WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.599 We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Christ. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.039 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.399 To find out more, go to awakeningchurch.com. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:28.559 Well, Awakening Church, it's been a week, and I just want to sit and have a just a what I'm calling a post-election reflection. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:45.920 Um, I don't know about you, but uh last weekend to Monday and Tuesday, it just felt like a hurricane was off the shores of our country, and we're kind of waiting for it to touch ground and not exactly sure what's gonna happen. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:58.560 And we're responding and hoping and waiting and worried and anxious and holding our breath about uh what the election's gonna mean for us. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:04.719 I mean, we're asking questions like this: who is going to be our next president? 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:09.359 And at the taping of this, we don't know who's gonna be the president. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:12.079 We haven't found those results out yet. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:22.159 We're asking questions like will there be a peaceful transition of power, or if there's needed a peaceful transition of power? 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:25.280 Like, like, what does this mean for our country? 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:29.040 And what does this say about our country? 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:47.599 And there's so much fear, there's so much worry, there's so much angst, and and I think there's a lot of important questions we're asking, but I believe there's an incredibly important question that I'm not seeing us ask, that I want us to ask. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:53.120 I I think it might be a better question for us to ask as believers. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:13.919 In fact, I think it has more impact in our country if we answered this question well, uh, in how we live and how we experience um unity and uh compassion and seeing justice and equity take place in our country if we answered this question well. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.280 And here it is. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:23.520 How are Jesus followers to respond regardless of who's president? 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:43.360 How are we, as Jesus followers, think about this, uh, to live, to be, and to do, regardless of who's in the Oval Office, regardless if it's Trump, Biden, or Kanye, you know, how are we to respond? 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:52.800 You know, I was uh checking this out, and um uh this guy named uh John Huckins had this great uh just post on Instagram. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.360 He said, every day is political. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:06.159 And he began to break down uh the root of the word politics, it comes from the Greek polis, which means you know the ordering of society. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:09.599 And we order society in a couple different ways. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:18.639 Uh, and one way that we in America, we get to order society by our voting, and we partook in that this last week. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:27.360 And yet, what's often missed is we get to order society by our lives and how we live. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:38.800 And that's the invitation for us as Jesus followers, as lights in a dark world, to begin to engage and respond. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:46.080 And so I want to talk about that and answer it well and actually go to what I'm calling royal wisdom. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:49.840 But before I go to that, I want to set up who we are. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.919 Not who we are as Americans, but who you are as a Jesus follower. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:02.400 See, who you are informs what you do, who you are informs how you go about your life and how you respond. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:08.319 And so uh I want to take you first to 1 Peter chapter two, verse nine. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:16.160 Now, last year at this time, we were teaching the book of First Peter, and it was in a series called Exiles. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.480 I would highly encourage you to go back and listen to that series. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:33.199 You can podcast it, you can go to our YouTube at awakening SV, but it speaks so powerfully to this moment because God's word's true yesterday, today, and forever. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:46.480 And first Peter, he's Peter's writing to a people who are exiled, a people who are undergoing incredible persecution and who are living in an unjust society out their faith. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:53.680 And here's what he says to them he looks at them and he says, But you are a chosen people. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:03.839 Like God chose you, God loves you, you're a royal priesthood, you're royalty, you're a daughter and son of the King Most High. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:11.199 And a priest is one who stood between and, you know, brought God to humanity and humanity to God. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:15.279 He says, You're royalty and a holy nation. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:21.759 He's not talking about America, he's talking about Jesus followers, God's special possession. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:22.399 Why? 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:30.079 That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:32.399 See, this is who you are. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:41.759 Man, Jesus follower first, daughter, son of the King Most High first. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:44.639 Your royalty. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:06:05.120 And out of that we live and express the King of Kings love, the King of Kings justice, the King of Kings hope to a hurting and broken world, regardless of who's in the oval office. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:08.079 And so that's who you are. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:15.199 I I want to then begin to say and give you some wisdom on how to live that out. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:19.360 It's royal wisdom, really, if you're royalty, royalty of God. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:25.759 This is royal wisdom from a queen to a young son king. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:36.319 It's in Proverbs chapter 31, and most of you are familiar with that passage because in it it's the wife of noble or the woman of noble character. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:45.199 And it's just this whole passage where this queen talks about this amazing, powerful, strong woman of integrity and character. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:55.680 And yet at the beginning of it, she addresses some things with a young king of here's some wisdom about how to go about life. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:04.000 And this wisdom, written 3,000 years ago, is more needed today than ever. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:05.040 Royal wisdom. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:10.399 How are we as followers of Jesus to respond, regardless of who's present? 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.519 What we're first gonna learn is we have to listen to wise counsel. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.160 We have to listen to wise counsel. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:25.519 I mean, James, the brother of Jesus, would say it this way: be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:31.279 For the anger of man does not uh produce the righteous life that God desires. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.240 We gotta be quick to listen to counsel. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.040 This is how the queen would say it to her son. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:44.720 This and the son is writing this, the sayings of King Lemuel, which Lemuel means belonging or devoted to God. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:51.439 And I just want you to hear this, and I know it kind of is writing to a king or to a son, but this is for all of us. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:58.000 Belong or belonging and devoted to God, follower of Jesus, this is for you. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.800 An inspired utterance, his mother taught him. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:01.680 I love that. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.199 Listen, my son. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:08.399 Listen, son of my womb, listen, son, answer uh to my prayers. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.680 In fact, that word listen is like, oh, oh son. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.079 In fact, he's been heading down a path that that isn't that great. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:20.319 And you can translate it a little bit more like, what are you doing? 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:21.199 Watch out. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:22.160 What are you doing? 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.279 Listen up. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:37.840 And royal wisdom today, and what's needed for us as followers of Jesus to navigate this well is we have to become listeners of wise counsel. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:50.720 We've said it in our previous series that we are living in a world where people are shouting at one another and nobody's listening, and tragically, the church isn't looking any different. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.159 Well, here's why this isn't so important. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:59.679 Who you're listening to is shaping how you're living your life. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:06.000 It's the inputs or the streams that you're allowing in that you're pouring out. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:13.360 That's why the Proverbs would say, above all else, guard your heart, for from it flows the springs of life. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:14.799 Guard the inputs. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:17.440 Be aware of what you're allowing in. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:27.039 Are you allowing wise counsel or are you just allowing the barrage of media and and the social media just to just consume you? 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:29.200 Well, who are you listening to? 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.759 Let me give you uh maybe some direction on who to listen to. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.399 Would you first get into God's word? 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:54.720 Like his word says his word is a lamp into our feet, a guide that's living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, that it that it that it actually is profitable for us in every good deed. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:00.960 Like, would you get into God's word and say, God, how are you seeing and understanding? 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:08.240 Would you speak to me and may your word shape how I see and understand around me? 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:11.759 I mean, we we were constantly checking this thing. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:14.639 What if we were constantly checking this thing? 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:19.039 I mean, are are you on this more or on this more? 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:25.679 And Jesus Fowler, we got to get into his word and let his word get into us and shape us. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.679 Would you get around older godly people? 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.120 I mean, get around older and godly people. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:36.240 Why do you say older? 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:40.159 Because older people have a perspective that younger people do not. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:43.039 Like, yeah, but I don't agree with them. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:45.120 Yeah, guess what? 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:48.799 Counsel is different than consensus. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:58.720 We're in our world, we want to get around people who we all have the same consensus about things who agree with us, and it's easier, but it's not best. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:01.279 Are you choosing the easy route? 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:08.320 Yeah, everyone's saying the same things that I believe, or are you getting around people that have wisdom, have lived life, and given counsel? 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:16.080 I remember I was talking with my mentor, uh Phil Comer uh a little while ago, and I loved it as I was just sharing. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:17.200 Man, I'm overwhelmed. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:19.759 This season's hard, and I just don't know what to do. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:27.360 And it just is, and he's he began to share his stories of you know being in college in the 60s. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:29.519 By the way, the 60s were crazy. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:31.759 If you want to study history, go study that. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:40.639 And you think about the civil rights movement, you think about the Vietnam War, you think about uh what was happening on all the college campuses across the nation? 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.519 I mean, just go study that. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.039 And and it just brought such perspective. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:51.919 Would you get around older, godly people? 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:54.080 Who are you listening to? 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.000 Would you get into God's word? 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:06.399 Would you seek those that are ahead of you five, 10, 15, 20 years to give perspective, to give counsel, not just consensus? 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.840 And then would you get off social media and the news feed? 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:12.000 Yeah, I said it. 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:17.679 Um there's a thing uh it's called doom surfing. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:18.480 Do you know about this? 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:19.360 You've heard about this? 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:21.120 Death death surfing. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:25.519 It's where you're at night and you just keep scrolling, keep scrolling, keep scrolling. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:32.960 Uh the Twitter feed, the Instagram feed, you're just on it, on it, on it, on it, and you just get consumed with it and you're in it. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:41.600 Um we are shaped by what we put in our hearts and our minds. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:45.600 Jesus would say it this way: as a person thinks, so they become. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:54.720 Would you listen to wise counsel and would you begin to discern what you're allowing in? 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:58.159 I I just want to give you this challenge, okay? 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.879 And please, would you would you have the guts to take it? 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:10.159 Um would you get off social media and the news feed for one week? 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:15.279 I know you just thought, like, there's no way I can do that. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.000 I think it would be so good for you. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:27.759 I mean, countless studies have shown just the rise of anxiety and depression and all this going on just with social media and alone. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:36.559 And if you're feeling overwhelmed, if you're feeling depressed, if you're feeling anxious, one of the best things you can do is just shut off that valve. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.240 Would you get off social media and then get into God's word? 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.639 I'm telling you, your soul will start to become refreshed. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:50.000 I mean, you can go on here and see how much time you spend on your Instagram or your Twitter or your Facebook. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.799 And I this is radical, so only a few of you would do this. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.159 What if you spent as much time in God's word as you spent on there? 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.799 I mean, try it. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:08.399 Try it, and you'll see that God will begin to transform you and give you vision where before only fear invaded in. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.320 Royal wisdom first says, the queen says, listen to wise counsel. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.480 The second thing is resist unhealthy coping. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.159 Resist unhealthy coping. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:22.639 Now, this has been a year, hasn't it? 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:28.240 2020 just feels like one wave after another has hit us. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:48.960 And I here's what true confession, I have been coping and I have engaged in unhealthy coping patterns, whether it's uh, you know, too much media, whether it's, you know, engaging, you know, eating too much or some of these other things that just comfort my soul but are not healthy or good for me. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:52.639 And the truth is, all of us are doing this. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:15:00.639 We've all done something to just try to get through this season, and we kind of say, well, it's 2020, might as well have a drink. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:03.600 It's 2020, just is what it is. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:07.440 Listen to what the queen says to her son. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:12.320 She says, Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:13.600 Now, she's not anti-women. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:24.720 She's gonna go talk about just this amazing what you should look for in a woman, and that that together you're gonna be agents of bringing life and hope and justice and peace. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:27.840 Uh, he says, It's not for kings, Lemuel. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.159 Uh don't numb out. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:39.840 It's not for kings to drink wine, nor for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:50.799 Then she goes on, let let those uh beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish, let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:58.799 Would you resist the unhealthy coping? 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:05.360 I I recognize this season, this week alone has been emotionally disorienting. 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:15.919 It's been soul sucking, and it feels like we're untethered in the middle of an ocean being tossed to and fro. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:29.360 And so we just grab the thing, it might be this, it might be that, that just provides a little bit of comfort to get us through, but it is not healthy or nourishing to our soul. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:35.360 See, I think maybe the question for you is what are you using to be okay? 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:43.840 Like, what are you using right now that that you're just I'm using this, I'm using whatever it is just to be okay. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:47.600 And begin to be aware with that. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.159 See, I think we often cope in one of two ways. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:54.000 We either numb the pain or we try to have control. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:59.120 We either are numbing out or or we're or we're trying to control. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:02.559 When everything feels out of control, we try to have the control. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:04.400 Well, how are we numbing the pain? 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:26.799 Well, maybe it's Netflix, maybe it's um, you know, benzene or TV or alcohol or substance abuse, maybe it's porn or sex or pleasure, maybe it's food or shopping, online shopping, and you're just like going, like, I ordered that, I ordered that, and your credit card bill has gone crazy over COVID just to numb the pain. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:44.880 Or maybe you're seeking control, uh obsessing over getting all the information with the pandemic or the racial uh inequity and injustice or the election, this constant social media surfing. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:54.319 And and here's what we think we think we can think our way out of uncertainty, we can think our way out of anxiety, and it only compounds it. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:18:06.880 And we just think if we get enough information, if we get more information, then I'll have clarity, and the anxiety or the depression or the uncertainty will go away, and it only makes it worse. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:08.880 You know, we seek to have control. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:17.440 Maybe it's with your diet, maybe it's with exercise, and you've gotten really in the and some of those are good, but they can get obsessive, can't they? 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:22.000 Uh maybe it's with you're trying to control your spouse or your kids. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:25.279 Maybe you're trying to control your friends. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:28.319 Okay, I just gotta give you a warning. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.799 This one's gonna be hurt a little hard. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:38.400 I think we try to have control when we're trying to control other people's opinions. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:50.880 We're trying to control, you know, their how they vote, what they think, how they quarantine, and then we have this social media shaming that's just going on. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.960 Instead of just going, you know what, I I we can agree to disagree on this. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:01.599 Would you resist unhealthy coping? 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:06.240 Well, the question is, okay, if I'm resisting that, then what do I do? 