Meeting Needs Is Being A Servant!!

Operation Christmas Child & The Open Door Ministry which we’ve been supporting Code Blue that Pastor Jeff Presented to us.

These two ministries help to meet the needs of people.

Operation Christmas Child, a ministry through Samaritans Purse, focuses on reaching the Children of the world, who need to know they are loved by God. As they organize thousands of people and churches working together to bring the children gifts during the Christmas season, they are sharing the message of the Gospel by meeting a very simple need with them, the need to know God’s loves them, and through you and the many people who serve at Operation Christmas Child, that need is met. The need is met by giving them a gift as simple as a hair clip, a tooth brush, a pencil, a doll, a toy truck. Many of these children have very little, if nothing at all!

The Open door provides meals, shelter, and the message of the Gospel that gives them hope and shows them God’s love and acceptance. As we give to this ministry by volunteering or financially, we are meeting the needs of hundreds of people in this community.

The message of the Gospel of Jesus is Meeting needs.

Meeting Needs is a Winner!

Meeting the needs of people is the way Jesus reached out with the message of God’s love.

He brought healing, calmed storms, He fed thousands, He forgave sins, He taught about God’s love, He showed God’s love, and ultimately showed His love by suffering, and dying for all people.

Christ’s Church Began By Meeting Needs

Acts 2:42–47 (NLT)

The Believers Form a Community

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Meeting Needs resulted in Winning people to Christ.

“Nobody Cares How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care” - Teddy Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” What a great insight. John Maxwell, a popular author of many leadership books, is well known for spreading this message as well. When all is said and done, people may admire how much you know, how well versed you are in your field (doctor, mechanic, lawyer, engineer, community leader, etc.), but they will remember you for the ages for how much you cared for them and for the greater good, not the selfish good. I think this is what created the rightful legacies of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Mother Teresa, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai, and General Norman Schwarzkopf. I can still remember watching an interview with General Schwarzkopf, and when the four-star general talked about his soldiers with so much pride and caring, he had visible tears in his eyes. When people know how much you care, you have begun building the foundations of trust-based relationships.

Nobody cares about what the church has to say about their faith in Jesus until the church demonstrates how much they care in action.

Meeting the needs of people shows How Much You Care which gives you permission to tell them How Much You Know About the Love of God!

It’s in the action of caring that opens up the door to sharing the knowledge you have about the Gospel.

The generosity of caring for one another in the early church resulted in thousands of people coming to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

The generosity of the early church caring and meeting the needs of others caused unbelievers to listen to the messages of the apostles and believe.

The unbeliever saw how much the church cared for each other and for them and they desired to know more about what they had experienced in Jesus.

The same is true today!

People don’t care about what we know about Jesus, until they know how much we care about them by helping to meet their needs.

That is why the message last week on generosity is so important.

God desire for us to be generous givers to His work.

His work is meeting the needs of others so that they might know Him.

2 Corinthians 9 (NLT)

Chapter 9

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem. 2 For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.

3 But I am sending these brothers to be sure you really are ready, as I have been telling them, and that your money is all collected. I don’t want to be wrong in my boasting about you. 4 We would be embarrassed—not to mention your own embarrassment—if some Macedonian believers came with me and found that you weren’t ready after all I had told them! 5 So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.

6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,

“They share freely and give generously to the poor.

Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12 So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

13 As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. 15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

So, our generosity to ministries and to our own people bring glory to God as we take care of the needs of people, believers and non believers!

And as we see in the verses earlier in the book of Acts, 3000 people became part of the church through the modeling of meeting the many needs of the early church family.

It is my prayer today, that we will give generously to the Open Door Ministry in the area of their Code Blue outreach, and to the show box ministry of Operation Christmas Child through Samaritans Purse.

So remember to pick up your shoe boxes on the way out today and bring them back filled up and ready to send on November 22nd.

You can give to Code Blue by writing on your offering envelope or through pushpay and clicking the fund category and scroll down to click on the Code Blue circle.