God's Heart For The World

Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

We're celebrating Global Sunday because we have a global God.

If you take a journey through the Scriptures in the very first

book of the Bible, you're going to hear that God wants to make a

nation, but not for the nation to be known as being a nation in

and of itself. He says to Abraham, I'm going to

make you a father. I'm going to create a nation.

And you know what? Their job is to be a blessing so

that the rest of the world would get to meet God.

So a nation that would be a blessing to all nations.

God has always been a generational nationwide, all

tribes, all peoples, all tongues, kind of God.

God has said of himself, I'm not willing that anybody would

perish. It's my heart that we would

bring the gospel to the very ends of the earth.

If you start in Genesis, you see the heart of the Father is for

all nations. And if you end in Revelation,

you'll see this beautiful picture that God describes, a

tree planted by a stream in the new heavens and the new earth.

And you know what the leaves are for on that tree?

The healing of the nations. God has always been and will

always be the God of the nations.

So here's where we get in trouble.

We begin to think that the world that we're living in, right?

This world that we're focused on, maybe even living in

America, which is a great place to live, that our job is to have

a great country. Our job is not alone to have a

great country. Our job is to build the Kingdom

of heaven, the Kingdom of God that supersedes anyone nation.

And so today we're lifting our eyes out of our region to look

at the globe, to see what mission partners we have parted

with at Illuminate Church and to begin to allow the Lord to give

you his heart for the nation's. So if you leave today with a

desire that beats like the heart of God, or a specific country, a

specific ministry or a specific calling, then we have done what

God has set us out to do. Are you guys ready to go on this

journey? Yes.

Did you know that we are called as disciples of Jesus to care

for the poor, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to

set the captive free, to rescue the oppressed, to educate,

elevate regions by equipping people within their own country,

to lead, to educate, to be pastors, to build churches, to

build safe havens and safe houses and rescue spots for

those that are voiceless, oppressed and overlooked.

We are called to spread the gospel, the good news of Jesus,

and with that comes the call to make disciples.

When Jesus said I want you to go, he said I want you to go and

baptize all nations. But then he followed it with

this in Matthew 28, verse 20. Teach these new disciples to

Matthew 28:20

obey all the commands I have given you.

Our job is not only to bring the gospel, it's to raise disciples.

We are disciples who make disciples in this house and

across the globe at Illuminate Church.

Every dollar that you give, 10% of it is immediately ushered

into a giving portal. And out of that giving, we have

mission partners. We have missionaries that we

support. We support local, regional, and

global mission partners. And today, we're going to bring

to the platform some of those mission partners as well as

someone that's just like you. If you would welcome with me

right now to the platform Kim Lenaway, Joyce Keepai from

Kenya, Africa, Tammy Shannon and Scott Batson who's serving in

Nicaragua as they're getting settled.

Let me just remind you the words of Jesus.

After Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, he spent

40 days with his disciples and a crowd that were willing to

believe that he was actually who he said he was.

And in his precious time, he said to them, I want you.

He gave that Great Commission, go and make disciples of all

nations. And then in Acts 1/8, he said,

you're going to be my witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And he named some specific places.

Now, as you hear these places, I need you to know that he was

standing in Jerusalem. Everyone say Jerusalem.

So he said, I want you to take this mission and this message to

Jerusalem, right where you are. Everybody knows you have people

around you right where you are that need the gospel.

Yes. And then he said, I want you to

take it to Judea. Judea would be like Osceola

County spreading around a little bit, right?

We're going to cover the whole area.

And Jesus said, I want you to do it right where you are and right

where you live. Expand your thinking.

And then he said something really crazy to the people that

were listening. He said, I want you to go to

Samaria where you're going to cross political boundaries,

language, culture. You're going to have to share

the gospel with people you don't agree with that you think are

sinners that shouldn't be touched by God.

Let that stretch your theology a little bit.

You're called to meet people right where you are with the

gospel, expand your region and cross racial, cultural,

political, economical boundaries with the gospel.

And then he said, in case that's not enough, take it to the ends

of the earth. And so when Jesus said, OK,

guys, what do you think about this mission?

You know what they said? Are you going to fix the

problems here in Israel? Jesus said, I'm going to give

you power by the Holy Spirit to take the gospel to the ends of

the earth. And they, just like we would do,

said, but Jesus, what about our stuff?

Are you going to make it right here in Israel?

