Tag Archive: Pastor


Help! I’m sitting here with a loaded gun!

I once heard a story of a man who was desperately down to his wit end of troubles. In his desperation, he went into his room and loaded a gun.  He was about to kill himself!

As he sat there with the loaded gun, he decided that he had to pray before committing this suicide. He prayed and asked God to intervene to show He’s really there, and if He does, then he would not kill himself.

After praying, the man waited to see what would happen. Lost in his suicidal thoughts, he was startled by the ringing of the telephone. He jumped and quickly looked to see who was disturbing his intended mission. To his surprise, he saw the name “Almighty God” on his caller ID!

Seeing this, he sat there scared and shaking. In a state of shock, he couldn’t even answer the caller on the other end of the line. After a few minutes had elapsed, he finally got the courage to investigate. As he pressed redial on the telephone, he waited nervously to see who would pick up. The phone rang for a while, and just as he was about to hang up, he heard the husky voice of a male on the other end of the line. “How may I help you?” he asked the caller. The caller replied and asked, “Where is this?” The other male replied, “Almighty God Tabernacle.”

Coincidentally, the husky voice turned out to be that of a pastor, who was at his church that evening preparing his sermon for the next day. He had dialed his wife’s number to tell her that he was wrapping up for the evening, and would soon be home. Fortunately, he mistakenly dialed one of the digits, which happened to be the telephone number of the man about to commit suicide. The reason “Almighty God” came up on the suicidal man’s caller ID was because “Tabernacle” was too long to fit on the caller ID.

Well, to end this story, the man explained to the pastor what happened, and the pastor prayed and ministered to him. He was overcome with emotions, by seeing how God had intervened in his life when he was at his lowest point. Right there, the man accepted Jesus Christ as his person Lord and Savior. From that day on, his life has never been the same again. This man was telling his story from the pulpit while preaching a sermon one day. That’s how I came to know this story.

You see, when you are in your darkest moment, God is there with you. Jesus is the light that will guide you through the roughest time in your life (Psalms 119:105). It doesn’t matter how bad the situation appears, God is still in control. While there is life; there are hopes. Suicide is not an option, if you allow God to guide you. He can take whatever the situation is and turn it around for your good (Romans 8:28).

I have heard so many stories of people who were about to kill themselves for whatever reasons, but were prevented, and their lives have changed for the better.

I have a song that I love so much, and I sing this song when I am at my lowest. It might not be the song that you sing, but I will share the first few lines, along with the video with you:

Like a ship sailing out on a trip so rough and long
So far from shore, so far from home.
I SET OUT IN SEARCH OF A REASON TO GO ON
And I found it in the eye of the storm

No matter what storm clouds may rock this ship of mine
The light of my Savior will lead me safely through the night
Though my ship may be rocky and my sails may be torn
I shall rest in the eye of the storm.

Help! I’m sitting here with a loaded gun!

I once heard a story of a man who was desperately down to his wit end of troubles. In his desperation, he went into his room and loaded a gun.  He was about to kill himself!

As he sat there with the loaded gun, he decided that he had to pray before committing this suicide. He prayed and asked God to intervene to show He’s really there, and if He does, then he would not kill himself.

After praying, the man waited to see what would happen. Lost in his suicidal thoughts, he was startled by the ringing of the telephone. He jumped and quickly looked to see who was disturbing his intended mission. To his surprise, he saw the name “Almighty God” on his caller ID!

Seeing this, he sat there scared and shaking. In a state of shock, he couldn’t even answer the caller on the other end of the line. After a few minutes had elapsed, he finally got the courage to investigate. As he pressed redial on the telephone, he waited nervously to see who would pick up. The phone rang for a while, and just as he was about to hang up, he heard the husky voice of a male on the other end of the line. “How may I help you?” he asked the caller. The caller replied and asked, “Where is this?” The other male replied, “Almighty God Tabernacle.”

