Reading:
Now the question is, “How do I live this out in a practical way?” We discover the answer to this question together as a body of Christ. Christ said that the world will know that we are His by how we love one another. We live out the truths of scripture together. We question and we listen and we share what God has taught us. We encourage and challenge each other to keep pressing into the Gospel and God’s Word. And we seek God together. And we have a God, who is walking along side us, helping us to be the church. More than helping, He leads the church. And He will lead us into practical ways to serve the poor and downtrodden.

Scripture reading:
2 Timothy 3:16,17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Questions:
What are some practical ways you can apply these lessons to your own life?

How can you encourage these lessons in others?

How does your life need to change to live these principles?

Who are some people in your daily life that you can minister too? In your everyday life is God providing opportunities to minister to the poor?

What is available in your neighborhood? What opportunities are there?

What actions can you take, now?

Reading:
In Acts 20, Paul leaves this thought to those he has ministered among, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” God has promised a blessing to those who serve others in Christ. Those who get this are generous in their service and giving. They get that the things of this world are wearing away like an old cloth, but the things of the Kingdom and its treasures never fade away. God offers us life and life abundantly. He offers us joy to the full. He offers us the desires of our hearts. As we surrender our lives and our hearts and our minds into His loving care, we are blessed. Jesus doesn’t promise a fantasy world. He doesn’t promise homes or comfort. His commands may seem hard in our flesh, but His commands are always for our good and for our blessing and to increase our joy in Him. He offers something so much more valuable than worldly possessions. Do we trust Him, who feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies of the field? Do we trust His love? Are we willing to step out in the adventure that He has laid before us? Do we trust His embrace and His love for us? He is God and He is mighty. He will not let us down. He will not choose second best for us.

Paul did not have easy. He suffered. He had the burden of loving the churches he had helped to start. But Paul had joy and he had it immensely. And he daily was ready to pour out his life for the Gospel. Paul before His death wrote, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Paul didn’t just see this just as a future blessing, but it was a part of what God was doing in His life day to day. He knew he was loved by God.

We are caught up in the most romantic love story – the Gospel. It is a part of our day to day life. It is a joy and a blessing to be a part of it. It is a joy and a blessing to be able to pour our lives out daily as a drink offering as we follow Christ, our Beloved. . . .

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Acts 20:35
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Proverbs 14:21b
blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

Questions:
Jesus didn’t do anything without the Father, where is God going in your environment? What are the blessings of following Jesus?

Do you believe ministering to the poor is a blessing, or is it a burden?

How is the interaction between the poor and rich a blessing?

In what ways is ministering to the poor a blessing for us for you?

What things prevent you from being merciful?

Reading:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you —see that you excel in this act of grace also.
— 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
— 1 John 3:16,17

The Gospel is commanding. It takes dominion in our lives. It is a force that changes our hearts and our minds, conforming us into the image of Christ. We preach the Gospel, because God has ordained the preaching of the Gospel as a means of His grace. And he has established that His Gospel will be preached through those in the church. That is us. But even though God has ordained this, it is not mechanical. John doesn’t just say, we obey and do what is right. John says that we love. We love God and we love to preach the Gospel. So where does this love come from?

John lays out the heart of the believer and where our motivation comes from to minister to the poor – the work of Christ in our own lives . . . . He states, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” We know love, because He first loved us. When we get this, when we get the depths of Jesus’ love for us, our hearts will be moved to know and to love others. John demonstrates an integral connection between being loved by God and walking in the truth of the Gospel and the outward expression of the Gospel’s work in loving others. Our motivation for ministry to the poor comes from the security of the redemption we have in work of Christ.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about the church in Macedonia. This church was going through “a severe test of affliction” and “extreme poverty”. They had very little and were in need themselves. But in the midst of this desperate state, they gave to the poor in Jerusalem. And they didn’t give out of legalism, but in “their abundance of joy” their giving “overflowed in a wealth of generosity”. Paul writes that they were so passionate about giving, that they were “begging [Paul and those with him] earnestly for the favor of taking part. . . .” Where did this church get their motivation? . . . Paul writes, “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” Their motivation was from surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ.
In Deuteronomy 10, God points to His work as the motivation for the Israelites to love others:

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”

Also in Deuteronomy 17:

“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.”

God’s love for Israel was their motivation to love others, the fact that He loved them first, that He chose them, and He had been mighty with them. “He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.” The work of God in their own lives and understanding the depths of it, that he took them as sojourners and rescued them was their motivation to love the sojourner in their own land. The people of Israel were to love well with open hands, because they were loved well with open hands. And likewise we love those without the Gospel, because we were brought out of slavery to sin into this great salvation.

