| Be, Know, and Do with God |
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The best piece of advice I was given about whether or not to include something in a sermon is I should always choose to talk about the things of God. God is crazy about children. He loves them. He desires for us to have faith like children – unwavering devotion and admiration. My daughter, who you see here, loves to just lean her head in and peer into the eyes of my wife, Katie. Katie and I love Avery more than I could ever hope to express. I tear up even thinking about how deep and wide our love is for Avery, and then I weep when I dwell on the fact that God’s love for her, his love for you and his love for me is far greater. At least once a day, we strap Avery into this car seat. We put our treasure into it and trust that it will keep her safe. I remember taking it to a police officer before Avery was born to make sure I had installed it correctly, then asked nurses several times to check it before I took Avery downstairs when it was time to leave the hospital. Now, daily, we trust this car seat with our deep love’s safety. But here’s the thing. Car seats are COVERED with warnings, the manual describes all the things that could go wrong, how even if installed perfectly it could fail. Yet, Katie & I trust so fully in it working. Do we even trust in God that fully, a God with no error? Do we live lives of delighting in his presence, getting to know God’s promises and hopes for restoration and love for you and me and our still broken world? This morning I want to share about an unshakeable burden I have for this body at West Shore and for our world. This morning, I ask that you open your hearts and minds to believe that God yearns for us to be part of a church that doesn’t just keep the lights on to stay in business, but is actively engaged in the restoration and life-transformation of the entire world. As God’s ambassadors, we must live boldy and spur each other on to live like Christ. Join with me in opening your Bibles to Hebrews 6:13-19. Last week Pastor Tony shared that WE (you and me) get to sit with God, delighting in His presence, we get to know him – in fact He yearns for us to know Him more. And our charge is that we should spur each other on to action, joining God where He is working in our lives to become more like Christ. This morning, I want to read from Hebrews 6:13-19a and continue exploring Pastor Tony’s about how we do that. Ryan Reads Hebrews: When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. 16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure There are 3 things I want you to remember about this passage if you forget all else. BE STILL. God is incapable of lying. Abraham waited patiently. Be still. KNOW GOD. KNOW HIS PROMISES. His oath and his promises to bring about the promises He made to Abraham. Abraham learned God’s character & had faith. AND AS WE DO WITH GOD, KNOW THAT THE HOPE OF OUR GOD IS THE ANCHOR FOR OUR SOULS. As I share this morning, I share lessons I’ve learned as an attendee of West Shore for nearly a decade. As some of you may remember from when I spoke in January, I lead a ministry called Forgotten Voices International. Forgotten Voices was birthed by this church in a way. It emerged out of a missions trip we took in 2004 to Zimbabwe to see how we could get involved as a church in the AIDS crises. Over the past 7 years, I have served this body of believers and the Church as a whole as a missionary. Through that time, I have gone to Africa 17 times to share God’s love with the church and carry lessons back for all of you about things God is doing in the hearts and minds of His church there. This morning, my hope is that you don’t look at this message as coming from a representative of a non-profit ministry alone, but rather as a fellow brother in Christ who comes as an ambassador from both sides of the same ocean. You may remember me sharing about a little boy named Peterson, whose mother had passed away the day after I met her in 2005 – leaving Peterson and his sister Prudence without a mom or a dad. Shaken by the research of what happens if these children are not rescued, we had to act. But HOW? Peterson would lose his sister, Prudence, a year later in 2006, when she died from AIDS related illnesses. Peterson, also HIV+ since birth, was extremely vulnerable. Unsure of what to do, we turned to the local church, who like churches in every corner of the world was demonstrating the love of Christ by TRYING to meet the physical & spiritual needs of orphaned children. We felt called as a body at West Shore to equip Peterson’s pastor and many more like Pastor Obert to meet these needs of children. Churches led by theologically sound graduates of the Theological College of Zimbabwe, a seminary we support, began creating locally developed, locally implemented orphan care plans that Forgotten Voices funds: sending children back to school, providing counseling for unspeakable traumas or loss of parents, seed & fertilizer for them to become self-sufficient food wise and other services. Forgotten Voices was birthed on the idea that God’s HOPE is the anchor for our soul, as Hebrews 6 says. What is broken we can’t do on our own. We must delight in Him, seek to support those who KNOW HIM, and DO WITH GOD, as He allows. He is the restorer of what’s broken in our bodies and our souls. God’s church is a church that is receptive to the cries of an orphan and a widow. James 1:27 says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. On January 23, I shared God’s leading of me to help begin shepherding what became Forgotten Voices. In 2004, an attendee at West Shore 24 years old at the time – a kid from the suburbs of Boston. I shared how over the past 7 years God has given me and many of you a heart for equipping churches in Zimbabwe and now Zambia to meet the physical & spiritual needs of children orphaned by AIDS. THANK YOU to all who have responded to literally rescue children from unspeakable trauma and begin restoring them to live lives as God