AFCC Worship 11/08/2020

well good morning everyone and welcome to arcadia friends community church we're glad that you've joined us here on campus for worship and for those that will join us later in the day be assured you're not going to get rained on it looks like we might in the next few moments it's a real possibility curtis has just arrived from monrovia and this others in arcadia where it's raining in that area but not here in the southern part of arcadia yet and by faith we're believing we're going to stay dry amen amen amen well first of all where did mr and mrs jim and kate dearborn ego stand up welcome to your first worship service as husband and wife we congratulate you and may the lord bless you we're so glad that you're here god bless you and gail i understand it's your birthday today happy birthday gail happy birthday gail anybody else have a significant moment today other than you're alive and breathing in here all right all right that's right that's right well we are here to worship so let's stand together and uh join our team as we open our hearts to the lord and uh seek his best in this time of worship as a community of faith that we might be ready to go back out into the world that's a little crazy right now and yet god is sovereign he's still working his good and we stand on those truths and promises amen amen good morning there's a warning in second john it says for many deceivers have gone out into the world those who do not confess the coming of jesus christ in the flesh such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist watch yourselves so that you may not lose what you have worked for but may win a full reward we believe that jesus christ came in the flesh let's sing what we believe [Music] christ the son our savior come to us by virgin birth we believe he died to save us for ourselves [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] the nations now he will come again [Music] jesus [Music] and then excuse me masks make my nose round yes you know um think a lot about we don't think a lot but maybe today think a lot about your name what does your name say about you right when in in scripture we read a lot about the power of a name a name meant something in fact they didn't name their babies right away took seven to ten days or more to name their babies because the name was powerful what was one of the things that god always did when he changed someone from one type of person to another type of person right he changed their name abram became abraham you know jacob became israel so when we think about the name even today names are powerful if they weren't then being called something derogatory wouldn't hurt being praised and called something beautiful wouldn't make you feel so good names mean something they define you in many many ways and so i wanna just throw before you this morning the name the church what is the church the church the name the church should mean something it isn't we are not at church we are the church we are in a place but we are the church and i grieve the the the years and years and generations that have come before us that have made this place called the church so we say we're going to church because there is a psychological thing that takes place when we think that this is a the church is a place we go to and when we go there we act like children of god when we're not it isn't it isn't in our head to think that we are the church should change our behavior 24 7. we're the church we come to fellowship this is why the early friends would never have called this the church it was the meeting house it wasn't a sanctuary it was the auditorium because we are the sanctuary of the almighty god we are the church and we come together in fellowship paul really understood this we are at war we are at war not a physical war but we are in a spiritual war against good and evil we are in a war that has intensified and is taking many captives paul understood this he understood in revelation when john talks about that the serpent the devil lucifer right the dragon was thrown down and he wages war against the children of god we are at war and so this morning when we come together to fellowship as the church i want to read out of the message two prayers that paul read because he really understood that we are at war listen carefully to them in the message i ask i ask the god of our master jesus christ the glory of god to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally your eyes focused and clear so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life that he has for his followers oh the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him endless energy boundless strength all this energy issues from christ god raised him from the dead and set him on the throne in deep heaven in charge of running the universe everything from galaxies to governments no name and no power exempt from his rule no president no government no congress no governor no representative no human being is exempt from his rule and not just for this time being but forever he is in charge of it all has the final word on everything at the center of all this christ rules the church the church you see is not peripheral to the world the world is peripheral to the church the church is christ's body in which he speaks and acts by which he fills everything with his presence therefore i ask i ask that you i had it memorized now i can't remember it my response to all of this is that i get down on my knees before the father this magnificent father who parcels out all heaven and earth and i ask him to strengthen you by his spirit not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength that christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in and i ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love you will be able to take in with all the followers of jesus the extravagant dimensions of christ's love reach out and experience the breadth test its length plumb the depths rise to the heights live full lives full in the fullness of god because god can do anything you know far more than you and i could ever imagine or guess or request even in our wildest dreams he does it all not by pushing us around but by working within us i'm going to read that again he does all of this not by pushing us around but by working within us his spirit deeply and gently within us therefore god is strong and he wants us