And Jesus, of course, cares about what happens right where

we are. But he said, lift your eyes.

The mission is bigger, broader than you can even understand.

But if you will follow me, you will see and experience things

that are miraculous, that are taking the gospel to the ends of

the earth. So this morning we're going to

think bigger. And if you're with me and you're

ready to receive that, would you open your hands as a posture

before the Lord and say, Jesus, I want you to stretch my

thinking, stretch my understanding of where you're

calling me to serve. And in specific, Holy Spirit,

stir us to show us where to join in prayer, in giving, and in

going. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen. Amen.

So this morning we are focusing on those 3 categories.

We're talking about the mission Jesus has given us and the call

that each one of us has to pray, give and go.

Everybody say pray, say give and go.

And so this morning we are welcomed by the continent of

Africa, in the country of Kenya, representing a mission in

Nicaragua and a mission trip to Ukraine, as well as all over the

world. So as you can see, we're already

getting a picture that this is bigger than we can imagine,

right? Yes.

So Joyce, you grew up in Kenya and the Lord came to you and met

you. Would you tell us how you

learned about Jesus's love? Thank you very much.

In my village God sent the church to come to my village to

preach the gospel and I gave my life to Jesus.

After some time my sister and my mother and they taught me the

word of God. After some time I because of the

influence of the Holy Spirit and the power of salvation, I said

no to female genital mutilation with my younger sister and then

we had to run away because the community is hostile because

that is their culture to circumcise girls to cut them.

But I said no and we stayed together with my sister just the

same way we said yes to Jesus to salvation.

I ran away with my sister like 5 hours to get to yeah, to the

home, the Masai home where I we grew up.

I went to school, primary and secondary school and the

university. But when I went to the home, I

met other girls. We had a good time.

It was a lot of struggles. There was no food.

The church was not able to provide for us, but we were

happy. We are safe in the hands of God

and we are protected in the church.

We started by sleeping in the chairs in the church and then

the charge. Later we got a shelter from the

the Times Square Church pastor David Wilkerson.

Yes, he built for us a shelter, but before that we used to sleep

just on the floor. But we were at least grateful

that God has protected us. And we all ran away with the

same clothes and we shared the clothes.

When you are at the home, we shared the clothes, but the good

thing that we are happy that Jesus is in our hearts and we

are able to run away. Let me help everyone understand

just a little bit more. So Joyce is sharing that she

lived in a community where the gospel came to them, but within

that culture, girls, women in particular, and young girls were

oppressed, abused in the form a form of sex trafficking

basically. And so she received Jesus.

You help me if I'm saying it incorrectly.

She received Jesus and then had the courage.

How old were you when you ran away?

I. Was 9.

She was nine years old and ran. How far did you run?

How long? 65 kilometers. 65 kilometers and

9 year old ran away from and through all kinds of danger and

peril. In the forest.

In the forest, My pasta. Yeah.

So we couldn't use the road that people are using.

We had to pass through the forest so that nobody can trace

us where we are because. They were looking.

For us, yes, and also our mother back in the village, she was

also running away because the community think she's the reason

why we are running away, right. So she had also to be rescued in

the process to live in the church in the village.

And so it was a long journey. My sister was crying because

she's younger than me. We had we had to remove the

shoes we had because the journey was long and we had blisters.

But we were waiting to reach where we are going, which we

didn't know where we were going. The good thing we've never been.

We've never gone out of that village, so we don't even know

where we are going right until we reach somewhere where another

pastor was waiting for us and picked us from there with the

car. For the first time we entered in

the car, we vomited till that place where must say girls, the

rest of the girls are living. It was really difficult.

We had no clothes, the food, we could not have food.

We had to pray for God to provide food.

And sometimes you see somebody coming and bringing food even

without knowing where we are. And I thank God along the way,

God brought Tammy two and the smaller seed.

And we thank God because when she came, she provided for us

food and clothes. It was really maybe you may

think that maybe food is something little, but for us at

that moment, food or something that we didn't have.

So so I thank God for everything.

He's been faithful. We've been able to go through

school, which is something that is not.

It's not it's out of in my village.

I'm the first in the whole of that village.

I'm the first one to go to school and also to go to

college. So it is something big for.

Me. It's a miracle now being raised

by a widow who doesn't have a husband and doesn't have a son.

Like if you don't have a husband in my community, it's very

difficult for women. But we thank God for salvation.

