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Crossing Boundaries (Acts 11:19–21)

[Listen to an audio version here]

Have you ever been in a restaurant or business where it seemed the people were more interested in each other than you as a customer? Have you ever felt like an afterthought?

Peter Drucker, the famous business strategist and writer, began to realize that this was a general problem in business. Businesses would lose sight of the fact that they were there for the customers and become ingrown. They would become more concerned about their inward process than about their outward purpose.

The same can happen in the church, too. The church becomes inward-focused. It forgets that it is there for a larger purpose: the kingdom. The goal of the church is not the church. The goal of the church is to bless the world and to make an impact in it.

Today, I want to tell you about some brave men who saw with clarity what God wanted to do to expand His work in the world and acted on it. We don’t know their names. We just know what they did and the huge impact it made, an impact that is still with us today.

The Context
The first line in our text reads: “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled . . .” (Acts 11:19). This line hearkens back to Acts 8:4 which says, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

Stephen had preached boldly about Jesus. The result was as negative as it was when Jesus preached. The rulers of the Jewish people, led by Saul of Tarsus, stoned Stephen and killed him. Saul later bitterly regretted it and ended up preaching salvation through the same Jesus Stephen had preached. We know Saul now as the Apostle Paul, but the Stephen was still dead.

However, God knows how to bring light out of darkness. Speaking of Jesus’ death, the Apostles prayed, “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:28). They knew that God was working out a plan. Here God was working out a plan as well. This martyrdom was something God permitted and ordained for His own purposes. You see, the church had gotten stuck. They all stayed in Jerusalem, even though Jesus told them to go throughout the world. When the persecution broke out, they scattered.

The result was that they preached everywhere they went. Our text adds an important qualification, though. They preached, but “they were spreading the word only among Jews” (Acts 11:19). This is what was comfortable. These were people of the same culture and mindset. They could not yet break out of their comfort zones enough to go into all the world and to every people.

This was true in spite of the command of Jesus that was abundantly clear. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Instead, they only preached to the Jews.

However, we shouldn’t be too hard on these folks. Most Christians are only friends with Christians. Even among Christians, we get comfortable with certain people. Even when we know people, it can be hard to get out of our comfort zone. When it comes to people, we all really like our groups. We build groups with whom we are comfortable, whether these are groups that do the same work, have the same views, participate in the same ministry, are part of the same family, or have the same skin color, etc. It’s just easier to be with those with whom we already feel comfortable. How many of us would act in a much different manner than our fathers in the early church? If we were part of the church at that time, would we have broken out of the mold and stepped out of our comfort zone? What do our current actions teach us? How many people have we shared a meal with who were really different from us and didn’t conform to a particular pattern? No, these were people just like us.

The Action
But there were some brave men who acted differently. They stood out from the herd. “Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20). Some of them began to speak to the Greeks as well. A few of them were bold enough to cross boundaries. They took Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations seriously. They spoke to the Greeks.

What a powerful lesson for us. When we think about advancing God’s kingdom, we can look to the great figures of Acts such as Peter, John, and Paul, but here were ordinary Christians who simply spoke to those who were different from them. They went to the Gentiles. They got out of their comfort zone. They crossed boundaries.

When I think of someone who crossed boundaries, I always think of my dear and special friend Hennie Vandersluis. As you can tell, she was Dutch. Her father was a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, a church that is by and large ethnically Dutch. However, her father went where most in his denomination would not. He started a church in downtown Kalamazoo among those of different ethnicity, background, and class. Hennie never forgot that lesson. She was a collector of people and relationships. She gathered people together from all walks of life. When she threw a big birthday party and invited all her friends, there was a dizzying variety of people. She simply crossed boundaries. She got out of her comfort zone. She touched hundreds of people. She left a light that shines brightly for all her friends and relatives in the way she loved people so well.

And that’s what we can do, too. Whatever your skills or background, you can cross a boundary. You can speak to people you don’t know. You can talk to people outside your group. You can start small. You can just start talking today to someone you don’t normally talk to. You can talk to a neighbor you’ve never talked to before. You can strike up a conversation in line with someone at the grocery store. After that, you can take another step and start going to places where you don’t normally go and connecting with people you don’t know. Then, you can invite people out for coffee, for dinner, or to your home. It’s rather simple. The only walls keeping us from doing this are inside us, and we can break through them. We have not been given a Spirit of fear but of power! As Jesus said, “You shall receive power.”

Then, you can share with them your life. When you do so, you can share your faith. You can tell them about Jesus. That’s what these Jews did. They told them “them the good news about the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20).

