God’s Mission: Revelation 4–7 | February 25th, 2026

This last Sunday morning, we looked at

every tribe, every tongue, and every

nation. And that idea, every tribe,

every tongue, and every think about the

sermon from Sunday, every tribe, every

tongue, and every nation, right? And

that phrase really is isolated

to where in the Bible? That phrase is

isolated to where in the Bible?

Somebody said, "Is that a trick

question?"

So, if you were listening Sunday, is

that a trick question?

>> Well, it sort of is.

every tribe, every tongue, every nation.

Maybe the phrase

is in Revelation, but the concept we

looked at Sunday is where in the Bible

>> all through the Bible for the purple

jelly bean. Who can tell me where we see

that concept? every tribe, every tongue,

every nation with God. Where is the

first hint that salvation is for

everybody in the Bible? Where is that?

>> Oh, Genesis. Can Okay, for the double

purple jelly bean, who can tell me what

chapter?

>> Genesis 12. Can somebody tell me, Nick

Peron, can you tell me what is the big

deal about Genesis 12? Speak up real

loud.

>> God's promise to save the nations.

to who?

>> And he's speaking to

>> Abram, right?

>> Yeah. Excellent. Good job. Put you on

the spot. I didn't tell you I was going

to call on you. So, there you go. It's

the first place where we really see

what God's plan is for everybody.

And it's that's Genesis 12 is a big

deal. It should be marked in your Bible.

If it's not marked in your Bible, open

it up and go find those verses and mark

it in your Bible because that's that's

where we start to see don't mark it in

the Pew Bible. That's not your Bible.

But it is it really is a an extreme.

It's a watershed passage on our

understanding of what God's plan is. And

so we saw that. Do you see the out the

outline there? The the review a little

bit. We said God's global purpose from

Genesis to Revelation. It starts off

with God's promise. God promised a

global redemption and then the prophets

foretold a global gathering. What do I

mean by that? The prophets, what what

where's that? New Testament or Old

Testament?

>> That's Old Testament. And what were the

prophets doing?

They're prophesying. Nice.

>> Yes, they were prophesying. What does

that mean? What were they doing?

>> Speaking.

>> They were speaking for God. And what was

a lot of their message? What what what

are the key elements of the prophets

messages?

>> Okay. So, they were promising that a

Messiah is going to come. That's right.

That's right, Mr. Greenup Eric. But

we're also seeing that they a lot of

times what?

>> They're rebuking God's people that even

though he has promised to them salvation

and he has brought that to them and they

have had examples of that through

Abraham and through Moses and

everything, we see that they keep

wandering away.

And so it's the prophet's job to declare

the holiness of God and the sinfulness

of his people so that they can what? So

they can what?

>> So they can repent.

But they're only going to repent when

they see that God is holy and they are

not.

And so this is a beautiful picture of

what's going on um in Revelation. So,

and the prophets are even foretelling a

global gathering. So, we see this next

hint that there's a global gathering.

And then in the New Testament, Roman

numeral number three, Christ

commissioned a global mission. A global

mission. He the the the last thing he

does after he dies on the cross and

rises again and then finishes preaching

up to Pentecost.

He says, "One greater than me is going

to come and he is going to be on you and

you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem

and Judea and Samaria and to the

uttermost parts of the earth." And so he

tells them, "Go and tell." He tells us

he if you're saved, he tells you to be

on mission in this world.

Every single person saved by the grace

of God through the blood of Jesus Christ

is given a task.

If there's anything that you're called

to do, it is to look to God and worship

him and help others do the same.

That's that's the reason you're on the

earth. That's the reason if you're

saved, he didn't rapture you the moment

you got saved. He left you here for a

task. And then we see Roman numeral

number five. Revelation reveals the

global victory. Eventually, we we see

this. So, we make our way all the way to

the end of Revelation. I hope you have

your Bible tonight. And you're going to

need your Bible. If you don't have your

Bible, get out a pew Bible. You you just

can't write in it. You can read it, but

you can't write in it. Um, and tonight

we're going to pay attention to that.

But, um, flip the page over and I want

you to see where we're going here. We're

going to just read very quickly

Revelation chapter 4. And not all of it,

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

but practically chapter 4, chapter 5,

chapter 6, and chapter 7. And notice

what we call this, the scene in heaven.

And this is John's. Remember with me,

the book of Revelation, first of all, is

called Revelation.

A lot of people call it revelations.

They put an s on the end, but that's not

correct. Um, it is the revelation. It is

God's revelation of the scene in heaven,

of his plan, of the things that are to

come to the apostle John um at the end

of his life. And so here we see it.

Notice this the statement that I put

underneath here for these for these

chapters. Because God reigns. So God

reigns over all the universe and the

lamb is what?

>> Worthy. Judgment unfolds according to

divine decree. Yet God seals and secures

his redeemed. That's that's the people

who are in Christ. His redeemed from

every nation for what?

>> Eternal worship. He has saved them for

eternal worship. So the first chapter

and the reason I want us to read these

is because

one it goes with the sermon from Sunday.

Two, we've been learning a new song.

Rise with the sun. Rise with the sun

references

what we're about to read.

That song Rise with the Sun references

the fact that God is holy, holy, holy.

Well, probably one of the greatest

anthems of the church is the great hymn,

Holy, Holy, Holy. You know, we sing that

every Easter down at the beach. As we

meet at the beach on Easter Sunday

morning, we remember that that we are

here to worship the infinitely holy God.

We declare his holiness. That is what's

being declared in heaven. And we have

the privilege to declare that as well.

And so notice here with me um that these

chapters are really important. These

chapters can lift up. Listen, these

chapters can lift up your soul in the

midst of pain and struggle and hardship.

When you and I remember the scene that

is in heaven, when we remember the

greater reality than this life, what did

you just say, Pastor Andrew? The greater

reality. How is there something more

real than right now? Oh, friend, there's

something far more real than right now.

There's so much you don't know. And in

fact, there's so much that you and I are

deceived about.

We can be we we we see as the Apostle

Paul wrote, "We see through a glass

darkly right now. We don't really see

clearly who God is, who we are, what the

condition of the world is." I mean,

there's a lot of fog. Now, what we do

see that is right comes from God's word.

But the Apostle Paul said, "Right now,

we see through a glass darkly, but one

day we're going to see clearly and we're

going to see him face to face." Well,

Revelation 456 and 7 and 8, I mean,

these this is this is one of our

greatest pictures of the true reality

that we're coming into. And so, this is

I I love these chapters. Um, and some of

them uh have verses that really go with

each other in the scene in heaven. And I

want you to see this. It's glorious. Um,

so first of all, the sovereign throne.

