The REAL Jesus - Homeless Sunday!

Our church is in the middle of a sermon series entitled: "Unseen". The point of this series is that we need to be aware and help people who are unseen in that they feel alone, depressed, and isolated.

To drive this point home this past Sunday I had a friend of mine (who was unknown by the people of our church) dress up as a homeless person and sit in front of our church's doors before our Sunday morning service.

After the service my goal was to bring him up in front of our church and to ask him questions seeing if our people did a good job of reaching out to an unseen individual. My prayer for Legacy Church is that we'd always be a church where ANYONE can come to learn and grow in their walk with Jesus.

Here were the results from our experiment on Sunday...………..

Our people did a great job in noticing and reaching out to my 'homeless' friend!
- He received around $50 from various individuals (both young and old) who offered to buy him a warm meal.
- One of our greeters sat with him for approximately a half an hour trying to minister to him and get him to join our church service.
- Overall, our people were warm and were encouraging to him as they arrived. My friend was expecting people to be skeptical or even negative about his presence but he was blown away by the friendliness and compassion of our church.

This past Sunday I can say that I was proud to be the pastor of Legacy Church! May this be a good visual reminder that true faith in Jesus is all about action and responding to the opportunities that He puts in our path!

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.'" (Matthew 25:34-36)

Why you struggle with ANGER (and don't even realize it!)

We live in a world full of angry people. Be honest, what's your first reaction when one of the following happens to you?

- You don't get your fast food order on time? 
- You get cut off in traffic? 
- Someone questions something you said? 

The danger about anger is that many times we don't know we are angry. We use terms that we are just "frustrated". Frustration has it's roots in anger. When you are frustrated you are angry because of expectations that went unmet. 

Over the past couple of months I realized how angry of a person I truly was. I was not someone who would "rage" or throw "tantrums." Instead, I would let things simmer and fester inside. This can be extremely dangerous and for awhile I was completely blindsided by it.

Here are some things that I am doing (and I'd encourage you to do) to help you with anger

1) Lower Your Standards. This sounds counterintuitive or wrong. My anger was stemming from expectations that I put onto other people. When they failed or did something that was not up to par I became angry. Unfortunately, my standards were so high that I did not leave room for failure. I did not leave room for people to be human and to make mistakes. In fact, I could not even keep the standards at times that I held other people too. This does not mean that you don't hold those you do life with to standards or hold them accountable. What it does mean is that your standards are realistic and that you leave room for grace. 

2) Focus on the positive. There will always be something that is going wrong in your life. Don't focus on the negative. Many times we have so much to be thankful for as humans YET we tend to narrow in on the negative. Take time to count the positives in your life and thank God for them too!

3) Keep your anger in check. The only way to keep your anger in check is through God's Word, prayer, and proper accountability. Anger in your life can rise to levels that go undetected yet can be devastating to your emotional health. The only way to temper anger in your life is through God's power. You can't do it on your own.

Ephesians 4:26-27 - "And don't sin by letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil."