♪ Theme music ♪
"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness.
It was the season of light; it was the season of darkness.
It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.
We had everything before us; we have nothing before us.
We were all going to Heaven-no; we were all going the other way,
to Hell."
Heh, heh..
Opening words of Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities...
One city was Paris.
They had a revolution.
Heads were cut off.
There was division.
There was war.
There was violence.
There was all kinds of corruption exploding in
Paris that spilled off into France.
It was the darkest of hours.
The other city in the second part of the tale was London.
Not perfect, but they had a spirit of Christ, and God, and
redemption, and hope in the lives of the people.
So there's two different cities,
and there's a tale of two different cities...
We live in a city-Metropolitan Houston, Texas.
My, what a city, what a moment
in which for you and I to be alive!
Various cities in the history of mankind-perhaps no city
before has been so privileged and blessed
as we are now in Houston.
Look at where we are in Houston: Houston has the number one
wealthiest zip code in Texas, with a medium income,
average income $240,151.00 per person.
Houston area housing, start rates climb to $28,990 this
year, showing growth for the last eight quarters.
Forbes Magazine says Houston is the top big city where
self-employment opportunity is growing the fastest.
This fall, Forbes Magazine declared
Houston the best city for jobs.
Houston has the most college graduates
over age 25 per capita.
This is the best, best one: U-Haul declares Houston
as the number one destination for relocation moves!
(Audience laughs).
And last but not least, Forbes declared Houston among the
top "coolest" cities to thrive in America!
We've got the "cool" factor, ladies and gentlemen!
(Audience whoops and applauds).
A Tale of Two Cities.
That's one city.
Urban Houston, Metropolitan Houston, downtown, midtown,
suburban areas of Houston.
That's one city.
But we've got another city.
We've got the inner city...
Oh yeah.
The inner city.
Well, we know about, we heard about it.
Used to been there, and we had a flight from the inner city.
We call it "white flight"-oh no.
It's white flight; it's black flight; it's brown flight.
Anybody who's in the inner city,
they fly out as soon as they can get out.
It's flight by all.
Flight, leaving behind blight.
Let's look right here-let's look in Harris County.
That's the best way to look at it.
Fatherless cast a shadow of fear-343,647 out of
1,184,988 children in Harris County live with single mothers.
Did you get that?
Single mothers.
Poverty casts a shadow of fear; 802,318 out of 4,336,853
-that's the population of Harris County-people in Harris County
live below the poverty line -one out of four.
Broken educational system; lack of knowledge casts
a shadow of fear.
Almost 1,910,739 adults, residents can't read!
One out of every four adults in our area cannot read!
Did you get that?
Abuse and neglect cast a shadow of fear;
25,438 child abuse and neglect reports filed in Harris County.
19,834 are-listen to this-78% of the perpetrators are parents.
18,053 or 71% of these parents were unmarried;
52% of victims were female, ages 1 to 3.
Gang rule cast a shadow of fear; 41,000 registered gang members
we know about-there are others we know about in Houston.
Gangs are connected, of course, to the drug trade.
We could go on and on, because there's a tale of two cities!
In every city in America, there's a tale of two cities.
And therefore, here is illiteracy, illegitimacy,
immorality, depression, despondency,
fear, and finally, there's hopelessness.
Hopelessness in the inner city,
and a helplessness in the inner city, and it's stacked up
generation, after generation, after generation.
And you got two extremes.
You got one extreme that says, "Let's throw more money at
those people, and let's just throw more money!"
The other extreme says, "Let's take all the money away!
Let 'em go to work!"
You got a problem...
Most of them have a felon among the males there,
and they can't get a job because they have a record.
Two extremes: Take away all the money.
Throw 'em more money!
Both are radically wrong.
Now, what are we to do?
Two cities-a tale of two cities right here-right here where
we live, right here in the cities around the world.
A tale of two cities.
Some people just say, "Ohhh, just give up!
You know, you're...
it's not a hope..."
Let me tell you something,
what we've got a Christian people, folks.
First of all, we have the commands of God, and we have the
promises of God, and in light of that, without the communication
of God, let me tell you-there are some redemptive answers.
Now, let's start right here!
Good place to start with the Book, is it not?
The Book always gets us in tr-gets me in trouble.
If it doesn't get you in trouble,
you're not reading it properly.
(Audience laughs).
Chapter 15.
The Bible says, "Now we who are strong..."
that's all of us here.
We're in urban America.
We're the top side.
We're the strong.
Oh yeah!
Every one of us, we're the strong.
"...ought to bear the weakness of those without strength,
and not just please ourselves..."
The strong are to bear the weakness of the weak.
That's a good place to start.
What else would...?
