WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:18.143 Okay, for those of you who don't know, uchurch has a DNA of missions, a very strong DNA of missions, both locally and internationally, and this is something that has been in the seedbed of our church for a long, long time. 00:00:18.143 --> 00:00:46.051 And for some of you who have been around for a long time to be able to see the beginnings of that, where, as primarily, most of us were students or quite young and we would just put up our hand and say, yeah, I'm going to go on a mission trip, and you know, different mission trips were organized to lots of different countries, including Sierra Leone was oneago trade out and Tobago. 00:00:46.051 --> 00:00:48.421 Peru was another one. 00:00:48.421 --> 00:00:54.161 Jody was super active in South America, you know, with Peru and there was a few others. 00:00:54.161 --> 00:00:58.411 South Africa was another place that we went to. 00:00:58.411 --> 00:01:00.326 I think a few of you here went to South Africa. 00:01:00.326 --> 00:01:03.137 Thailand was another place. 00:01:03.137 --> 00:01:20.802 We had a lot of work going on in Thailand with some orphanages that we partnered with, and many of you here have gone on missions and I, if you know me, you know I will sometimes come up to you and say, hey, would you like to come with me and go to Sierra Leone? 00:01:21.343 --> 00:01:30.207 And when you're young I have to say this sometimes, when you're young, it's easy and it's difficult to go. 00:01:30.207 --> 00:01:49.850 It's easy in the sense that you have nothing to lose and so you don't have anything to screw up, a reputation to screw up, you're not as afraid of flying, you're not afraid of being, you know, stuck on a plane, jet lag, all those things that old people are afraid of Sorry, old people and so you jump on the plane and go. 00:01:49.850 --> 00:02:01.570 Mostly the only hindrance when you're really young is well, I'm really scared of how I'm going to raise the money, however way you want to raise the money to go, and so we've taken lots of young people. 00:02:01.570 --> 00:02:20.211 When you get older, it becomes a little bit difficult because we just get a little set in the rhythm of how we do things and how we imagine God is going to use us or in the way that he is, and the philosophy around missions gets a little bit more complicated. 00:02:20.211 --> 00:02:26.691 I don't know why it does, it just does, and the arguments as to why not to go also gets more complicated. 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:33.164 But I want to encourage you know there's a few people here who have, you know, older, and remember Rob and Donna. 00:02:33.164 --> 00:02:36.282 You guys went to Thailand and I want to applaud. 00:02:36.282 --> 00:02:43.004 Even Brant and Jen have been on missions several times and I want to encourage every single one of you. 00:02:43.004 --> 00:02:51.931 If you haven't been yet on a mission trip, I would encourage you to go locally, internationally yes, siobhan, let's go. 00:02:51.931 --> 00:02:56.968 And, like I see this look on people's faces all the time who shake their heads and they go. 00:02:56.968 --> 00:03:03.409 No, no, no, this is not for me, and they want to argue with you and tell you that it's not your calling. 00:03:03.409 --> 00:03:20.311 You know, because you have to be called, which is not true, because you know the Bible says he has called us into Jerusalem, judea and Samaria and the outermost ends of the world. 00:03:20.311 --> 00:03:22.074 So we're all called. 00:03:22.074 --> 00:03:23.861 We're all called and you know. 00:03:24.062 --> 00:03:54.766 The interesting thing about missions, too, is I've seen this time and time again because, again, I came from a background, um, you know, at university, where we had all this philosophical discussions about charity, non-profit, how they do much more damage than good, and you know all these things and sometimes that's true, um, and so you know we came up with this thing Sometimes it's better to send the money than to go, because you do so much damage when you go, and I've seen both sides of the equation, and what I would like to offer you is. 00:03:54.766 --> 00:04:00.051 This is that I want you to go to receive. 00:04:00.051 --> 00:04:03.968 Don't try to go to try and give. 00:04:03.968 --> 00:04:26.543 I want you to go to receive, and we need to start to change the narrative about missions, because it is actually a lot of pride on our parts that we think that we can go to another country to go and give a lot of times, when sometimes all it is is God wants you to go and to receive, and so we get wrapped up in not going because we don't feel like you have anything to give. 00:04:26.543 --> 00:04:27.625 Of course you don't. 00:04:27.625 --> 00:04:29.809 Of course you don't. 00:04:29.809 --> 00:04:32.380 No, it's true, of course you don't. 00:04:32.862 --> 00:04:43.127 Like I was just with my staff, you know, in Sierra Leone, and we hire these interns, these university interns, and they run a program. 00:04:43.127 --> 00:04:44.230 I wish Ellen was here today. 00:04:44.230 --> 00:04:45.701 She's not, because it was her idea. 00:04:45.701 --> 00:04:51.723 This particular program was her idea, and we run a program called GAM and we're about to start another one called BAM. 00:04:51.723 --> 00:05:18.324 So GAM is Girls Advocacy Movement and we're about to start one called the Boys Advocacy Movement and the interns teach it, because they teach it to kids in school who are between the ages of about 11 and 18, and these interns are mostly in their early 20s, so they're going to university and it's, you know, sort of an extra job for them and they do such an amazing job in teaching and these kids remember them, they seek after them, they see them on the street. 