Good morning. I greet you in Jesus name, and just welcome all of you to the Sunday morning service. We have a bit of a special service this morning. If you were paying attention to the announcements that we've been making and the group me that we put out. There is gonna be a presentation, this morning, and you've seen the display out in the back there, on open hands, the ministry that is called open hands. Brother Paul Sm is gonna give that presentation, but brother Paul is also an ordained minister. I believe retired at this point, but is ordained, and he has also consented to preach for us this morning. So brother Paul is the representative of open hands, and he does the P r work, some of the P r work for open hands. But he also preach messages along with that. So I'm looking forward this morning to hearing what God has to say to us about being compassionate people, and how God's people move into the lives of those who are needy, and brother Paul comes to us from Oregon. The Browns congregation in Oregon. And so he's flown in from a distance and he's on APR trip in this morning. We have him here with us, and we're delighted to have you here. So, for reference for you sisters, his wife is do sm, the author that, prime many of you know, And she's is not here today, with him, but, I'm sure that he would be delighted to give you give her your hello for her if you so desire. So brother Paul would you come forward, and we'll have word of prayer or the Paul will preach a message for us. And then we'll have regular testimony time. During that time, we'll, also take an offering for open hands ministry. And then after that, brother Paul will come up and give the presentation for open hands. So... Alright. Let's pray. Our father in Heaven, we we are reminded this morning in some of the songs that we saying, that you are Lord. You're the high king of heaven, and you rule all. And you're the 1 we worship this morning. You're the 1 we come to, and we come to your word that gives us life and gives us direction and gives us encouragement. And this morning, we anticipate hearing from your word through our brother as he shares with us a message of compassion and a challenge to us on being people that serve others well. So would you bless our brother with your spirit? And would you enable him physically, mentally and spiritually this morning to preach the word as you have given it to him, and would you help us to have our hearts ready and open to receive the truth from your word. We commit this time to you and our brother to you. We pray in Jesus name, amen. Thank you. Well, good morning. I'm happy to be here this morning and it's good to have the opportunity to spend a little time with you folks, and As Lyle mentioned, my wife is do sm, which means that some of you probably know me better than I know you. Several years ago, I was in, Iowa, and I was speaking at a church there, and speaking, it was the first place that I spoke about open hands. And afterwards, a fellow came up to me and was saying My wife has read your wife's books to me, and I thought I knew you pretty well. But I realized I didn't know you as well as I thought I did. Because I presented myself evidently a little bit different when I was speaking than what my wife my wife presents me in my, in her books. That doesn't mean that she's wrong. It's just that... But anyway, My wife wishes she could be here this morning, and the My wife struggles with traveling. And traveling isn't that difficult for me and traveling wears her out. So every time I go representing open hands, I tell her, I'd be very happy to bring you along. In fact, It really really want you to come along, but it's your choice. And usually, she decides to stay home. And, it's not because she doesn't wanna see the people who like her writings. It's just Well, the older you get the more you kinda have to treat yourself to doing things that don't wear you out all the time. The last 4 years of my life have been a time of learning and growing and understanding some things from a little bit different perspective. 4 years and about 13 days ago, on July 7, I had a real bad fall. And that fall changed my life. I fell down on the concrete. I cracked my skull, broke a bunch of ribs, I broke my neck and my back and both my wrists, and I was in really bad shape. At the time, I had been into christian Christian education for the last 37 or 38 years. And both teaching and principal and part time teaching and that sort of thing. I was minister in the Rounds and I church, I was had my own grass seed cleaning business that I was running, and I was a busy man, probably a little bit too busy. And then I fell, and all of that was pretty well taken away from me because You can't teach school when you're lying flat on your back and recovering from those injuries. When I fell, I had a bad whiplash, I had a bulging disc that I didn't realize I had in my neck, and that whiplash slammed to my spinal cord up against that bulging disc. And bruised the spinal cord right in the area where the nerves come out for your... For my 4 limbs. Several medical personnel told my wife, your husband should either be dead or should be a quad. I ended up kind of as a una. I would lie in my bed little bed and my left arm would is lie beside me and I couldn't move it. And you'll probably notice as I'm up here preaching, you might think what's what's wrong with his left arm. It's I can do some things with it if I work real hard, I can