The Hirsch Family Missionaries to Honduras

Thank you, Lord, today, Lord, you're so wonderful.

We're so grateful, Lord, for the opportunity to be here in your

house, to be here and gather together as one body, one

family. Mighty, mighty God, thank you

Jesus, praise the Lord. Church, you can be seated,

please, as long as you promise not to get too comfortable and

get sleepy. We are so grateful to be here,

to be here at Mount Carmel. I want to give some honor to

begin Pastor McGee and his family.

As he's mentioned, we were always so excited to see the

Mcgee's at church camp in any events we would see them.

We were always so excited to see them.

We're so grateful for their friendship whenever we were

growing as a family. We're so grateful for your

kindness and your love that you always gave to us.

We're so grateful. I want to give honor, Jerry

Mason, perfect on cue, nicely give honor to you and your

family for all the work you do with the Indiana District.

And I know Pastor Gil always talks very, very highly of his

organization, his abilities. So we give you high honor for

that. And then also Alex Mason up in

the the crow's nest. They're just hard to keep up

with him. Thank you all for your, you and

your family, for your passion for the Indiana student

ministries that you have done, for the passion you have, for

all of that, the work that you guys do.

Thank you so much. We, you guys have an amazing

ministry that you have here. It's, it's incredible.

It's always fun to see that there are some churches that

carry so much of the load of the district and you guys have

amazing leadership. Can you give your leadership

team a big hand? And I want to finally, if you'll

allow me just a couple minutes, I'm going to go ahead and set my

timer. So, you know, I'm not lying.

I didn't say I was going to stick to it, but I almost said

it. I'm going to try.

I always said it just so we know, but I want to take just a

just a couple steps here down memory lane because it was a

cool Friday in March of 2012, yes, 2012, that I came as a

attendee of University of Southern Indiana here to Mount

Carmel for a youth rally. And I got here and there was a

beautiful young lady that walked up that aisle right over there.

And I thought to myself, man, she is way out of my league.

But I sure hope someday I can get to know that Lady.

And that was none other than my wife.

So thank you all for having a church, for having youth

rallies. And you will forever hold a

beautiful spot in our hearts. And I just, it's, it's so crazy.

It's such a full circle moment being back here.

We'll celebrate being married 12 years this coming March.

So God is good. And it all started right here.

I remember setting about the third row right over here and it

was just incredible. Like it's it's it's very

nostalgic and Deja Vu pulling into the parking lot now with my

wife and three children. It's amazing.

So thank you all that there was. Can't tell you how much I

appreciate your church and the people that you bring to your

church. So, so let's get into it now.

I'll stop being sappy and we'll just, we'll go.

We've already lost a minute and 1/2.

So let's talk about not that my wife's not worth a minute and a

half. Let me, I'm going to take this

shovel and I'm going to put it right over here.

Let's talk a little bit about Honduras.

So I want to give you kind of a road map as we start.

You're gonna hear from me for a while.

You're gonna hear from my wife, our kids.

My wife is going to talk a little about her testimony and

about our future vision in Honduras.

And then you're going to come back.

I'm going to come back. And then I would like to end

kind of encouraging you with some of my testimony and

encouraging under the theme about God always gets the glory.

So that's kind of the map we're going to go in.

We're going to take us about 41 1/2 minutes to get there, maybe

the good Lord willing. So let's start with a little bit

about Honduras as a whole. And I want to give you a heads

up. It is my intention to give you

some tantalizing, tempting information to come to Honduras

on a nice missions trip. And it works out really nicely

tonight because it's a little cool outside.

Your fingers are probably starting to crack.

Your nose is running as soon as you step outside.

And I want to let you know that if you ever want to come to

Honduras, I can promise you at any day throughout the year, you

can come. You can just pick a random day

and it will always be nice and hot.

Nice and warm, beautiful subtropic weather with delicious

mangoes, delicious bananas. Where the banana capital of the

world, coconuts, tilapia, we have beautiful mahogany we

export. And my last and personal

favorite of our exports is coffee.

So we're going to, I know where I'm starting off memory lane and

now I'm going carnal on you. We're going to get spiritual.

We're going to we're going to gain some traction to get there.

But I want to say if you want to come on a missions trip to

Honduras and you leave some empty space in your suitcase,

when you come back, you can fill that with just as much coffee as

you can fit in that suitcase. Just want to throw that out

there. We brought 50 lbs this last time

we came back and we sold it for some Bibles.

So just want to throw that out there.

If you're into mangoes and warm weather and coffee, I believe

you found the will of God for your missions trip.

Just just throwing that out there.

So let's talk about the population.

There are 11,000,000 souls in the country of Honduras,

11,000,000 souls. Now we are in the city of

Toloteca, which is the southernmost city.

There's about 75,000 there in that city.

And we have the best base there. We have 12 churches in or around

that city. We're going to build a training

center in that city, the good Lord willing.

And you're going to hear from that about that from my wife.

And then as we move N, we get to the capital city in Tegucigalpa,

which has 1.6 million people. We have about four works

operating in there. So 4 works is amazing and we're

excited for it, but we need so many more.

Now I know it sounds crazy and maybe cliche to say, but I

earnestly believe when God said that it is not his will that any

should perish that includes these 11,000,000 souls.

So we go with the goal, with the vision, with the mindset that

God can reach 11,000,000 souls, He can reach 7300 souls in Mount

Carmel, He can reach 11,000,000 souls in Honduras.

So that is the goal, because I believe we serve a God that can

do exceeding, abundantly above whatever.

I can ask or think, and I don't know about you all, but when I

get into prayer, I can think of some wild things to say.

I can think of some crazy things to ask for, like reaching 75,000

people in Chota Teca, like reaching every soul in Mount

Carmel, like reaching every soul in Tegucigalpa.

Now, I don't know how it's going to happen, but I know God can do

anything. We can look at a giant facing

David and say, really, how's that going to happen?

