Help those in need

Good morning Church.

Thanks so much for being here,

Also if your watching online either live or later on we appreciate you as well.

Happy New year. we missed it last week Rosh Hashanah began on Friday the 18 5781

marks the beginning of 10 days of repentance

Also Happy Fall 2020. this is the 1st Sunday since fall began. but I think the weather is getting ahead of itself.

I think we skipped summer this year.

PSA speak about facebok

Funny video ( helping others )

After last weeks hiatus for Kids day. we going to pick up where we left off 2 weeks ago

We’re still in the series on “the Bride has made herself ready”

The focus of this series is how to we the church (the bride of Christ) get ready for Jesus’s return

the simple answer is to do what Jesus told us to do!

but we are going to expand on that today with

Helping those in need.

The biggest challenge with this message is what can I leave out.

there are literally 100’s of verses that pertain to God’s desire for us to help out each other.

It’s not just a suggestion, but rather God’s expectation of us.

What i’m sharing today is not some new revelation, in fact many of you are already living this out

allow this message to empower you to continue on when things get hard.

let it be a reminder to us all to keep the right focus

I could stand up here for hours just reading all biblical references on this topic . there’s that many of them

In doing Biblical study. there a rule that says the more a topic is mentioned the more important that it is.

If that be the case helping others is of utmost importance to God!

The Old testament speaks of it

Deuteronomy 15:11 NASB95

“For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

Proverbs says it

Proverbs 14:31 NASB95

He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.

Proverbs 28:27 NASB95

He who gives to the poor will never want, But he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.

James the brother of Jesus says it like this:

James 2:14–17 NASB95

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Paul speaks of it in many of his books

Galatians 6:9 NASB95

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Galatians 6:2 NASB95

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

What is the Law of Christ?

Luke 10:27 NASB95

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Ephesians 4:28 NASB95

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

But most importantly Jesus himself taught this

5 reason we should choose to help those in need

1) whenever you help someone you are actually helping Jesus.

Matthew 25:31–46 NASB95

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to 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? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

If that passage doesn’t challenge you....i don’t know what will

Jesus is making this point

2) Whenever you help someone you are storing up treasures for the life to come

I’ve never seen a hearse pulling a u-hall

Luke 12:33–34 NASB95

“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

3) helping others gives you a better perspective on you own life

It’s very easy to become introspective

get caught focusing on your own problems

Isaiah 58:10 NASB95

And if you give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday.

4) God has gifted us to serve

1 Peter 4:10 NASB95

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1 Corinthians 14:12 NASB95

So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.

5) Serving others is the most Christ like thing you can do

Philippians 2:3–8 NASB95

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

1 Corinthians 11:1 NASB95

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

Matthew 20:28 NASB95

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

John 13:12–15 NASB95

So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.