Monuments That Last: Building Legacies That Matter

In this episode, Spencer reflects on two recent trips. First, Washington, D.C. for National Police Week to honor his brother-in-law Mark. Then California with colleague Brandon Gossett to visit faithful neverthirst donors. Walking among the monuments and memorials in D.C. got him thinking about how people throughout history have built structures to be remembered, from the Lincoln Memorial to the Taj Mahal to the Great Pyramids to Cambodia's Killing Fields memorial. He brings that thread to the story of Mary anointing Jesus in Matthew 26:6–16, where an act of sacrificial worship became an eternal memorial. Mary poured herself out for Christ, and Jesus said her story would be told wherever the gospel is proclaimed. Spencer draws on James Montgomery Boice and the Puritan prayer collection The Valley of Vision to show how God's economy works: the way down is the way up, and whoever loses his life for Christ's sake will find it. He connects this to the generosity of neverthirst supporters whose giving platforms the gospel through clean water in unreached communities.

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Connect with Spencer and the neverthirst team: neverthirstwater.org

Host: Spencer Sutton

To Learn More About neverthirst: neverthirstwater.org

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Production House: Flint Stone Media

Copyright of neverthirst 2025.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Alright, everybody, welcome back to another episode of For the Kingdom and Never Thirst Podcast. I am your host, Spencer Sutton, and it's great to be here with you today. I have been on the road. I'm going to talk a little bit about both of these trips here in a second, but I also won't want to kind of give you a preview of what's coming. I'm going to be back on here with my good friend and colleague, Jason Barry. You've probably heard his story here on the podcast before if you've listened to any of these. And so he's been in the field. He went out to an extreme remote location. He slept in a tent. The temperatures were around 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit the entire time he was there. As a matter of fact, he and I were messaging each other on WhatsApp when he was there. And he did have some service where he was in this little area. And it was around 8 o'clock at night at his time when he was messaging me and he said, Okay, mate, I'm I'm going to the pastor's house. I'm going to get some sleep. And I don't know what I was thinking when I said this, but I said, Okay, man, I hope you hope they have great air conditioning. You can kind of get cool. And he he responded back and said, he's he said, LOL, there's no electricity out here. And so that's how remote he was. So I'm going to have him on the podcast very soon. We're going to talk about this trip and kind of what he's seeing on the front lines. And uh so I think you'll you'll want to listen to that because it's always encouraging to hear how God is moving in the lives of people through his church. And just want to um yeah, just just want to highlight what God is doing. And so he'll be he'll be on the episode. Now, back to this episode, our episode. So last week I had the opportunity to travel with another colleague and good friend of mine, Brandon Gossett. And uh, if you listen to this podcast, you may know Brandon. If you've ever if you've ever heard his story, we've had him on the podcast talk about it. If like he he's also in development, so I know there's uh several donors who have a relationship with Brandon, just one of the greatest guys. And so he asked me to go out to California with him and meet some donors uh who have been some have been donors for a long time and some not as long. But he was like, Hey, I'd love for you to come and maybe if you wanted to share the story of how Neverthurst started, it'd be fantastic. And I said, Yeah, absolutely. Love to do that, love to meet people who have supported the ministry so faithfully. And so we were out and met uh a family, went to dinner with them one night. The next day we got to go and hang out with two other faithful supporters, and it was just incredibly rewarding for me. And the reason is is because just being able to sit down and you know, first of all, as I was able to tell the story of how Neverthurst started, just to graciously or remember how gracious the Lord was to us and is to us, uh, how his faithfulness in this ministry, how he has provided for every step of the way, and then to connect that, God's faithfulness, with how he uses people uh, you know, who were once strangers, who have now become friends. Brandon considers these people friends, which is fantastic. Like how God has connected uh the ministry and these generous and faithful supporters together. And it's just an incredible, it's so incredibly encouraging to me to think back and remember in 2008 when we started, and and God started moving before that. As I recounted the story with uh with these folks, it was just good to remember that man, God was starting in our hearts two years before uh we actually started the nonprofit, and then and then just to see, like God, we all we had were friends and family at the very beginning. And then God has expanded that um circle of friends and what we would call family, just with faithful supporters. And so I was out in California doing that for a couple of days, and then but before that, the week prior, and this is where I want to get into this podcast episode a little bit more, is I was in Washington, D.C. My brother-in-law was a police officer, and he was tragically uh struck and killed in January 2005 outside of a church as he was directing traffic here in Birmingham. And so they have a police officer week in Washington, D.C. every year, where they memorialize uh the men and the