Not Stumbling Because of Jesus | Luke 7:18-23 | 7-5-26

Good morning. It is a joy and an honor to be

here with you this morning. My name is Jeffrey

Woods. I grew up not far from here. Manchester,

Connecticut is where I called home till I left

to go overseas. My wife and I and our kiddos,

we live in Africa in a country called Kenya.

But it is always nice to come back home. And

I bring you greetings from my wife. Not so much

my kids. They didn't send any greetings, but

I think they meant it. They're little, and so

they're in Mombasa, Kenya right now. So Kenya

is the east coast of Africa. It is known for

animals. They've got great safaris. But it's

a place my wife and I have called home for the

last couple years. My wife and I have lived,

I actually went to Africa as a single guy. I

went to college in Pennsylvania. I came back,

lived in Manchester for a couple of years, and

then I moved overseas because I felt like the

Lord was calling me into missions or asking me

to go into missions. And so I went single. I

went to a little country called the Comoros Islands,

and I was there for a couple of years. And then

I went up to a much bigger country called Sudan,

which used to be the largest country in Africa

until it split into two. So I lived in Khartoum,

Sudan, and that's where I met my wife Stephanie.

And so my wife is from West Texas, a little itty

-bitty town in the north of West Texas, and we

met there. We got married after... a little while,

and then we went back to Comoros where we have

three beautiful kids. All of them were born overseas.

Titus is 13, Nathan is 10, and then our youngest,

Hannah, is 8. And so I apologize, they couldn't

be with me this morning, but they're doing well

overseas. And I fly back, Lord willing, tomorrow.

I fly back to Kenya, and I'll be with them early,

early Wednesday morning, if all goes well. My

wife and I, we love missions and we love that

we get to serve a missionary God. A God who is

excited about all peoples. He's excited about

you and he's excited about me and he's excited

about people who look like us and who speak the

same language as us and he's excited about people

who don't look like us and who don't share the

same language. My wife and I have spent our entire

missions career focused on one thing, and that

one thing is people groups who have no access

to the gospel. So again, in Connecticut, my wife's

from Texas, so like again, there's a massive

difference between Connecticut and Texas. Texas,

there are churches literally everywhere. Connecticut,

there are churches, maybe not as common as in

Texas, but we love to serve amongst people where

there are no churches. Where there's no Bible,

and where there's no Christians. And you're like,

well, how did you end up in Kenya? Kenya is a

bit of a Christian nation, and I'll explain that

in a minute. But first, we ended up in Comoros.

And Comoros is one of these places. It's 99 .99

% Muslim. Nobody knows about Jesus as in the

true Jesus. They have an idea about Jesus in

the Islamic tradition as a prophet, as a good

person, as someone they really love. But they

completely deny the essence of who Jesus is as

the son of God. And God just put something in

my wife's and my heart that said it is totally

unfair that so many people are born, live, and

die without ever having the chance to hear the

good news. And so we felt like the Lord is asking

us to do something about that and so we went

overseas and we've served on a church planting

team where our whole goal has been to establish

a church amongst a people group that doesn't

know him, a place where it's illegal to be missionaries.

And so we set up a business and we did some different

things there, but we always aligned ourselves

with Jesus, with the Bible, and with the church.

And we wanted no one, no one, to be confused

as to who we are. That we are people of the Bible.

That we're people who love Jesus. And we're people

who represent and are part of his church globally.

We are, you guys, we're just you guys overseas.

And there's this vast body. of the church that

it's just a privilege to be part of. And so after

about 15 years in Comoros, we moved from there

to Kenya. And I'll share a little bit about what

Comoros was like. But we moved from there to

Kenya. And Kenya, right now, we've got a beautiful

house. It's a somewhat Christian nation. It's

like 50 % Christian. But if you sit on my back

porch, which all of you should do, it's gorgeous.

You are welcome to come visit. My mom is here

today. She'll bring you with her. It's great,

but when you sit on that porch, it's green, there's

monkeys that play in the yard, but here's what

you see and hear, or here's what you maybe don't

see. About 200, 300 yards across this little

quarry, five times a day you hear this massive

call to prayer going off, because there's a huge

mosque from the Middle East that's right there.

