Kingdom Builders Missions Convention | Week 2

Imagine being a missionary in Arizona and an evangelist in Latin America, spreading the love of Jesus to every corner of the world. That's the life of our special guests, Pastor Rick and Denise Ryan. We're joining hands with Cornerstone Church in their mission, sharing astonishing testimonies from missionaries around the globe including Sudan. 

Ever wondered how to be the fragrance of Christ, regardless of who you are or where you hail from? We draw inspiration from the churches in Corinth and Antioch, discussing the essence of spreading the love of Jesus. You'll hear a thrilling story from Pastor Rick's trip to Nicaragua and the incredible power of prayer in overcoming daunting circumstances. This episode underscores the potency of prayer and the spiritual legacy we are mandated to leave behind.

Rounding up, we center the discussion on the purpose of the church. We discuss the significance of praying, giving and extending the love of Jesus to every nation, tribe, and language. There's a stirring update about the generous Faith Promises donations to Cornerstone Church's mission and an eager anticipation of God's use of us to create a significant global impact. This episode is a celebration of the church community and the vital importance of missionary work. Join us for this enlightening journey.

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Transcript

Pastor Jason Brown: 0:00

It's true, that's what we're about here at Cornerstone, and we are so glad that you're with us today. The middle of mission's convention means this that each one of these images that we see on these walls, these faces that you see up front along the edge, each one of them are a window into the world, a people group that we want to reach with the love of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so that's what this is about is to be those who take the word of God, the love of God, to the ends of the world. That's who we are here as a church is that we see ourselves as people who are in need of a Savior. We're people who are not perfect, and so, because of that, we are ones that are following Jesus. We want to be those, to be more like Jesus, and that's our ambition, that's our heart. We want to love God and make disciples and reach the world, and so some of what we do is getting a chance to give beyond our ties and offerings that help the ministry here go forward.

Pastor Jason Brown: 0:50

We give out of generosity so that other people can know the love of God, so we can support missionaries around the world, so we can give things like Fire Bible and Convoy of Hope and Speed of Light and BGMC and Life for the Lost and other things, because we have a heart that everyone would know the love of God. Today we have such a blessing amongst us in pastors Rick and Denise Ryan. They are missionaries here to the international fellowships in Arizona, as well as women in ministry and they have been missionaries in Latin America pastors and they've been people who've been evangelists. Can we have a hand of appreciation for them as they come to share today?

Pastor Rick Ryan: 1:41

I'm sorry, I thought this was an Hispanic service, because, you know, if you take the word Hispanic and you divide it in half, you are his and you cause the devil panic. So how many Hispanics do I have here? Come on. Come on, he got scared when you got up this morning. You got scared of you when you got up this morning Because he was like oh, oh, they're going to go to church, they're going to start glorifying God, they're going to forget their issues, they're going to let it all drop and all of a sudden, I'm going to have to work that much harder to defeat them this week. Come on, it's time for us to stand up and say I am his and I'm causing you panic, devil. How many are tired of the devil messing with you? Come on, that's what Jesus is, what Jesus does.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 2:26

It's just so cool, so cool to be here and especially this church. I mean all those countries you guys have had influence in, your pastors have had influence in. It's incredible to sit with Pastor Jay and Celeste and just hear what God is doing, what God has done in places that they are from here and when they go, but especially from here, having influence and having missionaries that call them and say, hey, what do I do about this, what do I do about that? Or connecting people. We just heard a story this morning about missionaries in the Sudan, and it was Jay's connection point that put them out to get their whole family out in the midst of one of the wars that nobody's talking about, but one of the grossest and most violent wars that is happening right now in the Sudan, right now in the capital city, and so it's just great to be here. Thank you, church, for investing in missions. We are missionaries we're not employees of the network, but we get to work in all kinds of different ways.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 3:31

My wife is so great, my wife with me today, denise amen. She is the director of the network of women ministers and that means we have about 850 credential holders with the assemblies of God and 227 churches about 85,000 people in Arizona right now that are under the banner of the assemblies of God, and over 300 of them are women. Come on ladies, come on ladies. And so she's got all kinds of things going starting in January. If you want to get it back there, the book is back there they're doing if you're a credentialed woman or getting credentials, you can be part of that whole study. Or there's a in March, there's a retreat coming that is going to actually be for the whole West Coast really exciting. So I'm married, by the way, just need to.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 4:19

We met on the mission field. Okay, we met on the mission field. That's the best place to find a wife. She says it this way if I hadn't been obedient to go to the field alone as a, as a woman, raise the funds and do all she did for Northern California, she never would have met me, and she knows that's God's will for her. Hallelujah, I'm joking.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 4:47

