"One boy, boy for sale" (sung)…do you remember what comes next? Something about going cheap, a certain number of pennies. That was from the musical"Oliver" the music and lyrics were written by Lionel Bart. It was made into a movie in 1967 and it featured Oliver, the main character. There were a couple of acts in the stage play and the movie had followed the play rather closely. It was based on Charles Dickens' novel, Oliver Twist. It starts out in an orphanage and has the audacity to ask for more gruel.

There are some mornings when I've had oatmeal that's been cooked once and then twice, it's usually better the first time it's cooked, the second time it's cooked it's not so good, rather soupy and sticky and slimey, stringy, not very appetizing. But here this poor fellow is so hungry, so desperate for food, he asks for more gruel. To which Mr. Bumble replies,"More?" and a series of events starts where he is evicted from the orphanage, he's out on the streets, he's adopted by criminal elements, taken advantage of, falsely accused, falsely charged and on and on this poor tale goes. He goes through so many agonies, so many mistreatments.

Societies throughout history have typically held a low view of the unfortunate, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan. Some have tried to establish laws so that they are not taken advantage of. Most have failed though, haven't they? Now our culture on the other, is a little different, mostly because of our Judeo-Christian background but today what I'd like to do is look at and show how those who are most vulnerable, the stranger, the widow, the orphan, how those who are most vulnerable were given special attention by the Creator God Himself. Please turn with me to Exodus 22.  Here God is taking a nation out of Egypt to build a new nation, He's bringing them out of where they had been, starting from scratch. He has an opportunity to start anew.

It reminds me a little bit of a story I heard from someone, they related to me about starting to learn classical Spanish guitar – Flamenco. And they were taken on by an instructor who is fairly good but there were some conditions to being taken on. The first condition, the instructor said, number one, only listen to classical Spanish guitar music – that's it, don't listen to blues, don't listen to rock and roll, country, nothing, only Spanish classical guitar. Secondly, when you're playing guitar, only play classical Spanish guitar, no blues, no jazz, only Flamenco, that's it. Now why? Well the reason she gave was that she didn't want any other influences coming in and in her view, contaminate Flamenco music, she was very particular about what she wanted to teach the students. In her case, she was starting from scratch, she wanted to start from scratch, I don't want any other influences, we're going to learn my way and only this and that's what God is doing here.

Exodus 22:21-22 –"You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child."

Here God is setting a standard and includes how to treat the easily mistreated, the widow, the stranger and the fatherless child, you shall not afflict them. Let's turn next to Deuteronomy 27. Do you remember in grade school learning the Gettysburg Address? Someone would have to put on the top hat, really tall top hat and the beard, get in the costume while reciting the Gettysburg Address? Or maybe Thanksgiving celebration, learning about that in grade school? Someone dresses up as a pilgrim, someone dresses up as an Indian and learn about the activities. Or maybe about the Founding Fathers, wearing the tri-cornered hat, looking like a colonial. There's something about pantomiming or actually getting into character and acting what is being taught to really make a lesson sink in and that's what's happening in Deuteronomy 27, this is the blessing and cursings chapter. And what God asked the children of Israel to do, well I guess these are the children of the children of Israel aren't they? They're now in the Promised land, they've attended forty years worth of funerals and now God has let them in to the Promised land. He says, OK, let's start from scratch again, I want half of you on Mt. Ebal, half of you on Mt. Gerizim. The two mountains are opposites, one is very arid and craggy, doesn't have much vegetation, apparently, I've never been there, it's what I've been told, the other is very lush, verdant, green. So the lush, verdant mountain is where the blessings were uttered from. The mountain that was barren and craggy  is where the cursings were uttered from.  So God has them line up on these mountains and give these back and forth to act out, these are the blessings, these are the results of blessings, growth, beauty, green, these are the results of curses. So they're uttering these back and forth to each other and verse 19:

Deuteronomy 27:19 –"Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due to the strangers, the fatherless and the widow."

So the first example we looked at, it was a command, this is how you will treat, or not treat the easily afflicted and here it adds more to it, it adds a curse to it, there's a curse to this – don't mistreat them because you'll be accursed otherwise.

Let's turn now to the book of Psalms 146. Do you like stories of the keeper of the underdog? I enjoy hearing those stories and I read one such story while preparing for this message, it's about Aart and Johtje Vos, from the Netherlands and they were a husband and wife team who through the course of the second World War, ended up saving 36 Jews from the Holocaust. Now afterwards they were proclaimed heroes. Johtje was the one that survived; I think she died about five years ago, her husband earlier than that. When she was interviewed the words"hero" and"protector" and"courageous" were brought up and she said, No, that's not what we were, we didn't just sit down at our table and decide one day, now that these terrible things have happened, let's be heroes and save people. That's not how it started. Accounts are somewhat muddled as to how it started, some indicate that as one Jewish family was forced to move to the Ghettos, they asked the Vos family to take care of their piano, please take care of our piano, our lives we'll deal with that, but can you take care of our piano? And they gladly accepted. Someone else then had a suitcase full of valuables when they were shipped off to the Ghettos; they took the suitcase and protected it for them.

In another instance, someone was needing just shelter for the night as they were fleeing, they granted shelter for the night and on and on it went. Before long their three bedroom house would contain as many as 14 refugees at one time and when the Gestapo would come to their front door, if they didn't get enough advance notice from the sympathetic police chief in town, they would usher people through a trap door by their coal bin and they would crawl through a tunnel, 150 feet in their back yard to where the woods start and off they would flee into those woods.

But the Vos family, husband, wife, daughter, they were all at risk, all at jeopardy. If they were discovered, you can be sure they would have been made an example for the rest of the community. But they were determined to make a difference and they did, they helped the Jews, those who were, at that particular time being afflicted. Psalm 146, we'll read verses 8 and 9.

Psalm 146:8-9 – The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and the widow; but the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

We enjoy hearing stories of those who come to the aid of the underdog, this tells us that God watches over the underdog, He is the ultimate keeper of the underdog. Let's turn now to the book of Proverbs – Proverbs 23.

I recently started watching a TV series on Netflix – I love Netflix, no commercials! I don't like commercials, in fact I get irritated when I pay money to go to the movie theatre and have to sit through commercials – why am I paying money to watch commercials? I feel they should be paying me to watch commercials. Anyway, Netflix, no commercials! I started watching a new series about a young man who got in trouble with the law, he did something clearly he was not supposed to do, was arrested for it and taken to court and part of his sentence, the judge said, you can either go to jail, it would be 3-5 years or you can take some of your skills and use them for community service. Now in the story he is a corporate lawyer, he works for his dad's law firm, quite a successful firm representing some high end clients and he in turn is getting lots of money too. So he is sentenced to 1500 hours of community service and in this show he works at a business, it's not a business, it's a volunteer outreach and their primary clients are children, young people who have no other source for help and the families who have no where else to go. It's not a public defender necessarily, it is more of an advocate role. And so for the course of the series (I haven't watched the whole thing yet) but what he does is he takes his background, his contacts, his legal skills and his determination and finds that he's now in conflict with the cases he has back at the law practice, where they paid big bucks and at this little practice that serves the underprivileged. And over the course of time, I guess I'm speculating and seeing the character development, that he sees, I can make a lot more money working for dad, but I get a lot more fulfillment helping those who have nowhere else to turn and he does turn it around for them, being a voice for them, being an advocate in court for them where they would so easily be bulldozed right over. He steps in and turns the tide and helps them out. I really enjoy watching that show from that angle.

Proverbs 23:10-11 – Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless; for their Redeemer is mighty, He will plead their cause against you.

So showing up in court against this fictitious attorney, being the opposing counsel, expecting some little kid, some public defender to show up, they weren't all that threatened until they saw who it was they were up against. This guy knows his stuff! Suddenly the opposing counsel was a bit worried. It says here in verse 11,"He, the Redeemer…God Himself…will plead their cause against you." That's not a fun court appointed task, to be against God as He is pleading a cause or a case against you."Do not remove the ancient landmark; do not enter the fields of the fatherless." Don't take advantage of them, they can't protect themselves or defend themselves, don't do these things. God will defend them. Malachi 3.

