- Well, I will say good morning as well. Summer's arrived. I love the heat. Isn't it awesome? Anybody with me on that one? Oh, it feel so good. Love it. Love it. Well, we have embarked on a wonderful time over the summer in a pretty fascinating book right in the middle of our Bible. It's the book of Proverbs. It's fascinating because Proverbs contains these little sayings which really amount to wisdom for life. It's skillful, godly living. It's also fascinating in terms of studying these because it really demonstrates to us how Jesus Christ lived this life. These wise sayings are a reflection of the very heart and character of God. And it reminds us of how much we need him. You see, Proverbs really illustrates for us how life should be lived and how oftentimes we don't live it. And therefore, as we turn and fear the Lord and trust in what Christ has done for us on the cross, we are redeemed, we're forgiven of our sin. He then gives us living hope, his very resurrection power so we can start living the kind of life that he's called us to live. In other words, we live wisdom for life with redemptive value. We are demonstrating to people as we engage as a parent, as we handle money, as we work with neighbors, as we offer forgiveness, as we do all of these average everyday things of life they actually take on redemptive value because I'm living in a way I could not apart from the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why this book provides wisdom for life in every area. And that is especially true when we take a look at the subject of justice and the poor. And so that's where we're going to today. It is a big topic, not only in our culture, but it is a big topic in all of the Bible specifically in the book of Proverbs. Now, you're welcome to turn to Proverbs with the Bible. You've got your electronic version, but I do wanna tell you this, all of the scripture passages we're gonna look at today are gonna show up right on the screen. And the reason is because there are a number of different Proverbs, there are a number of different places within the Bible that deal with this particular subject. I mean, we all can identify with seeing an act of injustice and we just respond from a human level. We don't like it. We think it's wrong. If a wrong has committed, we want it right, and we want a person punished, we want people to be treated equally. I mean, we all respond that way. And it was Jesus who made a very startling statement when he was here. He said, the poor you are always gonna have with you. What's he talking about there? He's saying it's a part of life. They are here. They're around us. For those of us that live out here in the suburbs, maybe we don't see it as often. For those of us that travel in the inner city, we do see it. It is here by the way in our area and it's definitely around the world. So I want you to think of this subject Justice in the Poor not just with the United States. I want you to think about it from a global perspective. That's kind of what we're looking at. Now, let me make another statement this morning. I will not answer every question here. I just flat out don't have the time. I will also probably push a few buttons. Maybe not. I don't know where it all is gonna land. I can't deal with every nuance and every issue and every definition that's been taken and twisted, and moved around, I just can't get to all of it. But what I'm gonna try and do is deal with this from a general perspective as we take a look at this issue. And so you'll hear some simple definitions because I don't want to over-complicate the issue. But it is equipping you from a biblical perspective to then wrestle with the issues in terms of practical application. Because good Christians can disagree on practical application, but we all fall under the kingdom of God if you're a follower of Jesus Christ and that's where we need to unite. Now, let me start out by saying this. When you look at that first word justice, very simply it's treating people right. I mean, if I'm gonna boil this thing down it means we treat people right. Let's not over-complicate it. And it doesn't have to be. James says in chapter two, "Don't treat people partially." Be impartial in how you treat one another regardless of where that person is or who they are, it's equal treatment under... By the way, the laws of the land. But let me add this also God's moral law 'cause as we know, when you think at a global perspective, there's countries that aren't following that. They're terribly unjust. Well, we need to stand and be advocates against that as well. And if an act of injustice occurs, then justice means writing a wrong. It's very simple. Punishing the wrongdoer, correcting maybe a system as I've already mentioned that is in place that needs to be taken a look at. And it relates particularly this issue of justice to the poor. And that's why I put them together because the poor are oftentimes marginalized in a society. It's easy to overlook them. They don't have what the haves have. And oftentimes because of that, they don't have access to the very things that others do. And so you have issues oftentimes that are complicated like generational poverty, really wrestling with what are the causes of all of these things from a global perspective but also from a city perspective. But at a basic level, foundational level, we are to bring justice to the poor and have compassion on them. I'll give you one brief example and then we're gonna begin to dive in and I'll mention one other issue as well. When you look in the New Testament, one of the passages that perhaps you've taken a look at is Acts 6. You have a situation where individuals from a variety of different backgrounds were trusting Christ as savior and Lord. And in Acts 6 you have a real problem that emerged. And it was the Hellenistic widows which are individuals that were influenced. They were Jewish, but they were influenced by a Greek culture were being looked down upon by the Hebrew widows. Those are the individuals that were raised in lived within the