In today’s world of affluence and education there are still those around us who are poor.  Jesus said that the poor you will always have.  How should a church attempt to minister to these people?  Should the church be a social agency and if not what can the church do? Jesus spoke often of ministering to the poor.  Yet when attempting to reach out to such people, one finds that there are many complicating problems; family issues, addictions, depression, and many others. We will discuss what a church can do to help needy families in your local communities?

Music Well good morning. Hope you've had a lovely conference and a good breakfast and your bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning. I told my family this morning I feel rather tired this morning. I think it's all this wonderful preaching and more thinking, you know, as these great men of God preach at us. They make you think, and when you think, That's really more work than actually digging ditches and physical, I think, which is why many people don't do it.

But I want to say it's an honor here to speak before you. I want to say that in my estimation the churches represented in this conference are the finest churches in America and in the world. And I commend you, I salute you, and I consider it an honor to be able to speak before you. Now when we talk about ministering to the poor, reaching out to the poor, how to reach out to the poor, Let me say that I'm no expert on that, simply because I don't think there can be an expert on how to reach out to any given segment of people like that. However, I will say that for the past 15 years I have ministered to the poor and needy in Durham, North Carolina at the Durham Rescue Mission.

And about three years ago, my family, along with another family, fell in love with the Lord to start a family integrated church in Durham. The Marvin family started with us and a few other people. Now what's interesting about the church that we started about three years ago is that I was just telling Tyler about 60 maybe 70 percent of the people that come to our church are formerly homeless people and poor people if you will and we've reached out to them. Now my objective this morning is not trying to get you to start a church for homeless people or using homeless people. That's not my objective.

But I am here to talk about how to reach out to them and we want to make the point that God has a heart for the poor. I believe that has been made several times here by our brother in the back. I appreciate his plugging of our subject this morning. There are so many verses that we could read in the scripture that would tell us that God has a heart for the poor. But I'm going to start with Matthew chapter 12.

I'm going to be turning to a lot of scripture this morning, so forgive me for that. I don't normally do that on Sunday mornings when I preach, but given the nature of today, and I only have 45 minutes, we're going to do our best. But in Matthew chapter 12, verses 20 through 21, it says this, A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench, till he bring forth judgment unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust. In ancient times, reeds were used for many, many things, but once a reed was bent or broken or somehow mutilated, it was no longer useful and would simply be thrown away. A shepherd would often take a reed and make a flute-like instrument that he could make music with, and with that music he would entertain away the hours, he would soothe the sheet, but once it was dried or cracked or moistened or whatever, destroyed, he would just throw it away.

When this passage here speaks of a smoking flax, that's talking of a wick and a candle, rather a lamp I should say. That's talking about a wick and a lamp and once a wick was burnt down and it got to the point where it no longer would really burn, it would just kind of smolder, maybe a little orange glow at the best, but not really make light. It would just smoke. Most folks would then at that point put it out and throw it away. When it says here, a bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flat shall he not quench.

This speaks of people whose lives are broken, that are worn out, ready to be discarded, ready to be replaced and thrown away. But our Lord is saying He doesn't do that with such people. These are the kinds of people that the Romans ignored as useless and the Pharisees despised as worthless. And I want to suggest that many American evangelicals today have the same attitude towards the poor. These are the kind of people that our Lord went toward and was drawn to.

It is the nature of a sinful man to destroy. Even a child will go and step and crush a bug just for the sake of killing it. Often a tree branch is broken just for the sake of breaking it. And on a more life-like scale, people in business, in churches, in families will undercut, destroy, and harm each other with great veracity. And as they do that, veracity, as they do that the poor, the weak, the helpless, the widowed, they're defenseless against such such onslaught.

It's amazing to watch. In the hands of the Savior, the battered reed is not discarded but restored. And the smoldering wick is not put out but rekindled. And our Lord has great warning to those who would not assist in this ministry. He says, whoever calls as one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, Jesus says, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be thrown into the depths of the sea." Matthew 18 verse 6.

The point is that God has a heart for these people. And I think we all agree that God has a heart for the poor. I don't think we have to debate that. But at the same time we have to ask a question. Who are the poor?

Who are the needy? Now as I say that I know when I was thinking about this, thoughts in my mind rang of the lawyer who looked at our Lord and said, who is my brother in effort to get out of his responsibility to his brother, which ended up being the Good Samaritan. I'm not trying to get out of the responsibility that we have, but at the same time we do have to ask the question, because there are many people who would take your assistance, your benevolence, your kindness, and abuse it. Now, according to the U.S. Government, the poverty line in America, at least a couple of years ago, this is a little bit old information 2008-2009, the poverty line in America for an individual was $10, 830 a year.

Now we know, you know, compared to the rest of the world that's really not all that poor, but compared to Americans that is considered poor. But if you know anything about the poor in America, there are a lot of goods and services that are still available to them. There's a lot of government services and ministries and different people that are willing to help them. And have you ever noticed that if you look out on the side of the road and you'll see this man panhandling, and he usually has a sign saying he's hungry, we'll work, God bless you, or something along those lines. If you'll watch him for any length of time, they always get my attention.

If you'll watch them for any length of time, you'll notice somewhere along the way he'll have the money to light up a cigarette. He'll have the money, he may have an iPod, he'll probably have a cell phone, he'll probably have all these different things. Now, I'm not faulting these people for having some comforts in life. But when we look at the poor in America, you will often see people that are obese. And as we sit and we consider these things, just 200 years ago, you pick any time in history, the poor, and I'm going to suggest this is described in the scripture, they couldn't have such comforts because they were too poor.

Now, I'm not faulting these people for having comforts in life, and I rejoice that we live in a country that is so affluent even our poor can be obese. I rejoice that we live in a country that is so great and blessed. But at the same time we need to consider what does that mean in our time? What do we do with the poor? I want to suggest that that gentleman that we see on the side of the road is not the same as a Delores Strickland.

Who is Delores Strickland? Delores Strickland is a lady in our church and by most of our standards she would be considered poor. Now, as far as I know she's never been without a home, But she lives in a home that her father put together in, I want to say the 1950s from some materials left over from World War II, can't button her when it was closed down. A very plain looking house, nothing that would draw your attention to it. She was coming to our church here and there.

She's in her middle 70s. Her health is poor. She was not able to come all the time. But it was presented to us at church that her roof was leaking. And when her roof was leaking, she had no means to fix it.

Her only son was ill himself. He was not healthy, couldn't work, and he had no means, there was no means for them to fix this roof. And I want to suggest that it was so simple at our church for us just to see this need, to see this dear, sweet lady who lives on social security and nothing else, to come to her aid. I mean we raised the money to put in a roof on. It was so easy to do that.

It was so easy to motivate people to come and help such a woman. It really was. And you know if the Lord ever presents in your life a little old widow woman who's in poor health and can't... And she needs, she has needs and she can't fill her needs. You have that opportunity, you need to rejoice.

Praise the Lord that God has given you, because you have an opportunity to minister to the Lord Himself. You know, in Matthew 25, the Lord says, I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was hungry and so on. And inasmuch as you've done it under one of these, at least my brethren, you have done it under me.

What a blessed thing to be able to do that. But I want to suggest that The gentleman on the side of the road is more like, I want to suggest, the man in Luke 15 that we call the prodigal son. The problem that the man on the side of the road has is that he has never happened to him what happened to the prodigal son in Luke 15. Turn if you will to Luke 15 with me. I want to show you this real quick.

In Luke 15 verses 14 through 19 is not the whole thing. But this is the product of the son who went to his father and said, Father, I wish you were dead. I want your stuff. That's just a paraphrase, of course. But he took that stuff that his father had given him, those means, and he went in verse 14, it says, Now when he had spent all, there arose a great dearth throughout the land, and he began to be a necessity.

Then he went and claved to a citizen in that country, and he sent him to his farm to feed swine. And he would have feigned filled his belly with the husk of the swine eat, but no man gave them him." Then verse 17 says, then he came to himself. It wasn't until he got really hungry that he came to himself. That a spiritual work, a progress in the right direction began to happen. Now, I'm not suggesting that we should let somehow make these people get hungry that we see on the side of the road.

But we live in a day with so many social programs, with so many ministries, that are willing to feed someone that will not work. That these men never, or these ladies, never have the opportunity to come to themselves. So what do we do with these people? Are we never to work with them? I want to suggest a problem that these people have is that they don't have a loving father at home praying for them.

But we live in a day, a unique day I think, where there are so many able-bodied young men, middle-aged men, women, often children affected by this, that are more like this man, the prodigal son, that have impoverished themselves with lack of wisdom, bad choices, selfishness, whatever you want to describe. They have impoverished themselves and have ruined their lives. Now The question we have to ask, are we just to throw them off? Are we just to throw them to the side? Because the reality is that if we're going to work with the poor, that's whom we mostly have in our world today.

As I said, if you find a little old woman who really needs your help, praise the Lord. But you know what? I don't have to tell you what to do with that little old woman. The Scripture is so clear about what to do with that little old woman. And you say, well that's what I came to learn about.

I wanted to learn about... I want to suggest then that you get the tape from Jason Dohme yesterday on the ministry of a deacon. Because that's what a deacon does. That's part of their role. That's why they were established.

So that the widows could be fed. The Greek widows could be fed. So if you want to learn about that, you need to think, my objective today is more, we've got to narrow it down because you can't talk about the poor as just such a broad category. My objective today is to help you understand how do we reach out to that one who is afflicted with all of these sins. He has brought about many pains in his life and he has destroyed himself.

And let me make one more point of clarity though. I am not suggesting that we engage in an effort of social improvement on this unregenerate world. I am not preaching a social gospel to you. I am suggesting that God, though, still has a heart for these people. And like John Mark, who had made unwise decisions, he was still profitable for ministry.

There is still God's elect among these people. And if you just want to throw them away, I'm going to suggest that God will still not deal with you as you should be dealt with. Now, you say, well, what do we do? How do we reach out to them? Well, I want you to consider something with me, if you will.

Think, don't turn there, but think with me of the story of Nicodemus. It's in John chapter 3. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Jesus begins to look at him and he says, you must be born again. You must believe.

You must, and he just goes in all these things. Just believe on the name of the Son of God. Just believe. And it just keeps beating them up about you got to believe. You know, think about the snake in the desert with Moses, just how they looked and lived and you know all this.

Then you go to the very next chapter, chapter 4, where you had the woman at the well. You know what Jesus didn't say to that woman? He didn't look at her and say, we just believe in the name of the Son of God. He looked at that woman and he said, go and get me your husband. That's right.

You don't have a husband. You've had five and the guy you're with now is not even your husband. Now why didn't he just say to her, just believe in the name of the Son of God? And I want to suggest the reason was because there were idols and issues in her heart that blinded her faith that was different than the idols and issues in Nicodemus' heart that blinded his faith. And I want to suggest that that principle is still true for us today.

The poor that are among us have often different idols and different issues than someone that you may work beside or someone that may be middle class or affluent or wherever it is because we have to help them with these idols. You say, well how do we do that? Well, that's what I want to talk to you about today. I want to share with you four things that I have seen common to these people. Now, let me say this.

Why are we looking at these four things? Because what we have to do, Jay Adams said this, that the definition of a problem is a signpost to a solution. The definition of a problem is a signpost to a solution. Wow. He said, what do you mean by that?

Well, let's say you're working on your car. The car doesn't work. You know, you think, is it the alternator? Is it the fan belt? If you're sitting here and you look at it and you say, well, it needs a new alternator, but in reality, all it needs is a new fan belt, you can change the alternator all day.

It's not going to fix the problem. You need a new fan belt. And when it comes to trying to help these people, what we need to do is we need to define the problem. But we need to define it in biblical terms. You see, when you define the problem in biblical terms, then that forces you to a biblical solution.

If you define the problem in secular terms, that forces you to a secular solution. For example, with these men on the side of the street or these people you know in your church, I'll guarantee you, I'll guarantee you, you know someone in your life that's dealing with the very things we're talking about. They may not be impoverished right now, but they're heading that way. Whether it's a cousin, a friend, or someone, you know them. They're everywhere.

Every time I go to a church and speak on behalf of the rescue mission, when we ask this question, 80% of the room will raise their hand. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand like that, but you know someone like this. But the point is that when we define it in this way, when we define it in biblical terms, it forces us to it. So that's what I want to try to do today is to define it in biblical terms. Now if you define it in secular terms, you're going to look for a secular answer and the scripture is going to be silent.

Which is what most Christians do today. Let me say this also before we get into the four things. 1 Thessalonians 5, 14 says this, We desire you brethren, admonish them that are out of order. Comfort the feeble minded. Bear with the weak.

Be patient towards all men." On another occasion Paul said in Titus chapter 1 verse 10, let me find this verse I have written down here. Titus chapter 1 verse 10 it says, For there are many disobedient, vain talkers and deceivers of minds, mainly of them that are circumcision, whose mouths must be sobbed, which subvert whole houses, teaching things which they all know, for filthy lucres say. One of them, even their own selves, their own prophets said, Decretions are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. You know what a slow belly is? It's a lazy glutton.

This witness is true. Wherefore convince them sharply, the King James says, rebuke them sharply. That they may be sound in the faith. And I want to suggest that if you're going to have a ministry to these folks, there will be occasion. There will be times when they must be convinced, sharpened.

Sin must be defined. Now, these folks that we're talking about are people who have a dearth of hope. Now let me say the objective is not just to beat people up. Because you can go up to any, almost anyone, particularly the category of people we're talking about, and you can find sin. That's not hard to do.

That's not the objective. The objective is to define the problem and let them see the problem and see the solution, the biblical direction that they're to go in. Because so many of them feel like there's no hope, they're told they're always going to be a drunk. They're always going to be an addict and they have no hope. But if you, without programs, without just the Word of God, will define the problem in biblical language, I want to suggest you can see if the Lord is working in their heart, you can see a light come on in their lives.

And they will be such blessings to be around when they see that light. The first issue, I gotta hurry, I'm skipping so much now, I gotta hurry. Cause my time is short. The first issue is submission issues. This is gonna be common to anyone.

Or should I say the lack, your first blank on your handout is submission. The lack of submission. Submission is a major issue in Christianity. And one that is underestimated. Both Peter and Paul opened New Testament epistles calling themselves servants.

This spoke of them as being submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They were submitted to their lap master and Lord. Too many people want to just believe in Jesus and not submit to Him. But I want to suggest that in James chapter 4 verse 7 it says, submit yourselves to God, resist the devil. That is one act.

When a man submits himself to God, He resists the devil. He can't submit to God and submit to the devil at the same time. Romans chapter 6 verse 19 says this, I speak after the manner of a man, because of infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have given your members to servants to uncleanness into iniquity, to commit iniquity, so now give your members servants unto righteousness and the holiness." What he's saying there, you used to submit to iniquity, don't submit to that anymore, submit unto holiness. No man goes through this world with all the knowledge, insight and direction that he needs.

We all submit ourselves to different things. For some it is their gang members. For some it is their education. For many it is simply the television. Have you ever noticed in any given generation, there is always a certain group of people that are just kind of rebellious and kind of out there.

In the 60s, it was like the Beaknicks and the Hippies and the 70s with like the Flower Children. I don't keep up with these things, I just see them when I go to McDonald's and, you know, they're walking around with tackle boxes all over their face, and you know, have you ever noticed that if you took all of these people and put them in a room, These rebels who want to be different, you put them in a room. They all look alike. They dress alike. Their hair colors don't save.

Why is that? It's not that they're just emulating each other. It is who they are submitting to. They are being like the one they are following. When you submit to Jesus Christ, you will look like Him, by the way.

Submission is equated with salvation. Romans 10, 9, the most commonly used verse in the scripture to lead someone to the Lord. For thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. That's saying if you confess, if you agree that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Philippians 2, 8 through 11 says that His name is above every name, I'm going to just go through it quickly, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In the very next verse in Philippians 2 12 it says, Wherefore, as you have, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, Do you see how submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ equates in obedience? When these folks are walking through this life, one thing that is so common to them is that they rebel, they rebel, they rebel. And it needs to be pointed out that this rebellion is against the Lord himself. They don't see that. They really don't.

They're told they've got an anger problem. They're told they've got parent problems. They're told they've got they don't know. They are rebelling against the Lord himself. Colossians 3 22 service be obedient to them that are your masters.

We could say employees be obedient to your employers according to the flesh in all things, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord. We have to tell them that this disobedience to their employer, this disobedience of a wife to her husband. This disobedience is not just something that people do. It is an act of worship to their God, who isn't the living God, by the way.