If you go out our gate, you will find two Hindu

temples right across the road. If you go another...

20 yards, you will find a witch doctor training

school. And then eventually, you're going to

get to a church. So we live in a place where

there's all sorts of need. And we've built our

career just trying to reach Muslims with the

gospel, trying to have good conversation, trying

to build a good reputation, but trying to be

very clear about who Jesus is and why we love

him so much and what he has to offer. And so

we live in Kenya right now. And now, if you're

coming with our organization, you want to work

amongst unreached peoples or people with no access

to the gospel. You're going to come through Mombasa.

You're going to stay with us for a year. We're

going to train you in all sorts of things. In

the classroom, we're going to train you in missiology

and theology and all of these things, the study

of missions. Then we're going to go out in the

streets, and we're going to train you there.

And we're going to show, here's how you share

the gospel with someone who is... Nothing like

you and their worldview is nothing like you and

we're gonna teach you how to learn a language

because We find that a lot of times anyway, if

you're coming from the US, you know English somebody

taught you Spanish or French back in in high

school But you don't remember any of it And then

we're gonna teach you how to learn a new language

And so we spend a year with people then we launch

them all over so we've we launched them to any

Basically any country you can think of in Africa

that has Muslim peoples we send people there

and we do leadership with that as well But this

morning I want to introduce you to a passage

of scripture which I'm sure is familiar for most

of you. And this passage of scripture is extremely

important to me because this passage of scripture

I firmly believe God used to completely save

my faith. And you're like, what does that mean?

He didn't use it to get me into the faith. He

used it to keep my faith. And you know, the Lord

is really good about revealing himself to us.

And he does it in all sorts of ways. But we know

that one of the primary ways he does it is through

his word. And so I want to read a scripture.

It's from Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. And

Luke 7 · chapter mention Luke 7 · chapter mention

it's a story about John the Baptist. And we're

going to talk a little bit more about John the

Baptist. But God used this passage at a time

where I desperately needed something from Jesus.

What he gave me So we'll look a little bit more

at this story, but I want to read these five

or six verses Luke chapter 7 beginning in verse

Luke 7 · chapter mention

18 Alright, so Luke chapter 7 beginning in verse

Luke 7 · chapter mention

18 and it says the disciples of John that's John

the Baptist reported all these things to him

and John Calling two of his disciples to him

sent them to the Lord saying are you the one

who is to come? Or shall we look for another?

and when the men had come to him they said John

the Baptist has sent you to us saying are you

the one who is to come or shall we look for another

in that hour he healed many people of diseases

and plagues and evil spirits and many who were

blind he bestowed sight and he answered them

go and tell John what you have seen and heard

the blind receive sight the lame walk the lepers

are cleansed and the deaf hear The dead are raised

up and the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by

me. And I want to talk a little bit more about

this thought of blessed is the one who is not

offended by me. The NIV says blessed is anyone

who doesn't stumble on account of me. The NLT

says blessed, God blesses those who don't fall

away because of me. And so what does that mean?

What is Jesus saying to John's disciples and,

in essence, to John? Blessed is the one who doesn't

fall away on account of me. And I want to weave

three stories together. I want to weave the story

of John the Baptist, which we're going to look

at from Luke 7 and a little bit elsewhere. I

want to tell you a little bit about my story,

specifically my story in Africa. And then I want

to just throw out some questions for you and

your story. Because we all have stories. We're

all living a life orchestrated, written, authored,

ordained by God. So let's start with John the

Baptist. So in Luke 1, verse 5, we read that

Luke 1:5

John had a miraculous conception. Zechariah and

Elizabeth couldn't have a kid, then all of a

sudden an angel comes, Elizabeth gets pregnant,

there's a story about what they should name him,

things like that, but it was a miracle. Then

a little while we get... A little while later

we get the story of Jesus' conception and Mary

and Joseph. But then we get this wonderful story

where Mary visits Elizabeth, both have babies

in their womb, and somehow the babies recognize

each other. Something's going on there, right?

