WEBVTT 00:00:05.809 --> 00:00:08.730 We're going to pray and then we're going to want 00:00:08.730 --> 00:00:11.169 to share with you guys. I want to rejoice with 00:00:11.169 --> 00:00:13.349 you today on what the Lord was able to do through 00:00:13.349 --> 00:00:15.990 our ministry in New Orleans yesterday and just 00:00:15.990 --> 00:00:17.809 share a little with you. So let's pray and we're 00:00:17.809 --> 00:00:20.609 going to talk about that today. God, we come 00:00:20.609 --> 00:00:24.329 to you. We thank you for being good to us. I 00:00:24.329 --> 00:00:26.469 thank you for this church and the love that's 00:00:26.469 --> 00:00:28.730 in this church. I thank you for blessing us. 00:00:29.449 --> 00:00:31.789 And I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us 00:00:31.789 --> 00:00:35.299 to be a light. in our community and in our world, 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.340 that we would experience your love and blessing 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:40.460 and that we would love and bless others, dear 00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:44.240 Lord, so that they may see you and come to you 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.679 and know your love, God. I pray that you just 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:50.100 bless us in these few moments as we rejoice over 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:53.460 what you've done. And I ask these things in Jesus' 00:00:53.659 --> 00:00:58.159 name. Amen. If you don't know, most of you probably 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.740 do, but maybe there's some listening online watching 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:03.939 today that don't know, every year, about this 00:01:03.939 --> 00:01:06.319 time of year in the fall as it starts to get 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:10.900 cool we make a trip to new orleans we started 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:14.420 this ministry in 2019 the first year we went 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.640 there were only a handful of people and we took 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:20.500 just a few little things we could gather up not 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:23.859 much and we traveled to new orleans not knowing 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:26.840 what to expect with the goal of wanting to help 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:30.239 the homeless and we got there and really our 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.340 eyes were open to just how how serious the situation 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:39.019 was there obviously there are a lot of homeless 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:42.000 people in new orleans there's a lot of need and 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.959 we were blessed to get to go for a couple of 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.819 years and after going and seeing a little bit 00:01:47.819 --> 00:01:51.939 about what that need was we began to expand what 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:54.760 we were taking our offerings and then we we found 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:57.719 a great little park area that ended up being 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:00.620 a great place for us to go And we've been going 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:03.120 there for the last three years. We've gone to 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:07.299 this park. And every year we take sleeping bags. 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.580 Last year we started taking food. We started 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:13.439 taking these little goodie bags with socks and 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:15.819 gloves and all these other items that people 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:19.740 can use. And so throughout the last six years, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.759 God has really been good. And this little ministry 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:26.120 has just kind of continued to grow. And then 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:29.680 last year was really our biggest year. Up until 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.340 then, we would have like five people go, or even 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:34.000 less. One year, it wasn't but four of us that 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.560 went. And then last year, God opened the floodgates. 00:02:36.620 --> 00:02:40.259 We had 23 people that went last year, which was 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:44.219 fantastic. And the park we go to, it is the perfect 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:49.400 location. It's easy to get to. The street is 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.020 wide open. You can park all day, no parking problems. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.419 It's easy to get into the park and set up. Last 00:02:56.419 --> 00:02:59.340 year we took tents. That was a huge thing because 00:02:59.340 --> 00:03:01.199 everybody says when you go tell them, hey, we 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:02.819 got stuff, they say, where? That's the first 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:04.939 thing they ask usually. And last year we could 00:03:04.939 --> 00:03:07.280 say right over there at those tents. And we had 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.840 a lot of people, and we had jambalaya, and we 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:13.439 had food, and it was perfect. And this year we 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.780 were ready to go. We had our game plan. I was 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:19.419 thinking, all right, we're good. God's kind of, 00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:22.199 he's provided this for us. Everything is lined 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.860 up. We're kind of in our comfort zone now. We 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:27.219 know what we're doing. We're all prepared. So 00:03:27.219 --> 00:03:30.319 yesterday, praise the Lord, we had 21 people 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:32.960 that showed up to go again. We had a huge crew. 