What God cares about

Opening my heart to the real world

Morning tea devotion given today

Loves reading a good book while on holidays.  Anne gave him “The Scandal of Evangelical Conscience”.  Its suggests that Christians need to face that their words and actions don’t always match up. Describes that white American Christians are less likely to want to live next door to black skinned people, that divorce rates are higher than and porn addiction is as high as that for non-Christians.

“Why isn’t the Church looking any different to the world?”

Main questions to be answered on the agenda of most Christians is whether their sins are forgiven, and whether they are going to heaven or hell.

Interesting when Jesus talked about the gospel, he talked about the Kingdom.

Stella – lives in Alexandria, South Africa.  Her brother was killed as part of a protest, shot by police; her parents were taken away; she protested with a sign “we want our parents back” and was arrested.  Alexandria is not really a township, but rather shanty shacks, corrugated iron, bit smelly, dirty.  Our houses in Poatina would be considered as mansions.  Stella feels God has given her a vision to reach kids for Jesus.

Isaiah 58 from vs1 (The Message) says “…They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.  To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—  law-abiding, God-honoring.   They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’  and love having me on their side.”   …asking “why aren’t you listening God.”

Isaiah 58 continues  ^6-9“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:   to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.  Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.  Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.  Then when you pray, God will answer.   You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ “

The dream of Poatina is to live this out… where homeless can have a family… where kids from Cressy can be seen.

Being honest, I can be like this first group – don’t want to think about those like Stella, cause they remind me what I need to do.

There are people who want to come to Poatina, but we’re not sure we’re ready to welcome them.

Anita has a folder of young people who are wanting to come.

Being on Facebook has made Matt realise the impact Poatina has had on young people, where their lives have been turned around.

Opening our heart can be a challenge; we are bound to get hurt.

Isaiah 58 from vs 9 – “…Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.  I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones.  You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.  You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.  You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again…”

We don’t have the answers to these challenges of people wanting to come to Poatina.

Needing families to open their homes to host a meal for a young person once a week… be open to the complexity of their lives.

Keep praying that God will make me willing to open my heart and see where He wants to lead me…