back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Morning Service 01.21.24
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"a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, 00:01:32.040 |
"but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 00:01:34.740 |
"so that you may prove what the will of God is, 00:01:36.980 |
"that which is good and acceptable and perfect." 00:03:02.660 |
♪ Never fall in love, you sure already have ♪ 00:03:22.620 |
♪ When I was shorn, you bear my sin and praise ♪ 00:04:05.100 |
♪ And bless the throne, you have the throne ♪ 00:05:07.640 |
♪ Now as you're judged in darkness and pain ♪ 00:05:27.580 |
♪ Now as you're judged in darkness and pain ♪ 00:06:06.980 |
You know, I go outside and drink a little coffee 00:06:11.660 |
Let me get to a few announcements before we get started. 00:06:15.900 |
First of all, our Jubilee ministry, if you're 50 and older, 00:06:24.380 |
in a couple Sundays at 1 p.m. after the third service, 00:06:27.320 |
there's gonna be a lunch fellowship to kick off the year. 00:06:32.660 |
and the FIG ministry, which is the larger part 00:06:35.620 |
of the family ministry, they are taking sign-ups 00:06:41.340 |
just one chapter a day, and the purpose of this, 00:06:44.260 |
again, obviously, is to keep each other accountable 00:06:47.500 |
and have fellowship around a specific purpose 00:06:53.500 |
whether it's in your groups or with the Jubilee group, 00:06:56.460 |
that the conversations would not just be about, 00:07:02.820 |
And so they're using that to encourage fellowship, 00:07:13.620 |
and for the rest of the family ministry as well. 00:07:23.180 |
there's one going on Friday morning, Thursday morning, 00:07:31.380 |
Otherwise, let me give you a brief announcement again. 00:07:34.580 |
We are transitioning from our Zelle to Subsplash. 00:07:38.660 |
I know some of you guys are still paying checks 00:07:41.480 |
and physical offering, that will still always be available, 00:07:44.540 |
but we are having some issues with the bank about Zelle. 00:07:50.420 |
So if you've already signed up for Subsplash, 00:07:53.020 |
we ask you to try to use the Subsplash for the online giving, 00:07:57.300 |
but we ask you to do that as soon as you can, 00:08:00.300 |
because you do need to register and sign up for that, 00:08:07.140 |
if most of our church is using the Subsplash, 00:08:12.120 |
We're having less and less problems with the bank. 00:08:14.300 |
And so we know it's gonna take a little bit of time 00:08:19.280 |
I heard that we had some issues with Subsplash. 00:08:27.700 |
But at some point, we may have to shut down Zelle. 00:08:32.960 |
we already shared this at the members meeting. 00:08:34.740 |
Those of you who were not at the members meeting, 00:08:37.800 |
this is where we're headed in the next few months. 00:08:43.300 |
and if you look way on the bottom on the right side, 00:08:47.540 |
it'll give you what you need to do to do that. 00:09:00.420 |
there's a box in the back, offering box in the back. 00:09:13.300 |
that we are dependent on you to stir in our hearts, Lord, 00:09:24.620 |
May the offering that we give, that we give purposefully, 00:09:27.940 |
help us, Lord God, as leaders to manage it with wisdom, 00:09:33.900 |
and may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. 00:11:51.020 |
♪ The galaxies can't help but shout His word ♪ 00:12:08.260 |
♪ My soul must sing, oh, let the heavens ring ♪ 00:12:48.420 |
♪ He died our death and rose up from the grave ♪ 00:13:06.780 |
♪ My soul must sing, oh, let the heavens ring ♪ 00:14:05.340 |
♪ My soul must sing, oh, let the heavens ring ♪ 00:14:28.220 |
♪ My soul must sing, oh, let the heavens ring ♪ 00:15:02.640 |
- Let's sing, "Should Nothing of Our Effort Stand." 00:15:36.760 |
♪ Unless the Lord does raise the house in vain ♪ 00:17:13.840 |
♪ He with our cries will take a cup of kindness yet ♪ 00:18:05.160 |
♪ The great I Am, the faithful and the true ♪ 00:18:26.120 |
♪ Behold our God shall live with us and be with us ♪ 00:19:53.200 |
