WEBVTT 00:00:01.604 --> 00:00:02.004 Hey, what up? 00:00:02.004 --> 00:00:02.587 It's Mark Carter. 00:00:02.587 --> 00:00:03.870 I'm the pastor of Fierce Church. 00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:04.892 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:04.892 --> 00:00:07.224 I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. 00:00:07.224 --> 00:00:16.730 I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. 00:00:16.730 --> 00:00:18.900 Enjoy the message Today. 00:00:19.762 --> 00:00:27.664 Just to give you a heads up, we're going to talk about some next level, difficult stuff that has to do with human trafficking. 00:00:27.664 --> 00:00:30.138 It's going to be a very short piece of the worship experience. 00:00:30.138 --> 00:00:30.841 We're going to get there. 00:00:30.841 --> 00:00:42.805 I'll let you know when we're there, but when we get there, if you've got young kids that are still here in the room, or if you've got young kids in the room you're watching at home, maybe just take them out for five minutes, Take them out into the hallway, just hang out. 00:00:42.805 --> 00:00:45.271 We're going to have the TV off down there so you can go hang out in the cafe. 00:00:45.271 --> 00:00:54.390 Or maybe, if you've got, if you want to put them in another bedroom or you know, give them a cookie or a cup of coffee, whatever you want to do to just give them five minutes and then come back and I promise it'll be all good. 00:00:54.390 --> 00:01:01.228 It's not going to be super graphic or anything like that, but the subject matter is weighty and so I Let everybody know about that. 00:01:01.228 --> 00:01:05.373 I was ready to go home, I was done. 00:01:05.373 --> 00:01:09.667 I had already lost several in the wrestling tournament. 00:01:09.686 --> 00:01:16.070 I was a freshman in high school and you know it's a Saturday long day For those of you who've ever been to a wrestling tournament. 00:01:16.070 --> 00:01:22.063 There's wrestling matches going on all over the gym all day long and it's kind of winners are going up in brackets. 00:01:22.063 --> 00:01:26.712 And you know I was with a friend and we had done our couple rounds and we were done. 00:01:26.712 --> 00:01:27.433 We were done for the day. 00:01:27.433 --> 00:01:28.766 And so we're like well, we got nothing to do. 00:01:28.766 --> 00:01:31.828 Let's just, you know we're going to wait for the bus at 5 pm. 00:01:31.828 --> 00:01:33.159 Let's just go hang out. 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:36.843 We'll get out of our singlets and get all you know washed up and ready to go. 00:01:37.144 --> 00:01:45.811 So we're on any wrestling team at all and Mr Tiffany comes over and he's looking at us up at the top of the bleachers. 00:01:45.811 --> 00:01:49.194 He says, hey, get down here. 00:01:49.194 --> 00:01:51.477 And we're like, oh crap, what do we do? 00:01:51.477 --> 00:01:59.683 And we kind of like slink down there. 00:01:59.724 --> 00:02:04.584 I guess he begins to give us a righteous good rebuke, saying do you understand the effect you're having on your teammates, that you're already packed up and ready to go. 00:02:04.584 --> 00:02:06.090 You should be on the sidelines. 00:02:06.090 --> 00:02:12.806 You should be there telling them you can do it, You're going to stick them, you got this, and you're sitting here You're telling them you've already given up. 00:02:12.806 --> 00:02:14.645 All you care about is you. 00:02:14.645 --> 00:02:16.270 Well, listen up, boys. 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:18.929 There is more than you happening right now. 00:02:18.929 --> 00:02:21.641 There is more than you happening right now. 00:02:21.782 --> 00:02:22.442 It was a great lesson. 00:02:22.442 --> 00:02:24.123 It was a great lesson about teamwork. 00:02:24.123 --> 00:02:25.844 It was a great lesson from a coach. 00:02:25.844 --> 00:02:30.169 I'm so glad to have a coach that wasn't afraid to tell me what good sportsmanship was like. 00:02:30.229 --> 00:02:44.169 Thank God, Thank God for that time, Thank God for Mr Tiffany, but he taught me a great lesson that hey, man, look, there's a lot of people here, there's a lot going on, and you've got your own stuff, You've got your own goals, You've got your own agenda, You've got your own timetable. 00:02:44.169 --> 00:02:46.014 But you're not the only thing happening here. 00:02:46.014 --> 00:02:50.651 And so today I want to talk to you about you and I are not the only thing happening here. 00:02:50.651 --> 00:02:51.945 It is Freedom Sunday. 00:02:51.945 --> 00:03:12.645 We've done this every year I'm pretty sure, if my math is right, for the past 14 years, and what we do is we take one Sunday coming up near Christ time and we have a Christmas or Christmas and just a little bit beyond offering that is going to go to all kinds of projects and things that really pull at our heartstrings, and so that's never an obligation. 00:03:12.645 --> 00:03:15.405 But I want to walk you through a message that's going to be good for your soul. 00:03:15.405 --> 00:03:27.984 But we're also going to mention some of that because I believe, as we get into a season of increased generosity, we want the Spirit of God to touch our hearts as well and help us remember that we're not the only thing happening around here. 00:03:29.145 --> 00:03:35.424 So you know, when someone comes to know Jesus Christ personally, something happens on the inside. 00:03:35.424 --> 00:03:38.611 They're born of the Spirit and they really become two people. 