April 7, 2025 • 52 mins
What happens when God disrupts your vision and redirects your focus to places no one wants to go? Mark and Dalene Good share their remarkable 30-year journey as missionaries, from Bangladesh to France and now to the overlooked Benelux region of Europe.
These veteran church planters take us through a spiritual eye exam, challenging us to develop the three dimensions of spiritual vision: eyesight (seeing what God sees), insight (feeling what God feels), and foresight (knowing what to do about it). Through powerful stories like Clara, a trafficked woman who experienced God's intervention when a client tried to strangle her, and Julie, a skeptical French student who eventually asked to study the Bible, we glimpse the spiritual hunger beneath Europe's secular exterior.
The spiritual crisis in Europe is more severe than most realize. In France, where secularism was born, faith in God has been replaced with faith in self, leading to epidemic levels of mental health struggles. "We were never designed to be God," Mark explains. "We were never designed to wear the weight of having to be God in our lives, and it's literally crushing people to death." In Luxembourg, merely 0.25% of the population knows Jesus, while Belgium's Dutch-speaking region has only 40 small churches averaging 15 people each, mostly led by aging pastors with no successors.
This message parallels Paul's vision in Acts 16, where a Macedonian man begged him to "come over and help us." Just as Macedonia was an overlooked military buffer zone in Paul's day, Benelux occupies a similar position today – overrun in wars, not a destination anyone chooses, yet desperately in need of the gospel. If we could hear Europeans' spiritual cry, Mark suggests, it would be "an SOS with two exclamation points."
What barriers is God asking you to cross? Whether it's praying more intentionally for unreached peoples, giving sacrificially to missions, or stepping out in faith to share Christ with a neighbor, the Goods' testimony reminds us that when we obey God's redirections, He provides everything we need for the journey.
Cornerstone
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/
Follow Jesus
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/follow-jesus
Life Groups
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/life-groups
Giving
https://cornerstoneaz.churchcenter.com/giving
Church Center App - Download then add Cornerstone Christian Center in Avondale, AZ
iOS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-church-center/id1357742931?mt=8&ls=1&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ministrycentered.churchcenter
----
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cornerstoneaz
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/cornerstoneaz.org
Twitter
https://twitter.com/cornerstoneaz.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen.
Kingdom Builders is exciting aswe continue today with that
message.
Do you see the little Easteregg in that video?
Two little kids by the pyramids.
Do you see those guys in there?
They look shockingly familiarif you think about it.
Hey, today we're excited tocontinue in our Kingdom Builders
series.
We have some heroes of ours,longtime friends of ours, in
Mark and Dailene Good.
(00:21):
Mark and Dailene are pastors.
They've served as pastors inthe US and abroad.
They've been church planters.
They've been people who haveseen and established ministries
that have a future.
They've done training teams,all sorts of amazing things.
When I first encountered them, Idid so from our church, as we
supported them as missionariesto Bangladesh.
Little did I know that myfuture wife would actually go
(00:43):
and serve with them inBangladesh and get a chance to
partner alongside of them.
Also, as Celeste and I went toEurope and started serving in
France, we didn't know, but Godwas working on their hearts and
actually moved them to Europe aswell.
We got to serve alongside themand see all that God is doing
firsthand.
And it's amazing to see eventoday as they've taken even a
(01:04):
further step into leadership tobe all over all of Western
Europe for Assemblies of God,world missions, how God is still
using them on the forefront ofwhat he wants to do.
Saying yes to God even whenit's not comfortable to go and
do the next thing, so that allmay know the love of Christ.
Friends, I'm going to ask youto welcome today Mark and
Dalyene Good as they come today.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, it's such an honor to be with you.
We're so thankful for PastorRich and Pastor Cindy for their
kindness to us.
They knew me when I was youngand they have been so very kind
and encouraging.
They took us on.
You guys took us on as a churchover 30 years ago and we are so
(01:53):
grateful, and we have beenserving in Bangladesh for 14
years and then, as Pastor Jaysaid, and then, as Pastor Jay
said, we've been serving now inFrance for 15 years.
As Pastor Jay mentioned, we gotto serve alongside of them and
(02:28):
I just want to say that youcould be so very, very proud of
your pastors, pastor Celeste andPastor Jay, who walked with
great integrity in the smallthings, in the small decisions
and how they served with openhearts in Bangladesh, in France
and in Egypt.
They both lived with integrityand lived sacrificially on the
field, and I also want to thankJaven and Shiloh and Amelia if
she's in the room because youguys were excellent MKs.
We get to see a lot of MKs andI just want to say that you guys
(02:52):
served really well and we'rethankful for your investment and
all that the Lord did throughyou.
So I wanted to share a storywith you.
Our friends and colleagues hadstarted a ministry to trafficked
women in Grenoble and then Godcalled them elsewhere.
So I was leading the ministry.
(03:13):
One night we were out and wewalked up to a new woman.
It was at night.
We would go out and we wouldoffer warm drinks it's usually
cold in Grenoble and a snack,and then we would get to know
the ladies and to pray with themand to connect them with
different services that thegovernment could provide and
(03:36):
also invite them to church.
So we walked up to a new womanI'll call her Clara.
She was Roma, which is kind ofa PC term for gypsy it would be
the old way of calling thatpeople group.
And as we walked up to her shewas pretty guarded at first and
(03:58):
we started to say we were from achurch, the refuge, and that we
just felt like God wanted toshow his love and was there
anything that we could pray for?
And she pretty soon got prettyteary-eyed, which is unusual.
Especially it takes usuallyseveral months of connecting
with the ladies before they'llusually let down their guard
even a little bit.
(04:19):
But she said oh, I know, I knowwhat you're doing, I know who
you're with.
And she said just God has sentyou here.
Just a couple months ago I waspregnant and I was with a client
, and the client got upset withme and so he started to strangle
(04:41):
me, put his hands around mythroat and started to strangle
me.
And so he started to strangleme, put his hands around my
throat and started to strangleme.
And I just want to say thiswoman, clary, it's her husband
who sends her out to work on thestreets, but that's the nature
of their culture, anyways.
So this client, she said, hehad his arms around my throat,
(05:02):
he was angry at me, he wasyelling at me and I started to
feel like I was about to passout.
And I said, god, I know that Idon't deserve anything, but this
baby deserves to live.
Will you help me?
And she said at that moment,the guy let go and left the room
and I survived.
And she said so, I know what itis.
(05:24):
She said I know.
And so we talked to her a littlebit more.
We were inviting her.
We said it's just down thestreet here.
If you want to come to refuge,we will love you and we will
accept you.
And she said well, I just wantto get my life together.
I can't dress like this and Iwant to get some things in order
.
And I said to her Clara, goddoesn't want you to try and get
(05:50):
yourself together and then cometo him.
Jesus came because none of uscan get our lives together.
We all need him and he wants tocome in the middle of now and he
wants to meet you and walk withyou towards change.
And I wanted to share that storywith you this morning because,
for all of us, whether we'vebeen raised in church all of our
(06:12):
lives or whether maybe we don'tknow Jesus yet, his invitation,
jesus's invitation to each ofus is always come now as you are
, and I will bring healing and Iwill bring restoration and I
will enable you to change that.
We do not have to be tireddisciples who are trying to
(06:36):
somehow change ourselves,project self and make us better,
but Jesus wants to come in themiddle of our moment today and
meet us and help us to walk outof whatever is gripping our
hearts and our lives.
He loves us and he's able Amen.
We're just going to watch avideo that shows a little bit of
(06:56):
what we do.
Hi, this is Darlene and MarkGood, and we have been serving
in Grenoble for the past 14years.
When God first called us here,we were able to plant a student
ministry on the universitycampus, and from there we were
(07:17):
able to plant a bilingual church.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
One of the great privileges for us was to have
established a training hub herein Grenoble.
For us was to establish atraining hub here in Grenoble
and we received short-termworkers and those that have a
longer-term call to France tolearn language and culture and
missionary competencies and thento be mobilized out to join
other church planning teams inthe nation of France.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
The Lord opened up a new opportunity for us to serve
as area directors for WesternEurope.
The nations in Western Europeare France, the Netherlands,
belgium, luxembourg and Monaco.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
The Lord's really put it on our heart to now move our
focus to the area of Benelux.
One of the predominantcountries in Benelux is the
country of Belgium, and this isa place where we face some real
difficulties in gettingmissionary visas, as well as in
Luxembourg.
It's financially unsustainableand it's difficult to get
approvals.
So we're just put on our heartto establish some training hubs
(08:10):
at the borders of Belgium.
In the northeast corner ofFrance there's a city, in
Longueuil, which is 15 minutesfrom the Luxembourg border and
about the same distance from theBelgian border, and we're going
to establish a team there thatwill go into these areas and
will help to establish churchplanning teams.
We also want to establish atraining hub in the city of
Tilburg, netherlands, that canreach into the nation of
(08:31):
Flanders and help in churchplanning efforts there.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Flanders is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
It has 7 million people that'sabout 60% of the Belgian
population, and there are only40 or so some of the churches in
that part of Belgium, and eachchurch averages about 15 people
as well.
The pastors are nearingretirement age and we don't have
any young Belgian pastors thatare in the mix to come up and to
(08:57):
take those churches, so therereally is an urgent need for
renewal amongst church plantingin Flanders.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And you know, we could also highlight the need in
the nation of Luxembourg, thissmall nation that has an
outsized influence on the restof Europe.
One quarter of one percent ofLuxembourgers know Jesus
personally, and it's consideredto be social suicide to even
become an evangelical believeror to join a church, so there's
a great need for church planningin this nation.
(09:27):
We haven't had any personnelthere for the last 16 years.
These are places that have notbeen destinations for people.
Even in the wars they wereplaces that were overrun.
If people tried to getsomewhere else to London, to
Amsterdam, to Paris and you know, because they've never been
anybody's destination, theybecome a spiritual desolation
(09:52):
and we're asking God that hewould put these places as
destinations for missions onpeople's hearts, so that we can
see the tide turned and Jesusglorified and people come to
Christ and the church flourishand the kingdom of God advance.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We're excited to get back to this region of the world
, to Benelux.
That we feel like has a hugeimpact not only on our area but
on Europe as a whole, and we'reasking God to raise up a new
generation of workers that willcome and be trained how to love
secular people and how to plantthe church in Benelux life.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
So good morning, cornerstone.
It's wonderful to have a namelike Cornerstone, because that's
what you were to us, acornerstone of our financial
prayer partnership, as you firstsent us out 30 years ago.
Continue to be that for us.
For those of you who had to goSiri, where is Benelux?
We don't know where it is.
Don't worry, we're going totalk a little bit about what
that means.
But, man, we're so grateful foryour prayers.
(10:53):
I want to encourage you that,as you invest in praying for
nations, what God can do, as youhave gotten behind us the last
15 years we've been in Francehave gotten behind us.
The last 15 years we've been inFrance.
We're seeing some amazingthings happen.
We were at a conference just anumber of months ago and it was
aged 18 to 30-year-olds acrossFrance in our Assembly of God
(11:16):
churches.