So the first thing that we're going to

look at here is chapter 4. Fill that in.

Isaiah 4 · chapter mention

The sovereign throne. And I want you to

see that in the outline there. We're

going to see an open door. We're going

to see the throne at the center. We're

going to see 24 elders. We're going to

see four living creatures. And what do

they cry out?

Holy, holy, holy. And this is also shown

to Isaiah long before Revelation was

ever written. 700 years almost 800 years

before Revelation was written. The the

prophet Isaiah has a vision as well. And

he sees the Lord seated on his throne

high and exalted. Um and the the train

of his robe is filling the temple. um

and he sees angels crying out, "Holy,

holy, holy is the Lord." In Ezekiel 1,

we see the same scene. So, it's very

interesting um as this. And then we see

the worship of the creator. So, let's

just jump in right now and and I pray

that God's that God's word just blesses

you tonight as we just kind of read and

then we'll we'll zip on to chapter 5.

Look at this. The throne in heaven,

number one, verse one. Chapter 4, verse

one. After this, I looked and behold a

door standing open in heaven. So John's

having this vision. I looked and behold

a door standing open in heaven. And the

first voice which voice which I heard

speaking to me like a trumpet said,

"Come up here and I will show you what

must take place after this. At once I

was in the spirit and behold," so it's

as like he got whisked away. He goes up

there. At once I was in the spirit and

behold a throne stood in heaven with one

seated on the throne. That's what a king

does. He reigns from his throne. And

when he is in his greatest place of

authority and decree, he is seated.

You know, I mean, even the Roman

Catholic Church, they they make a big

deal of when the pope sits and speaks ex

cathedral, they believe that he's

infallible. I do not believe that. Um,

but that's that's one of the but the

idea is when he sits and he speaks as if

in a throne, it's excited. This is the

real king and this is the one who really

reigns over all things, but he's seated

on a throne. Verse three. And he who sat

there had the appearance of jasper and

carnelon. And around the throne was a

rainbow that had the appearance of an

emerald. And around the throne were 24

thrones seated on the thrones which were

24 elders clothed in white garments with

golden crowns on their heads. From the

throne came flashes of lightning and

rumblings and peels of thunder. And

before the throne were burning seven

torches of fire, which are the seven

spirits of God. And before the throne

there was as it were a sea of glass like

crystal.

Listen to this. And around the throne

and on each side are four living

creatures full of eyes in front and

behind. And the first living creature

like a lion and the second living

creature like an ox and the third living

creature with the face of a man and the

fourth living creature like an eagle in

flight. And the four living creatures,

each of them with six wings, are full of

eyes all around and within. And day and

night they never cease to say, read it

out loud, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

God Almighty, who was and who is and is

to come." That's why we sing holy, holy,

holy. And then eventually casting down

their golden crowns around. What does it

say? Around the

>> glassy sea. That's the idea. You see

this the sea of glass

um like crystal. So when we sing that

song, it's coming from Revelation 4.

And whenever the living creatures give

glory and honor and thanks to him who is

seated on the throne who lives forever

and ever, the 24 elders fall down before

him who is seated on the throne and

worship him who lives forever and ever.

And they cast their crowns before the

throne. That's exactly what we sing.

Saying, read it out loud with me. Verse

11. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to

receive glory and honor and power, for

you created all things, and by your will

they existed and were created. So look

over at our outline. What we said is

this is the sovereign throne. And so

when we sing even rise with the sun and

we're referencing that we're coming from

this place of God's ultimate picture in

heaven and it's the picture of God as

creator. God as creator. You can put

that out there to the side. And we're

worshiping him as that. And then we come

to verse or chapter five. The worthy

lamb. the worthy lamb. And there's the

sealed scroll. Look with me in the very

next verse there. Chapter 5 verse one.

Then

I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a

loud voice, who is worthy to open the

scroll and to break its seals? Verse

three. And no one in heaven or on earth

or under the earth was able to open the

scroll or to look into it. And look what

John says in verse four. And I began to

weep loudly because no one was found

worthy to open the scroll or to look

into it. And one of the elders said to

me, "Weep no more. Behold, the lion of

the tribe of Judah, the root of David,

has conquered so that he can open the

scroll and its seven seals. and between

the throne and the 24 and and the four

living elders. And among the elders, I

saw a lamb standing

as though it had been slain

with seven horns and with seven eyes,

which are the seven spirits of God, sent

out into all the earth. And he went and

took the scroll from the right hand of

him who was seated on the throne. And

when he had taken the scroll, the four

living creatures and the 24 elders fell

down before the lamb, each holding a

harp and golden bowls full of incense,

which are the prayers of the saints. And

they sang a new song,

saying, You want to read it? Let's read

it. Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals. For you were

slain, and by your blood you ransomed

people for God from every tribe and

language and people and nation. And you

have made them a kingdom and priests to

our God. And they shall reign on the

earth. So you see that's that's what we

were looking at Sunday that this is this

is the picture that the lamb of God is

there. He's the only one who can open

the scroll. This idea of the of the

decree of God, the will of God, the

ultimate plan of God, the book of life

as it were, the salvation that he

purchased with his blood.

And we see that people from every tribe

and every tongue are going to be saved.

This is this is what this the song is

that they sang.

Verse 11. Then I looked and I heard

around the throne and the living

creatures and the elders and the voice

of m many angels numbering myriads of

myriads, thousands of thousands with a

loud voice. Worthy is the lamb who was

slain to receive power and wealth and

wisdom and might and honor and glory and

blessing. Verse 13. And I heard every

creature in heaven and on earth and

under the earth and in the sea and all

that is in them saying to him who sits

on the throne to the lamb be blessing

and honor and glory and might forever

and ever. Verse 14. And the four living

creatures said amen. And the elders fell

down and what did they do?

>> Worshiped.

>> And worshiped. You see, this is all

about the glory of God in the worship of

his people,

the worship of the redeemed,

and really to some degree, the worship

of everyone who's ever lived because

they will come to recognize who he is.

And even though it'll be everlastingly

too late for some, they will confess him

as Lord. And so, this is a glorious,

glorious picture. So notice this in

Roman numeral number two. It's the

worthy lamb. Hopefully you've already

filled that in and the sealed scroll.

The lamb who was or the lion who is the

lamb and the worship of the redeemer.