"Each of us is to please his neighbor for
his good to his edification."
We're not to please ourself.
We are to please the weak to his edification.
Edification means that they are to be edified and they're
edified when you and I are educated.
We begin to understand; then we can build up.
"Well, I understand it..."
Just hold on!
I thought I did too, but I can tell you,
I understand it better.
Edification.
We're not just to please ourselves.
Uh, you're not gonna find your life by just serving your life.
Edification.
We're to be a part of the edification process of
the weak-of the weak.
Verse 3: "For even Christ did not please Himself, for as it is
written, the approaches of those who reproached you fell on me."
We are to identify with this.
"Boy, if I were in the inner city..."
Let me tell you something: A few escape,
but a precious, precious few escape.
If you're in that inner city and I were in the inner city,
let me tell you -there's oppression;
there's generation, after generation, after generation.
There is no easy way out of the trap;
no easy way out of the trap.
Let me tell you that.
We've got to identify.
Put on those shoes for a while.
Go down and look Walk around.
Different universe...
Verse 4: "For whatever was written in earlier times was
written for our instruction so that perseverance and the
encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope, that may the
God Who gives you and me perseverance and encouragement
grant to you of the same mind of Christ,
that according to Jesus Christ."
We've been given perseverance and encouragement.
We're to go and give perseverance and
encouragement to the weak!
Tale of two cities.
One city-"Oh, ho!
Man, eh, eh, eh!"
There is that other city...
"Oh, housing, you can't property
-it's so expensive around here.
Let me take you some places in that second city.
You can buy all the property you want, and houses you want for
miles, and miles, and miles, and apartments you want for miles,
and miles, and miles.
A tale of two cities...
Then what else?
Verse 7: "Therefore, accept one another just as Christ also
accepted us to the glory of God."
We were accepted; we are accepted Him.
And he goes on to say, "Jesus was a servant of the Jews and
a servant of the Gentiles."
That's Verse 8 all the way through Verse 12.
Now Verse 13 says that, "May the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace, believing so that-we read it-you will abound
in the hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
So you say, "How in the world can I accept this?
How in the world can I bear the burden of the weak"?
We can do it on the basis of love.
About 30 years ago now, three or four of the guys in the church
took me down to the then the Toyota Center to see
a closed-circuit prize fight.
I don't remember who was fighting.
I don't know whether it was Foreman, or Frazier, or Ali,
or Sugar Ray-I don't know who was there, but boy,
we were fired up!
We went to this fight, big ole screen.
I'd never seen anything-man, it was packed!
Man, there was FRRRRRR!
Man, it-I liked it!
Oh, ho!
Goodness!
It was so good!
So when the fight was over, I was walking down some steps, and
I was showing them with my great knowledge of boxing.
You know-ehhhhhhhh-I had my hands up.
We were talking, walking in the crowd, and I was showing
ehhhhhhhh, and, and so, coming up the steps was another man.
He was a 18 year old kid then.
I didn't know him-African American, and, and I looked over
there, and he was showing his friends the same thing...
ehhhhh....
So we got down to the bottom.
We just never met each other-we just got down and we laughed,
and I was doing like this...
He started laughing.
He says, "Who are you"?
I said, "I'm Ed Young.
Who are you"?
"I'm James Dixon."
And, it, he, he's an 18 year old kid who happened to be a pastor.
His dad was a pastor.
His grandfather was a pastor, and his father was a pastor.
He was beginning a little church there...
And so we laughed and talked.
I got to know him, and uh, time went by, and he started, he came
up to our church at Woodway, and I showed him around,
and he-"Oh...."
And he started to come up there and park his car at night
and just pray in our parking lot.
Praying the Lord would give him a vision to build
a church there in the inner city.
I've kept up with James casually through the years.
Now he has the title of Bishop.
He's got a big church down there in the inner city.
I called him and talked awhile, and I told him my burden.
I said, "We live in two cities."
I said, "I need to know more about,
not like I hadn't been there.
I didn't go when we'd things, etc..
but you know...
I said, "I really want to know,
are there any answers here"?
And he's told me this story.
He said, "Last Saturday, we had some ministry going on down
there in one of the toughest areas in anywhere around here,"
and I'll not identify it, purposely so.
"And they're just miles and miles of, of slum rooms,
apartments-couple of stories high."
He said "We go down there as a church and do ministry
and try to help these.
Most of these are single mothers
-birth mothers with multiple kids.
Many times, don't even know who the fathers were..."
And he said, "We were doing ministry there with them."
He said, "I was sitting outside, kind of steering all our teams
as he went into all these areas..."
And he said, "Then here comes the ice cream truck, Saturday.
And it comes down the street, and there's that music
-do, do, tootle toot!
