March 24, 2025 • 50 mins
What truly matters when this life is over and we stand before God? Pastor Larry Henderson, who oversees all European missionaries for Assemblies of God World Missions, delivers a soul-stirring message about living with eternal perspective.
Having planted churches in the Canary Islands and led a dynamic 3,000-person multicultural congregation in Vienna, Pastor Larry shares powerful stories of lives transformed by the gospel. From a brain-injured man who prioritized his wife's salvation over his own healing to a Syrian refugee who found the supernatural ability to forgive ISIS for killing his entire family, these testimonies reveal how encountering Jesus fundamentally changes what we value.
The heart of this message centers on three profound truths. First, people matter immensely to God—Jesus didn't die for buildings or political causes but for human souls. Second, how we live matters—our authentic Christ-like behavior speaks more powerfully than our words in a world skeptical of religion but desperate for genuine spirituality. Finally, eternity matters—what we do today echoes forever in light of Jesus' certain return.
Pastor Larry takes us to war-torn Ukrainian villages where mayors testify, "The government forgot us, NGOs left, but the church comes every week," revealing how Kingdom Builders giving translates into tangible hope. He challenges us with the urgent words of missiologist Carl Henry: "The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time."
As Cornerstone prepares for Kingdom Builders commitments, this message reminds us why giving beyond our tithes to support missionaries matters eternally. The question isn't whether we'll leave a legacy, but what kind of legacy we'll leave. Will you embrace the opportunity to live for what really matters—bringing others with you to heaven?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen, let's build this kingdom together.
You know you saw a lot ofimages there of things that
we've done collectively as thebody here at Cornerstone We've
given to things in Paraguay,we've given to things in
Botswana, we've given to placeslike Sudan and we've in El
Salvador, throughout Asia andBangkok and Laos and even Nepal
recently.
(00:20):
And the Lord has been able todo this through us because we're
obedient to give what he'sgiven us to take hold of.
And so we say, lord, take thisand use it for what you want to
do.
And so that's what KingdomBuilders is about.
And over these next few weeks,as we focus on Kingdom Builders
and we have this focus, let mechallenge you in this that you
would ask the Lord on how youcan be more someone who says yes
(00:43):
to him, that you would besomeone who gives in abundance,
because we know that he's a Godof abundance and that you can't
out give him and friends.
I can tell you, as someone whosaid yes to God and left behind
corporate America to go towardswhat I saw as the poverty of
going into ministry, that theriches that God has given me and
(01:05):
experience of seeing peoplecome to Jesus is worth more than
anything I could have gotmyself.
And so, friends, let me say andchallenge you that you would
say yes to God and that youwould be someone who's generous,
above your tithes and giving tomissions, to kingdom builders.
Today we have such a greatopportunity as we have a guest
speaker that's with us, PastorsLarry and Melinda.
(01:27):
They are a powerful couple.
They are leaders of leaders andthey are someone today who
actually oversees all of Europeand all of the missionaries in
Europe for Assemblies of God,world Missions.
They're friends of ours that Imet when we were pastoring in
Paris, france, and they werepastoring.
They had planted a church inthe Canary Islands in Spain, and
then God called them to lead adynamic church in Vienna,
(01:49):
austria.
Vcc is a church over 3,000people made up of countries of
the world, and they have manydifferent congregations that
speak different languages.
They've planted churches notjust across Europe but across
the world as a church, and sohe's come, so he led that church
for many years.
They together doing amazingministry as God enabled them.
Today they lead teams of peopleacross Europe and even the
(02:14):
world in reaching others withthe love of Christ.
Please welcome today PastorLarry as he comes to share with
you Love you, man.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Amen, praise the Lord .
Happy birthday, pastor Jay.
Come on, everybody.
Tell your neighbor I love mychurch.
Come on, just tell them.
Yes, come on, come on, say itlike you mean it.
Tell them, say I really love mychurch.
I hope you do.
(02:47):
I hope you're happy here.
Friends, it's not like thiseverywhere.
I just love the culture, I lovewhat I sense and feel today in
this house and just how the Lordis moving among you.
We enjoyed first service, butsecond service to be with you,
and this afternoon everybody'sgoing to hang out and have lunch
and a great time together.
You know there's somethingabout being a part of a local
church.
It's important to remember.
(03:08):
We're not a club.
We're not here just playingchess and checkers.
We're the church, we're thebody of Christ in this location
and today there are millions andmillions of Spirit-filled
believers just like us who areworshiping God today, many in
the places where Pastor Jay justmentioned around the world,
(03:30):
some in open air with nobuilding, some underground,
hiding for the sake ofpersecution.
But we're part of that body ofChrist and friends.
I'm telling you, if I livedright here, this is where I
would go to church, so I hopeyou feel that way.
What a great, great daytogether.
Pastor Jay, pastor Celeste, welove you guys, just so thankful
for you.
(03:50):
They have served as pastors.
Of course, pastor Jay grew upright here in this church and
it's just fun to always comeback to a place where you have
so many memories of your ownspiritual formation and to talk
about people like Tiamika, whohave poured into your lives and
now you get to serve togetherand just it's really amazing.
(04:11):
But these guys have left afootprint in Europe and Eurasia.
They have impacted lives, manylives, because of the churches
they've helped to plant and, ofcourse, pastoring those people,
loving those people, and whenthey came back here to serve you
, it was a win for you but itwas a loss for us and we miss
(04:32):
them.
We miss them serving there, butwe're so thankful God's called
them to be here and so wecelebrate with you what God's
doing here in this season and Iwas encouraging Pastor Jay
between the services.
This is your moment, everybody.
This really is your moment.
I just I feel like this churchhas the infrastructure to just
reach farther, to continue togrow and reach people right here
(04:54):
in this community, in the city,but also around the world, the
things that you're doing.
So thank you so much.
And just in a couple of weeksyou're going to be a part of
making Kingdom Builderscommitments.
Much, and just in a coupleweeks you're going to be a part
of making kingdom builderscommitments.
And I just want to emphasize wesee a lot of giving that takes
place.
There's a lot of goodorganizations out there and
they're doing okay.
Many of them are doing good,but we're the church and when
(05:15):
you give through the church, youknow that the church is going
to steward those funds and thatit's going to go to where it's
designated to go.
And you know there's boots onthe ground, there are
missionaries there who helpsteward those project funds, who
really help to plant the church, to establish the church, to do
outreach ministries, and I'mjust so grateful again for the
(05:36):
reach of this church.
You know there's a room backhere that used to be the youth
room, I think at some point, butit has a timeline on the wall
that shows of all the giving, ofhow the church has grown, the
outreach of this church andcollectively over the years this
church has given somewhereclose to $4 million to world
missions and it's incredible.
Praise the Lord, that's you.
(05:59):
That's you.
So thank you for just yourfaithfulness and helping us to
make a difference where God'scalled the missionaries around
the world.
Upstairs is a prayer room andin that prayer room you see real
faces of missionaries yousupport.
They're not fictitious, thoseare real families, real people,
and I can tell you they'regrateful for you today.
They really are, so thank you.
(06:20):
I want to share a message withyou today entitled what Really
Matters.
What really matters?
There's a lot of things in lifethat matter and a lot of things
that are important to all of us, but if we really take a moment
to think about it today, whatreally matters in light of
eternity?
What matters when this life isover and we stand before God one
day?
There's a man in our church inVienna.
(06:41):
His name is Fossil and Fossil'sfrom a sensitive country I
can't mention today.
But Fossil.
He came to Vienna to get a joband because the contract did
really well there, he learnedGerman, which was the language
of our country.
He of course, spoke his mothertongue and then he spoke English
.
But during the course of hisjob and his work he was in an
(07:05):
automobile accident and becauseof that he had a brain bleed and
he was in a coma for a numberof weeks and even many of the
doctors didn't think he wouldlive, let alone he would ever
have any quality of life.
Finally he came out of thatcoma.
We'd been praying for him.
He comes out of the coma and hehas memory loss.
He can't speak his mothertongue, he can't speak German,
(07:25):
he can only speak English.
Well, the problem was his wifedid not speak English.
So you can imagine at home howchallenging that was for us to
navigate, you know, between thetwo of them and try to help them
with their family needs.
I remember when, again, he,after a time of rehabilitation,
physical therapy, he came backto church for the first time on
his crutches and he came forwardduring a prayer time and of
(07:49):
course we knew what his needswere.
So immediately I started topray for him.
And, lord, would you, would youbring healing to Fossil's body,
would you restore his memory,would you help him to recover
physically and immediately.
He just stops me and he says,pastor, don't pray for me, pray
for my wife who doesn't knowJesus.
Well, of course we knew hiswife was still searching and
(08:12):
didn't know Jesus.
But I said we'll pray for her,but let me pray for you.
And he stops me again.
He says no, pastor, if you'regoing to pray, pray for her,
I'll be okay, but pray for herbecause she doesn't know Jesus.
And in that moment it reallystruck me.
You know, there's things inlife that matter.
And then there's things in lifethat really matter.
You know, the older you get,there's things that maybe you
(08:35):
took for granted before, and nowthey just they're so important.
There's gravity to it.
There's just something aboutthings that maybe we didn't
think about before but we thinkabout it now.
And maybe, too, there's thingswe held on to before, things
that we thought, well, this isimportant, and we realized, ah,
it's not that important.
It begins to change yourperspective changes.
(08:56):
You know, in the Bible, in 1Thessalonians, chapter 2,
there's a verse that helps us toframe what we want to talk
about today.
It's found in verse 19 andverse 20.
Paul's writing to theThessalonian church, to
believers that he has ministeredto, that he's pastored, that
he's helped, and he says thesewords.
He says what is our hope?
Verse 19, what is our hope?
(09:16):
Our joy or the crown in whichwe will glory in the presence of
our Lord Jesus when he comes.
And then he answers thequestion.
He says is it not you?
You are our glory and our joy.
He's talking to these peoplethat he has ministered to and
he's saying when Jesus comesback, what's really going to
(09:37):
matter?
What's our hope, what's thecrown, what's the joy that we'll
hold on to when Jesus comes?
How many of you believe Jesus iscoming back?
Praise the Lord.
It's more than a song, it'smore than a story, friends, it's
a reality.
He says that when he comes back, there's going to be a reward,
there's going to be somethingthat matters, you know.
(09:57):
I want to remind you today thatheaven is just as real as your
salvation.
If you believe that you havecome to know Jesus and been
saved, it's important to alsobelieve that heaven is a home
that God has prepared for us.
In fact, it's important for usto remember that you may have a
passport here, you may have anidentity card here, but you're
(10:18):
not just a citizen on this earth.
You are citizens of heaven as afollower of Jesus.
That's our home.
We're not just passing throughone day and we hope to go to
heaven.
No, heaven is where we belongand we're just passing through
this earth.
The reality is that's where Godhas prepared a place for us.
In fact, jesus, he said in John, chapter 14, he said don't let
(10:41):
your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believealso in me.
