Childrens Meeting - Matt Derstine 6-9-2024

Good afternoon. M I'm so happy your children are here. This afternoon.

I'm gonna tell you, or try to show you a little bit about faith

and a little bit about trust. But before before we do that, I

own to sing a song together and we'll just ask everyone to help. Let's

sing the song for Bombie Sunshine and remember the amen at the end. Okay,

for Bomby songs, Foreigners four Night and scenes be shiite man anything.

Ah. Okay, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about faith. There's

three things about faith. First of all, to have a living faith,

God is gonna require something of us. The second thing is God gave us,

gives us instructions. And the second thing is he wants to see or

the third thing is he wants to see faith in action and real life.

So I have a way to illustrate that, and I'm gonna ask someone for

help. They have no idea. I'm just about to ask them, but

I'm gonna see if I can get Brent Hoeford to come up here. Thank

you, Hm, Okay, sorry, You'll be safe. Okay. So

what I'm going to do is I'm gonna I'm gonna require something of you,

and that is I'm I'm gonna require you to be blindfolded. Okay, So

I'm gonna blindfold him. Then I'm gonna give you some instructions. Yeah a

w Those instructions are, I want you to fold your hands in front of

you and under no circumstances unfold them. See how your faith is. And

lastly, I'm I'm gonna give you some actions you need to do from there.

Kay, you can. So what I'm gonna what I'm gonna ask you

to do is I'm gonna phurl you around and then i'm gonna ask you to

go sit on a chair. But I'm gonna give you instructions on how to

get to the chair. Okay, so I have I have a blindfold here,

and just to make sure you actually have faith, I'm gonna double it.

I already can't see anything, Okay. Sometimes God doesn't do something right

away. Okay, spin around two two times, so one two, Okay,

I'll lead you over here, snow, I'm okay right now, I'll

tell you front. Okay, start walking forward a little bit to your right.

You can go. It's about ten feet. Okay, go a little

farther and turn more to your right like now straight ahead, little farther,

little to your right, a little farther, now move straight to your left,

sideways. Okay, I'll just stand there for a second. Okay,

okay. So he was he was something was required of him. He had

to be blindfolded, he was given instruction, and then he had to have

faith in action real life. Thank you Brand for my second one, I'm

gonna ask someone else to come up. I'm gonna ask James Beachy to come

up here. And I chose him because I know that it won't take him

too long to run home and change his shirt. Let's see, and faith

me scared? What can faith be scared? Can faith be scared? So

I have here is a zip lock bag full of water. The nice part

about this water is its crystal clear spring water. Here you can feel that.

Sell. I just have three pencils. And James, do you trust

me? I'm not sure. He's not sure. I choose to Okay,

so he trusted me. So not always do you know in life what is

gonna come or what God is gonna require of you? But you have to

go forward in faith and trust God. Think you do? Thank you giving

did? And now I'm gonna read you a story about faith. The title

of this book is Faith the Cow. Let's begin. This is a story

about faith. Faith was a young Guernsey cow, a heifer. Faith was

a special Guernsey cow, a heifer. She had a job to do.

Faith was a heifer with a mission. Dan West loved peace and dan West

hated war. Dan West was ordered to serve in the army, but when

he told the officer that he wouldn't carry a gun and couldn't kill, the

army sent dan West home. Dan West knew there was a way to settle

disagreements than war. Once there was a war in Spain, instead of fighting,

Dan West went to Spain to hand out food and supplies to families who

lost everything in the war. He felt sad for people who lived there where

the soldiers fought. He felt sad for the children who had no milk to

drink. They had no milk to drink in Spain because the soldiers had killed

all the cows. He felt sad for the mothers, fathers, and daughters,

and sons and grandparents who died in the fighting. When Dan West looked

at the children in Spain, he thought of his roly poly babies at home

Joel and Janet, who had plenty to eat. Dan West thought about his

childhood home in Ohio, where Guernsey cows filled big red barns, and Dan

West had an idea. He dreamed of giving one milk cow to a starving

family. One cow could feed many children, one cow could have many babies,

and those calves could feed even more families. But where would Dan West

get a cow. He wasn't a farmer. Where would he get a ship

to carry the cow. He wasn't a sailor. How would he take care

of the cow while she sailed across the ocean. He wasn't an animal doctor.

Just one man, just one cow. That just wouldn't be enough.

So Dan West began to look for people who could help him make his dream

come true. Dan West told a group of farmers in his church about the

starving children in the world. When Dan West finished, Virgil Mocks stood up.

Virgil Mock said, have faith, Dan West. Dan West said,

I have faith, Virgil. I believe God is telling us to help.

We need to send heifers to give milk for the children. But I can't

do it by myself. I need help. Virgil Mock said again, have

faith, dan West. Dan West said, I do have faith, Virgil,

I trust God to make my dream come true, even though it seems

impossible. And Virgil Mock said, no, Dan West, I mean have

faith. Faith is my Guernsey cow. Then another farmer, whose red barn

was full of Guernsey cows, gave a heifer to dan West. Then another

farmer gave a heifer, and another, until the farmers had given dan West

seventeen cows. The first three heifers the farmer gave to dam West were named

Faith, Hope, and Charity. Faith In sixteen other heifers came to church

one Sunday. The pastor prayed over the cows, laid his hands on them,

and blessed them, and sent them out into the world to help families.

Faith no longer was just one heifer with a mission. Now there were

seventeen heifers with a mission. Faith. The Guernsey cow rode to Mobile,

Alabama in the back of a big truck. Then she sailed to the island

of Puerto Rico, where she found a happy home. There were ten children

in face new family. They loved their cow and learned to take good care

of her. It was the children's job to feed Faith, to protect her,

and to keep her clean. Faith took good care of the new family.

Faith took good care of her new family too, and she gave the

children lots of milk. The whole family was very happy. For the first

time ever, they owned something valuable, a cow, and no one was

hungry. Soon Faith had a calf. That first calf made the family very

proud. Now they could help someone else, just as Dan West had helped

them. They gave the calf to a neighbor family. The neighbors needed help

too. Faith's family taught the neighbors how to take care, how to take

good care of the new calf. Someday that calf would feed another family.

Dan West and the farmers called their plan Heifer Project. It was easier to

say Heifer Project than a group of farmers who give their young cows to Dan

West so he can send them around the world to feed hungry children. Heifer

Project began to send more and more animals to feed people all over the world.

Rabbits were sent, goats, chickens and honey bees were sent, draft

horses, sheep, pigs were sent, ducks, geese and fish were scent

can just one person make a difference. Can just one person with an idea

help feed hungry children all around the world? Can just one person make the

world a better place? One person can make a difference if that person has

a little faith. So I have a little instruction for you when you say

your bedtime prayers. First, pray that God would teach you and to continue

to teach your parents how t what faith is and how to practice it.

Before you back your parents, let's bow our heads for prayer. My Father

in Heaven who come before you today, MM, thank your Lord for these

children that you have blessed us with. Think if for each one of them,

would I pray that you would call each one of these children to yourself,

that you would create a plan for them they would respond to you,

be a blessing in your kingdom. And I pray for the children all over

this world. You know each one of'em, and the pay that you

would bless the ones that are hungry, that are lonely. You know each

child, and I pray that you administer to each person in Jesus name.

I pray, Amen, Anchor you can go back to your mom and dad