Sunday, October 30, 2016

"BELIEVE: ETERNITY" 10/30/2016 by Rev. Robyn Plocher



“I believe there is a heaven and a hell and that Jesus will return to judge all people and to establish his eternal kingdom.”

INTRO -
A pastor visited an older man. The Pastor said, “At your age you should be thinking about the hereafter.” The older man replied, “Oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am - in the living room, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement - I ask myself, ‘What am I here after?’”

Christian author Phillip Yancey wrote, “Although [most] of us believe in an afterlife, no one much talks about it. Christians believe we will spend eternity in a splendid place called heaven . . isn’t it a little bizarre that we simply ignore heaven acting as if it doesn’t matter?”
We may not talk about it much, but I think most of us think about it.  A key question for this week might be:
What’s going to happen to us?
I know in the last years and months of my mother’s life she was preoccupied with that question.  What happens to me after I die?  She wondered also what happened to her beloved niece who had died and been cremated.  How are we bodily resurrected if our body decays in the ground or is burned by cremation. 
Jesus said, “John 14:1-2 (ESV) 1  “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2  In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
 You may have  faith to accept that promise at face value. 
But if we were honest in our heart of hearts most of us would have to confess that we still really wonder what heaven will be like.  We wonder about eternity.  It’s a concept we can’t wrap our finite brains around. 
The dictionary says that eternity is “a state to which time has no application” or “endless life after death.”
I don’t know about you, but I have a watch on my wrist, a clock on each of my 2 cell phones and one on my landline.  I have a clock on my computer and on my tablet and in my car.  It’s pretty hard for me to imagine a state to which time has no application. 
But I’ve made peace with the truth that there are things I cannot comprehend.   I accept by faith that because of Jesus I will live eternally with God following my life here on earth. 
But what about our question – What’ going to happen to me?
Are there answers to be found?
Some.
Someone may say that in heaven we are all spirits, so they can’t envision their loved one in heaven and don’t understand how they will know their loved one. 
Historically, there has been great debate about what the elemental make up of a human is.  Some pointed to Genesis and said we are body (created by God from dust) and we are souls (breath of life breathed into us by God).
  Others pointed to Mark 12:30 “Love the lord your god will all your heart, soul and mind.” And argue that we are of 3 elements.  Our bodies are the physical element.  The soul, in greek the psyche, is the animal principle of life, heartbeat and breath.  And the spirit, in greek pneuma, the thoughtful and rational element, our minds.
But scripture is not at all clear on exactly which of these elements continue to exist after death or when and how resurrection occurs – and certainly not as clear as many believers would like.
Perhaps the most declarative words in scripture on the subject are found in Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, chapter 15.
The Christians at Corinth were asking the same questions we do: 
Is there really a resurrection?
What will it be like?
What difference does it make?

Paul is clear.  Yes. There is a resurrection of the dead.  Resurrection is true.  Logically, if we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it follows that we believe in resurrection.  If we don’t believe in resurrection, then we cannot believe that Christ was resurrected and our faith becomes meaningless and worthless to us. 
The dead are resurrected.  This much is true.

The Corinthians also wanted to know what kind of body the dead have.  Paul gives a great illustration here, and I would like the children to come down at this time. 

(Kings Kid’s)

Paul says that just was we have an earthly body now, one day we will have a heavenly or glorified body.  We don’t know exactly what it will be like.  He tells us to consider seeds.
Does anyone know what kind of seed this is.  (corn) and if you put this seed into the ground it is changed.  Paul says, it’s like it dies.  But then something amazing happens.  Something completely new and different grows from that seed.  It looks like this.  A stalk of corn.   A field of corn. 
This is a seed pod.  It came from my back yard.  It we open it up we find the seeds inside.  What do you think this seed grows into if it is planted in the ground?    That big _locust______ tree just outside the back door of the church. 
And this is another seed.   It’s very small.  When we plant it, it grows to become a beautiful flowering mustard plant.
The Apostle Paul tells us that even though we don’t understand exactly what our heavenly bodies will be like, they will be as different as the corn seed is from the corn stalk, the _________seed from the ______________ and the ___________________________ from the  ____________________________.
They will be different.  They will be great.  They will be more.  They will be better.  Maybe they will be more beautiful.  On the days when I look in the mirror and think  -Ugh….on the days when my bones ache and my skin itches….knowing I will have an eternal, resurrection body one day makes me very happy and hopeful.  Let’s pray:  Thank you, God, for the promise of eternity and the promise of a resurrection body.  It makes us so happy to know that when the body we have now gets used up and doesn’t work anymore we will have a new and glorious body and a new and glorious life with you.  Amen.
The resurrection is real and true.   We will have a new and glorified, imperishable body. WE will be changed and we will live eternally with God after our death here.
It doesn’t answer all of our questions, perhaps, but it is a really good start.  And for me, it is enough.
Because these two things alone make a great difference.
What difference does it make? 

