Sermon

Why Missions: Go Global

Real Life Church KC Podcast

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  1. Well, good morning real life. We are so excited to worship

  2. together with you this morning as we celebrate our mission

  3. Sunday to go global here in. Real life church.

  4. So whether you're with us in person or joining us online, get

  5. up on your feet. And we are going to worship God

  6. this morning in a big way for all he's doing.

  7. I'm so. Thankful like that, man.

  8. I saw dark, miserable cover, but the miracle that actors can't

  9. get over my name is registered in heaven, and I believe in

  10. signs and wonders. I have resurrection power.

  11. Yes, I do. And still the miracle that I

  12. just can't get over My name is registered in heaven and my

  13. praise belongs to you forever. This is my testimony from day to

  14. life. His Grace rewrote my story.

  15. I'll testify by Jesus Christ the righteous.

  16. I'm justified. This is my testimony.

  17. This is my testimony. Oh, oh, yeah.

  18. Come together, sons and daughters, Bob with love and

  19. washed in water. Sing the praises of the Spirit,

  20. Son and Father. Our God will finish what He

  21. started. We believe our God will finish

  22. what He started. Oh.

  23. S s me testimonial des albassio sue more calmly on historia may

  24. pay No no Who made your de la Cruz?

  25. Me Who's stupid Call s s me testimonial.

  26. S s me testimonial. Oh yeah.

  27. No, I'm not taking. You're not done.

  28. The greater things are still become, oh, I believe if I'm not

  29. taking, you're not done. No, the greater things are still

  30. come, oh, I believe to be the worst store and always be

  31. enough. My God is close to sign the

  32. drawing though. Crazy.

  33. It's a Vivo show, little Espina. My God is close to sign the

  34. drawing though. Crazy.

  35. Testes me testimonial des Alvassio sumo como mistorial May

  36. pay no No Who made your de la Cruz?

  37. Me Who's Steve? Nicole Testes ME testimonial

  38. Estessmi testimonial des Alvassio sumo como mistorial may

  39. pay no no. Who made OJ La Cruz?

  40. Me. Who's Dave?

  41. Because s s me testimonial. S s me testimonial.

  42. Amen. Give God some praise this

  43. morning. You may have noticed a few

  44. different things this morning as we celebrate what God is doing.

  45. And God, He's really a God of all people.

  46. And we celebrate what He's doing today.

  47. Not only what He's done in our hearts through salvation, but

  48. what He's calling us to do to go out wherever He'll call us and

  49. says we continue and worship. Let's lift him.

  50. Up you call me out upon. On the waters the great unknown.

  51. With. Feed may fail, and there I find

  52. you in the mystery. In Oceans Deep, my faith will

  53. stand upon your name and keep my eyes above the waves.

  54. When oceans rise, my soul will rest in your embrace.

  55. For I am yours. And you are my

  56. Your grace abounds in deepest waters.

  57. Your sovereignty will be my guide.

  58. Your feet may fail and tears surrounds me.

  59. You've never failed and you won't start now in Timmy Souls.

  60. We are in Tampa. On Sunday and two for there.

  61. We're still your sorry, I stopping.

  62. Spirit, leave me where my trust is Without Borders.

  63. Let me walk up on the waters wherever you would call me, and

  64. take me deep. Deeper than my feet could ever

  65. wander. And my faith will be made

  66. stronger in the presence of my Savior spirit.

  67. Leave me where my trust is Without Borders.

  68. Let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me.

  69. And take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith

  70. will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.

  71. It's to aspire to many a sin. Frontiers my say a The last

  72. father is a dawn day to mayor. Yes, it's to me this Marseille

  73. de Los Soniado don't de bueno star con viado Alice, and to

  74. presentia to espirit to make es in frontiers Marseille de Los

  75. fibers. Don't they too may ya this to

  76. Maya, this my say ya the lo soniado.

  77. Don't they play no star con viado?

  78. I'm a star and to present ya. It too espirit too many years in

  79. frontiers Marseille de la spa. Theres I don't de to me ya les

  80. and to me this Marseille de lo soniado don't de play nu.

  81. He too aspire to make he as in frontier as my senedos spotters.

  82. I don't de tu me, ya miss tu me, ya miss my son yay no son ya.

  83. Don't they play a soccer piano? I started to present to you.

  84. Oh Jesus said not to.

  85. No break high high and team is. It's too loaded for it's too

  86. low. So how Stefina?

  87. When I think about being available and got calling me

  88. out, it's never about my ability.

  89. Or my inability. But it's about my availability,

  90. just being willing, open handed, open hearts to God to say use

  91. me. God will go.

  92. Where you call. Me, I'm available for you to

  93. use. My life

  94. new is the lonely thing falling of Speedy.

  95. Looking as my life, I will give you as.

  96. Many people. Love you.

  97. You call how you. Hey, the bull, I say.

  98. Yes, the Lord I am available. Here I am with opens counting on

  99. your face again. List of me and boy, I just want

  100. to see you loop. Boy go to Bob's Parky.

  101. It's so sunny. Diego senors aqui estoy senor

  102. Hoy go to those aqui estoy senor dego senor.

  103. My key is so silly. My

  104. hands are open eye too. My heart is open eye.

  105. Come, do whatever you want to. Here I am.

  106. Here I am. You can have it all.

  107. You can have it all. Here I am.

  108. Here I am. You can have it all.

  109. You can have it all. I can store.

  110. I can store. Todo lo que soy Taylor and trigo

  111. Hoy a kid story a kid story todo lo que soy Taylor and trigo Hoy

  112. a kid story a kid story soy. Let the sound and surrender fill

  113. this room, guy we say is to yes to Jesus.

  114. Use our lives for the woman who gave me nothing is a sacrifice.

  115. Use me how you want to. Have you thrown me in my heart?

  116. No. I go to bones.

  117. I keep it. So I send you Dingo seniors.

  118. A key Yes, Joyce, and you go to the most.

  119. Come on, are you available today?

  120. That is right. Man, we serve the God of the

  121. world. And what an awesome reminder

  122. today as we got to worship and sing praise to Jesus in some

  123. Spanish lyrics today, Man, how awesome is that man?

  124. Who's excited? Who's looking forward to what

  125. God has in store for you today? That's right, That's right.

  126. I'm excited to see another group of people joining us today, and

  127. that's a real life church online.

  128. Let's give him a big welcome this morning.

  129. Let him know we see them. Hey, before you take a seat,

  130. take about 30 seconds. Say hey to somebody beside you.

  131. Maybe. If you're feeling up to it, say

  132. little. Hola.

  133. Buenos Dias. All right, You can find your

  134. seats, man. Hey, if you are new with us

  135. today, man, you are honored guests and we're just so

  136. excited, so thankful that you chose to spend your day with us.

  137. I don't want to ask you to grab that connection card that's on

  138. your seat. Maybe the seat next to you.

  139. Go ahead and pick that up fell out as much as you feel

  140. comfortable with. And then check that box that

  141. says first time here, man, Doing that just allows us to be able

  142. to help you feel welcome and at home here at real Life Church.

  143. Nothing weird. We just want to send you.

  144. Letters shoot you a text and say, hey, hey, if you do call

  145. real life Church home, go ahead and grab that card as well.

  146. Fill out your name and then mark regularly attend on that card as

  147. well. Go ahead and throw in a prayer

  148. or a praise report on the bottom of that card as well.

  149. Man, we just want to celebrate with you.

  150. We want to care for you this week.

  151. Also we don't want anybody to turn those cards in a loan.

  152. So we're going to, we're going to all turn those in, in the

  153. giving buckets later in the Gathering.

  154. And hey, real life church. We are a church on a mission.

  155. And that mission is to see people far from God discover

  156. their real life and purpose in Jesus and man.

  157. Today we get to see that that mission extends beyond Belton,

  158. Raymore, Cass County, Missouri, the USA man that mission

  159. extends. Globally.

  160. And today we're going to press pause on our Asking for a Friend

  161. series. Pastor Sean will be bringing us

  162. a word next week. And that's because we get to

  163. experience and see and hear all that God did through our

  164. Columbia Missions team. And then not only that, man, we

  165. get to experience that as well because they really are just an

  166. extension of our church. So come on, get excited.

  167. We're going to kick this off with the Mission strip video.

  168. It. Was, I think his first real life

  169. video. So nice work, Coleman.

  170. Yeah, let's give it up for Coleman.

  171. Love to see people jumping in and using their gifts.

  172. Hola. Buenos Dias.

  173. See, you may have noticed a few different things.

  174. I've got my friends over here nodding gracious graciously.

  175. I can't say English words now, but man, today is a really

  176. special day in our house as we are getting to share and

  177. celebrate about all that God did through our team in Bogota,

  178. Colombia. A lot of people ask us why

  179. missions. You know why global missions.

  180. And I can say today without a doubt that missions is God's

  181. idea. It wasn't real life's idea and

  182. as. Believers, we are charged with

  183. following God's command to go. It actually says in Mark 1615.

  184. Gee, he said to them that's Jesus is telling them what to

  185. do, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all

  186. creation. So that doesn't leave us a lot

  187. of other options, right? Go everywhere, tell everyone

  188. about Jesus. And so that's why the heart

  189. behind why go? Why do missions?

  190. Because God asked us to, because we have the hope of the world

  191. and we get to share that wherever we go.

  192. And so our team was actually sent out as an extension of real

  193. life church. You guys prayed over us as we

  194. went. So many of you prayed for us

  195. while we were there. Some of you have given, you've

  196. prayed for, you've encouraged, you've sent us notes and all

  197. those things. So we went as real life across

  198. not the whole world, but across this part of the world down to

  199. Bogota. And so while we were there, we

  200. were able to encourage, we were able to support.

  201. We invited, we cleaned, we painted, we taught, we

  202. connected, we served. And I can tell you that our team

  203. truly made a difference in the lives of those partners that we

  204. have there. But it's significant, and you

  205. will see today that God also set out to do a work not just

  206. through each of us, but inside of each of us as we went on this

  207. trip. And so it was very early on

  208. August 5th, very early, that our team of nine from real life

  209. embarked on a journey to Bogota, Colombia, which is in South

  210. America to connect to the heart of God and going to all the

  211. world. So while we were there, we

  212. connected with Hugo and Uliana at the Discipleship Training

  213. School for young adults. We encouraged Frank and Andrea

  214. new Church planters in the Normandy region of Bogota.

  215. We jumped in and worked alongside with Rodrigo and Olga

  216. at the man. On a soccer project and served

  217. with Viviana and Juan at the Mana School Project in Verbenal

  218. on the north side of Bogota. So today you're going to hear

  219. stories about all of those ministries that we experienced

  220. that you just saw a little sneak peek of.

  221. You're going to hear about how they touch the heart of each of

  222. the members of our team today, because today there's not a

  223. message. Today they are the message what

  224. God did through them and what they're going to share with you

  225. because of that. But you're also going to hear

  226. stories of each person on our team answering this question.

  227. God, in light of what I've seen and experienced, what are you

  228. asking me to do? And I do know that today many of

  229. you are going to be challenged to ask that same question.

  230. God, what will you have me do today because of what I've seen

  231. and I've heard? And so in my story, for me, one

  232. of the most powerful things that I saw God do was to unite a room

  233. of Christian leaders and pastors from Bogota, from real life,

  234. from manna worldwide together through their common bond of

  235. ministry, a call of God on their life and their heart to reach

  236. their city, their country, their area, whatever God's called them

  237. to with the gospel. And so on Wednesday afternoon of

  238. our trip, while we were sitting at the training and discipleship

  239. school, we were actually sitting in a room.

  240. It was very powerful where so many young people make decisions

  241. about their life. Are they going to follow God?

  242. What is God calling them to do, to give up, to lean into?

  243. And so it was a special place to sit and connect with these area

  244. pastors and leaders. And we're sitting in that room

  245. where they have made huge decisions for Christ.

  246. And together we dove into God's Word.

  247. And then we connected in small groups and courage.

  248. Reaching one another, realizing that the struggles that we have

  249. in ministry and in the Christian life, they kind of transcend

  250. language, they transcend culture, they transcend

  251. location. And that we're all as believers

  252. united in one front. And so we see a picture here of

  253. some of those leaders. This is a couple.

  254. This is Scott Hudgens in the middle who led our trip.

  255. This is Harold and Deanita who are two of the leaders at the

  256. discipleship school that are just awesome people.

  257. Sean has actually Sean met Harold.

  258. In 2013, when he first went to Colombia.

  259. So he has been a part of this ministry and pouring in the

  260. lives of people for so many years.

  261. So to sit down and hear his heart, he's actually in seminary

  262. now and getting to share with what God is doing in him through

  263. this ministry is just really powerful.

  264. But one of the most powerful moments for me was that Hugo and

  265. Uliana are in a little bit of a transition with what God has for

  266. the school. And so I was able to share my

  267. story about the ministry losses, the battles that Sean and I have

  268. faced in our past to let them be encouraged that God's not done

  269. with them and he has something big for them to not be

  270. discouraged. And it was so powerful to get to

  271. encourage their hearts in that way.

  272. And so today I'll share with you.

  273. As a result of what I saw and experienced, I will.

  274. And you'll see these in we call them I Will statements, and

  275. we've encouraged our team to share them, to have them and to

  276. live by them Now says I will create daily space to listen to

  277. the spirits leading being still, being quiet and being

  278. intentional in personal worship. I will cut weight from my life

  279. like frivolous spending, eating out, buying fancy coffee,

  280. etcetera, to be able to give not just generously but

  281. extravagantly and to live simply.

  282. Should God call me to give up American comforts for His glory,

  283. I will be frugal and save so I can lead more teams and be

  284. prepared to go whenever the opportunity arises.

  285. I will cut weight from my time to more intentionally share the

  286. gospel and make disciples wherever I am.

  287. I will be available. That song hits different that we

  288. just sang when you're saying that to God.

  289. I will be available and regularly evaluate my

  290. willingness to go wherever God calls and be used for ministry

  291. both internationally and at home.

  292. I will train and prepare my children to be ready to be on

  293. mission across the world. And I will learn basic Spanish

  294. to be able to converse with our mission partners, to share the

  295. gospel, but also to be able to connect with and encourage their

  296. hearts. And so now you are going to get

  297. to hear from all of our team. They are going to share what God

  298. did in their lives, what parts of the ministries we experience

  299. touch them and what they will do as a result of what they seen.

  300. And so first up is Christy Hardy.

  301. We're in trouble. I have the mic now.

  302. So our first day, like our first full day when we were in Bogota,

  303. we were at Iglesia Viva and that was we were had the privilege of

  304. spending time there at this church.

  305. So we met Pastor Frank and his wife Andrea.

  306. So Andrea has been doing the children's ministry and it

  307. wasn't something that she feels equipped to do.

  308. It wasn't something that she feels prepared for at all.

  309. It was just a need and she said yes, so.

  310. When we went, we were told ahead of time to please bring a craft

  311. to share with the kids. So I took two different ideas

  312. and the supplies for it. But the day before we left, I

  313. just felt God urging me to do take one more thing, do

  314. something else just in case. So I went and I purchased the

  315. things to make these bracelets, and they are.

  316. I don't know if you've heard of A Wordless Book before.

  317. There's also they getting soccer balls there, but these bracelets

  318. and so we I presented that idea to Andrea and I said what would

  319. you like? I have Noah's Ark, I have

  320. bookmarks or I have this word list book.

  321. It's a bracelet where kids can wear it and easily be able to

  322. share Jesus with others. And she got tears in her eyes

  323. and she said. The bracelet, she said.

  324. I do not know what I'm doing. I don't know how to teach these

  325. kids Jesus. She started in Genesis and she

  326. was just going to teach straight through the Bible.

  327. If you've ever been in kids ministry, might get lost in

  328. Exodus. So, so, so when she saw you she

  329. just had tears in her eyes and she said.

  330. That's it. That's what God wants you to do.

  331. So we did these bracelets, and if you have not seen them

  332. before, the black bead represents how our heart is

  333. black with sin before Jesus. The orange bead is supposed to

  334. be red. The kit did not have red.

