POVERTY is the state of being extremely poor: lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in society. In our Consider the Poor training, poverty is the extent to which a person is without resources, whether human relationships, financial access or literacy, or in-kind supply. A person can be living in generational poverty; their family having been in poverty for 3 or more generations. Or they can be in situational poverty from a job-loss, un-or under-employment, divorce, bankruptcy, death of spouse, or some other trauma. Poverty is definitely a chain – a force that binds or restricts – and it needs to be broken. Cincinnati is the #2 City in the US for child poverty. 52% of our children overall and a startling 74% of African-American children live in poverty here. – Cincinnati Urban League’s State of Black Cincinnati. If so many of our children are living in poverty, it’s safe to assume that their parents are as well.
In Luke 4:18, the first place Jesus announced that His ministry would touch was the poor. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free. (NLT) He did it in practical terms: feeding the hungry, healing the sick (who no longer needed to beg or have physician’s bills), and instructing on Kingdom economics.
In the Old Testament, God commanded that the poor be attended to by the righteous. “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them will receive many curses.” (Prov. 28:27) Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done. (Prov 19:17) Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor. (Prov. 28:8)
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That’s great, Sadell you say, but what if I’M THE POOR? I’m not an orphan in a foreign country. I’m the working poor, and I can’t make ends meet. I’d love to give, but there’s nothing disposable.Yesterday at Mosaix Cincinnati, Oneya Okuwobi, who is studying for her PhD at Ohio State in sociology, gave us a startling statistic that African-Americans make 10 cents vs. every dollar a Caucasian person makes! and a hush went across the room. According to the Census Bureau, the net worth of Caucasians is 13 times that of African-Americans: $141,900 vs. $11,000. Becoming further educated, owning houses or businesses, or participating in investments and improving your status is difficult to impossible when you have no assets or liquidity. Many don’t have enough even for the basics. In the US that we know this has it’s roots in slavery and racism over many generations, and there’s a mentality that follows long-term poverty, not really addressing that here. Whether you’re African-American or not, if you’re poor, you probably want that chain broken by the power of Almighty God! and that is possible, Jesus came to set us FREE!
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For the next few Sundays, January 17th & 24th Pastor Jackie Jackson will be our guest speaker at New Life Covenant addressing this very issue. He will be doing an intensive at BOTH our Bible Study at 10:00 AM and our Service at 11:00 AM at Urban Artifact 1660 Blue Rock Street, 45223. If you are struggling in this area, please come! The LORD wants to deliver, instruct with Biblical wisdom, and set you free.
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Pastor Sherman Bradley will be preaching THIS SUNDAY NIGHT at 7:00 PM at New Prospect Baptist Church 1580 Summit Road, Cincinnati OH 45237. The New Life Covenant Worship Team will join with the Holy Spirit in leading us into our Father’s presence. We hope to see YOU there!!
