Changing the World
Prairie Fire Revival 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsThe mission trip to Kenya 2023 is a case study on how to live a Revolutionary Compassionate life
Notes
Transcript
A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strutted through his backyard carrying a ball and bat and shouting, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” Then he tossed the ball into the air, swung at it, and missed.
“Strike one!” he yelled. Undaunted, he picked up the ball and repeated, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” When it came down, he swung again and missed. “Strike two!” he cried.
The boy paused a moment, examined the ball, spit on his hands, adjusted his hat, and repeated, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!”
Again he tossed the ball up and swung at it. He missed. “Strike three!”
“Wow!” he said. “I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”
That kid had confidence!
I can remember the first time the Lord called my heart towards ministry. I was a 14 year old kid just sitting alone in my bedroom. I had been reading a book about a missionary family. It was a beautiful day. One of those, open the windows, sun shining, perfect Saturday afternoons. As I was sitting there, I could feel the Lord leading me to commit my life to serving Him.
In fact, I remember, going to my Pastor and telling him I felt the Lord was calling me into ministry. Thankfully, I had a Pastor who encouraged me. He believed in me. He gave me many opportunities to serve.
I can remember dreaming about the possibilities of preaching, teaching, and pastoring.
I wanted to change the world!
Here’s the truth. Things didn’t turn out exactly the way I planned when I was 14 years old. Life took me down different roads. I’ve experienced the highs and the lows of life. But looking back I can see that the Lord has been faithful and looking forward I still have the same desire that I’ve always had.
I still want to change the world!
People who like to solve problems are amazing to me. There are just some people who can’t leave things to others, they’ve got to do their part. As a Pastor, sometimes I get credit I don’t deserve. In fact, more often then not, I feel very guilty of receiving underserved praise.
The Cornerstone mission in Kenya is one of those areas. People have seen a problem, they have united to help, and I am blessed to travel there to minister on behalf of the people who have enough faith to invest in the ministry. I don’t deserve the credit.
It’s been one of the greatest blessings of my life to travel to Kenya and take part in a mission there.
Tonight, I want to share what is being done, and I want to encourage you to find your way to change the world.
This year I traveled and preached at many different churches, five bible schools, visited our orphanage, held 3 crusades, lead a youth crusade, visited the homes of many church leaders, and saw multiple salvations - recommitments - and witnessed God heal minds, hearts, and bodies.
Pictures from the trip:
We raised over $60,000 and purchased land to build a church building, offices, restrooms, bible school headquarters, girls home, and missionary housing.
Land
Restroom / Church Building / Office
Orphanage
Rescue Center
Bible Schools
Crusades
Changing the world is a massive burden. Really, it’s an impossible burden for any individual. Especially for flawed people. All of us have issues. No one is or will become perfect, and even if you could become a super human fixing the all problems of the world would still be impossible.
But our short comings don’t get us off the hook. As Christians we are told that we have some responsibility to humanity. We aren’t supposed to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the problems of the world are someone else’s problems. We are supposed to be active in our efforts to better humanity.
The question we should pray everyday is:
God, how can I be helpful?
Life is short and we should all want to end our life knowing that in some way, no matter how small, that we’ve helped. That we give more than we take, that we used what we’ve been given to build something meaningful in the lives of other people.
7 Everything will soon come to an end. So be serious and be sensible enough to pray.
8 Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins.
9 Welcome people into your home and don’t grumble about it.
10 Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well.
11 If you have the gift of speaking, preach God’s message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.
We all have gifts to help change the world. I think it starts and ends with love.
Changing the world with love is a powerful concept that has the potential to make a significant impact on society. Love is the foundation of all things good, and if we can all learn to love one another, we can create a world that is full of kindness, compassion, and understanding.
Love moves us to act.
It starts with small acts of love, such as smiling at a stranger, offering a helping hand to someone in need, or giving to those with less. These small gestures can have a ripple effect, inspiring others to do the same and creating a chain reaction of positivity and love.
By spreading love and kindness, we can create a world that is more peaceful, harmonious, and more aligned with God’s original vision.
We all have a part to play. EVERYONE can do something to change the world. It starts and ends with love.
But sometimes love doesn’t feel like enough. We can feel powerless.
Powerlessness is doubting in our ability to bring change. After all, how can we help?
Massive injustices and social problems exist and it’s true that one person can’t fix them all on their own. No one person can. But that fact does not mean that we can’t do SOMETHING.
Love has motivated our church to do SOMETHING in AFRICA.
I was teaching at the youth seminar from Hebrews 12 about how as believers we are called to run our race with endurance. To lay down the weights that slow us down. It was a fun time because I showed them pictures and videos of when I ran the half-marathon. They all laughed at the video of me crawling across the finish line.
At the end of the message we had a powerful time of prayer and God really ministered to the youth. As we were finishing up, I felt moved to ask them if anyone had any questions.
One by one they asked pretty typical teenager questions, but there was one girl in the back who stood up to ask me a question. It was a question that rocked my world.
I almost couldn’t answer her because in that moment I felt powerless to help her.
I found out after the meeting that this girl was 14 years old. She was an orphan, had no education, and really no prospects for the future.
They told me that the year before she had been starving. And one day a man approach her and offered her 100 shillings if she would have sex with him. She was so desperate to eat food that she agreed. He paid her the $.70 and left her pregnant.
She was able to eat that day, but had no idea that her life just got much more complicated. This poor girl was in desperate need. Thankfully, she has been attending the cornerstone church in Rongo. They are helping her as much as they can.
That day, she stood up holding her baby, and she asked me if God would forgive her for sinning because she had fallen down in her race. My heart broke for her because I could see her genuine fear that God would reject her because she sold her body for one meal.
I was able to tell her that not only does God forgive her, but He loved her with and everlasting love. I told her that God loved her baby and that child was no accident to God. I gave her a hug, and I could tell based on the smile on her face that she was a peace with God.
The rest of the day as I ministered to the youth, she was there. She was attending to her baby the whole time. Feeding, burping, and doing what moms do for their children.
Every time I looked at her, in the back of my mind, I was thinking of all the other girls in that country who were being abused, impregnated, infected with HIV, all for something as simple as a meal.
I felt powerless to help.
We doubt that we can do anything because we perceive our limitations to be too great. Bringing change has nothing to do with your ability, identity, or value. It has nothing to do with how smart you are, if your good enough, famous enough, or powerful enough.
It’s more about rejecting the lies of doubt that keep you from doing SOMETHING. We must focus on what CAN be done, and not focusing on what we CAN’T do!
Don’t doubt your ability to bring change to the world.
Hal Donaldson, the founder and CEO of Convoy of Hope said,
“When our belief in a mission is stronger than our doubt in ourselves, we will find ways to contribute to the cause.”
Our church has now established a grant to help young unmarried teenage girls.
See, you may not be able to change the world, but you can change ONE person’s world if you are willing to lead with love.
What is the Lord asking you to do?
As a 14 year old kid sitting in that room on that wonderful sunny day, I had no idea the Lord would take me over to Africa one day. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that the Lord would allow me to serve Him in such amazing ways.
I am so under qualified that it’s not even funny. But the Lord is the one who wants to work through us. We need to ask what He wants us to do.
If we keep our hearts focused on Him then I believe we CAN change the world, one life at a time.