David Nelms from the Timothy Initiative 4/6/25

I want to introduce you to somebody some of you

may know some of you may not but we're excited

to To have him here today He's got an awesome

awesome haircut and we're just really really

glad that he's here today David Nelms is the

is the founder of TTI the Timothy initiative

and TTI is is we have supported TTI for many

years and and just one of the best church planting

movements I've ever seen and so David's going

to come tell us how our resources are being used

around the world and how people are coming to

faith around the world and he's just an awesome

guy and I hope you'll get to know him a little

bit better today. As you can see I have a question

for you David because you've always said over

here so every church you go to you're like I

got to sit on the right side. just curious we

all have our we have our comfort zone so right

side of the church is your love it well please

welcome David thank you so much thank you you

know I love this place I think this is my third

time here I believe which is really special for

me because I rarely get invited back anywhere

all right so I'm like really excited to be here

Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for

just I spent 17 years in Iowa over in Des Moines,

passionate church there, raised our kids here.

We love Iowa. I'm a big Iowa Hawkeye fan. I love

Caitlin Clark. Amen. I hope she runs for governor

one day. She'll probably win if she does. But

we got my coworker here. Think they're back there

somewhere Abraham and Bernice. Are you guys here?

Okay, I see you there Abraham. You have a TTI

haircut also, okay Yeah, when you work with us

you end up looking like this, but you guys have

been great partners this church Your pastor has

an incredible vision If you will just get in

line behind him and do what he's asking you to

do God may be using this church to plant more

churches around the world then maybe I Mean any

church I know of in the state Okay, and I think

you'll understand a little bit more what I'm

trying to say in just a moment But I want to

thank you Daniel. Thank you for letting me be

here Thank you guys for your partnership for

those of you not familiar with TTI. We make Disciples

who make disciples some of them in turn plant

churches We work primarily among what's called

unreached people groups. To be an unreached people

group means you're born, you live your life,

you die, you probably never hear a clear presentation

of the gospel. You may never hear his name, okay?

So think you're Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, animus

parts of the world. For some reason, God has

seen fit to smile upon what we're doing. to bless

what we're doing, has nothing to do with the

organization, has nothing to do, certainly nothing

to do with me, I can promise you that. But God

has seen fit to bless. Last year we saw a new

church started every 13 minutes, alright? And

this year, the number of church planters, we

call them Timothes being trained, is right at

167 ,000. church planters. Now, I was having

a hard time sleeping last night, so I started

Googling stuff. Kid, somebody taught me how to

Google about five years ago and I can't stop

now, okay? I finally figured out how to do it,

all right? And so, I Googled the seating capacity

for your Kinnick Stadium, and if I remember correctly,

it was about seven, just under 71 ,000, I think

that's right. And so, picture putting a church

planter in every one of those seats and then

doing it again and then there's still 25 ,000

more left outside that can't get inside. That's

how many church planters are being trained this

year and you guys are part of that and you're

a critical part of it and I want you to go home

today understanding that God is using this church.

He's using you. you are helping to make that

happen. You guys have actually been a part of

funding hundreds of churches over the last few

years. Now we talk about churches here in the

states, we think of beautiful buildings like

this and fans and gymnasiums and parking lots

and all of that. That's not the way we're doing

it where we were. Let me show you a couple of

pictures. Chuck, put up the first one. This is

a typical church not too far Abraham from your

neck of the woods. This is what we call a mountain

church. Okay, mountainside church. Six months

earlier these folks were all Hindus worshipping

all kinds of gods and goddesses and Timothy brought

the gospel to them and look at that view. Isn't

that something? Up in the Himalayas there. And

by the way, if you keep climbing another 30 minutes,

you'll find another little church has been started

also. So when we talk about you guys starting

churches, that's what we're talking about right

there, okay? Look at the next picture. This is

a house church and many thousands, tens of thousands

of these things have been started. Tens of thousands

of them will be started this year. for that matter,

and they're just all over the world. Look at

the next one. This is my favorite one, a tree

church. I love these tree churches. We've started

so many of them. The whole village sometimes

comes to Christ. You can see the little huts

where they're living in the background there.

