Today on our planet
There are 153 million orphans
153 million
153 million little lives
85% of them have a living relative
That could take on the responsibility of carer
But because of poverty
This is often not even possible
The model of God's kingdom
The way He desired the world to flourish
Centered around family
Psalm 86:6 says
"God places the lonely in family"
This was His system of
Protection, provision and purpose
Throughout the entire bible
We hear God's compassionate heartbeat
For the orphan, the widow
The poor, the outcast,
The most vulnerable in society
Their welfare has always mattered to Him
And it still matters
What if we've got our focus wrong?
The prophet Amos declared this
Download from heaven
I can't stand your religious meetings
I'm fed up with your conferences and
Conventions
I want nothing to do with your religion
Projects
Your pretentious slogans and goals
I'm sick of your fundraising schemes
Your public relations and image-making
I've had all I can take
Of your noisy ego music
When was the last time you sang to Me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice
Oceans of it
I want fairness
Rivers of it
That's what I want
That's all that I want"
What if we woke up to what really matters to
God?
What if we could keep families together?
What if we could remove the barriers of
Finance?
What if we could rewrite the story
Of the orphan and the vulnerable?
What if?
James says this:
"True spirituality that is pure
In the minds of our Father God
Is to make a difference
In the lives of the orphans
And the widows in their troubles
And to refuse to be corrupted
By the world's values"
Our walk needs to match our talk
The church, the family of God,
We are His hands,
His feet, His representatives
Here on Earth
If it matters to Him
It should matter to us
The numbers 153 million
It's Huge!
The situation seems impossible
But we know that's where God does His best
Work
What if we woke up to who we really are?
His agents on earth
Carrying His hope
His love
Carrying His power
One life at a time
We could change the story
All of heaven is waiting for us
The church
To wake up and to move