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:11.359 Okay, you know, if I'm not, you know, going to these things, at least they're numbing out the pain a little bit. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:16.319 At least it gives me a little semblance that I have a little bit of control in this out-of-control world. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:18.880 What do I do? 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:21.200 I'm so glad you asked. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:27.599 The queen goes on and says, Would you actively bring hope? 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.720 You're like, wait a second, I'm just trying to cope. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.759 And you're saying, actively bring this hope. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:42.400 Like that that means involving getting outside of myself, and I'm just trying to make it through this year. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:48.079 I'm just Ryan, I have small kids at home. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:49.599 It's been chaos. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:54.000 Um, I'm working full time, I'm trying to be their teacher. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:20:05.599 Um, the the level of weight that I feel with the the issues and struggle that's going on in our country, I'm just having a hard time getting out of bed. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.799 And you're saying actively bring hope? 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:09.920 Yeah. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:12.319 Here's what's amazing. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:23.440 God's word, written, you know, 3,000 years ago today, is is only confirmed by our current research uh in our modern era. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:34.640 In fact, the Harvard Business Review posted um uh um uh uh article saying, Anxious about what's next, here's how to cope. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:41.839 And one of the big applications was turn outward, not inward. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.759 If you want to cope, unhealthy coping is inward. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:48.799 It's all about me and satiating and and just numbing out. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.359 And it says, turn outward, it is powerful. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.960 I'm telling you, I'm not telling you this to add something to your plate, I'm telling you because it's gonna help you. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:05.680 I'm telling you this because the path that you're on is only going to suck your soul even further down, a darker place. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:20.400 And if you get outside of yourself, if you begin to serve others, if you begin to love others, it will bring life to your soul. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:34.640 In fact, the authors of this article said it's ironic that what's likely to get us through these difficult times are the complete opposite of what our default uh psychology is pushing us to do. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:46.720 We need to understand ourselves rather than overthink the situation, and we need to consider the needs of others above our own. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:49.920 Wouldn't it be amazing? 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.640 Doesn't that sound a little bit like Jesus? 00:21:55.839 --> 00:22:02.559 To consider the needs of others above our own is the most Powerful way to cope in this uncertain time. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:13.200 The queen would say it this way: speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.599 Speak up and judge fairly. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:20.160 Defend the rights of the poor and the needy. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:23.680 Royal wisdom. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:25.039 Royal wisdom. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:27.039 Listen to wise counsel. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:30.000 Resist unhealthy coping. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:35.039 And then actively bring hope. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.079 Well, how do I actively bring hope? 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:46.960 Let me just give you four areas within awakening that we're doing this, that you can engage, that you can get outside of yourself. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:57.359 The first area is foster the bay, and I'm actually going to spend the most time on that because we're launching our partnership with them today, officially publicly. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:00.000 But I'll get back to that. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:07.920 The second area is we have a racial justice and reconciliation team that is an incredible way to partner and bring hope. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:15.920 The ways that we serve Del Mar, uh, I mean, just we can partner, and you're going to hear more about that to bring hope. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:24.720 Our homeless outreach team is all organized around speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:34.720 Getting outside of ourselves, looking to the needs of those who actually have it worse off than us. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:38.480 So you have an option, you have a choice. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:55.839 We can look at what's happening in the world right now, and we can go internal, and we we wouldn't say it this way, but what happens is unintentionally, we just start to have this kind of pity party. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:57.279 Man, this is so sad. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:06.160 I'm I'm this and it's okay to be sad, but would you turn that emotion into action? 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:11.920 I'm not talking about a post, and that's okay. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:17.440 I'm saying let's get our hands dirty and loving the least of these. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:19.759 What does that look like? 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:22.960 Well, let's talk about foster the bay. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:25.680 What is foster the bay? 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:34.000 Foster the Bay is a coalition of churches committed to providing a loving home for every child in the foster care system. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.880 It's a church for every child. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:42.480 This is something that is deeply on Jenny and I's heart. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:25:01.440 It's been something that we've literally, over COVID, just have sat around our table and just thinking about kids who don't have a home, kids who are being abused, kids who like like our hearts just break and are going, okay, what can we do? 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:05.200 How can we be a part of that? 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.079 You know, as a church, we've given financially. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:08.960 It's it's awesome. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:14.559 We've given, you know, even$50,000 in the last like few months to foster debate. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:16.880 But it's time for us to give our lives. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:20.799 It's time for us not to just go, wow, I'm a part of a church that gives over here. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:22.480 It's time to go, I'm in. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:23.839 I'm in. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:24.640 Are you in? 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:25.599 I'm in. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:28.480 Well, why engage in the foster care system? 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:37.920 Engaging in the foster care system surrounds vulnerable children with care by providing loving, supportive homes for abused and neglected children. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:45.200 What the pandemic has done, and uh New York Times and Washington Post both all have written on this. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:51.200 Uh New York Times said the coronavirus has shattered the system that protects children. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:26:04.400 Because kids are no longer in school, the teachers who are predominantly the ones who uh are the first ones to notice abuse and neglect and who are reporting are not seeing kids. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:15.839 And so kids who the safest place for them to be was at school are now at the most horrific place, their home. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:22.799 And in fact, they they wrote that there's an unseen epidemic of abuse. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:37.200 And even uh Foster the Bay and many other agencies are preparing for an increased influx into the foster care system when the pandemic begins to ease and kids go back to school. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:51.599 Friends, if we're gonna speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of the destitute, defend the poor and the needy, we have to engage here. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:52.960 And so. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:58.799 So, how can you be a part of foster the bad? 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.160 Actually, I want to go back. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:15.519 I want to give you some stats because I want this to become real to you. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:22.400 For those in the foster care system, fewer than 3% earn a college degree. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:32.799 70% of girls who are age out of foster care will become pregnant by age 21. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:47.119 50% of children born to mothers in foster care will also enter the system before their second birthday, 25% within the first week of life, one in four will be involved in the justice system within two years of aging out. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.079 51% are unemployed by age 22. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:57.680 50% of children uh of the child sex trafficking victims recovered were children from foster care. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.839 33% of youth who age out of foster care become homeless. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:08.000 Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder among foster care alumni are up twice the rate of the U.S. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:10.160 war veterans who face comment. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:25.039 Guys, if we want to make a sustainable impact when you're thinking about racial equality, when you're thinking about homelessness, when we're thinking about the sex trafficking, it begins here. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:29.200 It's gotta be an imperative for the church. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:32.319 It's gotta be an imperative for us. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:36.559 Where we say, Yeah, we're in. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.480 Regardless of who's president, we can do this. 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.240 So, how can you be a part? 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.319 They have three ways. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:58.400 One for some as I'm talking, God is pricking your heart and it's uncomfortable, but you're like, maybe I could be a foster family. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:07.519 We already have a couple people in our church that are going down that road, and even Jenny and I are looking about how we can partner in that way. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:12.000 And for others, you go, wow, that's intense. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:16.640 I don't know that I could do that, or I'm a young professional, I'm a college student, I'm a high schooler. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:18.960 I don't know, but what can I do? 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.599 Well, then they have support friends. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:27.119 See, it takes a community and it takes a church to come around. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:34.480 Support friends provide babysitting and meals and housekeeping and prayer and encouragement. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:36.000 We can all do that. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:37.920 Every single one of us. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:39.759 Why wouldn't we do that? 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:43.359 And then the final one is a church advocate. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:45.839 And we actually have some church advocates. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:53.440 Uh and uh Andrew and Bianca and Robbie and Layla, they are the ones heading this up for us. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:56.079 And so here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:01.599 I'll be on it, and I hope to see every single one of you on it. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:08.799 On Tuesday, November 10th at 8 p.m., they have a foster the bay informational meeting. 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:23.039 You can go to fostertebay.org forward slash RSVP, and I'm gonna ask that we as the church we actively bring hope. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:25.680 We actively bring hope. 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:37.680 You are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people of God's own possession, a holy nation. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:38.240 Why? 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:47.599 That you may declare the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his glorious light. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:50.319 Church. 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:57.680 It is time for us to be what Jesus called us to be. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:09.279 A city set on a hill, the light of the world, actively bringing hope and help to the least of these. 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:23.440 This will transform one person's life, many people's life, a city, and the ripple effect. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:28.799 If we just take that seriously, it will transform a nation. 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:32.799 Heavenly Father. 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:42.720 Right now I know there is a complexity of emotions for us as we wrestle with the state of our country. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:59.759 And I ask, as our church is navigating that, would you give them the vision that you gave your first flowers? 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:04.240 To love the least of these. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:10.160 To be carriers of good news in a world filled with bad news. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:17.599 That we would have been a people who are carriers and bringers of hope. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:21.920 For your name's sake. 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:23.599 In Jesus' name. 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:24.880 Amen.