lift it up on my shoulder and it'll stay there as long as I keep grabbing my shoulder. As soon as I let go, it falls. I can lift it up, and I let go of it and it falls. I showed that to a 6 year old boy 1 time. And he says you're kidding me. Right? No. Unfortunately, I'm not. That's just the way that it is. I fell 25 years and 4 days after I was ordained. In February of the next year, I was wondering what God had for me in my life I was wondering why he had me fall, and where all that was headed and I came to the conclusion that God was saying 25 years of ministry in a church. That's all that I've called you to. And so I asked the church if I could retire, and so I retired at 61 years of age instead of 65. But I believe that was directed of the Lord. Right about the time I asked the church if I could retire I got a newsletter from open hands. And that newsletter was I read the newsletter. I knew Merle, the man who had started open hands. And so I thought here I am. I'm not doing much of anything, and I have some time, and I wonder if I could help help open hands, so I sent Merle a email and said I'd like to volunteer or anything I can help open hands with. 3 days later, I got an email back for Merle and Merle said, no, there's nothing you can volunteer for, but we would be glad to hire you. So a month and a half later. I was hired to work 20 hours a month, doing P for open hands. If I had not fallen, I would not be here this morning. I don't believe god caused my fall. But he allowed it to happen, and I am thankful that I have the opportunity. It's kind of like You know, Jesus and his disciples were walking along 1 day and they saw this man who had been born blind, and the disciples asked Jesus, why was this man born blind? Did he send or did his parents sit? Jesus said, neither of those are the case. He was born blind so that God could receive honoring glory. And I believe that's why I fell. So I'm here this morning to tell you about open hands and what we do, But before I do that, I have a sermon that I would like to preach to you that has to do with how we interact with people who are poor. People who are on a lower economic level than we are. People who, for whatever reason do not have do not have the economic success that we have had. Last in October of last year, I went to Nepal with open hands, twice a year in Nepal, we have a training for the facilitator for our savings groups. I'll tell you more about facilitator a little bit later, but the facilitator, we get them together, Twice a year. We do continue training of them. We train new ones for the savings groups, and I was asked to go along over and to do a little teaching in the facilitator training. I wasn't giving any... Given any topic to teach about. And so I had done a little preaching from the Gospel of John, so I I had 4 sessions and I was supposed to be teaching, and so I decided to teach from 3 of the different stories in the gospel of John, and then I needed a fourth 1. So I decided to teach from John chapter 4. The beginning of John chapter 4 is the story of Jesus and his disciples, they were traveling to Galilee from J, and they went through some area, and they had the encounter with the samaritan woman. And as I prepared to teach about that story, I was really convicted about how I interact with people who are not who are not people who are in my area of influence that, and it just I've learned a whole lot about that, and I I've learned that when we interact with people, we need to treat them as though they have value. I'll talk about that just a little bit, but let me do a little bit more introduction. As I travel around with open hands, in the last 3 years. I am often asked the question, Will savings groups work in North America, because savings groups are working very well in developing countries. But savings groups as they are designed, will not work in America. And people say, why why won't they work? Well, That's a 20 minute answer. But a 1 minute answer is, they won't work in America because in America, we have too much access to money. We have credit cards. We have banks. We have loans. We have welfare. We have all of those ways. And so the savings groups as we work with them in other countries will not work in America. But I asked the question What can we do to help the poor people in our area? At first, I didn't have an answer for them. Because, you know, we have discussed that a lot, and we know we haven't figured out a good way to do it. But about 5 months ago, I figured out an answer of what's the best thing to do for helping poor people in your area. And the answer is you figure out a way to treat that person like he is a valuable person that he is valuable in your eyes. That he is worth something, he or she, that they are somebody who has value. That is extremely difficult to do But I know it's possible because Jesus did. Let me go 1 step further in my introduction. Do you know what we call Matthew 07:12? We call that the golden rule. Jesus said, so whatsoever you wish that others would do to you? Do also to them for this is the law and the prophets. So whatsoever you wish that others would do to you do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. I spent years the school teacher. Many times I told my students, follow the golden rule. Treat each other like you wanna be treated. Doing to others what you want them to do to you. That's a very important thing. And it's easy for us to talk about that I have