Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / September 2, 2018 | Adoption Sunday - I Am Found

Transcript

September 2, 2018 | Adoption Sunday - I Am Found · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I'm not exactly sure where I'm supposed to stand right now.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_05: Don't move any closer, okay?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_05: I'll escape.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_05: Well, uh, you see these families up here, and we've told you that this is adoption and foster Sunday recognition, and we're gonna be talking a lot more about that.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_05: But these families are celebrating in both ways because we've got combinations of foster and adoption in these families.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_05: And so this is gonna be a real cool dedication that we're gonna be doing this morning.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_05: You might have a hard time telling these families apart, but they do too sometimes.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, that's just the way it's gonna be.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_05: But we're gonna dedicate these children.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_05: I want you to think about something as we're doing this dedication that for these families, this adoption process started four or five years ago.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_05: So you see these young men and women up here, and for some of them, they're eight years old, and they were just toddlers.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_05: They were infants when this process started.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_05: So as I dedicate these children, I want you to be thinking about that, that these children have been a part of their lives, but also they've been they've had that wanting and waiting for this day to take place when the adoption would be finalized and they'd be able to stand before you guys.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_05: So we're gonna start over here with the Boyd family.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_05: And this is Brian.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_05: I probably just ruined everything.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: This is Brian and Carissa Boyd, and they're joined on the stage by Chloe and Brianna Clare and Addison and Adeline Mirat, eight years old and adopted by the Boyd family.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_05: How cool is that?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I think they would tell you, and Brian's going to share in just a moment, that at every step of the way they've seen that God is faithful, and God has spoken to them in a variety of different ways during this adoption process, and that culminated with Adeline coming into their home.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_05: So, Brian, why don't you tell everybody how you like to see the Lord use Adeline for his glory?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh I guess uh I'd like to see God show off.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um she has some humble roots, just like King David did, and uh I think he's gonna do some amazing things through that.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_05: That's neat.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I know you say she's a natural helper, and I loved your words, that she does the most meaningful tasks with deep enthusiasm.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_05: How cool is that.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_05: And she loves little kids, and she loves to care for little kids.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_05: What a neat babies?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_05: Shall I say care for babies?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_05: Good to see you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_05: Now we're gonna pray at the end.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna have a whole bunch of people stand up for you guys.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_05: So hold on for the prayers.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_05: All righty?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_05: So we're moving over here.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: Where's Carter?
• 2:44
  unknown: Oh, he's he's in the house.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_05: Oh man.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, alrighty.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_05: Well, this is the Bryan family.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna stand on.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's okay if I stand on here, isn't it?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_05: Tom and Susan, and they're joined by Cameron and Ian, and we've also got right down here Amy and Clevins.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_05: How you doing, Clevins?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_05: Clevins, Joseph.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_05: And Joseph, his his name from Joseph come because he's an overcomer.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_05: And that's something we always hope that you are.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_05: And I know that you guys would say that at every step of the way in this process, you've had to trust in the Lord because it's been a long process.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: And it's a cool one for you guys because you've got Amy and you've got Clevins.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_05: And Amy started out in the foster care program, and now she's an adopted daughter, and now you've got Clevins joining the family.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_05: So, Tom, I'm gonna ask you how would you like to see the Lord use Clevens for his glory?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I uh you know, we were deciding names.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think the name Joseph really stood out to us because Joseph basically grew up away from home.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, I don't want to I think our hope for him is just that he would, as Joseph did, honor God all his days, and that through that people will be drawn to know God and to know his son Christ.
• 4:06
  unknown: That's me.
• 4:07
  unknown: That's me.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks, Tom.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_05: And you would say that he's outgoing, he's gregarious, but maybe one of the neatest traits is his yearning for family, and he's found a family in you guys, and he just wants that and loves that so much.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_05: So that's pretty cool stuff.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_05: Well, in the middle we have the Meeks family.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_05: So the Meeks family's here, Marshall and Amy, and then we've got Audrey, and we've got Wesley, and we've got Brady.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_05: And who do we have here, Samuel?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_05: How are you?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_05: This is Samuel Felix, and back there we have Riley.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_05: Riley Marie.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_05: Hi, good to see you.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_05: And again, you know, we've got a six-year-old and a three-year-old, and we've got one that started in the foster program, because I'll give a little story about you guys.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you thought a long time ago before you started a family, maybe we'll adopt someday.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_05: Then you started your own family and you were cruising along.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_05: Then you come to TBC and you hear about this Haiti Lifeline that we're gonna be talking about in a little bit, and you go, hmm, maybe that's somewhere we ought to visit.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_05: So you did a trip, you did another trip, you met Samuel on that second trip, and you went, wow, we're gonna be waiting a long time for this back, this bundle of joy.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_05: But while we're doing that, let's be foster parents.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_05: Voila, Riley comes into your lives.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_05: How cool is that.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_05: Marshall, I'm gonna let you tell everybody how you'd like to see the Lord use them for his glory.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: Sure, thanks, Hank.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we didn't think we would be here for sure.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm just hoping and and praying that both of our our children here have uh grow up to have a really strong faith of their own, and that God uses them just to be an example to other people to show that your beginnings don't really rem uh don't really matter.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh your Heavenly Father has a special story for you, and uh how you start your journey uh isn't necessarily how it's gonna end.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_05: And you would say that uh Riley is uh social and strong-willed, which is pretty cool.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_05: And then we got an easy-going guy down here who's happy all the time, and what a neat addition to your family.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so right now what I'm gonna ask, first of all, family stand up.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_05: So if you're a family member of these precious families up here, go ahead and stand right on up.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_05: And I know you have small group folks that are here, so there's family standing up, thank you.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_05: And then small group folks are here too.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: So if you're in this in their small group, go ahead and stand on up.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_05: And then I know there's folks here from the adoption and foster care ministry.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_05: Would you stand up also as we do the prayer of dedication for these children?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_05: How cool is that! Thanks everybody.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_05: But let's join the Lord in prayer now, and thanks for for this time, Lord.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_05: And I want to pray for each of these families.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_05: I pray for the Brians and the Boyds and the Meeks that they would just be there in mighty and incredible ways.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_05: And Lord, these children we dedicate them to you, knowing, and they know full well that these are your children, that they're gonna do that.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, how awesome was that?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: Is that that's just amazing.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_04: I love these three families, the boys, the Brians, the Meeks, and Marshall just preached my message for the morning when he that one line he said, which is really the gospel, that your story need not end the way it began.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that that's what we're talking about.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_04: Now I want to tell you this morning, it's still a full morning.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_04: It's been a great morning already.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_04: I think it may get even better for you, okay?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: So I want to start by telling you one of my happy moments from this year.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_04: NFL season's about to begin.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry, ladies.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_04: But uh at this moment comes from the end of the of last year's NFL season.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_04: Last year something happened to me as a big football fan that's never happened before, and that is my allegiance actually changed during the year.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: For a long time I've rooted for two NFL teams, Kansas City Chiefs, of course, and also, no booing, please, the Dallas Cowboys.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_04: Hard to root for them nowadays because of their own.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_04: I won't get into that.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_04: I won't get into it.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway, but something happened.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: One of their top competitors, the Philadelphia Eagles, last year, were hard not to root for because in the first, in the beginning part of the season, something like four out of the five best players, including their starting quarterback, got injured.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_04: They didn't stand a chance, right?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_04: But they sort of gathered around with backup quarterback, backup wide receivers, and so forth, and kept winning.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: And the other reason I rooted for them was not only because all the experts kept saying they were gonna lose, but they were winning.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: But the other reason was that all the word was coming out that they were like a Christian team.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: Not only Carson Wentz injured, but his backup were fervent Christians.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_04: And when the Philadelphia newspaper would ask them about it, they gave their testimonies.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: They had daily Bible studies.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: This was like a Christian team.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_04: It was unbelievable.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_04: How could you not root for them?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: So gradually I started rooting for them instead of the Dallas Cowboys.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_04: Now, somehow, as the season went on, they kept winning, and somehow, despite all projections, they made it into the playoffs, and somehow, by miracles and by their testimony, because they hung together so well, they actually made it into the Super Bowl, but nobody picked them to win the Super Bowl because they're going against the great monolith, the great beast of Revelation.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sorry, the New England Patriots, who always win with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_04: And so I'm watching on the couch.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_04: I did not take a breath that whole three hours.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_04: I promise, I swear.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's a miracle.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't take a breath.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_04: And when finally the final gun sounded, and the lowly Philadelphia Eagles had beaten the mighty New England Patriots, I went crazy.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_04: I burst off the couch.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_04: I hugged Judah, my buddy, so hard you can still see the bruises, you know.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I just was ecstatic.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: It was unbridled joy.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: Explosive electrifying joy.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_04: The kind of joy that I would think that a shepherd feels.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: Who has a whole herd of uh flock of sheep, and though he doesn't know it, one of the sheep wanders off during the day.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: Wanders off to the mountainside, and he doesn't discover it until he gets the other sheep back, and he's feeding them and he's putting them down for the evening, and then he notices that one of his sheep is gone.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: So he locks the gate, and he knowing that there's great danger out there, the weather could change, that lamb could freeze, or a pack of coyotes could come and rip it apart during the night, he starts to search for it.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_04: Mounts an all-out search, has no idea where it's gonna be because sheep are so unpredictable.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: And then just as it becomes so dark he can't see, he sees his sheep caught in a thorn bush, torn and bleeding, but he feels that electrifying joy.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_04: His heart's filled with it, and he picks up that sheep, puts it on his shoulder, walks back, and then he goes around and gets the rest of the other shepherds.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: He says, Man, I gotta give you the play-by-play on this.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: I gotta tell you the story.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_04: And he sort of throws a party and tells them the story, and they can all identify with it because they've lost sheep too.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_04: Unbridled joy.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_04: Same kind of joy a woman feels who's lost the grocery money and then finds it again.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: Or maybe it's happened to you who's lost one of two earrings.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's a set, and it's a valuable set, and set's not worth a thing, you know, if she can't find that earring.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so she mounts an all-out search.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_04: She looks in the bureau, she checks her clothes, she pulls out all the pockets and finally gets a flashlight.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_04: And on hands and knees, she goes through the carpet, you know, trying to find that earring.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_04: And as time passes, she becomes more and more panicked.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: And then finally, against all expectation, there it is, off in a corner she'd have never expected.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_04: She's so excited.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: She calls her girlfriend.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: She says, Come on over, let's have coffee and cake.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_04: I gotta tell you a story.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_04: She's so happy, electrifying joy.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's the kind of joy a father feels who has a son who becomes a rebel without a cause.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_04: It's a story that's uh a million years old and a million sons into it, of a of a boy who decides he's not appreciated enough at home.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_04: Takes the money his father has given him, says goodbye, and heads off.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_04: He doesn't say where.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_04: He's San Francisco or New York.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_04: Doesn't bother to call back.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: All the dad's friends are saying good riddance to bad rubbish.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_04: But that father cares.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_04: He cares about his lost son, so he always has one eye on the cell phone and the other eye on his driveway.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: That boy out there in San Francisco realizes he thought the world was going to be his oyster, but it turns out that he's the world's oyster, and that clamshell is dropping shut.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_04: He thought people would appreciate him out in the world more than his dad appreciated him, but they just ignore him.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_04: He wanted to make his mark on the world, but the world is making its mark on him.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: He thought he could bite down on the joys and pleasures of the world like biting down on juicy fruit, but he finds out when he bites down that it's all bitter and it's all rotten and decides to come back home.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_04: Picks up the phone, calls his dad.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_04: He says, Dad, can I come back home?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_04: Another father might say, Listen, I'm sorry, but I mean you made your choice.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_04: You need to live by it a little bit longer.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: We've never had so much peace around the home.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's been years since things have been so quiet and enjoyable.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_04: Call me back again in six months.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_04: His father doesn't do that.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_04: He says, Tell me where you are.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: Son tells him, he says, stay right there.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_04: He drives down to KCI and he gets on the first plane out to San Francisco.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: He gets out there and he helps his son pack and he brings him back and then he throws a party.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_04: He throws a huge celebration.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_04: His heart is so full of electrifying, unbridled joy.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: And Jesus tells a story.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_04: Three back-to-back stories.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_04: Only time in his career he did this.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_04: In Luke chapter 15, you've heard these stories.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: First story is what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doesn't leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after it.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_04: And when he's found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_04: And when he comes home, he calls his friends and neighbors, Rejoice with me, for I found my sheep which was lost.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: I say to you that likewise there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and over 99 just persons need none.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_04: Because Jesus is one, two, three, answering the Pharisees who in the first verse of this chapter say, How come you hang around lost people?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_04: How come you hang around troubled people?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_04: How come you hang around people with issues rather than hanging around us good people?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_04: Jesus says, You don't understand the kind of joy in heaven, the kind of Fourth of July happiness in heaven when a lost person gets found.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_04: And the single thread that runs through all three of these stories is those three words lost, found.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_04: Joy.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_04: Let me tell you another story, Jesus says.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: You know, picture yourself as a woman, ten silver coins, loses one.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_04: Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house, search carefully?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: And when she finds, she calls together, friends and neighbors, rejoice.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: I've lost found my lost coin in the same way.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_04: And he says it again.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: And there it is.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_04: Something was lost.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_04: Something is found.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_04: And there's joy.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_04: Last week, eight days ago, I lost my contact lens, just sort of flopped out of my left eye, just putting it in.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_04: My most important contact lens.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_04: No problem.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: Found it before.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't find it this time.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's been an hour.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: I'm down there, you know, half blind, of course, now with a cell phone flashlight in the carpet, behind the toilet, everywhere else.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_04: Hunt for an hour, can't find it.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: That night Melody comes home, she hunts for an hour, can't find it.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: A few days later, we find little pieces of glass around.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe that was it.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_04: Just disappeared.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, Dr.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_04: Dotson.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_04: I got a loner in here, so I can see all 14 of you.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_04: So if you know what it's like to lose a contact, Lens, if you know what it's like to lose your grocery money or lose a valuable earring, then you know what God feels like when he's lost one of his children, when he's lost a man or a woman, when he looks down at a lost soul, lost sheep, lost coin, lost son.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_04: So there's an all-out search, right?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_04: There's an all-out search, and until finally it's found, the sheep is found, the coin is found, the son calls home, the father's been waiting.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_04: And the excitement of that, of the finding of that, is something you understand if you've ever lost a child who walked out of your life and then called and said, Dad, Mom, can I come back home?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_04: If you understand that feeling, then you understand the feeling in God's heart.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_04: The same feeling he had that day when you trusted his son as your savior, when you finally saw grace for the first time.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_04: For by grace you're saved through faith.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_04: Not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_04: And for once, and finally you laid down your selfishness, you laid down your pride, you laid down, I can do it myself, I'm better than the next person.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_04: And you looked at that man hanging on the cross for you, the Son of God, and you said, I believe in him, I receive him as my savior.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_04: And God gave you eternal life.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_04: And in that moment came the rejoicing in heaven.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: Like football fans whose team on the last play of the game throws a 70-yard pass to win the game.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: That's the kind of rejoicing in heaven that day that you became a Christian.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_04: Have you ever considered how happy heaven was when you became a Christian?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_04: And that's the story of the parable.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_04: Lost, found joy.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: And there's a great challenge in there in the court challenge for us.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_04: Partly is do you care about the lost sheep, about the lost coin, about the lost son?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_04: Two weeks ago we had April and we had Josh up here, and they talked to you about caring about those people that God's put you around.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_04: They said, you know, it's not a high-pressure thing.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_04: We're not telling you to, you know, throw bombs of tracks.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_04: We're just saying enter into a relational evangelism.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_04: And over 120 of you came this last week on a Monday and Tuesday night to get tips and clues on how to do that in a relational way to people, how to care about the people that God's put in your life.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_04: Do you care the way a shepherd feels about a lost sheep?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: And then there comes the rejoicing.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_04: Do you rejoice when someone comes back home?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_04: But this morning I want to share with you that not only does this apply to you, not only does it apply to the people who work around you and to witnessing evangelism, there are lost boys and there are lost girls all over the world and in Shawnee County that could use your help.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why we had these couples come up and dedicate their children, because they're a living example of this.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I want to share that with you by having Christy Chance come up.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_04: Christy's the face of our FCA ministry, our foster care and adoption ministry here at TBC.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm going to ask her a few questions.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: We're going to show you a video.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_04: I'm going to talk to her a little more.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: We're going to show you another video, and then we'll be done.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_04: And Jeremiah's going to sing us a song.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: Let me get us uh let me get us a stool or two up here.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: So why don't you introduce yourself and uh tell us how you got involved in this ministry?