Fight for the Underdog

Pastors Brian and Jacque Lother

Pastor Brian: Everybody doing good today? Isn't Jesus good? He is so good. You can't turn the radio on or get a newscast or to even drive down the streets and see some kind of sign that shows how divided we are becoming as a nation. Everybody believes they are right. And I'm no different. I think I'm right in everything. No, no in so many things. No, I'm not right in everything. I know that. And oftentimes, we make a big mistake thinking that how we think is how God thinks. But he says very clearly that oftentimes his ways are a lot higher than our ways. It's not that we never have the thought or mind of God. We do, but we are inundated with the fallenness of this world. That fallenness affects how we think virtually every day. It's a constant battle to take captive our thoughts and to think like Jesus.

I want to do a sermon here today. I'm not sure I would want to call it a sermon, but a teaching on how we really need to fight for the underdogs. Most of us sympathize with underdogs. That's why the movie, Hoosiers, was such a great movie for those of you who like basketball. It was about this little town in Indiana way back in the fifties or early sixties. The little town versus the big school giant, they were the underdogs. Everybody likes cheering for an underdog because the odds are stacked against them. We like to see them win. But the fact of the matter is, most people rarely reach out to help underdogs win.

Instead, what we like to do is we like to play it safe. We'd rather align ourselves with the top dogs. That's safer. Top dogs are easier to follow. They have more charisma, they have more power, and they have more wealth. But Jesus was very, very different. His ways are very different. We've been teaching, both Pastor Jeff, pastor Robert, myself, have been teaching on the ways of Jesus, hopefully, getting them into our hearts and into our minds, and helping us to renew our minds with the ways of Jesus. Jesus truly, truly cared for what we might call the underdog. He ministered to them on a regular basis. He invited them into actually a new life with him.

In a few weeks, I'm going to actually be releasing my first podcast. I've been doing a number of them for a few months, getting inventory of them built up. My podcasts are called Stories of Hope. One of my favorite ones was when we had our good friend David Foy in. He is a neighbor of ours down the street, probably one of the most successful real estate agents in the history of Minnesota. But he didn't start there. He grew up in the foster homes. He is writing a book called The Shoeshine Boy. At seven years old, he was shining shoes on Hennepin Avenue. He was a year younger than me, and he went to my high school. That's how we first met.

By the time we met his foster parents said he finally landed in a good foster home. They sent him off to a camp, Camp Shamina, with many people have in our church have gone to. He came to know the Lord. That was the beginning of the end of the schemes of Satan in his life, and the beginning of the beginning of Jesus in his life. Jesus took this very broken person, broken man, and made him into something that people can look at and say, if Jesus did it for him, he can do it for me.

I have another story of hope of many of you might know this person's name is Keith Tucci or Tucci. If you are Italian. Most people don't realize that Keith was homeless at the age of 14, for three years he lived in his car and the hood of Pittsburgh. Some older women came and started to give him food, gave him some meals to eat. They would talk to him about Jesus, and of course, when they left all of his buddies, and he would mock them as religious fanatics, crazy ladies. But every Friday and Saturday, they were on the same street corner waiting for them to get another meal. These elderly ladies were there and they would teach Keith and his friends about Jesus.

Jesus is the answer for the world today. He finally said yes to their prayers after receiving scores and scores of meals. And the rest is history. He became a leader, a pastor, a leader of a national pro-life movement. Today, he is the director of an apostolic network of churches out on the East coast. I don't know how many churches are part of it. Well over a hundred, maybe 200, maybe more, I don't know. But he was a homeless kid on the streets of Pittsburgh, and Jesus reached out to that underdog and raised him up.

Jesus has reached out to the poor. He healed the lepers. Jesus never met a leper he didn't like. I used to have disdain for people on the street that would hold up a sign and say, I need a job, or I don't have any money. I'd say, just go to McDonald's. Do this. Go do that. Get a job. I didn't know how much judgment was in my heart. There were beggars in Jesus' day, and Jesus didn't tell him, just go get a job. He reached out to them. He ministered to them.

