Saturday, February 19, 2011
2/19/11
There was a group of us that went into Harrisburg last night and we found out that a friend of ours was in the hospital. They call him Spider but his real name is Dale. Please be praying for him. There was a group that went to the hospital today to visit with him and pray for him. He should be leaving the hospital today but it would be good to be praying for him. He had a seizure last night that was most likely caused by alcohol use. So pray for him during his recovery and also pray for his addictions. He has been struggling with drinking for a while and I hope that God will sustain him through this tough time. We also met some friends of his Karel, Billy, and Ray. Keep them in your prays as well.
What We Have to Offer
This past week God has really been working in my heart and teaching me more about what it means to give and what it means to serve. The topic of service was talked about in the Men's Ministry group on campus today and the summary was that we first must realize that we can only love because God first loved us. And from that our greatest mission is to love God and then to love others. Our service must stem from our love. If we do not love, we serve with no purpose, and our service is worthless. We looked at an example from the bible in Mark chapter 14 where Jesus was anointed.
If you see a homeless person on the side of the street, do not just simply drop money in their cups or simply hand them food. Rather, talk to them, hear their story, and discover what their true needs are so that you may provide for what they really need. Most of the time it is not just food or money, but they need people to talk to and to encourage them. Listen and act out of love. Also, ask them to pray for you and open up doors of service and giving. Provide for them in their needs, not what you think their needs are. Pray for them and allow them to pray for you.
I think that it is important to understand that the most important thing that we have to offer to anyone is not our money, our time, or our belongings, but it is encouragement, prayer, and Jesus Christ our savior. That is what we truly have to offer.
3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages[a] and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.
6 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7The poor you will always have with you,[b] and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8 She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
The women here gave a beautiful gift to Jesus out of the love of her heart. The thing that God has been laying on me is that the most beautiful gifts come from the love of our hearts and are not about the size of the gifts, they are about the quantity of our gifts, but they are about the meaning behind the gift. Jesus ministry was not about being the most economically efficient, it was about giving from the heart. This perfume may have been the only thing this woman had to offer Jesus and Jesus was not one to take that away from her. He did not wish to prevent her from worshiping Him.
I was told a story about a professor who went on a missions trip to another country that was a fairly poor country. He was invited to dinner by this family of four who wanted to have dinner with him. He went and the only thing that the family had to eat for dinner that day was two eggs. The family took one of the eggs for themselves and wanted to give the man the other one as a gift. But the man refused saying that he did not need it and that they should have it, they need it more. After debating with the family they ended up splitting both the eggs evenly among them. After he left he felt terrible about what he had done. This family had very little to offer as a gift and the one thing that were able to offer he refused. He took away their opportunity to be hospitable and he took away their ability to give. What a tragedy!
In part of learning to give we must also be able to receive. Not being greedy by any means but to be able to accept humbly and to be able to give humbly. We are all called to serve and to give, and if we refuse to accept the gifts of others we are taking away their gifts and their service. Service should come out of need, friendship, and love.
I think that it is important to understand that the most important thing that we have to offer to anyone is not our money, our time, or our belongings, but it is encouragement, prayer, and Jesus Christ our savior. That is what we truly have to offer.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Doing God's Work
There is a lot of exciting things that God is doing in Harrisburg. This friday we were able to take a man named Ron out to eat for his birthday. His favorite type of food is chinese food so we took him out to a local chinese restaurant where we all ate Lo Mein and shared a great time. In our conversation with Ron, he brought up that he would like to start a bible study with us! We plan on meeting next friday night at 8:00 to meet with him and grow as a body of believers together. We have been building a friendship with Ron for a couple months now and it is exciting to see God working in him. Ron told us that his favorite passage of scripture is Psalms 51. I have read through the past two days now and I'm moved by the words that it possesses. Verses 10-12 read:
"Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me a joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
I'm just amazed by God and how he is working in the lives of the homeless in Harrisburg and how he is moving hearts of students here at Messiah College. My prayer is similar to that of Psalms that says 'restore to me a joy of your salvation.' It's easy to lose a passion and a joy for God's salvation and it was a great reminder to me of how much God has done for me and others around me. I ask that you pray for us as we venture into leading a bible study with Ron. I believe that Ron probably has more to teach us that we have to teach him and it's an exciting time to learn and grow from each other. This may also be a stepping stone of reaching out to helping more homeless people in streets of Harrisburg. It's an exciting opportunity that God has given to us.