Image result for I corinthians 13:13  
Because the promise of eternal life is true we can love with abandon.
In the end it won’t matter
·        What kind of car you drove
·        Who you voted for
·        Whether you prefer organ music or guitar music
·        Where you stood on this or that issue
·        Who wore dress clothes and who wore jeans and tee-shirts to church
All these things will fade away and only one will remain…only one will really matter:  How much did you love.






Image result for i am the way the truth and the life
John 14:6 
The promise of eternal life matters.   Because of the promise of eternal life, our mission becomes crystal clear.  We are to lead people to Jesus.
We don’t brow beat them into faith in Jesus.  We don’t scare them into heaven
We lead them to Jesus and thereby lead them into the same hope we have –the hope of resurrection, the hope of eternal life.
How you live in this life matters so much for the afterlife. 
Everyone is watching to see how you lead.  They are taking their cues from you. 
With every word
Every action
Every choice about what kind of character you possess
You are leading people to either heaven or hell.
We haven’t spoken much about hell today.  On that subject I leave you with a rather simple, but profound thought.  The best definition I have heard for hell is simply this:  Eternity …Eternity without God.  File that away and think about it later.

Finally, the promise of eternal life matters because the promise allows us to live with hope today. 
Hope invades this finite life from eternity and changes our perspective with transformational power. 
Rejected and persecuted because of Jesus?  Hope says, I will serve him anyway.
Sick and in pain? hope says, “Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?  Why are you so upset inside?  Hope in God!  Because I will again give him thanks, my saving presence and my God.”  Psalm 42.11
Feeling sickened by the sin in your life?  Hope says, “Have mercy on me…because you,  My Lord, are good and forgiving, full of faithful love for all those who cry out to you.”  Psalm 86
Mourning the death of a precious loved one?  Hope says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, for God is with me.”   Psalm 23
The lost will be found.
Darkness shall be overcome by the Light of God.
Good will prevail over evil.
Sadness will be turned to joy.
Pain will be transformed to pleasure.
Because of Jesus.    Because of his atoning death and resurrection. 
Because resurrection is true….because eternity is real, our lives, even here and now, are hopeful.
Praise be to God!

Let us sing of the victory and the promise that is ours because of Jesus. 

Victory in Jesus

15 minutes with Kings Kids
















Sunday, October 23, 2016

BELIEVE: stewardship week 9* 10/23/16



BELIEVE: stewardship week 9*
10/23/16
Remember when you hardly owned anything? The way I remember it, life seemed simpler then.  When I left for college all my worldly possessions fit in a 1974 Ford Maverick with the broken window crank. I had everything I needed. Life was simpler then.
Then came Robyn and I had twice as much stuff. At the wedding, people gave us more stuff because that’s what you do; and it was very nice of them, but you know how it is. We went from having nothing to two toasters, and china, and more picture frames than we had walls to put them on. Suddenly our simple lives became more complicated. But we didn’t mind. When we moved to Indiana our stuff all fit in the smallest U-Haul truck and we were happy.
Then came baby and there was an explosion of stuff. You know, there was hardly enough room in my maverick for Amber’s stuff let alone mine. In addition, there were the seminary books, and all the paraphernalia that goes along with being students and young professionals.
 Over time, the stuff we had became used, worn, and out-dated. And these companies kept making newer and better products that I never knew I needed, but suddenly we needed a microwave, and a juicer, and some shop tools, and more furniture, and before we left Indiana we had to have the biggest U-Haul truck we could find to get us back to Iowa.
NOW I look around at all the stuff we have and I wonder, “How did we get here?”
You get the picture. I suspect most of you know exactly what I am saying.

