Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.
We hope today's message is encouraging to you.
We're celebrating Global Sunday because we have a global God.
If you take a journey through the Scriptures in the very first
book of the Bible, you're going to hear that God wants to make a
nation, but not for the nation to be known as being a nation in
and of itself. He says to Abraham, I'm going to
make you a father. I'm going to create a nation.
And you know what? Their job is to be a blessing so
that the rest of the world would get to meet God.
So a nation that would be a blessing to all nations.
God has always been a generational nationwide, all
tribes, all peoples, all tongues, kind of God.
God has said of himself, I'm not willing that anybody would
perish. It's my heart that we would
bring the gospel to the very ends of the earth.
If you start in Genesis, you see the heart of the Father is for
all nations. And if you end in Revelation,
you'll see this beautiful picture that God describes, a
tree planted by a stream in the new heavens and the new earth.
And you know what the leaves are for on that tree?
The healing of the nations. God has always been and will
always be the God of the nations.
So here's where we get in trouble.
We begin to think that the world that we're living in, right?
This world that we're focused on, maybe even living in
America, which is a great place to live, that our job is to have
a great country. Our job is not alone to have a
great country. Our job is to build the Kingdom
of heaven, the Kingdom of God that supersedes anyone nation.
And so today we're lifting our eyes out of our region to look
at the globe, to see what mission partners we have parted
with at Illuminate Church and to begin to allow the Lord to give
you his heart for the nation's. So if you leave today with a
desire that beats like the heart of God, or a specific country, a
specific ministry or a specific calling, then we have done what
God has set us out to do. Are you guys ready to go on this
journey? Yes.
Did you know that we are called as disciples of Jesus to care
for the poor, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to
set the captive free, to rescue the oppressed, to educate,
elevate regions by equipping people within their own country,
to lead, to educate, to be pastors, to build churches, to
build safe havens and safe houses and rescue spots for
those that are voiceless, oppressed and overlooked.
We are called to spread the gospel, the good news of Jesus,
and with that comes the call to make disciples.
When Jesus said I want you to go, he said I want you to go and
baptize all nations. But then he followed it with
this in Matthew 28, verse 20. Teach these new disciples to
obey all the commands I have given you.
Our job is not only to bring the gospel, it's to raise disciples.
We are disciples who make disciples in this house and
across the globe at Illuminate Church.
Every dollar that you give, 10% of it is immediately ushered
into a giving portal. And out of that giving, we have
mission partners. We have missionaries that we
support. We support local, regional, and
global mission partners. And today, we're going to bring
to the platform some of those mission partners as well as
someone that's just like you. If you would welcome with me
right now to the platform Kim Lenaway, Joyce Keepai from
Kenya, Africa, Tammy Shannon and Scott Batson who's serving in
Nicaragua as they're getting settled.
Let me just remind you the words of Jesus.
After Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, he spent
40 days with his disciples and a crowd that were willing to
believe that he was actually who he said he was.
And in his precious time, he said to them, I want you.
He gave that Great Commission, go and make disciples of all
nations. And then in Acts 1/8, he said,
you're going to be my witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And he named some specific places.
Now, as you hear these places, I need you to know that he was
standing in Jerusalem. Everyone say Jerusalem.
So he said, I want you to take this mission and this message to
Jerusalem, right where you are. Everybody knows you have people
around you right where you are that need the gospel.
Yes. And then he said, I want you to
take it to Judea. Judea would be like Osceola
County spreading around a little bit, right?
We're going to cover the whole area.
And Jesus said, I want you to do it right where you are and right
where you live. Expand your thinking.
And then he said something really crazy to the people that
were listening. He said, I want you to go to
Samaria where you're going to cross political boundaries,
language, culture. You're going to have to share
the gospel with people you don't agree with that you think are
sinners that shouldn't be touched by God.
Let that stretch your theology a little bit.
You're called to meet people right where you are with the
gospel, expand your region and cross racial, cultural,
political, economical boundaries with the gospel.
And then he said, in case that's not enough, take it to the ends
of the earth. And so when Jesus said, OK,
guys, what do you think about this mission?
You know what they said? Are you going to fix the
problems here in Israel? Jesus said, I'm going to give
you power by the Holy Spirit to take the gospel to the ends of
the earth. And they, just like we would do,
said, but Jesus, what about our stuff?
Are you going to make it right here in Israel?
And Jesus, of course, cares about what happens right where
we are. But he said, lift your eyes.
The mission is bigger, broader than you can even understand.
But if you will follow me, you will see and experience things
that are miraculous, that are taking the gospel to the ends of
the earth. So this morning we're going to
think bigger. And if you're with me and you're
ready to receive that, would you open your hands as a posture
before the Lord and say, Jesus, I want you to stretch my
thinking, stretch my understanding of where you're
calling me to serve. And in specific, Holy Spirit,
stir us to show us where to join in prayer, in giving, and in
going. In the name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen. Amen.
So this morning we are focusing on those 3 categories.
We're talking about the mission Jesus has given us and the call
that each one of us has to pray, give and go.
Everybody say pray, say give and go.
And so this morning we are welcomed by the continent of
Africa, in the country of Kenya, representing a mission in
Nicaragua and a mission trip to Ukraine, as well as all over the
world. So as you can see, we're already
getting a picture that this is bigger than we can imagine,
right? Yes.
So Joyce, you grew up in Kenya and the Lord came to you and met
you. Would you tell us how you
learned about Jesus's love? Thank you very much.
In my village God sent the church to come to my village to
preach the gospel and I gave my life to Jesus.
After some time my sister and my mother and they taught me the
word of God. After some time I because of the
influence of the Holy Spirit and the power of salvation, I said
no to female genital mutilation with my younger sister and then
we had to run away because the community is hostile because
that is their culture to circumcise girls to cut them.
But I said no and we stayed together with my sister just the
same way we said yes to Jesus to salvation.
I ran away with my sister like 5 hours to get to yeah, to the
home, the Masai home where I we grew up.
I went to school, primary and secondary school and the
university. But when I went to the home, I
met other girls. We had a good time.
It was a lot of struggles. There was no food.
The church was not able to provide for us, but we were
happy. We are safe in the hands of God
and we are protected in the church.
We started by sleeping in the chairs in the church and then
the charge. Later we got a shelter from the
the Times Square Church pastor David Wilkerson.
Yes, he built for us a shelter, but before that we used to sleep
just on the floor. But we were at least grateful
that God has protected us. And we all ran away with the
same clothes and we shared the clothes.
When you are at the home, we shared the clothes, but the good
thing that we are happy that Jesus is in our hearts and we
are able to run away. Let me help everyone understand
just a little bit more. So Joyce is sharing that she
lived in a community where the gospel came to them, but within
that culture, girls, women in particular, and young girls were
oppressed, abused in the form a form of sex trafficking
basically. And so she received Jesus.
You help me if I'm saying it incorrectly.
She received Jesus and then had the courage.
How old were you when you ran away?
I. Was 9.
She was nine years old and ran. How far did you run?
How long? 65 kilometers. 65 kilometers and
9 year old ran away from and through all kinds of danger and
peril. In the forest.
In the forest, My pasta. Yeah.
So we couldn't use the road that people are using.
We had to pass through the forest so that nobody can trace
us where we are because. They were looking.
For us, yes, and also our mother back in the village, she was
also running away because the community think she's the reason
why we are running away, right. So she had also to be rescued in
the process to live in the church in the village.
And so it was a long journey. My sister was crying because
she's younger than me. We had we had to remove the
shoes we had because the journey was long and we had blisters.
But we were waiting to reach where we are going, which we
didn't know where we were going. The good thing we've never been.
We've never gone out of that village, so we don't even know
where we are going right until we reach somewhere where another
pastor was waiting for us and picked us from there with the
car. For the first time we entered in
the car, we vomited till that place where must say girls, the
rest of the girls are living. It was really difficult.
We had no clothes, the food, we could not have food.
We had to pray for God to provide food.
And sometimes you see somebody coming and bringing food even
without knowing where we are. And I thank God along the way,
God brought Tammy two and the smaller seed.
And we thank God because when she came, she provided for us
food and clothes. It was really maybe you may
think that maybe food is something little, but for us at
that moment, food or something that we didn't have.
So so I thank God for everything.
He's been faithful. We've been able to go through
school, which is something that is not.
It's not it's out of in my village.
I'm the first in the whole of that village.
I'm the first one to go to school and also to go to
college. So it is something big for.
Me. It's a miracle now being raised
by a widow who doesn't have a husband and doesn't have a son.
Like if you don't have a husband in my community, it's very
difficult for women. But we thank God for salvation.
