Stop 9 Church
We want to share important pieces of our worship service with those who might not have been able to be there in person.
Stop 9 Church
C3: A Culture that Shares (Part 4/5)
What does it mean to be truly bold for Christ? Through the compelling story of four desperate lepers in 2 Kings 7, we discover that boldness isn't about having perfect qualifications or circumstances—it's about being willing to move when God calls.
These outcasts, sitting outside the gates of a starving city, faced certain death whether they stayed put or returned to Samaria. In their moment of desperation, they asked themselves a transformative question: "Why should we sit here waiting to die?" Their decision to approach the enemy camp led them to discover that God had already cleared the way—the Aramean army had fled, leaving behind everything needed to save the city. When they initially began hoarding their newfound treasures, they realized: "This is a day of good news and we aren't sharing it with anyone."
The power of this ancient story perfectly parallels the mission work being supported by our church, particularly in Cuba where missionaries demonstrate extraordinary boldness despite increasingly difficult conditions. For over thirty years, our congregation has supported Cuban Christians who now face 23-hour daily power outages, severe water shortages affecting their ability to perform baptisms, and transportation challenges that make ministry nearly impossible. Yet they continue walking miles daily, knocking on doors, and sharing the gospel with unwavering commitment.
This Mission Sunday, we're focusing on practical ways to support boldness in action. The Magi Project allows families to fill shoebox-sized packages with essentials and gifts for children worldwide, while our special offering aims to provide solar generators and transportation for Cuban missionaries. Through these efforts, we join the ancient lepers in their revelation—that good news must be shared, no matter what obstacles stand in our way.
Join us in discovering how true boldness isn't about extraordinary courage, but simply being willing to take the first step, trusting that God is already at work, and refusing to keep good news to ourselves.
All right, it is Mission Sunday, so we're going to spend some time sharing with you what some of our missionaries are doing, the work that they're doing, and then how you can play a role in that, so we look forward to doing that with you. This morning, we asked them some of our missionaries to send us some videos, and so the first one here is Chuchi. He is in Cuba and he is a great brother in Christ doing great work. He's going to offer an opening prayer for us, and his wife, melissa, is actually from the States, and so I was emailing back and forth with her and she said well, he prayed. He prayed in Spanish. She said so, you, you guys, most of you probably won't understand, but we put English subtitles underneath of it, so we're going to have a real fun prayer. She said is that okay if everybody's just looking up instead of looking down? I said yeah, that'll work just fine. So we're going to play this for you. It's a prayer from Chuchi in Cuba for us, and you can follow along if you'd like.
Speaker 2:Buenos dias, Storm 9. Desde aqui de Cuba, Pinar del Rio, estamos saludando, greeting the Church of Christ with much love to the Church of Stornay. At this moment, I ask you to pray, Blessed God. We thank you for this day. Thank you, Infinite Father, for everything that has been done here this morning, in this church, in this congregation of your children. And, Holy Father, this church, in this congregation of your children, Holy Father, where you have worked during this year, Lord, to fulfill your mandate, Lord, to carry the gospel to every corner of this world. Thank you, Lord, also for the people who have somehow contributed, according to the gifts and talents that each one has shared and their capacity to contribute with this commandment.
Speaker 2:We also thank the missionaries team in this church, as well as the elders and all those who have cooperated, Lord, to carry out this plan, Also for the plans that have been made for the new year and that we can continue in some way contributing, Lord, and carrying out the mandate of going around the world and carrying the gospel to all creatures. In this way, Father Santos, we ask that there are more workers for the vineyard and also more resources, Lord, to be able to contribute with this mandate. We also ask that you enable each one of those who have to leave on this mission and that, above all things, Father Santo also breaks any obstacles stumbles. I am an impediment from the evil. If it is your will, let God allow everything to be done, and we do not pray for the us. Worlds apart, but connected through the love of Jesus.
Speaker 3:Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life. Let me more of their beauty see. Wonderful words of life Words of life and beauty.
Speaker 3:Teach me faith and duty. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.
Speaker 3:Christ, the blessed one, gives to all. Wonderful words of life, sinnerless to the Beautiful words. Wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Sweetly echo the gospel call. Wonderful words of life. Offer pardon and peace to all. Jesus, only Savior, sanctified forever. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.
