Global Sunday

Thank you Jesus. It's going to be fun tonight. We're going to have a good time. Thank you guys.

If you have not seen, Crayble Baby, you need to pop on Instagram. Give her a look. Whoa. Cheers for sure.

Loads of them. Tonight's going to be fun. Global Sunday. It's here.

We have been waiting for some time and we are so excited for the night that we are rolling out. It's going to be a good one. What I'm most excited about is that we get to encounter in Jesus. There's nothing better than that.

Whether you're the global department, the worship department, whether you're part of Grove Kids, it's all about him. So tonight we're going to have a time of response saying yes to him in a new way or in a confirmed and strengthened way. And we're excited to do so. But before we look into our 2020 calendar year, what better way to start off the night than by celebrating what the Lord has already done in 2019.

We just had two killer teams that got back from the nations in October, India and Berlin. And we're going to be able to hear from both of their leaders tonight and the stories that they have to share are so powerful. They're going to bless you. So have open ears.

I'm going to invite Sam Ron from Berlin. Come on up, Sam. Once you share with us what the Lord did. I didn't say this last service, but I'm really liking the silk shirt thing.

That's cool. Very cool. That's relevant. Does that count my time?

Okay, so hi guys. I'm going to be sharing just a brief, like snippet snapshot of some of the experiences that we had in Berlin. I'm going to be sharing two stories and I think both of them really connect on God's heart and his desire for international family and connection between all of our countries. A connection that would just exceed cultural boundaries and geographic borders.

Super, super cool. The first story I'm going to talk about is the opportunity that a couple of our team members and for those of you who don't remember it was an all ladies trip that we sent, which is super cool. So two of our team members saw these girls this one night that we were out and about outside of like a bakery and they exchanged contact information and later in the week they actually got to connect with them. So what was really cool was they went out on the town, just hung out with these girls and they actually all happened to be like young high school girls.

And what sometimes happens with young high school girls is that you talk about boys sometimes. I don't know if anybody has ever been there, but they're talking about boys. But these ladies on our team got to really speak into them about the truth and who Jesus sees them as and what Jesus says about them. So it was cool to see how they put that identity right on them and just said this is how he sees you.

What was also cool was that, and this speaks of a lot of the main men in this community, but they got to share about how the men in their life that know Jesus treat them differently than men that don't know Jesus and how that comes from a place of respect because for people who know who their brothers and sisters are in Christ, that changes how we love them. So that was really cool. And another story I want to share is the reconnection of a family that I actually was super super blessed to meet the first time around in January when I was in Berlin. And they're a Kurdish Muslim family that have been refugees for four and a half years and are still living in refugee camps.

And so him and his family, that's a whole other story hit me up if you want to hear it sometime. I'd love to tell it, but I connected with them last time and really felt this form of family where it was like I need to come back and see you. So I was super excited when we went back that I got to say, hey, I'm bringing some more friends back. We'd love to connect you guys and we ended up going to their house for dinner.

Now they pulled out all the stops for hospitality, just this whole spread of food. Shelby's nodding her head. She knows what's up. And so that was really, really cool to just say this is my crew from the States.

Now this is my crew in Berlin and then just having them connected. And I think something that's really cool is God's heart for the seeds that were planted. He's so patient and he's so faithful. And I know we talk about it all the time.

But just seeing how from the first interaction I have with Akko who is the father of that family, who is pretty hesitant about receiving prayer and then flash forwarding these many months later. And not only is he receiving prayer, but he's actually like, hey, can you also pray for my visa? And can you also pray for my passport? And so just see how God is like, hey, it's moving.

With that being said, there's still so much harvest that gets to be done. So I would just encourage any of you if there's even like a twinkle, I'd be like, oh, maybe I could do that. Or maybe that'd be interesting. I would just encourage you to explore it.

To talk to people, friends of yours who have been on a global trip or me, I mean, we can be friends. So if you want to. So, but yeah, just talk to people. Ask Holy Spirit questions.

What would that look like? I'm sure Nick's going to talk about some different things tonight too. So just explore it. Don't be afraid of it.

It's really life changing. So thanks guys. So good. Thank you, Sam.

I love that. As Sam mentioned, that was our second trip to Berlin. That was actually the first nation that we've returned to. And we're excited to send many more teams to Germany.