I had an occasion when I was in teenage years in the church where we were at, to ride a bicycle on a bike trip. It was through some mountains and they were beautiful as we would cycle across the landscape we would usually see on one side a lake, on the other side the mountainside. And invariably we would pass mountain streams. Now this was done in the summertime, we didn't want to cycle through snow drifts, that's not so fun! During the summertime it's also not so fun especially if you have any grades to climb. Once you get to the top of the grade, yes you can go downhill but you're beat, just tired, your legs are aching, your back is sore, your hands are tired from holding on to that steering wheel and you're thirsty, parched. So we would take advantage of those streams and cool off and replenish our water bottles and there was nothing as welcoming as seeing the campground that we knew where we  would be staying at that night because it meant we could stop cycling and get off the bicycle.

Now bicycle seats now are nicely padded, it doesn't matter how much padding is on a seat, if you've been on there for six hours it feels like you have no padding at all. It is so nice to get off of that bicycle and set up the tent and get ready for evening meal or jumping into a lake and swimming and getting the grime off and settling down for the night. My tent mate had a particular aversion to bears, he had bears on the brain. And when we would drift off to sleep with the smell of ammonia, because we had a little stick, kind of like a pen but on one end, instead of the pen it was just a little daub, it had ammonia, a liquid for mosquito bites because there were also mosquitos! So as I was drifting of to sleep, smelling a little bit of that, he would say,"What was that! What was that noise, I think it was a bear!" It's not a bear, might be a raccoon, it's not a bear. Just drifting off to sleep, you hear another rustle,"I think it's a bear!" It's not a bear! But before long I'd start thinking, well what if it is a bear? It could be a bear, I mean, these are mountains, there are bears in the mountains, what if it is a bear? And pretty soon his fear for bears started to affect me, makes for a memorable trip!

Bears are not to be taken lightly and a fear of bears, a healthy respect for bears is a good thing because then you don't find yourself trying to sneak up on it and taking  pictures of the cute little puppy cubs and mama charging after! Don't mess with the mama bear's cubs! Keep a respectful distance from bears, have a healthy respect for them.

Malachi 3:5 –"And I will come near you for judgment, I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit  wage earners and widows and orphans and against those who turn away an alien. Why do they do these things? Because they do not fear Me," says the Lord of hosts.

Doesn't mean they're not terrified of God, it doesn't mean they don't understand what He's capable of, it means they don't take God seriously. This passage says we must take God seriously and in this particular case, not to exploit widows and orphans, wage earners, the alien. If we do, we're not taking God seriously, we don't fear Him.

Let's turn now to Mark 10. Isn't it interesting discussing with people how they were called into the Church, how they learned about the truth, what the process was like. Some learned about it through a significant other, some learned about it through their kids, through another relative. There are many stories,  some of them that include loss though, don't they? I was talking to someone last night and the topic came up of going to Ambassador College. They started hearing the broadcasts on the radio, grew convicted, got the Correspondence Course, filled out the answers by hand by what I can only imagine is very legible handwriting and applied to Ambassador College. And eventually was accepted. And then came the conversation with Dad. When Dad found out the individual was going to college, he said,"Son, you go, I will disown you, you won't be my son." And the answer was,"I have to go." And indeed they were not on speaking terms for awhile. Eventually they were able to patch things up and be on speaking terms but it took some time. And others have had a similar experience. There are a number of us in the room that had similar experiences where we become ostracized from the family. And it wasn't after the fact that we found out they were displeased, it's more like, if you do this, we won't see you as part of our family anymore, you will be shut out. And it's one of those sacrifices that are made.

Some have lost jobs –"If you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, when you get back, you will not have your job."  You've heard that before haven't you? And it's been the case, some have lost their jobs, others have seen the employer have a change of heart. But those are the realities of the life we choose to live, becoming a Christian, that is one of the potential costs isn't it?

Mark 10:23 – Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples,"How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God."

Mark 10:2428 – And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them,"Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves,"Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said,"With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." Then Peter began to say to Him,"See, we have left all to follow You." The disciples could relate, they left all to follow Him.

Mark 10:29 –So Jesus answered and said,"Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life."

Isn't it nice to come to services and have a family, we're like a typical family, we're a bit odd but it's nice to be in this family, it's wonderful to be in this family because we have something that holds us together. A calling can be costly but God says He'll make it up to us, even if we are to become orphans, we will adopt new parents, we will adopt new children. It's nice to have that effect at the Feast of Tabernacles even.

