The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Rescued From This Broken World

Episode Date: December 11, 2022

Christ came that we may all have a seat at the King's table.

Amen. Amen. Good morning, church. I hope everybody's doing well. If you have your Bibles, go to Second Samuel Chapter 9. That's where we're going to be spending the majority of our time today. And as you make your way there, I just want to offer you a Merry Christmas. I hope it's off to a great start.

I hope you are enjoying all of your peppermint drinks, your mochas and your shakes. Hope you have big plans for your family. I hope you're excited about this Christmas season and that God's doing great things in your life. God's doing some great things in and through our church. It is Compassion Weekend. We are in the second weekend of a Christmas series called Rescue Mission, where we are looking at the reality that Jesus came on a landed invasion, and he came to rescue his people.

And he did the so in love, a self-sacrificing love on the part of God, he came to rescue us from our sins, and he gave to rescue us to the rescue team. And so last week, Pastor Jobi kicked us off with week one, we talked about being rescued from human tradition, and he did an unbelievable job. God used him in a mighty way. And 98 people last weekend said yes to surrendering their life to Jesus for the first time.

Truly amazing. So far in 2022, 2,072 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ as a part of the Church of 1122. The original plan was that Pastor Jobie would be here this weekend. And he would be preaching week two. But Wednesday, Thursday, he started not feeling really great. And went to the doctor and tried to rally. and just couldn't quite get there. He got some sickness and he's doing better,

but he's still not quite there yet. And so Thursday morning, before our Thursday night services, he text me and said, Brit, I'm not feeling up for it. I need you to give her a go. And I said, what? I said, Pastor Jobie, you're telling me that you want me to advocate for children who live in extreme poverty and call our church to be the kindness of God to them

and demonstrate God's love for them through child sponsorship. I'm your man. I'm in. And so that's what we're going to be doing this weekend. We have been partnered with Compassion International as a church for more than 10 years. And through that partnership, God has used this church immensely. We have sponsored more than 14,000 children around the world over the last 10 years. And I'm praying that today we will sponsor thousands and thousands more. The goal of today is simple, as it is every compassion weekend that we sponsor kids. That's what we're going for. That's our singular aim is that children will be sponsored. And so if any point during our service, you feel compelled or you know you came knowing today's Compassion Sunday and you're going to sponsor a child, you can do that at any point.

There's tables in all the rooms where our campuses are and in the lobbies. If you're joining us online, you can text the word sponsor to A339, and you can begin a new friendship through sponsorship that way with a child somewhere in the world that needs it. And so I'm excited to dig in. Second Samuel Chapter 9. We are in week two of rescue mission. 2 Samuel chapter 9 the header in my Bible says this it says David's kindness to Maphbibisheth now Maphethivisheth is normally a difficult name to say however full transparency I had a procedure done on my tongue about a week and a half ago that involved a scalpel and some stitches

and my doctor God bless him he's the nicest guy I know just a sweetheart of a man When I sat down in the chair for him to do this procedure, he was like, don't worry, you're just going to be sore for a couple of days. He did not tell me the truth. He told me lies. It hurt real bad, y'all. It hurt. He hurt me real bad. And so I just got the stitches out on, like, Thursday.

So Thursday was a wild day in my life. I got the stitches out on Thursday. And so Maphibisheth is normally hard. It's a little harder for me. So if you're here and you have a critical personality, you are more than welcome to do two things. One, you can count how many times I mess his name up. I'm going for nine or less. Second is, you can stop because there's no way to live.

And so, David's kindness to Maphibibishev. Let's dive in, verse one. Second Samuel, chapter nine, verse one. And King David, David said, Is there still anyone left of the House of Saul that I may show him kindness? Underline that word. For Jonathan's sake.

Now, there was a servant of the House of Saul, whose name was Ziba, still quite a name, but easier than Mapheth, I will say, whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David, and the king said to him, are you Ziba? And he said, I am your servant. And the king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? Zibba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan, he is crippled in his feet. So who is Maph? Maphishvishv is Jonathan's son. Jonathan and David were best friends through their teen adolescent years into adulthood. Jonathan is also Saul's son, King Saul, was the first king of the nation of Israel.