There were people that had seizures, were paralyzed, couldn't talk, were blind. Those who had been possessed of demons, and instead of blaming them for the condition that they found themselves in, and I'm sure many, if not all of them, contributed to where they were at. Like, we all contribute to where we are at. Whatever problems you have, more often than not, you can't say, I had nothing to do with this. More often than not, there is some self-introspection that we can take that would say, maybe I could have done this or that, or whatever. But by God's grace, he is going to help me be able to have a story of hope one day.

There wasn't a sin that Jesus couldn't forgive and wouldn't forgive the man who was paralyzed that was let down through the roof, Jesus didn't make him pray the sinner's prayer before he actually forgave him of his sins. Did we ever think about that? His heart was for forgiveness. But we have created a theology through the centuries that make people meet all sorts of criteria before Jesus will receive them. When Jesus has got a different message, and that message is this: come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Just come to me.

Tax collectors were very hated and ostracized during the time of Christ. How many love the IRS? Liars raise their hand. How many get a letter from the I R S and say, oh, goody. I can't wait to hear what they have to say. None of us, right? The tax collectors in the time of Jesus were the IRS. They were hated. They were ostracized. Jesus called Matthew a Jewish tax collector. That that was a double whammy. Yes, it was one thing to be a tax collector. It's another thing to be Jewish and extradite taxes out of Jewish people for the Romans. That was a whole other dreg of society.

Jacque: They were kind of hated from both sides.

Pastor Brian: They were really kind of hated from both sides. And yet Jesus went to this tax collector called Matthew, and he said, "Follow me." And then the interesting thing that I find in this story that I personally believe, and this is not something that we should argue or debate over, but I personally believe the next thing that happened is what solidified Matthew into the man he became so that we have this incredible gospel that was written by him, the gospel of Matthew. But what Jesus did was he said, "Matthew, I want to come to your house for a meal. Would you allow me to come to your home for a meal? And you invite all of your friends."

Now, what do you think the kind of friends Matthew had? Other tax collectors and people of ill repute, as the Pharisees would call them. I have a distinct feeling that we may never have heard of Matthew if Jesus hadn't had that meal with him that day. We have a thing once a month here at Hope with the ladies, the lunch around town, I think it's called. One day you were having lunch at the restaurant--

Jacque: Well, we go to a different restaurant every week. Sorry, every month. It's on a Friday, so not everybody can come, but there is always a nice group of ladies there, whoever can come. One time, we were at a restaurant, and we were having so much fun together, and these two ladies walked up as they were leaving and said, "We have had more fun just watching you all. How do you all know each other?" It was so fun to say, "We all go to church together." It was so fun.

Pastor Brian: The only thing I would recommend for the ladies' lunch around town is that the ladies start bringing other ladies from work who maybe have never known the Lord. Because that's what Matthew did. Matthew brought his work, friends, people he knew, people he had associations with. Let's read it. We find this story in Matthew chapter 9, verses 10 through 13.

Jacque: That's a really good idea, Brian, because it's a really wonderful way to introduce other women to how wonderful the women of Hope are.

Pastor Brian: And yes, how wonderful the Lord is.

Jacque: Yeah, and how wonderful the Lord is. First of all, I should have said that first.

Pastor Brian: Sometimes you save the best for last.

Jacque: Okay, good. You always have an answer. I appreciate that about you. Okay. As Jesus left Capernaum, he came upon a tax collecting station where a Jewish man named Matthew was collecting taxes for the Romans. Come follow me, Jesus said to him. Immediately, Matthew jumped up and began to follow Jesus. Jesus went to Matthew's house and made himself at home.

Pastor Brian: Can you imagine that?

Jacque: Many other tax collectors and outcasts of society were invited to eat with Jesus and his disciples.

