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00:02 Thank you, Valerie.
00:08 This afternoon, we're going to continue in our exposition of the book of James.
00:15 Uh we're going to touch on an important topic on the Christian and the poor. So,
00:20 let me just rewind back to last week, what we covered last week, because today
00:26 is basically an application of last week's sermon. All right, last week's sermon, we talked about um how we um uh
00:35 become doers of the word rather than just hearers. If you're just a hearer of the word of God, you're deceiving
00:42 yourself. If you walk out of this room and nothing really sinks into your heart and changes your DNA, then it's better.
00:49 Then basically you're deceived. If you walk out and the word has its effect, it will translate into how you live. And
00:57 three practical areas of which he pointed out was controlling a tongue, holy living, and helping the helpless.
01:04 uh religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this to visit
01:09 orphans widows in their affliction and to keep one self unstained from the
01:15 world. So how do we actually do this? So we're going to look into a practical points. Let's start with a word of
01:20 prayer. Lord, we pray this morning that your spirit will hear, your spirit will
01:27 move and open open up our eyes, enlarge our souls, that we will take in your
01:32 word, that this word will transform us, that we will be not deceived, but we'll be doers of the word rather than just
01:39 hearers. Now, the first area which the second area, the first area is to visit the orphans and the widows and then
01:47 practical area in church. If you come to church, my brothers, show no partiality
01:53 as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For a man, if
01:58 a man wearing gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes
02:05 in, if you pay attention to the one who wears fine clothing and says, "You sit here and have a good place while you say
02:11 to the poor man, you stand over there and sit down at my feet. Have you not
02:16 made distinctions among yourself? Become judges with evil thoughts." So here we have a practical situation where you
02:23 come to church and let's say you're an usher, okay? Okay, you stand there and our ushers will point you if you're
02:30 dressed with a gold ring and a burkin bag, you know, and you look a bit
02:36 stylish and you walk talk with a masala accent. Okay, then we'll put you in front here with Peter. All right, if you
02:43 come with Pasa Malam clothes and you sit at the back there with Filong, right? Nowadays, it seems as if nobody wants to
02:49 sit in front. I only see there Richard and Peter off and on you know uh in those days this is
02:56 the um uh the synagogue and uh where the uh the ark for the scrolls will be here
03:03 the pull pit is here where it's being read and the good spots are around here
03:09 okay within spitting different distance to the from the speaker and the women get to sit at the side okay where their
03:16 legs will be dangling on your head if you sit there. So what the the um chap is telling the poor chap is that you
03:23 either stand at the back or you sit under the feet of all the women okay
03:28 folk which is not a very nice place. Uh but I think is he talking more about the
03:33 seating arrangement? I think he's talking more about our attitudes towards each other. It's a fact that rich people
03:40 don't mix with poor people. We don't eat in the same shops. We don't frequent the
03:46 same. We don't live in the same neighborhoods. We're all at different place. This is Steve Win, one of the um
03:51 richest men in America in CNBC two days ago. I was reading this and he made this audacious claim which we all probably
03:60 resonate in our hearts, but we never dare say publicly. And he said these things, rich people only like being
04:05 around rich people. Nobody likes being around poor people, especially poor people. Which is actually ironic. Even
04:11 the poor people don't want to be around poor people. Poor people want to be around rich people. Any of you are poor
04:17 person, the way people talk to you is different from your rich person. All right. So, um this is true. Um and and
04:24 uh let me give you an experiment. I'm going to show you a number of pictures here and I'm going to get you to recall
04:32 what goes on in your mind. Okay? A couple of pictures here. 1 2 3
04:42 4 five six Now I'm going to ask you honestly
04:49 what went through your minds with the first three or four pictures and know what went through your mind in the second four pictures. Right now if I ask
04:58 you you probably lie to me here because you're in church and you're supposed to look good. So in 2009 they ran this
05:05 experiment in the University of Princeton. Professor Susan Fisk and her colleague from Duke University put 119
05:13 post-graduate students from Princeton in an MRI machine. And this MRM machine
05:20 looked at the blood flow to the preffrontal cortex which is the area which lights up when
05:27 you think empath about another person whether the person has needs or is
05:32 hungry or is warm or whether you want to have fellowship this area doesn't light up when you look at a chair or a table
05:39 or you know on an animate object and out of all the 119 post-graduate students
05:44 from Princeton most of them when they saw pictures the poor people, this area did not light up
05:50 at all. It was like looking like a bottle of water, which is really shocking because if you would look in
05:58 your hearts, if you really were honest, that the problem is rich people don't like poor people. Poor people also don't
06:04 like to be around poor people. It's innate inside our bodies or else the
06:10 moral of the story is you never study in Princeton because you go there, you become a snob.
06:16 So poor people are regarded as not human, especially the homeless, drug
06:21 addicts, immigrant workers. And if you actually ask ourselves honestly, we don't really want to mix with them.
06:27 They're not the kind of persons you want to take to afternoon tea. Susan Fist
06:32 concluded it's the most negative prejudice people report, even greater than racism. And this is also in the
06:40 church. It's subtly. Look, ask yourself, who are your friends? very honestly who
06:46 are your friends after when you go out for lunch who do you go out for lunch with you'll find most times it's people
06:53 within your own socioeconomic group when's the last time you went out with a poor person I tell you if you're honest
07:01 almost never why because it's deep inside how we look
07:07 at people we cannot escape that we think that if we were the idea that was drumed
07:13 in our heads right from young. If you study hard, you work well, you're smart,
07:19 you're dedicated, you will be a success. And so therefore, we want to be with successful people because we can learn
07:25 from them. We can grow off them. We could benefit from them. And if you are
07:30 poor, somewhere along the line, you didn't do your homework. When you were when others were busy studying, you were
07:36 playing football. That's what my mother used to say. And then and then you wind up collecting garbage. If you study
07:43 hard, you become a lawyer. You've become a engineer. And so the perception of the poor is that they have no value. They're
07:50 useless. They're lazy. They're like trash. Your pre uh medial frontal cortex
07:56 doesn't light up when you look at them or they're drained on society. But that's not really true. Uh I came from a
08:02 rich family when I was young. My father was the assistant director of the meteorological department in Malaysia.
08:09 That's pretty high up. We lived in a bungalow. We had good clothes and fine toys. And one day when he was 40, he
08:16 died of a heart attack. And suddenly we were plunged into the depths of poverty
08:22 simply because we don't even have a uh bread earner anymore. And and my mom had
08:28 to sold clothes for a living and we live in one corner little bungalow. We rented out the whole place. So everybody had to
08:34 run to the mill and we had to ek out a living there. It was bad. And I remember
08:40 going through a phase where where everybody just referred to me, oh the boy who doesn't have a father. My god,
08:46 from named Peter. I have a name Peter. Everywhere you go, oh the poor boy without a father. And I was it was it
08:53 had a tremendous impact on my psyche. I had loss of self-esteem. I had loss of confidence. I couldn't look people in
08:59 the eye because I who am I? I'm a boy without a father. Equal poor boy. And so
09:04 therefore out of the blue, you know, you could be very successful. You could be very rich. You could be very capable.
09:11 But one day if something happens to you, you will be in poverty. It may not be your fault at all. So the perception is
09:18 totally wrong. And um uh I can't go forward. Why? Okay. So
09:25 today we want to apply what we learned last week. Last week we said, "But the one who looks into the perfect law, the
09:31 law of liberty and and and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer
09:36 who acts." the the key to changing our internal DNA. So when we look like a
09:42 poor person, the prefrontal cortex will light up. All right? The the key to that is looking into scripture. Okay? And the
09:49 word looking into scripture, this Greek word look is a same word which John uses
09:55 for Peter when he looks inside the tomb and he finds an empty tomb. So he sits there, he just doesn't look and go home,
10:02 you know, he he looks, he investigates, he theorizes. Why is there an empty tomb
10:07 where my savior used to be? If it's empty, why is it empty but with the grave clothes left there? Which means
10:13 why would they unwrap Jesus, leave all the spices and take his naked body away? I mean, he's thinking about it. And so
10:19 when we look at scripture today, we need to think about the scripture. We need to think what it means so that it'll
10:25 percolate into our system. Why is it back there again like that? Cannot Don't play with my slides. Okay.
