SCF - Sunday Morning Live Stream 4-26-2020

Welcome to the Shippensburg Christian Fellowship worship service. We will be singing out of hymns of the church, and I'll give the numbers as we sing them so you can all follow along and sing with us. 127, I sing the mighty power of God.

So I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing leaves abroad and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day. The moon shines forth at His command and all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food. He formed the creatures with His word and then pronounced them good. Lord, how thy wonders are displayed wherever I turn my eye. If I survey the ground, I tread on gains upon the sky.

There's not a plant or flower below but makes thy glory known. And clouds arise and tempests blow by order from thy throne. While all that borrows life from thee is ever in thy care. And everywhere that man can be, thou God art present there.

Amen.

Number 1015, we thank the Lord.

To me we thank the Lord. We bow before thy sacred throne to praise thee for thy love so kind and true.

For thou hast heard our prayer when we call on thee, thy answer speaks. With courage to inspire our soul.

Although we must walk through trial, yea, thou will protect us and thy right hand will guide us.

All eternal, Lord, intervene in our behalf. Thy great goodness never fails. We thank the Lord.

For thy sacred throne to praise thee for thy love so true. We thank the Lord.

And now I would like for you to turn to 263.

This song will ever be associated in my mind with Eric Little. Eric Little was the Scottish Olympic gold runner. He was raised or rather, he was born in China. His parents were Scottish missionaries to China. He got his education in Scotland.

And in 1924, he ran in the Paris Olympics. He was supposed to run the 100-meter dash, which was his favorite. But he found out before the Olympics that that was going to be held on Sunday. And he had a strong conviction against running on Sunday.

So he trained, actually, for the 400-meter dash. And his colleagues were not very happy with him. But right before the 400-meter dash, which he had not trained well for, a friend of his sent a little note to him saying, "In the good book, it says that God honors those who honor him."

And so he set a record, two minutes to I'm sorry, two seconds shorter than the record at that time. And that record was held for 15 years. God did indeed honor him for his obedience to what he believed was God's will for him.

1925, a year later, Little left for China as a missionary like his parents. And when he boarded the train, people were asking him for a farewell speech. And he did not feel very confident about a farewell speech. So he pulled down the window of the train.

And he said, "I want you to sing with me, 'Jesus shall reign where there's the sun.'" This is a tremendous song. It celebrates the fact that Jesus' kingdom encompasses the whole world, something Alexander the Great never really attained. Many people have tried that. But Jesus' kingdom is a worldwide kingdom. And it says, "That kingdom shall last forever." There's no other kingdom like that either.

So this was Eric Little's song. And like I said, it will be forever associated in my mind with him. While he stayed in China and, of course, World War II broke out, in 1941, he sent his family back to Canada.

And he stayed there then until 1945. Well, things got so dangerous for the missionaries in China that they were finally put into an internment camp. It was not a concentration camp, but things weren't very good in that camp.

Food ran short. And there were other problems. He was an amazing person. He refused to let the China Inland Mission hoard their food, which they tried to do, and in every way was a blessing to people in that camp.

And then he got a brain tumor and began to die. His very last words five months before the liberation of that camp was, "It's total surrender." And we will sing a song about that after this song. So Eric Liddell, for whatever differences we may have had with his theology, is a shining example of what it means to live for Jesus wholeheartedly and selflessly in any circumstance. Jesus shall reign where there's the sun.

Jesus shall reign where there's the sun. Does his successive journeys run? His kingdom stretched from shore to shore. Till moon shall wax and wane, no more.

For him shall endless prayer be made. And praises strong to crown his head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise. With every morning sacrifice.

Blessing abound where he reigns. The prisoner leaps to lose his chains. The weary find eternal rest. And all the sons of one are blessed.

Let every creature rise and reign. Pick your honors to our King. Angels descend with songs again.

And earth repeat the loud amen.

And now we shall sing Eric Little's last words in full and glad surrender, 924.

