One Hope Outreach THE HUB Newsletter October 2022
- Oct 10, 2022
- 3 min read
Download October 2022 issue of THE HUB from One Hope Outreach here.
Dear friends and partners:
Thank you friends and partners. One Hope Outreach Ministry extends our heartfelt thanks to God for all that you do when you partner with us in your prayers and giving as we fulfill the assignments the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us.
We are still drilling wells, feeding orphans, supporting missionaries in India and Nepal. Our ministry supports the feeding and educating orphans in Africa. Also, our support for missions work in the slums of Eldoret, Kenya continues.
The eternal merit of every motive and every deed is determined by the measuring rod of God and not by any political correctness or standard of this world’s system. The call of God is for people to come from among the world with complete devotion to him through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
God loves the world and gave His son Jesus to redeem mankind from a debt of sin that could not be paid for by mere human kindness and good works. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was for the redemption of mankind and the penalty for sin was paid in full. And every person that receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of God shed abroad in their heart.
Now that the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, every deed and act of kindness done from that love relationship with God has eternal merit. If the fervor of a love relationship with God dwindles, our works can degenerate into a routine, and that routine can be as predictable as the hands of a wall clock.
In Revelation Chapter two, Jesus commended the church at Ephesus for their good works but reprimanded them because they had left their first fervor of love for him. He commended them for not lowering the Christian standard of conduct, diligence in duty, patience in suffering and their zeal against what was evil. They had not forsaken the one whom they loved but had lost the degree of fervor they had at the beginning.
Their beginning is found in Acts Chapter 19 when Paul preached at Ephesus for more than two years and God wrought mighty miracles and wonders among the people there. The Ephesian converts to Christianity burned their paraphernalia (that they had paid a great sum of money for) related to occult practices and parted from all pagan practices and devoted themselves to the worship of The Lord Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians Chapter 1:15 The apostle Paul commends them for their love for all saints (God’s people). But in Jesus’ review of them some thirty years or so later, he finds them lacking in their first love. Their love for all saints had waned and no amount of good works or sound doctrine can take the place of a heart full of love for God. Nothing can replace, by works or deeds, the implanted love of God that can pour forth from the heart of a devoted Christian that is moved with compassion and directed by the Holy Spirit.
If you find that your love has diminished, maybe it’s time to take inventory and burn all paraphernalia (that you paid a great price for), and remove everything, every routine and every religious practice that has interrupted the real flow of God’s love through you.
-Marvin Smith
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