00:03:38.611 --> 00:03:43.311 Now there's the person in them that is brand new in Christ and they're becoming. 00:03:43.311 --> 00:03:46.545 They are a new creature and they're starting to act more and more like a new creature. 00:03:46.545 --> 00:03:54.681 But they still got their old sinful nature that inhabits their physical body, and it can be a tough wrestling match that's going on and I'm so encouraged. 00:03:54.701 --> 00:03:56.645 When I first read this I was so encouraged. 00:03:56.645 --> 00:03:59.132 The Apostle Paul knew what it was like. 00:03:59.132 --> 00:04:04.769 See, I'm, you know, I've been walking with Jesus for over, you know, a quarter century now, man, and you know I've been walking with Jesus for over a quarter century now, man, and I love it. 00:04:04.769 --> 00:04:06.191 But there's times I'm even shocked. 00:04:06.191 --> 00:04:09.822 I'm like holy cow, that was really sinful, Carter Whoa. 00:04:09.822 --> 00:04:12.545 And I'm glad to know that Paul experienced the same types of things. 00:04:12.545 --> 00:04:18.093 In fact, even as he's writing scripture, he says this in Romans 7, 18, 19, and 21. 00:04:18.093 --> 00:04:21.656 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. 00:04:21.656 --> 00:04:30.990 The willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not for the good I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil I do not want. 00:04:30.990 --> 00:04:32.692 I love this. 00:04:32.692 --> 00:04:39.410 I find, then, the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 00:04:39.410 --> 00:04:41.653 I find that I'm like paul. 00:04:41.653 --> 00:04:43.064 I hear you, man, I find that too. 00:04:43.064 --> 00:04:43.867 I just find it. 00:04:43.867 --> 00:04:45.913 I'm like crap, I found it again, there it. 00:04:45.913 --> 00:04:46.956 And I'm like Paul, I hear you, man, I find that too. 00:04:46.956 --> 00:04:47.517 I just find it. 00:04:47.517 --> 00:04:51.081 I'm like crap, I found it again, there it is. 00:04:51.081 --> 00:04:51.562 But I'm encouraged. 00:04:51.562 --> 00:05:00.391 Hey, if evil is still present in the apostle while he waits to meet Jesus, I feel better about the fact that it is still a wrestling match in me, and we got to fight it day by day, but it's still okay that it's happening. 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:08.142 The Israelites are in a very unique moment. 00:05:08.142 --> 00:05:08.665 They're back in the land. 00:05:08.665 --> 00:05:10.312 They've been in exile for 70 years now and they're back in land. 00:05:10.312 --> 00:05:12.420 They're beginning to put life back together. 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:14.189 They're beginning, you know, they're getting the temple back together. 00:05:14.189 --> 00:05:15.581 They're getting worship back together. 00:05:15.581 --> 00:05:19.189 They're getting their identity as a people back together. 00:05:19.831 --> 00:05:27.531 And as they're doing this, they make a mistake that you and I might make sometimes as we're in the wrestling match against sin, trying to live for Jesus's glory. 00:05:27.531 --> 00:05:38.028 They make the mistake of maybe if I just do the exteriors, that'll just kind of attract the favor of God and I don't really need to think so hard about what's going on on the inside of me. 00:05:38.028 --> 00:05:47.822 I'll just do the outside stuff, I'll look religious, I'll act religious, and that's okay if things don't quite catch up on the inside. 00:05:47.822 --> 00:05:49.065 And so they begin to complain. 00:05:49.065 --> 00:05:50.610 They start to complain to God. 00:05:50.610 --> 00:05:51.372 They're like God. 00:05:51.372 --> 00:05:54.567 You know we're doing all this stuff and here you are. 00:05:54.567 --> 00:05:59.187 You're not answering our prayers for like protection, You're not answering our prayers for direction. 00:05:59.187 --> 00:06:01.702 We don't feel like we're the favored people of God. 00:06:01.702 --> 00:06:03.125 What is going on? 00:06:03.206 --> 00:06:04.589 And so God gets their attention. 00:06:04.589 --> 00:06:07.858 He sends his prophet, Isaiah, and he's going to give them a message. 00:06:07.858 --> 00:06:14.096 And this is what he says to Isaiah as Isaiah approaches them, Shout it aloud, Do not hold back. 00:06:14.096 --> 00:06:20.500 He says to Isaiah Raise your voice like a trumpet, Declare to my people their rebellion and to their descendants of Jacob their sins. 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:22.725 For day after day, they seek me out. 00:06:22.887 --> 00:06:29.129 They seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:33.391 They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 00:06:33.391 --> 00:06:36.880 Why have we fasted, they say, and you've not seen it. 00:06:36.880 --> 00:06:38.543 Why have we humbled ourselves? 00:06:38.543 --> 00:06:39.867 And you've not noticed? 00:06:39.867 --> 00:06:46.148 Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and you exploit all your workers. 00:06:46.148 --> 00:06:50.572 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife and striking each other with wicked fists. 00:06:51.262 --> 00:06:52.985 Is this the kind of fast I've chosen? 00:06:52.985 --> 00:06:55.411 Only a day for people to humble themselves? 00:06:55.411 --> 00:06:59.810 Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and lying in sackcloth and ashes? 