Chosen – The Children Part II
Chosen II – Sermon by Caleb Campbell, March 6, 2022
My name is Caleb and I’m going to be leading us today through our study in the Gospel of Mark. We’re going to be in Chapter 10 today, I think, and so I’d encourage you if you have a Bible to turn there. If you don’t have a Bible, if you’re in the room, you guys should have received a study guide printed out on your way in. And for those of you joining us online, grab a print Bible, or if you don’t own a Bible, no problem, just go to bible.com. For those of you who are joining us in person, note that in the handout that you got, there should be an index card. And for those of you online, I’ll give you instruction here in a minute.
OK, so last week, we spent some time during our worship gathering to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine. Today, what I’m going to ask you all to do is to use that index card and to write either a prayer or a note of encouragement. There’s a Ukrainian Orthodox Church here in town that we’ve made a connection with. They’re actually starting to receive family members as refugees. That’s happening right now, and so we just wanted to give them an encouragement. We recognize that we’re one local church that’s part of a citywide church, and so we love the Big C Church, so to speak, and we love encouraging and praying for one another, resourcing each other. This is an opportunity for us collectively to support, administer to our Ukrainian brothers and sisters that live here in Phoenix. So use that index card. Write a prayer or a note, and what we’re going to do is this week we’re going to deliver that over this week with just some encouragement to them and just let them know that we’re praying for them. When you’re done with the note, in the lobby there should be a basket for you to be able to drop those in. So we’ll collect those and take those over this week. So any encouragement, even just as just a couple words, I know, would mean an awful lot. And then for those of you joining us online, at the top of our online platform is a link that says Next Steps. If you click that, there should be an opportunity for you to just send us a message or send us a note or just email us. What we’ll do this week is we’ll transcribe that onto a piece of paper, and we’ll take that to them this week when we go. So it’s just a way for us to encourage the broader church family here in Phoenix. So thank you guys for doing that. Again, you can put it in the lobby on your way out today.
Let’s move on to the gospel of Mark Chapter 10. We’re going to do a shorter section than what we’ve been doing during this series. We’ve been doing kind of long sections. The Gospel is narrative material, so we’ve been following this story. But today we’re going to zoom in on just a few verses. But it’s really profound, at least in my opinion. I’d like to argue that that it actually helps us to shape how we’re to view our posture towards others as it relates to living as a disciple of Jesus.
One of the things we’ve been doing during this series, called Disciple, is learning from the disciples and from Jesus what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The reason we use that word disciple is ’cause the term “follower” doesn’t quite get it right. You can be a follower of someone on Instagram. You can be a follower of a celebrity. I like the language of “Jesus follower,” but disciple speaks to a relationship with the One that we’re following. I also like the language of student to a teacher — that’s helpful — but a lot of times we can be a student of someone without ever really meeting that person. But a disciple implies a relationship. Being a disciple of Jesus, it’s kind of like being a follower. It’s kind of like being a student, but the term disciple implies that there’s a relational connection there.
So the question is, how do we, as disciples of Jesus, posture ourselves towards others, especially towards those who are leaning into Jesus, who are maybe curious about Jesus. Maybe they’re interested in following Jesus. What should our posture be? And I think this is going to help us today.
Are you guys excited? OK, I’m really excited. Here’s what we’re going to do. We have been reading the text each week. I’m going to ask you, before you read along, to just listen to the Word as I read it. We have been connecting ourselves to this ancient practice of hearing the Scripture. The majority of Scripture, if not all of Scripture, was artistically designed not primarily to be read, but primarily to be heard. There’s some artistry to it that helps us in our hearing. We are going to read it — we’re going to go through it line by line today — but before we do that, I would just encourage you just to receive it, to hear it. And then maybe if it’s helpful, close your eyes. My encouragement to you would be, as you hear the Word of God, just be attentive to what the Spirit of God is doing. Maybe the Lord is going to bring something to your mind — maybe a word or phrase will stand out. Just be attentive to what the Lord is doing as we hear the Word read aloud. So this is the gospel of Mark Chapter 10, verse 13 and on.