It was an impactful trip. When you start building relationships, you're building family. That is what we're after as a global department is international family. Whether it be believers or those that do not know him yet, we count it all a major win.

When we get invited into people's homes for a second time, that is awesome. So thank you so much, Sam. We're going to hear from India now. Anyone want to come on up?

They had a really wild time and anywhere excited to hear what the Lord did while they were in Asia. Thanks, Nick. I'm excited to share with you guys tonight about our trip from India. To kind of build off the building theme that Nick was just naming and sharing about.

That was one of the biggest testimonies we saw on our trip and what we felt before going on our trip. We kind of had a consensus from the team like behind their significance about this long term team there. Relationships were building. And then a couple days in as we're praying as a team, we're getting words and pictures.

Zach, my husband got a picture of a floor being laid, a foundation being laid, and less framing a house. And really feeling like our team, part of the significance of why we were even there, is setting a framework for future teams to come out. And actually go further than what we were able to do. And so we saw that take place.

We saw the fruit of us just sewing into relationship with the long term team. And feeling like, man, they've got a similar heart, a similar DNA, similar language. This is such a cool relationship we got to be able to build. It was such an honor, honestly, from our team to just be the first representation of grove and get to share about our DNA.

And they're like, oh my gosh, like who are you guys? And I'm like, just a heart connect. And so we felt like that was a testimony in and of itself. And just the fruit from those relationships was so, so cool and significant.

So we have, there's so many things I could share about our time in India. But I'll just highlight two things that, as we were praying through, felt like it was significant to even just share with you guys. And so one was, so we were, one of the days that we were there, we were doing different types of ministry each day. But one of the days we were actually going to attend a service at Upper Room.

So Upper Room has a church located in New Delhi, which is wild and awesome, led by nationals there. So it was really cool to take part in that. And so prior to the service, you know, like any good millennial, we're getting some coffee. And just like we talk about here at Grove We're Everyday Believers.

So just got to just be in the coffee shop. And something that we kind of like life-hacted is just packed to know cards when we would go out because not a lot of people speak English. And so if we're going to associate at least, if someone doesn't speak English and it's hard to kind of communicate, we can at least like, here's like a no card we can give you or it starts a conversation. And so there's a girl at a coffee shop that I saw and I was like, man, I'm just drawing to her.

I'm just going to write a no card and just go over and talk to her. So first thing I say is, hi, do you speak English? And she's like, yeah, I do. I was like, oh, great.

Whoa, first win. I feel like a victory. And then I was like, this is going to sound crazy. I felt like I just got a word for you from Jesus.

I believe in him. I believe that he has purpose for you. It's okay if I share this word. So I got to share the word.

And then I asked if I could pray for her. She was a complete person of peace, was really receptive. So I got to pray for her. I just kind of wrapped things up from there and just was like, God loves you so much.

Sorry if this was weird. She's like, it wasn't weird. I was like, okay, great. I'm just leaving with my coffee.

Got to share with my team. They're like, awesome. Such an affirming team. I was like, wow, that was a win.

We got to sow seed. So cool, Jesus. Well, fast forward. We're at Upper Room.

And one of the relationships we built there was a gentleman who was there with Upper Room. He's been there for about four months. And he was maybe going to go out the next day with us to do some house visits. So Zach has been got his contact info before we left the service.

And we're going to dinner. So I was like, great. So we get to dinner. And Zach is a text from this guy from Upper Room.

And it's the picture of the notecard that I gave to the girl in the coffee shop. And Zach was like, and the text read, a girl from your team give this to a girl in a coffee shop. And Zach was like, is this your notecard? It's like, that's your handwriting.

I was like, that is my notecard. How does he have it? Like what? Like we're just trying to find on the ground.

Like, you know, you're just like, what happened? And this guy proceeded to tell us like, I know this girl. Like, I've been building relationship with her for the last two months. I haven't really gotten to share my faith.

We're just getting to know each other. Like I'm just building relationship. And so she texted me the picture of the notecard and said this American lady came up to me in a coffee shop. It was the sweetest thing and also kind of weird.