land of Israel. And what was taking place was there was a daily distribution of food within the church 'cause they wanted to take care of everybody, but what was happening was the Hellenistic Jews were being overlooked. The Hebrew Jews were being fed and the Hellenistic widows were not. These are individuals that needed help. Now, you certainly have issues of partiality. James speaks against that. You have issues you need to wrestle with regarding racism that was taking place there. That's what we would call that today. So you have a perfect example of how the apostles stepped into that with a biblical perspective and says, wait a minute, we need to bring justice here. We need to provide food for everybody because they're part of the family of God. Now, in evangelical circles today, the word is being used broadly and also within those that are not followers of Christ and those that are, I'll just put it that way. The term social justice is being brought up. And it oftentimes refers to people have in mind helping the poor and the needy and the marginalized in those kinds of things. Now, in one sense, I personally don't have a problem with that word, social justice because all justice at a human level involves relationships. That's a social context. When I bring justice into that social context of relationships, that's what it oftentimes means. And it oftentimes is referred to by a number of different people regarding abolishing slavery which still happens around the world, racism, human trafficking, protecting the unborn, adoption, saving lives, dealing with inner city issues, offering micro loans. All of that is in regards to justice in a social situation. If that's what you mean, I'm fine with that. However, it has been taken and used with politically charged meaning in various places in our world today. So what I'm going to do, is I'm gonna get past that, like I told you. I'm gonna talk about biblical justice. Whether or not it fits in this context or another context, the bottom line is, we hold a position here at rock point church, we're under the authority of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And this is his word, which is in , it's infallible. And we come to him. And so I prefer the term biblical justice because then it actually allows me to communicate redemptive value in what I do. So when we take a look at this concept of biblical justice, there is no question that God is just. He's committed to justice. And when we seek the Lord for his heart and his wisdom, Proverbs 2:9 tells us, "Then you'll understand righteousness and justice and equity." And by that term, we mean equal treatment. "Every good point." When you consider the first book of the Bible in Genesis 1:27, every human being is created in the image of God. And therefore they are given infinite dignity value and worth. And so if they are given infinite dignity value and worth regardless of who they are, stage of development, race, where they are, we are to treat them and look upon them as someone who's created in the image of God. So it's no surprise to see God's concern for the poor and also for justice. And so should we care for the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized. So when you consider the subject of biblical justice, it means caring for the poor and these are general categories, vulnerable, and also marginalized. Now, I told you I was gonna give you some passages and I'm gonna overwhelm ya, but I want you to understand how often these concepts come up. So let's begin in the book of Proverbs 3:27. "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it." And that includes the poor. That includes all of us. Isaiah 1: 17 says, "Learn to do good, notice this, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless and plead the widows cause." Elsewhere in the Old Testament, Zechariah probably one of those books that maybe you haven't read yet before chapter seven, verse 10, he says "Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." Now, one of the passages that perhaps if you've been a follower of Jesus Christ it's one of those verses that is found in the Old Testament but it's actually a really good one. I like it because it summarizes some things for us. It's in Micah 6:8. And here's what it says. God was speaking through the prophet Micah. "He has told you, Oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you." So every follower of Christ can look at these categories and say, wow, this is directly from God to me. What is he requiring? Well, this is a good standard to filter your life through but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Now I wanna show you just two words here that have meaning together. First is the word justice. When you consider that word, justice in life the Hebrew word actually leans in the direction of acts of rightness within a society. Acting in a just way and it refers to the action. So you see something unjust, you step in with justice. You see something that needs to be corrected, you step in. And the emphasis is on the actual action on the outside. You got that? Now, look at this next word, love kindness. This is the Hebrew word for God's unconditional compassion in love. We oftentimes think these are two different categories but they're related together. And the point is with justice, I am to act with an attitude of unconditional love and kindness towards others. With the attitude of love, I have actions on the outside but it starts from the inside. That's the idea of what he's after there. So whenever I act, I act with love and compassion for others. I'm not just performing actions on the outside. I've actually been transformed as a follower of Christ and it flows out of my life. When you consider Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 24, you have again, these are just examples of laws that God has given that flow from his character as we reach out and care for the poor. The reason for the nation doing this was so that they would communicate what it meant to live with Jesus Christ as King of their