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Back in 2023, we had a guest come and share with us from far-reaching ministries,

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a ministry that our church and the Calvert Chapel movement has been very connected with over the years.

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And one of their representatives is a guy that's going to come and speak with us today.

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but he took us to Costa Rica.

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And we got our eyes open to some horrific stuff going on on our world.

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I knew the enemy was wicked and the spread of wickedness was great, but I had no idea.

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I tell people when we went down there, I cried for a week.

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And so he's back with us, and he's going to come and share with this and kind of just give us a little update

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on some of the things that far-reaching ministry is doing.

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So please welcome Jonathan Domingo.

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So all right.

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Good morning.

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If you have your Bible, if you can turn with me to Luke chapter 5, and it's an honor to be back with you.

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I've been working for far-reaching ministries for about three and a half years.

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And for the majority of that time, I've been speaking at a different church every weekend.

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And so I get to meet a lot of churches and meet a lot of pastors.

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Some of those pastors will become friends.

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Some of them will become just acquaintances.

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But I just want to tell you, I love your pastor Scotty.

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The time we spent in Costa Rica, like you said,

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and just every single time we've gotten to connect over the phone,

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I know I've only been here once,

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and I know it's been over two years since the last time I was here,

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but I really feel close to this church.

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So I feel like you guys are family,

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and it's just an honor to be back with you guys.

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And so as you're turning in your place to Luke chapter 5,

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I want to do two quick things before we get into the word.

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One is give you a quick summary of what we do as a ministry

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in case you're not familiar with our work.

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And then two is give you a brief update

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in what we're doing around Latin America.

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So far-reaching ministries was started almost 30 years ago

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by our founder, West Bentley, who was a missionary in Russia.

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But before that, he was a Marine.

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And so he had this background that the agency he was working with

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in Russia asked him to get involved

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because there was a civil war in Sudan

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where the Muslim North was doing raids

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into the Christian South

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and they were kidnapping children primarily.

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And so that's why they wanted to get involved.

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And so with this background,

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what we began to do is we began to train

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the local pastors to protect their villages

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and that evolved over time

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to where it became a chaplain's corps.

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And so we've trained about 700 chaplains.

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We have over 400 active chaplains right now

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and they are pastors in their villages.

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they're warriors and soldiers on the front lines,

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and they're also chaplains within the army.

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So a very interesting setup

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because in Europe or in the United States,

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chaplains only do religious activities,

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but in a third world country like Sudan,

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they're frontline soldiers and good soldiers at that.

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When there's an attempted coup on the president's home,

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our chaplains were called in

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because they're seen, you know, with the training they received,

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they are seen as kind of the elite forces,

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of the South Sudanese army.

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Anyways, North Sudan is Muslim,

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and so with our experience there,

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we began to develop a know-how

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to be able to work in Muslim countries.

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So about 15 years ago,

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we started something that we called Ghost Operations.

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Ghost operations is the invisible hand

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of the Western Church training and funding

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the underground church in the Middle East.

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Say that three times fast.

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And I've been training for that one.

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And so we've been for 15 years

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in some of the most dangerous countries,

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Islamic countries around the world,

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If you can think of a dangerous country, we're there.

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We have many, many missionaries and pastors and doctors.

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And so we've just been active in these kinds of places when Afghanistan collapsed five years ago.

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We had about 20 pastors there.

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And between their families and small churches, we had about 200 people that were targeted to be killed by the Taliban.

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We were able to mount a rescue operation, rescue them.

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And to this day, six years later, pretty much, we're still rescuing people.

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We've rescued about 2,000 people out of Afghanistan.

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Yeah, it's incredible.

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And not just rescuing them, but legally relocating them, which has been a really, really difficult process.

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We're also rescuing people in Syria.

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If you've watched the news right now, the Syrian government collapsed maybe six months ago.

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And so that country is once again in shambles and civil war.

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And there's targeted killings of both ethnic groups and Christians.

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And so we've been able to work there.

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We're working in Myanmar.

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We're working.

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We have 100 missionaries in Nigeria.

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We're active all over the world.

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We're working in Ukraine, which we're heavily involved there.

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I know that whenever we talk about Ukraine, especially in a politically charged atmosphere,

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there's a little bit of a cringe because there's just, it's a very political word just to say Ukraine.

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But we believe that wherever people are suffering, we're called to help.

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And there is pushback.

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We've gotten people that have asked us, hey, should we be involved in Ukraine?

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Isn't the government in Ukraine corrupt?

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I'm Mexican born and raised.

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I still live in Mexico.

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My first language is Spanish.

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And so, sadly, Mexico is infamous for having corruption within the government.

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And so as someone who has been around corruption their entire life,

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I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there's corruption in the Ukrainian government.

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I've also heard that there's some corruption in the United States government.

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Don't quote me on that one.

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I don't want that one on record.

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But we understand that around the world, governments have their, you know, the way they operate and, you know, their agendas, and it's not necessarily the kingdom of God's agenda.

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And so we work through local pastors, through chaplains. We have about six, or rather, 36 chaplains in Ukraine.

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We've built over 200 homes, temporary homes for those who have lost their homes in the war.

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We have several small orphanages there.

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We bought, I think it's 17 acres overlooking a lake that we're going to build the largest home we've built anywhere.

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in the world. They say that Ukrainians, that 200,000 children that are Ukrainian, have been removed

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by the Russians and sent to Russia to be educated in the Russian ways so that after the war,

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they can bring those children back that are ethnically and linguistically Ukrainian,

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but their worldview is Russian. So that's one of their strategies to take over Ukraine.

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And so they say 200,000. The official number is about 50,000, which is still crazy that that many

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children have been pretty much kidnapped. And

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And then there's about 40,000 children in Ukraine that have lost both mother and father in the war.

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And so when we think of Ukraine, we think of a Western European country and maybe the major

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cities feel that way.

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But like I said, I live in Mexico.

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Ukraine is a similar country to Mexico as far as infrastructure and economy.

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It's not a very rich country.

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And so they have a hard time, you know, attending to the needs of the most vulnerable and

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the best of times.

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And at war, we've been in places where entire cities.

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have been pulverized.

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It's only rubble.

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It was 40,000 people before the war,

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and now there's 100 people living in basements.

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And what prompted our founder to start this big home

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is that we found living amongst the rubble,

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a young man, maybe older teen, early 20s,

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living by himself, and he was a mentally handicapped.

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He had Down syndrome.

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And our founder has a Down syndrome,

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or rather a handicapped child.

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And so just to see him in the rubble and in a basement and just trying to find water with all his limitations just broke his heart.

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And so, like I said, even though we understand that it's a politically charged place to be involved,

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once you go there and you see the brokenness and you see the pain and you see the body of Christ loving people and preaching the gospel and seeing people saved,

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you realize that there comes a point where you need to put politics aside and say, hey, we are the

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kingdom of God. We are the light of the world. We're called to be a city on a hill, bringing hope

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to the places that have been most devastated by cruelty and by sin. That's something that we've also

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been doing in Latin America. Pastor Scotti talked about. We were rescuing children from sex

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trafficking and organ harvesting. We started that a little over three years ago. And about two years

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ago, we transitioned our focus because we realized that we can rescue the children, but they

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have a way to get more children. So let me explain briefly.

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In the United States, when you think of human trafficking, you assume that it's a child that was abducted by a family that is now frantically looking for their child.

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And they're putting posters all over the city.

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Have you seen this child?

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That's not how it works in impoverished countries.

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The way it works in impoverished countries is in indigenous communities where just like in Indian reserves here, or African American reserves, or rather Native American reserves, they kind of have autonomy.

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Same thing in Latin America.

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The federal government can't really go into these places.

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And so what happens is a lot of the criminals will be able to do their crimes kind of without any repercussions.

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And one of the things they do is that they'll go to girls that are 13, 14, 15, 16 years old that have been impregnated,

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and they will purchase the child off of this mother.

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And so they will now have their possession children that are months old,

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and they will hold them until they're old enough to sexual abuse or,

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organ harvesting, and it's just brutal.

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And so for them, it's, like I said,

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it's not difficult for them to acquire another child.

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So with the daunting reality that that brings,

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our question is, okay, how do we actually move the needle?

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How do we actually make a difference?

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And you and I both know that the hope of the world

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is the message of Jesus Christ.

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And what we believe is just like you know

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what it's like in a personal level

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to go from darkness to light,

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that is what we need to happen culturally.

