Jesus said "the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field" You know what the treasure is, it's a treasure of human souls.
Jesus was concerned about lost things; lost pearls, and lost sheep. He worried about the crop that would be lost if the lack of workers left it rotting in the field. He wasn't just speaking rhetorically when He spoke of His concerns. He sacrificed His life to purchase lost souls.
Well Saturday as we were on outreach I couldn't help but think of all the people in these neighborhoods and what treasure was there. It is so easy to drive by neighborhoods, apartment buildings, houses and forget there are people in there lost, sick, hurting, misunderstood, lonely, afraid, depressed, fearful, blind, deaf, lame, diabetic, addicted, abused, you name it there in there.
God's given us the privilege as His Ambassadors to bring the good news of the Kingdom to them. Let us never forget.
Anyway Saturday we found a new neighborhood, a women from last week gave us her address and wanted us to do a home meeting at her apartment. She wasn't home so we went door to door to check things out. The first home we came to we knocked on the door told them the kingdom of heaven was at hand and asked if anyone needed healing. They kind of laughed at us but a young man 18yrs old said "I do" and came outside for prayer. He said he'd been up all night with pain inside his mouth. We shared with him about what God's been doing so he let us pray he was amazed all the pain was gone. We continued to share the gospel with him.
The next guy was out bouncing a basketball his name was Antonio he only had one eye. He had been shot with a BB gun in 1984. We began to pray for his healing we didn't see anything change but maybe next time. We had a word that he likes to write poetry he said "yes I do" and began to recite a poem he had written.
At the next house we met Stella a middle aged mother. We just shared the Gospel with her and prayed for fear and depression to go. She said " I know God sent you here" we continued to minister and encourage her.
As we were knocking on the next home a neighbor called to us that no one lived there. We went over to her home and asked if she needed prayer. She invited us in her name was Miss Annie. She had Arthritis in both feet after prayer she walked around the kitchen to test it for pain she couldn't find any. We all just thanked God for the healing, she also had irritation in her eyes from cataracts we prayed for that and she said "the irritation is gone it feels much better."
The next home was a man living alone named Perry he was 60 yrs old and had had 4 heart attacks and 3-4 strokes. He was a believer and invited us in, we encouraged him in the lord prayed for God to strengthen his body and just fellowshiped with him for a while. He began to share his love for singing for the Lord and how the strokes had really affected his singing voice. We prayed God would restore it 100% he sang a bit for us and it sounded pretty good.
As we were leaving a little boy riding his bike, probably no more than 3 said "next time you come to my house" very cute and prophetic we'll definitely be back. What a joy to see the treasure in these neighborhoods it always amazes me what God will do.
Healing at the Bus station
I've always had a special place in my heart for the bus station or subway station. Why? two words "captive audience" what a place to preach the gospel. I can remember as a new convert years ago riding on subways in Boston and taking advantage of the awkward silence of a subway to preach the Gospel with my friends. Truly Christian "entertainment" at it's best.
Anyway Wednesday we decided to hit the bus station, with the days getting shorter it's a pretty safe place at night. As you could guess I worked late and had gone in early without much sleep. I was pretty tired and not feeling very spiritual. Well the enemy is very sympathetic to our flesh and began to whisper "you should stay home and take it easy".
(you can mark it down most times when you plan on doing something for God your flesh and the devil will tell you this really is not convenient) Thankfully my wife was pretty fired up about preaching the Gospel that night and it got me encouraged as well.
When we got there we first looked for people who needed obvious healing crutches, canes, wheelchairs. Well we found all three but no one was open for prayer, many times the first few people we encounter are not open but as we continue to press in things usually change. And change they did, Renee started preaching to two women on a bench and before long they started getting really encouraged one was a believer and her faith started to get all stirred up pretty soon she was preaching to us. The other women had pain in both knees so we began to pray for her after prayer she couldn't find the pain any where praise God. We all began to praise God and thank Him for showing up.
After that we decided to go to the inside of the bus station I found a man named Daryl who needed healing in his back as he began to test it out he couldn't find the pain anywhere. We also ministered to a man from Africa a man we really felt God was gonna use powerfully. We left encouraged and energized, I forgot all about how tired I was and we were both so thankful we had jumped out of the boat.
Anyway Wednesday we decided to hit the bus station, with the days getting shorter it's a pretty safe place at night. As you could guess I worked late and had gone in early without much sleep. I was pretty tired and not feeling very spiritual. Well the enemy is very sympathetic to our flesh and began to whisper "you should stay home and take it easy".
(you can mark it down most times when you plan on doing something for God your flesh and the devil will tell you this really is not convenient) Thankfully my wife was pretty fired up about preaching the Gospel that night and it got me encouraged as well.