Do, do, tootle toot!
Do, do, tootle toot tooo!
Do, do, too..."
He said, "Not a kid came out."
He said, "I knew there were hundreds and hundreds of kids.
It's miles of these slums..."
Do, do, tootle, toot!
And the ice cream truck comes by-"Do, do, too..."
good weather "Do, do, tootle toot.
Do, do, tootle toot, do, do...no kid came out."
He said, "I sat there wondering what in the world"?
Do, do, tootle toot, do, do tootle toot.
He said, "The ice cream truck went on through.
Not a kid came out."
He said, "I wondered why"?
Then he said, "I realized they didn't have enough money
to buy a popsicle -not a one of them.
Not this area.
And he said, "I went and ran down that ice cream truck.
I said, 'Come on back...'" Do, do, tootle toot!
Do, do, tootle toot!
Do, do, tootle toot do!
Said the truck came back.
Said an Hispanic man and his son were in truck.
He said, "Park right here.
I'm gonna buy ice cream for any kid that wants any."
He said, "I sent my guys up there and said first two or
three kids came-four or five kids came-seven, eight kids."
He said, "There's a long line of kids there."
He said, "But they came out from anywhere from 4 to 5,
even up to 16 or 17."
He said, "They all had their heads down."
He said, "They came up there to the little gate, the truck and
they'd say, 'What do you want'?
And they would point to one of the ice creams-tootie fruity,
whatever..."
and he said, "Then they would look out and say, 'Oh yeah...'
and they would order it."
And he said, "I would pay for it."
He said, "Then I realized every one came with their head down
and," he said, "I went over there and said,
'Hold your head up.
Hold your head up!
Look up there and read what you want and tell the man, and..."
he said a lot of them couldn't read
-6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12-couldn't read.
He said those that could read,
they were hard to hold their head up.
And he said, "I bought ice cream,
and I bought ice cream..."
and I told him, I said, "James, heh-I'm jealous!
I wanted to be there!
I'd wish I could have been there to buy some ice cream
myself-I'm jealous of you!"
And I said, "I want to go there right now..."
So we left his church, went together.
Went to the spot.
We got there Friday afternoon at time the buses were arriving.
Here buses coming-I mean, kids coming out of there
-all young kids, this stream of buses.
I mean dozens, hundreds-hundreds,
just everywhere, all the way through this slum area.
All of 'em came out there, and they started to scatter and go
up, and I noticed there wasn't a single adult there to meet
a single one of 'em!
Not an adult-not an adult!
And they'd run up in those little places.
I looked over there, and there's some guys on a rail here,
hanging over the rail the second story, and a guy hanging over
a rail, and I said, "Who are those guys"?
They said, "They're Bloods."
Said, "How do you know"?
Said, "They got on red and black.
Bloods, gang.
And they're sort of supervising, running everything here
-charge of everything here..."
I'm beginning to get it.
Don't have to be very smart to figure that out, do you?
Anybody need any explanations?
You listening?
Whoooo!
What's happening in the inner city?
Let me tell you: Number one, hope is crushed.
When hope is crushed, you got different world.
You say, "Well, I don't know what we can do about that!"
Oh yes!
Let me ask you a personal question.
Just think for a minute-you have to think hard: If you had all
the power and all the resources-now stay with me!
I've had longer to think about this, and pray about this, and
cry about his than you have; but if you had all the power and all
the resources, could you mark off a square of the inner
city-how many blocks, how much, I don't know, and if you had
power and resour-all the power, all the resources,
could you make a difference in the lives of those families
and primarily single mothers?
Could you make a difference there?
Could you clean that place up for God
and for Christ and for humanity?
Could salvation come there in lives and hope?
Could you do that with all power and all resources?
The answer, by the way, is yes!
The answer is yes!
Where do you start?
You start first of all of getting the bad guys out
-no questions asked!
(Audience applauds).
Now that's not an easy thing.
You say, "Oh, you can't do that!"
Just sit back!
Get the bad guys out.
"Well, I have my rights..."
No you don't.
Everybody there knows who they are.
No!
Get 'em out-get 'em out!
Number two, find the champions that are in that area.
There's a few champions down there
that are frightened and beat up.
Find those champions and tell them, this is now a safe place!
Okay?
Then you bring all the king's horses and all the king's men
and see who really cares, who really loves,
and who really wants to be a part of the healing.
I'm talking about the lions of corporations and businesses;
I'm talking about all the politicians who talk the game
and play the game and exploit people.
I'm talking about the non-profits.
I'm talking about the churches.
I'm talking about the hospitals.
I'm talking about every entity, the educational system and
go in and rehab, and train, and build,
and see those who can be getting off drugs.