women and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty. And so we took a trip with my family to to honor Mark, my uh brother-in-law who passed away. And this is my sister's husband. So I was there with my sister and my mom, and uh just as many people from our family that that could travel in the middle of the week and and go there, and it was really great. I mean, it was great to see the memorials, great to see Mark's name uh engraved there, and then because it was police week, there were so many people, so many, not only police officers who were there to honor their friends and remember their friends, but family members, and so it was just very moving to be there with all of these people, and they had uh like ceremonies all week long for this for this entire week. Um, but we also were able to visit obviously different monuments and memorials. Uh, you know, my brother had never been to Washington, D.C., which is crazy to me. He's never been. And so it was great to go and visit. Like, we went to the Lincoln Memorial, we went to the Washington Monument, we walked by the uh Vietnam War Memorial, and it's just incredible to remember like all these great um structures that were built for these people so that we could remember them. You had the Martin Luther King memorial, you have the Jefferson Memorial, and so I started thinking as I was as I was like just post-trip, I was just thinking about traveling to DC and all these memorials and my brother-in-law, and then I just started thinking there are numerous memorials and monuments that I've seen around the world that people have built for other people. And I was thinking about this, and I was thinking about um being in Cambodia and and being in Phnom Penh and going to um the uh their memorial for what happened with the Khmer Rouge, uh, and just that horrible period of their history that they don't ever want to forget. And so they built this incredible memorial. Uh, you can walk through it, you you go to what they would call the killing fields and see it, and it's just a it's built in memory of all the people who were killed there. And then I started thinking about other ones that I've been to. I've been to probably one of the most famous in all the world is the Taj Mahal, which was built as both a um as a essentially a grave site for uh this this great, this Indian king, his wife, but it's really a memorial for her. And that's what the Taj Mahal is. And then you think about the Great Pyramids, these massive monuments out in the desert that were there to, and they were built for these pharaohs to be buried in, and it's as a memorial, as a monument to remember them. And then obviously, if you if you want to kind of take it even down a little bit like less famous, there are all kinds of monuments and memorials created that that people create for themselves just in normal life. And if you think about, if you think about, like I'm thinking about one particular uh businessman here in in Birmingham, and he was became extremely wealthy. Uh, he gave a bunch of money to some universities, and so they built these, they named these buildings after him. And so, you know, just think about all of the different things. This is what I was thinking about. And then I came across this passage in Matthew. As I was looking for something to study the other morning, I came across this passage, Matthew 26, 6 through 16. So this is what we're gonna read, and then I'm gonna just quickly bring it home and how does this apply to us? And then in particular, as I'm thinking about uh generous, faithful supporters of the ministry, which we're so incredibly thankful for. I want to bring it home and and kind of connect it to you all who are listening who are supporters. So, Matthew 26, verse, starting in verse 6. Now, when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me, for you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be will also be told in memory of her. Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. So very interesting thought here with with these two different examples. We have here, and this this story was told in a couple of other of the other gospels, I believe in Mark and then in John chapter twelve. But it's very, very interesting if you think about this, is that the the story of Mary anointing Jesus, she was doing this as a memorial for him in view of his death and burial, although what she did actually be became a memorial to her. Because you see what Jesus said. What she has done will also be told in memory of her. The contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit. The repenting soul is the victorious soul. And so what we see here in this story, we see we have three main characters. We have Jesus, we have Mary, and we have Judas. And the version in John chapter twelve says this, starting in verse verse four. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who he who was about to betray him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money back, he used it to help himself to what was put into it. And so Judas, thinking of himself, wanted to keep the money in seeking to grow rich. Right? So why is this, why should this be jarring for us as I think about this? Is the reason is because he spent so much time with Jesus, learning just as Mary had, learning about Jesus, listening to him, seeing him, partaking, looking at his miracles, thinking about all these things, and yet we read this. He was a thief. And he used to help himself to what people had donated, to what people had given. He was a thief. Judas was interested in who? Judas. Now it looked and it sounded like he cared about the poor, but he didn't. He wanted to make a name for himself, and he didn't want to make a name for Jesus. He wanted to profit off the fame of Jesus. But Mary, Mary, so here's the contrast. You have Judas and then you have Mary. She chose the