Get off our BUTTS!!!

There are times that I look at what is happening around the world and ask God – WHY?  HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?  I look at the draught and famine spreading in Somalia and I am devastated that parents are having to choose which children will live and which children will die.  I am heartbroken at the fact that these people are having to leave their children, who are part of them and they obviously love, to go find ways to provide for them.  Then there is little to no education that they bring to the table to get them jobs to provide for their families so they sit there begging, only getting enough food and water for themselves and getting no money to send home to their families. 

I sit and yell at God- WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?  Why don’t you do something about it?  But really – I think that God needs to be looking at me saying – “WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?  You sit there in a nice home, comfortable, living within your means, there are hungry and poor around you, but not to this extreme.  What are you doing to solve this problem?  Didn’t I tell you to go and feed my sheep?  Well do something about it!  I have equipped you with a brain, a heart, a decent financial situation and an able body – so work…  don’t just sit here and yell at me, look at yourself and at your own life and go from there.”

Peter denied Christ when he was arrested.  He said – I do not know him.  He said this 3 times.  I do not know the man…  Jesus, Peter’s closest and dearest friend, was rejected by Peter because he didn’t want to be associated with someone sentenced to die.  He didn’t want to get in trouble himself.  Peter was a great disciple of Jesus.  He loved Jesus with all his heart, but he didn’t want to take a stand for him.  3 times he denied Christ.

After Jesus resurrected (PRAISE GOD!) they were sitting and eating.  Jesus did this with Peter.  John 21, 15-79

“when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘ you know that I love you.’

Jesus said ‘Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me?’

He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?’

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?”

He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’

Jesus said ‘Feed my sheep’ “

So Peter denied Jesus 3 times, and 3 times Jesus asked if he loved Him to which his response was always – “you know that I love you”.  Jesus told him to do something about it – he told him to feed His Lambs, tend to and take care of his sheep and feed them.  I think there is something very real about the fact that there is taking care of God’s people 3 times in here.  Christianity is not just going to church, sitting by the wayside and doing nothing.  It isn’t about all the benefits that will come to you.

It is time to take action.  Feed the people physically and they will listen to the spiritual fruits that you have.  There has to be something that we can do about Somalia, but at the same time, there might be kids down the road needing fed too.  They need tended to also.  We need to feed God’s sheep- we need to take care of them.  It isn’t up to government (since we all know how well that is going) it is up to us.  The Body of Christ- the collective church to put aside our differences and rise up and retake care of the world. 

I heard someone say the other day that they didn’t want to do that b/c they believed that the end times were coming.  It is very likely that they are, but haven’t we been saying that for 10 years.  Are we just gong to sit and let everyone else self-destruct because we think it will bring Jesus faster?  SELFISH, SELFISH!!!!  Lets get up off our butts and strive to make a difference!  Lets do something to change the world!!!! 

Have you ever seen Pay it Forward?  Well basically one person does something good for 3 people with the stipulation that they do good for 3 other people.  So it multiplies and multiplies and multiplies…  if we each got off our butts and helped ONE family, one situation – imagine the results that we could get…