What If No One Went Hungry?

Would you believe that global hunger could be eliminated within our lifetime? That might seem impossible, but we’re closer than you think. This week, Dan Clark from Convoy of Hope, an organization that helps feed kids in schools, empowers women to start small businesses, and trains farmers in agriculture so they can feed their own communities. He’s sharing an unbelievable message of hope—that we are winning the war on global hunger.

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    – Hey, my name is Kyle.
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    I'm a Pastor at Crossroads Online Church.
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    You know, we exist to guide you
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    on your path to adventure,
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    and sometimes that's a bumpy ride.
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    Recently, we had a controversial message
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    and a lot has happened.
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    This weekend, our Senior Pastor, Brian Tome,
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    will be addressing our community with
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    a message full of hope and love.
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    Keep an eye out for the message from Brian.
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    By the way, if any of you are a part
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    of Crossroads Online Church want to connect with me,
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    you can always email me at kyle.ranson@Crossroads.net.
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    I'll do my best to respond to you in a timely manner.
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    One of my favorite things about this community
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    is that no matter who you are,
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    no matter what you believe, even if you disagree,
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    you can belong here and you matter.
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    Now, today we have an exciting message for you,
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    one I think you're not going to get anywhere else.
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    Right now, I can tell you this,
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    one of these three things is actually true.
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    One, Space Jam 2 is much better than the original;
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    two, the multiverse is definitely real;
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    or three, we are on the brink of solving
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    global hunger as we know it.
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    Today's special guest is Dan Clark.
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    He's a leader, at Convoy of Hope,
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    one of our global partners who's focused on
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    the fight against hunger and extreme poverty.
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    They do this by feeding kids in schools,
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    nearly 400,000, empowering women
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    to start small businesses
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    so they can feed their own kids,
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    and training farmers in agriculture
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    so they can feed their own communities.
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    There is good news around world hunger,
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    and I know that might feel like
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    an oxymoron to most people.
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    Normally when we hear about global hunger,
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    we only hear the bad news.
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    There's still work to be done,
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    but God is using our church to
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    make a dent in hunger around the world.
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    Let's hear from Dan.
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    – You're on.
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    – Special guest to the stage, please.
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    Special guest to the stage.
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    – Is this thing on?
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    – Hey, Crossroads excited to be with you
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    and let me just say right out of the gate
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    on behalf of the entire Convoy of Hope team
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    thank you for your partnership.
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    You know poverty's darkest message
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    for those who are caught in its grip
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    is that you don't matter.
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    And together, through your generosity
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    and through your partnership,
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    we're delivering a different message.
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    We're letting people know that you do matter,
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    that you matter to God and you matter to us.
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    And that's an amazing thing.
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    So we're so grateful.
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    I love this message series
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    that we're in right now
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    where nothing is off limits
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    and we're talking about things, and having conversations that,
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    well, you wouldn't normally hear in church.
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    And I came across this story that I thought,
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    yeah, this is probably something
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    you wouldn't hear in church.
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    And I'll just share it with you quick.
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    A pastor decided to skip church
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    one Sunday morning and go play golf.
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    He told his assistant that he wasn't feeling well,
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    and he drove to a course that was in another city
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    so that nobody would recognize him.
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    And when he teed off on the first hole,
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    a huge gust of wind caught his ball,
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    carried it an extra hundred yards
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    and dropped it right in the hole
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    for a 450 yard hole in one.
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    An angel looked at God and said,
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    "What did you do that for?"
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    God smiled and replied,
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    "Well, who's he going to tell?"
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    That's probably a story
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    that preacher's not telling church.
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    Well, here's something else
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    you also probably wouldn't hear in church.
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    And it's good news, in fact, it's great news.
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    And the news is this: that we are winning
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    the war against hunger and extreme poverty.
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    The fight is certainly not over.
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    There's still work to do, but perhaps
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    more than you realized we are winning.
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    You say, "Dan, how? How does that happen
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    and why is that happening?"
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    Perhaps more than any other reason,
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    I believe, it's because God's people,
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    Christ's followers, are leaning in
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    to the promises and the potential of philanthropy.
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    Philanthropy is a word that probably
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    conjures up some different images in your mind.
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    Maybe it makes you think of like
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    old men in top hats like Monopoly Man
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    or Warren Buffett, I don't know.
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    But I think most of us, we understand
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    that philanthropy has to do with
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    the act of giving, the giving to help
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    others who are in need.
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    But it actually means something
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    much, much deeper, much more beautiful.
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    The word comes from a Greek origin
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    and it literally means the love of humanity.
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    So you could say in a sense that God, the Father,
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    was the original philanthropist,
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    the OP, giving His Son.
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    Why? Because he loved people.
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    Jesus, too. He gave his life. Why?
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    Because He loved people.
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    And that's what philanthropy is,
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    it is loving through giving.
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    It's loving your community and the world
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    and expressing God's love through generosity.
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    And so today, I want to encourage you
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    with a brief biblical perspective
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    on the promises and the potential of philanthropy.
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    You know, scripture, it says a lot about giving,
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    about generosity, and sharing what we have
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    to meet the needs of others.
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    I think anyone who has read the Bible
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    even a little bit would be quick to agree
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    that God's love for the poor
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    is a central irreducible component
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    of His self identity.
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    There's more than 700 scriptures that affirm this.
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    And I want to look at just a few of them together because
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    there's a theme that I want you to see.
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    Let's look first, Deuteronomy 15.
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    This is the Old Testament here, it says:
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    Give generously to the poor.
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    This is God speaking to His people
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    and do so without a grudging heart.
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    Then because of this the Lord your God
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    will bless you in all your work
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    and in everything that you put your hand to.
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    Here's Jesus in Matthew 25.
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    Many of you are familiar with this verse.
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    Jesus said: Truly I tell you,
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    whatever you did for one of the least
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    of these brothers and sisters of mine,
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    you did for Me.
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    And here the last one, words of wisdom
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    from King Solomon in Proverbs:
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    Whoever gives to the poor,
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    lends to the Lord, and He will repay him.
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    There's a theme there. Do you see it?
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    This isn't just important to God.
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    It's not just a priority, it's personal.
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    If you have kids, if you're a parent,
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    you'll understand this.
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    It's kind of like if you do something nice for me.
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    Great, I appreciate that. That's very nice of you.
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    I'm going to say thank you.
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    But you do something nice for one of my kids,
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    now you've got my attention.
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    Now you better get ready to be blessed
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    because I'm going to find a way to bless you.
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    And it's like this with caring, for the needs of the poor.
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    It is so personal to our Heavenly Father
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    that He has attached promises, benefits,
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    rewards to His commands
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    to help those who were in need.
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    And I would offer to you that
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    they are His promises of philanthropy.
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    Another verse from Proverbs 11:25 says:
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    The generous shall prosper.
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    Whoever refreshes others
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    will themselves be refreshed.
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    They might say, "Dan, look,
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    I didn't give to be blessed.
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    I just gave because it was the right thing to do."
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    And I'm telling you, it doesn't matter.
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    These are heaven's rules.
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    If you gave cheerfully,
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    then you qualify for the promises.
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    It'd be kind of like this.
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    When we deposit money in a good account,
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    like with a good bank,
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    it is returned to us with interest.
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    And when we give to the poor,
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    we are lending to the Lord.
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    And in a sense, He has promised us interest.
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    Now, maybe you're thinking, Dan,
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    is this a like how to get rich message?
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    Not at all.
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    By any global measure, we already are rich.
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    In fact, the bulk of the promises,
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    they have nothing to do with money.
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    They have to do with more meaningful things.
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    Take a look with me at Isaiah 58.
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    This is right in the middle of your Old Testament.
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    Isaiah, if you're new to scripture
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    and you're not familiar with this character,
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    Isaiah was a prophet. What does that mean?
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    He was a spokesperson.
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    God would speak through prophets,
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    through men and women to His people.
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    And that was Isaiah's role for about 40 years.
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    He was on the scene about 700 years before Jesus.
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    And like most of his contemporaries,
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    he delivered messages through poetic speeches.
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    And that's why it reads a little bit different.
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    But all of the prophets, their focus
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    was always on the covenant bond
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    between God and His people.
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    One of the things that made Isaiah unique
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    was that he had personal access
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    to the kings of his day.
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    He was akin to a presidential adviser.
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    And at this time that this book was written,
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    Judah, The Nation of Judah, God's people
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    were under threat from the Assyrian empire.
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    There's a tremendous emphasis
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    on international affairs
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    and they're praying for God's protection,
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    for His direction, for His favor.
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    And if you read the book,
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    it all comes down to this:
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    Isaiah urges the people to commit to God's ways,
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    to care for the needy,
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    and to pursue economic and social justice.
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    And in chapter 58, God declares
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    what He will do for His people in response.
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    Let's read it together, starting in verse 6.
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    This is God speaking here, He says,
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    "Is this not the kind of fast I have chosen --"
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    He's talking about the kind of devotion
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    or the kind of life that pleases Him.
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    "-- To loose the chains of injustice
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    and untie the cords of the yoke,
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    to set the oppressed free,
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    and to break every yoke."
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    You say, "Dan, what's a yoke?"
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    This isn't your two eggs sunny side up at Waffle House.
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    A yolk was that that ring, that device
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    they'd put around the neck of an ox
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    or a horse to enslave them, to put them to work.
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    It represented bondage, captivity, exploitation.
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    Go on.
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    "Is it not to share your food with the hungry
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    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
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    when you see the naked to clothe them."
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    And here comes the pivot, the buzz word of 2020.
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    God says, if you do this, verse 8,
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    "Then your light will break forth like the dawn."
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    I don't know about you, but I think
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    if this chapter of the Bible had a soundtrack
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    it'd probably be Eye of the Tiger,
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    because that to me sounds like a promise of victory.
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    That's the comeback story right here.
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    "And your healing will quickly appear,
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    and your righteousness --"
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    Who is our righteousness? That's Jesus --
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    "will go before you."
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    That is a promise of direction.
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    "And the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard."
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    That is a promise of protection.
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    The Almighty God is going to have your back.
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    "And then you will call and the Lord will answer.
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    You will cry for help,
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    and He will say: Here I am."
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    That is a promise, friends, of attention,
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    that we will have the attention
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    of the Creator of the universe.
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    And notice, God didn't say maybe, He said will.
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    He is not hedging.
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    He has gone all in on His promises.
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    Let's keep going with verse 9.
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    God continues to lay out the terms.
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    He says, "If you do away
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    with the yoke of oppression,
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    with the pointing finger and the malicious talk."
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    What are we talking about there?
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    I think The Message translation helps us understand.
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    It says, "If you get rid of unfair practices,
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    if you quit blaming victims."
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    You know sometimes we see people
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    and they're in a tough spot.
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    We say, "They're probably the victim
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    of their own choices."
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    That might be true, but it doesn't change
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    how we're supposed to respond.
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    It says, "Quit gossiping about other people's sins."
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    You know, they must have done something
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    really bad to offend God to end up in that spot.
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    Maybe they did, but it doesn't change
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    how we're supposed to respond.
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    Let's keep going, verse 10.
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    "And if you spend yourselves
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    in behalf of the hungry
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    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
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    then your light will rise in the darkness
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    and your knight will become like the noon day.
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    The Lord will guide you always."
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    That's a promise of guidance.
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    "He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land."
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    That is a promise of provision.
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    "You will be like a well-watered garden,
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    like a spring whose waters never fail."
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    That is a promise of strength,
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    a promise of abundance, friends.
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    These are the promises of God.
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    I would submit to you that
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    they are His promises of philanthropy.
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    Isn't that amazing?
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    God is essentially telling His people,
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    you and me, that if we will care
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    for the needs of the poor, the hungry,
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    the oppressed, that He'll take care of us.