00:06:59.810 --> 00:07:01.423 That's doing something strange to us. 00:07:01.423 --> 00:07:06.949 It's wearing really uncomfortable clothing and then throwing ashes on yourself to demonstrate, kind of outly, how grieved you are and sad about your sin. 00:07:06.949 --> 00:07:15.009 You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high, which is what fasting is actually supposed to do, except to add power to prayer. 00:07:15.009 --> 00:07:19.261 Is that what you call a fast A day acceptable to the Lord? 00:07:19.762 --> 00:07:24.286 See these folks, as they were trying to get God's attention and get him to do stuff. 00:07:24.286 --> 00:07:43.129 They were exalting the outsides without worrying about the insides, Fasting what we do when we're fasting is we're saying I want to take away a little bit from the physical so that the inner, the spiritual, can be highlighted and be the most important thing that I'm doing right now. 00:07:43.129 --> 00:07:45.000 I'm prioritizing the inner life and taking away from the outer life. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:51.326 I'm even going without food, maybe for a meal, maybe for a day, maybe for a few days, and I'm doing that because I'm asking the Lord. 00:07:51.326 --> 00:08:00.252 I want extra help with this, or I want to demonstrate sorrow for my sin, or I've been distant from you and I want to come back into closeness with you. 00:08:00.252 --> 00:08:16.413 It's not a necessity, it wasn't even commanded by the law, but it was something that they regularly did in order to demonstrate their need for help, their need for forgiveness, their need to demonstrate that they're sad about the fact that they don't always do what God would want. 00:08:16.413 --> 00:08:18.843 And here's the thing. 00:08:18.843 --> 00:08:24.865 We could point a finger at them and be like, yeah man, those guys, they suck, they're bad, they're bad, bad Israelites. 00:08:24.865 --> 00:08:29.033 Sometimes I'm willing to bet we've done something like that. 00:08:29.052 --> 00:08:36.601 It might not have been fasting, but perhaps you've posted something on your Christian girl Instagram and it was like a beautiful verse. 00:08:36.601 --> 00:08:42.000 But the truth is that was very misrepresentative of what was going on in the inner life. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:48.729 There's posts of Jesus hugging the person and Jesus does hug the person, and that's absolutely true. 00:08:48.729 --> 00:09:06.301 And yet the level to which you're walking in anger and bitterness and contention with other people I see on the other platform you were like screaming at this other person, but then you're just misrepresenting perhaps not all the time, but maybe from time to time. 00:09:06.301 --> 00:09:07.947 Or you do all the religious things. 00:09:07.947 --> 00:09:11.000 You come to church, Dude, you go to the extra Bible study. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:18.081 You got like three versions of the Bible on your dresser and you love it and you feel good about it. 00:09:18.783 --> 00:09:24.741 But the truth is, in terms of your character, it's not like that's always super important to you. 00:09:24.741 --> 00:09:29.773 In fact, you would say it's important to you but you forget about it entirely. 00:09:29.773 --> 00:09:31.403 You forget to fight for it. 00:09:31.403 --> 00:09:42.389 Maybe you even serve God you do volunteering and yet the truth is, my friend, you're so judgmental about how other people don't serve like you, and don't care about the kingdom like you and don't care about people like you. 00:09:42.389 --> 00:09:54.025 It's kind of canceling the other stuff out, man, Because, okay, you're doing the outward stuff, but God's like, do you think that matters if your insides are not changing? 00:09:54.025 --> 00:10:02.027 Do you think I just want performances or do I want you to actually become something else and do something else? 00:10:02.027 --> 00:10:06.703 And guys, you got to hear this because we can slip into legalism with this kind of a message. 00:10:07.625 --> 00:10:10.373 The Israelites know, and we know, they were right with God. 00:10:10.373 --> 00:10:12.948 Because of nothing they did they did not earn God's favor. 00:10:12.948 --> 00:10:14.381 They're not still trying to earn God's favor. 00:10:14.381 --> 00:10:19.162 They're very aware their national identity was we are people that God saved just because he loved us. 00:10:19.162 --> 00:10:25.496 But now, in response to his love, we want to go ahead and obey him as best we can with his help. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.128 He says in verse six is not this the kind of fasting I've chosen? 00:10:30.128 --> 00:10:36.207 To loose the chains of injustice, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 00:10:36.207 --> 00:10:38.734 This yoke means oppression. 00:10:38.734 --> 00:10:52.688 There's people that are yoked to difficulty and hardship and manipulation and discouragement and down on their luck, and we could imagine in this time, in this area, there's poor folks, Okay, so there's just folks that they just don't have much. 00:10:52.688 --> 00:10:54.826 And God says do you not see this? 00:10:54.826 --> 00:11:09.587 There's, maybe, there's stewards, there's slaves of people, there's servants Not slaves like the ones that you might think in American history, but just a different category of slaves that they had, but even so, they're being mistreated. 00:11:09.587 --> 00:11:11.245 And God says do you think I like this? 00:11:11.245 --> 00:11:23.187 There's even foreigners, there's non-Israelites, and they're being treated like second-class citizens instead of being thought about, being cared for, making sure that they're heard. 