God always seems to find a way to get the glory.

You see Daniel and the lions, then how's this going to happen?

He just always does it, doesn't he?

He always finds the odds that are stacked against and he finds

a way to do it. So looking at our last church

that we have in the northeastern section in the city of

Katakamas, we have one church there.

We're very thankful that is a whole region on its own.

That's very different. We'll talk about it when you're

there on the missions trip. So we have 17 as a whole.

I just threw that in there. Sorry.

We have 17 as a whole that we have operating.

There's more starting every day. It's it's a, it's a growing

vibrant, it's amazing. So at this point, my family's

going to come. And I will say.

Three of them, I'll let you pick which three of the four did have

some naps on the way here. They're still, they're still

warming up a little bit. So this is our funnest but most

unpredictable part. That means hello Joanna, nine

years old, and now I'd like to go for you.

In 15. Hi, my name is Julia and I'm six

years old and I would like to go for you all today.

Deuteronomy 6 and four. Oh yeah.

Is there a very good. My name is Liza and I and I am

4. What do you like about Honduras

Laser? I like with the koalas and the

dead girls. Iguanas and the geckos, yes.

So if you also like iguanas or geckos and then Liza, can you

say? Queriote bendiga so that means.

May God bless you. So blessings from Liza, and now

you're going to hear a little from my wife.

Praise the Lord, that actually went better than I thought it

was going to go, so that's good. We're starting off on a good

note, but I have a wonderful privilege to be able to tell you

all about the present ways and the future plans that we have to

train and equip our pastors and our ministers and the nation of

Honduras. But I like to start with my

testimony because I believe that God started preparing me to work

and teach in a Bible training center when I was just a little

girl. And I also know that God has a

plan for every single person in this room.

And He has taken you through things.

Maybe He's bringing you through something currently that He

desires to use for His Kingdom for His purposes.

And my story starts with fear. Fear has been a part of my life

for as long as I can remember. And when I was a little girl, I

would just experience just terror.

I would be paralyzed with fear. And I didn't know why.

And I didn't know how to combat it.

I didn't know how to use the words to explain to my parents

what was happening to me. But it would just physically

make me so sick. I was just sick with dread.

And I experienced this so many times that my parents ended up

bringing me to my pastor at the time, Brother ML Walls, and he

took the time to teach that little girl lesson about how the

Word of God was her weapon. And he showed me Second Timothy

17. For God has not given us the

spirit of fear, but a power and of love and a sound mind.

And he told me to memorize the Scripture and to quote it every

single time I felt fear. And I did.

I am an avid rule follower, so if you tell me to do something

and it's going to give me peace, absolutely I'm going to do it.

And this scripture was my lifeline when I was growing up.

Every single time I felt fear enter into my mind, I would

quote the scripture and it would leave.

And I use this all the time. And I would experience momentary

lapses from fear. And as I grew up, I got married

and we had our first child, Joseph.

We had her second child, Julian. And our life was going according

to our plan at least until she was around 4 weeks old.

And at that time, my husband started experiencing some really

weird health symptoms. And we're just like, oh, it's

probably nothing. It's probably just some old

injury acting up. We'll just go to the ER, we'll

get it checked out and it'll be fine.

Well, during that ER visit, they ended up diagnosing him with

chronic myeloid leukemia. And to say that our world

drastically flipped upside down that day would be an

understatement. And all the while, there were

seeds of fear that were being planted in my mind, but I didn't

notice at first. I was in survival mode.

I had a 2 year old, a nursing newborn, and now a very sick

husband at home with me every single day and I felt completely

overwhelmed. And then just one year later,

the pandemic happened and it was the perfect atmosphere for those

seeds of fear in my mind to just completely overtake every single

thought I had. The fear and panic that I

experienced was like a vice. It's the only way I know how to

explain it. It was like I was stuck in it

and it would just squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until I had

no joy, no peace, no hope left. It was like I was trapped with

my thoughts. I was trapped in my own head.

It was the most horrible experience that I had ever been

through. And it was the mental battle

where I felt like I was fighting for my life.

I was fighting for my sanity. Every single thought I had was a

lie from the enemy. And he was telling me you have

no future. You're going to die.

There is nothing good that's ever going to happen to you or

your family ever again. So I of course, felt hopeless,

defeated, I felt terrified. But God started to talk to me in

this season and he started to remind me of that lesson that my

Bishop had taught me all those years ago as a little girl, that

the word of God was my weapon. So I decided to really put that

to the test. Any time there was fearful or

anxious thoughts that would come into my mind, which sometimes

felt like every second of every single day, I would just turn to

the Word of God. I would start reading the

scripture. I would start praying the

scriptures over my mind, over my situation, over my family.

And little by little, what I was doing is I was renewing my mind

daily by covering myself in the Word of God.

I was learning how to use the Word of God as my weapon.

I was learning how to fight. Two years after that battle, God

started to speak to our family about serving him in the mission

field. And now looking back, I can see

there were some things that died during that season.

There was old. There was old mindsets, old

perspectives that I had, old thought patterns that needed to

go, old expectations of what I thought our family's future

looked like. But through it all, God was

doing something. He was renewing me.

He was changing me. He was giving me a new future, a

new purpose, and I was learning how to rely on Him for

everything. My Peace of Mind, my patience,

strength, our family's future. And that wasn't all the new life

he gave us during that time either.

We have three beautiful children.

So he also blessed us with Eliza.

And her name means an oath from the Lord.

So we believe that she's a promise.

A promise that God's not done with our family.

And while the enemy would desire to abort the mission that God's

called us to by using fear, worry, anxiety, and even a

cancer diagnosis, God's will will prevail.

And she's a gift from the Lord to remind us of that.

Because we all need reminders from time to time of the

promises and of the messages that God's been speaking

throughout all time in His Word. And I want to talk just for a

couple minutes about one of those today.