  335. That is Jesus's blood, which is oxidized a little bit in this

  336. bracelet. So then the red one was for

  337. Jesus's bloodshed for us. The white one is after we

  338. received Jesus our hearts that we are made clean through his

  339. blood. The blue one, which was a super

  340. huge step for them is representing baptism.

  341. And I talked about how baptism has nothing to do with your

  342. salvation, but it is the first act of obedience.

  343. And then the green one, I always say green like the grass.

  344. It's after we have Jesus in our heart and we've taken that step

  345. and we are living for him and our lives are like we are made

  346. new and. The yellow one is because we are

  347. promised streets of gold in heaven.

  348. So we made these bracelets you saw in the video.

  349. Actually Alyssa and Audrey were doing that with the kids.

  350. It was a huge hit, so much fun. So we did that and through that

  351. I just the verse that we did devotions every morning together

  352. as a as a team and the verse that verses that really stuck

  353. out to me is Philippians 127. Through 29, like the second-half

  354. of 27. It's not the same on there as it

  355. is in my Bible. That's what it is.

  356. So you will be saved in that by God, for it has been granted to

  357. you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also

  358. to suffer for Him. OK, so sorry.

  359. It just looks a little different than what I had done.

  360. So. I know.

  361. So that was a huge punch in the gut for me.

  362. We talked about how the where it's talking about suffering for

  363. Christ, how as Americans we can very easily make up our own.

  364. It's like an imagined suffering. It's so easy.

  365. I work for the school district so it's so easy to think I can't

  366. share Jesus or I can't do that because I might lose my job

  367. because we're we're not allowed to do that.

  368. I do not know one person that has ever lost their job from

  369. sharing Jesus so. That was just a huge, huge thing

  370. for me. And with that, you know,

  371. sometimes I'll go home and I'll think that was a missed

  372. opportunity. I really missed that opportunity

  373. today. And Scott encouraged me that

  374. it's so much more than a missed opportunity that in those

  375. moments where I do not share what God is urging me to share

  376. in that moment, the gospel isn't real to me.

  377. And that was huge. I thought all those times where

  378. I was like, oh, bummer, you know, I kind of missed that so

  379. much more than I missed that, so.

  380. With all of that said, my I will statements reflect that, so I

  381. will be more bold with the gospel and not create this

  382. imagined persecution. Or I'm really good at inviting

  383. people to church. But I will take that a step

  384. further and I will share the gospel, not just an invitation.

  385. I will grow leaders to grow the kids department.

  386. Those kids are going to lead their friends and their families

  387. to Jesus and we are just going to see our church.

  388. We're going to be busting at the seams and then I will be

  389. available for what God has for me.

  390. And that first step was being able to go on this trip and

  391. listening to his urging and having these bracelets.

  392. So that was pretty amazing to see him in action.

  393. Hey, Jews, making your way up nice.

  394. Come on, give it for Judy one more time.

  395. Come on. This was an this was an awesome

  396. experience for me, and on the very first day that we did a

  397. family visit, something miraculous happened to me and

  398. for me through the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to read it to you,

  399. because otherwise I'm going to end up in tears to tell you

  400. about it. In prep work for the mission

  401. trip, we were asked why we thought God was leading each to

  402. go. My response was I don't have a

  403. clue other than an overwhelming desire to go and I was sure God

  404. would show me why before the trip was over.

  405. On our first family visit, a 38 year old mother who was not a

  406. follower of Jesus told her story of having a life threatening

  407. disease and needing treatment appointments.

  408. She had two small children and she was concerned about them.

  409. In her country, medical treatment appointments were

  410. difficult to get and not always granted in full measure as she

  411. told her story. The Holy Spirit clearly spoke to

  412. me and said she needs to hear your story.

  413. She will come to Christ through her children.

  414. When others had spoken to her, Scott asked if anyone else had a

  415. testimony for her. I took a deep breath and offered

  416. her my personal testimony that I had not told anyone for 50

  417. years. In a nutshell, I told her we

  418. would all pray for her. But she needed to pray for her

  419. children, and I said to her, I will tell you why.

  420. I explained that my mother had died at the age of 36, when I

  421. was 14 years old. I had six younger brothers and

  422. sisters. I went on to explain something

  423. more to her, that at the age of five, my mother had given me a

  424. children's book with pictures and a scripture.

  425. I described the pictures. And the Scripture and the

  426. purpose of that book with a very clear memory.

  427. It was my first real introduction to who God and

  428. Jesus were and how prayers were answered.

  429. I shared with her that it was my mother's childhood teachings

  430. that had sustained me in faith and prayer all of these years.

  431. And that next year I would be 80 years old, that this legacy my

  432. mother left me was still with me.

  433. The Holy Spirit had instructed me that she needed to hear my

  434. childhood story for multiple reasons.

  435. One, because her children would come to Christ through her.

  436. Then we heard of the miracle. Two days later, we heard our

  437. prayers. Her August treatments were

  438. answered. She had been given all 12

  439. appointments that she needed both very timely and Scott told

  440. us this was a very rare occurrence in Bogota, Colombia.

  441. Pastor Sean also explained to us at our debriefing that a calling

  442. to go on a mission trip like this and and with all the things

  443. that had happened. In the way that they happened to

  444. me to be sat next to her and to be able to tell her my story for

  445. the sake of her, her personal salvation and her children's was

  446. called a divine appointment. The best scripture that fits

  447. this calling is John 20, verse 21 and 22.

    John 20:21

  448. Again, Jesus said, peace be with you.

  449. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

  450. And with that he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy

  451. Spirit. Given this experience, there's

  452. only four wills that I will be telling you I promise to do.

  453. I will continue to walk where God leads me through the voice

  454. of the gift of the Holy Spirit. I will continue to be grateful

  455. for the hands Christ Jesus sends me to travel life's journey,

  456. both spiritually and physically. I will continue to support and

  457. encourage the younger generation and their journey to follow the

  458. way Christ Jesus taught in both spiritual and physical endeavors

  459. and challenges. And I will strive to hear more

  460. clearly and submit to God's will as I am led.

  461. The amazing thing for me is that 74 years after a seed was

  462. planted by my mother at the age of five years old, that it set

  463. my path for the rest of my life to seek God in Christ.

  464. Yeah, Come on. Come on up, buddy.

  465. Yeah. So you see this picture real

  466. quick, Judy, Go back to the last one.

  467. So Judy is actually in the back of the room.

  468. And it was just crazy how God, like, just moved her over before

  469. they got in. And she ended up holding her

  470. hand over there and and praying with her and sharing the story

  471. and probably one of those powerful parts of the trip.

  472. And so get it for Judy one more time.

  473. This is incredible what God did through.

  474. All right, now get up for Coleman Bogota.

  475. Colombia is a city of 12 million.

  476. A massive city by all standards as large as New York City and

  477. Los Angeles combined. A mega city full of people who

  478. need Jesus and to hear the word of God everywhere we went other

  479. than the church. And like parts, you can see

  480. people who need Jesus. The church we went to was doing

  481. great things, bring people off the streets into the light of

  482. Jesus. They have their square mile

  483. covered. But there are 600 other square

  484. miles inside Colombia, inside Bogota, that need to hear Jesus.

  485. You might wonder why Bogota? Why not here in the States?

  486. And I think that national missions are just as important

  487. as international missions. But because of this ongoing

  488. opportunity we have with Hugo, Frank and Andrea and others,

  489. down in Bogota is a perfect place to go.

  490. John, the verse I'm going to share with you that ties to the

  491. whole trip we went to is John 2021.

  492. So Jesus said to them again, peace be with you as the Father

  493. has sent me. I also sent you as Scott did.

  494. I want to make an an emphasis on the last part.

  495. I also sent you this is the one. This is one of two main points

  496. that Scott really drove home throughout the trip.

  497. Jesus calls us to do missions, not This isn't just the getaway.

  498. Far from if you're doing it correctly.

  499. We didn't go there for the scenery.

  500. Although it was beautiful, we didn't go there to buy things

  501. for the markets. We went there to share Jesus, to

  502. bring who we can to Him. I will share the in the I will

  503. statements I have, I will share the gospel, and I will devote

  504. myself to His word. Before this trip, I didn't share

  505. the gospel that much and I and irregularly read my Bible.