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:37.770 And we got our game plan together. figured out 00:03:37.770 --> 00:03:40.009 what everybody was going to do just like we did 00:03:40.009 --> 00:03:42.250 last year. You're going to tote the tents. You're 00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:43.990 going to set up tables. You're going to bring 00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:45.509 the food. You're going to bring the sleeping 00:03:45.509 --> 00:03:47.870 bags. Ten minutes tops. We're going to park. 00:03:48.030 --> 00:03:49.349 We're going to be unloaded. We're going to be 00:03:49.349 --> 00:03:53.409 serving people. It's going to be great. And then 00:03:53.409 --> 00:03:56.870 we had our first roadblock. I ain't looked at 00:03:56.870 --> 00:03:58.310 the weather all week. I looked at the weather, 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:00.409 and you know what it said? Rain all day in New 00:04:00.409 --> 00:04:02.900 Orleans. I said, golly. We're going to get wet. 00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:06.280 But that wasn't no problem. There's a lot of 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:08.060 brothers and sisters in Christ suffering for 00:04:08.060 --> 00:04:09.580 the kingdom, a lot worse than getting rained 00:04:09.580 --> 00:04:11.979 on. So nobody was worried about that. Nobody 00:04:11.979 --> 00:04:14.659 retreated. I said, look, we're probably going 00:04:14.659 --> 00:04:16.579 to get wet today. So we're driving down there, 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:18.279 and I'm talking about a beautiful day, beautiful. 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:20.399 And I'm thinking, man, the weatherman missed 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.120 it. It ain't no rain. And then we get there. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.420 Boy, the wind's blowing. We start driving up 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:28.259 down the street. And then all of a sudden, our 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:31.000 little park that always has plenty of parking. 00:04:31.629 --> 00:04:35.050 Didn't have no parking. Uh -oh. The whole street. 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:38.490 It's wide open. You could land a plane down it 00:04:38.490 --> 00:04:41.629 usually. It was every parking spot just about 00:04:41.629 --> 00:04:44.329 was took. There was one of the government buildings. 00:04:44.730 --> 00:04:48.569 Early voting today. All the parking meters were 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:51.209 blocked up. Can't park here. No public parking. 00:04:51.389 --> 00:04:55.310 Only for early voters. I said, oh, Lord, we in 00:04:55.310 --> 00:04:58.439 trouble. We drive a little further. I look over 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:01.019 to our park that's wide open for the masses to 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:04.399 come to, and our little park ain't wide open 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.980 to the masses no more. They done built a big 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:09.060 fence around the park, and they got that thing 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:12.879 chained shut. You can't even go in the park. 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:15.639 There ain't a homeless person nowhere around. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.800 And I said, oh, this is a catastrophe. I said, 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.459 it's fixing to come afloat. We got about seven 00:05:23.459 --> 00:05:26.259 vehicles, and we ain't got nowhere to park. We 00:05:26.259 --> 00:05:28.040 come to serve the homeless, and there ain't no 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.379 homeless. And the area where we was going to 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.279 set up, we ain't going to set up. And I was, 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:35.959 internally, I was in panic mode. I showed it 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:38.040 some, I guess. I didn't do too good a job. But 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.480 I told our group, everybody, we squeezed in where 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:45.680 we could. I said, everybody, hang tight. I saw 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:47.680 another group. It was a group of Christians doing 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:49.939 a little Bible study. I went up there, and I 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:51.819 said, hey, what's going on, y 'all? I said, we. 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:54.000 We come to serve folks. We've been coming for 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.519 years. I said, are we not allowed in the park? 00:05:56.660 --> 00:06:00.860 They said, nope. They didn't shut it down. I 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:05.000 said, oh, this is a bad situation. So I said, 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:06.480 well, there ain't one thing we can do. We're 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:09.240 just going to set up, and we're going to do the 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.819 best we can. And my biggest concern was not to 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:14.839 rain or not having to tote the stuff or even 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:16.939 getting a parking ticket. My biggest concern 00:06:16.939 --> 00:06:19.889 was we came to serve people. And we didn't know 00:06:19.889 --> 00:06:21.350 if we were going to, or I didn't know. Maybe 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:23.310 everybody else had better faith than me. I don't 00:06:23.310 --> 00:06:25.689 know. But I'm thinking, we came to serve people, 00:06:25.870 --> 00:06:28.009 and I don't know if there's even going to be 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:30.350 people around to serve. I don't know if they've 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:34.170 run these people off. We've seen this trend since 00:06:34.170 --> 00:06:36.610 we first started going. We first started going 00:06:36.610 --> 00:06:39.540 to these underpasses, under bridges. And every 00:06:39.540 --> 00:06:41.639 year we'd go, we would notice more and more of 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:43.899 these underpasses would have these same big old 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:46.899 fences. And so they're pushing the homeless from 00:06:46.899 --> 00:06:49.220 one area, and they would retreat to another area, 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:52.120 and eventually it got to the park where we've 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.199 been serving. So I don't even know if there's 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:58.199 homeless people here. But I told our folks, I'm 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:00.959 like, there's nothing we can do. You find a place 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:04.199 to park where you can. If we get a ticket, we'll 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:06.699 just have a ticket, and we'll just park. There's 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:09.379 nothing we can do. and we're just going to set 00:07:09.379 --> 00:07:11.620 up right here on the sidewalk. So we didn't have 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:15.040 much space. It was real tight. And our crew, 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.399 good crew, I'm telling you, I'd go to war with 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:20.339 this crew any day. Nobody complained. Well, I 00:07:20.339 --> 00:07:22.680 did have one complaint yesterday. I did have 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.899 one of our elder crew members that said we needed 00:07:25.899 --> 00:07:27.920 to stop for a bathroom break on the way, that 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.019 that was too far to drive. I was the only complainant 00:07:31.019 --> 00:07:32.899 of the day, though. Other than that, it was smooth 00:07:32.899 --> 00:07:36.290 sailing. So we get there, and we had this plan. 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:38.949 And, you know, I think it was Mike Tyson that 00:07:38.949 --> 00:07:40.810 once says, everybody has a plan until you get 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:42.949 punched in the mouth. Well, we got punched in 00:07:42.949 --> 00:07:46.050 the mouth. Our plan was out the window. So I 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.230 told our folks, I said, look, let's just start 00:07:48.230 --> 00:07:50.550 getting stuff out. And everybody was just doing 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:53.189 what they could do. And we were lining our tables 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:55.149 up, and our tent folks were trying to set up 00:07:55.149 --> 00:07:57.149 tents, and the wind was just blowing. I was like, 00:07:57.230 --> 00:08:00.800 we've got to scrap the tents. We scrap the tents, 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.959 we line up our tables, and we start unloading 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:05.860 our stuff. And, of course, the heaviest stuff 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:08.939 to load is at the other end of the street. So 00:08:08.939 --> 00:08:12.300 we've got this massive 10 -gallon pot of jambalaya, 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.160 cast iron pot, that empty weighs a ton and full 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.980 of jambalaya weighs two tons. But we had some 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:20.699 good strong men that were there to help tote 00:08:20.699 --> 00:08:23.279 yesterday, praise the Lord. Nobody complained. 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:26.259 Everybody got what they needed to get. We got 00:08:26.259 --> 00:08:28.649 the heavy tables. We set them up. We start getting 00:08:28.649 --> 00:08:30.689 the ice chest. We start getting the jambalaya. 00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:33.389 We start unloading the sleeping bags. Everything's 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:36.070 coming together. And we get it all. I tell our 00:08:36.070 --> 00:08:38.789 folks, I'm still of little faith now. Y 'all 00:08:38.789 --> 00:08:41.470 can pray for me. I'm still of little faith. I 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:42.830 said, look, we're not going to get much out. 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:44.850 I said, because we're probably not going to be 00:08:44.850 --> 00:08:47.690 able to get rid of all this stuff today. I said, 00:08:47.690 --> 00:08:49.610 so just get a little out. If we need it, we can 00:08:49.610 --> 00:08:52.240 go back and get it. So we get our stuff out. 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:54.259 We get our tables set. Ernest heads off around 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:55.740 the corner. He said, I'm going to go around the 00:08:55.740 --> 00:08:57.480 block, and I'm going to see if I can wrangle 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.080 up some homeless people, and I'm going to tell 00:08:59.080 --> 00:09:02.899 them to come this way. Well, it didn't take long 00:09:02.899 --> 00:09:05.940 to get the tables set up. All of a sudden, here 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:10.200 comes a few people, and then a few more people. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.179 And then I head around the block behind Ernest. 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:15.299 I know he had already went. Well, in the ten 00:09:15.299 --> 00:09:17.279 minutes from when he went to when I went, I guess 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:19.059 there were some more people that had come. Because 00:09:19.059 --> 00:09:20.820 all the ones I told we had stuff, they said, 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:23.759 where? I said, right around this corner. Go right 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:25.659 around this corner, around this park. Follow 00:09:25.659 --> 00:09:27.620 that sidewalk. You'll see a bunch of people at 00:09:27.620 --> 00:09:29.500 the end of the sidewalk. Boom, off they went. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:31.519 On their bikes, walking, whatever they had. Off 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:34.759 they went to get the stuff. And so we began to 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:37.659 serve the people. Praise the Lord. The rain held 00:09:37.659 --> 00:09:39.860 off. We'd fill a sprinkle every once in a while. 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:43.440 Lord. The wind died down. The rain held off. 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:46.059 Everybody was there. Everybody had a place to 00:09:46.059 --> 00:09:49.659 park. All our stuff was set up. Smooth sailing. 