But like, what does this mean? And he got to step in and was like, well, did you know what did she say? She's like, she loves Jesus. And he's like, have you ever heard the story of Jesus?

She's like, no, would you tell me. And so it was just wild because he's sending these screens. Yeah, so crazy. And remind you that this is a city of just, you know, a small 20 million.

And so people, this like shouldn't actually like, it should not happen. And so we're like sitting at dinner like giddy. And my heart's like, oh my gosh, God, it's real. Like I knew it was real.

But like, this stuff is real. Like you can't make this up. And you're like, so divine. And so for us, it was just like a cool testimony of like, man, when we're just faithful to sow those seeds and step out, we have no idea who people are actually connected to you and what conversations they're happening that they have relationship with.

So that was amazing. Another cool testimony we had was something that we would kind of do throughout the week was do these house visits with a local pastor who's connected with believers and non-believers in these neighborhoods. So they would take us into homes with people they have relationship with. And so one of the instances we got to go into this home is about five or six people in this family.

Our whole team was there and our contact sage got to share his testimony in the gospel. And it was crazy because this family was so receptive and so open that they received the whole family received Jesus there on the spot through him just sharing his testimony, which was so wild. I have personally never seen that. And pretty much the whole family hadn't heard about Jesus.

So it was one thing to share the gospel with people who've never really heard the story or really understood it. But then to see like such a quick response. And then they all were hungry to get up and we got to like hands on them and people got filled with Holy Spirit and people got healed. We wouldn't even praying for healing and a girl was like, yeah, if you guys like prayed for peace for me, like my back up, that's awesome.

It's just like a blind product of like us loving on people. And so first that was a really, really cool testimony that our team got to walk away with and just encounter an experience. And so it was just honestly an honor to be an India and just partnering with the team that's out there. Our whole team was like, this is crazy.

Like what an honor it is like we don't have to do this, but we get to do this. And so it's just a beautiful, beautiful sweet time in India. So come on, come on, Andy, I'm going to stay up for a second. So good.

Wild, wild, wild. Now I think your guys trip represents a valuable demographic of our community. You guys were you and your husband that is Zach were the first to lead a trip together as a married couple. And you have two kids.

You have two kids. And they stayed at home? Yes. Okay.

Yeah. All by themselves. So they're really smart. Yep.

They're advanced. They're really smart. So how was that experience? I think we'd love to know that.

And would you do it again? Yeah. To answer your question, absolutely. We would do it again.

And so it's something that Zach and I really prayed about when global trips were rolled out like a year ago. We're like, man, this would be so awesome. But we start like rattling through the list of like, okay, we have two kids under the end of three. That's a lot.

Okay. Like, oh, it's both of us want to go. That's like a chunk of money. Okay.

Ten days. Like PTO. Like a lot of those, like real life things. And so we didn't say no, but we're like, we'll pray about it.

You know, like, okay, we would really like to go, but not going to think it's going to happen. And there was something stirring in us to say yes. And so when the time came to pray about it, we just really felt an invitation from the Lord. Like we didn't have to go, but there was just this beautiful invitation to say yes.

And I just have no regrets. So that's all I got to say. And for those of you who single or married, but specifically like married, like I know there's a lot of, and if you have kids, there's a lot of boundaries and things and a lot of logistical things to work out. So packing yourselves in two small children for ten days and actually trying to pack to go on a trip is really real.

But I would just invite you guys to just pray. And I would say the testimony that Zach and I walked away with is even so much stronger because we got to experience it together. And that's something like we wouldn't trade for the world is like we got to build like deeper relationships with each other in the Lord in India. Like what?

Like it was just kind of a swirl and we're so glad we said yes. And the sacrifices we had to make were so worth us going and experiencing the Lord in such a new way. I'm on. Thank you.

Give me a hug. Give me a hug. Thank you so much. I love that.

I think that's really helpful for us to hear because so many people in our community have young families and we don't expect that in season out of season you'll be in the nations. No, no, no, we understand families, ebb and flow, their seasons that are good to go or not, but it's just nice to hear from young family that it is possible and it is fruitful. So thank you, Annie. I love what both of those teams share at Berlin and India because I think it really mirrors our missiology as a community.