intended. And before I continue and share a desire that our African partners have for you – lessons they want you to learn, as we are also equipping them, I want you to meet one of the children our ministry supports. Some of you have seen this, many of you haven’t. Neatness is a young girl whose story has helped so many children – more than we could ever have imagined when we sat down with my young friend in 2009 to record this. Not just in Africa, but the United States too and other places. Just this week the father to a young 10-year old girl in Boston wrote to me and shared about a fundraising idea he has for our ministry, inspired by his daughter. His daughter Skye has helped raise over $500 for our ministry through candy sales at school, flower & plant sales and other ideas. This dad directly points to the video you are about to see as having a transformative impact on his daughter’s life. When Jean, Skye’s dad, asked her why she gives to Forgotten Voices, she said “everywhere around me I now see opportunities to share God’s love. Why would I not do that? People need God’s love.” SO – Please enjoy this short introduction to my friend, Neatness. Neatness did tell us that I hope my story helps thousands of children, just like me, all around me. We do too. We have 2 challenges about how to do that… 1) FIRST: We know of 10,000 children orphaned by AIDS, just like Neatness. Each waiting under a tree or in their village, with their backpacks on watching friends go back to school and wondering “what is ahead for me”. Their churches know where they are and these churches are telling Forgotten Voices how they want to help. But how will we respond? 2) SECOND: Two years ago, about a dozen African pastors and church leaders were with me at a retreat in Zimbabwe, sharing across denominations how their ministry was going. At one point, one pastor representing the group said, “Ryan we have to figure out how we can help the American church draw closer to God, as Forgotten Voices and your supporters have helped us meet the needs of children.” When I said, what do you have in mind, they said, “Well, every day we in Africa live with this eternal hope that God will provide. WE will overcome the challenges before us. We must trust in God and join God in what He is doing to help our neighbors. We must join together, as a body of believers and share love with those around us because that’s what the body of Christ should do. You should find a way to encourage people to join together and serve the needs of their communities, as they help encourage us to keep going in helping children here in Africa.” 10,000 children waiting AND a desire from Africa that we figure out a way to share lessons God is teaching the African church by encouraging opportunities for the American church to come together and serve our neighbors here. As a ministry that believes deeply that God’s hope is an anchor for the soul that is manifested by the hope that stirs in pastors & Christians around the world, longing to meet the needs of their neighbors… I want to explain our response to this challenge – WE CALL IT TEN TOGETHER. In January I shared in passing about TEN TOGETHER. It’s an invitation to rescue children and share God’s love. An invitation that calls on you, each of you – from the front row people all the way to the people in the back. All of you. Even if you just started listening right now. I’m asking each of you to prayerfully consider joining TEN TOGETHER if you haven’t already (25 teams already have started from West Shore). There are 3 simple pieces to this commitment: First, join with 9 others to form a team of 10. Second, each person gives at least $10/month to Forgotten Voices, with each person helping our ministry help 1 child orphaned by AIDS. Your team of 10 helps 10. Third, each person on a TEN TOGETHER team does at least 10 hours of service in a year to a cause your church or neighborhood cares about. If you are already serving somehow, great. Encourage others on your team to join you. Or simply make your team a place to “spur one another on” in service. Our desire is that 1,000 teams of 10 start, each person helping care for a child meaning that 10,000 people in the USA will help 10,000 children in Africa. That addresses challenge one. Challenge 2: How to help the African church draw us closer to God. Every month on the 10th of the month, when you sign up with an email address, we send you a gift from the African church - an email that highlights reflections from Africa on service and what it means to be with God & know God. We share stories about children Forgotten Voices is helping. Perhaps most importantly, we share prayer requests and a Bible study for you or your entire team to learn from. This helps give the African church a voice to share what God is teaching them and what they want to teach us. So, since I shared this vision and opportunity with you a few questions have come up from the congregation. How to do it? You can get started by visiting an entire TEN TOGETHER.org website that was designed by volunteers and is filled with goodies for you. There is material on there about how to start a team, how to find service opportunities, where the money goes, and obviously a place you can sign up. All you do is assign a team name that others on your team would use when making their monthly donation. Do I need 10 people? No. 10 is an easy number to remember, but if you have 5 or 3 or 7, or just 1 get started. Build your team as you meet people. Bigger = + children Who should join? Who should be in my 10? Maybe you have a small group at church. Several groups at West Shore have committed to doing this. Maybe you want to teach your children about the world and service. Maybe neighborhood parents are talking about connecting their kids to something more than stuff. Your family could do it. Maybe you have a neighborhood group or coworkers that are asking about God. It doesn’t’ need to be just people at West Shore. In fact it may be better to reach out to people who don’t go to church or go to a different