life. That he truly is transformational that he wants to bring about hope regardless of who you are. Or biblical justice also means equal treatment and advocacy for the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized. Again, those are key categories, but it does refer to that. So where do we find that? Well, again, let's go back to the book of Proverbs. "Open your mouth for the mute... Notice this, for the rights of all who are destitute." Those that are destitute still have rights. That's the point of Deuteronomy 24 and Exodus 23. "Open your mouth, that's advocacy. Judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor." Notice that. They have rights to and the needy regardless of how they got there. They have rights under God's moral law. Proverbs 20:10 says "Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike and abomination to the Lord." Now, let me explain that one real quick. I jumped on that one right away because what was happening was individuals back then through weights and measures, and we don't need to get into all of that but the bottom line you'll get it this way if I say it, they were buying low and selling high. So someone would come in with a lamb and they'd say, ah, it's not worth very much. And so they just pay him a little bit but then they'd say to the next person coming along in line, Oh my goodness, this is the best lamb that's ever been born in the history of the world. You owe me a million bucks for this little guy. So that's what they were doing. And God says, that's not right. That's an injustice that needs to be corrected. And so that was something that needed to be righted. Now, when you look at Proverbs 17:23 "The wicked accepts a bribe in secret." Because there was injustice. "To pervert the ways of justice." And then Proverbs 18:5. "It is not good to be partial to the wicked." Can I stop there for a minute? Did you catch that? Don't be partial to the wicked, but they deserve it. If you ever had that. Yeah, I have, okay. Wow, that one stops me. "It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice either." So both are definitely found there. The poor individuals in our world, they have rights and Israel was warned to make sure that even those that were poor need to be paid fair wages. And the reason was because in a pre-modern agrarian society, they lived at a subsistence level, many did. So they made a little bit of money and that would cover them for a few days. If there was a famine, invasion or some kind of minor social unrest, then they would be left destitute. They wouldn't have enough to live by. And sometimes it was, they earned it that day, and then they had enough for their family. If they didn't enter it that day, they would be in trouble. And so in today's world, you could easily apply that to a refugee, a migrant worker, homeless, single parents, elderly individuals, widows, orphans fatherless, people that have no way of generating income. There were laws that protected them in the Old Testament Exodus 23, Deuteronomy 24 that I already mentioned. And that's why we aren't to take advantage of them which they can, as I mentioned, but it also in the word was actually used in Proverbs, there needs to be advocacy for them when they are mistreated. However, you also must keep in mind that you can actually hurt when you help. And that has to be brought into it because the goal of helping them is not to create a culture of dependence either. So both of those have to be looked at. As a matter of fact, if you look at Deuteronomy 24 that'll give you a context. In the nation of Israel they were to allow the poor to glean the fields. So what would ended up happening is, at harvest time and you had let's say a stock of corn or some wheat and it was left out into the field, let's say your 12-year-old is your closest farm hand to helping out, and he somehow left some wheat out in the field, and I look back and say, "You left some wheat out in the field." You know what God says, let it alone. Says it in Deuteronomy 24, just leave it there 'cause the poor will have an opportunity to glean from that field. When you collect all the olives off the olive tree, don't go back, don't pick it off the ground and find every... Leave it alone. Do your job but if there's some that fell on the ground that you didn't get back in the bushel, leave it alone because the poor can come in and pick those kinds of things up. Don't strip all of the grapes off the vine branches because the poor can come in. Now, what is he doing there? He's providing dignity, value, and worth because they're not just getting a hand out. They're getting a hand up. They're actually given an opportunity to earn what they have by working in the field. Now, that fits so nicely into what Paul says in II Thessalonians 3:10. What does Paul say there? "If you don't work, you don't eat." You see there's a difference between being lazy, that's called a sluggard in the book of Proverbs. We'll come back to that later on. There's a difference between that individual and someone who's willing but just simply can't quite get ahead of the game. They may need help for a while. They may need some way of a micro loan, some system. And I know within rock point, many of you are engaged in a number of different levels to help out with that. And I think that is an extremely important biblical concept for us to understand. And you're gonna wrestle with some of these things and I want you to. I want you to think them through of how do you live this kind of life but let me just make this general statement. Unjust society according to the Bible is evaluated with how it treats these groups of people. So it must be looked at. Now, Biblical justice also includes this. It reflects God's character for the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized. And some of the verses we've already referred to pick up on this. In Proverbs 17:4, "Whoever mocks the poor insults his maker." Wow, that's big. That has enormous implications with how I treat people who have less than I do which is quite frankly, most