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:53.940 Homeless people began to come. Ernest and Erlo 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:56.759 went down to a little homeless shelter that was 00:09:56.759 --> 00:09:58.919 just not too far away and said, hey, look, we 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:02.279 got stuff. Word got out. People started coming. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:07.159 Everything was going good. I still didn't have 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.120 enough faith. We were serving that jambalaya. 00:10:10.649 --> 00:10:13.470 Dana and Michelle, I think Miss Kathy, was serving 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:16.690 the jambalaya. And I walked over there after 00:10:16.690 --> 00:10:19.269 we'd been there maybe 30 minutes. And they said, 00:10:19.450 --> 00:10:21.350 what are we going to do with all the rest of 00:10:21.350 --> 00:10:23.029 this jambalaya? Maybe we can take it back and 00:10:23.029 --> 00:10:25.549 freeze it. So I wasn't the only one that didn't 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:31.350 have enough faith. And so they kept slopping 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:33.990 that jambalaya on them plates, boy. And guess 00:10:33.990 --> 00:10:38.009 what? People kept coming. And they never stopped 00:10:38.009 --> 00:10:40.870 coming. And it wasn't but about 30 minutes after 00:10:40.870 --> 00:10:44.509 that I heard the ting of a spoon hitting an empty 00:10:44.509 --> 00:10:47.850 10 -gallon cast iron pot of jambalaya. Turns 00:10:47.850 --> 00:10:49.549 out we didn't have to freeze any of it after 00:10:49.549 --> 00:10:54.830 all. We gave it out. About an hour and a half 00:10:54.830 --> 00:10:57.950 later, everything we had took, every sleeping 00:10:57.950 --> 00:11:00.710 bag was gone, 122 of them. I told you all last 00:11:00.710 --> 00:11:03.889 week 125, and that's because I can't count. I 00:11:03.889 --> 00:11:06.629 counted them again. It was 122. 122 sleeping 00:11:06.629 --> 00:11:11.700 bags were gone. 129 of those red bags full of 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:15.740 socks and other goodies, gone. We had about 140 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:22.000 pillows we had took, gone. Everything was gone. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.399 It was a fantastic day for me. I love it every 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:32.779 year. I feel confident, speaking about the rest 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:35.419 of the crew that went, that they were blessed 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:40.379 by being there too. We don't realize how blessed 00:11:40.379 --> 00:11:44.360 we are sometimes, and maybe trips like that are 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:47.940 good for us because we get in our own bubble 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:51.820 and in our own routines, and maybe our life hadn't 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:54.379 been too tough. Maybe we've always had a roof 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:57.720 over our head, and maybe we've always had food 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.860 that we can eat. We get hungry. We don't have 00:12:00.860 --> 00:12:03.799 to go far, about 20 foot probably, and you're 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.059 going to be at your refrigerator. And there's 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:09.259 probably going to be something in it. We might 00:12:09.259 --> 00:12:12.299 eat a snack two or three times a day. You have 00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:15.019 to go to the restroom. You just walk down the 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:19.419 hall. It's not too far. And we've done this our 00:12:19.419 --> 00:12:22.340 whole life. We don't really think much of it. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.740 But there are a lot of people in the world that 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:30.360 when they get hungry, they're just hungry. There's 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:33.970 nowhere to go get a snack. When they have to 00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:35.809 go to the bathroom, there's nowhere to go to 00:12:35.809 --> 00:12:39.409 the bathroom. When it starts raining, they don't 00:12:39.409 --> 00:12:46.190 have a roof to get under. And we need to realize 00:12:46.190 --> 00:12:51.799 just how blessed we are. I brought a couple of 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.980 pictures to show you all today. We didn't take 00:12:53.980 --> 00:12:56.039 any pictures yesterday. We were busy. So there 00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:57.879 wasn't much picture taking going on, praise the 00:12:57.879 --> 00:12:59.840 Lord. We do got a couple of pictures I wanted 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:02.580 to show you guys of some of our workers lined 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:04.460 up out there. That was the ones handing out the 00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:07.600 sleeping bags and our goodie bags. And we got 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.120 one more of all the food crew serving food. We 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:11.799 had a couple of girls that were serving water. 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:14.000 We also gave out water. I forgot to mention that. 00:13:14.259 --> 00:13:17.440 Gave out water to everybody. But we had a good 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.870 crew of folks down there. And we were able to 00:13:19.870 --> 00:13:23.710 serve a lot of these homeless people. But the 00:13:23.710 --> 00:13:26.590 truth of the matter is this. We may be quick 00:13:26.590 --> 00:13:29.090 to judge and say, well, those people need to 00:13:29.090 --> 00:13:32.009 do better for themselves. Those people need to 00:13:32.009 --> 00:13:35.169 do better for themselves. But you don't know 00:13:35.169 --> 00:13:37.330 anybody's situation. You don't know what got 00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:42.289 them where they are. Because a lot of those people 00:13:42.289 --> 00:13:46.830 that were there once, they were just like you. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:53.019 They had a family. They had a home. They had 00:13:53.019 --> 00:13:55.200 a refrigerator with food and a bathroom to use. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.419 And not anymore. And you may say they should 00:13:59.419 --> 00:14:01.179 have made better choices. Well, maybe some of 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:04.779 them should have. Maybe some of them did the 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:07.919 best they could do. Maybe they became injured. 00:14:08.019 --> 00:14:09.940 Maybe they lost their job. Maybe they were already 00:14:09.940 --> 00:14:14.919 struggling to get by. It doesn't take much for 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:18.779 people's world to be turned upside down. There's 00:14:18.779 --> 00:14:20.460 a lot of people in this world living paycheck 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:26.700 to paycheck. Some in this room wondering, boy, 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:28.419 is the next check going to get here in time? 00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:31.840 Are we going to have food for groceries this 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:37.000 month? And these people were once like you. And 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.399 then one month came that they didn't have enough. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:45.320 And then they lost their home, their apartment. 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:49.139 And they lived in their car. Until eventually 00:14:49.139 --> 00:14:53.139 their car broke down. A lot of them don't have 00:14:53.139 --> 00:14:58.379 any family and don't have anywhere to go. Where 00:14:58.379 --> 00:15:06.379 else can they go? There's nowhere to go. They 00:15:06.379 --> 00:15:08.559 go to an underpass in New Orleans until a fence 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:10.340 is built, and then they go to a park until a 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:12.179 fence is built, and then they go to the next 00:15:12.179 --> 00:15:15.740 spot until a fence is built. I don't know the 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:18.960 solution to the problem. There is no solution 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.019 to the problem. I'm going to be so bold as to 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:23.720 say there's no solution to the problem. I'll 00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:26.580 say that because there's always been poor people. 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:29.139 As Miss Madeline pointed out to me on the ride 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:32.419 back yesterday, Jesus said you will always have 00:15:32.419 --> 00:15:36.980 the poor. So long as we are on this earth, there's 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:41.799 always going to be people who have a need. There 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:44.919 are people who are a lot smarter than I am who 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:46.799 have thought about and worked on this problem. 00:15:47.389 --> 00:15:53.409 For centuries. And it still exists. There's always 00:15:53.409 --> 00:15:58.309 going to be people who have a need. And how is 00:15:58.309 --> 00:16:01.289 their need going to get met? Is it going to get 00:16:01.289 --> 00:16:03.090 met through the government? Well, maybe in some 00:16:03.090 --> 00:16:07.049 way. But I'll tell you how God wants the need 00:16:07.049 --> 00:16:11.570 to be met. God didn't say in his word, and I'm 00:16:11.570 --> 00:16:13.090 going to provide for the poor and the needy with 00:16:13.090 --> 00:16:16.220 food stamps. That's not what he said. He called 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:21.059 his people to minister to and to meet the needs 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:25.539 of those who are struggling. He calls us to do 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:30.659 that. In Matthew chapter 22, verses 37 through 00:16:30.659 --> 00:16:34.700 40, it says this, Then the righteous will answer 00:16:34.700 --> 00:16:37.059 him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:39.580 you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:43.019 When did we see you a stranger and take you in 00:16:43.019 --> 00:16:46.539 or without clothes and clothe you? When did we 00:16:46.539 --> 00:16:50.279 see you sick or in prison and visit you? And 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:54.120 the king will answer them, I assure you, whatever 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:56.940 you did for one of the least of these brothers 00:16:56.940 --> 00:17:04.640 of mine, you did for me. What is the Lord going 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:10.559 to say of us on the day of judgment? Are there 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:14.200 opportunities that we have to serve those who 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:18.119 are struggling in life, who are poor, who are 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:23.220 needy? Do we pass them by? Or do we help them? 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:27.119 Well, praise the Lord. This church yesterday 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.240 was able to help a bunch of people. I bet you 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.619 we served in total over 150 people. I have no 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:36.660 doubt about that. Not every one of them got everything 00:17:36.660 --> 00:17:40.569 we had. There were a few people that stood out 00:17:40.569 --> 00:17:44.029 to me yesterday. And maybe there were other stories 00:17:44.029 --> 00:17:48.549 that I didn't see or weren't aware of. There 00:17:48.549 --> 00:17:51.930 was one person that came and they said, Look, 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:54.289 I don't want a sleeping bag. I don't want anything 00:17:54.289 --> 00:17:57.289 else. I just want food. Can I just get more food 00:17:57.289 --> 00:18:01.349 if I don't get those things? Praise the Lord, 00:18:01.450 --> 00:18:03.569 we gave them more food. Of course, we'd have 00:18:03.569 --> 00:18:05.609 given them a sleeping bag too. We'd have given 00:18:05.609 --> 00:18:06.990 them a sleeping bag and all the food they could 00:18:06.990 --> 00:18:11.099 eat. And hopefully we did. Hopefully we gave 00:18:11.099 --> 00:18:15.319 them all the food that they could eat. We first 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.579 got there, we got set up. There was