Amen. Thank you.
Yes. Thank you, Joyce, for being
here. Yeah, Yeah.
So what is God's heart for these girls that are running away?
If we trace the story between how Tammy met Joyce, we'll see
how God takes a yes and puts it together with a need.
So Tammy, will you tell us how you got connected to these girls
and the girls home and what was born out of that?
So my former pastor, I'm, I'm a member here at Illuminate
Church, by the way, and I, I just need thank God, thank God
for this church. And I just want to, I should
take a second. Thank you, thank Tim for
accepting this ministry and this work in your heart.
This is our work, church. This is our work.
I thank the Lord.
So my former pastor asked me to he he heard of the girls when he
was preaching to the pastors and he built left money for a home.
They built a home. He said, Tammy, will you go over
and help? I'm an art agent for those that
don't know me, I make books, I make movies I make I'm an
artist. What on earth but I couldn't
save to my bastard. What on earth?
So I said yes, I'll pray, you know, but it's a big glowing no
way. But I went home and Oh my
goodness, the Lord gave me a burden.
Like I have hands to put on a young girl who's crying.
I have a little bit of money in my pocket to to buy some food.
That one step I can do, that one step I can do.
And so I said yes, which surprised me.
I'm a homebody. I'm an introvert.
It's kind of a nightmare being here in front of all you, but
praise God. You're doing great.
You're doing so great. Danny Yeah.
So I said yes, and then I brought two friends who were
counselors. These girls were traumatized.
They were abused in every kind of way.
They were hurting, hungry, no clothes.
Oh my goodness, folks. I came home and the Lord really
birthed the next step. I had friends who give me $5.10
dollars, $15, friends who are on public assistance, who are in
wheelchairs, who are sick. I get these checks and it's a
holy, holy check. It's a holy covenant.
I will take care of this $5 and, and little at a time.
I can do another month, I can do another year.
And then the girls grow up, get educated.
We put them through school and college.
They grow up. Guess what?
They're all running the home now.
I'm like a grandma. They all run the home.
They, they don't need Tammy to help them with something they
want. They're full of the Holy Spirit.
And then I'm like Joyce, can we do widows programs?
Can we do widows programs So along with the older girls who
go back to the villages with the gospel, marrying other
Christians, sharing with the word of the Lord, What else can
we do? We can do we can feed the widow.
This is a society that has multiple wives.
Older wives get get discarded. Let's do that.
Let's let's feed the widow. We can do that for one year.
I can we can get the money for one year.
So we feed the widows, and the Lord gives you another year.
Hey, Joyce, can we help plant churches?
Let's try to reach the fathers. Let's try it like the Lord
showed me recently, like Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
Let's go after the fathers. It's demonic guys for fathers to
mutilate their girls to sell them for cows.
At five years old, at 7, at 8. Can we do churches?
Can we go after the fathers? Well, I can do that, right?
Can we do that? Lord?
Give us. He's giving us these ideas.
He's giving us just enough to do it.
He's the Lord. We just want the Lord to be
glorified. Guys, I'm still an art agent.
I don't know what I'm doing. You're doing great, sort of.
Just seeing this thing I can do. Yeah, and I don't.
Still don't like going outside my house.
You can ask a moment. My my best friend's here in the
audience. I don't still don't like go I'm
I'm I'm bizarrely shy. I've gotten worse since COVID.
It's horrible, but. God.
Yes. How long have you guys known
each other? It's been 25 years. 25 years
enjoy I. Thank God, yes, as I reflect of
the goodness of the Lord this this month of November and
December are the months of Christmas celebrating the birth
of Jesus, the goodness of God. But As for us, it's the that
girls are being mutilated. We have to receive them this
month and next month and that's why we you have to pray for us.
You have to be on in the picture because you are going to be
celebrating Christmas as I have come to the United States.
I was amazed that you started Christmas early.
Well, I won't introduce you to those of you that have been
decorated for like a month already, but you were sharing
with us back as we were discussing and talking that this
is a very critical time of year to begin praying.
So how can you partner with the smallest seed and with Joyce and
Tammy and this mission in Kenya? You can pray specifically right
now for the girls that are seeking refuge, that are going
to be running and escaping this form of sex trafficking.
You can partner by giving and tithing, and this is a ministry
partner, and you can go on a mission trip to Africa.
We just had a group go and come back, but there'll be another
one coming up. So thank you both for sharing.