And if I hadn't said, as the state youth director here, the district youth director, if I hadn't said I'm going to go and I'm going to take young people with me, because I want to say this to you the young people of today are the same young people of the 80s and 90s, because they said we will go, show us how to do it and we'll do it. And so that's this generation right now. Take us and show us the world and show us how to do it, and we will change the world for cause of Christ. I believe the generation of young people that are here right now, between 1995 and 2015, that's going to be the generation that will usher in the return of the Lord. Come on, somebody get excited about that. No, golf claps here, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 5:30

I just really believe that and I'm just just thankful for that and thank you. Thankful for you as a church, I'm thankful for your pastors. You guys have got the best man. I mean, when you look all that's going on in this church, come on. I mean sometimes I go into churches and they're like the dead in Christ are there, they're going to rise first, but they're the dead in Christ. You know what I'm saying. I mean it's like you know. I mean it's just you can do anything you want this church man, we're doing baptisms, we're doing, we're doing all these announcements, we're sending out teams. Come on, you're part of the greatest church on the West Valley. Come on, come on, hallelujah.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 6:11

Well, I just I just really believe that. You know, cause sometimes we're in our lives and we're just don't know what's going on. We're like the two guys from the university of Arizona who said man, our pipe dream is to go and go ice fishing. So they drive and they're pickup all the way up to Thunder Bay up in Canada, and they get up there and they go, stop at a store and they get their fishing poles and they get their license and they get a chainsaw and they get a little hot thing and they get it all together, man, they get out in the ice, they're ready to pull the cord on the, on the chainsaw and rip it to cut the hole in the ice and all of a sudden, a voice comes from above and it says there's no fish down there. God is that, you. No, this is the ice rink manager. There's no fish down there. In other words, everything looks right, everything seems right, it even smells right, but you're so far from the truth.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 7:09

I want to speak to you today about being the fragrance of Christ. Every one of us today are on a mission and we're missionaries to seek and to save the lost. It's found in 2 Corinthians, the second chapter, verse 15, which says for we are, to God, the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Can you smell the person next to you real quick? Are they the fragrance of Christ In the midst of the circumstances of your life right now? Are you the fragrance of Christ In the moment when you say well, I'm Italian, I can get mad and I'm done.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 8:06

I had a board member one time just exploded this meeting, got up, slammed his book down and ran out and I said to the guys I was new to the church, I go whoa, what was that? I mean, I didn't I say something wrong. He goes, no, no, no, he just gets that way. You know he's Italian and I was like wait a second, are you Italian that happens to be a Christian? Are you a Son of God that happens to grow up in one of the most beautiful countries of the world? You see, I know that God wants to stir in us a fragrance where everyone around us is wanting to know what makes us different and we nudge people to Jesus.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 8:48

Or the other word is we're chimmers. If you don't know what chimming is, chimming is when you do it in deep sea fishing. I can't stand deep sea fishing because I always feed the fish. If you know what I mean, it'll take a while. You'll laugh in about five seconds. But but chimmers do this. You troll in the ocean and you throw fish, smaller fish, out in the back and if the fish the big fish, the big marlin are hungry, what they do is they grab the big one fish, then they grab the next one as you're throwing them next and next, until you throw the one out with your hook in it. That's what it is in our relationship with God is we're chumming, we're nudging people to Jesus, we're mentioning Jesus, we're smelling like Jesus, we're talking like Jesus, we're praising God like Jesus.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 9:40

Someone recently tried to get me to say it's okay if you square once in a while and I said you know what you can do, what you want you can be, but I wanna be like Jesus. I don't see Jesus. You know getting flogged and going. I'm about to go and find Jesus. All right, it's the sense of oh God, show me what it is so I can change the world and seek and save those that need Jesus. I come to you today on behalf of the poor and suffering of the world. I come to you today on behalf of missionaries all over the globe who are giving their all, even physical, lives, so that people can know Jesus. I come to you today for the 3.5 billion people who have yet to hear the name of Jesus or have a Bible in their language or a church in their country.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 10:35

God wants us to be the fragrance of Christ. Therefore, I wanna be like Paul when he said that though I'm free and to belong to no man, I make myself a slave to win as many as possible. He says later in verse 22,. He says to the week I become weak to win, the week I become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. And I do this for the sake of the gospel, the good news that I may share in its blessings. See, paul was being challenged by the church cornerstone Corinth. He was being challenged by the church there in Corinth. The people there saying, and they were literally saying to him we're not sure who you are, we don't recognize your apostleship here or your leadership here. But he said to them I don't care what you think about me, I choose to make myself a slave. I will become all things to all men. Those kind of personal statements allowed him to be a world changer and it planted in his heart that on the road to Damascus, and it was fertilized later in prayer and prophetic action by the church in Antioch that sent him out.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 11:57