That’s what we can do, too. We can tell them of hope in Jesus. We can tell them of the love of Jesus. We can tell them of forgiveness in Jesus. We can tell them of the faithfulness of Jesus. We can tell them of the guidance of Jesus. We can tell them of the leadership of Jesus. We can tell them of security in Jesus. We can tell them of the friendship of Jesus. We can tell them of our purpose in Jesus. Whatever we have experienced, whatever has touched our hearts, we can share.

The Results
And what will happen when we get out of our comfort zones and cross boundaries to reach people for Jesus? “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21).

The phrase, “the Lord’s hand was with them,” reminds us that the work of restoring the world is ultimately God’s work. It is God who adds to our numbers. It is God who opens the heart. It is God who ordains to eternal life. It is God who causes people to listen. This is God’s work.

However, He does it in a specific way. He opens hearts and minds through people who are open to His leading like the Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene. When we cross boundaries, God opens hearts. When we go, we are not alone. God’s hand will be with us to do great things.

I have observe that whenever people of any denomination or group of Christians get a real vision to reach out, God blesses it. He does not let this vision go unfulfilled. It may not be exactly what they imagine, but God will use it in extraordinary ways.

That’s an encouragement for us. God will bless our efforts just as He did with the people of Antioch. There, they were first called Christians. There, the church thrived. There, the missionaries were sent out. Antioch became a platform for ministry to the rest of the world. And it began with men who were willing to get out of their comfort zones and cross boundaries.

So, what can you do? You can cross boundaries to love people and speak to them about Jesus. You can start talking to those whom you ordinarily would not. This is the adventure to which God calls us, no matter who we are. So, let’s step out. Let’s get out of our comfort zones. Let’s cross boundaries. Let’s do so in the confidence that God’s hand will be with us, and we will be amazed to see what God will do through us. Amen.

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Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash

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Always Doing Good (Acts 9:36–43)

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It’s easy to look at the great figures of history and see what they’ve accomplished and think that our lives are insignificant. Who are we in the light of such great people? Who are we in light of David? Or Moses? Or Paul? Or Peter?

Well, God may not call us to preach to thousands, to conquer kingdoms, to liberate a nation, or to plant churches, but that doesn’t mean that we have no purpose. This month, I want to highlight from the book of Acts several people who demonstrate the variety of ways in which we can participate in God’s redemptive plan and make an impact in the world that lasts for eternity.

Today, we begin with a woman named Tabitha. I want you to see what she did and the effects of what she did.

What She Did
We meet Tabitha in the context of Peter’s travels. God was getting his Apostles out into the world, and they were beginning to travel and make an impact in the world. They were beginning to see that they had to put the new wine into the new wine skins. They were leaving behind the old wine skins of the religious practices of the elders and even of the Old Testament. They were good for the time, but now the Gospel was going worldwide. Things had to change.

We see this change in the fact that Peter stayed with Simon the tanner. Because Simon worked with dead animals, he was “unclean” and would have had to stay outside the city gates. The fact that Peter stayed with him was evidence that his views were changing. This would be made explicit in his encounter with Cornelius in chapter 10. I encourage you to read it.

When Peter came to Joppa, our text tells us that there was a disciple named Tabitha. A disciple is a student or follower. Those who follow Jesus are those who listen to what He teaches and then seek to imitate Him and live by His teachings. In those days, a student would literally follow their teacher around listening to his teachings. Today, disciples listen to Jesus’ Word in the Bible and seek to put it into practice in their lives.

Tabitha was a woman who was “always doing good.” Here is the goal of the Christian, to be a person who is always doing good. In this way, Tabitha was and we can be disciples of Jesus. Peter describes Jesus as one who “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). Those who go around doing good are like Jesus. That’s why Paul says that we are called as disciples to do good. He says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:9–10).

The text points us to the object of these good works. She was “always helping the poor” (Acts 9:36). Why was she doing this? She did it because this was Jesus’ agenda. Jesus wanted her to make the poor a priority. Here is what Jesus said:

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:12–14).

Tabitha took this to heart and made helping the widow and the orphan her priority. We should, too.

What did doing good to the poor look like? The sad thing was that Tabitha had died just as Peter arrived. When Peter went and saw her where they had lain her body, “All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that [Tabitha] had made while she was still with them” (Acts 9:39). This was the sort of good thing that Tabitha had done for the poor.

And this gives us an idea of how we can be partners with God in the work of redemption. We can do good. We can give our money, time, and resources to do good unto others.