better path. And so I love what James, I was reading a commentary about this passage. James Montgomery Boyce said this in connection with like men and women building memorials, building, you know, monuments for themselves in this life, versus what Mary was doing was she was honoring and sacrificing for the grace or for the glory of God. And she has a like Jesus said, No, no, no. What you're seeing, even though she's pouring herself out for me, this will be a memorial for her. Everywhere this gospel is read, you will remember this. And so this is what James Montgomery says. He says, Do you want to be remembered? And I think just a side note here, I think that all of us, we we want to have a life of significance. We want to we want to accomplish great things for our great God. So he goes on, he says, Do you want to be remembered? Then do as Mary did. Leave off building monuments and build the lives of other people. Share your possessions and give yourselves to others. Remember that Jesus said, Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? And and I would just say that this is the this going back to God's God's ways are not man's ways. This this verse here that that is that I just quoted is representative of that. If you want to save your life, you lose it. And whoever loses his life for Christ's sake will actually find it. And so in a world, in a world, and listen, I'm not saying that these memorials I was just being in DC, I think it's good for us to remember these things. It was great to go to the Lincoln Memorial. I think it's good to remember men and women through history, like who've done great things, even you know, things like the killing fields and in Cambodia. I think it's good for a country to remember like what can happen when evil people rule and reign. And so these things are not necessarily bad. But ultimately, what we want is we don't want to build monuments to ourselves here. We don't want memorials built for ourselves here on earth. What we want is we want to be remembered in heaven, but only because it brings God glory. And so bringing this back to being in California last week, visiting with donors, is it was an incredible reminder to me that these generous people are doing just that. They could for with with the amount of um money, and like the amount is not the the big important part. It's it's essentially with what God has entrusted these people and with how they are being incredibly generous, what they're seeking is not glory for themselves. They're seeking what they desire is how can our resources be mobilized to reach people who don't have the gospel and provide like the the most basic necessity of life? How can how can our resources that God's entrusted to us, how can it be used to platform? How can clean water be used to platform the gospel? Where pastors and evangelists have not been welcome in the past, now they are welcomed because of clean water. How can we do more and more of that? Where Christ can be taught to these people who may have never heard about him before, ever in their lives. These are the contexts in which we work. And so I'm excited to bring Jason on the podcast again because he he's going to share some of these like real life stories that he was just there. And it is crazy to think that in 2026 there's still over a billion people who've never heard the name of Christ. And there's still over 696 million people who don't have access to clean water. And where we're working is in the like it's just the intersection of these two massive needs: the needs for Christ and the needs for clean water. And so to that end, let's pray for an unreached people group. And so we're gonna pray for a people group. They're called the Mana, and in their they live in India, M-A-N-A, Mana, Mana. But it's approximately 250,000 people. They live in central India, just kind of right in the middle of this subcontinent in South Asia. Their religion is Hinduism, 99.63% Hindu, zero evangelical. Like there's not one known believer. And so we want to pray. We want to pray for the mobilization of God's people to reach this people group with the gospel. And pray that the gospel would go, that men and women would just risk everything to take the gospel to these people. We know God wants to save these people. And so let's just pray for them right now. Again, there's around 250,000 of them. They do have a complete Bible in their language. Their language, let me read what their language is. Their language is Marathi, M-A-R-A-T-H-I. So let's just pray for them and ask that the Lord would do an incredible work in this people group. God, Lord, we just praise you. We're just so thankful for the gift of salvation. And as a vast majority of people are listening to this, we have the gospel, God. We have your word. We have uh, and especially down here in the south, we have church buildings on every corner. There are gatherings every Sunday, as many as you could ever choose from. God, and yet there are still people living that don't know the true gospel. They don't know the forgiveness of sins that Christ offers to anyone who believes in Him. Anyone who has faith, anyone who comes and repents and calls out to him. So, God, we pray for this people, for the mana of India, God, I pray that you would raise up people living near them, living close to them who are believers. God, I just pray that you would call them and send them to this people group. And that by your grace, God, that you would give them favor. And that by your grace, you would penetrate hearts with the truth of Jesus Christ. And so we pray all of these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right, everybody, that is it for this episode of For the Kingdom. If you're just hearing this, you don't know who Neverthirst is, encourage you to visit us at Neverthirstwater.org. And we'll be back in two weeks with another episode.