If you could turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter six, 00:20:10.440 |
pray at all times in the spirit and with this in view. 00:20:14.240 |
Be on the alert with all perseverance and petition 00:20:23.040 |
to make known the boldness, the mystery of the gospel 00:20:32.400 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your Holy Spirit 00:20:46.480 |
until it has accomplished the purpose that you have ordained 00:21:23.280 |
you know, just do whatever you want and to give up. 00:21:27.520 |
Even if it takes years and years to raise the children 00:21:32.240 |
and heartache and prayer, you know the consequence 00:21:40.120 |
That's true in many things, like whether that's your health. 00:21:47.680 |
and you need to do certain things to get in health, 00:22:13.480 |
we're gonna break it down into bite-sized pieces. 00:22:20.200 |
we're gonna make it Saturday instead of Sunday 00:22:25.600 |
And so everything that we do in our generation 00:22:27.840 |
is how can we make it easier for people to become Christian? 00:22:32.400 |
And as a result of that, it has affected our preaching, 00:22:44.960 |
Because most people that I know in our generation 00:22:53.080 |
Do you have to actually get in that position? 00:23:01.400 |
Just, you know, while you're driving, just think. 00:23:05.160 |
So anything that's difficult, anything that is hard, 00:23:09.580 |
we're always thinking of how do you make it easier 00:23:16.740 |
that if it's too difficult to study the Bible, 00:23:19.700 |
too difficult to gather, too difficult to wake up, 00:23:22.600 |
that the church is more than willing to accommodate 00:23:24.640 |
to make it as easy as possible to be a follower of Christ. 00:23:30.160 |
we feel we've built up a generation of people 00:23:33.180 |
that can only worship Christ if these criterias are met. 00:23:42.560 |
You know, I can't go to that church because of this. 00:23:54.120 |
The church's fault because the church has done more 00:24:08.820 |
that you only make couple inches toward Christ, 00:24:13.740 |
That's how strongly the word of God emphasizes this. 00:24:32.540 |
And prayer is a discipline that is equally important 00:24:37.160 |
that we don't just give up because it's difficult. 00:24:58.840 |
our spiritual life becomes nothing more than theory. 00:25:28.560 |
to become more real than when God answers your prayer. 00:25:43.580 |
You've heard other people's testimonies about him. 00:25:54.880 |
So prayer is not something that we should easily give up 00:26:05.240 |
Just as much that you need to go to your work every morning, 00:26:15.200 |
when it's time for you to wake up to go to work, 00:26:16.920 |
you go to work because you know your livelihood 00:26:33.920 |
So the natural question is, how can we pray effectively? 00:26:37.080 |
If prayer is this important, how can we commit to this 00:26:41.740 |
Well, the Bible, again, is also very clear on this subject. 00:26:55.000 |
"Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you." 00:27:03.680 |
If your life has already lived for your flesh, 00:27:10.640 |
I'm just talking about whatever makes you happy, 00:27:13.440 |
whatever your flesh desires, and it may not be sinful, 00:27:19.520 |
well, that makes me happy, this doesn't make me happy. 00:27:21.640 |
If your whole pattern of life is based upon making decisions 00:27:27.040 |
there's no way that you are abiding in Christ. 00:27:38.360 |
does it make you happy, but is this what God desires? 00:27:42.320 |
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, 00:27:49.320 |
He said that's the condition of effective prayer. 00:27:54.400 |
He says, "You do not have because you do not ask." 00:27:57.640 |
He says, "So, for many of us, the problem is we don't pray." 00:28:07.240 |
Even if you think your cause is a righteous cause, 00:28:18.920 |
You don't see any fruit because you're not praying. 00:28:32.520 |
It's for your own pleasures, your own desires. 00:28:35.320 |
He says, "If you abide in me, my words abide in you. 00:28:38.960 |
"Ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." 00:28:41.280 |
