Orphan | Compassion Sunday

single businessman by the name of Nicholas Wynton and he was going to Switzerland. He had plans to go to Switzerland for a ski trip. Right before he went he got a call from a buddy of his, a good friend of his, who was in Prague. And his friend Martin called him and he said, "I need you in Prague right now." He said, "I need your help." And Nicholas canceled his ski trip to Switzerland and he went to Prague and he found there that Martin was helping all of these families after the German occupation. So moved and stirred by what he saw Nicholas just set up a makeshift office on a table at his hotel. And he started registering children and trying to figure out a way that he could rescue children from the Holocaust. He convinced the British government to allow children entrance into England. And then Wynton found foster families in England and he raised funds to transport children from Poland to England by train. And between March and August of 1939 he loaded up eight trainloads of children, 669 children, mostly Jewish, who were transported in those few months into England and were rescued from the Holocaust. Now for nearly 50 years Nicholas Wynton never spoke a word about that. In fact after that he got married he never even told his wife what he had done. In 1988 she discovers almost 50 years later, she discovers a scrapbook in the attic that had the pictures and the names of all 669 children that he had rescued from the Holocaust. She couldn't believe it so she started telling other people what her husband had done. He wasn't doing it to receive recognition and that's the reason he never even said anything about it but the reality of his act of what he did resulted in now there are over 6,000 direct descendants alive today because of what Nicholas Wynton did. And here's the thing I want to remind you of. Here's the thing I think is so important for us to understand is this one single act can forever change the destiny of a life. We're going to talk about that for a moment. Today's an incredible day. It's an exciting day but I want you to go to Genesis 24 with me just for a couple of minutes. Genesis 24 you have your device if you have your Bible and then I want you to stand to honor the Word of God as we in just a moment begin to read in verse 10. Let me give you a little background. Abraham is nearing his death. Now you guys know that here in 2026 we've been preaching through the entire Old Testament and we've talked about these stories from Genesis months and months ago. What's happening here in Genesis 24 Abraham is nearing his death and he calls in his servant and he said listen my son Isaac needs a wife and I want you to find a wife for my son but I don't want you to find a wife for him amongst these Canaanites where we currently live. I want you to go back to my homeland and I want you to find a

wife for him there and that's where we pick up the story in verse 10 of Genesis 24 it says this then he the servant loaded 10 of Abraham's camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master and he traveled to distant around and there he went to the town where Abraham's brother neighbor had settled. He made the camels kneel beside a well just outside the town it was evening and the women were coming out to draw water. Oh Lord God of my master Abraham, he prayed. Please give me success today. Show unfailing love to my master Abraham. See I'm standing here beside this spring and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. This is my request he prays. If she says yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels too. How many of you know? This is a really specific prayer request. Let her be the one that you've selected as Isaac's wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master. We had finished praying, saw a young woman named Rebecca coming out with a water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother Nihua and his wife, Milka. Rebecca was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring filter jug, came up again. Running over to her, the servant said, "Please give me a little drink of water from your jug." "Yes, my lord," she answered. "Have a drink," she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink. "When she had given him a drink," she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink." So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough, ran back to the well to draw water for all of his camels. You guys know what we do every week. Someone makes some declarations with me before you're seated about this incredible book called the Word of God that we hold in our hands. Ready?

Go. I will hide this Word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This Word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the Word. And I'm confident of this, that he who has begun a good work in me, in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. I want to share with you very quickly four things, four things about how one act can forever change the destiny of someone's life. Number one, the notes are there on the app, changing life always involves faithfulness. Too often, we want the glory without the grind. I'm going to say that again. Too often, especially in the times in which we live, we want the glory without the grind. Learning to be faithful in the day-to-day responsibilities of life and following Jesus prepares us for these pivotal moments that will lead you to greater realities and greater places in your journey with the Lord. In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus said that if we are faithful in the little things, and I've met people for years that despise the little things, like an opportunity to serve, oh, that's beneath me. They're something that they could do for somebody, but they say, oh, that'll never make a difference, and they despise the little things. And Jesus focuses on the little things, and he says, if you will show yourself to be faithful in the little things, then I'll know I can entrust you with things that are much greater. Now here's Rebecca. She's doing this mundane task that she does every single day twice a day. Just in the morning, once in the evening, going out to the spring, feeling jars with water for the house, faithfulness, just mundane routine, faithfulness that blesses the heart of God. Nicholas Winton wasn't looking for any fame. He barely even spoke of what he had done for those 669 children, however, later in life

