February 18, 2024 • 77 mins
Get ready for an uplifting message! Tara Eruteya and Nolly Mercado share their powerful mission stories and the incredible impact of faith in action. From local outreach to global missions in Africa, their experiences will inspire you to embrace your own calling.
Often seen as a path for the young and fearless, international missions can be a calling for all ages. Join us as we explore stories that reveal the essence of uchurch's mission work, from our local community to the far reaches of the earth. Tara and Nolly recount personal anecdotes, highlighting the impact of serving with open hearts and minds, especially within the vibrant cultures of Africa.
Our conversation pulses with the spiritual dimensions of mission work in Sierra Leone, where efforts to reduce maternal and infant mortality have brought broader healing. Tara shares how embracing vulnerability has led to profound impacts and the fulfillment of her divine calling. These stories show the joy and success that come from surrendering to God's mission.
As we close, our time together brims with extraordinary tales of faith in action—from miraculous encounters in Israel to new missions on the horizon. Celebrate the spiritual transitions within our church and the importance of stepping out in faith. Be inspired by the enduring impact of showing up, ready for whatever God has planned.
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Episode Transcript
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Tara Eruteya (00:00):
Okay, for those of you who don't know, uchurch has
a DNA of missions, a verystrong DNA of missions, both
locally and internationally, andthis is something that has been
in the seedbed of our churchfor a long, long time.
And for some of you who havebeen around for a long time to
(00:22):
be able to see the beginnings ofthat, where, as primarily, most
of us were students or quiteyoung and we would just put up
our hand and say, yeah, I'mgoing to go on a mission trip,
and you know, different missiontrips were organized to lots of
different countries, includingSierra Leone was oneago trade
(00:45):
out and Tobago.
Peru was another one.
Jody was super active in SouthAmerica, you know, with Peru and
there was a few others.
South Africa was another placethat we went to.
I think a few of you here wentto South Africa.
Thailand was another place.
We had a lot of work going onin Thailand with some orphanages
(01:07):
that we partnered with, andmany of you here have gone on
missions and I, if you know me,you know I will sometimes come
up to you and say, hey, wouldyou like to come with me and go
to Sierra Leone?
And when you're young I have tosay this sometimes, when you're
young, it's easy and it'sdifficult to go.
(01:30):
It's easy in the sense that youhave nothing to lose and so you
don't have anything to screw up, a reputation to screw up,
you're not as afraid of flying,you're not afraid of being, you
know, stuck on a plane, jet lag,all those things that old
people are afraid of Sorry, oldpeople and so you jump on the
plane and go.
Mostly the only hindrance whenyou're really young is well, I'm
(01:53):
really scared of how I'm goingto raise the money, however way
you want to raise the money togo, and so we've taken lots of
young people.
When you get older, it becomesa little bit difficult because
we just get a little set in therhythm of how we do things and
how we imagine God is going touse us or in the way that he is,
(02:15):
and the philosophy aroundmissions gets a little bit more
complicated.
I don't know why it does, itjust does, and the arguments as
to why not to go also gets morecomplicated.
But I want to encourage you knowthere's a few people here who
have, you know, older, andremember Rob and Donna.
You guys went to Thailand and Iwant to applaud.
(02:36):
Even Brant and Jen have been onmissions several times and I
want to encourage every singleone of you.
If you haven't been yet on amission trip, I would encourage
you to go locally,internationally yes, siobhan,
let's go.
And, like I see this look onpeople's faces all the time who
shake their heads and they go.
(02:56):
No, no, no, this is not for me,and they want to argue with you
and tell you that it's not yourcalling.
You know, because you have tobe called, which is not true,
because you know the Bible sayshe has called us into Jerusalem,
judea and Samaria and theoutermost ends of the world.
(03:20):
So we're all called.
We're all called and you know.
The interesting thing aboutmissions, too, is I've seen this
time and time again because,again, I came from a background,
um, you know, at university,where we had all this
philosophical discussions aboutcharity, non-profit, how they do
much more damage than good, andyou know all these things and
(03:41):
sometimes that's true, um, andso you know we came up with this
thing Sometimes it's better tosend the money than to go,
because you do so much damagewhen you go, and I've seen both
sides of the equation, and whatI would like to offer you is.
This is that I want you to goto receive.
Don't try to go to try and give.
(04:03):
I want you to go to receive,and we need to start to change
the narrative about missions,because it is actually a lot of
pride on our parts that we thinkthat we can go to another
country to go and give a lot oftimes, when sometimes all it is
is God wants you to go and toreceive, and so we get wrapped
up in not going because we don'tfeel like you have anything to
(04:26):
give.
Of course you don't.
Of course you don't.
No, it's true, of course youdon't.
Like I was just with my staff,you know, in Sierra Leone, and
we hire these interns, theseuniversity interns, and they run
a program.
I wish Ellen was here today.
She's not, because it was heridea.
This particular program was heridea, and we run a program
(04:49):
called GAM and we're about tostart another one called BAM.
So GAM is Girls AdvocacyMovement and we're about to
start one called the BoysAdvocacy Movement and the
interns teach it, because theyteach it to kids in school who
are between the ages of about 11and 18, and these interns are
mostly in their early 20s, sothey're going to university and
it's, you know, sort of an extrajob for them and they do such
(05:11):
an amazing job in teaching andthese kids remember them, they
seek after them, they see themon the street.
I've seen this myself andthey're like Auntie, so-and-so,
when are we having our nextsession?
Because we kind of had anunforeseen break in the sessions
and so the kids were excited tosee it.
If I stood up in front of thosekids and taught the same thing,
(05:32):
it wouldn't have anywhere nearthe same impact.
So of course, when you go youmay not feel like you're useful,
but it's not the whole point.
Sometimes the point is to go toreceive, and for me personally
I really want to change thatnarrative.
But it's not the whole point.
Sometimes the point is to go toreceive, and for me personally
I really want to change thatnarrative, especially for the
(05:53):
continent of Africa, for all thecountries on there, because for
Africa it is a continent thathas been colonized and has
always been taken from.
People only go there to go take.
The roads are made to takemines and minerals out of the
country, not to connect villages, and people go there because
they want to go give, but very,very, very few people go to
(06:14):
receive.
It's a very different narrative.
When you go to receive, you'rein a place of rest, you're not
trying to prove anything.
You don't need to justify the$5,000 it cost you to get there
because you're trying to layhands on the sick and make sure
you have something to tellpeople back home.
You're just going to go andreceive and that's okay.
(06:36):
It's okay because there aresome countries, I believe in
this last days, in these endtimes, that are going to be the
givers for the world, but theyhave so much to give that and we
have a lot to receive that wehave not even understood yet
what we have to receive.
Does that make sense?
(06:56):
And so I really want toencourage you.
There are going to be someopportunities coming up in the
next couple years, and I plantthe seeds now for you to start
thinking about it, for you tostart saving, for you to start
removing every excuse in thebook of the reason why you
cannot go.
I don't care if you have IBS,you're gluten intolerant, I
(07:18):
don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care if you don't likefish.
Like Christine, she's come, shehates fish, and they serve fish
almost every day, and if youtell them I don't like fish,
they'll serve you chicken andthey put fish on the side.
So you know, I don't care whatthe situation is.
(07:41):
I want you to start thinkingabout going and to start
thinking about saying yes to theopportunities that will come
your way, because it's going tochange your life and I would
like for you to try it at leastonce in your lifetime.
The other thing I want you tothink about is there are a bunch
of young people and I'm lookingat you Allegra and Aiden and
(08:03):
Stella's not here today andthese guys, I'm looking at you,
guys, I'm talking to you as well, because guess what?
The heritage of missions thatwe have in this church is what
you are going to inherit.
I realized when I was in SierraLeone this time around I'm going
to age myself, but honestly,for the first time and please
(08:26):
don't judge me, I know I'm alittle bit prissy, but for the
first time ever going to SierraLeone, I sat on the plane and I
said to God, and I was almost intears and I said, god, please
give me money so I can buy abusiness class ticket when I go,
because it was just like thejourney was just, it's the one
(08:47):
place in the world that I'm justlike oh my god, it is
uncomfortable and it's long, andI've never felt that before and
I thought, oh no, oh no, I'mgetting old, but I want to.
That's how long I've been doingthis.
Before it never bothered me atall, but this one time I was
like I just am tired.
It would be so nice to just beable to lay flat and sleep on
(09:11):
the plane.
I offer this to you becausethis is the heritage that we
have been building, and we werenot building it for you, we were
not building it for ourselves.
It is for the next generation.
When Jodi went to Sierra Leone,carl, you were part of that for
Peru and there's other peoplewho are not here today, but they
were part of the process ofbuilding not a theology but an
(09:41):
ethos of how we do missions, whywe do missions, what it's all
about and building these things.
It was so that the peoplecoming after have this platform
that they can start from.
And I recognize that and, inall humility, that part of what
I do is not just for me, it'sfor the generation after me.
So that was my introduction.
That was my introduction, butit was.
(10:05):
Basically, if we come up andsay, think about coming on a
mission trip, don't make anyexcuses, I'll, I'll.
And I'll end the intro withthis.
Honestly, I say this with everytruth.
There has not been one time, onetime that I have gone to Sierra
Leone and I've gone countlessof times.
I've lost count it.
It's probably maybe 25, 30times by now, easily, probably
(10:29):
more.
There has not been one timethat I have gone that it has
been convenient for me.
Don't wait until it'sconvenient.
It's never going to come.
I run a non-profit, this is myjob.
It was not convenient, you know, and there's always something.
This time it was like oh mygosh, child care, how are we
going to figure that out?
And there were so many things.
(10:49):
It's never convenient, itdoesn't always line up and it's
always God's will.
That's the interesting thing.
It's always God's will and youknow we can go into all the why
you don't go, and you knowdanger and all that, but you
could get killed on the deerfoot.
There are other ways to getkilled.
You'll be fine, you will befine.
(11:11):
And if you can't eat the food,you could probably do with
losing a few pounds anyway.
So it's okay, just kidding.
And if you get to go with Brand, you might see him in his
underwear True story, true story.
(11:33):
He just has no shame at all.
(11:57):
So for those of you who don'tknow what I do in Sierra Leone,
I won't go into too much detailabout what we do.
But essentially, god gave usthe mandate of reducing the
rates of maternal and infantmortality in the country, and so
women and children die quite alot in the country, and women
die giving birth and the highestrate of maternal mortality in
the world and also the highestrate of infant mortality in the
country.
And women die giving birth andthe highest rate of maternal
mortality in the world and alsothe highest rate of infant
mortality in the world.
And this was not a an idea thatI came up with.
This was something, this seedthat god planted in my heart by
(12:18):
sharing a vision, uh, to me afew years ago, the one time he
told me not to go in that year Ispent the whole summer just
listening to him, listening tohim, and he told me the vision
of what he was wanting to do inthe nation.
And if you, in the Bible, thereare two women who died giving
birth, does anyone know whothose two women were?
(12:38):
Yeah, rachel, and there's onlytwo women ever recorded dying
giving birth in the Bible.
That's right.
That's right, so, rachel.
And then we don't know theother lady's name, but she named
her son, ichabod.
The glory of the Lord hasdeparted from Israel.
(13:00):
If you look at both two storiesand I won't go again because
it's quite long to dig into, butRachel, when you look at it,
she actually stole a whole bunchof idols from her father, from
Laban, because they were runningaway from Laban.
So she stole some idols fromher father and her father came
after Jacob, thinking herhusband had stolen it.
He said what did you do?
(13:20):
You stole all these things fromme?
And her husband said, no, I didnot.
And of course he didn't knowthat his beloved Rachel, that he
had worked 14 years for, hadstolen these things.
So he uttered a curse and hesaid may he who stole them die.
And then the next chapter,rachel dies giving birth.
Now, I'd always read that storyand thought that she died, you
(13:41):
know, because of the fertilityissues.
But no, she died because shewas under a curse.
And then the same thing withIchabod's mom, so that was the
daughter-in-law of Eli.
God shows up to Eli and saysI'm not happy with the things
that you're doing, I'm not happywith the things that your sons
are doing and I'm going to bringa judgment against you.
And this will be the sign thatI've brought the judgment
(14:02):
Everyone in your family will dieon the same day.
And if you go back and readthat story, it's really
interesting.
Because Israel goes into battle, the two sons die.
A messenger comes, runs up toEli he was sitting he was
currently overweight and sittingin the front balcony of his
house and they said your twosons are dead.
And because of the shock, hefalls over and he breaks his
(14:23):
neck and dies.
And then the news reaches thedaughter-in-law, who was
pregnant.
It was not her time to givebirth.
She goes into premature laborand she dies giving birth.