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    This is personal to Him
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    and He has promised what He will do in return.
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    I hope you're feeling encouraged
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    because I've got some more for you.
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    We talked about the promises.
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    Now let's look at the potential of philanthropy,
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    the transformation that can occur,
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    that is, in fact, occurring
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    as we express love through giving.
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    In his letter to the Galatians,
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    the apostle Paul wrote in Chapter 6,
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    a passage that focuses on another
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    giving principle, sowing and reaping.
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    We know it as the law of the harvest.
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    And the law of the harvest is all about potential.
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    It's about what can happen
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    when we sow good seed in good soil.
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    And Paul writes at the end of this passage,
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    he says, "Let us not become weary in doing good,"
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    in giving, in generosity,
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    "for at the proper time we will reap a harvest
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    if we do not give up."
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    And friends, those words are as true today as ever.
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    Let me share with you about something
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    that our team at Convoy of Hope
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    is very passionate about.
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    One of the great possibilities of our generation
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    is the end of hunger as we know it.
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    Based on the progress of recent decades,
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    global leaders believe that it can happen
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    in our lifetimes, as soon as
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    the year 2030 they've projected.
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    But only, only I believe, if we heed
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    the words of leaders like the apostle Paul
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    and Winston Churchill, who famously
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    challenged us to never, ever, ever give up.
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    Let me share with you a quick story
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    as an example of what I mean.
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    It's a true story, mybe you've heard it before.
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    Back in the gold rush days
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    of the Wild, Wild West,
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    a young man and his uncle, they made their way
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    to the western frontier of Colorado.
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    They had journeyed all the way from Maryland
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    with the hopes of striking it rich.
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    After staking their claim,
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    they went to work with pick and shovel.
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    And in a matter of weeks, their faith
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    and effort was rewarded
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    by the discovery of shining gold ore.
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    At the time, it was speculated that
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    they had discovered one of the largest
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    gold finds in American history.
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    That had to be a great day, huh?
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    So they raise the financing needed
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    and a full scale mining operation
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    was set into motion.
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    But then the unbelievable happened.
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    After all that work and all that investment,
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    that main vein of gold ore suddenly disappeared.
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    Resolutely, they kept digging deeper and deeper,
  • 00:15:13
    but it was to no avail, it just wasn't there.
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    The gold, along with their hopes
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    and their dreams had vanished.
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    Filled with self-doubt and disillusionment,
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    they gave up, they walked away
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    and they sold their claim to a man
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    who bought junk for pennies,
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    and then they boarded the next train home to Maryland.
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    Sometimes pursuing an audacious goal,
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    like ending hunger and extreme poverty,
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    can feel like mining for an elusive treasure.
  • 00:15:46
    I mean, we begin with high hopes
  • 00:15:48
    and we see flashes of progress,
  • 00:15:50
    but the seemingly endless need,
  • 00:15:52
    it can create fatigue,
  • 00:15:54
    which makes it vitally important
  • 00:15:56
    that we see what's really happening,
  • 00:15:58
    that we see the progress being made,
  • 00:16:00
    lest we too lose heart.
  • 00:16:02
    Because after all, what we're pursuing
  • 00:16:04
    is far more valuable than gold.
  • 00:16:07
    And victory?
  • 00:16:08
    Well, sometimes it's closer than we think.
  • 00:16:12
    Let me share with you just one example
  • 00:16:13
    of the progress, the child mortality rate.
  • 00:16:16
    This is the number of children who die before age 5.
  • 00:16:19
    It's a heartbreaking statistic for sure.
  • 00:16:21
    But experts believe that this measure
  • 00:16:23
    takes the temperature of a whole society,
  • 00:16:26
    not just the health of the children,
  • 00:16:27
    but the quality of community life.
  • 00:16:30
    The Gates Foundation recently wrote that
  • 00:16:32
    if they had just one data point to focus on,
  • 00:16:35
    this would be it.
  • 00:16:36
    Now take a look at this graph.
  • 00:16:38
    Each bubble on the chart, it represents a country
  • 00:16:42
    with the size of the bubble corresponding
  • 00:16:45
    with the size of that country's population.
  • 00:16:47
    The big ones are China and India and so on.
  • 00:16:49
    You get it.
  • 00:16:50
    And check this out.
  • 00:16:52
    You won't find a single country, not one,
  • 00:16:56
    where the child mortality rate
  • 00:16:58
    has increased since 1969.
  • 00:17:01
    It's just the opposite.
  • 00:17:03
    By comparison, over a 25 year period,
  • 00:17:05
    6 million fewer children died in 2015 than in 1990.
  • 00:17:10
    If you need a mental picture of that,
  • 00:17:12
    that is more than all of the children
  • 00:17:14
    in the country of France.
  • 00:17:17
    Yes, we still have work to do,
  • 00:17:19
    but we're making incredible progress.
  • 00:17:22
    And the improvements that we can measure,
  • 00:17:24
    they're not unique just to child survival rates.
  • 00:17:26
    If we were to look at graphs showing
  • 00:17:28
    level of income, access to medicine
  • 00:17:31
    or electricity, family size, education,
  • 00:17:34
    they would all tell the same encouraging story.
  • 00:17:39
    Perhaps more than we realize,
  • 00:17:42
    the world is dramatically changing.
  • 00:17:44
    See, it used to be divided into two:
  • 00:17:47
    rich and poor, developed and developing,
  • 00:17:49
    but it isn't any longer.
  • 00:17:52
    To help us better respond to this new reality,
  • 00:17:54
    the late Dr. Hans Rosling.
  • 00:17:57
    He was a renowned public health educator
  • 00:17:59
    who spent his life rescuing children from poverty.
  • 00:18:02
    He developed a simple thinking tool
  • 00:18:04
    referred to as the Four Levels.
  • 00:18:08
    This model that was completed
  • 00:18:09
    in the final years of his life,
  • 00:18:11
    it's been so profound in its implications
  • 00:18:13
    that many prominent philanthropists
  • 00:18:15
    have committed to it
  • 00:18:16
    as their new filter for understanding.