So, the key to our spiritual life, experiencing power, 00:28:45.160 |
knowing God personally, our affections and love 00:28:47.880 |
toward Christ is all contingent upon effective prayer. 00:28:54.040 |
Well, if we're to abide in him, his word abide in us, 00:29:04.720 |
"Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord 00:29:10.880 |
The text that we just read in Ephesians chapter six, 00:29:13.360 |
verse 18 and 19, Paul ends the whole letter by saying, 00:29:18.880 |
"petitioning for all things, for all the saints. 00:29:24.080 |
Just in case you didn't get it, that you missed a point, 00:29:32.000 |
But more specifically, in prayer, he says to pray, 00:29:36.720 |
"Pray that the utterance will be given to me, 00:29:41.080 |
"that I may make the gospel, the mystery of Christ, 00:29:48.200 |
And that was a consistent prayer request of Apostle Paul. 00:29:54.560 |
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping your Lord in it 00:30:00.760 |
"that God will open up to us a door for the word, 00:30:03.280 |
"so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, 00:30:08.080 |
"that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." 00:30:33.320 |
all he's concerned about is that the gospel be spread. 00:30:38.440 |
would be saying, "Please pray for my release." 00:30:44.440 |
I have this desire to go and visit all the villages 00:30:47.400 |
and sitting in prison basically is causing me 00:30:58.320 |
"that we're gonna see later on in Philippians." 00:31:33.320 |
So Jesus restores Peter, he restores the disciples. 00:31:51.240 |
What kind of power are you gonna have against the Romans? 00:31:55.960 |
What kind of power are you gonna have even in Jerusalem? 00:32:12.240 |
and all of us saying, "Oh, your answers were wrong," 00:32:22.120 |
You don't have power, but you will have power. 00:32:25.600 |
He says, "When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, 00:32:35.520 |
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, 00:32:44.480 |
is not simply so that they can experience that power. 00:33:03.480 |
So if you're not committed to the Great Commission, 00:33:23.400 |
So if you live day to day with no concern of the lost, 00:33:32.720 |
there is no need for the Holy Spirit in your life. 00:33:40.800 |
I'm gonna go, when I die, I'm not gonna go to hell. 00:34:14.160 |
And so if you wanna know why Jesus established the church, 00:34:22.600 |
so now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi 00:34:42.240 |
Like always, you have to understand the context. 00:34:44.680 |
The context of this text and why Jesus brings up the church 00:34:48.240 |
is because he is wrapping up his public ministry. 00:34:51.400 |
He's getting his disciples to prepare to go to Jerusalem. 00:35:01.080 |
The people who are going to lie about Christ, 00:35:28.960 |
he said, "Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat." 00:35:32.120 |
We're not sure if Satan has asked his permission yet, 00:35:34.760 |
but we know for sure that Jesus is very aware 00:35:37.680 |
of the testing that's coming to the disciples. 00:35:39.560 |
And that's why he's confirming, "Do you know who I am? 00:35:44.880 |
"I know what the public opinion, but do you know? 00:35:55.160 |
"You are the Christ, the son of the living God." 00:35:57.040 |
And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, 00:35:59.600 |
"because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, 00:36:10.360 |
And it confuses the disciples because to them, 00:36:20.640 |
Even though they had the right view of Jesus, 00:36:24.040 |
they had the wrong view of what he was going to do. 00:36:27.640 |
And Jesus knew that they were gonna be tested. 00:36:33.000 |
"Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat, 00:36:37.920 |
And that's why when Peter, this courageous man 00:36:44.560 |
and die for Christ, all of a sudden becomes a coward. 00:37:17.800 |
after Jesus was crucified and he resurrected, 00:37:21.040 |
And they realized what Jesus was saying all along. 00:37:38.360 |
what caused them to persevere was not their great courage. 00:37:48.840 |