of the world. He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. In Deuteronomy "For the Lord your God, I like this, is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great the mighty and the awesome God." So he start with God, that's who you give an answer to, and then he adds in, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner." And by the way, sojourner can also include immigrants. Those that are passing into the land, how do we treat them? How do we wrestle with that issue with laws and yet they're here and how do we provide and fit? And like I said, you're gonna wrestle with these things with a biblical perspective and that can answer everything this morning but it does include that, "Giving him food and clothing." Proverbs gives us wisdom to live our lives with redemptive value, to take justice from a biblical perspective, not the world's. And then begin to look at how we can as followers of Christ as we receive instruction and wise dealing in righteousness, justice and equity which is another verse from the book of Proverbs. But let me add this in. Biblical justice also includes generosity for the poor, vulnerable and marginalized. And this is an opportunity for us to give to those who need, whoever despises, Proverbs 14:21. Notice this, "Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner but blessed is he who is generous to the poor." Now, I mentioned last week that Proverbs has these parallel lines. Did you catch the parallelism here? Your neighbor is somebody who's poor. Now, if you look into the New Testament, when you read Luke 10, when it talks about the good Samaritan, the whole point of that, isn't for you to be running around saying, well, they're my neighbor, you're my neighbor, you're my neighbor. Or you're not my neighbor. No, the whole point of Luke 10 is what kind of neighbor am I? When I see somebody in need, somebody who is poor, it's equated in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. They are my neighbor. And therefore I need to bring redemptive value into that situation. Proverbs 14:31, "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors God." Honors them and honors God as well. Proverbs 19:17, "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his deed." Isn't that interesting 'cause God doesn't need anything. And yet everything you have is given you by God and he gives it to you so that he can funnel that through you to other people. Proverbs 28:27, "Whoever gives to the poor will not want but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse." I love that because it fits Matthew 6:25. We look to God and in verse 33 of Matthew 6 we seek first his kingdom, all of these things, all of these needs are taken care of and provided for us. What a wonderful set of verses to look at? Matthew 6:1-2 actually says that when I give these are acts of righteousness. Now, this can include time talents and treasures in your life. We have a group of individuals here at rock point that love construction. They do it for a living and then we have individuals that wanna be construction workers. And so they all joined together on these short-term teams and they go to places like New Orleans and work with the poor in the inner city. And they go to Corpus Christi. We've partnered with Slumberland Furniture and they're giving mattresses away to individuals in need within the city. We partner with ISTE Manual and there's all kinds of opportunities for us to join and walk down this road together. Now, I'm not gonna answer every question and wrestle but here's what I wanna do. I wanna quickly give you a couple of resources. I'm doing that specifically today because this subject is so important and there is so much wrong stuff on the internet. You gotta be careful what you pull up. So I will give you one thing. If you go to josh.org, it's the Josh McDowell website. There's position papers on various subjects. And one of them is on social justice. It's written by Josh McDowell and Martin Bled. I'd encourage you to go there. Let me give you a book that is excellent in treatment of this issue. Here's the title "Confronting Injustice Without Compromising the Truth". "Confronting Injustice Without Compromising the Truth" It's written by Thaddeus Williams. I would encourage you to get that one. Now, another book that will stretch you but it's really good. It's written by Tim Keller and it's called "Generous Justice". Now, it will stretch you. It's context is the inner city of New York, but I would encourage you to read them because they will help you understand how to take these biblical concepts that I just gave you with biblical justice. And now we wanna turn our intention to applying it. So that was content, right? Well, now we wanna look at what does that look like if I live this life with redemptive value? Well, we wanna live with redemptive value in our world. And that begins with understanding that the gospel is our driving motive and message. It's not just about giving food. It's about communicating the only message that can change and transform someone's life. Now, if you think about it, Micah 6:8 as already mentioned, there are acts on the outside that are justice, but we do it with the inner driving attitude and motive of love. Well, that means that whenever I step into this realm of helping the poor and dealing with justice issues, it means I do so with something the world doesn't and that's the transformative power of Jesus Christ. And it enables me to act in a way with loving motive. The only way that's gonna happen is when I've committed my life to Christ, I have been redeemed so I can offer that redemptive message to others as I live in this area. In other words, there's a connection. There's a connection with really good theology and really good life practice. I'm just gonna give you one illustration. We oftentimes come to books of the Bible and we read big terms like justification. And we think, Oh my goodness, I don't know what that means. I can't go there. That's too heavy. Let's just talk about the practical