It's just special. They're not rejecting Jesus.

They don't know who He is. How in the world can

you call on somebody you've never heard of? to

say, you can't. That's what Paul said in Romans

10, you can't. somebody's got to tell you and

so we train these guys and they go out and they

just crisscross the countryside and so many times

just seems like practically everyone in some

of these villages not all of them by any means

but some of them come to Christ this is all possible

because of partners like you TTI is not an organization

TTI is a group of people all over the country

individuals churches pastors who come together

and say, we're going to make an impact on this

world. We're going to reach some people. And

so on behalf of many, many, many people that

you guys are responsible for getting the gospel

to, I just want to say thank you. Today, I want

you to understand that every one of you have

a part in advancing the kingdom of God. This

is not like an option for you. It should be the

very top of your priority list. Everyone in this

room, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ,

everything you have, everything you've got, everything

you are, should be devoted 100 % to bringing

glory to God, to advancing His kingdom. You have

a part to play. We could even say it's our turn

to do that, to advance God's kingdom. I want

to begin very quickly in a verse, Revelation

Revelation 5:9

5 verse 9. This is a place, this setting here,

you will be there one day where this verse is

talking about, if you're a follower of Jesus.

One day there's going to be like this massive

worship service in heaven. Matt will be on the

guitar and I think your drummer may be playing.

He's pretty good, okay? But there's going to

be this massive worship service and all the saints

of all the angels are going to be gathered together.

around the throne, and it says that we're going

to sing a brand new song, saying, worthy are

you to take the scroll and open its seals, for

you were slain. That's talking about the cross.

In a moment, we're going to observe communion.

We're going to remember the shed blood of Jesus

on the cross. We'll worship Him and we'll say,

Jesus, you were slain, and by your blood, you

ransomed people for God. I love those two words.

Can you all say it out loud with me? For God.

You know why Jesus paid your ransom to deliver

you from sin and from Satan, from the evil one?

The ransom was his blood. He paid that to set

you free. He set you free for God. You say, I

thought he saved me so I could go to heaven.

Heaven is like the cherry on the top. It's a

fringe benefit of salvation. But I don't think

He saved us primarily for us to go to heaven.

Salvation is much more than a fire insurance

policy, okay? You say, well, I thought He saved

me so I could have a brand new life and a new

start. That's part of it, yes, amen. But I don't

think that's the main part. Jesus shed His blood

for you so that you would live your life for

God. Everything you are, everything you have.

all your influence, your family, your children,

your grandchildren, your resources, your intellect,

everything, your business, everything you are.

He paid for it so that you would live your life

for God. Now who are these people that are going

to be gathered around the throne one day? He

goes on to say they will come from every tribe

and language and people and nation. When you

get to heaven and you're gathered around his

throne worshipping the lamb Listen, they're gonna

be people there from everywhere. It'll be every

color every culture every country They will be

there from everywhere and on that day the Great

Commission task If you're not familiar with that

phrase, great commission, before Jesus went to

heaven, he told us to take the gospel to the

whole world, every nation, every tribe. That's

what we call the great commission. On that day,

the great commission task will finally be completed.

It'll be finished. But how? How do we get from,

in that day, almost no one on the face of the

earth having ever heard the name Jesus, to one

day there being so many people around His throne

from everywhere that you can't even count them.

What is the progression? That's what I want to

talk to you about this morning. It all began

with Jesus Christ. First of all, it was His turn.

He got the ball rolling. 1 John 4, 14, the scripture

says, the Father sent the Son to be the Savior

of the world. And so that's why Jesus came into

this world. He came in to die. And from the moment

he was born in Bethlehem until the moment he

ascended back to heaven from the cradle of the

cross and then through the empty tomb all the

way Jesus did what his father sent him to do

his father sent him Yes, he preached and yes,

he healed and yes, he loved people Yes, he he

took care of little children and lepers and all

of he did all of the above But the father sent

the son to be the Savior of the world and he

did his part perfectly he was the sinless sacrifice

the spotless lamb of God there's an interesting

verse in Hebrews it says when Jesus entered this

world he came in this world saying I delight

to do your will oh my god let me tell you something

he didn't just do his father's will he delighted

to do his father's will you know what the word

delight means it means he was like really happy

about it really excited There's an old song,

when he was on the cross, I was on his mind.