What we're going after at Grove is empowering everyday believers. So internationally, we're seeking to empower everyday native believers in the nations that we're going to. We believe that this is the Lord's strategy for his church to link arms to be unified and to say, hey, how can we serve you? We've all read Philippians 2.

How can we be like Christ who came down and said, all right, I'll put feet to your vision, all advanced humanity, all advanced what's inside of your heart. And we get to mirror that as a church. It's exciting. It's a privilege.

And in 2020, we're only going to continue to advance that vision and commitment. And we're diversifying our partnerships and we're continuing to build family. We are in the midst of a really beautiful time as a community because Josh, Pastor Josh, has been leading us through an amazing service. Give it up for the Harvest series.

Come on. That has been so, so helpful for me in my faith. And I just even love this last week. Josh brought us into view something that we talk about often at Grove.

And it's this concept of Mary's on mission. Everyone say, I'm a Mary. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. She was fascinated with his character.

She was growing in love with him. And she said, you know what? Be seen as a way. Achievement, that can wait.

That's not my portion. My portion is to know him. And from that place, we go not for him, but with him. And of course, we do the same in the process.

And this is what we want to mark us as a community, as Mary's on mission. We want this to mark our department, that everything with global would flow through the lens of Mary's. That everything would flow through the lens of intimacy. That everything would flow through Jesus first.

That we'd be fascinated with his character and his personhood. That we can't help but go and share him. That is what we represent as a community. That is what we're representing as a department.

And next year, we're going to continue to establish the global base through short-term trips. Now, short-term trips, like we heard from Sam and Annie, are valuable in and of themselves. Annie, that testimony that you shared with Sage, your leader, just sharing a simple gospel message and several coming to Christ. That's all because people said, all right, I'm going to go.

I'm going to spend 11 days in the continent of Asia and go to India and Delhi and one of the world's most populated cities. And I'm going to see what the word has for me. And I just have a question. If our short team didn't go, and given, I don't think there's any sense of entitlement here.

So please remove that. But if our short team didn't go, would that story have happened? Because Sage took out our team on house visits because we were there. And because we were there, the Lord led us to a family that needed Jesus and they received him.

They were open to him. So these short-term trips are advancing the vision of the local churches around the world and the vision of these paratrooper organizations that we're partnering with. So we are very excited to continue in our short-term trips through our spring season in 2020. Now, we are categorizing our global trips into three seasons.

Like we do everything at Grove, spring, summer, and fall. Tonight is our spring season global Sunday. And we have four trips. Everyone say four trips.

We have four trips to announce. I'm going to roll through a lot of information. But before I do, let's start ourselves up a bit. Why don't you give me a drum roll and I'll announce these trips.

Number one, India. Number two, the Philippines. Number three, Japan. And number four, Romania.

Thank you guys. We got some carts that you're about to receive. We're going to have our worship team and our staff pass out some carts. What I would like to call these are prayer carts.

So these carts can be hung above your bed if you just want to wake up to that every morning. Or you can put them on your fridge. And the idea with these is that every time you see India, the Philippines, Japan, Romania, you say, okay, I'll take 20 seconds. And I'll pray for these trips.

I'll pray for these teams. Maybe you're going on the trip. Pray over yourself. Pray over your yes.

Pray for the nation. Pray for the local church. I mean, they're not an eyesore for sure. Nicole Pauls there are creators, pastors, they're designed these.

These are really great. And I'd like to draw attention to that picture of India. And that was taken by her very own Abby Voigt. She's a talented photographer.

She's got a lot of gifts. That's for sure. Alright, so like I said, I'm going to run you through an overview of what these trips entail. So I'm going to ask that you guys point your attention towards me.

You'll be able to take these as you go. And we got more information online. So I'm going to cruise through some in-person information. We're kind of having a family room moment here.

So if you notice your neighbors kind of fall asleep, they don't really care about that country that's being discussed. Then you can just do an elbow. It's okay. I gave your permission.

Josh and Katie aren't here. So diving in India, we're going back to India. That will be our first trip of 2020. The dates are March 4th through the 15th.

This is over the spring break of Northwestern, North Central, and the University of Minnesota. We were strategic in our planning of that. We want our college students to be able to go on these trips. And not just college students, but we certainly want there to be availability for them.