You see, your world, your position, your hair color, you're feeling about the cardinals or the suns, is always changing. But there's one thing that never changes the need to be. Matthew 25, where were you when I was thirsty, when I was naked, when I was hungry, when I was in prison, when Matthew 28,. Go and make disciples of all nations. You guys do an amazing job with that. Mercy House is an incredible, well-known, established ministry.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 12:30

Now, where you've extended the hand of compassion and you're extending the hand of evangelism. Don't stop doing both. In today's world, we lead with compassion and bring evangelism, but you can't feed tummies and let people go to hell. You can't pay bills for somebody and let people go to hell. Nor can you walk out on the street corner and just start yelling for the cause of Christ. It's gotta be compassion and evangelism. Our Father never changes and he is not willing that any perish but all come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 13:15

Or, as one of my African pastors recently said and, by the way, we're really excited to work with our intercultural pastors here when I came back to Arizona in 2019, we had 27 intercultural congregations and seven languages. 11 of them were Hispanic. Today, and then the next year, covid hit and today we have 78 intercultural churches instead of 27. We have 48 Hispanic churches, we have 18 different languages spoken and the rest of those. If you take that and you take the congregation of the Native American groups, we have the largest Native American ministry in the nation, in our district here or our state here, and you put those two together, literally half of the churches of the assemblies of God in Arizona are tied to intercultural ministry or nations. We're really excited about that. But you are a church that has helped us do that because you're not willing that any perish.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 14:16

This prophetic call that God has given us is the prophetic call of the last days of Joel 2, 28 and 29. And it shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Somebody receive that for your kids, somebody receive that for your grandkids. Your sons and daughters will prophesy your old man shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also on my men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days. It doesn't matter your gender. God is gonna pour out his spirit in his last days on you. It's the prophetic call of Habakkuk 1.5. Look at the nations, as we saw in the video. Look at the nations and be utterly amazed because I'm gonna do something in your days that if I told you in advance you wouldn't even believe it. Look at Psalm, the prophetic call of Psalm 2.8, ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possessions. These prophetic promises move us from comfortable centeredness to prophetic action.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 15:30

As a church that everyone would seek and save the lost, we are given three prophetic responsibilities to our generation by the call of God in our lives. First one is this we are called to pray. We, everyone in this room, is called to be a daily instigator of prayer that changes the atmosphere, that dominates Satan's attacks and destroys demonic influences in your life. What does it mean to be an instigator? It means to flip the switch. It means to start something. It means to set in motion something that God has ordained for you to set in motion through prayer and intercession.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 16:19

What is the first thing the enemy comes after? When you're going through stress and going through issues? He gets you out of praying. Come on, church. We need to stand up. Let's say forget that enemy. If I have to get up earlier, I'm getting up earlier because I am not gonna be torn down, because God in me is greater than God, than the devil that's in the world. And my circumstances are not my future, they're not my present. My future is in the hands of the Lord Because, you see, so many times in our churches there's a fine line between the prophetic and the pathetic.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 17:03

Sometimes we have these wimpy prophetic prayers that mean nothing, they just are rhetoric. And God wants us to move us into a place where we have prophetic declaration and when we pray, heaven comes down, demons tremble and run. That's promises of God for you and for me. Your workplace changes. Well, I could stand here and tell you story after story of business guys that were in a business. Everything around them was evil, everything around them was crude and stuff they wanna be. But they started praying. They would get to the office, they'd put a hand on a desk and just pray God from here, radiate, radiate, radiate out of me.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 17:50

And within months some of the worst offenders were coming and saying hey, man, there's something about you, there's a peace in you, man, that I don't understand. But, man, could I talk to you about some of my issues? Imagine, imagine If somebody came to you tomorrow and said I got a headache, do you have any like Advil or something and you said man Advil and Tylenol. I don't have, but what I have, let me give you In the name of Jesus, let me pray for you and God does a miracle and takes a headache away, right there. Come on Jesus. Come on Jesus, use your people. Use your people. We are called to pray. We're not called to hang back. We're not called to be discouraged. I'm seen to you that through prayer, everything can change. Your life and the life of everyone around you depends on your prayers. As a missionary, we depend on you praying for us. In fact, call the church this week. They will give you a list of all the missionaries and all the countries and all the projects that are going on, won't you? Okay? Good, they will give it to you and you can start every day praying for a missionary. Just give us two minutes Because I wanna tell you something. It's life and death too many times. Life and death too many times. I'm on the way.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 19:12

