Allowing Hope

Text: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19, Isaiah 64:1-9

Focus: Hope

Function: To help people prepare to let hope into them.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

From the end of the Advent reading, Isaiah 64:⁸But you are our father, Lord. We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us, ⁹so do not be too angry with us or hold our sins against us forever. We are your people; be merciful to us.

Have you ever felt like that?

I hope not.

But I confess, sometimes I do.

And it is pride.

It's just that I just wish I was perfect.

Then, I would never have to say that I am sorry.

Or, I would never embarrass myself.

And the worse thing is this, I wonder, I hope it isn't true, but I wonder, do I want to save myself?

Or, do I trust Jesus? Do I believe in the hope that grace gives?

I am glad I was raised in a Christian home.

The Christian values I learned were not the values of the empire, but the good news of God's love for all of humanity.

Like most of you, we were taught that true greatness comes from serving others.

We had this little song that was taught to us little ones. It went like this: “Jesus, Others and You, what a wonderful way to spell joy.”

That message was constantly drilled into us. And I am so grateful that I saw my parents, especially my dad, live that message before us.”

And God is always stretching our minds, changing us, making that circle of who really is our neighbor bigger and bigger.

As we grow, we learn that it is the whole wide world. AMEN?

One event of my dad's willingness to change his mind at the leading of the Holy Spirit happened when I was 12.

We were on the way to our Church's Annual Conference in Estes Park, Colorado.

It was a camping trip that involved setting up and tearing down the family tent every single night.

It was fun.

And somewhere, In Cheyenne Wyoming we set up camp at this roadside park.

While we were eating dinner, for lack of better terms to identify them, two “hippie chicks” wandered into our campsite and asked us for a ride to the next town.

Now, although I grew up in an inner city, “hippies” were the bane of culture.

My uncle once gave me a sermon, 45 minutes, about how Rock and Roll music, and the hippie culture, were a communist plot to undermine America.

So, although my dad was gracious and loving, giving these two girls a ride was a big bi--iig stretch for him.

Sunday morning, we went to church at some little country church in the middle of nowhere.

I think I remember that sermon verbatim.

The preacher preached on loving your neighbor as yourself.

He told the story of how he was driving down the road and he saw that some cows had gotten out of their fence and were wandering on the road.

He told us how he ignored them as “not his problem.”

He told us the farther he drove down the road, the more and more he was convicted by the Holy Spirit to turn around, find the cows owners' and help them get them back.

I remember the humor when he told us that resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit cost him an additional 25 miles and he wished he was sensitive at the first twinge of conscience, not the last!

It wasn't really a profound message. It was just a good reminder of who and what we are as Christians. The pastor focused on the sin of seeing good, and not doing it.

And during dinner, at the campsite, the two hippie chicks came back to the campsite. They were persistent. And much to my mother's chagrin, and of course, my 16 year old elder brother and me and my twins delight. We helped them and their big dog down road a few hundred miles.

Who knows? They may have been angels in disguise.

So why do we at times turn our heads and pretend that we just didn't see the problem?

Do we not know that God knows when we turn our heads?

And worse than that for me, is the constant fear that I have turned my head to many times.

For me, more than the times I turn my head, it is the fear that I have turned my head one to many times.

Fear does not come from God.

Let me read those last two verses of our first passage again: Isaiah 64:⁸But you are our father, Lord. We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us, ⁹so do not be too angry with us or hold our sins against us forever. We are your people; be merciful to us.

Isn't that a great comfort?

Isn't that a great hope?

Isn't it wonderful that God loves, encourages and enables us in spite of the fact that sometimes we may have failed?

I wonder why I have this propensity to shame myself for my failures?

Well, that might be something between me and my therapist.

And that leads us to the beginning of the Isaiah passage this morning.

Isaiah writes about God's great power.

Isaiah believes.

He too, wonders why people are so quick to forget what God said.

So, he starts out with the wish that God would reveal God's power with tremendous power so that there would be no doubt that God has both the power and authority to speak and people will stop doing evil toward others.

Isaiah is zealous for God.

He is zealous for the job God has called him to do -to proclaim God's love and justice to Israel, Judah and all the nations of the world, both then, and now, recorded in scripture.

I wonder if he is questioning God.

It is like he is saying: “God, wouldn't it be easier for us preachers if you just did some really mighty things?... ...Then we wouldn't have to work so hard to defend you?”

Like me, he questions. He doesn't seem to always understand the plan of God and God's ways.

Well, God is God and we are not. (look up) Thank you, God.

Why, or maybe better question, HOW God “shows up” is what we see in today's second reading from the Psalms.

The Psalmist leads us to hope.

Here some phrases from this Psalm:

Verse 1, Psalm 80: “Listen to us... ...Hear us... O Shepherd, O leader...”

“...reveal yourself... ...show us strength... ...save us!”

And then, three times he repeats this theme in his prayer to God, the leader, the shepherd

“Bring us back...”

“Bring us back...”

“Bring us back...”

Say it with me: “Bring us back!”

It is a prayer, “God, Bring us back.” And as God the Shepherd: “Bring us back to safety.”

And then twice, “Show us mercy...”

Show us mercy.

Isn't that hope?

Both the Psalmist and Isaiah make a common confession to God: “We are broken and we need restored.”

Bring us back, God.

Show us mercy, God.

So, how do we get from the question: “Well God, if you just showed up and did some fantastic miracles, then no one would have an excuse to doubt, would they? Why don't you do that?”

And I see the answer in the Psalm:

“Lead us. Guide us, Bring us back, Have mercy”

All of those are addressed to the Shepherd. All of those are addressed to the perfect loving heavenly parent.

All of those are addressed to God.

God has shown us God's great power.

But it wasn't mountain smashing, flashes of lightning, earthquakes in various places, Armageddon type spectacles.

Nope. Instead, the great miracle, the great power, the great bridging of the gap between God and creation came in Christ.

God became human.

God lived and dwelt among us.

God showed us by Jesus' life how to live and how to die.

On the first Christmas, a thrill of hope sparked.

A weary world rejoiced. God, the Shepherd came to us to heal our brokenness.

"In the Lord..."

Text: Ephesians 1:15-23

Focus: Thanksgiving

Function: To help people boast in the Lord and none other.

Form: Storytelling

Intro: Brother Paul shares with the Ephesians his encouragement by their faith.

This is a prayer of thanksgiving.

It reminds me of a story.

My first ever ministry was on the streets in the ghetto area of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

We planted a Church there in the midst of some crushing poverty.

All around the neighborhood, these Casinos worth hundreds of millions of dollars were being erected.

The People of Atlantic City voted them in, but then, because of the rules of the New Jersey Gaming Commission, most of them did not qualify for employment there.

And, we were caring for the poor in the midst of abject poverty.

Property values were skyrocketing, so landowners were selling houses out from under tenants.

It was desperate.

And it was a great learning experience for me.

I saw the power of greed destroy a community.

But in the middle of that community, that community of poor people, I saw God do great things.

The first week, we showed up in a broken glass littered playground. I played a tambourine, and Randy, my mentor, played a guitar.

We started singing praises to God and pretty soon, a crowd came to see what was up.

One family really stuck out in my mind.

Mary, and her son Johnny.

Johnny was hit by a car when he was a toddler and he had a metal plate in his head.

The settlement kept Mary in her house.

But she was a wreck.

She came slowly to see what was going on.

I can still picture her rounding the corner of row houses and looking at us.

The neighborhood turned to greet her.

She was sort of a matriarch.

We shared the love of God with those people and promised that we would be back the next week.

Mary asked us to pray for her. She had terrible problems with her legs.

Next week came, we started singing and the crowd came, almost running to us.

The atmosphere was electric!

We were dumbfounded.

Then Mary came.

She walked normally without the use of her cane.

Her nephew explained to us that the excitement came from Mary.

She had been crippled her entire adult life.

And Monday, she was better.

Her only explanation was this: “Two men from God came yesterday and prayed for me. And now I am better.”

We were dumbfounded.

But God loves the poor. God loved Mary. God saw the misery of that community and came down to them.

The ministry continued for 3 years. One day Mary called us in a panic.

She asked us to come and pray again. This time for her son, Johnny.

Social services were going to “evaluate” him and her home to see if she was a fit mother.