“Now people were bringing little children to Him in order that He might touch them. But the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ After taking them into his arms, He laid his hands on them and blessed them.” This is the word of the Lord.
You have in this text a beautiful image of Jesus and a frustrating image of his disciples. A beautiful image of Jesus and a frustrating image of his disciples. And here’s why it’s frustrating. Because we do, by default, what they just did. Notice in the text — we’ll go through the text together — notice the scene. What is happening here? ***
TV timeout *** One of the things that we’ve noticed as we’ve studied the Gospel of Mark together — we’ve been reading through the Gospel of Mark, and since the beginning, one of the things that you notice is the crowd keeps getting what? Bigger, bigger and bigger and bigger, bigger — to the point to where you get some of the famous miracles, like the feeding of the 5000. Massive crowds are coming out to Jesus, right? And so, we’ve noticed that crowds upon crowds have been pressing in on Jesus, right? ***
The scene here in Mark 10, it’s not different, really. But we just get a little nuance of something we haven’t quite seen before. People were bringing what or whom? Children, not just children, but what? Little children. I want to say, “So what? How little is little? What are we talking about here?” I want to just give you a quick tool. When you read your Bible — I think you should read through the whole Bible later today, you’re going to love it. It’s great. Let me know if you do that, by the way, because I know you’re a liar. When you read the Bible, one of the things that we need to pay attention to is context. What I’m reading is part of a bigger piece, right? There’s something else. There’s something bigger going on, so context, as I sometimes will say, context is king. If you want to know what this little verse means or this little line means, you got to look at the context.
I’m afraid I’m going to say something very intentionally offensive. Hobby Lobby is not doing it right. Now I’m not trying to slam Hobby Lobby. I’ll do that on my own time. As your pastor, I’m not trying to slam Hobby Lobby, but I just want to say what they’re doing is probably not helping us read the Bible. And here’s what I mean. What they’re doing at Hobby Lobby or some of these others, there’s a token, an item — a little piece of wood, maybe — and then there’s like a verse on it. Or maybe a bumper sticker, or maybe like a little clicker. So you’ve got a clicker for your screen, but do you have a clicker with a verse on it? We take these Bible verses, and we put them on things. When we do that, we rip them out of their context. It may be cool, right? It may be good. “I’ve got the verse printed on this thing and it just reminds me of the whole text.” Great, I love that, but I just want to caution us that we are not primarily to be engaging with Scripture in little snippets at a time. Are you guys with me? Right, we’re engaged in Scripture as the whole piece. The Gospel of Mark was artistically designed to be read as a whole in one sitting, not little five words at a time. It’s OK if you do the five. Maybe you’ve got a tattoo and you’re covering it up. As long as it’s reminding you of the entire context, OK? ***
So, people were bringing what? Little children now. We’re going to ask ourselves how little, and what tool did we just learn? Context is king. Did you guys hear, when the text was read, what Jesus did to these kids? He blessed them, but He did something else. Did you catch it? Look at your last verse. What does He do? He takes multiple of these little ones into His arms. But the context is telling us that these are little enough for Jesus to pick multiples of them up into His arms. OK, so how little? Enough for Jesus to pick up a few of them. The other thing, too, is notice that the children are not coming on their own. They’re being brought.
You guys got me? I have a two-year old, and I have a five-year old. We do this … You guys familiar with this right? What would they call that? Horsey ride. So when my twelve-year old says, “Dad, can I get a horsey ride?” Dad says no, because you’re not a little child anymore. People were bringing little children to him in order that He might do what? That He might, He might touch them. He might bless them. All through the Gospel of Mark, notice that there are multiple occasions where Jesus’s touch involves the bestowal of a blessing or a life. In fact, just a couple chapters earlier, we saw Jesus touch a dead 12-year-old girl, and she came back to life, right? In Jesus’s touch is a blessing. So they’re bringing their little kids out, right? They’re bringing their kids out in order that He might touch them, and the implication is a blessing which you’ll see again in chapter verse 16, I think.