00:11:23.187 --> 00:11:28.902 My friends, there's all kinds of stuff happening in their area, in their life, that they can see. 00:11:28.902 --> 00:11:33.607 There's stuff happening in that, where they work, that God is like do you think I'm okay with this? 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:38.980 Verse 7, is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter? 00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:43.292 When you see the naked, to clothe them and not turn away from your own flesh and blood? 00:11:43.292 --> 00:11:44.520 What is he saying? 00:11:44.520 --> 00:11:50.090 He's saying religiosity without social concern and compassion. 00:11:50.090 --> 00:11:56.024 Dude, it's like the eggshell without the yolk it's not the meat of it. 00:11:56.024 --> 00:11:57.768 It's not what I'm after. 00:11:57.768 --> 00:12:00.293 I'm not after religious exteriors. 00:12:01.620 --> 00:12:07.754 And so he talks about here's what would happen for you folks that are praying to me and kind of complaining that I'm not doing what you want on your behalf. 00:12:07.754 --> 00:12:18.211 Here's what would happen if you actually got your insides to match your outsides Verse eight then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear. 00:12:18.211 --> 00:12:22.464 Then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 00:12:22.464 --> 00:12:31.750 He's giving images back of the pillar of fire and cloud that their ancestors followed around in the wilderness and he's saying I know you feel like no one thinks you're okay or no one thinks you're good or no one thinks you're right. 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:35.451 If you would just get this right, I would make people understand that you're on my side. 00:12:35.451 --> 00:12:36.480 I would defend you. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:37.182 I would stand up. 00:12:37.182 --> 00:12:39.245 You would come like the dawn in the middle of the night. 00:12:39.245 --> 00:12:45.192 People would recognize oh yeah, God is with them, God's on their side. 00:12:45.192 --> 00:12:46.936 You will call and the Lord will answer. 00:12:46.936 --> 00:12:48.744 You will cry for help and I will say. 00:12:48.744 --> 00:12:54.614 He will say I'm here If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing of the finger and malicious talk. 00:12:54.995 --> 00:13:03.442 How many heard some malicious talk this past week and some pointing of the finger, you do away with the yoke of oppression, the pointing of the finger, the malicious talk. 00:13:03.442 --> 00:13:13.150 If you will spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then the light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like noonday, meaning you'll know what to do. 00:13:13.150 --> 00:13:15.504 Are you wondering, are you confused, wandering around, what do I do? 00:13:15.504 --> 00:13:19.764 God says if you do this, dude, I will make it clear, I'll light the dang thing up. 00:13:19.764 --> 00:13:22.091 The Lord will guide you always. 00:13:22.091 --> 00:13:23.595 He will satisfy your needs. 00:13:23.595 --> 00:13:28.668 In a sun-scorched land, you might even still be in the sun-scorched land, but your needs will be met. 00:13:28.668 --> 00:13:32.264 You'll be doing just fine and strengthen your frame. 00:13:32.264 --> 00:13:37.043 You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 00:13:37.043 --> 00:13:43.631 God says I'll protect you, I'll heal you, I will help you in the things you're asking for. 00:13:46.336 --> 00:13:53.370 But since neglecting the oppressed, those down and out, since this anger's got it blocks his blessing, we've got to, guys. 00:13:53.370 --> 00:14:02.923 We've got to overcome our selfish impulses and combine our spiritual devotion with practical devotion, with compassion. 00:14:02.923 --> 00:14:04.206 Why? 00:14:04.206 --> 00:14:07.013 Because there's more than you happening around here. 00:14:07.013 --> 00:14:10.365 There's more than me, there's more than just us. 00:14:10.365 --> 00:14:13.142 Here's three examples of fake religion that repel God's favor. 00:14:13.142 --> 00:14:15.527 How many want to not repel God's favor? 00:14:15.527 --> 00:14:18.013 Raise your hand, I want to not repel that. 00:14:18.013 --> 00:14:19.303 How about some more of that? 00:14:19.303 --> 00:14:20.327 How about just extra? 00:14:20.327 --> 00:14:25.679 Number one using people for your own advantage repels God's favor, he says in verse three. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:27.403 You exploit all your workers. 00:14:28.586 --> 00:14:31.011 Dr June Hunt describes manipulation like this. 00:14:31.011 --> 00:14:32.061 She's a psychologist. 00:14:32.061 --> 00:14:40.727 She says manipulation is the art of controlling people or circumstances by indirect, unfair or deceptive means, especially to one's own advantage. 00:14:40.727 --> 00:14:48.284 Those who are manipulated allow others to have excessive control over them, the control that God alone should have. 00:14:48.284 --> 00:14:53.500 This is in some of our blood more than others, and that's okay. 00:14:53.500 --> 00:14:56.125 But we have to identify it as the hell disease. 00:14:56.125 --> 00:14:58.250 We got to try to strain it out. 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:12.513 When we're manipulative, when we're oppressing people with manipulation, often that's emotional manipulation in contrast to just logical reasoning appealing to people's sense of what's right. 