10:32 All right. Don't play my slides. Anybody park your car? Who wants to park his car? What's the number?
10:39 9173. 91 73. Okay. Go and park your car. Right. Don't disturb me anymore. All
10:45 right. So, so you look into the law, okay? And it'll transform you.
10:51 And not only look, you've got to persevere. Okay? I'm going to look at the law now. Couple of points. Why is it
10:57 wrong to have partiality? First point is that discrimination against the poor is evil. Right? Have you not then made
11:04 distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? So here we
11:10 are the picture is paid of a old testament judge. Uh you shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be
11:15 partial to the poor or defer to the great but in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. Which mean a judge
11:21 justice has got to be blind. No matter who you look like he's supposed to dispense justice. So therefore when you
11:29 judge with evil thoughts you're basically two. You're facing both ways. one way towards Christ and facing the
11:35 other way towards snobbery. So this discrimination is evil. Discrimination
11:40 insults the poor. But you have dishonored the poor man. Being blind to
11:46 the honor the poor is basically an insult when we actually uh have this attitude toward them. Many years ago,
11:53 many missionary organizations used to give rice in order to procure conversions to
11:59 Christ. We call them rice Christians. This is again insulting to the poor because you're using rice in order to get conversion which is actually a very
12:06 stupid idea. Um God second point is that God has chosen the poor. Listen my
12:11 beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the
12:18 kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? Over 300 verses in the
12:24 Bible are about the poor. And what God does is the ones who are most affected
12:29 by the ravages of sin are not the rich. It is the poor. And God partially is
12:35 partial to them. He chooses them in so far as he's not really what he say he's not really discriminating against rich.
12:42 What he's saying is that it is the poor who are actually going to be rich in
12:47 faith and heirs of the kingdom. The poor are the ones who going to respond to the gospel. Let me give you an example. The
12:53 Corinthian church here it says, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were
12:60 wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things
13:06 of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly
13:12 things of this world and despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one can
13:18 boast before him." And in this passage to the church in Corenth, he tells us
13:25 about the economy of God's kingdom. Economy of God's kingdom is not like our economy. We look at the outward, God
13:32 looks at the inward. We We are people who value popularity. God values
13:37 character. We look at intelligence. God looks at the heart. We honor those with
13:43 money. God honors those with integrity. We talk about what we own. God asks you
13:49 about what you have given away. We boast about whom we know but God notices whom
13:55 we serve. Many of us we list our accomplishments. God looks for a
13:60 contrite heart. We value education. God values wisdom. We love size. God loves
14:07 quality. We live for fame. God searches for humility. Our view is shallow. God's
14:14 view is deep. Our view is temporary. God's view is eternal. And the fact is
14:20 among the Christian church even today the preponderance of people who are Christians who believe are actually poor
14:27 people. How many of us in this room were actually sick
14:32 in trouble and that actually got us to come to grips with Christ? uh the only
14:38 reality we try to hide ourselves from the reality of life and you know I work
14:44 as a doctor and I treat both rich and poor in my life spending nine years in
14:50 government service and one thing you notice about people when become poor if the poor become sick to them is normal
14:56 they always get sick I got a you know pneumonia to motoral heart attack next day I lose my toe what else is new you
15:02 get it but when you get a poor man in my hospital and he's got like a stroke or
15:08 something and suddenly what what happened? I spent $2,000 on supplements. I got vitamin C, D, E, F, whatever. And
15:14 they caught liver oil. I got personal chef and I'm still sicker. Then somebody needs to be sued, right? I mean, they
15:22 they have an unrealistic view. The poor on the other hand have a very realistic
15:28 view about about life. They and if things happen to them, they understand about poverty. They understand that bad
15:35 things happen to good people. They understand uh about being struck by lightning as it were. All right? And so
15:40 therefore they're less attuned uh to uh blaming. They've got no exaggerated
15:46 sense of their own importance. Uh when you preach the gospel to the poor, they embrace it with a whole heartness,
15:54 right? You preach the gospel to the rich, they think you're scolding them and they grab their wallet tighter. Why? Because scared to give tithing.