to be strong so take everything the master has set out for you well-made weapons of the best materials and put them to you so that you will be able to stand up to everything the devil throws your way this is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours this is for keeps it's a life or death fight to the finish against the devil and all of his demonic be prepared you're up against far more than you can handle on your own take all the help you can get every weapon god has issued so when it's all over but the shouting you will still be on your feet truth to apply to them you will need them throughout your life god's word is an indispensable weapon god's word is an indispensable weapon in the same way pray prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare pray hard pray long pray for your brothers and your sisters keep your eyes open keep each other spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out father this morning we have come as a fellowship of believers we have come together to honor your name we have come together to not just be grateful and thankful and to sing praises to what you have done for us but we have come together father so that you might accept our worship and then make us more like you than when we came this morning that you would teach us more show us more open our eyes and our ears to see things that we cannot see on our own give us truth that will set us free give us power that will strengthen our legs to stand up give us a voice to speak that which is truth and good and glorious and right and hopeful oh god we have come into your presence what an opportunity for you to speak to touch to move to lift up to fulfill and to bless in jesus name amen the book of john begins in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god we know that he is referring to christ later on in that chapter he wrote what is written on the top right side of your page and i'd like us to read that together we're going to read john 1 14 together just read read along with me and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth we're going to sing in christ alone you may stand if you would like i know in certain uh certain verses of this song it says here in the love of christ i stand so if you would like to stand uh feel free we are going to we're going to sing this truth that we stand in the love of christ and we stand in the power of christ [Music] in christ alone my hope is found he is my light my strength [Music] is [Music] in christ alone who took on [Music] scorned by the ones he [Music] the wrath of god was satisfied for foreign [Music] there [Music] the light is the world by darkness [Music] for i am [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign amen please be seated kay and i have had the the wonderful privilege of traveling to the holy lands four different times from 1998 to the present and a number of you have made uh at least one of those trips with us and a few of you have gone at least twice as well and uh whenever we've gone to the galilee in the area of tiberias i'm always reminded of christ's feeding of the thousands and i love uh john's gospel's take on the feeding of the 5000 when after a lengthy time of ministry of people being impacted by the gospel that jesus was teaching that the disciples were representing to them that of course they became hungry and the disciples uh were feeling a little stressed uh what are we gonna do we're out here in the middle of nowhere and we can attest to that where we saw probably where uh those thousands of people met and they weren't sure what to do and jesus asked the question what do you have and in least the telling of this story peter's brother andrew said there's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish but what are these for so many people and then jesus took those resources in his hands he blessed them he broke the bread began to pass it out and kept passing it out and passing it out and passing it out until all five thousand plus because they basically commentators will tell us that the five thousand represent the men in the in the group and then we still have to add women and children and at the end of this story they gathered up the leftovers for another meal and there were 12 baskets full and i'm always reminded that god is not limited by our limited resources and that's all we have we have limited resources and even those come from god's hand his blessing to us and so as we worship in giving this morning as we prepare to once again present our lives to him in the midst of this crazy world in which we're living in the midst of all manner of need that you might be facing in your individual life your family your extended family life where we are at as a church where we're at as a country as a world recognize that if we just give what we have and trust to him he will take those limited resources and he will provide everything at just the right time in just the right way of what is needed because that's his promise our daily bread our daily sustenance our daily strength our daily hope heavenly father we pray in the name of the lord jesus who made this possible who demonstrated to people just like us that were in need of a meal of an outpouring a manifestation of your power in your spirit and they were on the receiving end that day so many years ago and god we've been on the receiving end day after day up to this moment in time if we really stop and think about it and god we want that to continue we want to continue to give you thanks and praise and glory for all of your provision for all of the resources that you bless us with especially life eternal now and forevermore and so god receive our lives receive our tithes our offerings this day we trust you lord we love you and we glorify you in jesus name amen everyone in this world has a god that they worship they might not call him god they might worship their own intellect they might worship an actual physical idol they may worship an idea they may have their own set of laws that they follow but everybody worships someone and habakkuk has has a warning woe to him who says to a wooden thing awake or to a silent stone arise can this teach behold it is overlaid with gold and silver and there is no breath in it at all but the lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before [Music] him [Music] let all mortal flesh keep silence [Music] christ our god to