Describing Johnny is not easy.

He wasn't slow, but he had problems.

I don't know who to blame. And blaming people is useless, it doesn't solve problems.

I worked in the neighborhood for a general contractor and ran across them, and the other people from the ministry on a regular basis.

It was nothing to see Johnny, at 8:00 AM drinking a huge soda.

The playground we ministered in was strewn with broken glass.

But Johnny had thick soles. He, and the rest of the kids, would run across it barefooted all the time.

And Johnny loved to get attention. We would be preaching, singing, praying or something and he would ride his bike right in the middle of the crowd. Sometimes he would run into an observer. He was very distracting.

And I love the poor. No one hated him. He was just “the kid with the metal plate in his head.”

But he sort of annoyed me.

I wonder how much better our ministry would have been had we lived in that community?

So, we went to pray for the family on a Tuesday night.

And something strange happened while we prayed.

Johnny sat still. He actually sat through the prayers while we laid our hands on him and Mary.

And then, in all seriousness, he said: “I have a prayer request to!. Will you pray that I do better in school?”

Hope Church, forgive me for being judgmental.

God knows that I need patience.

I said to Johnny: “If you sit still, listen to your teachers, pay attention, you will do better in school.”

Hope Church, forgive me for judging him.

I wish I was perfect. But alas, I am not.

Johnny said: “I know, I know!. But prayers can help me to? Can't they?”

What faith!

So, of course, we prayed that Jesus would help Johnny in school.

Thursday evening Mary called us with so much excitement that it took us 5 minutes to calm her down enough to explain what had happened.

Johnny was blind in his right eye from the car accident.

And all of a sudden, his vision as 20-20!

He rode his bike into people, in the middle of the crowd and performed poorly in school mainly because he was legally blind.

(Look up to heaven) God, forgive me, forgive us, our propensity to judge others.

As I mentioned, this ministry was a partnership with Randy, who was one of my mentors.

I knew that my role in the work was faith.

I was there, as Barnabbas was to Paul, to encourage him.

I had a lot of stories of faith and answered prayers from the way my dad lived his life before us during my childhood.

My job was to encourage him.

When it seemed that Randy was secure in his position, the church plant was going well, Kathy and I were led by God for me to complete more formal education. So, we left there to attend Bible College and Seminary.

And a second, profound event happened on the move to college.

My twin brother came out to help us.

To save money, instead of the toll road, we chose to take Highway 30 across Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Rush hour traffic around Akron was thick. It was dusk; vision was difficult. It was raining hard and all of a sudden there was a traffic accident somewhere ahead of us.

My brother was driving the rental truck. When someone stops short, there is this sort of chain reaction in traffic because every successive car behind them has less time to slow down.

By the time it got to my brother, who was ahead of us, it was a panic stop without enough room.

The road, being wet, was slick. He turned the wheel to avoid the cars in front of him and the truck went into a sideways spin.

Disaster loomed. But he missed the cars.

The cars behind us missed us.

It was frightening. I think it was another miracle.

And my twin brother did something bizarre.

Traffic was stopped.

In the midst of this heavy rainstorm he jumped out of the truck.

And I can still picture him. He shouted: “My soul shall boast in the Lord of Hosts!”

Paul's prayer in todays lesson is that the Church would be strengthened in the providence of Christ.

My lesson, in all of this is that our boasting is in the Lord.

This is Thanksgiving week.

At times, I wonder if it is our most important, or most Christian holiday.

It is still a commanded holiday.

Not the specific date of it.

But the purpose.

I have a child who repented to me a couple of years ago.

He said this to me: “Dad, whenever something goes wrong, I get angry at God and blame God. But whenever something goes right, somehow, I forget to thank God. Why is it so easy for us to do this?”

Well, pride is human nature.

One of the passages that sticks out to me the most in the Old Testament comes from Deuteronomy 8: 17-18.

It is sort of a Thanksgiving story.

During the harvest time.

Or during the time when the people finally feel safe and secure, God reminds them to do this:

¹⁷Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,

It reminds me that even the strength to succeed is a blessing from God.

So, let our boasting be; “In the Lord.”

God is able!

God is good!

God is invested in our success!

