[0:00] You know that when I come behind the pole, but I always have to pull the mic down. I don't know why. It's really nice to be with you again this year.
[0:10] Your church has been a blessing to Susan and me. Her name is Susan, not Ann. I think he corrected himself, didn't he? My first wife, and many of you would remember her, she used to come with me.
[0:24] The Lord took her home. And something amazing happened. In the midst of all my grieving and mourning, I went to take her stepsister for a coffee because her husband died.
[0:37] And I don't know how to explain the rest of you except to say that we're married now, and it's a wonderful life, and God has blessed us together. So, Susan, would you please stand up so people can see who you are here?
[0:48] There, that's my wife there, Susan. And she's a great help and doing a wonderful work with me in this work. I wanted to comment and thank Pastor Wayne.
[0:58] He gave me a lesson in Low German this morning. Mine, I didn't realize how I forgot. We live among English people, and I'm not boasting about it.
[1:09] That's just a fact. And so we don't get exposure to the Low German unless we come to a place where people know. So in Vauxhall, Alberta, and of course in La Crete, as you would very well guess, that's Low German, and in some of the churches we get to.
[1:27] And I just, as I said to your sound people yesterday when we were talking about these things, that I have been greatly inspired, greatly encouraged, to get back into the presence of Mennonite people that have, out of which culture, of course, I came out.
[1:44] My dad and mom were old colony Mennonites. And all I remember from the church, I didn't understand anything, but I do know that we knelt to pray. And I was always bothered by the feet that come underneath the bench when I prayed because sometimes they created a different aroma than what you wanted.
[2:03] Anyway, and of course, I didn't do this, but I know a friend of mine, he decided one time to re-lace the shoes of the guy in front of him, and when he tried to get up, his shoes were tied together.
[2:17] So I cannot brag about the spiritual impact it had on me, except I became more and more hungry for God. And my dad was not a Christian, but he would take us out on Sunday afternoons, on Sunday mornings, we'd come down to the living room and he'd preach to us, and all he knew was hell and judgment.
[2:37] He didn't know anything about salvation. And of course, that all changed when he came to know Jesus as his Savior, and when we got together then, it was about Jesus. And so we understand the background of the Mennonite people perhaps much better than you realize, although we've been away from pastoring churches that were not Mennonite, and consequently, we kind of got away from the language.
[3:00] Susan there has a real problem if you want to have a little fun, test her out a bit and see how well she knows her low German. That's quite funny, actually. I think she doesn't really want me to say that, but she'll forgive me.
[3:13] So it's really nice to be here, and the video you saw was actually taken in Guatemala. I may have mentioned this here before. Our new director, fairly new, is actually, his name is Jose Prem, and he is a Guatemalan, and he's done a great work in opening up new doors in Guatemala.
[3:33] And the movie you saw, the DVD was actually in honor to the Steinbeck Christian School that has been greatly involved in sponsoring these children as well as helping with other things.
[3:46] Now, I know quite a few of you. Could I see a hand of those who are sponsoring children? Could I see your hands? My goodness, this is awesome. You know, I want to thank you again.
[3:58] And there's something I'm pushing right now, and especially for the pastor and others who are interested. I would like to send you to some of these places. And I've been talking to our director about taking a group of Christians from different churches to the place where they sponsor.
[4:15] I can't promise that we'll pay your way, but if you think you could afford to make a trip to Guatemala or Mexico, we have quite a few new ones in Mexico now, as well, of course, as in many other countries in Africa and some of the other Asian, countries.
[4:31] We went to a church in Chin. Some of you may know about this. I'm sure Pastor Wayne knows. There's a Mr. Dan Dick who was kicked out of his church for preaching the gospel, and almost the entire church followed him into a new work.
[4:49] In fact, the old church had to give up their building because they were the majority. And this church had just taken off. And they have started a new work here in Grimshaw.
[5:02] I guess they're a break away from another church. I won't go into detail, but these people are really passionate about getting children into the sponsorship program.
[5:13] And a new door has opened up here in Grimshaw. This new group is letting us in to do a meeting there. So pray for us as we go there and we find.
[5:23] And of course, the church in Chin has been a great help. They've sent people to Africa. They've done work projects. And what I'd like to say to you is if there's some way that God could excite you about going to one of these places, either Africa, there's 12 different places, a country you can go to.
[5:43] And with a group, maybe four to six people, and do a project there, our director, Jose Prem, would be more than happy to speak to you.
[5:55] He's been to Le Crete with us and he says he wants to become a Mennonite now. So he's just one of these great guys that you would just love to meet. And I know that if your church was interested in getting away and doing some...