When we got there we first looked for people who needed obvious healing crutches, canes, wheelchairs. Well we found all three but no one was open for prayer, many times the first few people we encounter are not open but as we continue to press in things usually change. And change they did, Renee started preaching to two women on a bench and before long they started getting really encouraged one was a believer and her faith started to get all stirred up pretty soon she was preaching to us. The other women had pain in both knees so we began to pray for her after prayer she couldn't find the pain any where praise God. We all began to praise God and thank Him for showing up.
After that we decided to go to the inside of the bus station I found a man named Daryl who needed healing in his back as he began to test it out he couldn't find the pain anywhere. We also ministered to a man from Africa a man we really felt God was gonna use powerfully. We left encouraged and energized, I forgot all about how tired I was and we were both so thankful we had jumped out of the boat.
We all heard her back pop!!!
Still amazes me how much God wants to move supernaturally in our lives. Here's the account of another Saturday outreach. We decided to check up on Jackie, a women God's been stirring up and healing lately. She's been telling her friends about "the healing people" as she calls us it's pretty cool because she directs us to different people in need. God's been giving her sleep as He heals a breathing problem she had. We ministered for a while and she wants us to come back to have a house church meeting some time.
We then went down a street the locals call "new jack city" because of the trouble that breaks out there. We saw two women hanging out on a porch and we began to share the Kingdom of God with them and asked if they needed healing. One of them named Selena spoke up and shared that her back hurt. We began to pray and right after we prayed we heard her back pop. She looked kind of startled as she began to look for the pain, no pain thank you Jesus. It's funny many times when someone gets healed they look confused and don't quite know what to say. We then have the privilege to share that God healed them because He loves them so much. George had a word of knowledge that she had a twin sister and there relationship was in need of restoration this was right on and also got her attention.
We met another guy on the way out and got a word he had pain in his knees. He was stunned and said " how did you know that?" We preached the gospel to him encouraging him to give his heart to the Lord. While we were speaking a fight broke out a street over and soon there were three police cars and an ambulance rushing into the neighborhood. This was pretty cool because it brought a lot of people out of there homes. This one young woman stopped us and said "I know you guys are Christians," she then began to open up her heart to us and we were able to minister to her for about twenty minutes encouraging and exhorting her to pursue her destiny.
We then went down a street the locals call "new jack city" because of the trouble that breaks out there. We saw two women hanging out on a porch and we began to share the Kingdom of God with them and asked if they needed healing. One of them named Selena spoke up and shared that her back hurt. We began to pray and right after we prayed we heard her back pop. She looked kind of startled as she began to look for the pain, no pain thank you Jesus. It's funny many times when someone gets healed they look confused and don't quite know what to say. We then have the privilege to share that God healed them because He loves them so much. George had a word of knowledge that she had a twin sister and there relationship was in need of restoration this was right on and also got her attention.
We met another guy on the way out and got a word he had pain in his knees. He was stunned and said " how did you know that?" We preached the gospel to him encouraging him to give his heart to the Lord. While we were speaking a fight broke out a street over and soon there were three police cars and an ambulance rushing into the neighborhood. This was pretty cool because it brought a lot of people out of there homes. This one young woman stopped us and said "I know you guys are Christians," she then began to open up her heart to us and we were able to minister to her for about twenty minutes encouraging and exhorting her to pursue her destiny.
Stunning
This is the word that comes to mind to describe what happens when we go preach the "Kingdom of God is at hand". Most times when I get home from outreach I'm somewhat stunned at God using us. It's amazing how natural the supernaturals been happening. Saturday we went to a strip mall on Peters creek parkway. We were praying for a man in a wheelchair out side a dollar store. While we were praying a woman came out and said "wow I feel power out here". She was evidently a christian and jumped right in to help us pray. We also came across another group of christians out spreading the gospel, it's awesome to see the church out there doing the stuff.
On the attack..........
We went to Colony place Saturday and had a blast. We followed up with Tippy a guy we had prayed for last week he was in bed for 5 days with extreme pain from gout in his arm. This week he was up and out on the porch feeling much better thank you Jesus.
We are also contending for Edith she is now very open for prayer when we see her, were believing God for her blind right eye to open, nothing yet but will continue to pray until it does. We ministered to a woman named Maggie, at first she wasn't open for any ministry but after we preached for a little while she shared that she had a torn ligament in her leg. After prayer she began to test it and something began to happen. She said the tightness was starting to leave then the pain level began to go down after more prayer she testified of no pain. Thank God, it's amazing how even people that are not open if we press in a little they sometimes open up enough for God to do something.