earth jesus [Music] true [Music] in the body and [Music] me [Music] from [Music] maybe [Music] himself [Music] to your presence [Music] this time new worship team for great music this morning very uplifting challenging and uh great theology behind what we sang this morning let's open our bibles to john's second epistle as we take a second look at it as one of 66 love letters heavenly father my prayer this morning as we begin is first a word of thanks that the rain is held off pray that it would continue to do that and lord that you would reveal your love to us in this letter in a way that would lead us to our most appropriate hearts full of desire response because of that great love you have for us in jesus name amen in the the sporting world of racing be it cross country like my kids run races all the time coached by their mom and dad their team some of them or it's uh be it an indy 500 car race or a kentucky derby jockey that is in the race of his life or her life the fact is that not every runner not every driver or rider actually finishes the race that they started just doesn't always happen runners pull muscles and have to pull out and get some medical attention drivers crash into walls and are towed into the pits jockeys can fall off horses when that horse stumbles and they've then failed to cross the finish line i think most of us have lived long enough even the young people in the group to realize that it's much easier to start something than it is to often finish it it's easier to start a marriage than it is to finish a marriage kate and jim praying for you guys and all the married couples here and those who will someday hopefully be married we fall in love we stand before witnesses and hopefully before the lord and we make vows and then life happens and sometimes we don't finish that marriage that we started or a relationship you'll always be my friend i'll never betray you and then again life happens things change things that oftentimes it shouldn't change within us change and then all of a sudden we find ourselves on the outs somehow or the new year resolutions or the new hobbies or the remodeling projects we joke uh k and i we've been through a number of those in our lifetime and we're working on some now in our new home and and um we've joked with other couples you know how was it in your remodeling project did it draw you closer together or were those moments where you thought you were going to kill each other now that's not been kni but that can happen how about just reading your bible through this year how often have we started that and given up just hasn't haven't happened weight loss programs i mean the list goes on and on and on of the things that we get excited about we want to enter into we make a commitment to it we start and we get going and at some point something happens and we either give up entirely or the train really slows down and not much really is taking place maybe the marriage doesn't end but it's you know two people living under the same same last name but not much of a marriage whatever it is that we plan to do and we just don't really reach that goal finish well you want to yeah thank you when it comes to faith that's at the top of the list that we need to finish well once we started and this was john's concern in all the epistles that he wrote and including his gospel was to to give to his his listeners the recipients of his teaching of his letters tangible things to hold on to with the from the father son and holy spirit that would enable them to live out their faith in a way that they finish well that they would finish strong we know that was paul's goal i fought the fight i kept the faith i finished the course well john had the same goal in his own life and with that pastor shepard's heart he certainly had it for his people and kay and i have certainly have that for all of you as well for our family members that are sitting here those that aren't those that we pray for daily and each of you that we would be a people that are growing stronger in our faith day by day often when kay and i pray together in the morning in our devotion times she'll pray something like this that lord help us to be better today than we were yesterday and already anticipating tomorrow that will be even better tomorrow than we are today that we're asking for this growing stronger in our faith in the lord jesus christ and so john is writing to this group of people in this epistle he directs as the chosen lady or the elect lady which we're interpreting here as a code term for a sister church that was being persecuted and had unknowingly or un with lack of discernment had opened themselves some of their homes up to the hospitality of those false teachers that had infiltrated the church and churches and were working hard to bring down to soften to weaken the gospel of jesus christ even with a theology that they did not believe that jesus christ had come in the flesh he mentions that in verse 7. so this is pretty serious stuff that john was writing to and about and challenging them to be sure that what you've started in faith that you finish in faith and you finish well and you finish strong so john is saying there's some things here that i can reveal to you that will help you in your walk of faith in this journey in this race if you will that we're in to cross that tape and to cross it finishing strong kay and i have been a lot of races with our grandkids and and seen not them do this but typically i can't remember any any of you not finishing really strong across the finish line but we've seen some that oh my goodness that you're not sure if they're going to fall over before they get there but they barely get there and then they collapse and i always say they finished they finished and that's the important thing so let me share three things with you uh from this uh very short epistle that can help us to finish well and these are gifts that god has given to us first we can finish well because of the truth in verse 2 for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever through the entire entirety of our race of our life the truth is with us as long as we as long as we look to it as long as we acknowledge its presence in our life as long as we admit to ourselves that we need it more than anything else because there's all kinds of falsehoods around us in this world we're being bombarded day in and day out with