[6:08] The songs we were singing were just so beautiful today and spoke about missions and helping us to get excited about reaching out. And we'll talk about that more in detail a little later in the sermon.
[6:20] But I want to thank you, first of all, those wonderful hands that went up and said that you are sponsoring. And missions is very, very much reality when it comes to childcare.
[6:35] There's many stories, but one story that always comes back to me is my wife and a lady in Columbia were talking. And she says, you know, my little daughter came to me the other day and she says, Mommy, I asked Jesus into my heart.
[6:53] And it feels so great. I'm so happy. And her mother was totally not acquainted with the gospel at all. And she said, What is that? She told, asked my wife, What is that?
[7:05] And my wife told her, sent her to the... She said, I don't want to get involved with this because it's really... This belongs to the project and to the school. So she directed her to the school where the teachers and the pastor were able to help her to find Jesus.
[7:20] And these kids are missionaries. If you want to really get engaged in missionary work, sponsor a child. You are extending your love for Jesus into the hearts of little children and which then, of course, goes into the hearts of the mom and dad and the community.
[7:37] All our projects are both church and school. I did not even know this myself until recently that none of the people I've been involved with in sponsorship, World Vision and others have Christian schools.
[7:56] It might interest you to know that in Africa, for example, and this is true in other countries, if you're living out in the country, it's not likely that you'll have a school, a regular grade school.
[8:09] They just don't do it. If, for example, I was in Africa a few years ago and in Lusaka, which is a city of millions of people, they have nice schools all over. But you go 100 kilometers into any direction and you will find no schools unless they are Christian or missionary schools that have been started by Christians.
[8:29] So we have a great responsibility there and Guatemala, Mexico, other countries. The schools you find out in the countries there are usually started and run by local people, Christian people, churches, and so on.
[8:47] So our children, our sponsor children, as an exception to most other sponsorships, have to go to school. We start a school and they go to school.
[9:00] We believe that if they're going to be a great contribution to the society around them, they need to be able to read and write. We don't push high education.
[9:13] If we can get them through eight and many times through grade 12, we feel that we've done something that gets them on the road to getting jobs and so on. So we're very excited about what we're doing.
[9:24] We feel God has led us. And the other thing I want to say is the people in our head office, which is in Surrey, B.C., by the way, they're godly. They're godly people.
[9:35] They have a passion for people. Susan and I traveled there a few years ago and we met with our staff and we were so totally touched by the love, the beauty of their fellowship that to me was very, very much part of making a spiritual image impact upon our kids.
[9:52] If we set the example, then it's going to make a big difference. And we'd like to extend that opportunity to you in terms of getting children sponsored and bringing them into a position where they can lead children to the Lord and then in turn find adults, mom and dad, hungry.
[10:12] The other, one more thing I want to say in my report here is we find the children that we sponsor in the most desperate situations.
[10:24] They're on the streets. They're in very sad communities. They learn how to steal because they're hungry. They learn how to do anything that's not anywhere near Christianity.
[10:39] They don't know. and we recruit them. We go to where they are in the slums and we bring them to our projects. We clothe them.
[10:51] We feed them. And we take a chance on it because the packets you see there, those children are actually being sponsored right now until we get a sponsor for them because we cannot afford to continue this.
[11:03] but the reason we do this, we believe that the dignity of the child, the responsibility to give them some dignity before they're even sponsored is our responsibility.
[11:15] So we, we by faith, sponsor them trusting that when we come to you, you will help us get these kids into an ongoing sponsorship and in that way we build them as people that are really important.
[11:31] just recently there was a boat, a large boat, an oil boat parked just off the coast of California.
[11:44] The, the Marines became suspicious because this thing just sat there for weeks. What's going on here? Now, I don't want to shock you too much but it may shock you to know that when they finally snuck in checked out this boat it was standing shoulder to shoulder little kids anywhere from three years old to 11 or 12 and the, the, the Satan worshipers you'd be surprised who they all are.
[12:17] They have people scouting, they call them finders. they go along and they, they came all the way from Dubai parked their boats in different countries and they'd go to, into the shore, off the shore into the community and steal, find children.
[12:35] These children are never seen again most of the time. But these Marines found this boat and when they got in there that's what they found. They killed all the guards first of all, then they took, had boats coming from different communities and took these children to the shore to a hospital.
[12:52] Some of them had died already and what, what, what amazed me was they find their children the same way we find our children. So it's kind of a matter of who gets there first, huh?
[13:04] And I just, my heart just broke. It often breaks. The more I find out about what's going on and I make it my business to find out what's going on.
