Who is in need?

I've had several people ask me, "who's in need?" They were confused by my video, and I think that some are wondering: are we supposed to be spreading the gospel, or feeding the poor? My answer: YES. Obviously, we have been commanded to preach the gospel, that Jesus' blood shed on the cross is the only propitiation for our sins against God, and that full faith in Him is the only way to come before a holy God and remain with Him for eternity.

BUT... The gospel is judged as being effective in a person's heart based on their works. Thorn trees and fruit. Faith without works is dead. Loving our neighbors is best represented by the Good Samaritan, who cared for a strangers' needs, completely unaware of his standing as one of the elect. By the way, any of you absolutely sure who is of the elect and who is not? Then how can we withhold benevolence from ANYONE, especially as we are told to love our enemies? Sure, there is something to be said about a person that refuses to work and is just obstinately lazy. But we should judge lightly and work to "teach a man how to fish", while providing a few fish and a fishing rod to help him along his way. The world will know us for our love for each other, as well as the love we bestow on our neighbors.

Sooooo.... how can we have any kind of conscience and allow ourselves to remain stagnant while we know that a number of Christians are dying every day, and not move to exhaust our resources, both in prayer and monetarily, to help them? I, the hypocrite, am the worst transgressor, falling back on the excuse that I have six children to raise. But the one thing that I can call for, as I work to reform my family's habits, is a reformation of the way that we think about church. The American church needs to repent of its spending habits, needs to simplify its Christian infrastructure to one that needs a lot less money, and move closer to the model found in the scriptures... less debt... more giving to the poor... primarily funding to spread the gospel into ALL nations... did I mention less debt??? Really, can anyone help me to understand why we need a different denominational building on every corner, when there are plenty of empty warehouses and strip malls that would more than accomodate us? Could it be image? Pride? Lasciviousness? No, I don't judge, but I do ask the body to examine its choices in light of the fact that people are dying every day from a lack of simple funds that we could easily provide, if we tried just a little.

View the video... http://jpechin.blogspot.com/2010/10/feed-my-sheep.html