[Music] uh let's uh let me just read the mission statement all over again before we jump into what we're what we'll do is every nation churches and Ministries exist to honor God by establishing christ-centered Spirit empowered socially responsible churches and Campus Ministries in every nation Deuteronomy chapter 15. starting with verse 4 it says but there will be no poor among you for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God being careful to do all this Commandment that I command you today for the Lord your God will bless you as he promised you and you shall lend to many nations but you shall not borrow and you shall rule over many nations but they shall not rule over you then Luke Chapter 14 verse 18. the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to Proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to Proclaim Liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at Liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor that's the ESV version now I'd like to read from the NIV version the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to Proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to Proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor um I am someone who does not remember most of my dreams or all of my dreams actually practically all my dreams I am someone who's very aware that I'm Dreaming but the moment I wake up I somehow I forget everything I don't know why I I know that feeling very engaged in the dream but totally forget most of it or 99 of it um when I wake up but I had one dream years ago that has stuck with me till today I can't seem to forget it and it keeps coming back once in a while and in my dream it was weird because I in my dream I was walking I was going up the escalator uh I vaguely remember it was it was I felt like I was in a mall walking up the escalator and this old woman was running after me or trying to catch me and I remember the old woman in a sense as one of the beggars in the streets and this old woman saying sir sir here's your money and I'm looking at her turned around and said I didn't give you anything that's not my money sir sir here's your money I said that's not mine and we're arguing already in his error I'm returning your money and uh I think it happened three or more times and that conversation sir here's your mind I said that's not mine here's your money that's not mine and then I woke up and I can't remember anymore I I can't I can't seem to forget it and I was bothered by it so I asked the Lord I have a Praying said Lord what are you trying to tell me we've heard it many times especially in our in in our nation where there's a lot of poor around us there's a lot of poverty there's a lot of poor people there's a lot of Beggars on the streets and the highways and there's The Story Goes that uh don't don't give any because they're being used by different uh crime groups to milk money from people and as I'm asking Lord what do you mean by this what why this dream and I felt like the Lord told me if you think you're the victim you're not she is if you think you're being victimized by by them you're not she's the one that's getting victimized that changed my whole perspective of how I see the poor and the desire to do something about it now I'm not in a place where I'm running with it full steam ahead but it definitely changed the way I see poor people all around us from the two scriptures we read earlier we see a few things God's desire that there will be no poor or poverty around us we see that God set aside blessings and want us to be blessed that poverty will not be a problem in other words God has a heart for the poor Psalm 34 Verse 6 says this the poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles yet even with that reality we Face another reality around us that the poor are all over the place all over the world in every corner of our world in our nation we realize if we want to reach this nation we have in the sense that we have to face the reality we need to reach the poor in this nation even Jesus said after the scripture we say that God wants to do something and and God has a heart for the poor Jesus himself said for the poor you will always have with you but you do not always have me talking about the woman who was breaking such an expensive perfume on his feet and as we talk about socially responsible as we talk about reaching and ministering to the poor in our Nations or different parts of the world I realize there are challenges facing us as we try to help the poor one of the challenges that face us is the definition how do you define who is poor and what is poverty the poverty threshold in very diff is very different from each other depending on what part of the world we are from sitting down there earlier with talking with Pastor June he said 50 percent of Asia 50 percent of people in Asia all only earn about two dollars a day two US dollars a day you go to the U.S you look at their poverty line you move them to Asia they will be very comfortable in the way they live on what they can do with their money found this very interesting statistics yesterday and I was surprised I found out that it said it said in one website about wealth and poverty he said that if you have 2 200 US dollars or in our nation 105 000 pesos in this world you are rich and he's talking about assets not cash you are in the top 50 of the world's wealthiest if you have two thousand two hundred dollars worth of assets that's just one MacBook you are in the top 50 percent of the wealthiest in the world if you have sufficient for if you if you made one thousand five hundred dollars last year about 72 000 pesos about 5 000 pesos to six thousand pesos a month in terms of income you are in the top 20 percent of the world's income earners there's many other things it says if you have a if you have sufficient food decent clothes live in a house or apartment and have reasonably reliable means of transportation you are among the top 15 percent of the world's wealthiest interesting statistics one of the challenges we face when we talk about reaching the poor and ministering to the poor is the definitions that abound is who is poor and what is poor there's so much more statistics if you would just search it but I won't bore you with more statistics the other challenge we face in ministering to the poor is our attitudes the different attitudes toward the poor also pose a great challenge even for those who want to help our preconceived mindset towards the poor can be a hindrance there are those who look down on the poor and treat them as not human without dignity or without value but there's also on the other side where people are so afraid that they can't do anything and the best that they can do is probably just give to it and and I'm not trying to put that down