That's what we just read. And it's God

as not just creator but God as redeemer.

We see this lamb of God, the seven

spirits of God uh gloriously portrayed.

And then we see the opening of the

seals. And um we're not going to read

all of uh uh chapter 6, but I want you

to notice this. The four horsemen. Um

and we see the conquest, war, famine,

and death. And this is the picture of

the runup to the end. This is the

picture of the wrath of God being

exacted upon the earth. the earth in all

of its wickedness and its evil and its

even rejection of his people and its

seeking to stamp out the righteous who

have been saved. And so we see in this

as well the cry of the martyrs

verses 9- 11 and then we see the sixth

seal the day of wrath verses 12- 27.

Now, what is interesting is this this

really mimics

um Jesus's own words in Matthew 24

toward the end of his life. Jesus

declares and describes what it's going

to be like as the world continues to

rage against God. And then as we come to

what I believe is the great tribulation

um the great the great terror that is

going to be exacted upon the earth and I

do believe that there's going to be some

who are rescued out of that perhaps the

Jewish people rescued some are rescued

from that and we we see different

aspects of that and in fact as we come

into um chapter 7 Um, we see that. So,

this is God, if you haven't filled it in

already, this is God as judge. God as

judge in this great travail.

And then chapter 7, we see another part

that we sang on Sunday and at other

times. And I want you to see this. Um,

verses 7-8 or chapter 7:es 1-8. Look

what it says there. Um, and after this I

saw four angels standing at the four

corners of the earth, holding back the

four winds of the earth, and no wind

might blow on earth or sea or against

any tree. Then I saw another angel

ascending from the rising of the sun in

the seal of the living God. And he

called with a loud voice to the four

angels who had been given power to harm

earth and seas, saying, "Do not harm the

earth or the sea or the trees until we

have sealed the servants of our God on

their foreheads. And I heard the number

of the sealed 144,000 sealed from every

tribe of the sons of Israel." And then

there's um the 12 tribes of the sons of

Israel with two replacements we see in

this. And um that's the idea of the

144,000. Some would say this is the idea

that during the great tribulation, the

Jews who have been unbelievably

resistant to the gospel for really since

the Old Testament that some um 144,000

possibly would be gloriously saved there

at the end of the tribulation. But

notice this. So even the re even God's

chosen people coming to salvation in

Christ. Look with me at the next section

here. What does it say in your Bible

above verse 9?

>> Okay. Many of your Bibles say, "A great

multitude from every nation." And this

is where I want to read and end out uh

tonight. Notice this. After this, I

looked, and behold, a great multitude

that no one could number

from every nation, from all tribes and

peoples and languages, standing before

the throne

and before the Lamb,

clothed in white robes, with palm

branches in their hands, and crying out

with a loud voice. What are they crying

out? Read it out loud. Salvation belongs

to our God who sits on the throne and to

the lamb in verse 11. And after the

angels were standing or and all the

angels were standing around the throne

and around the elders and the four

living creatures and they fell on their

faces before the throne in worship God

saying, "Amen. Blessing and glory and

wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and

power and might be to our God forever

and ever. Amen. Now, it would be worth

your study to do a a word study. When

you see things like that where there's

lists in the Bible, it's not a bad idea

to take a week or two or three of your

life and do a word study of all those

words that are right there and ask

yourself, why might God have this being

declared

in his presence? When you see a list

like that, don't just write it off as a

bunch of similar things. Every word in

the word of God is there for a reason.

and you'll be blessed as you study it,

whether it's the judgments or whether

it's the glories. Notice this in verse

13.

Then one of the elders addressed me,

saying, "Who are these clothed in white

robes, and from where have they come?"

And I said to him, "Sir, you know?" And

he said to me, "These are the ones

coming out of the great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made

them what?

>> White in the blood of the lamb. How many

of you would have ever thought that

anything washed in blood would be white?

What color should it be?

>> Red.

But the picture here

is white is obviously something that

represents purity.

And so the only way that we are made

pure, the only way that we're made

clean, clean, holy, is through the

forgiveness that comes in the blood of

the lamb.

This is the way it works.

Look at that. At the end of verse 14,

they have washed their robes and made

them white in the blood of the lamb.

Therefore, they are before the throne of

God and serve him day and night in the

temple. And he who sits on the throne

will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither

neither thirst anymore, and the sun

shall not strike them, nor any scorching

heat. Verse 17. For the Lamb in the

midst of the throne will be their

shepherd, and he will guide them to

springs of living water. I love this.

And God will wipe away every tear from

their eyes.

>> Amen.

This is the great salvation of God.

Isn't Revelation good to read?

>> It's good to read and it's good to sing.

But what we've wanted to do is just

recognize this as God as savior. So it's

one thing to redeem. He pays the price.

But here we see that they are saved all

the way to the end. They are saved and

he wipes away every tear.

This is the great multitude. This is

people from everywhere.

And this is why you and I have a job

before God. Revelation 4, 5, 6, and 7 is

not merely a picture of heaven. It's the

goal of history.

God gathering a redeemed, bloodbought

multitude from every nation to worship

the lamb forever.

fill it in. And missions is how he gets

them there.

God has designed it for us to be on

mission with him. He wants to use every

single one of us.

Um there's a lot of people say, "Amen.

Preach it, brother."

And they refuse to do anything

differently in their life.

about sharing Christ,

about praying for his kingdom to come

and his will to be done

or about giving about sacrificing for

what he's called us to do. Friends, we

can't just say, "Amen, preach it,

brother."

What we need to do is do it.

And we need to be a church that does it.

We need to learn how to share our faith.

We need to we need to be willing to take

time to talk to somebody. We need to be

willing to live it out.

We need to be willing to sacrifice so

that the gospel can go.

And so we talked about it Sunday. We're

called to pray, give, and go. And so we

ought to be a church that never gets

tired of hearing about that. Amen.

>> And do it more and more as time goes on.

Well, um, tonight I want us to just

check our hearts on that. I'd like to

lead us in prayer. And, um, with your

head bowed and your eyes closed, if you

would right now, I'd like to ask you a

couple of questions.

What have you just read

in Revelation 456, and 7?

You've just read about the sure thing,

the greater reality that's on its way.

Do you believe that?

Well, if you believe that and if you

believe that that is the God whom we

serve in all of his glory,

what is it that compares to him that we

would hold on to?

Your car,

your clothes, your house,

your retirement,

your collection of this or of that,

your vacations.

Is all that just have a higher priority

than God's glory in your life,

your job?