But God has done so much more in the Gospel, than He did for Israel. He is our God, who has done a mighty and powerful work in us. We have been brought into the true Kingdom of God. And His work in us is far greater and full of more glory than the work He did with the nation of Israel. For He has circumcised our hearts when we could not circumcised our own hearts, turning our stubborn hearts of stone into flesh. He has completed the demands of the Law in our lives. Jesus completed this at the cross and as we come close to the cross, we are changed. At the cross, we are “sweetly broken”. I like the words of Jeremy Riddle’s song,

Sweetly Broken –
At the cross you beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees
And I am
Lost for words so lost in love
I am sweetly broken holy surrender

Paul wrote of the Macedonians, “ they gave themselves first to the Lord . . . .” This is the beauty of the Gospel. As we are beckoned to Christ, we are “sweetly broken” and able to walk in “holy surrender”. It is no longer a work. It is trusting in the work of Christ, having faith in His work, laying all that we are down, and allowing His work to change us. In the Gospel, God boldly works in us through sanctification, with all certainty and determination to continue to grow in our hearts love for others. This is why John states that loving others must happen if we are in the Gospel. He says this because the Gospel is not weak, the work of Jesus is not weak, but certain to work love into our hearts. So this love that we have growing in our hearts for others is a work of God and not our own. And God is not thwarted . . . .

This fact gives me much encouragement, when I don’t feel capable of evangelizing or loving others or even don’t feel like loving others. God is at work in me and He will accomplish it, because it is about His work, not mine. And even when I have those times I don’t want to love others, I know He is at work in me.

Here is the deal; we are motivated not through looking at ourselves and working to muster up a love in ourselves. We are motivated, because He first loved us. He loves us! Do you get that? Let me repeat that. He loves us! He loves us so much that He brings us into His love for others. God has chosen the Gospel as the means for this love to be made manifest. And as we come to trust the Gospel, not just that He saves us from God’s wrath, but that God also brings us into His Kingdom and conforms us into the image of Christ; we will discover that love is growing in our hearts. We don’t look to ourselves; we come and look to Christ, believing in His work.

What I mean is that He loves us so much, that we don’t have to muster up love for other people, all we have to do is come to Him. And when we come to God, He will take us up in His arms. We are His handiwork and as we lay our bodies as living sacrifices in His loving and intimate hands, he will carefully mold us into that love. And the work He does in us is faithful and sure.

Our motivation comes from understanding with more clarity the severity and intense sweetness of the gospel, the severity of the gospel for those who do not believe and are enemies of Christ, just as we were once enemies of God and the sweetness of being delivered from that state into this glorious Kingdom of love. Ministering to the others comes out of a deep seated understanding of the riches Christ lavished on us when we were undeserving and deserved His severity. And we step out in these truths knowing it is not about whether or not we fail, because God’s work does not fail and He has determined to do a good work in us, because He loves us. When we understand what Christ has done for us, we will have the freedom to give our lives to others and in “[our] abundance of joy and [our] extreme poverty have [an overflow] in a wealth of generosity.” As we give ourselves to Christ first, we too will, “[beg God] earnestly for the favor of taking part” in loving others.

Is this not grand! Oh, how vast the grace of God toward us, that He brings us in to participate in His great Cosmic story of Grace! That He allows us to love others and to be vessels for the proclamation of the Gospel. We get to participate in this awe inspiring story, because He loves us. . . because he loves us. God uses us as instruments to proclaim the Gospel to the world. And this is evangelism – being caught up in this grand story.

This is the power of the Gospel as it sanctifies our hearts and conforms us into the image of Christ. The more we see the magnificence and grandeur of what God has done for us and grow in our understanding of the Gospel in our own lives, the more passion we will have as God takes us into His story and uses us to reach out to others.

And realize, yes, this is something we do as individuals in our everyday lives, but this is not something we do as individuals. We do this together as a church. The church is to work together in ministering to the poor, each person contributing their gifts and skills to the work of the Gospel in a very practical way. And we motivate each other in this. We are motivated to speaking the Gospel to the world as we as a church speak the Gospel to one another. We speak the Gospel to each other, just as the cherubim cry out to each other “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts”

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Acts 20:42
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Questions:
How do we know love?

How do we know love for others?