I've related this story before – of when my wife and I went as relative newlyweds to Mexico for the Feast, we were adopted by a family from Mexico who introduced us to the other brethren. We were on our own, didn't know anybody, they took us in, they adopted us. I still think of them as family, anytime we see them or at least communicate with them, that warmth, that connection is still there. So we were kind of orphans for that Feast but we didn't stay orphans because God provided a family. Romans 8.

Have you been in a pet store lately? Our boys have some lizards, they're cute scaly things, especially through glass – and they have to be fed. They like to eat crickets and we don't have abundant crickets yet in the yard so we have to supplement our yard pickings for crickets from the store. We were there a couple days ago and I noticed cute little fuzzy puppies, but they weren't for sale. You can't buy puppies anymore, can't buy cats or budgies or turtles or any other critter anymore, you have to adopt them. You can adopt a pet – for money – of course the money is not for the animal, the money is for the transaction fee, because you can't buy animals anymore! They're not chattel, they're not property.  I expect that's the need they're trying to fill or the angle they give to determine adoption. They become part of your family.

Maybe you remember Cabbage Patch Dolls – does anybody remember Cabbage Patch Dolls? What happened when you took it out of the box? What was in the box other than the doll? That's right – you adopted the Cabbage Patch doll, and a receipt for the outrageous price at the time. Remember the stampedes that occurred when they first came out, these ugly molded plastic things? But people loved them and enjoyed adopting them even.

Romans 8:14-15 – For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,"Sir, Daddy" –"Abba, Father." Papa, this is a close term, we don't call Him Master, we call him Papa.

We lived quite a distance away from my grandparents growing up so we really looked forward to visiting them in the summer, when we were closer we would visit them once a summer. When we were further away, probably once every two years. So when we got together with them, we really needed to focus on Grandpa time, on Grandma time, on cousin time, because we didn't have it year round like they did. We all lived within a couple miles of each other for the most part and I can remember being hurt, I know it (hard to believe) hurt, being hurt when I would be with Grandpa and Grandma and some friends of the family would show up as well and the kids would get playing, it was kind of fun playing with them, but they were kind of intruding too because I didn't have much time with my cousins – just give us some time please. All right, well we'll play anyway. But what really got under my skin was when these children who visited started calling my Grandpa and my Grandma, Grandpa and Grandma. That just bothered me; somehow I thought that them calling Grandpa and Grandma, them being adopted into the family would somehow reduce my time with them. I knew it was precious, it was short and so by them adopting themselves, I thought for sure it's going to defuse the amount of attention or the amount of love we would get. To this day I remember that, silly isn't it?

That's not the case with us is it? With our adoption, with God, does He have enough love to go around, does He have enough attention to go around? There's so much to go around we don't have to worry about that issue.

 James 2:5 – Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

This is not just a casual adoption, sure you can stay in the house, but you're  not going to get in the will,  - this is a full adoption, a full integration into the family, to the point where we are heirs. We're not on the outside looking in, we're on the inside, fully part of the family to the point where we have title to the inheritance, to be heirs to the kingdom.

 Let's look at John 14 – do you remember when Martha Stewart spent time in the clink? How long was she at that prison camp, was it five months? What was she in there for? I think it was for perjury wasn't it? Well what was she covering up? Insider trading, was it ImClone, she did not tell the truth about selling shares, she was selling the shares because she got information from those in the know, that the general public did not have, that made ImClone's investment look risky or not as good, the outlook was poor. So to avoid a loss she sold some of her shares; not a bad idea except it was based on insider information, the general public did not have access to that information so the general public did not have the ability to avoid the loss like she did. Other's use insider trading to make a profit. I know this company is going to do well because they have  this windfall coming, I'm going to buy some shares and the general public learns about it, the share price will go up, I can sell those shares and make a good profit. Insider trading has been ruled illegal – and rightly so, people should be able to make the decision equally with the same information shared across the board. Aren't you glad this applies to members of Congress?           Why are you laughing? Because it doesn't apply to them does it? Nor does it apply to their fundraisers or their contributors. So when they learn about a Defense project that's going to nosedive, they can tell their buddies to sell their shares and avoid the loss. If a contract is about to be awarded, they can tell their buddies, they can buy shares and sell after the price goes up. It doesn't apply to them, it's hard to take, they should not be exempt from the law should they?