Speaker 3:Lord, the people praise you, lift you up and praise you. You are the Holy One. You are the Holy One. You're the one, you're the only one. You're the Holy One. You are the Holy One. You're the one, you're the only one. You're the only one. Lord, the people love you. Lord, the people love you. Place their body above you, place their body above you. You are the Holy One. You are the Holy One. You are the Holy One. You're the one, you're the only one, you're the only one. Bless your name, lord Jesus. Bless your name, lord Jesus, only name that frees us, only name that frees us. You are the Holy One, you are the Holy One. You're the one, you're the only one, you're the only one. Hallelujah, hallelujah. All the glory is to you. All the glory is to you. You are the Holy One. You are the Holy One, you're the one, You're the only one, you're the only one. We will praise you right here and now.
Speaker 3:We will praise you right here and now. Bless the hills and rocks, cry out you are the Holy One, you're the one, you're the only one, you're the only one. If we had ten thousand hands, if we had ten thousand hands, we would bless you as you command. We would bless you as you command, we would bless you as you command.
Speaker 3:You are the one, you are the one, you're the one, you're the only one, you're the only one. If we had 10,000 tongues, if we had 10,000 tongues, we would bless you with every one, we would bless you with everyone. You are the one, you are the only one, you're the one, you're the only one, you're the only one. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. All the glory is to you. You are the Holy One, you're the one, you're the only one, you're the only one. I love you, lord, and I lift my voice to worship you. Worship you, o, my soul Rejoice, take joy, my King, in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. I love you, lord, and I lift my voice to worship you. O, my soul rejoice. Take joy, my King, in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
Speaker 1:Amen, alright. The scripture reading today is 2 Kings, chapter 7, verse 9. It says Finally, they said to each other this is not right. This is a day of good news and we aren't sharing it with anyone. All right, good morning. We'll get started with the word of prayer.
Speaker 1:Father, we thank you so much for an opportunity to gather this morning. We're thankful for Mission Sunday and the work that's going on across the world. And, father, we're just thankful that we get to be a part of it. We're thankful for the many years that this church has helped serve over many different countries and across the world. And, father, we just pray for those that are meeting across the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ this morning. Thank you for Jesus and his example, thank you for his love and we just pray for opportunities to share it with others. It's in Jesus' name we pray Amen. All right, this morning, before we get started, sharon is going to come up. Sharon Love is going to come up and share with you another project that we have, another opportunity that we have to spread the gospel and hopefully encourage some folks across the world. So Sharon's going to come up and share with you just a little bit and then we'll dive in to a sermon this morning.
Speaker 5:Okay, good morning. I was going to ask Josh if he would put a graphic up about Magi and I thought you know what? Josh is young, he's smart and he will do that without me even asking, and he did. So you didn't let me down, josh. Yes, I'm going to talk about the Magi Project. I'm not going to try to take too much of your time, because Woody already spoke to us about it a couple weeks ago, so today we're just going to call this our kickoff.
Speaker 5:The Magi Project. As you can see, it's a shoebox-sized box. It is filled with essentials and also fun things that it's sent to many different countries in the world. It is a project through Healing Hands International. It's one of their five branches, I think they call them. There's also a sewing ministry called the Dorcas Ministry. There's Walk for Water, which we participated in many of us a couple weeks ago. There's the Magi Boxes, and then there's one where they enable, they show people how to grow and produce their own foods.
Speaker 5:This one targets the children, which is special to my heart. So I've been wanting to do this for quite a while and I hate to say this because this is a broken record, natalie and I talked about it back before COVID. And then COVID hit and it kind of got put on the back burner. And then I opened my big mouth in March and said you know, when I retire I think I want to do the Magi boxes. And Josh and Woody jumped on that with both feet and here I am. So you got to be careful what you say around, woody and Josh, because they will put you to work if you let anything like that slip. So this is the box, and I would like to encourage you too, to please, please, come up front after services. Everything that you see on this bigger table, believe it or not, everything that's on that bigger table was packed into that shoe box size box. So there's a dress that actually was handmade by someone I don't know. This is a box that Woody gave me to show as an example.
Speaker 5:There are underwear this one would be approximate for, I would say, maybe a five to six-year-old girl. So there's underpants, there's flip-flops, there's the little dress. Soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, there's necessities, but then there's also things like coloring book crayons. There's a little doll baby, there's a stuffed dog. So it's meant to bring, as it says on my shirt, a gift that brings a smile. So what we're asking you to do as a church or as a, maybe life group, if you want to, as a Bible class, as a family.
Speaker 5:Take one of these boxes and on the side, you either choose whether you want to buy for a boy or a girl, and there's also targeted ages two to four years, three to seven years, eight to ten years and 11. Plus I have packing lists. Now, the only thing about this packing list please don't be confused by this, don't think that everything on this list has to go in this box. There are certain things that they ask that you put in the box a change of clothing, two pairs of underwear, a pair of flip-flops, some of the hygiene products I mentioned, and what I'm going to have Angie do, which I'm asking for some grace on this, because this is the first time I've done this, so, as I've been getting into it a little bit farther, I thought I should have done this. I should have done that. I should have had Angie type up and put in the get connected a packing list with a few instructions, which I am going to do, and that'll make a little bit more sense.
