Compassionate Acts - The Foretaste of Christ

 “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
   Rev. 21:3-4


We are the temples of God - the visible workings of Christ's love on earth. When we minister in acts of mercy and compassion towards others, we bring a foretaste of God's kingdom to earth as we help, "wipe every tear from their eyes."  For many, our acts may be the first foretaste of God's love that they have seen. We cannot heal a persons heart, or take away their pain, but we can provide a foretaste of the love of God by being the vessel to help them.
                     
We have been shown infinite, unmeasurable, grace and mercy. Grace is so often explained or defined as, "unmerited favor." When we are helping others in need, we should be showing them the same favor - the same grace, that God has bestowed upon us. We help for the sake of love and only love, without any preconceived notions as to what the end result should be. We stand in the gap for just a moment, taking upon their pain if they will let us, to bear a burden with them. We give them a foretaste of what the love of God is like.

Luke 24:19 says of Jesus, "He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. "  Jesus was dynamic in work, and as a result was not only blessed by God, but by others! He did not only speak the word - but mostly he acted in love. He touched blind eyes, he fed the hungry, healed the lepers, raised the dead, lifted the cripple, ministered to the hated, freed the oppressed, all without expectations.

Maybe by helping others, they will begin to, "taste and see that the Lord is good." 
                                                                                                                             

Why Volunteer? Better Health?

Could the following results be because as we are created in the image of God, in the image of Christ, therefore we are designed to do His service?

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.   Genesis 1:27

"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. "  Col. 1:15a

 I posted a portion of an article I just read below,  and while reading it, I could not help but think about how many middle-aged and retired couples, have told me that their lives were changed forever as a result of disaster work. 

“A study tracking senior citizen volunteers has found that those who are primarily interested in helping others rather than trying to feel better about themselves are likelier to live longer.

Earlier research has found that those who volunteer are apt to live longer than those who don't volunteer. But the new study, published in Health Psychology, suggests that those who volunteer with pure motives live longer than those concerned with self-oriented reasons. Research took other factors such as existing physical health into account.

Sara Konrath, lead author of the University of Michigan report, says altruistic volunteers - especially those who serve regularly and frequently - are at a lower risk for mortality. The study compared volunteers at age 65 and again at age 69.

While there isn't anything necessarily bad about volunteering to advance one's career, to escape problems or to increase self-esteem, such motives don't lead to improved health, Konrath found. However, if a person's goal is to help others, promote a sense of deep and lasting well-being, or to engage in service bigger than oneself, it can provide a healthy impact.” 

I especially like the last statement, “…help others, promote a sense of deep and lasting well- being, or to engage in service bigger than oneself…” 

Those statements perfectly explain the pastoral care, chaplaincy, emotional and spiritual care, and practical needs, we train others to engage in.

Join us. Make a difference in the lives of others. You will make a difference in your own life as well. 
www.hesedhope.org
 
    "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:36-38

Why Hesed? Loyal Love

HESED HOPE MINISTRIES 

Many people ask what hesed means, so I decided to put the intro page or our training manual reprinted here, in response to this often asked question. 

Why Hesed? 

Hesed is a word that embodies all the characteristics of God.  It is an untranslatable word that attempts to define an untranslatable God.  

Hesed can translate as love, and has many uses under the umbrella of “love.”  Some translations of hesed include kindness, mercy, loving-kindness, loyalty, unexpected favor, unsolicited love, unmerited forgiveness, enemy love, or compassionate grace. The idea that hesed expressed grace, is what caused the translators of the King James Bible to translate with words like mercy and kindness. 

The translators of the New International Version tend to translate hesed with the English word love, and though that is also an accurate translation identifying with God’s commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself”, it tends to omit the covenantal meaning intertwined in God’s hesed. 

The New Revised Standard Version translates hesed as steadfast love, to express it as the “promise keeping love” that is implied in its various Hebrew uses. The steadfast love of the Lord keeps us: “When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.” Ps. 94:18. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgression.” Ps 51:1. 