And that's why he was able to withstand the test 00:37:53.600 |
The only reason why Peter was able to withstand the test 00:38:00.440 |
Even though what he was seeing didn't quite fit. 00:38:18.400 |
In fact, we see that confession in John chapter six, 00:38:23.780 |
We had all these people who saw Jesus' miracles, 00:38:38.860 |
And these same men who were coming after Jesus, 00:38:45.100 |
"You're not coming after me because you know who I am. 00:38:46.980 |
"You're coming after me because you ate and you want more. 00:39:21.660 |
These are all those people who saw the miracles. 00:39:30.240 |
but because what Jesus was saying was difficult, 00:39:39.340 |
In John 6, 68, it says, "To whom shall we go? 00:40:09.420 |
"I don't really understand what you're doing, 00:40:21.140 |
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, 00:40:23.860 |
and it is that confession that caused them to persevere, 00:40:31.580 |
Now, it is in that context we get to verse 18 and 19, 00:40:53.020 |
and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 00:41:00.140 |
you know, Satan cannot penetrate into the church. 00:41:14.680 |
he doesn't say that we are the ones inside of the gate. 00:41:25.020 |
So who's in the offense and who's in the defense? 00:41:30.220 |
The church is the one who is going to the gates of Hades, 00:41:38.260 |
So the purpose of the church is not to make a safe haven 00:41:44.260 |
for Christians to run to because it's so bad out there. 00:41:55.800 |
Now, in and of itself, we pray that the church community, 00:42:10.580 |
It was for the purpose of the Great Commission 00:42:19.200 |
and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, 00:42:21.840 |
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 00:42:25.160 |
What does it mean to be given the keys of the kingdom? 00:42:31.280 |
Authority in the church, but authority for what? 00:42:51.800 |
to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease 00:42:59.100 |
Because he was pushing them into enemy territory. 00:43:16.360 |
we're gonna turn on the light, by what authority? 00:43:19.480 |
And we see that's exactly what Satan asks in the book of Acts. 00:43:30.680 |
In Matthew 28, 18 to 19, in the Great Commission, 00:43:33.880 |
he said, and Jesus came up and spoke to them, 00:43:53.840 |
just like it does to everybody, Christian or not, 00:44:04.420 |
All authority has been given to me, so relax. 00:44:10.120 |
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 00:44:19.360 |
Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, 00:44:25.120 |
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, 00:44:48.940 |
So a church that is not actively in the Great Commission, 00:44:53.160 |
if that is not the central heartbeat of the church, 00:44:56.220 |
an individual Christian who wants to be a follower of Christ 00:45:00.460 |
and yet his heartbeat is not the Great Commission, 00:45:06.060 |
Whatever authority that God has given elders in the church 00:45:13.140 |
Whatever authority that God has given the husband 00:45:44.180 |
You're asking your family and your wife to follow you 00:45:49.860 |
The purpose of authority that he gives to the church 00:45:57.340 |
Colossians 1, 13 to 14 is before he rescued us 00:45:59.900 |
from the domain of darkness and transferred us 00:46:04.060 |
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 00:46:18.040 |
they're gonna fight you with every power that they have. 00:46:31.660 |
they're not gonna say, "Oh, this is the right thing to do," 00:46:34.080 |
They're gonna, with all their power, all their might, 00:46:40.040 |
We are taking the light into enemy territory. 00:46:50.880 |
that has been blinded by the God of this age. 00:47:11.600 |
So by what authority, by what power would you do this? 00:47:15.280 |
And that's why he says to pray, to pray in the spirit. 00:47:21.400 |
we have to pray for the purpose of the Great Commission. 00:47:24.200 |
And it is in that where Paul says in Ephesians 6, 19 to 20, 00:47:28.800 |
"And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me 00:47:33.960 |