When we submit to authorities, we are submitting to the duly ordained authorities above us we are submitting to the living God. Which leads us to our... By the way, your second blank is Lord. Which leads us to our second point, I'm rushing now. Selfishness.

Which is your third blank. Selfishness in relationship building. The essence of an addiction is selfishness. Have you ever known someone that goes back, what they call relapses and goes back into their old ways? Have you ever talked to them and I occasionally do this, I shouldn't do it as much.

I'm like, why did you do it, sir? I don't know. I don't know why I did it. I know why you did it. Why did I do it?

Because you wanted to, that's why. That's why you did it. You wanted to. What do you think a craving is? It's a want.

That's all it is. What was the first sin ever committed? The first sin ever committed was by Lucifer. And what did he do? I will be like the most high.

I will, I will. It's literally five times during Isaiah. He says, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. The love of money is the root of all evil. Selfishness is what the love of money is.

It is just the root of all evil. And these things must be pointed out which brings us to the issue of relationships. If these people that we're talking about were truly rocks, were truly islands and they didn't have children, they didn't have wives or spouses, they didn't have all these things, I would say if that's what they want to do, just go let them do it. But they're not. They're not.

They affect us. They affect our world. As a matter of fact, in Genesis chapter 2, speaking of the relationship between man and wife, Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And now I'll just quickly go through the story. Right after they were told all that, they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They begin to cover themselves with fig leaves. And when they begin to cover themselves with fig leaves, what we see is that one flesh relationship is broken apart and destroyed. Even before God rebuked them, we see separation happening. This is the problem with an addictive lifestyle. Not only does it destroy, it destroys families, it destroys everything.

And what we have to tell them is that the way to restore your life is to have that sin removed so that it can be put back together. This is what eternal death is, separation from God, separation from each other. It is so destructive. And I'm going to skip what I had on most of that because I've got so much little time left. I've got to get to point three.

Point three is the crux of what I want to talk to you about today. Point three is the subject of idolatry. Now here's why I'm going to ask you to think just a little bit different. So far everything that we've said has been fairly conventional, But the subject of addictions is essentially the process of idolatry. It really is.

That's your fourth point, by the way. To understand this, we must understand idolatry. Now most people think that idolatry is simply putting something before God. And there's truth in that. I'm not saying, but it is so much more than simply putting something before God.

If it were that simple, all we have to do is get rid of that something and they could stop. They could become normal again, if you will. However, when we speak of our relationship to God and compare it to a relationship to an idol, it's not the same. When we speak of our relationship to God, we speak of Father, Son, we communicate, we interact, we have a relationship with Him. But the relationship with an idol is not the same.

Literally, the relationship with an idol is like a GPS device. It's like having a relationship with a GPS device. She can talk to you and you can talk to her. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to a GPS device. But the point is that there's no relationship there.

Why? Consider with me if you will in 1 Kings chapter 18. I want you to see some... Well we don't have time to read it all. I'm just going to read verse 28.

Now let me set up the story for you. This is where Elijah had made a challenge to the prophets of Baal saying, if your God be God, then have him call down fire, and if the Lord be God, then have him call down fire, and we'll see who's God. And so the bad guys were first doing their God calling. In verse 28 it says, So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom, with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out of them. When midday was past, they raved until the time of offering and evening sacrifice.

But there was no voice, no answer, and no one paid attention. What's going on there? See what they're doing? They're cutting themselves to manipulate their God to do something. That's what idolatry is.

When you go and you pay homage to an idol, the human is always expecting something in return. That's the process of idolatry. I'll go and make a sacrifice to you, Bail, if you'll send me rain. I'll go and make a sacrifice to you, Diana, if you'll send me whatever children, whatever was she promised. You see, an idol can only do two things.

He can only make a threat to you or he can make a promise to you. And as prophets he's blind, deaf and numb he can't speak. But that's all they can do is they make threats to you and they make promises to you. And if you believe those threats and promises, it will put such temptation in your life that you cannot restrain. Have you ever asked a drunk, why do you do that?

And he says, I don't know. The issue is he believes the idols. You can convince him all day long that this is wrong, this is evil, this is bad. But if he believes the idols in the heart of his soul, he's going to obey what he believes. Because what he does illustrates what he believes.

