The Great Commission: Part 3

The Great Commission: Part 3 - Living On Mission

Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 2:9

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Excited to be with you guys this morning. We are going to be wrapping up our Great Commission series. If you have been with us the last few weeks, we have been able to share interviews with some of our missionaries who are associated with our church and are doing God's work around the globe. We have another one of those to share with you this morning. But I want to kind of just remind us of where we are and what we've been talking about. We've been talking about this thing called the Great Commission. It's something that is specifically given to us from Jesus—some of His last words that He gave us before He left earth and went back to heaven. He commanded us to go and make disciples. That's part of our vision and mission here as a church: to see our community saturated with the glory of God through making disciples in the everyday stuff of life.

Jesus was incredible at this. He had a core group of people, the disciples, that followed Him, but He had an even larger gathering that followed Him regularly. He would just do life with them. He would teach them His truth, teach them God's Word, and teach them who God was and His character as He went through life. Jesus would often be found just teaching, maybe alongside a field, and then even using the field as an illustration to teach. He just went through life with His people. So, we have a heart here at Spring Valley Church to do the same. But it says this in Matthew chapter 28: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

Pastor Lauren last week focused in on this scripture and said, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations." What's awesome about the word "go" is that, as you look at the original Greek writing, it actually meant "as you are going." So, as you are going to the grocery store, as you are going to your neighbors, as you are going to work, as you are at work, as you are going to school—wherever you are going—we are called to give and show Jesus to everybody. And it says there, "to all the nations." God is doing some incredible work around the globe. In these interviews, we have only seen a snippet of what is happening in the Lord's kingdom around the world. Our calling is to go. I'm going to talk about that a little bit after the video. But it also says in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, which Pastor Andre dug into a little bit in week one. If you know the region of where this was written during Jesus' time in Israel, these are larger, circling areas of influence. So Jesus says, not only here in Jerusalem, this city—so maybe not only in Rocklin and Roseville—but also in Judea or Placer County, and all the way to Samaria, California, Northern California, the West Coast, and then to the ends of the earth, the entire globe. This is our calling: to spread the word and love of Jesus everywhere that we go.

Maybe that means you're leaving the States. Maybe that means you have to go two doors down to that neighbor. Maybe it means caring for and loving on that family member who might have a little different view of life than you. Maybe it means that person in class with you that nobody talks to. Maybe it means that person who cut you off this morning on the way to church. But our calling is to go, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, to be witnesses in all of these places. So this morning, we're going to show another video. This is another one of those missionaries where we can't really share specifically where they are at. This is Cory and Jennifer. Cory actually grew up at the church that I did—the church that planted this church. So there's a connection there, and he and his wife have been where they are for quite a few years. But what's cool with them is their missions work is a little bit different. They're doing and supporting local pastors on the ground through caring for, teaching, and raising them up. So we're gonna hear a little bit more of those stories, but I'd love for us to turn to the screen.

Well, it's pretty amazing and humbling, right? To hear some of the ways and conditions that some of the missionaries are working in around the world. I mean, I'm still baffled. I've watched this video, I don't know how many times—obviously, I was in the conversation. But to hear, "We just need heat, not even plumbing," it's like, whew. You know, sometimes we come into church and the AC might not have kicked on early enough. But it's running. It's just a little warm in here, and we're like, "Oh man, I can't. Whew, hard Sunday." And it's just like, man, hard Sunday of sleeping on the floor, no plumbing, and just praying to stay warm. That's incredible.

Well, I'd love to share a couple of thoughts as we wrap up our series this morning and focus in on what Jesus might be calling us to do. I love what we've heard through all of these stories of missionaries. We've heard stories of the power of prayer. Cory was talking about the shaman who went and just did a prayer walk, and then the shaman was like, "What's your deal? When you show up, I can't—my stuff isn't working. There's something more powerful happening here. I want to know more." How incredible is that? We've heard stories of the power of people's lives and witness. This girl who gave up her job and went against family cultural norms and said, "No, I got a greater calling in life from Jesus to do something different." And she was beaten. She was abused—physical, verbal, emotional abuse. And yet she stayed faithful to that call. Because of that, her actions spoke louder than any words that she could have said to her family. Because of that, there are more people who are going to heaven for Jesus because of it.