Speaker 5:They ask that you take everything that you buy out of the packages to put in the box and I think that's just so that you can get more things in there, like there's things like they want the. They ask that you don't buy strong scents of soap. They want it so like. I bought ivory in the box that Kevin and I packed a box last week and ivory soap is a very mild smelling. It won't permeate through the whole box. Pack things in snack bags, snack size bags like Band-Aids, take them out of the box, put them in a bag, put them in the box, maybe make a small bag of candy, tootsie Rolls, smarties, hard candies. But they also ask no Jolly Ranchers, no chocolate and one thing that Woody mentioned to me that it's also mentioned in this brochure that I have. A lot of people will take like a small water bottle and they'll put things in there to save room in your box. You could pack that with candy pencils, erasers, crayons. So it's very open-ended in that every box doesn't have to be the same, but, as I said, there are certain things that they do like to have in the boxes.
Speaker 5:One thing I would say to you is, if you're interested and maybe you don't even necessarily want to pack a box, you can go on the Healing Hands website, which is hhiorg, and click on their drop-down menus to click on the Magi boxes. There's three things you can do. You can either sponsor a box, and that is, you can send them $30 and they will pack a box in Nashville. See that it gets where it gets where it needs to be. You can do a box with us, like we're going to ask people to do. Do a box with us like we're going to ask people to do. Or they also have an Amazon wish list that is tied to a lady named Nancy in Nashville and if you click on that Amazon wish list link, that's hard to say and it will take you straight to Amazon and it has a whole list of things that they like to have in the boxes and you can click that, put it in your cart, pay for it with your credit card Believe me, I know how to do that and then it goes right to Nashville. I mean, you don't have to.
Speaker 5:Yeah, kevin's laughing. He told me when I retire we're going to have to cut out the Amazon shopping. But I can't tell you how many times I look on my phone and I see gooseneck oil can. I'm like I didn't order that you know. So One, yeah, he bought one of those, but anyway, I digress. So anyhow.
Speaker 5:They also ask that the international shipping to send these boxes is $8. They ask that you include that with your box. It's not required. I'm going to throw Jefferson under the bus here. He said that the church would make up the difference to however many boxes we pack. If we don't get the correct amount of shipping, the church will make up the difference. Natalie and I are talking about maybe even including that with the VBS that we're going to do, having the kids bring pennies for postage or something to where the kids can even get involved.
Speaker 5:So I know this was very rushed. I don't want to take much of Josh's time. I will be up here after church. The boxes are up front. The packing lists are up front, oh, and we also have a box. There's 100 boxes. Woody thinks we can pack 100 boxes, so don't let Woody down. And there's a box right beside them that has 100 drawstring cinch bags. If you want to take one of those to put in your box, feel free. And other than that, if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them when we're finished. But I'm going to ask one of our elders, who also happens to be my husband, to come up and please pray over the boxes and pray over this ministry. Then we'll turn it back over to Josh, sorry.
Speaker 6:Let's bow our heads together, please. Dear Father in heaven, we come to you this morning, lord. We ask a special blessing. We thank you for this Mission Sunday and we pray specifically for this Magi project that's been going on and that we're going to participate in. We'll be with Sharon, be with those who participate, be with the money that's given, the boxes that are packed, be with the people who are organizing it and send them out all over the world. Be with them, help things go as smoothly as possible. Most of all, lord, we pray that the little ones that get these things, that have next to nothing, next to nothing compared to what we have, that their lives will be brightened and they will through the Holy Spirit, lord, they will see Jesus through these boxes and what is given to them and the hearts behind it. That is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. You've always got one more thing.
Speaker 5:No, I do have one more thing to say. A very special girl in our congregation, faith, who's sitting right over here beside me, she overheard Natalie and I talking this morning about pennies for postage and maybe having that a thing and maybe even putting up some kind of graphic. She dug down in her purse and she gave me 75 cents and she said that's all the change that I have in my purse this morning, but I want you to have that and I mean I just that really touched my heart.
Speaker 1:Very good. Thank you, sharon. I have confidence that those hundred boxes will be gone this morning. So we'll see. I have that confidence. All right, we may cut this right in half, but we'll see. We're going to go.