Amen. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you, Joyce, for being

here. Yeah, Yeah.

So what is God's heart for these girls that are running away?

If we trace the story between how Tammy met Joyce, we'll see

how God takes a yes and puts it together with a need.

So Tammy, will you tell us how you got connected to these girls

and the girls home and what was born out of that?

So my former pastor, I'm, I'm a member here at Illuminate

Church, by the way, and I, I just need thank God, thank God

for this church. And I just want to, I should

take a second. Thank you, thank Tim for

accepting this ministry and this work in your heart.

This is our work, church. This is our work.

This is our work. I thank the Lord.

So my former pastor asked me to he he heard of the girls when he

was preaching to the pastors and he built left money for a home.

They built a home. He said, Tammy, will you go over

and help? I'm an art agent for those that

don't know me, I make books, I make movies I make I'm an

artist. What on earth but I couldn't

save to my bastard. What on earth?

So I said yes, I'll pray, you know, but it's a big glowing no

way. But I went home and Oh my

goodness, the Lord gave me a burden.

Like I have hands to put on a young girl who's crying.

I have a little bit of money in my pocket to to buy some food.

That one step I can do, that one step I can do.

And so I said yes, which surprised me.

I'm a homebody. I'm an introvert.

It's kind of a nightmare being here in front of all you, but

praise God. You're doing great.

You're doing so great. Danny Yeah.

So I said yes, and then I brought two friends who were

counselors. These girls were traumatized.

They were abused in every kind of way.

They were hurting, hungry, no clothes.

Oh my goodness, folks. I came home and the Lord really

birthed the next step. I had friends who give me $5.10

dollars, $15, friends who are on public assistance, who are in

wheelchairs, who are sick. I get these checks and it's a

holy, holy check. It's a holy covenant.

I will take care of this $5 and, and little at a time.

I can do another month, I can do another year.

And then the girls grow up, get educated.

We put them through school and college.

They grow up. Guess what?

They're all running the home now.

I'm like a grandma. They all run the home.

They, they don't need Tammy to help them with something they

want. They're full of the Holy Spirit.

And then I'm like Joyce, can we do widows programs?

Can we do widows programs So along with the older girls who

go back to the villages with the gospel, marrying other

Christians, sharing with the word of the Lord, What else can

we do? We can do we can feed the widow.

This is a society that has multiple wives.

Older wives get get discarded. Let's do that.

Let's let's feed the widow. We can do that for one year.

I can we can get the money for one year.

So we feed the widows, and the Lord gives you another year.

Hey, Joyce, can we help plant churches?

Let's try to reach the fathers. Let's try it like the Lord

showed me recently, like Pharaoh's heart was hardened.

Let's go after the fathers. It's demonic guys for fathers to

mutilate their girls to sell them for cows.

At five years old, at 7, at 8. Can we do churches?

Can we go after the fathers? Well, I can do that, right?

Can we do that? Lord?

Give us. He's giving us these ideas.

He's giving us just enough to do it.

He's the Lord. We just want the Lord to be

glorified. Guys, I'm still an art agent.

I don't know what I'm doing. You're doing great, sort of.

Just seeing this thing I can do. Yeah, and I don't.

Still don't like going outside my house.

You can ask a moment. My my best friend's here in the

audience. I don't still don't like go I'm

I'm I'm bizarrely shy. I've gotten worse since COVID.

It's horrible, but. God.

Yes. How long have you guys known

each other? It's been 25 years. 25 years

enjoy I. Thank God, yes, as I reflect of

the goodness of the Lord this this month of November and

December are the months of Christmas celebrating the birth

of Jesus, the goodness of God. But As for us, it's the that

girls are being mutilated. We have to receive them this

month and next month and that's why we you have to pray for us.

You have to be on in the picture because you are going to be

celebrating Christmas as I have come to the United States.

I was amazed that you started Christmas early.

Well, I won't introduce you to those of you that have been

decorated for like a month already, but you were sharing

with us back as we were discussing and talking that this

is a very critical time of year to begin praying.

So how can you partner with the smallest seed and with Joyce and

Tammy and this mission in Kenya? You can pray specifically right

now for the girls that are seeking refuge, that are going

to be running and escaping this form of sex trafficking.

You can partner by giving and tithing, and this is a ministry

partner, and you can go on a mission trip to Africa.

We just had a group go and come back, but there'll be another

one coming up. So thank you both for sharing.