When God spoke to Israel about how to treat foreigners and sojourners in the land, as motivation He told them to remember that they were foreigners in Egypt. Also Jesus while preaching would say that because we are forgiven, we should forgive others. How does this apply to our motivation for helping the poor? How does motivating us to remember the Gospel , motivate us in ministering to the poor?

What is the scriptural motivation for ministering to the poor?
Do you believe God can use you? What does this say about your belief in the Gospel and His love for you?

God made a way across the sea for the Israelites, when there was no way? How does this apply for this?

How can you encourage each other as a church, community group, family to be caught up in the Cosmic Story and minister to the poor?

Reading:

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
— Philippians 2:4-8

The Gospel is very personal. Christ was not aloof, acting from a distance in order to bring about salvation for His people. He came near, was born as a babe, and walked and lived among us. He “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” God came into our world. This means that obeying God in ministering to the poor and catching His heart for the poor does not happen from a distance. There is no aloofness. This is at the heart of the command of Christ,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This command challenges us to engage people, because it can only be fully obeyed by coming near and being involved in people’s lives.

In Jesus’ ministry, he didn’t just preach, he was involved in the lives of those around Him. The Pharisees often used this fact as a means for accusing Jesus. “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” The Pharisees were upset because Jesus engaged “sinners” in such a personal way. This disturbed them. How could a righteous man associate with these “sinners”? This truth doesn’t just strike and disturb the heart of the Pharisees, it disturbs my heart as well. I prefer being aloof, distant, and safe. I don’t want to touch someone who is dirty or smelly. I don’t want to bring someone who is needy and annoying into my life. . . .

But God loves us, and He knows the richness of what it means to minister to the poor. And He knows that these riches cannot be gained from being far away from the poor. He knows the joy of what it will be like in our lives if we love as Christ loved. If we engage people as Christ engaged people. And this is why He commands it and why He has ordained that there will always be the poor in the land. There is richness as the poor and rich interact with each other. They both desperately need each other, neither one being better than the other, but both being richer for the other. James writes,

“Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. . . . My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

Where do we find our riches in how we interact with people – are we seeking prestige and comfort or are we seeking something that far outweighs the riches of this world? We need the poor, the physically, emotionally, and mentally challenged, the orphan, the unwanted, and the downtrodden in our lives. These people are not people to be sat down at our feet, they are to sit with us and near us. Do we realize that what we have from this world is so fragile and fading, but it is in these interactions with others in the church both rich and poor that we gain something that is eternal? This happens as we in a very personal and engaging way preach the Gospel to one another and come together as the Body of Christ.

So we don’t see ministry to the poor as something we do for others to help them. We do pursue relationships because we desperately need them as a part of our lives, and we need them to speak the Gospel into our lives, reminding us of the love of Christ. Therefore aloofness or setting the poor at our feet or in the back of the room is not ok with us. We see them as a treasure and desperately want them to be a part of our lives, so that in their riches, they can serve us. And my hope is that those who are poor materially in this world, but rich in faith, will also not stand aloof and keep their distance from those of us who need the riches of faith that they have to offer. Because when it comes down to it, we are all poor and in need of one another in the body of Christ, and we must engage each other and be involved in each other’s lives.
Paul writes,

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We have to remember, we are not equal with God, our kingdoms are not what we live for. We no longer live for ourselves. We live for something far better. We have laid our lives down for the Gospel. When it comes to the poor, the destitute, the broken, our purpose is not to just address a physical or social need or injustice (although this is important), but to address and engage the person and show them Jesus, because God in such a mighty and personal way engaged us with a powerful love.

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Luke 6:32-36
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Questions:
Jesus didn’t just preach he met physical needs as well, why?

When is giving a handout engaging the poor and when is it only making our consciences feel better, but in reality not engaging the person? When is it showing the Gospel?

Who do we value in this world? Are the poor and destitute, people that we desire as a treasure?

In ministering to the “undeserving poor” what does it mean to engage them?

Do you engage with people that are different from you, awkward, or make you feel uncomfortable? Why? What is your view of this attitude?

Johnathan Edwards wrote,

in many cases, we may, by the rules of the gospel, be obliged to give to others, when we cannot do it without suffering ourselves. As if our neighbor’s difficulties and necessities be much greater than our own, and we see that he is not like to be otherwise relieved, we should be willing to suffer with him, and to take part of his burden on ourselves. Else how is that rule of bearing one another’s burdens fulfilled? If we be never obliged to relieve others’ burdens, but when we can do it without burdening ourselves, then how do we bear our neighbor’s burdens, when we bear no burden at all? Though we may not have a superfluity, yet we may be obliged to afford relief to others who are in much greater necessity. As appears by that rule, Luke 3:11, “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.” — Yea, they who are very poor may be obliged to give for the relief of others in much greater distress than they. If there be no other way of relief, those who have the lightest burden are obliged still to take some part of their neighbor’s burden, to make it the more supportable. A brother may be obliged to help a brother in extremity, though they are both very much in want. The apostle commends the Macedonian Christians, that they were liberal to their brethren, though they themselves were in deep poverty. 2 Cor. 8:1, 2, “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: how in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”

What do you think about this statement?

