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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2016 8:59:33 GMT
Found this story on my Facebook page - thought I'd share it will all of you.
A pastor transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service. Only 3 people said hello to him, most looked the other way. He asked people for change to buy food because he was hungry. Not one gave him anything.
He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was told by the ushers that he would need to get up and go sit in the back of the church. He said hello to people as they walked in but was greeted with cold stares and dirty looks from people looking down on him and judging him.
He sat in the back of the church and listened to the church announcements for the week. He listened as new visitors were welcomed into the church that morning but no one acknowledged that he was new. He watched people around him continue to look his way with stares that said you are not welcome here.
Then the elders of the church went to the podium to make the announcement. They said they were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation. "We would like to introduce you to our new Pastor." The congregation stood up and looked around clapping with joy and anticipation. The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle.
That's when all the clapping stopped and the church was silent. With all eyes on him....he walked up the altar and reached for the microphone. He stood there for a moment and then recited so elegantly, a verse from the bible.....
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.’
After he recited this, he introduced himself as their new pastor and told the congregation what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and bow their heads in shame. "Today I see a gathering of people here but I do not see a church of Jesus. The world has enough people that look the other way. What the world needs is disciples of Jesus that can follow this teachings and live as he did. When will YOU decide to become disciples?
by Michael West
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Post by laurazone5 on Jan 3, 2016 13:47:52 GMT
Unfortunately you can walk into 1,000's of churches just like this. Fortunately, you can also walk into 1,000s of churches that are NOTHING like this......
When "Jesus is exhalted and the Word is explained" When "Love, love for God, Country, Spouse, children, fellow mankind; when this kind of Love reigns and rules, lives are changed for the better......
Unfortunately when bad happens, it is splashed all over the news. When TRUE Good happens? The right hand does not tell the left hand what it is doing (loosely translates to "good is done and no selfie or face book post is made).
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Post by whereiwant2b on Jan 3, 2016 14:08:03 GMT
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Post by farmrbrown on Jan 3, 2016 15:03:01 GMT
That would depend on guidance and discernment from the Holy Spirit. Not easy, but truth never is...... Those 3 examples are good, but there are many more. In each and every instance, the question of faith is the determining factor in His response. We are to serve our fellow man, no doubt. But we are not to a slave to Mankind, working ourselves to death so they can remain well fed and faithless. If we can only do one thing, it is to show them that faith in God WILL provide them ALL things, for it is written. One of my favorites wasn't mentioned in that piece, it was when Jesus said, "No" and then changed His mind. It always makes me stop and think about how much we must be like our Creator at times.......... Matthew 15:21-28 www.goodnews.ie/canaanite.shtml
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Post by whereiwant2b on Jan 3, 2016 15:21:01 GMT
So is participation in the Christian community the goal? That helping those of the same faith or at least those potentially of the same faith?
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Post by laurazone5 on Jan 3, 2016 15:35:09 GMT
I do not understand your question?
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Post by sawmilljim on Jan 3, 2016 17:45:39 GMT
That would depend on guidance and discernment from the Holy Spirit. Not easy, but truth never is...... Those 3 examples are good, but there are many more. In each and every instance, the question of faith is the determining factor in His response. We are to serve our fellow man, no doubt. But we are not to a slave to Mankind, working ourselves to death so they can remain well fed and faithless. If we can only do one thing, it is to show them that faith in God WILL provide them ALL things, for it is written. One of my favorites wasn't mentioned in that piece, it was when Jesus said, "No" and then changed His mind. It always makes me stop and think about how much we must be like our Creator at times.......... Matthew 15:21-28 www.goodnews.ie/canaanite.shtmlI didn't take it that Jesus said no He said nothing at all .His statement was he was sent to the house of Israel .Then upon the woman showing great faith he made the exception of including those of faith also. Haven't ever looked at it but this may be the start of those not of the house of Israel being accepted because of faith alone .
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2016 19:10:24 GMT
That would depend on guidance and discernment from the Holy Spirit. Not easy, but truth never is...... Those 3 examples are good, but there are many more. In each and every instance, the question of faith is the determining factor in His response. We are to serve our fellow man, no doubt. But we are not to a slave to Mankind, working ourselves to death so they can remain well fed and faithless. If we can only do one thing, it is to show them that faith in God WILL provide them ALL things, for it is written. One of my favorites wasn't mentioned in that piece, it was when Jesus said, "No" and then changed His mind. It always makes me stop and think about how much we must be like our Creator at times.......... Matthew 15:21-28 www.goodnews.ie/canaanite.shtmlI didn't take it that Jesus said no He said nothing at all .His statement was he was sent to the house of Israel . Then upon the woman showing great faith he made the exception of including those of faith also. Haven't ever looked at it but this may be the start of those not of the house of Israel being accepted because of faith alone . It's ALWAYS been a matter of faith Jim.....and in regards to when did it start for those 'outside' of the house of Israel, right off the top of my head, I can think of Rahab the harlot being brought in from Jericho .....so far in, that she became a direct link in the lineage leading up to that of the Messiah. And of course there is also Ruth, who came from the land of Moab; a pagan land. Naomi was Ruth's mother-in-law and since both of their husbands had died, she encouraged her two daughters-in-law to return to their families in Moab. The one takes her advice and goes back....but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi. “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.” “Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17). Ruth the Moabitess was drawn to faith in God. So they returned to Bethlehem and because Boez was a relative of Naomi's family, began gleaning grain in his harvested fields, as was the custom of poor folks, in order to survive. As a Moabitess, she was a foreigner and thus hated by the Jews. As a woman, it made it easy for others to take advantage of her. But Ruth wasn’t the first foreigner that God had brought into Boaz’s family. His mother was Rahab, that prostitute mentioned earlier, from Jericho who believed in the God of Israel and risked her life by protecting Israelite spies. As a result, she and her family were saved (Josh. 2). So God has a history of bringing Gentiles to faith, not only in Boaz’s family, but everywhere.
