Break the Chains (Tom Evans from Child Impact International, 09/02/23)

Good morning church.

I wanted to bring a visual illustration of something that's a real challenge in the world

that we live in.

And this chain has how many links to it do you think?

Approximately.

75.

75, good guess.

I heard 100 and that is exactly right.

99 silver links and one that's different.

This one link that's different represents that when individuals are trapped in human

trafficking only one out of 100 ever escape.

That's a very startling statistic and so I really wanted to raise our awareness of that

concept here today.

Over the past month, millions, month and a half or so, millions of Americans have watched

a movie entitled Sound of Freedom.

It is likely if you've not seen that movie that you have neighbors, relatives, perhaps

co-workers that have watched the movie and now have a heightened awareness of the evils

of modern day slavery which is called human trafficking.

This movie has done an excellent job as a true story to raise awareness of the issues

related to human trafficking.

I believe awareness is one thing, action is quite another.

Perhaps the most powerful line in this movie is God's children are not for sale.

And I believe in order to make a tangible difference in this fight against human trafficking

we need to move from awareness to taking action.

Awareness may alert you to see human trafficking let's say taking place.

There is a possibility, it's not a big one because it's an underground crime, that you

might see this actually taking place and now you'll call 911 because you're aware of it.

But the reality is for most people awareness doesn't actually do anything to change the

fight against human trafficking and action is required and that's what I want to share

with you about today.

I want to begin with a quiz.

I was a seminary professor for a number of years at Andrews University and one of the

things that's important to know how well your students are paying attention and the same

could be said in church is to give a little bit of a quiz so that you are listening along

to see if you can find the answer to the quiz.

So here's the first question.

In what country do children as young as 12 join the Civil War in order to have food to

eat?

Here are your options.

Is that in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Zambia or the Philippines?

Now we have projects in all those countries but one of those is the correct answer to

that question.

Next question here.

What is the type of fast that God wants?

Is it a veggie juice fast, intermittent fasting to break the chains of the oppressed or fasting

from social media?

Next question here.

What is the main cause of the lack of food in developing countries?

Now this is the difference, this question is the difference between A students and B

or C students, okay?

Do you know those kind of multiple choice questions where you're like all those answers

sound good?

Well this is one of those.

So what is the main cause for the lack of food in developing countries?

Is it conflict and war, poverty, poor agricultural practices or not enough rain?

So you have to listen carefully to get the correct answer to that one.

Final question, what is Child Impact's secret project?

Is it in North Korea or where is it?

North Korea, Iraq, Somalia or it cannot be recorded or published?

Now I believe you have a video here going of our worship service and I want to give

you a special announcement right now and that is that when this time comes where I share

what that project is, if we could just mute the video for a moment, I'll be able to share

it with you.

So just wait until you give me the thumbs up when that time comes.

Now what you can imagine, Jesus is in his local congregation, his local synagogue in

Nazareth and he's asked to give the scripture reading of the day.

Jesus rolls through the scroll and of course we know in Hebrew you start on one side and

you go the opposite direction that we're accustomed to reading but he rolls through that scroll

to what we call Isaiah chapter 61 and in the hearing of that audience, people who were

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

familiar with him, he reads out this verse, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because

he has anointed me and I want you to read with me the bolded words, he has anointed

me to proclaim good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and

recovering a sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim

the year of the Lord's favor.

So Jesus is here in his local synagogue, he is known to them as the son of Mary and Joseph,

he's known to them as a carpenter and he reads out these words in their hearing from Isaiah

61, 1 and proclaims this fulfillment is today happening in your hearing.

I am the fulfillment of the ancient words of this prophecy.

Now we could say that these words that we just read out represent Jesus' mission statement.

He is proclaiming to that audience and for the whole world this is why I am here on planet

earth.

Why did Jesus come?

To proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovering a sight to

the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

Now I want to focus today on verses that immediately precede this passage but where we find a very

similar theme and these verses start in this way, here is the way that I want you to fast.

Now I would like to understand today how many of you like to go without food, enjoy that?

I notice you have a potluck here at this church, I think next week, it must be because you

enjoy getting together to have food.

Now this summer during the month of July I went to a health retreat and the first couple

of days of this health retreat they gave us some very delicious food and then they removed

it from us and I went for 90 hours without anything to eat.

That was difficult.

Well then they gave us some nice food again for a couple of days and then we went another

90 hours without food.

I can tell you that fasting like this makes you really appreciate and enjoy having food

but you know in society today there is a number of different ways that people can fast that

have nothing to do with going without food.

In fact if you do a bit of a search on the internet you can find some very creative ways

to fast.

Here is one, set strict limits for social media or remove it altogether so you can fast

from social media.

Next one here, give up hitting the snooze button.

I guess that is fasting from sleeping in.

Next one here, give up looking in the mirror to be more humble.

Now that one doesn't work for me because when I look in the mirror I become more humble

so I am not sure what that one is all about.

Another one here is give up video games.

A final one, go through your possessions and donate 25% of them and don't replace them

by buying other things.

So these are other ways to fast but it is very clear when it comes to the concept of

either going without food or doing without something else that fasting is connected with

this idea of give up, give up, give up.

Giving up something is what fasting seems to be all about and yet when we come here

to this passage in Isaiah 58 6 God introduces a completely different type of fasting that

does not involve giving up and rather it involves getting up and taking action on behalf of

the downtrodden.

So let's take a look at the verse here and again if you would read with me those highlighted

words.

Here is the way I want you to fast.

Set free those who are held by chains without any reason.

Tie the ropes that hold people as slaves.

Set free those who are crushed.

Break every evil chain.

Notice the action words that we see here in this verse.

The first action word is set free.

That's how it is translated and it is from the Hebrew word p'thach which means to open.

Now if you have a dog that's in your backyard and your backyard is fenced and you open up

the gate you have set free your dog.

Now that may not be something you want to do but this is the concept of setting free

is to have something opened up.

Something was enclosed and now it's open.

There's another phrase here that is translated, another verb that is translated as set free

but it actually comes from a different Hebrew word, a different Hebrew verb the word shalak

which means to sin.

Now if I want to send my son to do something but he is secured and he can't move from where

he's at okay.

He's seatbelted in his car let's say and I say I want you to go get that and he can't

get the seatbelt off right.

No you can't send somebody who's secured and can't go anywhere so the concept is when

somebody is set free they're able to go.

They're able to freely move about and so that's another important verb that's used here.

Let's take a look at the next one, untie.

This is from the Hebrew verb nathar and this is a very powerful verb because it's actually

referencing God's actions and we read about this in Isaiah, sorry in Psalm 146 verse 7.

Psalms 146:7

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord and this is where this word is used nathar, he unties or he sets prisoners free.

And then we have one more final verb and that's this verb of break.

So this word used here for break.

Now this is a very interesting Hebrew word, it's the word nathak which means to pull or

to tear away and this word is actually used in Judges chapter 16 three different times

Judges 16 · chapter mention

to describe how Samson snapped the cords that were holding him.

So why don't we go through these verbs?

What is important about these verbs that we need to understand what's going on here?

Verse by definition imply action.

God is asking us through these very powerful verbs, these descriptors, he's giving us a

picture of what he expects us to do.

But every verb also has an object or a subject of that action.

So who are we to respond in these ways to?

Who are we to set free to untie to break those evil chains for?

Who are these individuals?

Who might those verses be referring to today?

To be held, those that are held by chains, those who are slaves, those who are crushed.

Who does that refer to?

Who are we to take these actions toward and untie and break and free?

Human trafficking is often referred to as modern day slavery.

It is an underground crime that must be brought to the light of day.

50 million people are victims of human trafficking globally.