Speaker 1:All right, how many of you are bold? How many of you are bold people? Not very many, because everybody's doing this. Okay, if you're really bold, you would have already stood up and said I'm bold. Okay, we're going to talk about the idea of being bold this morning and I made a fun little chart for you. Maybe you're in the green, maybe you just play it safe. You're the person that says, nah, that's not me. Maybe you're the bold type, but you'll say I'll be bold tomorrow, I'll ask that question tomorrow, I'll ask that favor tomorrow. Or maybe some of you are bold but you're still a little bit nervous. But you, you're still a little bit nervous, but you'll be bold, but you're a little bit nervous. And then you have the people that just are. They just say it how it is and they'll do it how it is right. So we're going to play just a few minutes here. We're going to find out how bold you are.
Speaker 1:How many of you, by raise of hands, would send food back. You're at a restaurant, it comes out it's not what it's supposed to be. How many of you are sending it back? Okay, so we got some bold people up in here. Okay, I would not, I'd just eat it and then complain about it the whole way home. And Morgan would be like, well, why didn't you say something? So that would be, that would be me.
Speaker 1:How many of you, if you're on a plane and you're flying by yourself and you get sat by somebody, would have a conversation with the stranger next to you? How many of you would have the conversation? Okay, a few of you. Okay, how many of you would sing karaoke? Great, because we're going to do that this morning. I'm just kidding, just kidding. How many of you would get on an airplane and willingly skydive? You all are crazy.
Speaker 1:We're going to start a SIG group. You can join it. You can all be a part of it. Okay, how many of you in the big downtown of Cambridge going to Theo's would parallel park? Okay, most of you, all right. What about if it was Cleveland? Okay, I'm just going to circle around and then we're going to Wendy's. You know it's not going to be me. Actually, this is what we do. This is what the Hots do. We pull up and find a spot and pull over. I'll get out, morgan gets in the driver's seat and she'll parallel park that thing. That's what the Hots are going to do, because we are bold.
Speaker 1:How many of you would tell somebody they have something in their teeth? Okay, very good. And then how many of you would go into a store where the price is not really negotiable but you're going to haggle a little bit? How many of you are going to be like? I got a few people that are standing in Walmart going to haggle a little bit. How many of you are going to be like? I got a few people that are standing in Walmart going I'll give you 97 cents, okay, all right, there's a few of you. How many of you would just eat something weird just to say you did it? Okay, there's a few of you. I had a friend in school that ate a bee once. He missed school for a week but he did it, and now he can say he did it All right. How many of you would tell somebody about Jesus? Okay, very good, all right, we're going to jump in.
Speaker 1:This morning we're wrapping up our series. We've been talking about this idea of creating a culture that's a Christ-centered culture We've been talking about. A few weeks ago, we talked about the idea of building an altar, and the first thing that we have to do is we have to center our lives around Christ. We talked about sacrifice a few weeks ago, last week we talked about the joy that comes from being in Christ, and this week we're going to talk about the boldness that has to take place If we're truly going to build a culture that is a Christ-centered culture. We're going to have to be bold, because we don't live in a world that chooses Christ as the culture, and so we have to be bold and step out in that. And so we're going to look at one story this morning. We are going to keep it shorter, it's just a couple verses long, and we'll see what happens, but we're going to be in 2 Kings, chapter 7. There's an unexpected group of people who are on the outside. They don't have any power, they're not in a position to be bold, but they choose to be, and God uses their faith to open the door for an entire city, and so you see the boldness in their lives, and so we're going to look at that this morning, in 2 Kings 7, we find out that there's a group of people that are willing to move and that will make sense in just a second.
Speaker 1:In 2 Kings 7, you have a group of people that are under siege by the Aramean army. The Aramean army has completely surrounded the city of Samaria the Israelites and the situation is bad. There's a food shortage. People are doing whatever they can to survive. The prices for food has gone completely up high. All hope is kind of gone and the king is so frustrated he's blaming God for it. All the situation that we're in is all God's fault. There's a prophet by the name of Elisha who has been working with the king and he's trying to give him some hope and saying hey, this is what God is doing. And the king is so frustrated by his circumstance that he is thinking about having Elisha killed, the man that brings the good news. He says there's nothing good anymore. Maybe Elisha should be next. And so, right in the middle of this mess, elijah makes this statement. He says by tomorrow, the food will be cheap and it'll be easy to find. And the people kind of laugh that's the impossible. There's no way that that's going to happen. Well it does, because we pick up in our story this morning.