some just out and out lies and others a lot of half truths things that are are wrapped so nicely in in a in their presentation that we buy into them and is that not why we are where we're at as a country today remember the frog in the kettle illustration last sunday the frogs that's been simmering in that pot of water for a long long time and now we're feeling the heat aren't we yeah we're in the days of apostasy we're not living in the days of david when when david was king of israel and everything was good with israel between israel and god and everything was good with the temple and and their worship and and all of that we're living in the days of elijah where baals are all around us where a king ahab has been in authority over us in this world the prince of the power of the air and even some of those that are that walk around this earth just like you and i do physical beings that do not adhere to the gospel of christ do not bow their knee to the name of jesus christ i've been doing some reading of late that just is so disturbing in regards to the last three presidencies of things that they brought in to dispel our freedom of religion i pray that that will not continue under the new president-elect biden let's pray that it doesn't but the democratic left has a strong lean in that direction and we are paying the price today oh people truth is so essential in second timothy's uh the letter of ii timothy paul writes to his son in the faith chapter 2 verse 15 be diligent to present yourself approved to god as a workman who does not need to be ashamed handling accurately the word of truth do you do that on a regular basis church do you know how to do that on a regular basis to handle the word of truth to hold up the truth of the gospel against everything else that comes at you and in the balanced way which one do we follow which one over here coming from the world from somebody else can we take and accept that because it lines up exactly with the word of truth of god and if not are we prepared to reject it to stand against it and to say so without apology without reservation we need to be i don't know about you but i look back since i became a christian when i was 16 years of age 52 years ago it was a lot easier for me then than it is today to be a christian it just it just seems that it was but but today oh my goodness it's like everywhere you turn something is against us in our faith and if we don't know what we believe and why we believe it we're going to be like those israelites wandering in the desert that were at the end of the line they didn't finish well you know why they got picked off by the enemy they allow themselves to be separated from the main camp if you will for the illustration purpose from the main truth and one by one slowly but surely they got picked off jesus said i am the way and the truth and the life nobody comes to the father but through me and you go out onto the streets and the highways and byways of this country this city our culture and you'll find all kinds of other ways to follow but what i just said to you and more often than not a lot of those messages will come back and say you're intolerant you're narrow-minded only one way only jesus yes it's only jesus only he's the truth he says we will know the truth and when we know the truth jesus that that truth that relationship will set us free are you as free today as you possibly can be i know i'm not because i'm still learning truth i'm still learning things day after day at times that that god corrects me and then i have to say oh god forgive me for that help me to take that step in that direction now truth it is so essential but it's on us it's provided but he says you me each of us be diligent with this truth that's been entrusted to us read it pray over it study it practice it share it it's the only way that things are going to change in our own lives that need to be transformed on word always and for those who we care and love and those that we are to have a heart for i'll be honest and stand here and say i'm i'm working on getting myself to that point where i can love and pray for the other side and the stuff that's being espoused by that other side against me against you i don't like it it frustrates me it angers me and yet i go back to the scripture and jesus says love one another love everyone as the father loves everyone and so i'm working at that and i hope you are too because that's the only way that we can move forward it's it's just like when when we fail to forgive someone you know who pays the biggest price with that failure we do when we fail to forgive we become bitter people not better people when we fail to love those that are hard to love in christ's love we become more unloving if you will those are the truths that we're wrestling with to live out in these days but as we wrestle with them the promise is we will finish well apart from that truth we can't we won't secondly we can finish well because of obedience verse 4 of the second epistle i was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth obeying the truth that's what john's saying and as i mentioned last week he's directing this to a group of uh christ followers just like you and i and he was signaling out those that were walking in the truth we can surmise that reading between the lines he was greatly concerned about those that weren't in the same way calling those people to that same walk of obedience i love the story of joseph in the old testament it's a story of obedience to god here he finds himself betrayed by his very brothers his own blood ends up in in egypt in jail is released all the while adhering to honoring his god through temptation and other things he obeys what he knows to be true about his creator and his god and a very long story to make it short in chapter 45 of genesis the famine has come he's in a the second position of leadership in egypt his brothers show up for help handout have no idea who they're talking to is the brother they betrayed until this moment joseph reveals himself to his brothers please come closer to me they came closer and he said i am your brother joseph whom you sold into egypt and you might then expect that he would just bring the fire of god on them and instead he said and now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for god sent me before you to preserve life that's what obedience does that's finishing well