church. We believe this is an AWESOME way to demonstrate what Christianity is all about. You may be saying, my family cannot afford to give to more ministries. I can’t do anymore. I hear you. We do NOT want you to choose between this and something you are already doing. If that’s the choice you are facing, don’t join this movement. Can I give to TT & serve how I am serving? YES How do I find a service opportunity? What counts? We aren’t trying to steal volunteers from this church, like Summer Serve or from any other ministry. In fact, the opposite. On TENTOGETHER.org under Get Involved, you’ll find SERVE 10 HOURS. There, you’ll see links to all different churches already involved or starting teams. When you click on West Shore, you’ll find Life Giving Opportunities that the church already has identified. We encourage you to start there. We so desire that there is a movement, deep and wide of sharing God’s love. It’s summer – we don’t want to do MORE, we want to do LESS. I love summer, but I’ve also seen summer as an opportunity to be outside, meet our neighbors, see what’s happening in their lives, listen to children in the neighborhood share how they want to make an impact. Fellowship more freely, seeking where God is working in our neighborhoods and how we may join Him. There is more time to just BE and spend time getting to KNOW God, if we make those choices. There are likely more questions. We have frequently asked questions section at TENTOGETHER.org. If you can’t find your answer there, you can contact us at TENTOGETHER@ForgottenVoices.org. There are 2 ways we as a church want to help you get started: 1) There will be a booth in the lobby that looks like a tree. Please stop by and pick up some cards to get you started. 2) Not this Sunday but the next 3 Sundays right after 2nd service, we’ll be in Room 200, to help answer questions and dream about what it means to start a TEN TOGETHER Team. We’ll share stories and examples of how others have done it. Just come if you are interested in starting a team. You should know that I am the only full-time employee in the USA right now, so we need your help for this movement to spread. If you want to volunteer to help us reach more churches and schools and other places, let us know. If you want us to come to your fellowship group and share more… for all of this you can let us know at TENTOGETHER.org or our info is in the What’s Happening. You may be asking yourself, right now WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? WHY ARE WE HEARING THIS? Well, I want to share a word with you. When I look out across this sanctuary, I see beauty. People who are filled with the love of our God, just ready to pour out into our neighborhoods. People all around us, in our families, in our neighborhoods, at work are craving to belong to something bigger then themselves. Marriages are falling apart, people are depressed, out of work, having trouble finding day care, seriously ill, and on and on. Our neighborhood here in Central PA is full of people I meet all the time desperate to hear and learn about the God we serve, but they don’t understand. I yearn for us to share about what God is for, not just be known for what He is against. As someone who came from this church, attends this church… as someone who didn’t know ANYTHING about AIDS, Africa or children orphaned by AIDS, I stand before you today and testify that God so desperately wants us to love orphaned children --- not just to rescue them but to rescue us. A woman named Liz lives in New York. She’s a fairly new empty nester trying to figure out what’s next. How can she be used by God? Liz started a TEN TOGETHER team. She KNEW she had to do it. She was spurred to action. Liz sought out a service opportunity and began volunteering at a church’s afterschool program. Mostly children that she didn’t feel like she could relate to on several levels, Liz boldy went out of her comfort zone knowing God had led her to the opportunity. At her very first after school event, Liz had to share about herself and decided to share something personal, knowing she couldn’t compete with a rapper and a dancer who also were beginning to volunteer that same night. After sharing, Liz stepped out for a minute. When she returned, she found all the kids around in circles praying. Not wanting to interrupt and unsure of which circle to join, she saw an older sibling sitting off to the side. Approaching this older sister to a child in the program, Liz asked if she could sit down. The girl had heard Liz share. As soon as Liz spoke to her, tears came streaming down this young girl’s face as she asked Liz, “Can God really forgive me for anything?” Right there, Liz was so far from where she imagined being, but spurred by a TEN TOGETHER group, God began using Liz’s willingness to trust in Him, step out in faith, and extend God’s love to this young girl. Liz was able to share the love of God and extend compassion to a young girl, who had made very difficult decisions about her body and a baby. Over the past 7 years, God has taken our church and our ministry on a journey to help children in Africa and other ministries all over the world. I believe that through TEN TOGETHER, we will not only help rescue 10,000 children with your leadership, but unknown opportunities to extend love in our community will become known. The love of our God that we talk about on Sundays and we all yearn to share with others will spur us on to spread the love of God deep and wide….for the children orphaned by AIDS, our neighbors we serve, our team members we invite, and for us. As we do so, may we BE STILL, DELIGHT IN GOD’S PRESENCE, KNOW HIM, and then let the fruit of that being and knowing lead us to join God in doing what He is already doing --- restoring what is broken in our still hurting world. We shall overcome. We shall overcome. Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day. May the life transforming hope of our God be an anchor to your soul. May all who see and meet us, see and meet our God. To God be the glory. AMEN. |