Don't Shrink Back!

Text: Matthew 25:14-30

Focus: Faith

Function: To help people keep on going.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

I hope you don't find me bizarre or weird, but one of the foundational moments in my life happened while reading “The Hobbit” by J. R.R. Tolkien.

Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, was a little guy with a lot of courage. He made sure that his life had meaning. And he was not afraid to take a risk.

He found out the hard way that he actually loved adventure. And, he let his life make a difference.

When I read that, I was in business. I was considering how much money I would make in my life. I had it all planned out.

And all of a sudden, it hit me, God may have something else in store for me.

When Challenges came into his life, he refused to shrink back.

This parable is a contrast between the one who shrank back and the two who had courage.

Dick France says the "parable takes up the question which that of the bridesmaids left unanswered: what is readiness? It is not a matter of passively waiting, but of responsible activity, producing results which the coming master can see and approve. For the period of waiting was not intended to be an empty, meaningless delay, but a period of opportunity to put to good use the talents entrusted to his slaves."

It is indeed, a segue from what it means to be prepared, to be ready.

I believe that more than anything, the concept is to be ready in the moment.

You know the story of the boy on the seashore after a strong wind blew thousands of starfish onto the beach.

He was picking them up and throwing them back into the water when a man approached him, saw the size and scope of the problem, realized that there was no way the boy could throw thousands back into the sea and asked the boy: “look at all these starfish, what difference are you really making?”

And you have probably heard the illustration. The boy picks up a starfish, throws it back into the sea and says to the man: “It made a difference to that one.”

God is with us and God will empower us to take action.

I loved the perspective that a saint gave me when we were ministering near Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Church was right along the interstate and we gave assistance to travelers. A lot.

At times, I was exasperated by the amount of help I was giving and what seemed to be to be an insignificant impact I was having.

I wasn't feeling sorry for myself. But the size of the problem reminded me that one individual like me, or a small collection of individuals like our Church could only help a few people.

Her comments were a contrast to statements by nay-sayers who would quote Jesus with the words “the poor you will always have with you.”

At times, the systemic problems of poverty, coupled with what is perceived to be, or actually is, abuse of the system can lead us to think: “why get involved, we will never, ever stop the problem.”

But that is not good thinking. As a urban black minister friend of mine would say: “That is stinkin' thinkin'!”

So this saint would remind me, all the time, “God has not called us to solve all of the worlds problems, but God has called us to take care of the Lazarus on our doorstep.” Luke 16:19-31

You know the story. A rich man didn't care for a poor man begging at his doorstep.

God didn't condemn him for not helping out all the poor, but God did condemn him for not helping the one poor man who was begging on his door.

Condemned.

But this passage isn't about condemnation, although it is there at the end of the passage in reference to the one who refused to use his gifts for God.

This is a passage about faith.

This is a passage about partnership with God.

God gives us gifts, talents and abilities for the building up of God's family.

God gives us gifts, talents and abilities for the restoration of the world.

God gives us gifts, talents and abilities for the healing of the nations.

God gives us gifts, talents and abilities for the coming of the kingdom of love and light.

God expects us to use them.

But we can be afraid.

Now, I am tempted to talk about signing up for worship and hymn leader.

But that would be very, very petty and manipulative.

God will call people to that ministry. And with that calling, God will give them the ability.

Don't do it because I plead. Always, Always. Every single time you do something. Every single time you respond to that prodding inside your heart placed there by the Holy Spirit. Every single time, do it because you have a spiritual, mystical, prayerful compulsion to do so.

I had a dear friend, a leader in the congregation who really cared for me and the success of my ministry. After all, if I succeeded, the church would succeed.

We had a Sunday Night worship service, bible study. It was fun, intimate and very different than the Sunday Morning worship service.

And he would say to the congregation: “We need to come to church to support our pastor.”

And I loved him and believe in the sincerity. So I never challenged him. But I sort of cringed because we are community, and all of us are part of this community, not just me.

In many ways, if the leader succeeds, then we succeed.

But, most churches grow in spite of the pastor.

I want us, in prayer and reflection to find God's calling in us.

I want our motivation to be about how God calls, prods, inspires, encourages and enables us.

And is because of the promise in the passage.