00:05:18.324 --> 00:05:22.624 I've seen this myself and they're like Auntie, so-and-so, when are we having our next session? 00:05:22.624 --> 00:05:28.346 Because we kind of had an unforeseen break in the sessions and so the kids were excited to see it. 00:05:28.346 --> 00:05:35.588 If I stood up in front of those kids and taught the same thing, it wouldn't have anywhere near the same impact. 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:41.605 So of course, when you go you may not feel like you're useful, but it's not the whole point. 00:05:41.605 --> 00:05:47.747 Sometimes the point is to go to receive, and for me personally I really want to change that narrative. 00:05:47.747 --> 00:05:48.848 But it's not the whole point. 00:05:48.848 --> 00:05:59.470 Sometimes the point is to go to receive, and for me personally I really want to change that narrative, especially for the continent of Africa, for all the countries on there, because for Africa it is a continent that has been colonized and has always been taken from. 00:05:59.470 --> 00:06:01.206 People only go there to go take. 00:06:01.206 --> 00:06:15.303 The roads are made to take mines and minerals out of the country, not to connect villages, and people go there because they want to go give, but very, very, very few people go to receive. 00:06:15.303 --> 00:06:17.910 It's a very different narrative. 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:23.187 When you go to receive, you're in a place of rest, you're not trying to prove anything. 00:06:23.187 --> 00:06:32.824 You don't need to justify the $5,000 it cost you to get there because you're trying to lay hands on the sick and make sure you have something to tell people back home. 00:06:32.824 --> 00:06:36.411 You're just going to go and receive and that's okay. 00:06:36.411 --> 00:06:54.846 It's okay because there are some countries, I believe in this last days, in these end times, that are going to be the givers for the world, but they have so much to give that and we have a lot to receive that we have not even understood yet what we have to receive. 00:06:54.846 --> 00:06:56.689 Does that make sense? 00:06:56.689 --> 00:06:58.512 And so I really want to encourage you. 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:13.788 There are going to be some opportunities coming up in the next couple years, and I plant the seeds now for you to start thinking about it, for you to start saving, for you to start removing every excuse in the book of the reason why you cannot go. 00:07:13.788 --> 00:07:19.504 I don't care if you have IBS, you're gluten intolerant, I don't care. 00:07:19.504 --> 00:07:21.050 I don't care. 00:07:21.050 --> 00:07:27.572 I don't care if you don't like fish. 00:07:27.572 --> 00:07:36.605 Like Christine, she's come, she hates fish, and they serve fish almost every day, and if you tell them I don't like fish, they'll serve you chicken and they put fish on the side. 00:07:36.605 --> 00:07:41.869 So you know, I don't care what the situation is. 00:07:41.869 --> 00:07:54.545 I want you to start thinking about going and to start thinking about saying yes to the opportunities that will come your way, because it's going to change your life and I would like for you to try it at least once in your lifetime. 00:07:54.545 --> 00:08:11.887 The other thing I want you to think about is there are a bunch of young people and I'm looking at you Allegra and Aiden and Stella's not here today and these guys, I'm looking at you, guys, I'm talking to you as well, because guess what? 00:08:11.887 --> 00:08:16.543 The heritage of missions that we have in this church is what you are going to inherit. 00:08:18.208 --> 00:08:58.144 I realized when I was in Sierra Leone this time around I'm going to age myself, but honestly, for the first time and please don't judge me, I know I'm a little bit prissy, but for the first time ever going to Sierra Leone, I sat on the plane and I said to God, and I was almost in tears and I said, god, please give me money so I can buy a business class ticket when I go, because it was just like the journey was just, it's the one place in the world that I'm just like oh my god, it is uncomfortable and it's long, and I've never felt that before and I thought, oh no, oh no, I'm getting old, but I want to. 00:08:58.144 --> 00:08:59.566 That's how long I've been doing this. 00:08:59.566 --> 00:09:04.327 Before it never bothered me at all, but this one time I was like I just am tired. 00:09:04.327 --> 00:09:11.181 It would be so nice to just be able to lay flat and sleep on the plane. 00:09:11.181 --> 00:09:19.466 I offer this to you because this is the heritage that we have been building, and we were not building it for you, we were not building it for ourselves. 00:09:19.466 --> 00:09:21.168 It is for the next generation. 00:09:21.849 --> 00:09:43.544 When Jodi went to Sierra Leone, carl, you were part of that for Peru and there's other people who are not here today, but they were part of the process of building not a theology but an ethos of how we do missions, why we do missions, what it's all about and building these things. 00:09:43.544 --> 00:09:48.114 It was so that the people coming after have this platform that they can start from. 00:09:48.114 --> 00:09:55.770 And I recognize that and, in all humility, that part of what I do is not just for me, it's for the generation after me. 00:09:55.770 --> 00:10:00.107 So that was my introduction. 00:10:00.107 --> 00:10:05.365 That was my introduction, but it was. 00:10:05.365 --> 00:10:10.605 Basically, if we come up and say, think about coming on a mission trip, don't make any excuses, I'll, I'll. 00:10:10.605 --> 00:10:12.509 And I'll end the intro with this. 