Message: Taking action with God’s Love
Today’s message was all about taking action with the love, resources, and talents that God has given to each of us. In the book of Acts, we learned of the many miracles performed by God. But sometimes we can’t rely upon those miracles to come directly from God. Sometimes Jesus equips us to be the miracle. In Acts 17, the philosophers of the day fled the city to save their own lives and while they produced some great writings, it was the Christians that stayed behind to care for the sick. In this case, the Christians were the miracle.
This Sunday we were lucky enough to have three testimonies to the power of God’s love in action with us.
The first testimony came from Ginny Hoeben. Ginny and her late husband Bill had built a comfortable life for themselves. They had family, successful careers, and financial security. But instead of kicking their feet up and enjoying a mojito somewhere off the coast of Florida, they responded to the call of God to serve the needs of Mexico. The Hoeben’s served as Missionary Assistants on the Foursquare Missions team based in Baja. Their efforts focused on facilitating short teams from the US and Canada and construction projects. Ginny and Bill looked at their life, examined what God had blessed them with, and decided to use it to share His love. Their testimony is proof that no matter what your background or situation is – God has a place and a purpose for you in His kingdom.
The second testimony came from Joy Eckstine of the Boulder Bridge House. At the Boulder Bridge House, Joy helps people whom have fallen on hard times to get their life back in order by providing basic necessities and support. What is most amazing of all is that Joy will be working the next year for $1.
As a quick note, the Boulder Bridge House is in need of basic necessities such as socks and underwear that you can donate by bringing them to Hope Boulder. They also need volunteers to come to the Boulder Bridge House and just sit with their clients during meals. You don’t have to be a licensed counselor. Just sit, have a bite to eat, and chat.
Our own Pastor Ted Vail shared a few stories from his recent trip to Japan, where he visited the devastation left by the recent earthquake and tsunami. Amazingly, the region has not had a missionary or church for more than 450 years. That’s 450 years of people living without the love and hope of Jesus in their lives.
The impacted region was the distance between San Francisco to Los Angeles that was completely demolished by a wall of water.
These stories remind us that God’s love is for everyone. It’s up to each of us to act on that love and help those in our community.