You say, well, how does this relate to it? Turn if you will, how does this relate to alcohol and the drugs and such as that? Turn if you will to Ephesians chapter 5 with me. I want you to see something in Ephesians 5 and 18. I always call this the second most misinterpreted passage of scripture.

Look what it says here in Ephesians 5 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Now most people look at that and they say, don't drink wine excessively. But that's not what that passage says. It says, be not drunk with wine because in wine is excess.

What's he saying then? In wine is Loose women. In wine is a riotous life. It is the same root word used to describe the prodigal son when it says that he wasted his substance with riotous or you could say excessive living. And his brother told us what that excessive living was.

Harlots. He wasted it on alcohol. He wasted it on... Do you see the great attraction to alcohol and to drugs and such and such? It is not the high.

It is not all... It is the lifestyle that goes with it. And if these idols make promises, I have never seen a beer commercial from a rescue mission. Where do you see a beer commercial from? What do they show a scene of?

They show these young lovely people with all this beauty and all these women, they're making all of these promises. Somebody said, well, I don't drink to get drunk, I just drink socially. That's the problem. When you look to the kingdom of idols for your relationships, you are a relationship built being. You are built to move in relationships and Satan is constantly selling us false relationships.

Think about Ephesians 5 in verse 2. It says, Walk in love. The very next verse, verse 3 in Ephesians 5 says, But flee fornication, because Satan is constantly trying to submit and to, I should say, to give a substitute for God's kind of love. What does Satan substitute for God's love? It's fornication.

Think about the temptations of Christ. What was Christ's temptations? He had three in Matthew chapter 4. In Matthew chapter 4, Satan came to him after he had fasted for 40 days and he looked at him and he said, Turn the stone into bread. What was so terrible about turning the stone into bread?

Was that sinful? The problem was it didn't come from his father's hand. That was the problem. It come from Satan. What was wrong with him jumping off of a tall building and showing himself to be the living God?

What would be wrong with that? It wasn't his father's will. That was what was wrong with that. What was wrong with him having all the kingdoms of the earth because it didn't come through his father. When someone believes the idols and whatever these idols are promising, it's different for different men.

It may be women, it may be a husband, it may be whatever, But just as Mary Magdalene was a prostitute and she came to the point where she understood that that is not where my life should be, she became one of the most loyal and faithful followers of our Lord. You see, if you got a problem helping these people, you got a problem with our Lord. You see, with Matthew, he was a tax collector. He was an outcast from Israel. I don't doubt he hung around scuzzy people.

He hung around evil people. You don't become that kind of a guy who lies, cheats and steals and get that job that he had. And you know what's the sad part is that many times people come to the Lord with the same attitude. They just want to serve the Lord to get. We had a great illustration of this just recently.

I didn't see this ball game. I don't keep up with it as much as others I guess. But there was a gentleman the other day, I think he played for the Buffalo Bills, his name was Steve Johnson, he dropped a pass. If you know anything about, I heard about this in the news, he tweeted later that same day, He said, I praise you 24-7. Around 5.15 that afternoon, he said, this is, and this is how you do me, speaking to God, by the way, I praise you 24-7 and this is how you do me.

You expect me to learn from this. How? I will never forget this ever. You know what he's saying there? He's saying, I did what you told me to, Lord, but you didn't come through for me.

He's come to the Lord on the same level as he comes to any other idol. The Lord is just another idol in his repertoire. And I'm afraid that many times when we go to the poor and we look at them and we say, hey, you know, don't just bring them another idol. That's their problem. They believe the idols and they believe the idols.

I want you to think about one more passage. Tell me if you would of 1 Corinthians chapter 8. My time is fleeting fast so I'm going to go through verse 4 through 7. I'll probably skip a few. 1 Corinthians 8, it says, concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed unto idols.

We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and there is none other God but the living God. For though there be other gods, I'm going to skip all that. Look down at verse 7. But not every man has this knowledge. You know what he's saying?

Not everybody understands that these idols are blind, deaf and dumb. They still believe them. If you're going to reach out to the poor, you're going to have to help them to understand that these idols, that they've been believing, and you say, that's right, you can't convince them. It's a work of the Lord. This is a work of the Holy Spirit.

