Cameron: 00:06

Father, we pray that you would release us this morning from a spirit of fear that we may enter into a spirit of worship and confidence, Lord, of who you have made us to be. Father, we thank you for an opportunity to be with one another this morning. We pray your blessing on our time together that you would be honored and glorified, Lord, in all that we do. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay.

Cameron: 00:30

So in the last few weeks, last 4 weeks or so, we have preached a sermon series called talking points, which essentially, where we we interacted a little bit or we talked a little bit about the way that our faith interacts with, kind of the current political climate that we were in, and what does it mean for what does it mean for followers of Jesus, to kind of view and see a political world that is increasingly polarized, increasingly divided, increasingly, like, creating chaos in the world around us. So, if you didn't get a chance to listen to all of that series or look at all of that series or hear all of it, I'd encourage you to go back. It's on YouTube, and it's on our, our regular podcast and dive into that a little bit. If you're looking for maybe just a little bit more perspective on, on faith in politics as we kind of enter into a, not it doesn't really seem like you ever enter into a political season. It just kinda feels like we're always in 1.

Cameron: 01:41

Right? So despite the fact that there's actually an election coming up in November, it does kinda just feel like everything is always political forever now, which is really discouraging. But today, we're gonna spend, we're gonna spend a little bit of a time, talking about something that's been coming up a lot in our community here and in the general community in Jamestown. And then next week, pastor Luke is gonna start a series on the old testament prophet Elijah. K?

Cameron: 02:15

So we did this in first service, and he wasn't in the room, so we didn't get to see the results. But we're gonna do it in this room. Okay? We've been having a little bit of a debate amongst the staff and spouses and stuff like that about the proper pronunciation of the prophet's name. Okay?

Cameron: 02:29

So on one hand, you have Elijah, which is spelled l I j a h. Right? And the very, very phonetic pronunciation of that would be Elijah, hard j. You know? May really put the point at the top of the j.

Cameron: 02:44

Elijah. Right? And then everyone else, all the normal people over here, it's more of a soft j and it's Elijah. Right? We should say Elijah.

Cameron: 02:58

You know, it just kinda rolls off the tongue a little bit better. It's not as harsh as saying like Elijah. Right? So question. Okay.

Cameron: 03:05

We're gonna do we're gonna do theology by vote of hands, by show of hands, which is never a good practice, but we're gonna do it today. Okay? If you're in the Elijah camp, raise your hand. It's better this is a better proportion than last. Okay.

Cameron: 03:20

If you're in the soft j Elijah category over here, alright, pretty clear. If you yeah. Right. Pretty clear. If you don't know what we're talking about and could really care less, you can raise your hand too.

Cameron: 03:36

But, anyway, Elijah's got a great he's a he's a great, great, great story. Patrick Luke's gonna spend a few weeks, talking about that, and so we're really excited about that opportunity. But this morning, I wanna talk to you, about something actually that we've been talking about a lot lately. Over the past few months, if you've been if you're a part of Conduit or you follow us or whatever, you've heard us talk a lot about our food truck ministry. Yeah.

Cameron: 04:04

I'm sure you've seen you see the food truck out in the parking lot there, and if you have been here, you've heard us talking about what we are doing with that food truck. And if not, the the general gist of it is, every Sunday, starting at about 3 o'clock, we head out with the food truck down to Brooklyn Square and, offer a free hot meal to anyone who would like to have a meal. If you were hungry in the afternoon and you're sitting here and you were saying, you know, like, I I could really go for some pasta or some, burgers or, some baked potatoes like we had last week. Like, let's go down to the food truck and get one. It would be our joy and our honor and our pleasure to serve to serve you a hot meal.

Cameron: 04:57

And so we've been doing that here for the last, the last few months starting out early. We it was, you know, we would have a couple dozen because a couple dozen people come to the truck for a hot meal, and we were blessed and honored to serve them. And over the last few weeks and few months even, as it has become more of a public thing, it's gotten out there a little bit more. We've been serving upwards of 3 to 400 meals down there on a on in an afternoon. And it's been a tremendous effort by many of you and others who have been involved in that.

Cameron: 05:33

In the summer months, specifically in July August, we wanted an opportunity to get to get a hot meal to, more families and kids that maybe didn't have to Brooklyn. Get get down to Brooklyn Square every Sunday. And so we started on Wednesday evenings during July August, taking the food truck to different local parks in the city and engaging with people there, creating relationship with them, praying with them, serving them food, letting them know that, hey, you're not alone. There's a God that loves you, and we love you, and we are here for your good, and we hope that you enjoy, this meal. So it's been a it's been a good it's been a good, experience for us and, and I would say a fruitful ministry so far.

Cameron: 06:18

But I I think if you have been paying attention at all, you're reading the paper, you can see it on it's been shared in Facebook quite a bit. It's also garnered conduit, a little a little bit of attention, that we didn't really anticipate or honestly necessarily want. It's garnered us some some attention in the local paper, which has all been very, very complimentary and and very, very good, well written articles about what we're trying to do. But it's also, garnered us a little bit of attention in the, hallways of city hall, with some of the, some people in city hall who have also been, very kind and complimentary to us. I don't wanna paint a unfair picture.

Cameron: 07:02

And then other nonprofits within the city, in the county, in the region, other churches, other individuals, have seen what's going on, wanted to be a part, offered to be a part, and it's been generally, the the communication about it has been really positive. For instance, just this past week, I got a, I got a small letter in the mail dropped on my office or it was came in the mail. I opened it, and it was a little sheet of paper, and it was, like, really, really shaking. Like, you could tell that they had a difficult time writing it. It was in very neat cursive, but it was, it was really shaky lettering.

Cameron: 07:40

And I read it, and they got, hey. I we read what you're doing in the paper. We're so encouraged by what you're doing. We wish we could be a part of it. We're too elderly to get out and do that like that.

Cameron: 07:50

But what we can do is we can write you a check, and please go buy more food, and please do that. And so that's what this person did, and that's been a lot of what has been happening a lot. And you're so, so blessed by that. And I got to the end of that letter, and it was like and it and it said, by the way, I I don't know if you remember me or not, but I was your 7th grade English teacher. And, we're just so I'm so proud to see what the the church has been and by and listen, she was also my dad's English teacher.

Cameron: 08:24

So she been she been doing it for a while. You know, a local war vets club has offered to, offered to donate some of their some of their money to, what has been happening. Random community members will often drop off checks or sign up to give to the food truck online. It truly, truly has been a community effort. And certainly, certainly, certainly, the bulk of what has been happening has come from you people here today.

Cameron: 08:53

Right? Those of you who have given of your money, who have given of your time, who have given of your resources, who have given of your abilities to to make food, to serve food, to keep the food truck, like, maintenance and up and running, to continue to do this important work, to think to think creatively about how this ministry looks like in the future in a sustainable way. But I I also want you to be I I want it to be clear that this is not something that has been new is new to conduit or is the only thing that is going on. If you walked in these front doors over here today, you would have recognized some pop up tents, and those pop up tents are what we call its abundance market. Abundance market is, something that's been happening just in the in the last few years here where many of us have many of us have, like, we grow gardens, we have lots of produce, we have an abundance you all know if you grow a garden, I guarantee you you have more cucumbers, more zucchini, and more tomatoes now than you know what to do with.

Cameron: 09:55

Right? And it would be awesome if you had an opportunity or a place to take that where you could bless other people. Right? And abundance market is just kind of is is one of those places where it can be a place where you get an opportunity to use what the Lord has blessed you with to bless others. And that market out there is completely we wanna be clear about something.

Cameron: 10:19

It's completely free for you. If you wanted to go out and take a whole a whole handful of zucchini home, you're gonna take a whole handful of zucchini home. Actually, please take whole handfuls of zucchini home. You'll also see that there's a little jar out there, and it's got some money in it. I want to be clear that that's not we don't expect you to pay for the things that you want to take if you wanna take them.

Cameron: 10:46

But if you wanted to leave a small donation, what that allows us to do is it allows us to go to produce auctions to purchase things, to purchase additional produce, to make sure that it's here, and make sure that it's available to you and the community for free anytime that they would need it, as well as take those resources and use them to, cook food for the food truck or for Wednesday evenings. Okay? So I do do wanna be a little bit clear about that, but we've been doing abundance market here, for a couple of years. Of course, many of you know for the past 9 years, we've hosted the citywide Thanksgiving meal distribution in the in the city. The first the first year, about 9 years ago, we did about a 150 Thanksgiving meals given to families out whoever needed them or wanted them.