She dies as a result not ofchildbirth, but of the judgment
on her.
This was the message that Godgave me when I started Freedom
Tree many years ago that whenyou see this happening, it is
(14:46):
not a natural thing.
It is because there's somethingelse going on behind the scenes
.
The other side of the coin isthis 20% of the children in
Sierra Leone would not reachtheir fifth birthday.
Where in the Bible have youseen?
I always refer to the Bible foreverything, because everything
(15:06):
is actually in there.
There's so much context in it.
Where in the Bible have youseen children dying en masse?
Egypt, where else?
Bethlehem?
Why, sorry, they were goinginto, yeah, but why,
particularly in Egypt, did allthose?
Yeah, yeah, because Moses wasgoing to be born, and so Pharaoh
(15:36):
knew that.
Pharaoh, yeah, knew that, andso he was trying to prevent a
special child from being born.
And then, when Jesus was born,there was an order that actually
went out to kill all thechildren under the age of two.
Sierra Leone is not losingchildren because it's a poor
country.
Sierra Leone is losing childrenbecause there are special
children about to be born inthat land that the enemy is
(15:58):
trying to prevent from beingborn, and part of the mission
that God has given to me, thatI'm honored to participate in,
is to participate in this.
I hope that before I die, Iwill see those children with my
own eyes who are going to makesuch an impact in our world and,
because of what we have done.
We see them live.
It's just as simple as that.
(16:22):
So that was what took me thereto the country, and that's what
I've been going over and overagain.
Now I got this mission and thisis where I want to land.
I got this mission many yearsago when God laid this on my
heart and I was single no kidsand I thought honestly, like it
took me about a probably aboutnine months before I said
(16:44):
anything about it to anybodyelse and I really wrestled with
it Because he could have givenme so many other types of
missions, so why this one?
And I said to God I remembersaying to him one time you could
have given me agriculture,business, education, like
(17:10):
there's a lot of other things,but this one was particularly a
vulnerable area for me becausemy greatest desire at the time.
I remember exactly when I gotthat vision.
It was during the week of theroyal wedding in 2011, when Kate
Middleton got married, and I'ma romantic and I was stuck to
the screen watching it and Godwas speaking to me in one ear
and I'm watching this and I'mlike, oh my God, no, because my
(17:34):
greatest desire was to bemarried and have my own children
and I felt it was a little bitof a laughing matter that he
would send me unmarried singleto go and try and see how
children don't die and how womendon't die, giving birth.
And year after year after year,in between baby showers, in
(17:59):
between bridal showers and I'mgetting really vulnerable with
you guys here in between it's myfriends who said no, because
they were pregnant or about toget pregnant or trying to get
pregnant or whatever.
I would go to Sierra Leone andwork and serve in this area, and
as much as I was serving someof you don't know this, but as
(18:21):
much as I was doing this, it wasalso an area of pain and I
couldn't understand it.
So this last week, when I wasthere, I was absolutely stunned.
My staff had told me some ofthese things that were happening
(18:41):
in the villages, so one of thethings that we do, and none of
them.
Again, then she's not even here, carolyn, she's not here.
If you see her, give her a bigpat on the back because she gave
up, along with Jessica Andresand Josiah Sininen, who some of
you may know, may not know them,but Carolyn, who is a
sister-in-law to Jake down there.
(19:03):
For those of you who may notknow, her is a labor and
delivery nurse and she gave upthree months of her life in 2016
to help write a curriculum aprenatal curriculum, in Sierra
Leone, and this curriculum wedecided we would teach in
villages and it encompasses thespiritual, physical and
emotional sides of pregnancy andbirth, believing that if you
(19:28):
impart God's heart and visiontowards pregnancy and birth and
people begin to grab that visionand walk in it, that part of
that would also reduce maternaland infant mortality.
It was a hunch.
I've never seen this done.
It was just a hunch and I saidlet's do it, let's try it.
It is probably one of our mostsuccessful things ever.
(19:50):
We go into villages and it's 10weeks, so for 10 weeks, it
looks like people, after beingin the farm all day, they'll
come, they'll gather under atree.
Somebody who has been trainedwill teach the curriculum for
about a couple hours.
They'll discuss it on differenttopics each week, and my
staffer told me one of the sideeffects of this that I didn't
(20:12):
anticipate happening, butfamilies were being healed in
the process and as I stood, Iremember, in this village I
stood and I just sat andlistened because they came up
after another, after another,and they would just share
testimonials of what thecurriculum had done for them.
And it's called a curriculumthat's the best name we could,
(20:32):
you know, get for it and wedecided to teach the curriculum
to both men and women.
So it wasn't just asegregational thing and you guys
like, marriages were, marriageswere whole marriages were being
changed and I have like videotestimonials of it.
(20:52):
I was stunned.
I had an out-of-body experiencebecause I couldn't understand.
I was like God, why, like, howdo you do this through me?
If you'll know my story, you'llknow why this is so much
vulnerable for me.
You know, and time after timeand time again, people would say
(21:16):
our marriage is transformed,our family is transformed, and
the people who were teaching thecurriculum even would say I
didn't know this was how I wassupposed to relate to my wife or
to my husband.
I didn't know this was my roleas a father and they were
(21:41):
grabbing the vision of God forfamily through Freedom Tree.
It was my single, most poignantmoment that just stuck in my
mind.
I have the image of this.
You know so many couplessmiling and happy and sharing
that.
And why do I share this withyou?
Because it's a very vulnerablething for me.
(22:02):
It's because sometimes, a lotof times, when God calls you to
do something, he knows why he'scalling you to it.
Some of you are not able towalk in the place of your
destiny because you haven't beenable to actually say yes to him
in the fullness of everythingthat he's called you to.
(22:24):
Because if you did, a lot of,you would find that it could be
in the place of your greatestvulnerability.
And that's actually what Iwanted to share for you not to
shy away from the things thatGod has put on your heart
because it's painful to go thereor it's uncomfortable, or you
(22:49):
feel like you're not qualifiedfor it, because it's not you
that's doing it, it's him.
And so you know I standtrusting him for the greatest
desire of my heart.
That still remains the same,and I'm like you're changing
people's lives through this.
(23:10):
What about me?
And I've walked with him longenough.
I wasn't angry this time, Ijust sat with the question and I
wanted to share that with you.
(23:34):
There's a story in Genesisthat's really interesting those
of you who know Abrahameverybody here knows Abraham
because we kind of are sometimesChristian and you know that
Abraham, what did he need themost?
A child.
How long did he wait?
(23:55):
How old was he when he had the?
Yeah, sarah was 90.
Abraham was 100.
As I was pondering over whatGod did, I found this little
scripture Do you remember whenAbraham went and he was with
Abimelech, there was a kingcalled Abimelech, and if you
show the second one at thebeginning of the chapter, in
chapter 20.
So Genesis, chapter 20.
(24:17):
And he went to a.
I'm just going to read it.
Abraham moved south to the Negevand lived for a while between
Kadesh and Shur.
While he was living there, heintroduced his wife, sarah,
saying she is my sister.
So he lied, essentially, andthe king brought her into the
palace.
And that night God came toAbimelech and said you are a
(24:38):
dead man, for that woman thatyou have taken is already
married.
Woman that you have taken isalready married.
So then, after that, abimelechgoes and he apologizes, brings
like gifts to Abraham.
I'm so sorry.
Why didn't you tell me I'm notgoing to?
You know like, please stop thiscurse on us?
And you know what had happenedIf you read the last part, so go
(25:01):
to the next verse.
So Abraham prayed for himbecause God had cursed him.
Abraham prayed to God and Godhealed Abimelech, his wife and
his female servants so theycould have children, for the
Lord had caused all the women tobe infertile because of what
happened with Abraham's wife.
(25:21):
It's a really interestingscripture to me.
We don't know how long she wasin the palace for, but it was
long enough for them to noticethat they weren't having kids
anymore.
But what strikes me is thatAbraham wanted to have kids.
He prayed to God for years.
(25:44):
He prayed to God for years andin an instant, god used his
prayer to remove barrenness fromsomebody else's life.
I'm wondering how he felt inthat moment, where, in that
moment, god used the thing thathe was needing, he was wanting,
and he prayed for it for someoneelse.
Because I was looking I'malways looking for precedent for
(26:08):
sometimes, the things that I'mexperiencing in scripture to
help give it context, so I don'tcome up with a theology that
sounds good but is notscriptural, and so what I wanted
to share with you today is onmission, on your mission,
whatever it is that God hasgiven to you.
Quite oftentimes it may be, willbe the area of a great
(26:31):
vulnerability to you.
For some of you in this room,god has called you to be kingdom
financiers and you don't evenknow how you're going to make
your next mortgage payment.
But yet you know he's calledyou to be a kingdom financier.
For some of you, he's calledyou to speak into families or
(26:52):
help families, and you don'tthink that your family looks
anything to write home about.
For some of you, he's calledyou to maybe lead prayer and you
haven't picked up your Bible ina year.
I'm just being honest, and youdon't know how to do that.
(27:12):
Or you don't want to do that,or you don't have the desire.
But I want to encourage you tolean in into whatever it is.
My story is not finished.
It's still being written, and sothat's why I stand before you
quite vulnerable, because Idon't want to be like serve God
and therefore no.
Maybe I needed this more thananything, because you also get
(27:38):
authority in the spirit bychanging things, because if you
have a situation on your hand,you can get victory in your own
life, but you really don't havevictory until you've actually
helped somebody else overcomethe same thing.
So I want to encourage you allon the mission that you're on
(27:58):
the journey, that you might feeldisqualified.
Don't shy away from those areasin which you feel disqualified.
Don't shy away from it.
If God has put it on your heartand he's drawing you into it,
he's the one that qualifies you.
He's the one that does it.
There's precedent for it in theBible, not just in my life.
(28:21):
So I will look forward toseeing each and every one of you
with me in Sierra Leone, hotand sweaty, and I will introduce
it to the wonderful fruitcalled papaya Brant.
Do not say anything, I'm justkidding, but thank you for
listening, molly.
Nolly Mercado (28:50):
Oof, tara, I honor you.
I always think and I tellpeople, the most powerful
mission on earth is Freedom Tree, because she's fighting against
death.
(29:10):
You can build villages andsocial, economic, whatever, but
fighting death Wow, tara, onlyyou could accomplish that
calling here.
You were born to do this.
I couldn't you do.
Yeah, yeah, Okay, thank you.
(29:37):
Good morning everyone.
I just came back two nights agofrom Israel.
Jane invited me to share myheart about going.
I don't know how to sharebecause, honestly, like I feel
(30:01):
scared to go and I was ready togo before the war, like my
suitcase ready, everything,shekels, everything ready.
And the war came.
So they canceled all theflights and airlines.
So I told the Lord why do you?
(30:23):
Are you kidding me?
You made me plan this trip thatI wanted to do all my life and
now I cannot go.
It was I say why.
So after a week he spoke to meand he said I needed you to be
ready to go during the war,otherwise no way you will
(30:48):
prepare to come during the war.
So I say, okay, now Iunderstand, I understand, so
when I go?
So I'm telling you about myfriend Melody.
She traveled with me.
We met in 2019 in a meeting forCuba, so they invited me.
(31:09):
She was there, she was thetranslator we met.
She's Canadian, but her parentswere missionaries in Venezuela,
so she speaks Spanish.
So we became friends.
She had an issue with celiacdisease and I always feel
compassion for her.
(31:29):
She's so loving and beautifulgirl.
She's 40.
No, I don't know how old is she, but she has four kids grown up
and her husband is from Spain.
So we have a lot of things incommon and we became friends.
So one day I went to her house.
She invited me for breakfast.
(31:51):
We were visiting.
In the visiting we startedpraying.
In the praying we started doingdeliverance and she was healed
by celiac disease.
So one week later she told me Iasked her how are you feeling?
Because I wanted to know if shewas healed.
She told me I'm craving bread.
(32:12):
And she went to cops and shebought bread and she hid it in
the house, so her kids didn'tknow that she was eating bread.
Okay, so we tested, like fortwo months to see if it was real
or not, and she fightedspiritually, like she fighted,
and she told me this and that,anyways.
(32:34):
So the trip came, and then I,she asked me if I would pray for
a friend of her who had cancer.
I don't know this lady.
So I went, we were sitting, Ididn't even pray, we just were
sharing love and this, and so Itold about my trip.
(32:56):
You know that was canceled.
I was so disappointed and Itold Melody, melody, why you
don't come with me, let's go.
She didn't say anything.
She was serious.
And her friend, who I met thatday, she told us if you go, I
(33:18):
pay for your trip.
And I said, oh my God, okay,but I didn't.
I saw maybe yes, maybe no.
You know like sometimes peoplesay things and it doesn't happen
.