Questions:
Do you see the Kingdom of God as physically or spiritually present, or both?

When do you minister to the poor? Under what settings?

Reading:

“Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”
–Titus 2:2-10

You might be wondering what this verse has to do with poverty, well, quite a bit actually. Here Paul is describing daily behavior in the church – being sober minded, homemaking, good works, speech, and service – and he states “that the word of God may not be reviled.” It is the everyday life of the believer, his everyday actions, and his everyday interactions with others that “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” In the Law, ministering to the poor is described as something that is done in the everyday life of a righteous man. It is not this separate grand act committed, but a natural outgrowth of the life of the righteous. Ministering to the poor is an everyday life thing because, “the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You will freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’” This understanding is evident in Job, when he cries out,

“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),
if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or the needy without covering,
if his body has not blessed me,
and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate,
then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.

Job was not talking about grand ministries to the poor or social agendas, but an everyday caring for people that God placed in his life. The scripture states, “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother . . . .” The Christian is to be aware of the needs around him, and in the ability that God has given him, he is to reach out to meet those needs.

This brings a lot of comfort to me. Why? Ministry to the poor does not have to be this grand overwhelming all consuming ministry in my life. I can minister to the poor as I go about my every day, and sometimes boring life. All I have to do is keep my eyes open and take the opportunities that God places in my life to love on people. So this message is not for those who have given every aspect of their lives to the poor (and thank God for those people, we need them in the body of Christ). This message is for me and for all of us in the body of Christ, no matter what the circumstances may be.

The Gospel is pervasive and engages the whole of who we are. In Christ, the Kingdom of God has broken through into this world and our everyday lives. And how we live our everyday lives demonstrates what type of Kingdom this is. When Christ came to earth, He not only preached the gospel, but demonstrated what the Kingdom of God was like by meeting fleshly physical needs. He healed the sick and fed the hungry. He even saved men from a storm. Christians are not mystics, who see that the only things that matter are the spiritual. The Kingdom of God is not this mysterious mystical aspect of our lives. The Kingdom of God is not a fantasy, but very real and very real in the way it is manifested in our lives. The Kingdom of God acts on this world. This Kingdom does not look on poverty and injustice and ignore it or walk away, but instead acts like a Kingdom that is meant to rule and engages injustice and brokenness. Early in the church, this aspect of the physical manifestation of Kingdom of God is evident in the fact that a Church office was dedicated to this fact – the deacon.

How that plays out in mine and your life, is my asking God to keep me from hardening my heart or turning a blind eye to the needs of others and asking God to teach me to live with my hands opened wide to those God places in front of me in this world. I am still learning, but that too is the Gospel as God sanctifies me and helps me to grow.

God has ordained poverty, and He has ordained that we love the poor. And so we know there will be opportunities to minister to the poor in our lives. We can’t get away from that fact. And as we understand this truth, we will also understand that God enables what he commands in our lives. This is not an overwhelming burden God has placed on us, but an overwhelming joy that God delights to bring us into. God wants us to experience His heart and His excitement and delight as we minister to the poor. This is a blessing that God brings us into.

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Micah 6:6-8
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 72:1
Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!

Luke 3:11
And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Luke 10:9
Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Luke 9:11
When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.

Questions:
Under what conditions in our lives are we to minister to the poor?
God starts off angry at Israel, even though they claim to seek Him daily.

“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God. . . .
And then God calls them to a true fast that is worked out in their daily life.
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

What do these verses in Isaiah 48 mean to you?

What does the Kingdom of God look like in our world? Does it have physical ramifications?

Who has all authority and power and rule? How is this displayed?

Jesus didn’t just preach he met physical needs as well, why?

How might this concept look in your life?

Who are some people in your daily life that you can minister too?

Are there ministries that you can support?

