God Moves People for Redemptive Purposes

November 12, 2017

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Scripture referenced 10 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Psalm 103 introduced as the source of the opening worship song

1 Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2 Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits;
3 who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;
4 who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;
5 who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 Yahweh executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
9 He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children;
18 to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.
19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.
21 Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
22 Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul!

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Matthew 13

the parable of the sower used to introduce the word diaspora

1 On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

2 Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

4 As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

7 Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

8 Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

15 for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’

16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20 What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22 What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.

26 But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’

28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33 He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36 Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38 the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40 As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,

42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

44 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

46 who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,

48 which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw…

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Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel)

God scattered people across the earth and confused their languages

1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

2 As they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.

3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

4 They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

6 Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.

7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.

9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

10 This is the history of the generations of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.

11 Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah.

13 Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber.

15 Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg.

17 Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu.

19 Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.

21 Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor.

23 Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah.

25 Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of more sons and daughters.

26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot.

28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah.

30 Sarai was barren. She had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.

32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

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Deuteronomy (scattering warning)

Moses warned Israel that unfaithfulness would cause God to scatter them among the nations to serve other gods

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Ezekiel (scattering of Israel)

God said the nations would know He is Lord when He scattered them

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Ezekiel (scattering of Egyptians)

God said He would scatter the Egyptians so they would know He is God

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Acts 1:8

noted that part of the impulse behind this commission was believers being driven out by persecution

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

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Acts 8 (persecution and scattering)

persecution after Stephen's death scattered believers who then preached the word everywhere

1 Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

2 Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him.

3 But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.

4 Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.

6 The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did.

7 For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

8 There was great joy in that city.

9 But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,

10 to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.”

11 They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.

12 But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13 Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.

14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,

15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit;

16 for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus.

17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

19 saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God.

22 Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

23 For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

24 Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”

25 They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans.

26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”

27 He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

28 He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

30 Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

35 Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus.

36 As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”

38 He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

40 But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

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John 1:12

Jesus came to the Jews first, but to all who received Him He gave the right to become children of God

12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

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Ephesians (spiritual blessings)

we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, cited during the offering prayer

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This Sunday's message came from Ken and Lori McEwen, missionaries who have spent decades planting Hispanic churches across Wyoming. Ken walked through what the Bible says about the movement of peoples across the world, and what that means for how we live and who we welcome. Lori added a window into the day-to-day ministry they are doing in communities close to home.

What was said

Ken opened by sketching the landscape of the world as he sees it: roughly one in ten people are committed followers of the Lord, two in ten call themselves Christians without much depth to it, four in ten have heard the gospel and declined, and three in ten have never really heard it at all. That last group, he said, is not as far away as it used to be.

He went to the Bible to show that the scattering of peoples across the earth is not an accident or a political problem. From the confusion of languages at Babel, to the warnings Moses gave Israel, to the dispersion of the Jewish people, to the persecution that drove the early church out of Jerusalem and into the surrounding regions, God has consistently used the movement of people to advance His purposes. Ken drew on Acts and several passages from the Old Testament to make the case that this scattering is under God's sovereign control.

He was careful to point out that scattering can be both punitive and merciful. Sometimes people are driven out as a consequence of unfaithfulness. Sometimes they flee violence and corruption and find grace and generosity in a new place. Both things are happening right now, he said, and both are part of what God is doing.

Ken then grounded all of this in the present. He cited figures about how the United States has changed, noting that it is now the third largest Spanish-speaking country in the world and that two-thirds of population growth over the past twenty years has come through immigrants and their children. The unreached peoples that missionaries once had to travel to remote corners of the world to find are now living in American cities and small towns, including right here in Wyoming.

He walked through a line of biblical figures, including Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Ruth, and Moses, each of whom was displaced from home and used by God in that displacement. The point was not just historical. It was that God has always worked through people who found themselves in a place they did not choose.