So, like 10 days after, Ireceived a huge email transfer
for the money for the trip.
So I'm fighting.
(33:40):
Melody told me that it wasn'tfor her and I asked her husband.
Her husband said, yes, go, sowe were, and she couldn't go in
December.
So I asked my son.
I know my son told me mom, ifyou want, I can come with you,
like he feels sorry for me.
(34:01):
And I say, okay, I was excited,but let me ask my wife.
Two days after he called me mom, this trip is not for me.
I had a dream and in the dreamwas horrible and Josie was
telling me we need to talk aboutthis trip, so this is not for
me.
I say okay, so, okay, so Iwon't go.
(34:23):
I ask Melody again, she's readyand we plan the trip.
So that's the story behind why Iwent with Melody.
So the whole friendship haddeveloped in Spanish.
She wanted me to speak Spanishso she can practice.
So we went.
We find out we are so alikelike lazy, we didn't like this,
(34:50):
I didn't like this food, shedidn't like the same food, the
room was messy and you knowlet's go where the room was
messy and you know let's go.
So we were like kind of relaxed.
So I, I was I supposed to planthe trip.
She didn't know when I wasmelody.
(35:10):
You know that we're goingThursday.
Oh yeah, really yes, let's meetin the airport.
Like everything was like lastminute.
So we landed in Israel.
I booked one week in Jerusalemwith a previous friend who was
(35:30):
traveling with me.
Give me the information about aguest house that run a couple
from South Africa.
So we get there and we didn'thave any plan, honestly, like
where are we going?
I don't know.
(35:50):
I don't know where are we going.
But anyways, I felt fear.
I called Melody twice and Isaid, melody, we should cancel
this trip.
Have you watched the news?
Yes, don't you think we have tocancel?
(36:12):
Well, I'm going.
So, okay, I'm going too.
But I was scared.
My kids called me, alex andLisa.
Mom, are you sure you should?
You don't have to go becausepeople give you money.
You can say no.
I say yes.
Another friend called me.
(36:33):
You know, nolly, I have beenpraying for you.
You should cancel that trip andgo, maybe fall.
Okay.
So, melody, I think we shouldcancel the trip.
I'm not going to cancel thetrip.
Okay, let's go.
I was scared, but in my heartthe calling was bigger than my
(36:55):
fear, like I couldn't say no.
So I started reading the bookof Hebrew, and Hebrew means the
river crossers, crossers.
Like you have to cross theriver.
And I say, lord, you have beencalling me and I need to go.
(37:21):
I need to cross this river,even if I have fear.
I don't know if I'm coming back.
I was scared but I had thesense of going, like I told my
grandkids the last night beforeI go, you know what?
(37:41):
I'm going to the war.
And they were oh, are you goingto the war, abuela?
Yes, I'm going to the war.
And then I sent a picture of mein the beach and Liam saw the
picture and told Alex Abuelawasn't in the war, anyways.
(38:06):
So we didn't have any plan, likeit was led by the Holy Spirit,
completely, 100%.
We both let the Holy Spiritguide us and he brought every
day someone to take us todifferent places.
So we didn't have any effort atall.
(38:27):
So, anyway, so we went togetherin the house where we are
staying, where people all overthe world that came to Israel
for the war to help asvolunteers like it was unreal
(38:48):
people are coming.
They.
They planned a trip fromGermany to camp in the desert.
They brought their tents.
They camped in the desert tohelp the farmers to harvest the
food.
Other people came from SouthAfrica.
(39:10):
We met three chief indigenouspeople, first Nation from South
Africa that were in Israel tolaunch the First Nation's
embassy.
From all over the world, people, first Nation groups from
(39:36):
different parts of the worldcame to inaugurate the world
yeah, the Israeli embassy forFirst Nations.
Because they say that the Jewsare the First Nations of Israel,
(39:57):
the Jews are the first nationsof Israel.
And these people were therewith us, so we knew firsthand
what was happening everywhere.
So then we move on and we say,okay, let's go to the Western
(40:18):
wall.
I haven't been there, this ismy first trip.
We went there.
These people are in blackcoming to pray and, you know,
rock on the wall and we arestanding there.
So what are we going to do?
Let's write down in a paperIsaiah 53 and da-da-da-da-da and
(40:39):
put it in these books.
So we put it in the books.
And then I saw soldiers, youngsoldiers, 18, 20 years old girls
with the uniform and the bigguns or whatever.
You call the rifle, how do youcall that weapon?
Call the rifle, how do you callthat weapon?
(40:59):
Walking on the street and Ifeel this love for them.
I say, melody, let's try to askthem if they want prayer.
So we ask them and they say,yes, why not?
We pray?
And they start gazing.
(41:20):
They were like what is this?
They never had experienced that.
So we saw the group of girls inthe uniform and I saw them and I
feel like I want to hug them.
I say, can I hug you?
And they came, yes, they huggedme, yes, and then we saw three
(41:44):
boys coming, 20-year-old boys,can we bless you?
Yes, please Come.
We prayed for them.
They were, wow, they look ateach other like a wow.
And every time was somethinglike this happened.
We asked people do you want,you want, bless us?
(42:07):
So we spent the time in thewestern world where people came
for prayer with their needs andwe pray for them.
So another time we took like agolf cart to go around the city.
There's no tourist.
(42:27):
The tourists left as soon asthe war started.
There's no people.
Every time we saw people andthey asked us what are you doing
here?
And we say we came to bless you.
And they say what are you doinghere?
(42:48):
They ask us like three times.
They couldn't believe.
And we say we want you to knowthat you are loved and we came
to bless you.
So they were touched Really.
But people hate us in the world.
They say not everyone.
We love you and we share aboutJesus and the love of God and
(43:13):
everything.
So one day we took a car like agolf cart with an Arabic guy
driving.
We say okay, let's take this,because the roads are down and
then you have to walk up.
You know it's heavy, you feeltired.
(43:36):
So we took the car.
We finished the tour and westayed at the juice quarter of
the old city, in a marketplace.
So we walk.
Melody already bought his stufffor her kids.
(43:58):
I didn't buy anything, I onlywanted earrings.
That's it.
That's my budget, that's whatI'm going to buy.
So we enter into a jewelrystore and Melody told me I feel
we need to pray for this guy.
I say, okay, when she feelssomething, I support her, when I
(44:24):
feel something, she supports me.
So we were always walking inunity everywhere.
So, okay, let's go.
So I'm looking for my earrings.
Actually they are these,because it's a heart with three
parts and I wanted them.
(44:45):
And I asked the guy how much.
He charges like $400.
I said are you crazy?
I'm not going to give you thatmoney.
I said no, no, no, that's toomuch, I don't have that money.
Okay, what about $?
I said no, no, no, that's toomuch, I don't have that money.
Okay, what about 180?
No, no, no, no, too much.
Oh, before that, melody askedhim because she had the burden
(45:08):
to pray for this guy.
And Melody asked him can webless you?
And he said no, no, no.
You can bless my business, butnot me.
I'm not allowed to receive anyblessings.
It's against the you know thereligion or whatever.
Okay, so we say okay.
(45:32):
So I'm negotiating with this guy.
I'm deciding I'm not buyingthose earrings.
I'm not going to spend $180 ina pair of earrings ever in my
life.
So I decided not to buy it.
And Melody told me, told theguy he was pushing and pushing
(45:52):
to buy.
And Melody told him you knowwhat?
I buy those earrings for her,if you allow me to bless you.
We were praying Holy Spirit,give us word of knowledge for
(46:16):
the people.
Well, jews need to bechallenged.
We didn't know that, but shechallenged him and he needed the
money because they have nobusiness since the war and this
is very expensive business.
So she told her and he said,okay, you know money.
(46:39):
Yes, okay, pray for me.
So Melody prayed for him.
She finished and then I startedpraying for him and he started
what's this?
I'm heavy.
I don't know if I am having aheart attack.
I'm having a heart attack.
(47:00):
He was shaking, you aredangerous.
He told me you are dangerous.
Who are you?
Who are you?
And I'm surprised what happened?
I didn't expect that.
Who are you, I can't talk.
Who are you, I can't talk.
And we were like so we shared,you know, like this is the Holy
(47:23):
Spirit, and we shared aboutJesus and everything.
And he was oh my God, what isthis?
I'm going to die, I'm going todie, and so anyway.
So we finished.
I'm going to short this.
This lasted like one hour, soI'm going to short it.
So we closed the businessbecause that was the deal.
(47:48):
We prayed and he gave us.
You know, we buy the earrings,so anyways, and then he told me,
he told us you know what, canyou come back at one?
My brother is a rabbi and Iwant you to pray for him because
he just came back from the warand he's so traumatized.
(48:14):
Today, five of his friends werekilled in the war.
Can you come, please Come andpray for him.
He needs prayer, he needsprayer.
And we say okay.
So we left.
We had lunch, melody, what arewe going to share with them?
You know, we were so excitedbut at the same time, like it's
(48:38):
going to happen, it's not goingto happen.
Well, so we came back.
The first guy's name is Avi.
Avi told us that he hasn't hadany business, so we arrived at
1.30.
His brother was there with acustomer and Avi was.
He called us.
He put chairs.
His brother was there with acustomer and Abib was.
(48:58):
He called us.
He put chairs, he brought uscoffee and yeah, he's with us.
He told us you bless me, I havecustomers, I have customers, I
have sales, okay, so we sitthere and the rabbi was there
selling stuff with the otherperson, someone.
(49:20):
So we are sitting there and therabbi finish and Avi called him
Like they were speaking inHebrew blah, blah, blah,
whatever.
So they came, he came and hesay hello to us, whatever.
So they came, he came and hesaid hello to us, hi, he told
(49:41):
his brother they came to blessus, they are here to pray for
you and he said, okay, yeah,that's good, but let me bless
you first.
And we and he took tallies,these things that they put, and
(50:03):
he took tallies and put us atallie to each one of us.
He covered his head and hestarted praying for us in Hebrew
, praying for us in Hebrew, andwe were like in that moment I
(50:24):
lost my mind, like I don't knowwhat's going on here.
I felt the presence of Godfalling over us and we were like
, but I was like I didn't thinkwhat was going on, like it was
unexpected and I didn't know itwas real.
Are they making fun of us?
What is happening?
(50:45):
So, anyway, so he blessed us inHebrew and then we told him we
want to pray for you.
And he said, yeah, pray for me.
So he sit down and he told usthe story that five of his
friends were killed that morningand one of his best friend was
(51:09):
in coma.
And he told us can you pray forhim please?
He was in tears, so we startpray for him, please.
He was in tears, so we startpraying for him and he start oh,
what's this Heavy?
And he start, you know, likeleaning down.
(51:30):
We pray for him.
And then we told him we'regoing to pray for your friend.
And we told him the story ofthe general that asked Jesus for
praying and he healed him.
General that asked Jesus forpraying and he healed him.
(51:53):
And he says and we told him,we're gonna pray for him, but
when you see him, lay hands onhim and he will be healed.
So he stand crying and he left.
He went out out and his brotherAbby he was chubby Abby was
running around and he went tocry.
(52:18):
He's crying.
He lost his oh yeah and he waswalking like this and Melody
told me let's pray for his leg.
He's like maybe he has pain.
So we asked him do you havepain in your leg?
Yes, I have this pain here onmy ankle.
Can we pray for you?
(52:40):
Yes, yes, pray, pray.
He was all that we say.
He say yes, so we pray for himand his leg starts shaking and
then he say, oh, wait, a like nostrength.
He just I don't know the wordlike he just lost his strength
(53:18):
and he woke up and he's sittingin a chair and he put his hands
to you know, lay on the counter,because he didn't have any
strength, he was so weak.
And then he stand and he saywait a minute, something left me
, something left me this side.
He was delivered from demons.
(53:42):
And he start running around thestore saying I'm a new man, I'm
a new man, I'm a new man.
Who are you?
Who are you?
Who are you?
Who took you here?
What are you doing here?
And we were like, no, we cameto bless Israel and his brother,
the rabbi, came into the storeand then he shouted from the far
(54:09):
away who are you?
Who are you?
You came to bless us, you see?
And the word.
We have 45 days of ceasefirenow because you came to bless us
.
Who are you?
And they both keep asking uswho are we?
(54:32):
We know who we are, but theydon't know who we are.
It was like unreal.
So the rabbi came and then hewas telling us about all the
soldiers have been wounded andthis and that.
And I told him you know what,before I came and this is before
(54:55):
my first trip I had a dream.
It was beautiful.
In my dream I am telling him,I'm telling you this dream
because this was key for my trip.
I had a dream in black andwhite and there is a soldier
with his helmet and his uniform,in camouflage, singing a song.
(55:19):
It was a song of love and Ifeel the love of God over me.
I start crying.
I was sleeping.
Love of God over me.
I start crying.
I was sleeping, but I cry, Icry, I cry.
I couldn't handle this love.
And the song, the lyrics of thesoldier's song, was I
understand now why I have thisweapon.
(55:41):
I understand now why you diefor me.
I understand now why you diedfor me.
I'm telling this rabbi my dreamand I told him I feel the call
to come here and pray for thesoldiers, the wounded soldiers,
and he was in shock.
So he said guys, I'm going totell you.
(56:02):
You know, he's veryknowledgeable, he's a rabbi.
I'm going to tell you.
You know he's veryknowledgeable, he's a rabbi.
He said, to reach that levelthat you are telling me, you
need at least 12 years and Idon't know what he's talking
about.
And he sit down and he startteaching us about Kabbalah and
(56:24):
this, the first year you havethis.
The second year you have this,but what you have?
This dream.
So he just came because I toldhim this dream and all the
things that are going on and hesaid I need to bless you more.
(56:44):
And he started praying againfor us, like the glory of God
fall over us.
I fall down crying because theglory of God was so beautiful.
And his brother, avi, run to allthe counters where they keep
(57:07):
the jewelry and he startbringing jewelry put Melody
jewelry, me this.
And he start blowing the shofarLike it was unreal, like I said
what is this?
You know now we are saying whatis this?
So what happened?
(57:30):
We left and then he gave us.
They gave us gifts and giftsTake this, take that.
You came to bless us.
And Avi run I'm a new man, I'ma new man.
I didn't even tell him anything.
It was all Holy Spiritrevelation.
(57:52):
We didn't even talk about Jesus, we pray in the name of Jesus
Christ, but we didn't teachanything.
It was all revelation of theHoly Spirit.
So I'm going to go back to thisstory.
So we left like we were likewhat's going on, melody we?
Jennifer Reding (58:15):
don't know, what happened.
Nolly Mercado (58:17):
Wow, wow, wow.
It's funny because two nightsbefore this happened, I had a
dream, and the dream one of myfriends told me you don't know,
lee, you never will do anythingbecause you don't have covering.
In the dream.
(58:38):
So I woke up and I told MelodyMelody, I had this dream.
Do you think it's God or thedevil?
And she told me oh, I didn'thave covering either.
I didn't tell my pastor that Iwas coming.
I said well, maybe we ask thekings that are in the other room
to cover us because we needcovering.
(59:00):
And we laughed.
It was the enemy.
I felt such an honor this timeto be blessed by a rabbi.
He opened the doors for us tominister to this land.
So we went.
(59:22):
We keep going, our trip.
You know it was everything thatwe did was this way, like the
encounters.
So we went to the north and wecame back the last day.
Ah, the night, I asked her.
You, melody asked me do youthink we can go tomorrow?
(59:45):
I said the Lord told me no,this is untouchable, you don't
touch this.
I said, no, keep going, let'sgo to the north or whatever we
had.
The last day I felt like weshould go and say goodbye.
(01:00:10):
So we went to the store and Aviwas there alone and he said you
know that last night a soldierwas killed here in this street
and nobody is here.
We didn't know.
So we went and he was tellingus that you know, he was heavy
(01:00:33):
because of the situation andeverything.
So this is funny.
So okay, and he asked can youpray for me please?
And we prayed for him again andhe said wow, this has changed
my life.
So, anyways, he told me can youbring me a Bible when you come
back from Canada?
(01:00:54):
I said okay.
So we left, we have somethingto do.
When we came back, we walkedbeside the Bible Society and I
said I'm going to buy the Biblefor Avi.
I bought the Bible.
We have to go back to Avi togive him the Bible.
(01:01:14):
So we walked down.
You know, down, down, down,then come back.
And it was.
The rabbi was there.
And Avi told us pray for himplease.
He's going to the war today andhe's feeling so bad.
(01:01:36):
So okay.
So some people left that werethere, and so we prayed again
and Abbie started running aroundagain I'm a new man, I'm a new
man.
And then we prayed for therabbi and he told us you know
(01:02:01):
what?
My friend was healed.
The one we prayed for my friendwas healed.
The one we prayed for my friendwas healed.
And I, wow.
So he told us that he took allthe bills and he said look, we
have to make those payments.
We have no people since COVIDand this and that.
(01:02:23):
So Melody said let's pray foryour bills to be paid.
So, and Abby told me please prayfor fire so my brother can go
to the war and no pain.
I say, okay.
So they closed the door of thestores because they don't want
(01:02:45):
anyone to know that they arepraying with Christians or
anything.
So they closed the door.
We are here praying.
We took our hands with them andI'll be telling me to pray for
fire.
I said, okay, I'm gonna prayfor fire then.
So we start praying and I say,in the name of Jesus, father,
(01:03:10):
thank you fire.
And he went oh no.
And then I say what happened?
What happened?
Are you okay?
Oh, what's going on?
I said, don't worry, it's okay.
(01:03:33):
Abby had to leave.
He couldn't breathe.
He went and he came back.
Who are you guys?
I'm a new man.
Now I can breathe.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man.
So, anyways, that's part of themain story.
But this lasted each session,like the first session lasted
(01:03:56):
like four hours and this onelike three hours, like it was
Holy Spirit moving, moving.
We didn't know what to do.
We sit down and then they cameCan you do this?
Can you pray?
Who are you?
I'm a new man and they pray forme.
So it was all Holy Spirit.
Like it was so precious, Likethe anointing and the oh my God,
(01:04:23):
it was unbelievable.
We are still in the glory ofGod.
Like you know, like the Lordtold me, the harvest is ready,
that the workers are few, and Ihave seen, like a people, all
(01:04:46):
the tourists left, but all thepeople that have called have
been called are there.
I met several people with thesame journey that I had and we
met there my first trip.
I never had been there, firsttrip.
They felt the call, they wentLike it's unreal what's
(01:05:11):
happening there.
There is no tourists.
We were the only two tourists.
We went to the Garden, tom, andthey didn't want to let us in
because they were closing and wesaid but we are going back
today.
We haven't been here, okay, socome.
And what happened?
Nobody was there and they leftand they left us in the place
(01:05:36):
with the door locked, and now weneed to go.
Where are we going to go?
No people anywhere, so, butthose who are called are there,
know that's so many people and Iwas thinking, you know?
People offer us to govolunteering, picking up fruits
(01:05:58):
or, and we both felt we are.
We didn't come to pick upfruits, you, we came for a
different harvest, so peoplegive their security and
everything for the harvest thatare in the fields, like oranges,
(01:06:18):
avocados, strawberries.
They are risking their life,but we felt like our call was
for the people and I'm tellingyou they are ready.
They are ready.
We don't have to know.
The new generation don't knowanything about the Tenak or the
(01:06:43):
five books or the Torah.
They just need to hear.
They are so hungry, so hungryto hear the gospel.
Yeah, yeah, just wait, justwait.
Jennifer Reding (01:07:04):
I really sense, nolly, you have something to
pray for us, like an impartation.
I might not quite have it right, but I just sense there's
something about, because of whatyou've done, the authority
you've walked in, that we wouldwalk into our assignments, that
we would walk into our HolyGhost assignments and pray where
(01:07:31):
we're supposed to pray or layhands on the sick where we're
supposed to.
If there's something, does thatsit with you?
Could you pray that over us?
That we would step out wherewe're supposed to step out I'm
talking about in this land Maybeit's in our communities, in our
(01:07:51):
schools, in our business world,and maybe it is overseas but we
would step out into ourassignments, that anointing to
speak and pray where we'resupposed to.
Nolly Mercado (01:08:06):
Yes, for sure.
Yeah, I pray that thesechildren that you have here,
father, will know in theirhearts what have you been
(01:08:30):
calling them to go or to do,father, and I pray, father, that
they will respond, even inspite of lack, in spite of fear,
in spite of anything.
Father, you know.
You know what God has calledyou to do.
(01:08:52):
I speak to you right now thatyou will walk in his perfect
will for you, fully obedient, isnot about you.
You have to die to you to beable to walk.
(01:09:27):
God is on the go.
We have been called for hiskingdom, for his king, and I
bless you to be obedient to yourheart.
If you don't go, he cannot go,because he and you are one.
(01:09:54):
You are so unique, so unique,built in such a special way.
All the places that you havebeen, all your hurts, all your
sorrows are needed for this time.
(01:10:16):
Step up and walk, Amen.
Brant Reding (01:10:43):
This is a special moment, right, kairos moment.
Someone sent me this text acouple days ago.
It says this we're on the vergeof breakthrough in this church.
This is a short, intense timeof spiritual transition as a new
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life is birthed.
I won't read it all.
Do you sense that in your heart, despite your circumstance,
despite what you think?
He is on the move.
I sat with a pastor BritishColumbia oversees hundreds of
churches.
We were talking about an eventthat's coming up potentially and
(01:11:29):
he said I've heard in my spirit, it has begun.
Hundreds of churches.
We were talking about an eventthat's coming up potentially and
he said I've heard in my spirit, it has begun.
It has begun.
If you need context tounderstand what that means,
please talk to me.
I mean, this has been buildingfor so, so long.
Prophetic words, differentplaces Carol Wimber got it years
(01:11:51):
ago because it's something bigand we think of big in terms of
numbers and things like that.
But the bigness is is is thisexample?
So, as tara stands up and andfeels to challenge us in a
positive way to step into yourmission, we've been wondering
well, what's the mission of thecommunity?
Well, or it's pretty clear, butwhat's your mission?
(01:12:12):
How does that fit?
And as we respond to that,despite fear, despite the
circumstances, despite it's not.
When I think of your journey,tara, and yours, nali, and all
these coffees we've had over theyears, you know this would have
been unimaginable.
You would not have seen acurriculum doing this thing in
(01:12:34):
Sierra Leone.
You wouldn't be having thesestories if there had been no
movement.
But you had to step into thetrusting of the Spirit's leading
.
Not that it's so secure and soclear and so lined up and I get
all the money first and geteverything in my life lined up
perfectly.
It's this wonderful step offaith that is in trust and as
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challenging.
We're listening to this storyand we're going.
I'm excited about Albert is hisname Avi running around.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man, and this rabbithat is so steadied up in the
grace of God hits him becauseyou were there, because you know
they were there, and all wehave to do is we just have to
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show up.
It's not about what we know,right.
So get ready, father, I justpray.
Protection over all of us.
This spiritual transition thatyou're taking us through I don't
know how long or what it lookslike.
But would you prepare us foreven those that are not here
have not heard this thisstirring has been going on in so
many hearts that for such atime as this we wouldn't have
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had all these years of historyof the setting up.
The way Tara was mentioning thisinheritance a heritage in a
sense of going in this kind ofyouthful enthusiasm.
That would just go well, let'sgo.
We would go for the adventure,get on the plane.
We didn't care if we were inthe cattle car in first class.
It was like, yes, we're stuffedin here.
(01:14:07):
Get to share the gospel withthe person beside us on the
plane.
Maybe you know Sometimes thatone time we went the plane was
empty.
Remember we got to sleep onseats.
We had like six seats toourselves and you're going.
The adventure is so stimulating.
But now you start to see thegospel, the life of God.
Now you start to see the gospel, the life of God, that what you
(01:14:29):
try to put into words isimpartation of him coming
through us and all of us can bein that.
Amen, amen.
I mean I know we've got to getgoing for the Shanklin girls
because they're about to go on amission End of March, whole
family Year long.
And what a good way to start.
Get baptized for the Shanklingirls because they're about to
go on a mission end of March,whole family year long.
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And what a good way to start.
Get baptized.
And John Hutch used to say Brent, I believe.
I believe when people go underthe water, I, we can believe
that they, they are dying tothat part of their flesh and
their fear and everything aboutthemselves, that they will not
just get water baptized, they'llcome out of the water full of
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his spirit.
They may not even know it, theymay not even have words for it,
but boy, he's more than willingto infill us.
This morning I woke up andremembered what John used to
teach, that verb tense ask andkeep on asking, knock and keep
on knocking, seek and keep onseeking More of your spirit,
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more of you in us, through us.
Amen, father, we're just, we'rehumbly excited, scared.
It's like you're inviting us tostep onto a plane to go to
dangerous places.
And dangerous is not justphysical danger.
This danger is going to theexternals of our comfort zones
(01:15:55):
that we just don't want to gothrough.
This kind of day in, day out,just making it by Father for the
generation that's under the ageof 20 in this room and those
who are connected.
God, the spirit, this, thisinheritance, protect it, protect
it for its fire.
I thought you're going to do ithere and we'd be here for the
(01:16:20):
rest of the day, but I, ifyou're into this, I, I just
sense, I just submit it to usand those that are praying for
this community, in that sensethat I see a day coming very
soon or maybe it's here, maybeit's somewhere else, but we take
three or four hours and wepress in, we wait, we listen and
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we let words come and let himdo what he wants to do in us, to
prepare us for whatever that is.
That would be a very differentthing.
Hey, let's come for an hour anda half on a Sunday and get a
message it would become ready toreceive.
And I love what Tara said thismorning Don't go with something
in your head that you're goingto give, something You're going
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to receive.
That blessing you got from therabbi, like, just comes right
back at him.
In the same way you give, sameway you receive.
It'll come out of you.
Press down, flowing over.
It's amazing, amen.
We can keep going, you know,but we got time for you.
Okay, for those of you who don't know, uchurch has
a DNA of missions, a verystrong DNA of missions, both
locally and internationally, andthis is something that has been
in the seedbed of our churchfor a long, long time.
And for some of you who havebeen around for a long time to
(00:22):
be able to see the beginnings ofthat, where, as primarily, most
of us were students or quiteyoung and we would just put up
our hand and say, yeah, I'mgoing to go on a mission trip,
and you know, different missiontrips were organized to lots of
different countries, includingSierra Leone was oneago trade
(00:45):
out and Tobago.
Peru was another one.
Jody was super active in SouthAmerica, you know, with Peru and
there was a few others.
South Africa was another placethat we went to.
I think a few of you here wentto South Africa.
Thailand was another place.
We had a lot of work going onin Thailand with some orphanages
(01:07):
that we partnered with, andmany of you here have gone on
missions and I, if you know me,you know I will sometimes come
up to you and say, hey, wouldyou like to come with me and go
to Sierra Leone?
And when you're young I have tosay this sometimes, when you're
young, it's easy and it'sdifficult to go.
(01:30):
It's easy in the sense that youhave nothing to lose and so you
don't have anything to screw up, a reputation to screw up,
you're not as afraid of flying,you're not afraid of being, you
know, stuck on a plane, jet lag,all those things that old
people are afraid of Sorry, oldpeople and so you jump on the
plane and go.
Mostly the only hindrance whenyou're really young is well, I'm
(01:53):
really scared of how I'm goingto raise the money, however way
you want to raise the money togo, and so we've taken lots of
young people.
When you get older, it becomesa little bit difficult because
we just get a little set in therhythm of how we do things and
how we imagine God is going touse us or in the way that he is,
(02:15):
and the philosophy aroundmissions gets a little bit more
complicated.
I don't know why it does, itjust does, and the arguments as
to why not to go also gets morecomplicated.
But I want to encourage you knowthere's a few people here who
have, you know, older, andremember Rob and Donna.
You guys went to Thailand and Iwant to applaud.
(02:36):
Even Brant and Jen have been onmissions several times and I
want to encourage every singleone of you.
If you haven't been yet on amission trip, I would encourage
you to go locally,internationally yes, siobhan,
let's go.
And, like I see this look onpeople's faces all the time who
shake their heads and they go.
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No, no, no, this is not for me,and they want to argue with you
and tell you that it's not yourcalling.
You know, because you have tobe called, which is not true,
because you know the Bible sayshe has called us into Jerusalem,
judea and Samaria and theoutermost ends of the world.
(03:20):
So we're all called.
We're all called and you know.
The interesting thing aboutmissions, too, is I've seen this
time and time again because,again, I came from a background,
um, you know, at university,where we had all this
philosophical discussions aboutcharity, non-profit, how they do
much more damage than good, andyou know all these things and
(03:41):
sometimes that's true, um, andso you know we came up with this
thing Sometimes it's better tosend the money than to go,
because you do so much damagewhen you go, and I've seen both
sides of the equation, and whatI would like to offer you is.
This is that I want you to goto receive.
Don't try to go to try and give.
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I want you to go to receive,and we need to start to change
the narrative about missions,because it is actually a lot of
pride on our parts that we thinkthat we can go to another
country to go and give a lot oftimes, when sometimes all it is
is God wants you to go and toreceive, and so we get wrapped
up in not going because we don'tfeel like you have anything to
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give.
Of course you don't.
Of course you don't.
No, it's true, of course youdon't.
Like I was just with my staff,you know, in Sierra Leone, and
we hire these interns, theseuniversity interns, and they run
a program.
I wish Ellen was here today.
She's not, because it was heridea.
This particular program was heridea, and we run a program
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called GAM and we're about tostart another one called BAM.
So GAM is Girls AdvocacyMovement and we're about to
start one called the BoysAdvocacy Movement and the
interns teach it, because theyteach it to kids in school who
are between the ages of about 11and 18, and these interns are
mostly in their early 20s, sothey're going to university and
it's, you know, sort of an extrajob for them and they do such
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an amazing job in teaching andthese kids remember them, they
seek after them, they see themon the street.
I've seen this myself andthey're like Auntie, so-and-so,
when are we having our nextsession?
Because we kind of had anunforeseen break in the sessions
and so the kids were excited tosee it.
If I stood up in front of thosekids and taught the same thing,
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it wouldn't have anywhere nearthe same impact.
So of course, when you go youmay not feel like you're useful,
but it's not the whole point.
Sometimes the point is to go toreceive, and for me personally
I really want to change thatnarrative.
But it's not the whole point.
Sometimes the point is to go toreceive, and for me personally
I really want to change thatnarrative, especially for the
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continent of Africa, for all thecountries on there, because for
Africa it is a continent thathas been colonized and has
always been taken from.
People only go there to go take.
The roads are made to takemines and minerals out of the
country, not to connect villages, and people go there because
they want to go give, but very,very, very few people go to
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receive.
It's a very different narrative.
When you go to receive, you'rein a place of rest, you're not
trying to prove anything.
You don't need to justify the$5,000 it cost you to get there
because you're trying to layhands on the sick and make sure
you have something to tellpeople back home.
You're just going to go andreceive and that's okay.
(06:36):
It's okay because there aresome countries, I believe in
this last days, in these endtimes, that are going to be the
givers for the world, but theyhave so much to give that and we
have a lot to receive that wehave not even understood yet
what we have to receive.
Does that make sense?
(06:56):
And so I really want toencourage you.
There are going to be someopportunities coming up in the
next couple years, and I plantthe seeds now for you to start
thinking about it, for you tostart saving, for you to start
removing every excuse in thebook of the reason why you
cannot go.
I don't care if you have IBS,you're gluten intolerant, I
(07:18):
don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care if you don't likefish.
Like Christine, she's come, shehates fish, and they serve fish
almost every day, and if youtell them I don't like fish,
they'll serve you chicken andthey put fish on the side.
So you know, I don't care whatthe situation is.
(07:41):
I want you to start thinkingabout going and to start
thinking about saying yes to theopportunities that will come
your way, because it's going tochange your life and I would
like for you to try it at leastonce in your lifetime.
The other thing I want you tothink about is there are a bunch
of young people and I'm lookingat you Allegra and Aiden and
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Stella's not here today andthese guys, I'm looking at you,
guys, I'm talking to you as well, because guess what?
The heritage of missions thatwe have in this church is what
you are going to inherit.
I realized when I was in SierraLeone this time around I'm going
to age myself, but honestly,for the first time and please
(08:26):
don't judge me, I know I'm alittle bit prissy, but for the
first time ever going to SierraLeone, I sat on the plane and I
said to God, and I was almost intears and I said, god, please
give me money so I can buy abusiness class ticket when I go,
because it was just like thejourney was just, it's the one
(08:47):
place in the world that I'm justlike oh my god, it is
uncomfortable and it's long, andI've never felt that before and
I thought, oh no, oh no, I'mgetting old, but I want to.
That's how long I've been doingthis.
Before it never bothered me atall, but this one time I was
like I just am tired.
It would be so nice to just beable to lay flat and sleep on
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the plane.
I offer this to you becausethis is the heritage that we
have been building, and we werenot building it for you, we were
not building it for ourselves.
It is for the next generation.
When Jodi went to Sierra Leone,carl, you were part of that for
Peru and there's other peoplewho are not here today, but they
were part of the process ofbuilding not a theology but an
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ethos of how we do missions, whywe do missions, what it's all
about and building these things.
It was so that the peoplecoming after have this platform
that they can start from.
And I recognize that and, inall humility, that part of what
I do is not just for me, it'sfor the generation after me.
So that was my introduction.
That was my introduction, butit was.
(10:05):
Basically, if we come up andsay, think about coming on a
mission trip, don't make anyexcuses, I'll, I'll.
And I'll end the intro withthis.
Honestly, I say this with everytruth.
There has not been one time, onetime that I have gone to Sierra
Leone and I've gone countlessof times.
I've lost count it.
It's probably maybe 25, 30times by now, easily, probably
(10:29):
more.
There has not been one timethat I have gone that it has
been convenient for me.
Don't wait until it'sconvenient.
It's never going to come.
I run a non-profit, this is myjob.
It was not convenient, you know, and there's always something.
This time it was like oh mygosh, child care, how are we
going to figure that out?
And there were so many things.
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It's never convenient, itdoesn't always line up and it's
always God's will.
That's the interesting thing.
It's always God's will and youknow we can go into all the why
you don't go, and you knowdanger and all that, but you
could get killed on the deerfoot.
There are other ways to getkilled.
You'll be fine, you will befine.
(11:11):
And if you can't eat the food,you could probably do with
losing a few pounds anyway.
So it's okay, just kidding.
And if you get to go with Brand, you might see him in his
underwear True story, true story.
(11:33):
He just has no shame at all.
(11:57):
So for those of you who don'tknow what I do in Sierra Leone,
I won't go into too much detailabout what we do.
But essentially, god gave usthe mandate of reducing the
rates of maternal and infantmortality in the country, and so
women and children die quite alot in the country, and women
die giving birth and the highestrate of maternal mortality in
the world and also the highestrate of infant mortality in the
country.
And women die giving birth andthe highest rate of maternal
mortality in the world and alsothe highest rate of infant
mortality in the world.
And this was not a an idea thatI came up with.
This was something, this seedthat god planted in my heart by
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sharing a vision, uh, to me afew years ago, the one time he
told me not to go in that year Ispent the whole summer just
listening to him, listening tohim, and he told me the vision
of what he was wanting to do inthe nation.
And if you, in the Bible, thereare two women who died giving
birth, does anyone know whothose two women were?
(12:38):
Yeah, rachel, and there's onlytwo women ever recorded dying
giving birth in the Bible.
That's right.
That's right, so, rachel.
And then we don't know theother lady's name, but she named
her son, ichabod.
The glory of the Lord hasdeparted from Israel.
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If you look at both two storiesand I won't go again because
it's quite long to dig into, butRachel, when you look at it,
she actually stole a whole bunchof idols from her father, from
Laban, because they were runningaway from Laban.
So she stole some idols fromher father and her father came
after Jacob, thinking herhusband had stolen it.
He said what did you do?
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You stole all these things fromme?
And her husband said, no, I didnot.
And of course he didn't knowthat his beloved Rachel, that he
had worked 14 years for, hadstolen these things.
So he uttered a curse and hesaid may he who stole them die.
And then the next chapter,rachel dies giving birth.
Now, I'd always read that storyand thought that she died, you
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know, because of the fertilityissues.
But no, she died because shewas under a curse.
And then the same thing withIchabod's mom, so that was the
daughter-in-law of Eli.
God shows up to Eli and saysI'm not happy with the things
that you're doing, I'm not happywith the things that your sons
are doing and I'm going to bringa judgment against you.
And this will be the sign thatI've brought the judgment
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Everyone in your family will dieon the same day.
And if you go back and readthat story, it's really
interesting.
Because Israel goes into battle, the two sons die.
A messenger comes, runs up toEli he was sitting he was
currently overweight and sittingin the front balcony of his
house and they said your twosons are dead.
And because of the shock, hefalls over and he breaks his
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neck and dies.
And then the news reaches thedaughter-in-law, who was
pregnant.
It was not her time to givebirth.
She goes into premature laborand she dies giving birth.
She dies as a result not ofchildbirth, but of the judgment
on her.
This was the message that Godgave me when I started Freedom
Tree many years ago that whenyou see this happening, it is
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not a natural thing.
It is because there's somethingelse going on behind the scenes
.
The other side of the coin isthis 20% of the children in
Sierra Leone would not reachtheir fifth birthday.
Where in the Bible have youseen?
I always refer to the Bible foreverything, because everything
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is actually in there.
There's so much context in it.
Where in the Bible have youseen children dying en masse?
Egypt, where else?
Bethlehem?
Why, sorry, they were goinginto, yeah, but why,
particularly in Egypt, did allthose?
Yeah, yeah, because Moses wasgoing to be born, and so Pharaoh
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knew that.
Pharaoh, yeah, knew that, andso he was trying to prevent a
special child from being born.
And then, when Jesus was born,there was an order that actually
went out to kill all thechildren under the age of two.
Sierra Leone is not losingchildren because it's a poor
country.
Sierra Leone is losing childrenbecause there are special
children about to be born inthat land that the enemy is
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trying to prevent from beingborn, and part of the mission
that God has given to me, thatI'm honored to participate in,
is to participate in this.
I hope that before I die, Iwill see those children with my
own eyes who are going to makesuch an impact in our world and,
because of what we have done.
We see them live.
It's just as simple as that.
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So that was what took me thereto the country, and that's what
I've been going over and overagain.
Now I got this mission and thisis where I want to land.
I got this mission many yearsago when God laid this on my
heart and I was single no kidsand I thought honestly, like it
took me about a probably aboutnine months before I said
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anything about it to anybodyelse and I really wrestled with
it Because he could have givenme so many other types of
missions, so why this one?
And I said to God I remembersaying to him one time you could
have given me agriculture,business, education, like
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there's a lot of other things,but this one was particularly a
vulnerable area for me becausemy greatest desire at the time.
I remember exactly when I gotthat vision.
It was during the week of theroyal wedding in 2011, when Kate
Middleton got married, and I'ma romantic and I was stuck to
the screen watching it and Godwas speaking to me in one ear
and I'm watching this and I'mlike, oh my God, no, because my
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greatest desire was to bemarried and have my own children
and I felt it was a little bitof a laughing matter that he
would send me unmarried singleto go and try and see how
children don't die and how womendon't die, giving birth.
And year after year after year,in between baby showers, in
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between bridal showers and I'mgetting really vulnerable with
you guys here in between it's myfriends who said no, because
they were pregnant or about toget pregnant or trying to get
pregnant or whatever.
I would go to Sierra Leone andwork and serve in this area, and
as much as I was serving someof you don't know this, but as
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much as I was doing this, it wasalso an area of pain and I
couldn't understand it.
So this last week, when I wasthere, I was absolutely stunned.
My staff had told me some ofthese things that were happening
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in the villages, so one of thethings that we do, and none of
them.
Again, then she's not even here, carolyn, she's not here.
If you see her, give her a bigpat on the back because she gave
up, along with Jessica Andresand Josiah Sininen, who some of
you may know, may not know them,but Carolyn, who is a
sister-in-law to Jake down there.
(19:03):
For those of you who may notknow, her is a labor and
delivery nurse and she gave upthree months of her life in 2016
to help write a curriculum aprenatal curriculum, in Sierra
Leone, and this curriculum wedecided we would teach in
villages and it encompasses thespiritual, physical and
emotional sides of pregnancy andbirth, believing that if you
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impart God's heart and visiontowards pregnancy and birth and
people begin to grab that visionand walk in it, that part of
that would also reduce maternaland infant mortality.
It was a hunch.
I've never seen this done.
It was just a hunch and I saidlet's do it, let's try it.
It is probably one of our mostsuccessful things ever.
(19:50):
We go into villages and it's 10weeks, so for 10 weeks, it
looks like people, after beingin the farm all day, they'll
come, they'll gather under atree.
Somebody who has been trainedwill teach the curriculum for
about a couple hours.
They'll discuss it on differenttopics each week, and my
staffer told me one of the sideeffects of this that I didn't
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anticipate happening, butfamilies were being healed in
the process and as I stood, Iremember, in this village I
stood and I just sat andlistened because they came up
after another, after another,and they would just share
testimonials of what thecurriculum had done for them.
And it's called a curriculumthat's the best name we could,
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you know, get for it and wedecided to teach the curriculum
to both men and women.
So it wasn't just asegregational thing and you guys
like, marriages were, marriageswere whole marriages were being
changed and I have like videotestimonials of it.
(20:52):
I was stunned.
I had an out-of-body experiencebecause I couldn't understand.
I was like God, why, like, howdo you do this through me?
If you'll know my story, you'llknow why this is so much
vulnerable for me.
You know, and time after timeand time again, people would say
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our marriage is transformed,our family is transformed, and
the people who were teaching thecurriculum even would say I
didn't know this was how I wassupposed to relate to my wife or
to my husband.
I didn't know this was my roleas a father and they were
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grabbing the vision of God forfamily through Freedom Tree.
It was my single, most poignantmoment that just stuck in my
mind.
I have the image of this.
You know so many couplessmiling and happy and sharing
that.
And why do I share this withyou?
Because it's a very vulnerablething for me.
(22:02):
It's because sometimes, a lotof times, when God calls you to
do something, he knows why he'scalling you to it.
Some of you are not able towalk in the place of your
destiny because you haven't beenable to actually say yes to him
in the fullness of everythingthat he's called you to.
(22:24):
Because if you did, a lot of,you would find that it could be
in the place of your greatestvulnerability.
And that's actually what Iwanted to share for you not to
shy away from the things thatGod has put on your heart
because it's painful to go thereor it's uncomfortable, or you
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feel like you're not qualifiedfor it, because it's not you
that's doing it, it's him.
And so you know I standtrusting him for the greatest
desire of my heart.
That still remains the same,and I'm like you're changing
people's lives through this.
(23:10):
What about me?
And I've walked with him longenough.
I wasn't angry this time, Ijust sat with the question and I
wanted to share that with you.
(23:34):
There's a story in Genesisthat's really interesting those
of you who know Abrahameverybody here knows Abraham
because we kind of are sometimesChristian and you know that
Abraham, what did he need themost?
A child.
How long did he wait?
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How old was he when he had the?
Yeah, sarah was 90.
Abraham was 100.
As I was pondering over whatGod did, I found this little
scripture Do you remember whenAbraham went and he was with
Abimelech, there was a kingcalled Abimelech, and if you
show the second one at thebeginning of the chapter, in
chapter 20.
So Genesis, chapter 20.
(24:17):
And he went to a.
I'm just going to read it.
Abraham moved south to the Negevand lived for a while between
Kadesh and Shur.
While he was living there, heintroduced his wife, sarah,
saying she is my sister.
So he lied, essentially, andthe king brought her into the
palace.
And that night God came toAbimelech and said you are a
(24:38):
dead man, for that woman thatyou have taken is already
married.
Woman that you have taken isalready married.
So then, after that, abimelechgoes and he apologizes, brings
like gifts to Abraham.
I'm so sorry.
Why didn't you tell me I'm notgoing to?
You know like, please stop thiscurse on us?
And you know what had happenedIf you read the last part, so go
(25:01):
to the next verse.
So Abraham prayed for himbecause God had cursed him.
Abraham prayed to God and Godhealed Abimelech, his wife and
his female servants so theycould have children, for the
Lord had caused all the women tobe infertile because of what
happened with Abraham's wife.
(25:21):
It's a really interestingscripture to me.
We don't know how long she wasin the palace for, but it was
long enough for them to noticethat they weren't having kids
anymore.
But what strikes me is thatAbraham wanted to have kids.
He prayed to God for years.
(25:44):
He prayed to God for years andin an instant, god used his
prayer to remove barrenness fromsomebody else's life.
I'm wondering how he felt inthat moment, where, in that
moment, god used the thing thathe was needing, he was wanting,
and he prayed for it for someoneelse.
Because I was looking I'malways looking for precedent for
(26:08):
sometimes, the things that I'mexperiencing in scripture to
help give it context, so I don'tcome up with a theology that
sounds good but is notscriptural, and so what I wanted
to share with you today is onmission, on your mission,
whatever it is that God hasgiven to you.
Quite oftentimes it may be, willbe the area of a great
(26:31):
vulnerability to you.
For some of you in this room,god has called you to be kingdom
financiers and you don't evenknow how you're going to make
your next mortgage payment.
But yet you know he's calledyou to be a kingdom financier.
For some of you, he's calledyou to speak into families or
(26:52):
help families, and you don'tthink that your family looks
anything to write home about.
For some of you, he's calledyou to maybe lead prayer and you
haven't picked up your Bible ina year.
I'm just being honest, and youdon't know how to do that.
(27:12):
Or you don't want to do that,or you don't have the desire.
But I want to encourage you tolean in into whatever it is.
My story is not finished.
It's still being written, and sothat's why I stand before you
quite vulnerable, because Idon't want to be like serve God
and therefore no.
Maybe I needed this more thananything, because you also get
(27:38):
authority in the spirit bychanging things, because if you
have a situation on your hand,you can get victory in your own
life, but you really don't havevictory until you've actually
helped somebody else overcomethe same thing.
So I want to encourage you allon the mission that you're on
(27:58):
the journey, that you might feeldisqualified.
Don't shy away from those areasin which you feel disqualified.
Don't shy away from it.
If God has put it on your heartand he's drawing you into it,
he's the one that qualifies you.
He's the one that does it.
There's precedent for it in theBible, not just in my life.
(28:21):
So I will look forward toseeing each and every one of you
with me in Sierra Leone, hotand sweaty, and I will introduce
it to the wonderful fruitcalled papaya Brant.
Do not say anything, I'm justkidding, but thank you for
listening, molly.
Nolly Mercado (28:50):
Oof, tara, I honor you.
I always think and I tellpeople, the most powerful
mission on earth is Freedom Tree, because she's fighting against
death.
(29:10):
You can build villages andsocial, economic, whatever, but
fighting death Wow, tara, onlyyou could accomplish that
calling here.
You were born to do this.
I couldn't you do.
Yeah, yeah, Okay, thank you.
(29:37):
Good morning everyone.
I just came back two nights agofrom Israel.
Jane invited me to share myheart about going.
I don't know how to sharebecause, honestly, like I feel
(30:01):
scared to go and I was ready togo before the war, like my
suitcase ready, everything,shekels, everything ready.
And the war came.
So they canceled all theflights and airlines.
So I told the Lord why do you?
(30:23):
Are you kidding me?
You made me plan this trip thatI wanted to do all my life and
now I cannot go.
It was I say why.
So after a week he spoke to meand he said I needed you to be
ready to go during the war,otherwise no way you will
(30:48):
prepare to come during the war.
So I say, okay, now Iunderstand, I understand, so
when I go?
So I'm telling you about myfriend Melody.
She traveled with me.
We met in 2019 in a meeting forCuba, so they invited me.
(31:09):
She was there, she was thetranslator we met.
She's Canadian, but her parentswere missionaries in Venezuela,
so she speaks Spanish.
So we became friends.
She had an issue with celiacdisease and I always feel
compassion for her.
(31:29):
She's so loving and beautifulgirl.
She's 40.
No, I don't know how old is she, but she has four kids grown up
and her husband is from Spain.
So we have a lot of things incommon and we became friends.
So one day I went to her house.
She invited me for breakfast.
(31:51):
We were visiting.
In the visiting we startedpraying.
In the praying we started doingdeliverance and she was healed
by celiac disease.
So one week later she told me Iasked her how are you feeling?
Because I wanted to know if shewas healed.
She told me I'm craving bread.
(32:12):
And she went to cops and shebought bread and she hid it in
the house, so her kids didn'tknow that she was eating bread.
Okay, so we tested, like fortwo months to see if it was real
or not, and she fightedspiritually, like she fighted,
and she told me this and that,anyways.
(32:34):
So the trip came, and then I,she asked me if I would pray for
a friend of her who had cancer.
I don't know this lady.
So I went, we were sitting, Ididn't even pray, we just were
sharing love and this, and so Itold about my trip.
(32:56):
You know that was canceled.
I was so disappointed and Itold Melody, melody, why you
don't come with me, let's go.
She didn't say anything.
She was serious.
And her friend, who I met thatday, she told us if you go, I
(33:18):
pay for your trip.
And I said, oh my God, okay,but I didn't.
I saw maybe yes, maybe no.
You know like sometimes peoplesay things and it doesn't happen
.
So, like 10 days after, Ireceived a huge email transfer
for the money for the trip.
So I'm fighting.
(33:40):
Melody told me that it wasn'tfor her and I asked her husband.
Her husband said, yes, go, sowe were, and she couldn't go in
December.
So I asked my son.
I know my son told me mom, ifyou want, I can come with you,
like he feels sorry for me.
(34:01):
And I say, okay, I was excited,but let me ask my wife.
Two days after he called me mom, this trip is not for me.
I had a dream and in the dreamwas horrible and Josie was
telling me we need to talk aboutthis trip, so this is not for
me.
I say okay, so, okay, so Iwon't go.
(34:23):
I ask Melody again, she's readyand we plan the trip.
So that's the story behind why Iwent with Melody.
So the whole friendship haddeveloped in Spanish.
She wanted me to speak Spanishso she can practice.
So we went.
We find out we are so alikelike lazy, we didn't like this,
(34:50):
I didn't like this food, shedidn't like the same food, the
room was messy and you knowlet's go where the room was
messy and you know let's go.
So we were like kind of relaxed.
So I, I was I supposed to planthe trip.
She didn't know when I wasmelody.
(35:10):
You know that we're goingThursday.
Oh yeah, really yes, let's meetin the airport.
Like everything was like lastminute.
So we landed in Israel.
I booked one week in Jerusalemwith a previous friend who was
(35:30):
traveling with me.
Give me the information about aguest house that run a couple
from South Africa.
So we get there and we didn'thave any plan, honestly, like
where are we going?
I don't know.
(35:50):
I don't know where are we going.
But anyways, I felt fear.
I called Melody twice and Isaid, melody, we should cancel
this trip.
Have you watched the news?
Yes, don't you think we have tocancel?
(36:12):
Well, I'm going.
So, okay, I'm going too.
But I was scared.
My kids called me, alex andLisa.
Mom, are you sure you should?
You don't have to go becausepeople give you money.
You can say no.
I say yes.
Another friend called me.
(36:33):
You know, nolly, I have beenpraying for you.
You should cancel that trip andgo, maybe fall.
Okay.
So, melody, I think we shouldcancel the trip.
I'm not going to cancel thetrip.
Okay, let's go.
I was scared, but in my heartthe calling was bigger than my
(36:55):
fear, like I couldn't say no.
So I started reading the bookof Hebrew, and Hebrew means the
river crossers, crossers.
Like you have to cross theriver.
And I say, lord, you have beencalling me and I need to go.
(37:21):
I need to cross this river,even if I have fear.
I don't know if I'm coming back.
I was scared but I had thesense of going, like I told my
grandkids the last night beforeI go, you know what?
(37:41):
I'm going to the war.
And they were oh, are you goingto the war, abuela?
Yes, I'm going to the war.
And then I sent a picture of mein the beach and Liam saw the
picture and told Alex Abuelawasn't in the war, anyways.
(38:06):
So we didn't have any plan, likeit was led by the Holy Spirit,
completely, 100%.
We both let the Holy Spiritguide us and he brought every
day someone to take us todifferent places.
So we didn't have any effort atall.
(38:27):
So, anyway, so we went togetherin the house where we are
staying, where people all overthe world that came to Israel
for the war to help asvolunteers like it was unreal
(38:48):
people are coming.
They.
They planned a trip fromGermany to camp in the desert.
They brought their tents.
They camped in the desert tohelp the farmers to harvest the
food.
Other people came from SouthAfrica.
(39:10):
We met three chief indigenouspeople, first Nation from South
Africa that were in Israel tolaunch the First Nation's
embassy.
From all over the world, people, first Nation groups from
(39:36):
different parts of the worldcame to inaugurate the world
yeah, the Israeli embassy forFirst Nations.
Because they say that the Jewsare the First Nations of Israel,
(39:57):
the Jews are the first nationsof Israel.
And these people were therewith us, so we knew firsthand
what was happening everywhere.
So then we move on and we say,okay, let's go to the Western
(40:18):
wall.
I haven't been there, this ismy first trip.
We went there.
These people are in blackcoming to pray and, you know,
rock on the wall and we arestanding there.
So what are we going to do?
Let's write down in a paperIsaiah 53 and da-da-da-da-da and
(40:39):
put it in these books.
So we put it in the books.
And then I saw soldiers, youngsoldiers, 18, 20 years old girls
with the uniform and the bigguns or whatever.
You call the rifle, how do youcall that weapon?
Call the rifle, how do you callthat weapon?
(40:59):
Walking on the street and Ifeel this love for them.
I say, melody, let's try to askthem if they want prayer.
So we ask them and they say,yes, why not?
We pray?
And they start gazing.
(41:20):
They were like what is this?
They never had experienced that.
So we saw the group of girls inthe uniform and I saw them and I
feel like I want to hug them.
I say, can I hug you?
And they came, yes, they huggedme, yes, and then we saw three
(41:44):
boys coming, 20-year-old boys,can we bless you?
Yes, please Come.
We prayed for them.
They were, wow, they look ateach other like a wow.
And every time was somethinglike this happened.
We asked people do you want,you want, bless us?
(42:07):
So we spent the time in thewestern world where people came
for prayer with their needs andwe pray for them.
So another time we took like agolf cart to go around the city.
There's no tourist.
(42:27):
The tourists left as soon asthe war started.
There's no people.
Every time we saw people andthey asked us what are you doing
here?
And we say we came to bless you.
And they say what are you doinghere?
(42:48):
They ask us like three times.
They couldn't believe.
And we say we want you to knowthat you are loved and we came
to bless you.
So they were touched Really.
But people hate us in the world.
They say not everyone.
We love you and we share aboutJesus and the love of God and
(43:13):
everything.
So one day we took a car like agolf cart with an Arabic guy
driving.
We say okay, let's take this,because the roads are down and
then you have to walk up.
You know it's heavy, you feeltired.
(43:36):
So we took the car.
We finished the tour and westayed at the juice quarter of
the old city, in a marketplace.
So we walk.
Melody already bought his stufffor her kids.
(43:58):
I didn't buy anything, I onlywanted earrings.
That's it.
That's my budget, that's whatI'm going to buy.
So we enter into a jewelrystore and Melody told me I feel
we need to pray for this guy.
I say, okay, when she feelssomething, I support her, when I
(44:24):
feel something, she supports me.
So we were always walking inunity everywhere.
So, okay, let's go.
So I'm looking for my earrings.
Actually they are these,because it's a heart with three
parts and I wanted them.
(44:45):
And I asked the guy how much.
He charges like $400.
I said are you crazy?
I'm not going to give you thatmoney.
I said no, no, no, that's toomuch, I don't have that money.
Okay, what about $?
I said no, no, no, that's toomuch, I don't have that money.
Okay, what about 180?
No, no, no, no, too much.
Oh, before that, melody askedhim because she had the burden
(45:08):
to pray for this guy.
And Melody asked him can webless you?
And he said no, no, no.
You can bless my business, butnot me.
I'm not allowed to receive anyblessings.
It's against the you know thereligion or whatever.
Okay, so we say okay.
(45:32):
So I'm negotiating with this guy.
I'm deciding I'm not buyingthose earrings.
I'm not going to spend $180 ina pair of earrings ever in my
life.
So I decided not to buy it.
And Melody told me, told theguy he was pushing and pushing
(45:52):
to buy.
And Melody told him you knowwhat?
I buy those earrings for her,if you allow me to bless you.
We were praying Holy Spirit,give us word of knowledge for
(46:16):
the people.
Well, jews need to bechallenged.
We didn't know that, but shechallenged him and he needed the
money because they have nobusiness since the war and this
is very expensive business.
So she told her and he said,okay, you know money.
(46:39):
Yes, okay, pray for me.
So Melody prayed for him.
She finished and then I startedpraying for him and he started
what's this?
I'm heavy.
I don't know if I am having aheart attack.
I'm having a heart attack.
(47:00):
He was shaking, you aredangerous.
He told me you are dangerous.
Who are you?
Who are you?
And I'm surprised what happened?
I didn't expect that.
Who are you, I can't talk.
Who are you, I can't talk.
And we were like so we shared,you know, like this is the Holy
(47:23):
Spirit, and we shared aboutJesus and everything.
And he was oh my God, what isthis?
I'm going to die, I'm going todie, and so anyway.
So we finished.
I'm going to short this.
This lasted like one hour, soI'm going to short it.
So we closed the businessbecause that was the deal.
(47:48):
We prayed and he gave us.
You know, we buy the earrings,so anyways, and then he told me,
he told us you know what, canyou come back at one?
My brother is a rabbi and Iwant you to pray for him because
he just came back from the warand he's so traumatized.
(48:14):
Today, five of his friends werekilled in the war.
Can you come, please Come andpray for him.
He needs prayer, he needsprayer.
And we say okay.
So we left.
We had lunch, melody, what arewe going to share with them?
You know, we were so excitedbut at the same time, like it's
(48:38):
going to happen, it's not goingto happen.
Well, so we came back.
The first guy's name is Avi.
Avi told us that he hasn't hadany business, so we arrived at
1.30.
His brother was there with acustomer and Avi was.
He called us.
He put chairs.
His brother was there with acustomer and Abib was.
(48:58):
He called us.
He put chairs, he brought uscoffee and yeah, he's with us.
He told us you bless me, I havecustomers, I have customers, I
have sales, okay, so we sitthere and the rabbi was there
selling stuff with the otherperson, someone.
(49:20):
So we are sitting there and therabbi finish and Avi called him
Like they were speaking inHebrew blah, blah, blah,
whatever.
So they came, he came and hesay hello to us, whatever.
So they came, he came and hesaid hello to us, hi, he told
(49:41):
his brother they came to blessus, they are here to pray for
you and he said, okay, yeah,that's good, but let me bless
you first.
And we and he took tallies,these things that they put, and
(50:03):
he took tallies and put us atallie to each one of us.
He covered his head and hestarted praying for us in Hebrew
, praying for us in Hebrew, andwe were like in that moment I
(50:24):
lost my mind, like I don't knowwhat's going on here.
I felt the presence of Godfalling over us and we were like
, but I was like I didn't thinkwhat was going on, like it was
unexpected and I didn't know itwas real.
Are they making fun of us?
What is happening?
(50:45):
So, anyway, so he blessed us inHebrew and then we told him we
want to pray for you.
And he said, yeah, pray for me.
So he sit down and he told usthe story that five of his
friends were killed that morningand one of his best friend was
(51:09):
in coma.
And he told us can you pray forhim please?
He was in tears, so we startpray for him, please.
He was in tears, so we startpraying for him and he start oh,
what's this Heavy?
And he start, you know, likeleaning down.
(51:30):
We pray for him.
And then we told him we'regoing to pray for your friend.
And we told him the story ofthe general that asked Jesus for
praying and he healed him.
General that asked Jesus forpraying and he healed him.
(51:53):
And he says and we told him,we're gonna pray for him, but
when you see him, lay hands onhim and he will be healed.
So he stand crying and he left.
He went out out and his brotherAbby he was chubby Abby was
running around and he went tocry.
(52:18):
He's crying.
He lost his oh yeah and he waswalking like this and Melody
told me let's pray for his leg.
He's like maybe he has pain.
So we asked him do you havepain in your leg?
Yes, I have this pain here onmy ankle.
Can we pray for you?
(52:40):
Yes, yes, pray, pray.
He was all that we say.
He say yes, so we pray for himand his leg starts shaking and
then he say, oh, wait, a like nostrength.
He just I don't know the wordlike he just lost his strength
(53:18):
and he woke up and he's sittingin a chair and he put his hands
to you know, lay on the counter,because he didn't have any
strength, he was so weak.
And then he stand and he saywait a minute, something left me
, something left me this side.
He was delivered from demons.
(53:42):
And he start running around thestore saying I'm a new man, I'm
a new man, I'm a new man.
Who are you?
Who are you?
Who are you?
Who took you here?
What are you doing here?
And we were like, no, we cameto bless Israel and his brother,
the rabbi, came into the storeand then he shouted from the far
(54:09):
away who are you?
Who are you?
You came to bless us, you see?
And the word.
We have 45 days of ceasefirenow because you came to bless us
.
Who are you?
And they both keep asking uswho are we?
(54:32):
We know who we are, but theydon't know who we are.
It was like unreal.
So the rabbi came and then hewas telling us about all the
soldiers have been wounded andthis and that.
And I told him you know what,before I came and this is before
(54:55):
my first trip I had a dream.
It was beautiful.
In my dream I am telling him,I'm telling you this dream
because this was key for my trip.
I had a dream in black andwhite and there is a soldier
with his helmet and his uniform,in camouflage, singing a song.
(55:19):
It was a song of love and Ifeel the love of God over me.
I start crying.
I was sleeping.
Love of God over me.
I start crying.
I was sleeping, but I cry, Icry, I cry.
I couldn't handle this love.
And the song, the lyrics of thesoldier's song, was I
understand now why I have thisweapon.
(55:41):
I understand now why you diefor me.
I understand now why you diedfor me.
I'm telling this rabbi my dreamand I told him I feel the call
to come here and pray for thesoldiers, the wounded soldiers,
and he was in shock.
So he said guys, I'm going totell you.
(56:02):
You know, he's veryknowledgeable, he's a rabbi.
I'm going to tell you.
You know he's veryknowledgeable, he's a rabbi.
He said, to reach that levelthat you are telling me, you
need at least 12 years and Idon't know what he's talking
about.
And he sit down and he startteaching us about Kabbalah and
(56:24):
this, the first year you havethis.
The second year you have this,but what you have?
This dream.
So he just came because I toldhim this dream and all the
things that are going on and hesaid I need to bless you more.
(56:44):
And he started praying againfor us, like the glory of God
fall over us.
I fall down crying because theglory of God was so beautiful.
And his brother, avi, run to allthe counters where they keep
(57:07):
the jewelry and he startbringing jewelry put Melody
jewelry, me this.
And he start blowing the shofarLike it was unreal, like I said
what is this?
You know now we are saying whatis this?
So what happened?
(57:30):
We left and then he gave us.
They gave us gifts and giftsTake this, take that.
You came to bless us.
And Avi run I'm a new man, I'ma new man.
I didn't even tell him anything.
It was all Holy Spiritrevelation.
(57:52):
We didn't even talk about Jesus, we pray in the name of Jesus
Christ, but we didn't teachanything.
It was all revelation of theHoly Spirit.
So I'm going to go back to thisstory.
So we left like we were likewhat's going on, melody we?
Jennifer Reding (58:15):
don't know, what happened.
Nolly Mercado (58:17):
Wow, wow, wow.
It's funny because two nightsbefore this happened, I had a
dream, and the dream one of myfriends told me you don't know,
lee, you never will do anythingbecause you don't have covering.
In the dream.
(58:38):
So I woke up and I told MelodyMelody, I had this dream.
Do you think it's God or thedevil?
And she told me oh, I didn'thave covering either.
I didn't tell my pastor that Iwas coming.
I said well, maybe we ask thekings that are in the other room
to cover us because we needcovering.
(59:00):
And we laughed.
It was the enemy.
I felt such an honor this timeto be blessed by a rabbi.
He opened the doors for us tominister to this land.
So we went.
(59:22):
We keep going, our trip.
You know it was everything thatwe did was this way, like the
encounters.
So we went to the north and wecame back the last day.
Ah, the night, I asked her.
You, melody asked me do youthink we can go tomorrow?
(59:45):
I said the Lord told me no,this is untouchable, you don't
touch this.
I said, no, keep going, let'sgo to the north or whatever we
had.
The last day I felt like weshould go and say goodbye.
(01:00:10):
So we went to the store and Aviwas there alone and he said you
know that last night a soldierwas killed here in this street
and nobody is here.
We didn't know.
So we went and he was tellingus that you know, he was heavy
(01:00:33):
because of the situation andeverything.
So this is funny.
So okay, and he asked can youpray for me please?
And we prayed for him again andhe said wow, this has changed
my life.
So, anyways, he told me can youbring me a Bible when you come
back from Canada?
(01:00:54):
I said okay.
So we left, we have somethingto do.
When we came back, we walkedbeside the Bible Society and I
said I'm going to buy the Biblefor Avi.
I bought the Bible.
We have to go back to Avi togive him the Bible.
(01:01:14):
So we walked down.
You know, down, down, down,then come back.
And it was.
The rabbi was there.
And Avi told us pray for himplease.
He's going to the war today andhe's feeling so bad.
(01:01:36):
So okay.
So some people left that werethere, and so we prayed again
and Abbie started running aroundagain I'm a new man, I'm a new
man.
And then we prayed for therabbi and he told us you know
(01:02:01):
what?
My friend was healed.
The one we prayed for my friendwas healed.
The one we prayed for my friendwas healed.
And I, wow.
So he told us that he took allthe bills and he said look, we
have to make those payments.
We have no people since COVIDand this and that.
(01:02:23):
So Melody said let's pray foryour bills to be paid.
So, and Abby told me please prayfor fire so my brother can go
to the war and no pain.
I say, okay.
So they closed the door of thestores because they don't want
(01:02:45):
anyone to know that they arepraying with Christians or
anything.
So they closed the door.
We are here praying.
We took our hands with them andI'll be telling me to pray for
fire.
I said, okay, I'm gonna prayfor fire then.
So we start praying and I say,in the name of Jesus, father,
(01:03:10):
thank you fire.
And he went oh no.
And then I say what happened?
What happened?
Are you okay?
Oh, what's going on?
I said, don't worry, it's okay.
(01:03:33):
Abby had to leave.
He couldn't breathe.
He went and he came back.
Who are you guys?
I'm a new man.
Now I can breathe.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man.
So, anyways, that's part of themain story.
But this lasted each session,like the first session lasted
(01:03:56):
like four hours and this onelike three hours, like it was
Holy Spirit moving, moving.
We didn't know what to do.
We sit down and then they cameCan you do this?
Can you pray?
Who are you?
I'm a new man and they pray forme.
So it was all Holy Spirit.
Like it was so precious, Likethe anointing and the oh my God,
(01:04:23):
it was unbelievable.
We are still in the glory ofGod.
Like you know, like the Lordtold me, the harvest is ready,
that the workers are few, and Ihave seen, like a people, all
(01:04:46):
the tourists left, but all thepeople that have called have
been called are there.
I met several people with thesame journey that I had and we
met there my first trip.
I never had been there, firsttrip.
They felt the call, they wentLike it's unreal what's
(01:05:11):
happening there.
There is no tourists.
We were the only two tourists.
We went to the Garden, tom, andthey didn't want to let us in
because they were closing and wesaid but we are going back
today.
We haven't been here, okay, socome.
And what happened?
Nobody was there and they leftand they left us in the place
(01:05:36):
with the door locked, and now weneed to go.
Where are we going to go?
No people anywhere, so, butthose who are called are there,
know that's so many people and Iwas thinking, you know?
People offer us to govolunteering, picking up fruits
(01:05:58):
or, and we both felt we are.
We didn't come to pick upfruits, you, we came for a
different harvest, so peoplegive their security and
everything for the harvest thatare in the fields, like oranges,
(01:06:18):
avocados, strawberries.
They are risking their life,but we felt like our call was
for the people and I'm tellingyou they are ready.
They are ready.
We don't have to know.
The new generation don't knowanything about the Tenak or the
(01:06:43):
five books or the Torah.
They just need to hear.
They are so hungry, so hungryto hear the gospel.
Yeah, yeah, just wait, justwait.
Jennifer Reding (01:07:04):
I really sense, nolly, you have something to
pray for us, like an impartation.
I might not quite have it right, but I just sense there's
something about, because of whatyou've done, the authority
you've walked in, that we wouldwalk into our assignments, that
we would walk into our HolyGhost assignments and pray where
(01:07:31):
we're supposed to pray or layhands on the sick where we're
supposed to.
If there's something, does thatsit with you?
Could you pray that over us?
That we would step out wherewe're supposed to step out I'm
talking about in this land Maybeit's in our communities, in our
(01:07:51):
schools, in our business world,and maybe it is overseas but we
would step out into ourassignments, that anointing to
speak and pray where we'resupposed to.
Nolly Mercado (01:08:06):
Yes, for sure.
Yeah, I pray that thesechildren that you have here,
father, will know in theirhearts what have you been
(01:08:30):
calling them to go or to do,father, and I pray, father, that
they will respond, even inspite of lack, in spite of fear,
in spite of anything.
Father, you know.
You know what God has calledyou to do.
(01:08:52):
I speak to you right now thatyou will walk in his perfect
will for you, fully obedient, isnot about you.
You have to die to you to beable to walk.
(01:09:27):
God is on the go.
We have been called for hiskingdom, for his king, and I
bless you to be obedient to yourheart.
If you don't go, he cannot go,because he and you are one.
(01:09:54):
You are so unique, so unique,built in such a special way.
All the places that you havebeen, all your hurts, all your
sorrows are needed for this time.
(01:10:16):
Step up and walk, Amen.
Brant Reding (01:10:43):
This is a special moment, right, kairos moment.
Someone sent me this text acouple days ago.
It says this we're on the vergeof breakthrough in this church.
This is a short, intense timeof spiritual transition as a new
(01:11:04):
life is birthed.
I won't read it all.
Do you sense that in your heart, despite your circumstance,
despite what you think?
He is on the move.
I sat with a pastor BritishColumbia oversees hundreds of
churches.
We were talking about an eventthat's coming up potentially and
(01:11:29):
he said I've heard in my spirit, it has begun.
Hundreds of churches.
We were talking about an eventthat's coming up potentially and
he said I've heard in my spirit, it has begun.
It has begun.
If you need context tounderstand what that means,
please talk to me.
I mean, this has been buildingfor so, so long.
Prophetic words, differentplaces Carol Wimber got it years
(01:11:51):
ago because it's something bigand we think of big in terms of
numbers and things like that.
But the bigness is is is thisexample?
So, as tara stands up and andfeels to challenge us in a
positive way to step into yourmission, we've been wondering
well, what's the mission of thecommunity?
Well, or it's pretty clear, butwhat's your mission?
(01:12:12):
How does that fit?
And as we respond to that,despite fear, despite the
circumstances, despite it's not.
When I think of your journey,tara, and yours, nali, and all
these coffees we've had over theyears, you know this would have
been unimaginable.
You would not have seen acurriculum doing this thing in
(01:12:34):
Sierra Leone.
You wouldn't be having thesestories if there had been no
movement.
But you had to step into thetrusting of the Spirit's leading
.
Not that it's so secure and soclear and so lined up and I get
all the money first and geteverything in my life lined up
perfectly.
It's this wonderful step offaith that is in trust and as
(01:12:59):
challenging.
We're listening to this storyand we're going.
I'm excited about Albert is hisname Avi running around.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man.
I'm a new man, and this rabbithat is so steadied up in the
grace of God hits him becauseyou were there, because you know
they were there, and all wehave to do is we just have to
(01:13:21):
show up.
It's not about what we know,right.
So get ready, father, I justpray.
Protection over all of us.
This spiritual transition thatyou're taking us through I don't
know how long or what it lookslike.
But would you prepare us foreven those that are not here
have not heard this thisstirring has been going on in so
many hearts that for such atime as this we wouldn't have
(01:13:45):
had all these years of historyof the setting up.
The way Tara was mentioning thisinheritance a heritage in a
sense of going in this kind ofyouthful enthusiasm.
That would just go well, let'sgo.
We would go for the adventure,get on the plane.
We didn't care if we were inthe cattle car in first class.
It was like, yes, we're stuffedin here.
(01:14:07):
Get to share the gospel withthe person beside us on the
plane.
Maybe you know Sometimes thatone time we went the plane was
empty.
Remember we got to sleep onseats.
We had like six seats toourselves and you're going.
The adventure is so stimulating.
But now you start to see thegospel, the life of God.
Now you start to see the gospel, the life of God, that what you
(01:14:29):
try to put into words isimpartation of him coming
through us and all of us can bein that.
Amen, amen.
I mean I know we've got to getgoing for the Shanklin girls
because they're about to go on amission End of March, whole
family Year long.
And what a good way to start.
Get baptized for the Shanklingirls because they're about to
go on a mission end of March,whole family year long.
(01:14:49):
And what a good way to start.
Get baptized.
And John Hutch used to say Brent, I believe.
I believe when people go underthe water, I, we can believe
that they, they are dying tothat part of their flesh and
their fear and everything aboutthemselves, that they will not
just get water baptized, they'llcome out of the water full of
(01:15:12):
his spirit.
They may not even know it, theymay not even have words for it,
but boy, he's more than willingto infill us.
This morning I woke up andremembered what John used to
teach, that verb tense ask andkeep on asking, knock and keep
on knocking, seek and keep onseeking More of your spirit,
(01:15:34):
more of you in us, through us.
Amen, father, we're just, we'rehumbly excited, scared.
It's like you're inviting us tostep onto a plane to go to
dangerous places.
And dangerous is not justphysical danger.
This danger is going to theexternals of our comfort zones
(01:15:55):
that we just don't want to gothrough.
This kind of day in, day out,just making it by Father for the
generation that's under the ageof 20 in this room and those
who are connected.
God, the spirit, this, thisinheritance, protect it, protect
it for its fire.
I thought you're going to do ithere and we'd be here for the
(01:16:20):
rest of the day, but I, ifyou're into this, I, I just
sense, I just submit it to usand those that are praying for
this community, in that sensethat I see a day coming very
soon or maybe it's here, maybeit's somewhere else, but we take
three or four hours and wepress in, we wait, we listen and
(01:16:42):
we let words come and let himdo what he wants to do in us, to
prepare us for whatever that is.
That would be a very differentthing.
Hey, let's come for an hour anda half on a Sunday and get a
message it would become ready toreceive.
And I love what Tara said thismorning Don't go with something
in your head that you're goingto give, something You're going
(01:17:02):
to receive.
That blessing you got from therabbi, like, just comes right
back at him.
In the same way you give, sameway you receive.
It'll come out of you.
Press down, flowing over.
It's amazing, amen.
We can keep going, you know,but we got time for you.
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