And that is why we have set the trip on those dates. Why are we going back to India again? We were just there. Well, guys, we'd so much rather go a thousand miles deep, one mile wide, than a thousand miles wide and one mile deep.

We want to build a family. We are all about scattering seed, but we'd love to do it multiple times a year. We'd love to receive teams from the nations and be empowered by them and equip them as well. This is our vision.

So we're going back to India, almost as a declaration of a department that we're not after just going to every nation. We want to follow family. So our team in India will be focusing on a few of the partnerships that Andy named. I'll name three of them.

One is a children's home that houses Burmese refugees. Anything of time to share about what a blessing this was to their team. But they were able to go essentially to an orphanage that houses and receives refugees from the country of Burma. And it's a beautiful, beautiful ministry.

It's run by native believers and our team was so blessed by their obedience. It's like this couple where they're like, yeah, we don't move like until God tells us to move. Like I'll wake up in the morning and I'll say, Jesus, what do you want me to do today? What do you want me to do?

Oh, we're taking more kids. The Bible says so. Okay. And our team was so catalyzed by their faith.

We're so excited to get another team back to them. Number two, house visits. We're going to be doing house visits and a slum and deli deli is soon to be the largest city in the world. It is not currently, but it is a big one.

And in this city, there are many demographics. There's many grungs on the ladder and we'll be working with some people groups that have maybe been disenfranchised. And we're excited to walk alongside the local church and empowering them and sharing the good news. Guys, empowerment starts with knowing who God is and knowing that you're loved.

So we go knowing that we have something to bring to the table because he's brought us to his. So we're going to be doing that in India with house visits. And then our third ministry opportunity is building the bridge with Upper Room. This is going to be a fun one.

We know we've known for a while that there's some common alley and some crossover with Upper Room Dallas. And we are excited to work with the native believer run Upper Room Church in Delhi. It's going to be really fun. So you might be asking, who's leading this trip?

That's a great question. We already have our two leaders for this trip and they are stellar. And as Jacob's standing, Christian, can you guys stand up? Give a pageant away.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That was good.

I wanted that to be drawn out a bit more. You know, that's okay. That's okay. It was good.

What's really cool about these two is they signed up. They said, yes, this past week to go into the nation of India. And they've already met to pray over their team. They've already met to pray over their trip.

These guys are so committed to seeing the Lord bless this team. The Lord bless their efforts and just multiplying advance everything they put their hands towards. So if you're a part of this team, you're going to have a good time. Safe to say, safe to say.

You guys will be in the lobby after service, right? Oh, yes. Okay. Great.

So if you want to talk to them about India, go on out there. Let's see the Philippines. The Philippines. Everyone say, they'll Philippines.

Wow. That was awesome. So we're going to the Philippines March 12th through the 22nd. This is over.

Battle of Spring Break. This is also over. The Mounts, the Mounts, your school districts, Spring Break. So parents, you're going to have your kids off school most likely.

That's good news. So you can bring your family if you want. We're partnering with YWAM Fire in fragrance. If I did mention India, we're partnering with YWAM FNF.

That's kind of our in-road there. We'll continue to partner with them in India. We're also partnering with YWAM FNF in the Philippines. Now, what I'm so excited about with this trip is that God is moving miraculously in this nation.

God is doing a work. God is doing a wonder in the nation of the Philippines. I have friends that are rolling through short-term workers and they're saying, you know what? I went to a coffee shop for five minutes.

I shared Jesus. Simple conversation. Love the person. Well, walked out.

They're born again. Just like that. I mean, guys, that's awesome. But oftentimes that's not normal.

But it seems to be more normal in the Philippines. God is really moving in this nation and he's moving in the native believers. They're walking out as revival on feet and they're stirring out the church to love in good works. We're excited to partner with them.

And more specifically, when it grows, finest, Austin Heil. Who knows Austin? Who knows Austin? All right.

Yeah, we got a handful of people. Austin is a phenomenal leader. And what I love about what Austin is putting his hands towards is that his role is titled Activator of the Local Church. That's great.

Because at Grove, our miseology is activating the Local Church. We're all about empowerment. So what you've received here, I've received so much from this community. You get to freely give to the Philippines.