So, where do we go from here? Well, first thought is we are all called to share. We're all called to share. Cory talked about this, and in his conversations he has with other faculty at the college and other students, I think sometimes we go, "Well, I don't know what to say." Well, sometimes it isn't knowing what to say; it's just showing up and letting them ask the questions. And going, "You know what? I might know that..." Cory and I talked offline that some of the conversations he has, he's had to go back and say, "You know, I don't know. Let me go do some research, let me study, but I want to come back and give you the answers." We freak out and think, "I don't have all the answers." It's okay to not have all the answers, but it's about continuing to show up in people's lives. We're all called to pray. This has been a theme all throughout these interviews, if you guys haven't noticed. And specifically, Darla last week, in her and her husband's ministry, she even said on the call, "Sometimes it's not the financial part that we need, it's the prayers. We need the prayers." And Cory was a witness to that—the power of prayer to go out to those villages. Sometimes you go, "Well, you know, I don't have the money to be able to give to these missions, but we can pray." We can take time every single day to pray over these workers who are on the front lines. And then we are all called to go. This might be uncomfortable for us. This might mean, for Darla, it started as short-term missions and then it turned to long-term missions. Sometimes it's just going to our neighbors. Sometimes it's going to our family. But mostly, honestly, it's to continue to be faithful where we are. Tomas talked about the story of the two ladies, about how she just started inviting people into her home to just have tea and to just talk about life. And when those spiritual conversations or questions came up, or the open door opportunity, she wasn't afraid to take those. Sometimes we think going means, "Well, I got to leave the United States." I don't know if you've noticed, but the world is a much smaller place than it used to be. And we live in a very diverse location here in California. Guys, the nations are here. The nations are among us. The nations are around us. We don't have to necessarily... I mean, Cory was talking about how he's doing work with people in California that are from his nation that are doing work here. Missionaries are coming to the States because the people have gathered here in these locations. There are people in your life that God has given you relationship with for the sole, number one purpose of sharing His love with them. We've thought about that. You guys have people in your life that I will never know. And sometimes we think, "Oh, well, the pastor's gonna be the one who's gonna lead them to Jesus." No, you're the one that's gonna lead them to Jesus. You're the one that's gonna show up in their life. You're the one that's gonna pray for them. You're the one that... Another translation says this: "But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests, a holy nation. God has brought you out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that He has done."

We are called to share. We are called to pray. And we are called to go. So how are you going to live intentionally as a missionary in your life where you live, learn, work, and play? We're all called to this. So how will we show that love to the world around us? Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for this morning. God, we are super grateful for people like Cory and Jen, God, who are on the front lines in a place where they really can't be open about you. But God, you've given them favor and opportunities, even within that country. God, to talk to friends, to talk to coworkers, to talk to students, to talk to those in their lives, God, that they have been specifically placed near to share that love. And so God, I pray that we would go intentionally, focused, thinking about, Jesus, who have you placed in my life that needs to know Jesus? And how do I need to start praying and showing up and showing them the love? God, we thank you for this calling. We pray for your kingdom work around the globe. We love you, Jesus. We thank you. Amen.

The Great Commission: Part 2

The Great Commission: Part 2 - How We Go

Matthew 28:18-20

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well, yes, we are on week two of our Great Commission series, "The Hope for the Whole World." We want all the world to know about Jesus. I have been loving, I guess we only have one week, but I've got a preview of today. So I've been loving watching these videos of the missionaries that we are in contact with, and I'm excited for you to hear today from another one. But it's really about not only hearing their stories, but then taking that and asking, how can we apply it to our own context? How can we live out the Great Commission? How can we go and make disciples, as Jesus calls us to, in our own context, in our own everyday lives?

Last week, we heard from Tomás in the Czech Republic and the stories that he shared of what his family is doing and what their ministry is doing. It was so encouraging to get to hear from him and what God is doing in their area of the kingdom. And today, we're going to go to South Asia, and we're going to hear from some missionaries and what God is doing through them, their family, and their ministry there. So I'm really looking forward to hearing that. But what I want us to do is, as we are hearing their stories, not only become more aware of the global impact that we can have, but also ask how we can apply this to our own lives. How can we live out the Great Commission in our own lives? So we're going to take a minute, well, a few, and we're going to watch the video, and then we'll come back and talk about more for us in our context.

I love hearing from these missionaries around the globe. And if you want, this week you'll get an email with all of their information. You should have gotten one about Tomás last week, but you'll get that email. So if you want to commit with us to signing up for their newsletter and to praying for them, you can check that box on your program and drop that in the back today. But it's just the last year to a year and a half I've really felt just more aware of the global church and how significant and kind of just cool it is that we are all worshiping the same God together. Czech Republic, South Asia, Europe, Australia. It can feel so far away geographically, but we are all so connected because we are all part of the same kingdom. We serve the same God. We worship the same God and celebrate Christian holidays like Easter, Christmas, and Pentecost. And so to just be reminded, to put names with faces and stories with real people, makes it more tangible and reminds us that we are the body and we all have a role to play.

It's all going to look different for each of us. For some of us, like your pastors, it's full-time vocational ministry. But for most believers, it looks different. It's serving in your local church or in your community at parachurch organizations. So maybe it's more of a local focus. Or maybe it's more regional. Maybe you are helping with educating pastors or those who are training up to be ministry leaders. Maybe you're working with something across the state or North America. You're serving in a regional capacity. Maybe you're going on short-term missions, just like she did, to get started—a week here, a couple weeks there. Or maybe it is, for some of you, a more long-term missions situation. Maybe it is a summer, or half a year, or full-time. But it's going to look different for all of us, whether it's locally, regionally, or globally.

Last week, Pastor Andre talked about our passage in Matthew, and this is really our theme verse for this series, which is what we call the Great Commission. It's Matthew 28:18 through 20. I'm going to read it for us. It says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

Two things I want to pull out of that passage today, real quick, in the time that we have left. Go and make disciples. We're going to go backwards though. We're going to start with the making disciples part, okay? We are all commanded to make disciples, every single one of us. If we are a follower of Jesus, if we have surrendered our life to him and made him the Lord of our life, we are all commanded to go and make disciples. How do I know this? Because in this passage, Jesus is talking to the 11 remaining disciples, right? He is speaking to the 11. So how do I know this is for all of us? Well, I know this because discipleship, making disciples, is not a one-time thing. Salvation is a one-time decision. You do it, you've done it. Discipleship is a process. It is an ongoing process. We call it sanctification. It is becoming more and more like Jesus. And so that was going to go beyond the disciples' lifetime. So the disciples went out and they started the church and they made disciples. And then those disciples made disciples. And then those disciples made disciples, all the way down through church history. So we too are part of this command. We too are called to make disciples.

I also know that this is true because it was not commanded to be done in the disciples' power. It says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me," Jesus. Jesus is saying that. The authority has been given to him. So this was not done in the power of the disciples. This was not done by their authority and power. It was done by the power of Jesus. And last I checked, we all have the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. So we too have that same power to go and to make disciples. So we are all commanded to go and make disciples.

Secondly, going back to that word "go," we are to make disciples as we are going. The Greek word here for "go" is to pursue the journey on which one has entered, to continue on one's journey. So as you are going, you have started this journey as a disciple of Jesus. So as you are becoming more like Jesus, as you are going in your life, being discipled, becoming more like him, you make disciples. You do it in the everyday stuff of life. This is a lot of what she was talking about. On the way to the market, to pay a bill, cooking food, eating around the dinner table, in their home. This is where we make disciples.

I know that we live in a very individualized culture. You have your house, I have mine. You have your family, I have mine. You do things your way, I have mine. But why can't it look different for believers? Shouldn't it? Shouldn't we be up in each other's business a little bit more? Shouldn't we maybe intrude just a little bit, or at the very least, invite them into our space? Invite them into our home. Live together. Because honestly, for some of us, if you went to some friends or some family or some coworkers and you invited them to church, it would be weird. It would be awkward. They'd be like, "You don't know my last name. Why are you inviting me to church?" So start with getting to know them. Invite them to coffee or grab lunch together when you're on your lunch break. Talk to them. Ask them about their family, their struggles, their hobbies outside of where you guys are together normally, what they love to do, who they are. And then eventually, hopefully that door can open that you can have spiritual conversations.

It is as you are going, as you live your life, as you become a disciple of Jesus. Because discipleship, it happens at church. It happens in kids ministry. It happens at youth group. It happens in the Bible studies and the more formal, traditional things that we have going on. But it also happens on trips to Costco, and coffee, and cooking dinner, and inviting people over to your home. And I would argue that that happens more naturally in those settings. Discipleship, you have so much influence when you're doing things shoulder to shoulder with people, when you are living life with them. So what if instead of putting a ton of pressure on ourselves to convince people to follow Jesus or to convert someone, we just do life with them? One really practical way that I would encourage you to take with you is to ask people a natural question you can ask is, "Do you have any sort of spiritual faith or practices?" People, especially in the West, I feel like are very open to just spirituality. Not everyone, but a lot of people are open to spiritual things. Whether it's the universe or some just general God, they're open to that. So it's not out of the blue or totally weird for you to ask them about what they believe. And then that can often open the door for you to share what you believe, what God is doing in your life, that you serve the one true God who loves you and wants a relationship with you.

You don't have to word vomit everything you know about the Bible or Jesus. We say we want to saturate the community. We don't mean drown them, okay? We're saturating the community because we are all going out at the same time, and we are all dripping Jesus as we go. That's how we saturate it. Not by dumping it all on one person. But as we are going, as we are living our life, as we are looking different than the world, because we are trying every day to look more and more like Jesus. That's how we saturate our communities. That's how we go and make disciples. We're going to go and we're going to have spiritual conversations. We're going to meet people with their tangible needs. And yes, we may even overtly ask someone if they want a relationship with Jesus Christ or if they want to come to church with us. That is good. But it's also doing life, meeting people where they are, having just general spiritual conversations that as you do that, as you are going, you can be making disciples. We don't have to overcomplicate it. Sometimes it literally is just having people in your home, cooking a meal together, opening up that door for conversation. But we are all commanded to make disciples, and we are gonna do that best as we are going.

Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for today. We thank you for the ministry they have. We pray over them again, Father, that you would just bless what they are doing, the work that you have them doing there. We thank you for this church building that is underway. God, we just pray favor over that, that it would just be a light in their community, that it would be used for your glory and for the furthering of your kingdom. God, I pray for our people here at Spring Valley. I pray that they would take this command seriously of going and making disciples, that is not just for pastors or ministry leaders or super Christians, but it is for them. God, help us to remember as we are going to make disciples, to be aware of the people around us. Open our eyes to see them. To not just keep our head down in our individualized culture, but to look up. Make us aware. Help us to be open and vulnerable. Open our eyes to see those that you want us to see. Give us boldness where we need boldness. Give us vulnerability where we need vulnerability. God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you that you are using us to build your kingdom. God, may your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Great Commission: Part 1

The Great Commission: Part 1 - Local Missions

Matthew 28:18-20 ; Acts 1:8

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are starting a new series today called The Great Commission, and we are excited about diving into missions. Pastor Chris gave a preview of this last week, but we are just going to dive into missions for three weeks. So let me go ahead and pray one more time. Sorry, I know we just prayed, but I need prayer right now, and then we'll start our sermon. Heavenly Father, again, thank you. Be with me right now. Give me the words to say. I just pray that this Sunday will continue to be an expression of worship to You in all ways: through the singing, through the hearing of Your Word, and also through the fellowship with each other. So we pray this in Your name. Amen.

One of the main tenets of church is to preach the gospel and to make disciples of Jesus. We have ours on the side: to see our community saturated with the glory of God through making disciples in the everyday stuff of life. And every church has some kind of mission or vision statement that pretty much says that. This comes from Jesus giving the explicit instruction to His disciples while He was with them. The disciples, the twelve, would be crucial in the early church and were tasked with continuing the work of Jesus, continuing to build His heavenly kingdom throughout all the earth. Matthew 28:18 says, 'Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' Make disciples of every nation. He's speaking this to a group of Jews, and He's reminding them to go beyond just their people group, their friends, the people that they know, that they grew up with. This is going to be for people beyond that group. And He says, baptize them, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Jesus is saying, bring them to a place where they're living in the will of God, walking in the way of God's wisdom, living a righteous life according to God's truth. And that instruction that Jesus gives His disciples is still true for us today. For every believer, every follower, everyone who considers themselves a disciple of Jesus, this Great Commission is for you.

If we flip over to Acts chapter 1, verse 8, we get Luke's retelling of Jesus' final moments. And what does He say? What does He prioritize telling the disciples? It's not about the hierarchy of the organization, which apostle is number one, number two, number three. It's not about the finances of the ministry. No, He says this: 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.' Dr. John Berry, a theologian, says the locations mentioned in this verse represent a geographical broadening in scope of the apostles' mission from Israel's capital to the land of Israel to the entire world. So Jesus reveals His plan, His hope, and His will for the church to spread the gospel, to spread the good news, starting with their immediate surroundings and working their way out. Today, to contextualize that, since we don't live in Jerusalem, we might say local to regional to international. Jesus' instructions for us today is to take His gospel to people in our area, in our region, and around the world.

Mission throughout the Bible is about God's will being fully realized in a specific location with a specific people. And in Scripture, God invited His people, the Israelites, to participate in that mission. Today, missions is about God's will being realized and lived out all around the world. And missions work is accepting God's gracious invitation to us to actively participate in that realization. So this morning, we're going to focus on the local aspect of this commissioning mandate and how it pertains to us here at Spring Valley Church. What is our local impact in our community, in our neighborhoods, in our cities? And our prayer is that our heart as a church would grow for fulfilling and carrying out the Great Commission, and to taking the gospel locally, regionally, and internationally.

And what I love about missions is that we as a church are all different, and some of us have a deep passion for different areas of missions. So some of us love local missions. We care about those in our neighborhoods and our cities, as Jesus would describe the widow and the orphan in our communities, and that is beautiful. And if that is you, if you have a heart for local missions, we need you at this church. Some of us have a heart for our region, maybe that's defined as California or Northern California, or maybe as broad as the West Coast, and we want people to know Jesus and we want people in that region to come to know and love God. And if that's you, then we need you at this church. Some of us have a heart for people around the world, and maybe that compassion comes from your own travels, seeing people around the world who are hurting, who are in despair, and seeing them live an unfulfilled life because they don't know God. Or maybe your heart for international missions comes from your own ethnicity and your family and your people who do not yet know God. And if that's you, that's so important, and we need you here at this church. We want people here at Spring Valley who have a heart for all of God's people all around the world, near and far.

And we formed this series to encourage a muscle in our church that hasn't been used in quite some time. As you know, COVID changed a lot of life, and it changed church life as well. This church, Spring Valley, has a rich history of missions, going on missions trips, supporting missionaries. And while a few of you are still familiar with some of those missionaries, we wanted to spend some time reconnecting with them, reestablishing our connection with missionaries around the world. In an ideal world, we would have flown them out. We would have had them right here in person, and they would be sharing their heart with you. We could not do that. And so we did the next best thing, which is each week, this week and the next two weeks, we're going to watch a video of the missionaries, interviewing them and finding out more about them and their heart for missions. So without further ado, let's turn our attention to the screens again.

Well, hey, Spring Valley Church, so excited. Pastor Chris here, and I would love to introduce you to who I would call a friend of mine, Tomas, who is doing some amazing work around the globe for Jesus and for the kingdom. And this is part of our mission series, and each week we're going to have an interview coming to you where we're going to kind of get you to get to know somebody who is doing real missions work around the world. And Tomas, you're going to be here. You're going to kick us off and welcome. Tell us maybe a little bit about you and the family, where you're serving at, and how long you've been there.

All right. Hey, guys. It's wonderful to be there. I wish I could be there in person. California was a place where I used to live, and that's my district. And I love people there and connecting with people. I am right now in the Czech Republic. My name is Tomas Moises, which actually means Moses in the Czech language. And I'm serving in the Czech Republic, actually the most atheist country in the world. And it is not easy. And we've been here for the last 15 years, I think, if I'm counting correctly.

That's awesome, man. Wow. That's some tough ministry, man, of working with. Oh, man. So kind of tell us a little bit, what are some things that are actively happening in your ministry, things that you're facing, maybe an area of physical, maybe spiritual, emotional, mental, like how are you connecting with people? How are you helping them? What's kind of going on with your work right now?

Wow. So I think I'd have to start in the beginning because for the last 15 years, the ministry has developed and changed. And I think we really have to be adaptable when we do ministry, where we go, being sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and just keep saying like, Lord, lead me. Lord, lead us. Lord, show us. Be in prayer and prayer in specifics and over people, knowing the people that you are reaching, connecting with the people you are reaching, because although they might be from the same nation, they are different people, just like Americans. And so when we came to Czech Republic, we started actually with the youth. I used to be a youth pastor in California, and I loved it. And I thought, I'm getting away from that. I'm starting to get gray a little bit. And the Lord said, no, you're going to be doing that. So we started with the youth because they are very open. A lot of them do speak English. So English was one of the tools we used to connect with people. We would go to local schools and have conversations in their English classes. And afterwards, we would invite them to English club, conversation club, and we would just talk with them, hang out with them. And it actually became a counseling session for some of them. So that was great.

From that, then from there, we started youth club. And basically, we would just meet with these students. They would come over, hang out, eat food, play video games, play games, do fun stuff, a lot like a youth group. And they don't have youth groups here, so they don't experience that. So we had a blast. And every single time we would talk about a topic like love, forgiveness, family, relationships, and we would always bring in the Bible, not really pressuring them because all of them were atheists, all of them. And we would have anywhere from 20 to up to maybe 70 people that would come and hang out with us. And it was great. We would talk about the Bible and the wisdom of God and what He says. And eventually they started catching on. They started regarding the Bible as an amazing source of wisdom. So you got these atheists that love the Bible. That was a great thing.

From there, God led us to start a Q&A club. Because for Czech people, really the discipleship and coming to Christ starts way ahead of the curve than maybe in the United States or other places because they don't believe there is God. They have no concept of God and history, whether it's the history of the church here in Europe or whether it's the Age of Enlightenment and communism, that really eradicated faith for most people. And so we're sort of coming back to it, sort of postmodern, post-church, post-communist country. And so we did this Q&A club where we used a lot of apologetics, you know, defending faith with science, defending faith with history, with philosophy and all these maybe ways of venues of really breaking down the barriers, because this is where the barriers are. Once you get through those barriers, Czech people are pretty open. So they're hard on the outside but very soft on the inside. So we did that for quite a while. We would have up to 30 students sitting in one room asking about God. They were all atheists, and we would talk for hours, and they loved it. And we did that for years. So over 10 years, we had about 700 students come through this ministry in a town of 14,000. So that's been pretty amazing.