Cameron: 11:38

This this year, we're hoping to do around 1500 meals spread out into the city of Jamestown and the wider region as well. Some have some have said that while Conduit is really, and I'm I'm getting to a point here. So just stick with me for a minute. Okay? Getting to a point.

Cameron: 12:00

I just wanna paint a picture for you first. Some have said, wow. Conduit is really passionate about the homelessness situation in Jamestown. And you've seen a lot about that in the paper if you live in the area. I'm sure you've heard a lot about it, and, I I would tell you that, yeah, we do we do have some we do have some values wrapped around that.

Cameron: 12:22

We do have some beliefs wrapped around that, and we do have a desire to serve people in, who are, who are homeless. But what I what really, what I want you to know is that while we do have a homeless, a homeless population in our city, and we are honored We are honored to serve them in that way with our with the food truck. The the issue that the region or Chautauqua County in general, the Jamestown area is dealing with is actually much bigger than homelessness. Homelessness is a small part of a problem that has, because it's easier to talk about, has become a big part of the the news articles and the paper and everything like that. But I want you to know that the the kind of, an an issue that is much more pervasive, much much more, widespread in Chautauqua County is, something that, kind of a technical term is food insecurity.

Cameron: 13:27

A great number of people in our community, in our county, around us live live under food insecurity. Now now you you may have before and you may even currently now be among those who who don't always know, haven't always known where your next meal is coming from or where your next several meals are coming from. That is what it means to be food insecure, which is a technical term that the USDA uses. But essentially, it's the it's the inability to have confidence, both emotional, mental, and spiritual confidence that your meals for the next several for the next day or even this next several weeks are available, are healthy, would be able to feed your family. Now for many of us, it would be difficult.

Cameron: 14:28

It's difficult to even kind of fathom or understand that. I I do I do get that. My my family is 1. I we could we could probably eat for quite a while on the food that we have in freezers or pantries or whatever. But there is a growing number of families.

Cameron: 14:45

There's a growing number of individuals who, live in constant food insecurity, where there there is not the confidence of where their next meal is going to come from. I recently had a pretty long phone conversation with the director of Saint Susan's downtown here, which is the local, soup kitchen and kind of warehouse stocking place for other food pantries. And what she was telling me is that within the last 3 weeks, all 9 official food pantries in the city of Jamestown ran dry. They ran out of food. And so they all called Saint Susan's to say, could you possibly restock us from your supply of food, which Saint Susan's was blessed to be able to do.

Cameron: 15:30

But what it shows us or should show us is that we're not just dealing with a small problem of a homeless population who is needing all of the resources, but we're talking about a community wide, region wide, issue where there are hundreds of people, working families, people who go to work every day, who have kids, who are struggling to make ends meet. And one of the places that it usually ends up affecting them is in their ability to provide fresh, nutritious, regular, secure supply of food for them and their families. This for us in a manner of speaking is like is an unacceptable reality. It's an unacceptable reality. It is a reality, but it is one that we are not as a church, as followers of Jesus Christ, that that we are they we are not willing to accept as as just gonna be this is just the way that it's gonna be.

Cameron: 16:34

Like, we talked a lot last series about in the midst of the world that we live in, what is the identity of the local church? What is the identity of the Christian church? And we talked a lot about being how those who follow Jesus. We are like a colony of heaven. Amidst or among the world of darkness.

Cameron: 16:55

We are a small outpost of the kingdom of God that seeks to make an impact in the place where it exists for the kingdom of God despite what the area around us looks like. Now I don't know about you, and I don't know how you read the bible. I don't know what your personal belief is, but I've got this kind of like wild radical personal belief that in the kingdom of God, the kingdom that Jesus told us to pray would come from heaven down onto earth. Right? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Cameron: 17:27

I've got this kind of radical theological belief that no one is really hungry in God's kingdom. Right? That in heaven, there's not a food insecurity problem. That people aren't walking around wondering if there's going to be food to eat, if their actual physical needs are going to be well taken care of. And so if you and I, if we together as the church, if we are the colony of the kingdom of God here in the world of darkness, we together should say, like, yeah, there is no excuse not on our not on our watch.

Cameron: 18:02

Will people go hungry? Because what we are trying to build here is is not just some, like, really creative social service agency or anything like that. We're not trying to build a name for ourselves. We're not trying to trying to build a reputation for ourselves. What we're trying to do is to take kingdom principles and kingdom values that exist in God's kingdom, and we're looking to make them a reality here in this place, here in our here in our city, here in our rigid region.

Cameron: 18:36

We want the values of the kingdom of god to be the reality that that runs and rules the, the region here in Jamestown. I wanna be really, really clear about I about, like, the attention that kind of conduit has received and and what I what I believe will be the increased attention, and it won't always be positive. It's gonna say that. K? Is that we are I am I am so committed.

Cameron: 19:11

So I want you to hear this from me. K? I am so committed to reject any attempt to make a great name for us, for ourselves. Any attempt for everyone to say, hey, conduit. Like, you guys are, like, you guys are great.

Cameron: 19:32

Look at all the great work that you're doing, To to essentially exalt the name of conduit, we have no interest in that whatsoever. Although I love the great work that, people like Chris Blakesley have been doing in keeping the issue and our our name in the paper. If we were never spoken about in the paper or in the public sphere ever again in regards to this, I would that would that would be enough for me. Right? We do not wanna make a name for ourselves.

Cameron: 20:02

This is not about us at all. What I want us to do where the direction that I desire to lead us is that we go out to make an impact in the region by actively building the kingdom of God in the midst of the kingdom of darkness so that others may know the love of God for them. I want every bit of attention, every bit of focus, every bit of exaltation that tries to come to us to be deflected and pointed to the Lord so that there will be no mistake. And we are not doing this under our own power, nor are we doing this for ourselves. But we are doing it truly as an expression of God's love for us and our love for others.

Cameron: 20:48

But this is a question that I get kind of more often than you might come to expect, and it really is the it really is the focus of the rest of what I had to say today. Sometimes I get this question. You know what? Hey, pastor. I've been going to conduit for a while, but don't you just think that like as a church, shouldn't shouldn't we focus on like the spiritual stuff?

Cameron: 21:18

Like preaching the gospel and worshiping the Lord, rather than, like, the like, the practical, like, social service agency stuff, like, feeding people? Like, don't you think that as a church, we should just be, like, staying in our lane, focusing on the spiritual stuff, and let all those other organizations do the work of feeding people and deciding whether or not they deserve to be fed today? And, what I I wanna say this is the question we deal with. I do all all the time. And what I would say is and my, like, my assessment on that is, like, this is a this is a false dichotomy.

Cameron: 22:08

Right? This is a this is a false way of, like, creating an either or. Like, e either the church deals with the spiritual stuff or the church deals with the practical stuff, over here. Right? And what I wanna say is, like, I think this is a this is a false dichotomy that is not found in scripture.

Cameron: 22:27

And in fact, I would say that scripture communicates the exact opposite of this. And so what we're gonna do this morning is I I hope to show you a few places, just a few, that helps to define. Right? That helps to describe that this dichotomy doesn't exist. I wanna give you an example of the, like, actual example of Jesus, what Jesus himself actually did.

Cameron: 22:49

I wanna give you, some references to the teaching of Jesus, something that Jesus actually taught about feeding people. Then we're gonna look at the example of the early church, those who were earliest in following Jesus right after his ascension back into heaven, and how they formed themselves to make sure that the physical needs of people were being met, specifically the need of food was being met. And then we're gonna close out by talking about what it means to both demonstrate and proclaim the power of the gospel. The first, scripture we're gonna look at this morning is Matthew chapter 14 verse 13 through 21, which we'll have up here. The example of Jesus.