  • 00:18:19
    In fact, in 2017, the World Bank,
  • 00:18:22
    which sets the global poverty line,
  • 00:18:24
    formally embraced the Four Levels
  • 00:18:26
    and announced they were dropping the terms
  • 00:18:29
    developed and developing. That's significant.
  • 00:18:32
    Now, this framework, it shows how
  • 00:18:34
    the world's population is spread out
  • 00:18:36
    across four income levels,
  • 00:18:38
    expressed in terms of dollar income per day.
  • 00:18:43
    And it helps us understand all kinds of things,
  • 00:18:46
    from hunger to terrorism to population growth.
  • 00:18:50
    And that understanding begins by grasping
  • 00:18:53
    what life is like on each level.
  • 00:18:56
    There are roughly one billion people
  • 00:18:58
    who currently live on level one.
  • 00:19:01
    This is what we think of as extreme poverty.
  • 00:19:04
    If you're on level one,
  • 00:19:06
    then you survive on less than $2 a day
  • 00:19:08
    and you get around by walking barefoot.
  • 00:19:11
    Your meals are cooked over an open fire,
  • 00:19:13
    and you spend most of your day
  • 00:19:15
    traveling to fetch water.
  • 00:19:16
    At night, you and your children sleep on a dirt floor.
  • 00:19:20
    I would suggest that if you're on level one,
  • 00:19:22
    you're not really living, you're just surviving.
  • 00:19:26
    There are 3 billion people who live on level two,
  • 00:19:29
    between $2 and $8 a day.
  • 00:19:31
    This means that you can buy shoes
  • 00:19:33
    or maybe a bike
  • 00:19:34
    so it doesn't take as long to get water.
  • 00:19:36
    Your kids, they go to school
  • 00:19:38
    instead of scavenging or working all day.
  • 00:19:40
    And when they come home,
  • 00:19:41
    you prepare dinner on a stove.
  • 00:19:43
    Your family sleeps on mattresses instead of the floor.
  • 00:19:47
    Level three is where 2 billion people
  • 00:19:51
    currently live between $8 and $32 a day.
  • 00:19:56
    If you're on level three, your home
  • 00:19:57
    probably has running water and a refrigerator.
  • 00:20:01
    You can also afford a motorbike
  • 00:20:03
    to make getting around easier.
  • 00:20:05
    Some of your kids, they go to
  • 00:20:07
    and they even graduate from high school.
  • 00:20:10
    Now, if you spend more than $32 a day,
  • 00:20:13
    you're among the 1billion people
  • 00:20:14
    who live on level four. That's us.
  • 00:20:17
    You have at least a high school education
  • 00:20:19
    and a car and can probably afford
  • 00:20:23
    to take a vacation once in a while.
  • 00:20:25
    Of course, everyone wants to level up, right?
  • 00:20:28
    Usually it takes several generations
  • 00:20:31
    for a family to move from level one to level four.
  • 00:20:34
    But keep in mind, just 200 years ago,
  • 00:20:37
    85% of the world population was still on level one.
  • 00:20:42
    But today, the vast majority
  • 00:20:45
    are spread out across the middle,
  • 00:20:46
    across levels two and three,
  • 00:20:48
    with the same standards of living
  • 00:20:50
    as people had in Western Europe
  • 00:20:52
    and North America in the 1950s.
  • 00:20:55
    Maybe you're thinking, "Dan, why does all this matter?
  • 00:20:58
    Why are you sharing this with us?"
  • 00:21:00
    Because it's hard to pick up on the progress
  • 00:21:03
    when you simply divide the world
  • 00:21:04
    into two categories, rich and poor.
  • 00:21:07
    If we can't afford to miss the progress
  • 00:21:09
    lest we too lose heart and stop digging.
  • 00:21:13
    I mean, let's be honest, when we look down
  • 00:21:15
    from our level for perspective,
  • 00:21:18
    everything else seems to be
  • 00:21:19
    the same shade of awful, right?
  • 00:21:21
    I mean, we don't want to live that way,
  • 00:21:23
    but people who are living on level two,
  • 00:21:25
    they have it much better than people
  • 00:21:28
    who are on level one.
  • 00:21:29
    People who are surviving extreme poverty,
  • 00:21:31
    they know very well, all too well
  • 00:21:33
    how much better their lives would be
  • 00:21:35
    if they can move from a dollar a day
  • 00:21:37
    to $4 a day, not to mention $16 a day.
  • 00:21:42
    But when you spent your whole life on level four,
  • 00:21:45
    it becomes almost impossible to grasp.
  • 00:21:47
    The progress becomes easy to miss,
  • 00:21:51
    and we shouldn't miss that in the last 20 years
  • 00:21:54
    the number of people living
  • 00:21:56
    in extreme poverty has almost halved.
  • 00:21:59
    That's incredible. I mean, think about this.
  • 00:22:01
    Up until 1966, the majority of
  • 00:22:04
    the world's population live below the poverty line.
  • 00:22:07
    That means poverty was the norm.
  • 00:22:08
    It was the rule, not the exception.
  • 00:22:11
    But in the last two decades,
  • 00:22:12
    it has dropped faster than ever in world history.
  • 00:22:17
    Look, we should not diminish the tragedies
  • 00:22:21
    and the needs of the present,
  • 00:22:23
    because there are still more than 820 million people,
  • 00:22:26
    that's roughly one out of ten on the planet
  • 00:22:29
    that remain hungry.
  • 00:22:31
    200 million of those are children
  • 00:22:33
    who are suffering from
  • 00:22:34
    the devastating effects of stunting and wasting.
  • 00:22:37
    And almost half of all child deaths this year
  • 00:22:40
    will be linked to malnutrition.
  • 00:22:42
    I mean, that's heartbreaking.
  • 00:22:43
    We have an answer for that.