00:15:13.254 --> 00:15:15.644 I'll give you some great two examples. 00:15:15.644 --> 00:15:16.866 You've got Delilah. 00:15:16.866 --> 00:15:17.889 Remember Delilah? 00:15:17.889 --> 00:15:35.610 She's the girlfriend of Samson, the whack job who is super strong, and he keeps hanging with this girl that he's even like half aware that she wants to like get him captured by the Philistines, and so he keeps lying to her, keeps telling her no, that's not really the way my strength goes away, Delilah, and she keeps. 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:38.224 She starts getting whiny and whiny and whiny. 00:15:38.224 --> 00:15:39.725 And she's doing this for her own good man. 00:15:39.725 --> 00:15:41.067 She just wants to be in good with her people. 00:15:41.067 --> 00:15:43.932 And so what does she say Finally? 00:15:43.932 --> 00:15:48.986 She says oh, Samson, if you really loved me, you would confide in me. 00:15:48.986 --> 00:15:49.850 What is she doing? 00:15:49.850 --> 00:15:50.892 She's manipulating him. 00:15:50.892 --> 00:15:53.764 She's just laying it on heavy man. 00:15:53.764 --> 00:15:56.048 Contrast that to Queen Esther. 00:15:57.071 --> 00:15:58.399 Now Queen Esther's got a lot to lose. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:03.167 Okay, she goes into the king and she knows I could die just going into the king. 00:16:03.167 --> 00:16:06.991 But I'm going to tell him this wicked Haman has got this whole plot to kill all the Jews. 00:16:06.991 --> 00:16:16.163 And she says hey, king, can I just tell you, yeah, many of my people, we've been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation by this wicked Haman. 00:16:16.163 --> 00:16:21.072 And I'll tell you, if he'd sold us only as slaves, I would have kept quiet. 00:16:21.072 --> 00:16:26.461 But because my people are in such distress, I've got to disturb the king. 00:16:26.461 --> 00:16:29.413 And she just explains it real sweet, real simple. 00:16:29.413 --> 00:16:31.481 She's not trying to emotionally control him. 00:16:32.164 --> 00:16:35.375 And, my friends, sometimes we try to emotionally control people. 00:16:35.375 --> 00:16:38.203 That's when we withhold love or withhold affection. 00:16:38.203 --> 00:16:47.690 Or we say if you do this, then I'll finally help you do that If you'll behave this way, if you'll give me this thing, then okay, finally I'll agree. 00:16:47.690 --> 00:16:49.219 And what that is we've got to understand. 00:16:49.219 --> 00:16:49.900 So we don't even know this. 00:16:49.900 --> 00:16:50.903 That's manipulation. 00:16:50.903 --> 00:16:52.385 That's wrong. 00:16:52.385 --> 00:16:53.467 That's not real love. 00:16:53.467 --> 00:16:56.900 Love doesn't play with you like that. 00:16:58.003 --> 00:17:05.660 And God says sometimes we do this not only within families, sometimes we do it to other people, we do it online, we do it at work and that kind of thing. 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:08.406 God says take a look inside, because that thing has got to go. 00:17:08.406 --> 00:17:12.887 If you want to not repel my favor and for some of us, I just want to encourage you. 00:17:12.887 --> 00:17:19.950 Maybe this was in your bloodstream, meaning this was demonstrated to you, and I feel for that man. 00:17:19.950 --> 00:17:27.173 We've all come from somewhere where some stuff was demonstrated to us that maybe wasn't so good, it's okay, but what you got to do is you got to start calling it what it is. 00:17:27.173 --> 00:17:29.528 It's something Jesus wants to remove. 00:17:29.528 --> 00:17:45.807 He wants to lovingly take his scalpel and pull that part of the hell virus out and instead put in non-domineering, non-manipulative, non-trying to trick somebody into doing something and just appeal to their conscience and let God handle it. 00:17:45.807 --> 00:17:48.874 Are we hearing this Now? 00:17:48.874 --> 00:18:00.984 There's a darker version, that is emotional manipulation, but there's forceful, violent, even deceptive manipulation, and that's what we're going to talk about in just a couple of minutes. 00:18:00.984 --> 00:18:06.852 So if you've got some young ones, now would be the time to take them out of the room or take them out into the hallway down by the cafe. 00:18:07.855 --> 00:18:19.728 For the past majority of years, we've partnered with an organization called International Justice Mission, and guys I'm so like, ah, I'm so proud of us, hopefully in a good way. 00:18:19.728 --> 00:18:29.153 These guys go all over the world and what's great about this organization is they don't just, like you know, appeal to the law for it. 00:18:29.153 --> 00:18:40.227 They actually get involved with police and they go and they break in and they rescue kids and then they pull them out and they bring them through recovery programs Christ-centered and they help people get their lives back together. 00:18:40.227 --> 00:18:41.391 And, dude, they are relentless. 00:18:41.391 --> 00:18:42.442 They're all over the place. 00:18:42.442 --> 00:18:54.321 That's what they do, and we've been blessed enough to be able to partner with them, and I want to show you one story of one of the gals that was rescued there. 00:18:54.321 --> 00:18:54.741 Let's watch it. 00:19:24.438 --> 00:19:26.178 Imagine yourself at 12 years old. 00:19:26.178 --> 00:19:33.867 Do you remember your school uniform? 00:19:33.867 --> 00:19:37.307 Do you remember what you dream about? 