How Big Is Your Circle?
Dr. Larry Acosta, City to City Los Angeles
Larry@citytocityla.com IG:larryc2c
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Expanding Your Circle is about OTHERS .
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.‘ – Matthew 25:42-45
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. – Luke 14:12-14
Is there room in your circle for people who cannot repay us?
- The HUNGRY and the HOMELESS poor.
“I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.” – Isaiah 58:7 (NLT)
- ORPHANS and WIDOWS.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27
- PRISONERS and the PERSECUTED CHURCH.
“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” – Hebrews 13:3
- IMMIGRANTS and EMERGING PEOPLE GROUPS.
“And you are to love those who are aliens.” – Deuteronomy 10:19a
- The WEAK, SICK and PRODIGALS.
“You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.” – Ezekiel 34:4
Expanding Your Circle is about radically DOING THE STUFF OF JESUS!
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. – Matthew 9:35-36
As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. – Matthew 9:9-12
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” – I Peter 2:9 (NIV)
TO WHERE HAS HE CALLED YOU TO BE AND LEAD THE CHURCH- BEYOND THE WALLS?
“If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” – Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)