And that is that you are that I am who God says we are.

We are not what the enemy says we are.

We are not what others have labeled us in our past and we're

not even what we call ourselves. The devil tries to tell me that

I'm done, that I have no future, and he accuses me of being

fearful and full of anxiety. And there was a season in my

life I believed every single lie he told me.

But I'm so thankful that God didn't leave me there, that He

started to speak into my life and over me about who I am and

who I belong to. That I do have a future.

I'd like to read just a few verses of scripture for you.

We can see a little bit of this happening in Judges chapter 6

Judges 6:12–16

verses 12 through 16. And we find Gideon threshing

wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites in verse

12 says, And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said

unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.

And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us,

why then is all this befallen us?

And where be all his miracles, which our fathers told us of

saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?

But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the

hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him and

said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the

hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee?

And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel?

Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I'm the least in

my father's house. And the Lord said unto him,

Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites

as one man. I love this conversation.

I'm so thankful that it's included in the word of God

because I think it is such a human conversation that we have

with God sometimes where we can lay our fears and our concerns

out and say, I feel forsaken, Lord, I feel forsaken.

Where are all these miracles that I've heard about?

Where are they? How come I haven't seen one?

I feel like I should see 1. I feel like that, that if you

were going to do something then I would.

I would see it. Now is a good time.

God, I'm hiding, hiding in the winepress.

I'm trying to feed my family. Gideon was a man that was

terrified. He was afraid to hope for a

future that included freedom for him and his family, but I think

he was afraid to hope for any future at all.

I think he thought this is it, this is as good as it gets, This

is all I'm ever going to experience.

He had his own ideas as to why he should be disqualified from

being the man chosen to save Israel.

He says, my family's poor and I'm the least in my father's

house, and I think we do the same thing.

We have our own excuses and we say, don't you know who I am?

God? Don't you know what I've done?

Don't you know who my family is? Surely I am just disqualified

from being used for your purpose.

But God wasn't interested in any of Gideon's excuses or his

limitations. He already knew it all.

He knew that Gideon wasn't qualified to experience victory

because of anything Gideon had ever done or ever would do.

He wasn't qualified because of his family history, his

personality, or his skill set. God was giving Gideon his

identity. He's saying you're a mighty man

of valor. But it's not because Gideon was

naturally brave, but it was because the Almighty God

himself, who had never lost a battle, was calling Gideon.

So our identities are wrapped up in who God is, not in who we

are. And I'm so thankful for that.

God then goes on to tell Gideon, surely I will be with thee.

And I think that's probably the most powerful part because This

is why you and I can be victorious today as well.

We can stand there and say those same promises that have echoed

throughout all time in Scripture, that God's never

leaving us, that he's never forsaking us, that he's going to

be with us always. Those are still sure for us

today. And we like, unfortunately, as

humans, we like to think victory is when we are already

victorious, that the enemy's dead and dying all around us.

And then we can relax and know that the battle is won.

But that's not the case. That's not our life in the

church. We are currently living in it.

But we know who's already won all the battles.

We know that we have victory just because He's on our side.

I know that God wants to use all of us for His purpose.

But I also have come face to face, and I'm sure you have to

with our enemy who would desire to do anything to keep you from

following God's will for your life.

He has great excuses. They're very convincing.

He has a lot of lies to tell you.

He has accusations that He will just rail at you over and over

and over again. So what can you do in the face

of an enemy like that? You have to remind yourself you

have to renew yourself in the word of God.

You have to fight. So how can we fight?

I just want to give you 2 verses of scripture in case you need

something to pull out quickly. Deuteronomy 20 And one says,

when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and see

his horses and Chariots, and the people more than thou, be not

afraid of them. For the Lord thy God is with

thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And Isaiah 43 and two says, When thou passes through the waters,

I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not

overflow thee. When thou walk us through the

fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle

upon thee. And both of these scriptures is

the same promise. We don't have to be afraid

because God's with us. That's why our situations may

look dark. We may see an enemy that looks

like they outnumber us. We may see waters that look like

they're going to overwhelm us, fires that look like they're

going to burn us. But the same promise, forever

and ever and ever. God's with us.

We don't have to fear. I all never would have thought

that the years that I spent battling fear were preparing me

to leave everything I've ever known to move to a new country

with a new culture and a new language.

But I can see now that God had to teach me where my identity

was found. It's found in God.

It's found in Jesus Christ. It's it's only found in that.

It's not found in my natural abilities.

Whatever they may be, they're nothing without God.

They're nothing without the Holy Ghost operating in my life.

And we see that every single day in Central America.

We see ministers, we see families, we see young men,

young women that are they need to know.

They need to know where their identity is found.

And it's not in a corrupt government, It's not in poverty.

It's not with the overwhelming feeling that there's violence

all around them. No, it's found in God.

It's found in God, and I believe through this Bible Training

Center that we're going to talk about that God's going to

unleash an army in Central America of people that know

exactly who they are and why they are called for such a time

as this. We have a picture of this

property that we've already purchased in Choloteca, Honduras

for the Bible Training Center, and we are in the very beginning

stages of building this school on the property.

And the goal and vision for the school is to train and equip our

existing ministers and pastors and their families, but also all

of those that fill a call to work in the ministry.

There is revival that's already sweeping through this region of

the world, and we need to be equipping our pastors and

ministers and helping them train people under them to come behind

them to take over some of these new works.

Our greatest need right now is to develop this property.

We're in the planning stages. We're getting estimates for

fencing. In order to be able to do

anything, we have to have a fence first, otherwise

everything else will disappear. Unfortunately, that's the

reality. Everything will be stolen.

Everything will just be gone overnight.

So we have to have a fence. So that's what we're trying to

do next. We will build missionary

housing. We will build a multi purpose

space for the church and for we're going to have a church on

the property and we're also going to use it as our Bible

training center. So if you feel called to give to

this, that is probably the greatest need right now that we

have in Honduras. And we are believing that

through this school that we're going to see new ministry start.