[13:16] I know a lot more than what I would dare to share with you but let me tell you something. When you sponsor a child, heaven will record it in a way that you will never forget. Jesus made it very clear, didn't he, that children are pretty important and your kids, don't even try to imagine that to be your kid that gets taken like this.
[13:36] It's too gross. But you can change the world by sponsoring it one child at a time and I just, I just, if there's anything I'm very bold about when it comes to fundraising, I don't, I've never liked fundraising even as a pastor when I was working for missions.
[13:55] It's the one thing, I made it a rule when I was a young pastor, my father once told me, never beg for money. You're a minister, remember one thing, God said, I will supply all your needs and you know what he has, he's, I've never missed a meal yet, at least if I missed it it was by choice.
[14:17] But God is so good to us and you know, in our men in a community we all know how to work, I always admire the men in a community, they know how to work, they know how to get by, they can move from one country to another with nothing and before you know it, they are the leaders in the work world.
[14:31] And so I'm proud to ask you, help us, you will not lose a meal, I promise you, unless you choose to. So, let's not let the devil find these kids before we do, let's us.
[14:47] And by the way, one little girl who was, she was riding her bike right close to her house in California and they came with, what's this, when you inhale it, puts you out, can you help me with that?
[15:04] Chloroform, is it? They come with a wet rag, they're from behind you and they'll put this on your, and of course it'll put you to sleep and then they'll drag you to the shore or to the boat and you're one more.
[15:17] The finder found you. Now we want to become the finders. We want to find these kids and give them hope. And you are part of this amazing work.
[15:29] and I often say to Susan, you know, when we get to heaven, I want to meet those kids. I am so excited about meeting those kids and the stories they're going to tell us, heaven will just ring with joy when we see this.
[15:43] I really mean this. The older I get, and I'm getting there, you know, I love children. Kids can hardly pass me by without me getting on my knees and saying something to them or handing them a loony or just kind of sucking up to them, you know.
[15:57] I love this. And I want to spread that enthusiasm into your hearts to just come with us and share the amazing opportunity to give the gospel to the needy world.
[16:15] Now, my message is about people who care. There are three people in my meditation with you this morning that I'd like to move away from the child sponsorship but directly about the idea of how do we handle our life as a Christian.
[16:32] There's a lady by the name of, I can't think of her name now, in Mark chapter 14, verses 3 to 8.
[16:49] I'd like to read that and then we'll find out. And being in Bethany at the house of Simon, a leper, he sat at the table, a woman having an alabaster flax of very costly oil, of spicknard.
[17:11] Then she broke the flask and poured it on Jesus' head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, Why was this fragrant wasted?
[17:29] For it might have been sold and given to the poor. And they criticized her sharply. And Jesus said, Leave her alone.
[17:41] Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always. And whenever you wish, you may do them good.
[17:53] But me, you have not always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.
[18:05] Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached, the whole world is preached, sorry, the whole world and the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
[18:19] Then, another little story. I won't read it, I'll just tell you. A little girl, a Hebrew girl, I don't know her age, but it says a young girl, probably about eight or ten would be my guess.
[18:38] In 2 Kings 5, verses 2 and 3, the story is told of an army general by the name of Naaman who was discovered to have leprosy.
[18:51] And, this little Hebrew girl had been kidnapped during one of their raids when they raided Israel.
[19:04] And they picked her up and took her back to Syria with them. And she found out that Naaman had leprosy.
[19:15] And her heart just, just tore for him as she felt so sorry for him. Now, let's look at this a little more critically, okay?
[19:28] If you were a little 10-year-old girl, you were taken away from your mommy and sent into another, taken to another country, couldn't speak the language, you saw them worshiping idols, you saw the curse of life that those heathen live.
[19:51] And you're from, in our, today we would say, a Christian home where God was known. The God of Israel was her God and she made it very known. She should have become bitter, don't you think?
[20:10] I'm so angry. You know, the world is full of Christian bitter people. I always marvel that Christians can become so angry and so unforgiving and so contentious.
[20:25] I don't think that happens here. I've seen other people where it happens. You know, she took a better road. She took the high road. Then we have another story that I'd like to highlight here.
[20:41] We're going to go back to these again a little later. His name was David. David was an interesting person, perhaps more mentioned than almost any Bible character.
[20:58] Not only was he persecuted by his brothers. By the way, he had, I think there were 12 brothers there. I had 13 brothers. They're almost all gone.
[21:09] Only two are left. But I know what it's like to be a younger kid among 13 big boys. It's tough. It can be very tough. So we can take the high road or we can feel sorry for ourselves.