16:01 Oh, after my tithing, that's all they're after. You see, that's a problem. And that's why the poor more readily respond
16:08 wholeheartedly to the gospel compared to rich. And that's why in that sense God has chosen the poor. Even the rich
16:15 person can be poor. Look at King Jehoshaphat. He was faced with a huge invasion from
16:21 the Amorites. They more or less cornered him. And this is what he prayed. For we
16:26 are powerless against this great horde that has come against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
16:34 When you wake up in the morning, where are your eyes? Your either eyes on your wallet
16:41 or your eyes on him. It is the poor person whose eyes on the Lord when you're driven to a corner when you are
16:48 blessed, as it were. Jonathan Edwards says, "We too should deliberately choose the poor and not wait for the poor to
16:55 come to us. It insults them." So we often wait until the poor guy is starving or he stands outside the church
17:01 and he looks kind of emaciated and weak and then we says you know brother can I do something or he applies to a
17:07 benevolent fund inside our church. John Edwards says that we shouldn't wait. We should deliberately choose them just
17:13 like God chooses us chooses the poor. We should actually go to them and if they're in trouble or you know in a
17:20 sense they're in trouble we come alongside them and we provide them relief. Thirdly, it is illogical to
17:26 honor the very people who do you harm. We all like to pander to the rich person. Maybe you want to ride in
17:31 somebody else's Lamborghini. I don't know. But uh it says here, "If you have dishonored the poor man, are not the
17:37 rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are not the ones who blasphe the honorable name
17:43 by which you were called? You you're pandering to all the rich people. The rich people the ones who sue you. Give
17:49 for example this fellow. I mean, he sues everybody. He even sued his wife for 25 million. You know why? Because she talks
17:55 too much. He sued everybody. He sued Rosie O'Donnell. He's called her Rosie
18:01 is a loser. A real loser. I look forward to taking lots of money from my nice fat littleie.
18:06 He sued city of Palm Beach, New York. He sued the country of Scotland. He sued
18:11 musicians, real estate developers, New York Times, ABC, even the Eastern Poco
18:16 in Great Indians, 10,000 of them only. You know, he sued all of them. Um the only person he hasn't suit is his
18:22 hairdresser. Look at his hair. Yuri Gella, remember him? He's only
18:27 called to flame was bending spoons. Correct. With his eyes a mere stare of his those deadly eyes were bent spoons.