Ken closed with practical and personal weight. He told the story of a family from Michoacan who fled a cartel threat and turned themselves in as asylum seekers, whose children received Christmas gifts through the Big Piney church. He talked about spending Saturday morning under someone's car fixing brakes. He said people do not primarily need money thrown at them. They need people with good testimony who will listen to their story, serve them with their hands, and be genuine friends. His summary, which came back up on the screen at the end of the service, was simple: God moves people for His redemptive purposes, and we can participate.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Ken described the world as having roughly one in ten people who truly follow the Lord, two in ten who call themselves Christians but lack deep faith, four in ten who have heard the gospel and rejected it, and three in ten who have never heard the full gospel message. Which of those groups do you find yourself most naturally drawn to engage with, and why?
Ken walked through several biblical examples of God scattering people, sometimes as discipline and sometimes as mercy, and said the scattering of people is under God's sovereign control and redemptive purposes. How does thinking of immigration and displacement as part of God's design change the way you feel about what you see happening in the world around you?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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0:00 Good to see everybody. Very good to see everybody. What a gorgeous day. How about this? Let's stand to our feet.

0:05 We, we serve a good and mighty and awesome great God from, Psalm one zero three. This is where this song comes from that we're singing. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that's in with within me, bless his holy name. Shall we do that?

0:29 Alright.

0:29 Bless the Lord. Let's sing together.

0:54 Comes up, the sun comes up. It's a noonday dawn. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass

2:15 soul, worship his holy name. Sing like never before, oh my soul,

3:23 Amen. You guys can have a seat and Mike's got some announcements for you.

3:39 Alright. Well, there we go. So welcome to First Bee. Thank you guys for coming to worship with us this morning. A couple of announcements for us.

3:48 We're gonna be doing youth announcements a little different. My contact info is this right here, 690-4090. If you wanna know about youth stuff, give me a text or email me, and I will get that out to you. I'm gonna be sending out weekly reminders to let people know what's going on just because it's changing sometimes on the fly. So this week, what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna meet on Tuesday, 06:30 to 08:00.

4:14 That'll be middle school and high school. Tuesday, 06:30 to 08:00. Also, come and talk to me about Guatemala stuff if you're interested in either coming on the trip or if you need us to do a service project at your house. We've been chopping and stacking wood and doing different projects. So if you have anything like that, come and see me as well.

4:35 We have a discover class next Sunday that's gonna be in between services at ten p at 10AM in pastor Ray's office. So if you're interested in becoming a member at this church, come and join us in that class. Downstairs, we have the nursery that's going on. We also have children's church. So children's church will be dismissed right after the worship songs and all that'll be going on right downstairs.

5:01 Monday nights at first b, I believe Nick Stern is talking this week. Yeah. Nick will be speaking. So that's gonna be a meal music and message starting at 6PM on Monday nights. There's also that's paired with Awana, which will be going on in this room at the same time.

5:18 06:30 six to 07:30. Also, if we have any veterans, anyone who has served in our armed forces, if you could please stand at this time, we would just like to honor anyone who has served. Alright. Yeah. So let's just give a round of applause for them.

5:34 Thank you, guys. We appreciate your service. We definitely do. For all the other announcements, just check your bulletins. And if you guys would like to stand up and greet one another, we'll bring you back together with some music.

6:42 To hunger to see, to

6:49 thirst. Awaken first love. Awaken first love. Come away and do as you did. And do as you did at first.

7:15 Alright. Spirit of the living God.

7:17 Spirit of the living God to overflow. Alright. Let's sing that again. Awaken my soul. Watch our prayer.

7:46 Awaken my soul. Come away. Amen. May it be true, God. To worship with all your strength.

8:32 Alright.

8:35 Let's sing. Spirit, come and fill this place. Spirit, come

8:40 and fill this place. Amen. God, we ask that.

8:49 Let your glory. Let your glory

8:52 be now in the way. Let's sing that Amen. Alright. In Christ alone. In Christ alone,

13:25 God, those words could not be truer. Thank you, God, for your love, for your gift of righteousness, imputed to us, given to us, because of anything that we've done. The prerequisite for being a Christian is that we're sinners and we've fallen short. And so thank you, God, that you have given. You provided the way to you, and that's through the perfect life of of Jesus.

13:51 And I pray, God, that that would just be something that's consciously on our minds each and every day, that it's not anything that we've done or we've earned. It's all what has been done for us through you. So again, God, as a church, we pause, we remind ourselves, we preach this to ourselves, we remember what you have done. And thank you, God, that you have overcome, and because you have, we do. Amen.