before he died in 2003. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his service to humanity. Listen to me, God, I'm not saying that Queen Elizabeth is God, but God will always reward your faithfulness. Does anybody believe that? Especially when the one act is done for his glory. Here's the second thing, changing life requires serving. Mark chapter 9, verse 35, sitting down, Jesus called the 12, and he said, if anybody wants to be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all. Now here's Rebecca, beautiful young lady, and she's drawing water, and the servant of Isaac, who had prayed this very specific prayer, asked her for some water. [BLANK_AUDIO] Kind of an odd place and an odd way to hit on somebody. Or she could have thought, this guy's just a freeloader. Get your own water, buddy. But she didn't think any of that. She actually saw in that moment an opportunity to serve She offers the man to drink and then she offers the water's camels too. And we read early on that he had 10 camels with him. I did a little research and discovered that a camel can drink up to 50 gallons of water per day, 52 to be exact. So do the math, I don't have far they had traveled, I don't have thirsty the camels, where the Bible doesn't tell us that, but what we can know from scripture is that she didn't just go get one jug of water poured in the drinking trough, and that was enough for 10 camels. She literally was carrying hundreds of gallons of water for these camels having no idea that this one act, this one act would lead to not only her destiny being changed, but the destinies of millions that would be changed. Number three, changing a life brings blessings into your life. That's not why we do it, but that's just who God is, like when you give, when you serve, when you bless other people, our Father delights in bringing blessings into your life. Years and years ago I preached a series of messages called hinges, and in that series I said this, that large doors, large doors swing on small hinges in comparison to the size of the door, but a door without a hinge is merely an obstacle. Let me tell you what God desires to do, God wants to take the obstacles in our lives and use them as passageways into his blessings, but it's preceded by faithfulness and by serving, Revelation chapter 3 verse 8, I know your deeds, I know your deeds. See, I placed before you an open door that no one can shut. Now, God keeps a good record of all the things that you do and all the ways that you bless other people that oftentimes go unnoticed by others and God delights in rewarding your faithfulness, and in rewarding your serving others by opening a door to the storehouse of his blessings. What's this, Genesis 24 verse 53, then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother, in other words, the blessings of God often have a ripple effect and others become the recipient of your acts of service, of your faithfulness.

Now, listen, Rebecca had no idea that the camels that she's watering one day, she would actually own the next day. She had no idea, she had no idea that this one act would open a door to the blessings of God for her and her family. She had no idea that this one act would lead to her destiny for ever being changed, which is number four, changing a life changes destinies. Years earlier, Abraham was given a promise by God, and the promise was this, that he would be the father of many nations. And the promise said, Abraham, your descendants are going to outnumber the stars. Remember, God has him look up towards the heaven. How many stars do you see, Abraham? There's no way I could count all those. God says, your descendants are going to outnumber the stars. It takes him down to the shoreline. Scoop up some sand. Abraham, your descendants are going to outnumber the grains of sand. Now, quarter of a century later, Abraham has a son by the name of Isaac, but the only way that a prophecy would be fulfilled is if Isaac lives, but in the lives of so many to come. While Rebecca is carrying these jars of water for her of smelly camels, she had no idea that she was carrying the seeds of Israel in her own body. Listen to me today, one act has ripple effects. One act echoes throughout eternity. One act has a multiplying ability. Think about the boy that we read about in Matthew chapter 14, where there's this massive crowd of people. The Bible says 5,000 men. Theologians say the crowd would actually number somewhere around 14,000 people and the disciples you know the story. Send them away. It's getting late. They need food. Everybody's getting hangry. Get them out of here. Get them some food. Jesus says, "No, not a good plan. You give them something to eat." How are we going to feed all these people? They start going through the crowd. Anybody got food? The one boy, the one boy who says, "I don't have much, but I'll offer it to you." Five loaves of bread and a couple of fish, and that one act was multiplied and literally fed those 14,000 people with 12 basketfuls left over. One act provides hope to the hopeless. Today is Compassion Sunday in Orphan Sunday here at the Refuge. The Refuge partners with Compassion in five different countries on two different continents, Haiti, Brazil, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. Compassion helps the poorest of the poor in these countries. As a matter of fact, in the impoverished areas of these countries, the average wage is somewhere between $35 and $60 per month. The reality of what's going on in many of these countries is that children don't get to go to school for free. They have to pay tuition, and they have to pay for school uniforms. 61 million school-age children worldwide do not attend school. There's about 7,000 newborn babies every single day that die because of the conditions of poverty. Back in 2018, we had Compassion

for the very first time. I've known about Compassion for over 30 years. They've been around a long time. But prior to 2019, and I'll tell you the story in a moment, but in 2018, we had Compassion, and my understanding of Compassion was that they fed children, which they do, and that they clothed children, which they do. And that's wonderful. But in 2019, I was invited to go to see the work of Compassion in Peru. Pastor Nathan and I went to Peru, and what I saw completely astounded me because it wasn't just feeding kids, it wasn't just putting clothes on kids. I saw one of the greatest, most thought-out discipleship plans I've ever seen in my life. Well, they have a very intentional plan to disciple children from the age of one until they graduate from high school. And I saw disciples being made. And I came back from Peru and I said, "We will get behind this organization." In 2022, Compassion was back. We had the opportunity, again, to help rescue some kids like Nicholas Wynton did. He rescued them from the Holocaust. We had the opportunity to rescue some kids from poverty, $43 a month. I'm not a coffee drinker. My wife will take issue with that statement. She will say to me, "What is that drink that you get from Duncan three mornings or at least a week?" It's called a frozen coffee. (audience laughing) It's not coffee. My kids call it a milkshake. Dad, did you get your milkshake this morning for breakfast? I really resembled it. I mean, I resent that. But for $43 a month, and I know there's a lot of coffee snobs in the room, and you spend more than that a month getting your fancy coffee. Here's what $43 a month does. That child receives enough nutritious food every day to feed themselves and their entire family. They receive a new pair of shoes and a few sets of clothes every year. They get access to clean drinking water

and to medical care for $43 a month. They receive life skills. They receive vocational training and life skills training. In partnership with local churches-- and that's another thing that blew me away in 2019 when I went to Peru-- is seeing how they've partnered with all of these local churches. They are discipling with biblical teaching. George Barna did a study, and he said that the typical kid in America receives around 40 hours of biblical discipleship training per year. The average compassion child receives 400 hours of biblical discipleship training every year. That's amazing. Compassion creates a way for us to join what God is doing through local churches all over the world, as you saw in the video, over 7,000 churches that partner with compassion. Maybe the best thing today would be for us to hear from somebody who was living in abject poverty in the Dominican Republic, was sponsored by somebody through compassion, and is now a successful businessman and husband and father and follower of Jesus. Would you help me welcome from the Dominican Republic Gerald Lorenzo, as he comes to share his story this morning? Thank you, Pastor. [APPLAUSE] Buenos dias. So excited to be here this morning as Pastor mentioned.

I am a former sponsor of Child of Compassion International, which means that one day I was one of those child in a child pocket. And today, I got the great opportunity to just share with you a little bit about my story. So I always love to start talking about a conversation that I have with my mom. In that conversation, I was asking her for her story. And I was just trying to understand my own story. So I say, OK, a good way for me to understand my own story is asking her about her story, and two things that I discover about my mom's life. One of them is that she defines her father as a great man, but at the same time as an abusive man. And the second thing is that she met her mother at the age of 19 years old, and she was abandoned by her. So two things that I always remember about that conversation with my mom. There are something that happens at the age of 20 of my mom. And it's that she decided just to leave her house because of the situation that she was living with her father. And she was trying to find a solution, and she was thinking that that solution was in the man. And that's the moment when she met my father. So I was born, but something happened for years after. My father, he just decided to leave the house. And my mother, she had to raise my brother and me all by herself. So from that age, I never knew what was like to have a father, which means for me

that everything I started to change in my life. I always say that we start just dealing and facing a lot of things in our life. And I grew up in a lousy neighborhood in Santoromingo who were drugs, illegal weapons, crimes, and poverty were part of my daily bread. knocking the doors of my neighbors and asking them for anti-batter of Coca-Cola and exchanging those anti-batter for bread and milk at the grocery store. Another thing that I remember is me selling juice and empanadas on the street being a child. Just waking up 4 a.m., 5 a.m. in the morning and just selling hot chocolates and cookies in the morning before going to the school. I remember having conversations with my mom saying, "Hey, Gerald, today we just got 10 Dominican pesos and we need to choose between you taking that money for breakfast or you taking that money for transportation." Which means that the day that I took the money for breakfast, I had to walk around 45 minutes to go to my school, but the day that I took the money for transportation, I didn't have breakfast. I remember that I didn't have a bed to sleep on. My father, he never had time for me. He was a police officer at that time and he never called me to say happy birthday or say something special to me. I remember one day and that's one of the moments that I remember with him.

