lost

January 12, 2016

Did You Get My Text?

even-smaller-bug-light135 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” — Matt. 9:35-38 NIV

​When ​we read this and similar passages about the lifestyle that Jesus led, what are our thoughts?  Does any part ot this passage jump off the page and grab hold of us? Do we think “good stuff, but that is what Jesus was sent to do” or do our hearts beat a little faster and we think “I want to be like that, I want to be like Jesus”?  Or do we think “I could never do that, I am not a great speaker and I am not a healer.”?  God has a plan for each of us to bring others to Him with our words and our actions.  God had a plan for Moses and spent eighty years training Him to lead His people out of bondage and through a desert to a land flowing with milk and honey. God made a huge investment in Moses so that Moses could lead God’s lost sheep out of Egypt.  What investment has God made in our lives and are we willing to allow Him to use us to lead the lost sheep around us?  If we are “waiting for the call”, we have already received it.  Not in the sense of being full time ministers, missionaries, etc, but in the sense of being full time Chirstians.  Our every word and every action is a mini-sermon to those around us.  What message are we preaching?
 

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! — Romans 10:14, 15 NIV

​God knows we received the text He sent, He is waiting on our response!
Post 01-12-2016
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June 4, 2015

Joy Unspeakable!

even smaller bug light

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.—1 Cor. 9:19-23 NIV

​Paul uses whatever he has in common with a person to build a bridge to communicate with that person.​ Paul understood the Old Testament Law and could speak to that. He knows what it is to be freed from that law and live under Christ’s law, the law of Christ is to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. We are also instructed to bear one another’s burdens.  Paul does all these things to win souls to Christ and so must we show love and compassion.  It is a true saying that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.  That is the example that Jesus set for us while He was here on earth. Becoming “all things to all people” is much too vast a subject to cover here. But we can all speak or act when we feel that little nudge from the Holy Spirit to do so. We just need to do our part and trust God for the results, Then our lives will be overflowing with blessings and Joy unspeakable!
Post 06-04-2015