Pastor Brian: Listen to that. Not only tax collectors, but what outcasts of society. People who the rank and file looked down on, dismissed as irrelevant, marginalized, whatever term you want to use. Those were the people I believe Jesus told Matthew to invite.

Jacque: When those known as the Pharisees saw what was happening, they were indignant. They kept asking Jesus disciples, why would your master dine with such low lives? When Jesus overheard this, he spoke up and said, healthy people don't need to see a doctor, but the sick will go for treatment. Then he added, now you should go and study the meaning of the verse. I want you to show mercy, not just offer me a sacrifice. For I have come to invite the outcast of society and sinners, not those who think they are already on the right path.

Pastor Brian: We could just kind of meditate on that for a moment, couldn't we? Maybe for a week or a month. And then ask ourselves, how does our life and how does our thinking align itself with this? Jesus came to reach out to those who needed him the most. One might think that the Pharisees probably needed Jesus more than some of these other people, and I wouldn't disagree with that statement. But the fact of the matter is they didn't think they needed anything, and Jesus was not concerned with the social status of these people. In his mind and his heart, if they believed they would be saved, if they believed they were welcomed into the kingdom. Jesus knew that many people of what might be described as low social status would be saved, and he also knew that a lot of people from a high social status would not be saved.

Yeah, you get an accident. That's what happens in our lives when our emotions start pushing the cab of our lives, when the emotions start pushing the intellect and the steering wheel, the will, and we just give into our emotions. We can't do that. I'm so thankful we have emotions. It allows us to enjoy things. It allows us to enjoy each other, even become frustrated so that we be motivated to change things. But our emotions were never, ever intended by God to be the driving force of how we are to live. They were always supposed to still stay in the backseat. Always stay in the back.

Here we had this son maybe having a bad day and he says, no, I don't want to do that, but later on, his reason and rationale, maybe his love for his father starts to take precedence, which is how he was supposed to live. He regretted what he said, and he went out and worked.

Jacque: The father approached the second son and said the same thing to him. The son replied, father, I will go and do, as you said. But he never did. He didn't go to the vineyard.

Jacque: He just told him what he wanted to hear. He just told his dad what he wanted to hear. How many of you have done that, just tell your boss what they want to hear, or your spouse, what they want to hear, but never intend to really follow through on it?

Jacque: So Jesus asked, tell me now, which one of these two sons did the will of his father. They answered him: the first one.

Pastor Brian: Now, Jesus is actually talking to a bunch of religious leaders here, people who were actually critics of Jesus. Because he says in the beginning here, "Jesus said to his critics--) They said to him, "Well, who really did the will of the Father?" Well, the one that actually did what he was supposed to do, not the one who said he was going to do it. But now watch what Jesus does in this parable and how he kind of shifts everything.

Jacque: They answered him, the first one. Jesus said, you are right, for many sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes are going into God's kingdom realm ahead of you. John came to show you the path of righteousness, yet the despised and outcasts believed in him, but you did not. When you saw them turn, you neither repented of your ways nor believed his words.

Pastor Brian: In this story, Jesus is equating the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, those who these critics of Jesus would call the dregs of society. He equated them with the first son who said, "No, I don't want to go out and work in the vineyard," but then they had a change of heart and they went and did it. Whereas the second son is equated with those who said, "Yes, I'll go work," but they never did. And he is actually equating that second son with these religious leaders.

Jacque: The religious leaders acted pious,

Pastor Brian: Very piously.

Jacque: But they didn't actually follow through.

Pastor Brian: We have near the end of the book of Matthew chapter 25, a very common text. But I want to read this whole thing. It's 15 verses: Matthew 25, 31 through 46. You can't get mad at me if we just read the scripture this morning. I'll just read some scripture here.

Jacque: When the son of man appears in his majestic glory with all his angels by his side, he will take his seat on the throne of splendor and all the nations will be gathered together before him. And like a shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats, he will separate all the people, the sheep he will put in his right side and the goats on his left.