In my Father's house are manymansions or many rooms.
If it were not so, I would havetold you, but I'm going to
prepare a place for you.
And Jesus said if I go, I willcome back and take you to be
with me so that you can be whereI am.
(11:01):
Isn't that wonderful, friends?
It's not a trick question today, how many of you want to go to
heaven, praise the Lord, howmany of you want to go to heaven
today?
A few people over here, notmany people over here, want to
go to heaven today.
No, the reality is we all wantto go to heaven, but we have our
plans.
We have our.
You know, we have our to-dolist.
(11:23):
I mean, we've got a lot ofthings going on.
It's like yep, larry, one day Iwant to go to heaven.
Friends, arizona is a greatplace to live.
It really is, but heaven isbetter than Arizona.
I can promise you that it'simportant to remember that.
This is life here.
But, friends, we live this dayso that that day when we stand
(11:43):
before the Lord, he'll say welldone, good and faithful servant.
In Acts, chapter 1, we readabout Jesus ascending to heaven
after he had given them thegreat commission and told them
I'm going to send the HolySpirit and when he comes upon
you, you'll receive power to bewitnesses for me.
But then, after that, he beginsto ascend and the disciples are
watching him and an angelappears and says men of Galilee,
(12:06):
why do you stand here gazinginto the sky?
And then he says this wordsthis same Jesus, not a different
Jesus, not some angel with abroken wing, but the same Jesus
who died for you, the same Jesuswho rose again, who forgives
your sins, who sends the HolySpirit.
(12:26):
This same Jesus will come backin the same way that you've seen
him go Hallelujah, hallelujah.
So, friends, it's important toremind ourselves that, yeah,
this earth is not our home andwhat we do here, it matters for
that day when we stand beforehim.
So, really, what really matters?
If we were to make a list today,you probably have a lot of
(12:47):
things that would be importantto you.
I have things I think would beimportant to me.
I'm a granddad.
How many of you aregrandparents.
In fact, we just had our thirdgrandchild, a granddaughter, and
I'm telling you everythingpeople say about being a
grandparent it's true, it's justtrue.
It's true, it's just true, it'strue.
I had to apologize to my sonrecently and he said Dad, what
(13:10):
are you sorry for?
I said, well, there's justthings I feel towards my
grandkids.
I didn't feel towards you, youknow.
So my grandkids matter, right.
I mean, there's a lot of thingsthat matter and we could yeah,
I see some of your grandparentsyou agree with that, is that
true?
It's true, it's just true.
(13:31):
There's a lot of things thatmatter, right.
But what really matters?
Well, let me just share acouple of things.
First of all, I think peoplematter.
Come on, say that with me,everybody.
People matter.
Come on, say it like you, meanit.
People matter, they matter toGod and they should matter to us
.
Did you know?
Jesus didn't die for a building.
He didn't die for a politicalcause.
(13:51):
He didn't die for the thingsthat we think about.
Jesus died for people.
That's what he died for.
And the reality is, when Jesuscomes back and we stand before
him, what's going to reallymatter is how did we live our
life, how do we live for him andhow do we bring people with us
that Jesus died for?
(14:12):
Not about our bank account orthe followers we have on social
media, but the reality is havewe lived life to make a
difference in people?
Tia Mika and I were talkingbetween the services and
learning.
I was learning a lot about theMika House and she says you know
, it's not about the crowds,it's never been about the
numbers, it's about the oneperson, the one life that we can
(14:35):
touch.
And that's the testimony ofMercy House, the mercy place.
That's the testimony.
It's because it's making adifference in the lives of
people.
You know, everything you dohere at Cornerstone Christian
Center, ccc.
I love that.
It's just easy to say right,ccc, everything you do here
flows out of a love for God anda love for people.
(14:56):
I watched, looked on yourwebsite this week week and I
watched a video from Pastor Jay.
Here's what he says in thevideo.
He says here at Cornerstone,we're all about connect, grow
and serve, connect, grow andserve.
We want to connect with eachother and we want to grow in our
relationship with God and wewant to serve with our gifts and
(15:17):
abilities.
We're also people who are on amission.
We want to love God, we want tomake disciples, we want to
reach the world.
I love that.
It's just simple.
Wherever you look around thischurch, you see it Love God,
make disciples, reach the worldOver here in the back banner be
more like Jesus.
I love that Because we, jesus,I love that because we just we.
(15:39):
We were committed to people.
We're committed to God andwe're committed to the people
that he loves.
You know, I remember in 2015, 16, we started seeing refugees
come into our church and, um,one of the first ones, his name,
was Jamal, and everybody wastelling us be careful.
Uh, you know, these, theseMuslims are coming in and
Islam's going to take overEurope.
And you know, we found out thatreally, the people who were
(16:00):
afraid were the refugees comingin because, you know, they were
moving into a new culture.
They didn't understand thelanguage, but the more we loved
on them like first, john says,perfect love cast out fear we
started loving on them and theirhearts just opened towards us.
They wanted to talk aboutspiritual things.
We didn't try to force anythingon anybody, but they asked us
(16:21):
conversations like how do youknow that you're going to heaven
?
They wanted to know about thesupernatural, about miracles and
how do miracles happen?
And they wanted to talk aboutdreams and visions that many of
them had had I'll never forget.
Jamal came to our church and hesaid I'm just searching for
truth and I've never read aBible.
Can I read one of your Bibles?
So we gave him a Bible, he tookit home, he started reading it.
(16:44):
He kept coming back to churchand every week you could just
see he was searching.
And I remember one week he wasin the altar and I started to
pray with him and I said Jamal,what can I pray with you about?
He said well, pastor, I feellike I'm a 50% follower of Jesus
, 50% follower of Islam.
And I said well, you know, youjust keep searching and I pray
(17:04):
that the God of that Bible willreveal himself to you.
And that's what he kept doing.
He kept coming to church, hekept praying, he kept seeking
God and and kept reading theBible.
And so a few months later I sawhim in the altar again, but he
was on the other side and Icouldn't reach him.
So I asked one of the men.
I said hey, would you go overand pray with Jamal, but be
careful, because he said he's a50% follower of Jesus, 50%
(17:27):
follower of Islam.
Well, after service, thatleader came to me, that men's
leader, and he said hey, pastor,he says that guy, jamal, he's a
75% follower of Jesus, 25%follower of Islam.
Well, of course you can imagine.
The Holy Spirit just keptworking in his heart.
(17:49):
And one day we had a baptismservice and there was Jamal, and
he comes forward to be baptizedand he had been through the
class and he'd shared histestimony and I said Jamal, when
I first met you, you told meyou were 50-50.
And then I heard you were 75-25.
And he lifted both of his handsand he said pastor, I want
everybody to know that I am a100% follower of Jesus.
Hallelujah, all the fear isgone.
(18:10):
All the fear is gone.
God's changed my life.
Friends, I tell you that storybecause people matter and
sometimes we think, well,they're from this religion or
they don't believe in God.
God can reach anybody.
God can save anybody.
God can change any life.
He died for people.
I'll never forget.
We were at church on a Saturday.
(18:31):
We were talking about JohnMaxwell and just a lot of the
resources he has blessed thechurch with over the years.
And I was at church on aSaturday we were doing a
leadership training and we wereusing some of his materials and
we had pastors from our church,from other churches, and right
as we were beginning, I lookedout in the foyer and I could see
two young people out there andI thought well, I know they're
(18:53):
not here for the training, solet me just go see if I can help
them.
When I walked out there, therewere two students and they were
from China and they werestudying on a semester abroad at
the University of Vienna inAustria, and so they had this
tourist book.
You know, you've seen thesetourist books where they have
museums, best restaurants, youknow all the places that you
(19:15):
should visit when you go toursomewhere.
And right in the middle of thatbook was an advertisement for
our church, Vienna ChristianCenter.
And I thought how did we get anad in a Chinese tourist book,
you know?
And so the guys?
I said can I help you?
And they showed me this ad andthey said yeah, we're looking
for a Christian church.
And I said well, we're aChristian church.
(19:36):
I said are you guys Christians?
And they said no, but we'relooking for a Christian church.
Well, now I'm kind of puzzled.
And they said we're studentsfrom China, we're studying here
and in China the internet isrestricted.
There's things you just can'tsee on the internet.
It's closed.
And they said but since we'vebeen here in Europe, the
internet is open and we've seeneverything on the internet.
(19:57):
And I'm thinking, yeah,probably more than you should
you know.
And then finally, one of theguys he says to me, he says do
you know Hollywood?
And I said yeah, I know whatHollywood is.
He says we've been watchingmovies from Hollywood and in
these movies we hear the sayingsof Jesus.
And when we hear the sayings ofJesus we feel something.
(20:18):
And so we're trying to find aChristian church that will tell
us more of the sayings of Jesus.
Isn't that incredible?
First of all, I don't know whatmovies they were watching, but
probably not the same moviesthat Pastor Jay watches.
I'm just kidding.
I don't know, I'm just jokingthat Pastor Jay watches.
I'm just kidding, I don't know,I'm just joking.
No, the reality is I don't knowwhat they were watching, but
(20:41):
somehow they heard the words ofJesus in some movie and it
touched their heart and theysaid we have to find a church,
we have to find more of thesayings of Jesus.
Now, thank God, you know, wehad a Chinese congregation, so
we invited them congregation.
So we invited them.
They came to church, they gavetheir hearts to Jesus and I'll
never forget when they left theysaid we're going to go back and
we're going to take the sayingsof Jesus to all of our friends
(21:02):
in China.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, friends.
I tell you that again becausewe can't sit around saying how
do we reach two Chinese students?
How do we find an ad here orthere?
All we do is we just make surewe value people, we love people
because Jesus died for people.
In 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 8and 9, it says God's not willing
(21:25):
that any should perish, butthat all people should come to
repentance, all of them, not any, one single person would perish
, but that every one would cometo Jesus.
That's his will, that's God'swill, and I know we love people,
but God loves them so much morethan you and I do.
And sometimes I have to askmyself if Jesus really is coming
(21:49):
back, why hasn't he come backyet?
And the reality is that's agood question.
In fact, in that same chapter,in the beginning of those verses
of 2 Peter, chapter 3, therewas the question the scoffers
were saying why hasn't he come?
And the reality is as much aswe believe he's coming back, we
know he's coming back.
The answer to that question isin those verses that God is
(22:12):
patient with us.
Aren't you thankful that God'spatient, that he's not willing
that any one should perish, butthat every one would come to
repentance?
Friends, if God judged us forwhat we deserve, none of us
would be here today, and if Godtreated us as we deserve, he
took his hand off of our life.
We couldn't even find our wayhome.
(22:32):
It's only because of God's loveand because of God's mercy that
you and I are sitting heretoday, and I believe that the
reason he hasn't returned isbecause there are people that
you love, people that I love,and God's patient with them,
that if he came back today,they'd be lost forever.
And we know that and therefore,we believe that God is giving
(22:54):
us a little more time.
