Hope Through Grace

(Psalms 40:2) “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”

There are times in our life when we find ourselves in a ‘pit’. There are pits of sorrow, loneliness, finances, lust, loss and many others. Whatever kind of pit we find ourselves in, God can lift us out of, and we can praise Him.

“The light of Jesus Christ is stronger than any deepest darkness.” (Quote from Corry ten Boom)

This is another person that asked the lord to save him and just received a simple Bible study from us from Source of Light Missions

Meet Mark. He recently came off drugs and was just hired by the casino to drive a limo. He sweetly with tears asked the Lord to save him with us today. Please pray for him .

(Philippians 2:4) “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
When we walk around with blinders on, and we can’t see the needs of others, we become a ‘me, myself and I’. We are so blessed that our Lord and Saviour was not selfish to our need when He faced the cross. He had you and me on His mind. Together let’s look to find a need we can fill. Just a thought.

Preparing pastries for the Boardwalk Ministry Sunday morning breakfast run. It’s getting cold out there. Let’s remember those that are in need of shelter in our prayers!

After a couple of years ministering to this young lady, Alison, our paths met again. She is now headed in the right direction of living a clean life. Praise the Lord for HIS goodness. Please keep her in your prayers.
(Permission was given to post this picture)

This months dinner was soup and sandwiches with different kinds of salads. Over 50 people attended. There was music and singing. Many coats, hats, shoes, sweaters, pants, blankets were given out. Praise the Lord for richly providing all their needs!

By CW Riley

This is the most heart touching story that I have read in a long time.
Jim preaches at a church in the slums of New York. He tells the following story:

It was Easter Sunday, and I was so tired at the end of the day that I just went to the edge of the platform, pulled down my tie and sat down and draped my feet over the edge. It was a wonderful service with many people coming forward. The counselors were talking with these people.

As I was sitting there, I looked up the middle aisle, and there in about the third row was a man who looked about fifty, disheveled, filthy. He looked up at me rather sheepishly, as if saying, “Could I talk to you?” We have homeless people coming in all the time, asking for money or whatever. So, as I sat there, I said to myself, though I am ashamed of it, “What a way to end a Sunday. I’ve had such a good time, preaching and ministering, and here’s a fellow probably wanting some money for more wine.”

He walked up. When he got within about five feet of me, I smelled a horrible smell like I’d never smelled in my life. It was so awful that when he got close, I would inhale by looking away, and then I’d talk to him, and then look away to inhale, because I couldn’t inhale facing him.

I asked him, “What’s your name?” “David.” “How long have you been on the street?” “Six years.” “How old are you?” “Thirty-two.” He looked fifty—hair matted, front teeth missing, wino, eyes slightly glazed. “Where did you sleep last night, David?” “Abandoned truck.”

I keep in my back pocket a money clip that also holds some credit cards. I fumbled to pick one out thinking, I’ll give him some money.

I won’t even get a volunteer. They are all busy talking with others. Usually we don’t give money to people; we take them to get something to eat. I took the money out. David pushed his finger in front of me. He said, “I don’t want your money. I want this Jesus, the One you were talking about, because I’m not going to make it.

I’m going to die on the street.”

I completely forgot about David, and I started to weep for myself. I was going to give a couple of dollars to someone God had sent to me. See how easy it is? I could make the excuse I was tired. There is no excuse. I was not seeing him the way God sees him. I was not feeling what God feels.

But oh, did that change! David just stood there. He didn’t know what was happening. I pleaded with God, “God, forgive me! Forgive me! Please forgive me. I am so sorry to represent You this way. I’m so sorry. Here I am with my message and my points, and You send somebody and I am not ready for it. Oh, God!”

Something came over me. Suddenly I started to weep deeper, and David began to weep. He fell against my chest as I was sitting there. He fell against my white shirt and tie, and I put my arms around him, and there we wept on each other. The smell of His person became a beautiful aroma. Here is what I thought the Lord made real to me: If you don’t love this smell, I can’t use you, because this is why I called you where you are. This is what you are about. You are about this smell.

Christ changed David’s life. He started memorizing portions of Scripture that were incredible. We got him a place to live. We hired him in the church to do maintenance, and we got his teeth fixed.

He was a handsome man when he came out of the hospital. They detoxed him in 6 days.

He spent that Thanksgiving at my house. He also spent Christmas at my house. When we were exchanging presents, he pulled out a little thing, and he said, “This is for you.” It was a little white hanky. It was the only thing he could afford.

A year later, David got up and talked about his conversion to Christ. The minute he took the mic and began to speak, I said, “The man is a preacher.” This past Easter, we ordained David. He is an associate minister of a church over in New Jersey.

And I was so close to saying, “Here, take this; I’m a busy preacher.” We can get so full of ourselves.

Lord, thank you for sending others our way. May we never stop seeing them as Your precious children no matter how busy or tired we become. Amen

Please pray for the homeless. The weather is getting colder and they have no warm bed at night. If you have blankets to spare, please help by donating them to a charity near you. Thank you.