Pastor Brian: I want to be a sheep. We all want to be sheep, right? Nobody wants to be a goat. Nobody felt complimented when someone called him an old goat. We want to be sheep, so let's figure out how we can be sheep.

Jacque: Then the king will turn to those on his right and say, you have a special place in my father's heart.

Pastor Brian: Well, isn't that cool? Wouldn't you like to hear that?

Jacque: You have a special place in my father's heart. Come and experience the full inheritance of the kingdom realm that has been destined for you before the foundation of the world.

Pastor Brian: God had a plan even before he created man, and that plan was that we would be in his heart, he would love us, and he would have relationship with us. His plan was not for man to fall. His plan was not for man to sin. His plan was for good things to happen. But an enemy came in and brought the sin side of things. We see that in the parable of the weeds and the tares. Who did this? An enemy has come in and done this. But his plan from the very, very beginning was that we would have a close, intimate relationship with him. We would always be in his heart.

Jacque: Everyone. Sometimes that scripture is used for people to say that only certain people. Everyone. For when you saw me hungry, you fed me. When you found me thirsty, you gave me drink. When I had no place to stay, you invited me in, and when I was poorly clothed, you covered me. When I was sick, you tenderly cared for me, and when I was in prison, you visited me.

Pastor Brian: Jesus is actually making something really clear here. He describes people, people who are hungry, generally speaking, people who are hungry are poor. I mean, all of us get hungry, but then we just go to a restaurant, we eat, or we go home and open the refrigerator and get something to eat. But there are people around the world and even in our country today who are hungry, who don't have a refrigerator to go to, who can't go to a restaurant to eat. He is really describing, shall I dare say, a class of people here. You were hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I had no place to stay. Well, we know that is called the homeless.

Again, that's thought of as a certain class of people in our, in our culture today. I had no place to stay. You invited me in. My clothes were really poor. You look at someone who's dressed very disheveled. We go to Mexico in January every year and the last couple years, there is a lady there that all she wears is a garbage bag with the hole in the bottom of it for her head to fit through, and she is always looking through the dumpsters. I pray, God, how can I help this lady? What can I do That's a class of people?

I was sick and you tenderly cared for me. When I was in prison, you visited me. There is no question that people who have a criminal record have a tendency to be very ostracized in our culture today, and maybe all cultures. Jesus said that he was all of those things. So he goes on to then say this:

Jacque: Then the Godly will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty and give you food and something to drink? When did we see you with no place to stay and invite you in? And when did we see you poorly clothed and cover you? When did we see you sick and tenderly care for you or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, don't you know?

Pastor Brian: Don't you know? Don't you know? Don't you know when you actually did that for me?

Jacque: When you cared for one of the least of these, my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you demonstrated love for me.

Pastor Brian: Wow. That's pretty clear, isn't it? There is no like, gee, I wonder what this verse really means. Have we ever really read this verse and said, I don't really understand that? This is not a problem with the lack of understanding with us, is it?

Jacque: We don't need to know all the Greek.

Pastor Brian: We don't need to know any of the Greek in this portion of scripture. The real issue and challenge for us is a willingness to live by this. That's the challenge. There are a lot of verses and

I've read the bible many, many, many times and there is a lot of verses that I still read. I'm 72 now, and I've been reading the Bible since I was very young. There are a lot of verses in the Bible that I still read, and I think, gee, I wonder what that means. I'm not quite sure what that means. But that never happens when I read this verse or these verses. These verses, I don't always want to read. And you know why I don't want to read them? Because I don't want to do them just like you. I hope you didn't think I'm judging you with that. We all don't want to do this.

Jacque: It's kind of human nature.