stuff. Well, let me tell you that has everything to do with the practical stuff. And here's how. Justification is linked to this area of justice. You see, when Paul comes along in the book of Romans he's actually defending the very righteousness of God. And he has such a high view of the righteousness of God. He actually says, there's nothing you can do to earn it. If somebody believes that their works can get them to heaven, they have a low view of God's justice and righteousness because they don't understand the level of depravity that they have in their own soul. But when you read through the book of Romans you begin to come to grips with how deprived you are. You might be better than the next person but I'll guarantee you in the eyes of God, you're guilty. And so Paul elevates the view of God's righteousness and then he comes along and because he's so committed to justice, he says, there's only one solution. And that is the sacrifice of the perfect son of God on the cross for your sin. You see, God has a very high view of justice. So the first implication of understanding what justification means, is that God has a high view of justice. Because he says there in Romans 1:17, you read in the first chapter, the righteous or the just will live by what, some of you know it, faith not by works. He says elsewhere in the book that you are justified, you are made right with God by faith. That's your only hope folks because you're so depraved. So immediately come out of that realizing, wait a minute. God's view of justice is massive and therefore so should mine. And it also means that my sin and my poverty spiritually was so great that actually, if he's given me grace how can I not offer that to someone else? He has forgiven me of everything spiritually. So how can I not provide that for someone? And if the righteous will live by faith, that means live by faith in eternity yes, but also right here and now. I'm trusting him for my needs. I'm trusting him to fill my life. And so justification also has the huge implication regarding justice that, yes, it means God is just, that yes, it means I've been given grace I need to offer that to someone else, but it also means that I live by trust and faith in this Sovereign God, who is the God of gods the Lord of lords that we've already seen who's gonna provide for my needs, and therefore I can give my life away. 'Cause I don't need anything anymore. He's gonna provide it for me. You see that? Now, obviously he's given you things to live by a house, a car and all that kind of stuff. I'm not saying go sell it all and live on the street right now. That's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is that when you entrust yourself to him, he provides for you. And I am free when I live a gospel centered life to forgive to offer help to others because I know I don't need anything because he's provided it for me. He's given me all that I need. And it also is fascinating to me in Luke 4 you'll have to go through this week that Jesus came and he quoted from Isaiah 61 and also Isaiah 58. And it says there, when he walked into the synagogue he opened up the scroll and it said that he came to preach the good news to the poor, the oppressed. Well, that doesn't mean that he came to give him food. He's announcing good news. What is he announcing? That he's the Messiah. So when we go to the poor, we do the same. He's changed my life. I'm caring for you physically because he has changed my life. And I wanna help you. I want you to find the one God that can take care of you no matter what you go through in life. And I'm gonna be a part of that journey with you. But as you put him first, he provides for you in so many different ways. Jesus came to preach the gospel is the good news. What is it? I Corinthians 15 tells you it's the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and by repentance and faith, you can have eternal life. That's the gospel. It's not feeding people. The gospel is the good news about Jesus and that he can come and save them. That has to be the heart of everything we do. And oftentimes it is meeting physical needs that open up the opportunity for us to begin to share the message of Christ spiritually. Proverbs 22:2 says, "The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all." Don't you love that proverb? He puts us in the same world so that we can help and care for one another. That we can speak truth into their life. Can you imagine someone in the first century who was treated like garbage because they were poor and Jesus Christ comes to them and says you have infinite value and worth. And here's why, I came to die for you. Can you imagine the message that that person who had been told all their life, that they were garbage, they couldn't fend for themselves, they were ridiculed by the religious elite of the day. And it was Jesus who comes in and says, "No, I've come to give my life for you. That's infinite dignity, value and worth. And those who follow me will do the same." Well, we live with redemptive value because justice is our responsibility, not out of obligation, but out of opportunity. See some will come along and give the objection, and the objection is this. Well, I'm only gonna help those who didn't do anything to get themselves into that situation, right? And I'm only gonna help those who are willing to help themselves. Well, I'll tell you what, if you look at that from a spiritual angle, it doesn't add up because I'll tell you what, you couldn't help yourself because of your sin. And you did everything you possibly could to get yourself in that mess, and that's what depravity means. So if he came to you because you had a debt you could not pay, and we received grace, then we have the same obligation. No, we have the same opportunity to offer that same message of grace to others. Jesus taught his disciples that to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind is a blessing. He criticized the religious of the elite and elite of the day because they did everything in the outside, but they refuse to help