We're so blessed to be a part of your mission and we believe
wholeheartedly God is using you both in incredible ways.
Would you give them a round of applause?
Yeah. We want to thank God also that a
few like a month ago our home was burnt by fire.
But the Lord has been faithful. We are happy, we are trusting
God for the next step. God is.
It's God all the time. Yes.
And as a testimony of what happens when the gospel goes
forward, some of the group that has been texting us this week
said, I can't believe that these girls, when they receive Jesus,
they began to pray for their fathers and grandfathers to
receive Jesus. The very people that are doing
these things to them that they're fleeing from, that is
what the gospel does. That is the hope of the world.
And so. The the only depth we have is of
love. So as you sit there, just know
the gift, the only depth you have is that of love and
sacrifice. And I am here.
You can see me today. It's because of sacrifice and
love. Amen.
Thank you so much. Yeah.
Thank you. I'd love for you to get to know
Scott and his wife, Christy. She is here.
We're going to give us a little wave.
The Batsons have given their yes to the Lord to a ministry and a
mission in the country of Nicaragua.
Would you tell us a little bit about how you got connected,
what the Lord did in your heart, and how you ended up where you
are? Yeah, I'll give you the really
fast version of that. So I went to Nicaragua on a
mission trip with my church in 2009.
And on that trip I said, I am never coming back to this place
again. I really thought when I got back
that I was like, these people would be better off if I just
gave them my money because culturally I'd never seen the
gap in the way that I lived in the way that other people lived
in that way before. And I and my immediate thought
was, I'll just give money to it. And the Lord really worked on my
heart over that time. It's like they don't need your
money, they need the gospel and and so I went back again.
That was in September of O 9. I went back again in April the
following year. And so I've been back obviously
quite a few times since then, but just that the way that God
changed my heart in doing that kind of in parallel to that, I
started coaching CrossFit in my home gym in, in Hendersonville,
TN and realized that I had the opportunity to invest in people
that may never come to church. And so I had been discipling men
in my church for the last 22 years, but in the last 15 have
been doing that in the CrossFit gym.
And so these same people that were trusting me with their
physical health, there was an opportunity to invest in them
spiritually. So if I told them to run a
little bit farther, they would because they trusted me and they
knew that I had their best interests at heart, but they
were also sharing their life with me.
There were reasons why I can't be at the gym this week or, you
know, the women have shared with me, you know, like I can't, like
I've had a miscarriage. I can't, you know, I can't do
this or that. And so just these deeply
personal things that allowed me to ask, what can I pray for you,
you know, or have someone else come and and pray with them.
And so it's just this great opportunity to do that.
And so in 2014, felt like the Lord was saying, I want you to
take that thing that you're doing at home, and I want you to
do it in this other place that you love.
Can I lean into that for just a second?
So sometimes when we start talking about a global mission
and you'd begin to think like, what in the world could I do?
Like, what do I have to offer? Whatever you're calling me to
Lord? What I love about your story,
Scott, is that the Lord didn't say, OK, now I'm going to change
you into something else. He took what you are already
doing. This is the message.
There's something you already know how to do or some part of
you that's already being developed that is for this
mission. And he took the model of
discipleship, disciple making, and he put it in a new area.
And your yes, was to go and be brave that God would show up on
the other side. Yeah.
Can you tell me like a couple examples of how you've seen God
show up miraculously, either through people's prayers or
through gifts that have allowed the mission to go forward?
Yeah, I think there there's one in particular.
When we first started, when Christy and I first started, I
was going by myself. I was living in another man's
house. I'm taking people with me every
month that I could to try to invest in that just to start
creating relationships so that we could disciple.
And we were getting to this place where kind of tripping
over each other at the house is like, he's got a team.
I have a team. So was really praying about how
to how to grow the ministry in that.
And so we went looked at a house and there was a gentleman on a
on a trip with us. We got back, he asked me for
breakfast, and he said, you know, the reason I was on this
trip was because I believe you're supposed to be in that in
this house. And he slid me the check for the
first year's rent. And he paid the rent.
Every year for the last 11 years our rent has been paid.
I've never paid a nickel in rent.
Amen. Amen.
Yeah, so every mission partnership has people that
pray, people that give, and people that go.
And sometimes they're the same people, right?
Sometimes you're called to go because you're going to then
become the prayer warrior for the rest of your life, or it'll
open your eyes to the need, or maybe you connect to someone who
would have a heart and join that.
