Good Will

I was hungry, and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned, and you crept off to your chapel and prayed for my released.
I was naked, and in your mind you debate the morality of my appearance.
I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless, and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God, But I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.
-Anonymous (Taken from Youth For Christ)


Please don't forget that we are the hands of God in this world. If YOU aren't willing to give even a few hours of your time, a few dollars, or a few prayers, how can you expect anyone else to? There are hundreds of people around you in need of help. If you don't know how to help, call an outreach in your area, a church, a food bank, just try to do your part in spreading not only the Good News but the Good Will that was proclaimed in His Birth.

Modern Slavery

 
Human Trafficking isn’t something you only hear about in movies, or in 3rd world countries, it isn’t something that only affects certain groups or areas. It is everywhere. I live less than 2 hours away from the largest human trafficking ‘hub’ in the entire United States.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t be blind. And don’t be mislead. God gave us His Holy Spirit as our guide, He gave us boldness in His Power and supernatural strength and knowing. WE ARE GIVEN THESE THINGS FOR A REASON. WE DO NOT FEAR AS THE WORLD FEARS – FOR WE SERVE AN ALMIGHTY GOD – AND THROUGH OUR ACTIONS AND OUR BOLDNESS IN THE FACE OF EVIL CAN OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS BE SAVED.

ANYONE CAN HELP. THE FIRST STEP TO SOLVING A PROBLEM IS LEARNING ABOUT IT. I’VE DONE THE WORK FOR YOU…WHAT YOU ARE LED TO DO NEXT IS ON YOU.

1. 99% of victims are not rescued.
2. Approximately 2 to 4 million people are trafficked in and across borders each year.
3. Human trafficking is now a leading source of profits for organized crime, together with drugs and weapons, generating an estimated 9.5 billion dollars per year. – US Department of State: Trafficking in Persons Report, 2007
4. The overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children.
5. The average victim is forced to have sex up to 20 times a day.
6. The CIA calculates that profits from one trafficked woman alone average around $250,000 American dollars per year. – Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress, 2007
7. Children are abducted from rural areas and trafficked into a range of exploitive practices which include bonded labor, sexual exploitation, marriage, illicit adoptions, and begging.
8. Young girls, some as young as 12 years old, are forced to work in brothels, massage parlors, prostitution rings, strip clubs, or used to produce pornographic materials.
9. Children are recruited and trafficked to earn money by begging or selling goods.
10. Child beggars are sometimes maimed by their captors to generate sympathy and generosity from potential buyers. –
11. Most victims of sexual exploitation and modern slavery are under 18 years of age –
12. For every 75,000 victims, only 1 trafficker is convicted. –
13. 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. – U .S. Department of Justice
14. An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. – U.S Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons
15. An estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry
    
    GET INVOLVED. RAISE MONEY FOR ORGANIZATIONS. DONATE YOUR TIME, YOUR RESOURCES, YOUR PRAYERS. YOU CAN HELP. YOU MATTER.

Two Fold

Isaiah 53:4-5
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Matthew 8:5-17
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him." The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

Notice, if you will, that the Centurion CAME to Jesus. Many sermons have been told over his faith, of His Belief in Jesus' ultimate control over all things, but I have yet to hear the first part of this message exemplified. You see, he not only had faith, he had ACTION. There was a two-fold process that led them to God. He WENT to Jesus, he stood up, humbled himself to approach Him in beseeching and faith, and went to find him. There was work involved. It wasn't just faith, this man, this man who "didn't deserve God" was brave and humble enough to go out and SEEK HIM. Recall the woman who bled, the one who knew if she merely touched his garment, she would be healed. Can you imagine her pain and weakness?

Picture a mosh pit, a store at Black Friday, a concert to see Bon Jovi - people were pushing, jumping up, struggling to get closer to him, and still, in her weakness, her pain, and her shame, SHE GOT UP and went to SEEK HIM OUT.

Faith alone is not enough, although it is what Jesus says has healed us, there were actions taken in that faith first. God says 'SEEK ME' - the Bible says 'SEEK HIM' - so if you are waiting for your miracle, keep faith, gather your courage, and humble yourself so that you too can SEEK HIM and by your faith you will be made whole.

Faithfulness To God and Of God.

I will admit that when God puts a subject on my heart, the first thing I do is google “Bible verses on _____ ” to get a clear view of many, if not most, of the times we are taught about whatever it may be. Today, it was faithfulness and upon doing my normal look up, I noticed something – of the 25 or 30 verses presented, all of them were either directing us to be faithful to God, or promising us that God would be faithful to us. It is an eternal ‘I scratch your back, your scratch mine’ promise we have entered into, for those of us saved, that if you are faithful to God and what He teaches, He will remain faithful to you in the promises He offers for all who call upon His Name. 

1 John 1:9 ESV If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Hebrews 10:23 ESV Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

1 Samuel 12:24 ESV Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.

Lamentations 3:23 ESV Great is Your faithfulness.

Proverbs 3:3 ESV Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.