Late to the Party?

"When Jesus looked beneath the surface, it moved him with compassion because he saw people distressed, downcast, wandering, alone, and disconnected from the God who alone sees their true value. Then Jesus says something shocking to his followers: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37 nlt). So he commands them to pray for more workers! Then he sends them out to be restorers (9:37–10:1). The problem is not primarily that people don’t feel broken by sin (many are distressed and downcast). The problem is not that God doesn’t care (he has compassion). The problem is not with people’s openness or willingness to respond (the harvest is plentiful). The problem is with us! Think about it this way: Have you ever felt a stirring or prompting in your mind to stop and help someone in need, but you were too busy and ignored it? Have you ever had a thought urging you to go comfort someone or challenge them spiritually, but you decided it might be intrusive? Have you ever felt led to say something encouraging, but it felt awkward? God nudges everyone, but most everyone says no! The workers are just plain unavailable."

Another great excerpt from the "Mud and the Masterpiece" by John Burke due out in just 2 Days. For the last few days I have been posting excerpts from the book because I truly believe God wants to change our perspective on how we view people. I do a lot of reading but have found this book to be one of the most timely books for the Church today.



Here in Miami alone, we know that 97% of the population does not go to church. We need to be asking ourselves why?  Here in this excerpt we find Jesus able to see the need is great. Instead of acting like some kind of crazy super hero, like he could, what does he do? He invites me and you to come to the party! So will you come to the party? Will you get in there and get to know people or will you stand in the corner?  C,mon let's not be late for the Party!

Splagna

"When Jesus encountered people, he had spiritual vision to see the river of hurt and pain flowing beneath the surface of those who drink and drug to numb the anger or hide the loneliness. He saw beneath the surface of people who get entangled in degrading relationships because they fear being alone. He could see through the shield of those who shut everyone out, terrified of being hurt again. He understood why people work themselves to death trying to prove they are worth something. Jesus could see that beneath all our adult pretense and posturing, hidden under the sands of time, are just little boys and girls, let down and confused, hurt and angry, wounded and afraid, rebelling and running from the only One who can ultimately make it better."

Another excerpt from "Mud and the Mastetpiece," A new book coming out this week by John Burke. I love how John describes the kind of compassion Jesus has for people. 

"The word compassion in the original Greek language of the New Testament comes from the word splagna. It literally means “guts.” Remember from English class the term onomatopoeia—a word that sounds like its meaning? Splagna sounds like your guts, doesn’t it? Ever felt something so deeply it hit you in the gut? Maybe you heard tragic news, or someone hurt you deeply, something happened to a child or loved one, and you could feel it down deep inside, couldn’t you?"

We read in Matthew 9:36, "When He(Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a sherpard."

What it is saying here is that he felt it deep in his gut, I can imagine he felt it so much it hurt! So how do we respond when we feel that kind of hurt and pain for someone? Do we act as Jesus did? 

When we moved to Miami to start a church for people who don't like church we prayed and asked God to give us his eyes for people. We prayed that we would have the same compassion, or splagna as it may be, for people.

Will you pray with us? Will you pray for us?
E-mail us at remerge@hotmail.com to join our prayer team. Starting February 1st, we will be emailing daily prayer requests.

Mud Management

"When you look at people, what do you see? I am convinced that people intuitvely pick up on our attitude toward them. What's in our hearts toward people will be felt by them. Do we have good will toward all people? Are we for people or really against some of them? Do we truly believe they have immense value and worth to God? Or are we secretly disgusted, bothered, shocked, judgemental, wanting to "fix them" quickly? I've come to believe that many Christians repel those who don't follow Christ because we don't share God's heart for them. Why? Some of us may have come to faith in Christ under a Gospel of Mud-Management rather than a Gospel of restorative Grace"

This is an excerpt from John Burke's new book "Mud and the Masterpiece." Over the next week, I am going to be sharing little excerpts of the book. Why? I believe this book could possibly change your life! You will definetly be asking yourself the same question I did after reading this one small excerpt, How do I really look at people? We are all God's creation. God desires a relationship with every single person he created.  Am I helping to facilitate that or am I hindering people from seeing who God really is and how much He loves them.

The book comes out February 1st and I encourage to buy it. All of the proceeds go to "Life giving Life," a campaign that John Burke has started in Austin, Tx. If you want to know more about "Life giving Life" check out Gateway church in Austin, Texas.

Please pray for us as we seek God and that ReMerge will be known for being able to see poeple as God sees them. That we will spread the Gospel of Restorative Grace and not Mud Management.

Also email us at remerge@hotmail.com if you want to join our prayer team. Be a part of praying for what God is doing in Miami.

Gear Trouble

So a few weeks ago we showed up to the park to do our normal Saturday morning breakfast, we set up our tables and got all the food out while everyone was eating we noticed a guy sitting in the parking lot in his car. After a few minutes I walked over to his car, knocked on the window and invited him to join us.

After a few minutes of drinking coffee, I inquired why he was there. He started explaining how his car won't go into gear. One of our regulars jumped up with his flashlight, headed over to his car and worked on it, before long, it was working. I am sure he was pretty greatful.

The interesting thing is, he keeps coming back. Every Saturday he shows up, has coffee, eats some breakfast. He's not homeless, he has a job, I think he even has two jobs.

So why does he keep coming back? This thought has been going through my mind a lot this week.  One thing I know is that people crave community. They want to belong to something, they want to feel like they are a part of something.

Please pray that every week that we spend at the park that these lives will be impacted with God's Love and that everything we do and say will show God's love in a practical way.

We have realized that we live in a very different city, there is a lot to do here and we can't do it alone! We need to develop a team of people who will pray for us everyday. And so we're doing it, Starting February 1st, we will email out one very short prayer request everyday. Will you join our prayer team and take a moment to pray for us every day. Email us at remerge@hotmail.com if you would like to join. You may live very far away but you can impact the lives of the people of this city too!