When he hung on that cross, he was hanging on

that cross for you. And his attitude was, and

why do I have to die for those people? His attitude,

for the joy that was set before him, the Bible

says, he endured the cross. He delighted in the

cross. That's how much he cares about you, but

even more than that that's how much he cares

about his father I Delight to do your will oh

my god He never violated his father's will in

any way at all and when he had shed every single

drop of blood that needed to be shed to ransom

people from every tribe and every nation only

then did he cry out in a shout of victory it

is finished first It was his turn. He got things

moving Then it was their turn. That early church,

those apostles, we call it the apostolic or the

New Testament church. After his resurrection,

Jesus got the apostles together in that upper

room and he said, as the Father sent me, I'm

now sending you. We just learned the Father sent

the Son to be the Savior of the world. What what's

happening here is Jesus is saying just as the

Father sent me to be the Savior of the world

So I'm sending you to tell the world that the

Father sent me to be their Savior The plan for

the world to hear that the Father sent me to

be their Savior We have one plan. It's you it's

plan a there is no plan B The Father sent me

to be their Savior, but they don't know Somebody's

got to tell them that somebody is you guys. As

the Father sent me, now I am sending you." Let

me tell you something about that early church.

They were not perfect. They had all kinds of

issues. But let me tell you this, those early

believers, they got the job done. My goodness,

they got the job done. Let me run you through

some verses in the book of Acts to illustrate.

Acts 5 verse 28 says that they filled up Jerusalem

Acts 5:28

with their teaching. Wouldn't it be something

if you guys filled up Eldridge? and I'm kind

of mixed up here, my GPS isn't working good,

but filled up Davenport, Moline, Rock Island,

wouldn't it be something if you just filled up

this whole area with your gospel? Wouldn't it

be something if when people drive down that road

out there, they look at this church and say,

oh, that's where those people come from that's

always talking about Jesus? Wouldn't it be something

if just everywhere you went in this Quad City

area, The gospel is just being proclaimed. That's

what happened in Jerusalem. Look at Acts 5 42.

It says every day. I mean every day. They did

not cease. You couldn't shut those people up.

They would not stop talking about Jesus Christ.

Listen, when you love Jesus, why would you not

want to tell somebody that you love him? If he's

the most important thing in your life, why would

you not want to talk about him? Can I get an

amen? I? Mean he's he's he's our savior They

would not stop look at acts eight verse four

persecution came some of them were were killed

some of them were put in prison others ran for

their lives But as they were running for their

lives as they were scattered here and there They

were preaching the word of God. I mean these

people you could not stop them act 17 6 By the

time we get about halfway through the book of

Acts about 15 20 years down the road It says

they had turned the entire world upside down

nothing stopped them not even the gates of hell.

You say, David, they must have had an awful lot

of tools and resources and had a lot of stuff

at their disposal. Let me tell you what they

did not have. I'm going to tell you what they

did have, but let me tell you first what they

did not have. They had no seminaries, no sanctuaries,

no denominations, no college degrees, no commentaries,

no computers, no cell phones, social media, no

automobiles, no airplanes, no AI, no buildings,

business meetings, bylaws, Bible... colleges

they did not even have a complete copy of the

Word of God all of the Apostles except John died

before the Bible was even completed have you

ever thought about this st. Peter never held

in his hand a completed copy of the Word of God

most of us have four or five maybe ten Bibles

at home Peter never had a single full copy of

the Word of God they had none of that stuff that

we had You say, David, how did they get the job

done? Let me tell you what they did have. Acts

1 and verse 8. The very last verse Jesus spoke

before he went back to heaven. He said, but you,

he's talking to his followers, but you will receive

power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and

you will be my witnesses here, near, and far.

