This Sunday my sister came down to A Church Without Walls with us. She was a big help with the food and greeting people, and she was used very mightily by God to reach the people. She loves to operate in her spiritual gifts and had an opportunity to do that this Sunday. It's kind of a funny story....
Usually at the end of the church service we get an onslaught of people who come by that are hungry and want to eat, so we feed them and give them water. These are people who will generally walk by and wait for the service to be over, then come and get what they can get from us. We are ok with that. The Bible teaches that the Word of God will not return void and that it will accomplish everything it is supposed to....and since Frank preaches outside, by faith we believe that God's Word is out there hitting the ears of people who need to hear it. So when they come by, even though they have sat across the street, or just walked up and down the street, we just love them anyway and give them food...they are hungry. Eventually, they will start to hunger hot after God.
Well this particular day, Jenny was serving food while the prayer team was praying with people. And as usual, we had the men and women that were coming by to get what they could get and then move on. And sometimes you might wonder if it's ok to feed a crowd of people who are so ungrateful for what they are given. I think the answer is YES. If there is one thing that I have learned about the lost, it's that they act lost. They aren't going to act like Jesus, because they don't know Him.....yet. :) And when you think about it, Jesus healed those lepers that didn't thank Him, and He knew they wouldn't thank Him, yet He still healed them...
My boys entered a fishing tournament last weekend, and the most important thing on their checklist to take was their tackle box.....the bait. It didn't matter if they used the Scooby Doo fishing pole, or the expensive rod and reel that the grown-ups use. The important thing was the bait. I believe when you fish for men, you need good bait!
Anyway, here comes this lady at the end, "B", while we are all up praying for people. She makes a bee-line straight to the food table and Jenny serves her some breakfast. Then she asks if there are any sodas left, Jenny tells her yes, and she asks how many? So Jenny says, "What would you like, a coke or sprite?" So this lady starts telling Jenny that she'll take the rest of the sodas in the cooler. Lotta nerve, huh? But we have to remember....the lost will act lost. So Jenny says, "You know, I'd love to give you more than one, but we still have so many other people down here who would probably like a drink too." So "B" says, "Oh, ok."
Then she asks if she can have just two more because her mom and dad that live in the apartment across the street might like one, and that they come to this church. So Jenny asks about how they are and she tells her a little about her mom and dad....mom in wheelchair, dad on oxygen, both elderly. Well, we have never had them come to church here, but Jenny goes ahead and gives her two more sodas anyway. Then she wants to take home a bunch of food....says it's for her parents. So she packs her a little bit of stuff to go, and then "B" see the Bibles in the box and asks if she can have one. So Jenny helps her pick one out, and then she says she wants three of them...one for her and one for each of her parents. So "B" takes 3 Bibles and a bunch of food and sodas with her, then comes back and wants 3 bottles of water. See how she manipulated the situation, saying it was for her elderly parents? Took total advantage of Jenny's good heart.
Well, what are ya gonna do......Sinners sin. Right?
Well, while she's at it, "B" starts to hit Jenny up for some money, tells her that all she needs is 3 dollars a day to survive on the streets. (BTW...I need to find out what the magic number about three dollars is...we get asked for three dollars all the time....not one dollar, two dollars, or four dollars, just three....) Jenny tells her that none of us carry cash on the streets. So "B" tells Jenny to tell us to come back down here at 5 p.m. so we can feed her supper, because she would like to eat a 5. I'm thinking this is comical, actually. I mean really. It is.
So here she is making her requests and begging off of Jenny and Jen says that "B" is just pretty whiny about being on the streets, not having money, and how we need to come down here during the week to feed her and blah, blah, blah. So Jenny asks her how she got to living on the streets....it's a interesting story.
She said she was an Evangelist. (OK...understand that a LOT of street people will say this to us thinking it will get them into our good graces....we are on the same team....their ministry needs finances, we should help them....we are all God's children, they are feeding the poor, getting people off drugs....just all sorts of things they think we want to hear) So here she is, "Evangelist B" and she says someone murders her oldest son and her second son is found dead on the streets. So she spends all the money she has to bury these two boys....they are adult age when they died....and now is homeless because of funeral expenses, and all she needs is 900 dollars for a headstone, so she is trying to raise money for a headstone.
While she's in "evangelist" mode, she starts reciting scripture to Jen. Well, obviously she does have the Word of God hidden within her. So she continues with the "I have nothing, my children are all dead, I need three dollars, I want to give my sons a headstone...." and on and on, and evidently she used scripture that sparked something with in Jen that told her to put an end to this mess and start warring with the Word.
So Jenny says to her something about her claiming she is an Evangelist, so she must know what God's Word says about her. And then Jen gets all these words of knowledge about this woman downloaded into her mind and just takes off with, "And since you know what GOD says about you, you know that you are a child of God and that God will supply all of your needs, but right now you are in bondage. You are in bondage to bitterness. You have let Satan come in and wrap a big rope around you right here," and she demonstrates a rope being wrapped around her waist, "and that rope has the words 'bitterness' and 'unforgiveness' written on it. And at the other end, Satan just pulls on that rope and you just willingly and helplessly follow where ever that rope is being pulled to. The devil just yanks you around where ever he wants you to go. And right now, he has pulled your rope and you have followed him into poverty because you have not used the Word of God that is within you to slice through that rope and be released from that bondage."
By this point, "B" is releasing a pretty heavy stream of tears from her eyes. Then she looks at Jenny and very tenderly says, "You're so right. I have allowed the devil to take and take and take from me, and I have not even tried to fight it off. I know better." So then Jenny begins to pray for her and prophesy good things that God has for her life, and then helps "B" break free from the bondage she is in.....
Then Jenny tells her that she needs to "sow seed" into her own life....that she has lack because she has been selfish, but God wants her to sow seed into other's lives, and since she says she is an "evangelist, " she needs to start walking in that. So "B" whole heartedly agrees with what Jenny says, and of course Jen made it a point to make sure that this lady was in fact saved, and she said that she was and shared her salvation experience with Jenny. As they are talking about sowing seed, and that the Bible says that there are those who sow sparingly that will reap sparingly and those who sow generously that will reap generously, "B" says she doesn't think she has anything to sow....Jenny says, "Sure you do." And "B" looks down at the bottles of water that she has in her arms and says, "I can give these waters away today, can't I?" So Jenny says, "Absolutely."
Well, by the time "B" left, there had been a transformation in her spirit. She went from being a greedy, selfish, gimme-gimme-gimme person, to a person who remembered that she was saved and had a Divine destiny for her life, and was freed up from that bondage and was now looking for a way to bless someone else that day. That's GOOD STUFF!
UPDATE: "B" popped in the following Sunday, but Jenny wasn't able to come. She came to look for her. "B" was clean, had on a nice dress, and was carrying around a container with some candles in it. She had found a way to make some money by selling candles instead of just sitting around waiting for the world to drop her a few crumbs here and there. She was brightened up in her face and stood taller. It was an amazing transformation!
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