What does the scripture mean when it says to not harden your heart and to have your hands open to the poor?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

Your money and your goods are not your own. They are only committed to you as stewards, to be used for him who committed them to you. 1 Pet. 4:9, 10, “Use hospitality one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” A steward has no business with his master’s goods, to use them any otherwise than for the benefit of his master and his family, or according to his master’s direction. He hath no business to use them, as if he were the proprietor of them. He hath nothing to do with them, only as he is to use them for his master. He is to give everyone of his master’s family their portion of meat in due season.
But if instead of that, he hoards up his master’s goods for himself, and withholds them from those of the household, so that some of the family are pinched for want of food and clothing. He is therein guilty of robbing his master and embezzling his substance. And would any householder endure such a steward? If he discovered him in such a practice, would he not take his goods out of his hands, and commit them to the care of some other steward, who should give everyone of his family his portion of meat in due season? Remember that all of us must give account of our stewardship, and how we have disposed of those goods which our Master has put into our hands. And if when our Master comes to reckon with us, it be found that we have denied some of his family their proper provision, while we have hoarded up for ourselves, as if we had been the proprietors of our Master’s goods, what account shall we give of this?

What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

Many persons are ready to look upon what is bestowed for charitable uses as lost. But we ought not to look upon it as lost, because it benefits those whom we ought to love as ourselves. And not only so, but it is not lost to us, if we give any credit to the Scriptures. See the advice that Solomon gives in Ecc. 11:1, “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.” By casting our bread upon the waters, Solomon means giving it to the poor, as appears by the next words, “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight.” Waters are sometimes put for people and multitudes.

What strange advice would this seem to many, to cast their bread upon the waters, which would seem to them like throwing it away! What more direct method to lose our bread, than to go and throw it into the sea? But the wise man tells us, No, it is not lost; you shall find it again after many days. It is not sunk, but you commit it to Providence. You commit it to the winds and waves. However it will come about to you, and you shall find it again after many days. Though it should be many days first, yet you shall find it at last, at a time when you most need it. He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. And God is not one of those who will not pay again what is lent to him. If you lend anything to God, you commit it into faithful hands. Pro. 19:17, “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” God will not only pay you again, but he will pay you with great increase. Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given you,” that is, in “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.”

What do you think about what he said?

What scriptures do you know, where God commands us to minister to the poor?

Why is God so passionate about the righteous caring for the poor?

Why does God get upset when the poor are not being ministered to?

What is at the heart of God commanding us to minister to the poor?

Reading:
Not only has God ordained that there be poor, but there is another side of that – He has also ordained that we minister to the poor. Don’t go by this too quickly – God has ordained that we minister to the poor. The scripture is wrought with scriptures declaring that the righteous regard the poor. This is not just an afterthought. God over and over again speaks of His concern for the poor and downtrodden. One cannot read through the whole of scripture without finding this theme. James states, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Christianity is associated tightly with ministering to the poor and downtrodden. Why is God so passionate about this? God is even seen getting angry at those who ignore the poor. In Isaiah 58, God rebukes Israel, telling them they have not truly fasted nor found Sabbath rest:

“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God associates caring for the poor and downtrodden with worship, fasting and Sabbath rest. James associates it with pure religion. This is not a “maybe” part of a Christian walk, it will be part of the Christian walk. When we begin to understand what the depth of the Cosmic Story is about how God pursued and loved those who were poor, destitute, crazy, rebellious, and undeserving, how he loved us, we begin to get a glimpse of how important this is to God, and why God commands us to minister to the poor. God is so passionate about the righteous loving the poor, because He is so passionate about loving us, passionate enough to send His son to die. And God gets upset when we don’t love the poor, because as Christians this violates the image of the Gospel that God ordained when He stated the poor will never cease from the land. Portraying the Gospel in a very real way is at the very center of ministry to the poor, therefore God commands us to minister to the poor and destitute.

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Micah 6
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

1 Corinthians 6:19b,20a
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

Proverbs 21:13
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.

Proverbs 28:27
Whoever gives to the poor will not want,
but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Questions:
Why is God so passionate about the righteous caring for the poor?

Proverbs 21:13 states, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” Proverbs 28:27 states, “Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.” Why does God get upset when the poor are not being ministered to?

What is at the heart of God commanding us to minister to the poor?