That is equivalent, I want you to think about this as you're driving along the highway,

as you're driving past neighborhoods, as you're driving through downtown Atlanta, think about

this number.

50 million people are victims of human trafficking globally.

That is equivalent to the population of Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida

combined.

That's how many people are entrapped in modern day slavery today.

That means today there are more slaves than at any time in human history.

In fact, the price of a slave, the average price of a slave today is $90, which per capita

is cheaper than a slave has ever been at any time in human history.

Why don't we know about it?

It's an underground crime that we want to shine a light on and bring attention to.

The next statistic here is extremely troubling to me, and that is that victims of human trafficking

only live an average of seven years after being taken against their will.

It is basically a death sentence for them.

Human trafficking is a $150 billion business largely funded by illegal activities of individuals

located in the United States.

Now I want to touch on one thing in particular.

This is a massive issue, and the question is how do we even begin to address it?

This last statistic is one way that we can, one insight that helps us know how we can

respond.

How is human trafficking funded?

Says here legal activities by individuals located in the United States.

One of the major fundings for human trafficking is pornography.

Anytime a victim is under the age of 18 and is involved in the sex industry, it is considered

to be human trafficking.

And so I want to challenge you, because I know this happens in Christian churches, it

happens in Adventist churches.

If you are involved in pornography, one way that you can fight human trafficking is to

cut that out of your life.

If you know people that are, you wouldn't need to challenge them to say, look, you are

funding the exploitation of individuals and you are actually funding human trafficking

by being involved in that action.

Child Impact has embraced the mandate of Isaiah 58 to break the chains of those that are enslaved

by the evils of human trafficking.

Our goal is to eradicate exploitation, setting vulnerable children free to have a bright

future, a future that is filled with hope.

Hope has to be one of the most powerful words in the English language.

One of our partners in Africa said this to me.

She said, when you have hope, you have enough.

And so that is what we want to bring to these children that are being trafficked.

Several years ago, Child Impact initiated a project called Operation Child Rescue.

The first project started in India, a country where hidden brothels, begging rings, and

forced child labor in factories is commonplace.

In collaboration with government officials, sites were staked out and rescue missions

were undertaken.

Literally, the doors of brothels were knocked down and victims were free.

I've been there to India and visited the Vizag Slum, where prostitution takes place

in broad daylight.

Alternate methods to earn a living began to be taught there at a preschool that we operate

right there in the slum, including tailoring, soap making, baking, many different ways to

help people get out of this particular industry there in this city.

And I was able to meet ladies who now have a different career path.

And it was so rewarding to see the hope that they were able to find to no longer be trapped

as they were in the sex industry.

When I arrived at Child Impact, I was very fascinated by this project called Operation

Child Rescue because I happened to be aware that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has

done virtually nothing to address this evil that's happening in society.

And so we began to do some research to find, are there any projects globally where the

Adventist Church is involved in fighting human trafficking?

How many do you think we found?

Now Child Impact was involved in three projects, all in India, when I arrived, and that was

super exciting to see Child Impact taking a lead in this area.

We found less than 10 projects all around the world, and no one organization other than

Child Impact had more than one project.

So we basically came to the conclusion that nobody in the Adventist Church is taking a

lead in this area, and that we need to step into this space and begin making a difference

in the fight against human trafficking.

Now what's become super powerful is because we've been involved in education and we have

schools all around the world, we actually have a place for those that are rescued to

go.

We actually can send them to school.

So you look at this and you say, okay, we know organizations that sponsor kids to go

to school, even Adventist ones, and that's true.

You may be aware of outside the Adventist Church there are organizations that fight

human trafficking, but where do you find an organization that puts those two together

and actually rescues girls, rescues young people, and has the ability to also send them to a

mission school and find Jesus?

So it's just powerful, that combination.

But I want to share with you just a few of our rescue projects, very briefly by way of

illustration, share three projects with you.