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:16.142 Honestly, I say this with every truth. 00:10:17.063 --> 00:10:22.942 There has not been one time, one time that I have gone to Sierra Leone and I've gone countless of times. 00:10:22.942 --> 00:10:24.224 I've lost count it. 00:10:24.224 --> 00:10:29.371 It's probably maybe 25, 30 times by now, easily, probably more. 00:10:29.371 --> 00:10:33.907 There has not been one time that I have gone that it has been convenient for me. 00:10:33.907 --> 00:10:38.058 Don't wait until it's convenient. 00:10:38.058 --> 00:10:38.880 It's never going to come. 00:10:38.880 --> 00:10:41.024 I run a non-profit, this is my job. 00:10:41.024 --> 00:10:44.533 It was not convenient, you know, and there's always something. 00:10:44.533 --> 00:10:48.014 This time it was like oh my gosh, child care, how are we going to figure that out? 00:10:48.014 --> 00:10:49.461 And there were so many things. 00:10:49.461 --> 00:10:54.191 It's never convenient, it doesn't always line up and it's always God's will. 00:10:54.191 --> 00:10:56.181 That's the interesting thing. 00:10:56.181 --> 00:11:05.154 It's always God's will and you know we can go into all the why you don't go, and you know danger and all that, but you could get killed on the deer foot. 00:11:05.154 --> 00:11:07.464 There are other ways to get killed. 00:11:07.464 --> 00:11:09.730 You'll be fine, you will be fine. 00:11:11.061 --> 00:11:14.966 And if you can't eat the food, you could probably do with losing a few pounds anyway. 00:11:14.966 --> 00:11:16.751 So it's okay, just kidding. 00:11:16.751 --> 00:11:33.645 And if you get to go with Brand, you might see him in his underwear True story, true story. 00:11:33.645 --> 00:11:57.283 He just has no shame at all. 00:11:57.197 --> 00:11:59.576 So for those of you who don't know what I do in Sierra Leone, I won't go into too much detail about what we do. 00:11:59.576 --> 00:12:05.097 But essentially, god gave us the mandate of reducing the rates of maternal and infant mortality in the country, and so women and children die quite a lot in the country, and women die giving birth and the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world and also the highest rate of infant mortality in the country. 00:12:05.097 --> 00:12:08.809 And women die giving birth and the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world and also the highest rate of infant mortality in the world. 00:12:08.809 --> 00:12:13.822 And this was not a an idea that I came up with. 00:12:13.822 --> 00:12:31.591 This was something, this seed that god planted in my heart by sharing a vision, uh, to me a few years ago, the one time he told me not to go in that year I spent the whole summer just listening to him, listening to him, and he told me the vision of what he was wanting to do in the nation. 00:12:31.591 --> 00:12:38.907 And if you, in the Bible, there are two women who died giving birth, does anyone know who those two women were? 00:12:38.907 --> 00:12:47.710 Yeah, rachel, and there's only two women ever recorded dying giving birth in the Bible. 00:12:47.710 --> 00:12:49.861 That's right. 00:12:49.861 --> 00:12:52.246 That's right, so, rachel. 00:12:52.246 --> 00:12:57.985 And then we don't know the other lady's name, but she named her son, ichabod. 00:12:57.985 --> 00:12:59.971 The glory of the Lord has departed from Israel. 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:14.394 If you look at both two stories and I won't go again because it's quite long to dig into, but Rachel, when you look at it, she actually stole a whole bunch of idols from her father, from Laban, because they were running away from Laban. 00:13:14.394 --> 00:13:20.109 So she stole some idols from her father and her father came after Jacob, thinking her husband had stolen it. 00:13:20.109 --> 00:13:20.971 He said what did you do? 00:13:20.971 --> 00:13:22.405 You stole all these things from me? 00:13:22.405 --> 00:13:24.423 And her husband said, no, I did not. 00:13:24.423 --> 00:13:29.899 And of course he didn't know that his beloved Rachel, that he had worked 14 years for, had stolen these things. 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:34.668 So he uttered a curse and he said may he who stole them die. 00:13:36.332 --> 00:13:38.543 And then the next chapter, rachel dies giving birth. 00:13:38.543 --> 00:13:50.662 Now, I'd always read that story and thought that she died, you know, because of the fertility issues. 00:13:50.662 --> 00:13:51.585 But no, she died because she was under a curse. 00:13:51.585 --> 00:13:53.250 And then the same thing with Ichabod's mom, so that was the daughter-in-law of Eli. 00:13:53.250 --> 00:13:59.985 God shows up to Eli and says I'm not happy with the things that you're doing, I'm not happy with the things that your sons are doing and I'm going to bring a judgment against you. 00:13:59.985 --> 00:14:04.672 And this will be the sign that I've brought the judgment Everyone in your family will die on the same day. 00:14:04.672 --> 00:14:10.520 And if you go back and read that story, it's really interesting. 00:14:10.520 --> 00:14:12.186 Because Israel goes into battle, the two sons die. 00:14:12.186 --> 00:14:20.505 A messenger comes, runs up to Eli he was sitting he was currently overweight and sitting in the front balcony of his house and they said your two sons are dead. 00:14:20.505 --> 00:14:24.025 And because of the shock, he falls over and he breaks his neck and dies. 00:14:24.025 --> 00:14:27.446 And then the news reaches the daughter-in-law, who was pregnant. 00:14:27.446 --> 00:14:29.331 It was not her time to give birth. 00:14:29.331 --> 00:14:32.886 She goes into premature labor and she dies giving birth. 