But every mission, every spreading of the gospel needs
people to pray, to give, and to go.
And so thank you for giving your yes to that.
I would love for you. I heard a story or a testimony
that there was a rehabilitation center that one of your our
teams went to. And when they were there, they
said something really incredible about your, your bringing the
Lord's presence to that region. Can you share that with us?
Yeah, I want to be very clear that this is all about the Lord
and not Scott, but the, the place we lived and had our gym
in was a had a horrible reputation.
The the crime's really bad. It was the the gym where we,
they, they take a lot of cabs, a lot of taxis in in the place
where we are. But the taxis would not run to
our gym after dark. And so a lot of people wouldn't
go to the gym because they knew they couldn't get a ride home.
They certainly weren't going to walk through.
And so we started working with a local pastor who ended up
opening an alcohol rehabilitation center.
And I was, I wasn't even aware of this until the Illuminate
team came. But he was explaining to them
that because of the gym and the influence of the gym and the
impact that the mission teams had on that community, that the
the city was a different place now.
It had changed the reputation of that place.
It was just through. Yeah.
Glory to God. Yeah, Yeah.
Just investing and loving people, you know, loving people
that come to the gym, serving in the community and just loving
the people that are close to you.
And so it was a huge blessing to get to be part of.
That Amen. And what I love when we have
mission partners that have ongoing work, like not you're
just showing up to do something. And I'll be real honest, I've
been on trips where I feel like there might have been fifty
groups that painted the same house, right?
Like you're just going there and painting the same house, but the
mission partners that we pray and partner with are doing day
in, day out mission work, embedding, making a difference
in the community, spreading the gospel.
And so we're so grateful. One of the things I love also
about Get Strong is their discipleship group based.
If you've been here and you've heard that we have discipleship
groups, it comes from the church in Hendersonville or in that
area that Scott was a part of. Discipleship making is in the
fabric of this ministry, and that's why you've changed the
region because of who God is. So thank you for your guests.
That's amazing. Everyone think one more time
now. Kim Lenaway is a familiar face.
If you've ever seen her up here, she leads prayer ministry.
She's a prayer warrior. I would say of her, she walked
so many laps and prayed on this empty land and prayed for you.
If you've come since this building has opened, she prayed
for you. She's a prayer warrior.
So, Kim, I would love for you to share, if you would, first about
the prayer that you prayed in 1989 and the gentleman you met
in 2024. And how does prayer bring the
gospel to the nations? Sure.
I personally I believe that I was created for prayer and I am
grateful that that I get to pray all the time.
So I was on a tour. It wasn't a mission trip
necessarily. It was a study tour to Russia in
1989 and I lost my luggage. Long story, but I couldn't go on
one of the excursions. I had to stay close to the hotel
until they find my luggage and so they found it right away.
And 15 minutes after everyone left, I had nothing to do for
three hours. So I said, can I just walk the
neighborhood? And they said yes, just be
careful. So OK, here I am walking Moscow
with a minimal Russian skills and praying.
I figured I can pray. I'll pray for the people, I'll
pray for this country. I'll pray that that Jesus can be
unleashed in this region, having no idea what that might lead to.
And so in it was 2014, I had the opportunity to go to Israel and
our tour guide, Mark was from Russia.
And, and on one of our long drives, he shared with us that
in when he was in Russia, he, he and his family would attend an
underground church. They had been invited and he got
saved in 1989. And I said, wow, that's amazing.
I was in Russia in 1989. And he looked at me and he said,
well, you prayed for me, and you very seldom get that circle of
closure. But.
Yes, it was. It was really remarkable and
just such a blessing. You don't always see the answer
to your prayers like that, but that one for sure.
Yeah. Tell us about, since we're on
the subject of prayer, your trip to El Salvador.
I think there was a food shortage and there was something
that happened miraculously. Yes, in in I was it was through
Assemblies of God. We went part of convoy of hope
to El Salvador and it was to see the schools in the area.
But we had one evening where we went to a church that fed the
homeless and we walked in and our our job that evening was
just kind to to stand around and and watch.
We weren't supposed to be doing anything.
They brought out this bowl of food like a lentil Stew.
And I'm looking around the room, everyone comes in with their own
bowl and spoon and they just wait and they make a line then
and they are served and I'm looking bowl thinking, this
isn't going to feed all these people.