God's doing the same work there. And we're so pumped to partner with them. Specific opportunities would be activating the local church to do testimonies and inviting people in on spiritual gifts or for ministry, prison ministry, door to door evangelism and high school evangelism. Now, I'm really excited about this piece, high school evangelism, because this past week, Austin went to a principal of a large school outside of the suburb of Manila.

And they were talking and he said, Hey, we'd love to do a leadership training. We'd also love to share the gospel. We'd love to pray for teachers. Love to pray for students.

Now, this is a public high school. But the principal says, Yeah, great. Let's do it. They have 3000 students this past week.

They got into 60 classrooms, sharing Jesus, praying for students, activating teachers. That is wild. God is doing miraculous, miraculous moves and the Philippines were stoked to jump in with their squad. I will be leading that trip.

And we know that just like India, it's going to fill fast so you can go online and register. I want to share one last testimony with the Philippines. Austin has someone on his team. We'll call her Abigail.

And Abigail went door to door with a translator. Now, most people speak English in the Philippines, but she was going door to door and she happened to stumble upon a lady that did not. And she knocks on the door, lady answers, and she said they have Filipino. And they strike up this conversation.

And they talk for about 10, 15 minutes. She tells a really powerful gripping story. And Abigail walks away after giving her a hug. And she tells her translator, Wow, that was amazing.

And the translator's kind of dumbfounded. And he goes, you know what? You were speaking English, right? And she's like, Yeah, that's my only language that I saw that I speak.

And she goes, Okay, okay, okay. So the translator walks back to the door, knocks on it, Filipino answers. She goes, Hey, you weren't speaking English, right? She's like, No, I don't speak English.

I only speak my native language. The Holy Spirit translated the entire conversation so that Abigail, now get this, so that Abigail could receive the Filipino's testimony. So often when we go, we think, Oh, Lord, send me. Send me God.

I'll go. I'll do it. I'll give my life from such a valuable asset to the nations. Given you are in humility.

When we go, we receive so much more than we give. And that is evidence that this is a heart posture of Holy Spirit that he loves for us to receive on these trips. He translated the conversation so that could happen. It's a great, great story.

We're excited for our team to go to the Philippines. Needless to say, next up, Japan. Give it up for Japan. April 16th through the 26th, God has really given me and my wife a heart for the Japanese.

We believe that as a community, we actually have an inheritance in the nation of Japan. The Japanese are the second largest unreached people group on the planet of the 123 or so million people that are in their nation, less than 1% know Jesus. And of people under the age of 30, less than 0.3% go to church on a regular basis. That's 0.3%.

When we talk to our host, YWAM, out in Japan, they said, Yeah, we'll go out and we'll share Jesus with people on the streets. And we get the same reaction as we share Jesus. They turn to us. And with tears in their eyes, they say, Why has no one ever told this to me before?

Why have I never heard this? I thought Jesus was a Western God. Jesus is the God of Japan. Guys, there are still nations given advanced nations.

Japan is the third largest economy on planet Earth. Most of its inhabitants have never heard the gospel. That should not be the case. Over 500 years ago, missionaries first arrived in the nation and intense persecution stomped out the revival that took place.

There were over 300,000 believers that came to faith in the southernmost part of the nation in a short time. And with soon, soon time, all the missionaries were driven out. Church went underground and the flames were stomped out. But we believe that the embers for a holy God are still burning today.

We believe it. So we're sending a team to partner with YWAM. And this team specifically is going to be putting their hands towards street evangelism. Now, we want all of our teams to be equipped, and we will do this in the pre-training process with street evangelism.

In layman's term, street evangelism could be called having a conversation. Really? We need to demystify street evangelism. We're not out there shooting blanks and finding tar.

We're going out, we're having a conversation with people. It's really simple. So Japan, the city of Tokyo has the largest population in the world. We'll be partnering with YWAM and going out and doing some strategic avenues to share Jesus on the streets.

And we'll also be leading with Aline. We are hoping to establish Spirit of Spirit of Spirit of Ministry partners in Japan with a local church. So come prayerful, come ready. It's going to be a wild trip.

I will be leading that and excited to have many of you on board for that journey. Next up, Romania. Everyone say Romania? Romania.

I believe. Second through the 12th. There we go. And what's really unique and really stirs me about this trip to Romania is that we'll be partnering with an organization called Hope Church.