Cameron: 23:35

How do we see that, the exam what was the example of Jesus tell us? Now this is a story that's found in many of the gospels, not just this one, but this is just one example. But you see it here, verse 13, when Jesus heard what had happened see his, John the Baptist had just been had just been beheaded and killed, and he had heard about it. Right? And so in the midst of in the midst of his ministry, Jesus had heard John the Baptist had been killed and hearing that news, when Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

Cameron: 24:14

You need to get some space. Right? Something something happened that was difficult for him. Hearing of this, Jesus kind of getting some solitary space, the crowds then followed him on foot from the towns. Meaning, Jesus couldn't get any separation from continued ministry.

Cameron: 24:37

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, and he healed their sick. So the the one option is that Jesus finally landing on the book finally landing on shore after needing some solid, some solitude, after needing a little bit of privacy, from, like, the just constant onslaught of the crowd that needed things from him needed things from him needed things from him needed things from him. He could have just thrown up and said his hands and said, hey, look. I don't have I don't have the time for this. I don't have the energy for this.

Cameron: 25:12

I am wore out. I did so much for you back there. I did so much for you in that town. I did so much for you in that town. Can you give me a little bit of space to catch my breath?

Cameron: 25:24

I mean, I feel that. Right? Again, it's what probably kind of maybe how I would have responded. But the response of Jesus to people who he was ministering to was always a response of compassion. We see that here that Jesus saw them.

Cameron: 25:46

He saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. The basis of Jesus ministry was compassion for the people. Well, as it goes on is verse 15, as evening approached the disciples came to him and said, hey, Jesus. This is a kind of a far out there remote place. It's already getting late.

Cameron: 26:12

You better send the crowds away so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves. They got jobs. They got money. They'll buy their own food. Not it's got nothing to do with us.

Cameron: 26:29

We taught them all the spiritual stuff. Send them away now, so they can go get some food. Alright. And what is g what is Jesus response? Oh, yeah.

Cameron: 26:38

You're right. That's that'd be a good stewardship of our own personal resources and we got to make sure that we guard what we have so we don't spend it, needlessly. Right? And it's not what he said at all. In fact, he has the exact opposite responses like, what do you mean send them away?

Cameron: 26:55

Jesus replied, they don't need to go away. You need to feed them. We mean send the crowd away. They're here. They have a need.

Cameron: 27:06

We have the means. Let's provide the means for the need of the people out of a spirit of compassion. That's how we do this, Jesus says. Right? This is who we are.

Cameron: 27:19

Even when we're even when we're empty, even when we're tired, even we've done the hard work already, even when we tried to get some solitude and they followed us around the lake and met us at the shore. Like we serve people with compassion. No matter how they show up, where they show up, when they show up. This is who we are And the disciples were, like, well, Jesus, I know you told us to feed them, but I you know, we don't have the means to do this. Do you see how big the crowd is?

Cameron: 27:49

Do you see how large the problem is? I'll tell you the problem in Jamestown and Shaw County is large. It's big. K? It is big.

Cameron: 28:01

And some 150 people here and, you know, 75 people earlier today downstairs, you take, you know, the 225, 250 people that usually come to conduit on a Sunday morning and be like, you look at the problem and be like, what could we possibly do to make a dent or to make an impact or to have any kind of, like, forward momentum kingdom influence with a with a, a problem the size that we have. Disciples felt the same way. Hey. We don't have what it takes to do this. We can't feed them.

Cameron: 28:33

We don't have anything. And Jesus is like, well, what do you what do you have? What do you have? Well, we have here, 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, they answered. Basically, the response was we don't even have enough ourselves, but here's what we have.

Cameron: 28:54

And what was Jesus' response? Well, okay. Bring them to me then. Bring what you do have to me And what you're unable to do with what you have, I will do with what you have. Bring them here to me, he said.

Cameron: 29:11

He directed the people to sit down on the grass, taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish. Looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He then gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up the 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. And the number of those that ate that day was about 5,000 men besides women and children.

Cameron: 29:33

Listen, church. Listen to this. When we exercise our faith by bringing to Jesus the little that we do have, he doesn't just meet the need that's before us. He far exceeds the need that's before us. It is not us that meets the need.

Cameron: 29:57

It is us who brings what little we do have, the 5 loaves, the 2 small fish. And we bring it, and we say, lord, we want this to be offered to you in order to meet the tremendous need that is before us. And Jesus says, because of your faith in giving what little you do have, what little that has been offered. Right? I will not only meet the need, everyone had as much as they wanted.