14:19 Are you in agreement with that church? I mean, that as we sang that song, those things really really just were setting setting in because they're so true. These truths of the gospel, they remain steadfast, and true throughout every generation forever.

15:15 Destined to die, poured out for her own man of kind. God's only son, perfect in spot, this one. He never sinned, suffered as if he did.

15:40 I'm in authority.

16:36 Power in hand speaking to father's plan, sending sound light

19:18 Amen. Y'all can have a seat. And I as we move into the the worship through giving here, I want you to know there are actually two offerings this morning. The first one is right now. The second is after Ken and Lori speak.

19:31 The first one is the general fund. This one is the general fund. The second one will support Ken and Lori McCune as missionaries of in faith. As always, if you have brought one offering, we encourage you to give to our missionaries. They really are important to us.

19:47 And that being said, I'd like to just pray and give thanks for all God has done here for this first general offering. God, we do, we we give you thanks. You are generous. Generous indeed. There's no doubt about it.

19:59 We have been. You say we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Ephesians, and that's true. And that's because of Jesus. So we we concentrate. We think right now.

20:09 We meditate on on the work of Jesus. That's why we're here. That's why we're doing what we're doing. Thank you, God, for your power through the Holy Spirit. Thank you, God, for your provision along the way.

20:21 And, I pray, God, that, you would continue to use first b in Jackson as a light in this community, and thank you, God, for these gifts that you provided. In Jesus' name. Amen.

22:19 Isn't that great?

22:22 You know where that comes from? Comes from right here. Hey, I'd like to introduce Ken and Lori McEwen as our kids are going off to children's church. Kent and Lori, will you guys come on up here? So if you know Wes and Katie Clark, they're right over here.

22:38 Put you on the spot just for a second. This is Katie's mom and dad. So, you know, you can go to this church forever and not realize that people are related. I noticed that. So there's the connection.

22:50 And their role, Ken and Lori's role, is church planting and cross cultural discipleship. They have planted Hispanic churches in Jackson, Driggs, Big Piney. Currently, now they're planting in Pinedale, but moved by the call to reach locally and spread God's kingdom right here in The US. Does that sound about right? Okay.

23:13 They say sure. But that being said, would you give them a warm first bee welcome? Okay.

23:25 Wish we looked that nice. I was supposed to talk about our ministry, but I wanna share with something that missionary buddy of mine named Kirk McKeith over in Western Idaho shared with me. It's been a big encouragement to me because it is not the only perspective of all the immigration mess that's going on in the world today, but it's been an encouragement to me. And so we gotta fly like the wind through this thing. And then we Laurie is gonna share a little bit about what we do.

23:55 And what does the world look like in this day? What what do we see out there? Well, one in 10 people are like you first b guys. They love the Lord. You're here and you're the Lord is the master of your life.

24:10 There's another two out of every 10 that say, oh, yeah. I'm a Christian. But, yeah, you you around them while you realize they don't really have a deep faith in the Lord. And then, four out of 10 people will say, yeah, I've heard all this gospel thing. I have my own thing.

24:22 Thank you. We'll see you around. And then there's three out of every 10 people that have never heard the, full gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ and his grace and his love for us. First time in my life I've ever preached without a Bible on a pulpit, so we got this thing called PowerPoint. And I wanna talk about the diaspora or diaspora.

24:41 I don't know how to say it right. But it's the word in the Bible that used to be the sower. Remember in Matthew 13, the sower went out and sowed the seeds. And remember right after the, Noah's flood, the people were commanded as these are the families of the sons of Noah according to their generations in their nations. And from these nations, they were divided or they were scattered around the earth.

25:03 That was the God's plan for them. Let us make a nation or a name for ourselves, said the people. They didn't wanna participate in this thing. They wanted to build this big thing called Babel, and it had some religious significance, of course. And, so the Lord, he scattered them from abroad and and from there over the face of the earth, and they ceased building the city.