We currently have no ladies ministries or children's

ministries. We are believing that they

develop through the classes that we have.

We were blessed. Honduras was blessed to be the

very first location that had the Nations to Nations Conference

that Sister Scott had a burden and passion for.

And we know that was an answer to prayer because there has been

burdens that have come upon some of these people.

We've we've had services for the youth happening this year that

have never happened before in the history of Honduras.

So I'm believing that as this continues to go on, the there

will be new burdens and new things placed on our pastors

wives, our pastors and their families to start these in their

churches. The main method we use for

training right now is during two conferences that we hold each

year. We have a national conference in

April and a regional conference in October, and we have some

pictures of that. We've had so many wonderful

ministers come from the States and just pour into our families

there in Honduras. It can be a very discouraging

place to work. Like I said before, there's a

lot of darkness, there's a lot of oppression.

It is not a safe country, it's not a stable country.

So as we have these conferences and we're gearing up and

planning for a one in April, please cover these with prayer,

cover our pastors families, cover all of those that are

traveling to and from. We usually rent buses to kind of

help them get there safely, but pray for their financial

provision because most of them are self-employed and if they're

not working, they're not earning any money.

So pray for that, that God would bless the sacrifice that they

make going to these conferences and pray that they're encouraged

because the reality is they are the ones chosen for this revival

in Central America. They can go places and do things

that we can never go. But with the power of the Holy

Ghost, with them understanding who they are and what God has a

plan for this area of the world in these last days, I believe

that is going to be unmatched, the revival that we experience

in Honduras. So thank you so much for

allowing me the opportunity to share my hearts for the people

of Honduras. Amen.

So I want to continue in this vein of training because this is

where things start to get really exciting for us because we look

at the horizon, we look how God is positioned and prepared and

it gets really exciting. So let's talk about that.

We have a picture of when my wife and I went to the

Philippines just about a year and a half ago.

We were able to go just her and I and we shadowed missionary

Mark Namie for three full weeks. And it was really wonderful

because he kind of pulled back the curtain and showed how they

do, what they do, the curriculum that they use, the results that

glory be to God that they have been able to accomplish in that

region. So the reason that's exciting

for, for us is because they have been able to in just 17 years

that they have been in that that region, they have been able to

build 100 churches in the nation of the Philippines.

So then I start to wonder about Honduras.

We're at 17 churches currently and they've cut the learning

curve with the curriculum. They're already translating

stuff to Spanish with their their classes.

So then that makes me wonder, where could we be in 10 years?

I don't know. Could we be at 100 churches in

10 years? I don't know.

Again, he's able to do exceed, like I told you, I can pray some

wild things and that isn't that wonderful about the God that we

serve, that we can pray these incredible things about breaking

down principalities, about doing this and doing that.

And the God that we serve is the almighty God.

He does not get nervous. We don't start writing checks

that we're going to build 100 churches in 10 years.

And God's like, oh, I don't know, let's, let's calm it down

a little bit easy. But he's the almighty God, and I

believe we can do amazing things through Honduras.

We can see amazing things happen by the grace of God through

Honduras. And what's more, as it's my

like, nice infomercial tone there, like, but wait, there's

more. They have built 100 churches in

the Philippines in the last 17 years, but now they're actively

starting to send missionaries out of their training center,

Filipino missionaries, to places like Hong Kong, Thailand, and

Italy. So then I start to wonder about

those countries that we're positioned close to.

We could be at the capital of either El Salvador or Nicaragua

in about two hours from where we live.

So what about those countries, what about Guatemala, what about

Venezuela? I know it looks like it's a mess

right now, but remember, God always gets the glory.

So whatever is happening in the natural is mirroring what's

happening in the spiritual. And we have prayed that God

would break down principalities. So perhaps this is the way it

happens. I don't know.

But then I think about Belize, I think about Mexico, I think

about Panama, Costa Rica. We are going to see, I believe,

a revival that will shift the entire spiritual climate where

we have seen things like oppression, depression, narco

trafficking, gang violence. They have been there for

decades. Their talents are dug in very

deep. The foundations seem very

strong, but we believe that as we take forward the gospel of

Jesus Christ, everything has to move out of the way.

I don't know how, I don't know when, but I do know God says

wherever he goes there is liberty, there is not

oppression. Wherever he goes there is

freedom. There is not this, this

terroristic violence that happens.

So we believe that very dramatically God is going to do

something throughout all of Central America.

And that's why it's exciting to see what God has done in the

Philippines. I believe we're going to see

something in that vein happen in Central America as a whole.

And and Honduras is only the beginning.

The Lord said in Luke chapter 10 and verse 2 that the harvest

Luke 10 · chapter mention

truly is great, but the laborers are few.

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send

laborers into his harvest. Now that next picture, if you

put that up, that is a picture of some of our laborers that we

have currently. The top picture is our pastors

that we have operating in the region, and the bottom is our

licensed LJC ministers that we have in that region.

So our goal is next time we're here, you'll see a much bigger

picture on this wall. Next time you won't see 11

pastors, maybe you'll see 50. Next time you won't see 20, some

ministers, maybe you'll see 100 and some ministers.

I don't know. But then remember, God can do

exceeding abundantly above. And I have prayed that we would

see multiplying and multiplying in these harvesters because God

said the harvest is great. And in another place he said the

harvest is white and it's ready. So let's pray for these

harvesters that we can multiply them, that we can continue to

send them, like my wife said, in these areas that we can't go but

they can. There's a harvest where they can

go. There's a harvest in some of

these villages. There's a harvest in this area

that we're so excited about. Now we're going to pick up speed

just a little bit because we're at that mark and I want to get

to the end. So if I forget to breathe, just

kind of like nod at me and be like, breathe.