What does this look like today? It may mean that we see a need in someone’s house and work on it with them, as Live It does all over this county. It may mean that we speak to people in our neighborhood, giving of our time. It may mean we get involved in civic organizations. It may mean helping a young family by watching their children. It may mean foregoing something we would want to do to let others enjoy things. It may mean having people over to our home.

In doing this, we will need to be strategic. We have limited resources and an absolutely limited amount of time. Where should we focus our energy? We may have friends and family to connect with, but the example of Tabitha reminds us that Jesus wants us to put the least of these on our list of priorities. Where are the least of these in your schedule? I know this is hard. Jesus calls us to take a hard look at our schedule and priorities and say “no” to some good things in order to do those things that are best for His kingdom.

The Effects of What She Did
But this passage reminds us that doing good is not without its rewards. As the Apostle Paul says, “we shall reap, if we do not give up.”

We see the rewards in the people who mourned for her. They were so deeply moved by what she had done that they wept at her funeral. She had loved them so well.

When the men went down to the MNA Disaster Response Warehouse, Mike Kennamer, who coordinates the work at the warehouse, told us about his experience in going to places where natural disasters had wrought devastation. He said that he found again and again that people were amazed at what the volunteers did. Why, they would ask, would you take your vacation time to come and help us? Then, he would tell them about how much Jesus had done for him and that this was his motivation. That’s what “always doing good” can lead to.

But God had greater things to do here. When Peter went up to the room, he knelt down and prayed. Then, he stood up. He spoke to Tabitha, “Tabitha, get up.” He said. Then, she opened her eyes and got up. God had performed a miracle, and Peter presented her to them alive.

The testimony of her resurrection was so great that it spread all around. “This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord” (Acts 10:42). This is a reminder that we never know what God will do when we step out in faith to do good to those around us. God takes what we do and miraculously spreads it much further than we can imagine.

I heard about an example of this at our Presbytery meeting a few weeks ago. Our Mercy Ministry Committee has gotten involved in medical debt relief. For pennies on the dollar, you can wipe out a huge amount of medical debt. A Christian organization is partnering with people who want to serve the poor in this way. The chairman of our Mercy Ministry Committee told about one woman whom they had helped relieve from hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. They not only helped her, they got to know her. She was so moved by this demonstration of love that she accepted the love of Christ into her life. That’s what God will do when we step out in faith to do good.

So, how can we do good? Take the things you actually already do and ask yourself, how can I use this to do good? Who are the people in my life to whom I can do good? Who has Jesus already put in my life that I can bless as a way of showing His love? Once you’ve answered that, do it. You never know how God made use it. Amen.

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Embracing a Life of Adventure (Acts 8:26–40)

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Our days often go on without much adventure. Sometimes, time just moves slowly with not much going on. Other times, we’re so busy, we just go from one thing to another and barely have time to think.

In this passage, God shows us how to really open up our lives to something exciting. He shows us the life of the serenity, creativity, and adventure that He wants all of us to have. It’s really quite simple, and it’s available to each one of us.

This is the lesson that God teaches us through the life of a man named Philip.

Philip
We meet Philip as a man “filled with the Spirit” in Acts 6. The Apostles chose him along with six other men to serve as the first deacons. These were men who oversaw the distribution of money to the widows there so that the Apostles could focus on the Word of God and prayer.

One of those deacons, Stephen, was the first martyr. He was put to death under the leadership of a religious leader named Saul. Saul would later bitterly regret this, because he himself became a follower of Jesus. Saul went over all the world preaching and teaching the good news about Jesus. We know him as the Apostle Paul.

One result of the martyrdom of Stephen was that the church in Jerusalem scattered. This was one way that God used the evil actions of men to accomplish His purpose to send out witnesses into Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

In this next stage of global evangelization, Philip played a significant role. We find him preaching to people in Samaria about Jesus. Many people accepted Philip’s messages and became followers of Jesus. Peter and John took notice, and they came down from Jerusalem to minister to the new believers.

Later in that passage, God told Philip through an angel to move on. “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26). The phrase we read afterwards is literally, “And he arose and went.” I like what Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie says about this phrase, there is Christianity. God commands. We move. That’s what it’s all about. Dr. Ogilvie says, “Think of the opportunities we have never experienced because we were immobilized on some dead center waiting for the ‘big picture’ before we could do the Lord’s work” (Drumbeat o Love, 114). We need to arise and go!

Once Philip arrived there, there was a court official from Ethiopia in a chariot (we’ll hear more about him in a minute), and the Spirit told him, “Go to that chariot and stay near it” (Acts 8:29).