Father, I pray that this morning or this

evening that there would be no thing

in my heart

that I would value more than this scene

in heaven

and the fact that

one day

by the blood of the lamb I'm going to be

there

and And if I'm there, Lord, I I don't

want to be there

with regrets.

And there's some indication in scripture

that there's the possibility for regret.

So Lord, I pray that we'd be the kind of

people that start to pattern our lives

in such a way that we're living so

there'll be no regrets and that we have

given the king, given the master

all that he deserves and all that he's

asked for

in our lives. Lord, I I pray that you

would help me and Marcy to live like

that more. And I pray for our brothers

and sisters. I pray that our church

would be characterized by that. Lord, I

pray that our children would see true

faith in us. People who are living for

another kingdom and that they would see

that our faith is genuine

and therefore they would follow in our

footsteps. I pray in Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Amen. I'm going to ask um Pastor

William and Pastor Ben and uh Roberto

and Lao to come. I'm going to sit this

one out a little bit and let Pastor Ben

kind of help Pastor uh uh William come

and I want you to hear about what

happened in Colombia uh over the last

few days. Um, we sent this team uh to

Colombia and they met and worked with a

group of pastors uh that came and uh I

was hearing some of those stories today

and was super excited about that, super

glad to hear about that. And um I just I

want you to hear um from them what had

happened. So, Pastor Ben, why don't you

just kind of get us going on that and uh

I'll get this thing out of the way here.

>> Well, it's a joy to um have these men up

on stage. Uh Pastor William and Pastor

Jason led this team to Colombia. Um and

Colombia is interesting because it's

like really close to us, but it feels so

far in so many ways culturally and it

feels um different. I mean, it's a

completely different part of the

Americas. Uh, and there's a different

culture. There's a different obviously

even Christian culture. And then when

you dig even deeper, there's a Christian

different Christian pastoral culture.

And so these u men went to to go

minister to pastors and and their

families. Um, and not just pastors, but

other people in the church that were

part of this. Um, one of the biggest

things uh that we we have to understand

is that there's theological famine in

the rest of the world um in a lot of

places like where um Pastor Jason,

Pastor William uh went. We've had this

relationship with this church in

Colombia for many years. Uh originally

when Ricardo Munoz who you you all know

Ricardo Munoz, he's our veterinarian,

resident theologian, biblical counselor,

and what other thing does he do? He does

a lot. But uh we met uh Ricardo and I

met with Jose who is a key pastor in

that area several years ago and he came

to our church to visit Sheran Hills

Baptist Church and on a Sunday morning

was struck by by our worship just the

music the preaching the teaching

starting point and was asking us to come

to Colombia to help their pastors and

their churches think like Sheridan

Hills. Now, Sheridan Hills is again, as

one of the pastors here, of course, I'm

biased. This is the best church I think

I've ever served in, but it's also the

only church I've ever served in the last

10 years. So, there you go.

Um, by God's grace, uh, he is using

Sheridan Hills in other parts of of the

world. Um, I also am so proud of Roberto

and Lao. Uh, I get to be a part of their

disciplehip group. And I just want to

point out that two guys in our

disciplehip group got to go on this

trip. So that's awesome. Um Lao and

Roberto, this is their first trip. This

was your first trip uh with Sheridan

Hills. Is that right?

>> Yes,

>> that's correct.

>> How was it? Tell us uh big picture

things about your trip to Colombia.

Leo, go ahead. He already debriefed a

little bit. We didn't get to debrief

with Roberto, but

>> yes, yesterday in our lol. Um

I don't know. hard to put in words. I

mean, there were so many different

things going on. Um, I didn't, to be

honest, I didn't know what to expect. I

was kind of nervous about it. Yeah.

Especially because

>> we were going to, you know, teach or

share to to adults. uh even though it

was a great opportunity, something that

we had in our hearts especially with

with my wife going to South America from

where we are and because we know about

that, you know, absence of theology or

understanding of the gospel. Um we said,

okay, it's a great opportunity,

something that we had in our hearts. uh

but also going you know with the pastors

and Roberto I we we know from from our

group and we started coming to church

here together at the same time we did a

starting point together um and we have

our kids that they're friends so that

was fine regard we have a great

relationship uh but it was really a new

experience and a great opportunity so I

don't know it was

>> was that your first time in Colombia or

or you've been to Colia many times.

>> Columbia many times because my

brother-in-law actually lives in Medí.

>> But this experience that you went to

teaching adults and going with them that

that was new for you being in that in

that Christian environment and and

working with Christians and and teaching

them and having to have interactions

with them.

>> Yes.

>> What were you were you expecting them to

be solid rockstar Christians or were you

expecting them to to have a base level

of knowledge like barely biblically

literate? What was your expectation?

>> I had no idea. I had no idea. I I tried

not to think about it because I knew

that maybe we were going to find, you

know, not a great solid, you know, Bible

church or churches or pastors or

pastoras. I mean, I was like, okay, what

what are we going to see?

>> Everybody heard what he just said,

pastor.

>> So, you weren't sure. You were you were

going in kind of blind, right?

>> Yes. Yeah. No, absolutely. Especially

with all the prosperity and Pentecostal

or charismatic, you know, usually our

experience coming from South America is

that

>> the evangelic churches are, you know,

kind of weird.

>> Well, let's take a step back a little

bit because when Pastor William and

Pastor Jason approached you ongoing,

what did they tell you was the goal of

the trip?

>> They didn't share much.

They said, "Okay, we have this

opportunity to go." And we knew a little

bit because, you know, past experiences

with people who, you know, the team who

were there and we we spoke with Chuck

last year when when they went and we had

that but

>> not much from them when what was the

plan?

>> Well, good brother. You came back. What

was the goal of your point of what was

the point of going?

>> Mine?

>> Yeah. Oh, mine was really to get that

opportunity to go and share and and help

and equip the the the church, the

pastors, you know, everybody involved

and trying to give them some better

understanding and direction.

>> Yeah.

>> On how a church should look like, uh how

the the teaching should look like, uh

what is right, what is wrong, you know,

trying to give them some light.

>> Yeah. Roberto, you were from Colombia

and in one of the ways it felt like you

were you were going home. In other ways,

it's a new place. Tell us about your

experience with that.

>> Yeah, that that was so strange because

yes, you're right. I'm from Colombia.

I'm from Bgotaa. Um, but to be honest, I

did not know Kartahena at all. Um,

>> had you ever been there before? had had

been there as a as a child probably six

or seven but obviously didn't have any

recollection of of the city.

