So does God care about starving people? Read this: Matthew 5:3 God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them. 6 God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.(NLT) Yep : the Bible promises us that God will bless these people. What does bless mean? Why does God let this stuff happen though? It all comes down to choice. You and I get to chose whether we want to follow God. And our choices affect other people. The world is full of sin and wrong things – that is not what God wants, but it is what people’s wrong choices and sin does. In the end, God will get rid of all sin and this world – up until then it is your choice! What you choose to do affects others either for good or bad. You go home and how you treat your family either makes them FEEL richer or poorer. Same with your mates, your teachers, everyone! Make a decision that you want to make the world a richer place because of what you do and how you act. Will you? the poor

Write down what electrical goods you have in your home: Write down how many items of clothing and shoes you have (just do a quick guess ladies!): Write down how many times in the last year you have had to sleep on the street or inadequate shelter: For all of us, we would have written heaps of stuff, lots, lots and never in answer to these questions. But we are rare! In fact, you and I are probably in the top 5% of people! That means 95% of people are worse off than you! WOW! We have had a small glimpse tonight of how a lot of the other 95% of people live. One cup of rice which is their food for the whole day (and there are many people who live on less than this!) Inadequate or no medical care Inadequate housing Contaminated drinking water that you have to walk miles for Clothing that we wouldn’t even use to wash our bikes with Some of this has been kind of “fun” tonight, but we want you to think about the reality of it all. Close your eyes. Imagine you were suddenly zapped into the Philippines. You were wearing your only set of clothes – ripped rags. You stunk – absolutely stunk. Your only toilet was out in the street. You walked through the human waste to your only source of food – the rubbish dump. Here you searched for scraps of leftover food that you scavenged and hungrily devoured. You hoped it wouldn’t make you sick, but it often did. And there was nothing you could do about it. Water was 20 minutes walk from your cardboard shelter. The water was almost as filthy as you are. Most nights you’d cry yourself to sleep – cry for your parents who had abandoned you, cry for the lack of hope you have or just cry simply because you are hungry. There was no end to this and no hope. How would you honestly feel to live like this? What is wrong with some people in the world having heaps and some people having nothing? What do you think should be done about it? You know what? The world produces enough food to feed everyone. Yet some people end up with heaps of food and some people end up with almost nothing. The problem is, you and I are in the section that has got more than we actually need! So we need to be part of the solution! Think hard now. So what can YOU do?