And Saul was a very, very, very complicated man. And Saul was Saul's own worst enemy. And because Saul could not get out of Saul's own way, he ended up losing the kingdom of Israel. And then David was appointed to be the king. David, when he was very young, was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel. and then this created a lot of tumult between he and Saul, and Saul and David's relationship was very complex, and over time, Saul just ruined things and got removed by God, and then David gets put in. And in this process of the new power coming into the new sheriff coming in town in Israel, and King David taking the throne, Maphethibishev and the family, the descendants of Saul, were all evacuated from the city. Saul and Jonathan and all of Saul's other sons died.

in battle and the rest of his family members were being evacuated from the city. And you can read it in 2nd Samuel chapter 4. Maph had a nursemaid and this nursemaid grabbed him and was fleeing the city in haste trying to get away from what they thought was certain doom. And in so doing, she drops Maphethibishevish and she severely cripples him for the rest of his life. And so when we find Maphysheveth in 2 Samuel chapter 9, his testimony in his life to this point has been this, that he was born into royalty, that of no fault of his own, there was a change in power. Most of his family is killed in battle. And because of this, he goes into hiding. And in the process of going into hiding, he gets severely crippled. And he's currently living as an outcast, totally dependent on outside

resources for his survival. This is Maphibisheth's testimony. And the titles says David's kindness. In two times in the first three verses, we read the word kindness. that David was extending kindness to Maphibibishev. Now, when we read this word kindness in the Bible, we can't think about like a manufactured kind of niceness that's a go along, get along, that we often can water kindness down to in our world. No, it means something far deeper than this.

When the Bible talks about kindness, what it's talking about is the expression of God's covenant and steadfast love toward his people. That it is God's covenant and steadfast love expressing itself toward his children. And so this kindness is a deep covenantal love expressed through God's people toward others. And so kindness is God's posture and his tone of voice toward his children. Kindness is God's posture and his tone of voice toward his children.

To help us think about this rightly, it helps us to put it in the context of marriage. And so oftentimes in marriage, I can convince myself that I'm I'm being kind by doing the chores, by maintaining my responsibilities, that I'm practicing kindness by providing or by tolerating behaviors that I may not prefer or by working hard, by paying bills or whatever. It's easy to look at kindness as though it's a to-do list that we can check off. But I guarantee you that if you go through life checking off all the boxes on the to-do list, but you do so with a sharp tone and you do it with a heavy posture, heavy breathing, and eye rolling, it doesn't matter what you spend your time doing, all your spouse sees is how

you're doing it. Right? Kindness as a tone and as a posture really makes sense in the context of marriage and even in the context of parenting. When my girls were smaller, I had a season where I was just wrestling through a lot of stuff going on down in here. And seemingly, it was coming out here. And my wife came to me very kindly and she was like, hey, you're being a lot of stuff. really heavy lately. And when you come home, you're not bringing peace with you. Your tone is short and strong. You're aggressive. You're not being kind. And I couldn't even argue with her. When she called me on it, I was like, you're absolutely right. And the Holy Spirit used her in my life. And so I go and sit down with my daughters. And I'm like, listen, girls. And they're much smaller at this

point in time. I'm like, listen, Daddy's been tough lately. And I'm really sorry. I haven't had a kind tone. I haven't had a kind posture toward you, and I need you to forgive me. And my girls, they start feeling all the feels and the big alligator tears start coming down, you know, and they're like, Daddy, we love you. And I'm like, I love you too. And then I tell them, I'm like, girls, I need your help.

Anytime you feel like Daddy's not being kind, will you just remind Daddy? And our secret words, our secret code will be KT. And it just stands for kind tone. And so anytime Daddy's being aggressive or heavy, you just have Daddy. and say, Daddy, KT. So sure enough, about a week or so later, I'm driving down the road,

and there were many donkeys on the road this day. And I was just letting them know of their he-hawness while they were driving their motor vehicle. And my oldest reaches up from the back seat, and she taps me on the shoulder, and she says, KT, Daddy, KT. Kindness. It's a tone. It's a posture. it's a behavior choice. It is not a feeling.

Kindness is a behavior choice. It is not a feeling. And kindness is the currency of healthy relationships. And it's how healthy people treat one another. Kindness is a choice we make. It's not a feeling we fall into. And true covenantal kindness rooted in God's steadfast love is countercultural in every way. It is countercultural in every way. That's true today. But it was certainly true in David's time. David's choice not to find Saul's descendant and kill them was completely countercultural.