 Today we are on week 9 of our BELIEVE series. We are almost 1/3 of the way through the top
           beliefs,
           practices, and
           virtues of Christianity; as we seek to
           think,
           act, and
           be more like Jesus.
As we look over the last 3 weeks we begin to see that God has certain expectations. God made us into the church in order to love and show compassion for others. This week the expectations go a little further as we explore what it means to take on the responsibility of being stewards. In order to do that, we have to circle back around to week one and remember that God is the creator of all that is.

 That’s where we have to start in order to understand stewardship. We go back to the key belief that
           God always has been and always will be, and that
           all that is came from God. The 24th Psalm reads, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.” (NLT)
o          What belongs to God?… everything… “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
o          Who belongs to God? Everyone… “The world and all its people.”
Absolutely everything and everyone belongs to God.
           He does not just own the cattle. He owns the field in which they graze.
           He doesn’t just own the house. He owns the people in it.
           He doesn’t just own the bank. He owns all of the money in it.
           God owns not only this church but also the pews, and every person in them.
           Everything and everyone belongs 100% to God.

1.         Understanding that God is the owner of everyone and everything, is the first step in stewardship.
2.         The second step is understanding that out of the goodness of God’s heart, God gives us our lives and everything we have. Everything we are and everything we have is a gift of God’s grace.
We must never forget that: everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.
           This world is God’s world…and he lets us use it.
           This nation is God’s nation… and he lets us live in it.
           The harvest of the fields is God’s harvest…and he lets us harvest and use it.
           My car is God’s car...and God lets me use it.
           My house is God’s house…and God lets me use it.
           My body is God’s body…and God let me use it for this lifetime.
Doesn’t that put a little different spin on stewardship? Stewardship is not a code word for money. People have made it into that, but I want to change that.
If everything belongs to God, and God lets us use and care for everything we have, then stewardship is about everything:
           our world,
           our lives,
           our time,
           our stuff and yes,
           our money too. We have to expand our understanding of stewardship. To include everything we are and everything we have.
Then, when we have expanded it, we have to add another twist. When we understand that everything we are and everything we have is on loan from God, we begin to understand that
           God does not want OUR stuff. We have no stuff.
           God is not is not asking us to give him OUR lives because the lives we have are not ours to give.
           God is not asking us to give OUR time because the time we have is not ours to give.
           God is not asking us to give OUR money, because the money we have is not ours to give.
Stewardship is understanding that it all belongs to God and he lets us use it with the understanding that we will leave some for him.
         Do whatever you want with God’s day, but leave some for him. Leave time for God, for study and prayer.
         Do whatever you want with God’s week, but leave some for him. Time for worship, time for service, time for the work of the kingdom.
         Do whatever you want with the skills and gifts God has placed in you, but leave some for him. Go be a farmer, an accountant, a teacher using your divinely granted gifts, but don’t stop there. Go find a way to use them to glorify God, to show others God’s love, to share God’s generosity, to work in the church and in the kingdom for God’s purposes, not just for your own.
         Do whatever you want with God’s world, but leave some for him.
o          The resources are gifts we are to use responsibly but we can never own the sunset.
o          The animals are gifts to be cared for and used for food, but we will never tame the eagle.
o          The oceans are ours to use responsibly for food but we should not foul their beauty with our garbage.
         Do whatever you want with the children God has given you. YOU can even spoil them if you want, but leave some for God. Make sure they know who they are and to whom they belong. That they are a child of God, and a gift to the world.
         Do whatever you want with God’s stuff. Enjoy the
o          boat, or the
o          racecar, or the nice
o          house, or the
o          500” super resolution TV, or the
o          vacation, or the
o          forest. But leave room for God. Don’t get so wrapped up in the stuff you have and the goal of getting more stuff that you make the mistake of thinking it is all for you.
         Do whatever you want with God’s money.
o          Earn it.
o          Invest it.
o          Save it.
o          Spend it. But leave some for God. Leave some to do good things for God’s people. Leave some so that you can enjoy the Godly exercise of generosity. Leave some so you can support the ministries of God’s church.
Remember I Timothy says the root of all evil is the LOVE of money. I think we can fairly expand that to all our stuff. The root of all evil is when we love all the stuff God has given us, more than we love God.