one man, 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.259 a young man, he must have got there as soon as 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:23.759 they got stuff out. Because it wasn't but a couple 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:25.660 of minutes after we got set up that I went around 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:27.940 the block. And when I went up the sidewalk and 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:29.720 around the block, on the corner of the block, 00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:32.619 I could hear this man from several feet away, 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:36.049 from a good distance, very loudly. I could hear 00:18:36.049 --> 00:18:38.130 him, and I could hear him saying stuff like, 00:18:38.210 --> 00:18:45.410 a black bandana, a blanket, I got a deodorant, 00:18:45.410 --> 00:18:48.230 and as I got closer, there was a concrete wall 00:18:48.230 --> 00:18:51.750 about this tall, and across that wall, this young 00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:55.069 man had emptied his red bag of all the stuff 00:18:55.069 --> 00:18:58.019 that was in there like a kid at Christmas. And 00:18:58.019 --> 00:19:00.299 he was going through each item. They all had 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:02.480 about this much space between them. I mean, he 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:05.819 had it lined up, and he was going over every 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:09.000 one of these items, and he cherished those things. 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:15.279 And what about us? We got stuff laying around 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:19.279 all over the place. How many of you thank the 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:21.220 Lord this morning that you could put on deodorant? 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:23.720 I thank the Lord that y 'all could put on deodorant. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.220 How many of us thank the Lord for these things 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:33.059 that we have a blanket to cover up with? I woke 00:19:33.059 --> 00:19:36.700 up this morning. It was 67 degrees in my house, 00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:40.180 and I was cold. And do you know what I did? I 00:19:40.180 --> 00:19:42.819 reached to the foot of my bed, and I just grabbed 00:19:42.819 --> 00:19:46.299 another blanket and pulled it over me. I do that 00:19:46.299 --> 00:19:49.480 every day because it's 67 degrees every morning, 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:53.880 and I wake up cold. And how many times do I thank 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:57.259 God that I have a blanket? And not only that, 00:19:57.259 --> 00:19:59.940 you know what? I got two blankets. Because I'm 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:01.680 already covered up with one and it ain't enough. 00:20:01.779 --> 00:20:05.839 So I just grab another one. These people don't 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.380 have anything. They don't have one blanket. They 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:11.220 don't have two blankets. They don't have anything. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.519 And we're going to complain. I don't like this 00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:18.140 old blanket. It's too scratchy. I just don't 00:20:18.140 --> 00:20:20.660 like this one. It's too hot. Oh, this thing's 00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:24.079 hot. We complain about our deodorant. I don't 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:26.259 like that deodorant. I only use aluminum -free. 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:30.099 I'm not going to use that. And we find all these 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:32.880 ways to complain about everything we've got when 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:36.160 these people that we saw yesterday do not have 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:39.259 anything. And here's something that's really 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:43.500 cool. You'd love this. If you've never been, 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:47.539 I'd encourage you to go. But almost all of the 00:20:47.539 --> 00:20:51.539 people are so appreciative. So many of the people 00:20:51.539 --> 00:20:54.759 that come up to us are so appreciative. And they 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:56.640 say, thank y 'all for what you're doing. Thank 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:02.400 you for bringing this stuff to us. This is what 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.740 God calls us to do, brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:10.099 This is it. If you don't want to help with ministries 00:21:10.099 --> 00:21:12.380 like this and be involved with ministries like 00:21:12.380 --> 00:21:16.359 this, I don't know what to tell you. We just 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:18.859 need to sit down and have a talk because... This 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:25.119 is what God calls us to do. We see so many people 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:30.500 that are so grateful. Had one man come through 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:32.180 the line toward the end of the day yesterday. 00:21:34.700 --> 00:21:37.900 And he, I'm not sure if he was homeless or not. 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:40.400 He may have been. Here's the cool thing about 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.859 some of these folks. Some of them stay in the 00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:45.829 shelter. Some of them have jobs. You may say, 00:21:45.869 --> 00:21:47.869 I need to get out and get a job. Some of them 00:21:47.869 --> 00:21:50.470 are. Some of them are trying. Some of them have 00:21:50.470 --> 00:21:52.849 had some tough life circumstances. They were 00:21:52.849 --> 00:21:55.269 once like you. Life hit them hard. They got in 00:21:55.269 --> 00:21:57.990 a bad shape. And some of them are really trying. 00:21:58.549 --> 00:22:00.250 They're trying to get a job, and they're trying 00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:02.049 to get reestablished, and that's a good thing. 00:22:03.630 --> 00:22:05.569 And some of them come, too, from the shelters. 