Let’s imagine you are a disciple of Jesus. All these crowds have been coming in, and Jesus keeps bringing in the wrong kind of people. He keeps letting in tax collectors, … and prostitutes, … and people that you don’t like, … and people of the other political party that you don’t like, … and people who are opposite with you on your ideology. Jesus keeps bringing these people in. If you’re a follower of Jesus, wouldn’t that get old after a while? You’d be like, “Let’s get some people like me up in this house.” The reason I’m leaning into this is … just notice what the disciples do. What do the disciples do when people are bringing their little children to Jesus? And what do the disciples do? The disciples rebuked them. These disciples are rebuking people bringing children to Jesus. Maybe we don’t know that they didn’t know.
Remember that every time we read the Bible, we are time-traveling tourists. Not only are we going back to an ancient culture, but we’re also going into a different part of the world. We are time-traveling tourists, and one of the things that we need to recognize about this is that we need to see this in the context of the times. Children were generally viewed as marginalized — somebody else’s problem, unproductive eaters. They don’t produce anything for the general system. They don’t produce anything for society now. The parents likely loved their children — certainly they wanted more children – but, by and large, especially other people’s kids. You know other people’s kids are always causing problems. They’re always influencing my kids, who would never do anything wrong. It must be other people’s kids, right? And maybe we do think about other people’s kids the same way anyways, right? They’re generally an annoyance. They’re there to be relegated to the margins. They may be seen, but definitely not heard. Right, other people’s kids. It’s not we don’t know their name. We don’t want to spend time with them. In those days, they were generally a marginalized group of people that nobody wanted to be with or hang out with. They didn’t have anything to contribute to society. Maybe when they’re older they would, but little children especially were not welcome.
So, is it normal that the disciples, at least in their cultural context, is it normal that the disciples rebuked them for trying to waste Jesus’s time? It’s totally normal. Have you guys ever watched the show “The West Wing?” I watched the show. This show is a story of a fictional presidency. And there’s this character who kind of runs the front desk of the president, runs the president’s calendar, and she’s kind of notorious for being stern. In fact, if you wanted to get on the president’s calendar in this TV show, odds are you’re just never going to. That’s just never going to happen. Maybe you see him in the hallway or whatever. Maybe you could put eyes on him, but they’re not going to sit and talk with you. If you wanted to get to the President, you had to go through the front desk. This woman at the front desk, she would vet you. Who are you? What do you want to say? How much time do you need? What do you have to offer? Do you have any power? Do you have any influence? Is seeing you going to impact votes? Whatever it is, based on your power and influence, if you had a lot, you might get an audience with the president.
OK, so this is “The West Wing.” And of course, this is fictional. So every now and again somebody would be let in. But let me just ask you this question: In the kingdoms of this world, who gets into the palace? The elite. The powerful military generals. The wealthy. Those who are on top. Who, generally speaking, does not get into the palace? The marginalized, the poor, those who are considered to be not contributing members. The outsiders. Here’s another group of people that aren’t going to be let into the palace — anyone whose presence in the palace might defile or defame the king. “We can’t have you in here because if we let too many of your kind of folk in here, people might think less of me.”
Is this real? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Is this how the world works? This the kingdoms of this world. Yep. Cool, great. People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that He might touch them, but the disciples operated according to the kingdoms of this world. One of the things we need to notice is this that the disciples continually heard Jesus talk about the Kingdom. He they heard Jesus say, back into the Gospel of Mark chapter one, to repent and believe the Gospel ‘s message — that all of us have sinned and gone our own way. We’re chasing our own path and Jesus says repent, which just means have a change of mind and direction, to turn from your sin. Turn from yourself, repent and believe the gospel to turn towards God. Now here was the good news that Jesus proclaimed. He said, repent, turn because there’s good news. What’s the good news? Not say a prayer, so you go to heaven when you die. Jesus says that the good news is that the Kingdom of God is here.