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And so just across the board, there's so many things that need to go wrong, so much broken,

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so much sin that needs to go wrong for this to be tolerated, whether it be the customers

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that fly in from abroad to abuse these children, whether it be the mothers that are selling the

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children, whether it be the criminals that are buying and trafficking the children,

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there's just sin all over the place.

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And you and I both know that the remedy for sin, we're just saying it, is the blood of Jesus Christ,

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is him washing and cleansing us.

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So what we've done over the last, this is the third year we're doing it,

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is that we're targeting strategic, criminally controlled cities in Latin America

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and planting churches there.

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So two years ago, we planted seven churches.

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Last year we planted six churches.

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This year we're planting 13 churches.

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We started in Mexico.

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Now we're in about probably six different countries around Latin America

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because we understand the hope of the world is the message of Jesus Christ.

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And what I want to see this morning in the passage that we're going to read is the transformation of Peter.

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And the transformation of Peter is a brilliant story because it does two things.

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One, it shows us how we can be transformed and not only transformed from people that are far from God to people that know God,

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but rather people that are far from God to people that are used by God.

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Peter is a great example of that.

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Because if you ever feel that you're not qualified to be used by God and you read the Gospels and you see Peter and you're like,

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if God could use Peter, there's hope for me.

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I love the sort of Peter because I, I, I, I,

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I don't feel like I'm the brightest bulb or the sharpest tool in the shed.

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Neither is Peter.

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And so if God has a plan for Peter to use him, I believe that God has a plan for me and for you as well.

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So Peter is a great example of how God can take us from brokenness to purpose,

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but it's also a blueprint to what God wants to do not only in individuals, but culturally.

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People that are far from him that might be transformed by the power of the gospel.

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So what I want to do is I want to read through the story that we're going to consider together.

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It's 11 verses, so it'll take a second.

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And then we'll pray and we'll consider it together.

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It says, so it was, as the multitudes pressed about him, this is Luke chapter 5 versus 1 through 11.

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To hear the word of God that he stood by the lake of Gneserath, and he saw two boats standing by the lake,

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but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.

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He then got into one of the boats, which was Simons, and it asked him to put a little bit out from land.

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And he sat down and taught the multitude.

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from the boat. When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep,

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and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered and said to him, master, we have

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toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when

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they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So they signaled to

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their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so that they

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began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he followed Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me,

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for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. For he and all who were with them were astonished to the catch

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of fish which they had taken. And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners

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with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men. And when

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they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him. Jesus, I pray that you

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would speak to us this morning as we consider your word, as we remember.

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what it was like to be called by you.

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I pray that we would be reminded of that.

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I also pray for people who haven't felt that calling before,

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who are going through life,

230
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desiring a greater purpose.

231
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And I pray that they would be open to the reality

232
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that the greatest purpose is you

233
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in your calling for our lives.

234
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So I pray a blessing over our time together in Jesus' name.

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Amen.

236
00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:02,320
I don't know about you,

237
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:03,560
but when I read this story,

238
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I get the sense that this is Luke telling us

239
00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:07,680
how Peter and Jesus met,

240
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:10,540
that Jesus is an itinerate speaker.

241
00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:11,720
He's very popular.

242
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He's got multitudes that are following him.

243
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:20,539
And he asks a fisherman to use his boat so that he can get into the boat and use the shoreline as a natural amphitheater.

244
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Have you ever been to the Sea of Galilee?

245
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And so you can sit on the boat and have the beach be an amphitheater.

246
00:14:35,950 --> 00:14:36,080
And he's preaching to the multitudes from the boats and from the boat.

247
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Peter is so impressed by the catch that he launches himself at Jesus' feet and says,

248
00:14:40,020 --> 00:14:42,260
depart for me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord.

249
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Jesus doesn't, Jesus forgives him, transforms him, says, do not be afraid.

250
00:14:47,370 --> 00:14:48,860
From now on you'll be a fisher of men.

251
00:14:48,980 --> 00:14:50,460
Peter abandons all and follows him.

252
00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,840
And it just reads like this is Luke telling us how they met.

253
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But this is not how they met.

254
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People that pieced together the gospels to have kind of the chronology of it will tell us

255
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:03,920
that the way they met is actually in the book of John.

256
00:15:04,380 --> 00:15:05,760
And it's not in the Sea of Galilee.

257
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in the Jordan River.

258
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,760
And before Peter was a disciple of Jesus,

259
00:15:09,890 --> 00:15:11,120
he was a disciple of John.

260
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,900
And so Peter begins to follow Jesus

261
00:15:15,940 --> 00:15:18,160
likely a couple months before this episode

262
00:15:18,250 --> 00:15:19,240
in the Sea of Galilee.

263
00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,000
So that then begs the question

264
00:15:23,660 --> 00:15:25,120
because what's happening here is obvious

265
00:15:25,260 --> 00:15:27,280
that Peter is having this eye-opening moment

266
00:15:27,310 --> 00:15:29,820
where he's realizing that he's in front of God himself,

267
00:15:31,060 --> 00:15:33,280
what took him so long to realize

268
00:15:33,740 --> 00:15:35,660
that he was walking with, learning from,

269
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you know, spending time with God himself.

270
00:15:39,180 --> 00:15:41,280
And the reason I say that is because when Peter says,

271
00:15:41,740 --> 00:15:44,620
depart from me for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord,

272
00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:47,420
for a first century Jewish audience,

273
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it's very clear what's happening.

274
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Every single time in the Old Testament

275
00:15:50,940 --> 00:15:52,800
that somebody believes themselves to see God,

276
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they think they're going to die.

277
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Because the Jewish worldview is different

278
00:15:57,340 --> 00:15:58,400
than the Christian worldview.

279
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Because we have access to God through faith

280
00:16:01,620 --> 00:16:02,500
by the death of Jesus.

281
00:16:03,740 --> 00:16:05,680
Paul tells us, or rather the author of,

282
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:10,180
Hebrews tells us that we can approach the throne of grace boldly.

283
00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:12,140
We sing about it.

284
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:13,780
We desire his presence.

285
00:16:14,900 --> 00:16:15,980
That's not the Jewish worldview.

286
00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,040
The Jewish worldview was before the death of Jesus.

287
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:25,700
They believed God to dwell in a light that was so radiant and so powerful and so holy

288
00:16:26,100 --> 00:16:28,800
that if a human being were to find himself in God's presence,

289
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,320
he would get zapped like a fly trying to land on the surface of the sun.

290
00:16:32,740 --> 00:16:34,020
Just incompatible.

291
00:16:34,380 --> 00:16:39,360
And so that's why every single person in the Old Testament that sees God thinks they're going to die.

292
00:16:39,460 --> 00:16:40,560
And so this is the reaction of Peter.

293
00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:42,720
Depart from me from I'm a sinful man.

294
00:16:43,060 --> 00:16:43,540
Oh, Lord.

295
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:48,520
This is a blatant declaration that Peter believes Jesus to be God.

296
00:16:49,540 --> 00:16:51,760
That Jesus is his Lord.

297
00:16:52,540 --> 00:16:55,940
There's people that will say that the Gospels don't claim that Jesus was God.

298
00:16:56,500 --> 00:16:59,240
All you need to do is understand a little bit of the Jewish worldview.

299
00:16:59,870 --> 00:17:03,980
See, from the very first story between Jesus and Peter, Peter is saying,

300
00:17:04,260 --> 00:17:07,480
your God in human form and I'm scared to death.

301
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:13,020
But the question is, what took him so long to come to that understanding?

302
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,600
So I have four points for us based on the passage we just read.

303
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:22,959
And the first one is being with Jesus does not necessarily mean you know Jesus.

304
00:17:23,959 --> 00:17:25,839
And I don't mean this aggressively at all.

305
00:17:26,199 --> 00:17:28,339
I mean this in a very, very frank way.

306
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,140
As somebody who knows a lot of Christians, it is possible to love Jesus.

307
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:33,480
And I'm just going to describe Peter for you.

308
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,000
Love Jesus, sacrifice for Jesus.

309
00:17:36,220 --> 00:17:37,820
Peter left everything to follow Jesus already.

310
00:17:39,340 --> 00:17:42,100
Have your worldview set by Jesus' teachings?

311
00:17:42,860 --> 00:17:44,440
Be genuine about your faith.

312
00:17:44,580 --> 00:17:46,860
All these things, it's possible to have all those things

313
00:17:47,260 --> 00:17:50,020
and still feel like your relationship with Jesus

314
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:51,520
is not where you would long it to be.

315
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,920
No, I don't want you to raise your hands.

316
00:17:54,060 --> 00:17:55,640
I don't want you to feel uncomfortable

317
00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:56,540
to expose anybody.

318
00:17:57,300 --> 00:17:58,720
But does this describe you?

319
00:17:59,260 --> 00:17:59,940
You love Jesus.

320
00:18:00,780 --> 00:18:02,060
You follow Jesus' teachings.

321
00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:03,500
You come to church.

322
00:18:03,900 --> 00:18:05,080
You're around God's family.

323
00:18:05,860 --> 00:18:11,480
But in the deepest part of your heart, you feel like your relationship with Jesus is still superficial.

324
00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:14,500
It's still not where you wish it were.

325
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:17,940
I've found that to be the case with so many people.

326
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,920
And the question is, how do you break through that superficiality?

327
00:18:22,020 --> 00:18:24,600
How do you break through that lack of intimacy?

328
00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:29,840
Point number two is, it is in deep waters where you will find him.

329
00:18:30,660 --> 00:18:33,440
So after Jesus gets done teaching, he invites Peter.

330
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:34,820
and I really like how it says it.

331
00:18:34,820 --> 00:18:35,080
He says,

332
00:18:35,780 --> 00:18:37,260
launch out into the deep.

333
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:37,980
No.

334
00:18:39,220 --> 00:18:40,320
Every single Bible story

335
00:18:40,820 --> 00:18:42,000
is a story of what happened,

336
00:18:42,140 --> 00:18:42,800
but it's also,

337
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,080
it's also packed with spiritual meaning.

338
00:18:47,860 --> 00:18:48,620
And so when Jesus says,

339
00:18:48,700 --> 00:18:49,400
let's go deeper,

340
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,140
it's not just that he wants to go fishing,

341
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:52,560
is that he understands

342
00:18:52,700 --> 00:18:53,800
that Peter's relationship with him

343
00:18:53,860 --> 00:18:54,380
is superficial,

344
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:56,960
and he's inviting him to greater depths,

345
00:18:57,800 --> 00:18:59,800
to go into the deep part of the ocean,

346
00:18:59,980 --> 00:19:00,980
to trust in him.

347
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,460
And I like how it works in English

348
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:03,960
It's an idiom.

349
00:19:04,380 --> 00:19:07,500
If you say that somebody is going through deep waters, what does that mean?

350
00:19:08,060 --> 00:19:11,760
Through a season of uncertainty, through doubt, through maybe confusion.

351
00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:25,720
It's interesting that the place where we most intimately meet God is usually in the place of confusion, of pain, of uncertainty, of doubt.

352
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:28,180
Let me say it this way.

353
00:19:28,860 --> 00:19:33,220
The intimacy that you long for is on the other side of the trial that you're dreading.

354
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:34,980
That came out so negative.

355
00:19:37,180 --> 00:19:37,920
But it's true.

356
00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:38,780
It's true.

357
00:19:39,980 --> 00:19:46,300
It is impossible to have the intimacy with God that you desire without going into deep waters,

358
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,560
without facing a storm or two to have a different analogy.

359
00:19:51,140 --> 00:19:56,200
I was in Ukraine recently, and we went to the front lines, and it was crazy.

360
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:57,960
In Latin America, I've had guns pull on me.

361
00:19:58,260 --> 00:19:59,720
I've had bullets whizzed by me.

362
00:20:00,740 --> 00:20:03,240
I've never felt so unsafe as when,

363
00:20:03,260 --> 00:20:07,780
We got to the front lines and we were evacuating people and we were taking supplies to our chaplains.

364
00:20:08,860 --> 00:20:16,340
And we got to the first city and maybe every two or three minutes we would hear like bombs going off at the distance.

365
00:20:16,410 --> 00:20:21,800
And it sounded like thunder and it was ominous, but it felt far enough to where you didn't feel that unsafe.

366
00:20:22,580 --> 00:20:31,120
And then we went to Pokroft, which was recently cut on a city that was destroyed and conquered by the Russians, but it wasn't at the time.

367
00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:34,580
And there, there wasn't a second of silence.

368
00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,780
We were driving past craters that still had fires in them.

369
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,040
We were with two of our chaplains,

370
00:20:43,460 --> 00:20:45,860
and the whole time they were jovial and laughing,

371
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,000
and as soon as we got to Pawcrofts,

372
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:48,220
they turned on the rock music,

373
00:20:48,460 --> 00:20:50,440
and they were just, like, gritting their teeth

374
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,360
and gripping the steering wheels,

375
00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,460
and it just felt really gnarly.

376
00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:57,080
And so we were evacuating people out of Pawcrofts,

377
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:58,840
and then that night we went to a separate city.

378
00:20:59,660 --> 00:21:01,460
We were in a hotel, probably on a 10th store,

379
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,700
10th story, rather, pitch black, dead silent.

380
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:11,080
And we had gone that afternoon to see an apartment complex

381
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,260
that got completely destroyed by a ballistic missile.

382
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,940
An artillery hit will take out a car.

383
00:21:17,300 --> 00:21:18,360
A drone will take out a car.

384
00:21:18,980 --> 00:21:21,380
A ballistic missile goes out into outer space,

385
00:21:21,540 --> 00:21:23,580
comes straight down hypersonically,

386
00:21:23,930 --> 00:21:25,980
and we'll take out a complete city block.

387
00:21:26,140 --> 00:21:27,360
It's a massive thing.

388
00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:30,220
And so dead silent, midnight.

389
00:21:30,620 --> 00:21:33,140
I can't sleep, so I'm like watching YouTube videos on my phone.

390
00:21:34,100 --> 00:21:37,540
And all of a sudden, within a couple blocks, a ballistic missile lands.

391
00:21:38,300 --> 00:21:39,180
And I've been in earthquakes.

392
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,000
It shook my hotel like an earthquake.

393
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,000
And the sound was deafening.

394
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,640
I don't think I've heard a sound so loud.

395
00:21:46,940 --> 00:21:49,240
And the other sound sounded like thunder in a distance.

396
00:21:49,980 --> 00:21:54,660
This, it felt like somebody was, you know how you rip a sheet of paper and it goes,

397
00:21:56,060 --> 00:22:00,060
it was like that, but just a sound.

398
00:22:01,420 --> 00:22:05,120
of the crashing of concrete

399
00:22:05,310 --> 00:22:06,700
is just so hard to describe.

400
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:08,280
It was so close

401
00:22:08,470 --> 00:22:10,220
that people started flooding out

402
00:22:10,220 --> 00:22:11,340
into the streets with flashlight,

403
00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:13,480
seeing where the ballistic missile landed.

404
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:14,680
We weren't sure what to do.

405
00:22:15,420 --> 00:22:16,180
Obviously, I'm praying,

406
00:22:16,260 --> 00:22:18,340
and a couple minutes later, another ballistic missile lands.

407
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:21,740
And a couple minutes later, another ballistic missile lands.

408
00:22:23,060 --> 00:22:25,160
And it felt like the Russians were doing this,

409
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,400
and I was just hoping it wouldn't land on my head next.

410
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:37,900
And for the first time in my life, as I was praying, I felt maybe the next words that come out of my mouth, I'm going to tell Jesus in person.

411
00:22:38,740 --> 00:22:41,180
A very prepared to meet your maker moment.

412
00:22:42,260 --> 00:22:44,500
So we left, and we left the front lines.

413
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,700
And we went a couple hours away, and we had breakfast with some chaplains.

414
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:59,420
And to my right, there was a senior chaplain who was in his 50s, but looked like he was in his 70s, just war-weary, very, very, very,

415
00:22:59,860 --> 00:23:05,560
heavy face. And we shared what happened. And to be honest, like I said, the third time I say it,

416
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:10,280
I'm Mexican. And Mexico sees a lot of violence. And there's a lot of bad things that happen in Mexico.

417
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:17,840
And I'm not saying it to be proud of us. This is just the way we are. One of the ways we deal

418
00:23:17,940 --> 00:23:23,240
with tragedy in Mexico is through humor. When something bad happens, we find a way to laugh about it.

419
00:23:24,060 --> 00:23:27,480
As I've shared this, I've heard that is very similar in the United States in the medical field.

420
00:23:28,580 --> 00:23:31,440
When you're around death, when you're around brokenness all the time,

421
00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:34,540
one of the ways you keep from falling into deep depression

422
00:23:34,740 --> 00:23:36,480
is just finding a way to crack a joke.