The husky voice turned out to be that of a pastor, who was at his church that evening preparing his sermon for the next day. He had dialed his wife’s number to tell her that he was wrapping up for the evening, and would soon be home. Fortunately, he mistakenly dialed one of the digits, which happened to be the telephone number of the man about to commit suicide. The reason “Almighty God” came up on the suicidal man’s caller ID was because “Tabernacle” was too long to fit on the caller ID.

Well, to end this story, the man explained to the pastor what happened, and the pastor prayed and ministered to him. He was overcome with emotions, by seeing how God had intervened in his life when he was at his lowest point. Right there, the man accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. From that day on, his life has never been the same again. This man was telling his story from the pulpit while preaching a sermon one day. That’s how I came to know this story.

You see, when you are in your darkest moment, God is there with you. Jesus is the light that will guide you through the roughest time in your life (Psalms 119:105). It doesn’t matter how bad the situation appears, God is still in control. While there is life; there are hopes. Suicide is not an option, if you allow God to guide you. He can take whatever the situation is and turn it around for your good (Romans 8:28).

I have heard so many stories of people who were about to kill themselves for whatever reasons, but were prevented, and their lives have changed for the better.

I have a song that I love so much, and I sing this song when I am at my lowest. It might not be the song that you sing, but I will share the first few lines, along with the video with you:

Like a ship sailing out on a trip so rough and long
So far from shore, so far from home.
I SET OUT IN SEARCH OF A REASON TO GO ON
And I found it in the eye of the storm

No matter what storm clouds may rock this ship of mine
The light of my Savior will lead me safely through the night
Though my ship may be rocky and my sails may be torn
I shall rest in the eye of the storm.

It can be difficult to find people of integrity, because so many people make mediocre compromises. At work, such people take every shortcut possible in order to finish the task as quickly as possible, even though they do a terrible job in the process. At school, mediocre people copy homework from friends and copy essays from the Internet just in order to avoid work while hoping to get a good grade, even though they’re cheating and don’t learn the material.

Unfortunately, many of the people who lack integrity are Christians. Yet, this is clearly not how God wants us to live. He desires that we be people of integrity.

Integrity means doing what is right when no one is looking, and it means going the extra mile, knowing that God sees everything and that what he sees in secret he will reward in the open (Matthew 6:4,6,18). Jesus told his disciples, “What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs” (Luke 12:3).

Whatever you do now, even if it is hidden from others, will be brought out into the open and made public. If you are wondering whether or not to do something, consider whether or not you’d be willing to do it in front of your boss, your teacher, your parents, or your pastor. If you have to hide what you’re doing to feel comfortable, then there’s a good chance you shouldn’t be doing it at all.

Contributed: Christ Notes

When Ministry Knocks You Down

If you’re a pastor, a missionary, or serve in a church, you can’t avoid discouragement, disappointment, or hurt from ministry. The bible even uses the not-so-complimentary metaphor “sheep” to describe those we serve. And sheep get dirty and smelly and often kick and bite.

Sometimes those sheep in the church do the same to their shepherds.

So when you get kicked, forgotten, disrespected, ignored, mistreated, gossiped about, or misunderstood, how do you move forward?

The story recorded in 1 Samuel 30 gives great insight. David had just begun his career to fight the bad guys. Early on he faced a huge defeat. While he and his army were in battle far from home, the bad guys, the Amalekites, attacked the city where his family and the families of his army lived. They burned the city and kidnapped their wives and children. When David’s men discovered this, they considered removing him from his position, not by a vote of a board or a congregation, but with big rocks to the head by stoning.

The Scriptures then record one of the most beautiful verses ever written. The King James Version captures it well:

David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.  (1 Sam. 30:6)

It worked because his guys didn’t stone him but marshaled their energy and once again pursued the bad guys under his leadership.

As I’ve faced discouragement in ministry, these simple choices have helped me encourage myself in the Lord.