I was looking at that verse the other day and

I saw something, Daniel, I'd never seen before.

The word you is in there three times. Jesus said,

you, you, you, my followers. The Holy Spirit's

gonna come and live inside of you. And notice

he connects the dots there. As a result of the

Holy Spirit coming, you will have the power you

need to be my witnesses. And may I remind you

in their day, they turned the world upside down,

but in their day, the entire world was an unreached

people group. Nobody had any clue. who Jesus

was. So first, it was his turn. He got it started.

Then it was their turn, that early church. Well

guess whose turn it is now? It's our turn. It's

our turn. We get to have a turn. Second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:20

5 verse 20, Paul makes an amazing statement.

He writes to the church at Corinth and he says,

we are ambassadors. See, here's what's happened

in the American church. We think the pastor or

the missionary is the ambassador and the rest

of us are embassy workers. You are not an embassy

worker. You are an ambassador. How many of y

'all know Jesus? Talk to me. Do you know Jesus?

Amen? Yeah. If you know Jesus, the Holy Spirit

lives inside of you. Do y 'all know who the Holy

Spirit is? The Holy Spirit is God. Are you hearing

me? God lives inside of you. God has appointed

you to be his ambassador. That church at Corinth,

they were kind of messed up in some ways, okay?

Paul didn't look at them and say, you people

are all messed up, I'm the ambassador. That's

not what he said. Paul said, we are ambassadors.

He went on to say, God is making his appeal through

us. In other words, God's using us to tell the

world that they can be reconciled, brought back

into a righteous relationship with God. In other

words, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ,

you're one of his ambassadors. You've got a sign

out in your lobby that says every Christ follower

is a disciple and every disciple is a disciple

maker. Don't just read that sign. Actually believe

it and put it into practice. It is now our turn.

We are the ambassadors. We're not of this world.

We're in it, but we're not of it. We're aliens.

We're just passing through our inheritance and

our citizenship, the Bible says, is above. In

other words, it's now our turn to take the gospel

to the ends of the earth. Now the task is just

enormous because it's a big world. 42 % of the

world is classified as unreached. That's over

3 billion people. It's about 3 .4. Let me put

that number in perspective. Take every single

person in Canada. Add to it every single person

in the United States. Add to it every single

person in Mexico. Add to it every single person

in all of the Latin America or Central American

countries Belize and El Salvador and Guatemala

and Nicaragua and Honduras Costa Rica Panama

but take every single person there add to it

all the people on all the islands of the Caribbean

Jamaica Haiti Cuba the Dominican Republic the

Aruba st. Croix st. Thomas all the islands then

Take everybody on the entire continent of Africa,

54 nations, the entire continent, then add to

that every single person that lives on the entire

continent of Europe, 44 nations, put it all together,

throw in Australia, you're still not up to 42

% of the population of the world. That's how

many people are born, live, go into eternity.

In most cases, they will never hear a clear presentation

of the gospel, and by the multiplied millions,

they will never even hear his name. Paul asked,

how in the world can you call on someone to save

you that you've never heard of? And the answer

is, you cannot. Ladies and gentlemen, the task

is enormous. May I show you a map that pictures

where the unreached people groups primarily live,

that red area, that's mainly where we work, not

exclusively, but mainly. It is very possible.

I was talking to a couple from your church that

works in one of those red areas earlier and made

this statement in the last service that most

of these people, 80 % of them, will never know

someone that believes like you. And they said

to me, you're exactly right. They said almost

everybody we know in the country we work in,

until they met us, had never met anyone that

was a follower of Jesus Christ. I'm sitting there

this morning listening to your worship. You guys

are just so precious. I mean, I just love this

place. I'm going to go home and tell my wife

we need to move back to Iowa. She's gonna say

David. Have you forgotten about the winters?