  • 00:22:45
    But knowledge of the past,
  • 00:22:47
    it should help us realize that we are
  • 00:22:49
    getting better at getting help to where it's needed.
  • 00:22:52
    And it should fill us with a conviction
  • 00:22:54
    and a hope that further progress is possible.
  • 00:22:59
    You remember our unfortunate prospectors?
  • 00:23:02
    Well, let me tell you what Paul Harvey
  • 00:23:04
    used to call the rest of the story.
  • 00:23:07
    That junk man who bought their claim,
  • 00:23:09
    he wasn't convinced that it was a lost cause.
  • 00:23:11
    So he decided to bring in a specialist
  • 00:23:13
    to get a second opinion.
  • 00:23:15
    And that mining engineer determined that
  • 00:23:18
    the prior operation had failed because
  • 00:23:21
    the owners did not understand fault lines.
  • 00:23:27
    In fact, as the story played out,
  • 00:23:30
    that main vein of gold ore would be found
  • 00:23:33
    just three feet from where they had stopped digging.
  • 00:23:39
    They were just 36 inches away
  • 00:23:42
    from unimaginable riches and one of
  • 00:23:45
    the largest gold finds in American history.
  • 00:23:49
    Friends, your generosity is making a difference.
  • 00:23:53
    Don't stop. Victory is closer than ever.
  • 00:23:57
    And we dare not miss the progress because
  • 00:24:02
    in the words of Dr. Rosling:
  • 00:24:17
    When in fact, the measures we're employing,
  • 00:24:19
    they are working.
  • 00:24:21
    Feeding kids in schools is working.
  • 00:24:24
    Empowering women to start their own businesses
  • 00:24:26
    so they can feed their own families is working.
  • 00:24:28
    Teaching farmers and communities how to grow more food
  • 00:24:31
    so they can feed themselves, it's working.
  • 00:24:33
    And we need to continue to fight for more
  • 00:24:36
    because it won't just happen by itself.
  • 00:24:39
    Yes, we celebrate the victories of yesterday,
  • 00:24:43
    but we know that tomorrow depends on today.
  • 00:24:49
    Crossroads, thank you for being
  • 00:24:50
    a generous and a compassionate church.
  • 00:24:53
    Thank you for trusting Convoy as your partner.
  • 00:24:55
    Be encouraged today. We're winning.
  • 00:24:57
    God is using you, keep giving.
  • 00:24:59
    And may His promises be ever true
  • 00:25:02
    in each of your lives. God bless you.
  • 00:25:05
    – Isn't it amazing?
  • 00:25:06
    The work that they're doing at Convoy of Hope
  • 00:25:08
    is absolutely incredible.
  • 00:25:09
    I'm going to sit down with Dan in just a minute
  • 00:25:11
    and ask him some of the questions
  • 00:25:12
    you might be thinking about right now.
  • 00:25:14
    You know, Crossroads is about
  • 00:25:15
    making a difference in our world.
  • 00:25:17
    For our 25th anniversary this year,
  • 00:25:18
    we're giving away $2.5 million over 25 weeks
  • 00:25:22
    to our partners around the world.
  • 00:25:24
    Because of the generosity of people like you,
  • 00:25:26
    we were actually able to give $100,000
  • 00:25:28
    to our partners at Convoy of Hope.
  • 00:25:30
    You can join us in making a difference
  • 00:25:31
    in our community and around the world through giving.
  • 00:25:34
    If you're not sure yet, I totally get it.
  • 00:25:36
    We've made a way for you to try giving
  • 00:25:37
    risk free for 90 days
  • 00:25:39
    and to see what God does in your life.
  • 00:25:41
    If you want to take it,
  • 00:25:42
    like hundreds of other people have,
  • 00:25:43
    you can take what's called the Tithe Test
  • 00:25:45
    at Crossroads.net/tithetest.
  • 00:25:47
    It works like this: You try giving for 90 days
  • 00:25:50
    and if you don't see God show up in your life,
  • 00:25:52
    we'll give you all your money back.
  • 00:25:54
    No questions asked.
  • 00:25:55
    Before I sit down with Dan, let's see
  • 00:25:57
    a little bit more about Convoy of Hope.
  • 00:25:59
    – Hi, my name is Daniel Minera
  • 00:26:01
    and I am here with my friend Jon French
  • 00:26:04
    with Convoy of Hope and we're standing
  • 00:26:06
    in front of this beautiful Convoy of Hope truck
  • 00:26:09
    that has lots of food in it.
  • 00:26:11
    But we'll get to that in a little bit.
  • 00:26:13
    Hey, Jon, you want to tell us a little bit
  • 00:26:15
    about what Convoy of Hope is?
  • 00:26:17
    – We at Convoy of Hope,
  • 00:26:18
    we have a driving passion to feed the world.
  • 00:26:20
    We do that in a lot of ways, and especially
  • 00:26:22
    during times of disaster or need.
  • 00:26:24
    We honestly believe that when people
  • 00:26:26
    are having a dark day, we want to bring
  • 00:26:27
    a bright light of hope to them.
  • 00:26:28
    So we do that in many different ways,
  • 00:26:30
    but the main way we do that is through food
  • 00:26:32
    and helping with food security and families.
  • 00:26:34
    We believe that the local church
  • 00:26:35
    is the plan for the world.
  • 00:26:37
    So everything we do is in and through the local church.
  • 00:26:40
    Each one of our trucks holds about 35,000 pounds of food
  • 00:26:44
    and Crossroads and Convoy of Hope
  • 00:26:46
    have partnered together to distribute 6 of those trucks.
  • 00:26:49
    And so that's over 200,000 pounds of food
  • 00:26:52
    going to thousands of people in the area
  • 00:26:54
    to be able to give them hope and to be able
  • 00:26:56
    to show them that Crossroads loves them.
  • 00:26:58
    – Man, that's amazing, because
  • 00:27:00
    what that means for us is that we get
  • 00:27:02
    an opportunity to pack almost 35,000 snack packs
  • 00:27:07
    that are going to be given to the children
  • 00:27:09
    of the communities where they don't have food
  • 00:27:11
    throughout the summer.