Girls as young as 12 on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe are faced with what seems

to be an impossible situation.

Do they watch their siblings starve or do they sacrifice themselves to be exploited

by truck drivers and be able to put food on the table for those that they love?

All impact has began providing another option for these girls.

By the way, the picture, all of these girls, except for my wife, who's in the middle there,

have been involved in human trafficking.

We decided that we wanted to take action immediately.

We have a school on the campus of Riverside Farm that we sponsor hundreds of children

to attend.

But we said, what if we could rescue some of these girls and send them to the school

that we're already supporting?

In fact, we just helped finish building a high school there, and there was capacity

for the school to take more students.

And so we rented a dormitory off campus, and initially our thought was for 25 girls to

be rescued, and the request came, can you take 35, and then can you take another one?

And so 36 girls have been able to attend school over this past year, and they've had to be

escorted onto campus by security guard and walk some distance to be able to go to school.

But I was able to meet these young ladies, and it's absolutely powerful to see the change

that has happened in their lives.

None of them wanted this experience that they'd gone through.

It was traumatizing to them.

They didn't want this in their lives.

In most cases, it was some kind of tragedy that caused this trafficking to begin taking

place.

In one case, I met a man who pulled down his pants right in front of me because he wanted

me to see the scars of where a crocodile had attacked him while he was fishing.

He had been walking two hours to fish to earn a living for the family, and one day a crocodile

attacked him, and he barely escaped with his life, but he was no longer able to walk those

two hours there and back to fish to help support his family.

And so his daughter ended up trafficking.

And I could share one story after another, a stroke of an older brother who had been

driving trucks to help support the family, and now his younger sister ends up being trafficked.

After I preached for church on the Sabbath that we were there, a group of young girls

approached me, and this girl in the orange skirt right here, she came up to me and was

very nervous, but wanted to say something on behalf of the other girls.

Trembling she said, we want to thank Child Impact for changing our lives.

And then she started to cry.

She said, we've had a really tough life.

I can tell you that moment, the joy that filled my heart to know that these girls were now

free, that they had been rescued.

Last year we raised the funds to build a dormitory to house 100 girls.

It will be completed by the end of this year, and for the new school year, which starts

in January, 100 rescue girls will be able to move into that dormitory.

We are praising God for the opportunity involved in this project.

In the Philippines, girls as young as 12 years old are offered for marriage by their parents,

because the parents want the dowry that that girl brings.

In fact, they want girls instead of boys so they can get the dowry.

It might be a few goats or chickens or a cow, in some cases we've heard like a box of crackers

or a bag of candy that they'll trade for their daughter.

And so because they're trading, exchanging goods for their daughter, it is considered

to be trafficking, because this is not something that that girl wants.

Now can you imagine a 12 year old is not ready to be a wife?

Would you agree with that?

In fact, the country, the Philippines, has, even though it's a major problem there, they've

actually made it illegal for girls to get married at under 18 years of age.

However, we're talking about mountainous villages that are not being monitored, and so it continues

to be a major, major issue.

Now a girl at 12 is not ready to be married, nor is she ready to have a baby.

A young person at that age, having a baby, 12, 13, 14, 15 years of age, it puts their

life at risk, and it also puts the life of the child at risk.

And so we became aware of a case where a child bride lost her life during childbirth.

The baby, because the father was superstitious of what had happened, and he felt like this

child that was born, that survived that birth, was bad luck.

And so he left the baby beside the body of the mother, just for the elements to take

their toll, and eventually that child would lose his life as well.

Well I want to let you know that Child Impact became involved in helping to rescue that

baby.

And so one of the teachers there that is leading out in a school we support, she said, you

know what, I was an orphan.

A missionary family took me into their home.

I'm going to hike and find this baby and rescue this baby.

Well I got to meet him.

His name is Baby James.

You can see now he's a toddler, just a gorgeous little guy.

