This weeks sermon was based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. There is a lot we can learn from this parable when we think about how to help our church grow. The Samaritan had a missions mindset. He was willing to go out of his way to meet another persons needs. Jesus said he showed mercy to the injured man. Mercy is something we don't deserve. The injured man could have been a con. He could have had his friends jump out of the bushes and rob the Samaritan. The priest and the levite all had good excuses for passing by. They feared for their life. They were in a bad part of town. They could have become ceremonially unclean; which means they would not have been qualified to work in the temple. I'm sure the Samaritan had people to see and things to do and places to go. But, he stopped and met the man's needs and put his own needs on the back burner.
At Shiloh we need to have a missions mindset. I believe we do. I believe in 2009 that we will have an even greater focus on missions. Missions is simply meeting the needs of others. It's ministry in action. It's what we actually do as a church to help Gods people. One of my favorite songs says, 'If we are the body why aren't our hands healing, why aren't our words healing, and why aren't our arms reaching.' We need to identify real needs of people in Franklin and go out of our way to meet them. All of this we need to do in the name of the Lord. If we do these things out of a true conscience and for Gods glory and not of ourselves or the church, then I believe our church will grow because our focus will be on expanding Gods kingdom first. The Bible says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and all things will be added unto you." This goes for churches as well as individuals.
Go with God!!
Just a few recent pictures
17 years ago
2 comments:
A friend of mine recently picked up and moved to Texas to minister to young, lost girls. She is an inspiration and reading her blog this week tied in well with The Good Samaritan.
Here's her story: "I looked up and saw an older gruff-looking homeless man walking swiftly away from us. When he saw me looking at him he threw his hands up and said, "no harm ma'am."
I just smiled and nodded my head.
I immediately wanted to know his name.
I walked up behind him, "Excuse me Sir."
He stopped and I asked if there was anything I could pray about for him.
He said, "just keep me in your prayers."
I asked him his name, "Darrell."
I reached my hand out and said it was nice to meet him.
He immediately jerked his hand back, "My hands are dirty, you don't want to shake my hand."
"Yes I do, that doesn't matter." I kept my hand stretched out towards him.
He looked at me then shook my hand.
As we both walked away he turned around and shouted, "remember me in your prayers, you are going to pray for me right?"
Yes Darrell, yes. I promise you I will pray for you.
I looked down at my hand covered in dirt. My palm was blackened.
He wasn't kidding when he said his hands were dirty."
thanks for the good story. One of my favorite songs goes along with this story. it talks about the blood on jesus' feet.
thanks for your post. it's the first in about 3 weeks. it's very encouraging.
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