I graduated from the language school in San Jose, costa Rica, and another missionary, mark Ryder, and I were headed up the fire Bible. It had just been printed in Spanish, and so we were headed up into Nicaragua. Nicaragua and Costa Rica don't get along well, and so we were headed up there to this pastor's retreat to give away these Bibles, which was really cool. That's a whole other story. But on the way there, we're driving along and all of a sudden they're in Nicaragua and all of a sudden there's a tree across the road. Now, later, as I got more experience as a missionary, I know you don't stop to move the tree, but I stopped to move the tree with this other missionary. We're moving the tree and all of a sudden out of the woods comes a gang of guys with guns and the whole thing and they jump on us and they've got pistols and they're ready to do some damage. And then they threw us into the vehicle they wanted us to drive. So you're not afraid here, all they wanted was a ride.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 20:14

We didn't know that, because when you got a gun right here and they're flipping, they're doing this and they're saying to you all kinds of stuff, and I started thinking about stuff, like, okay, I think Theo was maybe like a year old, then Denise is back in San Jose. I'm thinking about that, I'm thinking about different things, kind of thinking like, okay, I guess it's checkout time. I started thinking that way and then all of a sudden, the Lord said to me just speak to him as if he's a Christian. So I got a gun here tilting my head. Okay, the muzzle is right here Tilting my head. And I said well, praise God in Spanish, praise God, what a day this is. Look at it's beautiful. Look at what's going on here, man, it's phenomenal. God is.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 21:02

This guy starts getting mad what are you talking about? And I go well, you know God has done all kinds of stuff. He goes listen, you better listen to me. And I said I can't listen to you because God is too important in my life. Worst case scenario you shoot me right now. One you'll get in a wreck because I'll go off the road. Two I get to go to heaven and you gotta stay here, bummer, think about it. Bummer, I get heaven, baby. We kept talking like that. Mark, who was kind of shy, started to speak that same kind of verbiage. So Mark and I were talking back and forth. Back in the back, guys are going take the pistol away from his head. I mean, you know all these guys. I mean that's how it went. Okay, I knew somebody was praying. I knew it.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 21:53

Six months later, I was in this very church and I'm speaking, there's a guy in the church. In those days All our members first named Jerry, and so I shared that testimony. And Jerry comes up after the service and says what day was that? When was that? And I gave him the day that that happened. He goes. Let me think Now, time zone wise, what's the difference? And it came out that he and he pulled two other guys with him. The three of them prayed for us. Our faces my face came flying Now that's scary in itself, but my there came flying up to him and he said we had to pray and we did.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 22:32

I stand here today cause someone in your church said I'm gonna pray for my missionary Because church, we're in war and prayer is warfare Somewhere deep inside of you and me. We must contend for the supernatural, to pray for the nations. We know what the powerful is in prayer, but we have to have the powerful in prayer to overwhelm the pitiful. So don't surrender your city to the enemy. Instigate a prayer movement and a prayer walk for the supernatural. That will reset the atmosphere and dominate demonic activity in this, your city. Don't let the enemy intimidate you into giving your children and the children of your church over to the media and apathy and laziness Institute.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 23:23

A daily prayer time of spiritual legacy, where the child sees mom and dad praying and you teach them to pray. Oh, I better hide, that's pretty rough Cause, church. Sometimes we don't teach our kids to pray. I'm not challenging anybody on that, except to say come on, mom and dad, the promises of God is this if you're obedient to the things of the Lord, he will bless you and he'll bless your children and he'll bless your children and your children's children and your children's and your children's children's and your children's children to the third and fourth generation.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 24:03

How many want that in your life? How many are tired of living in dysfunctional families? How many are tired that you had a grandpa that was an alcoholic and everybody said your mama's gonna be an alcoholic and then they said you're gonna be an alcoholic. You say no way, no way. I know a God that is greater and I'm gonna start a spiritual legacy that will. And I'm not giving up my kids. I'm not giving up my kids, I'm gonna fight. Come on, man of God, stand up and be a man of God, fight for your kids in prayer. But, pastor Rick, they've run. We don't know where they're at. We don't know what's going on. Come on, fight for your kids. Come on, fight for your kids. You can't do it. Pray. We're not talking the Taken movie series here. You know what I mean, elim Nielsen. We're not talking that right when you're gonna go find them. Pray and the Lord will bring them back, because this is the harvest that the prodigals are coming home in these days. Amen, amen.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 25:03

Don't forfeit your family to the enemy. Set up, instigate rights of spiritual passage and action through prayer. Don't yield your ministry and your generosity to the enemy, who limits you and tells you you can't do. When prayer says not only can you do, but I will give you an anointing that is exceedingly, abundantly. Above all, you could ask, think or imagine, and even in the face of a loud, defiant, arrogant voices of culture and seemingly unbeatable odds that are set against you, instigate the power of a praying saint who is longing for. 1 Corinthians 2.9,. Your eye has not seen, your ear has not heard, it has not yet entered into your heart what God has planned for you because he loves you. You know, the father, every morning, is waiting for you when you get up. Give me coffee, Give me my shower. I'm late for work. The father is waiting for you and if you connect with him in prayer, he will set in motion things in your life for the day that will be powerful and life-changing.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 26:21