Let me give you three scriptures that will help you to be better stewards.
________________________________________
  “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (Colossians 3:23)
 YOUR TIME BELONGS TO GOD
Some people think that all God wants is an hour a week. Not quite. Your time is a living sacrifice. God didn’t give it to you so that you would be blessed, but so that you would be a blessing to others.
God wants us to use the time he has given us to love him in as many ways as we can.
           Being good stewards of time means giving God my best time and best effort rather than giving God the leftovers.
           Being good stewards of time means making sure you save some time to grow in your relationship with God. I know, not everyone has the luxury of giving God a whole week’s retreat. But we all have the same 16 waking hours in our day, and if you find it hard to leave a half hour or an hour a day for God then than you need to think about who gave you the gift of time.
If my time belongs to God, that that means that time is sacred. If time is sacred, then that means that wasting time is a sin. How I spend my time matters to God. It is in direct correlation to my love for Him and others.
________________________________________
 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10, NIV)
 YOUR TALENT BELONGS TO GOD
Every single person in this room has at least one talent, gift, or ability that God has given you. How are you using it?
Your talent is a living sacrifice. God didn’t give it to you so that you would be blessed, but so that you would be a blessing to others.
If our talent belongs to God, that means being good stewards of our talent requires that we leave time to be in ministry. (Does “every person in ministry” sound familiar? It is a stewardship issue.)
         This week your ministry might be serving in the church.
         Next week it might be taking the church to a homebound person.
         The week after that it might be serving someone outside the church because of Jesus. Or maybe your ministry is more regular (not changing each week)
         teaching,
         visiting the lonely,
         praying with the sick,
         helping the neighbor,
         loving someone who has left the church. And there maybe there are special things… like a
         mission trip. It looks different for everyone, but being good stewards means using the talent God has given you to be in ministry in some way every day.
________________________________________
 “Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41–44, NLT)
 Your money belongs to God
The rich people gave to impress others, but the widow gave to express love. It’s not about the amount. It’s about the heart. It’s about love. Period.
Your offering is a living sacrifice. God didn’t give you money so that you would be blessed, but so that you would be a blessing to others.
If my money belongs to God, that means:
           Giving God what is right, not what is left.
           Giving my money to help grow Christ’s church.
           Giving my money to help others.

 If we are to be good stewards, Instead of thinking of our time, talents, and treasure as something we give. We need to think of them as something we receive. Instead of giving God a portion of what is ours, God lets us keep a portion of what is His.
As I look at all of the stacks and piles of stuff around my house, I sometimes long for a simpler time. A time when I didn’t own as much. When everything I had fit in my Maverick. Then I remember: I don’t OWN anything more today than I did then. God has just given me more responsibility. And with more responsibility comes greater accountability.
Every day we have the opportunity to spend some time, some talent, and some treasure, and one day our lives will be spent. Then God will ask us all to give an account of how we managed all that he gave us. How will you answer?
On that day, you will be happier with your answer if you believe and live according to today’s key belief.
I BELIEVE EVERYTHING I AM AND EVERYTHING I OWN BELONGS TO GOD.








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Significant portions of this sermon are adapted from materials provided with the “BELIEVE” resources, particularly a sermon shared by Jeff Gauss of Epiphany Station, Thief River Falls, MN (Now of Grand Forks ND)