Steadfast love has the concept of loyalty. The loyalty of God:  redemption from enemies and troubles; in preservation of life from death; in quickening of spiritual life; in redemption from sin; in keeping the covenants, with Abraham; with Moses and Israel.

The loyalty of man in: kindness of men towards men, in doing favors and benefits; kindness extended to the lowly, needy and miserable; mercy. 

“Steadfast love is the long, stubborn love of God. In hesed God stays faithful to us long after we have forfeited our right to remain in covenant with him.” 

Jesus is hesed incarnate. God did not take pleasure in sacrificing His only son, but he takes pleasure in securing our relationship to Him. He desires for us to feel secure in His infinite and steadfast love towards us so we may exemplify that love towards others. 

Hesed us the steadfast love of God to the Israelites, Ruth to Naomi (Ruth 1:16), Jonathan to David (I Sam. 20:14-17), and Christ towards us, as Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Rom. 8:38:39)

More Hesed Scriptures:

Ps. 136 The word translated love is hesed.

 Hesed in God remembering His people: Jeremiah 12:15; Ezekiel 39:25; Isaiah 30:18, 63:9; Habakkuk 3:2; Samuel 24:14; Psalm 23:25-26; 40:11; 51:1; 69:16; 79:8; 103:4. 

OUR MINISTRY SCRIPTURE:

⁸He has shown all you people what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.                  Micah 6:8

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.        Matt. 23:23-24 

HOW ARE WE TO EXPRESS GOD’S HESED?

 Rabbi Simlai in the third century noted that Moses gave us 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands. David in Psalm 15 reduced them to eleven: Isaiah—in 33:14, 15—made them six: Micah 6:8 binds them into three: and Habakkuk reduces them all to one, namely—”The just shall live by faith.”  (Hab. 2:4); (Romans 1:17)

So, by being “steadfast” and “loyal” to the THREE most recent positives set forth by Micah, executed by the ONE (faith) stated by Habakkuk – knowing faith without works is dead, being alone, we express God's hesed - through loyal acts of love in action and deeds. (James 2:20) 

In ministry and in our personal lives, we have learned that it is only HOPE in God's loyal love, His covenant grace, that has kept our feet firm in the darkest hours of our lives, and the lives of those we minister to. Hesed Hope - hope in God's loyal love.

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Volunteer Focus

Due to a lack of trained staff in Vermont, we are sending volunteers to other organizations to volunteer.

We are collaborating with some churches in our district to provide pastoral care as the disaster unfolds in areas south of Rutland. 

Please pray for Vermont, especially the faith based organizations that have limited funding, but are striving to show the love of God.

BINGHAMTON / OWEGO NY

Volunteers are needed for Binghamton and Owego, NY for mud outs and general clean up.

We will be there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week (16 to 18th) Meals and housing is provided. Just bring yourselves, compassion, and a willingness to serve.




Mature Pastors and other lay leaders and mature Christians with CPE, or Disaster Experience are needed to provide pastoral care as well. One to two week deployments. Meals and housing provided. Email me for more details. jamie@hesedhope.org


Please contact me at jamie@hesedhope.org; www.hesedhope.org

If you can't give of your time or are limited in helping due toe health reasons, financial Donations are always appreciated and help to get other people in the field. You can donated via paypay on our web page. www.hesedhope.org 

Volunteers and Chaplains Needed for State Wide and Local Clean Up in VT and NY

We are collaborating with VOAD and other state and local organizations to develop teams of volunteers for "Mud Out".

We need volunteers willing to donate a day, or several days to help home owners clean up their homes. Older youth groups and adults are welcome.

We also need pastoral care providers, chaplains and especially those with CISM and disaster experience for deployments lasting one week or more if possible.

We will find local housing and meals.

Last, we need churches throughout NY and VT who will house and provide meals for volunteers in the communities near them who were hit by Irene. 