And it says that the baby leapt inside Elizabeth's

womb. So we're talking about John. John leapt

in Elizabeth's womb when Mary pregnant with Jesus.

came in. So there's something going on there.

In Luke 1 to 80, and then also in Matthew 3 -4,

we learn that John the Baptist, he lived an aesthetic

life. He lived out by himself, but not totally

alone. He had his disciples with him, but he

forsook the town. He forsook the normal way of

living, and he became a little bit more By himself

with his disciples and he for it for sook some

of the finer things that life had to offer Said

he had that clothes that were made of camel hair

and and he ate honey and locusts and things like

that then in John chapter 1 John the Baptist

John 1 · chapter mention

is with his disciples and Jesus comes by and

John says something very interesting. He says

look The Lamb of God who takes the way the sin

of the world and he's talking about Jesus John

knew Jesus. John knew something from the womb

about Jesus. And then in life after the womb,

as they were ministering and going about, John

recognized, look, Jesus, that guy over there

to his disciples, he's the one who takes away

the sin of the world, the lamb of God going back

to the Old Testament. John even gives up some

of his disciples and says, go follow that guy.

And they do. Matthew 3, we get the story of Jesus'

baptism, which John is the one who baptizes.

And as Jesus is baptized, you get this image

of a dove coming and you get the voice of the

father who says, this is my son, listen to him.

John had wonderful experiences with Jesus. And

all of that happens before we get this passage

where John is in prison and he tells his disciples

and says, disciples, go ask Jesus. Is he the

one we should expect or is there another? So

what's going on in John's mind? And I think if

you've been following Jesus for a little while,

you probably understand what's going on in John's

mind. Because all of us, again, we have stories.

You have stories that would make us cry. You

have stories that would make us laugh. You have

stories that would make us joyful. You have stories

that would make us confused. But they're your

stories. It's your life lived. It's what God

has done with you and in you and through you.

And there are days where we know Jesus is so

real. And then there are days where, if we're

honest, I think sometimes we can't find Jesus.

And so, in our own lives, we recognize this.

People will often ask me, how on earth did you

go from Manchester, Connecticut to East Africa,

to Sudan, to Comoros, to Kenya? How did that

happen? And I'll say, Jesus just kept speaking

to me. And I just kept asking, God, give me ears

to hear whatever you're saying. and give me the

courage to follow whatever you say. And as I

read scripture, as I listened to sermons, as

I talked with people, I realized there was a

world out there that didn't know about him. And

I realized from scripture that the entire church

is responsible for the entire world. And I realized

Jesus was asking me to do something very specific

about it. He was asking me to pray. He was asking

me to give. He but he was asking me to go and

he was asking me to leave and forsake the comforts

of life here Which some of you are like, oh,

it's not so comfortable but Leave and say, okay,

I'll give up everything familiar I'll give up

family friends the language I speak all of these

things and go follow him somewhere else and it

was a slow journey of simple yeses Because at

first I felt like God was calling me into ministry.

So I said yes But I didn't know. I was hoping

it was youth. I was really hoping it was camping,

because that sounded really fun. But both of

those doors closed, and it became, God is calling

me into missions. And then it became, God is

calling me to Africa. And then it became, not

just to work with a church in Africa, to work

with people where there was no church. And once

that door opened and I walked through it, I said

to Jesus, I will never do anything else again.

I love this. And it's an honor and a privilege

to do it. But again, it was rooted in the Bible,

in this command that God gives us to make disciples

of all nations. And that a biblical view of heaven

is a view of all nations worshipping Jesus. One

of the most painful experiences I've had in missions

was talking with an Islamic leader. And again,

I don't think he represented... mainstream Islam

but he was sitting there he was teaching our

group of missionaries and he said one of the

great things about heaven is we're gonna get

there and it's gonna be a non -stop fun and party

and all of this and so we asked where's God in

all this he's like oh God leaves he's not with

us and the idea that heaven without the Lord

is no heaven I want to be part of but at the

same time heaven without the nations is an incomplete

it's incomplete because there has to be people

from every tribe, every tongue, and every people

group. I love the work the Lord called me to

do. And my wife does. And one of the things I

love about meeting my wife overseas is if one

of us wants to leave, we're going to have to

convince the other one that Jesus is really telling

us to leave. Because we both went in on it together,

in on it separate. And so now we are in together.