When David first asked, where are Saul's descendants? Everybody in the house would have thought he's looking for them because he wants to kill them because they would either make a claim or have a rightful claim on the throne and they would be a threat to David and a threat to David's family. And so when David says, where is Saul's descendants? Everybody thinks he's going to have them killed. But that's not what David does. David acts in kindness.

True kindness rooted in the love of God is self-sacrificing. In order to give, David is willing to sacrifice. He's going to do more than just reach out a helping hand. He is going to give up a seat at his table. Kindness is carrying the culture of the kingdom of God. When we act this way, it has the power to change lives, our life and others' lives. more than 10 years ago I was on a trip to Africa and while I was there I was visiting a Christian-run orphanage and it was a beautiful place run by a beautiful people just some of the kindest

godliest sweetest people you've ever met in your entire life and as we're touring the facilities and we're playing with all the children and we're hearing the stories out of the corner of my eye I catch a man in his late 20s early 30s at the time and he's in a wheelchair and so I'll walk over to him and we begin to talk and get to know each other. And his name was James. And James' story is that when he was young, his country was in Civil War. And one day, he and a schoolmate were walking back from school and he accidentally stepped on a landmine. And in order to save his friend's life, he put himself in between the landmine and his friend. And in so doing, he almost fatally wounded himself. He almost died and he lost both of his legs, his left one below the knee

and his right one just above the knee. And James came from an extremely poor family living in extreme poverty, and they didn't have the means to take care of him, and so they abandoned him. And as James is telling me this story, I asked James, I'm like, James, how are you here? Like, how did you wind up in this place? How did you survive all this? And this huge smile comes a cross his face and he points at the lady who ran the orphanage and he said because she was kind to me kindness changes things it has the power to to change lives it has the power to change stories as i mentioned earlier we as a church have sponsored more than 14,000 children around the world through compassion international that is 14,000 children who have been released from the chains of

poverty in jesus name that's 14,000 children who have had the chance to hear the gospel that otherwise probably would not have. That's 14,000 children who have people in their lives who love them, who know there are people in this world who see them, who believe in them, who think God has a purpose for them, and want them to step into that purpose. And that's 14,000 children, many of whom have gone into adults right now that are pointing at our little corner of the kingdom here in Jacksonville. And he's saying, I'm thankful for those people because they were kind to me. To be an extension of God's kindness, to be blessed and to receive God's kindness and to give God's kindness, man, what a thing. What a gift. Last week, Pastor Jobi was

announcing some of the results from the 10-10 life journey that we started a few weeks ago. He was talking about the commitments that were made and the result of those commitments and the thousands and thousands of people who are trusting God as a part of this church and advancing his kingdom. And as I'm hearing Pastor Jobi share the testimony of what God's done in the life of our church over the last four or five weeks, I was just simply overcome with gratitude. Just overcome with gratitude. I am so thankful to be a part of this church. I'm so thankful to be a part of a people

who are serious about their relationship with God, who are compelled by the love of God and who are compelled to be on mission with God. And when we say you were rescued to join the rescue team, many, many, many of you take that very, very seriously. And you look at your life as a ministry and you have put your yes on the table and you're saying, God, just put it on the map.

Good job, church. Good job. Praise God for you. God for the work that he's doing here. God has been kind to us. And because he has been kind to us, we extend his kindness. Kindness is the currency of healthy relationships, and that's how healthy people treat each other. Verse four of 2nd Samuel 9 says this. The king said to him, David to Ziba, where is he? And Ziba said to the king, he is in the house of Meshire, the son of Amiel at Lodabar. Now, where Maphethibisheth is matters.