He seemed to be implying throughout the Gospel of Mark — you should go home and read the whole thing — today you’re going to see it too, namely, that the Kingdom of God was centered like around Him. It was like an orb that seemed to follow Him around everywhere He went. He would say things like “You are near the Kingdom of God.” It seemed to be that Jesus understood that He was the King who was retaking his territories. The Kingdom of God was being ushered in. That was Jesus’s message. But what the disciples continually heard was Kingdom of God, Kingdom of God. And what they thought – hold on, hang on with me — they heard Jesus talk about the Kingdom of God. But they viewed it through the lens of the kingdoms of this world.
And I’ll prove it to you. In chapter 8, 9 and 10, there are three times that Jesus predicts his death, burial, and resurrection. On all three occasions, one of the follow-up questions or associated questions that the disciples have for Jesus is this question: Do we get to be in charge? Can I sit at your right hand and my brother sit at your left hand? Do we get the keys to the Kingdom? Jesus, when are you going to establish the throne so we can be in charge? They saw the Kingdom of God through the lens of the kingdoms of this world. They saw children through the lens of the kingdoms of this world. And if the Kingdom of God operates like the kingdoms of this world, you don’t let little kids bother the King. Is that how the kingdoms of this world work?
Notice what Jesus does next. I want you to put yourself in this position, because if you’re a follower of Jesus, and I know you’ve been here before, too. There have been people in your world who you thought, “Not allowed.” Do you want me to prove it to you? Yeah, just for a moment, imagine a group of people that you dislike or hate — even if we could use that word — who are your enemies. And if they became the majority of this congregation, would you leave? “Not allowed. We’ll let one in, but if there are 30 of you 400 of you, I’m out. I can’t be associated with them.” Do you think the disciples are very different than us, or are they very like us? We do this. First family, I love you but I’m gonna say it: Do you think that, by and large, church families like ours in the broader culture are viewed as inclusive or exclusive? OK, exclusive. When Jesus saw it ,, He was …***
*** TV Time-out. Do you know when you go to parties and everyone having a good time, the drinks are flowing, the music blasting, and you’re having a great time. And then someone says, “Hey everyone, it’s time for Bible trivia. And you turn to someone that you came with and say, “Now the party is about to start.” OK, right? Thank you OK, so I’m going to give you a heads up on a question #73 in Bible trivia. How many times in the Bible, is Jesus referred to as feeling indignant? Once. Maybe the word “indignant” isn’t doing it for you. How about full of a raging fury or anger? And notice, what did the disciples do? They misunderstood the Kingdom of God for operating according to the principles of the kingdoms of this world. That excluded the marginalized, right? ***
Now, don’t you think Jesus would have been better off just saying, “You knuckleheads. You’re always missing the mark. Well, I guess they’ll have to clean this up later.” No. What does Jesus do? What did the disciples do? They thought they were doing Jesus a favor by not letting in those people. And what was Jesus’s response? He was not only mad. He was very expressive, in a furious anger. I just want to notice that. I want to notice Jesus’s response. Now Jesus says to them, “Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them.”
Now why doesn’t Jesus say, “Because I love them so much?” Of course, He does. He doesn’t say, “Because you guys are idiots” – which, of course, is the type of behavior they were exhibiting. What does He say? Notice he’s actually going to … OK, I want you to zoom in on Jesus here … He doesn’t just say that’s discourteous; He doesn’t just say this is un-loving. He says what? Time out ***
*** What was the good news that Jesus kept proclaiming? The Kingdom of God is here. Turn from your sin and receive the Kingdom. Receive the King. Now in my mind, in the mind of a disciple, if I’m thinking, “Well, if I’m a good person, if I’m an upstanding citizen, if I’m in the right group, then I get to belong to the Kingdom of God.” Is that how the Kingdom of God works?***
But Jesus is going to correct and confront their misunderstanding of the Kingdom. What does Jesus do? Jesus pushes it, using these children as an example. “Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them.” Why? Because the Kingdom of God what? Belongs to such as these. Notice it’s “such as these.” It’s not just little children. It’s the ones who don’t belong. Don’t exclude, because it’s the excluded to whom the Kingdom belongs. Do you see it?