We're not just here doing whatwe want to do today.
We're here realizing that we'rethe church and we're part of
what God desires to do.
What is his mission?
How can we help people in thiscommunity to come to know Jesus?
How can we help people aroundthe world to come to know Jesus?
Friends, there are peoplewithin driving distance of this
church, people in MaricopaCounty who need the Lord.
(23:17):
They need to be a part of thisfamily, they need him and the
reality is he loves them so muchthat he's given you and I a
little bit more time to reachthem.
So this morning, pastor Rich wasin the first service and he was
talking about eating Mexicanfood in heaven.
How many of you think there'sgoing to be Mexican food in
heaven?
I don't know, but I have a lotof Spanish-speaking friends and
(23:42):
they tell me you know, everybodyneeds to learn Spanish because
you know, in heaven we're goingto speak Spanish.
It will be the heavenlylanguage.
I don't know about that, but Ido think it's good to learn
another language.
But the reality is, what wouldthe language of hell be?
Will it be the 1.2 billionMandarin speakers who don't know
(24:07):
Jesus.
Will it be the 362 millionArabic speakers?
Or the 602 Hindi speakers, themillions of Bengali speakers?
I don't know.
But I do know that Jesus iscoming back and I know that
Jesus died for people and weshould do everything we can.
(24:27):
We should do everything we cannot only to make it to heaven
ourselves, but to take peoplewith us.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
I was at a church in Iowa a fewmonths ago and I loved it.
When you go out, there was asign that says our mission is to
make it to heaven and take asmany people with us as we can.
And I know that's your heart,and so I pray that God would
(24:49):
help us to live for what matters?
That we take people with uswhen we go.
The way we live our lifematters too.
Friends, I don't think there'sever been a day in the history
of Christianity when it mattersmore than it matters now.
In fact, people can equatereligion, and many people have
never come towards faith inJesus because they say, well,
(25:09):
it's just religion.
In fact, if you came to ourpart of the world, pastor Jay
and Pastor Celeste can tell youpeople would say this I don't
need God and I don't need thechurch.
And the reason they say that isbecause all they see is an
empty building.
All they see is some historicbuilding that's empty and
there's nothing that it does toever change the society and the
(25:29):
culture in which they live.
In fact, we had a young ladywho was one of our university
students and one of ourmissionaries was sharing faith
with her and she said you know?
She said I'm an atheist, Idon't believe in God, but I need
him.
I need him.
What she's saying is I don'tbelieve in the historic picture
(25:51):
of God, but if what you'resaying is true, I don't believe
in religion.
But if what you're saying abouthaving a relationship with God
is true, I need a God like that,I need a relationship with him.
And it's important to rememberChristianity is more than a
creed to believe.
It's a life that we live.
In fact, god is not concernedabout what you believe.
(26:12):
The devils believe, demonsbelieve, but it's important how
we live out what we believe.
And friends, people don't careIf they don't see how you live.
They don't care what you say,because words are empty.
We know that.
But it's important to make surethat we say we're believers,
(26:32):
then we follow Be more likeJesus.
You can't see it because it'sbehind you over there, but I
keep looking back those massivewords on the back corner there
that says be more like Jesus.
Can't see it because it'sbehind you over there, but I
keep looking back those massivewords on the back corner there
that says be more like Jesus.
I pray when you leave here thatyou see that.
Love God, make disciples reachthe world.
Be more like Jesus.
And as we leave here we sayLord, the good thing is,
(26:55):
wherever I go, you go becausethe Holy Spirit lives inside of
me and I can take Jesus with meand I can live him out in my
everyday life and in themarketplace and in the school
Friends.
It's important that we makesure that we live like Jesus.
The way we live it matters.
In fact, in 2 Peter 3, theverses that we read, god's not
(27:16):
willing any perish, but all cometo repentance Immediately,
immediately after that, the nextverse says if you understand
these things, what kind ofpeople ought you to be?
You ought to live.
You should live holy and godlylives, as you look forward to
and you speed the day of hiscoming.
Friends, it's about how we live.
(27:39):
Since we've been back in theStates.
We see more commercials thatnew things, new products, and
it's always fun to see whatchanges in the States from the
time you're here, the time youleave, the time you come back.
But all this medication that'snew and helping in so many
different ways.
And you know, I was watchingsome commercial the other day
about some blood pressuremedication and it sounded pretty
(28:01):
good.
Until they get to the pointwhere at the end of the
commercial they say but therecould be side effects.
Right, you know.
And then they start listing allthose side effects Skin rash,
dizziness, headaches, memoryloss, you know, blurred vision,
you could have blood clots, youcould have hallucinations and
I'm thinking I'll just keep myhigh blood pressure.
You know, right, but asfollowers of Jesus, there should
(28:26):
be side effects.
You shouldn't have to tellpeople that you're a believer,
that you're a disciple.
People should know it by theway that you live, know it by
the way that you speak, know itby the attitude and how you
treat them speak.
Know it by the attitude and howyou treat them.
Jesus said they will know thatyou're my disciples how, by the
love you have for one another,by the way you treat one another
(28:49):
, friends.
That's important for us morethan it ever has been before.
And I know I'm not sayingsomething new.
What I'm saying really is Ithink it's an overflow of your
heart, but I'm just remindingyou today that if we're going to
reach people for Jesus, then wehave to live for Jesus.
If we're going to be atestimony and reflection of him,
we've got to make sure that inour behaviors and what we say
(29:11):
and what we do, it makes adifference.
St Francis de Assisi saidpreach the gospel and, if it's
necessary, use words.
I love that.
Preach the gospel, but itdoesn't always have to be on
Sunday morning with a microphonefrom the stage.
It can be how we live, how welive without even saying words,
(29:33):
hallelujah.
I want you to watch this videoof a story of a man named
Ibrahim.
He was from Syria, he worked inthe secret police and because
of that, isis tried to targethim, tried to kill him and put a
car bomb under his car.
But when the bomb exploded hewas not in the car yet, but his
wife was in the car, hischildren were in the car and his
(29:56):
parents were in the car and inone moment he lost everything.
You're from?
Can I tell everybody whereyou're from?
You're from Syria, and we'veseen a lot of refugees that have
come over these last few yearsfrom Iran, iraq, afghanistan,
syria, of course, many places inAfrica.
But you're one of the storiesthat really inspire us, because
(30:20):
you were a person who losteverything, but can you describe
what happened in 2013?
What?
What did you lose?
Speaker 3 (30:29):
um, it's the.
The war is beginning 2011 and Iwas working as a special place.
In november 2013, the isisattacked my whole family with a
car bomb and he killed all of myfamily.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So ISIS when they attacked your family in this car
bomb.
But you lost everybody yourwife, your children, everybody.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And after that I decided to get out from this
country because I don't believein war.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Well, I can imagine, because I actually read what you
wrote and you and I have hadconversations before.
But how did that make you feeltowards God, you know?
Did you feel angry, sad?
How did you feel when you losteverything?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Actually, I was very angry and very sad and I was
always saying, because we wereyoung, our parents they say they
are angels, they will protectus.
They were God.
And I say, okay, this is a bigliar, Because if they were
angels, they would protect notmy parents but my children at
least my kids and I decided toget out from Syria.
(31:41):
It took me two months to get toEurope.
Because two months?
Because you know, I losteverything.
And that person thanked him.
He told me give your heart toJesus.
And first time I was so I'm notsure to give my heart to Jesus,
(32:04):
but the day I decided to givemy heart to Jesus, that anger
and that's a ticket for my heart.
And I have one message for thispeople who kill my family today
, I will forgive you.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Did you hear that?
These people who killed myfamily?
Today I have a message for you.
I forgive you.
Only God, only God can takeaway anger.
Only God can take away loss andgive us the ability to do that.
Friends, that's not human,that's supernatural, it's not
(32:50):
from our heart, it's because ofwhat God's done in your life.
Abraham, and you've beenthrough a lot.
It hasn't been easy.
Since you've been here, we'vetalked a lot about things you've
been through, but you know what.
You're on a good path right now.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
And.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
God has great things in front of you.
Praise the Lord, hallelujah,hallelujah.
Friends, I just saw Abraham afew weeks ago and he said Pastor
, I'm still serving Jesus, he'sstill serving in the local
church, he's still making adifference, he's still sharing
his faith.
I went with him one time to hisworkplace and when I walked in
he said this is my pastor.
(33:37):
Everybody I've been invitingyou to church, but I want you to
meet my pastor.
And immediately I startedtalking to everybody and they're
like yeah, he's always so happy, so joyful.
He tells us it's Jesus, but wethink he's on drugs.
There's no way it could just beJesus.
I said, no, it really is, it'sjust Jesus.
There's something about the waythat you live and it matters.
(33:58):
I was in Ukraine just a fewweeks ago and we were down near
the borders where many of thesevillages and small towns had
been destroyed, and you see someof the pictures here no
electricity, no running water,it was cold, it was in the
single digits in Fahrenheittemperatures and it was
incredible just to see peoplesurviving and being so resilient
.
And wherever we went, motherswere coming up to us and asking
(34:22):
us to pray for them and pray formy son who has been taken
captive as a prisoner and Idon't know where he's at, I
don't even know if he's alive.
Others were bringing theirteenage children to us, saying
please pray for them, becausepray the war would end, because
if it doesn't end, my childrenhave to go fight next year.
And just so many stories thatwould rip your heart out.
(34:43):
And we would go from thesetowns to towns with the local
church leaders who were thereand they were in there,
investing and just loving onpeople, taking food and praying
for people.
And you would see the mayors inthese community centers, that
holes in the building, butthey'd still meet in them.
No heat, extremely cold, andyet every single one of those
(35:05):
places we would give them food,we would give them something to
eat, we would pray with them.
And single one of those placeswe would give them food, we
would give them something to eat, we would pray with them.
And every one of the mayorswould say to us they said the
government has forgot about us,the NGOs have left, but the
church, the church comes everyweek to feed us and to pray with
us.
And these are people that liveout what they believe.
(35:28):
And they said to us we've neverhad a church in our town, we've
never had any church here, butwe pray that when the war ends
they will come and start achurch in our city and I'm happy
to show you a picture of one ofthose new churches that have
been started recently.
Hallelujah Hallelujah, becausepeople like you and me said
(35:48):
we're going to live out ourfaith.
We're going to live it out.
It matters.
The last thing I want to sharewith you is really that eternity
matters, and if our keyboardplayer would come back and I
just want to pray with youPastor Jay is going to come in a
few moments, but I want toleave this with you today.
Friends, this life, it's goingto come and go.
My dad went to heaven 86 yearsold, just about two months ago,
(36:14):
and you know as much as I missdad.
I feel this overwhelming, justpeace and gratefulness, because
he lived out his faith.
He just lived it out and Ithink when you lose someone that
you love, it reminds you howfragile life is.
It reminds you that really,this is not eternity, this is
(36:34):
temporal.
But there comes a moment whenthis life will be over and you
and I will live for eternity andeverything we've done.
Everything that our liferepresents will go through the
fire.
First Corinthians 3 talks aboutthat, and only what survives
the fire will remain.
You know it's a picture of thetemporal things will pass, and
(36:54):
only what's eternal, then, willreceive our reward.
In 2 Peter 3, verse 8, he saysdon't forget this, friends with
the Lord, a day is like athousand years, and a thousand
years is like a day.
We don't even understand whatthat means, but we know that one
day we'll stand before Jesusand on that day, I think the
same question that Paul askedwhat's our hope, what's our joy,
(37:16):
what's the crown that we'llreceive?
What really matters, I think,beyond the shadow of a doubt,
it'll be the people that we'vereached for him, and it'd be the
kind of life that we lived hereon earth.
Because, friends, eternity willcome and I can tell you that
this day, even today, eventhough this is a Sunday, and
this is a day when we celebratetogether, we worship together
(37:38):
and then we go out and we'regonna have a great time this
afternoon but today matters, forthat day when we stand before
the Lord, when you give yourgiving matters.
For that moment when you standbefore the Lord, when you share
your faith.
It matters in that moment, forthe day when you stand before
the Lord, and I pray that whenthat day happens, that with all
of our hearts, we'll say Lord, Ilive for eternity.
(38:00):
I heard you say well done, goodand faithful servant, I would
love to just lead you in prayerthis morning.
Would you stand?
And I would love to just leadyou in prayer this morning.
Would you stand?
And I would.
I'd love to ask you to dosomething that we would do so
often in our church in ViennaI'd love to ask everybody to
move towards the front today andlet's just have a prayer time
around this altar together.
(38:21):
Worship team, you can come,come on, would you just move
from where you are?
Everybody, come, come here forjust a moment, and for just a
moment we're going to lead youin prayer together.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Thank you, jesus.
Faso came back to our office andhe's asking for prayer.
(38:45):
I didn't know why, but hebrought his wife with him and I
figured something must not.
You know problems in theirmarriage One's a believer, one's
an unbeliever.
But he says, larry, will youpray for us, because we're going
to take a trip to the countrywhere his wife is from.
He said we just received thenews that my father-in-law only
(39:09):
has a few, just a few days tolive.
The doctors say he's not goingto make it.
And we got to go tell him aboutJesus before he dies.
And I said Fossil.
I said we'll pray for him, butyou can't go.
You're a Christian and as afollower of Jesus, if you go to
that country you'll be arrested,you'll be put in prison, you'll
(39:32):
probably even lose your life.
And he said no, pastor, youdon't understand.
I have to go.
I have to go.
I'm not worried about myselfbecause I'm okay, he said, but
my father-in-law will die and hedoesn't know Jesus.
And he says you have to prayfor us.
Just all I'm asking you to dois pray.
And we began to just go back andforth and finally I said Faso,
we know people who know people.
(39:53):
We'll find somebody who can goand be there and share Jesus
with him.
But you can't go.
And he got so frustrated withme he pulled, he recently took
his Bible and he pulled out anoffering envelope and he held it
up and he pointed to the wordmissions on that offering
envelope and he said Pastor, yousay it all the time.
All the time you tell us wehave to do this.
(40:15):
And he pointed to the wordmissions.
And then he said these words.
He says we're all going to diesomewhere.
So what difference does it makeif I die here in Austria, or if
I die and he named the name ofthe country his wife's from, or
if I die and he named thecountry he's from?
He says if I die, I'm ready togo to heaven, but if my
(40:39):
father-in-law dies, he'll belost forever without Jesus.
You know, it kind of sums itall up.
Today, friends, the reality isthis One day, this life will be
over.
What's our hope, what's ourcrown?
What's the joy that we'llreceive when Jesus comes, when
(41:00):
you and I stand before him oneday, in light of eternity?
What really matters?
People, people matter.
So let's live our life forJesus.
I'm so thankful for this church,I'm thankful for your
leadership, I'm thankful forPastor Jay and Pastor Celeste.
(41:21):
God has given you giftedpastors, high capacity pastors,
and I believe he's done it andthen given you the team and he's
called you here because this isyour moment.
This is your moment, friends.
All of us are going to get oldand one day, if Jesus doesn't
come back, we'll all die and goto heaven, but he could come
(41:42):
back today, and so the questionis what are we going to do for
him?
May, every day, may we seizethis moment and just say it's
not just a Sunday, it's not justthis is where I live for 2025,
maybe 2002.
No, god called you.
He determined the times, exactplaces where we should live,
(42:03):
because this was his purpose foryou, his purpose for this
church, because this was hispurpose for you, his purpose for
this church.
Carl Henry said these words.
He says the gospel is only goodnews if it gets there in time.
It's good news, friends.
It works.
It's worked for you and itworks for everybody who doesn't
know the Lord.
It will change their life, butit's only good if it gets there
(42:26):
in time.
Come on, would you lift yourhands with me right now, as a
church?
Would you just begin to prayLord, increase my capacity to
love people.
Come on, would you just tellhim Lord, increase my capacity
to love people.
Sometimes people are easy tolove, sometimes they're not.
But, god, I pray that you wouldgive me a love, like you have a
(42:47):
love for people who hurt me, alove for people who have tried
to say things about me to todestroy my life.
Lord, I pray today that in thisbuilding, you would increase
our capacity to love.
Love comes from God, so may wereceive love from you and may we
reciprocate that love to others.
May we respond to your love,lord, by loving people the way
(43:10):
that you love them, by valuingthem and giving them dignity,
and no matter what we see on theoutside, can we believe that
God would do something on theinside, that they could become a
new creation in Christ and allthings would pass away and all
things would become new?
Can we believe that today, comeon, begin to pray for somebody
in your family right now, beginto pray for someone that you
(43:33):
love who doesn't know Jesusright now.
Maybe it's a cousin, maybe it'sa parent, maybe it's a child,
maybe it's a brother, maybe it'sa neighbor, but would you begin
to say, lord, I believe thatthey're not too far away from
you.
I pray today, lord, I believethat they're not too far away
from you.
I pray today, god, that youwould reach out to them.
I pray that the goodness of Godwould lead them to you, to
(43:53):
repentance, lord, that theywouldn't feel condemned but they
would feel your love.
They would feel, lord, thecompassion of Christ that
reaches out to them.
Just as the gospel has changedour life, lord, we pray that it
would change your life, lord, wepray that it would change your
life.
Lord, we pray that it wouldchange their life.
We pray over them today.
We pray over them today.
Come on, right now, in your ownwords, would you just begin to
(44:16):
say, lord, help me to live alife that matters, help me to
live by the way that, lord,through my behaviors, through
the way that I treat people,help people to see Jesus in me.
Help me to really be more likeJesus, not just in a prayer, not
just in a saying, but, lord,help me to live out my faith, to
be more like Jesus, to showcompassion, to show love, to
(44:41):
care, to go the extra mile.
Help me to live out the fruitof the Spirit in my life.
Lord, I pray that we would be achurch that seizes this moment,
that seizes this opportunity.
I pray that we would, lord,realize that this life is
temporary but Jesus is comingback, and that everything that
we do, lord, as a church, as wedo individually and as we do
(45:03):
collectively, that it wouldmatter for that day when we
stand before you, lord, keepyour hand upon us.
Come on, ask him right now.
Lord, keep your hand upon us inthis moment.
Keep your hand upon us in thismoment.
I pray, lord, guide us, directus as a church, use us for your
honor, for your glory.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Lord, as we come to this altar this time, lord, as
we sing this song to you, we doso with a heart that's after you
.
Lord, that you pour yourselfout upon us.
Lord, that you would use us inour sphere of influence.
Lord, you would guide us anddirect us.
Lord, to be your hands extended.
Lord, we come to you in thismoment asking all these things.
We pray them in Jesus' name,amen.
Let's worship the Lord church.
(45:43):
We are in these next coupleweeks of Kingdom Builders.
We have some special gueststhat will be with us.
It's a powerful thing and wehave this opportunity for us to
be those who make a commitmentto Kingdom Builders.
And it's just that it's a faithpromise and nobody's going to
come looking for that promise oranything like that, but it's
(46:03):
one between you and God aboutwhat you want to do, what you
want to do in participating ingiving to kingdom builders and
giving to missions so otherpeople can know the love of God.
And so let me encourage youthat you would prayerfully
consider being those that make afaith promise to give to
missions.
Celeste and I I'll tell you asindividuals before we even got
married, both of us had alreadysorted that out with God.
(46:25):
We gave God his 10% first, andwe were very thankful to return
that back to the Lord.
And then we also were thosethat gave to missions and we
supported missionaries and gaveto the church missions things
wherever we were.
And then that was before weheaded out as missionaries.
And when we went asmissionaries we didn't stop
giving.
We actually kept giving andactually increased our giving
(46:47):
because we believed in it thatmuch.
So, even though we weremissionaries and we were
supported by people giving inmissions, we too supported other
missionaries in missions giving.
That's how much we believe init.
And so even this year, as wecome to this time of Kingdom
Builders Conference and thisidea of getting to make that
faith promise, we're talkingamongst ourselves.
(47:08):
How can we increase what Godcan do through us?
How can we be good stewards ofwhat God wants to do?
Because we want to participatemore.
And I'll tell you that wasmodeled to me through my parents
, rich and Cindy, the foundingpastors of this church.
You know, as a teenager Ihappened to find out how much
they gave to missions and Iwon't give you a number.
(47:32):
What I'll tell you is this isthat they put their money where
their mouth was.
They were giving a car paymentworth of money, a nice car, a
very nice four-wheel drive truckversion of money to missions
every single month.
And they did that because theybelieved in the eternal
principle, which is this that ifwe are those who are diligent
to give to God and to begenerous with him, he will be
(47:53):
generous with us, and you cannotout give a loving God.
And so, friends, I've seen itmodeled, I've seen what they've
reaped in their life and I cantell you in my own experience,
even as I left behind corporateAmerica to go and be in a
ministry, I thought I was yardselling everything like I was
like, oh, woe is me, I'm gonnabe poor forever.
What I found is that I'm richin experience and rich in the
(48:15):
love of God, because I have morethan I ever could have got if I
tried to buy my way in.
But instead the love of God andthe experience of what he's
done in obedience to him isgreater than anything that we
can do in our own plan.
So invest eternally in what Godwants to do.
Let me give you this opportunityas well If you wanna respond to
the ministry today.
You see it's good soil inPastor Larry and Melinda and
(48:38):
their team.
If you'd like to give towardsthat, you can do so on the app,
you can do so on the QR code.
You can do so in the back theblack boxes in the back and just
put missions, you can putEurope, on there.
We're going to be giving tothem today.
In doing so, we're excitedbecause God is on the move.
Amen, lord, we thank you foryour generosity to us and, lord,
as we're generous back to you,we do so with hearts of
(48:59):
gratitude.
We pray that you would use itfor your glory.
We pray in Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
Oh, it's been a good day.
How many of you would say ithas been a good day?
Yeah, Thank you, Pastor Larry.
An honor to have you.
It is now going to be time forour spring family day and I'm
going to tell you there'salready people outside lined up
at the tables to register.
It's going to be a good day.
We have a petting zoo outsideand I have to tell you, the
chickens are laying eggs, yes,and the goats that are out there
(49:27):
, they have babies and they'rejust prancing around and they
are the cutest thing.
So after I line up, then youcan line up behind me and we're
all going to get some time atthe petting zoo.
But I just want to give you onelittle piece of advice, for
today we're going to do things alittle different.
We're going to have everybodyexit the building.
So as soon as church is over,if you could just head out, grab
your children, and then we'regoing to just turn around and
(49:49):
we're going to re-come in.
After we sign up, give the kidsa bracelet.
We're going to come throughthis way to get the food and
it's going to be a fantastic day.
So I pray that you have time tostick around with family today.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Before we go, pray this blessing over us.
Pray this blessing over us.
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.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
(50:23):
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
We pray all this in thepowerful name that is Jesus
Christ.
Amen, lord, bless the food andknow this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
Have a great week.
Amen, let's build this kingdom together.
You know you saw a lot ofimages there of things that
we've done collectively as thebody here at Cornerstone We've
given to things in Paraguay,we've given to things in
Botswana, we've given to placeslike Sudan and we've in El
Salvador, throughout Asia andBangkok and Laos and even Nepal
recently.
(00:20):
And the Lord has been able todo this through us because we're
obedient to give what he'sgiven us to take hold of.
And so we say, lord, take thisand use it for what you want to
do.
And so that's what KingdomBuilders is about.
And over these next few weeks,as we focus on Kingdom Builders
and we have this focus, let mechallenge you in this that you
would ask the Lord on how youcan be more someone who says yes
(00:43):
to him, that you would besomeone who gives in abundance,
because we know that he's a Godof abundance and that you can't
out give him and friends.
I can tell you, as someone whosaid yes to God and left behind
corporate America to go towardswhat I saw as the poverty of
going into ministry, that theriches that God has given me and
(01:05):
experience of seeing peoplecome to Jesus is worth more than
anything I could have gotmyself.
And so, friends, let me say andchallenge you that you would
say yes to God and that youwould be someone who's generous,
above your tithes and giving tomissions, to kingdom builders.
Today we have such a greatopportunity as we have a guest
speaker that's with us, PastorsLarry and Melinda.
(01:27):
They are a powerful couple.
They are leaders of leaders andthey are someone today who
actually oversees all of Europeand all of the missionaries in
Europe for Assemblies of God,world Missions.
They're friends of ours that Imet when we were pastoring in
Paris, france, and they werepastoring.
They had planted a church inthe Canary Islands in Spain, and
then God called them to lead adynamic church in Vienna,
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austria.
Vcc is a church over 3,000people made up of countries of
the world, and they have manydifferent congregations that
speak different languages.
They've planted churches notjust across Europe but across
the world as a church, and sohe's come, so he led that church
for many years.
They together doing amazingministry as God enabled them.
Today they lead teams of peopleacross Europe and even the
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world in reaching others withthe love of Christ.
Please welcome today PastorLarry as he comes to share with
you Love you, man.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Amen, praise the Lord .
Happy birthday, pastor Jay.
Come on, everybody.
Tell your neighbor I love mychurch.
Come on, just tell them.
Yes, come on, come on, say itlike you mean it.
Tell them, say I really love mychurch.
I hope you do.
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I hope you're happy here.
Friends, it's not like thiseverywhere.
I just love the culture, I lovewhat I sense and feel today in
this house and just how the Lordis moving among you.
We enjoyed first service, butsecond service to be with you,
and this afternoon everybody'sgoing to hang out and have lunch
and a great time together.
You know there's somethingabout being a part of a local
church.
It's important to remember.
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We're not a club.
We're not here just playingchess and checkers.
We're the church, we're thebody of Christ in this location
and today there are millions andmillions of Spirit-filled
believers just like us who areworshiping God today, many in
the places where Pastor Jay justmentioned around the world,
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some in open air with nobuilding, some underground,
hiding for the sake ofpersecution.
But we're part of that body ofChrist and friends.
I'm telling you, if I livedright here, this is where I
would go to church, so I hopeyou feel that way.
What a great, great daytogether.
Pastor Jay, pastor Celeste, welove you guys, just so thankful
for you.
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They have served as pastors.
Of course, pastor Jay grew upright here in this church and
it's just fun to always comeback to a place where you have
so many memories of your ownspiritual formation and to talk
about people like Tiamika, whohave poured into your lives and
now you get to serve togetherand just it's really amazing.
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But these guys have left afootprint in Europe and Eurasia.
They have impacted lives, manylives, because of the churches
they've helped to plant and, ofcourse, pastoring those people,
loving those people, and whenthey came back here to serve you
, it was a win for you but itwas a loss for us and we miss
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them.
We miss them serving there, butwe're so thankful God's called
them to be here and so wecelebrate with you what God's
doing here in this season and Iwas encouraging Pastor Jay
between the services.
This is your moment, everybody.
This really is your moment.
I just I feel like this churchhas the infrastructure to just
reach farther, to continue togrow and reach people right here
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in this community, in the city,but also around the world, the
things that you're doing.
So thank you so much.
And just in a couple of weeksyou're going to be a part of
making Kingdom Builderscommitments.
Much, and just in a coupleweeks you're going to be a part
of making kingdom builderscommitments.
And I just want to emphasize wesee a lot of giving that takes
place.
There's a lot of goodorganizations out there and
they're doing okay.
Many of them are doing good,but we're the church and when
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you give through the church, youknow that the church is going
to steward those funds and thatit's going to go to where it's
designated to go.
And you know there's boots onthe ground, there are
missionaries there who helpsteward those project funds, who
really help to plant the church, to establish the church, to do
outreach ministries, and I'mjust so grateful again for the
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reach of this church.
You know there's a room backhere that used to be the youth
room, I think at some point, butit has a timeline on the wall
that shows of all the giving, ofhow the church has grown, the
outreach of this church andcollectively over the years this
church has given somewhereclose to $4 million to world
missions and it's incredible.
Praise the Lord, that's you.
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That's you.
So thank you for just yourfaithfulness and helping us to
make a difference where God'scalled the missionaries around
the world.
Upstairs is a prayer room andin that prayer room you see real
faces of missionaries yousupport.
They're not fictitious, thoseare real families, real people,
and I can tell you they'regrateful for you today.
They really are, so thank you.
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I want to share a message withyou today entitled what Really
Matters.
What really matters?
There's a lot of things in lifethat matter and a lot of things
that are important to all of us, but if we really take a moment
to think about it today, whatreally matters in light of
eternity?
What matters when this life isover and we stand before God one
day?
There's a man in our church inVienna.
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His name is Fossil and Fossil'sfrom a sensitive country I
can't mention today.
But Fossil.
He came to Vienna to get a joband because the contract did
really well there, he learnedGerman, which was the language
of our country.
He of course, spoke his mothertongue and then he spoke English
.
But during the course of hisjob and his work he was in an
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automobile accident and becauseof that he had a brain bleed and
he was in a coma for a numberof weeks and even many of the
doctors didn't think he wouldlive, let alone he would ever
have any quality of life.
Finally he came out of thatcoma.
We'd been praying for him.
He comes out of the coma and hehas memory loss.
He can't speak his mothertongue, he can't speak German,
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he can only speak English.
Well, the problem was his wifedid not speak English.
So you can imagine at home howchallenging that was for us to
navigate, you know, between thetwo of them and try to help them
with their family needs.
I remember when, again, he,after a time of rehabilitation,
physical therapy, he came backto church for the first time on
his crutches and he came forwardduring a prayer time and of
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course we knew what his needswere.
So immediately I started topray for him.
And, lord, would you, would youbring healing to Fossil's body,
would you restore his memory,would you help him to recover
physically and immediately.
He just stops me and he says,pastor, don't pray for me, pray
for my wife who doesn't knowJesus.
Well, of course we knew hiswife was still searching and
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didn't know Jesus.
But I said we'll pray for her,but let me pray for you.
And he stops me again.
He says no, pastor, if you'regoing to pray, pray for her,
I'll be okay, but pray for herbecause she doesn't know Jesus.
And in that moment it reallystruck me.
You know, there's things inlife that matter.
And then there's things in lifethat really matter.
You know, the older you get,there's things that maybe you
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took for granted before, and nowthey just they're so important.
There's gravity to it.
There's just something aboutthings that maybe we didn't
think about before but we thinkabout it now.
And maybe, too, there's thingswe held on to before, things
that we thought, well, this isimportant, and we realized, ah,
it's not that important.
It begins to change yourperspective changes.
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You know, in the Bible, in 1Thessalonians, chapter 2,
there's a verse that helps us toframe what we want to talk
about today.
It's found in verse 19 andverse 20.
Paul's writing to theThessalonian church, to
believers that he has ministeredto, that he's pastored, that
he's helped, and he says thesewords.
He says what is our hope?
Verse 19, what is our hope?
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Our joy or the crown in whichwe will glory in the presence of
our Lord Jesus when he comes.
And then he answers thequestion.
He says is it not you?
You are our glory and our joy.
He's talking to these peoplethat he has ministered to and
he's saying when Jesus comesback, what's really going to
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matter?
What's our hope, what's thecrown, what's the joy that we'll
hold on to when Jesus comes?
How many of you believe Jesus iscoming back?
Praise the Lord.
It's more than a song, it'smore than a story, friends, it's
a reality.
He says that when he comes back, there's going to be a reward,
there's going to be somethingthat matters, you know.
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I want to remind you today thatheaven is just as real as your
salvation.
If you believe that you havecome to know Jesus and been
saved, it's important to alsobelieve that heaven is a home
that God has prepared for us.
In fact, it's important for usto remember that you may have a
passport here, you may have anidentity card here, but you're
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not just a citizen on this earth.
You are citizens of heaven as afollower of Jesus.
That's our home.
We're not just passing throughone day and we hope to go to
heaven.
No, heaven is where we belongand we're just passing through
this earth.
The reality is that's where Godhas prepared a place for us.
In fact, jesus, he said in John, chapter 14, he said don't let
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your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believealso in me.
In my Father's house are manymansions or many rooms.
If it were not so, I would havetold you, but I'm going to
prepare a place for you.
And Jesus said if I go, I willcome back and take you to be
with me so that you can be whereI am.
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Isn't that wonderful, friends?
It's not a trick question today, how many of you want to go to
heaven, praise the Lord, howmany of you want to go to heaven
today?
A few people over here, notmany people over here, want to
go to heaven today.
No, the reality is we all wantto go to heaven, but we have our
plans.
We have our.
You know, we have our to-dolist.
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I mean, we've got a lot ofthings going on.
It's like yep, larry, one day Iwant to go to heaven.