  506. Now I will continue what I was doing through the mission strip.

  507. It's kind of weird what Mission strip can do in your life if you

  508. go into it with the right attitude and intentions.

  509. You can't just go into it thinking I'm going to help these

  510. people as part of the reason we do missions.

  511. But it's not the main reason We do missions to spread the word

  512. of God, to bring people to Jesus.

  513. If you go into missions solely with the intention of help

  514. people, you won't see much change in your faith.

  515. You have to do it. You have to do missions with

  516. Jesus on your heart and mind. Come on.

  517. He's like, I'm going to go change Columbia and Columbia

  518. changed me. And it's always works that way.

  519. Great jump on the video too. Coleman Alyssa, come on.

  520. Look at you jumping up here. You're ready to go.

  521. Thank. You So on Friday morning we were

  522. able to visit Scott's church, Combibo Norte, two people from

  523. their church, Viviana and Juan. They run a before and after

  524. school program for the kids in the neighborhood.

  525. They play educational games, They have a Bible story, and

  526. then they eat lunch on the bus ride there.

  527. Scott encouraged us to really get involved with the kids and

  528. to not just stand to the side during the first part, the

  529. learning game. It definitely would have been

  530. easy to stand it in the corner and watch because we had no idea

  531. what was going on. And Audrey and I oh, sorry, but

  532. jumping in was and doing it with them was really fun.

  533. Audrey and I also had the opportunity to lead them in a

  534. craft. We built Noah's Ark with

  535. construction paper and pipe cleaners.

  536. You can see one little girl holding hers there.

  537. So sorry. The first time around was

  538. definitely a little rough, but by the second time we and the

  539. kids got the hang of it, it was really cool to connect to them

  540. without ever really even having a conversation.

  541. Me and a couple kids actually went back and forth and telling,

  542. telling each other the names of the animals.

  543. We were able to play a very confusing games of Pato, Pato

  544. Gonzo or ducked out goose with the second group and it was

  545. really cool to see how rewarding just jumping in can be.

  546. I saw this in a kids ministry in Colombia, but it was a good

  547. reminder of how I should see it everywhere.

  548. I just have to look. Philippians 127th through 30

  549. says whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of

  550. the gospel of the Christ. This then, whenever I come and

  551. see you, or only hear about you in my absence.

  552. I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, striving together

  553. for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any

  554. way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they

  555. will be destroyed, but you will be saved, and that by God.

  556. For it has been granted to you on behalf of the Christ of

  557. Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,

  558. since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and

  559. now hear that I still have. We use this verse to remind

  560. ourselves that suffering for Christ is a privilege that we

  561. should be open to. Scott connected this verse to

  562. show us that many times in our life we create fictitious

  563. persecution. We choose not to share the

  564. gospel because of what may happen.

  565. But this verse shows us that if we are led to share the gospel,

  566. he has already taken care of it. God is ahead of us and is taking

  567. care of us. And if we do face persecution,

  568. we can trust that it brings glory to his name and

  569. combivenorte with the kids. I could have not joined in the

  570. game. Or not in the craft because I

  571. didn't want to get looked at funny, or I didn't want them to

  572. dislike me. But I did join and nothing but

  573. good happened. How many times here at home have

  574. I passed up an opportunity to share the gospel because of what

  575. others thought? Because I didn't want to offend

  576. somebody? How many times have we all

  577. passed out these opportunities? How many people did not hear the

  578. gospel because of our worldly fears?

  579. We can use this verse to remember that God is with us and

  580. has a plan. Columbia has changed me, so

  581. these are the changes I will make in my life.

  582. I will learn and know the Bible. I will share the gospel.

  583. I will devote more time to learning and worshiping God.

  584. I will be more flexible and gain perspective.

  585. I will be unashamed of my faith. I will stop caring what others

  586. think and remind myself that God's opinion is the only one

  587. that matters. I will give my life to what God

  588. wants me to do and leave my own agenda behind.

  589. I will get outside of my comfort zone to bring others to God.

  590. I will be willing to suffer for God, and I will grow my

  591. relationship with God. Come on.

  592. I felt like she just preached the message right of the holy

  593. smokes. That's a young person with God

  594. in her heart. I mean, absolutely incredible.

  595. And so I think, God, you're up next.

  596. Give it up for her. Come on.

  597. So the thing that impacted me the most for the home visits,

  598. which were we went to families and brought them groceries when

  599. they were nonbelievers and they were going through some

  600. difficult times. So many people played impact on

  601. that and impact on the family and everyone who was on the trip

  602. and who are there, and being able to see the connections

  603. recreated through those home visits were awe inspiring at our

  604. first home visit we were with. Olga, a single mother who was

  605. just out of the hospital for a very bad intestinal cancer.

  606. Why we were there. Judy was sat down right next to

  607. Olga and it was God. Leading Judy to share her

  608. testimony, testimony she hasn't shared in 50 years, which is I

  609. think is incredible. And at the beginning of the day,

  610. Judy wasn't expecting to share her story, but it was through.

  611. But it's through God who allowed her to tell her testimony to a

  612. family that needed it. There was also there that

  613. Coleman used his incredible speaking Spanish speaking

  614. skills, which I do not have, and he's in Spanish.

  615. God wants nothing more than to have a relationship with you and

  616. you can find it with Jesus. Even though I didn't understand

  617. him at the time, I could see and feel the change and connection

  618. growing in the family at the moment.

  619. We traveled to a country where we where they don't expect us to

  620. speak Spanish and for Coleman to say something so hot felt in

  621. their language created a very personal connection with the

  622. people in that room and the next home visit we were we were there

  623. for a man who was having kidney problems and it was there.

  624. Oh yeah, it was there that I heard.

  625. Diane. Say something very powerful it

  626. was. Doctors treat people, but it's

  627. God that heals people. And from the silence that

  628. followed, you could tell the power that God had in that

  629. moment and never forget what she said.

  630. Even though I did not say much during those home visits, I

  631. witnessed the start of new relationships and the

  632. strengthening of current relationships with God.

  633. It was incredible to witness what God did in those moments.

  634. And in Philippians 225 to 27 it says.

  635. But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epheditis.

  636. Yeah, my brother, coworker and fellow soldierer who is also

  637. your messenger whom you sent to take care of my needs, where he

  638. longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he

  639. was ill. Indeed, he was ill and almost

  640. died. But God had mercy on him, and

  641. not on him only, but also on me. To spare me sorrow upon sorrow.

  642. We were sent from real life as coworkers as from God, and where

  643. his messengers connect with these people who are far from

  644. God. A city full of 12 million

  645. people. We were able to share the gospel

  646. with only a few. But numbers don't matter.

  647. I mean, Jesus only had 12 disciples.

  648. Is the connection you make with people that matter?

  649. The people we connected with learned more about the gospel

  650. and now have the knowledge to go out and share that gospel with

  651. people even though we didn't speak the language?

  652. This connection that only happened through God's loved,

  653. and if you weren't sent by real life or by God, we wouldn't have

  654. been able to make those relationships with people who

  655. are going through a very difficult time in life and as a

  656. family. That week in Columbia is

  657. something I'll never forget. A week spending with new people

  658. and being able to experience how God can impact the lives of many

  659. after what I've learned on the mission ship.

  660. I will not be silent in the gospel.

  661. I will read and learn more of the Bible.

  662. I will would use what I've seen on this trip to create

  663. relationships with others in the gospel.

  664. And I remember that God is with me through suffering and whoa,

  665. anxiety. And overthinking.

  666. And I will submit to God's bill. So thank you.

  667. That was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

  668. Yeah, you don't learn this on a typical Sunday morning, right?

  669. This is cool. The spirit.

  670. God, we went through our team and what these guys are

  671. learning. Dennis the Dennis the Menace.

  672. As we started calming the trip. The man that we give it all give

  673. it up for Dennis. Come on.

  674. Everybody's been patiently waiting for you to explain your

  675. pants. These are from Ecuador, not from

  676. Colombia. Well, that's a long story.

  677. I'll tell it to the outside because they only give me 4

  678. minutes and it's going to take me 4 minutes.

  679. OK. First of all, I'd like to go to

  680. Philippians 2 versus 3 and four and it says.

  681. In your relationship with one another, that's not the what I

  682. got. Here we go.

  683. We'll start it down here. Do nothing out of selfish

  684. ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better

  685. than yourselves. Each of you should look not only

  686. to your own self-interest, but also to the interests of others.

  687. Well, when I went down there, I got to admit I didn't even want

  688. to go. Somehow or another, my wife kind

  689. of convinced me to go and it was all about me when we started in

  690. order. It says that you're about

  691. conceit and you know, thinking about you got to do something

  692. for other people. Well, the first day we were

  693. real, they are there for the first whole day.

  694. We went to church and all I'm sitting there thinking is, oh

  695. boy, church is going to get over and we got to go out and pound

  696. on doors. Is they were going to have a

  697. reception at 4:30 in the afternoon and we're going to

  698. have lunch and we're going to go out and fall on down doors.

  699. This just didn't sound like something I really wanted to do.

  700. But anyway, we got a team together and we started walking

  701. down the stairs and I don't know what hit me, but I said, well,

  702. this doesn't look like it could be that bad.

  703. So we started knocking on doors. I don't speak much Spanish, I

  704. mean. What was it?

  705. Con, which is bread, and lychee, which is milk, and Manzano,

  706. which is apples. It didn't really come into the

  707. conversation very much, but anyhow, they gave us

  708. invitations, which was cool because I I had the privilege of

  709. working with Coleman and he had a little bit of Spanish, so I've

  710. got a little bit there. But they also sent a couple of

  711. people that could speak Spanish. So we went to a few doors and

  712. knocked on, you know, and. Gave out these invitations and I

  713. was good at doing it, giving the invitation, but you know, it

  714. still was kind of out of place. But something was coming over

  715. me. All of a sudden I felt like,

  716. wow, this is pretty cool. Well, we started seeing people

  717. walk down the street. Well, I didn't wait for us to

  718. knock on doors if they were walking.

  719. I was talking and I started handing out these different

  720. invitations. Notice this is at 3:00.

  721. Between 3:00 and 4:00, we have to we have the thing at 4:30.

  722. Well, by 4:00 we are done. Just about done.

  723. It was about 3:45. Well, Pastor Frank and Scott,

  724. they grabbed me and they said, hey, you're doing pretty good at

  725. this. And so we started hitting

  726. everybody that was walking up and down the sidewalks.

  727. It really changed me because all of a sudden it wasn't about me.

  728. It was about getting people to come to this, to the church.

  729. It it was just one of the most fantastic things.

  730. Realizing that, hey, it is not about me, it's about this

  731. church. We want to grow this church, and

  732. the only way is to get the word out.

  733. The nice thing about being me is being tall and not, you know,

  734. having a little bit of humor along with it.

  735. And so they grabbed me because they figured they could do a lot

  736. with me is. So we were handing it out and

  737. they he, they introduced, you know, after I handed it out and

  738. said, you know, hey, you know, happy pan or happy Manzano or

  739. whatever. Anyway, what do you call it?

  740. You know, because I was so big, it was easy to start a

  741. conversation and once I got the the invitation in their hand,

  742. the other two could talk in their their language and we got

  743. to go get it together. Well, in in that hour we ended

  744. up having eight people attend this, this little get together

  745. at 4:30, which that's probably more than 5% of all the people

  746. that we handed out invitations, which was great.

  747. It taught me a lot about humility, you know, You know,

  748. it's being that way. It's, you know, just.

  749. Serving other people is a lot different than I ever thought it

  750. would be. But anyway, they used to call me

  751. the Grande loco Viejo gringo, which meant the giant crazy old

  752. man. And that's and that's what Scott

  753. and and and Frank they they kind of did that and I lived with it

  754. but after that it was so much easier to.

  755. All of a sudden it wasn't about me anymore.

  756. And every place we went, I tried to serve the best I could.

  757. And I think that was one of the big things.

  758. So on the I wills, the things that I will try to do is I'll

  759. try to play more fervently and for other people, mainly because

  760. I saw a miracle, Judy's miracle down there.

  761. I will not try to judge people. Even though I don't like you, I

  762. won't try to judge you. Because I I met a lot of people

  763. down there that I didn't know if I liked or not.

  764. But what do you call? I didn't judge them.

  765. I will also not be afraid to show my emotions, which I I

  766. laughed a lot, I cried a lot, and I will be more generous to

  767. the Church, but also to these missions.

  768. I mean, it costs money to run these things.

  769. And I'll tell you what, I'm going to do what I can.

  770. I saw what it's doing, you know, what a few $100, a few $1000 can

  771. do for these people down there. It's really important.

  772. And so I'm going to try doing something crazy this next within

  773. the next year about whether I do drive sales or what.

  774. But we're going to raise some money for these people.

  775. I want to say thank you for everybody that took and prayed

  776. for us and I want to thank. That team that we really got

  777. together, we really have a special bond and I thank

  778. everybody for it and the opportunity.

  779. Thank you, Sean. Well Dennis was a life blow the

  780. trip and honestly that means a true servant of God.

  781. And it was it was fun watching him because God was working all

  782. over him. And that guy shed more tears.

  783. I'm telling you, we actually had a day no tear Thursday and.

  784. But I mean, you can't even encapsulate in words what God

  785. did in through Dennis. So thank you, Dennis.

  786. You're for Logan. Come on.

  787. If Dennis wrote a book about paint drying, I'd probably

  788. preorder it. Segue I'm going to talk to you

  789. guys about the process of painting the discipleship

  790. school, and I'll contextualize it a little bit and actually

  791. explain what it was. So Hugo, the man that runs it,

  792. he used to be a part of a few evangelistic projects, but he

  793. didn't really like the culture of the catch and release that

  794. was going on. So he opened a school, and the

  795. whole point of his school was to build up disciples into the next

  796. generation so that they would do the same thing, and on and on

  797. and on. But right now, they're in a

  798. transition period where they didn't have enough students to

  799. open a semester justifiably. So Hugo being the person he is,

  800. he isn't taking it as a step back, but as an opportunity to

  801. expand networks. He's going across the country

  802. with his team to meet new churches and find a steady,

  803. steady flow of students for his deception of school.

  804. And the other thing he's doing is where we came in, he's

  805. updating the building itself. So we came in being told we were

  806. going to paint and I was under the impression it was maybe 2-3

  807. rooms at the most. I'd never painted before and I

  808. could have imagined I wasn't going to like it very much.

  809. So a little bit in it turned into about half the building,

  810. and when I realized that I was like, ooh, I'm not very good at

  811. this, I don't quite enjoy it, and I don't know how much I'm

  812. going to have fun doing this. So for the next few hours I was

  813. fumbling with my paintbrush. I was messing up everything I

  814. was painting and I was wiping off a lot of mistakes.

  815. But slowly and surely, I was actually beginning to enjoy it.

  816. And what sort of hit me? Was that my passion for what we

  817. were doing was inconsequential to my passion for why we were

  818. doing what we were doing. We were there to be a very small

  819. part of the foundation of future disciples.

  820. We were there to make ourselves nothing and to serve not on our

  821. pretenses or on our schedule, but how we were called to by the

  822. people we were helping. And I'm going to contextualize

  823. that with First Corinthians 919 through 23.

  824. Though I am free and belong to no one, I've made myself a slave

  825. to everyone to win as many as possible to the Jews.

  826. I became like a do, a Jew to win the Jews to those under the law.

  827. I became like one under the law, though I myself am not under the

  828. law, so as to win those under the law.

  829. To those not having the law, I became like 1.

  830. Not having the law, though I am not free from God's law, but I'm

  831. under Christ's law so as to win those Not having the law.

  832. To the weak I became weak. To win the weak, I have become

  833. all things to all people, so that by all possible means I

  834. might save some. I do all this for the sake of

  835. the gospel that I may share in its blessings.

  836. Jesus came from the most High point and he made himself

  837. nothing and he calls us to do the same, which where we are

  838. shouldn't be very difficult. But to contextualize that even

  839. further, John 20/21 He calls us to do it in partnership with

  840. him. As Jesus said, peace be with

  841. you. As the Father has sent me, I am

  842. sending you. He calls us to serve in

  843. partnership as he did to walk the same beaten path he and many

  844. more righteous than us have walked a long boat ago.

  845. And the cool thing I think is he gave us the largest shoulders to

  846. stand on and the greatest example to follow as we work in

  847. partnership with him, even at something as simple as painting.

  848. I was showing a lot of great people on this trip and I'm

  849. learned a lot of things, but the two most important things I'm

  850. going to carry back into the States is a heart of servitude

  851. and a heart of submission as I was shown on the trip.

  852. Thank you. Come on.

  853. Thanks, Logan, man, it's in power.

  854. I kept telling Logan it's not send the drift of paint.

  855. It's just send not to wipe it up.

  856. It's like, come on, Logan. Oh man, I can see God has moved

  857. to every single person on this trip.

  858. And there's a couple of thoughts I just want to share with you.

  859. I'm really just there's so much I could say and I'm not going to

  860. have the time to say it. I'm just not.

  861. And it's it's almost one of the things you got experience.

  862. And so God just put my heart to say just a few quick things.

  863. One is thank you Jesus, that he chose us to make a difference on

  864. this trip. Thank you Jesus for divine

  865. appointments. Amen.

  866. Thank you Jesus that we got to go over there and play a small

  867. part of the story of encouraging these people that there is so

  868. much that happened on that trip that was just gospel centered

  869. and to strengthen those leaders for Christ.

  870. So thank you, Jesus. Amen.

  871. And that that's to your account as well.

  872. Amen. You guys play a part of this

  873. story so we just give it up for Jesus today, what he's doing.

  874. There's a it's reminded of verses in the Philippians but

  875. that he began a good work and you would continue today

  876. completion. It's Philippians chapter one and

  877. Paul says it's why he's in prison about the Church of

  878. Phillip I. And you guys know why.

  879. He said, well what is the good work that he's referring to?

  880. They continue the good work. It's the gospel going out.

  881. Literally says it very clearly. The gospel starred, they were

  882. new believers. They begin to spread it and even

  883. know persecution and suffering. And he's in prison.

  884. They continue to preach the gospel.

  885. Amen. And I'm just telling you in

  886. Colombia, I've been around there about 10 years and the ministry

  887. that started work coupled with has been going on almost 50

  888. years and the God has continued to work in Colombia.

  889. Amen. And we get to play a part of

  890. that. I kind of feel like we're like,

  891. I don't know, like spiritual gold diggers.

  892. Almost right. Because what God is doing down

  893. there, it is so impressive and it's so cool to see part of

  894. their story. And so thank you, Jesus, that we

  895. could even partner with them and not just for financially, but

  896. just just soul to soul. Amen.

  897. I mean, we learn more than than we ever taught.

  898. And you saw that with these guys.

  899. Which kind of brings me the second point that the power of

  900. just going on on a trip and and the power, what did what God did

  901. in us, You know, we always say, well, we go to Africa and change

  902. Africa. I mean, across the world, God's

  903. going to change us through this trip as well.

  904. Amen. And those I will statements we

  905. get to sit down last Sunday night and at this time of

  906. debriefing and we call a spec. You kind of look through some

  907. scripture and we ask you what's what's a sin to avoid right.

  908. What's a promise of God, what's an example to follow, what's a

  909. command to obey. What's a knowledge to obtain.

  910. And we looked across the whole trip and everything God taught

  911. us and all the teaching all these pieces and they they wrote

  912. these I will statements And so I I put these into a little slide

  913. and this is actually missing to kill people.

  914. But these are statements from our crew.

  915. Of what God has asked them to do.

  916. Is that incredible? I feel like I can preach for six

  917. years and not get that list. Come on, somebody, right.

  918. I mean, I don't know that's worth the price of admission.

  919. This. This trip is about 1800 bucks.

  920. That that's dirt. Treat.

  921. The food is fantastic. It is really good.

  922. The people are amazing. But more than that, God is

  923. moving down there. Amen.

  924. And he moves in us. And this is a result of just

  925. showing up and being available. It was interesting because we

  926. read this book called Before We Go and it's just a devo and kind

  927. of prepping your expectations and your heart and all these

  928. things. And there's a story in about

  929. serving lemonade and that I'm not going to do, but made the

  930. opportunity to serve lemonade as laid serves lemonade.

  931. So it's kind of the running joke being Dennis had like I was

  932. going to serve lemonade, you know, and I'm telling you over

  933. and over again through trip. I just looked at Dennis and

  934. said, well, looks like God's got bigger plans of serving lemonade

  935. on this trip. Over and over and over.

  936. How many guys have been on an international mission trip

  937. global missions trip cross culturally.

  938. Some of you guys live that right?

  939. It's amazing what God has done. How many have not been on an

  940. international trip. All right, all right.

  941. I'm just telling you like they're just a blessing if you

  942. get a chance to do that. But God did something in us.

  943. Also, the power of going away doesn't other people Ugo,

  944. there's a there's a picture coming up and I got a chance to

  945. do an equipping huddle. If you're on our team, you're

  946. familiar with. Sit down and kind of sharpen the

  947. acts and just like just get heart to heart, soul to soul

  948. conversation on some stuff and I get a chance to to talk to you.

  949. Go if you don't know who is, he's the one that's wearing the

  950. Chiefs hat. Come all somebody.

  951. He's the only Chiefs fan in Columbia, right?

  952. He's rocking it. You guys got connections with

  953. some chief stuff. He would love to have it.

  954. Dude's fantastic. He actually came up here for

  955. heart and soul last year and he shared his story and he talked

  956. about the the pain that God had kind of pruned his life and

  957. taking some things and he shared that here.

  958. He touched our hearts. Remember you guys remember Hugo?

  959. Who knows Hugo? You guys remember Hugo.

  960. A lot of you guys know who go, all right, so let me just tell

  961. you a quick story. And we we were down there.

  962. I got a chance to this quipping huddle and he's in the season

  963. where they don't have the funds. They lost a huge ministry.

  964. You used to be 20,000 kids going to camp and the Rollins

  965. Foundation pulled out millions of dollars and so they lost

  966. their network. But he has a passion for this

  967. Apple ship and had the school. There's a lot of things that got

  968. set up on this. But during the season of like

  969. having to build a network and get more funds and reach more

  970. people. And I went down there and

  971. knowing that and I shared a story out of John 15 about how

  972. he got the fathers of the the gardener.

  973. He prunes the things. And if you don't think about

  974. pruning, like if you just grow and the fruit is small and it's

  975. bitter. But if you prune it, you create

  976. more fruit and healthier fruit. And I was just talking to to

  977. Hugo and the guys, Albero, all these other pastors and just

  978. pulling into the things of Christ.

  979. And he came to me. He said this the last year I

  980. went to your church in Kansas City and God spoke through me to

  981. your people and encouraged them. And this is tears rolled down

  982. space and said this year you guys come here and spoke to me

  983. and he he just bawling and he's put his arms around me.

  984. And I'm just telling you we had a we had a chance to make a

  985. difference in people's lives. Amen to sharpen the leaders down

  986. there that really need the encouragement.

  987. Well, the coolest things that I want to see happen, this is

  988. really vision on my heart is that he gets to open a a a

  989. check, a statement, I should say that says, hey, real life,

  990. church is funding you with a good amount of money.

  991. Amen. Because that guy's making a

  992. difference for souls. I I feel like I'm on the

  993. coattails of some of these guys. You know, I'm looking up to

  994. them. I'm trying to chase down the

  995. things that God's doing in your life.

  996. And so I would encourage you guys to play a part of the store

  997. that God's riding. We talked about Philippians 4.