423
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:41,200
And so after the gnarliest experiences in Latin America,

424
00:23:41,860 --> 00:23:42,520
people laugh.

425
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:43,600
And sometimes it's a nervous laugh,

426
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,180
and sometimes that's just the way you cope.

427
00:23:45,660 --> 00:23:49,460
It's well known in Mexico that if you want to hear the best jokes of your life,

428
00:23:49,740 --> 00:23:50,660
go to a Mexican funeral.

429
00:23:52,100 --> 00:23:53,360
That's just the way we are.

430
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:58,400
And so I expected that from the Ukrainian chaplain.

431
00:23:58,620 --> 00:24:00,060
that there'd be like, he-he, ha, ha,

432
00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,720
they almost got blown up by the Russians kind of thing.

433
00:24:04,540 --> 00:24:07,900
And so when I was sharing this war-weary older chaplain,

434
00:24:08,020 --> 00:24:11,040
he looked older, he wasn't that old, he started crying.

435
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:15,120
I was very surprised because this was unique to me.

436
00:24:15,340 --> 00:24:16,380
It wasn't unique to him.

437
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,180
This is their life experience all the time.

438
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,480
And as he started crying, he said through an interpreter,

439
00:24:23,700 --> 00:24:25,840
Jonathan, you will never forget this moment.

440
00:24:27,660 --> 00:24:29,800
Because you feel so small.

441
00:24:30,860 --> 00:24:31,580
He said, look around you.

442
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:36,780
Every single person at this table knows what it's like to be close to a ballistic missile when it lands.

443
00:24:38,060 --> 00:24:43,920
And you realize in that moment that the majority of people live for something that does not matter for any eternity.

444
00:24:45,540 --> 00:24:46,380
And I saw him.

445
00:24:46,950 --> 00:24:47,880
And I realized something.

446
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:54,240
His faith is greater than mine because the waters he's traversing are deeper than mine.

447
00:24:55,300 --> 00:25:04,200
His storm that I wouldn't wish upon anybody has forged his faith to a level that I wish I had.

448
00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:07,640
But at the same time, I'm glad I don't have to go through that.

449
00:25:07,860 --> 00:25:08,700
But that's the reality.

450
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:10,140
That's the reality.

451
00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:14,780
Jesus said, in this world, you will have tribulations.

452
00:25:15,660 --> 00:25:17,540
I grew up as a Christian in the 90s.

453
00:25:17,540 --> 00:25:20,720
I was born in 89, 90s, early 2000s.

454
00:25:21,380 --> 00:25:23,260
And there was a fad that I kind of miss.

455
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:24,300
You'll remember it.

456
00:25:24,460 --> 00:25:25,740
most of you that have been Christians a while,

457
00:25:26,300 --> 00:25:28,460
we used to put Christian bumper stickers

458
00:25:29,140 --> 00:25:31,100
and Bible verses on everything.

459
00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:34,180
You know, the promises of God

460
00:25:34,340 --> 00:25:36,420
and we would have it on magnets on our fridge

461
00:25:36,420 --> 00:25:39,260
or embroidered on a pillow or on a calendar somewhere

462
00:25:39,260 --> 00:25:40,700
and just Bible verses everywhere.

463
00:25:41,900 --> 00:25:44,240
You know what promise of God I never saw

464
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:45,820
embroidered on a pillow?

465
00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:49,180
In this world, you will have tribulations.

466
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:51,820
You know, printed on a coffee mug.

467
00:25:53,100 --> 00:25:54,280
You're pouring your morning coffee,

468
00:25:54,340 --> 00:25:55,500
dreading the day ahead.

469
00:25:57,900 --> 00:26:00,140
And that Jesus promised it.

470
00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:02,360
But that's only half the promise.

471
00:26:03,940 --> 00:26:06,500
In this world, you will have tribulation,

472
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:08,560
but be of good cheer.

473
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:10,600
I have overcome the world.

474
00:26:11,780 --> 00:26:13,980
I even like it better how David said it.

475
00:26:15,060 --> 00:26:16,460
Yay, a little bit more poetic maybe.

476
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,120
Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

477
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,200
I will fear no evil for you are with me.

478
00:26:23,340 --> 00:26:25,060
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

479
00:26:26,180 --> 00:26:30,180
Gosh, like I said, I do not wish that kind of pain on anybody.

480
00:26:31,180 --> 00:26:35,300
But when you see the intimacy that they have with God, you realize it.

481
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:37,080
You realize that it's beautiful.

482
00:26:37,220 --> 00:26:38,000
It's worth it even.

483
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:39,660
That's one of the mind-blowing things.

484
00:26:39,740 --> 00:26:42,060
Have you ever been around somebody that's been through so much suffering?

485
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,200
And they say, I do not wish this on my worst enemy.

486
00:26:46,500 --> 00:26:47,380
But I wouldn't change it.

487
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,500
Because it forged me into a person that actually believes the promises of God,

488
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,160
that actually holds on to the love of God,

489
00:26:55,300 --> 00:26:59,340
that actually knows firsthand what it's like to, like David,

490
00:26:59,740 --> 00:27:03,340
say, who have I in heaven but you and on earth?

491
00:27:03,340 --> 00:27:05,620
I have no one I desire but you.

492
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:08,960
I'm belaboring this point.

493
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:10,060
I'll go a little bit quicker with the other two.

494
00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:11,080
I want to use one more example.

495
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:13,740
There's a phrase that I heard from a pastor,

496
00:27:13,750 --> 00:27:15,120
and I did not like the phrase,

497
00:27:15,220 --> 00:27:17,140
but I did like what that phrase made me feel.

498
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:18,180
So let me explain it real quick.

499
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:22,480
He said that sometimes we feel close to God

500
00:27:22,660 --> 00:27:28,780
But in reality, the reason we feel close to God is that we have props under us that lift us up,

501
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:30,020
that make us feel close to God.

502
00:27:30,140 --> 00:27:33,580
And so if you have a stable family life, that might be a prop that holds you up.

503
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,080
Or if you have health, that might be a prop that holds you up.

504
00:27:36,140 --> 00:27:39,220
Or if you have financial stability, that might be a prop that holds you up.

505
00:27:39,260 --> 00:27:42,400
or if you have a great job, that might be a prop that holds you up.

506
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,320
Or if you travel a lot for pleasure, that might be a problem that holds you up.

507
00:27:47,100 --> 00:27:50,260
And what this person said, that I don't know if I agree with the way it said,

508
00:27:50,260 --> 00:27:53,700
he said, sometimes God will kick the prop out from under you

509
00:27:54,380 --> 00:27:56,640
so that you can learn that he is all you have.

510
00:27:56,710 --> 00:27:59,880
And so you can learn to hold on to him for dear life.

511
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:05,380
The reason I don't love it is I don't know if God is actively kicking props out from under people.

512
00:28:07,510 --> 00:28:09,220
But the reason I do like it is,

513
00:28:09,620 --> 00:28:12,000
if you've been a Christian for more than 17 minutes,

514
00:28:12,260 --> 00:28:14,160
you've had the prop kicked out from under you.

515
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:17,120
I don't know if it was God, maybe.

516
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,240
But in this world, you will have tribulations.

517
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:22,540
I remember I was a pastor for 12 years

518
00:28:22,980 --> 00:28:24,800
and love seeing people become Christians,

519
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,160
but especially in Latin America,

520
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,220
there's a little superstitious kind of vibe

521
00:28:28,660 --> 00:28:30,360
where people think that when they become Christians,

522
00:28:30,580 --> 00:28:32,020
it's like this good luck charm

523
00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:33,640
that things will turn out better for them

524
00:28:33,740 --> 00:28:34,480
because they're Christians now.

525
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:37,420
And so I had so many people that would come up to me

526
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,200
and be like, Pastor, I don't think this Christian

527
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:40,080
anything's working.

528
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:42,940
My life's getting harder.

529
00:28:44,340 --> 00:28:46,680
Now, just look at them with as much grace as I can muster,

530
00:28:46,700 --> 00:28:49,920
and I'd say, brother, sister, don't worry.

531
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:52,320
It gets worse.

532
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,200
At least that's been my experience and it's been the experience

533
00:28:57,380 --> 00:28:59,640
of most of the people I know. It's not that the burden gets lighter.

534
00:28:59,710 --> 00:29:03,140
It's that God gives you wider shoulders and gives you the ability to push through.