  • Acknowledge your pain and emotion to the Lord, but don’t wallow in it.
  • Journal your thoughts. Writing them down helps me stop the tendency to incessantly mull over the hurtful situation.
  • Read God’s word, especially those verses that speak of hope and victory.
  • Do something pro-active. Take action to move forward. In David’s case he took specific action to resolve the problem. He rallied his troops to chase down the Amalekites.
  • Stop condemning yourself and remind yourself that you are a child of God, loved by Him with great intrinsic value regardless of whether  your church is growing or whether people treat you with respect.
  • Pray for those who have hurt you. I’m amazed how God diffuses looming bitterness in my heart when I pray for the sheep that bite me.

If you get knocked down, sincerely seek the Lord and rise up in His strength to begin anew.

 

Contributed: The Ministry Advantage: A Weekly Mentoring Newsletter for Church Leaders.

 

 

 

In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is no other way.

Yet many people think that they can be saved through other ways. Religion is not the way; your pastor is not the way; baptism is not the way; church membership is not the way; doing good things is not the way. There is only one way to be saved: Jesus.

As a well-known song proclaims: There is only “one name under heaven whereby we must be saved” — Jesus!

Salvation comes down to this: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him (John 3:36).

Similarly, 1 John 5:12 says, He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. It is clear that Jesus is the only way.

Contributed: Christ Notes

Help! I’m sitting here with a loaded gun!

I once heard a story of a man who was desperately down to his wit end of troubles. In his desperation, he went into his room and loaded a gun.  He was about to kill himself!

As he sat there with the loaded gun, he decided that he had to pray before committing this suicide. He prayed and asked God to intervene to show He’s really there, and if He does, then he would not kill himself.

After praying, the man waited to see what would happen. Lost in his suicidal thoughts, he was startled by the ringing of the telephone. He jumped and quickly looked to see who was disturbing his intended mission. To his surprise, he saw the name “Almighty God” on his caller ID!

Seeing this, he sat there scared and shaking. In a state of shock, he couldn’t even answer the caller on the other end of the line. After a few minutes had elapsed, he finally got the courage to investigate. As he pressed redial on the telephone, he waited nervously to see who would pick up. The phone rang for a while, and just as he was about to hang up, he heard the husky voice of a male on the other end of the line. “How may I help you?” he asked the caller. The caller replied and asked, “Where is this?” The other male replied, “Almighty God Tabernacle.”

Coincidentally, the husky voice turned out to be that of a pastor, who was at his church that evening preparing his sermon for the next day. He had dialed his wife’s number to tell her that he was wrapping up for the evening, and would soon be home. Fortunately, he mistakenly dialed one of the digits, which happened to be the telephone number of the man about to commit suicide. The reason “Almighty God” came up on the suicidal man’s caller ID was because “Tabernacle” was too long to fit on the caller ID.

Well, to end this story, the man explained to the pastor what happened, and the pastor prayed and ministered to him. He was overcome with emotions, by seeing how God had intervened in his life when he was at his lowest point. Right there, the man accepted Jesus Christ as his person Lord and Savior. From that day on, his life has never been the same again. This man was telling his story from the pulpit while preaching a sermon one day. That’s how I came to know this story.

You see, when you are in your darkest moment, God is there with you. Jesus is the light that will guide you through the roughest time in your life (Psalms 119:105). It doesn’t matter how bad the situation appears, God is still in control. While there is life; there are hopes. Suicide is not an option, if you allow God to guide you. He can take whatever the situation is and turn it around for your good (Romans 8:28).

I have heard so many stories of people who were about to kill themselves for whatever reasons, but were prevented, and their lives have changed for the better.

I have a song that I love so much, and I sing this song when I am at my lowest. It might not be the song that you sing, but I will share the first few lines, along with the video with you:

Like a ship sailing out on a trip so rough and long
So far from shore, so far from home.
I SET OUT IN SEARCH OF A REASON TO GO ON
And I found it in the eye of the storm

No matter what storm clouds may rock this ship of mine
The light of my Savior will lead me safely through the night
Though my ship may be rocky and my sails may be torn
I shall rest in the eye of the storm.

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