Okay And she will win because we got grandkids

there. Okay, but this place is so precious you

have God has smiled on you There's a sweet spirit

here I Fall in I love all these kids on the front

row There are billions of people there that will

never a single time experience what you've already

experienced today. And oftentimes we take it

for granted. The task, it's enormous. And yet

it's doable. And one way we can get the job done

is through partnerships, working together. There's

an old African proverb that says if you want

to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far,

go together. We... Can get the gospel to the

whole world we can cross the finish line of the

Great Commission it can be done We can do what

we call achieve achieve achieve is an acronym

for a church in every village everywhere We can

achieve achieve if we partner together you say

well David what what specifically do we do? What's

our plan? Well first Corinthians 11 and verse

1 Paul made a statement. He said he said He said

to that early church, you guys imitate me or

follow me as I follow Christ. So picture Jesus

out front. Paul jumps in behind Jesus and wherever

Jesus goes, Paul just follows right behind him.

And then Paul says to the church, again, the

church at Corinth, he says, as I'm following

Jesus, you follow me. Now, if I deviate from

Jesus, don't follow me. But as long as I'm following

Jesus, you follow me. So picture in your mind,

Jesus is out front. Paul and the apostles are

behind him. And then that That first church,

that apostolic church got behind the apostles

and as the apostles followed Jesus, they followed

the apostles. I'm suggesting let's just get at

the back of the line and let's imitate that early

church as they imitated Paul, as he imitated

Jesus Christ. In other words, let's live like

Jesus lived. Let's live like that first church

lived. Now that includes a lot. And I don't have

much time left. So specifically, you say, David,

what does that mean? It means, number one, we

must be devoted to prayer. And I mean serious

prayer. Not a little, now I lay me down to sleep

prayer, but serious devoted prayer. The Bible

says in Acts 1 right before Pentecost, right

before the Holy Spirit descended, those believers

were together in that upper room. They were in

one accord and they devoted themselves to prayer

and they prayed for days. We must be devoted

to prayer. We need prayer more than we need anything.

If somebody walked up to me after church and

said, would you rather me give you $10 ,000 to

plant churches or would you rather me join your

prayer team? I would say can I please have both

okay and if you say Nelms you are one greedy

missionary then I would say all right fine forget

the money join my prayer team however I also

hope you have a flat tire on the way home okay

but seriously seriously I would take the prayer

hands down and if you don't believe me try me

Prayer. You say, why is prayer so important?

There are things going on in this world. All

the money in the world won't change. Two or three

weeks ago in the Congo, 70 precious Christians

were rounded up, herded into a church. They cut

every one of their heads off. We're all over

the Congo. Ever heard of boy soldiers? That's

one of the places you find them. This week, awful

earthquake. I think it was a huge earthquake

in BMR. We had many of our, I was reading a report

this morning, many of our Timothes lost everything

they had. They lost everything. We just had somebody

martyred a couple of weeks ago, two or three

weeks ago. I read a report this morning before

I got out of bed, Southeast Asia, one of our

Timothes was kidnapped this week and was finally

released. We need prayer. And you guys have been

so helpful. And many of you are on our prayer

team. I'm going to be right over here by this

big box thing. What is that, a speaker? I'm going

to be there when the service is over. Please

come see me. Get on our prayer team. We need

your prayer so desperately. And not just us,

but every one of the missionaries you support

need your prayer. So how do we get the job done?

We must pray. Number two, we must live spirit

-filled lives. Ephesians 5 verse 18, the Holy

Ephesians 5:18

Spirit... was given to help us witness, but not

only to help us witness, he was given to help

us live right, to live lives that honor him.

There will be so much more power to your witness

if you're actually living like Jesus when you

talk about Jesus. And so by yielding to the Holy

Spirit who lives inside of you, that's where

that spirit controlled living comes from. The

Bible says, not by might nor by power, but by

my spirit says the Lord. Scripture says except

the Lord build the house they labor in vain that

build it Jesus said you can't do anything apart

from me The proverb says some trust in horses

some trust in chariots We will trust in the name

of the Lord our God the old songwriter wrote

spirit spirit of the living God fall fresh on

me You say, David, what's the plan? How are we

going to complete the Great Commission? How can

we get to every man, every woman, every boy,

every girl on the face of the earth? How can

we have a church in every village, everywhere?

