OUTREACH

Outreach is a word that church members are familiar with and have heard used often. Surely that is one word we understand - or do we? When most churches think of outreach, we are thinking of how we can reach out to our neighbors or to our community with the gospel. That certainly is the right idea for outreach and we need to do more of it.

I have been reminded lately of a lot of life-impacting things the church can do to further our Outreach. Why not do it like Jesus did it? When Jesus passed through, He literally reached out to give a healing and saving touch to those around Him. He never left anyone who took Him by the hand, hungry, hurting or lost.

Didn't our Lord reach out to take the hand of a little maid whom He restored to life? Yes He did even in the face of scorners and critics. See Mark 5:41. While we have not been given nor led to raise the dead, we most certainly can reach out our hand in love to bring a girl or boy to Christ to be saved from their sins. Every time a lost soul is saved by the Lord Jesus, it is the giving of life to those who did not have it before! In Luke 7:14, did not the Lord Jesus reach out His hand when the widow of Nain had lost her only son? Our Lord restored that young man to life and to his mother once again. But, He had to break up the formality of a funeral to do it!

Do we not also read that the Lord Jesus reached out His hand to the infirm, the sick and the poor? Yes! "So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." (Luke 14:20-22) Thank God that this is in the Bible. Why? Because that was the spiritual condition of us all before we met Christ! So if we are going to have OUTREACH like Jesus had OUTREACH, then we are going to have to be committed to reaching out our hands to some folks that are in bad shape and others who are not well liked by the world. Yet, that is our job isn't it? We have lots of people all around us whom need the Lord Jesus. Let's fill this building up with them! Pray that everyone of us will be those "hands" that the Lord will use to give a healing and saving touch to this hurting world. May we ask the Lord today to use us to bring people to Christ. Verse 22 of Luke 14 says-, "And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room."

David Ralston, Pastor

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