Are you ministering to the poor? Is this occurring in our own church?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,
THE duty here enjoined, is giving to the poor. “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: — Thou shalt surely give him.” Here by thy poor brother is to be understood the same as in other places is meant by neighbor. It is explained in Lev. 25:35 to mean not only those of their own nation, but even strangers and sojourners. “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner.” The Pharisees indeed interpreted it to signify only one of their own nation. But Christ condemns this interpretation, Luke 10:29, etc. and teaches, in contradiction to their opinion, that the rules of charity, in the law of Moses, are to be extended to the Samaritans, who were not of their nation, and between whom and the Jews there was the most bitter enmity, and who were a people very troublesome to the Jews.
What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,
God gives us direction how we are to give in such a case, viz. bountifully, and willingly. We should give bountifully, and sufficiently for the supply of the poor’s need. Deu. 15:7, 8, “Thou shalt not shut up thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.” And again, in verse 11, “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Again, we should give willingly and without grudging. Deu. 15:7, “Thou shalt not harden thine heart from thy poor brother,” And verse 10, “And thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest him.”
What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,
This is a duty to which God’s people are under very strict obligation. It is not merely a commendable thing for a man to be kind and bountiful to the poor, but our bounden duty, as much a duty as it is to pray, or to attend public worship, or anything else whatever. And the neglect of it brings great guilt upon any person.
What do you think about what he said?

Questions:
In Deuteronomy 15:11, God states that the poor will never cease from the land, what did this indicate about the “Promised Land”?

Reading:
In Isaiah, we read this passage –

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,”
–Isaiah 61:1,2a

There is something significant to all the passages in Deuteronomy 15:11 and the rest of the Old Testament that reveals a gut wrenching, heartfelt concern for the poor and a concern on how God’s people respond and love those who are in poverty. God in these passages is not only concerned with the poor, but His heart and love for the poor reveal something much deeper and much more pervasive. And even though Israel was coming into the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 15:11, this was not God’s ultimate plan. The fact that the needy and the poor would not cease in the land was an indication of that this was not the fulfillment, but pointed to the fact that God had something more ultimate in mind. . . . Israel was a shadow of a Kingdom that would break in to our world through the preaching of the Gospel Jesus Christ.
It’s no coincidence that this passage in Isaiah 61 was read by Jesus as He was beginning His ministry. Another passage in Isaiah 55, cries out,

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.”
–Isaiah 55:1

In the real world, it is not just a few who are poor; we all are poor, and not only poor but utterly destitute and wretched, ugly and depraved, enslaved and rebellious, blind, broken, and needy. Romans 3 shows us that none of us escape this poverty –

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

God has ordained that there be poor, destitute, and orphans in the land, because all of us are poor and destitute in our sin. The poor are a picture of who we are, in a small sense, for our poverty and destitution is far greater than any physical need and even goes into the depths of hell, for in our sin, we are separated from communion with God. In Christ’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man cries out from Hades, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” This rich man in this parable experienced poverty, unheard of in this life. And this is our poverty without Christ. A spiritual poverty that is very real.
All the scriptures in the Old Testament about reaching out to the poor and needy in the land and the passion we see in the heart of God towards the poor, demonstrated a need for something more than the nation of Israel, something greater than the “Promised Land”. And these commands of God to love the poor, demonstrated that one day God, himself, would with open hands give himself to poor sinners. God’s passion for the poor comes from His deep seated passion for the Gospel. God was pointing Israel to the future when a greater Kingdom would come through the preaching of the Gospel and the true needs of the poor (us) would be met.

And the Kingdom has come. In ministering to poor, we get a glimpse of the greater story of Christ’s work to redeem us. Christ radically saved the spiritually poor through the power of the Gospel. He being rich lowered himself, and came into our world, becoming poor. He engaged us and gave himself, even to death on the cross, that we might be rich in Christ. Christ came for the lost, the poor, the broken, and for sinners. And not only were we poor, but we were also enemies and rebels, fools and mad, loving the ways of this world more than God. And yet He loved us first, and He came for us. When we love the poor, we are demonstrating the Gospel in a very tangible way.

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor

Colossians 1:21-22
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Romans 5:6-11
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Questions:
How do the poor and downtrodden relate to the Kingdom of God breaking through? What picture do we get of the Gospel?

How does the gospel play a part in the poverty?

How does ministry to the poor display the Gospel?

How does this apply to the undeserving poor, who are there on their own fault?

God has ordained that there would be the poor

Questions:
Why do you think there are poor in this world?
Can we get rid of poverty?
What does the fact that there are poor in this world mean?

Reading:

“For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You will freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”
–Deuteronomy 15:11

God is about to take his people, Israel, into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land and a nation that was supposed to represent God’s Kingdom breaking through on earth, and they are told something startling and seemingly out of place, “the poor will never cease to be in the land.” Why in this nation that is called the Promised Land, and is supposed to represent the best of all nations, are they told there would always be poor in their land? This promise is given with no condition on whether or not they followed the Lord or not. It was to be. God in His providence and mercy ordained that in this great nation there would be poor. The scripture show that God has an intimate concern for the poor. So what is God doing here? Why is this so? Let’s explore this. . . .