Those who can't, we send them to some of these military bases
that are basically empty, and we provide to them
and give them another chance.
Otherwise, we get 'em off drugs.
We love 'em.
We train 'em.
When I was in high school, we had vocational training.
We had shop.
You learn how to be a carpenter; you learn how to pour asphalt;
you learn how to build something, to make something,
and to weld.
That's gone today!
Go in there!
Train these who are salvageable.
Love those who are loveable.
Provide protection for those kids!
The kids don't go out and play around
there because they're in danger.
Did you read the statistics that are there on the wall?
Those aren't just numbers!
They're human beings -God's human beings,
God's precious gift to us!
(Audience applauds).
Say, "Well, you didn't mention..."
Oh, I don't have all the answers.
I see the problem.
I see some beginning ways to move, and I see with a
cooperative effort, to get the bad guys out,
to find the heroes and champions that are there within,
and to turn loose God's people!
By God's grace, this family, be patient, be prayerful
-we're gonna throw everything we got to make a difference for
Jesus Christ in the inner city of this part of the world!
(Audience-someone says, "Amen!" Audience applauds.)
You say, "Well, I don't know if I want to..."
Let me tell you something: Your ice cream's melting!
We can go through there and -"Do, do, tootle, toot!
Do, do, tootle, toot!"
"Oh, here's some clothes, here's some food, here's some help."
"Do, do, tootle, toot!"
"Bye!"
"Do, do, tootle, toot!
Do, do tootle, toot!"
"Oh, I feel so good!
Let me tell you what I did!
I really gave!
I helped, I...."
That's all good and fine.
That's a Band-Aid, folks.
We gotta go in there and deal with the cancer and cut it out
so there can be health!"
(Audience applauds).
I don't know how to do it.
Don't, don't think there's any prideful thing here.
There's only brokenness here; but I can tell you, I believe
with the power, gonna be tough to get it.
Governors, presidents, lieutenant governors,
elected people, lines of industry, all big corporations
-everybody will give you lip service.
Let's see if they'll get down in the trenches and we can cut out
a space and see a safe place of redemption, and we look
-we cut out another space.
See a same place redeem...
and we cut out another space.
No telling what God can do when His people begin to be obedient
to His Book and realize that our ice cream is melting, and we
want our ice cream to be served as long as there's breath
in your body and mine!
We have all felt alone.
Even Jesus experienced loneliness
during His time on earth.
But God did not create us to live in a
constant state of loneliness.
We need community and fellowship
with others for our emotional and physical well-being.
Listen, if you are experiencing loneliness today,
we have created a booklet that will help you overcome
the lonely seasons in your life.
Within it's pages you will find some practical steps to overcome
loneliness and to live in fellowship with others.
Voiceover: To get your copy of Dr. Ed Young's
booklet Loneliness, call the number on your screen,
or go online at winningwalk.org.
It's our gift to you
for your financial support of this ministry.
Call today and experience
freedom from the prison of loneliness.
I love Romans 12:2 - the apostle Paul writes inspired by the
Holy Spirit: "Do not be conformed to this world be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove
what the will of God is", the plan of God, the design of God.
And that design is "good, acceptable and perfect",
the apostle tells us.
Now this verse reminds me of sort of a little simple
pedestrian illustration - a tube of toothpaste, you know you can
take in shape it from the outside and it's just pliable.
You can move it around.
Phillips has a translation that says "don't let the world
squeeze you into its mold".
Perhaps he was thinking about toothpaste.
And that's what can happen to us.
The world can just form us.
But if we're in Christ and Christ is in you, guess what,
were transformed and this is the Illustration with the balloon.
Christ in us the Holy Spirit is in us and therefore we are
shaped by Him because our mind is being shaped by Him.
You can dent the balloon and change its shape
a little bit but it bounces back.
It is being transformed from within.
What about you?
Are you like a tube of toothpaste?
The world just sort of shapes you?
Or are you being transformed from within by the renewing,
the building, the refreshing of your mind and your heart?
That's transformation!
That's Christianity!
That's our walk with the Lord.
Think about it - try it.
God in Christ will build in you as he's continually building in
me a brand-new mind where you see things differently and you
realize that, hey, "I don't know when it started exactly but
there's a transformation project going on within me".
That's the thrilling part of walking with Christ!
For more infomation >> Urteile nicht vorschnell (2) – Joyce Meyer – Persönlichkeit stärken - Duration: 28:25. 
For more infomation >> Why Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta Never Happened - Duration: 5:46. 
For more infomation >> Guía Megaman 4 NES ( ロックマン ) Episodio #4 Pharaoh Man por januconor - Duration: 7:37. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét