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The world needs our help!  It should not take us long to realize this. Everytime we look at the news it screams that  the world is getting worse. As we look at our social media feed we see tragedy.  We look people in the eye, and although they do a good job of hiding their heart, we know that they are needing help. This happens daily.
The World needs our help.  We know some of the terrible stats.  Child abuse, sex trafficking, genocide and war, depression, addiction, racism, social injustice, corporate greed, hunger, disease.. This world is crying for help.
Do you believe the Church of Jesus Christ should be the help the world needs?
Jesus told His followers to Go!  Not “go to church” but to “go into all the world.”  Are we going into our world?
Jesus tells His Church to present in the world.  Are we doing that? Are we close enough to feel the pain? If we are not then we are not close enough to help.
Jesus commands His followers to be a help.  Are we helpful?  Are we just another religious building or are we a source of help to the world.

Help 3 – The World needs our Help from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
 

Help 3 – The World needs help

Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt

Redemption Church Plano Tx

Help Bumper
You are at Redemption Church! I am glad you are here worshipping with us in Plano Tx.  To you online – We greet you. We love to hear from you.
My Name is Chris Fluitt and I am blessed to serve as lead Pastor of this mighty church.
We are in the 3rd week of the HELP series.
Help title
Week 1 we told you that the God who needs help from no one, is calling for you to help.
Last week we told you that asking for help doesn’t show weakness, but reveals strength.  As a church we openly called for your help. As your pastor I openly ask for your help.
Before we dive into our todays message let’s look at our memory verse for this month.
Psalm 121:1-4 (NIV)
I lift up my eyes to the mountains- where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The first thing we need to understand today, is that the world needs help.
The world needs help
Depression
7.6% of Americans have depression. (CDC)
The estimated annual cost of depression in the U.S. due to lost productivity and health care is $80,000,000,000.
The number of people globally who are affected by some form of depression is 350,000,000. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/depression-statistics_n_6480412.html)
Unemployment
Poverty
1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
805 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat.
More than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean drinking water. Diarrhea caused by inadequate drinking water, sanitation, and hand hygiene kills an estimated 842,000 people every year globally, or approximately 2,300 people per day. (https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-global-poverty)
2 million children die of preventable diseases every year (diarrhea, pneumonia) because they are too poor to afford treatment (www.Unicef.com)
 
Starvation
795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. (https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats)
30-50% of all food produced rots away uneaten. (www.economist.com)
 
Orphans
There are nearly 210 million Orphans in the world presently (Source: www.projectonefourtythree.org)
Every day 5,760 more children become orphans. That is 2,102,400 yearly… yet only approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually.
Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen. They enter into society without having a family or home.
10% – 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen.
60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals (http://www.orphanhopeintl.org/facts-statistics/)
 
Trafficking
At least 20.9 million adults and children are bought and sold worldwide into commercial sexual servitude, forced labor and bonded labor.
Sex Trafficking
Number of sex slaves around the world: 12.3 million
Percentage of victims identified: 0.4% (not even 1%). It is even rarer to find a sex traffic offender conviction. (http://www.caseact.org/learn/humantrafficking/)
Since 2007 14,588 sex trafficking cases inside the United States.
In a 2014 report, the Urban Institute estimated that the underground sex economy ranged from $39.9 million in Denver, Colorado, to $290 million in Atlanta, Georgia. (https://polarisproject.org/sex-trafficking)
Women and girls make up 98% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
They forced me to sleep with as many as 50 customers a day.  I had to give [the pimp] all my money. If I did not [earn a set amount] they punished me by removing my clothes and beating me with a stick until I fainted, electrocuting me, cutting me. -Kolab, sex trafficking survivor from Cambodia (http://www.equalitynow.org/traffickingFAQ)
 
There are 300,000 child soldiers around the world (Source: Youth For Human Rights)
So far this year there have been 29.9 million abortions world wide. (http://www.worldometers.info/abortions/)
Child abuse
53,000 children are murdered yearly.
World Health Organization (2002) estimates 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 experience forced sexual intercourse or violence.
275 million witness domestic abuse annually. (www.independent.co.uk)
 
Unreached world
7.4 billion population and about 4.4 billion have not been reached with the saving Gospel of Jesus.
6,550 unreached people groups.
Bangladesh 137 million unreached
Japan 120 million unreached
India 900 million unreached
 
Riffi Berber of Morocco out of 1.5 million maybe 30 believers
Laos 6.7 million. 3% are Christian (200k). Estimated that 1 million have never heard the Gospel EVER!
Bosnia 2 million people. .03% are Christian.
 
Christian persecution
Iraq – Massacred from 1.5 million to 300 thousand.
Syria – As many as 2/3rds of the Christians there have been killed.
Iran – Pastor  Saeed Abedini serving an 8 year sentence. Intense persecution yet the Church is growing.
India, Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, China, North Korea
 
Racism
Social Injustice
Terrorism
 
Your friends and family don’t know Jesus.
You have never shared your faith.
You have not prayed.
You have not given your help.
 
This is your world crying for help.
 
Go
The command of Jesus to His Church is to “GO.”
Jesus did not say “Go to Church…”  Jesus told His Church to “Go into all the world!”
Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.(NIV)
Are we going into all the world?  Are we even going into our world? Our job, our school, our neighborhood…
It is great that you came to gather together as the Church today, but Jesus has asked us to do more. Jesus asked us to go into the world and be present..
 
Are we Present?
Today you heard about the needs of people and situations in the world.
But hearing and having knowledge is not BEING PRESENT.
Today you might have had feelings in your heart. You might have felt a tear or a goose-bump.
But your emotional response not a helpful response.  Being present is the response that is needed.
Praying in this altar today is a great start! It really is.
But if you are only present for this moment and walk away unchanged, are you really present.
 
Jesus called us to be present.
Redemption Church, Jesus has called us to be present is a hurting world. We have to do something.
 
Are we a help?
Are we really helping?
We ought to be sending you out of here to change the world.
If our Christianity only goes as far as gathering then we are helping no one.
If we only hoard God’s blessings and resources then we are not helping anyone.
As we heard stat after stat… situation after situation.. we surely felt in our hearts a call to action.  We are called to help.
 
We need to go into the world.. be present.. and help.
 
Today I invite you to come to this altar and to answer the world’s cry for help.
 
redemption-Church.com
Redemption Church is a nondenominational Church in Plano Texas. Our mission is to declare the good news and see others become followers of Jesus Christ. Our vision is to be a 1st Century Church connecting to a 21st Century world. To bring the community, the power, passion & dedication of that 1st century church to the fast paced, technologically advanced, and complex world of the 21st century.
We currently meet on Sunday afternoons at 3pm at the Corner of Parker Rd & Alma in Plano Tx. We would love to greet you in person.
Our lead pastor is Chris Fluitt.