Friends, arizona is a greatplace to live.
It really is, but heaven isbetter than Arizona.
I can promise you that it'simportant to remember that.
This is life here.
But, friends, we live this dayso that that day when we stand
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before the Lord, he'll say welldone, good and faithful servant.
In Acts, chapter 1, we readabout Jesus ascending to heaven
after he had given them thegreat commission and told them
I'm going to send the HolySpirit and when he comes upon
you, you'll receive power to bewitnesses for me.
But then, after that, he beginsto ascend and the disciples are
watching him and an angelappears and says men of Galilee,
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why do you stand here gazinginto the sky?
And then he says this wordsthis same Jesus, not a different
Jesus, not some angel with abroken wing, but the same Jesus
who died for you, the same Jesuswho rose again, who forgives
your sins, who sends the HolySpirit.
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This same Jesus will come backin the same way that you've seen
him go Hallelujah, hallelujah.
So, friends, it's important toremind ourselves that, yeah,
this earth is not our home andwhat we do here, it matters for
that day when we stand beforehim.
So, really, what really matters?
If we were to make a list today,you probably have a lot of
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things that would be importantto you.
I have things I think would beimportant to me.
I'm a granddad.
How many of you aregrandparents.
In fact, we just had our thirdgrandchild, a granddaughter, and
I'm telling you everythingpeople say about being a
grandparent it's true, it's justtrue.
It's true, it's just true, it'strue.
I had to apologize to my sonrecently and he said Dad, what
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are you sorry for?
I said, well, there's justthings I feel towards my
grandkids.
I didn't feel towards you, youknow.
So my grandkids matter, right.
I mean, there's a lot of thingsthat matter and we could yeah,
I see some of your grandparentsyou agree with that, is that
true?
It's true, it's just true.
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There's a lot of things thatmatter, right.
But what really matters?
Well, let me just share acouple of things.
First of all, I think peoplematter.
Come on, say that with me,everybody.
People matter.
Come on, say it like you, meanit.
People matter, they matter toGod and they should matter to us
.
Did you know?
Jesus didn't die for a building.
He didn't die for a politicalcause.
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He didn't die for the thingsthat we think about.
Jesus died for people.
That's what he died for.
And the reality is, when Jesuscomes back and we stand before
him, what's going to reallymatter is how did we live our
life, how do we live for him andhow do we bring people with us
that Jesus died for?
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Not about our bank account orthe followers we have on social
media, but the reality is havewe lived life to make a
difference in people?
Tia Mika and I were talkingbetween the services and
learning.
I was learning a lot about theMika House and she says you know
, it's not about the crowds,it's never been about the
numbers, it's about the oneperson, the one life that we can
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touch.
And that's the testimony ofMercy House, the mercy place.
That's the testimony.
It's because it's making adifference in the lives of
people.
You know, everything you dohere at Cornerstone Christian
Center, ccc.
I love that.
It's just easy to say right,ccc, everything you do here
flows out of a love for God anda love for people.
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I watched, looked on yourwebsite this week week and I
watched a video from Pastor Jay.
Here's what he says in thevideo.
He says here at Cornerstone,we're all about connect, grow
and serve, connect, grow andserve.
We want to connect with eachother and we want to grow in our
relationship with God and wewant to serve with our gifts and
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abilities.
We're also people who are on amission.
We want to love God, we want tomake disciples, we want to
reach the world.
I love that.
It's just simple.
Wherever you look around thischurch, you see it Love God,
make disciples, reach the worldOver here in the back banner be
more like Jesus.
I love that Because we, jesus,I love that because we just we.
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We were committed to people.
We're committed to God andwe're committed to the people
that he loves.
You know, I remember in 2015, 16, we started seeing refugees
come into our church and, um,one of the first ones, his name,
was Jamal, and everybody wastelling us be careful.
Uh, you know, these, theseMuslims are coming in and
Islam's going to take overEurope.
And you know, we found out thatreally, the people who were
(16:00):
afraid were the refugees comingin because, you know, they were
moving into a new culture.
They didn't understand thelanguage, but the more we loved
on them like first, john says,perfect love cast out fear we
started loving on them and theirhearts just opened towards us.
They wanted to talk aboutspiritual things.
We didn't try to force anythingon anybody, but they asked us
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conversations like how do youknow that you're going to heaven
?
They wanted to know about thesupernatural, about miracles and
how do miracles happen?
And they wanted to talk aboutdreams and visions that many of
them had had I'll never forget.
Jamal came to our church and hesaid I'm just searching for
truth and I've never read aBible.
Can I read one of your Bibles?
So we gave him a Bible, he tookit home, he started reading it.
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He kept coming back to churchand every week you could just
see he was searching.
And I remember one week he wasin the altar and I started to
pray with him and I said Jamal,what can I pray with you about?
He said well, pastor, I feellike I'm a 50% follower of Jesus
, 50% follower of Islam.
And I said well, you know, youjust keep searching and I pray
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that the God of that Bible willreveal himself to you.
And that's what he kept doing.
He kept coming to church, hekept praying, he kept seeking
God and and kept reading theBible.
And so a few months later I sawhim in the altar again, but he
was on the other side and Icouldn't reach him.
So I asked one of the men.
I said hey, would you go overand pray with Jamal, but be
careful, because he said he's a50% follower of Jesus, 50%
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follower of Islam.
Well, after service, thatleader came to me, that men's
leader, and he said hey, pastor,he says that guy, jamal, he's a
75% follower of Jesus, 25%follower of Islam.
Well, of course you can imagine.
The Holy Spirit just keptworking in his heart.
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And one day we had a baptismservice and there was Jamal, and
he comes forward to be baptizedand he had been through the
class and he'd shared histestimony and I said Jamal, when
I first met you, you told meyou were 50-50.
And then I heard you were 75-25.
And he lifted both of his handsand he said pastor, I want
everybody to know that I am a100% follower of Jesus.
Hallelujah, all the fear isgone.
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All the fear is gone.
God's changed my life.
Friends, I tell you that storybecause people matter and
sometimes we think, well,they're from this religion or
they don't believe in God.
God can reach anybody.
God can save anybody.
God can change any life.
He died for people.
I'll never forget.
We were at church on a Saturday.
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We were talking about JohnMaxwell and just a lot of the
resources he has blessed thechurch with over the years.
And I was at church on aSaturday we were doing a
leadership training and we wereusing some of his materials and
we had pastors from our church,from other churches, and right
as we were beginning, I lookedout in the foyer and I could see
two young people out there andI thought well, I know they're
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not here for the training, solet me just go see if I can help
them.
When I walked out there, therewere two students and they were
from China and they werestudying on a semester abroad at
the University of Vienna inAustria, and so they had this
tourist book.
You know, you've seen thesetourist books where they have
museums, best restaurants, youknow all the places that you
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should visit when you go toursomewhere.
And right in the middle of thatbook was an advertisement for
our church, Vienna ChristianCenter.
And I thought how did we get anad in a Chinese tourist book,
you know?
And so the guys?
I said can I help you?
And they showed me this ad andthey said yeah, we're looking
for a Christian church.
And I said well, we're aChristian church.
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I said are you guys Christians?
And they said no, but we'relooking for a Christian church.
Well, now I'm kind of puzzled.
And they said we're studentsfrom China, we're studying here
and in China the internet isrestricted.
There's things you just can'tsee on the internet.
It's closed.
And they said but since we'vebeen here in Europe, the
internet is open and we've seeneverything on the internet.
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And I'm thinking, yeah,probably more than you should
you know.
And then finally, one of theguys he says to me, he says do
you know Hollywood?
And I said yeah, I know whatHollywood is.
He says we've been watchingmovies from Hollywood and in
these movies we hear the sayingsof Jesus.
And when we hear the sayings ofJesus we feel something.
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And so we're trying to find aChristian church that will tell
us more of the sayings of Jesus.
Isn't that incredible?
First of all, I don't know whatmovies they were watching, but
probably not the same moviesthat Pastor Jay watches.
I'm just kidding.
I don't know, I'm just jokingthat Pastor Jay watches.
I'm just kidding, I don't know,I'm just joking.
No, the reality is I don't knowwhat they were watching, but
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somehow they heard the words ofJesus in some movie and it
touched their heart and theysaid we have to find a church,
we have to find more of thesayings of Jesus.
Now, thank God, you know, wehad a Chinese congregation, so
we invited them congregation.
So we invited them.
They came to church, they gavetheir hearts to Jesus and I'll
never forget when they left theysaid we're going to go back and
we're going to take the sayingsof Jesus to all of our friends
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in China.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, friends.
I tell you that again becausewe can't sit around saying how
do we reach two Chinese students?
How do we find an ad here orthere?
All we do is we just make surewe value people, we love people
because Jesus died for people.
In 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 8and 9, it says God's not willing
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that any should perish, butthat all people should come to
repentance, all of them, not any, one single person would perish
, but that every one would cometo Jesus.
That's his will, that's God'swill, and I know we love people,
but God loves them so much morethan you and I do.
And sometimes I have to askmyself if Jesus really is coming
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back, why hasn't he come backyet?
And the reality is that's agood question.
In fact, in that same chapter,in the beginning of those verses
of 2 Peter, chapter 3, therewas the question the scoffers
were saying why hasn't he come?
And the reality is as much aswe believe he's coming back, we
know he's coming back.
The answer to that question isin those verses that God is
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patient with us.
Aren't you thankful that God'spatient, that he's not willing
that any one should perish, butthat every one would come to
repentance?
Friends, if God judged us forwhat we deserve, none of us
would be here today, and if Godtreated us as we deserve, he
took his hand off of our life.
We couldn't even find our wayhome.
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It's only because of God's loveand because of God's mercy that
you and I are sitting heretoday, and I believe that the
reason he hasn't returned isbecause there are people that
you love, people that I love,and God's patient with them,
that if he came back today,they'd be lost forever.
And we know that and therefore,we believe that God is giving
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us a little more time.
We're not just here doing whatwe want to do today.
We're here realizing that we'rethe church and we're part of
what God desires to do.
What is his mission?
How can we help people in thiscommunity to come to know Jesus?
How can we help people aroundthe world to come to know Jesus?
Friends, there are peoplewithin driving distance of this
church, people in MaricopaCounty who need the Lord.
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They need to be a part of thisfamily, they need him and the
reality is he loves them so muchthat he's given you and I a
little bit more time to reachthem.
So this morning, pastor Rich wasin the first service and he was
talking about eating Mexicanfood in heaven.
How many of you think there'sgoing to be Mexican food in
heaven?
I don't know, but I have a lotof Spanish-speaking friends and
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they tell me you know, everybodyneeds to learn Spanish because
you know, in heaven we're goingto speak Spanish.
It will be the heavenlylanguage.
I don't know about that, but Ido think it's good to learn
another language.
But the reality is, what wouldthe language of hell be?
Will it be the 1.2 billionMandarin speakers who don't know
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Jesus.
Will it be the 362 millionArabic speakers?