  998. We would be a lot of Philippians today, right?

  999. But Philippians 4:15, and it's just very powerful passage and

    Philippians 4:15

  1000. I'll just repart of it. It says, Moreover, as the

  1001. Philippians know, this is Paul talk in the church there in the

  1002. early days of your acquaintance of the gospel when you were

  1003. first Christians, when you were new believers, When I set out

  1004. from Macedonia, not one church share with me in the matter of

  1005. giving and receiving, except for you, the Philippian Church was

  1006. the one church. Just think about that.

  1007. Wouldn't you would like to be the one church?

  1008. Here's the only church that support give and received to

  1009. Paul, he said. For even when I was in

  1010. Thessalonica you sent me even more and more than once when I

  1011. was in need. If you know the book of Acts,

  1012. man. He was chased out Thessanica in

  1013. a hard way. He was chased being persecuted

  1014. for the gospel And this church, the Philippian Church was the

  1015. one church, he says. I don't really desire a gift for

  1016. me. This is Philippians for he's

  1017. he's wrapping this up. He says I'm not asking for

  1018. something, but I want you to. I want you to receive something.

  1019. I desire that. That it more be credit to your

  1020. account. I I want you to get the glory.

  1021. And I think they did because this is forever like in stone

  1022. and engraved in the Bible for all eternity that the Philippian

  1023. church was the one church that gave Amen.

  1024. And so they get some credit. He wants to them to get the gift

  1025. and the blessing and the reward and the diligence, the things

  1026. all God has for him by thanking them.

  1027. He said that you supplied everything for me.

  1028. He goes I'm I've received full payment.

  1029. I I have. More than enough I've able

  1030. supply now received from a paphroditis the gifts you sent

  1031. me. Not only paphroditis was sent to

  1032. him, but they came with a gift to Paul.

  1033. They say it was a this how you describe that gift and this is

  1034. what happens when you give to these guys.

  1035. It's a fragrant offering, right? It's acceptable sacrifice.

  1036. It's pleasing to God. There's a promise that maybe

  1037. you've heard preached before, but here's the context of the

  1038. promise. This context, this next verse

  1039. comes to the fact that this church had given to him, had

  1040. blessed him, had said the best to him.

  1041. And he says this is Flippian church in verse 19 and said, and

  1042. my God will meet all your deeds according to the richest of his

  1043. glory in Christ Jesus. We preach that verse like come

  1044. on God, give me something, but this isn't the context of

  1045. because you gave and supported me.

  1046. God's promise is he'll give and support you and you'll be

  1047. blessed in all ways maybe not financially but he will take

  1048. care of you. Amen.

  1049. And so I just think about this and I think man, I want to be

  1050. that church. Amen.

  1051. I'll be the one church you guys feel me today be the one church

  1052. that that that gets behind and serves and goes and makes a

  1053. difference has in Kingdom impact for the cause of Christ.

  1054. And so today I know what God's asking you to do.

  1055. I can't imagine that you sat through listening to these

  1056. stories and. Assault these people that had no

  1057. idea they're getting into some of them and said yes to Jesus

  1058. and served him and followed him. That God isn't speaking to you

  1059. today. Maybe walked in, had no idea

  1060. what you're walking into. And you just know, man, God must

  1061. be real because look what he's doing across the world and even

  1062. here today through these people. And so I know what God's asking

  1063. you to do, but I know God's asking you to follow him, to be

  1064. submissive to him being to him and say yes to whatever he has

  1065. for you today. It's always going to have you

  1066. guys close your eyes and bow your heads.

  1067. I'll also talk to you guys that are Jesus followers in the

  1068. house. Those that you know Jesus may

  1069. know Jews for a long time. Maybe the starless.

  1070. But Jesus last week and how do you say you know what God just

  1071. stern in me a little passion to be part of this thing called

  1072. global missions. God stirred me a passion to to

  1073. pray fervently for the things of Christ.

  1074. The church in Phillip High was held together by prayer and the

  1075. Holy Spirit working through those people.

  1076. This kept in ground in their faith.

  1077. We could pray for these people overseas.

  1078. Maybe God stern in you the ability to to give.

  1079. Maybe you're saying, you know what?

  1080. I can see myself going one of these trips down the road.

  1081. I don't know what God has for me, but I'm willing to do what

  1082. it is. How many days?

  1083. Say it today? God.

  1084. Just stirring something hard about global missions.

  1085. You guys put your hands in there.

  1086. If that's you, come all across this room.

  1087. Nobody's looking around. I'm going to call you out.

  1088. Say, come put those hands high. If that's you.

  1089. Don't be bold today. Be bold.

  1090. The things of Christ. And I see your hands all across

  1091. the room. Father.

  1092. You see the hands, man. Bless God.

  1093. Let's get perspective. Let's get gospel truth on this

  1094. thing of missions. Let's be a light.

  1095. That shines bright across the world.

  1096. Let us be able to send our best Jesus.

  1097. We just call people out of here to go.

  1098. Call people to encourage and strengthen and stand up and

  1099. maybe don't know where they're going to go.

  1100. They don't know how they get there, but God, they have you.

  1101. And that's enough. Today, I pray for one group of

  1102. people, and that's those of you who say, you know what, that

  1103. mission is tripping around the world.

  1104. But guess what? That gospel came to me today.

  1105. I'm the mission today. I'm the reason for Jesus today.

  1106. I'm the reason for this meeting today.

  1107. The gospel is making good sense to you now.

  1108. You've seen the power of Christ, just talked about why we serve

  1109. others and Philippians chapter 2.

    Philippians 2 chapter mention

  1110. And it goes on the talk about Jesus, how he humbled himself

  1111. and took upon reputation and wrapped himself in your man.

  1112. He lowered his characters of of who he is and and all the

  1113. divinity and he lowered him, becoming human and he became

  1114. obedient, even the death of the cross.

  1115. And he died for our sins. That's the good news of the

  1116. gospel, that you were helpless. Jesus died for us.

  1117. There's nothing we could do on our own apart from what God has

  1118. done. So they may recognize you need

  1119. Jesus. You need that good news that

  1120. Christie shared that we all walk through, we all talked about

  1121. today. You need forgiveness.

  1122. There's one moment in your life make that decision where Holy

  1123. Spirit comes in you that you're changed forever in the power

  1124. Christ is put into your life. The Holy Spirit.

  1125. And today me recognize man. I need what what?

  1126. What I'm hearing today. I need the gospel.

  1127. So battle says today's your dad's a day of salvation.

  1128. And because they more shall be saved.

  1129. So I just want to give this invitation to you.

  1130. God be looking around. I can call you out if you say

  1131. you know what I need Jesus. I need forgiveness.

  1132. I am the mission today. I recognize this trip around the

  1133. world. But this trip was for me.

  1134. This trip isn't over yet. We just raise your hands.

  1135. I need Jesus. So that's you today and nobody

  1136. looking around. Put your hand high.

  1137. Maybe you're online. So I need Jesus.

  1138. Come on and be like that today. What spiritual is moving through

  1139. you? Well that's you that's asking

  1140. you to pray as per and say Father God thanks so much for

  1141. bringing Jesus. Rushed around the world but to

  1142. me today. God forgive me.

  1143. God make me new. God change me from the inside

  1144. out that you could have my life. I want to serve you.

  1145. God call me. I'm willing to go and pray this

  1146. in Jesus name. Amen.

  1147. Come on, give it up for crisis during the day.

  1148. Come on, we're going to be late today.

  1149. It's just going to be what it is.

  1150. So, but I I would encourage you guys to play play part of the

  1151. story. If we came to Jesus today on

  1152. your connection card, just let us know.

  1153. Give me life to Jesus. Make part of the family God and

  1154. encourage you in your first steps.

  1155. Don't you just do this alone? Don't you feel like you're on

  1156. your own, isolated? We have a book we're going to

  1157. mail you, so if you just turn that card in, it'll help you the

  1158. first step with Jesus. We also have something very

  1159. special coming up. We have baptism.

  1160. We're turning 6 years old next month.

  1161. Do you guys believe that your life is 6?

  1162. Come on. It would have thought that we'd

  1163. be 6 years old. But baptism, If you never

  1164. baptized, you know Jesus is Lord and Savior.

