The Rich People Under The Bridge

A couple of months ago, I would describe a “homeless” person much different than I do today.  I would have said that a homeless person is well, someone without a home and most likely without a job.  God has captivated my heart in the past few months with UHBC’s Bridge Ministry.  The third Friday of each month, myself, a bunch of college students, and a group of adults drive to downtown Houston to feed and clothe the homeless.  We hope that while encountering these people that we have an opportunity to share the Good News.  For the longest time, I thought I was going to Bridge to help people and to be the one teaching them about Jesus Christ.  This past Bridge, I was the one being helped and the one being taught about Jesus.  From who?  A homeless guy.

Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.  - 2 Corinthians 6:10

This man understood all three points of this verse Paul is writing.  I want to introduce you into these three points.  That though are hearts may ache, we always have joy.  Though a homeless guy may be poor, he gives spiritual riches to a guy like me.  Though he may own nothing, because he has Jesus Christ…he has everything.

The first part of the verse is “Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.”  This homeless guy didn’t have a lot to be happy about.  After all he’s homeless right?  He can’t provide for his family.  He’s hungry.  He’s cold.  And…he always has joy.  How?  A month ago, if you told me I had to live on the streets of Houston, could not provide a family I love, be super hungry, and then be cold too, I can asure you that I would not be a joyful guy.  But this man understands the gospel.  Happiness is temporary.  Joy is eternal.  How to we obtain eternal joy?  By putting our faith and hope in Jesus Christ (see John 3 or Romans 10).  This homeless guy is a joyful man because he knows that he has eternal life is Jesus Christ.  Yes, his circumstances are unfortunate and maybe not the most happy situation, but he understands that God has given him a joy because He has redeemed him, He has saved him, and He has given him eternal life.  Maybe you’re going through a phase in your life where your not “happy”.  In fact, your “heart aches”.  But you can have a joy.  You can have an eternal joy in Jesus Christ.  Jesus tells us in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The second part of the verse is “We are poor, but we give spiritual riches.”  This homeless guy was obviously poor.  But the moment he encountered me, he was ready to tell me about the “spiritual riches” in his life.  He has Jesus Christ and he is definitely not ashamed of it.  In fact, he’s ready to tell anyone in the downtown area.  He will even invite them to church (he continually invited me during our conversation).  I’m not a poor guy…but I am a college sophomore that doesn’t have a lot to offer, except one thing: Jesus Christ.  I am on a campus with thousands of college students with their hearts aching and they are feeling poor.   They are lost and feel as they have nothing.  This homeless guy reminded me that night that having Jesus means having everything…which will lead us into our next part of the verse.

“We own nothing, and yet we having everything.”  This homeless man didn’t own a lot.  Maybe the clothes on his back and the bible he kept on him.  But this man has been adopted into a family.  God has adopted this man as his son.  God has given this man life.  God has captivated this man’s heart.  Because of what Christ did on a cross for me and this man, we have everything.  Here’s a homeless guy that has everything and can minister to the thousands of homeless people throughout Houston.  Here’s me, just a college student, and I can minister to the thousands of college students around me at least 5 days a week.  I can’t give them happiness, but I can lead them to an eternal joy through Jesus Christ.

Yes, Houston has many homeless people.  But some of Houston’s homeless are richer than any millionaire or billionaire in Houston because they have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  They follow Him.  They are adopted into His family.  They have eternal joy.  They are poor, yet they give spiritual riches to others.  They own hardly anything, and yet they have everything.  Come join us next month on February 17th as we go to the downtown area to share our eternal joy, give spiritual riches to others, and help homeless people learn how to have everything in the free gift of salvation from Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2).

Posted 1 week ago. Tagged with Bridge Ministry, TRUTH, UHBC, Make Disciples, Jesus, Houston, Ministry, Gospel, Homeless, .
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"The brilliance of a star, like a tabernacle lamp in the sanctuary of God’s creation, beckoned them on to the stable where the star seemed to lose its light in the unearthly brilliance of the Light of the World."

— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Posted 1 month ago.
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"Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything."

— 2 Corinthians 6:10

Posted 2 months ago.
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Sufficient Grace, Intro

I want things.  That’s common, right?  Everyone is bound to have one thing they want.  In fact, everyone is likely to want a lot of things.  A lot of those things are good things.  Single people want a relationship.  People that are ill want to get well.  People that are overweight want to look better.  Some of us even have certain clothes we want.  Today, I saw a Gap jacket I wanted so bad! I even tried it on and gave a few poses in the mirror in the fitting room.  You know what, I thought I looked pretty good in that jacket.  I thought it was “date-material-clothing” and that’s when you know you look good in something.  I then whopped out the iPhone, clicked my Bank of America app, and did some math in my head.  I could afford the jacket! Easily!  But…I have other things I want to use that money for this month.  Then I asked myself the hardest question we all hate, “Do I really need it?” No.  But I looked so good in the jacket!  It was a nice jacket! I could afford it! But did I really need it? No.  Now I am not saying it’s wrong to get things we might not really need.  Hopefully sometime soon, I can maybe go get that jacket I really want, or better yet…go on date with that jacket!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Tullian Tchividjian).  Say it a few times (You don’t have to say Tullian’s name, it’s just the name of his new book).  Then ponder on “Jesus + Nothing = Everything” for a few minutes.  I can have Jesus, and nothing else, and have everything?  Well the Sunday School answer is of course “yes”.  But I still want want other things other than Jesus sometimes!  I wished I had a Ryan Gosling photoshopped body, could win Dancing With the Stars, and I wished I had that jacked from the Gap store that I could maybe wear on a date someday (I guess the first step would be me asking girl on a date, and she having the generosity to go on a date with me? Most likely.).  But is Jesus and my punny (if that’s a word) weak body, poor dancing skills (pray for me, folks), and me not having a date = everything?  Yes.  It has taken me 20 years to get to a point where I could say yes, but the answer is without a doubt yes.  His grace is sufficient for me.  

I’m writing this to you because I want you to know that Jesus really equals everything.  You don’t need anything else.  You don’t need to match up with Bradley Cooper as the sexiest man alive or appear more beautiful than any girl that Ben Flajnik will have on the upcoming season of “The Bachelor” (yes, I had to google his name).  You don’t have to win anything.  You don’t need that jacket.  You don’t even have to have that date (woah, yeah, I said it).  That doesn’t mean you can’t be sexy (like me…..bahahaha…..NOT!), have Footloose dancing skills, look good in that jacket, and it definitely doesn’t mean you can’t have that date you really want.  Jesus + Nothing = Everything means that Jesus is enough.

I want to try and explain to you over the next few weeks why Jesus is enough for me…and how He is truly enough for you.  Sure, maybe you will still want jacket or the date.  And that’s fine.  Maybe you will get jacket, and, just maybe, you will get that date! But at least if you don’t get it, you can say, “Because of what Jesus did on a cross at Calvary, I have everything.”

Josh Cameron

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Posted 2 months ago. Tagged with Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Dating, Grace, Jackets, .
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Zoom But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
 
 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Posted 4 months ago.
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