving and more faithful, more involved, more committed to Christ. In whatever way you responded, please know that your responses built my faith in God's word and moved me to try my very best for every class, every article, every sermon.

I was baptized in Montreal and I began working in Montreal and I was educated at OC. But I can say that I actually learned to preach and write and be a local minister while I was here at Choctaw and I thank you for that education.

Finally I want to share with you the things that I ask for in prayer. What the Bible calls supplication.

One of my most oft requested things of God, for example, is His help to keep me and to keep my family faithful to Christ, faithful to His word, faithful to His church. I want to tell you that being a preacher is no guarantee from falling away from Christ. If an apostle like Judas can fall, so can a preacher from a Choctaw. If an apostle like Peter can act like a hypocrite and lead others astray, as Peter did, as we read about in Galatians 2:11-14. Then so can a modern day preacher act like a hypocrite and lead others astray.

I've seen and I've known many preachers who have wrecked their marriages and their families and their health because of sinful actions and foolish decisions. And I certainly never want to be one of them. So I constantly ask god to protect me from temptation. To guard my heart, to guard my lips, and to guide each member of my family in the ways of Christ, so we can be in heaven together one day.

Another repeated request is for God to grant me a long and fruitful ministry.

You know I appreciate it when brothers ask God for this on my behalf. When they're up here praying, they ask God to give me a long and fruitful ministry. I really do appreciate those prayers. Maybe I've never said it, because it's one of the things I desire most myself. I want God to use me up in ministry so that I am completely poured out in this work.

I have no desire to golf or garden for 20 years after retirement. Just keep me preaching till I drop. That's how I want to go.

One other request I have made quite often recently, is that the Lord raise up a man particularly suited to the church here, and that God grant the elders the wisdom and the patience and the vision to wait, to wait upon the Lord and to know when the Lord's man has come.

There are many other things I ask god for each day. Healing and help for many of you here. Strength and perseverance for others, but the three that I've mentioned this morning, I have mentioned most often in the recent weeks.

Finally, as I close, I would also like to mention some of the things that I would ask of you, the Choctaw congregation, before I leave.

First of all, please remain faithful to Christ and his word and his church. No matter who comes, no matter how long it takes to find him, please be faithful.

Secondly, please remain united in love. You see changes create pressure and pressure tends to divide people. Don't let satan seduce you into making factions and cliques. Remember to say and to do only those things that will build up the entire church, not just yourselves or your friends or your particular ministry.

Number three, please don't lose that loving family spirit that is the true mark of being God's people.

People will come and people will visit because they like the preacher or there's a good youth program or seniors activities. They'll come for those things, but remember that they will stay and they will grow only if they are surrounded by love and kindness in Christ. And that doesn't come from the pulpit. That comes from the pews.

The loving, inclusive, forgiving family, this is our number one feature here at Choctaw and let's make sure this remains with or without a preacher for a time.

Finally, please know, that in the seven and a half years that I've been with you, I have always had your best interest at heart. I've had to encourage and I've had to rebuke many of you for many different reasons. Many of you accepted my challenges. Some of you are still fighting me to this day.

Please remember, however, that whatever has happened, it was always with the hope that you would be a better Christian for it. That was always the point.

If my approach was wrong or clumsy, please forgive me for that. But rest assured that everything was done for Christ's sake and nothing nothing was ever done to hurt or separate you from the love of Christ in God.

I remind you as our paths separate, that one day the work, and the suffering, and the waiting, and the hoping will all be over. And as I've said before, it will all be worth it. Remember I said it ain't easy, but it will be worth it.

I may never see some of you again on this earth. We know that things change. We know that people move on and move away. We know that new preachers come and old preachers go to another place. You know with time I'm going to be the minister that used to be here, that used to be here, and that's okay.

But as I go please remember that I love you, and wherever the Lord sends me in the future, and people ask me, where are you from? My answer will be, I was born in Montreal, Canada, but I'm from Oklahoma. And my home congregation is the Choctaw Church of Christ.

You are our family. Your family is the Mazzalongo's family. And you will be that in a way that no one or no other family will ever be.

In closing, therefore, I ask one last time. If there is anyone here today who has tasted the truth of the Gospel but has not obeyed it yet, make my joy complete this day by responding to Christ in repentance and baptism or in repentance and restoration, whichever is needed for you.

I encourage you to come forward now as we stand and sing. And I pray that God bless you in your remembrance of us.