00:19:37.307 --> 00:19:43.990 As a child, All I wanted was to study, to write, to learn. 00:19:43.990 --> 00:19:45.765 Going to school was my dream. 00:19:45.765 --> 00:19:48.065 We didn't have much. 00:19:48.065 --> 00:19:53.089 I used to scoff and shrivel to swap for pens and paper. 00:19:53.089 --> 00:20:01.571 I wanted to achieve everything so I could give my parents everything. 00:20:01.571 --> 00:20:07.609 When I was 12, a family friend gave my dream happen. 00:20:07.609 --> 00:20:12.109 He paid for me to go to a private school in Manila and drove us hours to get there. 00:20:12.109 --> 00:20:15.930 To me, Manila felt like America. 00:20:15.930 --> 00:20:20.686 At last I had a school uniform. 00:20:20.686 --> 00:20:25.185 I was so happy and grateful. 00:20:25.185 --> 00:20:47.355 But I didn't know there would be a prize for the kindness he abused me for men around the world to watch online. 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:51.387 I had to perform in front of a webcam. 00:20:51.387 --> 00:20:59.188 If I didn't, he would hurt me, and in lock rooms around me, other younger children were made to do the same. 00:20:59.188 --> 00:21:01.300 I wanted to die. 00:21:01.300 --> 00:21:35.558 After five years, one Friday afternoon, I returned from school with the same fear as always, but instead, this time, the police and I were there. 00:21:35.558 --> 00:21:41.451 At first I was scared and confused, but slowly I began to realize that I was safe. 00:21:41.451 --> 00:21:44.365 It was finally over. 00:21:44.365 --> 00:21:57.573 Healing was difficult. 00:21:57.573 --> 00:21:59.278 It still hurts, but this I know. 00:21:59.278 --> 00:22:07.137 He stole my dignity, but he could never steal my home. 00:22:41.381 --> 00:22:44.805 If that young girl who was so desperate to learn would see me now, she would be proud man, how's that not get on your insides? 00:22:44.805 --> 00:22:45.865 That is not the only kind of oppression, though. 00:22:45.865 --> 00:22:46.988 That is forced and coercive and violent. 00:22:46.988 --> 00:22:47.428 Let's watch one more. 00:22:47.428 --> 00:22:48.189 This is not sexual. 00:22:48.189 --> 00:22:50.056 In the same way, let's watch one more guy's story. 00:22:50.490 --> 00:22:55.721 My name is Jun Han and I am a scammer. 00:22:55.721 --> 00:23:00.941 Most people ignore me, but I keep going. 00:23:00.941 --> 00:23:02.815 I have to. 00:23:02.815 --> 00:23:07.137 It's a numbers game. 00:23:07.137 --> 00:23:10.336 Eventually something works. 00:23:10.336 --> 00:23:16.455 I can't show mercy, for none is shown to me. 00:23:16.455 --> 00:23:31.121 I know what it means to be scammed, to feel cheated and then to live in fear. 00:23:31.121 --> 00:23:35.979 I was applying for a customer service job. 00:23:35.979 --> 00:23:49.980 I was told I was a top candidate, so I traveled to a new country, but when I stepped through those doors I realized I had been tricked. 00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:55.240 Now I am forced to take from you. 00:23:55.240 --> 00:24:02.019 There are thousands of us 30 to a room. 00:24:02.019 --> 00:24:03.522 We live here. 00:24:03.522 --> 00:24:12.875 If we fail, if we complain, if we get caught contacting the outside for help, we get beaten. 00:24:12.875 --> 00:24:16.294 They check our phones. 00:24:16.294 --> 00:24:21.560 I can't tell my family what has really happened to me. 00:24:21.560 --> 00:24:24.571 This is my life. 00:24:24.571 --> 00:24:38.965 My name is Jun Hao and I was a scammer. 00:24:42.550 --> 00:24:50.786 Today I am free. 00:24:50.786 --> 00:24:57.901 I am not the only thing happening anywhere my story, my things that I'm going to do over the next few months. 00:24:57.901 --> 00:24:59.042 That's not the only thing happening. 00:24:59.042 --> 00:25:07.384 There's young men and women who are in his position. 00:25:07.384 --> 00:25:11.724 They can't get out, they're stuck, unless someone comes to get them. 00:25:11.724 --> 00:25:12.589 That's where they're going to stay. 00:25:12.589 --> 00:25:14.618 You think God cares about that. 00:25:14.618 --> 00:25:18.192 Some people are wondering and God is wondering do my people care about that? 00:25:18.192 --> 00:25:20.676 Here's number two. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:24.730 Treating others with a mean spirit repels God's favor. 00:25:24.730 --> 00:25:33.800 He says you're full of quarreling and strife and striking each other with wicked fists, with pointing the finger and malicious talk. 00:25:33.800 --> 00:25:37.890 There's such thing as verbal abuse and that's just beating people down with what we say about them. 00:25:37.890 --> 00:25:42.082 We may say it in anger, we may say cutting things about them, we may even in jokey ways. 00:25:42.082 --> 00:25:50.215 We're saying things that maybe are a little bit humorous to us, but it wounds their soul and makes life harder to deal with. 00:25:50.215 --> 00:25:59.095 There is that, but there's also a desiring of negative and painful outcomes in the life of another. 00:25:59.095 --> 00:26:06.696 That's when you categorize a group of people as that's the idiots, that's the people that don't get it. 00:26:06.696 --> 00:26:09.042 Those are the ones that I mean. 00:26:09.042 --> 00:26:11.375 I hope they really get what's coming to them this time around. 00:26:11.375 --> 00:26:13.801 Anybody know about that? 00:26:13.801 --> 00:26:17.338 That is the very kind of thing that God says. 00:26:17.338 --> 00:26:19.576 We choose to think in those ways. 00:26:19.576 --> 00:26:21.280 That repels God's favor. 