Outward, Onward and Upward

We spent the weekend in Choctaw County, Mississippi visiting Bobby's family. The first Sunday in May is Homecoming Sunday at his childhood church, New Haven Baptist. We spent Saturday putting flowers on the graves of his deceased family. Lots of memories were shared by Bobby, his sister Peggy and his Niece Tricia. The area was hit by a tornado a week ago on Saturday April 24th, we saw the devastation it left in its path, the rains from this Saturday hindered the clean up. I am going to give you an outline of Pastor Ballard's sermon to his congregation a week after the tornado. He used the Scripture from Matthew 9 v 35-38 Jesus went about the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and disease among the people. When he saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. then Jesus said to his disciples, " The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest." the victims of the tornado are scattered and weary, the people of the community were touched with compassion and wanted to help. Pastor said this is the OUTWARD responsibility, to help with food, clothes and shelter. To begin the job of clearing home sites in order to begin to rebuild. That compassion comes from God, the WANT TO help someone in distress. Jesus ministered to those no one else wanted to minister to, prostitutes, those tormented with demons, leprosy, and the lame. Too often the Christian community does not want to minister to those who need Him the most. How often do you stop to pray for those hurting people who need Jesus in their lives ? INWARD responsibility, As laborers for God we should be at His mercy to serve I Cor. 4v1 says we are, "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God". Paul was a servant of Christ who served willingly in spite of all the trials and tribulations that came his way. God calls us to come alongside of Him, to do His will is a choice, He will not force us. Upward, is prayer, to be constant and consistent in prayer. To not allow worry and stress of our daily life to choke out our prayer time. To live each day free from worry, tomorrow will have its own set of problems. Remember you are a laborer in Christ's Army, He has a position and a place for you to serve Him. We are to bring peace and hope to a hopeless world, in order to do this we must move out of our comfort zone inside the church building, get outside where the hurting people are. This is our purpose as believers, to bring a lost and dying world to Jesus. Ask, Lord what have you for me to do ? Lord, broaden my scope, send me to the lost where I might bring hope to those who need you the most. Until next time "Keep Your Eyes On Jesus" !