Scripture reading:

Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Matthew 26:11
For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Matthew 25:41-46
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Questions:
Do you believe that God has ordained that there will always be the needy and the poor in the land?
What do you think God is doing here, when He tells Israel that “the poor will never cease to be in the land”?

Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm. – Psalm 33:4-9

For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, – 2 Peter 3:5

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. – Hebrews 11:3

Here is what is significant. God the heavens and earth with His spoken word. God did this for a reason. The artist, the God who could have created the universe by any means, chose purposely and deliberately to use the spoken word. And even though the world sees this as foolish, by faith we know this to be true, because the word of the Lord is upright. God made this choice to create the worlds by His word, because He was going to use the same means to create something more significant and more difficult with the spoken word – new life. It is the foolishness of the preaching of the word that God uses to bring a dead man’s soul to life. And this word, this gospel, has power. This is why we preach the Gospel. Because the word of the Lord has power and will not return to Him void. When God says, “Let there be light”. There is light.

There is another significance to this. Christ is the Word. And just as all created things were made through him and are sustained by Him. So, it is the same with this new life.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:14-17

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. – 1 Corinthians 1:21

“Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.”
-Mark 2:15

You read what he taught, and He did not say easy things. He spoke the truth. But Jesus didn’t preach at people, He preached with people. Jesus spoke the truth with tax collectors and sinners. Even when it came to the Pharisees you see him coming to them and preaching with them, confronting them where they are at. Cutting to the heart of issues. Healing on the Sabbath, turning over tables, allowing them to ask him questions. Jesus engaged people.

Women Theologians

Ladies,

As men, we can read the passages such as 1Timothy 2:9-15 or 1 Corinthians 14:33-38 and see in them only restrictions on women. We can react and say, “You have to obey this rule and this restriction”. Although there is a reason for these verses, and we must take them very seriously, if this is our attitude, we don’t understand these verses. These verses are not there to give us an attitude of “placing restrictions on women”; these verses instead challenge us as men to lead and honor the women around us.

We can look at the scriptures and see God’s heart for women. A Godly woman is described with eloquence and dignity throughout. We have women like Sarah, Ruth, and Esther, and many more who stand out in the history of Israel. We watch and listen as Jesus treats women with honor. They were always near ministering to him, and he to them. Paul walked with the women around him, relying on the gifts that God had given them. And there is so much more, but for time’s sake, I am barely even touching the surface of how the scripture describes the beauty of women. My point is I don’t believe that the majority of heroes of the faith should be men. As we see these scriptures opened up and obeyed, we will see the churches littered with the heroines of the faith. There is no place for any thought that women have less to offer. The Bible screams against this and rebukes any man who contemplates this. It is not God’s heart to put restrictions on women. In the scriptures, He has provided an amazing protection of the beauty and the expressiveness that only a woman can provide. It is God’s heart for a woman to bloom, under the nourishment and protection of His word.

Our pastor has recently been talking about how Mary’s act of anointing Jesus before His death was a powerful and poignant act. In that act, one woman out-theologized all the many men that were in the room. If anyone thinks because a women cannot preach or teach, she has less expression of theology they are wrong. Christ made it clear, what this woman had done would be told everywhere the Gospel was preached. By her act she has challenged both men and women over the ages wherever the Gospel has been preached. Jesus had no intention to limit this woman’s expression of theology . . . nor do the scriptures.

As men, God has called us to lead in the church, but we’d be a fool if we thought we were more than what we are, fellow servants in the Lord, co-laborers in the gospel of God’s grace, with no more influence and strength then the women around us. What Mary did was powerful and meaningful. And she out shone the men around her. A woman can express theology and influence the direction of the church in a way that a man could never do. The church cannot be all God has called it to be without the women, co-laboring with the men.

God has called us men to lead, but He has also called us to honor and cherish the women in our lives. Peter tells husbands that if they do not honor and value their wives, their prayers will not be heard. I don’t believe this just applies to a husband and a wife. If we as men do not honor and cherish the women in our church, we are in danger of having our prayers not heard. A woman has a desire to be captivating and God has left her with a means for that desire to be filled. A woman shouldn’t have to force herself on us to show her theological insight. No, instead as men, we should treat women as captivating and valued. We should seek out what their hearts and what their ideas are. We should be in awe of the insight that God has given women.