  • 00:27:12
    So thank you so much for bringing this over.
  • 00:27:14
    It's going to be put to really good use.
  • 00:27:16
    So if people want to get involved,
  • 00:27:18
    what can they do then?
  • 00:27:19
    – They can go check us out at our website,
  • 00:27:20
    ConvoyofHope.org or any of the social media.
  • 00:27:23
    You can find us, search for Convoy of Hope.
  • 00:27:26
    Follow us, like us, and you can keep up
  • 00:27:28
    to see all the things that we're doing.
  • 00:27:30
    And from us at Convoy of Hope, we just want
  • 00:27:32
    to say huge thank you to you, Daniel,
  • 00:27:33
    to Brian, to the Crossroads family.
  • 00:27:36
    Thank you so much for being a partner of ours.
  • 00:27:39
    We can't do what we do without you.
  • 00:27:41
    We can have a great vision,
  • 00:27:42
    but without partners, we can't make that happen.
  • 00:27:44
    And so thank you. Thank you, church family.
  • 00:27:46
    It's because of you we're able to do what we do.
  • 00:27:51
    – I think you would agree with me,
  • 00:27:52
    the work that Convoy of Hope is doing is incredible.
  • 00:27:56
    And honestly, Dan, just just listening to you,
  • 00:27:59
    I'm hearing you talk
  • 00:28:00
    and I've never heard this before, right?
  • 00:28:02
    This idea that we can actually end hunger.
  • 00:28:07
    And it sounds, if I'm honest,
  • 00:28:09
    almost like too good to be true.
  • 00:28:11
    Am I crazy if I go, "Dan, I believe you"?
  • 00:28:15
    – No, I don't think you are.
  • 00:28:16
    And it's not just Convoy saying it.
  • 00:28:18
    I mean, these are these are global leaders
  • 00:28:20
    who sit on a very high perch and they've said,
  • 00:28:23
    you know, within our lifetime,
  • 00:28:25
    2030 was the year identified when they created
  • 00:28:28
    the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015,
  • 00:28:31
    2030 was the target year
  • 00:28:33
    for ending hunger and extreme poverty.
  • 00:28:36
    And what do we mean when we say ending hunger?
  • 00:28:40
    You've got 820 million people right now that are --
  • 00:28:45
    they don't know where their next meal is coming from.
  • 00:28:47
    And what we're talking about is ending
  • 00:28:49
    the systemic cycles and shrinking that number.
  • 00:28:53
    We might never get that number to zero.
  • 00:28:56
    I mean, you -- estimates are different
  • 00:28:58
    depending on who you talk to,
  • 00:28:59
    but there will probably always be
  • 00:29:02
    a group of people, it'll be kind of a traveling need.
  • 00:29:04
    But we're always going to have conflict,
  • 00:29:06
    civil war, corruption, needs will arise as a result.
  • 00:29:09
    And so experts estimate that you might
  • 00:29:12
    always have 100 million, maybe 200 million people
  • 00:29:16
    that are affected by these different crises
  • 00:29:19
    that are temporary,
  • 00:29:20
    but the systemic cycles of poverty that
  • 00:29:23
    have accounted for decades of oppression,
  • 00:29:26
    we do know, we have an answer for those things.
  • 00:29:29
    – The places where it's like
  • 00:29:30
    this is just the way it is here.
  • 00:29:32
    That can that can be done. – Absolutely.
  • 00:29:34
    And the proof is in the progress. Yeah.
  • 00:29:37
    – That's that's incredible.
  • 00:29:39
    One of the things that, I guess it frustrates me.
  • 00:29:44
    I think Christians, sometimes we get this reputation
  • 00:29:49
    and maybe we do it to ourselves of pessimism.
  • 00:29:51
    Everything's bad.
  • 00:29:53
    Everything's getting worse.
  • 00:29:54
    Man it used to be so much better.
  • 00:29:56
    What do you think about that?
  • 00:29:58
    How do you reconcile that to what you see
  • 00:29:59
    in your work, which is,
  • 00:30:01
    no, the redemption of God is winning out,
  • 00:30:03
    the Kingdom of heaven is coming?
  • 00:30:05
    – Yeah, well, I think it is true that
  • 00:30:08
    we've kind of done it to ourselves a little bit.
  • 00:30:11
    One of the most commonly recalled scriptures
  • 00:30:14
    among churchgoers about the poor is Jesus' Words
  • 00:30:18
    from Matthew 26
  • 00:30:19
    – Be with you always.
  • 00:30:20
    – The poor will always be with you.
  • 00:30:21
    – Yeah.
  • 00:30:23
    –And I think that that has created
  • 00:30:25
    an attitude of apathy in some settings.
  • 00:30:28
    And I believe Jesus would be deeply troubled,
  • 00:30:31
    is deeply troubled still when His Words
  • 00:30:33
    are used to become an excuse.
  • 00:30:36
    Because Jesus was not signing
  • 00:30:39
    the permission slip for extreme poverty to exist.
  • 00:30:43
    I mean, think about this:
  • 00:30:44
    Historians estimate that when Jesus was on Earth
  • 00:30:47
    that the world's population was somewhere
  • 00:30:50
    between 150 million to 300 million people,
  • 00:30:53
    like the whole planet.
  • 00:30:55
    That's less than we have in the United States today.
  • 00:30:57
    There was no context for people to understand
  • 00:31:01
    Jesus's Words as the excuse for 16,000 children
  • 00:31:06
    to die every day from hunger and malnutrition.
  • 00:31:09
    That it -- like we've invented that.
  • 00:31:12
    And, you know, if people, well, what about
  • 00:31:16
    if people, somebody asked,
  • 00:31:17
    "Well, what about when Jesus said this?"
  • 00:31:18
    I guess it would depend on how long
  • 00:31:20
    I have to answer the question.