I’ve often felt like the Lord was leading me to go up and speak to a certain person. The most memorable for me was a time when I came to the end of the greenway in Spearfish, SD. This greenway led to the mouth of Spearfish Canyon and a large parking lot. On the other side of the parking lot, there was a man sitting on a motorcycle who looked like he was trying to figure something out. Watching him, I felt strongly that I should go up to him.

It turns out that he was a man from the community that I knew, and his life was in a crisis. His wife had left for rehab in another state. I was able to allow him to share his burden, and we developed a friendship afterwards and spoke often about the Gospel.

Now, you may ask, how do we know it’s God leading us? Well, what’s really the downside? If we feel like God is leading us to reach out to someone, and it’s not really God, what’s the worst case scenario? We meet someone new? They don’t like us? It’s a pretty low risk assumption to assume God’s leading when we feel compelled to reach out to someone.

The Eunuch
The person Philip reached out to was a Eunuch, a court official in the court of the Queen of Ethiopia, Candace. He was most likely a Jewish proselyte. He had gone up to the temple and was a follower of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah as he returned home. There were actually many people like him in the world at that time who sought out the God of Israel.

In the book of Isaiah, God had given particular encouragement to eunuchs that they would experience acceptance in God’s house. In Isaiah 56:4–5, God says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever” (Isaiah 56:4–5).

It is this same passage and many like it in Isaiah 56 that also gives encouragement to Gentiles. It is the passage Jesus cited when he cleared the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple, “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Is. 56:7).

The Encounter
When Philip heard that the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading from the scroll of Isaiah, he asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

The Eunuch replied that he needed some help. Here was the passage he was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth” (Acts 8:32–33).

This is a portion of Isaiah 53. This passage is one of the clearest statements of the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus in the entire Bible. It takes the sacrificial language of the Old Testament and says that the coming Messiah, the future King of Israel will give himself up like a sacrifice for the sins of His people. He can do this because He is, as it were, a spotless lamb, a sinless sacrifice.

This prophecy, given 700 years before Jesus was born, is so clearly about Jesus that people hearing it have thought that it was in the New Testament! They have thought it was written after Jesus died rather than 700 years before. The Reformer Huldrych Zwingli of Zurich said about it, “What now follows affords so plain a testimony concerning Christ, that I do not know whether anything more definite can be found in the Scriptures, or even whether a more explicit passage could be framed.”

After reading this passage, the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” (Acts 8:34). What an opening! It’s not surprising what we read in the following words, “Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).

God used those words to open the heart of the Ethiopian Eunuch. “As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?'” (Acts 8:36). Then, he got down and was baptized. In baptism, he publicly committed himself to faith in Jesus and received the visible confirmation that God accepted him as a child, giving him a name better than sons and daughters.

And then God took Philip away, and the Ethiopian Eunuch went happily on his way.

Conclusion & Application
What an amazing day! It was a day of excitement and adventure for Philip as God used him in a powerful way to serve both His glory and the Eunuch’s good.

And that’s what God can do for us, too. There is a rather simple formula here: be open to God and open to people. Be open each day to what God wants to do in your life, and be open to the people around you. The Spirit will show the way and lead you to an exciting and adventurous life like you never knew before.

That’s not to say it will be easy. An adventure is an adventure in part because there are setbacks, challenges, and obstacles. People we have worked with will abandon us. They will make mistakes and mess up, sometimes again and again. They will hurt us. They will do things that make us cringe. It’s a challenge.

But we will also see triumphs. We will see people accept Christ. We will see people turn from their sin. We’ll see people put destructive things behind them. We’ll see them beginning to build godly habits. We’ll see them use their gifts. We’ll see them grow strong. We’ll see them launch into new adventures of their own, experience falls, and get back up again. We’ll see them lead, and we’ll see God do significant and wonderful things through them.

All this is available, if we, like Philip, are open to God and to people. Amen.

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Power & Prayer (Acts 4:23–31)

[Listen to an audio version [here].

Ambition. It may seem like a bad word, but it’s not. We should think about great things and seek great things.

The problem is selfish ambition. It is ambition at the expense of God and others that aims simply at glorifying ourselves. Ambition that aims at glorifying God and serving the community is not only legitimate, it is laudable. We should seek after it. We should seek to do as much good as we possibly can. We should seek the kingdom of God as our first priority.

So, why don’t we do it? Primarily, it’s because of resistance, internal and external. It’s hard. We may not even know where to start. Well, this passage tells us where to start in seeking greater things for the kingdom of God. Let’s consider it together.

Resistance
The Apostles here had already begun a great task. They were following Jesus’ command. They were to be God’s witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts is the story of how they obeyed this command.