25:31 He thwarted them by sending them all around the world, and we the confusion of languages. It says, therefore, its name is called Babel because the Lord confused the languages upon the earth, and from there, the Lord scattered them abroad the face of the earth. From language changes become cultural changes, become changes in values, the things that are important to people, and, of course, then there's religious changes that come by that. The scattering of the nations is God's design, like it or not. Then God blessed them and God said to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue that.

26:16 God pushed people out. And the Lord will scatter you among the people, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. What this is about is that Moses led the people out of captivity into the promised land, a land that was supposed to flow with milk and honey, but he gave them this warning that if you or your children or your grandchildren were ever to become unfaithful to me, I am the person that gave you this. I am the person that blesses you. You remain faithful to me.

26:46 If you don't, I will drive you from this promised place. And he did. Then the Lord will scatter you among all the people from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods which you have never known, fathers have known, wood and stone. He said, I'll let you yeah. If you guys wanna do idols, I'll let you do that, but you're gonna pay for it.

27:09 There was a warning about you stay faithful to me or I will drive you out. It was meant to motivate people in their passion for the Lord and not to wander off into the service of other gods. Over there in Ezekiel, it says, and then the Lord shall know that I am then they shall know that I am the Lord when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. The Jewish people were driven all over the world and are dispersed everywhere. It was the consequence of not being faithful to their one true God.

27:40 Remember in the New Testament, people hated the Samaritans because they were people that had been driven out and been slaves and they had mixed cultures and they were despised. And even the heathen nations also were promised that if you, do evil, that God would scatter them. And the Egyptians, I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know I'm God. In other words, it's part of a humbling process.

28:09 You guys were big shots before. I'll scatter you out through the world, and then you'll seek me out. You will look for some help but you won't have your pridefulness anymore. Scattering has spiritual importance, spiritual implications. It could be punitive as we just saw here, threats of punitive that you seek the Lord or he is going to ruin your nation, then you're going to have to go somewhere.

28:33 It also has the purpose of mercy, the God's grace that people have fled from one place of turmoil and trials and nothing works and gone to another place and found great mercy throughout blessing there. And the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord has scattered you. The Jewish people and others are promised that, hey, you you do what I want. You please me, and I will bring you back. You can have your identity as a nation again.

29:04 You can have your corporate worship. You can you can have your temples and your centers of worship, and that is a blessing for for many people. The scattering of people is under God's sovereign control and redemptive purposes. I believe that even though the consequences are not what I like, changed the landscape of my world. And it says here that it says, and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell in the face of the earth, and he has determined the pre appointed times and boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him even though he's not far from from any of us.

29:52 The scattering of people brings pressure. It brings uncomfortableness. It brings emotional stress to all the societies. I grew up in Eastern Colorado, and, there was one family that were not white angle Saxon, Protestants, Catholics in my school, and that family had been in the state of Colorado for four generations. A little different than now.

30:18 The Jewish dispersion prepared the way from the gospel knowing that Jesus' time, the Romans controlled the world and the Jews went everywhere. They they set up little synagogues. They set up their little cultural worlds and centers and their business, And, it set the stage for the spread of the gospel as we see in the New Testament. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. In other words, in the early church, as they become to know Christ and they were preaching, boom, they were persecuted for that, and it drove them to these other regions.

30:59 And therefore, those who are scattered went everywhere preaching the word. We love the verse acts one eight, and it's interesting that, part of the impulse of acts one eight wasn't always going voluntarily. It was being driven out to another culture, another place. And those who are scattered after the persecution that arose from from Stephen, remember Stephen stood up and he preached the gospel and boom, it it inflamed them and caused a great wave of persecutions. And they went to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and all these other places preaching the word.

31:30 But in those, they started out to the Jews first. John one twelve said, you know, Jesus came to the Jews first, but to everyone they rejected him, but to everyone who believed on his name and received him, he gave him the the privilege of being a son of God, including us. They were scattering by those who are pushed. There's always a push and a pull in immigration. We think of right now what's going on in Syria and Africa.

31:56 People being driven from those countries by violence and hatred and corruption, and they're flooding into Europe. And is it working well? No. It's an ugly process. And here in The US, we see millions being drawn to the hope of a better economy, hope of a less corrupt society, a less violent society, and they're finding here generosity.