Cameron: 30:29

Right? But I will exceed the need. There were basketfuls of food left over. Listen. Don't be don't be don't get it twisted.

Cameron: 30:38

It's a miracle that the lord takes the little that we do have. And when it's offered to him by faith, he miraculously multiplies it to meet the need of his people. But it it comes it comes after the step of faith to say, here. Right? If if they were just like, yeah.

Cameron: 31:00

We don't have anything, lord. We've got nothing. Right? Then then the miracle doesn't happen. There there comes a step of faith in offering what what is available so that the miracle can happen.

Cameron: 31:18

The example of Jesus, this, the example, Matthew chapter 14, shows that he fed people from a heart of compassion with no other string attached other than to meet the need. But we also have not the example, but we also have the teaching of Jesus. In Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 through 46. Now this is one of the listen. This is one of the most stark and honestly troubling teachings of Jesus in all of scripture, personally.

Cameron: 31:51

Because what it does in Matthew chapter 25, the first few verses there, verse 31, is it describes what is happening at the end of the age. Right? The end of days when Jesus has returned, and there's the kind of the the the quintessential moment of judgment Jesus sitting on the throne, and he's making the decision finally. Says when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. You put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Cameron: 32:36

So, okay. I'm I'm tracking with you so far. Well, what what will be the determination exactly for who goes on the goat side and who goes on the sheep side? That's a pretty important point. Right?

Cameron: 32:50

What is what does Jesus say about how the separation is made because it's implied that you want to be on one side and you don't want to be on another. How is that determination made? Jesus tells us. Okay? Then the king will will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father.

Cameron: 33:13

Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me.

Cameron: 33:30

I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. And then the righteous will answer well, Lord, we didn't see you hungry and feed you. We we didn't see you thirsty and give you something to drink. When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothed you?

Cameron: 33:48

When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? And then the king will reply, I tell you the truth. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you have done for me. Jesus doesn't say and then, like, the rest of the parable goes on to say the inverse. Right?

Cameron: 34:10

I was hungry. You didn't feed me. I was thirsty, you didn't give me anything to drink. I was naked, you didn't clothe me. I was in prison, you didn't come to visit me, and da da da da da, and therefore, depart from me.

Cameron: 34:23

Now what does Jesus say? Like, what is the determination or the description that Jesus uses to say, hey. These people over here, these people over here. He doesn't talk about all the spiritual stuff. Right?

Cameron: 34:41

It seems if Jesus was making kind of like this separation and determination for those who are welcomed into his kingdom and who those who are exiled from his kingdom, Those who would welcome in his kingdom would probably look a lot like, well, you you went to church every single Sunday, and you and you didn't you don't spit, you don't chew, you don't cuss or swear. Right? You you say nice things. You you do more good things than bad things. Maybe you go to bible study once in a while.

Cameron: 35:13

You just gonna maybe even raise your hands in in in worship, right? Like, you would you would think that it would be like all the super spiritual stuff that we that the church is supposed to talk about. Right? But what is clear here is that Jesus doesn't talk about any of that, actually, which is shocking, honestly. Like, Jesus, where's, like, the holiness stuff?

Cameron: 35:40

What he talks about is over here is like, hey. Look. The people who had the least, who were in the worst positions, the least of these who were hungry and needed food, who were thirsty and needed drink, who were naked and needing leaving clothe who were alone and needed. How you treated them, what you did for them is reflective of what you would do or how you interact with me. The things that you did for the least of these, you did for me.

Cameron: 36:19

See, when we serve when we serve the least, and I hate that, like, that term. When we serve the least, we aren't serving people. You didn't hear that. We we we don't go out on the food truck to serve people because we have pity on them or because we think that we are better than them. Do not go and serve out of pity.

Cameron: 36:50

Do not go and serve because you feel bad for them. Don't. Right? We serve because we serve and love and have compassion and show kindness and meet needs, not because of something we feel. We feel pity or we feel bad.

Cameron: 37:13

We serve because people are precious to God and have sacred worth. People. All people. Every person. No matter where you find them or what situation you find them in or what the level of their resources is or could be.