"in the opening of my mouth to make known the boldness, 00:47:51.740 |
Most of you guys know logos basically means the word. 00:48:00.100 |
translated this utterance is because he's not asking that. 00:48:06.260 |
So can you help me to know what the gospel is 00:48:15.500 |
Paul's the one who's teaching us about the gospel, 00:48:28.540 |
He's talking about a spirit-powered God's unction to speak. 00:48:41.740 |
They used to say how John Whitefield, when he preached, 00:48:52.940 |
It was that there was such an anointing upon his preaching. 00:49:05.600 |
but you cannot record the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:49:28.540 |
He's saying, "May it be empowered by the Holy Spirit." 00:49:32.700 |
"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 00:49:38.820 |
Now, the significance of the Pentecost here in Acts 2, 4 00:49:48.860 |
because they were selfishly seeking to gather together, 00:50:00.060 |
and he's gathering his people into the church, 00:50:11.780 |
they weren't ordained, they weren't commissioned, 00:50:15.780 |
and they begin to go run back to their hometown 00:50:26.800 |
there's Christians already there waiting for him. 00:50:30.520 |
So the power of the Holy Spirit went with these people 00:50:33.640 |
who experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit 00:50:36.160 |
and the gospel, and the pre-work was already done. 00:50:39.660 |
So when Paul says, "I am looking for utterance," 00:50:46.000 |
he's talking about anointing of the Holy Spirit. 00:50:48.880 |
There is a huge difference between regurgitating, 00:50:53.280 |
regurgitating the Word of God because you studied it, 00:51:08.120 |
There's a huge difference between the presentation of facts 00:51:26.040 |
because that's where they're getting commission, 00:51:29.000 |
because that's where they get their livelihood 00:51:42.100 |
They're doing it because they experienced something 00:51:48.520 |
Their lives changed, so they want your lives to change. 00:51:53.120 |
when the Holy Spirit has consumed that person, 00:52:11.240 |
I should be doing that, I should be doing this, 00:52:14.000 |
I should be, I feel bad that I'm not doing this. 00:52:16.600 |
But when conviction comes, it's a knee-jerk reaction. 00:52:21.880 |
You see a child who is in danger out on the street, 00:52:26.880 |
you don't sit there and think, should I be doing this? 00:52:30.480 |
Oh, I should be, I should be running out there, 00:52:38.480 |
and you have something that you can do to save that child, 00:52:55.100 |
that God's primary desire for my life is to be healthy, 00:52:59.600 |
to get a job promotion, to get to the right school, 00:53:03.520 |
to raise healthy children, so if they're obedient, 00:53:08.040 |
and think that that's God's greatest will in our life. 00:53:19.840 |
and your children is not God's primary concern. 00:53:32.700 |
His primary concern is the spreading of the gospel, 00:53:43.920 |
And so as a result, your suffering oftentimes 00:53:57.400 |
the place where they had gathered together was shaken, 00:53:59.880 |
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 00:54:02.580 |
and began to speak the word of God with boldness. 00:54:14.500 |
But when you hear carefully what that groaning means, 00:54:17.480 |
the Holy Spirit is always groaning to bring us to God, 00:54:21.240 |
and is always groaning to take us to the world. 00:54:29.800 |
To bring us to God, and to take us to the world. 00:54:39.440 |
Right now, the only concern you have is the next sale 00:54:46.660 |
that's gonna take you to the area that you want to go to, 00:54:49.620 |
and then you try to get on your knees and pray, 00:54:53.120 |
Lord, give me the lost, and you know you don't mean it. 00:55:09.240 |
At the end of your life, how would you evaluate 00:55:23.580 |
You got married at a decent age, had 2.2 children. 00:55:40.760 |
And at the end of your life, if you died and lived that life, 00:55:46.520 |
would you say on your deathbed, I lived a good life? 00:55:49.120 |
I want you to see the perspective that Apostle Paul has. 00:55:54.200 |