[21:22] Actually, I found a lot of inspiration for my older brothers. Not always in a good way, but we had fun and we had some tough days. David was a man of tremendous courage.
[21:37] God sometimes teaches our best lessons somewhere in the wilderness. And he was the sheep herder chosen by the family as the youngest and the dirtiest job.
[21:48] It was his. But he turned it into something amazing. David was just unbelievable. And like, what man in a modern day army, for example, could wager a war and win with a slingshot or with his bare hands to kill a bearer and a lion?
[22:14] In fact, he used these stories to convince King Saul later that I can go beat this Philistine. I can get him. And everyone was almost mocking him out and said, just let me do it.
[22:27] And God used David. He had learned how to sing out there with the sheep. He sang beautiful songs. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. This man was amazing.
[22:39] He was probably 16 or 17 years old when he killed Goliath. So, he counted.
[22:53] Let's go back to, what's her name? I can't think of her name now. Mary Magdalene. Thank you very much. Mary Magdalene was another very amazing person.
[23:08] She was actually a woman possessed of seven devils. seven demons. And Jesus drove out those demons and she just, she fell in love with her Savior to where nothing she did was enough to serve Jesus.
[23:26] Wherever you found Jesus, you seem to find her always doing something, ministering and showing her affection and love for, as appreciation for what he had done.
[23:39] No cost was too much for her to lavish on Jesus. Now, if you look at the story as we read it, the disciples were angry.
[23:51] They were rebuking her. They were shaming her. and the cost is too much. You shouldn't be spending this kind of money.
[24:02] A whole year's wage, we're told, worth of, was the worth of this perfume that she lavished on Jesus. And Jesus said to the disciples, you're all wrong.
[24:18] You don't get it. They're all wrong. What she has done was the best. She has done what she could.
[24:41] He said that what she has done will be told throughout all of history. It will always be remembered, just what we're doing here this morning. And so, we see in her someone that gave everything.
[25:04] Her gratitude, her love for Jesus, her determination, her sacrifice, all were honored. And Jesus said she has done what she could.
[25:17] I often ask myself when I read this story the one phrase that catches me more than anything else is when he says she did what she could. Let's ask ourselves this morning, am I doing what I can, what I could be doing for Jesus?
[25:31] Am I willing to make sacrifices? Am I willing to miss some of the things I enjoy doing for the sake of serving him? Those are important questions. And so, Mary Magdalene was very highly regarded by Jesus and he praised her.
[25:51] I think it needs to be pointed out here also that in the Hebrew culture, women were not treated very nice. In fact, there's a saying among Jewish men that said, I'm thankful that I'm not a Gentile, I'm thankful I'm not a woman, and I'm thankful I'm not a dog.
[26:17] That was a common saying among Hebrew men. And Jesus came to set the bar to a place where he had always meant women to be.
[26:29] And some of the greatest deeds and some of the more amazing things were done by women. Has it ever occurred to you that when Jesus rose from the dead, who was at the grave first?
[26:42] Mary Magdalene and some other Marys. They came there, they were so, their heart was so broken for Jesus. Let's never ignore the beauty of a woman's passion for Jesus.
[26:58] Men, let's build them. Let's always honor them. Let's make them feel good about themselves. Let's do practical things for them. I like buying roses for my wife, and I surprise her sometimes.
[27:13] One day, I was in Costco with a bouquet of roses, and I was on my way out, and I met this older couple standing there, and I said to this lady, I said, aren't you sorry you're not my girlfriend today?
[27:26] She said, yeah, she said, my husband never buys me flowers. Of course, I'm a little silly, I like to have a little fun once in a while, but it really caught him, and he didn't, wasn't upset, he took the rebuke.
[27:40] She said, my husband doesn't buy me, and I've done this with several people, just kind of try to get them to become alert, because you men, you and I don't completely understand women, we never will.
[27:52] We never will, let's be honest about it, but let's try, let's give it a try, and ladies, you're wonderful people, I just adore everyone, you're mothers, you've given us our children, you make our food, you treat us so nicely, always, most of the time.
[28:11] Let's continue to build, and women, you might do the same for your husband, we need to build each other, and Mary was so in love with her Savior, that nothing was too much, and Jesus said to the men, leave her alone, honor her, don't dishonor her, I want to encourage you to do that.
[28:32] Let's go back to our Hebrew slave for just a minute, I personally see this little lady without a name as the greatest hero in the scriptures, I mean, I'm trying to wrap my head around this story, because it's so unique, that a little girl would not be spending her time sitting in a corner with her thumb in her mouth, begging for help, none of that.