Oh, they probably have another bowl where they'll just bring
out more later. Then the leader of our group
came to me and said, Kim, you're going to serve the food.
And I said, OK, so when I run out, where's the rest?
And he said, Nope, that's it. And so I thought to myself, I
don't want to serve too little and that's doesn't honor people.
I don't want to serve too much. Serve 10 people and then
everyone else goes hungry. So what can I do?
I can pray. So I said, God, you're going to
have to multiply this food like you multiplied the loaves and
fishes so that we can serve everybody.
And so we began and they would come and I would scoop and I was
praying and I was trying not to look down in the bowl because I
didn't want to know how little was left.
And I just kept scooping and praying and the people kept
coming. And finally I realized there was
one more person and I just scooped and there was food and
she walked away and I looked in the bowl and there was 1 portion
left in the bowl and I was like, OK, that was kind of close, but
whatever. It was just such a such an
amazing thing to be able to serve.
And honestly, when you think of the size of this goal compared
to the amount of people, it was absolutely miraculous that we
were able to serve all those people.
And then one more person came up and said, do you have any food
left? And I said, yes, I do.
I took the last scoop, gave him the the last, the last serving.
And yeah, so you never know. Right.
Yeah, you never know when you're going to be part of a miracle.
You put yourself out there. It was.
It was absolutely the most amazing experience.
That's amazing. Yeah.
Scott, I think you have some story about a gentleman and a
boat. Is there a story about giving
and about Kingdom mindedness? Yeah, I think one of the hardest
parts of quitting your, your real job, if you will, when
you're in your 40s, besides your wife thinking you're crazy is,
is how are we going to do this financially?
And just seeing the Lord's provision and that.
And so I was, I had to just start raising support and it was
tough. It was a hard, hard
conversation. It was a hard thing to get used
to. There's a lot of pride that had
to be set aside to go and do that.
But there was there was a gentleman that was in my
discipleship group at the time and, and I really was on the
fence about talking to him. And it was after Memorial Day
weekend. So that Tuesday I go to his
house and they're telling me about this great camping trip
they went on. They had rented a boat.
Is this fantastic weekend. They came back, they were going
to buy a boat and his wife's like, I just think we need to
wait on the on buying the boat. And he's like, well, we, we
decided like we had this great time, let's do it.
And, and so when I, I got to their house and explained what I
was going to do, keep in mind, I'm not even doing this yet.
This is an idea. It's like, hey, this is what I
think the Lord is calling me to. And, and she said, well, we were
going to buy a boat. Here's the check for the boat.
So I got to my car, opened up the envelope and it was a
$15,000 check for now. The husband still doesn't speak
to. Me but.
But that's between him and the. Lord, that's right.
No, that's amazing. So.
Sometimes the gifts are big. Yeah, and, and sometimes they're
not, you know, but the, but The thing is, it's just the, it's
the, the confirmation of God's faithfulness that I've got this
worked out ahead of you and the, and the motivation that it gives
you and the confirmation of your calling.
It's like if you will just go do what I'm asking you to do.
I've already taken care of it. Yeah, so there's there's a.
Huge piece in that. Yeah.
And I think that confirmation is the confirmation he gives, no
matter if you're talking about praying, giving or going or all
three, if you give your yes, he's going to come behind and go
ahead and wrap it all up with everything that's needed for you
to do it. But we have one more story I'd
love to end. Just can you tell us very
briefly about what happens if you don't have $15,000 to give?
What kind of difference can you make if it's $10?
Oh, absolutely. When we were preparing for the
Ukraine trip, they asked us to come up with a craft, a song and
a game to do with the children that we were going to be meeting
with. And immediately as I was
praying, God came up with the idea of the lost sheep and Jesus
going after the lost sheep. And we could make a sheep and we
could tell the story. And then the Holy Spirit said,
let's ask people to partner with you.
So I thought, well, we can ask for donations to help with the
sheep craft, and I can ask for people to pray.
So that's what I did. I was going to ask for $5 a
person. The Holy Spirit said, no, ask
for 10. And I figured I'd get maybe
$250. We got over $900 and we were
able to make this cute little sheep.
What Holy Spirit told me, use something solid.
So he's wooden. He's he's a wooden cut out.
And a pastor friend of mine who spent time in Ukraine said, oh,
get a little bell and it tinkles.