It's. So next, I want to talk about

three of our laborers, specifically if you'll put that

next picture up about our kids. So these were some of the

biggest prayers that we had in 2022.

As we started to navigate this, we started to really hear the

voice of God calling us to do this.

These were our biggest prayers because we believe that you can

be full of faith. You can believe that God has

everything under control, but you can also be aware of the

things that are going on around you.

So that's where we were at in 2022.

We believe that God had everything under control.

This was His voice, this was His will.

He has everything. But we also know where there is,

where God is working. We will find an enemy working

where God is advancing. We will find opposition.

Absolutely. And there are things that happen

in Honduras as it relates to children that do not happen

here. So we were praying very strongly

because we also believe that God doesn't waste seasons.

There's no point in time that you are walking through

something, through a season, through a trial, through a test,

fill in your blank that God is not doing it for a reason.

There's something he's preparing you for on the other side of it

that only comes through that season.

And that's what we believe for our children.

And I don't know, it's not my business to call them to say

they're going here and doing this.

That's between them and the Lord in that good time.

But I know God doesn't waste seasons, so I know whatever this

season is, he's preparing them for something.

So not only here we go again, I'm going to do this infomercial

thing. So not only are we going to see

hundreds of churches built, maybe thousands, we're also

going to see harvesters sent into this.

We're going to see missionaries out of Honduras going all

through Central America, southern South America, who

knows. And we also have 3 laborers

right here. Now, I have a really good head

start when it comes to Spanish on our kids.

It'll be a long time before they catch me, but I know they're

going to catch me and they're going to pass me and it's going

to be ridiculous because they're going to grow up there.

I did not have that luxury. They're going to grow up there

with that culture. They're going to grow up there

building churches with these other kids that are their age,

playing in the training center while we're doing classes they

are going to have. And I know that God will use

that. And I know that from this

current present point we're at right now, the further we move

forward, I believe the brighter revival gets, the more

opportunity that God has for revival in Honduras and through

all of Central America. So next is I want to honor some

of our leadership that we have in Honduras.

On the left is Pastor Selvan Ruse.

He's the vice president of the work there in Honduras.

And then on the right is Pastor Daniel Hidon.

He's the president of the work there in Honduras.

And these two men have been vital to us as we're moving

because I went as a typical American thinking how different

can it really be? It's really not that it's not on

the other side of the world. It's so close.

I can assure you, after six months living there this year,

it's a completely different world.

And these men have been vital to us, teaching us how to walk like

a Honduran or like a cataract, or like we say, teaching us how

to do certain things that seem I've done 1000 times, but you

can't do it like that in Honduras.

So these men have been awesome. They have always been in our

corner, encouraging us. Their families have been right

there with us, continually encouraging us.

You're not alone, we're with you, we're your family, we love

you, we're here for you, we're watching your back, all this

stuff. So I want to give honor to these

two men and their families. They're awesome.

Next, This is what it's going to look like as we build some of

these churches, these hundreds, if not thousands of churches in

Honduras. The left is one that is in

construction and just begun, and the right is one that is

finished. So as you can see, they're very

simple to put up, very simple to build.

So that is a wonderful advantage we have moving forward.

We just need some blocks, some rebar, some sheet metal and some

concrete, and we have a church and it's wonderful.

That's also another side advantage.

I'm going to jump back to the very beginning.

If you like saunas, free saunas during service.

So just throwing that out there. If anybody's into saunas, there

you go. There's mangoes, there's coffee,

there's saunas. So next picture is just an

example of what it will look like.

I wanted to show you that my wife mentioned about when we

rent these buses and we bring these people in, this is what

it's going to look like. And to give you a little peek

behind the curtain of the cultural differences.

We were planning for this conference in October and I

asked Pastor Selvin trying to figure out exactly how many

buses we need. And I said, well, how many can

fit in that bus? He said, I'm not sure.

It depends how big they are. I said, no, no, how many seats

are in that bus? He said, what does that matter?

So that's that's how many people we can fit in the bus.

He said not in Honduras. He said we just keep pushing

until they can't fit any longer. So well, welcome to Honduras.

Here we go. And it's not uncommon.

We don't do this, but it's not uncommon in Honduras down the

main thoroughfare to see 5-6 people hanging on the outside of

a van just driving down Main Street like it's a normal

Tuesday in Honduras. And to see 5 or 6 people of a

family of five or six on a single motorcycle, completely

common. It doesn't seem common, but

welcome to Honduras. You'll see it when you come.

So the next slide is I want to show some ways that you can

become involved if you'd like. I do want to make one

correction. That second line, our national

conference, the Lord moved in an amazing way this past Sunday and

that is completely funded. So glory to God, God is so good.

Yes. So we do have on that guest

table, we have some magnets back there with our faces and that QR

code on it. Please take one of those, put it

on your refrigerator. And I want to highlight two

things with that magnet. Remember to pray for us first,

because as I said, we believe huge things for Honduras, but we

know then the enemy is at work. And there where we live down the

southern region, there's particularly interesting

principalities that are working there that have continually

tried to work against what God is doing.

So please be in prayer that God that we would be covered.

And because we do not fit in very well, despite my best

efforts at getting lots of sun. If you're white, you're white.

So next is monthly support. If you would like to support us

on a monthly basis, If you're like, you know what the mangoes,

the coffee, the saunas that didn't do it for me.

I'm just going to stay here in Mount Carmel.

That's fine. I breaks my heart, but I get it.

But if you would like to still be involved, that's a way that

you can do that. You can say I'll send a dollar a

day to Honduras and it doesn't seem like much, but it equals 26

limpidos. So that exchange rate works in

our favor very well. We can do a lot with just a few

dollars. So we pray that you would

consider that. There's a link in that, in that

QR code right there. There's also some videos that

show what we have done, what we plan to do so that please scan

that as you put that on your fridge so that way you can

continue to stay connected with us.