Cameron: 37:34

We serve people because we see the image of God in them. That is what Jesus said. Right? The least of these, it's like you did it for me. It's like Jesus was a part of that group.

Cameron: 37:49

It was who he was, who they were. We serve because the image of God has created worth in every single person. Every single person is sacred to god, and so we serve them without reservation because we serve the lord, not because we're like, oh, we're so sorry for you. They don't need our pity. They don't want it either.

Cameron: 38:15

They simply wanna be loved. Why? Because that's what we all want. Because that's what we were created for is to be loved, to be seen, to be known. And when we serve, we say, hey.

Cameron: 38:34

You you have sacred work. Like, I'm here because because what almost because, like, I'm here because why wouldn't I be here? Why wouldn't I do this? Like, I see the image of god in you. We serve and love and have compassion and show kindness and meet needs because people are precious to god and have sacred worth.

Cameron: 38:58

That's the teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter 25. But we also have how the early church organized itself for ministry. The early church right after Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and then ascended back into heaven and then told his, his apostles, his disciples, hey, now go out into the world and carry the message of the gospel. Hey, go make an impact in the world for the kingdom of God, and they were trying to figure it out. They were trying to make it happen.

Cameron: 39:32

And an act the book of acts and the rest of the new testament is really all about that. Them working it out and making it happen. The book of acts specifically. And in acts chapter 6 right towards the beginning, we have a really really interesting story. You probably maybe you're familiar with it if you're familiar with the Bible.

Cameron: 39:49

But look, acts chapter 6 verse 1. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Greek Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Point number 1. There was within the life of the early church, a a ministry or a practice of ensuring that food was distributed daily to those who needed it. This scripture here is not saying, hey, they got this really great idea that they should do a daily distribution of food.

Cameron: 40:28

It it it goes beyond that, and it it just implies that that was already happening. Hey, in in the midst of the daily distribution of food, we have a little conflict, so let's work it out. It was a part of who they were as followers of Jesus. They didn't need to be told to do it. It was already happening.

Cameron: 40:52

So the 12, because there was an issue or conflict, they they gathered around the disciples and they said it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. So brothers choose 7 men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. We will turn the responsibility over to them and we'll give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the whole, ministry of the word. This proposal pleased the whole group, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, as well as Philip, Procuras, Nicanor, Timo, and Permenus, Nicholas, Antioch, a con a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them.

Cameron: 41:38

I don't want you to miss a few parts in this. Okay? Listen. What happened here? The earliest church leaders ordered the life of the community of the church in such a way so as to ensure that this was something that was regularly looked after, the daily distribution of food for those who were in need.

Cameron: 41:56

And they were willing to allocate resources to raise up leaders. They went so far as to lay hands on them and anoint them for this position and for this work. Why would they why would they say why would the writer of acts say, hey, look, they they they, identified Stephen, a man full of wisdom and filled with the Holy Spirit to lead this ministry. And then once they got all the people who are gonna be involved in it, they laid hands on them, and they anointed them. Listen.

Cameron: 42:32

No one needs to be full of the holy spirit and lay hands on them and anointed for a simple social work job. That's not against that's nothing against social work. What I'm saying is that the the church, the earliest believers did not see the daily distribution of food and the feeding of others as simply this thing that the church did on the side, but that wasn't explicitly spiritual. They saw it as so explicitly spiritual that they were unwilling to talk about anyone being a part of it unless they were filled with the Holy Spirit, unless they were anointed by God, unless the hands of the church elders were laid upon them and prayed for them because they believed that the work of supplying food for the daily needs of those around them was a spiritual work, was something that the holy spirit did through them, was something that they could not do outside of the power and wisdom of God in them. It was not this dichotomy that we try to make today between the spiritual stuff and the practical stuff.

Cameron: 43:35

For them, it was all spiritual and God needed to be in it and the holy spirit needed to fill them in order for them to do it. And what was the result of that? What was the result of a spirit filled, this spirit filled ministry? Verse 7. So the word of God spread.

Cameron: 43:58

And the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith because they gave themselves to this work. Now probably most starkly in all of the scripture is James, the brother of Jesus himself, who said in a small passage of scripture in James chapter 2 verse 15, he says this to address the dichotomy. Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, go, I wish you well. Keep warm and well fed.