There were 6,500 that came tothat conference and a challenge
was given, because theAssemblies of God in France has
a vision to plant a thousandchurches in the next 10 years,
and so they know they need theseyoung people to be involved.
And they gave the challenge andsaid all of you who feel like
God is speaking to you, to giveyour life and your future to
(11:36):
plant the church in France,1,500 came and bowed at the
altars to give themselves tothat cause.
That just doesn't happen exceptwhen we pray for God to move,
and God is moving in France.
And so just don't doubt at allthat when you invest in prayer
on a Sunday, when maybe amissionary's photo is put on the
(11:58):
screen, and we pray for Franceor another nation across the
world, god listens and he takesthose prayers and invests them
in transformation and change,wherever he's at.
So thank you so much for that.
It's great to be here.
Thank you, pastor, jay andCeleste, for your friendship and
for the ability to be here.
We're the goods.
If you've not been here beforeand or met us before, people say
(12:21):
I don't know your last name andI'll say, good, and I don't
make too many friends that way,but I know you're friends
because you guys are partneringwith us.
But people will also askthey'll say, hey, how is the
radiation in Grenoble?
And we'll say, well, with ourbest glowing smile we'll say,
(12:44):
well, that's actually Chernobyl,but Chernobyl's pretty good.
But you know what?
I know that we'regeographically challenged and I
would just venture to say thatour greatest obstacle in the
church and as believers, is notgeography, it really is
optometry.
And I'm going to talk thismorning about our vision and
(13:04):
what God wants to speak to usabout our vision.
You know we're getting older.
I just had a birthday, I justturned 60 not too long ago and
you know, dean and I talk aboutour changing bodies and she said
I can't read the words on theshampoo bottle anymore and I'm
like that's nothing.
I was stopped at anintersection and waited for 15
(13:24):
minutes for a hedgehog to crossthe road before I realized it
was a pine cone.
So you know, the reason why weare here today and we're
focusing once again on thisthird week of Kingdom Builders
Sunday is because somethinghappens to our vision and we
need to be reminded to seethings more clearly that maybe
(13:45):
have gotten out of focus, or theLord really wants us to see and
to understand, and that's whywe're here today.
And the Lord was needing tochange Paul's vision at one
moment in his ministry and Iwant to talk about that as we
begin the sermon this morning.
But it's found in Acts, chapter16, verse 9.
And it says During the night,paul had a vision of a man of
(14:10):
Macedonia standing and begginghim come over to Macedonia and
help us, and after Paul had seenthe vision, we got ready at
once to leave for Macedonia,concluding that God had called
us to preach the gospel to them.
So I want to invite you on ajourney this is the journey that
(14:31):
Darlene and I are on that'svery similar to what God was
doing in Paul's life, and maybethat you join us as partners in
this ministry, that you wouldalso allow God to maybe change
your vision and help him, tohelp you to see what he wants
you to see.
So we're going to have a littlespiritual eye exam.
Don't worry, I'm not going toblow air in your eyeballs or
(14:54):
make you say you know A or B, aor B, which do you see?
No, we're not going to do thatthis morning, but we want to
talk about three kinds of visionEyesight, insight and foresight
.
So the first thing we're goingto talk about is eyesight, and
the question is are we seeingwhat God wants us to see?
(15:15):
I got a call just a few monthsago from a man named Vincent
Vincent in English, but he's aFrench guy and he told me his
story.
He said the reason I'm callingyou Mark is I got your name from
a friend at my church and Iknow you're a missionary in
France.
And he said I came here toAmerica when I was 24 years old.
(15:36):
I was raised in an atheist home, I'd never been in church, I'd
never heard about Jesus myentire life.
And he said I found myself in acollege group, a Chi Alpha
group in Washington DC.
And he said and I ended upgiving my life to Jesus.
Since that time I've gottenmarried, I joined a church, I've
got a ministry where he worksfor United Airlines.
(15:57):
He said I have a veryfulfilling life.
But he said the Lord's beenspeaking to me and showing me
and reminding me of what it waslike back when I grew up in
France.
And he said the Lord's beenspeaking to me and showing me
and reminding me of what it waslike back when I grew up in
France.
And he said here in Washington.
He said I can walk out of mydoor in the suburb that I live
in and walk down almost anystreet and I'll probably find a
church on some corner.
He said there's radio stations,there's bookstores.
(16:21):
He said the gospel can beaccessed everywhere.
But he said back where I grew upin northern France.
He said I never met oneChristian.
I didn't know there was achurch.
And he said the Lord isconvicting me that I've got to
go back to France.
He said, mark, I'm in my 50s,my kids are out of the house.
I don't want to go back.
That's the last thing I reallywant, he said, because I love my
(16:42):
life here but I can't escapethe fact that all of my people
back home, they don't have thesame opportunity.
You know a great missiologistpastor named Oswald Smith.
He said years ago.
He made this bold statement.
He said none of us have theright to hear the gospel twice
until everyone has heard it atleast once.
(17:04):
And the reason why he was ableto make that statement was
because he understood thecharacter of God, that God is
just and fair and he loveseveryone the same.
But he also knows that God saidin his word that he wants all
men to be safe.
He wants them all and to cometo knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So because God is fair and heloves them all, that means that
(17:27):
he's fair with his opportunities.
And so in our world, wherethere are places without access,
these are the places that Godis looking at, that God is
seeing and he wants us to seewhat he sees.
And this is what God was doingin Paul's life.
He was showing him, and youknow what?
Paul was doing good things Atthis moment in his ministry.
He was going church to church,to the churches that he had
(17:50):
planted and turned over to otherpastors, and he was having a
fulfilling ministry.
His ministry was a ragingsuccess, and it wasn't that he
was doing bad things or wrongthings, but God was saying Paul,
you're not doing strategicthings.
Why?
Because what he was doing, ifyou read earlier in the passage,
in verse 4 and 5, it says asthey traveled from town to town,
they delivered the decisionsreached by the apostles in
(18:12):
Jerusalem about things like foodsacrifice to idols or
circumcision, or should we eatblood?
Or what about the gospel to theGentiles?
And so Paul was faithfullygoing around correcting problems
of practice among the churches,which was an important thing.
He was teaching and all of that.
But the Lord was saying Paul, Iwant to open your eyes to not
(18:34):
just the problems of practice,but the problems of presence.
There's this place calledMacedonia, where they do not
have access to my name.
They've never heard my name.
Macedonia was a military bufferzone.
It was a piece of land that,basically, was there under Roman
control in order to keep hisenemies further away from them
(18:55):
as possible, but it had no otherstrategic purpose.
No one went to Macedonia forany strategy.
And you know what?
Benelux, where the Lord hascalled us to, is exactly the
same.
It is a military buffer zonethat's been overrun in times of
war.
No one goes to it, no one knowsabout it, no one cares about it
.
And the Lord spoke to Darleneand I, just like he spoke to
(19:18):
Paul, and said Darlene and Mark,I want you to lift your eyes
from the important things thatyou're doing in France and I
want you to use your voice andyour role about a people that
you have not seen, but I wantyou to take a look at.
They've been overlooked, butI'm looking over them and I want
you to see what I see.
And so for you this morning.
You know, as you've heard thesemessages, these last few weeks,
(19:42):
you may have been carrying inhere your own burdens of things
that are super important, thingsthat are on your agenda, that
are weighing on you.
It could be just trying to payyour mortgage or raise your kids
in this culture.
It could be taking care of sickparents.
It could be just trying to makeends meet, you might be dealing
with medical problems, or therecould be a care of sick parents
(20:02):
, it could be just trying tomake ends meet, you might be
dealing with medical problems,or there could be a host of
things that you're carrying andit's so hard in those moments
when our needs seem to be sogreat in our eyes and taking up
and dominating our focus, tocome and to hear a missionary
talk about an area of the worldthat you know we could really
all maybe care less about.
But here's my challenge to youthis morning is, in the same way
(20:23):
that our eyes were focused onand Paul's eyes were focused on,
some important things, the Lordsaid now it's time to shift
your focus to something I wantyou to see.
And would you be open thismorning to say, lord, will you
show me anything that you wantme to begin to see and to
envision and to put my focus onthat are strategic in your eyes?
(20:44):
That's what it's like to befocused on.
So Paul received a new vision.
You know this happens at day,night and day.
Paul's first vision was on theroad to Damascus and Jesus
appeared to him and changed andrevolutionized the direction of
his life.
His second vision was to showhim a vision of heaven and he
(21:05):
went out after that vision andwent to Arabia and was there
schooled and instructed by Godfor his future ministry as an
apostle.
And now, a third time, he seesa new vision to change his
direction even again.
And I can't help but think how,for D'Aline's and my life, that
was where we are at, when thefirst time that we got a vision
(21:26):
of something was when amissionary to Bangladesh came to
my church when I was nine yearsold and I saw the slides of the
civil war in Bangladesh in theearly 70s and the Lord touched
my heart as I saw that need andI gave my life to go to
Bangladesh.
And the same missionary came toDalene's church that same year.
We lived 400 miles apart anddidn't know each other until we
(21:49):
got to Bible school and realizedthrough the same missionary's
ministry that we were called toBangladesh.
So we thought that we would gothere for the rest of our lives
and that's where Pastor Celestemet up with us and we served
together there.
And then we were invited to goto Europe to teach a course on
reaching Muslim students.
And while we were there at thisseminary, where a conference
(22:12):
was held during the summer, inour class was a man who was a
school teacher.
He was French, but he wasteaching way down in the Indian
Ocean Basin, in Reunion Islands.
He'd come all that distance totake our course and he was gonna
go back.
And at the end of the course wetook a time of prayer where we
were praying for each other andhe had the boldness to.
As he laid hands on us, he felthe had a word for us and he
(22:36):
said Mark and Deline, I don'tknow how to say this, but what I
get is this picture of you guystrapped in a spider's web and
it's going to be very, verydangerous and difficult, but
God's going to deliver you andit's going to be followed by
green pastures.
Well, have you ever wanted totake half of a word from God
where you just said, well, yeah,I like raise your hand?
Have you ever wanted to justsay nah?
(22:56):
We didn't know what it meant.
We left there and God gave methis dream about Grenoble,
france, and we were going toleave Bangladesh and go to
Grenoble, and it was like how inthe world.
We went back to Bangladesh andwhat we didn't know was that the
church planting school that wehad established had been
infiltrated by an Al-Qaedaterrorist.
(23:17):
But it was revealed in a dream.
I had a dream about this youngman had a beard and then
suddenly he changed and hemorphs and his eyes change and
he's looking at me very angryand with hate in his eyes, and
he changes back and it's thisyoung man that's in our school
and we love him.
His name's Shafiq, and I can'tmake sense of it.
And then I wake up from thedream and when I go down to
(23:39):
confront Shafiq, he confessesand he says I'm not who you
think I am.
We were plotting to destroythis place and to kill everyone
here, but he said I was visitingmy grandfather.
I told you I was visiting mygrandfather in the hospital, but
I wasn't.
I was visiting my leader and Iwas calling off this attack
because I know you're notenemies of Islam and man.
(23:59):
Our life was just thrown intoturmoil and we're like this is
the spider's web and maybeFrance is green pastures, and we
fasted and prayed and Godchanged the direction of our
life.
So we stepped out and we wentto France.
And now, 15 years later, anothervision, another dream, another
focus to say I'm calling you toa people that you had no idea
(24:23):
about and I want you to go there.
So this is where God has us,where he wants to change our
eyesight and help us to see.
And for you, you know, what isit that God may want in you to
see?
I mean, it could be that he'sspeaking to you about a nation.
You've had differentmissionaries from Thailand and
from other parts of Europe comethrough and you've seen some
(24:44):
videos and it could be.
The Lord is calling you, but formost of us, he wants to talk to
us about what we're not seeing.
Right here in Avondale, righthere in the valley, wherever
we're at.
It could be a vision of someonethat's just in the cubicle next
to us at work.
It could be of our neighboracross the street.
It could be a vision of someonethat's just in the cubicle next
to us at work.
It could be of our neighboracross the street.
(25:04):
It could be of a family memberwho we have just thought.
You know they're so hard andfar away and are least likely to
accept Jesus.
You know he wants maybe toshare your faith, to reach out,
to try to witness or to showcompassion.
He may be speaking to you aboutthat.
I just want to encourage youthat oftentimes we don't see
(25:25):
what God sees.
We need to trust, like Nestor,who came into our church and he
was a refugee from Venezuela.
He was trying to get intouniversity but didn't have any
money, had no means, and as hecame to our church that we had
planted right next to theuniversity and invited by a
friend, he ended up acceptingJesus and then he got into
(25:46):
university and he had hisdoctorate in robotics.
And today Nestor, as a citizenof France, is working for a
company and he has a Bible studyin his home, where God has
gifted him with this ability,with apologetics, and he
explains the gospel to some ofthe most scientific, doubting
(26:11):
minds of our city.
And you and I would have lookedright past Nestor, not seeing
him to be strategic or someonethat God would use in that way,
but God saw and we need to askGod to help us.
Lord, help me to see what yousee.
The second thing that he wantsto correct about our vision is
(26:31):
our insight.
He wants to give us insight,not just what you can see, but
can you feel what God feelsabout, what he wants you to see.
This is what was happening toPaul.
In verse nine it says a man ofMacedonia was standing and
begging him.
This word beg comes from boiteoin the Greek it's a military
term.
It's not just please, it's apleading, it's like an SOS with
(26:54):
two exclamation marks in theGreek language.
Basically, this man was arepresentation of a spiritual
need in Macedonia and he was notjust begging, he was pleading.
Literally, he was saying it'surgent, you've got to come, it's
desperate, please come and helpus.
And this is something not justthat Paul saw, but he felt the
(27:15):
urgency of this need and thatwas compelling him to come to
the rescue.
You know there's so many needsin our world, in the Ukraine, in
Israel, in Gaza, you know inother places where there are
conflicts going on, wherethere's been earthquakes and
rubble, in Thailand and inMyanmar and you know we see it
(27:37):
on the screens and so oftenthere's so many needs that our
heart can't have compassion forat all.
How do you determine where thepriorities of needs are?
Well, I want to talk to youabout the need in Europe.
The need in Europe is, youmight think well, years ago,
centuries ago, europe alreadyhad the gospel, yeah, but so did
(27:58):
places like Syria and NorthAfrica, which were the places of
the early church, places likeAlexandria, egypt, where the
Browns were.
You know, it doesn't matterthat they had the gospel, it's
just what's going on right now,where there's lack of access and
the Lord was showing us andwanted us to feel what the
(28:19):
Europeans feel, what Frenchpeople feel.
We knew there was a need, weknew he was calling us, we went
and he showed us, but it wasn'tuntil we started sitting around
the table with French people andhearing their fears and their
dreams and their doubts andtheir hurts and their
bitternesses, just like Katie,who was working with us on our
team and she used to work withChi Alpha in Louisiana and she
(28:40):
became a student to reachstudents in France and she's in
her 30s, but she had to learn anew language.
You know Gen Z speaks a newlanguage.
You know that, don't you?
They talk in slang and stuff wedon't understand, and so she
was learning their language,dressing like them and inviting
them into her apartment, and shespent a year with a young girl
(29:02):
named Julie.
Julie was one of the many thatshe was inviting into her home.
But Julie knew that Katie was abeliever, a Christ follower, and
she said to her from the verybeginning Katie, I don't believe
in your Bible, don't invite meto church.
I will never, ever believe inthe God you believe in, so don't
even try.
But Katie just kept lovingJulie, inviting her in, and over
(29:24):
coffee and over meals and onhikes, she began to listen and
to feel what it was like to growup as Julie in France and
understand where she was comingfrom and to hear her heart.
And through that process ofbeing able to feel what Julie
felt and understand Julie, thatit was just a few weeks ago that
(29:46):
Julie called up Katie and saidKatie, let's go on a hike, bring
your Bible, because I want tostudy it with you and if I'm
ever going to become a Christian, I want to become one just like
you.
There's something about when wetake time to feel what God feels
about the people around us thatmakes a difference in their
life.
And so, as we look at Benelux,you know, I remember when there
(30:14):
was a young woman in France whoshe had been suicidal, and her
roommate asked if we would talkto her.
And so we did, and I remember,as she sat there at the cafe,
she positioned herself outsideso that she could run at any
moment in case it got too weirdfor her to be around these two
pastors.
And as we talked to her, westarted to try to give her a
(30:40):
Bible and talk to her aboutchurch and all Well.
We found out later that she hadtaken another attempt on her
life, so we went to visit her inthe psychiatric hospital of
Grenoble.
We thought we were going to abuilding, but what we ended up
going to was a compound, and inthis compound there were
building after building afterbuilding, four stories high, all
of them full of people thatwere the worst of the worst
(31:01):
cases of psychosis harm to selfand others, observation having
to be restrained, and it wasjust.
It was rife with people and wewere like, oh God, in this one
city there's this many peoplethat are under this effect.
And here's what happened.
France is one of the largestconsumers of psychotropic drugs
(31:23):
to treat mental illness inEurope, and what France did was,
a couple hundred years ago,they kicked God out of the
country and they said we wantnothing more to do with God,
nothing more to do with religion.
And when you and they replacedGod with self.
Basically, reason is God.
That's the enlightenment.
France is ground zero for thesecular movement that replaces
(31:47):
faith in God with just trustingyourself.
And that's all you can trustjust me.
All I've got is me.
All I believe in is me.
And it's literally crushingpeople.
They can't bear the weight.
We were never designed to beGod.
We were never designed to wearthe weight of having to be God
in our lives, and it's literallycrushing people to death.
(32:09):
And if we could hear a Europeansay, come over, they wouldn't be
saying hey, hey, come on,there's a need here too.
It would be an SOS with twoexclamation marks Please, you've
got to come.
It's desperate.
We don't know what to do.
We're about to lose all of ourhope, and many of them don't
have access to a church.
They don't have access to abeliever.
(32:30):
They don't know someone whoknows someone, who knows someone
who even has the audacity tobelieve that God even exists,
let alone believe in Jesus.
And if we could hear and feeltheir call, it would be please
come and help us.
And the last part of our visionthat the Lord wants to correct
(32:51):
maybe this morning, is foresight, the ability to know what to do
about what we see.
And the question for us thismorning is will we step across
the barriers?
In verse 10, it says the man ofMacedonia said come over.
So we got ready at once toleave for Macedonia.
Concluding See, here's thething they heard this invitation
(33:17):
and they concluded they made adecision that God had called
them to do something about it.
God had not only opened Paul'seyes and touched his heart, but
Paul knew that.
Now, as a result, I have tomove my feet and I've got to
take a step and do somethingabout it.
This is foresight knowing whatwe're called to do, looking at
(33:40):
all the good that I could givemy time, attention and invest my
finances in, and realize thereare some things that are not
just good but they're urgent andthey're critical.
When my dad was dying of cancer,we were missionaries in
Bangladesh and we knew that hehad cancer was terminal.
We were trying to keep a pulseon how he was doing and we
finally rushed home because weknew he was getting bad.
(34:01):
When I first walked into theroom where he was, he was on
oxygen and he was skin and bonesand he was weak and we had a
number of moments of reunion.
And it wasn't long before mydad kind of sheepishly said,
mark, I don't know how to askyou this.
But he said there's just somethings around the property ask
(34:24):
you this.
But he said there's just somethings around the property and
in my personal affairs that Idon't have the strength to do
and your mom doesn't know how todo them.
And he said I got a list.
Would you be willing to help me?
And I said, dad, absolutely,and it'd be the joy of my life
to help you.
I mean the least I could do,give me the list.
And the Lord reminded me ofwhat it was like when I was a
(34:46):
teenager, growing up, on aSaturday morning, when my dad
had a list and said, mark, Iwant you to do, I want you to
wash the car, I want you to mowthe lawn.
I want and I want you to knowat that moment't, dad, it'd be
the joy of my life Give me thelist.
What was the difference?
The difference was time wasgetting short and there was
(35:09):
something weighing on the heartof my father.
And I think that if we wouldpause this morning and realize
that it's not just aboutstatistics and needs or, you
know, challenges and all thatwe've heard.
But this morning, if we wouldlisten and listen to the heart
of our Father, is that time isgetting short and as we go
(35:34):
further and further into time,when he's going to return more
and more, there's going to beone strategic thing that weighs
on His heart the most, more andmore.
There's going to be onestrategic thing that weighs on
his heart the most and that isnot he loves us, but we're in
the fold.
If you know Jesus, you're his,but there are so many that have
not yet heard, so many who don'tyet know, and that weighs on
his heart, and that weighs onhis heart and he wants us to, to
(35:56):
, to, to, to, to seize ourhearts.
And so this morning, just asPaul was asked to step across,
literally it says come over.
It literally means to step overa border or to push through a
barrier.
And so, as Paul got this visionof Macedonia, he was in Troas
and there's a body of waterbetween him and Macedonia.
(36:19):
This is Europe.
It was his first opportunity togo.
No one was going to Europe.
Europe was not strategic atthat time.
In order for him to obey, hehad to cross a border, maybe
face some Roman officials andexplain why he was trying to get
into that country and he had toovercome.
And for you and I, for us tooften do what God wants us to do
(36:41):
, whether it's to pray and to bemore of an intercessor for the
nations and the needs ofmissionaries and the needs of
nations, it may be to go wherewe have to, like, apply for a
passport, and we have to, youknow, raise money and we have to
take that step of faith andlead family, like many
missionaries do.
It might be that our part is togive, our part is to invest our
(37:06):
finances and for many of us,there's a barrier there.
The barrier would be you know,I've got a budget, I've got
limitations.
You know the things that havehappened in the past few days
with the stock market, theinsecurity of what's going on
around, real barriers that mightbe there and the Lord is saying
(37:27):
listen, I want you to stepacross the barriers and trust me
, because if you will, I'llsupply, I will provide for you,
I'll be there, I'll back you up.
I want to encourage you withthis story as we close.
Remember the school teacher fromReunion Islands who had a word
for us Spider's web.
Well, he went back to ReunionIslands, to his wife, who was
Reunion A's, and he said I think, as I spent time at that
(37:52):
conference, the Lord was callingme into full-time ministry.