God will give you gifts for serving God and others.

He gave the gifts to three people. Two of them used the gifts.

Some gifts are visible. Some people are gifted for public ministry.

Others are not so visible, but they are just as valuable.

But the promise is gifts. It is repeated in 1 Corinthians 12. God gifts the members of His family with abilities, some of them seem very supernatural, others seem less so. But all of us, 1 Corinthians 12:7, have talents given to us by God for the purpose of being Jesus to this world.

I love my grandmother. She went home to be with the Lord just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

She had 6 children, but only got to raise 4 of them. Two died in the first grade, at different occasions at the bus stop before school.

Two of her other sons, my uncles, died from alcohol abuse.

All that is yet living is her oldest -my mom, and her youngest.

Grandma might have had cause, or the excuse, for bitterness. She could easily have been one of those Christians who buried the talent because life's demands just seemed way to hard for her.

It seems hard. And it is a risk. The one who buried the talent didn't want to take the risk.

My grandfather, grandma's husband, died while the youngest was still in High School. But grandma didn't quit.

She went to college, became a nurse. Worked a nursing career and then retired.

When she retired, she went to Sierre Leone Africa as a medical missionary. In Africa, she contracted a palsy virus that left her permanently paralyzed on her right side for the rest of her life.

She returned from the mission field with a permanent limp and a crooked smile.

But she didn't bury her talent.

One Mother's day, 20 years ago, she came to visit us at our Church.

I asked her: “Grandma, you have seen a lot, you have suffered a lot, you have endured a lot. Have you ever been tempted to give up? Do you still find yourself useful for God's kingdom?”

She didn't answer if she was tempted to give up. But instead, she said: “I can still be of use. Philip,” -she always called me Philip- “I have 186 people that I pray for, by name, every single day. And, by the way, you are at the top of that list.”

I really felt a loss when my Grandma died.

Pray for me.

You see, we can be tempted to bury our talents.

We get tired.

We want others to pick up.

And sometimes, we have to give up things.

Sometimes we have to make room for others.

But we can never shrink back in fear and not use the gifts and talents God has given us.

I remind myself every day, “God's plan for sharing good news in a world of suffering is us, the Church.”

So.

Like the Hobbit.

The Christian life is indeed a great adventure.

And when we risk it, by faith we get a bigger chance to see God's blessings.

Staying Alive

Text: Matthew 25:1-13

Focus: Perseverance

Function: To help foster an environment in the church of love and support for each other.

Form: GOK (God only knows)

Intro: “Okay, I'll go there...”

Give me oil in my lamp (SING WITH ME).

Then we sang: “Give me gas in my Ford... and my favorite one was “Put some wax on my board, keep me surfing for the Lord... ...or I'll wipe out on the judgment day.”

And at times, I gotta question that last verse.

“What if I wipe out on judgment day?”

“What if I don't have enough oil in my lamp”

“What if the Bridegroom comes and I am late to the party because of poor planning and I am forever locked outside?”

“What if I am the foolish young woman?”

Angst and fear all of a sudden rises up with these thoughts.

But 1 John 4:17-18 tells us this: ¹⁷(God's) Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. ¹⁸There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.

Did Jesus tell us this parable to cause us to fear?

No!

Well what about parables?

Can we stretch every point of every parable?

No.

My hermeneutics professor was very clear, “Parables are meant to teach one point, and if you press all the points, then God ends up being a Chicken!”

Not that God is a coward, but Jesus said: “I would gather you as a hen gathers her chicks.”

That is not a parable, but it is a metaphor, however, you get the point.

The point of today's parable is Jesus' admonition for us to be prepared for the long haul.

We are to be prepared to persevere.

I love the statement made by Alexander Mack, the founder of the Church of the Brethren when he said, before anyone was baptized: “Count well, the cost.”

We are in it for the long haul.

We are in it until the end.

We are here until Jesus returns.

And He will never leave us.

Be prepared may be the way to state it.

We are preparing ourselves for God's family to appear as an healing agent in the places of human misery.

And, congratulate yourselves, by being here this morning, you are filling your lamps with more oil. You are.

You haven't given up.

But we can't press all the points of the parable.