00:26:22.570 --> 00:26:30.219 In Luke, chapter 9, jesus and some of his disciples are walking near Samaria and the disciples want the opportunity to pass through it. 00:26:30.219 --> 00:26:31.173 So they ask, hey, can we? 00:26:31.173 --> 00:26:33.019 Our teacher wants to pass through this land. 00:26:33.019 --> 00:26:34.357 And they're like no, you can't come through here. 00:26:34.357 --> 00:26:39.078 Now there's racial tensions between the Jews and the Samaritans, and so they're honked off man and like Jesus. 00:26:39.078 --> 00:26:40.102 I can't believe this. 00:26:40.102 --> 00:26:48.116 It's just like them. 00:26:48.116 --> 00:26:50.058 You know their group, you know how they are. 00:26:50.078 --> 00:26:53.481 Should we call down fire from heaven't know what spirit you're of. 00:26:53.481 --> 00:26:56.523 You're filled with devils right now. 00:26:56.523 --> 00:26:58.625 That's not what I came to do. 00:26:58.625 --> 00:27:00.671 I came to seek and to save the lost. 00:27:00.671 --> 00:27:03.115 You're trying to hurt people. 00:27:03.115 --> 00:27:05.519 That is not the way of God. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:06.782 That's a mean spirit. 00:27:06.782 --> 00:27:08.291 It's not what I bless. 00:27:08.291 --> 00:27:21.758 When we try to push people down and cause them in any way in their heart and their life to finally get what a moron we think they are, that's a mean spirit and God condemns it. 00:27:22.391 --> 00:27:31.519 And it doesn't matter how angry you are, it doesn't matter how good of a point you have, because James says it like this Dear friends, be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:36.413 Check it out your anger can never make things right in God's sight. 00:27:36.413 --> 00:27:42.789 Now there's such a thing as righteous anger, but when we're just full of fleshly anger, it's like I'll tell you what I'm going to work up and I'm going to tell them. 00:27:42.789 --> 00:27:45.435 How many know God does not anoint that? 00:27:45.435 --> 00:27:47.961 How many have ever seen that? 00:27:47.961 --> 00:27:49.064 Go well, no one. 00:27:49.064 --> 00:27:55.419 That's because God says I don't use that to bring about my good purposes. 00:27:55.419 --> 00:28:00.577 I use God's attitude, god's heart, god's ways. 00:28:00.577 --> 00:28:07.121 So if you're waiting for someone to get the smackdown, baby, you're going to be waiting a long time, because that's not what Jesus is after. 00:28:07.121 --> 00:28:22.337 But, more to the point for today, he doesn't want his people after it either, and so we got to do some self-inventory and say that's part of the old hell virus that Jesus needs to surgically remove, and I believe he does and can and will. 00:28:22.538 --> 00:28:26.721 Here's number three Indifference to making a difference repels God's favor. 00:28:26.721 --> 00:28:39.479 Indifference to making a difference If you'll loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke and set the oppressed free, share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to clothe them and not turn away from your own flesh and blood. 00:28:39.479 --> 00:28:40.500 When you see it. 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:44.125 When you see it now, you're going to see lots of stuff on planet earth. 00:28:44.125 --> 00:28:47.574 You know this and you're not assigned to everything from the Lord. 00:28:47.574 --> 00:28:58.518 But when you keep seeing it and he keeps putting it in front of you, my friends, we got to say, okay, sir, I see that Like I'm not just ignoring that, that's somebody else's problem. 00:28:58.518 --> 00:29:00.770 I hope someone comes along and fixes that. 00:29:00.790 --> 00:29:14.001 I don't know if this has ever happened to anybody else or it's only me on planet earth, but you know, when you're in a restaurant and you're having like a pretty decent time and the waiter or the waitress they bring you your food and then they just disappear. 00:29:14.001 --> 00:29:16.314 They disappear for a long time. 00:29:16.314 --> 00:29:22.238 And then you're looking around and it's one thing when, like, you can see them at other tables and they're working hard. 00:29:22.238 --> 00:29:24.031 You know everything's busy and they're getting it done. 00:29:24.031 --> 00:29:29.332 But there's been times when we've been sitting down to eat and it's like, dude, did they go home? 00:29:29.332 --> 00:29:30.494 Like they're just not around. 00:29:30.494 --> 00:29:33.643 Are they in the back doing homework or something? 00:29:33.643 --> 00:29:35.712 What are they doing? 00:29:35.712 --> 00:29:38.959 Have they got errands to run that they just I'll step out for a minute and go do this stuff. 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:41.684 And when that happens, of course I mean what are you going to do? 00:29:41.684 --> 00:29:48.143 You got to be patient, but there's part of it that's like I came here and I'm paying money because we had a deal that you were going to do the thing. 00:29:48.143 --> 00:29:50.683 You're going to come, bring me the stuff and I'm just getting. 00:29:50.683 --> 00:29:59.134 It's weird to me that I'm waiting this long for you to do it and I wonder, based on today's text, if the Lord is ever like I paid a lot of blood for you. 00:29:59.134 --> 00:30:03.478 And I know that you see all these things and I'm just wondering did you step out? 00:30:03.478 --> 00:30:05.615 Like, what are you doing? 00:30:05.615 --> 00:30:07.354 Are you working on just stuff? 