00:14:32.886 --> 00:14:37.484 She dies as a result not of childbirth, but of the judgment on her. 00:14:37.484 --> 00:14:47.600 This was the message that God gave me when I started Freedom Tree many years ago that when you see this happening, it is not a natural thing. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.466 It is because there's something else going on behind the scenes. 00:14:52.791 --> 00:15:01.874 The other side of the coin is this 20% of the children in Sierra Leone would not reach their fifth birthday. 00:15:01.874 --> 00:15:04.308 Where in the Bible have you seen? 00:15:04.308 --> 00:15:07.746 I always refer to the Bible for everything, because everything is actually in there. 00:15:07.746 --> 00:15:09.485 There's so much context in it. 00:15:09.485 --> 00:15:12.063 Where in the Bible have you seen children dying en masse? 00:15:12.063 --> 00:15:14.467 Egypt, where else? 00:15:14.467 --> 00:15:16.951 Bethlehem? 00:15:16.951 --> 00:15:26.821 Why, sorry, they were going into, yeah, but why, particularly in Egypt, did all those? 00:15:26.821 --> 00:15:36.586 Yeah, yeah, because Moses was going to be born, and so Pharaoh knew that. 00:15:36.586 --> 00:15:41.469 Pharaoh, yeah, knew that, and so he was trying to prevent a special child from being born. 00:15:41.469 --> 00:15:47.808 And then, when Jesus was born, there was an order that actually went out to kill all the children under the age of two. 00:15:49.033 --> 00:15:52.024 Sierra Leone is not losing children because it's a poor country. 00:15:52.024 --> 00:16:07.773 Sierra Leone is losing children because there are special children about to be born in that land that the enemy is trying to prevent from being born, and part of the mission that God has given to me, that I'm honored to participate in, is to participate in this. 00:16:07.773 --> 00:16:16.946 I hope that before I die, I will see those children with my own eyes who are going to make such an impact in our world and, because of what we have done. 00:16:16.946 --> 00:16:17.908 We see them live. 00:16:17.908 --> 00:16:20.846 It's just as simple as that. 00:16:22.541 --> 00:16:26.241 So that was what took me there to the country, and that's what I've been going over and over again. 00:16:26.241 --> 00:16:29.392 Now I got this mission and this is where I want to land. 00:16:29.392 --> 00:16:56.524 I got this mission many years ago when God laid this on my heart and I was single no kids and I thought honestly, like it took me about a probably about nine months before I said anything about it to anybody else and I really wrestled with it Because he could have given me so many other types of missions, so why this one? 00:16:56.524 --> 00:17:14.349 And I said to God I remember saying to him one time you could have given me agriculture, business, education, like there's a lot of other things, but this one was particularly a vulnerable area for me because my greatest desire at the time. 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:16.321 I remember exactly when I got that vision. 00:17:16.923 --> 00:17:51.374 It was during the week of the royal wedding in 2011, when Kate Middleton got married, and I'm a romantic and I was stuck to the screen watching it and God was speaking to me in one ear and I'm watching this and I'm like, oh my God, no, because my greatest desire was to be married and have my own children and I felt it was a little bit of a laughing matter that he would send me unmarried single to go and try and see how children don't die and how women don't die, giving birth. 00:17:51.374 --> 00:18:10.608 And year after year after year, in between baby showers, in between bridal showers and I'm getting really vulnerable with you guys here in between it's my friends who said no, because they were pregnant or about to get pregnant or trying to get pregnant or whatever. 00:18:10.608 --> 00:18:26.547 I would go to Sierra Leone and work and serve in this area, and as much as I was serving some of you don't know this, but as much as I was doing this, it was also an area of pain and I couldn't understand it. 00:18:26.547 --> 00:18:39.115 So this last week, when I was there, I was absolutely stunned. 00:18:39.115 --> 00:18:45.664 My staff had told me some of these things that were happening in the villages, so one of the things that we do, and none of them. 00:18:45.664 --> 00:18:48.612 Again, then she's not even here, carolyn, she's not here. 00:18:48.612 --> 00:19:03.144 If you see her, give her a big pat on the back because she gave up, along with Jessica Andres and Josiah Sininen, who some of you may know, may not know them, but Carolyn, who is a sister-in-law to Jake down there. 00:19:03.203 --> 00:19:40.250 For those of you who may not know, her is a labor and delivery nurse and she gave up three months of her life in 2016 to help write a curriculum a prenatal curriculum, in Sierra Leone, and this curriculum we decided we would teach in villages and it encompasses the spiritual, physical and emotional sides of pregnancy and birth, believing that if you impart God's heart and vision towards pregnancy and birth and people begin to grab that vision and walk in it, that part of that would also reduce maternal and infant mortality. 00:19:40.250 --> 00:19:42.124 It was a hunch. 00:19:42.124 --> 00:19:43.208 I've never seen this done. 00:19:43.208 --> 00:19:46.288 It was just a hunch and I said let's do it, let's try it. 00:19:46.288 --> 00:19:50.309 It is probably one of our most successful things ever. 00:19:50.309 --> 00:19:59.513 We go into villages and it's 10 weeks, so for 10 weeks, it looks like people, after being in the farm all day, they'll come, they'll gather under a tree. 00:19:59.513 --> 00:20:04.451 Somebody who has been trained will teach the curriculum for about a couple hours. 00:20:04.451 --> 00:20:29.130 They'll discuss it on different topics each week, and my staffer told me one of the side effects of this that I didn't anticipate happening, but families were being healed in the process and as I stood, I remember, in this village I stood and I just sat and listened because they came up after another, after another, and they would just share testimonials of what the curriculum had done for them. 00:20:29.130 --> 00:20:38.867 And it's called a curriculum that's the best name we could, you know, get for it and we decided to teach the curriculum to both men and women. 00:20:38.867 --> 00:20:52.446 So it wasn't just a segregational thing and you guys like, marriages were, marriages were whole marriages were being changed and I have like video testimonials of it. 00:20:52.969 --> 00:20:53.732 I was stunned. 00:20:53.732 --> 00:20:57.863 I had an out-of-body experience because I couldn't understand. 00:20:57.863 --> 00:21:06.231 I was like God, why, like, how do you do this through me? 00:21:06.231 --> 00:21:11.501 If you'll know my story, you'll know why this is so much vulnerable for me. 00:21:11.501 --> 00:21:31.420 You know, and time after time and time again, people would say our marriage is transformed, our family is transformed, and the people who were teaching the curriculum even would say I didn't know this was how I was supposed to relate to my wife or to my husband. 00:21:31.420 --> 00:21:45.885 I didn't know this was my role as a father and they were grabbing the vision of God for family through Freedom Tree. 00:21:45.885 --> 00:21:51.549 It was my single, most poignant moment that just stuck in my mind. 00:21:51.549 --> 00:21:52.553 I have the image of this. 00:21:52.553 --> 00:21:58.509 You know so many couples smiling and happy and sharing that. 00:21:58.509 --> 00:22:01.099 And why do I share this with you? 00:22:01.099 --> 00:22:02.742 Because it's a very vulnerable thing for me. 00:22:02.742 --> 00:22:11.576 It's because sometimes, a lot of times, when God calls you to do something, he knows why he's calling you to it. 00:22:11.576 --> 00:22:24.991 Some of you are not able to walk in the place of your destiny because you haven't been able to actually say yes to him in the fullness of everything that he's called you to. 00:22:24.991 --> 00:22:31.619 Because if you did, a lot of, you would find that it could be in the place of your greatest vulnerability. 00:22:31.619 --> 00:22:55.210 And that's actually what I wanted to share for you not to shy away from the things that God has put on your heart because it's painful to go there or it's uncomfortable, or you feel like you're not qualified for it, because it's not you that's doing it, it's him. 00:22:55.210 --> 00:23:03.107 And so you know I stand trusting him for the greatest desire of my heart. 00:23:03.107 --> 00:23:10.326 That still remains the same, and I'm like you're changing people's lives through this. 00:23:10.326 --> 00:23:12.108 What about me? 00:23:12.108 --> 00:23:16.214 And I've walked with him long enough. 00:23:16.214 --> 00:23:23.109 I wasn't angry this time, I just sat with the question and I wanted to share that with you. 00:23:34.469 --> 00:23:44.849 There's a story in Genesis that's really interesting those of you who know Abraham everybody here knows Abraham because we kind of are sometimes Christian and you know that Abraham, what did he need the most? 00:23:44.849 --> 00:23:54.074 A child. 00:23:54.074 --> 00:23:55.679 How long did he wait? 00:23:55.679 --> 00:24:02.643 How old was he when he had the? 00:24:02.643 --> 00:24:03.265 Yeah, sarah was 90. 00:24:03.265 --> 00:24:03.886 Abraham was 100. 00:24:03.886 --> 00:24:14.932 As I was pondering over what God did, I found this little scripture Do you remember when Abraham went and he was with Abimelech, there was a king called Abimelech, and if you show the second one at the beginning of the chapter, in chapter 20. 00:24:14.932 --> 00:24:17.807 So Genesis, chapter 20. 00:24:17.807 --> 00:24:20.085 And he went to a. 00:24:20.085 --> 00:24:21.470 I'm just going to read it. 00:24:23.161 --> 00:24:26.411 Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur. 00:24:26.411 --> 00:24:31.031 While he was living there, he introduced his wife, sarah, saying she is my sister. 00:24:31.031 --> 00:24:35.588 So he lied, essentially, and the king brought her into the palace. 00:24:35.588 --> 00:24:41.903 And that night God came to Abimelech and said you are a dead man, for that woman that you have taken is already married. 00:24:41.903 --> 00:24:43.326 Woman that you have taken is already married. 00:24:43.326 --> 00:24:54.981 So then, after that, abimelech goes and he apologizes, brings like gifts to Abraham. 00:24:54.981 --> 00:24:55.702 I'm so sorry. 00:24:55.702 --> 00:24:56.625 Why didn't you tell me I'm not going to? 00:24:56.625 --> 00:24:57.866 You know like, please stop this curse on us? 00:24:57.866 --> 00:25:02.623 And you know what had happened If you read the last part, so go to the next verse. 00:25:02.623 --> 00:25:06.311 So Abraham prayed for him because God had cursed him. 00:25:06.311 --> 00:25:21.833 Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female servants so they could have children, for the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham's wife. 00:25:21.833 --> 00:25:25.928 It's a really interesting scripture to me. 00:25:25.928 --> 00:25:33.250 We don't know how long she was in the palace for, but it was long enough for them to notice that they weren't having kids anymore. 00:25:33.250 --> 00:25:39.412 But what strikes me is that Abraham wanted to have kids. 00:25:39.412 --> 00:25:44.030 He prayed to God for years. 00:25:44.030 --> 00:25:50.089 He prayed to God for years and in an instant, god used his prayer to remove barrenness from somebody else's life. 00:25:50.089 --> 00:26:02.128 I'm wondering how he felt in that moment, where, in that moment, god used the thing that he was needing, he was wanting, and he prayed for it for someone else. 00:26:02.128 --> 00:26:25.747 Because I was looking I'm always looking for precedent for sometimes, the things that I'm experiencing in scripture to help give it context, so I don't come up with a theology that sounds good but is not scriptural, and so what I wanted to share with you today is on mission, on your mission, whatever it is that God has given to you. 00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:32.692 Quite oftentimes it may be, will be the area of a great vulnerability to you. 00:26:32.692 --> 00:26:41.163 For some of you in this room, god has called you to be kingdom financiers and you don't even know how you're going to make your next mortgage payment. 00:26:41.163 --> 00:26:45.712 But yet you know he's called you to be a kingdom financier. 00:26:45.712 --> 00:26:56.747 For some of you, he's called you to speak into families or help families, and you don't think that your family looks anything to write home about. 00:26:56.747 --> 00:27:06.849 For some of you, he's called you to maybe lead prayer and you haven't picked up your Bible in a year. 00:27:06.849 --> 00:27:12.707 I'm just being honest, and you don't know how to do that. 00:27:12.707 --> 00:27:15.726 Or you don't want to do that, or you don't have the desire. 00:27:15.726 --> 00:27:20.550 But I want to encourage you to lean in into whatever it is. 00:27:22.161 --> 00:27:23.586 My story is not finished. 00:27:24.221 --> 00:27:32.009 It's still being written, and so that's why I stand before you quite vulnerable, because I don't want to be like serve God and therefore no. 00:27:32.009 --> 00:27:49.625 Maybe I needed this more than anything, because you also get authority in the spirit by changing things, because if you have a situation on your hand, you can get victory in your own life, but you really don't have victory until you've actually helped somebody else overcome the same thing. 00:27:49.625 --> 00:28:00.714 So I want to encourage you all on the mission that you're on the journey, that you might feel disqualified. 00:28:00.714 --> 00:28:04.526 Don't shy away from those areas in which you feel disqualified. 00:28:04.526 --> 00:28:07.801 Don't shy away from it. 00:28:07.801 --> 00:28:14.127 If God has put it on your heart and he's drawing you into it, he's the one that qualifies you. 00:28:14.127 --> 00:28:16.340 He's the one that does it. 00:28:16.340 --> 00:28:21.402 There's precedent for it in the Bible, not just in my life. 00:28:21.402 --> 00:28:35.761 So I will look forward to seeing each and every one of you with me in Sierra Leone, hot and sweaty, and I will introduce it to the wonderful fruit called papaya Brant. 00:28:35.761 --> 00:28:40.123 Do not say anything, I'm just kidding, but thank you for listening, molly. 00:28:50.434 --> 00:28:54.396 Oof, tara, I honor you. 00:28:54.396 --> 00:29:10.538 I always think and I tell people, the most powerful mission on earth is Freedom Tree, because she's fighting against death. 00:29:10.538 --> 00:29:24.476 You can build villages and social, economic, whatever, but fighting death Wow, tara, only you could accomplish that calling here. 00:29:24.476 --> 00:29:27.380 You were born to do this. 00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:30.343 I couldn't you do. 00:29:30.343 --> 00:29:37.951 Yeah, yeah, Okay, thank you. 00:29:37.951 --> 00:29:44.567 Good morning everyone. 00:29:44.567 --> 00:29:52.813 I just came back two nights ago from Israel. 00:29:55.095 --> 00:29:57.221 Jane invited me to share my heart about going. 00:29:57.221 --> 00:30:13.058 I don't know how to share because, honestly, like I feel scared to go and I was ready to go before the war, like my suitcase ready, everything, shekels, everything ready. 00:30:13.058 --> 00:30:14.580 And the war came. 00:30:14.580 --> 00:30:18.346 So they canceled all the flights and airlines. 00:30:18.346 --> 00:30:23.517 So I told the Lord why do you? 00:30:23.517 --> 00:30:24.618 Are you kidding me? 00:30:24.618 --> 00:30:31.198 You made me plan this trip that I wanted to do all my life and now I cannot go. 00:30:31.198 --> 00:30:35.983 It was I say why. 00:30:35.983 --> 00:30:51.394 So after a week he spoke to me and he said I needed you to be ready to go during the war, otherwise no way you will prepare to come during the war. 00:30:51.394 --> 00:30:57.601 So I say, okay, now I understand, I understand, so when I go? 00:30:57.601 --> 00:31:01.763 So I'm telling you about my friend Melody. 00:31:01.763 --> 00:31:03.125 She traveled with me. 00:31:03.664 --> 00:31:09.871 We met in 2019 in a meeting for Cuba, so they invited me. 00:31:09.871 --> 00:31:13.256 She was there, she was the translator we met. 00:31:13.256 --> 00:31:20.781 She's Canadian, but her parents were missionaries in Venezuela, so she speaks Spanish. 00:31:20.781 --> 00:31:22.441 So we became friends. 00:31:22.441 --> 00:31:29.903 She had an issue with celiac disease and I always feel compassion for her. 00:31:29.903 --> 00:31:32.542 She's so loving and beautiful girl. 00:31:32.542 --> 00:31:33.946 She's 40. 00:31:33.946 --> 00:31:41.347 No, I don't know how old is she, but she has four kids grown up and her husband is from Spain. 00:31:41.347 --> 00:31:47.048 So we have a lot of things in common and we became friends. 00:31:48.075 --> 00:31:49.903 So one day I went to her house. 00:31:49.903 --> 00:31:51.221 She invited me for breakfast. 00:31:51.221 --> 00:31:53.182 We were visiting. 00:31:53.182 --> 00:31:55.075 In the visiting we started praying. 