Dominican Republic Missions — Philippians 4

0:00 Heavenly father, we come before you, and we thank you for your love. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you that your grace and mercy is new every day. Every day the sun comes up as a new day, lord, that we have to live for you.

0:11 Our days are numbered, lord. We know that. In advance, we know that our days are numbered. We just ask that each day that we're alive, you allow us to do what we were created to do, Lord. Help impress on each and every one of us here what that that would be, what our purpose on earth is.

0:33 Lord, we thank you lord that every day we can trust you. We thank you that your word is truth and your word is real. Lord, we just come before you, praise you, and ask you to bless our time. In Jesus name, amen. So, you know, I've got a lot in common with with all of my children and even with my wife, even though we're not blood related, there's still common bonds between us.

1:06 But, you know, Zach and I have one thing in common that's I got to be careful how I say that. We're storytellers but I mean that in a good way, right? We we tell stories and if you haven't heard me preach up here before, I use stories to illustrate the points that I want to get across And so so that's kind of what I want to do today. So I actually want to use our experience in the Dominican Republic to to bring some points across. So I do want to talk a little bit about the work in the Doctor.

1:34 I wanna talk a little bit about missions, and I wanna talk a little bit about giving. But before I before I do, I wanna give you some... Just a bit of testimony of the power of God as with this Dominican Republic trip. First of all, when Rick Garrett reached out and asked me if I would go to the Dominican Republic with him, I said, look, I I I do want to go, but I really wanna spend some time and pray about it. So, I spent some time in prayer and it was really, really, really, really, really, really clear to me that that's where the lord wanted me to go.

2:11 It was so evident to me that I just can't let, I can't tell you how evident it was because it was so clear. Very few things that I've done in my life were so clear. One was marrying my wife of course. That was really clear. But this was so clear.

2:30 And then as this whole trip unfolded, things were made clear to me that showed me this is exactly where the Lord wanted me to be, right? If you had a choice where to be, I would bet that everybody here would say, I want to be in the center of the Lord's will, right? Where else would you want to be, but in the center of the Lord's will? So, John, in the songs, we talked about trusting, trusting in Jesus, right? Trust in the Lord.

3:01 So I started to keep track of these, we'll call them small miracles or small blessings that occur. Keeping track of those small blessings, the first small blessing that occurred as Rick called me was less than two weeks before we were to leave. Guess what I realized? My passport was not good. It had expired in June the previous year.

3:29 So here I am, right? AB AB was there sitting in my house on a Tuesday night after Bible study with my nephew and I'm thinking my passport's expired. I heard him text Rick real quick. I go, just wanted you to know I'm going, but my passport's expired. He goes, do you sure you want

3:45 to go? It's going to

3:45 take a lot of work. Plus, it's, you know, you can't get these things in less than two weeks. I said, the Lord wants me to go. I'll go. By the following Monday, by the following Tuesday, had a new passport in hand.

3:56 A new passport in hand. So in reality, it doesn't take two weeks to get a passport even though every website out there says it. But again, it was clear to me that the Lord wanted me to go because that passport was there. Here's another thing that happened. About the same time we were leaving for the Dominican Republic, Andy Hilton came over and said, hey, look, we're going up to Michigan on this retreat and I need some hiking shoes.

4:21 And I'm thinking, well, I got these great Merrells that I want to take to the Dominican with me because I got a gift from Rick of a new pair of shoes to wear. I'm thinking it's muddy in the Dominican, I'll leave those at home, keep them clean and, I'll wear the Merrills, but I gave them to Andy. So I wore the new shoes that Rick gave me. Last two weeks ago, Wednesday, whenever it was, even though I was wearing a suit, I put those Merrells on because of the snow that was out there. The next day I woke up, I shouldn't even say that I woke up at 2AM with pain in my Achilles tendon so bad that I couldn't sleep.

4:55 Had a hard time walking the next day and I can only picture in my mind what would have happened if I was in the Dominican Republic and wearing those boots because I took one pair of shoes with me, right? Got a pack light, right? Got a pack light, took one pair of shoes with me. Again, one of those things, even though it was after the fact that's exactly where the Lord wanted me. So I keep track of these little miracles because those little miracles help us to get through each day, right?

5:34 I want to share that, the whole experience with you, but I found out that I wasn't the only one. I wasn't the only one. Just last Monday, I sat down with a brother in the Lord and he shared with me the same struggles that I was going through. Life is tough. The only the way that we get through is by recognizing that his grace and mercy is new every day.