So many of them accepted Christ, were baptized. Unfortunately, they like went into the world. So we only got to keep some of them. And actually, what's amazing about it, we planted a church and these high school students are now our elders in the church. So our elders are under 30 leading people in their 50s, 60s, you know, because we now have adult believers coming to Christ. And so the youngest people in our church are actually leading the church, and they're the most faithful ones. They're the ones that understand the word. They preach. We switch off in preaching. We switch off in teaching. They're the ones doing baptisms and stuff like that. So it's pretty amazing how God has moved these high school students to be the leaders of the church. And it's such a privilege. I feel so privileged to be part of something like that, you know, because I don't take it for granted, especially here in the most atheist country in the world.

That's crazy. Dude, that is so cool to hear the stories of the students you had that you brought them in and then you raised, God raised them up. You were there with them and now they're doing ministry. That's so cool. Amen. Is there a story or something of a recent ministry win or something you want to share with us that happened just really recently in your ministry?

Oh, there's so many wins and so many drawbacks that I could think of. And I don't want to say you win some, you lose some, but the reality is that you want to see people saved and you want to see people grow in Christ. It never happens as we want it to. It always happens as God allows it and leads people to. Prayer is so powerful. It's unimaginably powerful. I think underestimating prayer is the weakest thing we can do. So really, we need to focus on prayer. Amazing thing. We, for example, just recently, well, probably about a year ago, and this is something that I would want to encourage you maybe in doing. So we pray. We say, God, bring somebody today that needs you. Show us. Whenever we remember, whenever we can, we pray that prayer. And one time, my wife and I do Wednesday morning dates. We try to have a date once a week. If it works out with kids, it doesn't always work out. But we were in a coffee shop, and we were talking to each other. And I overheard these two ladies talking, and they used the word God, which nobody ever uses in their conversation in Czech Republic. Wow, okay. So I had to plug my computer in and the outlet was right next to them. Perfect, perfect excuse. I'm like, hey, I'm sorry, guys. Can I just plug my computer here? They said, fine. And I said, I wasn't trying to listen into your conversation, but I heard the word God. And they said, oh, yes. Do you believe? And come to find out, there were two very esoteric women, very open to the spiritual, but definitely not Jesus, definitely not God even naming him. And so we started talking and eventually one thing led to another and we ended up having a discovery Bible study at one of the ladies house. And she, she is a person that sort of helps people with traumas.

And so she invited all these people to her house to have this Bible study. And so we sat there in the most atheist country in the world, reading the Bible with these esoteric people. And they loved it so much. They said, when can we meet next. And this lady became what we know from the Bible as a person of peace. She's the person that opens the doors, that serves as the connection to her community. And it's been incredible because she has been growing by leaps and bounds and she has been leaving so many things behind. She still has some ways to go, but she says, I love Jesus. And I know this might be strange to some people, but when I came to her house, she's got this Buddha and she's got this, I don't know, like mandalas, and she's got all this stuff in her house. So we're doing a Bible study there. And, you know, after a couple of times, I came over, and she's got the big statue of Rio de Janeiro Jesus standing over all these idols. And she says, I bought Jesus the biggest because he's the best. That's awesome. So we're working out the kinks, you know, and she's still not completely there. But it was amazing. And she actually bought herself a ring. She said, I am married to Jesus now. I don't want anybody else. I don't want any other thing, any other person that is going to be more important. And she reads the Bible all the time, every day. So cool. She invites people to read with her even when I'm not there. So that has been, and this is just a recent thing. So unfortunately, that friend we met her with just separated from her and said, I'm basically just cut off the relationship because she's being grown in Christ. And the other friend cannot handle this new person she's becoming. So that's just one. There are so many stories like that. But that's just one of the stories that we experienced recently.

Oh, that's amazing, dude. I love to hear that. That is so cool. That is so awesome. Hallelujah. Well, I got a question I kind of want to ask everybody we interview. And that is if somebody in our church either wanted to look into what it means more to be a missionary, maybe God is calling them to the mission field or to a specific group of people. But then also, too, part of what we want our people to understand in the series is that God has calling all of us to be missionaries where we live, where we learn, where we work, where we play. And so what would be an encouragement for our people, for them to be a missionary where they are right now, where God has them where they are?

Absolutely. I think it is so important and sometimes underrated the fact that people need to be missionaries where they are. You know, in the early church, that was the case. I mean, we hear of Paul going out, but the fact was that he was one of the not so many people that were going out necessarily. More people were staying where they were and reaching out to their neighbors. And that's how the church really grew the most, according to my opinion, as I read the Bible. And so the mission field doesn't need to be complicated and complex. It's like it's all about just praying, God, bring me somebody or bring me to somebody. And it doesn't, another thing I would say, it doesn't necessarily mean that they will come to church. You know, they might not want to come to church. You will have to go to them and spend time with them over coffee or helping them out with stuff in life, listening to them. You know, I'm praying for them all along and it might take some time. It's a thing of patience and it's a thing of mercy and love. And that's how God works.

But I would definitely encourage you to do that first because I think sometimes we love the sense of adventure. We want to go out and we want to do all this ministry and go somewhere different than where we grew up and we want to reach people there. But the fact is that if we're not doing it at home, it's probably not going to be a good experience for us and for anybody else if we go out with that attitude. I've seen too many people go into a mission field and turn it into this glorified vacation where they come in and then eventually they just kind of burn out or they don't feel successful. So they just kind of sit it out or live it out in some form or fashion. But really the preparation starts at home. And I definitely don't want to discourage you from going to the mission field. It's an amazing thing. If you are called, you better answer that call because you're not going to be comfortable or happy anywhere else but where God is calling you. But that call might be to your neighbor. So it's really important not to get overtaken by emotions or by these ideas of grandeur, how we're going to go out and save the world somewhere else. The grind really starts at home, where you are reaching out to people around you, taking that time, and that will prepare you and shape you to be the person that God is calling into a different country, different place, different culture.

That's awesome, man. Well, thank you so much for the time today. I'd love to pray over you as we go. But what's something specific that our church can be praying about for you? And how can they get to know more about your ministry? What's going on and how can they support you?

I think right now, the biggest thing is we have a church with a lot of young families because all these young people that are now our leaders and elders, they got married and we have so many little kids. I mean, our church is just booming with little kids. And we really don't have the physical capacity within our church to meet there anymore. So we are praying for a place. We're looking for a place, but there's nothing coming up. It's really hard to find a place even to rent or to buy or anything like that. So we would say pray. Pray for us that God brings that, that God opens those doors and pray that God opens doors to people around us. You know, I think we've been we've proven to the people in our community that we are serious about being here. We are serious about, you know, shining the light of Christ and and helping them out in any way and in a form of fashion. And so pray that God would also open up the hearts of the people here and that he would send his workers because the harvest is ready. But we need workers here. We need people, especially working with these young people. As you see, I'm getting gray. I'm not as relevant as I used to be with them. So if you know a young person who wants to serve overseas and has been faithful in serving Jesus where they're at, we would love to talk with them, connect with them. Obviously, pray for us. If you want to support us, we were on the GP site, too. We'll give you more information about that. But like I said, you cannot underestimate prayer. And that is really, really, really, really important, especially in a place like this, where it's dry, where it's hard, and where we feel so alone sometimes.

I'd love to pray for you right now. Thank you. Heavenly Father, God, we just thank you for my brother Tomas. God, just his heart that he has for the place of the people that you've placed him at. God, to hear these incredible stories, God, of what you're doing with so many young people and young families in a small town. God, just how incredibly amazing that is, Jesus. You are moving in such powerful ways. And so, God, I pray that you would just continue to create opportunities for coffee shop conversations, for conversations to happen in the grocery store or with friends. I pray, God, for the people in the church, God, that they would just continue to have a boldness to speak the name of Jesus in such a place that is so pushed away from God and any thought of there being a creator and a savior out there for them, Jesus. And so, God, I pray that you would just continue to break down doors and break down barriers, God, that people would have an open heart to hear about you and to hear about the truth of the Bible and the gospel and just that they have a Savior who deeply loves them more than they could ever dream or imagine. And so, God, I pray, too, for opportunities with a facility, Jesus, that they would find a place to call home that would be able to have the capacity for these families and the little ones and the kids, God, that are continuing to come to you and finding you for the very first time.