Sunday, October 16, 2016

BELIEVE 8 compassion RUMC October 16



(Video in Easyworship)Week 8
BELIEVE compassion
RUMC October 16

(Video in easyworship)
http://ktla.com/2014/11/12/pregnant-panhandler-in-socal-caught-driving-off-in-mercedes-benz/
Occasionally, we see stories like that and if you are anything like me, it makes your blood boil. Then, the next time I come across someone who seems to be in need, I remember folks like that and think twice, or three times, about whether I should help them.
             So, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE SOMEONE PANHANDLING do you try to change lanes so they are not right beside you when you stop at the stop light? That’s what they priest did in the scripture today.
             When you see the commercials for some organization supporting orphans do you say to yourself, “I’LL BET MOST OF THE MONEY GOES TO SOME RICH CEO SO THEY CAN TRAVEL ON THEIR PRIVATE JET?” So you raise your magazine or newspaper just a little higher so you don’t have to look into the orphan’s eyes? That is what the Levite in the story did.
             When we ASK YOU TO BUY TOYS FOR CHRISTMAS IN GRUNDY NEXT MONTH, IS YOUR FIRST THOUGHT OF THE FAMILY YOU KNOW WHO CAN AFFORD XBOXES AND SATELLITE TV, BUT STILL TAKES ANYTHING THEY CAN GET FROM AN OPPORTUNITY LIKE THAT? Is that your excuse for boycotting the project? How is that different from the priest who passed by the man on the road?
             The next time someone comes in to my office asking for help do I think, “Well, if you hadn’t made such dumb decisions, you wouldn’t be in this situation?” Isn’t that just a way of mentally walking by the bloody man on other side of the road?
I know it’s hard when we hear stories like the one in the video. They stick with us and make us cynical about people. I know it’s hard when we discover someone has taken advantage of us. It still stings to remember taking diapers and formula to a family outside of Letts, Iowa near Muscatine because they supposedly had no money and no way to get in to the church to pick up these essentials. When I arrived, the infant had been left in the care of a 5 year old while mom drove her little Toyota 20 miles into Muscatine to play Bingo at the Knights of Columbus hall. I was so mad! Frankly, it made me a little hesitant to help the next person who came along. I know how hard it is.
 Jesus tells us that we can’t be like that. The priest and the Levite who passed by the man had good reasons. The Levites assisted the priests in their duties the temple. If they had stopped to help them man, contact with blood would have rendered them ceremonially unclean meaning that they would have not been able to do their jobs and it would have been significant time away from their families for purification. On the other hand, maybe they were afraid, because the road to Jericho was notoriously dangerous and it was not unheard of for robbers to lie along the road as bait so their cohorts could jump out and rob any kind stranger who stops. Therefore, like us, in their minds, the first two men had good reason to pass up the victim.

  From the beginning of time, people have tried to claim that we are not responsible for each other. In Genesis chapter 4, Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. When God came looking for Abel, Cain asked God, “Am I my brothers’ keeper?” God’s answer is essentially, “Yes you are.”
           God is a God of love. Love in action, is compassion. Compassion is translated from a Greek word that means, “To be moved to one’s bowels.” That is a vivid way of describing something that moves us deep within. We might say compassion is when the sight of someone suffering is like “a kick in the gut” and we are forced to do something.
           God is often described as having compassion. He had compassion when he saw the slaves in Egypt.
           We read that even when the people of Israel were suffering because of the consequences of their sin, in his compassion God “delivered them time and time again.”
           When (Jesus) went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
           Of course, the greatest act of compassion was, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.”  God’s compassion went so far as Jesus laying down his life for God’s beloved people suffering in sin.

Finally, Jesus asks the question, “who acted like the man’s neighbor,
           the two good Jews who may have felt a little guilty, or afraid, but passed by the man without helping;
           or the dirty, nasty, smelly, unbelieving, unclean, Samaritan who knew very well that if the tables were turned the man probably would not have done the same for him. (Because Jews hated Samaritans ;) but he stopped anyway and showed the man compassion? Which one was the neighbor? Obviously, the Samaritan was the one who acted like a neighbor. Then Jesus pulls out the zinger, “Go, and do likewise.”
“Go and do likewise.” Jesus is clear that just as he, himself, showed compassion in healing the sick and casting out demons and cleansing lepers, and forgiving adulteresses, and raising Lazarus and all the other wonderful, compassionate things Jesus did in his short life on earth; he expects us to do the same. GO AND DO LIKEWISE. YES, YOU ARE YOUR BROTHER’S KEEPER… GO AND DO LIKEWISE.
  So how do we do it? The key passage for this week is Psalm 82 vs. 3-4, 
 “Give justice to the weak and the orphan;   maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy;    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”  There are four verbs in this verse, which reveal what we can do as believers to put on hearts of compassion. They are
           give justice,
           maintain rights,
           rescue, and
           Deliver.
 Let’s look at these verbs more closely…

 1. Give Justice… (The NIV says Defend the weak)
The Bible repeatedly describes God as the defender of the fatherless and the widow, in other words making sure the weakest are treated justly.
The political reality in our world is that the wealthy and powerful will always look out for themselves. No matter what a candidate says, the orphans and widows, the weak and the powerless do not make the campaign contributions.
We all love the stories of someone standing up to the bullies.
I read a story recently about a group of football players who didn’t like the way the bully treated other s in the school, particularly one little boy with down’s syndrome. The football players grabbed the bully one day, stripped him naked, lathered him up with Nair from head to foot, and duct taped him to the flagpole. I’m sorry but I had to cheer just a little inside (even thought they clearly went too far and the football players were actually the ones in trouble.) I'm not proud of it, but I actually cheered just a little bit, because the bully got a taste of what it means to be weak and powerless.
Now, to be clear, I do not suggest that kind of behavior under any circumstances, but their motivation was right, they were standing up for the weak and the disabled children who were easy targets for this bully.
Friends, if we don’t stop our busy lives, get off our donkeys, and defend those can’t defend themselves, who will?