We've had some short-termers that have got on to the nations through an organization called World Race. We love them. And as they were out with their 11 countries that they visited throughout 11 months, Wild Trip, they happened to spend time in Romania with Hope Church. And the ministry leader there, Raoul, they got to spend a lot of time with.

And they said, they emailed me and I talked with one of my friends that actually went to 20 countries in his leg. And he said, Hope Church is at the top of the list. He said, Hope Church is run by native believers. And they're actually identifying as sent ones.

They're identifying as missionaries. They've actually moved from a different part of the country to go to the city called Crayovia. And in Crayovia, there's less than 1% born again believers. So we are so excited to walk hand in hand with Romanians and advancing the gospel in their country.

Putting feet to their vision. It's going to be a great trip. It's a robust ministry. There are loads of opportunity of which but are not limited to prison ministry, kids ministry, door-to-door evangelism with marginalized people groups and community events such as sporting tournaments and community dinners.

It's going to be a wild trip. I will also be leading this trip as well. So there's a pattern here. We got Anna and Danny leading the first trip to India.

I'll be leading the next three. The aim with this is we're wanting to establish partners overseas. This is going to be a fun time. All four of these trips are going to feel fast.

So information can be found online. You might be asking who can go. It's a great question. You must call Grove home and you must attend Grove regularly.

Next question. Are there any prerequisites? Yes, DNA culture is required. DNA gospel is preferred.

Good news. They're both in January. I would ask that you go through both of these classes regardless of if you're going on a global trip or not. They will change your life.

And if you can't make either one of those classes, just let me know because we'll try and make something work for you. How are applications received on a first-come, first-serve basis with a best fit in mind? So these teams are going to feel quickly. We will have around six to 12 people on each trip as we prayerfully determine the exact figure.

And we are also going to prayerfully invite those and accept applications to each trip as we feel the Lord leads. So as your application comes in, we will pray through it as a staff and as a global department. And we will get you your acceptance letter as soon as possible so that you can take care of your deposit. If you have any more questions, you can find me after service.

That was a lot of information. How are we doing? Yay or nay? Yay?

Okay. So good. I got two thumbs up back there. That makes me happy.

Alright, we can stand up. Let's stand up for a second. We're not going to spread out. We're just going to stretch.

So you can turn your neighbor. You can say hi. You can bend over. Touch your toes.

We've heard a lot of talking tonight. Just want us to stretch it out. You guys are awesome. You can find your seat.

Find your seat. I love that people are talking. That's fun. Wow.

That looks good. You should have been up here leading us. That looks really good. Now, when I hear about mission opportunities, I think like every believer, my heart gets really stirred.

I get really excited. Is anybody excited in the room? Okay, we got quite a few people excited. That's good.

And one thing happens though, I feel like I get stirred. Wow, God, yes. This is like obedience and obedience is a joy. And I love you.

And I read the word. I see this and I'm going to do it. And you're like, this is great. But then you get these little whispers.

Well, you don't know about the finances. Well, I don't know if you got time to take off and work for that. Kids are at home. Man, you got a lot of house projects to do.

And you're sure you can take off that much time. And what I found is that in the West, specifically the West, in advanced cultures, one of the biggest hindrances to gospel advancement is preoccupation. We're preoccupied. We're busy.

Guys, my top strength on strength finders if you care at all is achievement. Okay? So I love to check off boxes. I love to roll through to do this.

It feels really good when you get to the end and you're like, I'm done. Yes. You know, my wife's seen it and she's like, Nick, I don't get it. Like you just, you just had the dishes like good for you.

But that stuff, that stuff feels good. Sometimes I find myself a Martha. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see more of a Martha than a Mary. That ought not to be so.

Jesus says, I'm a Mary. But do I invite him in on my life? Do I invite him in on my calendar? Do I invite him in on my schedule?

Is he the priority or are other things atop the list? We're shifting. You guys can come on up. Lately, my heart has been getting so stirred for Luke 15.

Luke 15 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. And there's three parables that Jesus tells in Luke 15. One is of a lost sheep, one's of a lost coin, and one is of a lost son. And Luke sets up in his gospel this story at the start of chapter 15.