Philippians 1, 12 to 14, he's sitting in prison, 00:56:07.800 |
He says this, "Now I want you to know, brethren, 00:56:13.200 |
"so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ 00:56:16.560 |
"the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else, 00:56:19.080 |
"and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord 00:56:21.120 |
"because of my imprisonment have far more courage 00:56:25.880 |
His whole paradigm of what is good and what is bad 00:56:32.560 |
His suffering has caused more of the brethren 00:56:38.240 |
to have courage to speak and preach the gospel. 00:56:40.720 |
Even the people who are doing it for wrong motives, 00:56:44.280 |
he says, "Praise God, because the gospel is going out." 00:56:57.320 |
Is this the paradigm in which God will evaluate 00:57:03.740 |
Is this a paradigm in which God will look at our church 00:57:20.520 |
Is that the criteria where God's gonna look at a church 00:57:26.120 |
Or is this the perspective that God will use? 00:57:31.000 |
Philippians 1:20-22, "According to my earnest expectation 00:57:34.900 |
"and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, 00:57:38.160 |
"but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, 00:57:43.800 |
"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 00:57:47.040 |
This is a man who's waiting to possibly be beheaded. 00:57:54.520 |
in the midst of possibly dying for the cause, 00:58:08.400 |
If you ask me personally what I want, I'm ready to go. 00:58:14.400 |
Staying here means fruitful labor for me, for you, 00:58:21.600 |
And because of that, I think I will stay longer 00:58:29.840 |
And he said, "If you're asking me, that's what I want. 00:58:43.080 |
more suffering, more beating, more imprisonment, 00:58:48.600 |
But he says, "Because the gospel needs to be preached." 00:58:52.360 |
He said, "I'm praying that you will pray for me, 00:59:11.120 |
"Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect." 00:59:16.680 |
he's not talking about people who just don't like him. 00:59:37.320 |
where he's at the point of death he's enduring. 00:59:46.440 |
This guy was a celebrity before he met Christ. 00:59:52.360 |
He was the highest educated man among the Israelites, 00:59:56.480 |
right under Gamaliel, and he rejected all of that, 01:00:00.200 |
and telling this crazy story about some messiah 01:00:02.920 |
who was crucified, resurrected from the dead, 01:00:07.880 |
He was talking about beating, shipwrecked, rejection. 01:00:14.200 |
He said he endures all of it for the sake of the elect. 01:00:32.720 |
Our tendency, because of where you and I are raised, 01:00:37.440 |
is to naturally think that God's primary desire for you 01:00:43.280 |
is to have a good marriage, have multiple children, 01:00:47.920 |
good job, nobody gets sick, live a long life, 01:00:56.920 |
to this and that, and then die a long life, old age. 01:01:16.560 |
I remember, I think this is our ninth or 10th year 01:01:25.280 |
I've had so many people ask me that I shouldn't be going. 01:01:37.840 |
you're five hours away from anything that we know. 01:01:53.560 |
They give them bus tickets and they would have them 01:02:00.640 |
once those pastors come and they experience the big city, 01:02:15.520 |
But at the same time, the same pastors are telling me 01:02:17.960 |
once they come here, they don't want to go back 01:02:21.480 |
Well, this is an area that I kept on hearing. 01:02:27.360 |
And I found out that the greatest concentration 01:02:30.160 |
of unreached people groups were in that area, in India. 01:02:42.440 |
it was in that area because anybody who knows India, 01:02:46.040 |
they're divided by their language and culture, 01:02:57.400 |
And so missionaries go out there and learn a language 01:03:05.360 |
Well, I heard about these pastors who are way out in India 01:03:08.960 |
and one of the guys who came to interpret for me 01:03:11.480 |
as we're doing pastoral training was starting to tell me 01:03:20.800 |
So I remember the first year that we went out 01:03:26.280 |
