Covenant Church

Think about the last 100 years and inventions. Airplanes. Satellites. Microwaves. TV. Nuclear energy. Fax machine. Telephone. Computer. Internet. Email. Talking cars. Remote controls. Robots that can serve coffee. Laser surgery. Open heart surgery. No other century in history has known such revolution.

Churches have also changed. Electricity. Air-conditioning. Padded pews. Huge complexes big as shopping centers. Church staffs that equal corporations. Bus fleets. Budgets into hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars.

Ministers who can speak and government listens. Ministers who can speak and corporate leaders listen.

In all the good we rejoice. Recently while traveling I phoned a missionary in Bulgaria. Who would ever have dreamed 20 years ago of a cell phone and direct call to a missionary 8,000 miles away? In times past it could take months to a year to get a message to a missionary and get a response. Today affords email...instant communication. Real time. Even look at each other while talking. If the missionary is in the jungle, just take cell phone and uplink to satellite...no problem...send picture from jungle...or send picture to jungle.

Blessed. Yes. Blessed. Yet in all this churches struggle to find ways to reach people. How does the Body of Christ continue to be the hands and feet of Christ? How does the Body of Christ in 2007 effectively do what Christ did while he was flesh and blood upon the earth 2,000 years ago?

What we are learning is that after all the conferences and conventions, seminars and classes, tapes, CD's and literature, the method of reaching the lost and dying and hurting and lonely and oppressed and imprisoned...and wounded...and captive (slaves and those imprisoned by lusts)...the Jesus Way to help is SIMPLE!

Jesus had compassion. Compassed is rooted in "compass", or to go around. It means his love was complete to care for those who were in need...at the point of need...with caring to help solve the problem...mitigate the situation...lift the load...change a life...deliver from bondage...give joy instead of sorrow...(I Peter 5:6,7).

It's easy. Start where you are. Ask Jesus for his eyes to see needs as Jesus would see them. This past week one of our parishioners came to the office. She is 80 years old. She wanted to go to UVA and visit a lady in need. She did go. I do not even enjoy getting to UVA with the traffic and process of getting from parking lot to elevators...She did it! Caring.

Listen. Listen with the ears of Jesus. Listen for loneliness. Listen for hurting. Listen for fear in the voices of other people. Listen for pain as a single parent talks about struggles in raising a child without the other parent. Listen and ask God to open your heart. Listen with compassion. Listen as you think Jesus would listen, asking all the while how you can help.

Pray. Pray as Jesus would pray. Not for blessings of material goods. Not for wealth and fame. Not for fun and pleasure. Pray about how to be poured out as an offering. Pray about how the Lord can use you as a vessel for His glory. Pray about how you can be an instrument in the hands of Jesus to touch his world with tenderness and compassion.

Give. Give as if you are already dead to sin. Give strategically. Give where it counts. Give where you know that it will bring return. Give where you know Jesus will be glorified, not you. Give to change lives. Give to point people to Christ. Give and it shall be given unto you. The Bible says so...except the Bible adds more. If you give...it will be given to you in greater measure than you give...you will be blessed much more than you give!

So, let your feet carry you to Luke 4:18,19 like Jesus. Let your hands be his hands reaching out to touch a hurting world (Mark 1:41). Let your eyes see people in their need. Let your ears hear the sounds of need.

If you reach out to the poor and needy, and lonely, and lost and hurting, in your darkest hour God will smile on you.

When the day is done, it is not the millions of dollars spent on church programs that matters most in touching lives. It is whether individuals care and love in small and personal ways.

Much Love,

Pastor Bare

"If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday." Isaiah 58:10