So let's go back to John the Baptist. So if you

look earlier, I want to read an earlier scripture

in Luke chapter seven, because I just read verses

18 through 23, which is a snippet. But every

snippet comes from context, right? There's context

around it. So if you look at verse 18, it says,

the disciples reported all these things to John,

or to him. What did he report? We'll look back

on chapter seven. Verse one through 10, we get

this story about a Roman centurion who had a

sick servant. And so they go and they say, Jesus,

come and heal him. And so they go, but the servants

go and they get Jesus. But Jesus doesn't make

it in time. And so the servant dies or whatever.

And Jesus, go. Just go. No, the centurion doesn't

say that. He says, I understand authority. as

I am a man under authority and I have authority.

Jesus, all you have to do is say it. Just say

the word and let my servant be healed. And you

know what Jesus does? He says the word. That's

the Jesus we serve. His word is so powerful that

when he says it, nothing is impossible. Then

let's look at verse 11. I want to read this one

because there's a detail in this I missed. I

mean, maybe I saw it, but it stuck out to me

in a new way as I was prepping for this morning.

So it says, verse 11, chapter seven, soon afterward

he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples

and a great crowd went with him. And as he drew

near the gate of the town, behold, a man had

died and was being carried out, the only son

of his mother. And she was a widow, and a considerable

crowd from the town was with her. And when the

Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and he

said, do not weep. Then he came up and he touched

the... He touched the buyer, and the bearer stood

still, and he said, Young man, I say to you arise.

And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And

Jesus gave him to his mother. And fear seized

them all. And they glorified God, saying, A great

prophet has risen among us, and God has visited

his people. And this report about him spread

through the whole of Judea and the surrounding

country. Both of these people, the Roman centurion

and the widow, had very difficult circumstances,

and God spoke in through Jesus, and their situation

was totally reversed. And then you get John the

Baptist, this person who knew Jesus from the

womb, who followed Jesus, who baptized Jesus,

and he was in prison, and we're gonna find out

why he was in prison in a minute, if you don't

know already. And John is like, Jesus, where's

my miracle? Are you the one we're to expect?

What's going on? The widow got her miracle. And

the Roman centurion, not a Jew, got his miracle.

And John the Baptist, this wonderful prophet,

is like, what about me? What about me? As I look

back on my missions career, my first two years

were brutally difficult. I went to Comoros. I

was 24 years old. I knew so much and yet I knew

absolutely nothing. I got off the plane and there

was a red carpet and there was a band and that's

when I realized the president was on the plane.

That red carpet was not for me and the band was

not for me. The president got off, he had his

wonderful fanfare, the plane moved 50 yards this

way, we got off to nothing. We went to this nasty

little motel where we stayed for the first week

and we learned some language and we figured out

how to live. We went in January, which was the

hottest time of year. After we survived that

week, we got rewarded with a homestay where they

put us with a local family for one week. I know

how to say basically, hello, my name is Jeff,

I'm learning your language, I don't speak your

language. That's basically all I knew. I didn't

know how to say, where's the bathroom? I didn't

know how to say, I don't like that. I didn't

know how to say, what are we doing today? And

so I end up in this little island village for

one week. And it was so hard. It was so hard.

Then I got finished that week, and I got rewarded

with two more years of difficulty. I had malaria

at least eight times. I couldn't get rid of it.

It just kept coming back. I lost weight. I was

sick over and over again. When you're sick over

and over again, language learning is brutally

hard. It's this temperature every day of the

year, and we had electricity a couple hours a

day. Life was challenging. That house had great

running water, but then when I got married, that

house had no running water. I would tell my wife,

listen, I've given you the most beautiful house

in the entire island. We could see dolphins in

the ocean. outside of our window. And she would

look down and there would be rats running on

the ground. And she would say, yeah, but we have

rats. And I said, but we have dolphins. We agreed

to disagree on that house. But my first two years

were hard. Physically, I was sick all the time.