that went out and some of you might be sitting in here. 01:03:31.120 |
"and I wanted you to know that where we're going, 01:03:35.080 |
"So if you come with me, I need you to be ready." 01:03:40.840 |
some of you guys may remember the first year we went there 01:03:50.440 |
And if we go there, if anything happens to us, 01:03:58.080 |
from where we were at and we went there thinking, 01:04:03.880 |
And we realized that, okay, if anything happens here, 01:04:06.560 |
we just have to get in a car and drive five hours back. 01:04:11.160 |
Within those 10 years, in the persecution meter, 01:04:22.880 |
The persecution has gotten so much more intense. 01:04:30.160 |
I mean, we've experienced some, but not to this level. 01:04:37.000 |
had something about how they were being bothered. 01:04:55.640 |
And I asked them, are you sure this is a safe place to be? 01:05:00.320 |
And they said, we're okay because the village elder 01:05:05.600 |
And so even the housing that they're building, 01:05:09.600 |
they have to get contractors from out of town 01:05:19.600 |
So the obvious question that people ask me is, 01:05:24.320 |
If they were concerned 10 years ago, I mean, now it's real. 01:05:29.320 |
And this year, I'm taking my daughter with me. 01:05:38.200 |
You have a tendency, I knew it, you ride a motorcycle, 01:05:42.760 |
so you're gonna do, say, these crazy things, right? 01:05:48.440 |
Let me read you a passage, 1 Corinthians 16, 9. 01:05:54.760 |
Paul says, "For a wide door for the effective service 01:05:58.440 |
"has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." 01:06:03.000 |
If you grew up in America in the last 100 years, 01:06:09.200 |
you said, those two things you think are contradictory. 01:06:17.320 |
Many persecutions, where you're gonna have to risk 01:06:26.400 |
if a red carpet comes out, and there's a nice place to stay, 01:06:31.400 |
safety, Christians have already gone, established, 01:06:37.760 |
we preach the gospel, and then we're able to plant churches, 01:06:48.480 |
they're beating them up, hoping that they would die, 01:06:57.440 |
Paul's perspective, and the Holy Spirit's perspective, 01:07:02.360 |
remember what he says, remember what Jesus said? 01:07:04.720 |
"The kingdom of God advances with forceful men violently." 01:07:15.400 |
he's saying that the kingdom of God will progress 01:07:20.160 |
with people who are committed to the spiritual battle 01:07:30.880 |
It doesn't mean that God called you to poverty, 01:07:34.800 |
it doesn't mean that God said every single person 01:07:53.240 |
is to advance the cause of Christ into the realm of Satan. 01:07:58.240 |
And he promised us that he will build this church, 01:08:03.040 |
and the gates of Haiti will not prevail against it. 01:08:06.680 |
So you will either join with Christ and follow him 01:08:14.160 |
or you will live your life independently, away from God, 01:08:31.720 |
that you are not drinking from the living water. 01:08:43.080 |
that the Great Commission is not your heartbeat. 01:08:54.920 |
and the pastors there are doing everything in their power 01:09:11.600 |
what we do gives a clear platform for the pastors 01:09:26.720 |
and we'll be back the Saturday after, Lord willing, 01:09:37.360 |
But beyond that, we pray for the pastors who are there, 01:09:43.600 |
that they're the ones who are pushing into villages 01:09:47.360 |
They're the ones who are gonna get rocks thrown at them. 01:09:58.280 |
for a short period of time will open doors for them 01:10:03.520 |
that they would have the utterances by the Holy Spirit, 01:10:10.440 |
that we would play a small part to help them to do that. 01:10:18.240 |
is asking you to pray for us, pray for the team, 01:10:21.520 |
and pray for what's going on, pray for the pastors, 01:11:30.880 |
that desires to make this life our permanent home. 01:11:39.680 |
that health and wealth is what you primarily desire for us. 01:11:55.920 |
that we may have life, and that through that life, 01:12:00.920 |
that we may live the life that Christ lived for us. 01:15:14.100 |
and eternal and deep, deep love of God our Father,