Helping the Broken

Series: Unstuck

Helping the Broken

Psalm 107:10-16

the incarceration problem

There are 2.2 million people in prison in the United States.   It costs 80 billion dollars to prosecute and house criminals.   Every year 600,000 prisoners reenter their communities.  

Two out of three people will be incarcerated again.   Currently in Lexington, there are ________ people in jails or prisons. 

homelessness in America

Approximately 553,000 people are homeless in our nation on any given night.   Each homeless person requires $11,000 per year for care.  There are 650 homeless in Lexington.   Locally, there are shelter beds for 500 people.  

Incarceration and homelessness influence one another. 

psalm 107:1-21

God is benevolent toward humanity.  

Homelessness and imprisonment are both significant life crises.   Both problems create broken relationships, instability, and despair.   

Both groups are seen as undesirable to help. 

God is faithful to love, in spite of failure.  

the benefit of involvement

  Broken people can become new people through the gospel.            

            Transformed lives are powerful testimonies.           

Biblical leaders were once criminals.  

  Homeless people and prisoners have time to engage spiritual realities.

  Ministering to the broken gives an opportunity to display unconditional love and confronts judgmentalism.  

  Ninety-five percent of prisoners reenter our neighborhoods.   

series takeaways:

1.  Churches should be solution oriented. 

2.  Helping should be a lifestyle, not a church event.

3.  No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. 

4.  Mercy recipients should be mercy proclaimers.