Here's Jesus out in the marketplace or somewhere amidst the people. And the masses are gathering around Jesus. And there's tax collectors and there's sinners and they're flocking towards him. And here he is in his teaching and he's sharing with them.

And they're receiving from him because they feel so loved when they're by him. And here comes the Pharisees, the scribes, the religious teachers, those cromudgians. And they move their way towards Jesus. And they kind of look at one another.

And oftentimes we think of the Pharisees, their way out of life. None of the Pharisees thought they were doing what was right. They say, here's this new rabbinical teaching and this teacher that's come out of Nazareth. How can he be trusted?

And they look at one another and they say, okay, let's go check him out. He's gathering a crowd. We don't seem to be. And as they go over, they look at the crowd.

They look at the faces that are around Jesus. They look at the tax collectors, the sinners, the unclean. And they say to one another, look at this man. He receives sinners and he eats with them.

He receives sinners. Jesus, next verse starts a monologue, three stories. He says, no, no, no, no, you don't get it. I don't receive sinners.

I pursue them. I don't receive sinners. I pursue them. The lost sheep was hidden around the mountain.

I searched it out and found it. The lost coin was scattered throughout my home. I threw up every piece of furniture till it was mine. The lost son.

When he came off, off of back from his journey overseas, I ran off my porch to embrace him. I don't sit back. I pursue. I'm not waiting for my schedule to supernaturally open for the lost.

I'm not waiting for my schedule to supernaturally say, Nick, today's the day you meet with the non-believers. No, I make time. I pursue. We're living in a time, in an era in the West where we have more churches but less believers.

We have way more church buildings. We have less people lit up lays for Jesus. See, I think we're so preoccupied, at least I find myself this way, with being occupied, that I forget who occupies me in the dark spaces of our city. He wants to occupy.

I'm spinning plates and I have a whole lot of stuff to get done today, but is it the right stuff? I'm doing a lot of things, but are they the things that are on his heart? You see, so often I think I find myself with the lost or the unreached in my arms, and I'm sacrificing them at the altar of achievement. I've non-believers in my arms.

Reaching out. Won't you spend time with me? I'm sorry, but you're my sacrifice at the altar of busyness. You might say, well, that's not me.

Is that true? I'm not willfully doing that. Is that so? For when I was hungry, you were doing house projects.

When I was thirsty, you were working overtime. When I was a stranger, you were watching stranger things. When I was lacking shelter, when I was in need of a home, you were scrolling through Instagram. When I was in prison and sick, you were too busy.

You were too hurried, too important. I believe Jesus is writing a different narrative through our community. I believe Jesus is raising up a generation that says send me. I don't have this all figured out.

I really don't. But what I do have, I will give him. And that is my yes and my no. I'm not arm wrestling any of you in the room to sign up for a global trip.

Frankly, I don't care. I want you to go. I believe in the cause. But what you say yes to is between you and him.

I just care that you ask him. I just care that in the West, we ask him questions. Lord, how would you have me say yes to the Great Commission? How would you have me say yes to this ask that's in front of me?

I want us to move into a time of response so we can all stand up. You can spread out. Find room, find space. You can come to the front.

I don't want this to sound heavy handed. I just want to be honest. I don't want all of that to sound harsh or critical. I just want to examine.

Paul says, let's watch our lives. Let's guard our lives. I think so often we think the boogeyman is coming in the night through the form of pornography or whatever other sin we're doing in secret. But I think so often he's standing in broad daylight saying, check your iPhone again.

Open up your email. Put that on the calendar until there's no more space. So before we go into asking him a couple questions related to mission and global and these trips, I want us just to take 30 seconds. Just a joyfully repent.

Now, what that looks like is something like this. Jesus, is there anything in my life that I've been holding up above your name? That I've been valuing this more than obedience. That I've been saying yes to without actually asking you if it's beneficial.

And from that place, we simply turn. Repentance is turning. And it's joyful because when we turn to him and receive what he's offering, it's a gift. That's fine.

So I want to make sure as we take 30 seconds, we get to do this joyfully. The Lord is blessing us in this moment. He really is. So let's just take 30 seconds and let's just ask him, Jesus, is there anything in my life you would have me let go of to say yes to?