Lodabar means the place of the desert. One translation I read said that means hard to get to or low or no communication. Mephishaf's reality is that he is in a desert place. It means no pasture. There's not a lot of resources where he's at. He is in a place of shame and he is in a place of hiding. And maybe you're joining us today. And if you were honest, emotionally and mentally, just when you take survey of your life,

maybe you feel like that's where you are today, that you're in a desert place, that you're in a place of shame or a place of hiding, and maybe you're there because you've led yourself there, and the truth is you're in a desert of your own decisions, or maybe you're there because of a story more like Maphibbushchefs, where you're just struggling for some hope, and maybe you've got a raw deal, man, you've been hurt, you've been dropped, you've been abandoned, and you go through a lot of your days feeling pretty confused, and you feel like you were in a place of no pasture. And if that's you, as your friend and as your pastor,

as your pastor, I would remind you today that there is a king. And his name is Jesus, and he came looking for you. He came looking for you. He came on a rescue mission as an extension of God's kindness toward you, to show you God's posture toward you and to be God's tone of voice toward you. There is a king, the great king, and he came on a rescue mission for you. And this king, he pulls people out of the desert of shame and hiding, and he leads them into the promised land of his salvation. That's what he does. Many of us may feel that way, and that absolutely

matters. There are many people in this world who don't just feel this way. They literally live there. They literally live in a place of no pasture, in a desert of resources, in a desert of opportunities, in a desert of love. There's nobody in their life. There's nobody in their world reinforcing that they have a purpose or that God has a plan for their life. Right now, today, more than 736 million people worldwide live below the poverty line. The poverty line is defined as earning less than $1.90 a day. 736 million people. Over the last two years, global poverty rose for the first time in 20 years,

and it rose by more than 150 million people. One out of every 27 children will die before reaching the age of. of five, most of them from malnutrition and other preventable causes due to extreme poverty. Every day, approximately 810 women, mostly very young, die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Lodabar, the place of the desert, is what they call home. David asks, where is he? Ziba responds, he's in the desert. And David sends someone to rescue him. When we as the Church of Jesus Christ, the redeemed people, we hear of these stories and we hear of these testimonies and we hear the reality that there are people in this world

that live in the desert place, we ask the question, where are they? And Compassion International shows us where they are and shows us how we can help. We as the church know this, that where you live should not determine whether you live. Verse 5 says this. then King David sent and brought him from the house of Meshire, the son of Amul at Lodabar. And Maph, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, Maphishaph. And he answered, Behold, I am your servant. And David said to him, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan.

And I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father, and you shall eat at my take. always. David looks at Mephibisheth and he says do not fear. Why? Because he was afraid. Can you imagine being Mephishath sitting there in a place where you've been hiding for some time now? And as you've been hiding, you're hiding in a desert place you can see out onto the horizon. Anybody who's coming, you can see them coming and all of a sudden the king's guard that is unmistakable is riding toward the house. And so, For years and years and years, you've been living in fear, and all of a sudden, those fears are manifesting themselves right in front of you. Can you imagine the state of mind that Maphibibhah was in?

Can you imagine the great fear that he was wrestling with? We know this, and have experienced it more times than we can count all of us. We know this, and we preach this all the time, that fear is a liar. Fear is a liar, and fear has hijacked more futures than anything else in this world. It has robbed more joy than could ever be counted. And then that knock on the door came. Maph sitting there waiting for what he thought was surely his demise. Here's these words, the king wants to see you.

And they load him up and they take him to King David. And Maphethibishev does not get the manifestation of his fears. What he gets is extravagant grace. He gets extravagant grace. You see, King David had experienced the kindness of God. and he was extending the kindness of God. King David was not living according to the rules of his culture at the time. He was living according to the covenant that had been sealed in him and for him by God Almighty.

Maphibibchushev gets extravagant grace, and I would ask this question, is there any other kind? To have a true encounter with the grace of God, with the kindness of God, is there any way there could be anything less than absolutely extravagant? I met a little girl one time who changed my life. She taught me what Grace was really all about. I was on a different trip to Africa, and we were working in a medical camp.

And as you well know, we plant many, many, many churches as a part of the Church of 1122. One of the ways we do that is through medical missions. Doctors and nurses and dentists from our country and from that country, we'll partner together. We'll go out into these really rural areas where there's no Bible believing Christians and there's no Bible teaching churches. And we'll set up a medical camp and we'll be there for days and hundreds and hundreds and

hundreds of patients will come through these camps and they'll receive medicine. And in so doing, we pray with them and we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And many people, having never heard of Jesus, will receive Jesus as their Savior. And this is one of the ways that churches get planted all over the world. And so one day we were doing one of these camps and hundreds of patients were coming through and we're praying and doing ministry. and this little girl walks to the edge of the camp, and she stands there for hours and hours and hours. And day one goes by, she never comes into the camp.