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um I am Christy Chance, and actually.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Put that close to your mouth.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um Christy Chance, and I've actually been involved since um the beginning.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we started actually in January of 2006.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, this is not a ministry that's just begun.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_04: TBC has this incredible history and tradition of being involved in F and Fellowship or in foster care and adoption ministry, 2006?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: 2006.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: We had our first adoption 101 class in January 2006, and nine families started their adoption processes from that.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um then December 2006 is when we did the Kaleidoscope Adoption Fund, where you all generously gave to adoption fund that um is have helped um lots and lots of families.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it's uh been a long, a long process.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: We are now, though, we started out as a kaleidoscope.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: We are now foster care and adopter.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ministry, FCAM for short.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_04: And did you guys get a handout or something in your bulletin or something on that?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_04: Did you get something like that that tells us about good?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, Randy.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, that has our mission on it, has some additional information.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: But really what our heart is is that we want to shine a light on God's heart for adoption.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: He has a heart for that and has mentioned it 40 times in the New Testament in regards to children in need and orphans.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: We want to support families as they follow along in their journey to adopt and also to bring their children to their forever home or to a temporary refuge until they can return home.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we also want to just love on children in need of care.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_04: Until about 10, 15 years ago, Christy, I could count on fingers of one hand the number of families at TBC who who were involved in foster care, had foster children, or had adopted.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_04: Man, that has just exploded, hasn't it?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Last count we had over 40 families that have actually adopted at TBC.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: We have eight that uh worked on their adoption and finalized those this year, and we still have four more in process.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'll tell you.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: One of the more one of the more recent ones is one of our staff members.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna show a video.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Jason and Angie Brent um just brought home their um second son from China, and um this is their adoption story.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_09: I would say that I've never seen God work in my life as powerfully as he has when we decided to adopt.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_09: My name is Jason Brent.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_09: I'm the children's pastor here at Topeka Bible Church.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_09: Just recently came back from China with our fourth child, our second adopted child, Daxon, who's three years old.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_09: He's funny, he's figuring things out, he loves wearing his shoes and riding bicycles now.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_09: Um in China he went outside very little.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_09: He's taken right to every member of our family a little differently, but it's uh it was starting to feel like a family.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_09: Angie and I started talking about adoption before we were married.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_09: We felt called for whatever reason for international adoption, uh, trying to give a a child a loving home that uh would would wouldn't have necessarily a foster care option in the country they're in, and they started telling us about the special needs program in China, uh how there's thousands and thousands of children just waiting.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_09: We adopted Enoch about four years ago now, so it's been a while, and I actually forget, as silly as that sounds, that uh we we adopted him at times.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_09: A child that has never ever lived in a house, you know, that's almost five years old, uh, never knowing a mom and a dad, never knowing a sibling, knowing hundreds of kids being raised in an orphanage with hundreds of children having to fight and survive all that time.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_09: You know, it was a very, very tough adjustment in the sense that uh new culture, new language, new everything.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_09: Enoch has been a huge blessing for our family.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_09: Uh and uh if people see him around and see how good he's doing, we have you know three blonde blonde people and three, you know, one American dark-haired person and two Chinese people in our family, both with special needs.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_09: So we we tend to stand out, I guess, in the crowd, but uh in our minds, you know, it kind of just tends to these are our children.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_09: Since we've been home, that our TBC family has been super, super supportive.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_09: People have brought meals, uh, had so many different conversations, so many different people saying they're praying for us.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, it truly has been a blessing to be on this journey in this adoption process, not just with our family, but with so many people that really care and love us.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_09: It's easy to define faith and say adoption is tied to your faith, but then really stepping out and saying, okay, we're really doing this, I feel like we would be missing out on huge, huge blessings and huge lessons that God has taught our family if we had never adopted.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_04: I am so proud of Jason.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_04: And Jason is, Hank would agree with me, the best children's pastor in the world.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: You know, he's he's just amazing.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_04: So we're so proud of him.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: But listen, why don't you bring that home to us, the adoption element of the FCA ministry?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we would love to come alongside families as they are supporting to bring um encouragement, uh resources, and uh just practical uh support to you if you are interested in adoption.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now I will tell you if you are hearing that small still whisper about adoption um or uh maybe a loud yell, um we would love to come alongside you.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Come to the information desk.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: We've got information resources for you, and um we are looking at holding an adoption 101 class here in in 2019, so we'll keep you posted on that too.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: So we're also deeply involved in foster care, which is huge in America.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_04: Just under half a million kids on any given day are involved in foster care, but we really care deeply about foster care in Shawnee County and in Kansas.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_04: So give us a statistic or two on that, will you please?