Pastor Brian: It's hard to do this. This is fighting for the underdog here in this. Jesus goes on to say:

Jacque: Then to those on his left, the king will say, leave me for you are under the curse of eternal fire that has been destined for the devil and his demons. For when you saw me hungry, you gave me no food. When you saw me thirsty, you gave me no drink. I had no place to stay. And you refused to take me in as your guest. When you saw me poorly clothed, you closed your hearts and did not clothe me. And when you saw that I was sick, you didn't lift a finger to help me. And when I was in prison, you never came to visit me. And those on his left will say, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty and not give you food or something to drink? When did we see you homeless or poorly clothed? When did we see you sick and not help you or in prison and not visit you?

Pastor Brian: And then the question.

Jacque: Then he will answer them, don't you know?

Pastor Brian: Don't you know?

Jacque: When you refuse to help one of the least important among these, my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you refuse to help and honor me. And they will depart from his presence into eternal punishment. But the godly and beloved sheep will enter into eternal bliss.

Pastor Brian: How many times have we actually said, "if I had only known it was you"? If I'd only known it was you, I would've done this. But I didn't know it was you. But that's what Jesus is saying. He is trying to help our understanding as to who he is. There is a song you sang 30/ 40 years ago: I met Jesus today.

Jacque: And I really can tell you he didn't look at all like the picture. It wasn't even Sunday. And I wasn't in a church, but it was him just as sure as can be.

Pastor Brian: I met Jesus today, but he didn't look at all like the pictures.

Jacque: He was a hungry child, a sick friend of mine, a stranger who needed a coat. He was a lonely old man who needed a friend, a prisoner forsaken and alone.

Pastor Brian: I met Jesus today. And he didn't look at all like the pictures. He didn't look like Solomon's head of Christ. He didn't look like the Jesus in The Chosen. He didn't look like any of the other pictures we've seen of Jesus. Here's what he looked like: He was a lonely old man who needed a friend. He was a hungry child. He was a prisoner, forsaken and alone. And if you've done it to the least of these, you've done it for me. I don't expect all of you to sign up to go to all the prisons in the state to start visiting prisoners, but what I do hope to happen after today is that our attitude towards these people who are hungry and poor and in prison and in need of food or clothing or shelter that are attitudes towards them will change. So that when we see them, the first thing in our minds is not "just get a job", but the first thing in our minds would be "There is Jesus."

I go to a car wash here in our community and there is a particular gentleman who is obviously, uh, I don't think he is well educated. He is not well taken care of. His hair is rarely combed. He is rarely shaven. His clothes are pretty disheveled. I'm determined every time I go there to give him a tip and say, "God bless you," And you should see how he works on my car after I do that. All the other cars are behind me, "Why is he taking him so long?" He is spraying my car down, whatever. And one of these days, I'm going to have a chance to say, "Hey, do you take a lunch break? I want to take you to lunch." This is how Jesus works.

Jacque: Do you know we have a young man who grew up in our church and he has made some bad choices and he is in prison right now. He is going to be out in a couple years. But I like to send him cards. If any of you would like to send him a card or a letter (1:36:00) or if maybe God just drops a verse into your mind, contact me and I'll give you his name and address. That's a way to show the prisoner love.

Pastor Brian: I know that what I'm about to say flies in the face of some of the conservative, evangelical, charismatic Pentecostal teachings that I was raised in. But I think that we need to hold faster to the truth that those who will enter the kingdom are those people who actually feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, show hospitality to strangers, and the list goes on in Matthew that Jesus said, enter into the joy of your father here. We need to understand more the ways of Jesus. As I said moments ago, it's much easier to follow the top dogs because the top dogs have all the charisma. They have all the power. They are popular. Following them is fashionable. We are attracted to their wealth. We are attracted to their fame. We know that following them is safe. It's not really risky.

We've even created theology that can make all of us top dogs instead of servants. We've been really good at creating a theology through the last 50, 60, 70 years, especially in America that would only work in America because of our economic strength in America. But we've created a theology that goes along with that, that allows us to become top dogs and say, God blessed me rather than servants to everybody. Fighting for the underdogs is risky. Underdogs don't have power. They don't have wealth. They don't have fame. Many probably live in a lower income stratum with limits on their lives whether that limit was education, maybe sometimes healthcare, maybe they have some physical disabilities.