and I do hope we become generous and we'll talk a little more about that later but our preconceived mindsets and our attitudes towards the poor can be a hindrance there are those who want to give but not help they want to stay away there are those that believe that poverty is their fault there's uh there's there you can look searching the website uh different websites top five reasons why people are poor and uh one of them is Injustice we know that but one of them is also because of laziness which is there is some truth to it but that's not the general situation of people around us these are some of the sad realities we face and personally struggle as well when it comes to reaching the poor the other challenge we face are the solutions themselves there are so many solutions varied and valid as well but many are not connected and many are not holistic so many solutions that are out there is actually trying to alleviate guilt by the ones helping rather than the target of really helping in the end very little give long-term and even generational poverty Solutions as we go through this this morning I want to just mix a few things clear this is not an attempt to accurately Define poverty and the poor I don't think I have qualified to do that this is not an attempt to come up with the best and most balanced and right attitude attitude towards poverty and the poor this is not to convince anyone that we have the best solution what we're trying to Simply do is that we can look at scripture and look at what scripture says and what God's people or God's church can do to help alleviate and so something that is a burden in God's heart this is so that we can begin to explore if not continue to be involved in our own Every Nation social responsibility Endeavors so we can be used by God as his instruments of Grace in our world with all the difficulties differences and limitations in helping the poor I want to share three Thoughts with us this morning and the first thought we talked a little bit about already God is concerned about the poor God's intention and plan is to bless and prosper people God's heart and will for the poor shows that we can see them walk out poverty there are solutions now with all the poverty that's around us with all the different challenges with all the difficulties those two the scriptures that you see gives us hope that there is a solution that we can actually help others walk out of poverty that we can actually help others and declare to them that God's final will for you is not to stay there but to get out of it that's the hope that we find in the scriptures but as we talk about this I want to also broaden our definition of poverty or the poor from the scripture we read about Jesus coming to bring good news to the poor I want to include in our definition anybody who needs help or anybody who's poor can be classified simply as somebody who's oppressed somebody who's abused somebody who's helpless enslaved and even weak in other words I want to bring in a definition that we can work with and can encourage us and it's this people who are powerless or overwhelmed by their circumstances it is almost impossible to overcome people who are powerless or overwhelmed by their circumstances circumstances it is almost impossible to overcome and Jesus said he came to bring good news to the poor which means to all people in the Philippines in our Victory Church here we have what we call real life some of you have heard about it there's some of the pictures um of some of the events of real life real life is a foundation that we have that gives scholarships to some of our less fortunate or underprivileged disciples in many of our churches we're hoping to expand it in Greater ways it's undergoing it's going through a transition today and in the hope that you really set up that we can bring it in Greater uh uh broadening its influence and it affects in all of our churches around the Philippines but real life started through a man named Dr Joey Castro who's now uh one of our missionaries in a limited uh creative access Nation our Muslim Nation today and Pastor doc Joey we mix him up either is Doc Zoe or his Pastor Joey but it doesn't matter but but don't Dr Joey Castro started helping students that he would disciple because he ended up ministering in what was once was the largest High School in the world I think if I remember right 15 000 students in one high school and he started and it's it's a high school for it's a public school so it's a a lot of the poorest of the poor go to school there and he ended up ministering with them making disciples and ended up feeding them because they don't have food ended up paying for their transportation because they couldn't go back to from their house to the school and to some degree started also helping them with tuition fee and as as he started ministering to this ministering to the students eventually some of the church members started getting involved as well somebody started helping out and eventually that became real life today real life has seen about I think close to 300 graduates already and a lot of them are employed helping they're helping their families step by step walk out of power poverty ninety percent of the real uh life Scholars or those who've graduated are the first uh University degree holder in their family so this is a chance to help them Pastor Steve says this how we attempt to honor God in every nation should be unique to every culture and Community because the needs and opportunities in each are different what every expression of social responsibility should have in common is that it is unapologetically christ-centered in every nation we have those who minister to the different needs and challenges of their communities we have different social responsibility projects all over the world from child trafficking to our funds and to others what's important that it is christ-centered in everything that we do second thought I want to share with us today is God's instrument is his church in our world today mostly when it comes to the poor we entrust that to the government but when you read scripture and you study scripture it is actually the job of the church it is actually the ministry of the church it's actually a responsibility God gave the church many times people ask the question where was God when I was sick where was God when I was down and out where was God when I was facing this where was God have you ever met somebody who asked that question I think the more accurate question is where was the church where was the church when people were going through this where was the church when people were in poverty where was the church after the calamities where was the church we are God's Representatives we are God's hand and feet we are God's instrument in this world Matthew 25 34. then