00:30:07.354 --> 00:30:08.298 What is that? 00:30:08.298 --> 00:30:17.071 You're supposed to be here taking care of the things that I've assigned you and that you can clearly see. 00:30:17.092 --> 00:30:23.457 Guys, don't hear like a mean spirit about it from Jesus, but I think it's reasonable for him to say guys, what is going on right now? 00:30:23.457 --> 00:30:26.019 You know about all this stuff. 00:30:26.019 --> 00:30:27.880 I know you've got stuff. 00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:34.105 Deprioritize some of it so that you can wait on me and my people. 00:30:36.067 --> 00:30:47.700 I know for some of us we're like well, you know, I ain't got time or I've got a lot going on right now, and maybe you even see people that you might want to invest in, and yet you're like, well, nobody invested in me, so they'll figure it out, and there's just little opportunities all over the place. 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:50.493 Like you could take a five extra minutes with that person at work. 00:30:50.493 --> 00:30:54.400 I know you don't have time to talk right now, but you could just stop a little bit and talk. 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:58.593 I know that it's an extra 10 minutes for you to say, okay, I'm going to give to that thing. 00:30:58.593 --> 00:30:59.977 I want to see that thing flourish. 00:30:59.977 --> 00:31:05.493 Yeah, I know, I know it's a little bit extra time, but, my friend, this is what we're here for. 00:31:05.493 --> 00:31:07.076 This is what we're here for. 00:31:07.356 --> 00:31:09.319 We're not the only thing going on anywhere. 00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:13.986 There's other people with things that God wants he's assigned us to take care of. 00:31:13.986 --> 00:31:20.824 So we partnered with this other organization, love Does. 00:31:20.824 --> 00:31:26.298 Last time we did it was in 2018, and we gave to the schools they were building in Africa. 00:31:26.298 --> 00:31:27.141 It's fantastic. 00:31:27.141 --> 00:31:30.355 They're doing some other things that I want to just show you. 00:31:30.355 --> 00:31:37.155 One of the things we're going to try to participate in this year it is a home for single moms, and let's take a look. 00:31:42.182 --> 00:31:44.026 I just had my kid three months ago. 00:31:44.026 --> 00:31:46.500 He would cry and I would cry too, but I didn't know what to do. 00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:51.297 Having a place where me and my baby could be at and not having to go from place to place every night. 00:31:51.297 --> 00:31:54.144 You know thinking like, oh, where am I going to go today? 00:31:54.183 --> 00:31:55.446 Or where am I going to go tomorrow? 00:31:55.446 --> 00:32:05.422 In our own backyard, we started to see that there was a lot of single moms that hadn't really been supported, and so we came together and thought why don't we put together some programs that can outreach to them? 00:32:05.609 --> 00:32:12.162 It's a place where single young moms can bring their babies and they can find a place of love and acceptance. 00:32:12.162 --> 00:32:13.805 They can get the nurturing they need. 00:32:14.250 --> 00:32:24.661 So we're so excited to launch the Love Does Home, which is an opportunity for a couple single moms with their babies to be in a warm and safe and supportive environment. 00:32:24.661 --> 00:32:36.396 A residence will be here for 18 to 24 months with the idea that they're furthering their education, but then, from that point that we launched them, like I was just going to do a 9 to 5, but a 9 to 5 isn't going to get me nowhere. 00:32:37.833 --> 00:32:38.536 You know, it's California. 00:32:38.536 --> 00:32:40.817 Rent's expensive, everything's expensive. 00:32:40.817 --> 00:32:45.637 Decided to go back to school, finish high school and then try to go to college. 00:32:45.637 --> 00:32:52.499 You need education, especially because I have a kid now, Like I have to do it for him when I heard about the Love Does Home. 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:57.977 It just warmed my heart thinking that we could give an opportunity to moms here locally. 00:32:57.977 --> 00:33:12.198 My hope is that these girls would know that this is just the beginning for them, that we'll pour into them everything that they could need for right now, but that their future is bright, that they will move on from here and become all that they hope and dream for. 00:33:12.650 --> 00:33:15.616 This has been something that's so, so necessary. 00:33:15.616 --> 00:33:28.673 In the 14 years that I've been hanging out with moms, it's probably been the biggest resource that's missing from their lives is a stable, safe environment where they can get the life skills necessary, continue their education. 00:33:28.673 --> 00:33:36.835 We want to empower them to do like, but also to know that we're going to run alongside them and we're going to run alongside them and we're going to hold their hand when they need it, and we're just going to cheer them on. 00:33:37.055 --> 00:33:55.366 It's also part of a bigger program and we want to do a bigger outreach to single moms in general, and so we have this awesome Love Does boutique and it's by appointment only and you can shop for free from bikinis to books, to bottles, to beautiful clothes. 00:33:55.366 --> 00:34:00.192 We also have a life skills class that's going to happen weekly and it will be on a whole array of topics. 00:34:00.192 --> 00:34:04.201