We're so blessed to be a part of your mission and we believe

wholeheartedly God is using you both in incredible ways.

Would you give them a round of applause?

Yeah. We want to thank God also that a

few like a month ago our home was burnt by fire.

But the Lord has been faithful. We are happy, we are trusting

God for the next step. God is.

It's God all the time. Yes.

And as a testimony of what happens when the gospel goes

forward, some of the group that has been texting us this week

said, I can't believe that these girls, when they receive Jesus,

they began to pray for their fathers and grandfathers to

receive Jesus. The very people that are doing

these things to them that they're fleeing from, that is

what the gospel does. That is the hope of the world.

And so. The the only depth we have is of

love. So as you sit there, just know

the gift, the only depth you have is that of love and

sacrifice. And I am here.

You can see me today. It's because of sacrifice and

love. Amen.

Thank you so much. Yeah.

Thank you. I'd love for you to get to know

Scott and his wife, Christy. She is here.

We're going to give us a little wave.

The Batsons have given their yes to the Lord to a ministry and a

mission in the country of Nicaragua.

Would you tell us a little bit about how you got connected,

what the Lord did in your heart, and how you ended up where you

are? Yeah, I'll give you the really

fast version of that. So I went to Nicaragua on a

mission trip with my church in 2009.

And on that trip I said, I am never coming back to this place

again. I really thought when I got back

that I was like, these people would be better off if I just

gave them my money because culturally I'd never seen the

gap in the way that I lived in the way that other people lived

in that way before. And I and my immediate thought

was, I'll just give money to it. And the Lord really worked on my

heart over that time. It's like they don't need your

money, they need the gospel and and so I went back again.

That was in September of O 9. I went back again in April the

following year. And so I've been back obviously

quite a few times since then, but just that the way that God

changed my heart in doing that kind of in parallel to that, I

started coaching CrossFit in my home gym in, in Hendersonville,

TN and realized that I had the opportunity to invest in people

that may never come to church. And so I had been discipling men

in my church for the last 22 years, but in the last 15 have

been doing that in the CrossFit gym.

And so these same people that were trusting me with their

physical health, there was an opportunity to invest in them

spiritually. So if I told them to run a

little bit farther, they would because they trusted me and they

knew that I had their best interests at heart, but they

were also sharing their life with me.

There were reasons why I can't be at the gym this week or, you

know, the women have shared with me, you know, like I can't, like

I've had a miscarriage. I can't, you know, I can't do

this or that. And so just these deeply

personal things that allowed me to ask, what can I pray for you,

you know, or have someone else come and and pray with them.

And so it's just this great opportunity to do that.

And so in 2014, felt like the Lord was saying, I want you to

take that thing that you're doing at home, and I want you to

do it in this other place that you love.

Can I lean into that for just a second?

So sometimes when we start talking about a global mission

and you'd begin to think like, what in the world could I do?

Like, what do I have to offer? Whatever you're calling me to

Lord? What I love about your story,

Scott, is that the Lord didn't say, OK, now I'm going to change

you into something else. He took what you are already

doing. This is the message.

There's something you already know how to do or some part of

you that's already being developed that is for this

mission. And he took the model of

discipleship, disciple making, and he put it in a new area.

And your yes, was to go and be brave that God would show up on

the other side. Yeah.

Can you tell me like a couple examples of how you've seen God

show up miraculously, either through people's prayers or

through gifts that have allowed the mission to go forward?

Yeah, I think there there's one in particular.

When we first started, when Christy and I first started, I

was going by myself. I was living in another man's

house. I'm taking people with me every

month that I could to try to invest in that just to start

creating relationships so that we could disciple.

And we were getting to this place where kind of tripping

over each other at the house is like, he's got a team.

I have a team. So was really praying about how

to how to grow the ministry in that.

And so we went looked at a house and there was a gentleman on a

on a trip with us. We got back, he asked me for

breakfast, and he said, you know, the reason I was on this

trip was because I believe you're supposed to be in that in

this house. And he slid me the check for the

first year's rent. And he paid the rent.

Every year for the last 11 years our rent has been paid.

I've never paid a nickel in rent.

Amen. Amen.

Yeah, so every mission partnership has people that

pray, people that give, and people that go.

And sometimes they're the same people, right?

Sometimes you're called to go because you're going to then

become the prayer warrior for the rest of your life, or it'll

open your eyes to the need, or maybe you connect to someone who

would have a heart and join that.

But every mission, every spreading of the gospel needs

people to pray, to give, and to go.

And so thank you for giving your yes to that.

I would love for you. I heard a story or a testimony

that there was a rehabilitation center that one of your our

teams went to. And when they were there, they

said something really incredible about your, your bringing the

Lord's presence to that region. Can you share that with us?

Yeah, I want to be very clear that this is all about the Lord

and not Scott, but the, the place we lived and had our gym

in was a had a horrible reputation.

The the crime's really bad. It was the the gym where we,

they, they take a lot of cabs, a lot of taxis in in the place

where we are. But the taxis would not run to

our gym after dark. And so a lot of people wouldn't

go to the gym because they knew they couldn't get a ride home.

They certainly weren't going to walk through.

And so we started working with a local pastor who ended up

opening an alcohol rehabilitation center.

And I was, I wasn't even aware of this until the Illuminate

team came. But he was explaining to them

that because of the gym and the influence of the gym and the

impact that the mission teams had on that community, that the

the city was a different place now.

It had changed the reputation of that place.

It was just through. Yeah.

Glory to God. Yeah, Yeah.

Just investing and loving people, you know, loving people

that come to the gym, serving in the community and just loving

the people that are close to you.

And so it was a huge blessing to get to be part of.

That Amen. And what I love when we have

mission partners that have ongoing work, like not you're

just showing up to do something. And I'll be real honest, I've

been on trips where I feel like there might have been fifty

groups that painted the same house, right?

Like you're just going there and painting the same house, but the

mission partners that we pray and partner with are doing day

in, day out mission work, embedding, making a difference

in the community, spreading the gospel.

And so we're so grateful. One of the things I love also

about Get Strong is their discipleship group based.

If you've been here and you've heard that we have discipleship

groups, it comes from the church in Hendersonville or in that

area that Scott was a part of. Discipleship making is in the

fabric of this ministry, and that's why you've changed the

region because of who God is. So thank you for your guests.

That's amazing. Everyone think one more time

now. Kim Lenaway is a familiar face.

If you've ever seen her up here, she leads prayer ministry.

She's a prayer warrior. I would say of her, she walked

so many laps and prayed on this empty land and prayed for you.

If you've come since this building has opened, she prayed

for you. She's a prayer warrior.

So, Kim, I would love for you to share, if you would, first about

the prayer that you prayed in 1989 and the gentleman you met

in 2024. And how does prayer bring the

gospel to the nations? Sure.

I personally I believe that I was created for prayer and I am

grateful that that I get to pray all the time.

So I was on a tour. It wasn't a mission trip

necessarily. It was a study tour to Russia in

1989 and I lost my luggage. Long story, but I couldn't go on

one of the excursions. I had to stay close to the hotel

until they find my luggage and so they found it right away.

And 15 minutes after everyone left, I had nothing to do for

three hours. So I said, can I just walk the

neighborhood? And they said yes, just be

careful. So OK, here I am walking Moscow

with a minimal Russian skills and praying.

I figured I can pray. I'll pray for the people, I'll

pray for this country. I'll pray that that Jesus can be

unleashed in this region, having no idea what that might lead to.

And so in it was 2014, I had the opportunity to go to Israel and

our tour guide, Mark was from Russia.

And, and on one of our long drives, he shared with us that

in when he was in Russia, he, he and his family would attend an

underground church. They had been invited and he got

saved in 1989. And I said, wow, that's amazing.

I was in Russia in 1989. And he looked at me and he said,

well, you prayed for me, and you very seldom get that circle of

closure. But.

Yes, it was. It was really remarkable and

just such a blessing. You don't always see the answer

to your prayers like that, but that one for sure.

Yeah. Tell us about, since we're on

the subject of prayer, your trip to El Salvador.

I think there was a food shortage and there was something

that happened miraculously. Yes, in in I was it was through

Assemblies of God. We went part of convoy of hope

to El Salvador and it was to see the schools in the area.

But we had one evening where we went to a church that fed the

homeless and we walked in and our our job that evening was

just kind to to stand around and and watch.

We weren't supposed to be doing anything.

They brought out this bowl of food like a lentil Stew.

And I'm looking around the room, everyone comes in with their own

bowl and spoon and they just wait and they make a line then

and they are served and I'm looking bowl thinking, this

isn't going to feed all these people.