  • 00:31:21
    My short answer would just be,
  • 00:31:23
    "Well, can't people be poor, but not be starving?"
  • 00:31:26
    – Yes.
  • 00:31:27
    –The long answer would be,
  • 00:31:29
    "Are you sure that's what Jesus meant?"
  • 00:31:32
    – Yeah. Gosh, yeah. That's amazing.
  • 00:31:35
    I think the other thing I see that
  • 00:31:37
    that same line of thinking can steer us down
  • 00:31:39
    is like, you know, to really be a follower of Jesus,
  • 00:31:43
    like somebody else can take care of
  • 00:31:47
    material needs, feed people.
  • 00:31:49
    Our job is spiritual needs, Dan. – Yeah.
  • 00:31:52
    –We're here to share the Bible with people. Right?
  • 00:31:54
    Isn't that what we do? Jesus modeled it best.
  • 00:31:57
    I mean both and, it was always both and.
  • 00:32:02
    It wasn't one or the other.
  • 00:32:03
    It was meeting physical and spiritual needs.
  • 00:32:07
    And if we preach a gospel
  • 00:32:11
    that is absence of justice and compassion,
  • 00:32:14
    then we preach a gospel Jesus never preached.
  • 00:32:17
    At the same time, if all we ever do
  • 00:32:20
    is offer physical help,
  • 00:32:22
    but we never share our spiritual riches,
  • 00:32:26
    then we are guilty of the greatest injustice of all.
  • 00:32:29
    – Amen. I love that. That's --
  • 00:32:33
    I feel like I've got to chew on that for a while.
  • 00:32:36
    I mean everything to me is like, yes, yes, and amen.
  • 00:32:40
    I think if you're a person watching at home,
  • 00:32:46
    I know I feel this way right now.
  • 00:32:49
    What what do I do? What do I --
  • 00:32:51
    I'm like, yeah, that's amazing,
  • 00:32:53
    I want to participate. What do I do, Dan?
  • 00:32:57
    You said a lot of things. What do I do now?
  • 00:32:59
    – Keep giving. Keep doing.
  • 00:33:02
    If you're already engaged, keep doing what you're doing.
  • 00:33:04
    If you're not engaged, maybe because
  • 00:33:06
    you thought it was a lost cause,
  • 00:33:07
    like this is an empty hole
  • 00:33:08
    people have been throwing money into a long time.
  • 00:33:10
    It's not getting better.
  • 00:33:12
    That's the point of the message. Right?
  • 00:33:14
    I think people don't hear this often because
  • 00:33:18
    this is just my opinion, because need sells. Right?
  • 00:33:21
    I believe that hope sells better.
  • 00:33:23
    And I believe that people want
  • 00:33:25
    to invest in a winning cause. They want to invest.
  • 00:33:27
    When we do it with our money, you know,
  • 00:33:30
    we invest in companies that we think are going to win,
  • 00:33:32
    not ones that are going to sink. Right?
  • 00:33:34
    – That's right. We're doing so bad
  • 00:33:36
    and we need your money now, please.
  • 00:33:37
    – Why is it any different, you know,
  • 00:33:39
    with our charitable giving? Right.
  • 00:33:42
    And I think that's the point here is
  • 00:33:44
    to let people know this is not a lost cause.
  • 00:33:46
    And I've grown up like you.
  • 00:33:48
    We've all seen pictures of, you know,
  • 00:33:51
    runny nose children, distended belly.
  • 00:33:55
    You know, we've seen those horrible images
  • 00:33:57
    our whole lives and it it really does,
  • 00:33:59
    it creates this fatigue and the sense that
  • 00:34:01
    this is always going to be here.
  • 00:34:05
    It's always going to be a problem.
  • 00:34:06
    And if you grew up in the church
  • 00:34:08
    and somebody taught you well, Jesus said the poor --
  • 00:34:11
    then you're convinced that
  • 00:34:12
    this should be a problem because Jesus said so.
  • 00:34:14
    But I don't think that's what He meant at all.
  • 00:34:17
    I think it's been taken out of context.
  • 00:34:19
    And, you know, that's a whole different story.
  • 00:34:22
    But what people can do is get involved.
  • 00:34:26
    And it's not just about financial resources.
  • 00:34:29
    Yes, we need to invest more in organizations
  • 00:34:31
    that have the capacity to grow.
  • 00:34:33
    But we also need to engage our thinkers,
  • 00:34:36
    our business minds.
  • 00:34:37
    We need to raise up the next generation of leaders
  • 00:34:40
    that will go and serve on the front lines.
  • 00:34:42
    This is like a collective,
  • 00:34:44
    this is a potentially historic moment
  • 00:34:46
    for the church to rally its people, its resources,
  • 00:34:50
    and put its collective shoulder behind the load
  • 00:34:53
    and push it across the finish line.
  • 00:34:55
    And I think the church has
  • 00:34:56
    an unmatched ability to rally, to recruit, to mobilize.
  • 00:35:02
    Georgetown University recently did a study.
  • 00:35:05
    They estimate that people of faith
  • 00:35:08
    in the United States alone control
  • 00:35:11
    more than $4.8 trillion of annual disposable income.
  • 00:35:17
    – Disposable income?
  • 00:35:18
    – Annual disposable income, $4.8 trillion.
  • 00:35:21
    That is equal to the 3rd largest economy on the planet.
  • 00:35:26
    That is more than 90 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations.
  • 00:35:31
    Why do I mention them?
  • 00:35:32
    Because usually when we talk about
  • 00:35:33
    these kind of problems, we think it's people
  • 00:35:35
    like them that have the capacity to solve it.
  • 00:35:38
    But the church, so much more.
  • 00:35:40
    – Wow, that's incredible.
  • 00:35:41
    As you were talking I was thinking about
  • 00:35:43
    the verse that Paul says where he says,
  • 00:35:46
    you know, don't don't just run the race,
  • 00:35:49
    run the race to win the race. –Amen.