So now everybody take a deep breath.

Oh, I'm so glad you suggested that.

I needed that too. Like I said, sometimes I just

don't breathe enough getting that.

But now we're in the final segment we're going to we're

going to head home here. So I want to encourage you for

just a few minutes here as we go into our final segment about how

God always gets the glory and what a comforting thought it is,

What a comforting promise it is that it doesn't matter how dark

the situation, doesn't matter how bleak, it doesn't matter how

defeat ridden, how fill in the blank that God always gets the

glory. I don't know how He will do it.

I don't know when He will do it, but He always finds a way to

take this situation and He will be glorified out of it and it

will bring your benefit. So to illustrate this as an on

ramp here, I want to go to John 19 and 30.

John 19 and 30, a familiar verse.

The word says when Jesus therefore had received the

vinegar, he said it is finished. Can you say that phrase with me?

It is finished. It is finished.

That'll be important here in a minute.

And he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost.

So. I know it seems.

Like, I had thousands of scriptures to pick that had a

lot of them that were really encouraging, that were really

fluffy and nice and wonderful and true nonetheless.

But why would I pick this one to start with?

Encouragement. Because it really underscores

the point that He always gets the glory.

You can pick the situation that looks the most bloody, the most

beaten, the most bound for defeat.

There is no way this thing comes out successful.

Jesus said so much that He was going to do, but there He hangs.

There was so much that we followed Him for, but there he

hangs. And with his last breath, he

said, it's finished. It's finished.

So let's dig. It's Bible study night, right?

Let's, let's dig. Just just for a few minutes.

Let's dig. So that phrase, it is finished.

That phrase means tetelestier in the Greek.

And what that means is that this situation had come to its final

conclusion. Or we could say in good old

Midwestern that this was part of the plan all along.

Now Can you imagine that with me?

It didn't look good. This was not the favorite part

of the season right here. This was not, you know, he's

walking on water. This was not Loaves and Fishes.

This was the cross. He's beaten, bruised, bloody,

and with just a handful of words left, he said this was part of

the plan. Can you imagine?

He looked from the very beginning of time.

However, he sees the beginning of time.

He looked from the very beginning and he said, I need a

new covenant with my people. I need to provide a way that

they can have their sins taken away indefinitely and that I can

be with them and they can be with me in a way that they

cannot imagine right now. And then he saw the cross as the

means for that to happen and said it's worth it.

That's the plan all along. He looked at this beautiful

covenant, but it came through ugly means.

He looked at the beautiful promise, but it had a real ugly

path to get there. It was a wonderful season but it

had a real painful Rd. Can you imagine that?

This was part of the plan all along.

From the very beginning there was the cross and he said it's

worth it. It's worth it because God always

gets the glory. Now I want a sidebar for just a

minute. We're going to come right back

here. I want to share with you some of

my testimony. And in 2012, I felt the Lord

calling me to move from my hometown to go to Medora IN to

study under Pastor Tim Gill. And as I did that, so I'm going

to be transparent. I was 19 years old.

I just met my wife. And I thought that the will of

God worked something like this, that when you follow Him,

everything's good. Good.

Not like it's going to be good. Like it's good, it's smooth,

it's easy, you got plenty of money, you got plenty of joy,

you got peace to pass around for days.

It's just awesome. So I thought that I'm in the

will of God. I'm not only in the will of God.

I feel like I'm moving. So like I'm really, I'm really

help. I'm really scratching God's back

right now, like I'm really helping him.

And you can't tell me you've had some thoughts like that.

We're not all perfect. I know I'm a little little out

there, but anyway, that's what I thought.

So at that time, my most of my work experience was working at

holiday world serving soft serve ice cream.

So when it came to like real life skills, I had pretty much

nothing. But I thought God is able to do

exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think I can pray

for to be a doctor or a lawyer. You know, I, God can do it.

He can make a degree up here. He can, I know.

So I'm applying for jobs right as I get to Medora and I'm

applying for jobs at the local banks.

I'm applying for jobs that with ice cream experience, remember.

So I'm applying at insurance agencies.

I'm applying at all these wonderful, lucrative,

comfortable, nice, easy will of God jobs.

And unsurprisingly to you, probably every single door was

shut in my face. Not literally, but it felt like

it, like every single door. You don't have the experience,

you don't have the work history. We don't have ice cream.

Why are you here? Like we got no need for a soft

serve expert. What are you doing?

So there I am in that familiar season that I'm following the

will of God. I really know that I'm following

what God has for me, but it's not working out the way I

thought it was. I'm following his will.

I'm I'm moving, I'm doing all. This stuff by faith.

And then all of a sudden, nothing's working out.

I don't God I I followed. You to this place.

But this place just has empty doors, just doors that are shut.

Everything's not working. I can't pay my bills and I'm I'm

in bad health. I don't know what's going on.

God. Well, then one day a gentleman

from our church came and he said, Hey, I got a job for you.

She just show up and fill out an application tomorrow.

So then I got my vigor back. I was like, yes, here we go.

What does brother Bobby do? Is he, is it Doctor Bobby?

I've never called him that, but is he that?

I don't know. But God did it.

He, he, I may have not had the patience to, you know, but here

we go. I got it.

I got it again. Well, then I go and I fill out

my application for this lucrative, wonderful,

comfortable, amazing, peaceful, clean will of God Job and it's

at a chicken farm. Have y'all been there before?

Not not to the chicken farm, but y'all been there before where

you're praying, all the doors are shut and then God opens one.

You're like, I can tell you all the prayers I prayed.

I never said chicken. I never said farm, never ever.

No. And it was like one of those

moments where it's like, can you hear me?

OK. I prayed very specifically like

I maybe too specifically like I was, I knew what I wanted or

what God was going to provide. But here we are in this stinky,

rotten, uncomfortable, inhaling chicken feathers ankle deep.

You know where I'm at in this chicken farm.

