Monthly Archives: February 2014

Sharing God’s Love in Creative Ways

A group of Pastors walked into an Armenian Restaurant that they frequented and one of them decided to have a little fun. On paying for his food at the counter, he said to the Armenian man at the register, with whom he was acquainted, “Hold on to my debit card because I want to pay for the next two people who come in”. The Armenian man said, “Whaaatttt, what for!?” “There is only one condition” the Pastor said. “When they ask why, you have to say, ‘because Jesus loves you’”. “Noooo! I’m no gonna do that”, said the clerk. “Ya, I didn’t think you had the guts anyway”, said the Pastor. “Whaaaat!”, said the man. “Ya, I didn’t think you were man enough”, repeated the Pastor. “Ok, I do it!” said the clerk, accepting the challenge.

As the Pastors sat down to eat, they watch an older lady walk in and place her order. When she went to pay, the man said quickly in his thick Armenian accent, “It’s free!” “Really, why!?” said the surprised lady. “Welllll… it’s because Jesus loves you!” he answered sheepishly with his head down.  The group of Pastors all laughed as their Armenian friend shared the love of Christ for them, while taking the opportunity to pay it forward at the same time.

Listen to Jesus, Then Do it!

One of the Pastors from the Church Multiplication Movement was telling us a story about the importance of listening to God and doing what He asks. A woman from his church was a nurse at a local hospital, where a friend of hers lay dying of forth stage cancer.

She asked her Pastor if he would come to the hospital and share the Gospel of Jesus with him. He didn’t want to and thought that she should do it, that it was really her job as a follower of Christ anyway and she had built a relationship with the man which would make it more natural for her to share something like that with him. The Pastor did however feel like God was telling him to go, but he resisted and instead decided to clean his office for the next two days instead, (which was very out of character for him). Finally, he could take God’s tugging no longer and decided to go, all the while feeling angry on the way. When he walked into the hospital, his lady friend from church just happened to come around the corner at that very moment. “Oh good, you’re here”, she said. “They just moved him to another room. Follow me, I’ll show you where he is”.

When they got to the room, his friend practically pushed him in the door, closed it behind him and left. The dying man’s wife and daughter were by his bedside crying. “What am I going to say Lord?” the Pastor asked. “I don’t even know the guy”. God said “Just take a hold of his hand, look in his eyes, and share the Good News about my love for him”. So the Pastor did just that, and when he had finished, he asked the man if that was something he was interested in and if he wanted to give his life to Christ. The man shook his head and said yes through his oxygen mask. A moment later, he closed his eyes and took his last breath. The man’s wife look at the Pastor and said, “He was just waiting for you to come”

If we have entered into a relationship with Christ, we are all capable of hearing His voice. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. – John 10:27. We need to learn to trust Him enough to listen to what He is telling us, and then DO it.