Speaker 1:There's four men with leprosy in 2 Kings 7. There's four men with leprosy and we've talked about leprosy before as a horrible skin disease. Physically it would have been painful, it would have been hard to live. It would have been something that continues to eat at your body until you lose body parts. It was miserable. There was no cure and so once you got it you were just kind of stuck. It would be real easy to just be stuck in that moment. But not only was there physical harm that came with leprosy, there was also social harm, because if you got diagnosed with leprosy or you got noticed that you might have it, you got kicked out of the city. You weren't allowed to live in the village anymore. You weren't allowed to be around family anymore. You weren't allowed to be there anymore. You lived as an outsider. Just so happened for these guys. They have a little bit of community because there's four of them and so because they have leprosy, they just hang out together.
Speaker 1:Well, they're sitting by the gate one morning and it says why should we sit here waiting to die? They asked each other. We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in this city we'll starve if we even try to go back into our city. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. And if they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us we would have died anyway. So here's where they have this mindset of we're so hungry we can't go back into the city. One we have leprosy. They're not going to let us in. Two even if we got in the gate, there's no food to be had. So we're going to die anyway. Let's just go to the enemy. The enemy's camp is just outside. Let's go to it and we'll just show up at the camp and maybe they'll keep us alive. Or if they kill us, so be it, we're going to die anyway.
Speaker 1:But they have the mindset, they have the willingness to move. They're outcasts, they're not a part of the city, but they ask the question why stay here? Let's move if it's going to be better. So the first move of faith is not having all the answers, but be willing to move. If we're going to have faith, we've got to accept that we're not always going to have all the answers, but we've got to be willing to move. And if we're willing to move, that means we have a little bit of faith and a little bit of trust that God is going to work in or through the situation. And so that's what these four men with leprosy do. They decide to just take the steps and leave the city.
Speaker 1:And you have it there on your outline. God wants willing steps, not perfect resumes. You can read through all of Scripture, and everybody that God uses has a flaw. There's only one guy that we would probably say has a perfect resume and his name is Jesus. The whole church says Jesus, there we go. Everybody else had a flaw, everybody else had to be pushed and nudged and everything else. He just needs someone that's willing to take the step. And that leads us to our next point. You take the step because you are aware that God is always moving, that God is always working, that God is always in every situation. And so, as we read through here, it says At twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans, but when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and galloping horses and the sound of the great army approaching the king of Israel has hired the Hittites and the Egyptians to attack us.
Speaker 1:They cried to one another, so they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, abandoning their horses, their donkeys and everything else, and they fled for their lives. The lepers out of faith step into a situation. They're heading to the Aramean camp. They thought they were walking into enemy territory and when they get there it's a miracle Nobody's there. Because on the way God sent a sound that sounded like chariots, that sounded like a great army was coming. And so the great Aramean camp, the great Aramean army, flees and not just like let's pack the bags and go, but they literally leave everything.
Speaker 1:And so now you have these four outsiders, these four people with leprosy, these four guys that have been living on the fringe of society. Have everything there's tents, there's horses, there's food, everything. And it's just the four of them. They could have set up camp and be living the dream, just the four of them. But the moment that felt risky was already safe because God was working in it. The moment of uncertainty was already settled because God was working. When we step into obedience, we don't start something from scratch. We join the work that God is already doing. God was already working. These four guys just had the willingness to go, and they do. He's already at work. And so here's what we've got to do. We got to let that good news motivate us. We got to let that good news motivate us.
Speaker 1:We keep reading in verse 8, when the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine. They carried off silver, gold clothing and they started to hide it. They're living it up, guys. They're finding food for the first time. They're finding drinks for the first time. They're gathering it all. They're gathering the clothes, they're gathering the silver, they're gathering the gold. They got it all. It's all for them. We would all do the same thing, wouldn't we? We would all do the same things. But then you keep reading. Finally they look at each other. Finally they have this moment where they look at each other and say this isn't right. This is a day of good news and we aren't sharing it with anyone. We've got to go share it. They realize that the bigger picture is that this good news has to be shared. So here's the crazy part. Now they're going to go back to the city where they're kicked out of and say hey guys, you've got to come see this, look what we found Because they are willing to share it. The good news isn't meant to be kept, it's meant to be shared.
Speaker 1:We live in a day and age where we love to share things. We're so good at sharing, guys, we are the best at sharing. I don't think there's ever been generations that have been as good at sharing as we are. We share everything on Facebook. You know everything that's going on in my life, right. Think about that, though. Our generation, everybody that's going on in my life, right. Think about that, though. Our generation, everybody living in it. We live in a generation in our life where we share everything. Your kid graduates guess what's on Facebook. Your kid, if he graduates preschool, guess what's up there. There's a picture of Kelly Drew on Facebook right now with this little thing. I graduated preschool, right? Because we like to share things when it's good news, when it makes us happy, we do that. I thought, just for fun, I would click on my Facebook. Guess what's on there Drew's graduation. Jameson's kindergarten, going to first grade Baseball. They're hitting dingers all the time and they had a birthday.