What is going on? My job before this was clean and

it was fun. I didn't make much but it was

fun. That was most of the currency at

19 years old. It was fun.

But now I'm real confused. First all the doors are shut and

now one opens and I don't want it to open.

I'm. Confused.

I'm like, God, what are we doing here?

I don't get what you're doing. I don't.

There is no way whatsoever. God that you can take this

rotten, stinky, gross, disgusting season.

And make it. Good.

There's there's no way that you can do that No way and to make

it worse, I couldn't talk to anybody there.

They all spoke Spanish and I didn't speak Spanish at that

time yeah. Y'all see it, don't you?

I see I see light bulbs just being and everywhere I didn't

see it like that at that time. I smelled it like that at that

time. Uh huh, Uh huh.

I was walking that farm thinking, God, what are we doing

here? This stinks.

That means both ways. It stinks.

I can't talk to anybody. What are we doing here?

This does not make any sense. Well, then I decide I'm going to

learn Spanish. So I learned how to say, how do

you say which is como sedise? And I said it and pointed at

stuff all day long, every single day, hundreds and thousands of

things every day. Milli como cedise piso.

Milli como cedise pareb cielo. All day long.

Thousands of times that grind of God.

I don't understand this. What are we doing here?

I don't understand this. What's going on?

I don't understand this. What are you doing?

This season is terrible. How are you working in this

season? I don't understand it.

I don't see it. Well.

Then I leave two years later speaking decent Spanish, and

then God calls me. I go, another door opens to go

work as an electrician. So I worked there for two years,

and then I get another open door to go work as a plumber.

And I worked there for eight years.

And then ten years later, it all made sense.

Ten. Yeah, that's a long time.

That's a third of my life currently.

And I'm thinking 10 years, 10 years after I walk on this

season. I did not like 10 years after I

walked on this season. I did not want to be in the

middle of ten years after this stinky, gross chicken feather

chicken nastiness. God found a way that it was

perfect all along because you remember why He always gets the

glory. It doesn't.

Matter if you find yourself. Ankle deep in a situation that

stinks. He.

Is working. He never leaves you, He never

forsakes you. He never walks you through

something that and already has a destination that is for your

better and he never walks you through a situation that is not

going to bring you strength. It made in the middle of it.

It's not fun. I'm with you.

I'm still looking at a situation from 2019 where I'm like.

God, how do you take chronic leukemia and turn it for your

good? He's doing it, though.

I'll let you know he's doing it because I've learned to trust

the storm. I've learned to trust those

moments I don't understand because you see when I can see

it when I can understand. It.

He's doing about this much work, but when I can't see it, his

ways are above my waist, his thoughts are above my thoughts.

And he is doing things. In ways that I cannot imagine.

So there we are in the chicken farm and everything's starting

to make sense. 10 years. Later after that.

Thinking thing, it's starting to be beautiful.

He's taking that season that looks so ugly.

It looked like there is no way he can do anything here and he

makes it beautiful and equips me and trains me, gets me ready.

So then I want to go back to where we started with our

scriptures. You remember because he said

it's part of the plan all along. It looks, it looks bleak, it

looks bloody, it looks bruised. I don't understand it.

But in that particular situation, if we give it about 3

days, then it really looks nice. It may not look good now.

It looks dead, it looks dying. It looks like there's nothing

God can do here. But then three days later, it

all makes sense because there would be somebody in Mount

Carmel, there would be 7000 somebodies that need access to

that blood, that need access to that new birth.

And it only. Comes to the cross.

It only comes to the cross. So what?

We may look at the situations in our lives that look like

crosses. They will get the glory.

He will find a way to prepare. He will find a way to get you

ready. So, so now look, we're going to

dig one more time. You ready?

We're going to dig one more time.

That phrase that we learned to tell us TA, it's part of the

plan all along. Final conclusion.

Now it's really important to see the tense that it was written in

too. It was not written in the

present tense like it's over. It was not written in the future

tense like it's going to be over.

It said it is finished. So what that tense is in the

Greek is what they call the perfect tense.

And what the perfect tense means in that language is that that

particular action had been completed.

But the effects of that action, we're going to go on forever.

The effects of that season that are hard, that are painful, that

are frustrating, that are confusing, that I don't see what

God is doing The effects of that season in my favor are going to

continue to cascade because remember the blood doesn't come

the access to Jesus name blood doesn't come without the cross

resurrection in Jesus name doesn't come unless he.

Dies, so I want to encourage. You God always gets the glory.

So when you see yourself in this situation, that looks like it's.

Just meant to kill me. It looks bleak.

It looks bruised. It looks bleeding.

It looks like I'm just finding myself in a hospital bed.

God, what are you doing? He's working.

He never stops writing your story.

So even in the seasons that are painful, even in the seasons

that are rough, that are hard, that are bleak.

That you feel like I'm just fighting to just get 1 foot in

front of the other. He always gets the glory and we

can hang on knowing these waters won't overflow me, this fire

won't burn me. If I see Chariots and the people

more than me, they won't overtake me because more they be

that are with me than they to be with him.

Can you stand up with me and can we just start to to just apply

this? And I want you just to say it

honestly. Like my wife talked about

earlier, we can have these honest conversations with God.

We can have these conversations like God.

I don't see it. I don't understand it.

It hurts. It's hard, it's frustrating, it

stinks. I don't get it.

But I trust you. I don't know what you're doing

right now, but I know you've not failed me yet.

I don't see the way you're doing this right now, God, but I know

you've never lost a battle. It feels like my enemy is about

to destroy me, but I know you've never lost a battle.

God, it looked rough. It looks like I don't know what

you're going to do, God, but I know you're going to work all

things together for good to them that love you and that are

called according to your purpose, God, I know that you're

calling me to something bigger and better.

You're preparing me in this season that is painful.