 2. Maintain the rights of the lowly, (the NIV says Uphold the rights)
At first, I thought that this was the same as giving justice to the weak. Then I learned that the word “rights” is used in a technical sense here. In a legal sense. 
Last spring Robyn and I spent most of a day in Montgomery Alabama. One of the things we did was tour Martin Luther King Junior’s church. There is a man who led a movement fighting for the rights of the lowly. 
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for trying to uphold the right of black South Africans.
Our former Bishop Trimble went to jail for protesting in front of the Whitehouse on behalf of families in danger of deportation.
One of our Iowa pastors was brought up on ecclesiastical charges for confessing her homosexuality at annual conference as way of standing up and saying that this group deserves rights too!
Over what would you be willing to go to jail? Which group of people is important enough to you, that you would be willing to risk your job? What issues do you feel so strongly about that you would stand up for them even if it meant your family rejected you? What causes are so important that you would give your last dollar to make a difference?
Proverbs 21:13 (ESV) says, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”
If we don’t hear the cry of the poor and do something who will? Friends, if we don’t stop our busy lives, get off our donkeys and stand for the rights of the lowly, who will?

 3. Rescue and Deliver
The Samaritan is a great example of this.
To the Jews, a Samaritan was a heretical, unclean, untrustworthy, contaminated, disloyal, deceitful, hated creature… He’s the one who stopped.
 He came to where (the man) was, and when he saw him, he had COMPASSION. (He got off his donkey) He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
But he didn’t stop there, And then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
But he didn’t stop there, because the next day he took out two days wages and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 
When we consider the plight of the poor, it can be overwhelming. The truth is Jesus told us that we will always have the poor among us.
The problem is that our response is often in one of two extremes: try to do everything (and fail because we cannot do EVERYTHING) or we do nothing (and fail because we don’t try.) Neither of which is what Jesus is asking of us. Rather he is calling us to do whatever we can just as the Samaritan did.
           Maybe giving the family a tank of gas doesn’t solve their problems, but it gets them a couple hundred miles closer to a solution.
           Maybe dropping spare change in a panhandler’s cup doesn’t change the system that forced them into the position of having to beg, but it will buy him some food or a razor so he can apply for a job tomorrow.
           Maybe sending a hundred dollars to Haiti seems like such a small drop in the bucket- that it couldn’t make any difference. But remember I said 2 weeks ago, “your little difference added to my little difference, raised to the power of God working in and through the church” has the power to change
o          not just the lives of a man laying alongside the road,
o          not just  a family seeking better life for  themselves,
o          not just the homeless vet panhandling on the interstate exit,
o          Not just an orphan who might otherwise have starved; but it has the power to change the world for Jesus Christ.

 “In 1952, Everett Swanson went to South Korea to preach the gospel to troops in the Republic of Korea’s army. During his visit, he was deeply moved by the number of children orphaned by the war. He discussed this issue with a missionary, who challenged him “What do you intend to do about it?” In effect, this missionary was saying, “Are you going to just feel sorry for these children, or are you going to express compassion?”
 Swanson returned to the United States, and launched a ministry on behalf of these orphans. He collected funds to meet their daily living needs. By 1954, people could give a monthly gift to help provide food, shelter, medical care, and Bible instruction for a specific child. In 1963, inspired by Jesus’ words in Matthew 15:32: “I have compassion for these people ... I do not want to send them away hungry.” He renamed the organization COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL. What began as a kick in a preacher’s gut, is today a vital ministry that serves more than one million children in more than twenty-five nations.”
 
Rev. Swanson got off his donkey and did something that made a difference.
So what about you? Our key belief today is this: please read it with me.
“I believe God calls all Christians to show compassion to people in need.”
Do you? Do you believe that? If so, are you just going to sit there, or will you get off your donkey and change the world for Jesus Christ by doing love… exercising compassion.