So the the children love that because sheep are often pets in
Ukraine. So when we started to make this
craft, the children, their eyes just lit up.
We saw smiles from some of the children for the very first
time. And they realized they were
going to be able to make the sheep and take the sheep.
And then they had this constant reminder that Jesus was always
coming after them. And then with the extra money,
because that wasn't, that was way more than what the craft
cost, we were able to purchase some Crocs for the kids, some
warm socks and vitamins. Children's vitamins are very
hard to come by. And I want to tell this one
extra little story because the pictures out in the lobby, I
asked if there was something special we could get for the
kitchen. And I'm thinking like a Mickey
Mouse canister to remind them that someone from Florida is
praying for them. And Amy, who is she's wife,
who's the part, the person we partner with for Mission 823
going to Ukraine, Amy said oven mitts.
And I'm thinking that's not very glamorous.
But she explained that Kevlar and heat resistant materials and
such are going toward the war effort, which, by the way,
Ukraine's been at war since 2011, not 2022.
It's been a long, long, difficult journey.
So I said, OK, oven mitts. I can get oven mitts.
And so when it came time to present them to the kitchen, I
received the biggest hug I've ever received from in my life
from Katarina. She was just so happy.
She put the the mitts on right away and she's dancing around
the kitchen, tears in her eyes. And then she takes them off and
she shows me the scars on your arms.
If you bake, you know that sometimes you, you, you bump
into the hot racks. And, and she said she was just
so excited that that wasn't going to be happening anymore.
So a small thing, $10 gifts from people.
And some people gave more than 10, but that that was just just
allowed us to bless people in ways that I wouldn't have been
able to do on my own. So thank you if you partnered
with me with those $10 gifts or more.
And your craft was amazing. And there's a lady in a kitchen
in Ukraine who is beyond blessed by your gift.
Yeah, Amen. Thank you each for coming.
Thank you for bringing your stories more.
So thank you for living lives that have said yes to the Lord,
that make room for his power to be known and the gospel to
spread. Will you give one more thank you
to our friends and partners? Yeah, yeah.
So now what it comes down to is how well we each receive the
call, the Great Commission to take the gospel to the ends of
the earth, starting here, close to us, into crossroads, into the
regions nearby, into the nations and to the ends of the earth.
And our invitation to you today is to say we want to make it as
easy as possible for you to say yes, that there's not a person
here, that God is not calling to be a part of this mission.
And the way that you can do that is to pray, to give, and to go.
You may have noticed there's a new graphic installation in the
lobby. There's QR codes on the screen.
They're on those panels out there.
You can come to them anytime. But we encourage you to pick at
least one today. Take AQR code picture so you can
look at it more at home and answer the call that the Lord
has for you. How will you pray?
How will you give? How will you go?
Because the heart of the Father is for the nations and the heart
of this house is for each one of us to be a part of whatever God
is calling you to do. And maybe you're here today.
I feel like the Lord is saying there's someone here saying you
left a country or a nation that has a need that you are
perfectly positioned to understand and maybe you are
being called to go back. And to impart and bring the
gospel and health and hope and healing.
And we'd love to be a part of that with you.
We're always looking for mission partners.
We want to employ you to whatever God is calling you to
do. But don't let this message be
something we rise and we leave here and forget.
Ask the Lord if you would open your hands now and take a
posture of prayer. And we say, Holy Spirit, we come
every week to meet with you, to be changed by you.
And today is no different. And we say, God, we see your
heart, we see the circumstances. We pray for the girls right now
that are making decisions to run for adults around them to give
them the courage to go and for pastors and churches and
ministry leaders in the smallest seed to receive them and rescue
to build a new life. And for every other situation
that's represented, the ones we've talked about up here and
the ones that are on the hearts of people in the room.
Holy Spirit, have your way. Birth the dreams.
Give us the call. Show us each of us how to give
our crazy yes to our faithful God to say I will pray, I will
give and I will go. And it's in the name of Jesus we
pray, Amen. Would you stand or receive a
blessing? Yes, our prayer ministers are
going to be here to receive anyone to pray with you about
anything, to help you wrestle with anything you're hearing
today or otherwise. We bless you with the heart of
the Father for the nations beginning right where you are
now. Go and make disciples, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Teach them to obey all that he has commanded.
God bless you. Have a wonderful week.
Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your
heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with
us, you can text connect to 407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate
dot church. Have a great week.