God Cares About My Actions

May 3, 2026

Jon Stone

Jon Stone shares how God transforms a reluctant heart into a calling to foster care, drawing from 2 Samuel 9 and the story of David and Mephibosheth. David’s question—“Is there anyone still left… to whom I can show kindness?”—reveals God’s heart for the vulnerable and His desire for His people to actively seek out opportunities to extend compassion. This message challenges us to see foster care not just as social work, but as sacred work that reflects the gospel. As God has welcomed us into His family, we are invited to do the same for children in need.

Sermon Notes

God cares deeply about how we treat people, especially vulnerable children and families from hard places.

Fostering isn’t just social work — it’s sacred work!

“People asked me why I pursued fosters and orphan care. I said, ‘I didn’t. I pursued Jesus and He led me to children who needed families’.” - Brian Mavis, President of America’s Kids Belong

2 Samuel 9:1-7 NIV

David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

Orphan/foster care began with Jehovah.

The word “orphan” or “fatherless” appears 42 times in the Bible.

Exodus 22:22 NIV

“Do not afflict any widow or orphan.”

The church is not called to stand by, we are called to step in!

Matthew 25:35-40 NIV

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

James 1:27 NIV

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

400,000+/- children every day in the US foster care system
11,000+/- children in Indiana foster care
18% of those are in Marion County (Indianapolis) (2000)
81% of all foster males will be arrested in their lifetime
45% of all foster youth will not graduate high school
48% of girls in foster care will be pregnant by 19
46% of those will be pregnant twice
60% of child sex trafficking victims are foster youth
80% of all inmates spent time in foster care

Foster care displays the gospel because it welcomes the vulnerable into a family the way God welcomed us!

How can you get involved?

“Lean into” a conversation with Josiah Whites.
Become a Support Family.
Give tangibly.
Mentor or advocate for a child.
Support Biological Families.

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