Not Alone, Not Anonymous, Name, Family Series

show our appreciation to the people that are going to the prisoner? [Applause]

As a matter of fact, I was going to meet with the head of the Minnesota Prison Fellowship. I was meeting him at a local coffee shop, and as I was going in to meet him -- this was not planned -- as I walk in and order my coffee, a young lady comes up to me, and she goes, "Pastor Rob, this is so great I ran into you at the coffee shop." She said, "I've just got to tell you. I'm so excited. I just joined the Prison Lifegroup." She had no idea I was meeting the guy with Prison Fellowship. And she said, "I can't wait until my background check clears and everything and I can go to prison." Good, you know, River Valley Church, the church that wants to go to prison! You know, I mean that's us.

Then I was talking to one of the guys of our church, Dave, who has just done an amazing job in prisons. And he was telling me, "I'm about to get the highest level of clearance where I can go into any prison at any time." This is what he said to me. He goes, "It's my get into jail free card." I thought that's a great way to say it.

Oh, man, that's the heart, and I just want our heart to be there for the prisoners and say, "You are not a number, you have a name. The greatest name you could be known by is child of God, and this is a church that wants to help you understand the grace and love of Jesus Christ."

See, prisoners have a number and it keeps them anonymous. Prisoners have a number and it keeps them anonymous. And if you're anonymous, you know what? It is easy to use people if they are just anonymous. It's easy. Not just in prison, but all around society. If you don't know your coworkers, it's easy to use them and not treat them as human beings.

Business Week just did a recent article about the permanent temps in the situation. They call it "the era of the disposable worker." And it's easy to fire What's Her Face or The Skinny Guy or That Other Dude, because you don't even know who they are.

They don't have real names. And I think there is a huge disconnect. We are not doing life with people. We are using people. And we can't use people; we are made to be in community.

I think it's a sad thing that many of us in suburban America use our garage door openers almost as the modern-day drawbridge. We pull into our driveway, we push our button, our garage door opens, we pull in, we push the button, and close out the neighbors. We sit on our back porch, don't say hi to anyone. It's like a modern-day drawbridge. We should know our neighbors' names. If we don't know them, it's easy to use them. Also, if they are anonymous, it's easy to mistreat people. It's easy to mistreat people

if they are just anonymous and they really don't have names and they really are seen as just the neighbors at 9464 or these people over there. It's a sad thing.

I think the one that will mistreat the most people is the devil. I think he mistreats and uses people. And I think when you look at the Bible you even realize that the one leading the charge for hell really has a number. He really even has a number. If you know Revelation 13 when I was referring to the number of the beast, it says,