>> It's not Colombia it's pretty much the

same right

>> so no it was very different to what I

had in my mind because I always hear

Kartahena

you know the the tourist attraction and

the city full of people and tourists

that you know it's a beautiful city a

very old city but we were in a different

mission.

>> Yeah.

>> And um you know It was it was uh

different from that perspective

definitely. Uh so much that I did to you

know it's something that I'm going to

tell here. I forgot my Colombian

passport.

>> I you know I thought I was going to a

different place and

>> I just found out at the airport and I

and I told Pastor Jason you know I just

remember I forgot my Colombian passport.

I hope I'm not going to

>> Your heart dropped.

>> So did your heart drop a little bit?

>> You know I was thinking and and then I

said you know Lord you're in control. So

What's what's the difference in

population between Bogotaa where you

grew up and Kurtina?

>> Culturally is very different. Um people

in Bogotaa it's it's different weather

first of all. So we all kind of dress

differently. You know you have uh

sweaters, jackets, pants and all that

because it's cold. Kartahena is right on

the coast. So it's, you know, shorts,

t-shirt, you know, very festive

environment most of the time. very um

it's not that Bogotaian people from

Bogotaa are not uh you know happy or or

cheerful but it's different right the

culture is different music uh food and

all that so definitely you can you can

see

>> what's the population difference between

those two cities

>> oh huge um Botaa we were kind of looking

at that it's about 11 and a half million

>> and um Cartahena in that area is

probably 1.5

>> just 1.5 million in Cartahena.

>> So you guys landed you guys landed at

the airport

>> with it

>> and you guys got out when you're going

through the city cuz you were there as a

young kid.

>> Um you weren't a believer at the time

when you went to Kartahena, but now

you're a Christian man.

>> Yeah.

>> You've been a Christian for a long time

at this point.

>> You get out. Tell us what you see. Tell

us what you what you're thinking as you

come into this city again.

Well, you see you start seeing a lot of

need uh both physical need uh but but

mostly spiritual. Um we you know we it's

funny because we were the transportation

method we used was Uber

>> and a couple times maybe even three uh

we ran out into into Christian drivers

>> but then you start talking to them and

they their theology is completely

you know somewhere else.

>> What do they believe? um you know they

they start talking about having a pastor

at the church. Okay. they're start

talking about, you know, doing these

things and, you know, kind of like uh

the whole legalistic portion of it. And

um you know in a way it was it was it

was sad to see that and because you feel

like that that huge need and I think

that defined a lot of purpose to our

trip because you know we were there with

the mission of

>> um sharing with with leaders with

pastors and their wives and and it was

encouraging to see the reception that

that they had to

>> very different very different from what

you experienced in

>> Yeah. Yeah definitely. Leia, would you

walk us through um what did we teach on

and then we've got a slide we're going

to put up that kind of talks about some

of the specific subject matter that we

were seeking to cover with the pastors.

>> Well, the the main point was about

disciplehip and that was that was great

and was really

I mean we had a lot of u

reception from them. uh in regards to

that that's something that they really

welcomed on on on the topic which was

was really good. Uh so we went through

three days. Uh the first day uh pastor

Jason uh did a an an explanation of what

disciplehip is. Uh then we based from

what Jesus actually uh his disciplehip

um process during the the three years of

ministry with the discip disciples. Uh

that was pastor William and then Roberto

uh finished the the day was a very

extensive day. Uh then on the second day

we had the opening questions from them.

So we received a lot of questions. Then

we did Kerry Kerry Walls who was also

part of the group opened with a

disciplehip having a clear aim on and

godly examples. Then I presented the

tool for the personalized spiritual

growth path which is one of the tools

that we start we learned on the LOL

process. Um then we did dealing with sin

in disciplehip by Curry. Um Ricardo took

the time to do bibl biblical counseling

um this as disciplehip process. Then I

did yeah I did the gospel walls uh which

I plagiarized uh pastor Andrew uh

because I use his teaching on numbers.

Uh

>> do you remember what the gospel walts

is? You just taught about it. So tell us

what the gospel walts is.

>> I danced the the walts.

>> Did you dance it? Tell us what it is

exactly. The three step.

>> Well the the first step it's about um

the

>> repenting.

>> Repent. Oh, no. I repent. Re repent.

Believe. And now you put me in the spot.

I'm the third. Obey. Obey. Obey. Obey.

That's the third one.

>> Yeah. So, repenting, believing, and

obeying the gospel. You know, it's it's

interesting. Uh you just heard Laos talk

about LOL doesn't mean laugh out loud.

Some some people think it means laugh

out loud.

>> In the context of Sheridan Hills, in our

church, LOL means life on life. And

there are groups happening right now in

our church that you may not be aware of,

especially if you're new to us. There's

no reason why you would be aware of it.

But we're taking Jesus at his word. A

lot of what Leia was just describing in

terms of teaching content follows what

Jesus said, go make disciples. Sheran

Hills's way of doing that is through

little groups called Life on Life, LOL.

And so right now there's over 50 people

involved in life on life. And eventually

that'll grow more and more what we call

multiplicative

disciplehip. And so what we're doing

with these pastors, Leo just um hinted

at it because they're part of um my life

on life group and pastor William also

leads a life on life group and so does

pastor Jason. We're trying to inspire

these pastors and their wives to think

about disciplehip, not playing church,

but being the church and going out and

and sharing the gospel. I want you to

hear from Pastor William because Pastor

William is is a pastor here. And by the

way, uh Pastor William is an expositor.

He teaches the Bible, too. There's a lot

of guys who lead music and they're

called worship pastor and they don't

know how to teach the Bible. Um, that's

a shame because uh they shouldn't be

called pastor. The the point of a pastor

is that they're able to teach. Well,

Pastor William is our lead music uh

pastor, but he also teaches the Bible

very clearly and very well. And so, I

want you to hear his perspective going

there as a pastor from Sheridan Hills,

going to Colombia and working with other

pastors and other ministers. Tell us

what that was like for you.

>> Um, to some degree, you don't know what

you're stepping into, right? Um, you

know, I'm going in order to try and have

impact on on people who are there.