How do we cross that finish line? Well, we've

got to be devoted to prayer, and we've got to

live spirit -filled lives. And finally, we must

obey the Great Commission, our Lord's final command

to take the gospel, to make disciples of every

nation, all nations. Ladies and gentlemen, that's

not a request. There's no please in that verse.

Jesus isn't saying, hey, can you make this like

one of your top 30 priorities? That's not the

idea. The Father sent the Son to hang on a cross

and die for the sins of the world. He got it

started. That first church said, you want us

to go tell the world? We'll tell the world. We'll

tell our part of the world. And now it's our

turn. First it was his turn, then it was their

turn. Now it's our turn. It's our turn. This

isn't something you have to do. Some of you are

thinking, oh man, I knew I shouldn't have come

to church today. No. You're looking at it wrong.

You don't have to do this. You get to do this.

God has given you the honor of representing Him.

What an honor that is. Almighty God. We get...

to make disciples. You say, David, how do you

make disciples? By your going and by your giving.

Going where you live, work, study, shop, play,

tell people about Jesus, fill up Eldridge and

fill up this Quad Cities area with the gospel.

Talk about Jesus everywhere you go. But not just

your going, also your giving. You see, ministry

costs money. That light right there costs money.

That fan that's twirling up there costs money.

That parking lot you just parked on costs money.

Ministry costs money. We're able, we've got it

down to where we can plant a church for around

400 bucks. So you guys have sent in a lot of

money over the years and every $400 you've sent

in, we've been able to plant churches with it.

In a moment, Pastor Daniel's gonna talk to you

about some little church boxes out there, little

cardboard boxes or cheap little things. They

cost like a nickel each, okay? They're not very

expensive. We want every family in this church

to take one home. Fill it up, bring it back.

Let's plant churches with those things. We want

you to get your children involved. My parents

taught me to give to missions when I was seven,

eight years old. It made an impact on my life.

If you've got children at home, grab one of those

boxes, sit down tonight, pray over the box. And

say to your children, we want you to be a part

of this. Mom and dad, we're going to put some

money in it, but we want you to be a part of

it. You say, how can they do it? Give them chores

to do. Let them have chores, and then let them

give as they feel led to give in that little

box. I've got a 10 -year -old kid I know up in

upstate New York, Schenectady. He took a box

home, told his mom and dad, said, I want to plant

a church. 10 years old, he weighed like 50 pounds.

And he said, but I don't want you to give me

the money, mom and dad. I want to earn it. I

like this. I like this kid. He said, I want to

earn it. He said, will you give me some extra

chores? Well, it's connected. It snows like almost

as bad as Iowa. Okay. And so there's a lot of

snow to shovel. So they said, you'll be the,

uh, the, uh, the snowblower and you'll shovel

the snow. And also they told them you can scoop

up. dog poop there must be a lot of dogs in Schenectady

okay that kid raised enough money to plant 14

churches five thousand six hundred dollars a

ten -year -old kid by the way after you plant

raise enough money for five churches he said

to his mom mom will you pray with me I need to

repent she said son what do you need to repent

of he said lack of faith He said, I thought God

wanted me to plant five churches, but I didn't

think I could do it, so I said only one. But

now I've got enough money for five. I need to

ask God to forgive me. And mom got on her knees

with that 10 -year -old boy and he repented.

And he got up off of his knees and raised money

for nine more churches. Can I get an amen? He

inspired his little cousin, seven -year -old

cousin. The seven -year -old cousin just sent

in $800 to plant two churches. A little note

he wrote. The kid can barely write. Wish you

could see it. You know, when a seven -year -old...

That mom and dad, they're doing a good job. What

would happen if every child in this room said,

Mom and dad, let me shovel snow. Let me scoop

up dog poop. I got so excited about that kid,

I went out and bought him a brand new pooper

scooper. Okay? I'm serious. I bought him a brand

new pooper scooper. What would happen? That's

what we want. The whole church. Everybody. Everybody.

Cornerstone. Just plant churches everywhere.

Brothers and sisters, are you willing to say

it's our turn? We get to have a part. It's our

turn You know I Mentioned Caitlin Clark. Hope

I get to meet her one day. I Get excited watching

her shooting those logo threes or whatever you

call them And we'll probably play basketball

in heaven But I don't think that's gonna be the

big thing up there I think the big thing up there

is going to be just worshiping Jesus and wouldn't

it be something if one day Jesus called you guys

all together said let me show you how how many

people are here because of you and they open

the doors and here they come just running in

by the thousands by the tens of thousands won't

that be something it's your turn I get to work

with Giants all over the world. One of them,

his name is Omar. Always has a big smile. Met

him in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. He had

started a bunch of churches there, very poor

people. They had fled, lost everything, war everywhere

in that area of the world. He said to me, Dr.

David, I want to go up north, up north of Kenya.

I want to start TTI there. I said, Omar, that's

under Sharia law. He smiled real big and said,

yeah, I know. I said, I don't think you're listening

to me, buddy. They won't like you making disciples

and planting churches there. Big smile. He always

smiles big. He said, yes, I know. I said, Omar,

you're not hearing me. They'll kill you. And

he said, yes, I know. That big smile. I said,

OK. He's been there now for several years. That

motorcycle. It's been stolen out from underneath

them by bandits. He's been shot a couple of times

Left on the side of the road with malaria out

in the middle of nowhere. I'm talking about ends

of the earth nowhere just just Suffering with

malaria while he was sick with malaria just laying

there in the sand His father dies back home.

He can't get home to see his father's funeral

But the last I checked I saw him a couple of

months ago in Nairobi that guy God has used him

to plant in that country over 1 ,400 churches.

You know what Omar would say to you guys if he

was here? He would look at you and he'd say,

it's our turn. It's our turn. Can I tell you

another story? Look at the next slide. This guy

is Abraham. He's not far from you. In the army,

wife dying, Christian lady prayed over, God saw

fit to heal her. He got excited. He turned away

from gods and goddesses that were nothing but

basically demons and he began telling people

about Jesus. He joined our ministry. God has

used that man and his son to start over four

thousand churches. Four thousand. He's been beat

up, shocked, Put in jail Put in jail more times

than I can remember one time when he was in jail

when he got out of jail He went home and found

his house had been burnt to the ground He assumed

his wife and kids were burnt alive And so he

sat down in the ashes and he began just weeping

and a neighbor came running over called him By

name and said your family safe. We got him out

in time. We've got him to a safe place This guy

he's been in my home. He wakes up every morning

at 4 a .m prays for two hours. He prays for a

person of peace, someone that he can share Christ

with. When he gets up off of his knees, the first

person he sees that he doesn't know who they

are, he assumes they're the answer to the prayer

and he tries to tell them about Jesus. Somebody

asked me one day, how do you plant 4 ,000 churches?

You get up every morning at four, you pray for

two hours for a person of peace, you get up and

then you talk to the first person you find that

you don't know. That's how you do it. If this

gentleman was here today, you know what he would

say? He would look at you guys and he'd say,

it's our turn. It's our turn. First it was his

turn, then it was their turn, but now it's our

turn. We get to do this. Can I tell you another

story? This gal can't read or write. She's about

as poor as you can be. If she were here today,

she would feel so intimidated. She would see

all those nice cars in the parking lot, and she'd

walk into your beautiful building. This place

is beautiful. And she'd walk in, she'd see all

of you beautiful people, and she'd feel so out

of place and so intimidated. She can't read,

she can't write, but in the first four months

of the training, she led over 80 people to Jesus

Christ. 80? 8 -0? In four months? She can't read

or write! If this precious sister were here today,

she'd be very shy and very timid, but if we could

get her to stand up here and look at you, I think

what she would say is, brothers and sisters,

it's our turn. It's our turn. Can I tell you

another story? These guys are blind. They're

two brothers. They're hilarious. They walk around.

big city, Asia, with their canes. Can't see a

thing. They carry these little audio Bibles we

gave them. It's got the Bible in their language

on it. When they can hear that there's a crowd

around, they will push the little button and

people can hear the Word of God in their own

language for the first time in their lives. They

can hear the Gospel. They lead people to Christ.