the king will say to those on his right come you are blessed by my father take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me I needed clothes and you clothed me I was sick and you looked after me I was in prison and you came to visit me then the righteous will answer him Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink when did we see you a stranger invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you when did we see you sick in prison and go to visit you the king will reply truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of his brothers and sisters of mine you did for me then he will say to those on his left depart from me you who are cursed into the Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink I was a stranger and you didn't invite me in I needed clothes and you did not clothe me I was sick and in prison he did not look after me they also will answer Lord when did we see you hungry and thirsty or a stranger needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you he will reply truly I tell you whatever you did not do for one of the least of this you did not do for me so do you think it would be an accurate question where was the church or the question today as we look at our communities as we look at our cities again I'm not espousing that we put aside what God has called us to do God's purpose God's calling God's stewardship for us but as well we cannot deny the responsibility where is the church Mother Teresa if you remember she's uh passed away already when mother terista started her work to the poor in India I think after a few months the local religious leaders went to their local government and complained that there was a Catholic nun going around and doing work in a very strongly religious section of their town of their City and they asked the government officials to remove her from their place so the government official the local government leader checked out Mother Teresa for a few days went with her watched what she was doing after a few days got all this religious leaders together and said if you can find someone that can do what she's doing I will get her out I guess we know what the answer was because Mother Teresa spent most of her life ministering to the poorest of the poor in India it is amazing what seeming enemies of the church will allow and open up when the Church of Jesus Christ extends kindness and compassion to the community amazing seemingly people who are against the church but when the church allows itself to be a Channel of kindness and compassion it's amazing what doors get opened before us we see that even in our day today we see that in our nation today we see that in small pockets in different parts of the world it's amazing how close Nations close to the gospel close to the church will open their Nation to ah to strongly Christian organizations simply because of compassion and kindness the church is God's instrument when I when I read the scripture I see you I see one thing that's very true every time God wants to do something in the nation I would say 95 to 99 of the time he would always look for his people say if God wants to do something in our nation including reaching the poor and including reaching the oppressed including reaching the enslaved and the victims of Injustice who do you think God can use and who do you think God is looking for it's the church we are the instruments of God we are not just the voice of God I thank God that that's a church we have a very strong voice but we are also the hands and feet of God we've seen that in some areas of our society but I think a day is coming when God will expand where our hands and feet go that we might reach who God is burdened with and whom Jesus died on the cross for as a church and as a ministry here in the Philippines and around the world we are not the solution to Poverty friends God is but I think the challenge that faces us today is this are we willing to be his instruments his channels last thought God will Empower you if we are the church if we are God's instruments then God will Empower you God will Empower us second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8 and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiently sufficiency in all things at all times you will abound in every good work he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and increase your and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the Harvest of your righteousness you will be made enriched in every way to be generous in every way which through us will produce Thanksgiving to God can Empower you generosity is an amazing tool an amazing desire God can use our desire and applied generosity is an amazing instrument for God's grace to touch others it's an amazing promise from God God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things having all sufficiency in all things at all times you will abound very good work it's also interesting that God is that you find this in a scripture in a place in the scripture where they're talking about the church that is in trial and in extreme poverty but when you read the scripture the trial and the extreme poverty the result of that through the Macedonian Church was was generosity God will Empower you start with this possible small things and watch God Empower you towards greater things one of the things I realized if we if we take a step of faith God will meet us there and God can take us further nobody's asking you to give what's not yours please don't get your neighbor's wallet and say I want to give like I've never given before start Where You Are start with the small things and watch God Empower you start like Doc Joey started found this we found students hungry because they hadn't had breakfast and lunch and all he had was biscuits so he just went to this he had money enough for biscuits so every time he would go on his discipleship meetings he would buy biscuits and during the discipleship he will just put it on the table says anyone any one of you would like to eat just go get and they would then he would teach the Bible then he found out somebody said a fair to go home give him a little here go home and come back tomorrow today it's it's been able to graduate 250 Scholars at least from that small thing again the question is are we willing to be channels of generosity I want to encourage you with this that we do not become simply a display of God's goodness but that we become a channel of his grace that one day when people look at you and people look at us they won't be able they they would say those people they're really blessed but I do hope they can add another statement to that those people they're really a blessing because we did not become a display of God's goodness we became a Channel of his grace so much of Christianity Today is talking