535
00:29:03,570 --> 00:29:04,600
But life gets difficult.

536
00:29:06,660 --> 00:29:09,040
But in this world, Yoaha'Hah revelation to be of good cheer.

537
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:17,980
any time you face the fire, you need to know that your faith, which is much more precious than gold, is being purified.

538
00:29:19,740 --> 00:29:26,760
And you can see it. Sometimes you've seen it. I know you've seen it. You have people that are in their 40s or 40, 50 years as Christians.

539
00:29:27,620 --> 00:29:34,780
You know, their whole adult life as Christians. And you just see the beauty and their demeanor. And you know it's not because it was an easy life.

540
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:40,640
You know it's because the fire forged, the beauty in their life.

541
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,160
I'll do the last two points a little bit more brief.

542
00:29:44,370 --> 00:29:47,500
So point number one is being with Jesus does not necessarily mean you know Jesus.

543
00:29:47,900 --> 00:29:50,460
Point number two is it is in deep waters where you will find him.

544
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:55,280
Point number three is before he commissions you, he will allow you to come to the end of yourself.

545
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:56,420
Meaning this.

546
00:29:56,820 --> 00:29:58,320
Jesus tells Peter, hey, let's go fishing.

547
00:29:58,460 --> 00:29:59,360
Let's go to deeper waters.

548
00:30:00,140 --> 00:30:02,640
And Peter has an excuse, which is an okay excuse.

549
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,320
Master, we've toiled all night and have caught nothing.

550
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:07,960
Now, I don't know how good the fishing is in Idaho.

551
00:30:08,140 --> 00:30:09,280
I'm assuming it's pretty good.

552
00:30:09,740 --> 00:30:13,200
I live in a sea town where fishing is a really big deal.

553
00:30:13,300 --> 00:30:13,960
It's a fishing town.

554
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,260
And so, you know, I've gone fishing plenty of times.

555
00:30:18,460 --> 00:30:20,940
And so I know sometimes you just have bad luck.

556
00:30:21,420 --> 00:30:22,820
You know, you just don't catch anything.

557
00:30:23,180 --> 00:30:25,980
You know, one day you can get more fish than you can know what to do with.

558
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:27,560
The other day, you don't catch anything.

559
00:30:27,860 --> 00:30:28,480
But this is different.

560
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,580
These aren't people that are surfing, that are fishing as a hobby.

561
00:30:33,540 --> 00:30:34,740
These are commercial fishermen.

562
00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:38,760
they have two boats, they have large nets, they're doing big circles, and they're expecting

563
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:44,700
to pull out many fish every single time they cast the net. And so this isn't a person bobbing

564
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,160
up and down into the Sea of Galilee with a rod hoping to catch something. These are people

565
00:30:48,220 --> 00:30:53,240
that do this for a living, have done it for living their whole life, and they have an entire

566
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:58,800
industry backing their experience. And so for them to come up empty-handed all night as a massive

567
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:04,740
failure. So I could see Peter being absolutely frustrated with himself. You know, we told all night

568
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:09,280
caught nothing. He worked all night. I don't know if you've ever worked a graveyard shift,

569
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:14,260
but the next day, you're not thinking straight. Your mind's thinking one thing. How do I get some sleep?

570
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:22,220
And so in that state, Jesus says, hey, can I borrow your boat? Peter's like, go for it. And he's

571
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,200
exhausted. He's hearing Jesus preach. I'm sure that Jesus' message is wonderful, but I'm sure there's

572
00:31:26,260 --> 00:31:31,480
a part of Peter that's like, okay, let's wrap this up. I'm ready to go to bed. And then after

573
00:31:31,820 --> 00:31:37,380
Jesus is done preaching after the nets have been washed already, he's ready to go home, just to say,

574
00:31:37,420 --> 00:31:45,220
do you want to go fishing? To me, it's totally understandable that Peter says, ah, Jesus, we toiled all night

575
00:31:45,220 --> 00:31:50,420
and caught nothing. This is one of Peter's good moments. He says, nevertheless, at your word, I will let down

576
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:56,300
the net. And they have the biggest catch of their entire life. This is the idea. And this might be

577
00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:01,060
reading too much into the text, but what would have happened to Peter?

578
00:32:01,740 --> 00:32:03,820
if he hadn't had the failure the night before,

579
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:05,900
and Jesus said, hey, let's go fishing.

580
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:06,760
He's like, yeah, let's go fishing.

581
00:32:07,340 --> 00:32:07,840
Great at this.

582
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:08,920
You know, I've been doing it in my whole life.

583
00:32:09,180 --> 00:32:09,640
You want to go fishing?

584
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,420
We'll catch a lot of fish today, Jesus.

585
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:12,920
Then he has the best catch of his life.

586
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,860
Do you think he assumes that Jesus did it?

587
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:20,080
Or knowing Peter's personality,

588
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:21,820
do you think he sees that catch?

589
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,180
And he goes, I am the best fisherman in the history of Galilee.

590
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,740
But it was his failure the night before.

591
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:36,400
that showed him that the catch was not the product of his own effort,

592
00:32:36,620 --> 00:32:37,680
but it was a gift of God.

593
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:39,360
This is the reality.

594
00:32:40,220 --> 00:32:41,800
Just like nobody wants to face the storms,

595
00:32:42,220 --> 00:32:43,460
nobody wants to go through failure.

596
00:32:44,540 --> 00:32:47,680
But God will allow failure in your life

597
00:32:48,180 --> 00:32:51,080
so that when he uses you, you will know

598
00:32:51,340 --> 00:32:54,180
it's not because you're great and it's not because you're talented

599
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,460
and it's not because you have a great work ethic,

600
00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:57,980
and it's not because you're a great Christian.

601
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,740
It's because we serve a loving and gracious God.

602
00:33:01,060 --> 00:33:06,500
and it will convince us that every good and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of Lights.

603
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:19,980
Few things are as dangerous to the Christian as being used by God without having failures in your rear room mirror to know it wasn't because of me.

604
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:22,260
There's actually a scripture that says this.

605
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:30,720
It says, don't let elders, it might say deacons, become leaders as not.

606
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,360
novices, lest they fall into the snare of the devil, meaning this.

607
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:40,160
If you give leadership to somebody who hasn't gone to two or three failures before and God

608
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:45,120
uses them, it will hype them up so much and fill them up with so much pride that they'll

609
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,640
just assume that God is using them because they're all that.

610
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:55,380
That's a dangerous place to be because Jesus says, humble yourself before the Lord,

611
00:33:55,820 --> 00:33:56,840
and he will lift you up.

612
00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:01,180
whoever exalts themselves will be brought low.

613
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:03,620
So let me say this.

614
00:34:04,380 --> 00:34:05,740
Have you gone through a season of failure?

615
00:34:06,740 --> 00:34:07,280
We all have.

616
00:34:07,980 --> 00:34:10,540
Sometimes it's worse, especially as a man.

617
00:34:10,980 --> 00:34:12,360
I think when you go through a season of failure,

618
00:34:12,429 --> 00:34:14,919
you just feel like double bad because you feel like you need to have everything

619
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,740
figured out for you, for your family, for those who depend on you.

620
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:21,179
And just going through a season of failure is so emotionally difficult.

621
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:23,000
Let me say this.

622
00:34:25,500 --> 00:34:26,840
There's two things that are.

623
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:32,620
emotionally difficult about failing. Failing and feeling like a failure. Let me say this.

624
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:40,360
If you have failed, it's not because God is done using you. It might be that God is preparing

625
00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:46,300
to use you, just like Peter. Went through failure because God is going to use him. And not catching

626
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:51,280
anything is a pretty superficial failure compared to the failure that he's going to do in a couple

627
00:34:51,399 --> 00:34:56,820
years when they asked him, do you know him? And he says, I don't know that man. And then a couple

628
00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:04,580
weeks later, Jesus says, if you love me, feed my sheep. I wonder, I might be once again

629
00:35:04,620 --> 00:35:08,500
reading too much into this story, but I wonder in that moment where he's hearing the restoration

630
00:35:08,670 --> 00:35:13,660
that Jesus has for him, that he remembered that day in the Sea of Galilee, where I was a failure

631
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:18,280
the night before and God showed up the next day. And maybe I was a failure, you know, at the

632
00:35:19,059 --> 00:35:23,020
crucifixion, but now it's past the crucifixion, now it's past the resurrection. And now I know

633
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:27,020
that God, even after I have failed, has a plan to use me.