And not only do we help with this, but we're also supporting and sponsoring children to

go to Adventist schools so that these girls will hold off getting married and have an

opportunity to pursue their dreams.

We have a number of these girls available, or a number of these children from these schools

in the mountain villages available for sponsorship to Day After Church.

But I wanted to share a quick little video of Baby James.

Hey, this is Baby James.

Some of you remember him.

He's a toddler now, and I want to say thank you to everyone who helped support his journey.

He was abandoned as a baby, and he's now been adopted by Merlin, and it's just flourishing.

It's so great to finally meet him.

All right, just thought you'd like to meet Baby James.

I want to share with you our secret project, so if we can pause our video.

Or mute the audio either way.

Does that work?

Okay, so let's do this.

I will share this after the closing prayer.

I'll save enough time to share after closing prayer so you can hear about the project.

Is that all right?

We definitely don't want to share something and it goes out on Facebook.

That's okay.

We'll share it at the very end.

Is that all right?

So it's interesting this passage we've been looking at.

It describes the results for people who are involved.

What happens for people who are involved in this kind of a rescue?

Says this, the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun.

I will heal you quickly.

I will march out ahead of you.

My glory will follow behind you and guard you.

Isn't that beautiful?

That's the promise for those that are involved in taking action to help these individuals.

I want to give you an opportunity today.

You have a magazine here with you.

And inside this magazine there's a white card, just a very simple card.

And if you want to join the fight against human trafficking, I'd like you to fill this

card out.

All we need is your name and phone number on there.

We'll give you a call.

But you can choose on a monthly amount of how you'd like to support with these projects.

They're all under the umbrella, including the secret project of Operation Child Rescue.

We now have 18 projects in 13 countries that are fighting human trafficking.

So obviously we're growing this area a lot and we have new requests all the time.

But it takes an army of small donors that say small amounts.

And some can give more.

The first two cards, one was turned in for $15 a month in that custom area.

The next one was $500 a month.

So the resources to do this are extensive, but we believe that many hands will make it

possible.

And I want to encourage you to fill this card out and just turn it in at the table at the

back as you go.

But I want to highlight another area, and that's Isaiah 58 verse 7.

Isaiah 58:7

It continues like this.

Share your food with hungry people, provide homeless people the place to stay, give naked

people clothes to wear, provide for the needs of your own family.

Nearly 22,000 children die every day due to living in poverty.

When I talk about empathy, when I talk about connecting with something that's happening

somewhere else, this is what I'm talking about.

The needs are enormous.

And just because we don't see something right in front of us doesn't make it irrelevant

for us in terms of Christians and how we're called to respond.

Conflict is the biggest driver of hunger.

With 70% of the world's hungry people living in areas affected, afflicted by war and violence.

So the answer to that question, what is the main cause for hunger in developing countries,

is conflict and war.

That's the main cause.

The core work of Child Impact and what we do is related to education.

And through our sponsorship programs, thousands of children can go to school.

We've been involved for the last 57 years in sponsorship.

And it's significant to see the impact that it can have.

It can change the world of a child.

But we began to realize when I first arrived that many of these children are going to school

without having had breakfast.

So they're going to school hungry.

And in fact, in Bangladesh we discovered that not only do they go to school without breakfast

and they're not getting lunch at school, they might get dinner at home every other day.

And so these kids are not having proper nutrition, which is essential in order to maximize the

benefit of education.

And so we began to add a lunch program to our day students and of course our boarding

students have all three meals a day.

And so last year Child Impact provided 2.4 million meals for hungry children.

In Ethiopia, children as young as 12 are recruited into this army to the Civil War.

Happened in Ethiopia because they know if they sign up for war that they will be given

something to eat.

And if you're starving and you don't know where to get food, this becomes a solution

for them.

Our partner there in Ethiopia was orphaned as a child during the famine in the early

to mid 80s.

And he was also disabled, became disabled as a child.

