Ripe for Harvest

162 • R IPE FOR H ARVEST

Luke 14.12-14 – He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. [13] But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, [14] and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Luke 11.41 – But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

Matt. 25.41-46 – “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, [43] I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ [44] Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ [45] Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ [46] And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Key Church Planter Virtue: Consistent reminders to the team that faithfulness to Jesus is inextricably linked to faithfulness to the poor.

III. Is Our Mission’s Hope for the Poor Anchored in the Electing Grace of God?

eklegomai - to select: make choice, choose (out), chosen.

To choose, select, choose for oneself, not necessarily implying the rejection of what is not chosen, but giving favor to the chosen subject, keeping in view a relationship to be established between the one choosing and the object chosen. It involves preference and selection from among many choices. ~ Spiros Zoddhiates. “eklegomai.” The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament.

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