Standing up for underdogs sometimes means risking failure on our part. But if we love Jesus and we seek to follow him, then I think we need to take a good look at these verses and start standing up for the underdogs. We need to do that. Although Jesus did include some top dogs-- he did. Nicodemus was a top dog. There were some top dogs that made it because they humbled themselves. But I would suggest to you today, it's much easier to follow Jesus if you are an underdog than if you are a top dog. We all will find great meaning in deep happiness when we follow in in his footsteps.

I'd like to read one more portion of scripture. This is actually found in Proverbs 31. This is, uh, written by a man whose name is Lemuel. Many people actually think the name Lemuel was a nickname for King Solomon. It was a nickname given to him by his mother. These verses are actually the teachings of, I believe Beth Sheba to Solomon when he was younger and maybe, maybe after he became king. But these were some instructions that the mother of Lemuel, which I think was Bathsheba to Solomon, gave to him about how he could become a very, very good king. Listen to these words.

Jacque: Listen, my dear son, son of my womb, you are the answer to my prayers, my son, so keep yourself sexually pure from the promiscuous, wayward woman.

Pastor Brian: You know what? There are sexual principles that we still as a culture and a world need to live by. I always say to people--we get a lot of people. I encountered a lot of people had conversation with a gentleman just this past week. The first time I talked with them, and he is talking about his girlfriend. They are buying this house together. Live. They are living together and whatever. I'm praying that sometime in the future, I will have an opportunity to sit down and talk with him and say, you know what? There is a better way. There is a better way for you to live. This mother is teaching this king a better way, a better way to live. Keep yourself sexually pure from the promiscuous, wayward woman. She goes down to say this:

Jacque: And this is for all of us too. Don't waste the strength of your anointing on those who ruin kings.

Pastor Brian: We all carry an anointing for us. We all have giftings and we all have an anointing on us. My anointing is to do what I've been doing here at Hope Community for the last 25 plus years. We all have an anointing and giftings, but the enemy can come in and get you to go down a wayward path, which can start to ruin the anointing and the gifting that you have. This mother had so much perception. She said, "Don't waste the strength, the power of your anointing on those who are set out to ruin kings." How do they ruin these kings? Well, promiscuous women and all sorts of sexual dalliances and all that sort of thing. Let's go on.

Jacque: You know, about the anointing. I think whatever we do is unto the Lord, and serving God will anoint that with his presence whether it be a mom making meals for her kids or--

So don't waste the strength of your anointing on those who ruin kings. You'll live to regret it, for you are a king, and it's never fitting for a king to be drunk on wine or for rulers to crave alcohol for when they drink, they forget justice and ignore the rights of those in need, those who depend on them for leadership.

Pastor Brian: There are people in this world that are depending upon people in leadership, and those people in leadership need to walk circumspectly in that position because there are people whose lives depend on it.

Jacque: And I think all of us are a leader to someone.

Pastor Brian: Yes, we are.

Jacque: Strong drink is given to the terminally ill who are suffering at the brink of death. Wine is for those in depression in order to drown their sorrows.

Pastor Brian: And by the way, I'm not an anti-alcohol guy here. Okay? This is not the new-- what was the movement years ago?

Jacque: Abolition.

Pastor Brian: Abolition or prohibition. Prohibition, prohibition.

Jacque: One of those.

Pastor Brian: Whatever. I'm not trying to pound the drum on that. But this teaching is good. It is saying when you have responsibility, don't turn to alcohol to give you comfort. When you have responsibilities, don't-- get your comfort from the Lord. Don't get your comfort from other means that can have destruction in your life. But you are to be a king--

Jacque: But you are to be a king who speaks up on behalf of the disenfranchised and pleads for the legal rights of the defenseless and those who are dying. Be a righteous king, judging on behalf of the poor and interceding for those most in need.