O.K., let’s just kind of do this. By and large, our tendency can be to put up fences around Jesus. Or to put up fences around a Jesus community … for the sake of our comfort, … for the sake of our not wanting to be challenged, … for the sake of our not having to live sacrificially and generously. We put fences up and say, “You gotta behave like us before you get to belong to us.”
This is the natural tendency you see in the disciples. You see it in the Book of Acts. You’ll see it throughout the Scripture, and Jesus obliterates the fence, doesn’t he? If you’re a Jesus follower, … if you’re not a Jesus follower and you’re still trying to figure this out, I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so glad that you’re getting to eavesdrop on this conversation. Because I think you know this. But for those of us that are Jesus followers, I need you to hear me on this: Jesus does not need bodyguards. He is not looking for lawyers. He is looking for disciples to follow him in wisdom, love, grace and truth — which will often put us as a Jesus follower in proximity with people who are nothing like us. And that’s just the way He likes it. Probably not so that you can bless them, but so that they can bless you.
One of the things we say at Desert Springs frequently is that wherever you’ve been, wherever you’re going, you’re welcome here. What gives us the capacity to say that is this text and many like it. The other thing that we’ll say is that we are just a bunch of misfits with nothing in common except for the love and grace of God made known to us through Jesus Christ. Why do we keep saying that? Because Jesus keeps showing it to us that that’s how He wants us to live as His disciples. And let me tell you something. When I’m in community with you, and you’re different than me, I don’t like that. Do you? Now you say, “Well, of course Caleb. You don’t like country music and you like the Cowboys — and we all have a good laugh about that.” Yeah, sure.
What about when your politics are different than mine? What about your stances on things that I really care about deep in here? What happens when they’re different than mine? “I don’t want to do that. I want a nice fence that says you’ve got to believe politically, you’ve got to believe ideology, you have to behave like me … My goodness! You have to culturally exist like me. You have to ethnically exist like me and just socially economically exist like me. I just need my fence.” Is that not the default structure of the human heart? Because I’m better than everybody, so I just need people who are just like me. But Jesus continues to obliterate the fence. Notice when Jesus saw it, He said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them because the Kingdom of God what? “…belongs to such these.” And now we’re gonna get to it. The disciples were seeing the Kingdom of God through the lens of the kingdoms of this world, operating as if the value systems of the Kingdom of God are the same as the kingdoms of this world. and Jesus gets at them, doesn’t he? Like y’all keep talking about him flipping over tables, like that’s a big deal. Look, he’s yelling at them — in front of the children! He’s yelling at His disciples. Screaming at them, “My Kingdom is not of this world. Truly I tell you — He pushes it, truly, I tell you, whoever does not receive …
*** Time out. Remember that Jesus in the Gospel of Mark chapter one came proclaiming the good news of what? Kingdom of God He said, repent, turn your mind and your heart, turn towards Me. Repent and believe in the gospel. Here’s what the gospel is — that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The Kingdom of God is here. It’s the good news of the Kingdom. How, then, should I receive the Kingdom? “Well, Jesus, thank you for the invitation. Of course, you have extended me an offer to be a part of your Kingdom because I am a big deal.” What’s that called? Pride, hubris, arrogance? Thinking of myself more highly than I ought to think. ***
Rather, “Whoever does not …” Notice whoever does not receive… Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God is like what? I need you to zoom in on this for me. What’s the image you have in your mind? Whoever does not receive the key like a little child will never enter it. And then He gives us again some context, OK? I want to be careful here. Can we be here in a healthy family, OK? How does a child receive their familial status? To put it in another way, how does the child in a good family receive the love of the mother or father? They have they have nothing to give.