32:20 And, there always is a push and pull of the movement of people. In James, he said he considered himself a bondservant of God to the Lord, and he was scattered went to the those who were scattered to the Jewish people. Peter was one of Jesus' apostles, and so he, went to the pilgrims. Interesting. What is what are we supposed to be?

32:44 On this earth, we're supposed to be pilgrims and strangers realizing that that I want to emigrate to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're supposed to live here in a certain way as if we were being driven out of this world. We don't like what's goes on in this world in a great, measure. And so we are in a way being driven off or called off to live in a different way, a new life in Jesus Christ. How do we respond?

33:14 And by that, I mean an attitude. What is my attitude when I see people that are different than me? I heard an illustration of a guy who was listening to a guy talking on a cell phone in another language and a guy that was not dressed anything like himself. And he said, hey, what is this guy doing here? That's what he said to himself.

33:33 And later on, he said, you know, I ought to be asking what is he doing here with that guy. The emotions that we feel here in The United States in these days is nothing new. In Philadelphia, in 1851, they had a riot. Said, we don't want these Germans in here anymore. Get them out of here.

33:55 I come from Scots Irish roots. My name is McEwen, but we came in about six way early. But remember the Irish people, they were driven out of Europe because of famine. They came to The United States, but, too many of them. They were flooding the world and everybody wanted them out of there.

34:14 And here's an ugly one on the on the left. There is a the white Anglo Saxon Protestant guy, and he has a WAP on one side and a chink on the other, and he wants to throw them back in the ocean to go back where they came from. And, the other one there, it shows an immigrant. I guess you can't see it. Does it say yeah.

34:33 It didn't work that well. But it, it says there, anybody who wants, come. You know? And it shows this guy coming with disease and sabbath descreation and all these negative things on his back. We know, of course, in World War two, could we have a nation that's that attacked us and is killing our sons and daughters?

34:53 And but then people from that culture living among us and talk about something would inflame emotions. There it is. We serve only whites, no Mexicans, Spanish. And now what is the landscape of the world look like because of this impulse, this movement? Here's the world, that crosshatch of people moving everywhere.

35:16 Laurie and I lived in, Peru and Bolivia for fifteen years. It had and it seems like a lot of our friends have they send us, hey, I'm I moved to Spain. Lot of South Americans are professionals. They have gone to Spain, to Europe, and they get paid better, and they like the life over there better. It's it's more stable.

35:33 They move everywhere. When I was in college, forty one years ago, I left Bible College. I can't believe that. Our mandate was to go and find the unreached peoples of the world, people that have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Where are they?

35:52 In the tribes or they're in a nation that's, we don't know. Go find them and preach the Lord the word of the Lord to them. Where are they now? There's 361 of those identified people groups in here in The United States right now and in other countries around. Laurie and I have had a privilege that ever since we've been missionaries since, I don't know how many years, it's been thirty five, forty years we've been missionaries to Hispanic peoples in Peru and in Bolivia, we've always got to minister to people.

36:25 I'm not kidding. Half of my ministry friends that are going out now as missionaries don't really get to do much because of terrorism, because of threats, and because of people stopping them from having a ministry. Here in The United States, we're all here. Nobody's gonna beat you up here. Laurie and I went to church when we were in college in l in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego.

36:50 Last time I went there, you might as well speak Russian because the whole neighborhood is all Russian and all the stores, it's all written in Russian on there. What? That was not that way before. Things have changed. The landscape have changed.

37:03 The US is the largest multicultural country in the world. The third largest Spanish speaking country is The United States. Two thirds of the population growth in the last twenty years has been through immigrants and their children. 43% of that growth in the last fifteen years is through Latinos. If you can believe it, 2050, there will be no racial minority in The United States.

37:29 Like I say, I grew up, I never knew any person of color except Benny Gutierrez, who I rode the bus with. One third of the students in the school system speak a language other than English in the home. 150 different languages spoken in the public school system. 50% of students in there are people of colour. The sad part to me is only 4% of the population of America in the twenties are going to church anymore, even though we are the most religiously diverse nation in the world.

