Living the Gospel

Thursday night we have house meetings. Watching Luana and Anni and Olivia lead a group of neighbours is a great highlight for everyone. Two weeks ago they gave the challenge, “Let’s everyone do acts of kindness in Jesus’ name this week, without talking about God. We’ll live the gospel. Then let’s talk about it next week.”

The next week Luana said, “I passed a girl I on the road I fought with a year ago. (This would have been a physical fight.) I thought, ‘Oh no, God, I am not talking to her. She hates me.’ Then I saw her again, later the same day. I thought, ‘I haven’t seen her in a year. God must really want me to talk to her.’ So I worked up all my courage, said a prayer and went over to the girl, ‘I am really sorry about that fight we got into last year.’ The girl started talking to me, and she was all friendly.” These are big steps forward for new believers.

Last week the question was, “Why do you come to church?” One girl shared, “I come to church because it seems like every week the pastor is speaking right to me. It is exactly what I need to hear. I feel like God is talking to me through the sermons.”

Emma, age 15, helps at another group, with Adriana, Sami and some of the youth. Somebody off the street with a can a beer and a cigarette walked over to join the group. As they got into a discussion about the study this fellow says, “I spent nine months in jail. I read the Bible from cover to cover. I know all about what it says. Did you know that when Jesus was on the cross he was between a murderer and a thief? The murderer was forgiven, but not the thief. Thieves cannot be forgiven.” The hackles came up on the back of everyone’s neck as they started to defend their faith. Emma was pumped when she came home, telling the stories over and over.

If you want to get pumped, listen to this 30 minute sermon to learn how. This talk was given by a pastor in Boston in 2007. Click on the link below.

The Stakes of Crossing or Not Crossing The Moat – by Dave Schmelzer

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