But I remember one day that I decided to call him and after 14 attempts, he decided to pick up the phone and he asked me to stop by a police station to get some money to buy food. When I arrived to the police station, it was 7 a.m. in the morning and I was waiting for him until 5 p.m. and he never showed up. And I always say, I don't know if you can imagine a child in the parking lot of a police station just waiting for his father to get some money to buy food. That was me one day. So I remember that one of my dad, co-walkers, he was there and he said, hey, are you Lorenzo's son? And I say, yes. And he said, let me call your father. So he called my father when he put me the phone, when he passed me the phone, and he said, okay, I remember that conversation because I was like, hey, I've been here since this morning, 7 a.m. It's been like around nine hours waiting for you. I didn't have breakfast, I haven't eaten anything. And the answer of my father was, just go back to your home and gonna call your mom. And I was like, hey, I don't know if you listen what I say, but I've been here since this morning, it's been around nine hours. And he said, what do you want me to do? You know, like I haven't eaten anything either,

just go back to your home. And of course, for me, that was one of the most frustrated day of my life because the men that were supposed to be there, to be a provider, he was just letting me know, like, just go back to your home, I don't care about you. I remember that I went back to my home and I don't know why, but I just fell down into my knees and I started praying to the Lord. And I was praying to the Lord and I was like, hey, Lord, if you get me out of this situation, I promise you that I'm gonna serve you for the rest of my life. And I was like, hey, Lord, if you get me out of this situation, I promise you that I'm gonna help my community, I'm gonna do whatever you want me to do. So in the mirror of that process, you know, my monkey was desperate, he didn't know what to do. And someone talked to her about a Christian school that was close to our community at that moment and she decided to go to that place. So over there in the Christian school, they say, okay, we can help you with a 50% of scholarship. But why you don't go to this church? And they mention a name of a church. And they say, try to go there and try to see if they can help you. So my mom decided to go to that place and when we arrived there, they got a compassion program.

So that's our connection with compassion. And they just decided to go to my house, do a visit, and they just decided, okay, we need to help him. They just start taking some pictures, they start filing some forms, you know, and they just figure out we need to help him. He's a child in need. So they create a child pocket of me and they send them to London, United Kingdom. So in London, United Kingdom, a man under the name Brian Bilson, he was the one that decided to sponsor me. He was in a church and he said, I want to sponsor General Lorenzo from the Dominican Republic. So for me, that was one of the best day of my life because we found a place that provide food, uniform and transportation. But I always say that we found a place that provide the best of the best and it was the gospel of Jesus Christ. My first bet was gifted by compassion That bed I always mentioned that type of bed because it's like what you call a bunk bed They just decided okay The one that is a sponsor is general But his brother is also sleeping on the floor. Why would I buy something that can benefit both of them? My elementary a studio were paid by compassion when I was a child So my mom my brother and I accepted Jesus Christ through compassion International and today my brother he is an external host for compassion in the Dominican Republic and

My mom she served as part of the leadership team in the Dominican Republic in a church so Last weekend last week. I was in Colorado visiting The compassion international office and I had the opportunity to be with my mom at that place She was crying a lot and she was saying like I never imagined that I'm gonna be that I was going to be in the place That one day came to me Show me the love of Jesus Christ the place that one day just Show me the love of Jesus Christ and for when for whom I decided to accept Jesus Christ so praise the Lord for that and Many people say yeah, I'll tell me about you and your sponsor Did you make your sponsor in person and the answer is I never met him in person? You know the compassion has something that is called letters and through the letters We create a bonhoe of a father and son that I never knew before so when my father never called me to say happy birthday Or say something special to me I was always every year receiving a letter from my sponsor saying hey Gerald We are here in London. It's Christmas time We just want to let you know that we are praying for you that the Lord has a big plan for you and for your family Hey, yeah, we know that it's time to go back to the school and we are praying for you Hey, yeah, how is a relationship now between you and your father? We are praying for you. We are praying for your family So today I can say that my life is not like a roller coaster any more than Scott I am married to a beautiful woman from the Dominican Republic her name is Vanessa I got two beautiful baby girls Valerie and Victoria So Valerie cheese seven years old Victoria cheese four years old and Two of the things that I love to say about my family is the things that one day someone decided to show me evidence About the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not going to repeat the same story as my father. So I have two goals in my life I Have two goals in my life one of them is to be that kind of husband from my wife I'm I won't never had in the past and the second one is to be that kind of father for my two daughters that I never had before Today I have a bachelor's degree in business management tends to compassion international. I have a certification in Christian leadership I am serving as part of the hospitality team