>> Um, but we don't know what background

they're coming from. We don't know what

foundations they stand on and which ones

they don't. And so, you come in

basically to lay a foundation to say,

"Okay, I'm not sure where everybody's

at, but what we know is the firm

foundation is God's word." And so,

that's why what Leo just walked us

through there in the curriculum that we

taught was seeking to help everybody to

come back to a biblical worldview, a

biblical perspective of what disciplehip

was. Uh and so we did that in large

groups. Um this next slide right here,

this is um on the third day, the pastors

and their wives who were uh there on on

the Saturday day, but we also did that

in small group gatherings. Uh during the

mornings, during the days, not all the

pastors, many of them are bivocational.

They couldn't be there in the mornings.

Uh but like right here, uh we had times

of question and answer. And I kind of

expected it would all just be like, "Oh,

help me to understand about

disciplehip." But there were just some

very deep questions and a lot of hurts

and a lot of like how do I manage family

and ministry and work and some of the

same things that we we struggle with in

America, right? In terms of balance and

priority and how do I shepherd people

and um and so Pastor Jason and I and

Curry um sought to answer questions

based off of of what we've experienced

in ministry, but also based off of God's

word. Um, we spent time uh in prayer

together with those men. Um, we even

went to um this picture right here is P

pastor Hot uh on the It's a little bit

blurred out with the the light behind

him, but uh in the white t-shirt there,

he's the primary pastor at uh at the IG

church, which is where we we met for

most of our

>> That's the guy that visited our church a

couple years ago and said, "Could you

guys just

>> do in Colombia what you guys are doing

here for us?"

>> Right. not not for us, but showing us

how to do it. Yeah.

>> We we don't know. One striking

conversation with with Jose, who's who's

a really humble man,

>> he was shocked when he found out that

our pastors pray together. We have two

prayer times a week, Tuesdays and

Fridays. He was shocked. And he said, "I

I don't ever do that with the guys that

I'm pastoring with except on Sundays

when they meet together for church." and

he immediately went back and applied

that praying together as pastors and and

caring for the flock. Uh go ahead,

Pastor William. Yeah.

>> So, this was interesting because it was

a different context. You So, we had

context with large group and then small

group and then this was almost like

one-on-one. This is literally in his

home. They invited us into their home uh

provided a lunch for us and then he was

asking specific questions and seeking to

learn and grow.

>> Um this picture right here uh is is

picture my face looks really weird in

this one. I think that there was like a

purple light shining on my face or

something. I promise I didn't have a big

L on my face, but um so about I think

>> he had a a mustache and it was painted

per and then they had to shave it off.

He said we can't do that.

>> Yeah.

>> So we had u the the three churches I I

preached at at IG on Sunday morning.

Pastor Jason preached two services in

another church. There was a third church

that Curry preached at. And so the

pastors of all three of those churches

took us out to lunch and we were able to

talk with them personally over over

meals. Um, and so you can see that the

forums were all different. Sometimes

large groups, sometimes small group,

sometimes one-on-one, sometimes in

somebody's home, but the goal was to be

able to help move them the next step

down the road towards more and more

biblical disciplehip. So, do you want to

talk some about the impact of our team

and our guys together? How did how did

that connection work? Um, were there

challenges relationally and and how did

teaching together in that respect work?

>> Um, no. Actually, I'm I'm going to be

honest. I mean, this is the first time

that I spent five days with

>> Please be honest. It's church.

>> No, no, no. It's because no because I

was thinking about that I think

yesterday um that during those five days

it was there was nothing even minimum to

be challenged or you know any type of

stress or you know we were so aligned

since the beginning and even though we

got sick and everything that happened uh

>> you got sick together too.

>> Yeah.

>> Yes. Yes. I mean we do we were so bonded

that we even got sick all together.

>> Um we were even squashed in the back

seat together at times. Right.

>> We did. I mean but we really I mean all

those five days they they flew and we

coordinated everything even with the

teachings and the translation. We never

experienced translating. I mean Roberto

and I think it's the same. I mean we

never had that. Uh I always practice

because I don't know why I practice in

my mind but it's it's hard but we we

started and we connected right away uh

on those first meetings. And

>> who did you translate for?

>> Which of the pastors did you translate

for?

>> Well, mainly for him I was for pastor.

>> Yeah, I think that the first day we were

sitting randomly together. We didn't

plan and someone started talking and I

started translating. Let me tell you, as

a non-speaker or Mu Poco espanol,

they're over there going,

>> "The trust has to be high between Lao

and and William."

>> I was like, "What are they saying?" And

he'd be like, "They're sayingah." And he

he'd answer everything, you know, for

me, you know, and then I would say, "Can

you ask him such and such?" And then he

was he was my voice to be able to

communicate with the people that I

couldn't otherwise have communicated

with. And so I was so thankful for both

of these guys, you know, for all the

Spanish speakers. Everybody just jumped

in. We're needed in order to try and

help you one another in that.

>> Tell us tell us about the situation you

were telling me about where a guy is

talking to Pastor William and you're

translating back to Pastor William, but

you're also gatekeeping a little bit

because you're like, "We've got to we've

got to discern here. We got to figure

out what's going on." Yeah. Go ahead and

tell us.

>> Well, yes. One of the pastors started

sharing his testimony, which was kind of

awkward. And as I am listening to the

guy, I'm trying to think how I'm going

to tell Pastor William the crazy stuff

that this guy is sharing. Um, so it was

a do translation trying to filter. And

he's so excited trying to say, "Okay,

tell me, tell me, tell me." And I'm

like, "No, you don't want to know. You

don't want to know."

and and Lao is trying to protect the

time and because he knows it's precious

and he doesn't want to continue it. But

go ahead, tell them what happened.

>> I don't know. The guy started going with

stories that made no sense. uh and you

know demons and you know Jesus showed up

to his bedroom one time and the Satan

also showed up and then he got married

early but he was only married for 3

months but he had a 25 year old daughter

and the the time

>> they didn't line up line up at all.

>> I I was like that doesn't make sense and

he's like I agree.

>> I know. And at some point I was so

nervous that I started laughing when I

was I was translating and he's looking

at me and I'm like yes he's saying that

but out of respect I had to correct

myself and he's like we will talk later.

Let let me just say let me just say um

you know I I wanted Leo to share this

with you because I wanted you to see

this side of missions and ministry where

you're having to in real time. You're

not Leo's not Google translate here. Lao

is filtering and he's also taking what

William is saying and pastor William is

saying and he is interpreting not just

translating he is wanting to communicate

through William because he understands

what William's saying the end point

theologically but he is trying to

capture the idioms and the meaning and

the sense so that the people can

understand. So Lao is also doing a

crucial min. Roberto and Leo were doing

a crucial ministry by taking what Pastor

William and Pastor Jason were saying

from the Bible and translating it back

to the people so they can understand and

and you get quirky things like that

sometimes where you're trying to have to

work through idioms. So they work

through that. We

>> we learned that that Google Translate is

not super accurate. I had it running on

my phone. I just laid it there so I

could understand some of what was being

taught. And one of the guys was teaching

on the Moses raising the pole in the

wilderness with the the snake on it.