I'm supposed to leave my job asschool teacher, we're supposed
to go to Brussels to that veryseminary and I'm supposed to
study there.
And his wife's first responsewas you're crazy.
All she could see were thebarriers and the borders they
would have to cross and thelines they'd have to step across
(38:12):
and the obstacles that werethere.
She said you know what?
We can't afford it.
I'll never get a visa.
They don't just hand out visasto me like that.
You're French but I'm not.
And we got kids and a career,and what are you talking about?
But as they prayed together,she felt convinced as well.
The Lord was calling them, andso they stepped out in faith and
(38:36):
as they did, and they crossedthat border into Belgium.
Do you know what God did?
God paid all their tuition, godgave them a car, god gave them
favor, god helped them to studyand he graduated with his degree
, became a pastor and the churchhe went to where he was the
assistant pastor.
It was years later that thatpastor retired and he became the
(38:59):
senior pastor Sounds like afamiliar story.
And then, in 2020, he waselected by all the pastors in
the Belgian Assemblies of God tobe their leader and their
superintendent.
The same year that God asked usand we were chosen and asked to
(39:20):
be area directors for WesternEurope, where our role would
change from just being centeredon France to now Belgium,
netherlands, luxembourg.
And do you know what?
Today, gerald Meyer and I meeta few times a year at that
seminary.
We're on the board together.
We strategize about reachingBelgium for planning churches.
In the very room where he puthis hands on us and had that
(39:44):
prophetic word, I'm telling you,as long as the Lord is speaking
and we're seeing and hearingwhat he wants us to do, there's
no border that we have to stepacross, that he is not going to
be there with us and enable usto do what he's called us to do.
And we've seen his faithfulnessand I'm telling you there's
nowhere that Daly and I wouldnot go, and there's nothing that
(40:06):
we would not do, because forthe past 30 plus years, we've
seen his hand of favor andprovision again and again and
again.
So this morning, I just want toinvite you.
Invite you to join us, becauseyou know the easiest thing for
Delia and I would be to stay inFrance.
We know the language.
We live in a beautiful city.
He's calling us to go to thisplace where, you know, it's gray
(40:29):
and it's flat and it's notbeautiful and it's small and
it's everything.
The place we're at is not andit's new and I just turned 60
and I'm getting grayer and I'mgetting grayer and I'm getting
greater.
But you know what?
It's not time to retire, it'stime to just say okay, lord, at
this section in my life, nomatter what's going on, what do
you say?
(40:49):
What do you see?
What do you want me to feel?
And if we'll let him do that inour life, I'll tell you what
it'll take you on an adventure,but you'll never regret it.
Will you join us on thisjourney?
We pray for you this morning,father.
I pray for all of our heartstoday, lord, in this atmosphere
(41:11):
that we live in of a lot ofchange and increasing
uncertainty and, lord,increasing needs.
So I pray for our hearts.
I pray for the hearts of thischurch that has stepped up and
stepped out in so many ways,through Mercy House and through
supporting needs, both here athome and around the world, and
(41:32):
they've done such an amazing jobin partnering with you.
And yet, lord, there are somethat still are you're wanting to
speak to.
About their part, maybe a newstep of faith, maybe stepping in
for the first time to trust youfor something that really seems
impossible.
That might really seem, maybenot very logical.
(41:56):
But, lord, we don't deal withlogic and we don't deal with
possibilities.
We deal with the God of theimpossible and the God, lord,
who speaks, and what you saycomes to pass.
And you're able and you'retrustworthy and I pray, oh God,
that you would speak to hearts.
If anybody here is feelingconvicted about going and to go
to the nations, I pray, oh Lord,you would empower them and help
(42:16):
them.
Lord, give them a vision, givethem assurance of what you're
saying.
If someone is being called here, lord, to give out of their
finances to the faith promise ina new way, I pray that you
would strengthen them andempower them, lord, to do that.
We ask for your help and yourstrength.
Help us to see, help us to feeland, lord, help us to have the
courage to do what you want usto do.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
In Jesus' name, amen, can we have a hand of
appreciation for Pastors Markand Dailene.
Wow, wow, man, what a challenge, what a challenge, what a
blessing to be challenged to bethose that stretch and trust the
Lord to step over thoseboundaries.
You know we've been talkingabout from the beginning of this
(42:59):
year that we want to go afterthe deep things of God, that he
has a plan and a purpose foreach one of us, that he values
us and that we, uniquely, arehis.
And as he speaks that over us,it also means that he's
challenging us uniquely to beobedient to what he calls us to
do.
And so that challenge is infront of us and how we would say
(43:20):
yes to him In this season,right now.
How are we going to say yes toGod?
And I want to challenge youtoday, as we are those who are
looking towards kingdom builders, that we would participate
together.
You know I already talked abouthow Celeste and I, how we've
already started to stretch inthat area and we want to give
you the opportunity today torespond.
(43:40):
And if you'd like to partnerwith Barker Daily, you can just
put right on there Europe Today,as you give to missions, and
it'll go towards them andtowards what they're doing in
church, planting across thatwhole region.
But we also wanna make achallenge to you.
We've been praying over a fewweeks about what our faith
promise would be, and I wannachallenge you that you would go
(44:01):
and, during this song that wehave coming up, that you would
fill out your faith promise andyou would turn it in and you'd
say, lord, as you would enableme to do so, I want to be able
to give this amount to missionsthis year, if it's weekly or
monthly or however you like todesignate it, but that it would
be a thing no one's going tocome looking for, that this is
something between you and God.
But what it does is allows us,as we have missionaries calling
(44:22):
us all the time, many that weknow personally, and they're
saying, hey, can you partnerwith us?
Hey, we have a need that it'surgent that we get out.
Can you help us?
And I gotta say, hey, we will,as we're able to do so and this
is how we're able to do so is westep up and we're able to give
so that others may know the loveof Christ.
(44:43):
So, and we're able to give sothat others may know the love of
Christ.
So, as we head into this song,let me ask you to fill this out.
You'll turn it in the back.
We're going to be tallyingthese so we can give you a
number of what the total chargehas been of what people have
said.
Hey, we're going to make thisfaith promise to the Lord, but
let me challenge you to do thatin this next few minutes, you
prayerfully consider what Godwants to do in and through your
(45:03):
life.
Maybe you're here and you'rehearing Mark talk about being
willing to give up everythingthey know to go and to tell
others about the love of Christ,but you yourself, you have not
yet embraced Jesus.
Today is your opportunity to doso.
You have to answer the questionof have you embraced Jesus?
See, for each of us that areChrist followers, that's what
(45:27):
we've done, is we've said yes toJesus.
We say Lord, I believe you arewho you say you are, lord, that
you came, and you came and emptyyourself of glory to be a
sacrifice for all people for alltime.
That's why the cross is such apowerful symbol for us, because
it's the place where Christ wentand he gave his life for us.
He took my mistakes and my sinand my brokenness and yours and
(45:53):
he took it to the cross and hepaid for it once and for all.
And when we come to Jesus byfaith and we say, lord, we know
we can't earn our way into thisrelationship.
But by faith, lord, I acceptthese.
Can't earn our way into thisrelationship, but by faith, lord
, I accept these things thatyou've done on my behalf, the
grace, the love, the forgivenessthat you give to me.
Lord, I ask that you wouldforgive me.
I ask that you would become theLord of my life.
(46:14):
Lord, I ask to start a newrelationship with you.
Friends, that's what it meansto start a new life with Christ.
That's what it means to besaved.
Apostle Paul, he writes to thechurch at Rome.
He says this because if youconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.
(46:35):
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom if you just stand to your
feet right where you're at andjust bow your head, be ready to
respond to what God wants to do.
(46:56):
If you're online, wherever youare, take a moment, take a pause
, be ready to let God work inand through your life, as we've
been talking about this heretoday.
And if that's you, you've nevermade a decision to follow Jesus
.
Today, you wanna make thatdecision in your life.
Or maybe you have made adecision in the past, but you
(47:20):
haven't been living it and youneed to make that recommitment
to him, saying Lord, please,please, forgive me of my sin.
I want to recommit my life toyou to live for you as heads are
bowed here in the room.
If that's you, you say Pastor,I just want to be remembered in
that prayer.
If you just raise your handright where you're at, just
indicate to me that that's youmake.
(47:48):
You want to make that today.
Thank you, god.
I'm gonna ask everyone to praythis prayer out loud after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
(48:11):
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, I pray Amen,amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice that youmake a decision to follow Jesus
today.
The hands that are raised inthis service the first service,
even online Friends.
(48:31):
We rejoice with you, hey, ifyou're with us here in person,
connect with us in the back.
We want to put materials intoyour hand so that you can be
successful in living this lifeafter Jesus.
You can even do that at thecafe.
Well, during this song, we havethis opportunity to fill out
your faith promise.
Celeste and I do that in thefirst service and fill it out
and you'll hold on to the bluepart, but the white part you'll
(48:52):
turn into our team in the back,just so we can tally those, and
we'll actually put it in yourgiving profile so you can see
where you're at on the app oronline as you give to the Lord.
But let's just pray and ask theLord to move upon our hearts
that we respond during this song.
We'll open up this altar to youif you want to draw near to the
Lord as well.
Lord, we thank you so much forthe word that was shared today,
lord, and I thank you, lord, forheroes like Mark and Darlene,
(49:14):
who are willing to say yes.
They're willing to say yes andto keep on going after the
things of you so that peoplewill have the opportunity to
hear about the gospel message.
Lord.
Today, lord, we ask that youwould move by your spirit, holy
Spirit, have your way in us,lord, that you would challenge
us, stretch us, lord, that wewould say yes to you, lord, and,
(49:34):
as you empower us to do so,that we would give above our
ties to missions, to kingdombuilders, so that you will be
made known, so that people havean opportunity to hear about
your love and sacrifice for them.
Lord, thank you for letting usbe a part of this mission's
endeavor.
Lord, that we give beyond sothat other people may know the
love of Jesus.
(49:54):
Lord, as we open this altar, wedo so with an intentionality to
go deeper after the things ofGod.
We pray all this in thepowerful name of Jesus Christ,
amen, lord.
We pray all this in thepowerful name of Jesus Christ,
amen, lord.
We thank you so much for thisopportunity to respond to you
today.
Lord.
We thank you for what you'redoing, lord, and drawing us near
to yourself, lord, and speakingto us.
Lord.
We thank you for all that weknow, lord, and that you are the
(50:17):
God who loves us.
He protects us and guide us,lord, even in the dark places.
Lord, you do not forsake us,lord.
We return back to you, lord,saying that we love you and we
believe, lord, in what you wantus to do and stretching over
those barriers, lord, to say yes, so that we can respond and
that others may know about thegospel message.
(50:37):
We thank you for all thesethings.
We pray this in your name, lord, jesus, amen.
Friends, we celebrate that wehave over $52,000 pledged to
missions already, with more evento be turned in this next week.
We're excited for that.
Amazing, amazing things.
You may be seated for just amoment.
Let me encourage you in thisthat as we finish up the service
(50:58):
today we have just announced itfor a second, come back with a
blessing, but that you would dothis.
You would grab a prayer cardfrom Marky D'Aleen, put it in a
place that you'll see it, maybeon your fridge, somewhere you go
too often and then pray forthem and lift them up before the
throne, amen.
Speaker 5 (51:14):
How many of you were blessed by the word this morning
?
Yeah, thank you, mark.
Thank you, d'aleen.
My prayer is that Easter iscoming up it's just a couple
weeks away and you need toinvite someone.
There is a colleague, there isa neighbor, there is a family
member, and you need them here.
Pray for them, ask them to come, invite them.
Most people come to churchbecause you invited them, not
(51:36):
because they see anadvertisement somewhere on
social media, but they come bypersonal invitation.
So let them know.
We have a Friday evening GoodFriday service.
It'll be one hour.
It's a very, very specialservice that we have here, and
then on Sunday morning we'regoing to celebrate a risen
Savior, a risen King, and so wewant you to invite someone.
Bring them, save a seat forthem, tell them I got a place
(51:59):
right next to me for you andjust see what God does in their
life.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Amen.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us today.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(52:24):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Amen.
Kingdom Builders is exciting aswe continue today with that
message.
Do you see the little Easteregg in that video?
Two little kids by the pyramids.
Do you see those guys in there?
They look shockingly familiarif you think about it.
Hey, today we're excited tocontinue in our Kingdom Builders
series.
We have some heroes of ours,longtime friends of ours, in
Mark and Dailene Good.
(00:21):
Mark and Dailene are pastors.
They've served as pastors inthe US and abroad.
They've been church planters.
They've been people who haveseen and established ministries
that have a future.
They've done training teams,all sorts of amazing things.
When I first encountered them, Idid so from our church, as we
supported them as missionariesto Bangladesh.
Little did I know that myfuture wife would actually go
(00:43):
and serve with them inBangladesh and get a chance to
partner alongside of them.
Also, as Celeste and I went toEurope and started serving in
France, we didn't know, but Godwas working on their hearts and
actually moved them to Europe aswell.
We got to serve alongside themand see all that God is doing
firsthand.
And it's amazing to see eventoday as they've taken even a
(01:04):
further step into leadership tobe all over all of Western
Europe for Assemblies of God,world missions, how God is still
using them on the forefront ofwhat he wants to do.
Saying yes to God even whenit's not comfortable to go and
do the next thing, so that allmay know the love of Christ.
Friends, I'm going to ask youto welcome today Mark and
Dalyene Good as they come today.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, it's such an honor to be with you.
We're so thankful for PastorRich and Pastor Cindy for their
kindness to us.
They knew me when I was youngand they have been so very kind
and encouraging.
They took us on.
You guys took us on as a churchover 30 years ago and we are so
(01:53):
grateful, and we have beenserving in Bangladesh for 14
years and then, as Pastor Jaysaid, and then, as Pastor Jay
said, we've been serving now inFrance for 15 years.
As Pastor Jay mentioned, we gotto serve alongside of them and
(02:28):
I just want to say that youcould be so very, very proud of
your pastors, pastor Celeste andPastor Jay, who walked with
great integrity in the smallthings, in the small decisions
and how they served with openhearts in Bangladesh, in France
and in Egypt.
They both lived with integrityand lived sacrificially on the
field, and I also want to thankJaven and Shiloh and Amelia if
she's in the room because youguys were excellent MKs.
We get to see a lot of MKs andI just want to say that you guys
(02:52):
served really well and we'rethankful for your investment and
all that the Lord did throughyou.
So I wanted to share a storywith you.
Our friends and colleagues hadstarted a ministry to trafficked
women in Grenoble and then Godcalled them elsewhere.
So I was leading the ministry.
(03:13):
One night we were out and wewalked up to a new woman.
It was at night.
We would go out and we wouldoffer warm drinks it's usually
cold in Grenoble and a snack,and then we would get to know
the ladies and to pray with themand to connect them with
different services that thegovernment could provide and
(03:36):
also invite them to church.
So we walked up to a new womanI'll call her Clara.
She was Roma, which is kind ofa PC term for gypsy it would be
the old way of calling thatpeople group.
And as we walked up to her shewas pretty guarded at first and
(03:58):
we started to say we were from achurch, the refuge, and that we
just felt like God wanted toshow his love and was there
anything that we could pray for?
And she pretty soon got prettyteary-eyed, which is unusual.
Especially it takes usuallyseveral months of connecting
with the ladies before they'llusually let down their guard
even a little bit.
(04:19):
But she said oh, I know, I knowwhat you're doing, I know who
you're with.
And she said just God has sentyou here.
Just a couple months ago I waspregnant and I was with a client
, and the client got upset withme and so he started to strangle
(04:41):
me, put his hands around mythroat and started to strangle
me.
And so he started to strangleme, put his hands around my
throat and started to strangleme.
And I just want to say thiswoman, clary, it's her husband
who sends her out to work on thestreets, but that's the nature
of their culture, anyways.
So this client, she said, hehad his arms around my throat,
(05:02):
he was angry at me, he wasyelling at me and I started to
feel like I was about to passout.
And I said, god, I know that Idon't deserve anything, but this
baby deserves to live.
Will you help me?
And she said at that moment,the guy let go and left the room
and I survived.
And she said so, I know what itis.
(05:24):
She said I know.
And so we talked to her a littlebit more.
We were inviting her.
We said it's just down thestreet here.
If you want to come to refuge,we will love you and we will
accept you.
And she said well, I just wantto get my life together.
I can't dress like this and Iwant to get some things in order
.
And I said to her Clara, goddoesn't want you to try and get
(05:50):
yourself together and then cometo him.
Jesus came because none of uscan get our lives together.
We all need him and he wants tocome in the middle of now and he
wants to meet you and walk withyou towards change.
And I wanted to share that storywith you this morning because,
for all of us, whether we'vebeen raised in church all of our
(06:12):
lives or whether maybe we don'tknow Jesus yet, his invitation,
jesus's invitation to each ofus is always come now as you are
, and I will bring healing and Iwill bring restoration and I
will enable you to change that.
We do not have to be tireddisciples who are trying to
(06:36):
somehow change ourselves,project self and make us better,
but Jesus wants to come in themiddle of our moment today and
meet us and help us to walk outof whatever is gripping our
hearts and our lives.
He loves us and he's able Amen.
We're just going to watch avideo that shows a little bit of
(06:56):
what we do.
Hi, this is Darlene and MarkGood, and we have been serving
in Grenoble for the past 14years.
When God first called us here,we were able to plant a student
ministry on the universitycampus, and from there we were
(07:17):
able to plant a bilingual church.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
One of the great privileges for us was to have
established a training hub herein Grenoble.
For us was to establish atraining hub here in Grenoble
and we received short-termworkers and those that have a
longer-term call to France tolearn language and culture and
missionary competencies and thento be mobilized out to join
other church planning teams inthe nation of France.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
The Lord opened up a new opportunity for us to serve
as area directors for WesternEurope.
The nations in Western Europeare France, the Netherlands,
belgium, luxembourg and Monaco.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
The Lord's really put it on our heart to now move our
focus to the area of Benelux.
One of the predominantcountries in Benelux is the
country of Belgium, and this isa place where we face some real
difficulties in gettingmissionary visas, as well as in
Luxembourg.
It's financially unsustainableand it's difficult to get
approvals.
So we're just put on our heartto establish some training hubs
(08:10):
at the borders of Belgium.
In the northeast corner ofFrance there's a city, in
Longueuil, which is 15 minutesfrom the Luxembourg border and
about the same distance from theBelgian border, and we're going
to establish a team there thatwill go into these areas and
will help to establish churchplanning teams.
We also want to establish atraining hub in the city of
Tilburg, netherlands, that canreach into the nation of
(08:31):
Flanders and help in churchplanning efforts there.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Flanders is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
It has 7 million people that'sabout 60% of the Belgian
population, and there are only40 or so some of the churches in
that part of Belgium, and eachchurch averages about 15 people
as well.
The pastors are nearingretirement age and we don't have
any young Belgian pastors thatare in the mix to come up and to
(08:57):
take those churches, so therereally is an urgent need for
renewal amongst church plantingin Flanders.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And you know, we could also highlight the need in
the nation of Luxembourg, thissmall nation that has an
outsized influence on the restof Europe.
One quarter of one percent ofLuxembourgers know Jesus
personally, and it's consideredto be social suicide to even
become an evangelical believeror to join a church, so there's
a great need for church planningin this nation.
(09:27):
We haven't had any personnelthere for the last 16 years.
These are places that have notbeen destinations for people.
Even in the wars they wereplaces that were overrun.
If people tried to getsomewhere else to London, to
Amsterdam, to Paris and you know, because they've never been
anybody's destination, theybecome a spiritual desolation
(09:52):
and we're asking God that hewould put these places as
destinations for missions onpeople's hearts, so that we can
see the tide turned and Jesusglorified and people come to
Christ and the church flourishand the kingdom of God advance.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We're excited to get back to this region of the world
, to Benelux.
That we feel like has a hugeimpact not only on our area but
on Europe as a whole, and we'reasking God to raise up a new
generation of workers that willcome and be trained how to love
secular people and how to plantthe church in Benelux life.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
So good morning, cornerstone.
It's wonderful to have a namelike Cornerstone, because that's
what you were to us, acornerstone of our financial
prayer partnership, as you firstsent us out 30 years ago.
Continue to be that for us.
For those of you who had to goSiri, where is Benelux?
We don't know where it is.
Don't worry, we're going totalk a little bit about what
that means.
But, man, we're so grateful foryour prayers.
(10:53):
I want to encourage you that,as you invest in praying for
nations, what God can do, as youhave gotten behind us the last
15 years we've been in Francehave gotten behind us.
The last 15 years we've been inFrance.
We're seeing some amazingthings happen.
We were at a conference just anumber of months ago and it was
aged 18 to 30-year-olds acrossFrance in our Assembly of God
(11:16):
churches.
There were 6,500 that came tothat conference and a challenge
was given, because theAssemblies of God in France has
a vision to plant a thousandchurches in the next 10 years,
and so they know they need theseyoung people to be involved.
And they gave the challenge andsaid all of you who feel like
God is speaking to you, to giveyour life and your future to
(11:36):
plant the church in France,1,500 came and bowed at the
altars to give themselves tothat cause.
That just doesn't happen exceptwhen we pray for God to move,
and God is moving in France.
And so just don't doubt at allthat when you invest in prayer
on a Sunday, when maybe amissionary's photo is put on the
(11:58):
screen, and we pray for Franceor another nation across the
world, god listens and he takesthose prayers and invests them
in transformation and change,wherever he's at.
So thank you so much for that.
It's great to be here.
Thank you, pastor, jay andCeleste, for your friendship and
for the ability to be here.
We're the goods.
If you've not been here beforeand or met us before, people say
(12:21):
I don't know your last name andI'll say, good, and I don't
make too many friends that way,but I know you're friends
because you guys are partneringwith us.
But people will also askthey'll say, hey, how is the
radiation in Grenoble?
And we'll say, well, with ourbest glowing smile we'll say,
(12:44):
well, that's actually Chernobyl,but Chernobyl's pretty good.
But you know what?
I know that we'regeographically challenged and I
would just venture to say thatour greatest obstacle in the
church and as believers, is notgeography, it really is
optometry.
And I'm going to talk thismorning about our vision and
(13:04):
what God wants to speak to usabout our vision.
You know we're getting older.
I just had a birthday, I justturned 60 not too long ago and
you know, dean and I talk aboutour changing bodies and she said
I can't read the words on theshampoo bottle anymore and I'm
like that's nothing.
I was stopped at anintersection and waited for 15
(13:24):
minutes for a hedgehog to crossthe road before I realized it
was a pine cone.
So you know, the reason why weare here today and we're
focusing once again on thisthird week of Kingdom Builders
Sunday is because somethinghappens to our vision and we
need to be reminded to seethings more clearly that maybe
(13:45):
have gotten out of focus, or theLord really wants us to see and
to understand, and that's whywe're here today.
And the Lord was needing tochange Paul's vision at one
moment in his ministry and Iwant to talk about that as we
begin the sermon this morning.
But it's found in Acts, chapter16, verse 9.
And it says During the night,paul had a vision of a man of
(14:10):
Macedonia standing and begginghim come over to Macedonia and
help us, and after Paul had seenthe vision, we got ready at
once to leave for Macedonia,concluding that God had called
us to preach the gospel to them.
So I want to invite you on ajourney this is the journey that
(14:31):
Darlene and I are on that'svery similar to what God was
doing in Paul's life, and maybethat you join us as partners in
this ministry, that you wouldalso allow God to maybe change
your vision and help him, tohelp you to see what he wants
you to see.
So we're going to have a littlespiritual eye exam.
Don't worry, I'm not going toblow air in your eyeballs or
(14:54):
make you say you know A or B, aor B, which do you see?
No, we're not going to do thatthis morning, but we want to
talk about three kinds of visionEyesight, insight and foresight
.
So the first thing we're goingto talk about is eyesight, and
the question is are we seeingwhat God wants us to see?
(15:15):
I got a call just a few monthsago from a man named Vincent
Vincent in English, but he's aFrench guy and he told me his
story.
He said the reason I'm callingyou Mark is I got your name from
a friend at my church and Iknow you're a missionary in
France.
And he said I came here toAmerica when I was 24 years old.
(15:36):
I was raised in an atheist home, I'd never been in church, I'd
never heard about Jesus myentire life.
And he said I found myself in acollege group, a Chi Alpha
group in Washington DC.
And he said and I ended upgiving my life to Jesus.
Since that time I've gottenmarried, I joined a church, I've
got a ministry where he worksfor United Airlines.
(15:57):
He said I have a veryfulfilling life.
But he said the Lord's beenspeaking to me and showing me
and reminding me of what it waslike back when I grew up in
France.
And he said the Lord's beenspeaking to me and showing me
and reminding me of what it waslike back when I grew up in
France.
And he said here in Washington.
He said I can walk out of mydoor in the suburb that I live
in and walk down almost anystreet and I'll probably find a
church on some corner.
He said there's radio stations,there's bookstores.
(16:21):
He said the gospel can beaccessed everywhere.
But he said back where I grew upin northern France.
He said I never met oneChristian.
I didn't know there was achurch.
And he said the Lord isconvicting me that I've got to
go back to France.
He said, mark, I'm in my 50s,my kids are out of the house.
I don't want to go back.
That's the last thing I reallywant, he said, because I love my
(16:42):
life here but I can't escapethe fact that all of my people
back home, they don't have thesame opportunity.
You know a great missiologistpastor named Oswald Smith.
He said years ago.
He made this bold statement.
He said none of us have theright to hear the gospel twice
until everyone has heard it atleast once.
(17:04):
And the reason why he was ableto make that statement was
because he understood thecharacter of God, that God is
just and fair and he loveseveryone the same.
But he also knows that God saidin his word that he wants all
men to be safe.
He wants them all and to cometo knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So because God is fair and heloves them all, that means that
(17:27):
he's fair with his opportunities.
And so in our world, wherethere are places without access,
these are the places that Godis looking at, that God is
seeing and he wants us to seewhat he sees.
And this is what God was doingin Paul's life.
He was showing him, and youknow what?
Paul was doing good things Atthis moment in his ministry.
He was going church to church,to the churches that he had
(17:50):
planted and turned over to otherpastors, and he was having a
fulfilling ministry.
His ministry was a ragingsuccess, and it wasn't that he
was doing bad things or wrongthings, but God was saying Paul,
you're not doing strategicthings.
Why?
Because what he was doing, ifyou read earlier in the passage,
in verse 4 and 5, it says asthey traveled from town to town,
they delivered the decisionsreached by the apostles in
(18:12):
Jerusalem about things like foodsacrifice to idols or
circumcision, or should we eatblood?
Or what about the gospel to theGentiles?
And so Paul was faithfullygoing around correcting problems
of practice among the churches,which was an important thing.
He was teaching and all of that.
But the Lord was saying Paul, Iwant to open your eyes to not
(18:34):
just the problems of practice,but the problems of presence.
There's this place calledMacedonia, where they do not
have access to my name.
They've never heard my name.
Macedonia was a military bufferzone.
It was a piece of land that,basically, was there under Roman
control in order to keep hisenemies further away from them
(18:55):
as possible, but it had no otherstrategic purpose.
No one went to Macedonia forany strategy.
And you know what?
Benelux, where the Lord hascalled us to, is exactly the
same.
It is a military buffer zonethat's been overrun in times of
war.
No one goes to it, no one knowsabout it, no one cares about it
.
And the Lord spoke to Darleneand I, just like he spoke to
(19:18):
Paul, and said Darlene and Mark,I want you to lift your eyes
from the important things thatyou're doing in France and I
want you to use your voice andyour role about a people that
you have not seen, but I wantyou to take a look at.
They've been overlooked, butI'm looking over them and I want
you to see what I see.
And so for you this morning.
You know, as you've heard thesemessages, these last few weeks,
(19:42):
you may have been carrying inhere your own burdens of things
that are super important, thingsthat are on your agenda, that
are weighing on you.
It could be just trying to payyour mortgage or raise your kids
in this culture.
It could be taking care of sickparents.
It could be just trying to makeends meet, you might be dealing
with medical problems, or therecould be a care of sick parents
(20:02):
, it could be just trying tomake ends meet, you might be
dealing with medical problems,or there could be a host of
things that you're carrying andit's so hard in those moments
when our needs seem to be sogreat in our eyes and taking up
and dominating our focus, tocome and to hear a missionary
talk about an area of the worldthat you know we could really
all maybe care less about.
But here's my challenge to youthis morning is, in the same way
(20:23):
that our eyes were focused onand Paul's eyes were focused on,
some important things, the Lordsaid now it's time to shift
your focus to something I wantyou to see.
And would you be open thismorning to say, lord, will you
show me anything that you wantme to begin to see and to
envision and to put my focus onthat are strategic in your eyes?
(20:44):
That's what it's like to befocused on.
So Paul received a new vision.
You know this happens at day,night and day.
Paul's first vision was on theroad to Damascus and Jesus
appeared to him and changed andrevolutionized the direction of
his life.
His second vision was to showhim a vision of heaven and he
(21:05):
went out after that vision andwent to Arabia and was there
schooled and instructed by Godfor his future ministry as an
apostle.
And now, a third time, he seesa new vision to change his
direction even again.
And I can't help but think how,for D'Aline's and my life, that
was where we are at, when thefirst time that we got a vision
(21:26):
of something was when amissionary to Bangladesh came to
my church when I was nine yearsold and I saw the slides of the
civil war in Bangladesh in theearly 70s and the Lord touched
my heart as I saw that need andI gave my life to go to
Bangladesh.
And the same missionary came toDalene's church that same year.
We lived 400 miles apart anddidn't know each other until we
(21:49):
got to Bible school and realizedthrough the same missionary's
ministry that we were called toBangladesh.
So we thought that we would gothere for the rest of our lives
and that's where Pastor Celestemet up with us and we served
together there.
And then we were invited to goto Europe to teach a course on
reaching Muslim students.
And while we were there at thisseminary, where a conference
(22:12):
was held during the summer, inour class was a man who was a
school teacher.
He was French, but he wasteaching way down in the Indian
Ocean Basin, in Reunion Islands.
He'd come all that distance totake our course and he was gonna
go back.
And at the end of the course wetook a time of prayer where we
were praying for each other andhe had the boldness to.
As he laid hands on us, he felthe had a word for us and he
(22:36):
said Mark and Deline, I don'tknow how to say this, but what I
get is this picture of you guystrapped in a spider's web and
it's going to be very, verydangerous and difficult, but
God's going to deliver you andit's going to be followed by
green pastures.
Well, have you ever wanted totake half of a word from God
where you just said, well, yeah,I like raise your hand?
Have you ever wanted to justsay nah?
(22:56):
We didn't know what it meant.
We left there and God gave methis dream about Grenoble,
france, and we were going toleave Bangladesh and go to
Grenoble, and it was like how inthe world.
We went back to Bangladesh andwhat we didn't know was that the
church planting school that wehad established had been
infiltrated by an Al-Qaedaterrorist.
(23:17):
But it was revealed in a dream.
I had a dream about this youngman had a beard and then
suddenly he changed and hemorphs and his eyes change and
he's looking at me very angryand with hate in his eyes, and
he changes back and it's thisyoung man that's in our school
and we love him.
His name's Shafiq, and I can'tmake sense of it.
And then I wake up from thedream and when I go down to
(23:39):
confront Shafiq, he confessesand he says I'm not who you
think I am.
We were plotting to destroythis place and to kill everyone
here, but he said I was visitingmy grandfather.
I told you I was visiting mygrandfather in the hospital, but
I wasn't.
I was visiting my leader and Iwas calling off this attack
because I know you're notenemies of Islam and man.
(23:59):
Our life was just thrown intoturmoil and we're like this is
the spider's web and maybeFrance is green pastures, and we
fasted and prayed and Godchanged the direction of our
life.
So we stepped out and we wentto France.
And now, 15 years later, anothervision, another dream, another
focus to say I'm calling you toa people that you had no idea
(24:23):
about and I want you to go there.
So this is where God has us,where he wants to change our
eyesight and help us to see.
And for you, you know, what isit that God may want in you to
see?
I mean, it could be that he'sspeaking to you about a nation.
You've had differentmissionaries from Thailand and
from other parts of Europe comethrough and you've seen some
(24:44):
videos and it could be.
The Lord is calling you, but formost of us, he wants to talk to
us about what we're not seeing.
Right here in Avondale, righthere in the valley, wherever
we're at.
It could be a vision of someonethat's just in the cubicle next
to us at work.
It could be of our neighboracross the street.
It could be a vision of someonethat's just in the cubicle next
to us at work.
It could be of our neighboracross the street.
(25:04):
It could be of a family memberwho we have just thought.
You know they're so hard andfar away and are least likely to
accept Jesus.
You know he wants maybe toshare your faith, to reach out,
to try to witness or to showcompassion.
He may be speaking to you aboutthat.
I just want to encourage youthat oftentimes we don't see
(25:25):
what God sees.
We need to trust, like Nestor,who came into our church and he
was a refugee from Venezuela.
He was trying to get intouniversity but didn't have any
money, had no means, and as hecame to our church that we had
planted right next to theuniversity and invited by a
friend, he ended up acceptingJesus and then he got into
(25:46):
university and he had hisdoctorate in robotics.
And today Nestor, as a citizenof France, is working for a
company and he has a Bible studyin his home, where God has
gifted him with this ability,with apologetics, and he
explains the gospel to some ofthe most scientific, doubting
(26:11):
minds of our city.
And you and I would have lookedright past Nestor, not seeing
him to be strategic or someonethat God would use in that way,
but God saw and we need to askGod to help us.
Lord, help me to see what yousee.
The second thing that he wantsto correct about our vision is
(26:31):
our insight.
He wants to give us insight,not just what you can see, but
can you feel what God feelsabout, what he wants you to see.
This is what was happening toPaul.
In verse nine it says a man ofMacedonia was standing and
begging him.
This word beg comes from boiteoin the Greek it's a military
term.
It's not just please, it's apleading, it's like an SOS with
(26:54):
two exclamation marks in theGreek language.
Basically, this man was arepresentation of a spiritual
need in Macedonia and he was notjust begging, he was pleading.
Literally, he was saying it'surgent, you've got to come, it's
desperate, please come and helpus.
And this is something not justthat Paul saw, but he felt the
(27:15):
urgency of this need and thatwas compelling him to come to
the rescue.
You know there's so many needsin our world, in the Ukraine, in
Israel, in Gaza, you know inother places where there are
conflicts going on, wherethere's been earthquakes and
rubble, in Thailand and inMyanmar and you know we see it
(27:37):
on the screens and so oftenthere's so many needs that our
heart can't have compassion forat all.
How do you determine where thepriorities of needs are?
Well, I want to talk to youabout the need in Europe.
The need in Europe is, youmight think well, years ago,
centuries ago, europe alreadyhad the gospel, yeah, but so did
(27:58):
places like Syria and NorthAfrica, which were the places of
the early church, places likeAlexandria, egypt, where the
Browns were.
You know, it doesn't matterthat they had the gospel, it's
just what's going on right now,where there's lack of access and
the Lord was showing us andwanted us to feel what the
(28:19):
Europeans feel, what Frenchpeople feel.
We knew there was a need, weknew he was calling us, we went
and he showed us, but it wasn'tuntil we started sitting around
the table with French people andhearing their fears and their
dreams and their doubts andtheir hurts and their
bitternesses, just like Katie,who was working with us on our
team and she used to work withChi Alpha in Louisiana and she
(28:40):
became a student to reachstudents in France and she's in
her 30s, but she had to learn anew language.
You know Gen Z speaks a newlanguage.
You know that, don't you?
They talk in slang and stuff wedon't understand, and so she
was learning their language,dressing like them and inviting
them into her apartment, and shespent a year with a young girl
(29:02):
named Julie.
Julie was one of the many thatshe was inviting into her home.
But Julie knew that Katie was abeliever, a Christ follower, and
she said to her from the verybeginning Katie, I don't believe
in your Bible, don't invite meto church.
I will never, ever believe inthe God you believe in, so don't
even try.
But Katie just kept lovingJulie, inviting her in, and over
(29:24):
coffee and over meals and onhikes, she began to listen and
to feel what it was like to growup as Julie in France and
understand where she was comingfrom and to hear her heart.
And through that process ofbeing able to feel what Julie
felt and understand Julie, thatit was just a few weeks ago that
(29:46):
Julie called up Katie and saidKatie, let's go on a hike, bring
your Bible, because I want tostudy it with you and if I'm
ever going to become a Christian, I want to become one just like
you.
There's something about when wetake time to feel what God feels
about the people around us thatmakes a difference in their
life.
And so, as we look at Benelux,you know, I remember when there
(30:14):
was a young woman in France whoshe had been suicidal, and her
roommate asked if we would talkto her.
And so we did, and I remember,as she sat there at the cafe,
she positioned herself outsideso that she could run at any
moment in case it got too weirdfor her to be around these two
pastors.
And as we talked to her, westarted to try to give her a
(30:40):
Bible and talk to her aboutchurch and all Well.
We found out later that she hadtaken another attempt on her
life, so we went to visit her inthe psychiatric hospital of
Grenoble.
We thought we were going to abuilding, but what we ended up
going to was a compound, and inthis compound there were
building after building afterbuilding, four stories high, all
of them full of people thatwere the worst of the worst
(31:01):
cases of psychosis harm to selfand others, observation having
to be restrained, and it wasjust.
It was rife with people and wewere like, oh God, in this one
city there's this many peoplethat are under this effect.
And here's what happened.
France is one of the largestconsumers of psychotropic drugs
(31:23):
to treat mental illness inEurope, and what France did was,
a couple hundred years ago,they kicked God out of the
country and they said we wantnothing more to do with God,
nothing more to do with religion.
And when you and they replacedGod with self.
Basically, reason is God.
That's the enlightenment.
France is ground zero for thesecular movement that replaces
(31:47):
faith in God with just trustingyourself.
And that's all you can trustjust me.
All I've got is me.
All I believe in is me.
And it's literally crushingpeople.
They can't bear the weight.
We were never designed to beGod.
We were never designed to wearthe weight of having to be God
in our lives, and it's literallycrushing people to death.
(32:09):
And if we could hear a Europeansay, come over, they wouldn't be
saying hey, hey, come on,there's a need here too.
It would be an SOS with twoexclamation marks Please, you've
got to come.
It's desperate.
We don't know what to do.
We're about to lose all of ourhope, and many of them don't
have access to a church.
They don't have access to abeliever.
(32:30):
They don't know someone whoknows someone, who knows someone
who even has the audacity tobelieve that God even exists,
let alone believe in Jesus.
And if we could hear and feeltheir call, it would be please
come and help us.
And the last part of our visionthat the Lord wants to correct
(32:51):
maybe this morning, is foresight, the ability to know what to do
about what we see.
And the question for us thismorning is will we step across
the barriers?
In verse 10, it says the man ofMacedonia said come over.
So we got ready at once toleave for Macedonia.
Concluding See, here's thething they heard this invitation
(33:17):
and they concluded they made adecision that God had called
them to do something about it.
God had not only opened Paul'seyes and touched his heart, but
Paul knew that.
Now, as a result, I have tomove my feet and I've got to
take a step and do somethingabout it.
This is foresight knowing whatwe're called to do, looking at
(33:40):
all the good that I could givemy time, attention and invest my
finances in, and realize thereare some things that are not
just good but they're urgent andthey're critical.
When my dad was dying of cancer,we were missionaries in
Bangladesh and we knew that hehad cancer was terminal.
We were trying to keep a pulseon how he was doing and we
finally rushed home because weknew he was getting bad.
(34:01):
When I first walked into theroom where he was, he was on
oxygen and he was skin and bonesand he was weak and we had a
number of moments of reunion.
And it wasn't long before mydad kind of sheepishly said,
mark, I don't know how to askyou this.
But he said there's just somethings around the property ask
(34:24):
you this.
But he said there's just somethings around the property and
in my personal affairs that Idon't have the strength to do
and your mom doesn't know how todo them.
And he said I got a list.
Would you be willing to help me?
And I said, dad, absolutely,and it'd be the joy of my life
to help you.
I mean the least I could do,give me the list.
And the Lord reminded me ofwhat it was like when I was a
(34:46):
teenager, growing up, on aSaturday morning, when my dad
had a list and said, mark, Iwant you to do, I want you to
wash the car, I want you to mowthe lawn.
I want and I want you to knowat that moment't, dad, it'd be
the joy of my life Give me thelist.
What was the difference?
The difference was time wasgetting short and there was
(35:09):
something weighing on the heartof my father.
And I think that if we wouldpause this morning and realize
that it's not just aboutstatistics and needs or, you
know, challenges and all thatwe've heard.
But this morning, if we wouldlisten and listen to the heart
of our Father, is that time isgetting short and as we go
(35:34):
further and further into time,when he's going to return more
and more, there's going to beone strategic thing that weighs
on His heart the most, more andmore.
There's going to be onestrategic thing that weighs on
his heart the most and that isnot he loves us, but we're in
the fold.
If you know Jesus, you're his,but there are so many that have
not yet heard, so many who don'tyet know, and that weighs on
his heart, and that weighs onhis heart and he wants us to, to
(35:56):
, to, to, to, to seize ourhearts.
And so this morning, just asPaul was asked to step across,
literally it says come over.
It literally means to step overa border or to push through a
barrier.
And so, as Paul got this visionof Macedonia, he was in Troas
and there's a body of waterbetween him and Macedonia.
(36:19):
This is Europe.
It was his first opportunity togo.
No one was going to Europe.
Europe was not strategic atthat time.
In order for him to obey, hehad to cross a border, maybe
face some Roman officials andexplain why he was trying to get
into that country and he had toovercome.
And for you and I, for us tooften do what God wants us to do
(36:41):
, whether it's to pray and to bemore of an intercessor for the
nations and the needs ofmissionaries and the needs of
nations, it may be to go wherewe have to, like, apply for a
passport, and we have to, youknow, raise money and we have to
take that step of faith andlead family, like many
missionaries do.
It might be that our part is togive, our part is to invest our
(37:06):
finances and for many of us,there's a barrier there.
The barrier would be you know,I've got a budget, I've got
limitations.
You know the things that havehappened in the past few days
with the stock market, theinsecurity of what's going on
around, real barriers that mightbe there and the Lord is saying
(37:27):
listen, I want you to stepacross the barriers and trust me
, because if you will, I'llsupply, I will provide for you,
I'll be there, I'll back you up.
I want to encourage you withthis story as we close.
Remember the school teacher fromReunion Islands who had a word
for us Spider's web.
Well, he went back to ReunionIslands, to his wife, who was
Reunion A's, and he said I think, as I spent time at that
(37:52):
conference, the Lord was callingme into full-time ministry.
I'm supposed to leave my job asschool teacher, we're supposed
to go to Brussels to that veryseminary and I'm supposed to
study there.
And his wife's first responsewas you're crazy.
All she could see were thebarriers and the borders they
would have to cross and thelines they'd have to step across
(38:12):
and the obstacles that werethere.
She said you know what?
We can't afford it.
I'll never get a visa.
They don't just hand out visasto me like that.
You're French but I'm not.
And we got kids and a career,and what are you talking about?
But as they prayed together,she felt convinced as well.
The Lord was calling them, andso they stepped out in faith and
(38:36):
as they did, and they crossedthat border into Belgium.
Do you know what God did?
God paid all their tuition, godgave them a car, god gave them
favor, god helped them to studyand he graduated with his degree
, became a pastor and the churchhe went to where he was the
assistant pastor.
It was years later that thatpastor retired and he became the
(38:59):
senior pastor Sounds like afamiliar story.
And then, in 2020, he waselected by all the pastors in
the Belgian Assemblies of God tobe their leader and their
superintendent.
The same year that God asked usand we were chosen and asked to
(39:20):
be area directors for WesternEurope, where our role would
change from just being centeredon France to now Belgium,
netherlands, luxembourg.
And do you know what?
Today, gerald Meyer and I meeta few times a year at that
seminary.
We're on the board together.
We strategize about reachingBelgium for planning churches.
In the very room where he puthis hands on us and had that
(39:44):
prophetic word, I'm telling you,as long as the Lord is speaking
and we're seeing and hearingwhat he wants us to do, there's
no border that we have to stepacross, that he is not going to
be there with us and enable usto do what he's called us to do.
And we've seen his faithfulnessand I'm telling you there's
nowhere that Daly and I wouldnot go, and there's nothing that
(40:06):
we would not do, because forthe past 30 plus years, we've
seen his hand of favor andprovision again and again and
again.
So this morning, I just want toinvite you.
Invite you to join us, becauseyou know the easiest thing for
Delia and I would be to stay inFrance.
We know the language.
We live in a beautiful city.
He's calling us to go to thisplace where, you know, it's gray
(40:29):
and it's flat and it's notbeautiful and it's small and
it's everything.
The place we're at is not andit's new and I just turned 60
and I'm getting grayer and I'mgetting grayer and I'm getting
greater.
But you know what?
It's not time to retire, it'stime to just say okay, lord, at
this section in my life, nomatter what's going on, what do
you say?
(40:49):
What do you see?
What do you want me to feel?
And if we'll let him do that inour life, I'll tell you what
it'll take you on an adventure,but you'll never regret it.
Will you join us on thisjourney?
We pray for you this morning,father.
I pray for all of our heartstoday, lord, in this atmosphere
(41:11):
that we live in of a lot ofchange and increasing
uncertainty and, lord,increasing needs.
So I pray for our hearts.
I pray for the hearts of thischurch that has stepped up and
stepped out in so many ways,through Mercy House and through
supporting needs, both here athome and around the world, and
(41:32):
they've done such an amazing jobin partnering with you.
And yet, lord, there are somethat still are you're wanting to
speak to.
About their part, maybe a newstep of faith, maybe stepping in
for the first time to trust youfor something that really seems
impossible.
That might really seem, maybenot very logical.
(41:56):
But, lord, we don't deal withlogic and we don't deal with
possibilities.
We deal with the God of theimpossible and the God, lord,
who speaks, and what you saycomes to pass.
And you're able and you'retrustworthy and I pray, oh God,
that you would speak to hearts.
If anybody here is feelingconvicted about going and to go
to the nations, I pray, oh Lord,you would empower them and help
(42:16):
them.
Lord, give them a vision, givethem assurance of what you're
saying.
If someone is being called here, lord, to give out of their
finances to the faith promise ina new way, I pray that you
would strengthen them andempower them, lord, to do that.
We ask for your help and yourstrength.
Help us to see, help us to feeland, lord, help us to have the
courage to do what you want usto do.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
In Jesus' name, amen, can we have a hand of
appreciation for Pastors Markand Dailene.
Wow, wow, man, what a challenge, what a challenge, what a
blessing to be challenged to bethose that stretch and trust the
Lord to step over thoseboundaries.
You know we've been talkingabout from the beginning of this
(42:59):
year that we want to go afterthe deep things of God, that he
has a plan and a purpose foreach one of us, that he values
us and that we, uniquely, arehis.
And as he speaks that over us,it also means that he's
challenging us uniquely to beobedient to what he calls us to
do.
And so that challenge is infront of us and how we would say
(43:20):
yes to him In this season,right now.
How are we going to say yes toGod?
And I want to challenge youtoday, as we are those who are
looking towards kingdom builders, that we would participate
together.
You know I already talked abouthow Celeste and I, how we've
already started to stretch inthat area and we want to give
you the opportunity today torespond.
(43:40):
And if you'd like to partnerwith Barker Daily, you can just
put right on there Europe Today,as you give to missions, and
it'll go towards them andtowards what they're doing in
church, planting across thatwhole region.
But we also wanna make achallenge to you.
We've been praying over a fewweeks about what our faith
promise would be, and I wannachallenge you that you would go
(44:01):
and, during this song that wehave coming up, that you would
fill out your faith promise andyou would turn it in and you'd
say, lord, as you would enableme to do so, I want to be able
to give this amount to missionsthis year, if it's weekly or
monthly or however you like todesignate it, but that it would
be a thing no one's going tocome looking for, that this is
something between you and God.
But what it does is allows us,as we have missionaries calling
(44:22):
us all the time, many that weknow personally, and they're
saying, hey, can you partnerwith us?
Hey, we have a need that it'surgent that we get out.
Can you help us?
And I gotta say, hey, we will,as we're able to do so and this
is how we're able to do so is westep up and we're able to give
so that others may know the loveof Christ.
(44:43):
So, and we're able to give sothat others may know the love of
Christ.
So, as we head into this song,let me ask you to fill this out.
You'll turn it in the back.
We're going to be tallyingthese so we can give you a
number of what the total chargehas been of what people have
said.
Hey, we're going to make thisfaith promise to the Lord, but
let me challenge you to do thatin this next few minutes, you
prayerfully consider what Godwants to do in and through your
(45:03):
life.
Maybe you're here and you'rehearing Mark talk about being
willing to give up everythingthey know to go and to tell
others about the love of Christ,but you yourself, you have not
yet embraced Jesus.
Today is your opportunity to doso.
You have to answer the questionof have you embraced Jesus?
See, for each of us that areChrist followers, that's what
(45:27):
we've done, is we've said yes toJesus.
We say Lord, I believe you arewho you say you are, lord, that
you came, and you came and emptyyourself of glory to be a
sacrifice for all people for alltime.
That's why the cross is such apowerful symbol for us, because
it's the place where Christ wentand he gave his life for us.
He took my mistakes and my sinand my brokenness and yours and
(45:53):
he took it to the cross and hepaid for it once and for all.
And when we come to Jesus byfaith and we say, lord, we know
we can't earn our way into thisrelationship.
But by faith, lord, I acceptthese.
Can't earn our way into thisrelationship, but by faith, lord
, I accept these things thatyou've done on my behalf, the
grace, the love, the forgivenessthat you give to me.
Lord, I ask that you wouldforgive me.
I ask that you would become theLord of my life.
(46:14):
Lord, I ask to start a newrelationship with you.
Friends, that's what it meansto start a new life with Christ.
That's what it means to besaved.
Apostle Paul, he writes to thechurch at Rome.
He says this because if youconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.
(46:35):
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom if you just stand to your
feet right where you're at andjust bow your head, be ready to
respond to what God wants to do.
(46:56):
If you're online, wherever youare, take a moment, take a pause
, be ready to let God work inand through your life, as we've
been talking about this heretoday.
And if that's you, you've nevermade a decision to follow Jesus
.
Today, you wanna make thatdecision in your life.
Or maybe you have made adecision in the past, but you
(47:20):
haven't been living it and youneed to make that recommitment
to him, saying Lord, please,please, forgive me of my sin.
I want to recommit my life toyou to live for you as heads are
bowed here in the room.
If that's you, you say Pastor,I just want to be remembered in
that prayer.
If you just raise your handright where you're at, just
indicate to me that that's youmake.
(47:48):
You want to make that today.
Thank you, god.
I'm gonna ask everyone to praythis prayer out loud after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
(48:11):
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, I pray Amen,amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice that youmake a decision to follow Jesus
today.
The hands that are raised inthis service the first service,
even online Friends.
(48:31):
We rejoice with you, hey, ifyou're with us here in person,
connect with us in the back.
We want to put materials intoyour hand so that you can be
successful in living this lifeafter Jesus.
You can even do that at thecafe.
Well, during this song, we havethis opportunity to fill out
your faith promise.
Celeste and I do that in thefirst service and fill it out
and you'll hold on to the bluepart, but the white part you'll
(48:52):
turn into our team in the back,just so we can tally those, and
we'll actually put it in yourgiving profile so you can see
where you're at on the app oronline as you give to the Lord.
But let's just pray and ask theLord to move upon our hearts
that we respond during this song.
We'll open up this altar to youif you want to draw near to the
Lord as well.
Lord, we thank you so much forthe word that was shared today,
lord, and I thank you, lord, forheroes like Mark and Darlene,
(49:14):
who are willing to say yes.
They're willing to say yes andto keep on going after the
things of you so that peoplewill have the opportunity to
hear about the gospel message.
Lord.
Today, lord, we ask that youwould move by your spirit, holy
Spirit, have your way in us,lord, that you would challenge
us, stretch us, lord, that wewould say yes to you, lord, and,
(49:34):
as you empower us to do so,that we would give above our
ties to missions, to kingdombuilders, so that you will be
made known, so that people havean opportunity to hear about
your love and sacrifice for them.
Lord, thank you for letting usbe a part of this mission's
endeavor.
Lord, that we give beyond sothat other people may know the
love of Jesus.
(49:54):
Lord, as we open this altar, wedo so with an intentionality to
go deeper after the things ofGod.
We pray all this in thepowerful name of Jesus Christ,
amen, lord.
We pray all this in thepowerful name of Jesus Christ,
amen, lord.
We thank you so much for thisopportunity to respond to you
today.
Lord.
We thank you for what you'redoing, lord, and drawing us near
to yourself, lord, and speakingto us.
Lord.
We thank you for all that weknow, lord, and that you are the
(50:17):
God who loves us.
He protects us and guide us,lord, even in the dark places.
Lord, you do not forsake us,lord.
We return back to you, lord,saying that we love you and we
believe, lord, in what you wantus to do and stretching over
those barriers, lord, to say yes, so that we can respond and
that others may know about thegospel message.
(50:37):
We thank you for all thesethings.
We pray this in your name, lord, jesus, amen.
Friends, we celebrate that wehave over $52,000 pledged to
missions already, with more evento be turned in this next week.
We're excited for that.
Amazing, amazing things.
You may be seated for just amoment.
Let me encourage you in thisthat as we finish up the service
(50:58):
today we have just announced itfor a second, come back with a
blessing, but that you would dothis.
You would grab a prayer cardfrom Marky D'Aleen, put it in a
place that you'll see it, maybeon your fridge, somewhere you go
too often and then pray forthem and lift them up before the
throne, amen.
Speaker 5 (51:14):
How many of you were blessed by the word this morning
?
Yeah, thank you, mark.
Thank you, d'aleen.
My prayer is that Easter iscoming up it's just a couple
weeks away and you need toinvite someone.
There is a colleague, there isa neighbor, there is a family
member, and you need them here.
Pray for them, ask them to come, invite them.
Most people come to churchbecause you invited them, not
(51:36):
because they see anadvertisement somewhere on
social media, but they come bypersonal invitation.
So let them know.
We have a Friday evening GoodFriday service.
It'll be one hour.
It's a very, very specialservice that we have here, and
then on Sunday morning we'regoing to celebrate a risen
Savior, a risen King, and so wewant you to invite someone.
Bring them, save a seat forthem, tell them I got a place
(51:59):
right next to me for you andjust see what God does in their
life.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Amen.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us today.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(52:24):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!