wondered often. What is it that I want others to do for me? And, of course, I want others to love me. I want others to be kind to me. I want others to and we kinda have our list of things, but sometimes, we kind of put a list of things to this And I'm not really sure that we're completely understanding and putting it into practice with everybody around us. I am becoming more and more convinced that 1 of the whatever that I wish others would do for me is it desire to have others think that I have value. That others will think that I am worthwhile that others will think I'm worth something. You know, there's nobody in this world who wants to be of no value. There are plenty of people that think they have no value, but I have yet to meet a person who doesn't want to have any value. Now, there is a difference between wanting to have value and being proud. Sometimes We say, oh, we're not to be proud. That means I need to think that I don't have any value. I don't think those are the same thing. Because Why do a lot of 12 year old girls desperately do things so that their dad will love them. They want to have value. And we all have God has given us a deep desire to be worth something. The Golden Rule is not directed toward people who struggle with self worth. It is directed towards people who interact with people. Who struggle with self worth. The 4 people that we work with the savings groups, when they go through their savings groups, that whole process of learning to save helps them to realize that they have you and they blossom. And it just changes their life. And the poor have always been treated as if they are the sc of the earth. That's the way People treat them. That's the way non christian people treat them. But I'm not sure that I have done a very much better job of, treating them any better. You know, It's fine to give 4 people things. It's not a problem giving them things. But when you give them something, it confirms in their mind that they're not worth anything because they know they didn't earn it. And But when we go to the homeless camp and give them food, and I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. But when we do that, with a condo condescending attitude, they can easily detect that we feel like they have no value. And they poor people really struggle with this. The theme of my message this morning is every person has value in god's eyes, and they should in my eyes also. If you have your bibles, I'd like you to turn to John chapter 4, I'd like to start reading with verse 3. And I will want to read up through verse 9. John chapter 4 verse 3. He left your dear and he departed again into galilee that he is Jesus. And he must needs to go through some area Then come with heat to the city of Sam area, which is called S near to the parcel of brown that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now, Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore being worried with his journey, sat thus on the ground, and it was about the sixth hour. They're come with a woman of Sam to draw water. Jesus say unto her. Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away into the city to by meat. Then say the woman of Sam unto him. How is it that thou being a jew ask us drink of me, which I'm a woman of Sam for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritan. We'll stop there. Jesus are in his disciples, they wanted to go to J, which was in the south. They wanted to go to Galilee, which was directly north of where they were. Sam scenario was in between. Sam was populated by the Samaritan. The Samaritan were a mixed breed. They were across breed between the Hebrews and the Assyrian who had invaded that area back in I think it would have been the time it I has C was when the Assyrian came in, and they they Inter married, the, Samaritan religion was somewhat like the old testament, religion, they worship, the god of the old testament They didn't go down to Jerusalem to worship, but they would have claimed to worship the same God. The Jews The Hebrews had a exceedingly bad attitude towards the Samaritan because They were They were not pure. They tended to ignore them. They treated them like they were not worth anything at all. Most of the Jewish people would take twice as long to travel from galilee from Jude to galilee back and forth and go around some area rather than go through Sam scenario. Occasionally, when they were in a hurry, they went through some mary. I don't know what Jesus and his disciples were in a hurry. I think that it was probably that God wanted to teach us a lesson. So God had Jesus and his disciples go through Same area. They traveled I don't know. Maybe halfway and they got to Jacob's well and Jesus demonstrated his humanity. He was tired, so he rested there by the well, and the disciples they went into town to get food, and Jesus was resting there and this woman came. John, as he tells the story, he just kinda puts things 1 thing right after the other. We have no idea. A woman of mary came to draw water, Jesus say at the her give me to drink. I would guess she came to draw water, and then she wasn't quite sure what to do. Whether or not she should draw water while there was a Jewish man there. She immediately immediately recognized him as not Samaritan. And there was probably a little bit of an awkward silence for a little while. And then Jesus said, give me to drink. Those 4 words As I read the rest of the story, I think those 4 words were something