Another person we met this friday night was a Brazilian college student. He is on his summer break and decided to work through an agency to come to the states and work for the summer. He doesn't have many warm clothes and this led him to come down to the Bethesda Mobile Mission van to seek out some warm clothes. He doesn't have much money at this point because he just started working and if he is like most college students here he is probably short on cash from paying tuition. His name was Mikel and his English is not that good. But he knew enough that we could communicate with him. He mostly talked to us about coming to the states and life in Brazil. We asked him if he wanted to come along with for Chinese and he agreed. We gave him our contact information and hopefully we can build a relationship with him while he is in Harrisburg.
It's exiting to see everything that God is doing now but we are still trying to learn how God can use more effectively. There was a group of us that came together and talked yesterday to discuss the direction that our ministry is going. 1 Corinthians 9:26 says, "Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air." As a group of believers we wanted to build a system of accountability and build a clear vision of we want to serve. We also wanted to make sure that our number one priority is the wellbeing of those we are serving. Serving and loving the homeless in name of Jesus Christ is what we want to keep as our motivation for what we do. We talked about this and we also discussed how we want to deal with more people wanting to join us. In these cold winter months there are not that many homeless people still sleeping on the streets and hanging around where we normally go. We have been bring around ten or so people every week and there are only about ten homeless people out.
So after discussing these two things we decided that we should have different groups going on different nights and spread ourselves out throughout the week. We have three of us at the moment in charge of a different day to try and get people to go and serve. We also want to remain just a group of guys serving God and not seek recognition as a club or organization. We feel that this is going to take away from the purpose of serving out of our own love and care for the people of Harrisburg. We were also able to talk to a director of dining services and we may be able to get left over food from the cafeteria and student union to take in with us. We were expecting it to be a struggle to talk with the directors of dinning services but they were very willing to help as long as the chefs and head director are willing to help. I ask that you pray that this works out for us to be able to serve in this new way. I know that God will continue to provide for us and we seek His name only.
Luke 17:10 "...We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty."
"Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me a joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
I'm just amazed by God and how he is working in the lives of the homeless in Harrisburg and how he is moving hearts of students here at Messiah College. My prayer is similar to that of Psalms that says 'restore to me a joy of your salvation.' It's easy to lose a passion and a joy for God's salvation and it was a great reminder to me of how much God has done for me and others around me. I ask that you pray for us as we venture into leading a bible study with Ron. I believe that Ron probably has more to teach us that we have to teach him and it's an exciting time to learn and grow from each other. This may also be a stepping stone of reaching out to helping more homeless people in streets of Harrisburg. It's an exciting opportunity that God has given to us.
Another person we met this friday night was a Brazilian college student. He is on his summer break and decided to work through an agency to come to the states and work for the summer. He doesn't have many warm clothes and this led him to come down to the Bethesda Mobile Mission van to seek out some warm clothes. He doesn't have much money at this point because he just started working and if he is like most college students here he is probably short on cash from paying tuition. His name was Mikel and his English is not that good. But he knew enough that we could communicate with him. He mostly talked to us about coming to the states and life in Brazil. We asked him if he wanted to come along with for Chinese and he agreed. We gave him our contact information and hopefully we can build a relationship with him while he is in Harrisburg.
It's exiting to see everything that God is doing now but we are still trying to learn how God can use more effectively. There was a group of us that came together and talked yesterday to discuss the direction that our ministry is going. 1 Corinthians 9:26 says, "Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air." As a group of believers we wanted to build a system of accountability and build a clear vision of we want to serve. We also wanted to make sure that our number one priority is the wellbeing of those we are serving. Serving and loving the homeless in name of Jesus Christ is what we want to keep as our motivation for what we do. We talked about this and we also discussed how we want to deal with more people wanting to join us. In these cold winter months there are not that many homeless people still sleeping on the streets and hanging around where we normally go. We have been bring around ten or so people every week and there are only about ten homeless people out.
So after discussing these two things we decided that we should have different groups going on different nights and spread ourselves out throughout the week. We have three of us at the moment in charge of a different day to try and get people to go and serve. We also want to remain just a group of guys serving God and not seek recognition as a club or organization. We feel that this is going to take away from the purpose of serving out of our own love and care for the people of Harrisburg. We were also able to talk to a director of dining services and we may be able to get left over food from the cafeteria and student union to take in with us. We were expecting it to be a struggle to talk with the directors of dinning services but they were very willing to help as long as the chefs and head director are willing to help. I ask that you pray that this works out for us to be able to serve in this new way. I know that God will continue to provide for us and we seek His name only.
Luke 17:10 "...We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty."
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