Day two comes, she's still there. And one of the African pastors that we were working with, he walked over and began to have a conversation with her. And her story, at this point in time, was a tragedy. Her name was Linda. And Linda, at the time, was 11 or 12 years old, and she was born with HIV AIDS. In the 90s, the HIV AIDS epidemic devastated East Africa.

She was born with HIV. Her little brother was born with HIV and epilepsy, and her little sister was born with HIV. Both her parents had died of HIV, and she was at that time living in a mud hut that was owned by her aunt, whose profession was a prostitute about four hours away, and she didn't come home much. And so Linda, completely desperate, completely hopeless, hears about this medical camp, and she shows up courageously to this place, but she had never seen. seen people that looked like us, and so she was scared to come in. And through the relationship with this pastor, he invites her in, and a small team of people began to hear her story and could

not help by God's grace but to be compelled in kindness toward her and her family. And this local pastor that we were working with adopts her and her brother and sister into his family. And we began to take care of her, and what was an incredibly small act of generosity on a few people's part, ended up transforming this family's life forever. And instead of dying and destitution, Linda lived and flourished and is still alive today. And she's doing well and she is healthy and she is whole. Now, after I first met Linda, we go back a couple of years. After that first encounter, she was frail and sick and weak. A couple of years later, we're visiting that local pastor again. And I'm having a conversation with Linda. And she's just telling me, with great joy,

all that God is doing in her life and all that God has done. And I'm sitting there and I'm listening and I'm just floored. And I ask Linda, I'm like, Linda, of all the people I've ever met in the world, you have more reason than anybody I've ever met to be bitter, to be discontent, to be discouraged, and to be angry. But you're not. Why is it that you trust God? Why is it that you choose to follow and to love God? And she puts her head down for a second and she thinks about it. And and she looks up at me, and this was her answer, because he lets me. That little girl, she understood grace.

She understood grace. Her humility toward the Lord floored me. It absolutely floored me. That's what grace does. It humbles. As I've thought about that encounter, and I appreciate and applaud her humility. That's not the whole story, though.

And I would say this to Linda, that Linda, it's true that any measure of grace that God would invite us in to be his children, that he does let us, and that is a kindness in and of itself, but he doesn't just let us, Linda, he wants you. He wants you, he loves you, he chose you, he gave you a new name and a new identity, he came on a rescue mission for you. It's not just a little bit of grace. When God gets involved, it is extravagant grace. He is an extravagant God. There is a king who cares more about covenant than he does his own life, and he has a people that he is teaching to do the same thing all over the world.

Compassion International is primarily a discipleship organization. It's why I love it and I'll support it until the day that I die. It raises kids in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is holistic discipleship, heart, soul, mind, and strength. And it is delivered in local communities all over the world through the local church. So here's how it works, spirit-filled believers on this side of the world, take a packet, and they begin to sponsor that child and start a relationship with that child. And that fuels spirit-filled believers on the other side of the world,

being in disciple-making, face-to-face relationships with his children, and as partners together in the gospel, us and them, we raise up one more generation in the gospel. We raise up children and teenager all over the world, believing and receiving that God loves them as their highest call in life and living their life on purpose and on mission with Jesus Christ. to is the king. That's how it works. That's how it works. It's holistic discipleship. Compassion does holistic discipleship. Poverty, as you get more and more familiar with it, you realize quickly that poverty is a mindset. It is often reinforced and many times even caused by an environment.

There's no doubt about it, but I know a lot of materially poor people that have a kingdom mindset, and I know a lot of materially rich people who have a poverty mindset. If you give me someone who has small amount of stuff in this world but a great love for the Savior, I will give you someone who is joyful and rich toward God. Poverty is not only a lack of resources, it is often realized as the lack of hope. What we're inviting all of us into today is giving hope to children that God loves and that we love. Poverty often results in the feelings of worthlessness. This is Maphibibishev's believed reality at this point in time.

Verse 8 says this, and he paid homage and said, this is Maphibishev talking. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? He calls himself a dead dog. This brother's not in a good spot. Let me just remind you, brother. Let me remind you, sister, be careful how you talk to yourself. Be careful how you talk to yourself. You can very quickly jump in as a partner to the enemy

in the game of self-destruction. The world offers a remedy to negative self-talk and it'll say, don't talk bad about yourself, talk good about yourself. I think this is faulty. I think it's weak sauce at best. If you want to live a life filled with purpose, if you want to have a mind filled with health and wholeness,

If you want to experience the kindness and the favor of God regularly in your life, then don't talk to yourself about yourself. Talk to yourself about Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Talk to yourself about Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Remind yourself who Jesus sits, what he's done, who he says that you are, what your identity now is because of his identity, what you have now experienced and received because of his kindness and grace toward you. preach the gospel to yourself every day because the gospel is where the power is, church. The gospel is what has the power. Verse 9. Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant and said to him, all that belong to Saul and to all his house, I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Maph, your master's grandson, may have bread to eat.

shall always eat at my table. Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. And then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord, the king commands his servants, so will your servants do. So Maphibiseth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons. This is a picture, a foreshadowing of the good news of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the things that David is referred to often is that David is called a man after God's own heart. Well, this testimony in David's life symbolizes it maybe more than anything else. I personally believe that this is David's finest hour, that this is the finest and crowning achievement of his life. David, no doubt, was a great king. But we know that every word in this book whispers a greater name. We know that every testimony that the Bible

gives us points to the greater testimony and that every king points to the true and great king. David was a great king, but Jesus is the greater king. This is a gospel foreshadowing. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of how Jesus Christ himself came on a rescue mission for God's children who were living in rebellion to God and they had placed themselves habitually and willfully as enemies of God, rejecting his rule and reign and his love and his kindness in their life. And he overthrows their rebellion with his love and with his grace and with his self-sacrificing. And in so doing, he overcomes their will. And he adopts them into his family and he gives them a seat at the table of sons and daughters.

That's the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, how Jesus Christ takes people who are begging for scraps from this world. And he makes them kings and queens and crowns them with the crown of life. how he takes people who are trapped in the rags of self-righteousness, and he closed them in the riches of his righteousness, and makes them heirs to his mercy. He takes people who are lost and wandering without purpose, and he finds them and gives them meaning and mission. Jesus Christ comes to the hopeless, and he makes them hope filled.

He comes for the people who are condemned rightly and justly, and he forgives them and accepts them in as brothers and sisters. The gospel is the testimony of people who are rejections, and rejecting, being renewed and restored. Prisoners go to princes. The last become first. Lame begin to dance with joy and broken people are restored unto wholeness.

This is the power of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who hear and believe it. That's true for me. That's true for you. And that's true for anyone who would believe in the world. Jesus, the great rescuer, shows up and he shows us God's posture toward us and God's tone of voice with us. When you've experienced this kind of kindness, the kindness of the king, it changes things.

It changes your priorities. It changes your spending. It changes your decision making. It changes even how you define words. when you encounter the kindness from the king, it changes things. I want to introduce you to our sister Nora. She, through Compassion International, encountered the kindness of the king, and it changed things.

Church, meet Nora. I would like to say thank you, thank you so much, to my sponsor, Jeff and Bonnie Mori. I hope I see you one day. I love you so much, wherever you are. How about today? My name is Nora Birongi. I'm currently a substitute teacher,

and currently I work in one of the schools in my community. We are Jeff and Bonnie Mori, and we had the opportunity to sponsor Nora over 20-some years ago. When we were told we had the chance to meet Nora, I was almost speechless because we had no idea. We had no idea how much she had grown. We had no idea of the young woman that she became. We saw that she was this advocate for children and for compassion.

And then it just felt very humbling. We did something so little. We felt like it was just so little. And then Jeff and I started realizing is we're looking at the small portion that we did and not looking at the magnification that God did. And that is through all of the compassion team. My time in compassion, there is this particular teacher I remember. She's called Ruth that impacted so much on me.

Actually, even the desire for me to become a teacher came from her. My desire for math and English came from her. She could sit down, giving her whole time just for me to understand. So for me as a child, I admired her so much. The other person would be our youth pastor. To me, was like a father figure, very passionate about God, but also showed us a very good example. He taught us how to pray. He always made sure that we are fine, but also always encouraging us and reminding us of what the Bible tells us about our lives.

It's not just us. It's a whole team. It's a whole army of people that God mobilizes in order to affect change in the life of a child. This picture of what we're doing is very little, but There's so much going on in the background. And as that happens, it grew her, and it made her who she is today, which who would have ever thought that she would then get to go to university, get her bachelor's degree in social services? And she's able to move her entire family here to the United States in which she still wants to give back to compassion, but she comes here and still continues on as a compassion advocate.

And little by little, God opens the door for someone to reach us to say, she's looking for you. I hope I see you one day. I love you so much. Wherever I are. How about today? No. Yes. And eventually this is possible. And it's just like that goes all the way back to a compassion team giving her hope. If those staff were on that compassion, I don't think my life would be the way it is today. I don't think so.

No, I wouldn't. I would love to tell us the staff workers at the Compassion Project there in Uganda. Thank you because you reached in and not only were Jesus' hands but were my hands. you were not only my voice but you were Jesus's voice and together what they did was so much more than what I could do in just a single letter but yet it was because of their involvement

even far more than my letters that changed Nora's life that brought us to the point where we were able to meet to realize that you have even your small role to play because that small role doesn't stop with you. It continues on and it lights a candle that lights another candle that lights another candle and it becomes exponential. And that's in the hands of our God. Verse 12 says, and Maphibibishev had a young son. Don't miss this church. And Maphethibisheh had a young son whose name was Micah. And all who lived in Ziphybeth, had a young son,

whose name was Micah. And all who lived in Zibbis' house became Maphibibcheth's servants. And Mephishaph lived in Jerusalem for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. His son's name was Mika.

David's kindness toward Mephishv didn't just change Mephisheth's life. It changed his son's life. And the lives of many others, what we're talking about today in partnership with compassion and national, we're talking about generational change. We're talking about generational impact. We're talking about saying yes to God and partnering with him and the work that he's doing all over the world and in so doing,

God will multiply our yes and it will have impact to the third and to the fourth generations. kindness changes things. It has the power to change lives, our lives, and the lives of others. One of my favorite authors once wrote, if you want to experience God in your life, then all you need to do is look around and see where God's at work

and join him in that work. Well, God is at work all over the world, rescuing children from poverty in Jesus' name through compassion and international and people like me and people like you. So here's how we're going to respond today. We're going to respond. We're going to sing two songs.

The first song, we're going to sing over you. And as we sing this first song, the response will be to sponsor children, to go to a table in one of the rooms where you're worshiping, to grab a packet, go back to your seat, learn the child's name. This is Victoria, and she lives in Brazil.

She's about the age of my youngest daughter. She lives in Brazil, and right now Vitoria is waiting on someone to knock on the door, and her life is filled with concern and worry and honestly fear. And soon, someone's going to come and knock on her door, and it's not going to be the manifestations of fear. It's going to be the extended hand of God's kindness that helps to give her faith in God and faith in herself. So we're going to respond as we sing this first song, we invite you to come to any of the tables to grab a packet, go back to your seat and begin to

pray over it and to fill out the information. If you're joining us online, you can text the word sponsor to 83393, and we're going to sponsor children in Jesus' name, releasing them from poverty and being a part of what God's doing all over the world. After we sing the first song and you've gone and gotten your packet, we're then going to sing a second song, which will be our normal respond time. And so I'm going to pray for us. And as soon as I'm going to pray for us, and as soon as I I say amen, will you go and pick up a packet, learn a child's name, and begin to learn their stories, you begin to partner with the work of God in their life. Father, we love you, and we thank you that you've invited us in to be an extension of your kindness. We thank you that you've

been kind toward us through Jesus, that you have blessed us, but that that blessing and that kindness does not terminate on us, but it extends through us as we are kind to others. We thank you for inviting us into these children's lives and giving us the chance to know their names, to pray for them, to be in relationship with them, to build bridges between places in the world filled with your Holy Spirit where we exchange kindness back and forth

and in so doing glorify you. Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters right now. I pray that the child that you had prepared for them, that they'll pick that packet up and that they'll read that name and in it they'll see the miracle of kindness at work in their lives. We love you, Jesus. This is all for you. We do all these things by the power of your resurrection and the power of your wonderful, victorious name. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. Will you stand with us? Will you respond and go and grab a packet?