  • 00:35:52
    – And that's very different than this attitude
  • 00:35:54
    of the poor will be with you always
  • 00:35:56
    and is getting any better? I don't really know.
  • 00:35:58
    It's like an endless treadmill.
  • 00:36:00
    Welcome to the club. – Yeah.
  • 00:36:02
    – And I love the hope that you present.
  • 00:36:04
    I think for me it just rings true of the gospel,
  • 00:36:08
    you know, of this idea of the story of Jesus
  • 00:36:12
    is not everything's getting worse and awful.
  • 00:36:16
    It's a story that starts in death
  • 00:36:19
    and it brings life.
  • 00:36:21
    It's the story of the resurrection.
  • 00:36:23
    It's the story of going some place.
  • 00:36:24
    And I want to encourage you,
  • 00:36:25
    if you've been inspired by Dan, I know that I have,
  • 00:36:28
    I want you to take a minute right now
  • 00:36:30
    and hang with us.
  • 00:36:31
    We're going to do a song led by my friend Justin
  • 00:36:33
    that talks about the resurrection.
  • 00:36:35
    I don't know what's going on in your life right now.
  • 00:36:37
    Maybe this is a message of hope that you need
  • 00:36:39
    and maybe it gives you a spark
  • 00:36:40
    for the thing that God is doing in you.
  • 00:36:42
    I don't know what it is, but I encourage you,
  • 00:36:44
    spend this moment with God
  • 00:36:45
    and sit in the reality of His resurrection.
  • 00:36:50
    – Hey, my name is Justin, and I get to do
  • 00:36:53
    some of the music around here at Crossroads.
  • 00:36:56
    One of the core beliefs we have as a Christian,
  • 00:36:59
    as a follower of Jesus,
  • 00:37:01
    is this thing called the resurrection.
  • 00:37:03
    We believe that Jesus died, He was fully dead,
  • 00:37:07
    and that He was raised to life, fully back to life.
  • 00:37:11
    And that's crazy.
  • 00:37:13
    Like, just think about for a moment.
  • 00:37:16
    I believe that a dead man was brought back to life.
  • 00:37:20
    But I spend most of my days
  • 00:37:22
    only putting the resurrection in the future.
  • 00:37:25
    Like, yeah, the resurrection, I think it happened.
  • 00:37:27
    I believe it happened.
  • 00:37:28
    But it only impacts the day I die,
  • 00:37:30
    because the day I die, I really hope
  • 00:37:32
    that the resurrection is real
  • 00:37:34
    so that I have eternal life.
  • 00:37:37
    I rarely stop and say,
  • 00:37:39
    how does the resurrection change today?
  • 00:37:43
    Because it should, it should change everything.
  • 00:37:46
    It should change what I put my hope in,
  • 00:37:49
    how I hope, it should change what I pray about,
  • 00:37:53
    how I face struggle, how I walk forward.
  • 00:37:56
    It should change, the friend who I spent
  • 00:37:58
    the weekend with this weekend,
  • 00:37:59
    whose son just got diagnosed with leukemia last year.
  • 00:38:03
    It changed -- the resurrection changed
  • 00:38:05
    how he prayed about his son
  • 00:38:07
    and how I prayed about his son.
  • 00:38:09
    And this week I got to just play with a son
  • 00:38:12
    because I believe Jesus has brought
  • 00:38:14
    healing into his life.
  • 00:38:16
    I'm not hopeless anymore.
  • 00:38:18
    Because of the resurrection I have hope
  • 00:38:20
    because I believe a dead man
  • 00:38:22
    was brought back to life.
  • 00:38:23
    Romans 8:11, says this:
  • 00:38:39
    That truth changes everything.
  • 00:38:43
    The resurrection just wasn't just one time.
  • 00:38:46
    It says the same spirit dwells in you
  • 00:38:49
    and it will do the same action in you,
  • 00:38:51
    bringing the dead things to life.
  • 00:38:54
    So as we sing this next song, I just invite you
  • 00:38:58
    not to sing about one day or tomorrow,
  • 00:39:00
    but bring the resurrection right here
  • 00:39:03
    today in this moment.
  • 00:42:42
    – Crossroads exists to help guide you
  • 00:42:44
    on the adventurous life that God designed you for
  • 00:42:46
    and help you along that entire journey.
  • 00:42:48
    At Crossroads.net/getstarted
  • 00:42:51
    you can sign up for more content,
  • 00:42:52
    get into a real community of people like you,
  • 00:42:54
    and download the Crossroads App.
  • 00:42:56
    And coming next week on Crossroads,
  • 00:42:58
    Esau McCaulley, theologian, author,
  • 00:43:01
    and Anglican Priest will be here talking about
  • 00:43:03
    the collision of God and race in the Bible.
  • 00:43:06
    We'll see you then.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend Follow-Up. The questions below are for the weekend of July 24 & 25 2021.

  1. What’s the greatest meal you’ve ever eaten? Describe it in as much detail as you remember.

  2. Read 2 Corinthians 9:7. Do you normally think of giving as an act of love or a duty prompted by guilt? Why do you think you lean that way?

  3. Read Isaiah 58:6-10. What strikes you about God’s promises in this passage?

  4. It can often feel like we aren’t big enough to make a difference. Mother Teresa’s response to that is, “Do the thing that is in front of you.” What small step can you take to show God’s love through generosity this week?

  5. Now close your time in prayer. Here’s an example: “Father, thank you for providing for us physically and spiritually. Thank you for Your living water. Please, give us the faith to trust in Your promises. Give us greater compassion and open our hearts to the poor. Let us be instruments of Your love and Your justice. In Jesus name. Amen.

More from the Weekend

Read John 1:14. At Crossroads we’re about the power of God who transforms lives. Everyday we’re getting outside ourselves trying to make a difference in the world. One way we do this is partnering with organizations who literally are changing the world everyday. If you want to jump in and start giving risk free, you can try the 90 day tithe test here.

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Jul 24, 2021 43 mins 4 sec

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