First published on Blogger 1/10/13
Last Sunday evangelists Jerry and Marilyn O’Dell preached at my church, House of the Lord Fellowship Church . We normally get to enjoy their spiritual gifts a few times a year. Listening to Jerry speak is like hearing an honest but funny country man talk about God in a way that is plain spoken. But each time they come they have a short video to show us about their last crusade.
This past Sunday they showed us a video of their crusades in Pakistan . As the video began you could see images of people who were healed, who heard about God and His son. I cried as I watched the video for almost the whole eight minutes. To be real, I didn’t really understand why I was crying at the time. But watching people be healed and hearing about the gospel touched my soul. I yearned to do the same, to introduce God, to show Him to others, to see people healed. I could not even understand how deep seated this desire was but it was there, deep within me.
Now I don’t mean that I want to bonk people over the head and make them believers. No, I want people to have the chance to know God, to see who he really is. I mean it hurt to know people were not able to walk, that they might be eternally damned because no one had the moxy to preach the gospel to them. I want people to have the chance to get to know Him in a real, authentic way, which is often not the case. I wanted these people to be able to attend a church, if they choose, be taught the gospel and not be dragged into a kangaroo court.
While I watched the Pakistani pastor interpret for Mr. O’Dell I thought to myself how much we don’t have to do to speak the gospel to people in the US . How these men and women risk their lives and the welfare of their families. We don’t have to really make that sacrifice here but often we are afraid to say anything about God should we offend someone. It increased the hunger in me just to be a simple example of God. One that is resolute and easy to see, but also not one who screams at people or condemns them to hell in a hot minute.
If you think about it we all should hunger for to be an example of God. Remember as a believer you are called to the ministry of reconciliation, which is the key to building God’s Kingdom. I think seeing that video stirred that feeling in me because as I am maturing in the Lord and therefore I am
more sensitive to God’s calling on me as a believer and me as an individual person.
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