  1165. I would encourage you to get signed up online.

  1166. It's just gonna be incredible time of what God's gonna do.

  1167. In your life. And it's just basically saying

  1168. I'm all in for Jesus. It's a really picture of what

  1169. Jesus did in you and he came to him.

  1170. You're actually baptized the Holy Spirit.

  1171. You're baptized through Jesus. And so when you baptize the

  1172. water, she's a picture of Christ in your life.

  1173. And so we got four people signed up already.

  1174. And so I would encourage you to be apart what God's doing.

  1175. I'd also say this today if you're interested in going on a

  1176. trip in the future. We have a trip coming in next

  1177. year, next summer. We're still lying out, dates to

  1178. go to Columbia, but I encourage you let us know.

  1179. We'll start praying for you. We'll give some ideas how to

  1180. raise funds, but you're basically looking at 1800 bucks,

  1181. $2000 Max. It is absolutely incredible what

  1182. God can do. And so man started saving them

  1183. money. Pray about coming if you've

  1184. never been. We love taking new people on the

  1185. trip. I know we've had about 20 of us

  1186. have gone to Columbia in the past, but I encourage you to

  1187. play a part of the story. I also encourage you this.

  1188. We didn't move from day to week when it comes to missions, you

  1189. know. How did you guys say they went

  1190. to Colombia? They prayed, they went, they did

  1191. this stuff, They preached. But I encourage it.

  1192. We need maybe switched up to say we did that.

  1193. Amen. Like I played a part of the

  1194. story. Like I gave to this.

  1195. Like I served in this. Or like I sent somebody on this.

  1196. I was really into it. I gave towards the thanks of

  1197. Christ. So I would encourage you to to

  1198. shift that mentality. There's two ways to do it.

  1199. One is crash course that's going down today at 2:00 over the Hope

  1200. center is me Diane's Mercru. It really just connects to

  1201. connect but plug you into the mission.

  1202. God's purpose to you. He's giving you gifts and

  1203. talents and we just going to help you plug it into the things

  1204. of Christ here locally in our city and our church.

  1205. But also what you do this and this is something we've really

  1206. never asked our church but we've never really put this this kind

  1207. of burden or wait or call on your shoulders.

  1208. But I'm going to ask you guys this today this is.

  1209. Had the biggest take away today. I'm going to invite you guys to

  1210. go global with us, to partner with us together for the things

  1211. of Christ. Who knows prayer makes a

  1212. difference. You guys believe that today?

  1213. Who? Who knows going makes a

  1214. difference. You guys believe that today?

  1215. Well, yeah, I love that you can keep it up.

  1216. But I'll also say this giving makes a difference.

  1217. You guys believe that we get excited about that.

  1218. We need we need be like a mission sending church.

  1219. Like it's not about how many sit here.

  1220. It's something we send. So I would invite you to be part

  1221. of the vision that really God's put on my heart and our heart

  1222. for missions. We we love to fund what God's

  1223. doing in Columbia. We have a vision to give $2500 a

  1224. month to Columbia. We want to support Hugo in his

  1225. ministry 1500 a month. We want to give this stops with

  1226. school. We want to see more kids or

  1227. young people be trained for the gospel God for Christ that that

  1228. allows that to happen. Matter fact I was I was leaving

  1229. there. And Scott told me this.

  1230. He's the missionary that's connected to all those pieces.

  1231. He said they have the people, they don't have the money and

  1232. they want to do this and this. I mean, I don't know about you.

  1233. I love Hugo. You guys love Hugo.

  1234. We can get behind this. There's a Man of School project

  1235. that's before and after school. It meets one day a week.

  1236. We can make it two days a week, $250 a month.

  1237. What's incredible when you give to Columbia, and it it may be a

  1238. little selfish reason, but every dollar is worth four times more

  1239. at Columbia. So if we give $30,000 at

  1240. Columbia this year just saves 120,000, that incredible.

  1241. I mean I'm just telling you, but that just the souls that we're

  1242. reaching down for the cause of Christ, like we can play a part

  1243. of that. And so I'm asking to do is go

  1244. above and beyond what you normally give.

  1245. There's a cue on your screen and be generous to the things of

  1246. Christ. Some of you guys can write a

  1247. check and say, man, you're not going to miss this.

  1248. And then next year we come back as we give updates on Columbia.

  1249. You can be like, I sowed seed in that.

  1250. Amen. I played a part of that story

  1251. and I'm telling you, it's a good investment for the Kingdom of

  1252. Christ. And things got to do.

  1253. And so we need to learn how to be generous.

  1254. That's one of the I ams, right? Like, I didn't get out all week.

  1255. I had nothing. I didn't cook at home all week.

  1256. Come on, somebody. Because I'm like dude, I can

  1257. give more towards missions. So for us like we're multiplying

  1258. things in Christ and willing to give towards this.

  1259. I'm going to invite you to play part of the story, invite you to

  1260. play a part of the story what God's writing internationally.

  1261. And so this is kind of an all skate.

  1262. If you're new to church, I would say church is free.

  1263. Amen. And we're talking about money.

  1264. But if you're new to church, church is free.

  1265. But if you are calling to life home today, there was four ways

  1266. to give. Come on, somebody, not three.

  1267. There was four ways online text buckets pass.

  1268. That's where connection cards as well.

  1269. But you can give through this QR.

  1270. There's also a drop down for missions.

  1271. Now how challenge you guys give to missions.

  1272. Amen. Don't hold back.

  1273. It doesn't matter the amount it's your heart to give it.

  1274. God will bless it. God will use it.

  1275. And some of you guys just need to open your heart's neurosity

  1276. and say man, I can see God moving here.

  1277. And if you don't know exactly what to give and pray and ask

  1278. God. And when he tells you, just be

  1279. faithful what God asks you to do.

  1280. That's all. That's all we ask him in and

  1281. we'll move with the vision of what you guys move.

  1282. Our vision is 30,000 a year. Right now we don't have 30,000

  1283. Okay. But we'll give as God lead you

  1284. to give. And we'll multiply that and give

  1285. it to those people to make a difference.

  1286. And I really want to make a huge impact.

  1287. I want Hugo and those guys to be like you're thanking Jesus for

  1288. real life. I've known these guys for a

  1289. decade. I will stand behind them.

  1290. I'd put them as the next pastor if they spoke English.

  1291. Come on, somebody believe what they're doing.

  1292. And so let's get behind that for the cause of Christ.

  1293. And so today, if you got the catch start, drop it in.

  1294. As always. If you need food, clothing,

  1295. shelter for your family, your friend need.

  1296. Reach in and take it for you guys.

  1297. And I'll pray and we'll be out of here.

  1298. Father God, thanks so much for what you're doing today.

  1299. God, we love you. God, we thank you for who you

  1300. are and just bless us giving God.

  1301. If you have a heart for you, God bless this time as we continue

  1302. to to worship you and follow you with our generosity and praise

  1303. Jesus. Name.

  1304. Amen. Leave us out here, Drew.

  1305. Amen. All right, real life.

  1306. Let's get Bulls for mission starting today.

  1307. There we go. Coming in, hot, man.

  1308. I am excited to see what God does through our church for

  1309. missions next year. I'm excited to invite you to

  1310. come back next week as we continue that series, asking for

  1311. a friend diving into a really tough question.

  1312. This idea of, you know, why does God ask us to forgive people

  1313. who've taken advantage of us, even if they don't even care

  1314. that they did it in the 1st place?

  1315. Tell you what, there's a lot of pain in that question.

  1316. But even more important than that, there's a lot of healing

  1317. that can go through that. So I want you to come back and

  1318. find out more about that as Sean leads us through an awesome

  1319. message of asking for a friend. If you need prayer this morning,

  1320. we'd love to pray with you upfront.

  1321. So come on down here. We'd love to pray over you and

  1322. your situation this week, and we'll see you next week at 9:30

  1323. or 11. Remember, whoever finds Jesus

  1324. discovers real life and purpose. Have a great week,

  1325. This is the end of this podcast. We hope you've enjoyed it.

  1326. If you have, be sure to hit the subscribe button so you don't

  1327. miss another inspirational podcast.

  1328. For more great content and updates, visit reallifechurchkc

  1329. dot.