The speaker is John Newman, the CEO of New Hope Lafayette as a part of The Open Door Church's Community Outreach Sunday.
Message: It opens with Micah 6:8" He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" KJV God, knowing man's heart, uses Micah to discuss His expectations of justice, kindness (mercy) and humbleness with Israel The expectations are a reflection of His love, faithfulness and compassion without abandonment. We are to imitate His mercy (required to do justice) for us toward others. In God's economy there are provisions for the poor, relying on man to hear God's voice and open his hand to a neighbor. In Lafayette, demographics predict poverty, which reflect low performance, low emotional skills and directly correlates to the socio-economic status of the parents. The child is confronted with the reality of "being too weak for the neighborhood or too tough for the schools" with the parental advice for a threat to "attack first or be a target". In this environment, a child grows up lacking the skills to escape generational poverty and hope is lost. The critical element of escape is the help of an "admiring adult". An admiring adult with God's heart says "this is wrong, this needs to be fixed!" There is no silver bullet, but we can express our unique God-given gifts to the community and be a solution. Mr. Newman concludes with "Love God, love your neighbor".
Scripture: Deuteronomy 15:11 "For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." KJV