about showing off what God has blessed us with look at my house look at my car look at my things I hope it I hope we transcend beyond that and say Lord now that you've given me all this what do you want to do with it use me as a Channel of Your Grace and I'm not just talking about financial generosity but being generous with your life we talked a little bit about mothers erisa I guess it's one good example of a life live generously she gave her life so the money to do what she needed followed her next thought God will Empower you use your faith to be a blessing Matthew Chapter 13 Verse 57 to verse 58. remember this story and says that they took offense at him but Jesus said to them only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor and he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith when I think about that scripture I feel really sad I think this is one of the saddest stories in the Bible why because this is Jesus Hometown this is these were people he knew this were this is where his family probably was this is where his friends were if there is any town that he probably had greater compassion and love for this would probably be it but this was the town he couldn't do anything why because of their lack of faith friends I realized this your faith doesn't just affect you it affects others and so much of Christianity Today is very personal and I'm not against being personal with Christianity but friends it's got to go beyond us because the way we live the way we conduct Our Lives what we see and what we desire doesn't just affect us it affects others one of the reasons I found out one of the one of the motivations I I I I grew up with as a Christian or was to get to a place where my faith continually grows when I found out that the reality of the scripture why because my faith doesn't just affect me it affects others as well your trust in God could be a blessing to someone when you're helping the oppressed when you're helping the enslaved where you're helping the broken broken people chances are they don't have faith but your faith can make a difference your faith can make a difference her testimony after testimony from real life about poor students who no longer had hope in life so shocked to meet one of our one of our uh campus missionaries that there was this person who believed in them and they're shocked I said why does this person believe in me because in their mind there is no hope for them anymore and there's this person telling them you can make a difference your life can turn around God can bless you God will bless you because God loves you the shock of their life and then they started opening up themselves today they're helping their families walk out of poverty we're not just talking about money here we're just talking about God using you and Friends your faith is a major part of helping others remember the story of the four friends in the Bible who had a friend who was crippled probably didn't have faith how many viewers have strong faith when you're sick when I'm not sick it's so easy to pray for people I can master all the back and yes I fail it believe God but when you're the one that's that's in pain it's kind of difficult isn't it but there are these four friends who used their faith for the sake of their friend and the Bible says when Jesus saw their faith Jesus acted their friend got healed the story of the Samaritan or the story of Jesus where a man was was mugged beaten and left for dead and different people passed by the religious person the government official the wealthy person but they took a Samaritan just to take this person their faith exercise made a difference your hope your faith Your Enthusiasm can be a catalyst for others start around you you don't have to start you don't have to walk out of this this school setting up a NGO to help the poor maybe that's what God wants to do I don't know but you can surely start somewhere you can start around you start with prayer continue to make disciples help your disciples let God Empower you with compassion Proverbs 14 31. whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker but he who is generous to the needy honors him whoever mocks the poor insults his maker he who is glad at Calamity will not go unpunished 21 verse and ever shuts their eyes to the Cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered reaching out in compassion I remember a story of a man who I was like I'm trying to remember what conference was that but this man was a story of this man who God was staring up his heart to Simply to start doing somewhere to start where he was in terms of being a blessing and allowing God to use him as his instrument so he was praying and asking God he realized that every day he would go to this train station to take the train to go to work he would always see two beggars sitting somewhere and he would see them every day now there's other Beggars all over the place but this particular two people he would always pass by them every day so he was praying and he felt like the Lord was asking to do something so he didn't know what to do so he just decided to this day go a bit earlier than normal and he sat down with him and just started talking to them just ask them what's your name where are you from didn't know what to do but just talk to them then after a few minutes they say all right I gotta go he goes to work the next day he comes early again he starts keeps talking to them and one time he came with a he came a bit earlier and brought some food with him so he sat down there talked to them brought out the food and they ate together this is all he did he did it for days months it's every day coming sometimes a bit a bigger block of time sometimes just a short time but he would take the time just to talk with him help them in any way small things then one day he came there and he noticed the other person was there the woman wasn't there so he asked the other guy says where is so and so and the guy just told him she passed away last night and this guy who's been talking to them going to the train station early he's talking with him feeding them having a meal with them just broke down in tears he couldn't hold himself he just cried and after crying when he looked up all the other Beggars were around him and they hugged him and they brought him to the house where the funeral was from that simple thing it opened up a Ministry to the whole to the whole family you don't have to have dreams of winning the world just a dream to help someone allow God to put compassion in you allow God to use you for the sake of others allow God to use you in a very simple yet powerful way because when the grace of God flows through you friends guaranteed it will touch others and it will open up doors for what else God can do through you and through us [Music]