So in full and glad surrender I give myself to thee. Thy daughterly and only and evermore to be. Thy daughterly and only and evermore to be.

O Son of God who loves me, I will be thine alone. And all I have and am, Lord, shall henceforth be thine own. And all I have and am, Lord, shall henceforth be thine own. Reign over me, Lord Jesus.

Oh, make my heart thy throne. It shall be thy dear Savior. It shall be thine alone. It shall be thy dear Savior. It shall be thine alone. Oh, come and pray, Lord Jesus, rule over everything. And keep me always loyal and true to thee, my King.

And keep me always loyal and true to thee, my King.

Well, good morning, everyone. Give you greetings in Jesus' name. It's truly good to be here this morning, even with such a small group. And the singing was really a blessing. And I'm glad that we're able to do this. I would invite you to turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. Probably many of you, like myself, have been thinking about Virgil's passing. And yesterday, when we buried him and, you know, the it was a sad occasion, but yet we're rejoicing because Virgil made that good choice.

And I want to reflect a little bit about that. I'm going to read verses 1 through 1 and 2. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now, of course, you probably remember from reading Hebrews that chapter 11 is this catalog of Testament saints who serve as examples to us of persons who endured and who persevered, who were found faithful. And the interesting thing is, is that Paul says, you know, they were faithful even though they had not yet attained the promise.

And again, one of the themes of Hebrews is so much more, so much better than for us. But so he looks at that he looks at that great cloud of witnesses. And I think the great cloud of witnesses not only includes those Old Testament saints, but it also includes all those who have gone before us because he talks here about a race.

And he compares the Christian life to a race. This is not a sprint. It's a marathon. Okay? It's a marathon. And you know, when you sprint, you go all out as fast as you can for a very short period of time.

A marathon, you pace yourself. Okay? You pace yourself. You go steady. You keep going. And the goal is to finish, is to get to the end. All right? You know, Virgil was not in that race very long.

Okay? Some of us started out very pretty young. I was 15 years old when I started this race. I'm now 60. And I haven't finished my race yet. Okay? But of all, all of us are involved in this race.

And but the thing that the picture we have here is that we're surrounded by this great crowd of witnesses who have already finished the race.

And the imagery here is one of people who have been in the race. They have crossed the finish line. Now they're on the sidelines. And they're cheering us on. Can you think about that? You think about that. Virgil finished his race. He's now on the sidelines cheering us on.

Okay? Elizabeth Fowler, who's buried out here, finished her race. She's on the sidelines cheering us on. Ella May, who's buried out here, has finished her race. She's on the sidelines cheering us on. Felix Goodwin is out there. He's in has finished his race. And he's on the sidelines cheering us on.

Jeffrey has finished his race. He's on the sidelines cheering us on. Lynn is out there, buried his body's out there. But he's on the sidelines cheering us on. Okay? There's all kinds some people question, you know, well, will people, you know, when they go to heaven, when they die, are they aware of what's going on here? Well, Hebrews tells us that they are aware of one thing, at least, that they have finished their race. They are on the sidelines, this great cloud of witnesses. And what is their focus? Cheering us on.

Okay? Cheering us on. All right? And what are they cheering us on to do? Finish the race. All right? Now, what keeps us from finishing the race? Or what can prevent us from finishing the race? Well, he tells us that one of the things we need to do if we want to finish this race is to lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares us.

Now, some of you know that about a year ago actually, it has been just a little over a year ago in the beginning of April that I started a regime to lose weight because of my health. And, you know, I have shed a little over 50 pounds now.

And, you know, before I lost that weight, I would go for a little walk up the hill to the school, which wasn't very far. And by the time I got up there, I was huffing and I was puffing.

Since I've lost that weight, I can walk up that hill. I can take a two-mile walk. And I'm not huffing. And I'm puffing. And I'm going at a faster clip than I was before. Why? Because I shed 50 pounds.

I want to let you know that was no easy job to do. It has not been easy. Okay? It's not been easy. Winston knows how hard it is. It's not been easy. And I will just tell you one thing right now. It's not it's harder now than it was because it's slowed the weight loss has slowed down.

And I'm probably I need to think about, what am I going to do to keep this thing going? Because I really need to lose another 50 pounds.

Okay? But I experienced the fact that laying aside, literally laying aside that weight, which Hebrews says, clings to you, clings to you. And believe you me, fat clings to you. It has not easily gotten rid of.

And it's painful. I'm hungry lots of the time. I would just love to eat some mashed potatoes.

I really would. But you know what? And this is no credit to me. The thing that motivated me was the threat of needles. When my doctor told me that I was going that, I mean, I had crossed the threshold in the diabetes and that he might have to give me medication, all I saw was needles.

And I did not want needles.

Okay? My point here is, you know, that's just a physical illustration. And I'm glad to have done it. I'm glad I'm in it. I'm enjoying the benefits of it even now. And, you know, that and it probably may mean I'll live a better life while I have here on Earth, though something could take me tomorrow.

But, you know, even in this life, when we shed those weights of sin, it gives us a better life here. It's not just for the future, but it gives us a better life here. All right? Now, so this is a marathon. And notice it says, endurance the race that is set before us. This is not a race that we determine what's the goal. It's not something we have made up. It's something that God has set before us. And you'll notice also it says that Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, okay, endured the cross despising the shame.

All right? I want you to notice what it says. We are to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now, I don't know how your Bibles look, but in my Bible, that hour, OUR, is in italics. And in some translations, whenever the translators have added a word in their minds for clarification, they put it in italics because it's not there in the original Greek. So let's look at that and read it this way. And I also would just remind us, if you remember from the study I did on Galatians, where it talks about faith, we talk about the faithfulness of Jesus.

Okay? Let's read it this way. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faithfulness. Does that make sense to you? Yes. Jesus is the author. He's the beginner of faithfulness. He's the finisher of faithfulness because he began and he finished his faithfulness, okay, to the task that was set before him, okay, by enduring the cross, which was painful, despising the shame. He did not care what the world thought of him.

And I would just like to say, I have seen too many people losing the race because they care too much about what the world thinks of them. And that's been such a puzzlement to me. Why would you care what this thing out there thinks about you, particularly when you have brothers and sisters who care about you running the race with faithfulness? Don't you care more about what they think and what they want for you?

Who is that anonymous out a group of people out there that you are not despising the shame? You're giving in to the shame. Who are they that you care so much what they think? Jesus didn't care what they thought.

What did he care about? He cared about the joy that was set before him. What was the joy? The joy was that he was sons and daughters of his Father in heaven. That was what the joy was. He didn't enjoy the pain, but he enjoyed the results.

He enjoyed the consequences. And he started it. And he finished it. And he's an example to us of enduring faithfulness because he opened the way and made it possible for us. And notice what it says here. Where is he there now? He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God on high. So what are we looking at here? It says, looking unto Jesus. Where is Jesus? He's sitting at the right hand of the Father on high right before us. That's the goal. That's the threshold. That's the finish line we have to think. We should know that not only do we have this great cloud of witnesses who have finished the race and are cheering us on, but we have Jesus right before us seated at the right hand of his Father.

They are watching, cheering us on. They are also giving us what we need to finish the race. So in these days, let's be like Jesus. Let's endure the cross, the pain, and so on. Let's despise the shame. And let's just chug along, keep going until our race is finished.

I'm going to invite you you know, one of the things I think about when we're meeting like this and you're meeting in your homes and so on is that we forget some of the formalities of worship. And those formalities are important. They put us in certain frames of mind and so on.

I would encourage you on Sunday morning to dress up just like you're going to church. I encourage you to share in the singing and so on as long as we have to do this. But I'm also going to invite you not to sit, but to stand as we pray. Or if you want to, to kneel. It's up to you. But let's stand and pray.

Dear Father, we thank you for Jesus, the author and finisher of faithfulness. We thank you, Lord, because of what he did, we, too, might run this race successfully. And, Lord, I that we all might finish. We all might endure. We all would put aside the things that so easily ensnare us and tear us bring us down.

Lord, I just pray that you'd be with all of our brothers and sisters.

Watch over them. Keep them safe. Keep them cheerful, Lord. Keep them trusting in you. And, Lord, also, I just pray for Zach as he's going to bring the message later on. And, Lord, I particularly pray that in these days when there's so much anxiousness on the part of the people around us, that we might not be anxious, that we would put our trust in you, and that we would take the opportunities to share our trust in you, and that it might speak to those around us.

These things we ask in Jesus' name. And let's pray together. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Turning your hymnals to 969, Brother Edsel requested that we sing this song of celebration to those who've gone on before and have finished the race well.

For all thy saints, O Lord, who strove bitterly to live, who followed thee, obeyed the glory for him received.

For all thy saints, O Lord, accept our thankful crowd, who counted thee their great reward and strove bitterly to die.

They all in life and death with thee, their Lord, in view, learn from thy Holy Spirit's breath to suffer and to do. For this thy name we press and humbly pray that we may follow bitterly in holiness and live and die in thee.

Well, good morning, everybody. And I want to thank you all, the singers and Edsel, for sharing with us so far. After I sit down here, Brother Anthony Martin is going to share a children's lesson. And then John, after he's through with his children's lesson, if you'd have another song, and then Zach will bring the message after that song.

And then you can close the service then, Zach. And if we can have then a closing song yet after the message.

And I might just mention a little bit something about, you know, our small services. And I don't know how long this is going to go on for Pennsylvania. If I understood the news correctly this morning, there are some states that are opening up worship service. I think it was great. The news reporter mentioned that it's the first public bigger meetings is going to be religious worship service. And I thought, you know, we still live in a great country, don't we?

I was sort of might be one of the last things. But it sounds like it's going to be the first thing possibly. So praise God. We trust that God is going to have his way through this all, you know.

Many mean it for evil, but I think if we open ourselves to God, he's going to mean it for well, for good, for his people. And it helps us to realize how fragile this life is, the economy and the things that we so many times put a lot of anchor into. It's so shallow, isn't it?

I might mention, you know, as I said this short small meeting thing, for next Sunday morning, I've asked Brother Brandon Byler to share the main message. And Brother Anthony Martin here was the one who suggested having children's lesson and maybe even other things during the week, evenings or whatever.

And being as we are where we are and some don't feel as comfortable as others to go out and about, those we've sort of left up to volunteers. If you feel comfortable, come in, share a devotional on a Sunday morning, a children's lesson. It looks like so far, if nobody volunteers to do a children's lesson, the default is sort of leaning on Brother Anthony. Thank you, Anthony.

But we'd open that up. Any volunteers, let myself know if you can have a devotional for next Sunday or do a children's lesson or a singing group. I think this was great, you know, 10 people or so in a singing group is great. So if you feel led to get a group together, not only Sunday morning but midweek, evening or something, Brady is the one that runs sounds or maybe Brady and Lance, you know, if it works for them some week evening, possibly get a group together and sing.

Those things we sort of throw out there as suggestions. All right. We'll just take a few prayer requests here and have prayer yet. Cedric and Kendra, wedding coming up Saturday. Let's pray for that.

The John Branneman family finally got to leave their house. I understand they're beginning their travel to South Dakota today to visit her folks. And they did get permission from the authorities to do so. So praise God for that. I think they I felt so bad for them. They come all the way from Chile to visit and visit and visit. And just like that, they're shut in their house.

So they're finally able to get out and about.

Let's pray for those affected by the passing of Virgil and all the practical details of that.

Sharon, I believe the way I understand her, she's doing well. And Conrad feels he's sort of on the tail end of his virus, but he's not completely the last I talk with him. So let's continue to pray for Conrad Sollenberger and his and then I have yet let's pray for the elderly among us for protection.

Your requests?

Pray for the billboard ministry. This is sort of a special time. People are anxious and some are calling. Yes. Brother John reminds us to keep praying for the billboard ministry during this time. Many, many calls are coming in with anxious and disturbed people, I guess. Pray for that work.

Let's remember Dave and Starla's family. Yes. Dave and Starla in Chile.

One of my friends, Mary J. Martin, she lived with her sister. Her name was Jenny. Jenny passed away from a heart attack just this week. So let's pray for the Martins family. And also. Wishing that we would rebuild that. Special.

All right. Sister Marge here has a friend by the name of Mary Jane Martin that had her sister pass away from a heart attack. So let's pray for the Martin family and then the Shank family as well and especially Reba Shank.

Let's remember the Krauss family now that they have to sort of relive this whole thing and find a way to forgive.

All right. The Krauss family.

Somebody mentioned on the last stream chat to pray for Radford as he's in New York helping out. Yes. Radford is in New York City helping there. I understand under CAM they're passing food parcels and other things to those in need there. So let's pray for Radford as he works with that.

All right. Okay. When I sit down, Anthony, when we're through with prayer, you can take your place. And then after another song, folks. And then Zach, you can take your place. Okay. Let's kneel for prayer. I think we have enough of requests here. We can just open it up and then I can close. Let's kneel for prayer.

Lord, I thank you so much that you provided a remedy for the ills of this world through Jesus Christ. Help us to understand, Lord, that that is the only remedy for the world's problems and give us the passion to get that message as far as possible. I pray this morning especially for the Krauss family. O God, give them a special supernatural comfort. Help them, Lord, to have the peace that passes the logic of all our circumstances. And I just pray, Lord, that you would help them to find it in their hearts to permanently and completely forgive. And, Lord, we pray for this young man who did this awful deed, this martyrage. O God, I just pray that you would bring him to a genuine repentance and that he, Lord, can respond in a way that the Krauss family can eventually embrace him as a brother.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Father and Mother, thank you for the opportunity we have to be together this morning, even a few. And, Lord, I just pray that you would just continue to be with us through this time. Lord, I especially pray that you give us courage and grace.

Lord, help us to be to the people that are anxious and worried. Lord, help us to be able to share the good news of the gospel, which is so effective for our time and all of Sunday afternoon. I pray that we would take advantage of the opportunity even Father John as he speaks to people on the billboard line. Lord, I pray that you would just watch over him and give him wisdom. And, Lord, I do pray that you would protect us health-wise, especially with the elderly among us. And, Lord, I pray that your protective hand would just be among us.

Lord, I pray for Cedric and Kendra next week as they plan to be married. Lord, I pray that you would just give them what they need in these unusual times as well. And, Lord, I pray that it would be a blessed day for them.

And I pray for Brother Zach as he shares the message with us today. Lord, I pray that through the Spirit you would answer the appreciation for the children's voice. For we love you. We thank you for all your goodness to us. And thank you for it.

Father, I just thank you for the opportunity to be together, to pray, and to seek your will. And, Lord, I just also ask that you be with Dave and Starla in their family and Chile. And. Pray about yourself right now. I watch over them. Keep them in your care. Keep them safe. Keep them encouraged, Lord. And, Father, I also just pray for the Brannemans and that you give them safety as they travel out into the. And stay healthy.

And, Father, I pray also that we might be witnesses of your grace and of your goodness. Lord, I think of Megan who's in Bangladesh still. Watch over her. Keep her in your care. Help her not become to any harm.

Father, I just want to bless you as well and thank you for the opportunity to meet this way. Lord, we pray that you would receive glory and honor out of this whole virus, Lord. I pray that your kingdom would come and. And earth as we did it in heaven through this time especially. Lord, we pray for Mary J. Martin who lost her sister and other relatives involved there. I just pray your comfort over them through this time and be with Sister Marge as she relates to them as well. Give her wisdom and ways she could be an encouragement to them. Lord, we pray for those in Chile especially, Dave and Starla, their families. Lord, as they're carrying on there and running this race, Lord, we pray that you give them what they need to be true to the end there as well.

Lord, we pray for Radford and his involvement there in New York City. Keep them safe and bless his work and efforts there. And I pray that you would use him to bring somebody to yourself, Lord. And just give him wisdom and creativity, Lord, to be all that you put him there for.

Lord, pray for the message and give Zach the inspiration to share the message we need to hear this morning. And I pray also for Anthony as he shares with the children. Lord, just pray you give him a message there and something that we can all learn and grow from. We pray you bless the remainder of our days together. In Jesus' name. Amen.

All right.

Hi, children. I'm going to try to give you a lesson again this morning. I have a little different thing than I did last time, but hopefully you can learn from this one as well. First, I want to try to sing a couple of songs with you.

There's not any children here at church, so I'm either going to have to get the adults to help me sing or I'm going to sing by myself. But if you're at home, I want you to help me sing and sing really loud and hopefully you enjoy that. So we're going to start out with a song, something that we all know really well. We're going to sing "Jesus Loves Me."

All right. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.

The next song I want to sing is going to be directly related to my lesson that I'm going to have. And I want to sing "Jesus Loves the Little Children." Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world, red, brown, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

The verse I want to share with you this morning is out of Psalms 139, verse 14. And this is what it says. "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And that is talking about God making us because God has made each one of us. He has made me. He's made you. He's made your friends. When you go to the grocery store, you probably don't go to the grocery store much right now. But when you see other people, God has made each one of them. And in the psalm, the man that wrote the psalm, he said, "I will praise God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And basically says, "I am special.

God has made me special." And that's what I want to talk about. And to illustrate that, I brought a number of different fruits. So I have a mango.

I have a pear.

An orange.

And a banana. Now, each one of these things are fruit, right? But they're not all the same. This one's orange. It's round. This one's green. It's a pear. This is a little different shape. It's not round. It's sort of more round on the bottom. It gets a little narrow at the top.

A mango. And of course, the banana is the most as far as the way it looks. This is the most different. This is shaped really different. But they are all fruit. As far as I know, you got to watch it sometimes. Some things that you think are fruit end up being vegetables and the other way around. But we're going to go with these are all fruit.

But they're all different. And this is a little bit I'm going to compare this fruit to people and to you. So I don't know which one you would like to be. Would you like to be a banana or you think you'd rather be an orange? But think about yourself as one of these fruits. And then think about someone else. Think about maybe one of your friends or someone you know that is different than you.

You probably have brothers and sisters, and they probably look a little bit like you because you're in the same family. But think of someone that looks really different or a lot different than you. So if you think you're the orange, think of a banana, someone that's a banana, maybe. All right.

And sometimes when we are different from each other, when maybe someone looks a little bit different, maybe their nose is flatter or maybe their eyes are more squinty or maybe their skin's a different color. Sometimes we like to make fun or think it's funny of people that look different than us. And sometimes we say hurtful things about these people. And maybe someone has sometimes at one time said something about you that wasn't nice. And they said, "Hi, why do your ears stick out so far?" Or, "Why are you like that? Why are you so short?" Or something like that. And it doesn't make us feel good. And that song we sang about, "Jesus Loves All the Little Children," it says red, brown, yellow, black, and white, they're precious in his sight.

And it's talking about skin color, people having different color skin. But Jesus loves them all. And one thing I want you to think about is Jesus made them all. Okay? So when we see someone that is different from us, no matter what it is, instead of thinking, "Hey, why do they look funny?" Or, "Why do they do like why do they act like that?" We need to remember that God made them just as he made you. So when we think about somebody and we say unkind things about them because of the way they're made, we make God sad because God made that person just the same as he made you.

And that's why we need to be very careful how we treat other people. And so the next time we think maybe someone talks different or looks different or does something that's different from us that we think is sort of funny or maybe weird, let's remember that God made them. And he also made you, and he loves them both the same. And if we love God, we need to do the same thing. Instead of saying, "Why do they look that way?" We should say, "You know what? God made them exactly that way for a special reason." I got a story I'm going to try to read for you. And this helps demonstrate this point a little bit.

I'm going to try to help you be able to see the pictures. And we'll see how this goes.

On the first day of our village school in Japan, there was a boy missing. He was found hidden away in the dark space underneath the schoolhouse floor. None of us knew him. He was nicknamed Chibi because he was very small.

Chibi means tiny boy. If you look here on the picture, I don't know if you can see or not, you can see down underneath the school here. There he is. And all the children are up here on the top looking out the window. Here goes the school teacher. He's out looking for him.

This strange boy was afraid of our teacher and couldn't learn a thing. He was afraid of the children and could not make friends with them at all. Here he is, all by himself, trying to hide under his desk. Here, all the other children are sitting. But he is this boy was afraid.

He was left alone at study time. He was left alone at playtime. He was always at the end of the line, always at the foot of the class, a forlorn little tag along.

Soon Chibi began to make his eyes cross-eyed so that he was able not to see whatever he did not want to see.

And found many ways, one after the other, to kill time and to amuse himself. Just the ceiling was interesting enough for him to watch for hours. The wooden top of his desk was another thing, another interesting thing to watch. A patch of cloth on a boy's shoulder was something to study. Of course, the window showed him many things all year round. Even when it was raining, the window had surprising things to show him. So because he was afraid of everybody and he tried to hide, he would find lots of different things to distract himself with. So he would look at the ceiling or look at the pictures or look outside and try not to notice that the other children weren't friends with him.

On the playground, if he closed his eyes and listened, he could hear many different sounds near and far. And Chibi could hold and watch insects and grubs that most of us wouldn't even touch or look at. So that not only the children in our class, but the older ones, even the younger ones called him stupid and slowpoke.

See, here he is, he's sitting by the tree. And here are some boys, and they're making fun of him because they think he's weird because he would even touch bugs and worms and stuff like that. But slowpoke or not, day after day, Chibi came trudging to school.

He always carried the same lunch, a rice ball wrapped in a radish leaf. Even when it rained or stormed, he still came trudging along, wrapped in a raincoat made from dried zebra grass. And so day by day, five years went by. And we were in the sixth grade, the last class in school. Our new teacher was Mr.

I'm going to mispronounce this, but you guys won't know.

In Isobe, he was a friendly man with a kind smile.

Mr. Isobe often took his glove to the hilltop behind the school. He was pleased to learn that Chibi knew all the places where the wild grapes and wild potatoes grew. He was amazed to find how much Chibi knew about all the flowers in our class garden.

He liked Chibi's black and white drawings and tacked them up on the wall to be admired. He liked Chibi's own handwriting, which no one but Chibi could read. And he tacked that up on the wall. And he often spent much time talking to Chibi when no one else was around. See, now there's a new person at school that is being kind to Chibi, even though he is different. And he's learning that even though Chibi is different, there's things he's really good at.

But when Chibi appeared on the stage at the talent show of that year, no one could believe his eyes. Who is that? What can that stupid do up there? Until the teacher announced that Chibi was going to imitate the voices of the voices of crows, voices, voices of crows.

First, he imitated the voice of the newly hatched crows, the little baby crows are. And then he made the mother crow's voice. And then he imitated the father's crow's voice. He showed how crows cry early in the morning. He showed how crows cry when the village people had some unhappy accident. He showed them how crows call when they're happy and gay. Everybody's mind was taken to the far mountainside from which Chibi probably came to school.

