Today’s street church was awesome.

Today’s street church was awesome. We had speakers, tons of awesome steaks, a super Gospel Elvis performance and new and better set up. It took 3 vehicles to transport everything though. There is so much time, energy and resources needed to put something like this together. It is definitely worth it when we can make it possible. We strive for this 4 days a week and especially on Sundays. The thought is that a city full of people coming out of morning church services, would be filled up with a desire to go and serve the Lord and thus come to the heart of the city to Street Church.

Street Church is more than an outreach to help those in need. It is also more than just witnessing and serving. With enough recourses and help, we are able to make it a full blown church service, outside, in the middle of the city while simultaneously feeding, clothing, and ministering to the lost and the broken. We also get to exercise our guaranteed fundamental freedoms and testify about Jesus to many regular people passing by who would never be found in a church. What an influence we could have if the city officials would regularly witness one tenth of the professing Christians, actually come out to demonstrate publicly what is most important to them.

Where the devil sows discouragement the Lord reveals inspiration. If 100,000 profess to love the Lord but you’re the only one who shows up to prove it, how special are you?

There is a recent movie out about Martin Luther King. Here is one of the most glorious examples people who truly lived life right. What these men and women did was courageous and absolutely beautiful. If you really put yourself in their shoes though, you will realize that most of the time it was tough, rough, uncomfortable and full of sacrifice for them.

Many times at Street Church it seams cold, challenging, even lonely but when you look back over the years you feel so rich in your heart. You’ve invested your heart, mind, energy, time and resources into something so much greater than yourself. Street Church is one of the most tangible ways to be apart of the Kingdom of God. To be apart of something that counts for eternity. If not with us than please still serve somewhere, publicly, but do it with unashamed zeal.

During Christmas and New Years, we can really discover that life is not about material possessions, how great our jobs are or how many people like us. So than we go a little bit deeper and say life on earth is about how great of a person we were to others. In the end this still is depressing. This world will pass and your glory will always be minimal. Let’s instead live life for the real destiny set before us. Let’s get our eyes off of ourselves and focus on glorify God.

We are designed to worship and glorify something. It makes many happy to go on and on about a favourite sports team, movie, hobby or whatever. But real joy and life comes from the Giver of Life. The desire to worship and glorify is put in us from the One who created us and is best spent on Him. Let’s get our eyes off of this passing world and onto everlasting eternity, where we have a chance to enjoy Jesus forever. We have a chance to inherit the Kingdom of God.

The bible is relentless in reminding us that we will be rewarded for what we do, bad or good. It is also adamant that the good we know we ought to do, will also be expected of us. There are rewards beyond our comprehension that the Father wishes to bestow on his children. Let’s make Him proud and make the most of our one chance here on earth.

We want purpose in life but we don’t want to do what it takes to serve that purpose. Similarly we want happiness from God but we don’t really strive for holiness. This is like wanting food without wanting to cook it. It is like wanting money, but without working for it. If someone else just cooked the food and gave us the money, we would be even more depressed. Having meaningful purpose must to some degree involve sacrifice and effort. There is satisfaction in doing what it takes to get what you need and the deepest of satisfaction on this side of eternity, involves serving the purposes Jesus.

We are all being tested. None of this is by coincidence. Everything done for God will count. He just wants to see if you will do what is right when you’re not so sure He is watching. Please rise up and Let Him one day shower you with blessings. Never forget that most will rightfully have Him say, I never knew you.

Come on out and show the world that JESUS must be first in all of our lives.

Jesse Rau

The Son of Man Will Judge the Nations

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

“Then they also will answer Him,[b] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46