Speaker 1:Because we love to share good things. We go to extreme measures to tell somebody we're pregnant. We'll send fireworks off to let them know what the gender's going to be, because we're excited, right, and we want to share that. But sometimes we have the greatest news, and we've had it for years, and for some reason we have this tendency to just keep it for ourselves and we want to just hold on to this good news that Jesus sets us free, that Jesus died on the cross. We kind of hold on to that, and so what I love about this story is that they realize that this good news is meant to be shared. They've been going through it, they've been kicked out, they've been treated poorly and all this other stuff, but they decide in their hearts we have to share this with everybody else because it's important to us. This is such great news that we are going to make it out of our situation.
Speaker 1:Many of us have made it out of our situation because of the blood of Jesus Christ and it's time to tell people about it, and that's what they do. They say it's time to share this. So they go back to the city, they don't wait and I'll steal this from Nike, they just do it. They don't wait, they just do it. They don't overthink it, they don't wonder if it's going to work, they don't wonder if they're going to get to the city gate and they're going to say, no, you can't talk because you have leprosy. They don't worry about any of that. They don't form a committee, they don't come up with some great program, they just decide we're going to go share the news. And the news is that there's a camp right over there, just a few miles, that has all the food we need. It has all the animals that we need God has provided for us and it's right there. And so they go and they share it. He says they go back into the city and they told the gatekeeper what had happened. We went out to the Aramean camp, they said, and no one was there. The horses, the donkeys were tethered, the tents were all in order, but there wasn't a single person around. Then the gatekeeper guess what he did? Shouted the news to the people because it was good news that other people needed to hear. So he tells everybody within the city that these four men aren't even allowed to be in. Hey, we got some good news.
Speaker 1:Okay, told you, we were going to keep it short and simple. All we have to do is be bold. I did a fancy acronym there for you on your outline. It spells bold. Did you see that? I worked all week on that? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Be willing to move. Our God is always moving. Let someone else know the news and do it.
Speaker 1:And it worked out perfectly that this is Mission Sunday, because what is happening across the world, specifically as we talk about Cuba this morning, is we have a group of missionaries that are choosing to be bold in a country where it would be really easy to just sit and to do what you're told. But they're waking up every morning seeking opportunities to serve the Lord. Even though their financial situation doesn't set them up to do it, they still do it. Even though their transportation doesn't set up for them to be effectively be able to do it, they do it. They walk miles a day to go share the gospel with somebody that needs to hear it, because they have the good news and they want to share it with somebody. So this morning I have up here on the screen. I just want to share this with you as we walk through this just for a second, and then Jim and Tacey are going to share something with you.
Speaker 1:Many people ask well, who's our missionaries? Where are we helping? We help quite a bit in different places and I want to give you these names. If you want to write these down, there's room on your outline there at the bottom to write down some of these names. I want to encourage you to pray for these guys and these ladies as they do their ministry. We have Lincoln Young, who's in the Bahamas, and if you don't know Lincoln's, medically he's not doing well. We need to be praying for Lincoln and praying that he can recover and get back into his ministry, because if you've ever met Lincoln, he's got an amazing story and great joy, and so we need to be praying for Lincoln in the Bahamas.
Speaker 1:We have Raul in Panama, and I'm going to show you a video next week of some of the things that Raul is doing as well in Panama. He's doing a great ministry. And then we have Dino and Cheryl Roldan in the Philippines, and I believe Buddy has a connection with them a little bit, I think. Yeah, he shook his head, I'm not making that up, and so if you want to know more about the work they're doing, you can see Buddy about that. And then here's some of our Cuba people. There's Pedro Ruiz, there's Osmel, there's Chuchi, which is the guy that you heard from this morning, there's Melissa Lua, mila Renee, pablo Pedro Robbie, and they are.
Speaker 1:We've been serving in Cuba for 30 years over 30 years. Woody started that ministry and we've had quite a few of our people be able to go. I went 10 years ago and it changed my life. And you see, people that find joy in the gospel even when there's not things to be joyful, because all they have is the gospel. And so Jim and Tacey are going to come up this morning and just share with you a few minutes about some of the difficulties that they're having in Cuba and what we're hoping to raise this morning for them. And so we're going to give you a challenge. So Jim and Tacey are gonna come up In the background here. There's gonna be a video here with some pictures so you can see some of the work that's taking place in Cuba. But Jim and Tacey, go ahead.