They disciple them. They're blind! These two

blind brothers were here today. They would say

it's our turn We get to do this you want to hear

another story This gal's name is Gita Abraham

you can figure out where she's from She owns

a little sandal shop. It's not much bigger than

that drum cage sells sandals flip -flops She

took one of those audio Bibles, and she put it

on the shelf in her shop She plays the scriptures

all day. People come in to buy a pair of sandals.

You know how here in the states people play background

music? She plays the Word of God. She's seen

two people come to Christ. She's chased off a

lot of customers, lost a lot of business. But

she's seen two people come to Christ, too. If

Gita were here, she'd say, it's our... One more

I'm already late so a bunch of widows in Africa

every one of your churches take care of a widow

or an orphan These widows live out in the middle

and know where there's no roads. There's no electricity

They got to walk down to the river to get their

water and ever try to carry water in buckets

Imagine if there's no sidewalk and then imagine

if you're if you're blind Kind of hard to do

One of our churches adopted these widows and

lined up the teenagers to go to the river every

day to get their water. So the teenagers carry

the water back for them. That gave the widow

some time because it took about half their day

to go to the river and back blind to carry water.

So what those widows did was they joined one

of our training centers and now they hold hands

and somehow they make their way through the brush

and they find other little groups of houses or

villages. And they start telling people about

Jesus. A bunch of blind widows. And a bunch of

churches have been started. East Africa. If these

blind widows were here today, they would say,

brothers and sisters, it's our turn. You say,

David, are you trying to make us feel bad? You

know, maybe. But I think we kind of need to feel

bad. I do, Daniel. Back in my day they used to

say the church is at ease in Zion We've become

complacent we have God has blessed us so much

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe he blessed

you to be a blessing That maybe he's blessed

you for a reason he is blessed this church Will

you let God use you like you never thought before?

Understand this morning. It's our turn And what

that really means is, it's my turn. We're going

to receive communion. That verse where we started

says that Jesus ransomed us by His blood for

God. As we remember the cross, as we think about

His broken body as shed blood, understand why

God saved you. He loves you, He sent His Son

to die for you, but He saved you for God. If

there's anything in your life that's not right

with Him, get it right today. All God's people

said, thank you. I was at a TTI conference in

November, forgive me I don't remember who said

it, but he said it and it struck me and I thought

about it almost every day since. This is the

first generation on the face of the earth that

is going to have a decision to make. And if we

can't get the gospel to every single person across

the world, this generation, it's because we just

choose not to. It's not because we're not able

to. We're choosing not to. And so there are,

there's boxes, little boxes out there. And each

box represents a church planted. And we're asking

you to, you could write a check and put a check

in there. But we want to you know over the course

of a year we we plant about 28 churches as a

church through TTI 28 churches just just from

what we give to TTI through our budget This time

three years from now in April of 2028 We want

to be able to say we planted an additional 1

,000 churches And my hope like maybe I need to

I might have to repent soon David Because maybe

the Lord wants more. Because He can do far more

than we can even think or imagine. But it's going

to require all of us. I don't care how young

you are and I don't care how old you are. We

all have a responsibility to help spread the

gospel. Let's turn that red section of the globe

green. And we can do that together. And so please

take a box. We have more. we have more. So I

know a lot got taken after first service, but

please take a box home, pray over it, and then

bring it back. And when we bring them back, we're

going to celebrate together that the Lord has

planted another church through us. And the only

way we're going to hit that thousand goal, thousand

church goal, is if we keep our eyes off of us

and put them on Him, the author and perfecter

of our faith. And one of the best ways that we

can keep our eyes not on us is by celebrating

communion and putting them on him.