“He gave them this charge: ‘What a huge harvest!’ And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands. (Luke 10:2)
Serving….
This topic always makes me think about a quote I read about by Helen Keller. “Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much,” Isn’t that so true? When we all come together for one purpose we can accomplish so much more. We can cover so much more ground as we spread the good news of Christ.
Acts 20:24 says, ‘But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. ‘
This past week my church was talking about becoming more outward focused. We were talking about different ways we could reach out to the community and showing people that they are loved. With the ongoing holiday season and people running around constantly through out the day, it’s good to take just a couple minutes and tell someone that, “you are loved". You are loved by someone, you are loved by our Father in Heaven, you are loved more than you could ever know. No matter where you have been in life no matter how much you think you have messed up. Even when you feel you are in the biggest crisis of your life and feel totally and completely unloved….YOU ARE LOVED!
If I could just tell someone just three words. If I had the chance to tell someone I knew a long time ago that I lost contact with, someone that was led astray and has completely lost all hope and belief. I would want to tell them that they are loved! That they are 100% completely loved by an amazingly God, who loves us just the way we are when we come to Him.
So, this past Sunday, we split into groups and we went out into our community. We grabbed some cheeseburgers from McDonalds and some cases of water as we went where God led us to go. As we drove around Modesto we found many people on the streets who were just merely hungry. They were so grateful to receive a single cheeseburger. And, on that cheeseburger were the words ‘You Are Loved!’ No attachment to who we were, just three short words that proclaim a powerful message! A message of hope, an assurance of faith that someone out there does care about them. They really don’t have to know who we are or where we come from, all that matters is that they have realized that someone cares and loves them.
When people who are really hungry realized that there is someone passing out food they will come to you. As we were out we discovered two people huddled among some steps to a building downtown to say warm. As we pulled up we had asked them if were hungry and would like a cheeseburger. Thrilled as they were, another homeless person came over from across the street after seeing we had food for him as well, all were extremely grateful while offering their sincere gratitude for what we had offered them. Even those we asked that were just sitting on a street corner or by the side of the highway if they were hungry, some said they had just eaten and as we gave cheeseburgers to the people around the corner from them, even those previous people we asked were grateful by what they saw. Who knows, maybe we planted a seed somewhere and they can pay it forward sometime. Speaking of paying it forward, one of our groups had given cheeseburgers to a couple sitting on the road, but these people actually already had food in their bags, and as the group was getting ready to pull away those people called another couple over and gave them their cheeseburgers, probably knowing that they were just as hungry and needed food as well. At one point we discovered a group of 8 people huddled over a small fire pit in the park to on the cold night ahead of them, 8 people who had no other place to go but to be in a dark park, who were so grateful for warm food being offered to them. So what are we waiting for? There are so many people out there searching for something, anything. What are we going to do about it?
While in a worship service one Sunday the message was about serving and going out into our community and ‘being the church.’ Well at the end of the message we sang the song “Dirty” from Audio Adrenaline. Just simply listening to these lyrics bring up such a good point about serving and ‘being the church’. It’s about putting ourselves aside and focusing on what’s out in our community backyard and what can be done. Sure there’s third world countries all over the world, but so much of that is right in our own communities. People hurting, hungry and abused. Even human trafficking has even been a huge issue in our surrounding communities. What are we waiting for? Are you willing to step out and get your hands dirty? There is so much “need” out there….what are WE going to do about it????
"Dirty"
Tired of being clean, sick of being proper
I wanna live among the beggars
And dig out in the dirt
Step outside the walls we built to protect us
Don't be afraid to get some mud on your face
Come on, come on everybody
Come on, come on and serve someone
Let's get dirty, let's get used
No matter where you come from
If you're beaten up or bruised
Let's get foolish - let's get free
Free to be the one thing you were meant to be
Let's get dirty
You might get a bruise or some blisters on your fingers
You might start a question and wonder what it's worth
You may slip and fall from the burdens that you carry
But you can't have this treasure
'til you dig it from the dirt
Come on, come on everybody
Come on, come on and serve someone
Come on, come on, everybody
Come on, come on, serve somebody
Come on, come on, everybody
Come on, come on, serve somebody
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