634
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,040
And he gets up boldly on the day of Pentecost and plants the first church.

635
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,820
And God uses him to see thousands of people become saved.

636
00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:36,780
What would have happened if he thought his failure was ultimate?

637
00:35:37,310 --> 00:35:40,820
It would have said, no, God, I don't believe you can use me because I messed up.

638
00:35:41,740 --> 00:35:42,280
But he knew.

639
00:35:43,020 --> 00:35:43,320
He knew.

640
00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:49,080
God allows failure in your life, not because he's done using you, but because he's preparing

641
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:50,680
to use you.

642
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:52,960
He wants to use you.

643
00:35:53,580 --> 00:35:56,240
and he wants to use you in such a way that when he uses you,

644
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:58,360
you're not sabotaged by your pride.

645
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:00,240
Final point, and I end with this.

646
00:36:01,900 --> 00:36:03,720
We ought to leave all to follow him.

647
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:05,880
So in the story, they go fishing, they have a miraculous catch.

648
00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:07,280
And then Peter, it says,

649
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,420
abandoned all to follow Jesus, including the miraculous catch.

650
00:36:11,339 --> 00:36:13,720
No, I'm just going to make up numbers at this point.

651
00:36:14,620 --> 00:36:17,420
But there's another Bible story that says that with one boat and one net,

652
00:36:17,500 --> 00:36:19,860
they brought out 153 large fish.

653
00:36:20,420 --> 00:36:21,940
I don't know what a large fish is,

654
00:36:22,260 --> 00:36:24,880
but let's say, oh, I'm just throwing out a number.

655
00:36:25,020 --> 00:36:26,700
Let's just say 20, 30, 40 pounds.

656
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:28,620
I don't know what a large fish is in the Sea of Galilee.

657
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:29,860
20 pounds.

658
00:36:30,780 --> 00:36:35,900
So that's with one boat, one net, no boats are sinking, no nets are breaking.

659
00:36:36,500 --> 00:36:41,660
So two boats, larger net, boats are breaking, or nets are sinking.

660
00:36:42,340 --> 00:36:43,920
Probably a couple hundred large fish.

661
00:36:44,620 --> 00:36:46,000
So let's just give it a number.

662
00:36:46,660 --> 00:36:51,880
Let's say this is $20, $40,000, $40,000 worth of fish for a middle class.

663
00:36:51,900 --> 00:36:53,200
middle-income person.

664
00:36:54,340 --> 00:36:57,300
How would you feel if I gave you a $40,000 check this morning?

665
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,720
Most people would be pretty excited, to say the least.

666
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:03,500
This is what's happening to Peter.

667
00:37:03,940 --> 00:37:07,760
In one moment, he's getting a $40,000 check.

668
00:37:09,740 --> 00:37:13,820
But remember, these are fishermen that need to sell the fish at the market to make a profit.

669
00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:21,800
If I were Peter and Jesus said, I will make you a fisherman, I would say, Jesus, I love the idea.

670
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,900
give me 48 hours, I'll sell the fish, and we'll leave with some money in the bank.

671
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,720
He abandons all, even the miraculous catch.

672
00:37:30,540 --> 00:37:31,400
What does this show us?

673
00:37:32,700 --> 00:37:35,260
It shows us that following Jesus always comes with the cost.

674
00:37:36,300 --> 00:37:39,420
Salvation is free, but obedience is costly.

675
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:45,400
Because we're not saved by obedience, but we're saved by faith, or rather by grace through faith.

676
00:37:45,940 --> 00:37:49,140
Salvation is free, but to be used by God, to obey him?

677
00:37:49,740 --> 00:37:51,820
I mean, ask Daniel a little bit as costly.

678
00:37:53,359 --> 00:37:57,000
ask the apostles that 11 of them got murdered of those costly.

679
00:37:58,040 --> 00:37:58,800
There's always a cost.

680
00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:02,320
Dietrich Bonhofer who was murdered by the Nazis for opposing the Nazi regime said this.

681
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,560
When God calls a man, he bids him come and die.

682
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,280
We've had, like I said, we have 100 missionaries in Nigeria.

683
00:38:08,380 --> 00:38:10,300
Nigeria is probably right now the most dangerous place on earth.

684
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:14,140
We've had Christian missionaries that have been killed within weeks of arriving in northern Nigeria.

685
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:19,200
When I said that once, somebody said to me, that is so stupid.

686
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,520
Literally, I have a table out here that you can visit in a second.

687
00:38:22,620 --> 00:38:24,480
I was at the table, and they came up to me angry.

688
00:38:25,860 --> 00:38:27,680
And they said, that is so stupid.

689
00:38:29,180 --> 00:38:33,320
Why are you sending these men to their death when you can send them to other parts of Africa

690
00:38:33,700 --> 00:38:36,000
and they can have a fruitful 50 years of ministry?

691
00:38:37,180 --> 00:38:39,700
And you're sending them to a place where they'll die in weeks.

692
00:38:41,300 --> 00:38:45,940
Have you ever had somebody to tell you something that you can't think of a, you know, a response in the moment?

693
00:38:46,060 --> 00:38:49,420
And then you're just mulling it over like you're in the shower and you're sleeping

694
00:38:49,580 --> 00:38:51,800
and you're trying to figure out, like, oh, like, well,

695
00:38:52,540 --> 00:38:53,160
and then they got it.

696
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,440
Like, days later, like, I was trying to, like, figure out, like,

697
00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:56,460
I felt stumped.

698
00:38:57,260 --> 00:38:57,720
Because what he said?

699
00:38:57,780 --> 00:38:58,540
Yeah, of course.

700
00:38:58,700 --> 00:39:01,140
Like, if he's 20, 25, 30,

701
00:39:01,780 --> 00:39:04,360
and he can have 60 years of fruitful ministry in Tanzania,

702
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:05,880
why don't we send him there?

703
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:08,900
And they got it.

704
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:11,960
It's so stupid, he said.

705
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:13,900
Why are you sending him to his death?

706
00:39:15,540 --> 00:39:16,560
My rebuttal would have been.

707
00:39:17,780 --> 00:39:18,400
Should have been.

708
00:39:19,260 --> 00:39:20,800
You're asking the wrong person.

709
00:39:22,420 --> 00:39:24,080
Ask them if it's stupid.

710
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:28,460
Ask them if they regret it.

711
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,420
Or will they say, I am happy to give my life

712
00:39:35,180 --> 00:39:37,700
so that my country and my countrymen might meet Jesus.

713
00:39:39,060 --> 00:39:41,620
And I don't care if I have to be a Stephen

714
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:43,440
so that somebody else can be a Paul.

715
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:45,180
Do you get that reference?

716
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:46,880
Stephen was the first murder of the church.

717
00:39:47,460 --> 00:39:49,120
Saul, who later became Paul, witnessed it,

718
00:39:49,180 --> 00:39:50,860
It's the first step in his conversion process.

719
00:39:52,180 --> 00:39:52,520
Gosh.

720
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:56,820
We're so obsessed with making it 280.

721
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:01,520
We're so obsessed with having a 401k and a retirement plan

722
00:40:03,340 --> 00:40:05,020
and living too old age and saying,

723
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:06,700
you know, looking at our spouse and saying, we made it.

724
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:07,880
Nothing wrong with that.

725
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:08,680
It's not wrong.

726
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:10,980
But when somebody decides to say,

727
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:15,580
I don't care if I live to 80 or 40 or 20,

728
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:19,140
all they care about is hearing well done, good and faithful service.

729
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:20,660
enter into the joy of your Lord.

730
00:40:20,810 --> 00:40:24,180
And if that means that when I arrive at paradise,

731
00:40:24,780 --> 00:40:28,240
I will start seeing these other Nigerian people

732
00:40:28,660 --> 00:40:30,740
come to the kingdom of God

733
00:40:30,940 --> 00:40:33,880
because I trusted God enough to go and share my faith.

734
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,320
Ask them if that's a life well lived or not.

735
00:40:37,900 --> 00:40:39,220
Ask them if that's the sacrifice

736
00:40:39,380 --> 00:40:40,480
that they're willing to make or not.

737
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:42,760
So we're doing this in Latin America.

738
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,800
I called a pastor who had 12 people killed them

739
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:46,800
around two blocks from a church,

740
00:40:46,810 --> 00:40:47,620
about two blocks from a church.

741
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:48,860
He's an American missionary.