Oh, they probably have another bowl where they'll just bring

out more later. Then the leader of our group

came to me and said, Kim, you're going to serve the food.

And I said, OK, so when I run out, where's the rest?

And he said, Nope, that's it. And so I thought to myself, I

don't want to serve too little and that's doesn't honor people.

I don't want to serve too much. Serve 10 people and then

everyone else goes hungry. So what can I do?

I can pray. So I said, God, you're going to

have to multiply this food like you multiplied the loaves and

fishes so that we can serve everybody.

And so we began and they would come and I would scoop and I was

praying and I was trying not to look down in the bowl because I

didn't want to know how little was left.

And I just kept scooping and praying and the people kept

coming. And finally I realized there was

one more person and I just scooped and there was food and

she walked away and I looked in the bowl and there was 1 portion

left in the bowl and I was like, OK, that was kind of close, but

whatever. It was just such a such an

amazing thing to be able to serve.

And honestly, when you think of the size of this goal compared

to the amount of people, it was absolutely miraculous that we

were able to serve all those people.

And then one more person came up and said, do you have any food

left? And I said, yes, I do.

I took the last scoop, gave him the the last, the last serving.

And yeah, so you never know. Right.

Yeah, you never know when you're going to be part of a miracle.

You put yourself out there. It was.

It was absolutely the most amazing experience.

That's amazing. Yeah.

Scott, I think you have some story about a gentleman and a

boat. Is there a story about giving

and about Kingdom mindedness? Yeah, I think one of the hardest

parts of quitting your, your real job, if you will, when

you're in your 40s, besides your wife thinking you're crazy is,

is how are we going to do this financially?

And just seeing the Lord's provision and that.

And so I was, I had to just start raising support and it was

tough. It was a hard, hard

conversation. It was a hard thing to get used

to. There's a lot of pride that had

to be set aside to go and do that.

But there was there was a gentleman that was in my

discipleship group at the time and, and I really was on the

fence about talking to him. And it was after Memorial Day

weekend. So that Tuesday I go to his

house and they're telling me about this great camping trip

they went on. They had rented a boat.

Is this fantastic weekend. They came back, they were going

to buy a boat and his wife's like, I just think we need to

wait on the on buying the boat. And he's like, well, we, we

decided like we had this great time, let's do it.

And, and so when I, I got to their house and explained what I

was going to do, keep in mind, I'm not even doing this yet.

This is an idea. It's like, hey, this is what I

think the Lord is calling me to. And, and she said, well, we were

going to buy a boat. Here's the check for the boat.

So I got to my car, opened up the envelope and it was a

$15,000 check for now. The husband still doesn't speak

to. Me but.

But that's between him and the. Lord, that's right.

No, that's amazing. So.

Sometimes the gifts are big. Yeah, and, and sometimes they're

not, you know, but the, but The thing is, it's just the, it's

the, the confirmation of God's faithfulness that I've got this

worked out ahead of you and the, and the motivation that it gives

you and the confirmation of your calling.

It's like if you will just go do what I'm asking you to do.

I've already taken care of it. Yeah, so there's there's a.

Huge piece in that. Yeah.

And I think that confirmation is the confirmation he gives, no

matter if you're talking about praying, giving or going or all

three, if you give your yes, he's going to come behind and go

ahead and wrap it all up with everything that's needed for you

to do it. But we have one more story I'd

love to end. Just can you tell us very

briefly about what happens if you don't have $15,000 to give?

What kind of difference can you make if it's $10?

Oh, absolutely. When we were preparing for the

Ukraine trip, they asked us to come up with a craft, a song and

a game to do with the children that we were going to be meeting

with. And immediately as I was

praying, God came up with the idea of the lost sheep and Jesus

going after the lost sheep. And we could make a sheep and we

could tell the story. And then the Holy Spirit said,

let's ask people to partner with you.

So I thought, well, we can ask for donations to help with the

sheep craft, and I can ask for people to pray.

So that's what I did. I was going to ask for $5 a

person. The Holy Spirit said, no, ask

for 10. And I figured I'd get maybe

$250. We got over $900 and we were

able to make this cute little sheep.

What Holy Spirit told me, use something solid.

So he's wooden. He's he's a wooden cut out.

And a pastor friend of mine who spent time in Ukraine said, oh,

get a little bell and it tinkles.

