Daily Devotions - Entries tagged "Local Impact"

FriFridayFebFebruary24th2012 Whatever you did for one of the least of these...

Posted Friday, February 24 2012 @ 5 AM byJonathan Ziman Tagged Local Impact 0 comments Add comment

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “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. 35 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, 36 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.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matt. 25:31-46, NIV)

This Sunday is Local Impact Sunday and special guest speaker Brian Mavis will be preaching on this parable. According to Mavis, 2,740,000,000 people have not heard the name of Jesus and 9,000,000 people die every year from hunger related causes. These numbers are so impossibly huge it’s hard to even make sense of them. They dull the senses and keep us from getting involved. How can I possibly make a difference in such an ocean of suffering and pain? Start working on this parable today and pray for God to be opening your eyes to ways you can get involved.

One simple way is to set aside Saturday May 5 and serve with us as part of CareFest 2012. What began in 2005 with 250 people has quadrupled in size and now 1,000 will be going out into DuPage serving our community and building bridges of compassion with our neighbors. Save the date now and plan to get involved!

WedWednesdayFebFebruary22nd2012 "And you are to love those who are foreigners"

Posted Wednesday, February 22 2012 @ 5 AM byJonathan Ziman Tagged Local Impact 0 comments Add comment

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deut. 10:14-19)

I am a foreigner in this country. Although I am now finally a fully naturalized citizen, I will always feel slightly out-of-place here in my adopted home. I absolutely love it here, but I can never lose sight of the fact that I was born and raised in London. It’s in my blood, regardless of the flag on my passport.

So, having come from another country and gone through the immigration system myself, I have a vested interest in the debates that are raging in America today and in what the Bible says in regard to the ways in which we should treat “foreigners” or “sojourners.”

We’re not going to solve all those questions in a brief devotional thought, (a good resource for that is the website, http://www.undocumented.tv), but this passage in Deuteronomy is a good place to start thinking them through.

Here we find a reminder that we serve a Holy God whom we are told to love and worship with fear and obedience. The repeated thought is that we did not choose Him, He chose us. If we have any favor or standing in His eyes it is because of God, not because we are special or better than anyone else.

In fact, it is part of God’s character, a core component of His very identity, to care for “the fatherless and the widow.” Our God doesn’t just tolerate or accommodate the foreigner, He “loves the foreigner.” His heart is filled with care and concern for foreigners.

The question then becomes, what about us? How will we respond to the increasing numbers of foreigners, documented and undocumented, living right here in our community? What are we to make of the Hindu and Muslim places of worship sprouting up all around us? How can the Church take a stand against atrocities such as human trafficking? How can we reach these people with the gospel?

I encourage you to join Local Impact Pastor Chris McElwee and hundreds of other people at the 2012 “Mission On Our Doorsteps” conference, March 16-17. This incredible event will be an opportunity to honestly wrestle with these issues and more as pastors and church leaders gather to discuss what the Bible says about “justice” for those living right here among us. http://www.missiononourdoorsteps.com/ You can watch a great summary video here:

TueTuesdayFebFebruary21st2012 Fighting hunger is easier than you think

Posted Tuesday, February 21 2012 @ 5 AM byJonathan Ziman Tagged Local Impact 0 comments Add comment

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

(Isa. 58:6-7, NIV)

Feeding the hungry is important, but doesn’t earn us our salvation. After all, atheists can feed the hungry and still be lost in sin. Providing the poor with shelter is a fantastic humanitarian goal, but doesn’t necessarily ingratiate us with God. After all, people of all different religions can be concerned with eradicating homelessness while still worshiping false gods and idols.

In fact, just as fasting can become an empty religious ritual, so too can helping the poor. So, how then do we make sense of this passage?

These verses do not say that the people should stop fasting and start feeding the poor instead. Isaiah is not trying to impose new rules on the people. What it does call for is a heart so transformed by God that it cannot help but express that love in acts of worship and service. As we draw closer and closer to God, more and more of His character should be expressed in our lives, both internally and externally.

One aspect of God’s character that comes up over and over again in Scripture is His concern for the poor and hungry. As our hearts are transformed that concern should slowly become our concern as well. But where do we begin?

Two great places to serve right here in our community are Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) and the Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB).

Every year millions of meals are put together by thousands of FMSC volunteers and shipped around the world to places that need it most.

Watch this video to learn more:

Packing meals at FMSC is a great activity do as a group from 2-90 people and any age kindergarten on up! Visit their website to sign up and pack some meals this month!

http://volunteer.fmsc.org/Register/Default.aspx

Just a few miles west of us in St. Charles is the Northern Illinois Food Bank. They have several volunteer shifts per week with a variety of easy roles. This is a great activity for small groups, but there are age restrictions, so check their website to see if it is appropriate for your children. http://solvehungertoday.org/GetInvolved/Volunteer/VolunteerWestSuburban.aspx