I’ve had four kids, right? If when they were babies, if Lori or I didn’t dress them, they’d be naked. If we didn’t house them, they’d be out exposed to the elements. If we didn’t feed them, they would be dead. How does a child receive? The child is completely and utterly helpless. The little child has absolutely nothing to give — only to receive. Are you guys hanging with me?
How, then, Jesus, do we receive the Kingdom of God? As a little child. And if you don’t receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, you will never enter it, because what you think you’re receiving is not the Kingdom of God. If you think, — “I get in with God because I’m a big deal and I’m all put together and I’m righteous. And I’m awesome” — then what you think you’re receiving is not the Kingdom of God. It’s just another kingdom of this world that values people based on what they can produce, what they can do, how much they are like me.
But Jesus says, “That’s not my Kingdom. Let the little children — let everybody — come to me.” So how do I, as a Jesus follower, get the power to do this? I first have to remember as the old hymn says, Rock of Ages. “Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked I need thee for dress. I need to be dressed. Otherwise, I’m naked. And in you I find my grace. Nothing in my hands I bring. But simply to the cross I cling.”
Watch Jesus. He’s going to illustrate for you what it looks like to receive the Kingdom of God. Watch him after what? How does a child receive the Kingdom? They get scooped up by Jesus. They don’t march in. They get scooped up by Jesus. And He laid hands on them, and He blessed them.
Have you been scooped up by Jesus? Has He scooped you up? If the very foundation of our faith and relationship with your God is the fact that He scooped us up, how could we possibly put up a fence? All we had to bring was what He scooped up. So if Jesus chooses to scoop someone else up, let’s welcome him into the family, instead of putting up a fence. This this dynamic of the Kingdom of God, right? Mary Healy, who’s a brilliant theologian and scholar, says this: To receive the Kingdom is as simple, trusting and humble, an action as receiving the embrace of Jesus. To enter the Kingdom is nothing more than to enter into a relationship with Jesus. To receive the Kingdom is to receive the embrace of Jesus that is the Kingdom.
One of the reasons why we really, really wanted to do this Chosen campaign with World Vision was because it truly does put this into practice. We see the Kingdom dynamic all over this experience. So the Chosen program, for those of you that maybe weren’t able to be with us last week, is a way for us to share our resources. For we have been given much, and much is expected, as we talked about last week. To share our resources generously with others who are in this current position right now, lacking some of those foundational resources like clean water, food, education, infrastructure. It’s a way for us to share, right?
I refuse to use the word charity, generally, because the term elevates me. But we’re going to share with our brothers and sisters in equity, right? Recognizing that I’m not up and they’re down, but rather we’re equal. And whose are these resources but the Lord’s, anyway? So it’s a way for us to share. But here’s the beautiful thing about the Chosen program. In the Chosen program, the power to choose is given to the child. The power to make a decision is given to the child, which is a Kingdom value. Just notice what Jesus said that the Kingdom belongs to such as these. And so it’s one way for us. We’re partnered with five churches in North Phoenix that have partnered together to kind of take on this project with children and families in Shashego, Ethiopia. And just to kind of catch us up to speed, I wanted to show you a quick video and then I’ll show you some pictures from the party. So take a look at this video.
(Video text) “You allowed love and light to invade the darkness, and heaven came to earth. Sponsorship is such a beautiful program, but it has always been in the hands of the sponsor. The decision and the choice have always been in the sponsor choosing the child. We said no, we’re going to put the choice into the hands of a child. This is what the Gospel looks like when you put the notion of choice into the hands of a child. You live out the power of the Gospel of God as you put the empowerment and the choice into the hands of a child. I can never forget those beautiful eyes going over right and left, looking for people they wanted as their friend. Chosen is truly an amazing ministry, coming not as the one who’s going to save them, but one who’s going to learn from them and just serve them. And my prayer is that your heart is stirred by God today to step into a relationship with a child, and that relationship changes everything.”