5:57 When I say his, I mean the lord Jesus Christ because he is the savior of the world and the Bible is so clear about that. Grace and mercy is new every day. And as long as I keep these small things in my mind, I can get up the next day when struggles are hard and life is tough because I am grateful for what he has given me. It's so important to be grateful and these small miracles make us realize. Right?

6:27 We we we read about the, the Israelites building memorials to what God did for them. Well, we can build those memorials too. I don't do this, but this is a great idea. Get some, what are those called? They stick on the back.

6:41 Post it notes. There we go. Write down a small miracle, put it on your bathroom mirror. That way, every time you get up in the morning, right, the first thing most of us do, we go into the bathroom, we see that in the mirror, and we know what we can be grateful for, right? Trust in Jesus all day long, every day.

6:55 It's going to get you through. Right? We have a friend that's been sick. You talk about small miracles. How about great miracles, right?

7:02 A friend of our friend of ours that that Jennifer Son... Sonja, who everybody here has been praying for, we don't even know why she's alive, but she's home. It's... She's home. What a great blessing that is.

7:16 So this is what keeps us going and keeps us moving. Those little miracles. What are we grateful for? Right? So anyhow, that's what we're gonna be talking about today and okay, I guess that's not going to work.

7:33 So I have to do it this way. So let's take a look at this. I took this snapshot from the back of the plane as we were landing in the Dominican Republic. Is that funny? So, if you look close, I'm like right there.

7:53 So this is this is where the Dominican Republic is. So I've been in The Caribbean on a couple occasions, twice I think, and, it's still... I have a still hard... Have a hard time trying to understand where the Dominican Republic is. If you take a look at Florida up here, the Dominican Republic is actually one time zone further east.

8:14 So we were an hour ahead of everybody. Here's Haiti right here. So the Dominican Republic and Haiti share an island. So so that's where we flew... We we we flew into.

8:27 Interesting thing, I think this is a testament of the glory of god too. You see this island, Haiti seems to get hit with every hurricane that comes along, right? Well, we were in the Dominican Republic and the maintenance work... Richard. Richard had been here for twenty five years and he said more hurricanes hit Boston, which is where he was from, than hit the Dominican Republic where he was at.

8:53 Yet it seems like every hurricane that comes along hits Haiti. So it's amazing how those hurricanes move this way and really don't affect the people in the Dominican Republic. Alright. So, again, here's the island. For some reason, Harbacua was the village that we were outside of.

9:14 This dot indicates Harbacua. Why it ended up here, I don't know. So we landed right here in Santiago and then drove up through La Vega up into Harbacua. So it's a mountain area. It's a mountainous area in the Dominican Republic.

9:31 So there was no beach. Rick promised that I'd be able to go to the beach, but we didn't go to the beach. But we had a great time in the mountains. Really interesting place, this was my first journey into a second world country, they don't even call it a third world country, but into a second world country where I wasn't going on vacation, right. I've been to some other places where you went through some poor sections, but you went to a nice resort and were on vacation.

10:02 So it was really interesting to me to see the way people live because we spent a week up there. And the thing that really concerned me the most is was the driving. I would not get behind the wheel of a car and drive in this area. It's just crazy. There's relatively few stoplights.

10:25 There's no rules of the road. But again, it's not The United States and it's a place that I wasn't used to, so needless to say I was out of my comfort zone when I was there for a long period of time, out of my comfort zone. But I'm so grateful that I actually had the opportunity to go there. So let's first of all talk about why we were there. I apologize for this picture right here because it didn't come out too well, but, this is basically 70% or so of the house that Troy and Lexi, Garrett live in.

11:47 Okay, this is the way that it looks today. This is an outside look at the roof. This is a tin roof that we put on. There's, Scott and you know a few of the people there that were working with, putting a wood structure up and then putting on top of that plywood. Now, so who went?

12:13 It was Rick Garant, his son Tommy. Rick's good friend Adam Vanick, who by the way I learned while I was on the trip, I went to school with Adam's parents. Both of his parents were at the same high school that I went to, which was pretty cool. Jeff Vanick's son and Tricia Wheeler's son. Jeff and Tricia.

12:40 Harold was there and Scott was there and Drew was there and I tell you the blessing that everybody there, it it was a blessing to have everybody. It was interesting to see how the lord worked things out and everybody had that particular job that they were working on and they were doing. So, even though there really wasn't a general foreman, I think that, Scott knew exactly what he needed to do, Rick knew exactly what he needed to do, Harold is workaholic so he was always doing something and he knew what he needed to do and it worked out well. We got a lot accomplished in the period of time that we were there. So, it was interesting to see the the the entire situation how how it all worked together.

13:27 Again, I think that was a small miracle. Just the glory of the lord coming through and and showing us you know, what what our purpose was there. Okay. So, again, a horrible picture but a picture nonetheless and this is what it looks like today. So interestingly enough, Troy and Lexi moved in yesterday.

13:56 They have a little bundle of joy his way, his name is Chase. Alright, and he should be arriving about March 6 or so. So they wanted to get into the house before Chase arrives, but that's the way that it looks. So pretty much we took this facility and made it about close to twice the size that it was, maybe about twice the size that it was. So now they've got a they've got...

14:23 They they had a a guest bedroom, a bedroom, both of them tiny, a kitchen and a bathroom, the kitchen and living room combination. Now they have a master bedroom, they have a bedroom for the baby and they also have a guest bedroom. And I don't have a picture of it here, but their view is worth a million dollars. Just a beautiful view over the valley, over Harbacoe and to the mountains that are on the other side. So right here is Troy and Lexi.

14:56 Let me give you a brief bio on Troy and Lexi. First of all, we'll start with Troy. The first thing that I have to, well first of all Troy is my nephew. For those of you that know Rick Garrett, he's Rick Garrett's oldest son, so he's Nancy's brother's oldest son. For those of you that know Rick Garrett, Rick is an alpha male all the way and it's interesting to see how god works because Troy, you would think growing up in the household that he he did, that he he really he really wasn't an an alpha personality.

15:42 But once he left and went to the Dominican Republic, he has become a leader that I could not picture. So, the lord took him, took him to the Dominican Republic, and made him a leader. So much so that we were going to be talking a little bit about about Caribbean Mountain Academy that actually asked him if he would be interested in being the executive director for the entire campus there which is about 25 to 30 people plus, I don't know, 20 acres or so. Alright? That didn't happen but he's second in charge but the leadership skills that he has are amazing.

16:25 Again, it's when the Lord takes you out of your comfort zone and puts you in a place that you start developing these talents and that's pretty much what happened here. So, so that's a little bit about Troy. Let's talk about Lexi. Now Lexi is from a missionary family. Her parents, she's US citizen.

16:49 Originally her parents were from the Akron area. They moved to Switzerland and they're missionaries in Switzerland. Lexi knows, she's multi lingual. I don't know how many languages she knows. I know she's fluent in English, she's fluent in French, she's fluent in Spanish, fluent in German and maybe even another language or two.

17:11 But Lexi, we knew Lexi a long time ago when I say we, some of us, Troy didn't, but we knew Lexi because she used to go to Camp Lai Lai. Then she went to Taylor University and if you can remember when she went to Taylor University, she'd come back here for Thanksgiving, spend some time with us. You know, she was here always for three years or so at our Thanksgiving brunch that we do here. Well, again, Troy and Lexi didn't know each other. Lexi eventually came and taught at Christian Community School.

17:45 She moved in with Harry and Christa Garrant. Harry died in April? And 04/04/2020 at Harry's Memorial, that's when Lexi and Troy met each other. Alright? By December, they were married.

18:06 By December they were married and since then they've been in the Dominican Republic doing the work there. Interesting about this part of the Dominican Republic as well, there's two other mission type organizations that are there. First of all, Young Life, there's a Young Life, Retreat Center right there within driving distance on the same mountain that they're at and there's also a school called Dulos, which was originally where Lexi went to teach. She actually went down the Dominican Republic to teach down there and she was teaching at Dulos Academy. So this specific area outside of Harbaccoa is an area that has a lot of missionaries and a lot of Christian input in that area.

19:53 It's a six step process to try to get these kids out of harm's way and get them getting them back into their families. So what they do is they they take in these kids that are at risk. Right now, there's about 40 students that are there and they use Christian principles to get them back involved with their family. Now, if you're familiar with pretty much what's going on in our country right now with at risk youths, we've got a lot of problems there and probably the biggest issue is that these kids don't see that they have any value and they don't see that they have any purpose. So the goal at CMA is to show them that they have value and that they have purpose.

21:01 And the way that they try to show them that they have value is they teach them that your value is this, Jesus Christ died for you. Imagine how much value each one of us here really has because the Creator of the universe, God incarnate, died for us, died for me, died for you. So they try to use this principle to show them that you have value. You really are worth something. And then through, you know, through other, other ways, they try to show them that they have a purpose.

21:42 And what they do there is there is a, there's missionary work that's done in Harbacoa itself. So there's a relationship that CMA has with local pastors, local people in Harbacoa that take these students and they work on projects and those projects could be digging a garden, teaching people how to plant vegetables so that they can eat the vegetables and so that they can sell the vegetables Or they might be a project where they're actually going out and they're helping somebody build a structure to live in, right? I would say a house, but some of them are just tin structures, right? Where we were, there were million dollar houses and there were houses made out of tin with dirt floors. But what they're trying to do at CMA is show these kids that they have value and that they have a purpose.

22:51 Let me give you a in the life. So this is what the kids that are at the boarding school here. This is what a day in the life looks like. So, this would be pick a day, right? 07:00 is wake up, 07:30 is breakfast, 08:00 to 05:00, devotions, school counseling, activities, service projects.

23:18 05:30 dinner and clean up, 06:45 house time. During house time they have topical biblical discussions and at 09:30 they go to bed. So, it's a real structured environment with these kids. A real structured environment. One day a week, the the the men, the young men go into Harbacoa and they work on service projects all day.

23:43 One day a week, the girls, the women, the young women go out in Harbaccoa and they work on a service project all day. So again, what they're trying to do is show these kids that they have value and that they have a purpose. Alright. So, the next thing that CMA does is it is a it is a portal to Hara Bocoa. Alright.

24:11 So it's... First, it's a Christian boarding school. Again, about 30 kids that are going full time there. And the second thing that they do is they're a portal to Harbacoa. Now, see this this picture here.

24:23 These buildings were all over the place. They sold something in there and there were 50, 60, 70 of these on the main street up to Hara Bocoa. I don't even know that there were that many people there and they sold like wafer bread and loaves of bread. We we never stopped and ate it. Right?

24:38 The only thing that Scott and I were aggressive enough to go out and eat was with a smoothie and we didn't feel very good the day after that. So, we didn't by the side of the road to get anything. But if you look up in the top left hand side, I mean this is a city, this is a town with electricity, it's a town with refrigeration, it's a town with grocery stores. It isn't what you would typically think of in the third world country. Again, is they keep telling us it's actually a second world country.

25:13 But so, a port of the Harbacollo, what I mean by that is that CMA, right, Caribbean Mountain Academy partners with local pastors and community leaders to provide help and services that are needed. So this year, this season, 2017 from January to August of this year, over 400 people will be flying and spending time in CMA doing local work that needs to be done, in Harabacoa. So they house them and then they find, mission projects, we'll put it that way, mission projects for the teams to do. And Lexi's job at CMA is to organize all of those projects. Okay.

26:36 So she drove with the baby bump and everything and I sat in the passenger seat and just asked her as many questions as I could And again, you have to understand that I've never been on a missionary trip. So, you know, it's new. It's outside my comfort zone to begin with. I've never been on a missionary trip. So talking with Lexi, this is a story that I got.

27:06 She said, Bob, these relationships that we have with these pastors is extremely important. My kids know I always ask the question, why? Why? Why is it important? And she said, there were times past when groups from The United States would come down, bring money, go and build a house for somebody.

27:30 All right, so picture a family, picture you. All right, you're comfortable in the house that you live in. Maybe you'd like something a little bit different. Think of it this way, if somebody outside The United States came in and said, hey, look, George, we're going to build you a new house. You probably wouldn't tell them no, right?

27:48 Probably wouldn't tell

27:49 them no, you let them build you

27:50 a new house. They build you a new house, they leave. You have a choice, right? Do I want to move into this house or do I want to sell this house, pocket the money and pay off my house, Right? So this is actually, these are things that go on in missionary places that I didn't know about.

28:16 Lexi had the, you know, she's got the foresight, she understood these things. So people that lived in tin huts with dirt floors and all of a sudden they had a 800 square foot house with tile floors, they're thinking, I don't need this. I can sell this pocket of money and I don't have to work. So that's what they would do. So with the relationship that CMA has with the pastors in Harbacaua is to find those families in need, find what needs to get done.

28:48 And it's not all about, it's not just about building houses, it's about helping people build gardens, learn, right? You give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man a fish, he lives for a lifetime. So when you, when you talk about making sure that you do your due diligence on where your money's going to support the Lord's work, you know, it, it, it struck me as this is the way that it should be done. Again, I never thought maybe you guys did, maybe you had this thought process before, but I never thought about it that way. So that's what I learned from riding with Lexi going to the, to the grocery store to buy food.

29:30 By the way, it's not a Costco, but it might as well be a Costco. So there's plenty of things there that you can get and buy. So that gives you an idea of what we want to do. That gives you an idea of what CMA does, but this is what Bob Markowitz got into his head. I asked myself a question and I probably shouldn't have used black here, but I did.

29:56 I asked myself the question, are we in The U. S. Taking care of our troubled youth by showing them that they are valuable and they have a purpose? I'm not going to answer that question today, but I'm going to say it like this, no. How many kids do we have that commit suicide?

30:21 How many kids do we have that are addicted to heroin? So I don't think that we're doing a good job. I don't know what the answer is. Well, do, Jesus, but I don't know how to solve that problem like that. And the next question is, are we taking care of our poor and less fortunate in a biblical fashion?

30:50 Right? They're going down there, they're seeing the need, they're providing the need. They are not just throwing money at a situation. So I'm going to run to missions right now and that question is, are we taking care of the poor and the less fortunate that we have? I'm not even going get through most of what I had planned to say, but let's start with this.

31:34 Everything except for God has a beginning, would you agree? Right? How did this happen that people that we have this situation of entitlement that exists in The United States? Well, here's how it happened. Before the Industrial Revolution, you had Christians, people that believed that Jesus Christ was the son of God, that would go out and help those that were less fortunate and they would give them the gospel.

32:06 They would tell them what they need to do to be saved, right? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And they would help them do what they needed to do, build houses, put in gardens. Then all of a sudden somebody in the political realm got a great idea and let me take one step back. There were some Christians out there that had this idea of Post Millennialism.

32:32 Now you may or may not know what Post Millennialism is, but basically it's if we create a good enough situation here on earth, Christ will come. That's what Postmillennialism is. So these these individuals felt that if we go out into the cities and we make the cities better by giving them money, we make them better by giving them a little bit of the gospel, then the Lord Jesus Christ will come. Right? The second coming will happen.

32:57 That's post millennialism. It kind of coupled alongside of some political thoughts that we've come to know today as progressivism. Right? We're all we're all familiar with progressivism. Right?

33:11 So I sit here as a born again Christian. I'm neither Republican or Democrat. I'm a libertarian because I think that Jesus would have been a libertarian, so I choose to be a libertarian. I'll be happy to defend that if you want me to. And I'm thinking, why are us, why are the Christian conservatives, why do they not care about the poor?

33:36 And why do the progressives want to help the poor? Well, it's been that way for one hundred years. The change is very difficult, right? The change is very difficult. But we as believers today need to step back into that realm and bring the truth and bring the gospel and make those changes, those changes real.

34:12 Let me go to Isaiah chapter one, I'm going to read 10 to thirteen and sixteen to 18. And this is... These are verses that I... I'll be honest with you, they're going to be painful to hear. It's going to feel like there's somebody scratching on a chalkboard.

34:34 But I think that these are verses that we need to hear. So Isaiah chapter one verses... Verse, we're going to... 10 through 13 and then 16 through 18. 10 through 13.

34:46 So this is the prophet. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of sacrifices to me, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle.

35:06 I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts, bring no more fuel... Futile sacrifices. I'm gonna jump to verse 16. Wash yourselves, make yourself clean, put away the evil of your eyes, evil of your doings before my eyes.

35:37 Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. And I'm gonna also read verse 18, come now and let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, thou shall be white as snow. So here's a situation Isaiah is talking to the the Israelites at that time that were not really doing what the Lord required them to do. They were offering up sacrifices that were an abomination to the lord because of the way that these people live their lives and then he says, take care of those that are oppressed. Help the poor.

36:19 Help the widow. Let me make sure that we understand this point. Helping poor people is not a ticket to heaven. Helping poor people is not a ticket to heaven. Right?

36:31 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man shall boast. But He's calling us to help the poor. Now, I've thought about this verse from the day that it was either Denzel or Roger asked me to come up and speak, whether I wanted to use this verse or not because it's a painful verse because because if we picture ourselves, are we doing everything that the Lord requires of us? Now, again, I wasn't sure I wanted to use this verse so I looked up.

37:04 This is from Vine. This is Vine's comment about these verses. Mere external religion is ever a cloak to cover iniquity. The Lord exposed all that in his strong denunciations in Matthew 23. The guilty combination in Judaism has largely developed into Christendom.