742
00:40:48,940 --> 00:40:49,900
He's got three young kids.

743
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:52,540
And I live close to where I live.

744
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:53,480
It lives about an hour away.

745
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,260
And I call him, I was like, hey, are you okay?

746
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:58,600
He said, yeah, it was pretty gnarly, but we're okay.

747
00:40:58,630 --> 00:41:01,860
I was like, I told him, are you concerned about your family's safety?

748
00:41:04,140 --> 00:41:05,580
And to be honest, I didn't like his answer.

749
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:10,980
He said, you know what, Jonathan, we've been so busy.

750
00:41:11,140 --> 00:41:12,580
I haven't really had time to think about it.

751
00:41:13,900 --> 00:41:14,920
You know what my response was?

752
00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:16,220
That's stupid.

753
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:16,700
I'm just kidding.

754
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:17,200
I didn't say that.

755
00:41:20,140 --> 00:41:22,340
I honestly thought, I didn't say it out loud.

756
00:41:22,780 --> 00:41:23,800
I thought that's irresponsible.

757
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,420
What do you mean you haven't thought about your safety?

758
00:41:29,340 --> 00:41:29,980
And that was the end.

759
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:30,520
It hit me.

760
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:35,580
Are our Nigerian missionaries overly concerned with their safety?

761
00:41:36,620 --> 00:41:38,820
Or do they realize we have a task at hand?

762
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:40,380
We want people to meet Jesus.

763
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:41,920
We understand it's dangerous.

764
00:41:42,420 --> 00:41:45,600
We didn't come here because it was safe or easy or convenient.

765
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:47,200
We came here because God caused.

766
00:41:47,220 --> 00:41:48,880
All this to become fissures of men.

767
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,920
I felt bad for a second that I don't have that same level of faith.

768
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,320
It says, I'm here and I'm doing what God's called me to do

769
00:41:57,420 --> 00:42:01,240
and I'm not going to psych myself out by being overly concerned with my personal safety.

770
00:42:01,860 --> 00:42:03,900
I'm just going to do the work that God has entrusted me to do.

771
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:07,920
When God calls a man, he bids him come and die.

772
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:12,640
When I was a pastor, I had somebody show up to church on a midweek,

773
00:42:12,700 --> 00:42:16,100
it was a Tuesday asking for prayer, and they had a bullet wound in their foot.

774
00:42:17,380 --> 00:42:19,480
and I said, I'm happy to pray for you, but why are you wounded?

775
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:22,440
And he said, I was a top hitman.

776
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,100
He was about mid to early 40s.

777
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,840
I was a top hitman for the most well-known Mexican mob member.

778
00:42:30,220 --> 00:42:32,900
You probably know who he is for 20 years.

779
00:42:34,300 --> 00:42:35,280
And I was great at my job.

780
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:37,100
Didn't want to ask him what that meant.

781
00:42:38,939 --> 00:42:40,380
Stellar performance reviews, you know.

782
00:42:40,780 --> 00:42:42,760
And I was great at my job.

783
00:42:43,340 --> 00:42:44,540
And my wife and I became Christians.

784
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,560
And so I approached my boss and I told him, hey, I can't do this anymore.

785
00:42:47,700 --> 00:42:48,140
I'm a Christian.

786
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:49,820
And he allowed me to retire.

787
00:42:50,780 --> 00:42:52,320
And in that line of work, that's unhard of.

788
00:42:52,620 --> 00:42:56,300
If you know faces, you know names, they don't let you out of their sights.

789
00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:58,740
And so they allowed him to retire and live a regular life.

790
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:00,300
And he did that for a couple years.

791
00:43:00,940 --> 00:43:05,580
But then his former boss's son found him and said, hey, I need you to work for me.

792
00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:06,620
Once again, he was still pretty young.

793
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:07,280
He was in mid-40s.

794
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:08,420
I need you to work for me.

795
00:43:09,300 --> 00:43:09,900
And he said, I can't.

796
00:43:09,980 --> 00:43:10,440
I'm a Christian.

797
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:11,720
So he shot him in the foot.

798
00:43:11,780 --> 00:43:15,100
And he said, you have 24 hours to change your mind or you and your entire family are going to die.

799
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:17,580
and he came to church to ask for prayer.

800
00:43:19,300 --> 00:43:21,300
And to be honest, I thought he was going to say something like,

801
00:43:21,380 --> 00:43:22,140
I need to go in hiding.

802
00:43:23,340 --> 00:43:25,480
But there's no hiding in those scenarios.

803
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:27,700
I thought he was going to say something like,

804
00:43:28,340 --> 00:43:30,300
pray for me that I might have wisdom to know what to do.

805
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:31,480
Didn't say that.

806
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:37,080
He said, Jonathan, pray for me that I might have the courage to die well.

807
00:43:39,180 --> 00:43:39,800
They gave him my number.

808
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:43,140
And I said, if you're alive in 24 hours, police call me,

809
00:43:43,220 --> 00:43:43,920
and he never called.

810
00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:47,840
and I know what happened to him in his entire family

811
00:43:49,540 --> 00:43:51,700
and that's an hour and a half across from the border in Mexico

812
00:43:54,260 --> 00:43:54,940
and you realize

813
00:43:56,980 --> 00:43:58,420
I love the United States

814
00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:01,120
I'm American as well my dad's an American missionary so I'm a U.S. citizen

815
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,240
and I love this country I love Mexico too

816
00:44:05,900 --> 00:44:06,940
and I love American Christianity

817
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:10,660
but at the same time I'm I know that

818
00:44:10,780 --> 00:44:12,640
a lot of the issues in the American church

819
00:44:13,340 --> 00:44:16,420
is because we're not facing the struggles

820
00:44:16,580 --> 00:44:18,200
that other places are facing.

821
00:44:19,060 --> 00:44:20,800
And so it makes us really inward focus.

822
00:44:22,220 --> 00:44:24,660
You know, you go to Iran,

823
00:44:25,900 --> 00:44:27,880
and do you think they're fighting over denominational wines

824
00:44:28,940 --> 00:44:30,920
or are they just happy that another person met Jesus?

825
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:36,680
And I think the comfort within the borders of our country

826
00:44:37,220 --> 00:44:39,000
it's not a bad thing, but it's a dangerous thing

827
00:44:39,820 --> 00:44:41,700
because it can disconnect us from the reality

828
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,060
that around the world it is dangerous to be a Christian.

829
00:44:45,220 --> 00:44:48,640
In many places around the world, it is a death sentence to become a Christian.

830
00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:55,720
But in the majority of places, it is highly uncomfortable and likely to produce in you real persecution

831
00:44:56,380 --> 00:44:59,880
just for having a Bible or calling yourself a Christian.

832
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:01,580
So what do we do?

833
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:10,200
We understand that God has called us not only to have a personal transformation, but to be part of a greater transformation.

834
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,700
Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

835
00:45:17,340 --> 00:45:21,900
That is in my estimation, probably the most misunderstood Bible scripture.

836
00:45:22,820 --> 00:45:26,160
Because when you hear that, you think, oh, this is talking that God will protect us.

837
00:45:27,260 --> 00:45:28,380
You know, the gates of hell will not prevail.

838
00:45:28,820 --> 00:45:29,560
That's not what it's saying.

839
00:45:30,340 --> 00:45:31,300
The gates are not a weapon.

840
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:33,960
This is not a promise of protection.

841
00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:37,480
If you think of an ancient city, they had walls.

842
00:45:38,180 --> 00:45:40,240
And if you wanted to take a city, you had to storm.

843
00:45:40,260 --> 00:45:40,860
the gates.

844
00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:47,760
And so when it says the gates of hell will not prevail, it's not saying we will be protected.

845
00:45:49,140 --> 00:45:54,660
It's saying that when the church decides to stand up and take ground and storm down the gates of

846
00:45:54,780 --> 00:45:58,800
hell, there's no power in hell strong enough to stop the church from advancing.

847
00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:00,920
It's a promise of power.

848
00:46:01,660 --> 00:46:02,700
There's other promises of protection.

849
00:46:02,820 --> 00:46:04,360
Don't get me wrong, but this is not a promise of protection.

850
00:46:04,700 --> 00:46:05,860
This is a promise of power.

851
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:12,920
of the Holy Spirit backing us in an offensive move to see more people know Jesus.

852
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:15,980
But this is something that we do collectively.

853
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,020
I will build my church.

854
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:20,860
I can say these things and it's so daunting.

