“Just as we are called to personal evangelism, so we are called to personal service. Jesus, we are told, both ‘went about …preaching and bringing the Good News,’ and ‘went about doing good’ (Luke 8:1; Acts 10:38). All Christians should follow his example… Both personal evangelism and personal service are expressions of compassion. Both are forms of witness to Jesus Christ. And both should be sensitive responses to human need. The evangelist seeks to discover the principal point of felt-need-for example, a sense of guilt or shame or fear, moral failure, personal loneliness, a lack of self-worth or significance, domestic unhappiness, a hunger for transcendence, lack of education, social repression, or demon activity. Similarly, a person’s social needs may range from the physical (food, clothing, shelter or health care), through the psychological (anxiety, alienation, emotional unbalance) to the economic (poverty, illiteracy, unemployment).” (J. Stott, ed., Lausanne Occasional Paper 21: Evangelism and Social Responsibility, 1982)

Jesus, in his ministry, met people’s felt-needs (healing, feeding, teaching, etc.) but offered so much more by being our Savior and thereby satisfying our ultimate need. In the OT, the Lord presents himself as the Lord who heals, or the Lord who provides, etc. (cf. names of God such as “Jehovah Jireh,” etc.), but we are called to direct people to the One who embodies all those names of God together-Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

To You alone our praise belongs! Christ exalted over all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6V2_EIEuG8

-JP