very unexpected from this Samaritan woman, And with those 4 words, Jesus showed that Samaritan woman that she had value. That she was worth something that she was not an object a despicable samaritan and woman, she was a person Her response was, why? How is it? Why are you treating me like this? Why are you saying this to me? No you has ever done that before. There's something different about you. I can sense it in my spirit. What's the rest of that story? They had a conversation They talked about where's the best place to worship God? They talked about water and living water, they at the end of their conversation, The samaritan woman, and she's never named. I always try to name her when I tell the story, but she she doesn't have a name. But she's still knew she had value even without the name. But she hinder realize that Jesus was the mosaic. She took Jesus to visit to the... Jesus then spent 2 or 3 days there with with her friends and relatives and neighbors and Jesus preached to them, many of them gained eternal life. Because Jesus with those 4 words, indicated to this woman that she had value in his eyes, and she instantly recognized. Now, I'm not Jesus. And I don't know how with those 4 words all of that happened and why it happened. I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a counselor and I can't go through all of the mental and emotional ways in which all of that happened. I don't know. I just know it happened. And I also know that if Jesus was able to make that happen. I know that you and I can also. If we can learn when we interact with poor people to figure out a way how to treat them like they have value, then they will be able to respond to us, too often when we interact with people, we try to control them. All my life. I have heard that and somebody is on the street corner begging, and if they're begging for money, you need to find out what it is that they wanna use their money for. And you should probably give them food, not money. And that sounded real good to me. Because if you get money and they go out and buy alcohol or they buy their cigarettes, it's just a waste of money. And so But the last few months I've been thinking. If I approach somebody and question them strongly about where they're gonna use their money and then go buy them some food. Am I treating them like they are a person of value who can make decisions about money? When I refuse to give them money because I think they're going to make a good decision with that money. Am I actually showing them love? No. I'm not saying that you shouldn't. I'm just wondering. Recently, I heard a story of a man who was in Los Angeles, and he was working with street people and he was He walked up to this 1 person and this 1 person was asking for 50 cents so that he could go by a beer. And this man who was a man an 8 minister, gave him 50 cents. And the end of that story is that man became a christian. And when I heard that story, I thought. He was treated like a person who's could make his own decisions. You know, too often when we're working with the poor, we use our money to control them. And we say, we will love you if you make the right decisions. But until you start making the right decisions, we're not really going to treat you like you have value. Now, I am not saying that you shouldn't be careful and if somebody is asking for a bunch of money to go get drunk that you should just to give them a bunch of money to go get drunk. But what I am saying is we need to treat them as a person who has value. Rather than as this 4 despicable 4 person that I will have compassion on an in my compassion be somewhat condescending and that sort of thing. And I don't know you folks at all. So I don't have anything that I am going on and I'm not saying you are that way. I am just saying, I am that way, and it is something that I have had to work on. You know, I have spent many hours in the Eugene missions, speaking in the Eugene mission and talking to the poor person there, and I spent years teaching school. And it's... You know, it works the same way with teachers and students. It's awful easy to look at those students that are dis immediate and obnoxious and just to say, I'll love you when you start behaving. I'll love you and treat you as a person who has value when you start doing what I say. Over 20 years ago, I was introduced to a man. Who ever since then has been trying to manipulate me to do what he wants. Kind for the sake of his children. Years ago, he and his family moved from Oregon to Oklahoma, 8 months ago, just out of the blue, I got a phone call from him. He found my name on the... I mean, my phone number on the Internet somewhere and he called me up. And that kind of began a it series of phone calls that could be long and ex and where he's wanting help, but he's wanting help under his terms and hoping that he can manipulate me into helping with his children so that his children because of the horrible decisions that his children is making it is mostly because of how he has treated them. He tries to lay the blame on other people and try to get other people to help him get out of that. Phone calls would last a long time, and he would tell me about all these other people that he's calling that is blocking him and won't is isn't throw able to that he is not able to communicate with them anymore because they've blocking him and I thought I should do that a number of different times, and a bunch of the phone calls were