help others, give hope

And his name will be the hope of all the world.

One of the things that I love to do is to talk about how God is changing lives around the work we are blessed to be part of. I met with a pastor yesterday from our region and had the opportunity to share our vision, work and the desire that I and our church has to impact for lives for Jesus.

Each of us comes from different points of view. Our methods, teaching, vision and even practice are often different. Yet one thing is central. In that meeting yesterday this one central piece was clear. We want to help hurting people. Hurting people, like us, need Jesus!

Lives matter. That is all lives matter despite color, location, socioeconomic position or anything else that tends to divide us. Around us we see this every day, but it is easy to turn our heads the other direction or stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich. To not see the pain around us, to not acknowledge in the pain in our lives is to miss what God wants to do in and through us.

As I repeated earlier this week I have a strong desire to be a “broker of hope” sharing truth that is much bigger and stronger than any of us. I believe that we must live purpose and with hope. Live with truth, and truth is a person whose name is Jesus.

Psalm 33:20 NLT

We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.

Hope comes from Jesus. Dreams are fueled and filled by Jesus. Yet so many of the people we want to help don't know this hope. It is time that we help hurting people by meeting practical needs and giving people hope. This hope may be shared Bible verses or a sermon, yet this hope comes best in the relationships we build by helping others.

When we help hurting people, hope can be seen. Put everything else aside. The hope we must offer has to be Jesus. Nothing else heals like Jesus' hope. Nothing else fuels dreams like Jesus.

Mark 10:45 NLT

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The hope we give to hurting people is Jesus!

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" (brand new book)

One of the most powerful preachers, writers and leaders of our time, in my opinion, is Francis Chan. His first book, Crazy Love , revolutionized my thoughts about God's love as well as my interacting with God. Now it is time for a brand new book from Chan being released tomorrow, September 1st. The book is Forgotten God . This is a phenomenal book about the power that Christians and the church can and must tap into. All of it is within the Holy Spirit. Francis talks about the power that was seen in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit began to move among people. It is true that many have avoided or maybe forgotten what the Holy Spirit is all about. And like the Savior who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and ac...

inspiration from C.S. Lewis

There are many people, past and present, who get our attention by what they write or say or share. For me C.S. Lewis is one of those. He was a prolific writer who continues to grab the attention of thinkers from many different points of view. Lewis first grabbed my attention when I was in 5 th grader, and our teacher, Mrs. Foy, shared The Chronicles of Narnia with our class. It was a powerful time that this dreamer opened doors to thinking like I had never lived before. He wrote of faith, of far off places and of strong figures who found their character rooted deep in God. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963, 7 years before I was born. It wasn’t until his 30’s that under the influence of his friend Tolkien that he came to be a Christian. He was raised in a traditional church going home, turned away from God as an Atheist in his teen years and through trying to stay away from God and faith returned to God with...

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!

Michael Harrison's e-devotion

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