Sisters, as your brothers, we want to learn how to encourage you to express theology in the fullness of being a woman and to treat you with the eloquence and dignity that the scriptures dictate. We want you to feel valued and cherished. We want to fight for you with our prayers and actions. Not by convention, by loving you like Jesus, laying our lives down, letting our lives point to one who is truly Romantic, your Savior and Lord. May we be stripped away, so that you will see Jesus. Be patient, we still have a lot to learn, but we pursuing to learn more and grow together through God’s stunning grace in becoming men who treat you with honor, and with God’s help we will. He will grant what He commands . . . by grace alone.

May Our Eyes Always Be Upon Jesus
(written by Landon Lewis)
May our eyes always be upon Jesus,
The founder and perfecter of our faith,
So that we may not grow weary or faint
As we attempt each day to run the race.

Do not grant our eyes the chance to wander
Lest we will give in to the temptation
To stop and marvel at our endurance
Or cringe at our lack of motivation.

Direct our eyes to the one who came down
And though tempted to quit, ran for His church
In perfect, perpetual righteousness
And endured the cross to finish the work.

As our eyes behold your Son’s bloody stripes
May we rest in His race and perfect time
Because it is His hands that will carry us
And His legs that have crossed the finish line.

May God cultivate and bring your heart to full bloom,
Your brothers

–Hebrews 12:1,2

True revival is a sovereign act of God in which He moves and acts in the hearts of His people to renew them and bring them closer to Himself. The work of the Holy Spirit is intensified in the lives of believers, both individually and corporately. It is God initiated and God controlled. It is not brought about by man or his desires or works. It is God moving as He pleases.

In 1734, God brought about a revival under the preaching of a man named, Jonathan Edwards, a man of sound doctrine and whose preaching focused on the glory of God and not man. Lives were changed and many came to know Christ. Those in the church became passionate about God. Their praising became intense. Their emotions were intense, and they freely expressed these emotions in church. They hungered for God and desired to live lives to His honor. The community was changed. And the Gospel was preached everywhere. This was called the Great Awakening.

Yet there were some who were opposed to this in the church. They said an act of God would not make people so emotional. To this Jonathan Edwards wrote Religious Affections to explain the difference between true and false revival, and to show that it is right to have emotions in a true revival.

There were other revivals in America in 1727, 1798, 1857, and 1905. After 1800, though a false revival began to be forming. Many began to believe that revival could come about at any time; you just had to have the right “formula”. These preachers believed that if they could bring about the emotional intensity that was marked in the Great Awakening and the other revivals and mass decisions for Christ, that surely this was revival. This came to be known as New School or New Measures. Preachers sought to bring about revival through methodology and techniques that would incite the emotions and “convince men to make a decision for Christ”. They would have a “revival meeting” or a “tent meetings”, in which they would prey on the emotions of men. Charles Finney was one of the leaders in this movement. There came to be an orientation toward the person instead of God. Whereas Jonathan Edwards preached about the character and glory of God and sound doctrine, this new methodology focused on convincing man to make a decision and to have an emotional experience. And so many “mass decisions” were made. Yet the community was not affected, it was still as worldly as before and many who made “decisions” turned away from Christ, very few changed their lives, and very few had any discipleship. Evangelism came to mean decisions and numbers, rather than an act of God in some one’s life, where they accept Him as Lord and Savior in a radical way.

And so today, some continue to try to convince men to come to Christ by focusing on man rather than proclaiming God. And now we are in a state of decline where it is hard to tell the difference between a believer and a non-believer. In doing this we have become friends with the world, something the Bible says ought not to be done.

Now that I have said this, I do believe that some who preach in revival do sincerely desire to obey God. And I would fight side by side with them. And they are truly my brothers and joy. God is bigger than our foolishness. And I do believe that God does work at these “revival meetings”. I also believe that there are some who truly follow sound doctrine and focus on God and not men, yet I would not call this “revival” but merely witnessing. And so you ask if “revivals” are ok. Well, if they are witnessing and discipling and preaching sound doctrine with a focus on the glory of God, then, yes, they are ok, yet this is actually merely witnessing as God has called us to witness. But if they compromise the character of God as many of these “revivals” do, than it is very evil. We are not God and should not presume to be.

P.S.
Yes, like Paul. We plead with men and strive that they might know Christ, but we plead as ambassadors of a King, not as ones who move the King or gives way to men.

Also, about the Holy Spirit. Much of it is focused on emotionalism rather than maturity. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are real and true and good, but it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that makes one mature. The gifts will pass away, but love will always remain. It is a matter of people focusing on the wrong thing.