38:02 And Islam and the Mormons are growing faster than anyone else. What do things look like around here? Here we think the 60% is the Hispanic, 3% other, 81% white guys here in town, and it wasn't like that how many years ago, twenty five, thirty years ago? Not at all. How does the church view and respond to the diaspora, this plan to send people, move people, and, around the world.

38:36 What are we gonna do? Quickly, I just like to show just from the Bible. What is the some of the examples in the Bible. Remember Abraham, he was called, he was pulled by God to leave his family and go to a place you don't know. I'm going to to send you out, and you will do my will.

38:55 And, he lived as a pilgrim and a stranger in foreign lands for all of his life. Isaac was similar. Jacob was a guy who left his home, went to another country, found a wife there and brought her back. Joseph, you know, was sold when he was 17 years old, sold by his brothers, taken to Egypt and sold as a slave. And, it was interesting.

39:15 God used that for his redemptive purposes that in a time of famine, he was able to save his family. And, of course, then there was a negative side to that too that his family eventually they they were prospered so much that pharaoh made them slaves. And that brought in a guy named Moses who was raised as a rich kid in pharaoh's house, but then he was driven out to to the desert and lived out there in Midian. Then God brought him back and used him to redeem his people out of that slavery and to send them to the promised land. And it's interesting though, when they went into the promised land, it was a great blessing for them, but also was punitive for those other nations.

40:01 And God said, I'm gonna drive those guy. You drive them out before you. You take over their lands and all their houses and their crops and everything like that. I'm giving it to you. It was punitive for that other that other land.

40:13 Let's see. Naomi, you know, they Bible told them not to go to Moab. Don't do anything with these Moabite people. But Naomi and her family, for because of a drought, went to that other country, and she lost her husband and her kids. And, she came back with Ruth, who was a daughter-in-law.

40:32 She was a Moabitis. And it's interesting though, Boaz, though, he took her on as a wife is the way the Old Testament took care of of one another and didn't have prejudice against them. Daniel, of course, was taken as a slave kid when he was 17 years old, and, he was taken to a foreign land. But in that foreign land, in that foreign culture that was completely ungodly, he maintained his integrity and his faith before the Lord. How do we minister to people of the diaspora?

41:08 I we wrote these up, value them. We look at people as them. But once you get to know people and realize these are children of God and these people need salvation, these people our job is to minister to them, representing Jesus Christ. You learn to listen to their story. About exactly about a year ago, a family, you know, the Michoacan Mexican Mafia was, they liked that the way they maintain discipline is that if you step out of line, they will kill you and your family.

41:41 And so that is their way of discipline. And so Flavio was going to be killed and his family. So they ran for the border. His kids were born here in The United States, and they turned themselves in as asylum seekers. And so they get they were in an immigration jail.

42:00 The kids came up to Big Piney. Your church gave those kids the best Christmas they've ever had because they had Christmas presents, and we've been loving on those kids and stuff now. The dad and mom are finally out of jail. They're up here. They do not have work permissions yet, so they're kinda working under the table.

42:17 And Wednesday night, he told me the story where he he went to his trailer court manager and wanted to pay his lot rent, and he had a plastic bag with his wife's tip money in it where she works at the gas station. So, well, I only got a $125. And the owner of the gas station looked at him and said, what's all these quarters and stuff? Oh, well, that's all I could come up with. I've been digging under the sofa for all for quarters.

42:42 I said, this month's on me. Come help me split wood Saturday and we're good. And, you know, in others, people are finding grace and mercy. They're finding love here. They're finding people like you that are generous with them.

42:55 Those clothes you gave them last Christmas, they're all wearing them Friday night at church over there. But once you get to listen to their story, you understand and as a Christian, you have grace and mercy with people's lives, and you they're no longer enemies. Know, how much does this cost to my nation? No. Their people realize that God has brought them here and you're God is blessing them and I wanna go where God's doing it.

43:16 Serving practical ways. Yesterday, I wanted to work on this. What did I do? I was out, rescuing a car, working on somebody's brakes under a car. If you're not willing to do that, get your hands dirty, helping people, it's it's kind of a sloppy business.