Mentally, I realized something about missions.

I was not good at it. I wasn't good at language

learning. And I wasn't good at sharing the gospel

with strangers. And I wasn't good at just persevering.

And relationally, it was really hard. I've got

a twin brother. So again, we talk about John

the Baptist in the womb. I had someone in the

womb with me. Then I had someone in my room with

me. And then I go overseas. I've got no one.

And I was lonely every single day. And those

three things were OK. But then the hard part

was they were the most difficult years spiritually

of my life. Because I would read this same Bible.

And I would read Acts, or like this passage in

Luke. And I would see miracle after miracle.

And then I would go out and I would do it. And

I saw no miracle. And I just kept saying, God,

where are you in this? And that's when I found

this passage about John the Baptist. And it just

jumped off the page to me of, do not be offended

by me. And the Lord, through his spirit, just

spoke, Jeffrey, you are choosing to be offended

by what Jesus does. Or in my case, maybe what

Jesus is not doing. And so then I credit Jesus

through this passage of John the Baptist just

saving my faith. I'll often tell people I've

never been closer to leaving my faith than when

I became a missionary, which sounds terrible.

And it is terrible. But it was the honest truth.

So many things seemed stacked against me. And

yet Jesus is so good. If you were going to design

the most formative transformative years of your

life. How would you design it? Often it's the

hardest seasons that God uses to bring the most

change and the most transformation and the most

blessing into our lives and then through us to

others. I would never have designed my first

two years in mission so difficult and yet I wouldn't

change it for anything. The reason I'm still

here 20 years later is because God was so good

to me in those two years by taking all these

things away. by allowing it to be so much more

difficult than I thought it should have been.

Because I could identify with John and say, whoa,

where's my miracle? I'm reading it in the scripture,

but I don't see the scripture in my life. But

it's another important part of following Jesus,

when our experience can't be the lens, the most

important lens through which we view faith. God's

word is a rock. It never changes. If my experience

says Jesus has abandoned me, I know by scripture

it's not true. If my experience says I don't

see the goodness of God, I know God is good because

I anchor in his word. So we go back to John the

Baptist. In Matthew chapter 14, we read how John

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

the Baptist died. And Herod the Tetrarch, he

hosts a party. And they have a lot to eat and

they have a lot to drink. An important note to

know about him, he's living in sin. He's currently

taking his brother's wife as his own, or at least

he's sleeping with his brother's wife. And so

this young lady comes out and she dances and

she does a wonderful job for the dinner party.

And Herod the Tetrarch is so pleased, he says,

I'll give you whatever you want. And so she goes

back, talks to her mother, Herodias, and they

say, we want the head of John the Baptist on

a platter. You know, it seems like Herod wasn't

super excited about that, but because he made

a promise, he couldn't be ashamed in front of

all his friends. So he goes and he has John the

Baptist killed. Imagine being John the Baptist.

You are faithful every second of your life. You

are an amazing prophet. You forsook the niceties

of life in Israel. You lived in the desert. You

baptized Jesus. You knew Jesus. Jesus, just say

the word and I'll be set free. And we read throughout

scripture, God was pretty good at getting people

out of prison, Old Testament and New Testament.

And yet John the Baptist didn't get that. Instead,

this dinner party went wrong and John the Baptist

lost his head. Where is God in that? But I'd

like to suggest God is as much in that as he

is in the miracle. the miracle release, the miracle

salvation, the miracle whatever. But John the

Baptist had a difficult calling. When I finished

my two and a half years in Comoros, I made a

very simple decision, which shocked most people

around me. And my decision was this. I'm going

back. Most people thought I would be done. I

remember standing up in front of, with our pastor

at our church in Manchester, and I remember sitting

there, standing there in front of the congregation,

and the pastor says, we never thought you'd make

it. And I remember, again, like, I'm not gonna

say anything about him. I remember looking at

him and being like, I didn't know quitting was

an option. Like, it never occurred to me. And

then, it never occurred to me not to go back.