Church, we are called to be people A prayer. Next, we are called to give. You are an illustrator of generosity and sacrificial giving. Have your time, your talents, your resources and even your personal dreams to seek and save the lost. What does this mean? You literally demonstrate or you give practical ways. You illustrate what God could do in a person who gives everything to Jesus. Because, church, if we live and give sacrificially, they get to live eternally. All over the world they get to live eternally. Pastor told me last year your faith promises were about $80,000, $82,000. But last year you gave more than $150,000.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 27:19

Come on, somebody, give the Lord a hand for that To world evangelism. See, this global passion and giving in missions is not about money, it's about obedience. You and I both know that if you give a tithe to the Lord, the Bible says in multiple places, but one of them in the book of Malachi says that he will open the windows of heaven and he will pour out to you an abundance like rain. Amos 9, 13 through 15 says it will be like fine wine flowing off the mountains. It'll be happening so quickly and so powerfully that your head will swim if you read it in the Messages version Come on, that's what I want in my life. Come on, jesus, blessings off the mountaintops, flood me, flood me with your blessings. That's the power of giving and I, you know you have to forgive me, but I spent too much time in Latin America, so one of my favorite desserts is tres leches.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 28:24

How many know what tres leches is? How many like tres leches? Okay, good, you wanna bless me Tres leches right here. The ador pecan pie we're doing both, okay, especially my wife's chocolate pecan pie. Come on now. That's a sin, but we forgive it.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 28:38

During Thanksgiving. I love tres leches. It has three milks. That's what the term tres leches, three milks means, and this cake is made with three milks. The power of it is just. It just tastes amazing. But if you only had one milk it wouldn't be the same. You didn't have two. If you had just two milks it'd be okay, but it's the three milks together that make it happen.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 29:03

I wanna talk to you really quickly about the kingdom of God and how we give, because the kingdom of God is not about what you have. The kingdom of God is about what he has in your life. There's three ways to give. One is called disposable income giving. Disposable income is what you can give at any given moment through cash, through a bank account, through credit cards, through an IRA, you can cash, et cetera. It's money you can get ahold of and you can be involved with. Now I'm not talking the tithe, because the tithe is obedience to God and when you're obedient to God you receive blessing. I'm talking about, above that missions giving is disposable income. Number two, missions giving is sacrificial giving. In other words, it's that whole sense of what do I do or what do I give or change in my lifestyle, what do I alter in my lifestyle to give to a greater cause, the cause of Christ?

Pastor Rick Ryan: 30:12

We had a sister when we passed her to an Oakland. Her name was Sister Kay. Sister Kay was probably in her late 70s then maybe, and she was on a fixed income, social security. She got like $436 a month. So she comes to church one day. In fact she came several days or several Sundays, but she had a brand new dress on.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 30:32

I go, sister Kay, you look great, she goes well. Yes, isn't this my color? It just looks great. And I said it's awesome. I said now, where did you get that? Did you get it on a special day? She goes no. I went to Goodwill, I go. How much did it cost you? She goes $1. I said, sister Kay, listen, I could get my wife and I will take you to like Nordstroms or Dillards or whatever you want. You know, she goes no, no, no, no, no. Pastor Rick, listen, I love this dress. It's brand new to me and that allows me to give 60,. I have $62 that I can divide amongst three missionaries and support them in their missions giving. She altered her lifestyle and her wants to make changes or to make a global change for everyone else. I love that.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 31:21

The last one is called by faith. We're gonna do that in just a minute. If you have this card, I like everybody to grab the card. Everybody reach around you there. They're on the seats there. Everybody grab one of these cards. And so this card. This card is very important because this card is not ink on a page.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 31:39

This card is souls. This represents souls around the world, and the power of this is that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, that wait for the, can't wait for the kingdom of God to come to them through missionaries and people that you send. And so, in the midst of this, we say, by faith, we are going to give over and above our ties and offerings. God's gonna put in our heart something that in this next year 2024, the Lord will allow us to receive over and above anything else, and we will give it to God for the sake of seeking and saving the lost. If you don't have one of the cards, raise your hands. There are people that are coming right now and giving you or we'll be passing them out to you.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 32:32