Pastor Brian: This was a good mother. This was a really good mother who taught Lemuel/ Solomon these things. Now, Solomon didn't always live by it, and his life came to some hardship because of it. But the fact of the matter is, this was the Jesus way right here by giving yourself for the disenfranchised, pleading for the legal rights of the defenseless, speaking up for those who are dying unjustly. Be a righteous person. I'm going to change the word king to person. Just be a righteous person, putting yourself out on behalf of the poor and interceding for those in need. That's how we can really fight for the underdogs.

They will forever be changed. This is not what our culture is trying to promote. Our culture is trying to promote advancement, get ahead, what have you. I believe there is promotion that comes from God. There is a balance to all this. Don't get me wrong. But the fact of the matter is, the Jesus way is for us to seek these people that are disenfranchised, marginalized, hungry, poor. These are the people that when we meet their needs, when we give ourselves to their needs, Jesus is saying we become sheep. That's the fast track to becoming a sheep, giving yourself to those in need. Let's pray. Thank you, Jesus. Pastor Robert, why don't you come and just pray over this message.

Pastor Robert: Lord, our way of responding to you and acting on your behalf comes to us in many ways. It's the myriad of people we come into contact with. We have opportunity all the time to show the love of Christ. Lord, when we reach beyond our convenience, our comfort levels, our prejudices, our fears, we extend the hope of Christ to all that we come in contact with. Each and every one of us and everyone we come into contact with has a destiny. How great is it when we unite and join in, in establishing and furthering the destiny, the Christ destiny in people as we just say hello, as we say, how can we help you? What do you need?

Lord, I pray that you would remove every impurity in our hearts, everything that dirties up our vessel, that puts us in a compromising position, to be a channel, to be a conduit of your river of love. Forgive us Lord, for not being available. Forgive us, Lord, for not being willing to do, to go to move. But I pray, Lord, as you forgive us, you are faithful too. I pray that you give us multiple opportunities to minister to you. Lord, today there are men that are gathered today that recognizes there is a need that we need to meet. I pray that we are led by your spirit, that you give us guidance and wisdom to flow in your love. Lord, I pray for the congregation, those that are here and joining us by livestream or that will see the recording later. I pray that we will take the words of this message and not only be hearers of the word but be doers of your word. Bless them in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pastor Brian: Many of you probably remember that I had the privilege of studying with a tremendous piano professor at the University of Minnesota. He was a Julliard graduate, and I studied with him here at the University of Minnesota. When I was a student, he was a very renowned pianist in the Twin Cities, and he would at times entertain in his home and he would ask me to butler his parties for him. The people that would come to his parties were like the Pillsbury and the Ham twins. That was like the upper, upper echelon of people in the Twin Cities.

Mrs. Pillsbury would come in and she would see me, and she would say, "Hi Brian." She would throw me her coat and say, "Just find a place for this." Her fur coat. Yeah, a fur coat. And then there were other people who were trying to make it up that ladder and they were just snooty and snotty. But over the course of time, my piano professor has now become 95 years old, and all of his high society friends have passed away. He himself is now struggling with memory issues, and he is in a care facility and we go see him. When I go to see him, I think to myself, I'm on my way to see Jesus. Because he is in a prison, a prison of his mind and a prison on a floor that he can't exit from anymore.

He no longer has access to his piano. He no longer has access to all the things that gave him value in his life. But we come, we pray over him, we bring Jesus to him, and we meet Jesus every time we go see him. My question to you this week is, why don't you track how many Jesus sightings you can get this week? How many Jesus sightings can you get this week? Let's pray. Let's lift our hands together.

Now may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. And may the Lord make his faces shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. And may you see Jesus and encounter Jesus many, many times this week. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

God bless you. Thank you so much for being here today. And thank you so much, all of you who are watching online. We are so thankful you are a part of our community as well. God bless you. You all have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.

Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 7-16-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.