Speaker 7:Good morning. Yeah, we're just going to talk about Cuba today because Panama and the Philippines are, from what we understand are, doing rather well, so that's a great thing. First off, before I start, sharon, thank you, your ministry is going to take off. It will so. Cuba, like Josh has said, this church has been there for 30 years supporting their ministries. When Woody started down there, there was only a handful of churches down there. Now there's over 300 churches, a lot of the churches that we support. We have four main churches down there that might have 100 or 150 in their congregations, but also there are the house churches. If you ever had Woody talk, he's all about house churches and that's where it comes from. A lot of our preachers will travel hours at a time and stop at many, many house churches, which might have anywhere from five to 15 in their congregation. Meet at this church at a certain time of the week. Sometimes it's not on Sundays, sometimes because there's so many of them, but they're facing some things that they weren't facing before.
Speaker 7:As you know, cuba their infrastructure is failing. After they had a hurricane a few years ago wiped out their power grid and their power plants. They were able to restore power and when we visited we were blessed enough to go last time two years ago they had power rolling blackouts maybe two or three times a week at a couple hours at a time. That's not bad. Of course we wouldn't stand for that, but for them it was nothing. They got over that really well that some had gasoline generators and things like that. Now it's got to be where they're out of power for 23 hours a day. They're lucky to have power for one hour.
Speaker 7:If you can imagine it's a very hot climate down there and we're getting into the hot season. It's well over 90 to 100 degrees a day. The main churches, so they can't run their fans. Air conditioning is not a thing down there. Only the rich folks have air conditioning if they have generators but fans keeping the food cool so it doesn't spoil powering their motorcycles because a lot of them are electric. A lot of the transportation is electric or hybrids from gas and electric gases. You think our gas is bad. I think it's like $13 a gallon down there or more.
Speaker 7:So they're facing new challenges and I can tell you from we study with Osmel, lumilla and Pedro Luis. We study every week with them. So it's an ongoing communication with them and I'm glad that we are so that we know what's going on. But they're still baptizing folks. They're still going out in the rural areas and meeting with people knocking on doors. I mean, how many times do we do that? But they do that all day, every day, so they're resilient to whatever happens.
Speaker 7:But just recently, now the water shortage. They don't have water to baptize folks. The baptisms are dry because they can't afford it. The price has skyrocketed for water. Water is hauled in by tanker trucks for each house and building and they either have cisterns or they fill the water on top of the roofs in these black barrels. But money is short and water is short, short supply and, like I said, the infrastructure is just getting worse. But it's not all gloom and doom. They're doing a great job for what they have and we just don't see that here. You have to experience it.
Speaker 7:Tacey and I, if we were to go back, it would be better for us to be here. So we don't use their resources to keep us there. It's better to use them resources to help them. But so Osmel and I have been working on a plan on at least maybe getting solar-powered generators. Solar sunshine down there is every day. That's one resource no one can take from them so far. Sunshine down there is every day. That's one resource no one can take from them so far.
Speaker 7:So if we could get them, some solar power generators on the roof, the panels for the main churches, is what our goal was to keep them functioning, to keep them to be able to do our job, which is to spread the word of Christ, that would help tremendously. Job which is to spread the word of Christ, that would help tremendously. And we talked to the elders this week and we're trying to increase the amount that we can pay them to pay for the extra water just to bathe, to wash clothes and to fill the baptismals back up so they don't have to travel eight kilometers to baptize them in the rivers. But we also have things like transportation that I'll have Tacey talk to you a little bit about that. That's another issue that they're facing.
Speaker 8:Transportation for us is you've got a variety of vehicles out there right For them. When we were down there two years ago, we were lucky enough to get on what's called a Wawa, which is a flatbed truck. You just hop on, hold on and jump off as close to where you're going. As it stops, you'll see them standing on the side of the road piling into cars gases, as he said, at a premium, the road piling into cars gases, as he said, at a premium. And they've got electric bikes, but it's nothing to see. Someone with an ox, two very different sized tires, a little bit of wood plank sitting on it and going down the road. That's how they're getting around to tell people about Christ, and without power, without gas, without water, they're not getting very far at all, but they're still trying and when we went down two years ago we talked to them about discipleship and really sharing their stories to go out and talk about what God has done for them and how God has changed their lives so that they can change the lives down there. And we're seeing it. We baptized 11 in seven days in a cattle trough. We're three in the middle of a field that we had to walk to that a neighbor let the church use. They are not giving up, but it's difficult. The ladies that I spoke with when I was down there and I shared my story with the church, which Woody asked if they wanted to hear a story they all yes, and then he said you'll hear Tacey's Women, do not go up on the stage there at all. He said we'll get thrown out or it'll be okay. Patted me on the stage there at all. He said we'll get thrown out or it'll be okay. Patted me on the shoulder and sat down. It turned out to be the best blessing that could have been, because it opened a lot of communication and gave their ladies some confidence. He's talked about the water need and the power need.