43:27 I hate to say that. I, I spent a lot of time in jail and fixing cars, and Lori is always in people's messes of, fights and marriage issues and this and that stuff. Americans wanna throw money at everything. People don't need money. They need people with good testimony.

43:45 People that show that we are we love the Lord by loving other people. Be authentic in friendships with people. I want Laurie to explain a little bit about what we are doing sort of specifically and then we'll finish this off. A Wycliffe Bible translator missionary from Mexico said, you guys keep doing this stuff up there. Because you guys don't realize that everybody thinks of immigrants.

47:55 Well, half of the people that we've worked with over the last twenty two years of ministry around here have gone back home. They come up here to have money to send their kids to college or to pay off debts and everything like that. Many have gone back. The fellow on the right up there and his family, he was here for, oh, seven or eight years with us, and he went back. He lives in the state of Oaxaca, and they're started a children's ministry.

48:15 They go to poor neighborhoods and have what we call a VBS there every week, and they feed kids. Andres Tapia on the left there, we we know him. He's one of our good buddies. He came up here, and he kinda picking on me. You if you ever get to hear spirit of God, you're gonna be a you're gonna be a good guy.

48:31 But until then, you're worthless. You're gonna be a great friend. And he told me he's a pastor now in, Southern Mexico. And he told me this, you know, I learned more about the Bible and how to teach and everything from you than anything. And, like I said, this Wycliffe lady said, you guys keep at it because these people that come back from your churches up there have really, they have the good stuff and they're they're faithful and they wanna serve the Lord.

48:56 It's not easy. The little church we started in CBC, I think, are real good at, ministering to first generation people who speak only Spanish. Here, your church is good at the one point fives and the two. You understand that this? We have kids that were raised in this culture here, and some of them don't even read Spanish, but yet they love the Spanish culture and everything like that, and it's a little different to minister to.

49:22 The number two, the second generation that were born here, raised here in the whole school system, they would rather be taught in English. We have to adapt and grow and change. One size doesn't fit all. It's it's a ministry that, like everything else, changes with the times and the cultures and what's going on. In to sum it up, God moves people around.

49:46 It's for his redemptive purposes. We should be part of that. Watch your attitudes towards things. Love on people. Let's commit that, okay, if God's doing something, we wanna be worth it, and let's go for it.

50:03 So that's all. Thank you. Okay. This in faith organization we belong to, if anybody's interested in serving with them or something like that, here's some websites that that are involved with them.

50:24 Alright. Thank you, Ken and Lori. And thank you, First Bee, for pairing with and walking beside. It really is an honor to to do this. And the term that comes to my mind is light to the nations.

50:39 The gospel is for every tribe, every nation, and every tongue. Would you agree? And we have a great responsibility to join people right where they're at, hear them, learn their stories, get to know them, love them as we love ourselves. That's what we're here to do. And by the grace of God, we'll continue on.

51:01 Amen? So I'm gonna invite up Ken and Lori again. I just like to pray for them. The elders, elders here at first b, I'd love to to bring you up. Wes and Katie, would you guys come on up here too, please?

51:15 And we're gonna yep. And their kids, grandkids here. And I'd like to pray, and then after we pray, we'll send the offering plate plates out and sing one last closing song. So Steve, would you lead in prayer? Alright.

53:44 Would you stand with me? We'll sing one more one more closing song about the amazing grace of God that allows us to do what we do here at Firstbeat.

54:00 Alright. Who breaks? Who breaks the power

55:03 that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus is safe for

55:13 all that you've done for me. Amen.

55:17 Alright. Who brings lay chaos to order? Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter, with truth and justice shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. The king of glory, the king above all kings.

57:22 This isn't failing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your night that I would be set free.

57:47 Jesus is thankful all that you've done for

58:06 Hey, Blake. Could we go back to the it was second to the last slide of of Ken's. If we could just go there and just let our our minds rest on that here. Here it is. God moves people.

58:18 He has redemptive purposes. We can participate. Church actively participate, accept it, commit to it, go for it. Amen.

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Church Planting Diaspora Immigration Missionaries Welcoming Immigrants

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