joseph could have went in so many other directions and yet he finished well and he finished strong because he kept his eyes in an obedient focus upon his god and the laws of god as he understood them and if we will commit ourselves to do the same the best we can with the power of the spirit that lives within us day after day 24 7 then we don't have to wait to that moment when we take our last breath to think about finishing well we will finish each day well we will be able to sleep soundly without regret because we've chosen to trust him and obey him in all things at all times in every way possible and thirdly we can finish well because of the love of god in christ his son we can love god we can love the things of god we can love the people of god we can have a love for the the lost that god loves across the board because he provides that he makes it possible we can't conjure that up on our own but it's available for us to live it out when we make the decision when we pray for for his help to not only lord increase my faith as the disciples prayed increase our faith increase our love lord for you for each other for the lost for your things lord that that instead of what i've been giving myself to things that the world loves that i i grow in love deeper for the love the things god that you're a part of that you desire in in john 13 jesus said a new commandment and whenever the word commandments used we've got to think of obedience we have to make a choice will we obey this or disobey it a new commandment i give to you that you love one another even as i have loved you that you also love one another by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another perhaps that's been the one accusation against the church throughout the ages where we have failed more than any other area or we fail to to exhibit that kind of love that jesus is talking about in this new commandment so in this message this epistle how might i summarize the love letter message from god what's he saying to us in all of this i think it's simply saying that because god loves us so much he shows us in this letter how to finish well because that's what he wants he doesn't want any of us not to finish he doesn't want any of us to stumble across the finish line he wants us to break that tape strong feeling good because he loves us that much finishing well is uh has become a mantra a mantra for k and i and it's part of our elder board is too um six years ago as we looked ahead into our future knowing that as we were aging and the longevity longevity of our time here as pastors back then six years 28 years we knew that there was going to come a day that that it would come to an end and so k and i after much thought and prayer began to lay out a plan as we felt that the lord was bringing us to that began to share it with our elders and it was what i called back then the 12-year plan i had planned out 12 years from six years ago and in 12 years from six years ago i was going to turn 74 and i thought that's a good age to to call and end and and all that and long story short as we got into the plan and i started doing certain things that i thought were going to be of essential importance to raise up more leaders and particularly a leader to follow as lead pastor here and all those things that god kept adjusting the plan my plan has he ever done that to you and uh so here we are today and uh i i have to i can say that in many ways today the plan doesn't look anything like it looks like when it started and that's okay because god's sovereign and he's on his throne and even with some of the things that have happened in the plan the things that i'd laid out from who i thought was going to follow me and when that blew up here months ago at the beginning of the year um that was a hard thing for all of us it was particularly hard for me and all that i'd invested and and hope for that young man but you know what god has it all in his hands and god is doing an amazing job through our elders and what they're working on now is as we've stepped back from that process because that was appropriate but our goal still personally is to finish swell to finish strong here because we're in preparation for whatever's next in our life because we will happen to believe that even though we use the word retirement it you know because that's what everybody uses we're not retiring from life and for ministry and from the faith we plan to still be used of god in in whatever ways he wants to use us and we pray daily that god will reveal that to us of what lies ahead for us once we are no longer your pastors here but here's a really neat finishing well finishing strong story to add as a period on what i've just shared and that is this tuesday night our elders pastors kay and i will meet with pastor freddie and beth and two of their elders the four of them make up their elder team at living hope church our daughter church now four plus years old and the purpose of that meeting is for us to meet together to receive their request per my recommendation as lead pastor that's been mentoring freddie for 25 plus years and working with him as many of you have worked with him as well pastor k particularly in planting this church to have them become a stand-alone church out from under the apron strings of arcadia friends church the mother church because some of you might not realize this but for four years on a monthly basis sometimes twice a month freddie and i meet i get financial reports from their leaders if there was any problems over these years they would come to our elder board for us in our spiritual oversight to deal with because they were an infant church and then they became a toddler church and they've been into the teen years and they've just recently gotten out of the teen years they're in their young adult years now and they're ready to be the apron strings to be cut and our elders at our denominational level are awaiting next week what i believe will be our recommendation with with hearts free and clear to say yes living hope church should be recognized henceforth as a standalone grown-up church just like arcadia friends church is and that's been a goal personally of kni that we would see that before we did leave and to know that that for that church is finishing well and that's another part of this church's journey of finishing that that we stepped out in faith to help plant that church