37:24 The conscience of a believer may become so seared that a person can practice religion while yet living in sin. That's from Vine, from his book Prophecies, Promises, Mornings, page 14. What point am I trying to make here? How involved am I? How involved is Bob Markovich with the poor and oppressed in the community that he lives?

38:17 We're the ones who should get joy and favor from God to take care of the poor, to help the poor. All right? Our gifts are a sweet smelling savor to the Lord. All right, so I'm calling on us as individuals, how do we get back involved with those that are poor and oppressed in our area? Let me read you the story and then I'm going to read you a story and then we'll probably be done.

38:53 So this is a story that ran across as I was preparing for this. Let's see if it populates, here it is. During the nineteen ninety's, Alyssa Collins and her children lived in one of America's most dangerous public housing projects in the inner city of Chicago. Alyssa had become pregnant at the age of 16, had dropped out of high school and had started collecting welfare checks. She had five children from three different fathers, none of whom helped with child rearing.

39:28 With few skills, no husband and limited social networks, Alyssa struggled to raise her family in an environment characterized by widespread substance abuse, failing schools, high rates of unemployment, rapid violence, teenage pregnancies and the absence of role models. From time to time, Alyssa tried to get a job, but a number of obstacles prevented her from finding and keeping regular work. First, there were simply not a lot of decent paying jobs for high school dropouts living in the ghetto. Second, the welfare system penalized Alyssa for earning money, taking away from her benefits for every dollar she earned and for every asset she acquired. Third, Alyssa found government vocational training and jobs and jobs assistance programs to be confusing and staffed by condescending bureaucrats.

40:18 Fourth, had a childcare issue that made it difficult to keep a job. Finally, Alyssa felt inferior and inadequate when she tried vocational to training or a job and faced some obstacles. She quickly lost confidence and rapidly retreated into her comfort zone of public housing and welfare checks. Alyssa felt trapped and she and her family often talked about how they could not get out of the ghetto. That's real.

40:48 Right? I heard it, I heard somebody say once and it was a well meaning brother And I was discussing with him about giving money to people that are panhandlers. And he said, you know, the bible is very clear, if you don't work, don't eat. What if you don't know how to work? Our inner cities have fourth generation boys and girls, but boys who didn't have fathers, whose fathers didn't have fathers, whose fathers didn't have fathers.

41:25 They don't know how to work. They don't know how to make a living. Those verses in Isaiah tell us basically, put the religion away, live for the Lord, help those that need help. Right? What do you own that you can't live without?

41:54 What, I'm sorry, what do I know? I'm not pointing the, I'm not, believe me, I'm not pointing the finger at you, I'm pointing the finger at me, right? The gentleman that I had lunch with on Monday that I shared was going through some similar struggles that I was. He's the Regional Director for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He's a black man, used to be pastor of a church.

42:23 And he and I just engaged in a conversation about how we reach out to these young people who have no guidance, right? We drive by them and we sneer. I'm not going to give them money. They're not working. They don't know how to work.

42:39 Granted, there's some out there that do and choose not to, right? So I'm not saying all of them, but I'm saying, what can we do to win back the opportunity that God gave us to take care of the poor and take care of the widowed and take care of the oppressed and stop letting the government do it? Stop letting the government, that's our responsibility. That's our responsibility, right? The New Testament, it's full of examples.

43:43 We want to be spiritual leaders. Talked about value, right? Empowering people to earn through their own labor becoming what God intended them to be. How valuable do you think somebody that lives in a community that is in a housing development where they can't get out of, how much value do you think that they have in their lives? Do you think that they realize that God died for them?

44:11 We have to help them understand that their lives are valuable. If they work, they see the value. They also understand that they have value because Christ died for them. And what is the purpose? Right?

44:24 Shorter Catechism, what is the purpose of man? To glorify God and love him forever, right? The purpose of man. So each individual has a purpose, yet how many times do we snicker and sneer at those less fortunate than us? I do it more than I want to admit.

45:22 I am full having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you. Right? He was given gifts, gifts of money. This is how he refers to it. A sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

45:42 You might sit there and you know we well, when we talk about giving in this situation, talk about financial giving, but we also have our time and our talents. So we have time, treasure and talents that we could be giving. I'm sorry that I kept you long. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you for this time.

46:04 Lord, help us to keep these thoughts in our hearts and in our minds today. We ask you to bless us as we leave and pray in Jesus name. Amen.