Because if the Lord is asking me to do it, He

was with me through every difficulty. Had I not

gone back, I never would have met my wife, we

never would have had our kids, and we never would

have been having the impact that we are amongst

people groups who have never heard about Jesus.

I love what God has called us to do. People often

say, wow, you've sacrificed so much to live in

Africa. And I say, oh no, it has been no sacrifice.

It has been a complete privilege. To live over

there when you get to sit down with somebody

and share the gospel with somebody who has never

heard it ever You sit there and you say Jesus

why on earth did you give me this privilege?

How could you let me be part of that? So before

I close I want to just look at a couple of lessons

lesson number one from this this story of John

the Baptist I Tried to make a point to emphasize

John lived out in the wilderness But the Bible's

very careful to tell us he didn't live alone.

He had his disciples. Friends, as people who

followed Jesus, were not called to be alone.

It's why I'm absolutely in love with God's church.

And it's a privilege to be part of it overseas.

And it's why I want to see it planted amongst

people groups that don't have it. Because we're

supposed to live in community together. Another

lesson we take away is authority. I think as

Americans, in our view of the material world

versus spiritual world, we underestimate the

authority that God has just by his word. It's

why I ask you to pray with us for the work overseas,

because I think you guys can do more in your

prayers than you will ever know this side of

eternity. Most Muslims come to faith because

of dreams. I think that's firmly tied to people

around the world praying for them. Again. We

can pull back that curtain when we get to heaven,

and God shows us some amazing picture of how

he was orchestrating all these things. But don't

doubt for one minute your ability to influence

the nations from here. So please keep praying.

Another lesson, which I bring out just slightly,

but I think we get this wrong so much as believers,

I reference Jesus' baptism with John. When John

baptized Jesus, God could have come and said

anything. But he emphasized his delight over

Jesus. This is my son Whom I love Friends Jesus

the father the spirit their disposition towards

us is delight and the enemy would love us to

to have shame and to say we're not good enough

or God must be so Displeased with me because

I should do better or this but God just delights

in his people He just delights in us. Another

lesson. We've talked about so many people. The

widow, the centurion, the widow's son, the centurion's

servant, John the Baptist, the disciples, Jesus,

Herod, all of these people. I'd like to encourage

you, whatever role God gives you, be willing

to embrace that role. If the role is one of suffering,

Somebody in the story had to die. And I'm not

talking about Jesus had to die. But no one gets

raised from the dead if the son of the widow

of Nain doesn't die. The widow had to lose her

only son. Those are tough roles. John passed

away. The Roman centurion servant was sick. But

so often we don't want any of those roles. We

want the role of Jesus. We want the one with

the power or the authority. And yet Jesus says,

will you trust me in life or in death? Will you

trust me in sickness or in health? Will you trust,

that sounds like a marriage ceremony, will you

trust me no matter what I'm doing, even if you

can't see what I'm doing? Friends, as a church,

our answer should be yes. But then the primary

lesson I want to pull out is where we started.

Don't be offended by Jesus. Don't be offended

by what you see him doing. Don't be offended

by what you see him don't doing. If you hang

your hope on a miracle, you hang your hope on

the wrong thing. If you hang your hope on Jesus,

you hang your hope on the right person. If you

hang your hope on a certain answer to prayer,

you hang your hope on the wrong thing. If you

hang your hope on Jesus, the one who answers

all prayers, you hang your hope on the right

person. What do you expect of Jesus? His word

tells us so many wonderful things. We don't doubt

his goodness. He's more than enough, always.

Pastor Jared prayed it earlier today. We have

all these blessings and things are wonderful,

but if we had none of it, if we just had Jesus,

that's enough. That was maybe the most important

little... missions lesson I learned in my first

two years was all I need is Jesus. And if I have

Jesus, if my hope is set on Jesus, if my vision

is set on Jesus, if my desire is anchored to

Jesus, I will never be disappointed. And I could

have set my desire on good things like the church

being planted, or physical health being well,

or avoiding malaria. or the water turning on,

or the electricity staying on, or things like

that, those things will always disappoint. But

if my highest hope was just simply knowing Jesus,

and being with Jesus, and wanting whatever Jesus

wanted, I learned I'll never be disappointed.