855
00:46:21,540 --> 00:46:24,620
But the way we change the world is not by changing the world.

856
00:46:25,380 --> 00:46:26,480
It's by changing somebody's world.

857
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:29,820
When we do for one, what we wish we could do for all.

858
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,840
And we do that collectively as the body of Christ, we will change the world.

859
00:46:34,340 --> 00:46:36,060
And there are several ways you can get involved.

860
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:37,820
you would choose to do that with us.

861
00:46:38,020 --> 00:46:41,500
Like I said, there's a pastor that gives this image that if a man falls in a well,

862
00:46:41,620 --> 00:46:44,200
you need two people, one to go into the well and one to hold the rope.

863
00:46:44,860 --> 00:46:47,620
And so we have missionaries around the world, and one of the ways that you can be involved,

864
00:46:48,100 --> 00:46:51,100
bringing the light of Jesus around the world is by holding the rope in the sense that

865
00:46:51,140 --> 00:46:54,220
you're allowing them to focus on their work by financially sponsoring them.

866
00:46:54,240 --> 00:46:57,180
So we have three areas of opportunity to sponsor.

867
00:46:57,700 --> 00:46:59,100
The first one is the one that I'm involved with.

868
00:46:59,180 --> 00:47:02,180
These are pastors that are planting churches in cartel control territories.

869
00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:04,360
It is $75 a month to sponsor one.

870
00:47:04,500 --> 00:47:07,000
Obviously, that doesn't come close to providing for their needs.

871
00:47:07,180 --> 00:47:12,200
So we need to raise several sponsors per pastor, but if you'd like to sponsor a pastor, it's $75 a month.

872
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:14,340
Then we also have the pastors in the Middle East.

873
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,660
And so if you'd like to sponsor a pastor in the Middle East, you can do so as well for $75 a month.

874
00:47:19,060 --> 00:47:22,620
And then we have the home in Ukraine that I talked about at the beginning of the message.

875
00:47:22,780 --> 00:47:25,040
This is going to be the largest home that we've done anywhere in the world.

876
00:47:25,140 --> 00:47:27,560
Once again, it's also $75 per month.

877
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,400
A couple things that I also want to make clear.

878
00:47:30,780 --> 00:47:34,460
One, as we travel and speak, it is extremely important to us that we make.

879
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:39,600
clear that we don't want you to take money that you're currently giving to your church and give

880
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:43,740
to our organization. We don't believe that that's the way of missions works. We believe that the way

881
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:47,740
missions works is that you're faithful to your local church and then you give to missions above and

882
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:52,100
beyond that. And so I know that this is very compelling and you think, oh, I get sponsored

883
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:56,060
a missionary on the front lines and while I'm already giving this much of the pie to God and

884
00:47:56,100 --> 00:47:59,540
well, I just take from the pie that I'm already giving, I would encourage you not to do that.

885
00:47:59,620 --> 00:48:04,920
I would encourage you not to diminish your weekly contribution to your local church.

886
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:10,900
We'd rather add to it if you would like to sponsor one of our missionaries or one of our pastors or one of our children.

887
00:48:11,420 --> 00:48:11,800
That's one.

888
00:48:12,100 --> 00:48:17,480
Number two, we get asked all the time if this goes directly to this person.

889
00:48:17,580 --> 00:48:25,480
And the way we do this is that we raise finances separately for our operational cost, flying out here, doing operations, rescuing people.

890
00:48:25,780 --> 00:48:29,000
That doesn't come out of the support that we raise for the individuals.

891
00:48:29,140 --> 00:48:33,660
100% of what you give goes either to the missionary or to the home.

892
00:48:33,980 --> 00:48:34,820
It obviously doesn't go to a kid.

893
00:48:35,330 --> 00:48:37,200
If it's a kid, it goes to the home where the kid is.

894
00:48:37,700 --> 00:48:42,820
And so other organizations will do 8% or 12% of whatever you give goes to organizational costs.

895
00:48:43,020 --> 00:48:43,580
We don't judge that.

896
00:48:43,580 --> 00:48:44,980
We understand that there's needs.

897
00:48:45,340 --> 00:48:48,940
The way our founder has decided to do it is to raise those funds separately.

898
00:48:49,380 --> 00:48:52,820
And so if you choose to sponsor, it goes directly to that person.

899
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:56,000
And so for some people, $75 might not be doable.

900
00:48:56,180 --> 00:48:57,880
I think for the majority of people it's possible.

901
00:48:58,300 --> 00:49:03,300
I live in Mexico, I have a family of five, and we go to dinner and I spend $75, I did really, really well.

902
00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,500
You know, for dinner with a family, I can make a big difference in the life of somebody.

903
00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:10,080
And so for some people, it's not doable.

904
00:49:10,260 --> 00:49:11,560
For most people, I believe it is.

905
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:17,040
For some people, if you want to do a child and a pastor, it doesn't cap out at one.

906
00:49:17,460 --> 00:49:18,140
But this is the idea.

907
00:49:19,500 --> 00:49:21,300
We ought to do for one, what we wish you could do for all.

908
00:49:21,820 --> 00:49:27,220
We have code names for all we do, and actually the home that we went to in Costa Rica, the code name for it is little starfish.

909
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:31,580
And it's based out of a story that there was a storm that pushed a ton of starfish out on the sand.

910
00:49:32,220 --> 00:49:33,720
And there was a kid that was throwing them back in.

911
00:49:33,780 --> 00:49:34,900
But there's tens of thousands of them.

912
00:49:34,980 --> 00:49:36,140
No way he's going to throw them all in.

913
00:49:36,620 --> 00:49:39,340
And somebody yells at a distance saying, you're wasting your time.

914
00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:42,000
There's too many of them.

915
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:44,120
You're not making a difference.

916
00:49:44,860 --> 00:49:47,000
And he throws one and he says, I made a difference to that one.

917
00:49:48,620 --> 00:49:50,320
We got to do for one, what we wish we could do for all.

918
00:49:50,420 --> 00:49:51,440
And so doing it will change the world.

919
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:55,360
Jesus, I thank you so much for the opportunity to be with this wonderful, beautiful church.

920
00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:57,440
I pray a blessing upon them.

921
00:49:58,299 --> 00:50:00,660
Scotty, his family, the leadership here.

922
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:03,740
Just pray that you would continue to do a work here.

923
00:50:04,220 --> 00:50:06,840
I talked about reaching around the world, and it's something beautiful,

924
00:50:06,980 --> 00:50:09,720
but they're also reaching here, and they're doing a great job at it.

925
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:11,460
So I pray that you continue to bless them.

926
00:50:11,820 --> 00:50:12,840
Jesus' name. Amen.

927
00:50:13,420 --> 00:50:13,800
God bless you.

928
00:50:14,300 --> 00:50:14,660
Thanks, brother.

929
00:50:15,360 --> 00:50:15,880
Let's all stand.

930
00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:20,880
I ask the prayer to come up,

931
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:24,740
and maybe the Lord's knocking on the door of your heart

932
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:27,440
and moving you to do something.

933
00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:31,980
something. Maybe this was just confirmation. I know a lot of times the Lord will just bring somebody

934
00:50:32,140 --> 00:50:37,720
along to, uh, ka-ching. That's what he's been telling me. So that's what I need to do. So,

935
00:50:38,720 --> 00:50:45,120
uh, let's sing. I think the words will be up on the screen. Some of you know this song.

936
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:57,420
Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and hoarse. And

937
00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:21,980
holy, tried and true with Thanksgiving, I'll be a living, sanctuary for you.

938
00:51:23,230 --> 00:51:27,400
Lord, I pray that you would just settle that in our hearts, Lord, just knowing that

939
00:51:27,420 --> 00:51:35,140
You have plans and purposes and people in our future, Lord, that need to hear this message of your good news,

940
00:51:35,300 --> 00:51:36,780
of the gospel of Jesus.

941
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:39,100
Lord, so help us to be your faithful servants.

942
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:46,780
In the time that we have left, Lord, that we would occupy until our Lord comes, that we would be able to hear those words one day.

943
00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:48,780
Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

944
00:51:48,980 --> 00:51:50,560
Enter into the joy of your Lord.

945
00:51:51,060 --> 00:51:52,060
So be with us this week.

946
00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:53,640
We pray in Jesus' mighty name.

947
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:54,200
Amen.

948
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:55,100
God bless you.

949
00:51:55,180 --> 00:51:56,140
Have a great week in the Lord.