00:31:55.075 --> 00:32:01.160 In the praying we started doing deliverance and she was healed by celiac disease. 00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:07.053 So one week later she told me I asked her how are you feeling? 00:32:07.053 --> 00:32:09.436 Because I wanted to know if she was healed. 00:32:09.436 --> 00:32:12.861 She told me I'm craving bread. 00:32:12.861 --> 00:32:22.176 And she went to cops and she bought bread and she hid it in the house, so her kids didn't know that she was eating bread. 00:32:22.176 --> 00:32:33.777 Okay, so we tested, like for two months to see if it was real or not, and she fighted spiritually, like she fighted, and she told me this and that, anyways. 00:32:34.519 --> 00:32:42.460 So the trip came, and then I, she asked me if I would pray for a friend of her who had cancer. 00:32:42.460 --> 00:32:44.726 I don't know this lady. 00:32:44.726 --> 00:32:56.567 So I went, we were sitting, I didn't even pray, we just were sharing love and this, and so I told about my trip. 00:32:56.567 --> 00:32:58.490 You know that was canceled. 00:32:58.490 --> 00:33:06.026 I was so disappointed and I told Melody, melody, why you don't come with me, let's go. 00:33:06.026 --> 00:33:09.041 She didn't say anything. 00:33:09.041 --> 00:33:11.442 She was serious. 00:33:12.474 --> 00:33:19.385 And her friend, who I met that day, she told us if you go, I pay for your trip. 00:33:19.385 --> 00:33:23.917 And I said, oh my God, okay, but I didn't. 00:33:23.917 --> 00:33:26.182 I saw maybe yes, maybe no. 00:33:26.182 --> 00:33:29.895 You know like sometimes people say things and it doesn't happen. 00:33:29.895 --> 00:33:37.603 So, like 10 days after, I received a huge email transfer for the money for the trip. 00:33:37.603 --> 00:33:40.005 So I'm fighting. 00:33:40.164 --> 00:33:44.750 Melody told me that it wasn't for her and I asked her husband. 00:33:44.750 --> 00:33:53.365 Her husband said, yes, go, so we were, and she couldn't go in December. 00:33:53.365 --> 00:33:54.733 So I asked my son. 00:33:54.733 --> 00:34:01.808 I know my son told me mom, if you want, I can come with you, like he feels sorry for me. 00:34:01.808 --> 00:34:07.703 And I say, okay, I was excited, but let me ask my wife. 00:34:07.703 --> 00:34:12.557 Two days after he called me mom, this trip is not for me. 00:34:12.557 --> 00:34:20.697 I had a dream and in the dream was horrible and Josie was telling me we need to talk about this trip, so this is not for me. 00:34:20.697 --> 00:34:23.945 I say okay, so, okay, so I won't go. 00:34:23.945 --> 00:34:29.898 I ask Melody again, she's ready and we plan the trip. 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:33.668 So that's the story behind why I went with Melody. 00:34:33.668 --> 00:34:37.900 So the whole friendship had developed in Spanish. 00:34:37.900 --> 00:34:41.016 She wanted me to speak Spanish so she can practice. 00:34:41.016 --> 00:34:42.559 So we went. 00:34:42.559 --> 00:35:07.244 We find out we are so alike like lazy, we didn't like this, I didn't like this food, she didn't like the same food, the room was messy and you know let's go where the room was messy and you know let's go. 00:35:07.244 --> 00:35:08.168 So we were like kind of relaxed. 00:35:08.168 --> 00:35:09.210 So I, I was I supposed to plan the trip. 00:35:09.210 --> 00:35:10.255 She didn't know when I was melody. 00:35:10.255 --> 00:35:12.036 You know that we're going Thursday. 00:35:12.036 --> 00:35:16.063 Oh yeah, really yes, let's meet in the airport. 00:35:16.063 --> 00:35:18.706 Like everything was like last minute. 00:35:18.706 --> 00:35:24.277 So we landed in Israel. 00:35:24.277 --> 00:35:31.349 I booked one week in Jerusalem with a previous friend who was traveling with me. 00:35:31.349 --> 00:35:39.128 Give me the information about a guest house that run a couple from South Africa. 00:35:39.128 --> 00:35:49.581 So we get there and we didn't have any plan, honestly, like where are we going? 00:35:49.581 --> 00:35:50.304 I don't know. 00:35:50.675 --> 00:35:52.322 I don't know where are we going. 00:35:52.322 --> 00:35:55.965 But anyways, I felt fear. 00:35:55.965 --> 00:36:03.809 I called Melody twice and I said, melody, we should cancel this trip. 00:36:03.809 --> 00:36:08.302 Have you watched the news? 00:36:08.302 --> 00:36:12.242 Yes, don't you think we have to cancel? 00:36:12.242 --> 00:36:15.103 Well, I'm going. 00:36:15.103 --> 00:36:18.222 So, okay, I'm going too. 00:36:18.222 --> 00:36:22.081 But I was scared. 00:36:22.081 --> 00:36:24.443 My kids called me, alex and Lisa. 00:36:24.443 --> 00:36:26.139 Mom, are you sure you should? 00:36:26.139 --> 00:36:28.880 You don't have to go because people give you money. 00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:29.882 You can say no. 00:36:29.882 --> 00:36:32.088 I say yes. 00:36:32.088 --> 00:36:33.300 Another friend called me. 00:36:33.300 --> 00:36:35.902 You know, nolly, I have been praying for you. 00:36:35.902 --> 00:36:40.336 You should cancel that trip and go, maybe fall. 00:36:40.336 --> 00:36:41.460 Okay. 00:36:41.460 --> 00:36:43.565 So, melody, I think we should cancel the trip. 00:36:43.565 --> 00:36:45.208 I'm not going to cancel the trip. 00:36:45.208 --> 00:36:47.056 Okay, let's go. 00:36:48.757 --> 00:37:00.010 I was scared, but in my heart the calling was bigger than my fear, like I couldn't say no. 00:37:00.010 --> 00:37:12.909 So I started reading the book of Hebrew, and Hebrew means the river crossers, crossers. 00:37:12.909 --> 00:37:15.315 Like you have to cross the river. 