very, very unpleasant. And but it's like, if you don't answer the phone, he'll call again and call again and 1 time, while it was last November when I was visiting here in Northern Indiana. At 02:00 in the morning here. I got a whole bunch of phone calls from him, and I did not wake up from him, and the aftermath of my not answering those phone calls was not very pleasant for my wife, but I don't have the time to tell the rest of that story. But so I was questioning, what should I do with his man. And I felt like God was saying treating him as though he has value. Don't block him. So it got to where I wouldn't always answer the phone, but I decided every time that he called me. If I didn't answer the phone, I would send him a text, telling him that I wasn't able to take the phone call right then, and offering a time a little bit later when he could call me that it would work better for me. And We did that a few times, and then the phone calls kind of peter up. So how good? That really works. And then now about once every month and a half or 2 months, I get a phone call from. And 1 time, I was in the airport when I got a phone call from him, and I for sure didn't want it. So III wasn't actually sure it was him because it was a different phone number, but it was from Oklahoma. And so, and then He sent me a text, and so I texted him back saying, I was in the airport and I couldn't call, but anyway. A lot of week ago, I got another phone call from. And he just kind of tore me up 1 side and down the other and the, And my question is, what should I do with him because I don't wanna block him, but in talking with my family, they think I need to set some boundaries so that he doesn't have the opportunity to try to manipulate me. But the next time he Ko. If I had the opportunity, I'll probably answer the call and start out with some boundaries right away, but I need to somehow let him know that he has value. And it happens all over in our lives, where we have people. That we tend to treat as it's easy to treat them in ways. And in many ways, we justify treating them. Like they are an object. Rather than a person of value. When Jesus gave us the golden rule, He didn't state who specifically the others were? Who am I to treat? Like I wanna be treated? Who am I to show that they have value? I believe it is everyone in my life. The poor is a very big vice to start. When we see those in the street corner, criticize them for their big dog, or wasting money on cigarettes? We're not gonna show them they have value. Yes, they have made bad choices. Yes, those bad choices have consequences. But each 4 person is a person not an object, and we can show them love by showing them that they have value. Beyond the poor people, we have our wives and husbands. God's instructions about how I I'm to treat my wife and how my wife is to treat me. Is predicated on me showing my wife that she has value as a person and her showing me that I have value as a person. I've learned much and and still have much to learn about treating my wife as a person who is worth a lot. And doing this all the time. I could take a bunch of time, talking about treating children as though they have value. You know, it's... I mentioned it just a little earlier or it's very easy to treat big, beating in children like they are valuable to us. And to treat ones that are struggling with obedience. As though they will have more value if they are obedient. The father of the prod son treated him the prod son like he had value. Even though he had made a lot of poor poor choices. I as a father have struggled with treating my children as though they have value. Even when they're making bad decisions. But I believe that is where god's love comes in. Your neighbors, Your enemies your friends. Those who believe in abortion and evolution or other things that we think are evil. How do we treat them personally? As though they have value. I cringe. When I hear people talk about how stupid an evolution is. I would guess that most evolution are smarter than me. They have done a lot of studying They don't have any faith in God. They are not stupid people. If I call an evolution stupid I don't believe that I am calling that I am treating that person as a person who has value. Do I think he miss things? Yes. Is he stupid? It appears that way sometimes. But we need to treat them as people that have value. Most people living alternative lifestyles, think Christians hate them. Christians would say, we love the sinner and hate the sin. Too often the way we express our hate for the sin expresses to the sinner that we hate them. It would take me a long time to say anything more than that. It can be very, very difficult. To know how to treat others as though they have value. But Jesus with 4 words to the samaritan and woman. He could give that miserable despicable immoral woman, a realization that 1 man thought she was were something. And I believe the spirit of god who led Jesus to say what he said, can you lead you and me to be able to interact with people in ways that we can demonstrate that they have value. It is sometimes very hard to show someone they have value without validating their choices, but it can be done. Jesus did it. Jesus when he showed the Samaritan woman she had value. Did not validate her poor moral choices. So I'd just like to encourage you. Learn to treat people as though they have value. Let's pray. God, I honor you this morning praise you, and thank you for...