Or the 602 Hindi speakers, themillions of Bengali speakers?
I don't know.
But I do know that Jesus iscoming back and I know that
Jesus died for people and weshould do everything we can.
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We should do everything we cannot only to make it to heaven
ourselves, but to take peoplewith us.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
I was at a church in Iowa a fewmonths ago and I loved it.
When you go out, there was asign that says our mission is to
make it to heaven and take asmany people with us as we can.
And I know that's your heart,and so I pray that God would
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help us to live for what matters?
That we take people with uswhen we go.
The way we live our lifematters too.
Friends, I don't think there'sever been a day in the history
of Christianity when it mattersmore than it matters now.
In fact, people can equatereligion, and many people have
never come towards faith inJesus because they say, well,
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it's just religion.
In fact, if you came to ourpart of the world, pastor Jay
and Pastor Celeste can tell youpeople would say this I don't
need God and I don't need thechurch.
And the reason they say that isbecause all they see is an
empty building.
All they see is some historicbuilding that's empty and
there's nothing that it does toever change the society and the
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culture in which they live.
In fact, we had a young ladywho was one of our university
students and one of ourmissionaries was sharing faith
with her and she said you know?
She said I'm an atheist, Idon't believe in God, but I need
him.
I need him.
What she's saying is I don'tbelieve in the historic picture
(25:51):
of God, but if what you'resaying is true, I don't believe
in religion.
But if what you're saying abouthaving a relationship with God
is true, I need a God like that,I need a relationship with him.
And it's important to rememberChristianity is more than a
creed to believe.
It's a life that we live.
In fact, god is not concernedabout what you believe.
(26:12):
The devils believe, demonsbelieve, but it's important how
we live out what we believe.
And friends, people don't careIf they don't see how you live.
They don't care what you say,because words are empty.
We know that.
But it's important to make surethat we say we're believers,
(26:32):
then we follow Be more likeJesus.
You can't see it because it'sbehind you over there, but I
keep looking back those massivewords on the back corner there
that says be more like Jesus.
Can't see it because it'sbehind you over there, but I
keep looking back those massivewords on the back corner there
that says be more like Jesus.
I pray when you leave here thatyou see that.
Love God, make disciples reachthe world.
Be more like Jesus.
And as we leave here we sayLord, the good thing is,
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wherever I go, you go becausethe Holy Spirit lives inside of
me and I can take Jesus with meand I can live him out in my
everyday life and in themarketplace and in the school
Friends.
It's important that we makesure that we live like Jesus.
The way we live it matters.
In fact, in 2 Peter 3, theverses that we read, god's not
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willing any perish, but all cometo repentance Immediately,
immediately after that, the nextverse says if you understand
these things, what kind ofpeople ought you to be?
You ought to live.
You should live holy and godlylives, as you look forward to
and you speed the day of hiscoming.
Friends, it's about how we live.
(27:39):
Since we've been back in theStates.
We see more commercials thatnew things, new products, and
it's always fun to see whatchanges in the States from the
time you're here, the time youleave, the time you come back.
But all this medication that'snew and helping in so many
different ways.
And you know, I was watchingsome commercial the other day
about some blood pressuremedication and it sounded pretty
(28:01):
good.
Until they get to the pointwhere at the end of the
commercial they say but therecould be side effects.
Right, you know.
And then they start listing allthose side effects Skin rash,
dizziness, headaches, memoryloss, you know, blurred vision,
you could have blood clots, youcould have hallucinations and
I'm thinking I'll just keep myhigh blood pressure.
You know, right, but asfollowers of Jesus, there should
(28:26):
be side effects.
You shouldn't have to tellpeople that you're a believer,
that you're a disciple.
People should know it by theway that you live, know it by
the way that you speak, know itby the attitude and how you
treat them speak.
Know it by the attitude and howyou treat them.
Jesus said they will know thatyou're my disciples how, by the
love you have for one another,by the way you treat one another
(28:49):
, friends.
That's important for us morethan it ever has been before.
And I know I'm not sayingsomething new.
What I'm saying really is Ithink it's an overflow of your
heart, but I'm just remindingyou today that if we're going to
reach people for Jesus, then wehave to live for Jesus.
If we're going to be atestimony and reflection of him,
we've got to make sure that inour behaviors and what we say
(29:11):
and what we do, it makes adifference.
St Francis de Assisi saidpreach the gospel and, if it's
necessary, use words.
I love that.
Preach the gospel, but itdoesn't always have to be on
Sunday morning with a microphonefrom the stage.
It can be how we live, how welive without even saying words,
(29:33):
hallelujah.
I want you to watch this videoof a story of a man named
Ibrahim.
He was from Syria, he worked inthe secret police and because
of that, isis tried to targethim, tried to kill him and put a
car bomb under his car.
But when the bomb exploded hewas not in the car yet, but his
wife was in the car, hischildren were in the car and his
(29:56):
parents were in the car and inone moment he lost everything.
You're from?
Can I tell everybody whereyou're from?
You're from Syria, and we'veseen a lot of refugees that have
come over these last few yearsfrom Iran, iraq, afghanistan,
syria, of course, many places inAfrica.
But you're one of the storiesthat really inspire us, because
(30:20):
you were a person who losteverything, but can you describe
what happened in 2013?
What?
What did you lose?
Speaker 3 (30:29):
um, it's the.
The war is beginning 2011 and Iwas working as a special place.
In november 2013, the isisattacked my whole family with a
car bomb and he killed all of myfamily.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So ISIS when they attacked your family in this car
bomb.
But you lost everybody yourwife, your children, everybody.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And after that I decided to get out from this
country because I don't believein war.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Well, I can imagine, because I actually read what you
wrote and you and I have hadconversations before.
But how did that make you feeltowards God, you know?
Did you feel angry, sad?
How did you feel when you losteverything?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Actually, I was very angry and very sad and I was
always saying, because we wereyoung, our parents they say they
are angels, they will protectus.
They were God.
And I say, okay, this is a bigliar, Because if they were
angels, they would protect notmy parents but my children at
least my kids and I decided toget out from Syria.
(31:41):
It took me two months to get toEurope.
Because two months?
Because you know, I losteverything.
And that person thanked him.
He told me give your heart toJesus.
And first time I was so I'm notsure to give my heart to Jesus,
(32:04):
but the day I decided to givemy heart to Jesus, that anger
and that's a ticket for my heart.
And I have one message for thispeople who kill my family today
, I will forgive you.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Did you hear that?
These people who killed myfamily?
Today I have a message for you.
I forgive you.
Only God, only God can takeaway anger.
Only God can take away loss andgive us the ability to do that.
Friends, that's not human,that's supernatural, it's not
(32:50):
from our heart, it's because ofwhat God's done in your life.
Abraham, and you've beenthrough a lot.
It hasn't been easy.
Since you've been here, we'vetalked a lot about things you've
been through, but you know what.
You're on a good path right now.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
And.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
God has great things in front of you.
Praise the Lord, hallelujah,hallelujah.
Friends, I just saw Abraham afew weeks ago and he said Pastor
, I'm still serving Jesus, he'sstill serving in the local
church, he's still making adifference, he's still sharing
his faith.
I went with him one time to hisworkplace and when I walked in
he said this is my pastor.
(33:37):
Everybody I've been invitingyou to church, but I want you to
meet my pastor.
And immediately I startedtalking to everybody and they're
like yeah, he's always so happy, so joyful.
He tells us it's Jesus, but wethink he's on drugs.
There's no way it could just beJesus.
I said, no, it really is, it'sjust Jesus.
There's something about the waythat you live and it matters.
(33:58):
I was in Ukraine just a fewweeks ago and we were down near
the borders where many of thesevillages and small towns had
been destroyed, and you see someof the pictures here no
electricity, no running water,it was cold, it was in the
single digits in Fahrenheittemperatures and it was
incredible just to see peoplesurviving and being so resilient
.
And wherever we went, motherswere coming up to us and asking
(34:22):
us to pray for them and pray formy son who has been taken
captive as a prisoner and Idon't know where he's at, I
don't even know if he's alive.
Others were bringing theirteenage children to us, saying
please pray for them, becausepray the war would end, because
if it doesn't end, my childrenhave to go fight next year.
And just so many stories thatwould rip your heart out.
(34:43):
And we would go from thesetowns to towns with the local
church leaders who were thereand they were in there,
investing and just loving onpeople, taking food and praying
for people.
And you would see the mayors inthese community centers, that
holes in the building, butthey'd still meet in them.
No heat, extremely cold, andyet every single one of those
(35:05):
places we would give them food,we would give them something to
eat, we would pray with them.
And single one of those placeswe would give them food, we
would give them something to eat, we would pray with them.
And every one of the mayorswould say to us they said the
government has forgot about us,the NGOs have left, but the
church, the church comes everyweek to feed us and to pray with
us.
And these are people that liveout what they believe.
(35:28):
And they said to us we've neverhad a church in our town, we've
never had any church here, butwe pray that when the war ends
they will come and start achurch in our city and I'm happy
to show you a picture of one ofthose new churches that have
been started recently.
Hallelujah Hallelujah, becausepeople like you and me said
(35:48):
we're going to live out ourfaith.
We're going to live it out.
It matters.
The last thing I want to sharewith you is really that eternity
matters, and if our keyboardplayer would come back and I
just want to pray with youPastor Jay is going to come in a
few moments, but I want toleave this with you today.
Friends, this life, it's goingto come and go.
My dad went to heaven 86 yearsold, just about two months ago,
(36:14):
and you know as much as I missdad.
I feel this overwhelming, justpeace and gratefulness, because
he lived out his faith.
He just lived it out and Ithink when you lose someone that
you love, it reminds you howfragile life is.
It reminds you that really,this is not eternity, this is
(36:34):
temporal.
But there comes a moment whenthis life will be over and you
and I will live for eternity andeverything we've done.
Everything that our liferepresents will go through the
fire.
First Corinthians 3 talks aboutthat, and only what survives
the fire will remain.
You know it's a picture of thetemporal things will pass, and
(36:54):
only what's eternal, then, willreceive our reward.
In 2 Peter 3, verse 8, he saysdon't forget this, friends with
the Lord, a day is like athousand years, and a thousand
years is like a day.
We don't even understand whatthat means, but we know that one
day we'll stand before Jesusand on that day, I think the
same question that Paul askedwhat's our hope, what's our joy,
(37:16):
what's the crown that we'llreceive?
What really matters, I think,beyond the shadow of a doubt,
it'll be the people that we'vereached for him, and it'd be the
kind of life that we lived hereon earth.
Because, friends, eternity willcome and I can tell you that
this day, even today, eventhough this is a Sunday, and
this is a day when we celebratetogether, we worship together
(37:38):
and then we go out and we'regonna have a great time this
afternoon but today matters, forthat day when we stand before
the Lord, when you give yourgiving matters.
For that moment when you standbefore the Lord, when you share
your faith.