Someone sponsored him to attend, to receive an education and he graduated from college

with a degree and the government offered him a job.

But he said no, I want to start an orphanage for orphan and disabled children.

Those who had experience similar to him.

So that school that we support now in Ethiopia has 600 students.

And it's just a big project and a vision of this man who once himself was orphan and disabled

saying I want to help these kids.

So those kids don't have to sign up for the Civil War.

They can have food to eat and they are part of our sponsorship.

Many of them are part of our sponsorship program.

I want to share a very brief video with you.

It's just two and a half minutes long.

But it gives a snapshot of the situation that we face in Bangladesh as we look and see how

can we support these children.

Simeon is a boy that my family has been sponsoring here in Bangladesh.

And he traveled from where he lives to the big city in Dhaka to spend the day with me.

And so we got to walk on the streets.

We got to experience many things.

For him it was the first time to do that.

And we got to spoil him just a little bit.

We got a little bit of sugar cane juice for him to drink there on the street and bought

him a special treat.

And then I wanted to get him a soccer jersey for his favorite team.

And of course, Argentina that just won the World Cup, his favorite player is Messi and

so we were able to get him a shirt and able to kick a ball around a little bit, ride around

in a rickshaw.

And it was just an amazing experience.

As I interacted with Simeon, I discovered that he has four siblings, but two of them

tragically have passed away due to sickness.

And then our sponsorship coordinator here in this country let me know that part of the

funds that Child Impact sends to support these children provide some basic medical care.

And in exceptional circumstances, they contact our office for additional help.

So I wondered what would have happened?

What would the difference have been in the outcome had Simeon's brothers been sponsored

in one of our schools?

I have not really thought about sponsorship being a life and death circumstance before,

but as I reflected on this personal story with a child that I am sponsoring, that my

family sponsored, and his journey, I had to recognize that sponsorship does mean life

and death in many cases for these children.

Back in the United States, I selected Simeon based on a photo and profile.

This profile shared with me certain things about what grade he's in, what school he

goes to, how old he is, and even a little bit about his family.

But what a different experience to meet him firsthand, to be able to put my arm around

his shoulder, to be able to go and experience things with him for the very first time.

And I see that sponsorship is real, that real lives are impacted.

It was such a joy to spend the day with Simeon and to bring this little piece of joy to his

life and know that even though I'm half a world apart, that it can be making a difference

in the life of a child in such a significant way.

You know, the challenge can seem overwhelming, and yet we can change the world one child

at a time.

Our family's helping to change Simeon's life.

He wants to be a pastor when he grows up.

He has a Bible beside his bed that he reads on his own motivation.

It's a privilege to be able to be part of that journey with him.

And today, as you leave, we have a table set up with children that are available to be

sponsored.

Our family sponsors three children.

And recently, someone who also was sponsoring three children approached me at an event that

I was at, and he said, Tom, it's time to do more.

So he came by our table, and he sponsored 17 more children.

He now has 20 children.

So if you've always dreamed to have a big family, now's your chance.

As I mentioned, we've been involved in child sponsorship for 57 years.

And there in Bangladesh, the director for our program in Bangladesh was orphaned and

sponsored.

And now he runs the sponsorship program for well over 1,200 children.

The leader of one of our schools there, the principal, was sponsored as a child.

And this is through Child Impact, previously known as Asian Aid, that sponsored these children

through, and now they're leaders.

So it's incredible.

My mom is on social security.

She's retired, and she sponsors four children.

So at $1.06 a day for a day student, certainly we can do something to show empathy on the

other side of the world to make a difference for these kids.

I want to share briefly some of my own personal journey.

In 2014, our family decided to host two boys from an orphanage in Latvia.

Latvia is on the border of Russia.

Probably most of you have never been there before.

And we eventually adopted these two incredible boys.

And many people tell us what an amazing opportunity that we have given them.

