The Scriptures are full of many promises and what I’ve seen in my reading of Scriptures in both the old and new testaments is that people get blessed by the LORD and then in their abundance they have a tendency to forget just where those blessings came from and little by little they sink once again into tough times until they return to God’s principles which state that, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”Proverbs 19:17
This elderly widow & her cat live alone and she sells tortillas
The Prophet Isaiah wrote around 700 B.C.E in chapter 61:1 that the Messiah would come and bring the good news of redemption was going to be presented to the poor and this gospel would be GOOD NEWS for those needing redemption in its myriad forms. It was within this strata of society that Jesus recognized their great need of redemption. Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he (Jehovah God) has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.”
The USA recently celebrated its 244th year of independence from Great Britain after fighting a revolutionary war with Englan. You might ask 100 people that and maybe a couple might know what’s true about one or both of those statistics. However, how that decision has affected them personally maybe 5 in a 100 might have something to share.
As a Christian freedom & independence are quite different. Jesus was asked before the Roman governor the question, What is truth?? (John 18). Earlier in other conversations with the Jewish community he stated in (John 8) that the truth would set you free (in other words, it would give you freedomand a sense of independence). Lastly in (John 10:10) Jesus stated very clearly that he is the way the truth and the life. No one can access Father Jehovah God (John 14:6) without Jesus.
Why is truth so essential?
If what we believe determines our mind set what I believe, if not truth, will lead me into error and a false world view. That’s why SOR Mission is determined to share truth to the poor and under privileged of this world. Jesus said in Luke 4:18 that the gospel was sent to the poor and not to the rich and arrogant who think money is their only power and that poverty is their problem and not theirs.
These are the wonderful people we work with to help give home and a brighter future for them and their children.
Continuing to help during times of Covid-19 where so many are out of work and do not access to a food pantry or a freezer because they are the poorest of the poor. Those Jesus came to tell the good news to. We are honoured to call them friends.
This family didn’t seem to unhappy because the roof doesn’t leak and they ate a meal that day
One day I ran into some friends at a local mall who also lived in Tegucigalpa where I was livging at the time. I invited them to have a coffee with me at an espresso shop in the mall. While there Edgar shared with me that he had been having some difficult times lately due to lack of work and no extra other than little low paying jobs for an hour here and an hour there. Never enough to pay the the light bill had come and he wasn’t even sure how he was going to pay it . Then with a bright smile he changed the subject by saying that his son was turning 5 the next day and that they were at the mall to buy a birthday cake for them to take home to celebrate his 5th birthday..
I remember so well his response after I asked him, being a responsible gringo like I am, about the light bill and what would happen if they came to shut off this power if he didn’t pay by the deadline. He looked at me with this funny smile on his face, like on what planet was I living, and replied, “don’t forget that Juancito only turns 5 once and so why wouldn’t we celebrate it because I’m always going to have light bills to pay but only once can we celebrate Juancito turning 5 years old. I was silenced by his response. It reminded me afterwards of a passage of scripture that I had read earlier about Jesus at the home of Simon in Bethany, Israel.
“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?†they asked.“This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.†Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me” Matthew 26-11 He also answered those looking for a way out of being responsible by telling us in Luke 10:27 to “‘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 to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]â€
Jesus warming the homeless at night in one of our cities
Have you ever wondered what the Bible is talking about when it tells us to not accumulate a ton of this world’s finest goods but rather waning us to be more concerned about sending it on up ahead?
It’s really not easy to deny oneself and live a life of modified self denial. Maybe you just don’t see why you need to dedicate your life to this principles of self discipline, giving to the poor that you know and also being that merciful person that your family needs you to be. In the end you’re the person who benefits. Luke 6:38 that says in part, give and it will be given back at the same amount that you gave. Wow, we can’t go wrong can we
Well let me share a few ideas that God has been bouncing around my head lately . I don’t want to you to think that God and I just hang out all the time, but in a sense we do as I quiet the din of my busy life and listen to his quiet voice that instructs me on living a simple, fulfilling, abundant life without the materialism of this world’s culture trying to make me a slave in thinking that my happiness is found in possessions from our physical world. The truth lies in sending your time and money to have God watch over it so that when the day comes that you check out from this life you’ll have something waiting for you in what we Christians call the Eternal Life
The things I did in
2019 will be my traveling companions in 2020. In the leap I won’t connect
up automatically with a few new habits that I’d like to begin this year.
Why resolutions seldom work it seems.
What’s your new year resolution that you want to achieve?
About 80% of resolutions are never
completed or made a habit during the present year they’re started and most attempts
fail by around mid-February. My friend at the gym mentioned that
January/February are the busiest months of the year for the gym which happens
to be the most common and popular resolution, that being losing some
weight. Next people want to also get in
shape #2 also at the gym. Third choice is starting something new for me that
helps me to be a better person followed by being more organized and lastly of
the top five, learning to save a few extra dollars each month for
something desired.
All of these new resolutions can certainly
change us radically and can give us a better life style but many goals in life
a met at the pathway of discipline. Christianity
is a walk of discipline. Following Jesus
has changed me completely and as a now mature believer I see how learning those
disciplines changed my life radically.
I am open to listen to your story
and to see how you too can live it to the full.
As we call it, “the Abundant Lifeâ€
2On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,†he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?†What is written in the Law?†he replied. “How do you read it?†He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.â€
“You have answered correctly,†Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.â€
The rich young man didn’t see her as being his neighbor because he was blinded by the “ease” of his own happy world
He wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?†Thinking that Jesus wouldn’t include her in his world. Is she a part of your world?
Some years ago it was reported that the multi millionaire industrial magnate John D. Rockefeller, who had founded Standard Oil Company after being asked how much more money he needed to have enough, had replied that he needed just a little bit more.
Rockefeller strongly believed that his purpose in life was to make as much money as possible and then use it wisely to improve the lot of mankind However what was not often reported was that he spent the last forty years of his life dedicated to philanthropy in the fields of education and health attempting to help his fellow man to live a better life.
What we at SOR Mission believe is that we all need to live simpler lives so that our simplicity will help enable us to have extra resources to help others who need a hand up in life. Such as a small business loan for a single mother, Doris, attempting to help her family who is living in poverty because of no fault of her own or Maria whose house was collapsing around her because what she made selling tortillas, her only income, was not enough to rebuild her small wood house in which she and her handicapped daughter lived. These ladies were helped because someone like you gave of their means to reach out to give a hand up to these ladies.
Our mission statement directs us to connect human need with God’s resources. You are God’s resource as without you reaching out to those in need, that need will never be met.
Did you realize that a purchase of one of these delicious drinks on a every other day basis for a time could take a bit of change out of your pocket. Doing a voluntary fast for a needy family over a month period could help you donate $25 to SOR Mission that would help us in our ministry to the poor of Honduras. Just imagine.