to raise thousands of dollars to do what we did to make it possible that right now they're worshiping just a couple miles as a crow flies from here outside just like we are at bethlehem lutheran church their new location with great impact in the kingdom of god that's finishing well amen james says that every good and perfect gift comes from the bother from the father above and revelation 21 7 represents one of those gifts and promises he who overcomes shall inherit these things and i will be his god and he will be my son to overcome means we finished and we finished well we receive the prize back in second john verse 3 grace mercy and peace will be with us from god the father and from jesus christ the son of the father in truth and in love in this truth and in his love we can be faithful to finish well the faith that we've started yes we will have our moments yes we will have our days yes we will have our doubts yes to all that stuff but if we will be committed to keep our eyes fixed on jesus and when those things do raise their little ugly heads we will be quick to bring that to jesus to bring every thought captive to the obedience of christ and he will help us with that and he will make us stronger because of that and we will learn from those moments we will learn from the days in which we're living to be better people to be stronger and living out there in this world that needs a clear representation clear than ever before of what it means to follow jesus christ to love jesus christ because that's been missing in a lot of ways and so when i said earlier that these are not the days of david but they're the days of elijah that means that as the days of elijah we need to be stronger in our life-bearing than ever before we do need to recognize that we are in a battle against the bales of this culture and in this world just as elijah did and we need to know that we can call upon the supernatural power of god just as elijah did if we believe if we have faith and we stand and walk in his truth and for this race that we are called to run in hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. following that great chapter 11 the hall of fa uh the hall of faith of all the those who were named moses and joshua and others and especially the unnamed ones that did not lose their faith even as they gave up their lives to the lions not seeing the promise but holding to the promise then the writer of hebrews says therefore because of that example since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us fixing our eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of faith so that we might finish well and strong if we will do that we will it's god's guarantee it's his promise it's up to us to choose well to choose wisely as for me in my house as joshua said to israel after he gave them the whole history of what they'd been through choose if you want to follow the gods of this of this culture of these pagan countries and follow them but if god then follow him and really follow him and then he said for me in my house we will serve the lord as for me in my house we will serve the lord may we be a people that zero in with a laser focus on jesus christ like paul i'm determined to know nothing but him jesus christ crucified and raised and yes someday and may it be soon coming again heavenly father in the name of jesus christ thank you for calling us to this race thank you for lord giving us the gift of faith to believe that jesus died and rose again and is someday coming for us that there is a heaven a place that we will go to be with you when we take our last breath and spend eternity with you and god if we don't know what that's about if we've not made that decision then god oh before with this day ends let us talk to somebody here on this grounds that would would help us to find that way and lord if we do know what i'm talking about here then lord let us be sure be certain that we are not wrapped up and tangled by anything that would trip us up in this race that would keep us from your best but that we would be people that run this race in a way that exemplifies that jesus is lord over all and oh how the church needs to step up to that today lord in this country so god give us your strength give us the supernatural ability of the holy spirit that lives within us to do beyond anything we might imagine or think or anything we've ever done in the past but as we look forward to what you want to do in us and through us in these coming days i pray in jesus name for your glory god for your honor and for our good and our blessing and our salvation amen amen god bless you church we'll be uh having sunday school here in just a little bit but before let's stand together but before we depart pastor k has a very important announcement to make in regards to our table that's set up over here to my right we have an opportunity today to um to be the church an opportunity to um follow truth to be obedient and to show our love saku has set up a table and on it you will find some handmade jewelry it's jewelry made by mothers who are refugees from civil war um who are now in india and they make this jewelry to support their children 100 percent of the money that you pay for this jewelry and it's it's beautiful jewelry um and the the whole story behind it's on the card goes to these children um saku and hartley don't get any of it it doesn't get put up through a middle man it goes 100 to these children for their education for their upbringing for their health for their safety and so take some time and see what you can do to support through uh truth through obedience and through love and next week she will have more jewelry um and i believe if i heard correctly the jewelry next week will be jewelry made by the kids that the kids themselves me these are made by the mothers the kids himself have also made it so father would you be generous we don't know these kids we don't see their faces we don't know the mothers we don't know the hell they have been through but what we do know is that you have called us to love them with every fiber of our being from the depths of the spirit that lives within us and to be generous in both our love and in our finances in jesus name amen you

Channel: undefined

Views: 176

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: -ZxOq3XRc5o

Length: 61min 58sec (3718 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 08 2020