00:37:15.315 --> 00:37:21.068 And I say, lord, you have been calling me and I need to go. 00:37:21.068 --> 00:37:24.699 I need to cross this river, even if I have fear. 00:37:24.699 --> 00:37:26.485 I don't know if I'm coming back. 00:37:26.485 --> 00:37:41.429 I was scared but I had the sense of going, like I told my grandkids the last night before I go, you know what? 00:37:41.429 --> 00:37:43.802 I'm going to the war. 00:37:43.802 --> 00:37:49.067 And they were oh, are you going to the war, abuela? 00:37:49.067 --> 00:37:51.342 Yes, I'm going to the war. 00:37:51.342 --> 00:38:05.577 And then I sent a picture of me in the beach and Liam saw the picture and told Alex Abuela wasn't in the war, anyways. 00:38:06.518 --> 00:38:14.090 So we didn't have any plan, like it was led by the Holy Spirit, completely, 100%. 00:38:14.090 --> 00:38:23.556 We both let the Holy Spirit guide us and he brought every day someone to take us to different places. 00:38:23.556 --> 00:38:27.963 So we didn't have any effort at all. 00:38:27.963 --> 00:38:50.054 So, anyway, so we went together in the house where we are staying, where people all over the world that came to Israel for the war to help as volunteers like it was unreal people are coming. 00:38:50.054 --> 00:38:50.235 They. 00:38:50.235 --> 00:38:56.844 They planned a trip from Germany to camp in the desert. 00:38:56.844 --> 00:38:58.969 They brought their tents. 00:38:58.969 --> 00:39:06.568 They camped in the desert to help the farmers to harvest the food. 00:39:07.936 --> 00:39:10.693 Other people came from South Africa. 00:39:10.693 --> 00:39:30.054 We met three chief indigenous people, first Nation from South Africa that were in Israel to launch the First Nation's embassy. 00:39:30.054 --> 00:39:48.554 From all over the world, people, first Nation groups from different parts of the world came to inaugurate the world yeah, the Israeli embassy for First Nations. 00:39:48.554 --> 00:39:59.798 Because they say that the Jews are the First Nations of Israel, the Jews are the first nations of Israel. 00:39:59.798 --> 00:40:12.119 And these people were there with us, so we knew firsthand what was happening everywhere. 00:40:12.119 --> 00:40:19.027 So then we move on and we say, okay, let's go to the Western wall. 00:40:19.027 --> 00:40:21.769 I haven't been there, this is my first trip. 00:40:21.769 --> 00:40:31.775 We went there. 00:40:31.775 --> 00:40:36.125 These people are in black coming to pray and, you know, rock on the wall and we are standing there. 00:40:36.125 --> 00:40:37.007 So what are we going to do? 00:40:37.007 --> 00:40:40.313 Let's write down in a paper Isaiah 53 and da-da-da-da-da and put it in these books. 00:40:40.313 --> 00:40:41.880 So we put it in the books. 00:40:43.175 --> 00:40:52.869 And then I saw soldiers, young soldiers, 18, 20 years old girls with the uniform and the big guns or whatever. 00:40:52.869 --> 00:40:55.813 You call the rifle, how do you call that weapon? 00:40:55.813 --> 00:40:59.855 Call the rifle, how do you call that weapon? 00:40:59.855 --> 00:41:03.909 Walking on the street and I feel this love for them. 00:41:03.909 --> 00:41:09.327 I say, melody, let's try to ask them if they want prayer. 00:41:09.327 --> 00:41:14.864 So we ask them and they say, yes, why not? 00:41:14.864 --> 00:41:17.918 We pray? 00:41:17.918 --> 00:41:20.407 And they start gazing. 00:41:20.407 --> 00:41:23.324 They were like what is this? 00:41:23.324 --> 00:41:25.663 They never had experienced that. 00:41:26.516 --> 00:41:34.807 So we saw the group of girls in the uniform and I saw them and I feel like I want to hug them. 00:41:34.807 --> 00:41:37.280 I say, can I hug you? 00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:50.719 And they came, yes, they hugged me, yes, and then we saw three boys coming, 20-year-old boys, can we bless you? 00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:53.206 Yes, please Come. 00:41:53.206 --> 00:41:55.260 We prayed for them. 00:41:55.260 --> 00:41:59.681 They were, wow, they look at each other like a wow. 00:42:00.744 --> 00:42:04.077 And every time was something like this happened. 00:42:04.077 --> 00:42:07.148 We asked people do you want, you want, bless us? 00:42:07.148 --> 00:42:15.240 So we spent the time in the western world where people came for prayer with their needs and we pray for them. 00:42:15.240 --> 00:42:25.052 So another time we took like a golf cart to go around the city. 00:42:25.052 --> 00:42:27.663 There's no tourist. 00:42:27.663 --> 00:42:32.744 The tourists left as soon as the war started. 00:42:32.744 --> 00:42:34.527 There's no people. 00:42:34.527 --> 00:42:40.327 Every time we saw people and they asked us what are you doing here? 00:42:40.327 --> 00:42:43.282 And we say we came to bless you. 00:42:43.282 --> 00:42:48.487 And they say what are you doing here? 00:42:48.487 --> 00:42:50.882 They ask us like three times. 00:42:50.882 --> 00:42:51.844 They couldn't believe. 00:42:51.844 --> 00:42:57.608 And we say we want you to know that you are loved and we came to bless you. 00:42:57.608 --> 00:43:01.264 So they were touched Really. 00:43:01.264 --> 00:43:05.784 But people hate us in the world. 00:43:05.784 --> 00:43:07.268 They say not everyone. 00:43:07.268 --> 00:43:14.307 We love you and we share about Jesus and the love of God and everything. 00:43:15.255 --> 00:43:26.590 So one day we took a car like a golf cart with an Arabic guy driving. 00:43:26.590 --> 00:43:33.822 We say okay, let's take this, because the roads are down and then you have to walk up. 00:43:33.822 --> 00:43:36.545 You know it's heavy, you feel tired. 00:43:36.545 --> 00:43:38.646 So we took the car. 00:43:38.646 --> 00:43:51.007 We finished the tour and we stayed at the juice quarter of the old city, in a marketplace. 00:43:51.007 --> 00:43:52.590 So we walk. 00:43:54.875 --> 00:43:58.306 Melody already bought his stuff for her kids. 00:43:58.306 --> 00:44:01.699