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:09.609 And they say, hey, we don't need a sleeping bag. 00:22:09.690 --> 00:22:11.210 We've got a place to sleep, praise the Lord. 00:22:11.289 --> 00:22:13.349 But we would like some food. We'd give them some 00:22:13.349 --> 00:22:18.079 food. We had one gentleman come toward the end 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:23.039 of the day, older gentleman. I'm not sure if 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.779 he was in as bad a shape as some. Some of them 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:28.940 are in really bad shape. Others are doing better. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:32.619 But this gentleman come up to me, had a little 00:22:32.619 --> 00:22:35.500 bit of a kind of a slurred, slow speech, kind 00:22:35.500 --> 00:22:37.660 of like somebody would have after they'd had 00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:41.599 a stroke. Not too bad, but a little bit. And 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:44.480 this old man, he came up to me. And he looked 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:47.839 me in the eye, and he said to me, he said, I 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:52.359 want to thank you for what you've done. He said, 00:22:52.380 --> 00:22:56.759 may God bless you. I said, brother, he already 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:02.059 has. He said, and I want to give you this. And 00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:05.819 he gave me this wadded up. He said, I want to 00:23:05.819 --> 00:23:08.440 give this to you so that you can keep doing the 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:11.700 work. And he handed it to me, and I put it in 00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:17.849 my pocket. And it was two $20 bills. Now, I don't 00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:19.490 know if this dude was homeless. I don't know 00:23:19.490 --> 00:23:22.470 how bad off he was. But I can tell you, I don't 00:23:22.470 --> 00:23:28.130 think he had much. But he gave us two $20 bills. 00:23:28.869 --> 00:23:33.890 Us. We came to serve him. And he said, I want 00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:37.170 to give back to what you're doing. And I said, 00:23:37.190 --> 00:23:41.769 brother, this will be the first money that will 00:23:41.769 --> 00:23:44.509 start our ministry for next year. Yours will 00:23:44.509 --> 00:23:47.849 be the first. I bet everybody in here has a $20 00:23:47.849 --> 00:23:51.190 bill in their pocket. You can afford to get rid 00:23:51.190 --> 00:23:54.730 of a $20 bill. I don't know how much he could 00:23:54.730 --> 00:23:57.289 afford to get rid of, but I can tell you this, 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:01.049 he gave from his heart. Perhaps not someone like 00:24:01.049 --> 00:24:04.309 the widow in the scripture that only had two 00:24:04.309 --> 00:24:08.349 mites. She gave her two mites, he gave his two 00:24:08.349 --> 00:24:14.930 twenties. Man, that's... I don't make you think 00:24:14.930 --> 00:24:19.089 right there. A guy likely living on the street, 00:24:19.150 --> 00:24:21.470 struggling to get by, and he's giving us money 00:24:21.470 --> 00:24:25.210 for this ministry? And how much do we have that 00:24:25.210 --> 00:24:28.269 we could give, that we could use to support this 00:24:28.269 --> 00:24:35.450 ministry and to help these people? Last story. 00:24:36.529 --> 00:24:42.900 We were finished. The day was over. There was 00:24:42.900 --> 00:24:45.019 a lot of rejoicing in my heart, probably in the 00:24:45.019 --> 00:24:46.960 rest of everybody else. It was such a joyous 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:51.079 day. It was such a joyous day for all we were 00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:56.339 able to do. But I still left with some sadness 00:24:56.339 --> 00:24:59.700 even into the night. Not because of what we did, 00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:04.640 but because of what we weren't able to do. Last 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:08.240 year we went, we took about the same that we 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:11.099 took this year. Was able to serve everybody. 00:25:12.639 --> 00:25:16.099 Nobody came up to us that didn't get. We served 00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:20.039 everybody that wanted. In my comfort zone. All 00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:21.440 right, Lord, this is it. This is the number. 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:25.539 125 is what we're going to do this year. So we 00:25:25.539 --> 00:25:29.079 served everybody. We were getting ready to leave. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.880 And this little kind of crippled older woman 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:41.130 comes walking up. And she wanted something. We 00:25:41.130 --> 00:25:44.769 didn't have anything. We did not have anything. 00:25:45.710 --> 00:25:48.369 We had no pillows. We had no bags of love. We 00:25:48.369 --> 00:25:51.029 had no sleeping bags. We had jambalaya, which 00:25:51.029 --> 00:25:55.990 we were glad to give her. We had nothing. And 00:25:55.990 --> 00:25:58.509 this lady is begging, would you please give me 00:25:58.509 --> 00:26:01.410 something? Don't you have anything that you can 00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:05.029 give me? Michelle come over to me. She says, 00:26:05.049 --> 00:26:07.069 is there anything in the van? There was nothing 00:26:07.069 --> 00:26:10.090 in the van but a quart of oil. That was it. Nothing 00:26:10.090 --> 00:26:13.890 to give this woman. I said, I got nothing. I 00:26:13.890 --> 00:26:15.910 thought about it after the fact. When I got home, 00:26:16.009 --> 00:26:17.470 I was like, you idiot. I thought it was something 00:26:17.470 --> 00:26:20.150 I could have gave her, and I missed it. I feel 00:26:20.150 --> 00:26:24.869 horrible about that. And this woman begged, is 00:26:24.869 --> 00:26:27.210 there anything? Could y 'all please give me something? 00:26:28.569 --> 00:26:30.349 Praise the Lord, one of our folks went to their 00:26:30.349 --> 00:26:33.210 car. They had a jacket in the car. They gave 00:26:33.210 --> 00:26:38.369 this lady their jacket. So I said to myself, 00:26:39.910 --> 00:26:42.970 We got to do a little better. We're going to 00:26:42.970 --> 00:26:47.250 take a little more next year. And you may be 00:26:47.250 --> 00:26:49.650 saying, well, you can't serve all those people. 00:26:50.529 --> 00:26:55.670 No, we can't. We can serve one more than we did. 00:26:56.930 --> 00:26:58.869 If we can serve one more than we did this year, 00:26:58.930 --> 00:27:02.569 we're good. And I wouldn't even go so far as 00:27:02.569 --> 00:27:07.089 to say we can't serve all those people. God is 00:27:07.089 --> 00:27:10.670 good. If you'd have told me six years ago that 00:27:10.670 --> 00:27:13.630 a few people scrambling around in a hotel lobby 00:27:13.630 --> 00:27:15.789 putting sandwiches in a sack to give out to people 00:27:15.789 --> 00:27:17.670 would have ever turned into what God's blessed 00:27:17.670 --> 00:27:19.329 us with, I'd have said, I don't know about that. 00:27:20.450 --> 00:27:24.250 But God continues to bless. So this year our 00:27:24.250 --> 00:27:30.170 goal was 125 people served. Well, I'm excited 00:27:30.170 --> 00:27:32.450 to announce today that we're doubling that goal 00:27:32.450 --> 00:27:35.569 for next year. We're going to serve 250 people 00:27:35.569 --> 00:27:38.619 next year. And I don't have any doubt that we 00:27:38.619 --> 00:27:40.420 can do it. I don't know where we're going to 00:27:40.420 --> 00:27:42.240 serve them. We're going to have to find a new 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:44.539 location. But God knows where we're going to 00:27:44.539 --> 00:27:47.559 go. And he got me out of my comfort zone and 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:49.660 showed me, hey, y 'all can do better than what 00:27:49.660 --> 00:27:52.579 you were doing. So we're going to do better. 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:57.160 And I pray that y 'all would help. I ask that 00:27:57.160 --> 00:27:59.960 y 'all would pray about this ministry. If we're 00:27:59.960 --> 00:28:02.519 going to serve twice as many people, then we're 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:05.619 going to need more workers. We had 21 that went 00:28:05.619 --> 00:28:08.039 this year. Praise the Lord. We need 42 next year. 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:14.680 But we can do it. We can get 250 sleeping bags. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:17.779 I'll find somebody to make an extra pot of jambalaya. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:25.240 We can do it. Because the Lord can do it. So 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:28.079 I want to thank y 'all for all that you've done, 00:28:28.220 --> 00:28:30.019 for all of your prayers, for all of your support. 00:28:31.539 --> 00:28:34.410 And I want to praise the Lord today. Because 00:28:34.410 --> 00:28:39.269 it is the Lord who has provided. It is the Lord 00:28:39.269 --> 00:28:42.829 who has given to us. And it is from what God 00:28:42.829 --> 00:28:46.930 has given to us that I believe God calls us to 00:28:46.930 --> 00:28:52.549 give and to use to serve other people. Yesterday 00:28:52.549 --> 00:28:57.809 was a good day. It was a blessing. And I just 00:28:57.809 --> 00:29:00.650 wanted the church to know where your money's 00:29:00.650 --> 00:29:04.920 went. I wanted you to know the people that it 00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:08.140 impacted. I shared those four stories of those 00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:11.079 four people. There were a lot more. A lot of 00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:12.900 people came and went. We don't know their story. 00:29:15.339 --> 00:29:19.940 But all the prayers and all the support, they 00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:25.079 had an impact yesterday. And we may not can change 00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:28.940 the world, but we changed some of those people's 00:29:28.940 --> 00:29:33.359 world if it was just for a day. That meal is 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:36.500 not going to last long. That sleeping bag is 00:29:36.500 --> 00:29:39.880 not going to last long. But at least they know 00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:45.680 that God loves them. At least we gave them, even 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:49.579 if it's only a day's worth of comfort, at least 00:29:49.579 --> 00:29:52.299 the Lord was able to provide them with that yesterday. 00:29:53.380 --> 00:29:56.799 And we praise God for that today. Let's pray. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:02.490 God, we come to you. We thank you for... letting 00:30:02.490 --> 00:30:05.150 us be part of this ministry to serve in this 00:30:05.150 --> 00:30:07.309 way. I pray for the folks that we saw yesterday, 00:30:07.470 --> 00:30:11.210 that you would bless them, that they would know 00:30:11.210 --> 00:30:14.549 that you love them. God, I pray that you would 00:30:14.549 --> 00:30:19.089 help us not to be greedy. You bless us with a 00:30:19.089 --> 00:30:22.450 lot. And I pray that you help us to give back 00:30:22.450 --> 00:30:25.269 to those who need it, dear Lord. I thank you 00:30:25.269 --> 00:30:27.289 for everybody who's got such a big heart and 00:30:27.289 --> 00:30:30.920 has had. such a big heart to give and to provide 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:35.680 and to help with this ministry. And I pray, dear 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:37.619 Lord, that you would bless us going forward, 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:42.079 that we would do more, dear Lord, to meet the 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:45.640 needs that we can. God, we know there's a lot 00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:49.640 of needs out there, and we know that we're a 00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:54.700 small church, but help us, dear Lord. You provide 00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:57.660 for us. And help us to be faithful with what 00:30:57.660 --> 00:31:01.059 you provide. Thank you for the workers who went 00:31:01.059 --> 00:31:03.940 yesterday and for the ones who were here that 00:31:03.940 --> 00:31:09.559 prayed and gave, that you would bless them. I 00:31:09.559 --> 00:31:11.920 pray that you would help us not to be judgmental, 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:16.220 but to be compassionate to these people, dear 00:31:16.220 --> 00:31:19.859 Lord. That we would give to them, dear Lord. 00:31:22.059 --> 00:31:24.339 Because one day it could be us there on that 00:31:24.339 --> 00:31:28.980 street. So God, we praise you, we thank you, 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.000 and I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.