The first day of their work went pretty well. They gained 3,000 converts. The next few days went pretty well, too. They were gaining traction.

Then, they encountered resistance. It was the same sort of resistance that Jesus encountered. The religious leaders did not like what they were doing. So, here’s what they did: “They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day” (Acts 4:3).

They then brought Peter and John before them. Eventually, they said this, “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18).

The response of Peter and John was extraordinary. “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20). In other words, they had to listen to Jesus’ command rather than that of the religious leaders. It’s an obvious truth but still a bold response.

In spite of seeing this triumph, we need to remember that resistance is hard. When people oppose us, it makes things scary. When people get angry, it’s easy to see people as large and ourselves as small. We can feel like a little kid again. We may not be arrested for speaking about Jesus, but people may look at us as weird. It may also interfere with our other tasks. Getting involved with people takes time and it takes effort. It’s often messy. It’s easier to avoid it. Getting involved with people will involve resistance.

So, what do we do when we face resistance?

Prayer
We should turn to prayer. Instead of recoiling, running, or rebelling, we should turn to prayer, prayer for power. And that’s what they did. They prayed.

This is crucial. We should see that the book of Acts is filled with prayer. Dr. Lloyd-John Ogilvie, former Senate chaplain and Pesbyterian minister said in his excellent book on Acts: “The spectacular events spread across the pages of Acts must all be traced back to praying like that.” Ambition for God’s kingdom and prayer go hand in hand.

Let’s look a little more closely at their prayer. They begin their prayer by lifting their hearts above the things of earth to the greatness of their Creator. “Sovereign Lord . . . you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them” (Acts 4:24). In itself, this perspective will help us begin to move beyond the frustrations and difficulties of our daily life.

Then, they quoted God’s words back to Him. They went to Psalm 2. “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one” (Acts 4:25–26). They then said, what you spoke about is exactly what happened. The Lord is faithful and true. Resistance is just what you promised.

Then, they brought the situation to God’s attention. “Now, Lord, consider their threats . . .” (Acts 4:29). God wants us to bring our specific circumstances before Him. How often do we face difficulties in work, business, school, family, or church that we don’t bring them to God? We may think, He already knows, but that is an erroneous way to think about prayer. God wants us to be very specific with Him.

And then they made a very specific request: enable them to speak with boldness and perform great signs. Continue this work by demonstrations of power outside them and within them. And that’s what we should do as well: make very specific requests.

Power
And see what happened. “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31). They sent up the prayer, and God sent down the power. That’s the way it always is.

Remember that power is a key word here. Jesus promised power. Even to those who had killed Jesus, God promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of power to be part of what Jesus was doing in redeeming the whole world.

That power is available to us, too, but we don’t just sit back and wait for it. Now, we may have to wait at times, but we don’t wait passively. We pray. We ask. We seek. We knock. We look for the Lord’s power. We ask, and God supplies. We seek, and God enables us to find. We knock, and God opens the door.

That’s what I want you to do, but we need an ambition for God’s kingdom. It’s only when we have an ambition for God’s kingdom that we will really begin to pray for the power that God wants to give.

Now, you may say to me, how does that start? What do I need power for? Start by thinking about the world around you. What would you want to see God do in your family? In your business? In your community? In your nation? In your church? In your neighborhood? Then, start praying. Start praying for God to open up doors. Start praying that He will enable you to cross the boundaries that have kept you from moving forward. Ask God to give you a vision for what He will do in you and through you.

People generally pray for two reasons. The first is when something disrupts their normal life such as family conflict, cancer, or job loss. The second is when they get a vision to do something bigger. When people move outside themselves, they sense their need for help. That’s where prayer comes in.

Recently, I talked with a woman at Aldi who I had not seen in a while. She told me she about a woman in her neighborhood she was reaching out to. She said, pray for me because we are having really good discussions. That’s what reaching out will do. It makes us feel our need. That moves us to prayer, and God then supplies the power.

When you start something new, you begin to pray. We’ve started Evergreen Midweek, and it is the sort of thing that I’m praying for regularly. I want to see it be a blessing to our kids, our youth, and our adults. I want to see it as something that will bless our community as well. I realize how little I can accomplish that. This drives me to prayer.

When Marty decided to get involved with disaster response, he did not know how he was going to fund it. It was tough, especially at the start. He prayed. We prayed. God has supplied the need. He is very close to being fully funded. That’s what happens when we get a vision to do something more.

There are people everywhere who need to experience God’s love and God’s purpose. God wants to empower you and use you to show that to them. He just wants you to be open to others and ask Him for help. He will supply the power.

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