the poor. They looked as if they were religious, but they never went out of their way to help them and care for the widow, the orphan, the fatherless. And quite frankly, James comes along in 2:14 and 16 and he says, look, if there's no fruit, there's no root. You see the fact that we are redeemed, the gospel is not social in the sense that it saves you but the gospel has social implications because you've been redeemed. It's an outgrowth. That's why James comes along and he says, if your faith doesn't work, it's dead. He says in chapter one the true religion is helping the widow. It's reaching out to the orphan. And he says in chapter two, as I said, he warns against partiality. And Jesus actually has a dire warning for people who don't feed the poor and close the naked. When you get to Matthew 25 and they stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Poor people simple want their dignity and they want you to be generous. But I want you to catch something here. Generosity is an act of joy and it honors the Lord. It's an opportunity for me to give to them. Maybe it's not financial. Maybe it's helping them. Maybe it's helping them begin to, as we said glean the fields themselves. It's walking with them, and moving forward in a proper direction. That's the biblical idea. And it is our generosity that allows us and actually allows us to introduce them to the generous God that we follow because we're giving of our time and our talents and our treasures. And Proverbs 14:31 says, "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to needy, honors him." Be generous with your time and your talents and your treasures. It could involve several different things. I know that when we look at the world in which we live we come away just overwhelmed at times. Probably where do I begin? You can't do everything, but at least you can do one thing. Now, we've been a part of helping out at the union gospel mission and maybe you could go join ISTE Manual and help for the events that they have down there. There's a variety of different things that you can do but maybe it involves joining one of our work teams and work projects. Here's what we do. Just so you've got my personal example. I've been a part of helping in a variety of different ways but the one thing that I feel most passionate about and this is where I would encourage you to pray for direction about the skills and the gifts that God has given to you. But here's the burden that I have on my heart. When you look at 80% of the evangelical world, you know where they live, Africa, Asia and South America. 80% of evangelical believers live in that context. Only 20% live up here and in Europe. 95% of the pastors that serve that, 80% block of evangelicals, 95% have no formal education. 95%. I'm in a different league folks. And so, you know what I do? I say, wait a minute, it's my responsibility and burden and called by God to go and do what I can. And that's why we travel overseas to teach pastors. That's why Lynette and I both go and speak and pray and talk and encourage and do everything we possibly can. We're heading there in the fall, we're going into Egypt. Why? Because I'm committed to that. That's my calling. That's not your calling. It might be, I don't know, but you have a purpose and a plan to. Now, the reason why we do all of this, the reason why we give, the reason why we have an idea that we can move into this realm of justice in the poor with redemptive value is because we have been redeemed. We have been transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. We live for another King and we are members of another kingdom. And we are called in a variety of different ways to bring that love and hope to a lost world, but it begins because of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's why I wanna end our time today as we do once a month, and it just happened to fall on this subject with communion. Because it allows us, if you are a follower of Christ, if you have put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. And what that means is you've had a moment where you've acknowledged your sin and in repentance and faith you've turned to Jesus believing he died for your sin and rose from the grave. And as I said, you're trusting in him alone for the forgiveness of your sin. That means you've been declared, not made righteous, declared righteous. You can't be made righteous until you get to heaven. You're not perfect yet, but you've been given God's righteousness. Why? By faith. It that's it, it's not work, it's not going to church. So if you've made that choice of trusting Christ as savior and Lord, God, I need you. I'm a sinner, please save me. I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the grave. If you have said that in some way, shape or way you're welcome to take communion with us. And in the next few moments, as we listen to a song you can come out and sing. I'll come back up and we'll take together to remind us that Jesus went to a cross. He did that to pay the price for your sin because you had infinite dignity value and worth. And then he rose from the grave. So he can now live his life through you. And you can offer redemptive value to the justice, justice to the poor, whether it's at the dinner table regardless of where you are. And so now it's a time for all he has done. Father, we come to you and we acknowledge that we often times as human beings struggle with wisdom on this planet but we know that you are the God who has all wisdom, whose heart and character is love for us and care for us and that father we know that you've paid the ultimate price by offering you Lord Jesus on that cross to pay for our sin, to rise from the grave that we might live this new life. And so in the next few moments, Lord, we reflect upon the gift that was given on our behalf. And we give you thanks, we give you thanks because we can find forgiveness and find hope in you that changes us from the inside out. As we live the life you've called us to live. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.