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: Or tell us a little about that.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: In Shawnee County, we have um uh 121 homes, foster homes.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have 762 children that are waiting um or needing a a foster home.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens is that if they are taken from from their home, um and there is not a place in Shawnee County, and they I've been part of some desperate attempts to find um so families, even respite families that would that would take these children in.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: They have to go outside of the county, which means not only are they leaving um their home, but they are also leaving some of the support that maybe was all that they had, which was their school, their friends, uh maybe some some extended family.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so we would really like to um help alleviate that situation.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, wow, and that's what Jared Royals is involved in.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_04: Jared used to work on our staff and came to Doug and Me and said, you know, I've got this burning thing in my gut that's more important than working on staff.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_04: I care about foster care in Shawnee County area.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sorry, I have to leave.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_04: I just have to do get involved in that.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_04: And and and I'm I'm so proud of him for doing it.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: He has done an excellent job.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um he actually is still part of of our ministry here too.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: He he's dual purpose, and um, but his ministry is foster the cause, and what he is doing is working with the state to um create a program to train and recruit Christian um families to uh come alongside and foster.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um he is doing that through uh training and support.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: And so he would and so we have this window.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_04: We want to show you a video about him, but I gotta tell you, we only have this window.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lawsuit going on presently in Michigan, the ACLU is suing Christian organizations that help with foster care and Catholic charities and so forth, saying we want to keep all faith-based uh or people out of foster care.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_04: And if they're successful, you're talking to thousands of children in Michigan who who will just still sit with no help.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: So, so so we have this window, we can get involved, and and Jared is the most passionate person you'll ever meet on this issue.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_04: Can we show that video?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_07: Foster the cause is a bridge between the church and the state.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_07: We walk families through the process.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_07: We shepherd them through.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_07: In fact, one of the things we do is we train them in the map class that they have to take.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_07: And we do that with Christian trainers in association with other fellow believers.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_08: We're the Steinbox.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, I'm Abe.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_08: That's my wife Megan.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_08: We have three kids.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_08: Uh we entered the foster care world about five years ago.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_08: Five years ago, our oldest two.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_08: We finalized adoption almost It'll be three years this fall.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_07: Three years ago this fall.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_07: Isaiah 117 says to do what's right, and it tells us to take up the cause of the fatherless.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_06: And it's just a good opportunity to show kids love and to show them, to show them what they deserve, even if it's for a small period of time.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_06: And and that's hard to do, but you can certainly do it in your home.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_06: And it could be for you know 24 hours or it could be for two years.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but just pouring that into them when they are in the home, I just feel like that's the perfect opportunity.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_08: I think the biggest for me is you have to understand that it's it's such a blessing to your family as a whole.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_08: It's not you're not taking away from any any of your other kids by by adding them.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_06: The argument I get the most is that I couldn't love on kids and give them back, and to me, my answer is always then that means you would be perfect at it.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_06: That means that you love on the kids and you get attached and then you give them back if you have to, and that is exactly what um, that's exactly what it should be.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_06: Um it should be hard to give kids back.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_06: If it's not, then you're not you're not doing something right.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_07: So Kansas has more kids in care than ever in the history of our state.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_07: It's really the quiet crisis that no one is talking about.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_07: So we desperately, desperately need the church to rise up and be the church and care for these children and their families.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_08: You know, some of those kids will return home and hopefully they return home to that to the house they they came out of, and that's the ultimate goal.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_08: Uh that and that's best.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_08: And I think every family has to look at their dynamics and and decide what's good for their home.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_07: While I truly believe that we're not all called to foster, we are all commanded by the Bible to care.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_07: So I encourage people to find their place in this fight for Kansas kids and their families.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_08: There's so many options.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_08: You don't have to take permanent placements.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_08: You can take, you can do respite for a family that is doing permanent placements just for the weekend for a Friday, Saturday.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_08: You can do emergency placement.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_08: Uh a lot of times that's no longer in 24 hours.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_06: It's really easy to look at the system, and people call it the system and the system, and you hear this over and over again.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_06: It's not the system.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_06: Um, it's kids.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_06: They have names.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_06: They want to be tucked in at night.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_06: Anybody can do that.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_06: You don't have to be wealthy, you don't have to be perfect.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_06: You can just be somebody who can love on kids.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_06: And you think that maybe you don't have all of the answers, you don't.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_06: It could be something that simple.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_06: Tucking them in bed at night or giving them a band-aid, you know, when they have a cut.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and those moments can sometimes be what sticks out for the kiddos.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_07: Our goal is that one day there will be no waiting children in the state of Kansas.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_08: If we sit around and wait for uh the state to do it, it's not gonna happen and it's gonna continue to be a mess.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, this is something that the church has to stand up, and as men, we have to stand up, and it becomes our responsibility.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: Abe and Megan are rock stars in foster care, if you ask me.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_04: They're just they're just great.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: Listen, you need to bring this home and tell us what we can do.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think there's a bracelet we can wear, there's a meeting we can go to.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us about that.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Couple things.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um we will have an informational meeting on uh September 10th.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you can come to that, you can hear about um how to become a foster parent, how to become a respite parent.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Desperately need the respite parents um just to come alongside those that are adopting and or fostering and fill in.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um we can take a look at the Just like you mentioned, like for a day even or a weekend.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Desperately need.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it be cool if we had a community of people that were fostering here and we had another group of people at TBC that would respite and y'all know each other.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so that person would say, Yeah, I'll take your your kids for for the night.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's what it's all about.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a community coming around and um helping those that um are loving on kids in need.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can uh learn more about adoption, more about foster care, more about supporting families that are doing that um at the informational meeting at the informational desk.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_04: Because let me clarify, Christy and I, and the Bryans and the Boyds and the Brints and the Steinbachs and the Meeks, we're not naive.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_04: We're not gonna tell you this is this is easy.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this is this is a commitment, this is carrying the cross, this is doing something that can be tough.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_04: This is, you know, and and therefore that's why you go, you talk to people who can talk to you about your situation, you know.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_04: It's it takes wisdom.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_04: Talk to them.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, go ahead.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the other two other things.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Can I say one more thing to that?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, of course.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um we all want to belong.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um we want to belong in families, we want to be accepted, we want to be acknowledged, we want to be um cared for.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: And children in need want the same thing.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it all be great if we can be part of God's plan that um says, Welcome home, child.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've been found, your home, whether it is a temporary place or whether it is a purpose or permanent adoption.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: But to be part of God's plan, to say, Welcome home, child, you've been found.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: Did you mention the I am found bracelet yet?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: The I am found bracelet.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Wearing it.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um this is just a reminder that we are found in Christ.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um there are still children waiting to be found, and it's a reminder to pray for them.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um we can get them out there.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: We can get them out there, you can get them at the information desk, they're at the doors.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can wear them.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we would we would love that.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the other way that you can be involved is with our blessing bag ministry right here.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: This bag right here, uh, usually most kids come to foster care um in a thank you, Ivana, um with a Walmart bag.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um they when they get picked up, they shove in whatever they can in that bag, and not very much.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes it's a two-year-old trying to find their most important things.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: What we want to do is bring along um blessing bags for those kids.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you foster, um, then we would bring you a blessing bag.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let me rephrase that.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: We will bring the child a blessing bag.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is for the child.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: It comes with a levy, um, new clothes, all new.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's um, yes, there's a levy, um, a Bible, a book, personal hygiene, um, some more diapers, more appropriate things for teenagers.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: But it's our way of saying um you're special, this is yours, and um it's not gonna go away from you.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um let me close by before Jeremiah sings this great song, let me close by saying something to you.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_04: There's always a few people every Sunday who come who tell me, if they talk to me, they say it's the first time I've come to a church in years.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_04: If you're that person, just speaking to a couple of you, if you're that person who, like the prodigal, is tiptoeing back or making the phone call and may and saying, God, you know, is there something here for me?
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_04: I'm coming back to church just checking it out.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_04: Can can I can I tell you that you're wondering what God says this morning?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_04: You know what he says?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: He's saying, I don't care that you're covered with mud, I don't care that you're covered with manure, I don't care how you smell.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome home.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome home.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_04: That's what he says to you.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_04: If you want to talk to somebody about that, if you want to come talk to me and let me welcome you home, I'll be glad to.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_04: We have a couple that will stand up here afterwards to come up to them so they can welcome you home.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: But that's what this morning is about lost, found, joy.