The safest and most effective way to help, is by joining up with an established organization like ours. 

People are often prevented from going into sights that are not part of a recognized organization, and most importantly, they should be. During disasters many volunteers are injured because they become a liability to the rescue operation due to a lack of knowledge or experience. Even the most skilled of us end up injured at times, as we learned on our recent disaster with two injuries. Disaster sights and disasters are unpredictable.

At this time, VT still has many roads closed and even a small rain fall can cause the already existing situations to become hazardous again, stranding volunteers who them become victims of the disaster.

We are in constant contact with state and local authorities to stay abreast of road and weather hazards, as well as where we are most needed.

Please sign up with Hesed Hope for Mud Out and other volunteer opportunies by writing to me at:
jamie@hesedhope.org

 And visit our web page at: www.hesedhope.org

What Exactly Do We Do???? - Sheep Needed for Hurrican Irene, Signed Jesus

 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

"...‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

[ 'For my home was destroyed and you took me in, my belongings were gone and you provided for me, I was in pain, and you visited me to show your love and compassion.']"

“Then the righteous will answer him, ['Lord, when was your home destroyed and I took you in, your belongings gone and I provided for you, in pain and I visited you to show my love and compassion?’]"

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did  for one of the least of  these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."...

                                                                                                                                  Matthew 25:31 -40

WHAT DO WE DO?

We are a small developing ministry building crisis and disaster response teams; training and equipping the church to be effective ministers of love and compassion. Sheep.

We are similar to Billy Grahams Rapid Response Team (of who we are also members, but now called to build more teams).  BGEA works alongside Samaritan's Purse. BGEA does the spiritual care- SP the practical helps. We do both on a much smaller scale (so far) as we build our trained spiritual care teams, and provide help anywhere we are needed. We also train others to provide effectively for local crisis response, when we are not needed for disasters. (Visit our web page)

What we do not have, is an international budget nor salaries. We  do not have a professional  photographer, nor the man- power to always have pictures to show the work we are doing - like right now. We also have the sensitivity to respect the privacy of who we are working with, so pictures are not always a priority.

100% of donations go to deployments - we do not even reimburse ourselves for many expenses, fully committed to this ministry. I (Jamie) am acting director, and ordained and endorsed as a chaplain - do not take any pay, working more than full time. None of our board members of staff are paid.

The majority of donations from large corporations like Walmart, now go directly to the Red Cross, making the task of grants and fundraising difficult, and time consuming, for small scale operations and other NGO's. (You will no longer see Teen Challenge outside Walmart.)

Our volunteers must self-deploy - simply because they love Jesus, and desire to share His love and compassion with others - we are able to provide housing, most meals, and usually on-sight transportation for our volunteers.

We are not all professionals - though we have a mixture of professionals and "lay" persons. We are recruiting teams that include mental health, chaplains, R.N.'s, fire and rescue - peers of all types, men and women.

We had truly hoped to get more people interested in training before a disaster hit - especially locally, but everything happens in His time.

Now is the time. The secular world is responding in droves. This is our opportunity - the church - to show the sacrificial love of Jesus - in action. 

We need financial donations for expenses, material donations of cleaning supplies, and  MATURE CHRISTIAN VOLUNTEERS. 

We will be driving trucks down to Schenectady to pick up donations from Convoy of Hope, tomorrow morning - renting a truck if we do not have one provided. 

We have a team in VT hiking into the hills to minister to people cut off, at the invitation of the Red Cross.  (Perhaps pictures and stories will follow tonight) 

We are in contact with non-government and government officials. 

We are in this for the long haul. We COVET your prayers for the victims of this disaster in NY and VT, safety of our volunteers, and provision for this work to continue. 

Please stay tuned to this blog for daily reports and needs. Please post your availability, or contact me with your contact information at: jamie@hesedhope.org 

In His Loving Service,

Jamie and Dave and Hesed Hope Staff

www.hesedhope.org