So the the children love that because sheep are often pets in

Ukraine. So when we started to make this

craft, the children, their eyes just lit up.

We saw smiles from some of the children for the very first

time. And they realized they were

going to be able to make the sheep and take the sheep.

And then they had this constant reminder that Jesus was always

coming after them. And then with the extra money,

because that wasn't, that was way more than what the craft

cost, we were able to purchase some Crocs for the kids, some

warm socks and vitamins. Children's vitamins are very

hard to come by. And I want to tell this one

extra little story because the pictures out in the lobby, I

asked if there was something special we could get for the

kitchen. And I'm thinking like a Mickey

Mouse canister to remind them that someone from Florida is

praying for them. And Amy, who is she's wife,

who's the part, the person we partner with for Mission 823

going to Ukraine, Amy said oven mitts.

And I'm thinking that's not very glamorous.

But she explained that Kevlar and heat resistant materials and

such are going toward the war effort, which, by the way,

Ukraine's been at war since 2011, not 2022.

It's been a long, long, difficult journey.

So I said, OK, oven mitts. I can get oven mitts.

And so when it came time to present them to the kitchen, I

received the biggest hug I've ever received from in my life

from Katarina. She was just so happy.

She put the the mitts on right away and she's dancing around

the kitchen, tears in her eyes. And then she takes them off and

she shows me the scars on your arms.

If you bake, you know that sometimes you, you, you bump

into the hot racks. And, and she said she was just

so excited that that wasn't going to be happening anymore.

So a small thing, $10 gifts from people.

And some people gave more than 10, but that that was just just

allowed us to bless people in ways that I wouldn't have been

able to do on my own. So thank you if you partnered

with me with those $10 gifts or more.

And your craft was amazing. And there's a lady in a kitchen

in Ukraine who is beyond blessed by your gift.

Yeah, Amen. Thank you each for coming.

Thank you for bringing your stories more.

So thank you for living lives that have said yes to the Lord,

that make room for his power to be known and the gospel to

spread. Will you give one more thank you

to our friends and partners? Yeah, yeah.

So now what it comes down to is how well we each receive the

call, the Great Commission to take the gospel to the ends of

the earth, starting here, close to us, into crossroads, into the

regions nearby, into the nations and to the ends of the earth.

And our invitation to you today is to say we want to make it as

easy as possible for you to say yes, that there's not a person

here, that God is not calling to be a part of this mission.

And the way that you can do that is to pray, to give, and to go.

You may have noticed there's a new graphic installation in the

lobby. There's QR codes on the screen.

They're on those panels out there.

You can come to them anytime. But we encourage you to pick at

least one today. Take AQR code picture so you can

look at it more at home and answer the call that the Lord

has for you. How will you pray?

How will you give? How will you go?

Because the heart of the Father is for the nations and the heart

of this house is for each one of us to be a part of whatever God

is calling you to do. And maybe you're here today.

I feel like the Lord is saying there's someone here saying you

left a country or a nation that has a need that you are

perfectly positioned to understand and maybe you are

being called to go back. And to impart and bring the

gospel and health and hope and healing.

And we'd love to be a part of that with you.

We're always looking for mission partners.

We want to employ you to whatever God is calling you to

do. But don't let this message be

something we rise and we leave here and forget.

Ask the Lord if you would open your hands now and take a

posture of prayer. And we say, Holy Spirit, we come

every week to meet with you, to be changed by you.

And today is no different. And we say, God, we see your

heart, we see the circumstances. We pray for the girls right now

that are making decisions to run for adults around them to give

them the courage to go and for pastors and churches and

ministry leaders in the smallest seed to receive them and rescue

to build a new life. And for every other situation

that's represented, the ones we've talked about up here and

the ones that are on the hearts of people in the room.

Holy Spirit, have your way. Birth the dreams.

Give us the call. Show us each of us how to give

our crazy yes to our faithful God to say I will pray, I will

give and I will go. And it's in the name of Jesus we

pray, Amen. Would you stand or receive a

blessing? Yes, our prayer ministers are

going to be here to receive anyone to pray with you about

anything, to help you wrestle with anything you're hearing

today or otherwise. We bless you with the heart of

the Father for the nations beginning right where you are

now. Go and make disciples, baptizing

them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to obey all that he has commanded.

God bless you. Have a wonderful week.

Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your

heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with

us, you can text connect to 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate

dot church. Have a great week.