[29:01] When she saw Naaman with his leprosy, she said, oh my, I really wish she could go and find a prophet, he would help her. What strikes me about this is that she had a great love for God, as a little girl, and children, if you're here this morning, don't ever think you're too young to really love Jesus, that's number one.
[29:20] I'm sure your mom and dad have told you that many times. There's no greater relationship for you as a child than what you have with Jesus. That's why we do sponsorship, we're trying to rescue these children from the devil and bring them to Jesus.
[29:35] And boys and girls, you can do a whole lot praying for them, urging the Lord to just protect them, especially today when so much evil and so many children are used for terrible things, sacrifices, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[29:52] So our job is to care like this kind of little girl who refused to be a victim. In fact, we can all refuse to be a victim.
[30:05] Victims, I'm quite bold about saying this, victims are not really very nice people. You know why? They always feel sorry for themselves.
[30:19] They always think they're not getting enough. They're always blaming others for their own problems. They're just, there's the kind of people that don't contribute to the welfare, to the happiness of either a family or a church.
[30:33] I've pastored for many years. And I'll tell you, when I drove, there was one lady in our church, she's dead, so I can tell you the story. She was so after that every pastor that came was a bad guy.
[30:46] And they built a house along the road and they had a window. It had a little jog in it so that there was a window right there so she could see down the street who was coming.
[30:57] And if you, if you didn't wave your hand every time you went by, you weren't a very good pastor. So I made it a point whether I could see it or not, I always waved.
[31:11] You know something? The Lord took her home and I felt sorry for her. My heart went out to her because she had never learned the secret of being joyful as a Christian. And the Lord wants us to be joyful.
[31:24] If you look at King David, he was always praising the Lord. I mean, who praised the Lord more than David? And really, who was persecuted more than David? King Saul was after him for years trying to kill him.
[31:41] And in the midst of this, he found psalms of how God was protecting him. We need to embrace praise. Praise, the devil hates it.
[31:52] He wants the glory. But we give it to Jesus and we praise Jesus for all he's done. Praise God for an amazing congregation here this morning. I couldn't believe it when I sat down, Pastor Wayne, what have you been doing?
[32:03] You haven't been sitting around. This church, every time I come here, it's grown more. That's, in fact, I was looking around today and I said, where are they going to add their addition to now?
[32:15] They're going to have to. Keep growing. Someone's doing the right thing here and I just want to thank you for that and I want to just say, please keep on praying for us and I want to confess to you, I would need to pray more for you.
[32:29] It's very important we do. And to continue to honor Jesus. And going back to our original statement, let's be finders, finding children and bringing them to Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us.
[32:47] I have been studying a book, Pastor Wayne may know about a book, it's called The Spiritual Man, written by Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian soldier who was in prison for 20 years for his faith.
[33:03] And I've often tried to discern what's the difference in a good thought is that the Holy Spirit necessarily talking or is it my own idea?
[33:14] And he put me straight on something. He said, we as Christians when we're walking with God often are led by intuition. Now intuition is not necessarily a thought.
[33:26] No, no, a thought. It's a gut feeling. And we keep saying, Lord, what are you saying to me? That's intuition. When we seek to ask the Lord to help us to understand what intuities stands within us and what are you saying?
[33:43] And so often the Lord has done some amazing things by showing me what he's trying to say to my gut which I couldn't mentally understand. And the Holy Spirit is there.
[33:54] He's linked with our spirit and he wants to have the freedom to do what he wants to do. That's so beautiful. Thank you again for having us.
[34:06] Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, I can't thank you enough this morning for the joy of the Lord and the beauty of being your child and continuing to get more from you.
[34:20] Father, sometimes I think of the little song that says, By and by when I look on his face, beautiful face, thorn shadowed face, by and by when I look on his face, I'll wish I had given him more, more, so much more, more of my care than I ever gave before.
[34:49] By and by, when I look on his face, I'll wish I had given him more. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who lives in us.
[35:03] And as we heard this morning in Sunday school, we are very privileged to have him in us. We are now the temples of the living God and you have warned us in your word how we treat this temple.
[35:18] And today, we commit this temple into your hand for your guiding and direction, guidance and direction in our walk with you. I pray for all the children in this church. What a blessing to see them, to see them laughing, to see them doing all the things that children do.
[35:34] They just, they're so, and you told us not to ignore them. So we pray that even this church, the children here, will sense in their hearts that they are special.
[35:46] We thank you and pray for your congregation, the pastor, the leadership. Continue your hand upon them. We pray in Jesus' lovely name. Amen.