Remember? And if they looked at the

snake, they'd be healed. And Google

Translate said that Moses raised up a

rubber tire in the wilderness. And if

all the people looked at it, they were

saved. It's like, yeah, I'm pretty sure

that's not what it says. Yeah. So, it it

give, you know, when you read Romans 10,

it says, "How will they hear if nobody's

sent?"

>> Don't just think about Pastor William.

He's he's the pastor that goes and he's

the one who's bringing the teaching.

What Roberto and Leia were doing is

more if not the same crucial more

crucial because they're having to

translate into what into the language

they understand. Uh Roberto tell us

about your experience with translation

and teaching and communicating.

>> It was it was beautiful. I love what

what Leo is saying. Um before that I you

ask about also the kind of how it was

sharing with you know six guys all

together and I just want to say you know

having a an Argentinian two Colombians

Americans in a very tight place

>> there's always you know kind of that but

it was so beautiful it was like just um

>> collaborating all the time and and

looking for each other and you know when

someone was was teaching or or or

speaking u Leo was the first, you know,

kind of taking the the markers and and

helping putting the, you know, whatever

we needed on the board.

>> Um, and we all just kind of tried to to

take care of each other. That I just

wanted to say that was really beautiful

and and I learned a lot about them. Um,

and I thank God for that opportunity to

to kind of be together for so long and

and learn from each other. Have uh some

profound conversations too, right? when

we were, you know, early in the morning,

you know, in Colombia, actually the sun

comes up between 5:30 and 6.

>> So, you get up and you just like, okay,

it's kind of like almost 7, but it was

early. So, we had some good

conversations. Curry was kind of the

first one all the time. So, you would

you would count on him to be out and and

just, you know, have share a cup of

coffee and start talking and and, you

know, praising God for for the beauty.

>> He's retired, so he can do that.

>> Absolutely. Yeah. And um and that was

one part that it was just amazing of

what God did. Um in regards to teaching

and the experience translating and all

that. You just said something very

important.

>> Um we were always pointing people back

to the Bible.

>> Always always pointing people back to

the Bible. And there was a lady that

came um she was a leader and she you

know in between breaks I don't know if

you guys noticed that she she came she

was she was always sitting kind of on

the second row

>> um and and she said well you know you

guys come and and and always kind of uh

answer the questions kind of pointing

people back to the Bible and I just

noticed that and I said because that's

exactly what should be done. This is the

truth of God. We're not here to to tell

you our truth. my truth it doesn't

matter.

>> She was she was telling you in in a way

that was like

>> she was like

>> this is new this is new for me.

>> Yeah.

>> And she said yeah because you know

normally when when we see you know some

people that come and say this is is what

they believe and I said no this is the

truth of that we don't need to do

anything else. It's just going

>> such a great statement.

>> That was beautiful. Praise God.

>> It impacted me.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> When you go on a missions trip the goal

of course is the ministry. The goal is

imparting the word of God to the people,

but you also experience a new place. And

I think that for for all of us, you

mentioned some of the differences in

Cartahana, but this is a picture of like

one of the little streets. Um, and just

the architecture was beautiful in this

part of the city. This was in in the old

city.

>> And we even experienced there was like a

wedding going up on top of the city wall

up there. You can see all the

motorcycles. And yet we drove through

other parts of town that looked a little

bit more like this. I remember at one

point our drivers said, "Make sure that

no laptops or phones are visible at this

point. The windows are going to be

rolled up, doors are locked. This is not

a good part of town. If someone sees

something they want, they'll break the

window. They'll take it and they'll

run." And I was like, "Oh, okay. We'll

keep the window up then."

>> Um, you can just see, you know, as you

look through, you know, this is just

snapping shots as we drove through not

that part of town. My phone was was put

away during that part of the the visit.

But um you see poverty and um I think

this next one maybe is uh is that a

video clip? Will that go? No.

>> Yeah, let's go.

>> Good. Excellent. Um just driving through

the town and being able to see um in

this part of the area um it was right

off of a fishing area and they literally

just brought in two foot fish and

flopped them down on a table and then

people have you know all their goods

that are just being brought here. But

this is very different from what you

experience in Hollywood, right? Uh very

different from Indiana where I grew up.

And so part of a missions trip is you're

experiencing a brand new culture. Uh

there were things like uh this guy right

here uh selling bananas and yuka from

little carts. Those were all over the

place.

>> Um we experienced I had not experienced

this before, but this was I think this

was on your plate. Is that right? We

weren't sure what we were getting until

it came out, but they brought the whole

fish. It was it was all right there. And

uh you had to kind of pick through it, I

think, to

>> Yeah, I had to use my fingers to hit it.

It's the only way. It was the only way.

>> We were surprised by the the quantity of

motorcycles, you know, throughout uh the

area. Um in fact, I think that maybe

there's a video clip at some point. It

it's almost like it reminds me of Mario

Kart where there there were no traffic

lanes at all and cars were just like all

drifting everywhere, motorcycles in and

out. I didn't see any green shells

flying back at me, but it felt like it

felt like Mario Kart. Um, so, um, we

wanted to share with you also, um, the

church service on Sunday morning, at

least at IGA, that's where, uh, Lao and

I were at. We filmed this next, uh, clip

on Sunday morning. If you guys have got

the volume ready, we wanted you to see

what that looked like of that church

gathering.

Can you clip it for me, Danny?

>> Good morning, Sheridan Hills. I'm in

Cartahana, Colombia, worshiping with IG

Church, and they all wanted to say good

morning to you. Say good morning guys.

>> So that was not a large room but there

were many people in that room and like

after the first 10 minutes I mean it's

already like 90 degrees just outside uh

they had fans which was good but I was

the guy who played the keyboard um their

pastor hot was sick and they said can

you play the keyboard for our our Sunday

morning? that I happen to have an

ability to do that and so um played

played piano you know along with their

group and that was a special thing I

think that can we hear the audio of this

it's a song you'll recognize

>> that was special to be able to lead

worship a group of people all singing in

a different language. I was singing in

English still. That's the only language

I know.