Cameron: 44:36

But does nothing about his physical needs. What good is it? When I talk about destroying the dichotomy between the spiritual things that the church does and then the practical thing that we should let everyone else do, Right? James completely takes a hammer to that. And says, hey.

Cameron: 45:00

Like, what what good absolutely, what good is a faith that says, hey, god bless, pray for you. Like, good luck out there. God's gonna provide. Don't worry. God's got you.

Cameron: 45:13

God's got you. Is it true? Is that true? Statement true? Will god provide?

Cameron: 45:19

Does god bless? Does god got you? Yeah. Got you. Is that true?

Cameron: 45:22

Yeah. Right. But as as followers of Jesus Christ, right, god's like, well, yeah. But that's not that's not the extent of your responsibility in their life believer. That's not the extent of all that there is for you to do in their life.

Cameron: 45:38

What good is it if you say, hey, Keep warm and well fed, but do nothing to meet their needs. Your faith is useless, James says. It's worthless. It's dead. It's not alive.

Cameron: 45:54

In the same way, James says faith by itself is if it's not accompanied by action, is dead. The spiritual that dichotomy. Right? The spiritual and the practical action function together or faith dies. Not even faith dies.

Cameron: 46:09

Faith is dead. See, all of this is a reflection that the work of the church is both proclamation of the gospel, the telling of the story of the gospel, that God in Jesus Christ offers them forgiveness of their sins through faith in him. That as we repent and pursue holiness, we will live with him in eternity. But it is also demonstration of the same gospel and that those two things cannot be separated or dichotomized from one another. We see this in Jesus Christ himself.

Cameron: 46:52

He came incarnated in the person of Jesus to bring demonstration to the proclamation that the law of the old testament already had. He brought the law alive. He became the demonstration on God's love and power where the law which was powerless to save people was merely proclamation. And so so much so that Paul in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 said, but that God God what? Proclaimed his love for us in this?

Cameron: 47:25

No. God demonstrated. He did something. He walked it out. He showed up.

Cameron: 47:32

He made tangible what was just words at one point. God demonstrated his love for us in this that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And so the church does both. It proclaims the gospel of forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ, and it demonstrates the gospel by serving the needs of the people. Those 2 cannot be separated from one another.

Cameron: 47:59

Because it is both demonstration and proclamation that brings glorification to God. That is the thing that people see when they're able to look past us and see the god that provides for them when it's demonstrated and incarnated in love. And so we are fully I am fully. We are fully. I hope you are fully committed to the understanding that what we do is not to just go out and have a big party down at Brooklyn Square or at a park on a Wednesday night or to school when we're serving Thanksgiving meals sometime down the road as if it is somehow the less spiritual work that the church is called to do.

Cameron: 48:50

I hope that we have shown throughout scripture that both the teaching of Jesus, the example of Jesus, the structure and the teaching of the early church, as well as the ministry of James, the brother of Jesus himself, shows that without both, without the meeting of people's physical needs, that the proclamation of the gospel falls on deaf ears and hungry stomachs. It's that we become people who both incarnate and demonstrate the gospel as we also are ones who proclaim the gospel, continuing to work to serve the needs of those in our community as if we were serving Jesus himself. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we pray, lord, that you do not allow us to remain unmoved by your word. But, lord, that we would also lord, lord, we reject any attempt to make a name for ourselves.

Cameron: 50:15

Lord, let anything that we do point directly and fully to you, lord. May we decrease so that you may increase. May your name, Lord, be great in the city of Jamestown. May your kingdom come, Lord, and your will be done. Not our kingdom, not our will, not our plan, not our goal, not our vision, not our desires, lord, but yours.

Cameron: 50:43

Let us, lord, be fully and totally committed to the work of the building of your kingdom because we serve Jesus, the king. In your name, amen. Lord, we worship you for you are holy. Not just holy, holy, lord, but holy, holy, holy. Father, we are we are awestruck with wonder, Lord, even at the mention of your name.

Cameron: 51:18

Lord, continue to birth in us a desire to seek your face. We worship you, and we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Conduit, you are loved.

Cameron: 51:28

Have a great week, and we will see you next time.