You're preparing me in this season that I don't understand

God. I don't see it, but your ways

are above my ways. I don't understand it, God, but

your thoughts are above my thoughts.

I want to share one more scripture with you in

Ecclesiastes 3. It's a it's a it's a chapter we

all know well that talks about verse one talks about that there

are times to every season and a reason to everything under the

heavens. And it talks about these seasons

of life we walk through, that there'll be times to be born and

times to die be, times to break down and to build up, times for

despair and times to dance, times for mourning and times for

rejoicing. It'll be all these ebbs and

flows that we see in life. And it culminates beautifully in

verse 11 where it says that he has made everything beautiful in

his time. So even though I might find

myself in a season of despair, of fighting with fear, fighting

with insecurity, not understanding who I am, God is

forging an identity. And pretty soon he's going to

flip the page and I'm going to have a season of rejoicing.

I'm going to have a season of dancing.

All I see right now is death. All I see right now is

frustration. All I see right now is I don't

understand it. But He will bring the day

because He says everything will be made beautiful in his time.

So if it doesn't look good yet, just hang on.

Because he says the rivers won't overflow me, the fires won't

burn me. The trial that I'm walking in

right now will not destroy me. This thing that I'm walking

through that I don't understand, it will bring glory to God.

It will equip me. It will strengthen me.

It will equip me and get me ready.

For the times that are ahead. So I wonder right now if you can

just throw your hands up and say, God, I just need you.

I need you right now, Lord, I don't understand what you're

doing. I don't see the ways in which

you're working, God, but I trust you.

I don't understand what you're doing, but I trust you.

I don't know, God, how you're going to work this season to

anything but pain and a heartache, but I trust you.

If you want to step out once you step out and come to the front

right now and just start surrendering this season because

if I hang on to this season, he can't change this season.

If I hang on to this despair, he can't give me joy.

If I hang on to this frustration, He can't give me

clarity. If I hang on to this stuff, he

can't turn it over. He can't turn it and make it

beautiful if I'm just holding on to it with anger and

frustration. God, I pray in every heart right

now that you would begin to give joy, that you would begin to

give peace where there has been hopelessness.

I pray you begin to give hope. I pray God on each and every

heart right now that you would begin to restore.

That you would. Begin to reach down in some

hearts that are calloused, that are hurting, and you would begin

to give hope, and you would begin to give life, God, new

life that they have never seen. New life, God, that they have

never seen. But you have been working all

along. But you have been forming all

along. You have been riding all along

in these seasons that have been hard, these seasons that have

been painful, these seasons that have found me with nothing but

despair. God, you've been working joy.

You've been working something wonderful, God, I pray over this

church. I pray that you would continue

to bless them. I pray you would open the

windows of heaven upon them. I pray, God that you would bless

them to be an influence in this community like they never

thought possible. I pray God that you would give

this family and this leadership blessings, that you would help

them, God, everything they touched to be blessed.

Let everything they do, God in this community, in sowing and

reaping, let it to be blessed. Let it be multiplied.

I pray God that they would begin to bust at the seams, to burst

at the seams and the sanctuary that they would have to build a

new, that you would provide the property that they need, that

they can build something new and bigger that will be more

adequate for the revival that you had prepared for them.

I pray in the name of Jesus that you would touch every heart that

you would birth missionaries for this county, that you would

birth works and ministries throughout this sanctuary.

Everyone that's. Here is a vital piece.

Of what you want to do in this city, everyone that's here is a

vital piece of what you want to do in this county, of what you

want to do in the hospital system, of what you want to do

in the school system, what you want to do God in the healthcare

system. Of what you want to do God in

each and every facet of it. And I pray that you would help

them to see that. Help them to see the purpose

that you've been forming in the seasons they don't understand.

Help them to see the purpose in the seasons that you've been

working in the times that have been hard, that have been

frustrating that you that they don't understand.

They don't they haven't seen. I pray in the name of Jesus, you

would continue. Oh God, you have a perfect will

for this church. And I pray you would continue to

unravel, that you would continue to open in the name of Jesus,

that there would be souls like we could never imagine, that

there would be a harvest like we cannot wrap our minds around

God. I pray in the name of Jesus,

your blessings would flow through this place.

God, I pray that your gifts would flow and multiply.

I pray, O God, that you would do amazing things.

I pray that you would reach into each and every heart right now,

God, and you would speak a purpose.

You would speak a beautiful, specific thing.

God, I pray right now over each and every heart.

Lord, you're doing something special in this place.

You're still doing something in this place.

Jesus, help us to follow you tonight.

Help us to follow your will. Help us to follow your anointing

in this place. Lord, you have a will and a

desire to turn some lives around in this place.

If you just throw your voices up.

Just lift your voices up right now.

I don't know why, but I don't. I feel the hesitancy to move

forward. God, we yield to you right now.

There are some seasons that you would like to turn, God.

There are some seasons of pain that you would like to turn to

peace. There are some seasons that you

would like to turn in lives right now, those that have been

walking for far too long in this valley.

They've been walking for far too long in this desert.

And God, you have a way to pull them out right now.

I pray that we would let our hearts to be submissive right

now in your presence, that you would begin, oh God, to pull out

of this valley. You begin to pull out of this

desert that we've been making lapse in.

And then you and oh God, begin to bring out the purpose that

you would begin, oh Lord, to bring out the purpose in this

season. That you would begin, oh Lord,

to show that there has been a plan all along in this season

that's been hard this season that's been dark and painful.

Jesus name, I pray your will be done this house right now you're

adding some strength and some hope and some lives right now

you're adding some peace and some joy in this house right

now. Those that have been wandering

are going to begin to start moving forward.

They're going to begin to see the purpose, God, that you've

been forming all along. They're going to begin to see,

oh God, the wonderful works that you have been preparing, that

you have been readying in these seasons that have been hard,

that have been painful, in the name of Jesus, I pray would be

so in the name of Jesus, Lord, right?