So if you look back over your life, I'm guessing

it's the same as if I look back over mine. My

biggest moments of disappointment are where Jesus,

where my... my desires didn't align with Jesus',

even if I thought they did. And as I look back

over my life, I've suffered different defeats,

heartaches, and disappointments. But when I spend

time with Jesus, I realize he's never disappointed

me, not once, despite the difficulty and despite

the pain. Walking with Jesus is not a pain -free

life, but I love we sang the hymn, about he leadeth

us. Always. Everywhere. We say even death isn't

to be avoided. That whatever our lot is, we're

fine with it. Those two years in Comoros shaped

the rest of my life. They were painful, they

were difficult. The last 18 have been nothing

like that. But if the next two years are exactly

like the first two, I want to be someone who

just says, Jesus, thank you. Let me end with

a real life example of what I'm talking about.

In Comoros, we labored for 15 years to see a

church planted. And at about the 13 year mark,

we saw a whole bunch of fruit. People started

coming to the Lord. A family came to the Lord.

Singles came to the Lord. They started winning

people to the Lord. It was beautiful. This family

that came to the Lord the Easter before we left

so we left in summer of 2024 to move to Kenya

But so Easter so that would have been April 2024

we sat in our living room with our missionary

team and with these local believers and We had

kids we had old people. We had young people and

we just sat and we just walked through the Easter

story. We sat on the floor. We ate dinner out

of platters together. It was a very cultural

experience and a very biblical experience, and

it was beautiful. And as I looked, I'm like,

God, I'm saying goodbye to this because our time

here is finished, but man, you are capable to

keep this thing going. And so it kept going,

and a new person came to faith, this middle -aged

lady who in our society doesn't have a lot of

status, and yet she's on fire for Jesus. And

she's... seeing wonderful things happen in her

community. This week, today's Sunday, on Wednesday,

I get a message from the team that is still on

the island. And this is what the message said.

It's with heavy heart I pass on this news. The

father in that family with six kids has passed

away. He's got six small kids. He loves Jesus.

And he died from an infection that in America

you could have dealt with easily. But he didn't

have access to good medical care, and he passes

away. And I just look back to the heavens and

I say, Jesus, I don't know what you're doing.

Because if I was thinking of how to build a church

in this place without one, I would keep these

people alive. But I just say, Jesus, you're good.

And I'm mourning the passing of this guy. But

my hope was not hung on this person. My hope

is in Jesus. The widow of Nain's story. Did you

guys catch the widow of Nain? The son she lost

was her only son. Well, who was John the Baptist?

John the Baptist was the miracle baby of Zechariah

and Elizabeth. He had every right to claim that

small detail. He had every right for Jesus to

look on him with the same compassion and the

same grace. And yet the widow of Nain's son gets

raised. and John the Baptist passes away. And

either way, Jesus is glorified. And as we work

to see God's church planted amongst the nations,

no matter how it goes, if we are faithful, he

will be worshiped and he will be glorified. And

that's the same in your lives. No matter what

you face today or tomorrow, whatever you brought

into church with you this morning, if you stay

true to Jesus, If you say, Jesus, I don't understand,

and I would sure love to understand, but I'm

okay with not understanding because I know you

are good and I trust you, then Jesus gets the

glory, which is what we want. Let me pray for

you. Father God, I thank you and I pray this

morning that you would be glorified here in this

church as a spiritual community and as individuals.

Lord may our trust and our hope be in you may

you continue to amaze us may you continue to

wow us may you continue to do things we just

didn't see coming and Lord help us help each

and every one of us to walk through difficult

seasons and may our response be instead of running

from you may our response be to just anchor into

you and say I don't understand but I trust and

I don't know what's gonna happen, but I know

you Jesus, and I know you are good Jesus, we

thank you that the same one who is king here

is king everywhere and that your kingdom is coming

and that your will will be done on earth as it

is in heaven and that one day we will worship

you forever with people from all nations. In

that name, in your name, in the name of Jesus

we pray. Amen.