Transcript – Matters of Love
(Note that all transcripts were created from audio recordings, and therefore any mistakes are the transcriptionist's, not the speaker's.)
Filename -- MattersOfLove_MuslimFundamentalists_transcription.htm
(Preaching to Muslim Fundamentalists in Pakistan)
Speaker: Unknown
Erwin McManus is a preacher in Las Angeles. And in the year 2000 he was in the Middle East on a trip. And he was getting to go around and see all the tourist locations. But he had a friend in Pakistan that knew he was coming that lived there and he asked, “Could you come and speak to a few of my buddies that happen to be Muslim fundamentalists? There’ll be about ten.”
Erwin agreed and said, “Well what do you want me to talk to them about?” He was told just to talk about Christianity in America.
Well he got there in this room and there happened to be over 100 Muslim fundamentalists there. He said there was a volatility in the room, that you just couldn’t understand unless you were actually there. He learned later that some of them in the room had actually brought weapons to this thing. His friend also told him, “By the way you might not want to say anything about Jesus being God; that might not go over so well.” So he said go up and speak.
So Erwin stands up and he doesn’t know what he’s going to say, then all of a sudden he opens his mouth and he says, “American Christianity is immoral.
And they say “Yes, amen, yes it is.”
And he goes on to say, “American Christianity is materialistic.” And they agreed with that too because to them, nation and religion are the same thing. To them, Christians produce Playboy Magazines.
And he goes on to say, “But right now in America, there is a movement that is sweeping across the nation that is stamping out American Christianity.
And they got excited and said, “Tell us about this movement.”
And he said, “It was a movement started 2000 years ago by a man named Jesus Christ. And it is advanced today by his sincere followers. And one of them stood up and started yelling really loud and harshly. Then Erwin realized he was speaking Arabic and that’s how you sound when you speak Arabic. And this guy asked him a question, “You keep speaking about this true gospel. What is this true Gospel?”
And Erwin said, “Many years ago I met a girl named Kim.” Not the typical way a gospel message starts out. And he said, “As soon as I met this girl I loved her. And I pursued her with my love, and when I was confident that my love had captured her I asked her to be my bride. And she said, “No.” So I pursued her longer and harder until finally I knew that my love had captured her and I asked her again to marry me. And this time she said “Yes!”
But Erwin said, “I could not have sent a friend. And I could not have sent an acquaintance. Because in matters of love, only the lover can convey the message. And that’s the gospel.”
Isn’t that the truth? That in matters of love, a friend, a prophet, God couldn’t just drop a book down. He had to come Himself.
Return to Sermon SoundBytes