I want everybody in the house to have one and I want every business owner to have one, because we presented this kind of situation recently in a church or a couple of years ago in one of our churches and a businessman and his wife Becky and Ethan Brisbee that came right down here. He worked in mortgages. He had two employees. The Holy Spirit spoke to him and said from your business, would you give over and above? And he felt the Lord saved $500 a month. Now it was a newer business. He was just getting started in a way. He had one other employee, but he didn't know where that was gonna come from His wife, who was the treasurer of the company. She said I don't know where that's got. So $500 it is and they wanted to give it to the youth department so that the youth department could buy pizza at the youth alive clubs at the local high schools and then give some money to the cafeteria of the school. Who was missing out on those students going in and getting pizza. They were missing that out in their budget $500 a month. They did it that first year and what happened was his business tripled the next year. He gave $1,500 a month and things just kept growing and growing and growing. To last year, seven years, five years after he's finished or he started this, he gave $10 million in ministry money last year. That's not a big deal you all got 10 million, I know but his business had exploded and God was blessing.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 34:08

I'm daring every, every every business owner here, if you would consider for the next four months to trust God, test God as he says that what if we tithed out of our business? Or what if we tithed an amount that the Lord could give us over and above what we have had already, and see what God does, because you see folks in giving, miracles happening when you're giving to seek and save the lost. And last is, we are called to go and send. We are called to go and or send. You and I are called to go and make disciples, and if we don't go and if we don't send, then we're failing in our commitment to obey the great commission that Jesus gave us in Matthew 28, 19,. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying all authority has been given to me and on heaven and earth. You then go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth. If you ask Jesus what's your purpose on being here on the planet, he would say this I've come to seek and save the lost by giving my life and being the supreme sacrifice.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 35:43

Church. What is our number one purpose for being on this planet? To seek and to save the lost and bring people from people that have been in darkness, bring them into the light and relationship with Jesus Christ. Everyone in this room knows somebody that doesn't know Jesus and Jesus wants to work and move in you. Because I see in this church there is a next generation of soul winners in the schools and the workplaces of this city that will bring the supernatural into the atmosphere and you will see signs, wonders, miracles and healings in the workplace and in the schools of this area.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 36:23

I see a church, in this church, the next generation of children who will fulfill Psalm 8-2, which says out of the mouth of babes and infants, I have ordained praise and I will destroy the enemy and take territory. It's a combative thing that your little kids, as they know, jesus are gonna prophesy and demons will run and Jesus will be Lord. Because kids are declaring they don't have to worry about other things, like you think you have to worry or your excuse for why you don't. These kids are gonna do it. I see that in this church. I see a generation in this church of the next generation of pastors, teachers, missionaries and leaders that will go and send and will preach the gospel to the nation into the ends of the earth. Cause I know from the missionary heart and the pastoral heart that's right here, you're gonna send out young people from this church. You're gonna send out missionaries. You're gonna send out evangelists and when they come home, you will bless them because you've been praying for them. You will bless them because you've been giving for them. You will bless them because they are going and you've sent them. Amen. We are called to pray, we are called to give, we are called to go and or send because everybody's waiting for us. Romans 8 and 19. All creation awaits in eager anticipation for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed, if I can put it this way. They're waiting for you to come out of the closet of your circumstances and your shyness, to be Jesus with skin on For them. Everybody's waiting. Everybody's waiting. They're wanting to know that Jesus that is in you, that is in you.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 38:31

This last February I was invited to go to the country of Thailand and then our missionaries, dan and Bridget Metcalfe, took us to Nepal, Got to speak at the general council. The assemblies got there for four nights. Very, very powerful time Got done at the end. Superintendent, general superintendent of the assemblies of God in Nepal. Now, nepal is a Buddhist country. In fact, if you go out to our book table, out there there's a two week devotional for praying for Buddhist people or Buddhist nations. They're for free. If you'd like to take them, please join.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 39:04

We have about 4,000 people here in the United or here in Arizona that are praying for the Buddhist world right now and in fact, in the inside of it. It'll tell you where to go online and every Monday morning they'll send you a prayer that you can listen to, to pray and pray with them for the Buddhist world. It's very, very powerful. It's called changethemappnet and those devotionals are back there. Maybe you've never prayed for the Buddhist world. It's all Asia. There's eight or nine countries that are Buddhist countries and God could open that up.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 39:34

But I was invited into Paul and the general superintendent came up at the end. The last night was just. I mean, it was just powerful. I mean it was like an eight hour service and the power of God was all over the place. It's like 1.30 in the morning and just incredible, general superintendent walks up to me and he says he said my friend, he said I want to tell you something. We have been waiting for the word you've brought. We have been waiting for this. It's broken open. It's going to break open. The assemblies are back in Nepal because the word you're giving is what we've been waiting for Now, this was Christians.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 40:14

What do we do with Sudan? What do we do with Gaza? What do we do with all? I mean you can get lost in the political maneuver. You can get lost in oh man, they're killing this and they're. You can get lost in all of that.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 40:27