September Dinner at Chelsea Baptist Church

Mark 2:15-17 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
(16) And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
(17) When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

In life we meet people from all walks of life. As Christians, we tend to want to only associate ourselves with others of like faith. But we should reach out to the ‘unlovables’ also. I’m not saying to partake in their lives, but to look at them as God does: lost. The next time you find yourself in the company of someone on a different page then yourself, reach out to them. That’s what Jesus did. Just a thought.

John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Happy Independence Day! The day we celebrate our countries freedom. We are so blessed to be in a country where we can still worship the God of Heaven. Praise the Lord!!

A good turn out for the June dinner. Between 40-45 meals served with about 35 present for the message. Sloppy Joes were on the menu and were a big hit. Pray for those that need to find the narrow way.

Act 27:43-44 “But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”

Have you ever felt like a no body, or asked yourself, why am I here? The boards of this mighty ship may ask the same questions. They were all broken and just floating in the water. But the people used them to save their lives. God has a perfect plan for your life. He wants to use you in a mighty way. If you are willing, He will bring you safe to land. Are you broken today?

A few of our Team members out serving the Homeless Community. Please keep Allison, Rachel and Robert in your prayers.
(Permission given to post).

What a wonderful time everyone had at the Homeless Ministry Dinner. Over 25 people heard the Gospel and enjoyed a great meal. (Not much was left). Thank you all who  volunteered.

Dying eggs for the Boardwalk Ministry. Eggs are a favorite every Sunday morning. This marks the third year church members dyed eggs for Easter during prayer meeting.

Praise the Lord for our team members from Hope Through Grace who still ministers to the people on the streets. Here is their update:

Good morning. Patti gave out 43 John and Roman's. We talked to a young man from Bergen County named A he just got out of prison a on and was dropped off on the streets of AC. We have met other men who told us the same thing. We gave out 37 sandwiches water and snack bars. We ran into S again she still looks good. She is not on the street anymore. These are pics of some random people.

NOTE: The people in the pictures gave permission to post their image.

Our traveling team from Hope Through Grace, were able to visit Homeless No More Baptist Church. It was great to see some familiar faces and some new ones too.

A Post From Homeless No More Ministries. Amen!

So we had a problem with the day labor guys coming to the meal time but skipping out on church, so we had 7 men walk in to eat today, 2 of them spoke English, Darla had the English speaking guys intrepid and she began preaching the gospel to them and 5 of them got saved. Afterwards they had breakfast.

Happy New Year Everyone! The Fort Worth, Homeless No More, ministry, has been Blessed by God and is growing. Here is their latest post:

Our campaign, getting free in 23, had a great start. The auditorium was full. We had to use the overflow rooms for the meal. Everyone seemed excited about starting Sunday School next Sunday. Thank you Lord.

The Hope Through Grace ministry also posted an update. This ministry does not have a building so they are on the city streets ministering to the people. Here’s their post:

 Patty was in the hot seat yesterday. We finally saw John.by himself. We were able to give him a Bible and a simple Bible study from source of light mission. You led John to the Lord over a year ago… praying he’ll work on it…unfortunately we saw R again yesterday. He has had some health issue but is better. He left the room or apartment they found for him and is back on the street. He said it was bad and had to share with someone else. He still is not willing to let us share the gospel with him. God brought us to another girl named R that we’ve been trying to talk to… high again but is an angry person . We need basic clothes… pants, sweats, shoes gloves. We will buy some gloves this week. Brother Frank gave us hats and ladies of church have been keeping us in scarves
Please pray for these ministries along with HOMESTYLE Ministries.
Thank You

Homestyle Ministries reached out to about 32 people on a cold Christmas morning on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Sharing the gospel message with tracks and spiritual encouragement with seasonal devotions along with a hearty breakfast and hot coffee. Many regulars but also some new faces showing the despair that many face during holidays. Spoke with one gentleman, Jeffrey, who struggles with alcohol. Please pray for him. He promised to read the track but all he wanted to talk about was the rough treatment security everywhere gives him.
Please continue to pray for all the homeless as the weather remains dangerously cold.

The Hope Through Grace Homeless Ministries had a great time at their Christmas Dinner. Many were served lots of good food and heard great preaching. A Great big thank you to all that participated. From the Homeless and Ministries we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Some more pictures from Christmas for the Homeless

Jersey Shore Baptist Church, Young Adult Class, had an afternoon gathering to assemble food and personal items in a Christmas stocking. There also was a group that went out to distribute the stockings to the Homeless. Thank you all who participated and for those who donated to the Hope Through Grace Homeless Ministry. ( Pictures Below)

Also Homeless No More Ministry has reported that they are debt Free and how God has brought in several new people. 

Please pray for the Homeless as the weather is now cold and for these Ministries .

Thank You

Psalm 106:1
Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.