Well I was some what vexed and provoked when we were leaving to go home. We stopped at Henry's house, the guy who had gotten healed from blindness a few Weeks earlier. He had lost some of his healing. He is a third degree Mason and didn't want to renounce it last time we were there. I was worried about that and thought it may have a negative effect on his healing. Anyway instead of ending the outreach on a disappointing note we drove to Piedmont park and preached to about ten people, got one lady healed and now have a possibility for a house church! I guess the enemy thought we would just go home disappointed oh well, guess again.
First we did a drive by inside the neighborhood to see what was going on. People were everywhere hanging out getting ready for there "Saturday night activities". We just started at one end and walked right up the middle of them. We preached and ministered, it was funny to see some people scatter as we brought the light of the gospel to them. We had three guys under a lot of conviction two had once been on fire for the Lord and one who had never been saved. God got his attention when I told him he was 53 years old. I said "how did I know that, It's because God knows you and loves you". We ran into Chris a local drug dealer and was able to minister to him and let him know were still praying for him.
On our way out we asked a woman named Jackie who was hanging out on her porch if she needed prayer, this time she said "oh yes come pray for me". She had been diagnosed with copd and had much difficulty breathing. After prayer she said "listen the rattling in my lungs has stopped. As we were praying we began to command the sinuses to open as well and she said her completely blocked right side was now open. She was amazed saying "you didn't even know my sinus was blocked". We ministered to her and her friend for a while, she wants us to come back next week and have a house church meeting. Thank you Jesus...We also prayed she'd have a good night sleep she'd had insomnia. She said as we left "I can breathe so good I'm going to bed right now. I know I'll be able to sleep tonight". We can't wait to see her next week and hear about what God's done.
Today we stopped at Al and Shawns house for a house church meeting this couple is on fire !!!! Shawns been testifying to her supervisor about her hand getting healed and able to encourage people because of what God's done. Al is diving into the Word and every time we see him is getting more and more revelation about the kingdom of God. He's in the book of acts and wants to go for it..Preach..heal the sick raise the dead!!!! Every time we see them we have such a wonderful time of fellowship in the Lord it's awesome thank you thank you thank you Jesus!!!!
We are also contending for Edith she is now very open for prayer when we see her, were believing God for her blind right eye to open, nothing yet but will continue to pray until it does. We ministered to a woman named Maggie, at first she wasn't open for any ministry but after we preached for a little while she shared that she had a torn ligament in her leg. After prayer she began to test it and something began to happen. She said the tightness was starting to leave then the pain level began to go down after more prayer she testified of no pain. Thank God, it's amazing how even people that are not open if we press in a little they sometimes open up enough for God to do something.
Well I was some what vexed and provoked when we were leaving to go home. We stopped at Henry's house, the guy who had gotten healed from blindness a few Weeks earlier. He had lost some of his healing. He is a third degree Mason and didn't want to renounce it last time we were there. I was worried about that and thought it may have a negative effect on his healing. Anyway instead of ending the outreach on a disappointing note we drove to Piedmont park and preached to about ten people, got one lady healed and now have a possibility for a house church! I guess the enemy thought we would just go home disappointed oh well, guess again.
First we did a drive by inside the neighborhood to see what was going on. People were everywhere hanging out getting ready for there "Saturday night activities". We just started at one end and walked right up the middle of them. We preached and ministered, it was funny to see some people scatter as we brought the light of the gospel to them. We had three guys under a lot of conviction two had once been on fire for the Lord and one who had never been saved. God got his attention when I told him he was 53 years old. I said "how did I know that, It's because God knows you and loves you". We ran into Chris a local drug dealer and was able to minister to him and let him know were still praying for him.
On our way out we asked a woman named Jackie who was hanging out on her porch if she needed prayer, this time she said "oh yes come pray for me". She had been diagnosed with copd and had much difficulty breathing. After prayer she said "listen the rattling in my lungs has stopped. As we were praying we began to command the sinuses to open as well and she said her completely blocked right side was now open. She was amazed saying "you didn't even know my sinus was blocked". We ministered to her and her friend for a while, she wants us to come back next week and have a house church meeting. Thank you Jesus...We also prayed she'd have a good night sleep she'd had insomnia. She said as we left "I can breathe so good I'm going to bed right now. I know I'll be able to sleep tonight". We can't wait to see her next week and hear about what God's done.
Today we stopped at Al and Shawns house for a house church meeting this couple is on fire !!!! Shawns been testifying to her supervisor about her hand getting healed and able to encourage people because of what God's done. Al is diving into the Word and every time we see him is getting more and more revelation about the kingdom of God. He's in the book of acts and wants to go for it..Preach..heal the sick raise the dead!!!! Every time we see them we have such a wonderful time of fellowship in the Lord it's awesome thank you thank you thank you Jesus!!!!
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