And honestly, I have to say to you that we are the ones that feel blessed.

We hosted these two boys in our home several different times, beginning when they were

five years old and seven years old, through an organization called Project 143.

If you'd like to know more about how you can host an orphan in your home, please talk with

me afterwards.

But they were not available for adoption until several years later.

As we started the adoption process, we noticed that the younger of the two boys, as we're

on video calls with him, that he was beginning to lose his hair.

And I was alarmed by this and wondered if he had cancer or something like this.

So I contacted the adoption agency.

And they checked for us.

And they came back and said, Tom and Mara, this is the sickest boy that's ever been part

of our adoption program.

He's battling leukemia right now.

Well, we continued forward with the adoption.

And by the time we went to pick the boys up, we were told that he was in remission.

And that was about a little over two years ago now.

Well, we brought the boys home and had several happy months there.

This is Andres, the youngest of the two boys now, at this time, 13 years old.

And his dream was always just to be part of a family.

But then the leukemia relapsed.

And we went through, here he is at College Dell Community Church, my home church, just

greeting with me.

And all those normal ways of living out life, his dream of being part of a family began

to change as the leukemia relapsed.

And we went through every medical intervention available to us, including a bone marrow transplant.

My wife was just basically living in the hospital there with him.

And this went on for months and months in Nashville and then back to Chattanooga.

And Andres won the hearts of all who cared for him.

Every nurse that came into the room, he would make a half heart with his hand.

And he would anticipate that the nurse would finish the other half of the heart.

And then he would take their hand and kiss their hand.

That's the kind of boy that Andres was.

But on April 13th of this year, Andres passed away.

And our hearts have been broken.

But I want to share this with you.

We know for certain that this amazing 14-year-old boy got to know Jesus.

He loved his pastors.

He loved his church.

He loved singing songs to Jesus.

And when he grew up, he wanted to adopt.

He could hardly wait for heaven where there would be no more leukemia.

My wife would be continually reminding him, your job now is to rest.

When you wake up, leukemia will be gone.

And that's the hope that we all have as Christians, that hope for a new heaven and new earth.

Today I'm not asking you to take the same step that our family did.

Although, if you're interested in hosting and adopting, I'm certainly glad to talk with

you about that.

But what I would like to consider you, consider asking you to do, is to change the world for

one or more children.

You can do that through giving monthly to our rescue program, our rescue project.

You can do that by sponsoring one of the children that we have at the table as you leave afterward

here today.

You can do that by praying for our projects.

You can do that by sharing your influence.

Perhaps you would hand our magazine to someone, or you take one of the sharing cards and you

give it to someone, maybe you can't sponsor, but you know someone who can, and you invite

them to do it.

I believe that we are called to make a difference.

Acts 1, 8 tells us this.

This is a word for every disciple of Jesus.

You are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem.

Where's that?

That's where we live, right?

We're to be witnesses where we live.

You're to be my witnesses in Judea.

That's similar to us.

It's culturally similar and it's nearby.

You're to be my witnesses in Samaria.

That's also close by, but it's culturally different.

And you're to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Every disciple is called to be a witness to the ends of the earth.

If you do not have a project that you're involved with as a disciple of Jesus to the ends of

the earth, we would love to partner with you in doing that today.

I want to encourage you to help Andres complete the other half of the heart.

These kids, their hearts have been broken.

They've been born into situations that they didn't ask for, but we can help complete their

journey to have hope as they look toward the future.

Dear Lord, we just want to praise you today that you undertook a rescue mission to planet

earth.

And because of that, we can be confident that we can spend eternity with you.

Lord, I want to pray that our heart will beat with your heart to go on a rescue mission,

to become part of the rescue party, to save those who are bound up, who are enslaved,

who are crushed.

Help us to break every evil chain.

Give us the courage to do that.

Help us to take action, not simply to be aware, but to actually do something to make a difference.

In Jesus' name, Amen.