At my church and I am also serving as an immigration paralegal here in the United States helping people from our community so Many people say yeah now that you are a Christian guy How is a relationship between you and your father and the answer is that? Unfortunately in 2017 My father passed away But seven months before that happened got around me to go to my father's house Talk to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and forgive him One more things that I want to share with you is about my mom in 2019 she called me and she say Gerald I am here in the medical appointment and There is a doctor here that he say that he want to talk to you and I say okay, put me the doctor. So I start talking to him and he say okay You're a man has a condition that is called key animal formation type two so she called me and I remember that conversation because the doctor he say he say okay We need to perform a brain surgery for her and I was like I was like, okay What we have to do and he say okay the thing is that I can't give you the diagnosis But I don't have an specialty in that kind of surgery and I was like, okay, let's find a doctor So my mom I asked her to come to the United States and we found a good doctor in Miami You know those doctors that I am with a MD PhD and all the D's at the end, you know So I was trying to to get a good doctor for my mom mom, we need to perform a brain surgery for her, if not, she's gonna start losing her body nerves, she's gonna stay in our wheelchair, and we need to do that as soon as possible. But we got a problem and I was like, okay, what is the problem? And he say, your mom doesn't have medical insurance here in the United States. And I was like, okay, that's not a problem. I always say that probably I was thinking in Dominican pesos at that time and not in the US dollar, you know, because I say, okay, how much it is. And he say, well, if you have $55,000, we can prepare your mom. And in two weeks, we can perform that

brain surgery for her. Of course, I look at my mom, I look at him and I say, doctor, we don't only got a problem, we got a big, big, big problem right now. But you know what, mom, I don't know how the Lord is going to provide for us. So my mom went back to the VR and three weeks after, she called me and she say, Gerald, I am here in a medical appointment. I just mentioned your name. I say that I need to call you. And someone here say that she knows who you are. And the long story chore is that she say, I need to call my son in the United States. His name is Gerald Lorenzo. And that person over there say, did you say Gerald Lorenzo and my mom say yes. And that person say, was Gerald Lorenzo part of the compassion international program. And my mom say yes. That person over there say, is Gerald Lorenzo now living in Florida? And my mom say yes. And that person say, listen, if you are Gerald's mom, you are like my mom called Gerald. I need to talk to him. So what happened is that when my mom called, when I talk to that person, to the doctor, she say, Hey, Gerald, did you remember me is not generally bargas? And I was like, of course, I know who you are. And she say, did you remember when we work together as part of the compassion international program, that you were a student business management, and I was a student medicine at the same university. I suggest she say, your money is in my office because today, I am a neurosurgeon. And I'm going to be the one that is going to perform that brain surgery for your mom, because she's like my mom, you are my brother. Church, a former sponsor child of compassion international was the person that got used to say my mom's life was the person that performed that brain surgery for my mom. And you know how much do we pay for that surgery?

Nothing zero dollar. Since that time, until today, my mom is being taken therapy. You know, who is the person that is being taken care of my mom is another former sponsor child of compassion international who is a chiropractor in the Dominican Republic. Church, today, we got a blessing in our hands, you know, and is to help others and is to be the voice of others. And is to to we have the opportunity to change the life of others as it was in my life. I always say that when you sponsor a child, you are not only a sponsor in the child, you are changing the life as my life, you are impacting a family as my mother, my brother and I, but at the same time, you are transforming an entire generation. Amen. So keep something in your mind. And it's that Jesus and the church are more powerful than poverty. Man, thank you so much for having me here and for allowing me to share my story with all of you. Thank you. Amazing. Praise God. What an amazing story. Oh my goodness. Wow. One act can forever change the destiny of somebody's life.