18:34 He su Nintendo recently because they had a cartoon called Kabadra. And he says it
18:40 bears striking resemblance to him. Can you imagine that? But they're rich people. Rich people will sue you at a
18:46 drop of a hat. Fourthly, discrimination against the poor breaks the heart of God's law. You really fulfill the royal
18:53 law according to the scripture. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You're doing well. But if you show partiality, you're committing sin and
18:59 are convicted by the law as transgressors. What he's saying here is that the royal law of which you can summarize all the
19:07 law is to to love your neighbor as yourself. That's the royal law. And if
19:13 you actually discriminate against poor and have exhibit cold indifference to their plight then what you are doing is
19:20 actually you are actually breaking the law. Um look 2 Corinthians 8:13 for I do
19:28 not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but as a matter of fairness
19:33 your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need that
19:38 there may be fairness. And he applies this based on the royal law. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. He's not
19:46 asking you to make the rich the poor rich so that you become poor. I'm not doing that. He's just saying there's
19:52 some equality that at the present time your abundance to supply their need so their abundance is supply your need. So
19:58 there may be fairness involved. So therefore we break that royal law by our
20:04 indifference. Fifthly, we cannot pick and choose which laws to obey. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails on
20:11 one point has become accountable for it all. For he says do not commit adultery also says do not murder. You do not
20:18 murder. If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you become a transgressor of the law. So therefore the law is
20:24 indivisible. All parts are equal to the whole. You break one like a chain. The whole chain falls apart. So therefore
20:31 you can't have one side where we operate on a hierarchy of laws. We we don't like
20:36 adultery, but it's okay to be indifferent to the poor. It's okay to be chained to money, in greed. So there are
20:42 certain sins we we consider not so bad. You want to be a good sinner. You know
20:47 what a good sinner in church is? You do stuff that people can't see. A bad sinner is the one you do stuff that
20:53 people can see. Adultery, sexual immorality. Oh, if you're homosexual and like that's the end of the world. So we
20:60 can't have a hierarchy of laws. We actually breaking the law is indivisible. Breaking of one breaks all.
21:07 Second, lastly, how we treat the poor is a matter of life and death. So speak and
21:14 act as those who are to be judged under the law of mercy. For judgment is
21:20 without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
21:27 A bit cryptic here. What it means is that we are to be judged under the law. If judgment is without mercy, the one
21:35 who showed no mercy, mercy triumps over judgment. We have to live lives according to mercy. Now let me give you
21:42 an example. How we live our lives today is reflected of what we have in our DNA,
21:48 what we believe. Uh let's give me an example. Chinese billionaires. Can you imagine? China has the second largest
21:55 number of billionaires in the world today. But in terms of giving to
22:01 philanthropy, China ranks not number one, number two, number three, number four. China ranks 128.
22:08 Second largest in the world and they rank 128 because Chinese people cannot part with money. Chinese people go one
22:14 god money. That's a problem. Uh and how they live actually reflects
22:21 their values. This is uh one of the Forbes 500 in the world. Fan Jenuan.
22:28 Okay. He has built okay he is dedicated philanthropy but his philanthropy which gained from real estate he spends all
22:35 his money building museums all over this particular town called engine okay and
22:40 he's built 20 museums you see how he lives and spends his money is a reflective of his beliefs okay and
22:46 reflective what to happen in the afterlife you know why he does that because he says people die twice once
22:52 physically and second time when they die from people's memories so why if you
22:57 don't want to die from memory memories. What do you do? Create museums. Put your name there. It is the Fen Chan Museum.
23:05 So all over the place they'll go, they see your museum, you will not die a second time. How rich people spend their
23:12 money will be dependent on what they think of the afterlife. Jonathan Edwards
23:18 said, "It is not a small duty, but a great duty. And even heaven and hell lie
23:24 in the balance of how we respond to the poor. Okay? How we respond to the poor
23:31 is actually indicative of whether spiritually you're alive or you're dead.
23:36 Uh this is Matthew 25. At the end of time, God will divide all of us as sheep
23:42 and goats. You can't come to God and says, "Oh, I forgot my baptism certificate is at home. I belong to the
23:49 first Baptist church, not bad church, you know. So I surely get a pass in heaven, you know. You're first on earth, first in heaven, right? Uh that's why
23:55 you're sitting there. But but God will strangely say to you
24:00 what those who says then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you
24:06 cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was
24:12 thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, you did not welcome me. naked. You did not clothe me sick in
24:19 prison and you did not visit me. He didn't ask whether you're Calvinist, Armenian or Baptist.
24:26 Not important. What he asked was the bottom line because merciless judgment on those without mercy. If you have no
24:33 mercy, then you will be judged without mercy. That's a reflection. You know,
24:40 people produce fruit. The fruit is evidence of a life lived but doesn't give life itself. you don't do good
24:47 works in order to gain eternal life. The fruit is just indicative of the life that you have inside them. How you
24:53 actually treat poor people is actually reflective of what kind of person you
24:59 are and that's it. You you can't change what you are. And if you are transformed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you are
25:06 liberated by his grace, then you will live like that. You will take your money and your money will reflect where you
25:13 are in life. If you think you will live in people's memories, then you'll build museums.
25:20 If you think you live forever in houses, then you buy more houses. You see, it is the economy that your mind changes. So
25:27 fruit is evidence of life, but it doesn't give life itself. And finally, how we treat the poor is a function of
25:32 our faith. And Masim will preach on this next week because he says, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he can
25:38 have faith but doesn't have works? Can that faith save him? If my brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in
25:44 daily food and one of you says goes in peace and be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So faith by
25:51 itself if it does not have works is dead. So here is the poor. How we
25:58 respond to the poor is indicative of our faith. So finally this morning I want to
26:06 challenge us. We leave you with a challenge of what we are to do. Um this
26:11 is a uh Patrick Rooney from the uh Indiana University School of Philanthropy. He writes, "Wealthy people
26:18 who live in soioeconomically diverse neighborhoods, that is in downtown areas and cities, are more generous than
26:25 comparable wealthy individuals who live in homogeneous wealthy areas. So take
26:31 home message number one, don't live in Damsara Heights. come to UK heights or maybe USJ heights.
26:40 We also got heights here in our neighborhood. All right. So basically if you basically
26:47 live among the poor or different people it actually make it changes your
26:52 lifestyle. Uh you visit that's why the James tells you to visit the orphans and
26:58 the widows in their afflection. Didn't ask you to stay with them you know ask you at least to visit. Uh Susan Fist
27:05 says, "The good news is that this brain region comes back online with what I consider soup kitchen manipulation."
27:12 When you ask people to imagine what the vegetables the homeless guy might eat, which means if you ask them, you know
27:18 that that poor fellow you saw on the tape on on on the picture, right? Imagine what do you have for dinner
27:23 tonight. The moment you start imagining what he had for dinner tonight, he begins to show empathy, isn't it? And
27:29 that area in the brain starts to light up. So it's not a lost cause. It's not a lost cause at all. We just need to be in
27:36 contact with the poor. Uh and it will change your life. This is one of the greatest philanthropists in the world
27:42 today. Him and uh and and the other chap who learns Burkshire Hathaway uh he
27:48 actually started off and actually interviewed in 2011 and he shared how he started off giving money to the poor
27:54 even though he was the richest man in the world was that he visited a TB hospital in Africa. He got off from his
28:01 uh office in Microsoft. He went to Africa. He actually went into a TB hospital and he saw the way they the
28:08 appallingly horrible way in which they live and he said these words that being
28:13 in a TB hospital is equivalent to a death sentence. And from that day onwards because he went down to the
28:19 poor. It changed him inside and he dedicated most of his wealth uh to the
28:24 build at Melinda Gates Foundation where they actually give lots of money to change uh because of his own outlook. I
28:31 would end with this slide as to I'm not going to tell you what to
28:37 do. I think uh there was a group outside who discussed my sermon just now and then some said oh you must be like uh
28:43 what's his name John Wesley when he died he only had two two spoons
28:49 the rest is given away really good you know and then somebody had this and and rich and piper said this and you see the
28:56 Bible doesn't say that does it Bible standard very low just don't
29:01 discriminate against the poor how you don't discriminate is up to you and we
29:06 actually think that we the the poor are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Years ago, we had this movie called the
29:14 band of brothers. This was series and and if you were in a band of brothers, you were in the US army during World War
29:20 II. Can you tell the difference between a rich man and a poor man in a band of brothers? They all have one uniform.
29:28 Rich is not Gucci rich. No, it is the same standard uniform. You think the
29:33 rich man had a golden rifle? No. the same issue, army issue, horrible rifle.
29:40 And so when you're in the army and you're a band of brothers, you think the rich man will rescue the poor man. Yes,
29:46 the rich man can rescue the poor man, but the poor man can also rescue the rich man. You are equal in God's eyes.
29:53 And in that way, the poor have dignity, isn't it? Because they wear the same uniform as the rich. And you don't go to
29:58 the poor all the time saying, "What can I do to help you?" Always I can help you. Hey, when you're
30:04 in a band of brothers, the poor will pull your butt out of a sling if you have a trouble, right? Because we are
30:10 equal in the church, we need to see ourselves as what? A band of brothers.
30:16 We are rich in faith and hes of the kingdom together. It doesn't matter how
30:22 much you own or you don't own, but we're in this together. And we need to learn to treat each other with dignity,
30:29 compassion, and honor. And because that way we love each other as our neighbor.
30:37 And so therefore, and before I end, I want to bring you draw your attention to
30:42 some brochures that are inside your church bulletin. These brochures are about the poorest
30:50 state in this country. The poorest state in this country is Sabah. I've been
30:55 looking to some literature about the poor and it is true. Sarawa which is next to Sabah is
31:03 immensely richer than Sabah. Sabah is totally destitute. Okay. Uh we run about
31:11 13 kindergartens there and we support churches. The pastors there we pay their
31:16 salary even though they're not from the same denomination. They're SIB. We're Baptist but we don't really care. Um and
31:23 we have this where we pledged to help them. So I want you to take this brochures which is one week before we
31:28 expect you to act to go home and think about it. So we don't want you to react to a sermon like this in guilt. We want
31:35 the DNA to change inside so that you react normally. Take one week to think
31:40 about it. And if you feel that God has so um moved you then you were to try to
31:47 uh uh write us a check or put money inside the envelope and we will be able to help us minister to people. 70% of
31:53 what we take in in this church goes out which means goes out to evangelism to alpha uh to other um organizations all
32:01 over this country. This is practical and when you go back think and pray over how
32:08 God is going to change our DNA. Have try to have a dinner or or maybe go out
32:13 shopping or take somebody there's so many the other one is in Nepali. There's so many Nepali in this country. Did you know there about 700,000 Nepali workers
32:20 and all of you see them every morning and a hello boss and then you drive past hello boss you know they're human beings
32:27 too if you were to drive past them give them some quay or something you know it
32:32 treats them like human beings and you begin to empathize they're not an automatic gate you know they just wave
32:38 and the thing comes out automatically sometimes you drive past you don't even see them at all that's not how we as
32:43 Christians should live we should have become become doers of the word, not
32:49 just hearers. I hope from today onwards, open up our eyes and let the Lord minister to you as you minister to the
32:55 world. Let's pray. Father Lord, we just thank you for your word.
33:01 And first of all, we would like to confess that we are indeed a sinful race. That
33:07 we are indeed guilty of breaking the royal law. that we are indeed guilty of cold indifference when we live in our
33:16 comfort and we struggle with obesity and eating too much while our neighbors have
33:21 scarcely anything to eat. And father Lord we pray oh Lord that you forgive us of that sin. And we pray that we look at
33:28 each other in this church and people outside and we see ways in which we can
33:33 also like you choose the poor uh and and look to bless them and to walk with them
33:40 and treat them with dignity. We ask this for Jesus sake. Amen. Thanks.
33:48 Thank you Dr. Peter. I just like to add to this that a lot of
33:53 us came from poor backgrounds and have become rich in wealth but poor in our
34:03 hearts. So, it's a reminder that really we
34:10 should be rich in love, rich in our hearts,
34:16 and that as we honor our God and we learn to obey
34:22 that indeed it is through the poor who became rich.
34:29 Can I invite everyone to stand and sing the next song to our Lord that we'll
34:34 give him our hearts.
34:42 Lord, have your way in me.
34:52 Lord have your way in me.
34:58 Lord have your way in me.
35:12 Let us resolve to be aware of our prejud prejudices and struggle against social
35:19 snobbery. Wherever possible, seek the assistance of God in overcoming disrespecting the
35:26 family of God and