But they are souls that need Jesus, because I believe church, god's got big, bigger than you can imagine things happening for you. And I do this very, very quickly. But the Lord woke me up at 2.21 this morning and I just believe a prophetic word over you is going to be spoken. You just close your eyes for a minute because I want you to hear in your spirit, for I prophesy over you, cornerstone Church, that you are the spiritual gatekeepers of Avondale, the Valley of the Sun, america and the world.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 41:08

You are a chosen people, you are a royal priesthood, you are a people called of God to declare his glory to every nation and every tribe and every language. He is calling you to declare with a prophetic voice, from the heat of the valley to the snow of Iceland, from the desert dwellers and desert sands to the urban centers of global influence, that, instead of destruction and doubt, you, church, will declare peace and prosperity. That instead of pushers and political opinions, you will declare practical preachers and prophetic authority. That instead of division and separation, you will declare unity and reconciliation. That instead of poverty and pettiness, you will declare humility and humbleness. That instead of want and limitation, you will declare generosity and obedience. Until all have seen, all have heard and all have experienced the power of Christ among us, for he has called you out of darkness into his great life to seek and save the lost, the least and the less.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 42:25

You were made for this moment to be the voice of God to the nations, as you prophetically pray, as you strategically go and as you sacrificially give and send, because in the pages of history he wants you, cornerstone Church, to be known as the people of God, not the people of political and cultural icons. You will be known for this, for sending the most, the best and the blessed of your families and funds to a global cause. You are the people of destiny and you are destiny makers who will not let doubt and depression steal away God's desires, dreams and destinies for your families and for your friends. Because, church, I declare over you, prodigal sons and daughters are coming home and you can do it. You can make this personal, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The Lord is going to work in us right now. I want you to take your card Because of the this day that's so critical, and I say this to you Because I'm not asking for funds for me at all. This is all about people's lives.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 43:59

We have missionaries in the southern part of Iraq today, a single woman who has all kinds of issues that she's gonna have to deal with because of what's going on. We have another gal in Saudi Arabia who's trying to plan a church on underground church but a church and has already had great success a single woman. We have missionaries that are reaching the red light district of Bangkok, thailand, the largest red light district in the world, and their goal is to put a coffee house right at the entrance of the back of the red light district so that people will come out and drink coffee and hear about the gospel while they're drinking coffee. Come on, we have. We have missionaries in Lisbon, portugal, that are ready to plant a church and they've been going for about a year now, but they need a building.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 44:48

We've got all these kind of things that are going on and God is working in power foes, and that does not include Mercy House, does not include the home missions and what God is doing through Teen Challenge and other ministries like that, perhaps even online I don't know where I'm looking for a camera, but just to say online. You might be sitting there right now listening to this and I want to tell you right now, first of all, that God's got a plan for your life, and if you are listening right now and you say, man, what you guys are doing right there, I don't have a pledge card. You can, you can send us, you can DM us this church and Tell them what you're thinking about, what God maybe is speaking to your heart right now. But everybody in this house, god is speaking. I'm gonna pray in just a moment and I'm gonna ask God to tell you an amount, whether it be weekly, whether it be monthly. Tell you a mount that you would want To give if God gives it to you. This is what you don't have now, but you promise that when money comes in, by faith, god could do amazing things, because this is a church of three or four hundred thousand dollars given every year. This is a church that has that kind of ability. Last year, price of Lord for the hundred and fifty thousand in the eighty two thousand in pledges, but this morning we've already had forty nine thousand promised to us. Amen, and so God is working here.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 46:17

So what I'd like you to do, I'd like to pray, and after we pray, we're gonna tear this and when you, you're gonna keep this, you're gonna do something with this, but you're gonna keep this and you put it in your Bible or your refrigerator, whatever. You open up more and pray for missions and Missionaries remember the list you're gonna get pray for missionaries and Pray for a country. And then what we're gonna do with this. Since you filled it out, I would like you to come to the front. I Don't want you to just put it on the platform what I want you to do, versus when you get down here in the altar area, I want you to commit your life again to Jesus. In fact, if you're here for the very first time, or maybe Maybe you've been here a while, but you don't have a personal relationship, lord, you've never seen a guy sweat so much, let alone talk so fervently.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 47:16

Listen, ma'am, listen, sir, listen, young person. God's got a plan for your life. That's incredible and it's time to see addictions, it's time to see obstacles in your life broken, those powers as you surrender your life to Jesus and I guarantee you you will feel totally different walking out of here. But as you come, I want you to take this if you come with family members or you come alone, just take this and just put it over your heart and say, lord, I Surrender to you. I surrender my finances. If it's disposable income, if it's sacrificial giving where I have to alter my, my lifestyle, or if it's over and above by faith, god, whatever it is the miracle offering you want to give me, I surrender this to you. Number one, number two Lord, I pray for my family and my marriage that I would surrender more of my life so I can instigate prayer, I can illustrate generosity and I could show my kids and my family that Jesus is Lord of my life.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 48:28