(Caleb again) So in this partnership with World Vision, we’re partnered, as I said, with five churches here in North Phoenix with a community called Shashego, Ethiopia. I believe as of earlier as of earlier this week, there were 87 from Desert Springs and then close to 300 from the five churches collectively. I just want you to think about this. They’re gonna get fresh water, clean water for the rest of their lives. They’re gonna get food, they’re gonna get education. There’s gonna be infrastructure in Shashego because of your generosity and the generosity of the other churches here in North Phoenix. It’s a way for us to put into practice this reality that when we turn to Jesus, all of us are equal, and He scoops all of us up.
And what can we do, but to live generously and with grace and love? For those of you who signed up in the room, I’m going to give you guys just some quick instructions, and then we’re going to go and discover who chose us. But if you signed up in the room last week in just a few minutes, we’re going to dismiss, and you’ll head out to the lobby. They’re hanging up on the left side. There you’ll find your name. You’ll have a picture of the child who chose you and their name, as well. And then there’ll be another card with instructions on how to log in.
They all wrote cards. In fact, I wanted to show you pictures from the party. Sorry, I got ahead of myself with the instructions. Pause. Check out these pictures. OK, let’s put them up on the screen. So this is the event in Shashego. You could see that the children are kind of in a waiting area. They’re waiting to make their choice. We could see the next one here. This is what the room looks like, so those are pictures. That’s us, North Phoenix. I think we take a look at the next when the kids come in and, one by one, they have a time and opportunity to make their choice. And I want you just to remember that for many of these children, they don’t even get to decide what to eat or where to stay. So the power of choice is a powerful one. Once they chose the picture, then they took pictures, which are the pictures you’re going to get today. And then they actually wrote a letter, talking about why they chose you and what their prayers and hopes are. So in your packet today, if you’re in the room, you’ll pick up your pack. Your picture will be in there as well as a card to log in on World Vision website to take a look at the digital copy of that letter. For those of you who are joining us online, you should have received in the email address that you signed up with. You should have received information on Next Steps on how to get your picture and your copy of the letter that was written to you.
Please, all of you, know that this is not just an investment for this month, but this is truly an investment in a partnership that will go on for years. Your investment will dramatically impact this community in Shashego.
Now I know that for some of us we’re asking, “Hey, I wasn’t here last week. I didn’t get a chance last week. Is there’s still an opportunity for me to sign up and get on board with this project?” Yes, there is still time. So here’s how this is working. We’re partnered with World Vision. They’ve got it all set up over there in Shashego, but they have to move on to the next phase of our project. So you’ve got till 7:00 o’clock tonight. They will do the process for you. They’re going to give you some specific instructions, because it’s going to work just slightly differently. You can text DSBC online to this number, and you can do that right now. Then they’ll they will send you instructions, and that will allow you to get on board with this project that we’re doing.
With five churches there in Shashego, you’re always able to sign up with World Vision after this opportunity. We’d encourage you guys to do that. I know many of you have sponsored at World Vision for years. But if you want to get on board with this project, you gotta do it before 7:00 tonight. If you want to, if you go tomorrow, whenever, there’ll be other projects that I would highly encourage you to take advantage of. So again, you could text DSBC online to that number. That goes for those of you online, as well as those of you all in the room. “For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Let’s pray. Lord, we love You. And we know that we come before You with nothing to give, … that You are our King, … You’re our Lord God, … that you are a good and loving Father. And we just we receive that as a child receives. So, Lord, we ask by the power of Your spirit that You would continue to mold us and shape us more and more into Your image, that we as a church family would not be about being bodyguards or putting up fences, but rather, Jesus, like You, we would we say, “Let everybody come and meet Jesus and be a part of the Jesus community.” Lord, we want that. But we also know it’s very difficult, and so we entrust ourselves to You, knowing that You are good and loving and powerful, to produce within us the fruit of Your spirit. And so we rely on You to guide us, to direct us, to empower us moment by moment. Jesus, we ask these things, knowing that You love us and You’re powerful to bring them about. And so we entrust ourselves to You. In your name we pray. Amen, Amen.
All right, hit up the lobby. We’ll see you guys next week. ###