>> But it was special to be able to lead

worship together with believers in

another part of the world. And I think

it just reminded me that the gospel has

impacted people from coast to coast,

from the islands to where we live,

right? And uh it's it's not just an

American thing. We know that. But you

you you realize that very um nearly when

the people all around you are all

praising God for the salvation they have

received from Jesus Christ in totally

different languages.

>> Yeah.

>> Pastor William, it sounds like this this

um trip was a personal impact for you

was just seeing a different part of the

world and seeing

>> um you know people coming together and

worshiping Christ and and working with

pastors and helping them deal with real

world problems. Um, I want you to hear

also from Roberto and Lao about what was

their personal takeaway because trips

like this you um hear as we kind of wrap

up. Trips like this can be um special

for the people you're ministering to,

but often the Lord is doing a work in

our hearts too as we go. Um tell us some

of your personal takeaways.

>> Yeah, you're completely right. I mean

that that um definitely challenged me.

the trip challenged me

>> to even um you know continue to serve

the Lord and continue to you know just

just be reminded of so much need that

that there that we have out there,

right? and and not necessarily going on

a on a missionary trip uh but just

around us around us uh on a daily basis

at work uh you know our neighbors and

and it just uh I as as my brothers were

were kind of teaching and preaching that

actually was coming up to me and and and

I was being blessed at the same time and

challenged. Um I saw um the the the you

know the rejoicing of these pastors and

leaders receiving that teaching

>> and that challenged me because a lot of

them

>> they they have two jobs.

>> They were tired. They were coming at

5:30 in the afternoon after a long day

of work and they were ready to receive

and I didn't see anybody saying, "Oh,

you know what? I'm too tired." or they

were just there and they were

>> troopers really really because they they

loved you know to hear the word of God

and that's a challenge for us.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Leo, what were some of your

personal takeaways?

>> No, I I I agree with Roberto. Um one of

the things it's was really an impact to

see the faith of all these people, the

love for the Lord and everything that

they need to go through. I mean they

live I mean we are really blessed to

what we have. I mean we have a great

church. We have an amazing church. We

have a great family community. We are I

mean 600 families and we have community

groups. We have uh disciplehip. We have

events. Uh we have the opportunity to go

and do mission. Uh we have a school. Uh

this is something that I mean they I

don't even think that they they they

really envision how could that be. uh

when people were asking I mean how many

people you have in in your service I

said well we are 600 families

>> and there are larger churches than us

and we I mean it's uh but they go and

they that was a small room

>> and the worship and everything the

experience you could sense that love and

that you know passion and and faith for

for the Lord and and for me that really

hit me. And I said, "Okay, now I need to

come here to realize that then I need to

go more often out of the church

>> to to to do the mission and that I can

do that mission at work and I can do

that mission, you know, every every

day." Uh, and

>> in regards to that, that's on the part

of the mission, but also on the part of

the disciplehip that we were teaching,

that was also a great reminder of the

value that we have. I mean we met

yesterday we sometimes we're a small

group we're a larger group sometimes I

just you know buy on any excuse that I

should be you know just say no that's

just an excuse I just need to push a

little bit more um further like like

Paul says I need just to keep on pushing

and and pressing and how about

disciplehip in my family so that for me

reset

a little bit about the way that

sometimes Sometimes we take for granted

what we have and as Christians here and

how much we need to continue pushing and

and pressing and and raising the bar

because these guys these guys they

raised the bar for me

>> and I you know we went there we we

provided with a lot of things but that's

what I got. I said okay I need to do

much more.

>> You know you can do missions through

humanitarian relief. You can meet people

in their great desperate need chaos

trauma. Um, you can do missions through

business. There's a lot of people that

do business as missions. Uh, what we did

here was missions to a local church

where they're they're going to learn and

we're learning as well. Even though we

are a much larger church than they are

in terms of numbers of members, we're

going and um I just think of you Leo and

you Roberto being trained in a different

field and different coming back here and

learning how to do that here and doing

that here effectively. Um there's

there's opportunities to minister. It

reminds me what Paul says when he writes

to the Philippians. He says, "I'm coming

to you that I might might impart grace."

what they have done is impart grace to

to another church which then that church

is going to take Lord willing and go and

impart grace more and more. Um we've

been with this church now for three

years partnering with them. Uh we'll do

it for a couple more years and there

will be other churches that we go

minister to. Well, maybe the Lord is

calling you to pray about um serving as

a humanitarian relief person or as a

business as missions person or medical

missions or um you know, if you're a man

that's qualified to teach going with

this group. Um but friends, mission is

going to happen whether we like it or

not. The Lord is going to use us whether

or or complete his mission whether we

like it or not. So, I just wanted to

hear you to hear from these guys. you

can talk to them more um after the

service and one-on-one and Sunday. I'm

sure we're gonna hear more about that

with Pastor Jason as well. But I wanted

you to hear that and be encouraged by

that. And so it's what Pastor Andrew

said at the end of the book of

Revelation. Missions is how people get

to surround the throne.

>> We're going to be with our brothers and

sisters from Colombian heaven. Now, I

know many of you would love and are

jealous that you couldn't be there with

them this past Sunday, but it's okay.

We'll be with them in heaven, and that's

what matters. So, as we wrap up, let's

go ahead and stand to our feet, and

we're going to pray. I'm going to ask

Pastor William to close us out, but

you've you heard it at after this time,

let's make haste and go to the ministry

center and see what what opportunities

we have to uh bid on before Sunday. you

kind of get the uh early bird special

here. You can kind of see and get your

bidins before everybody else. Jack up

the price for everybody else if you

want. Um but we're going to go over

there and talk, think about it. Come to

these guys. Uh if there's a desire in

your heart to be on missions, why not

think about this Sunday? This is a

perfect opportunity for you to get

connected. Pastor William, lead us in

prayer.

>> Father in heaven, we we thank you for

your call to missions. that this is not

something we have come up with, that we

are being obedient to your great

commission when we drew trips like the

one that we just took. And I thank you

for the way that we partner together as

a church. I thank you for all those who

communicated back to us that they were

praying in real time along with us as we

were teaching, as we were meeting with

pastors, and that the church can be uh

moving towards missions both here and

abroad. And I thank you also for the

possibility of being able to to be a

part of the financial realm of this uh

even through what we're getting ready to

do tonight and this weekend uh in

seeking to give generously in order the

message of your gospel might go out to

people. And uh so father help us to know

how we ought to be a part of that. Um

may you receive much glory in and

through our lives as we seek to be

obedient to your great commission. And

we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.