At the end, to imitate a crow on an old tree, Chibi made a very special sound, made Chibi made very special sounds deep down in his throat. Kuwait, Kuwait. Everyone now, everyone could imagine exactly the far lonely place from which Chibi lived with his family.

The teacher then explained how Chibi had learned those calls, leaving his home for school at dawn and arriving home at sunset every day for six long years. Every one of us cried thinking how much we had been wrong to Chibi all those long years.

Even the grown-ups wiped their eyes saying, "Yes, yes, he is wonderful." Soon after that, the graduation day, soon after that came graduation day. Chibi was the only one in our class honored for perfect attendance through all years. After school was over, the big boys would often have work to do in the village for their families. Sometimes Chibi would come to the village to sell charcoal he and his family had made. But nobody called him Chibi anymore. We all called him Crow Boy. Hi, Crow Boy.

Crow Boy would nod a smile as if he liked his name. And when his work was done, he would buy a few things for his family. Then he was set off for his home on the far side of the mountain, stretching his growing shoulders proudly like a grown-up man. And from around the turn of the mountain road would come a crow call, the happy one.

So in this story, even though he was different, and he didn't do some of the things that the other children did because someone was kind to him and loved him just the way he was, everyone learned that he was good at something. It wasn't something that everyone was good at, but he was good at something. And that's how that's how people are. Each one of us, God has given us something that is different from somebody else and that we're good at. And so whether it's whether you're like an orange or a mango or a banana, you're good at something that God has specially given you. And also, when you see someone else that may be different, remember that they are specially made by God, and they have something that they can do that God has given especially to them.

So hopefully, that helps you remember that each one of us is special to God, no matter what we look like, and no matter what we're good at or what we're not.

Well, after that wonderful lesson, I wanted to sing 422, "Oh Man, Redeemful to Thy Heart Thy Brother," but it's a copyrighted song. So I don't think we should probably do that. 159, this will be a song of prayer for our nation during this time of special challenge and need of God's help. O Day of God, Draw Nigh, 159.

O Day of God, Draw Nigh, in beauty and in power, come with Thy timeless judgment now to match our present hour. Bring to our troubled minds uncertain and afraid the quiet of a steadfast faith, come of our court obeyed.

Bring justice to our land, our soul may be secure and finally build for days to come foundations that endure.

Bring to our world of stride the sovereign word of peace that war may haunt the earth no more and asolation cease.

O Day of God, Draw Nigh, as at creation's birth, let there be light again and set Thy judgments in the earth.

Well, good morning. It's good to see each one. And I want to greet the ones who are calling in on the phone line as well as that are live streaming. I didn't realize how much I missed everyone till Bradley came to our house to fix our washing machine. And he was sitting there, or he was standing there talking with us. And I realized how much I missed everybody.

And it was good to see his smile, of course. It was a rainy day. And it was just it was good to have that little bit of fellowship. And I'm looking forward to fellowshipping together with you all here as well, as well as with the rest later on in the future.

The title of my message today is Where is Our Source of Life? We're going to be studying out of Jeremiah chapter two. We'll be reading verses one through 28. I picked this section to study before Virgil passed away, but I feel like it's appropriate for his passing as well as the time that we are in.

Before we read this passage, I want to give a little bit of a background to what's happening. This section of the book this section of this book, these first few chapters were written during the reign of King Josiah. Now, King Josiah was a godly king. And he sought after God when he was young. And he ruled for quite a long while. And this message that was preached was preached in the year the 13th year of King Josiah's reign. And in the 12th year of King Josiah's reign, he began to purge the land from idolatry.

And I'm just going to read that quickly in Second Chronicles 34, verses three through seven. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David, his father. And in the 12th year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images. And they break down the Balaam in his presence. And the images that were on high above them, he cut down.