The Gospel and Social Action

This Sunday we will have a Compassion Sunday at Shiloh Baptist. We will have a speaker from compassion international at the church and will spend our time in the service thinking about serving the least of these.
As I have prepared this week it was glaringly apparent that this is not a typical sermon that I would preach, or for that matter most other conservative evangelicals. We have for far too long left mercy ministry and compassion to those who would call themselves liberals or for the government, while we have concentrated on making sure the gospel was understood correctly. This in my estimation is a great task, but we must be balanced. We can't be afraid to talk and think about mercy ministries in the church because someone might mistake us for liberal. The gospel clearly taught and understood produces gospel centered lives and those lives should constantly be about the purpose of the glory of the father; who seems to say in Matthew 25 that he is glorified when we take part in ministries of mercy.
Please pray for me and for our church as we try to move out of our comfort zone and be actively involved in mercy ministries in our community and world.