But if we're going to be as our Lord would be, we have to help them to understand the idols in their hearts. As just like the prodigal son, he was one of the most poor men of his day that day that he was hungry. But all he had to do was repent of his sin and live somewhat righteously. And he would become one of the wealthiest men in his world. And that's true for the poor in our world today.

So many of them are not just victims of circumstances, they are victims of their selves and their own sins. Which leads us to our last point. My time is fleeting fast. I want to close with this thought. What happens to someone who doesn't submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who lives selfishly, who serves and believes in these idols that we're talking about?

He gets to the point where he becomes a fool. He becomes a fool. That's your third point. Proverbs 20 and verse 1 says this, Wine is a marker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Do you know what the definition of a fool is, biblically speaking?

Someone who will not learn. He will not learn. Proverbs 15, 5 says this, a fool rejects his father's discipline, but he who requires reproof is sensible. Proverbs 18, 2 says this, A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind. A fool is someone who will not learn.

He does the same thing over and over and over, hoping for a different result. There was a man, a great example of this fool that we're talking about in Scripture is the man Nabal. You know what his name means? Ooh, that's what Nabal means. You know who Nabal was?

He had a wife named Abigail. And he had some interactions with David, and David wanted to make a deal with him, and he didn't want to make a deal with David and some things happened and Abigail, and I'm just going to summarize the story, Abigail came and basically saved her husband from the wrath of David. And Abigail came to David and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk." Isn't that interesting? A fool in scripture is often drunk.

So he did not... She didn't tell him anything that night. Verse 37, But in the morning when his wine was gone, his wife told him all these things, how she had rescued him from the hand of David, and his heart died within him, so he became as a stone, and he died ten days later. Think about this with me. Look at James chapter 1.

I'll read it to you for the sake of time. In James chapter 1 verse 2 it says, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, temptations, trouble. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result. So that you may be perfect and complete, entire wanting nothing, the King James says.

Lacking nothing. But if any of you, look at verse 5, but if any of you lacks wisdom, why is he talking about wisdom all of a sudden? Because it is wisdom that delivers a fool from his trouble. It is wisdom that when we can come to... Have you ever considered this?

So many times I think I want to get saved, I gotta get saved, I get saved and they get told all this decision evangelism and they make a choice and they're expecting some deliverance but no one is telling them, son do you understand that if you want to live successfully, if you want to be the man you're describing yourself to be, wisdom has to become like gold to you. You have to pursue it more than gold? Because we live in a world that has told these people that they will always be drunks and addicts. They will always be that way And then they can never succeed. Have you ever considered...

I'll never forget... I can't tell you how many times I've been in arguments with men that would tell me, I'm always going to be this way. I can't change. I can't be normal. I can't be like you.

By the way, what is normal? My wife has a book, Normal is a Setting on a Washing Machine. Normal really isn't good. Normal is sinful. But you know what they mean when they say normal.

1 Corinthians 6 verse 9 says this, Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. And verse 11 says, And such were some of you. Past tense. They're no longer drunkards and revilers and extortioners.

You want to know how to give someone hope? You want to go to that person in your world, in your church, in your life that is destroying their lives, that has abandoned their family, that is a slow belly? What you have to do is you have to rebuke them sharply on occasion. I'm not saying from the pulpit and I'm saying in these conversations when you have them, you've got to you've got to look at them and say, Sir, you got to submit to the living God. Sir, You have to live for others and not live selfishly.

Sir, you have to worship the living God and ignore these idols in your life and call them idols. Call them what they are. Have them to understand that every act of their day is a religious endeavor. And then teach them to pursue wisdom. Let me ask you this, Jay Adams said this, when is a door not a door?

When it's a jar, when it's something else. This is a bad joke, but when it's something else. When it's a thief, not a thief. When he stops stealing? No, Ephesians 5 tells us, Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor that he may have to give.

When is a thief not a thief? When he labors and gives from his labor. When is a liar not a liar? When he shuts up? No.

When he speaks the truth? When is a hater not a hater? When he loves. When a drunkard is not a drunkard. When he pursues wisdom.

When he worships the living God. When he gets out of that idolatrous life that He has. You see, we live in a world that has told us the only way out of this is some 12-step program. You know, a program that's broken. You know how to help these people?

Give them the Word of God. Help them to see their idols. Give them hope. For more information about the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where you can search our online network to find family integrated churches in your area, log on to our website, ncfic.org.