Mexico Youth Mission Trip 2008
Open with this scripture
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What I want to share today is how we as a body, a church and in this case two churches are involved in the feeding of the hungry, the thirsty, visiting the sick and those in prison, clothing the naked as Gods Word instructs us to do.
This trip to Mexico was a group of youth and adults from mostly two churches Calvary Chapel North Shore and North Shore Christian Fellowship with a couple of youth from other churches working as a team. One body many parts. (The Body of Christ)
As bodies of believers even though you did not travel with the group to Mexico you still were part of this trip through your prayers and you’re faithful giving.
When Pastor Steve and the Elders met to pray and talk about this trip we wanted to bless the children, God put it on our hearts to give $1,000.00 in a way that would go directly to the needs of the children. We weren’t exactly sure how it was going to work but we knew God would reveal that to us in His perfect time.
Now I want to share with you how God worked it out.
Friday October 3rd when we arrived in Tijuana, Mexico it was already early afternoon. By the time we picked up food and supplies and got to the Spectrum Ministries dorm it was late in the afternoon. Most of the group had flown the red eye flight, then waited several hours for the vans to be ready then made the drive to Tijuana. They were some tired individuals. When Julian said we were going to go visit an orphanage that night all the youth group kids perked right up. So we piled back in the vans for some more driving, way out then even farther out on dirt roads (Ananda was battling to stay awake).
When we arrived at the orphanage (Tribul De Jesus) Tribe of Jesus, the kids were so excited to have visitors and the youth got a second wind from the kid’s energy. Everyone just played and had a great time.
As the kids played, we visited with the woman who ran the orphanage as Julian translated we found out the story of these kids. Less than two months ago they were in another location, one day the landlord showed up with the police and threw them and all of their belongings out on the street. To make matters worse thieves began to take things from them.
So to make a long story short Spectrum Ministries helped them get into this place. When we arrived they were very low on food and other basics.
We asked the woman who ran the orphanage if she would make a list of things they needed and she did.
The next morning (Saturday) we went to the market place for some vegetables, fruit, and other needs then we went to Costco and divided the list up among groups of the youth kids and told everyone to meet back at the register when they had all the things on their list. The Mexican people in Costco were just staring as this group we had got in line to pay.
Now this is so cool, all these baskets full of food, medical supplies, diapers, laundry soap, basic things they needed guess how much the total was for everything. Just under $1,000.00 how’s that?
Praise God
James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James cuts right to the bottom line here when he says that rather than being a matter of compromise and talking, true religion is a matter of purity and humility.
Jesus shows us over and over in the bible that human need always comes before religious tradition (traditions of men).
The woman who ran the orphanage wept when we dropped of the food and supplies that God provided through your tithes and offerings. All of you were a part of this by being faithful in giving. God bless you.
Another neat thing that happened the first night when we were there was we noticed a framed building that was not finished. I was wondering if there was any way we could help finish it without stepping on anyone’s toes or offend the people who started framing it. So the next day when we showed up (Saturday) with the supplies, the group who had started the building was there to work on it. We asked if we could help and they said they would love the help. The men were from a church in San Pedro, California. They wanted us to work on the outside while they ran the plumbing and electrical. Joel and Clint started on the roof with some of the youth helping and Ananda and I started on the siding while the San Pedro guys worked on the inside. By the time everyone left that night the roof was on the door and window and trim were done, the lights worked and the orphanage had 4 washing machines and one sink ready to use. Another coincidence right, no it was Gods perfect timing.
Praise God.
Psalm 68:4-6
Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the Lord, and exult before Him. A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
2) The commitment of our youth
a) Sunday morning church group.
b) Purple Palace orphanage to visit an established well taken care of orphanage with old friends.
c) Ananda and Aaron took 6 boys to visit the Tijuana jail.
d) Clint took some of the youth to the park to play games with the children from the orphanage.
e) Some of the youth stayed to clean the kitchen and do other chores that needed done.
f) Some played with the children that didn’t go to the park.
g) Serving with the right heart.
h) Bath houses
i) Cleaning toilets
j) Love for one another (more difficult than loving the orphans).
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
3) The commitment of our youth leaders.
a) Love for the youth.
b) Tireless commitment
c) Making things fun
d) Maintaining a level of respect and accountability
e) Holding the youth to a higher standard even when it may not be popular
That’s what we are all called to do as leaders, as teachers, as Christians.
And as teachers of the youth they are held to a higher standard.
James 3:1-5
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways.
Please continue to pray for our youth leaders, and if you aren’t praying for them now please start, ad them to your prayer list.
4) Praying for other ministries
I know that some of the kids that went to Mexico this year were deeply touched by the things they saw as I was. And we want to continue to help these and other orphans around the world.
The question is how do we continue to help now that we are back in Hawaii?
The answer is prayer. Through prayer we can continue to support those orphans, the orphanages we visited, and all the people who help there.
We see a wonderful example of this in 1 Samuel 30 when King David was going after the Amalekites who had burned their village and taken the women and children hostage.
Amalekite means “dweller in the valley.” Each time the Amalekites are seen in Scripture, they’re an illustration of the flesh, warring against the people of God. That is why God said to Moses, “You shall war against Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16).
David left 200 of his 600 men back to rest and guard the supplies. When the 400 returned victoriously the evil ones said that the 200 who stayed behind should not share in the spoils.
David insisted that the men who guarded the supplies were as important as those on the front line.
You might not be a warrior. You might not be front and center. But if you’re keeping the supply lines going by praying faithfully, giving financially, serving humbly, God will insist that you get equal share of the reward. That’s God’s economy. The story ends gloriously. David and his men got back more than they had lost—enough to share with the entire nation—“good measure, pressed down, and running over” (Luke 6:38). And that’s God’s heart for us, as well.
Deuteronomy 10:17-19
“For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. “So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
“Love God and love the stranger, too, because you were once strangers yourselves,” Moses said. Sometimes we forget that, like Israel, we were strangers, sinners in bondage to the world of which Egypt is a picture.
Jesus both loved and was loved by strangers—by lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He confronted the self-righteous yet loved the sinner. All too often, we have this backwards. Jesus was embraced by the masses, but the religious establishment was uncomfortable around Him. All too often, the religious establishment is comfortable with me, while the sinner is uncomfortable. It should be the other way around.
Exodus 22:22 “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
Deuteronomy 10:18 “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.
Psalm 10:14 You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.
Isaiah 10:2 So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans.
Jeremiah 49:11 “Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive;
And let your widows trust in Me.”
Deuteronomy 24:17 “You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment in pledge.
Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe and chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.
Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.