And so, God, I pray for a blessing over their family. God, you would protect them, protect their marriage. God, keep them safe as they're out every single day, just saying, God, what do you have for me today? And that they would just stay attuned to the Holy Spirit every single step of the way with whatever they do. God, direct his path, direct his words. Jesus, continue to allow them to be a light in a dark place. Jesus says they go out and they sow seeds. God, may they be encouraged, Jesus, even today that you are moving it. And it may be something where they're not seeing any seeds take root, Jesus, but sometimes we don't see what's happening under the ground, God, even before it springs up. Jesus, just encourage them today. Jesus, bring the people that they need to continue the ministry, to continue to reach more and more people for you. Jesus, we thank you for their faithfulness. God, to shepherd these people. God, continue to just bless them with strength and endurance. God, to just bring them encouragement. I pray even this day, Jesus, we thank you for your calling on our lives. And we thank you for the truth and the reminder that you're with us every single step of the way. We don't have to do this alone. And so, Jesus, we thank you for that. God, give us the strength we need to face today. We love you, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Cool. And we pray that the Lord blesses Spring Valley. And we have a longstanding relationship. It's been a while, but we just pray that the Lord blesses you guys in every way and that he uses you where you guys are at. Cool. Thank you. Appreciate the time today. Thanks. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for the prayer and thanks for the time as well.

I really appreciate those words from Tomas, his insight about local mission. If you want to watch that again, we're going to send every Monday of this series, you're going to get a recap email with the video and also links on how to support them. So it'll include, if you want to sign up for their monthly newsletter, they will give out updates. They send those out. And then we'll also have information about if you would like to partner with him and give to him being there. I just heard from him this morning via email, and he's saying that they could use prayers. Their monthly donations have dropped significantly in the last six months. And so they are really praying that people would come and support them. So if God has impressed that upon your heart, we will give you all that information come tomorrow. So I just want to close with this. We should all have a heart to reach people for Jesus. I love that he said it. It doesn't necessarily mean bringing them to church. It may just mean having them over, having a conversation with them, inviting them out to coffee. And it can be a slow work. I think sometimes we do have visions of grandeur, say, I'm going to reach this person, and within a week, they're going to be a Christian, and their lives are changed. And God can do that. That is possible, but it also may be years in the making. He's been there for 15 years, chipping away, grinding away, presenting the gospel over and over. And so that's the encouragement for us. It takes intentionality. It means that we're going to be open to conversation and interactions with people around us that maybe God brought into our lives for a reason. It means taking a prayerful approach, praying like he does with his wife every day, hey, God, bring someone along. Use me today. Bring someone along that I can share an encouragement, your truth, your love to. And local missions means being open and willing to interact with people that maybe you wouldn't normally interact with. Now, whether that's volunteering at a local organization, Loaves and Fishes, a local food bank, a halfway house, all those are great options, but it may simply mean talking to a neighbor, like he said. It may just mean having a conversation with someone.

I don't want to spell it out too much for you of what local missions looks like for you, because I think I want to encourage all of you to have a conversation with God and say, God, what is it that you want me to do? How do you want me to be involved with what you're doing in my local area? Is there someone that I need to have a conversation with? Is it my neighbors? Is it my coworkers at work? Maybe it's the parents at school drop-off. Who needs to hear your truth, and who can I begin a relationship with? I will say, too, from a church standpoint, coming off these last amazing couple days of Camp Awesome, as a church, we're praying that Camp Awesome will be an annual local mission for us. That we would be, this year we did not really spread the word. It was just our church with a couple other people. But in the years to come, we want to let people know. We want to invite everyone from the community to join Camp Awesome. And so that could be an extension of local missions for us here. But we're taking it one step at a time, prayerfully, to help God's will be realized in our context and in our community and partnering with him to share the good news of salvation that only comes through Christ, that more might belong to the kingdom of God. I want to read these verses for you one more time. Acts 1:8, and this is for you. It says, but you, all of you here in this room, will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, or Rocklin, Roseville, California, America, and the world, and to all the ends of the earth. I want to read Matthew to you again. And Jesus came to you, and he says, And all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to all of you here at Spring Valley Church. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded all of you. And surely Jesus is with you until the very end of the age. Amen?

Let's pray. God, again, thank you for our time this morning. Thank you for all that you're doing through your spirit, the work that you are doing in the lives of kids, in the lives of us, and God, in the lives of those who are not yet in this room, who are not yet believers. But God, we know that you are working in their hearts, and God, we want to partner with you and the work that you are doing. And so, God, I pray that through your spirit, you would prompt us that we would be attuned to your spirit, that we would be ready to have conversations, even if they have nothing to do with church and faith yet, but we just start to build relationships with people, letting them know that we're there for them, that we love them, that they're cared for. And God, when the timing is just right, that we would mention you. And God, that you would be a part of our conversation with everyone around us. So God, give us what we need. Give us strength. Give us the words. Give us wisdom. And God, I pray that through Spring Valley Church and all of us here, that your kingdom would grow. We pray this in your name. Amen.