Speaker 8:There's a woman named ludmilla. When she comes up she's got her cap on and her gown. She just graduated with her bachelor's in theology. She covers 13 kilometers between the church and consolation del sor in pinar del Rio. She walks, she gets on a wall while she waits for a car. She does whatever it takes to go visit the women in those 13 kilometers. She brings them hope, the Bible, the gospel and any resource that she has.
Speaker 8:Those women, without her, would not be able to even know Christ, let alone have what they have, and with no power, and they don't have fans. And you have young women with children to elderly women. They can't leave, they can't go anywhere, they can't get to a church to cool down. We do cooling stations when we're without a power for a day or two and it's go here, go there and you can get a shower, you can get cooled down. It would take them that long to even walk and they're 80, 90. They can't.
Speaker 8:So we talked about another project being a scooter that she could haul people on the back and get some of those ladies if they need a doctor, if they need to get to a cooling station, if they need to get somewhere, and they can't, she's responsible. There are over 90 women that meet when they can get together and do their fellowshipping. It's an unreal knowing that they went from not doing anything to now being a very important part of their movement. They get up every morning and they walk and they knock on doors and they pray. We did it with them when we were down there.
Speaker 8:They're amazing people and we have supported them for 30 years and this church, you guys, are such a blessing to them. You have no idea they're constantly. You guys are such a blessing to them. You have no idea they're constantly. Thank you to stop 9. Thank you to stop 9. We're their lifeline, and so today we bring you a challenge as a church. It's going to be about $15,000 between two generators and a scooter, and it seems like a lot, but there are a lot of you in here and many hands make light work. So the mission of Mission Sunday for us, for Cuba, is to try and raise funds that we can send down so that they can have even those small necessities to be able to offer their community a place to be safe, to be cool, to have water, to be baptized and to know Christ.
Speaker 9:While we're giving this morning, I'd like to share something with you. Fifty years ago, I was a missionary in South Africa and we got a box of goodies. We'd been there for quite a few years and in that box it wasn't one of these fancy boxes, just a plain old brown box. Brethren in Florida that sponsored our work sent us a bunch of different food items and things. Our children were small and we were looking. It was like christmas. It was really, really a deep thing, and I saw two bags of m&ms one plain and one peanut and I had a discussion with my wife and I said that our children had forgotten everything about American candy, that we should eat the M&Ms and not give them to them. Very serious discussion. We talked about it for quite some time.
Speaker 9:It was an afternoon-ish time. We couldn't come to a mutual decision. It was a one-to-one, so we prayed about it and that evening we decided it was still one-to-one, but we decided to go ahead and share the M&Ms with our children. So I opened up the pound bag of M&Ms and counted every M&M, divided it by four, and that's how we shared the M&Ms. But it was such a joy to see things that we hadn't seen in years I ate two M&Ms a day.
Speaker 9:That's my personality. I wanted to stretch them and you know you can suck on an M&M and have it roll around in your mouth for quite a few minutes before it melts. There was no get M&Ms and do this Two M&Ms a day. My wife ate all her M&Ms. In the first few days Our daughter shared them with her schoolmates because they'd never had American candy. Our son I still hold this against him he saved all of his until all of ours were gone and then he'd say I think I'll go get some M&M's. Maybe through these boxes we can give somebody and share an M&M, something that they would appreciate.
Speaker 9:I want to say on behalf of the elders thank you for responding. Some of you have planned Mission Sunday. Now we've thrown this on and that's why we're extending it, because some of you are going to say, hey, we need to share some M&Ms, we need these extra needs $15,000. My question isn't will we raise the $15,000? That's not a question. My question is, how much over that will we reach and be able to buy another generator, which is sorely needed? Thank you, brethren, for responding.
Speaker 3:All things praise thee, lord most high, heaven and earth and sea and sky, and earth and sea and sky, all were for thy glory. Made that thy greatness thus displayed should all worship bring to thee all things. Praise thee, lord. May we All things praise thee. Night to night Sings in silent hymns of light, all things praise thee, day by day, chance thy power in burning ray. Time and space are All things praise thee, lord. May we All things praise thee. Heaven's high shrine rings with melody, divine Holy bending at thy feet. Seraph and Archangel meet this, their highest bliss to meet Ever praising Lord.
Speaker 4:may we Amen. God bless you everybody. Have a great week. Make sure you grab a box. Be bold this week. Tell somebody about Jesus. Be bold.