How about God? Is He exempt from His rules?

John 14:17-18 –"…the spirit of truth…we're breaking into a thought…whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees it nor knows it, but you know it, for it dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

God's actions match His commands, His standards apply, He sees us as orphans, He knows we live in a big bad world and without spiritual help, we are spiritual orphans, but promises to give us a comforter and that's what we remember especially tomorrow on Pentecost isn't it? That we have the holy spirit working with us to help us not be orphans. And how critical it is for us to stir up the spirit, to be in constant contact with God, because we can allow it to wax cold. We can, by our own choice become orphans again, but that is our choice. It is why it is so important to engage in daily Bible study, daily prayer, meditation and regular fasting so that we can have that holy spirit, because we don't have a permanent source, it has to be renewed in us and we have to be doing those things which renew the spirit in us because it can run out and we don't want to be orphans in the world we live in do we?

But God made a promise that He would give it to us. He sees us as orphans, doesn't want to leave us that way and gives us His holy spirit. Let's turn to 2 Timothy. Is anyone familiar with the musical or the film, Thoroughly Modern Millie? Who knows what the word"modern" means? OK, close enough. The film came out in 1968, it starred Julie Andrews, and no I'm not going to try to sing like Julie Andrews! It was set in the ‘20's and Millie was the lead character played by Julie Andrews and she goes through many trials and tribulations as well in this movie and towards the beginning of the film she is checking into a hostel, a hotel run by a sweet looking lady who asks her about her background –"Do you have any family, do you have a mother, do you have a father?""No, I'm an orphan" she says. To which the proprietor says,"Oh it's so sad to be all alone in the world." Little does Millie know at that time the proprietor is scheming to sell people like her into slavery, take advantage of these people. So there's some similarities from this film to the one I talked about earlier, Oliver, to prey on people like Millie.

2 Timothy 4:16 – At my first defense…says the apostle Paul…no one stood with me but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.

Verses 17-18 – But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!

So here is a good example of God fulfilling the word that Christ spoke. Christ warned the disciples, I'm going to leave but you won't be alone, it's better I leave for I will send the comforter to you. And here the apostle Paul is showing the effect of the comforter with him. He was left, he was all alone on trial, no one came to be with him, to provide him with moral support. Maybe not necessarily to speak on his behalf but at least just to be there, he didn't have that. He was alone but he wasn't all alone was he? The Lord stood with him – verse 17. The Lord stood with me and strengthened me. The holy spirit was with him, so even though he was alone, he wasn't all alone, unlike Millie, she was all alone in the world.

As Christians we don't have to be all alone in the world if we stay close to God, have His holy spirit working with us, but we're not alone, we're not alone at all.

Our Western culture is full of stories of those who are afflicted  – Oliver was one of them, Thoroughly Modern Millie was another – what was the name of the girl with the curly red hair? With the dog? Annie, yes, Little Orphan Annie, and how many other stories are there like this? Where the essential character is vulnerable and taken advantage of, afflicted by a number of people but in the end things do work out. But for some reason we're drawn to stories like that because not only does this person stand and survive, but there are those who come to their rescue, those who come to their aid. Some who sacrifice all, the story of Oliver is an example such an instance. Some risk we talked about a real life example, the Vos family, who among others sheltered Jews in Europe at great personal expense. We love stories like that.

As I mentioned before, these stories about keepers of the underdog may be due to our nation's Judeo Christian heritage, is that why we like them? Because our nation was brought up with those values that God taught and we took them seriously? That could be, that could be. But scriptures themselves, the Holy Bible, we've touched on a few of them today, outline also, and to reinforce that fact that we do need to look out for each other, for the easily afflicted. And to realize that we are in fact orphans without God's holy spirit, we must have His holy spirit.

We know from other passages, James 1:27, you can look that up afterwards, give us clear directive, we are to also, in the New Testament, look out for the widow, for the fatherless, let's treat each other properly.

And brethren, if we do that, if we stay close to God, we find that indeed we will never be all alone.