It matters in that moment, forthe day when you stand before
the Lord, and I pray that whenthat day happens, that with all
of our hearts, we'll say Lord, Ilive for eternity.
(38:00):
I heard you say well done, goodand faithful servant, I would
love to just lead you in prayerthis morning.
Would you stand?
And I would love to just leadyou in prayer this morning.
Would you stand?
And I would.
I'd love to ask you to dosomething that we would do so
often in our church in ViennaI'd love to ask everybody to
move towards the front today andlet's just have a prayer time
around this altar together.
(38:21):
Worship team, you can come,come on, would you just move
from where you are?
Everybody, come, come here forjust a moment, and for just a
moment we're going to lead youin prayer together.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Thank you, jesus.
Faso came back to our office andhe's asking for prayer.
(38:45):
I didn't know why, but hebrought his wife with him and I
figured something must not.
You know problems in theirmarriage One's a believer, one's
an unbeliever.
But he says, larry, will youpray for us, because we're going
to take a trip to the countrywhere his wife is from.
He said we just received thenews that my father-in-law only
(39:09):
has a few, just a few days tolive.
The doctors say he's not goingto make it.
And we got to go tell him aboutJesus before he dies.
And I said Fossil.
I said we'll pray for him, butyou can't go.
You're a Christian and as afollower of Jesus, if you go to
that country you'll be arrested,you'll be put in prison, you'll
(39:32):
probably even lose your life.
And he said no, pastor, youdon't understand.
I have to go.
I have to go.
I'm not worried about myselfbecause I'm okay, he said, but
my father-in-law will die and hedoesn't know Jesus.
And he says you have to prayfor us.
Just all I'm asking you to dois pray.
And we began to just go back andforth and finally I said Faso,
we know people who know people.
(39:53):
We'll find somebody who can goand be there and share Jesus
with him.
But you can't go.
And he got so frustrated withme he pulled, he recently took
his Bible and he pulled out anoffering envelope and he held it
up and he pointed to the wordmissions on that offering
envelope and he said Pastor, yousay it all the time.
All the time you tell us wehave to do this.
(40:15):
And he pointed to the wordmissions.
And then he said these words.
He says we're all going to diesomewhere.
So what difference does it makeif I die here in Austria, or if
I die and he named the name ofthe country his wife's from, or
if I die and he named thecountry he's from?
He says if I die, I'm ready togo to heaven, but if my
(40:39):
father-in-law dies, he'll belost forever without Jesus.
You know, it kind of sums itall up.
Today, friends, the reality isthis One day, this life will be
over.
What's our hope, what's ourcrown?
What's the joy that we'llreceive when Jesus comes, when
(41:00):
you and I stand before him oneday, in light of eternity?
What really matters?
People, people matter.
So let's live our life forJesus.
I'm so thankful for this church,I'm thankful for your
leadership, I'm thankful forPastor Jay and Pastor Celeste.
(41:21):
God has given you giftedpastors, high capacity pastors,
and I believe he's done it andthen given you the team and he's
called you here because this isyour moment.
This is your moment, friends.
All of us are going to get oldand one day, if Jesus doesn't
come back, we'll all die and goto heaven, but he could come
(41:42):
back today, and so the questionis what are we going to do for
him?
May, every day, may we seizethis moment and just say it's
not just a Sunday, it's not justthis is where I live for 2025,
maybe 2002.
No, god called you.
He determined the times, exactplaces where we should live,
(42:03):
because this was his purpose foryou, his purpose for this
church, because this was hispurpose for you, his purpose for
this church.
Carl Henry said these words.
He says the gospel is only goodnews if it gets there in time.
It's good news, friends.
It works.
It's worked for you and itworks for everybody who doesn't
know the Lord.
It will change their life, butit's only good if it gets there
(42:26):
in time.
Come on, would you lift yourhands with me right now, as a
church?
Would you just begin to prayLord, increase my capacity to
love people.
Come on, would you just tellhim Lord, increase my capacity
to love people.
Sometimes people are easy tolove, sometimes they're not.
But, god, I pray that you wouldgive me a love, like you have a
(42:47):
love for people who hurt me, alove for people who have tried
to say things about me to todestroy my life.
Lord, I pray today that in thisbuilding, you would increase
our capacity to love.
Love comes from God, so may wereceive love from you and may we
reciprocate that love to others.
May we respond to your love,lord, by loving people the way
(43:10):
that you love them, by valuingthem and giving them dignity,
and no matter what we see on theoutside, can we believe that
God would do something on theinside, that they could become a
new creation in Christ and allthings would pass away and all
things would become new?
Can we believe that today, comeon, begin to pray for somebody
in your family right now, beginto pray for someone that you
(43:33):
love who doesn't know Jesusright now.
Maybe it's a cousin, maybe it'sa parent, maybe it's a child,
maybe it's a brother, maybe it'sa neighbor, but would you begin
to say, lord, I believe thatthey're not too far away from
you.
I pray today, lord, I believethat they're not too far away
from you.
I pray today, god, that youwould reach out to them.
I pray that the goodness of Godwould lead them to you, to
(43:53):
repentance, lord, that theywouldn't feel condemned but they
would feel your love.
They would feel, lord, thecompassion of Christ that
reaches out to them.
Just as the gospel has changedour life, lord, we pray that it
would change your life, lord, wepray that it would change your
life.
Lord, we pray that it wouldchange their life.
We pray over them today.
We pray over them today.
Come on, right now, in your ownwords, would you just begin to
(44:16):
say, lord, help me to live alife that matters, help me to
live by the way that, lord,through my behaviors, through
the way that I treat people,help people to see Jesus in me.
Help me to really be more likeJesus, not just in a prayer, not
just in a saying, but, lord,help me to live out my faith, to
be more like Jesus, to showcompassion, to show love, to
(44:41):
care, to go the extra mile.
Help me to live out the fruitof the Spirit in my life.
Lord, I pray that we would be achurch that seizes this moment,
that seizes this opportunity.
I pray that we would, lord,realize that this life is
temporary but Jesus is comingback, and that everything that
we do, lord, as a church, as wedo individually and as we do
(45:03):
collectively, that it wouldmatter for that day when we
stand before you, lord, keepyour hand upon us.
Come on, ask him right now.
Lord, keep your hand upon us inthis moment.
Keep your hand upon us in thismoment.
I pray, lord, guide us, directus as a church, use us for your
honor, for your glory.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Lord, as we come to this altar this time, lord, as
we sing this song to you, we doso with a heart that's after you
.
Lord, that you pour yourselfout upon us.
Lord, that you would use us inour sphere of influence.
Lord, you would guide us anddirect us.
Lord, to be your hands extended.
Lord, we come to you in thismoment asking all these things.
We pray them in Jesus' name,amen.
Let's worship the Lord church.
(45:43):
We are in these next coupleweeks of Kingdom Builders.
We have some special gueststhat will be with us.
It's a powerful thing and wehave this opportunity for us to
be those who make a commitmentto Kingdom Builders.
And it's just that it's a faithpromise and nobody's going to
come looking for that promise oranything like that, but it's
(46:03):
one between you and God aboutwhat you want to do, what you
want to do in participating ingiving to kingdom builders and
giving to missions so otherpeople can know the love of God.
And so let me encourage youthat you would prayerfully
consider being those that make afaith promise to give to
missions.
Celeste and I I'll tell you asindividuals before we even got
married, both of us had alreadysorted that out with God.
(46:25):
We gave God his 10% first, andwe were very thankful to return
that back to the Lord.
And then we also were thosethat gave to missions and we
supported missionaries and gaveto the church missions things
wherever we were.
And then that was before weheaded out as missionaries.
And when we went asmissionaries we didn't stop
giving.
We actually kept giving andactually increased our giving
(46:47):
because we believed in it thatmuch.
So, even though we weremissionaries and we were
supported by people giving inmissions, we too supported other
missionaries in missions giving.
That's how much we believe init.
And so even this year, as wecome to this time of Kingdom
Builders Conference and thisidea of getting to make that
faith promise, we're talkingamongst ourselves.
(47:08):
How can we increase what Godcan do through us?
How can we be good stewards ofwhat God wants to do?
Because we want to participatemore.
And I'll tell you that wasmodeled to me through my parents
, rich and Cindy, the foundingpastors of this church.
You know, as a teenager Ihappened to find out how much
they gave to missions and Iwon't give you a number.
(47:32):
What I'll tell you is this isthat they put their money where
their mouth was.
They were giving a car paymentworth of money, a nice car, a
very nice four-wheel drive truckversion of money to missions
every single month.
And they did that because theybelieved in the eternal
principle, which is this that ifwe are those who are diligent
to give to God and to begenerous with him, he will be
(47:53):
generous with us, and you cannotout give a loving God.
And so, friends, I've seen itmodeled, I've seen what they've
reaped in their life and I cantell you in my own experience,
even as I left behind corporateAmerica to go and be in a
ministry, I thought I was yardselling everything like I was
like, oh, woe is me, I'm gonnabe poor forever.
What I found is that I'm richin experience and rich in the
(48:15):
love of God, because I have morethan I ever could have got if I
tried to buy my way in.
But instead the love of God andthe experience of what he's
done in obedience to him isgreater than anything that we
can do in our own plan.
So invest eternally in what Godwants to do.
Let me give you this opportunityas well If you wanna respond to
the ministry today.
You see it's good soil inPastor Larry and Melinda and
(48:38):
their team.
If you'd like to give towardsthat, you can do so on the app,
you can do so on the QR code.
You can do so in the back theblack boxes in the back and just
put missions, you can putEurope, on there.
We're going to be giving tothem today.
In doing so, we're excitedbecause God is on the move.
Amen, lord, we thank you foryour generosity to us and, lord,
as we're generous back to you,we do so with hearts of
(48:59):
gratitude.
We pray that you would use itfor your glory.
We pray in Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
Oh, it's been a good day.
How many of you would say ithas been a good day?
Yeah, Thank you, Pastor Larry.
An honor to have you.
It is now going to be time forour spring family day and I'm
going to tell you there'salready people outside lined up
at the tables to register.
It's going to be a good day.
We have a petting zoo outsideand I have to tell you, the
chickens are laying eggs, yes,and the goats that are out there
(49:27):
, they have babies and they'rejust prancing around and they
are the cutest thing.
So after I line up, then youcan line up behind me and we're
all going to get some time atthe petting zoo.
But I just want to give you onelittle piece of advice, for
today we're going to do things alittle different.
We're going to have everybodyexit the building.
So as soon as church is over,if you could just head out, grab
your children, and then we'regoing to just turn around and
(49:49):
we're going to re-come in.
After we sign up, give the kidsa bracelet.
We're going to come throughthis way to get the food and
it's going to be a fantastic day.
So I pray that you have time tostick around with family today.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Before we go, pray this blessing over us.
Pray this blessing over us.
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.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
(50:23):
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
We pray all this in thepowerful name that is Jesus
Christ.
Amen, lord, bless the food andknow this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
Have a great week.
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