So you pray, then you give, you can put it anywhere here, you can play it, put it anywhere here on the platform you want. Somebody'll come along and collect it later, but just put it here. And then, if you want prayer, special prayer I think there's a prayer pray, prayer people back there. But if you want it sealed in prayer, or maybe you're going through something right now and you you hear me talking you think, man, I'd like to be like that, but I can't yet because I've got this issue. I want to tell you right now if you go right back there, god, right now, today, will set you free, will set you free, will set you free. So that's what we're gonna do over the next few minutes. When you're done doing that, please return to your seat, because there's other things that are gonna be going on. Return to your seat and Just wait in the presence of Jesus, because the Holy Spirit is here Right now.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 49:23

What you bow your heads with me, if you're here today and you would say to me, pastor Rick man, your presentation today and now you talk about Jesus, is wow, it's not what I'm living and I want to have a relationship with the king of kings and Lord of lords and I need him to forgive me of all the junk I've done wrong. You know there are people sitting in this room right now. Your heart is sliced and diced by experiences and by people and by situations. In fact, it's been so. It's been so evil that you are really super shy because you don't want to get hurt anymore, but you live in pain all the time. I want to tell you today that God wants to heal your heart. In fact, even more than that, god wants to give you a new heart.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 50:20

So if you're here right now with heads bowed, nobody looking around, this is personal. You'd say to me Pastor Rick, I want to give my whole life to Jesus, and I have been doing it, but I want to give my whole life to Jesus. Would you just slip up a hand If you're online, thank you, thank you, hands are going up. If you're online right now, all you have to do is, in the comment section, just comment, just say I want Jesus in my life and someone will get to you. Today there's been like five hands. Anybody else, anybody else. Just slip up your hand and just say please pray for me. Oh, thank you Jesus, oh, thank you Jesus.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 51:00

In the house, in the house, people are coming to Jesus. Thank you, lord. I like everybody to repeat this prayer after me dear Jesus, thank you for coming to this earth, thank you for living a sinless life and thank you for being my supreme sacrifice. By going to the cross with my sins and Jesus, I surrender all to you. I lay down my wishes and I ask you to forgive me of all my sins and from this day forward, I choose to follow you and follow the word of the Lord and because of that, I know that you are going to change me. I'm open to complete change, god, and I will give you the praise forever. Jesus, amen and amen.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 52:20

Lord Jesus, in this very room right now, I just also pray, god, that, as people, as you speak to their hearts, give them a number. God, for some it's going to be leaving you for $80 a month, which would be like a thousand a month extra. For some it will be $180, which will be like $2,000 this next year. But, lord, I know there's also people in this room and businesses in this room that could give way more than that. So, lord, by faith, we're going to trust you with your number. You put in our hearts right now that, on a monthly basis, as you give it to us, we will give to you sacrificially. We don't have it in our bank account right now. We don't have it in any other way. Unless you give it, we give you all the praise and honor In thy precious name, amen.

Pastor Rick Ryan: 53:25

Would you take that card now and fill it out. Do we have pins up here? Maybe Do we have any writing things up here? Should have had that. Sorry, it's my bad. If you need to borrow a pin from somebody, you can Like everybody to do that. If they would, I'd like everybody to respond. You say Pastor Rick, I don't know if I can do this. Just take your card and come up here and pray and then put it on the altar, even if it has nothing on it. But come and pray and surrender everything to God. Come on church and to respond to the heart of God, to seek and save the lost, come on.

Pastor Celeste Brown: 54:01

Yes, I'm so excited how many of you just feel blessed today just hearing the word of God being challenged and encouraged. We tell you all the time be more like Jesus in every way, and that's what we're doing today. If you made that decision to follow Jesus, we would rejoice with you. Today, we want to let you know before you leave, you can go to the prayer banner. We have some material we want to put in your hands, but we want you to follow after Jesus. It's a journey that you've started today. We don't want you to do it alone, so we want you to go and we want to be with you and stand with you on this amazing, amazing life change.

Pastor Jason Brown: 54:37

Amen. So far in our missions convention Faith Promises we have $107,674.16. $57,000 from just this service. Thank you for saying yes to God. We know there are more that are coming in, as they've been prayerfully considering it. We are so excited about what God is going to do through us getting to reach out to this world. Before we go, let me pray this blessing over us today the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. God, do you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray all this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this we love you very much here at Cornerstone. Thank you and have a great week.