Isn't the idea that five would not help the other five sort of selfish?

Is it a “we all strive together, or we all die together?”

My commitment to the Church is to work together in spite of foolishness. I hope yours is for me as well.

A friend of mine, the long time pastor of the Indian Creek Church in Harleysville, PA told me that when his brother was hired as a pastor into a house church network in Chicago, they told him: “As much as it depends on us, you will not fail.”

I love that idea of love and support. It extends not only to the preachers, but to the congregates as well. It is the idea that we are not perfect, but on a journey and on this journey, we will help and support each other.

I have had occasion during my years as pastor to hire additional staff, youth pastors, music directors and etc. And I have made that same commitment to my own staff. As much as it is up to me, you will not fail. God placed you here. You do not have to be like me. You are uniquely gifted to be the person God has called you to be. If I, or anyone else, ever tries to force you into my or their mold, remind me of the commitment just made to you.

And then we go to the idea of sharing. Does Jesus teach in this parable that it is not a good idea to share?

Of course not. Isaiah 55:1, O let all who Thirst, let them come to the Water. Come buy wine and milk without money without price.

Or Revelation 22:15: The Spirit and the Bride say “Come” get the living water without cost.

Or my favorite from Exodus 16, talking about gathering manna in the desert:¹⁸When they measured it, those who gathered much did not have too much, and those who gathered less did not have too little. Each had gathered just what he needed.

Somehow, God helped those to weak to gather a lot. And somehow God lessened those who were greedy.

Beloved. This is not a parable about being stingy. That is not the point.

The point is perseverance.

Be prepared for the long haul.

Do not give up hope.

So, let me refer us to two scriptures that give us advice about doing good without wearying of the task:

Galatians 6:9 ⁹So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.

The song, “This is my Father's world has a line in it: And though the wrong seems oft(en) so strong, God is the ruler yet.”

We cannot imagine the purpose of the power of God.

So, no matter what, Jesus is saying, Don't give up.

And secondly, to get hope for the journey, keep your eyes focused on Jesus. Look here: Hebrews 12:3 ³Think of what He went through; how He put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.

I believe that Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from our sins.

But at the same time, they killed Him because His message confronted their selfish lifestyles.

And even though they killed Him for His message, He didn't stop preaching it.

As Christians, we too need to be reminded to live simply so that others can simply live.

Jesus' life, ministry and preaching should and does confront and inform the way we live.

This has been some kind of week for me.

It started out on a spiritual high. We had a great worship service last weekend. And then, Kathy and I got to go on retreat together to Traverse City.

I got some significant work done at my house.

And then events unfolded Friday that brought me to tears and the brink of despair.

I won't go into them.

And I wondered how I could stand up here and say: “Don't give up” when I sort of felt that way myself.

And I realize something. Although I have preached that you can't press the individual points of a parable lest you lose the meaning or the focus.

There is one other point we can press. The oil. Throughout the scriptures, oil is used symbolically. And many times, the symbolism is the Holy Spirit.

It is used for anointing. It is used for commissioning. It is a symbol of empowerment and healing

And it is always a gift from God.

You can't make it up.

You can't muster up the energy to get more of it.

If I told you that somehow you have to muster the courage to never lose hope, I would be shaming you.

I would be doing a dis-service.

God is the One who strengthens and empowers us.

Through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said: “out of the bellies of believers rivers of life-giving water will flow.” (John 7:38)

Can we share it?

Yes! Out of our bellies life giving water will flow.

When we allow God to move in our midst, when we take the time to stop and listen to God, when we spend time in prayer and study, when we dedicate ourselves to fellowship and especially, when we dedicate ourselves to service, the Holy Spirit flows in us. God renews us. He keeps the oil in our lamps.

I took the Suburban youth to the inner city rescue mission to feed a meal twice a month for years.

But the best experience of it was the first time.

I told the youth, “look every client in the eye as if you were serving Jesus Himself. Even though they have little choice for the food, ask them if they want it, and always call them `ma-am' or `sir.'”

And the kids were so excited when they were done.

For some of them, for the first time they felt the power and moving of the Holy Spirit inside of them as they were serving others.

God gives us oil in our lamps. We just have to show up for it and let it work in us.