You may have heard of a church in Redding, California called Bethel. If not then perhaps you will have heard of the Senior leader there, Bill Johnson. The Church has a School of Supernatural Ministry which attracts hundreds of students each year.
My Uncle shared with me a testimony of how some of them have become renoun in their city for their generousity. Its very simple. Whenever they hang out with each other to grab a coffee, they always pay for other customers (complete strangers!!!) who are queuing up as well!!
As a result these students have become recognised by the public for their kindness. People know that if someone is offering to pay for their coffee then they are probably christians from Bethel church.
This really impressed me because through simple acts of kindness such as paying for somebody's coffee, the students have created a culture of generousity. Moreover, so many people are getting to hear about Jesus because of it and I imagine that many people have already given their lives to Him.
A lady from my church has recently moved to Bethel to study at the school there. One day she was talking to her housemate and commented on the fact that she liked her bag. The next day she came home to find that her housemate had bought one her the same one! What a kind and simple way of showing the love of Jesus.
I was also told another story (not from Bethel) about somebody at a fast food drive-thru who paid for the customer behind them. In turn that customer paid for the person behind them and so on and so on and this continued for customer after customer, miles beyond the first person who took the initiative to be generous. His actions resulted a whole number of people moving in Christ-like, Kingdom-like qualities.
Simple acts which are habitually carried out can create a new culture which in turn can affect our surroundings. This is the Kingdom of God at work. It influences and transforms the environment in to which it is released, displaying Christ to the world.
Today I read in Mark 9:38-42 that Jesus' disciples stopped a man from casting out demons in the name of Jesus because the man wasn't a part of them. Jesus' response was "Do not stop him, No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us."
I imagine that due to the fact that wherever Jesus went He performed miracles, this created an atmosphere of expectation and excitement which rubbed off on other people and so they tried to imitate Him using His name. In a way Jesus created a culture of the miraculous which resulted in others copying Him.
We have the ability to release the Kingdom of God in tangible way which can have a lasting impact upon the people around us. In fact, Jesus sent us and commanded us to do this when He said "Go...." (Mat 28:28). When we exert the influence of the invisible realm over the visible realm, the superior invisible reality is always triumphant.
You may not have enough money to pay for people's coffee's but you can do something. You'd be surprised how the Kingdom of God can work just through simple acts of kindness. It naturally grows and increases without effort (Isaiah 9:7).
Be inspired! Next time you are with some Christian friends sow something Kingdom. You could end up developing a Kingdom culture and leading people to Jesus. God said that the Heavens are His but that He has given the earth to us (Psalms 115:16) so lets restore it to His original intention - perfection in Christ.
Amen!
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