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Post by whereiwant2b on Jan 3, 2016 19:34:37 GMT
That would depend on guidance and discernment from the Holy Spirit. Not easy, but truth never is...... Those 3 examples are good, but there are many more. In each and every instance, the question of faith is the determining factor in His response. We are to serve our fellow man, no doubt. But we are not to a slave to Mankind, working ourselves to death so they can remain well fed and faithless. If we can only do one thing, it is to show them that faith in God WILL provide them ALL things, for it is written. One of my favorites wasn't mentioned in that piece, it was when Jesus said, "No" and then changed His mind. It always makes me stop and think about how much we must be like our Creator at times.......... Matthew 15:21-28 www.goodnews.ie/canaanite.shtmlI didn't take it that Jesus said no He said nothing at all .His statement was he was sent to the house of Israel .Then upon the woman showing great faith he made the exception of including those of faith also. Haven't ever looked at it but this may be the start of those not of the house of Israel being accepted because of faith alone . Telling a person that he was not taking food from the children of Israel to give to dogs (meaning her) seem a pretty firm no to me.
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Post by tabitha on Jan 3, 2016 22:30:09 GMT
as far as I see, seems like the lesson from Jesus' no is, first you take care of your own... A question arises, how come? Why are there homeless, etc. I remember living in a 99% catholic small town. There were a couple of those qualifying as homeless. One was a man in his fifties. He did not have all cups on the board. He stayed at my cousin's farm. He slept in the place where at one time the farmhand had slept. It was not fancy but warm. He ate with the big family, he helped with feeding and did chores he was capable of. Nobody treated him unkindly. Nobody made a big show of helping him. Sunday afternoon he would go to the pub and someone bought him a beer. He sat on the edge of the bench, happy and listened. He was a little guy, five'2" maybe, always wore tall gumboots. I think it was Christian community, community took care of it's own. Today, the needy are strangers. You do not know them and in the back of your head you do not dare trust them. And then there are Paul's admonitions. He who does not work does not eat. Live a simple life and work with your hands.
The main example Jesus gave was the man who fell among the robbers. That seems to me a key scripture. Robbers can be many things. We live in a Nation of robbers. You donot get rich by hard work. There are people who need help and I have no idea how to help them, and besides, there are those who do not want my kind of help. They want to do whatever they are doing that keeps them in dire straights. they want the govt,. to give them money, they donot want to live simply and work with their hands, so to speak. It is complicated. Lack of family and community are very detrimental.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2016 22:43:43 GMT
I didn't take it that Jesus said no He said nothing at all .His statement was he was sent to the house of Israel .Then upon the woman showing great faith he made the exception of including those of faith also. Haven't ever looked at it but this may be the start of those not of the house of Israel being accepted because of faith alone . Telling a person that he was not taking food from the children of Israel to give to dogs (meaning her) seem a pretty firm no to me. But it was her 'response' to that no, that got HIS attention... But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.” - Matt 15:27
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Post by sawmilljim on Jan 4, 2016 0:41:49 GMT
I agree it was always about faith .What I was trying to say in my not so good way was that this may of been the first time Jesus in person had performed a miracle for one not of the house of Israel .
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 1:28:47 GMT
I agree it was always about faith .What I was trying to say in my not so good way was that this may of been the first time Jesus in person had performed a miracle for one not of the house of Israel . I can think of a couple of others that happened, but as to which came first....? Healing a centurion's servant. (Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10) Healing 10 men suffering from leprosy; but the one who came back to thank Him, was a foreigner - a Samaritian. (Luke 17:11-19) Also, there's the mention at the end of the book of John 21:25, in which it states: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written." I think we can surmise that at least some of them, involved miracles.
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Post by farmrbrown on Jan 4, 2016 1:47:59 GMT
Matthew 15:21-28King James Version (KJV) 21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Yes indeed, saying He wasn't to take the children's bread (the jews) and cast it to the dogs (gentiles, she was a canaanite) was a clear rejection with a touch of insult to boot. Her reply was priceless. It takes a smarts ass to truly appreciate another's smart ass remark, lol. The Lord and I have had some rather blunt conversations over the years and I know that He has a wonderful and somewhat sarcastic sense of humor, at least with me. LOL. I'll have to review Matthew to see if this is the first time a Gentile received a miracle of healing, but I seem to remember an earlier one that was an even more powerful testimony of faith. The reason I wanted to show the example was to teach the lesson of discernment. It's true that Jesus didn't heal everyone who sought Him out, and He would often "test" their faith and perseverance before helping them. This is wisdom. In our encounters with others who ask for help of some sort, we are to offer what we can, but primarily to those who truly need it, appreciate it and will use that help for something good. Now we can't foretell all things like God can, but listening to His Spirit will lead us to the right decisions. It will be seen as arrogant and judgmental by the world sometimes, but all we can do is our best and seek God's advice and guidance, leaving the rest up to Him. ***This was the first instance I believe. It was the one I was thinking of anyway. We had a really good discussion a few months back when we got to this part of Matthew. We're about 2/3 thru the book now....... It's the Centurion. Jesus gives the man quite the compliment in front of the crowd. Cool stuff. www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+8:5-13
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Post by woolieface on Jan 4, 2016 5:20:38 GMT
Well as the article states, Jesus came to preach the Good News...that He was the salvation of the world. He had to do that and that meant leaving one village and going to the next. I don't think we can say that we must walk away to do some greater good. We are the hands and the feet and mouths that the Holy Spirit works through. If we do not reach out and care for "the least of these", who will?
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