 For our visitors, you might be wondering why we're playing this video The reason we're playing the video is because this morning we are sending Two families one of our pastors and then the Russi's who you met we're going to be sending them to Guatemala to plant our first church from this church So if you would please as normally turn to Luke chapter 24 verse 44 as we have our call to worship and What we do During our call to worship is we look at text in the Bible and what in this text is Caused for us to praise worship give glory to our to our Triune God so Luke chapter 24 and I will begin reading at verse 44 Luke 2444 It's Jesus speaking to his disciples then he said to them These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them thus it is written That the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and That repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem and You are witnesses of these things and Behold I am sending the promise of my father upon you But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high Then he led them out as far as Bethany and Lifted up his hands and blessed them while he blessed them He parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy And were continually in the temple blessing God What is the cause for worship in this text look with me at verse 46 There's much Right. There's there's something in there's a lot of things in 44 There's some in 45, but we will look at verse 46 And he said to them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and On the third day rise from the dead that is why we're here this morning Right that that is why we're here if we weren't sending Pastor Marcos to Guatemala. We'd still be here because Christ Suffered under the wrath of God for the people of God So that his wrath against their sins might be satisfied And so that they might be washed clean and pure and set aside for the purposes of God and He rose He rose from the dead in power And now his people are empowered by the same spirit that raised him from the dead To worship and to serve God with all of their heart and with all of their might and because of that because we are a new people and we Understand the need of sinful men To hear the gospel preach to hear the good news We take the Great Commission seriously and in God's goodness and his kindness to us He's given us pastor Marcos and his wife and his son and the Russi's who have a heart for the people of Guatemala and In his goodness and in his grace and in his kindness he has Allowed us to be privileged with the opportunity of sending this family To plant a church in Guatemala city. It's Guatemala City and There they will do what verse 47 calls him to do They will a preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to that nation This is great cause for rejoicing When one sinner is saved heaven erupts with joy and praise and glory to God The Lord Jesus loves sinners God was the first evangelist in the Bible when man sinned and fell into his wickedness and depravity God comes for man and he seeks him and finds him and speaks his word to him and speaks a word of promise to him and Jesus Christ himself Comes to do the will of his father and what is his father's will that he would of course Preach the good news of the kingdom Preach the gospel and in his person and in his work He is the substance of what he preached and that is what we are bringing to Guatemala Guatemala City We are bringing the gospel of grace and that is great cause for praise and rejoicing. I have ten more points but Pastor marcos is preaching this morning So so let's pray and continue to worship God together with that in mind that that this text in By God's goodness and by his grace to us We we as a church we do this here We do this work here All right, and we've by the grace of God there are men and women in this church who do this faithfully Preach the gospel present Christ lift him up to others and in God's goodness now. He is allowing us To extend that gospel and our ministry to another country That is great cause for praise for praising and glorifying God. So pray with me Heavenly father We thank you so much for the grace that you have bestowed upon us first and foremost And your son christ by the spirit and we we praise you lord We gather here every sunday and we live our entire lives devoted to you because of that and what What great grace now you have extended to us that we can partner with our beloved Pastor and with our beloved brother in bringing this gospel to another nation lord I pray that this would Just fill our hearts with great joy that christ will be lifted up to the men and women in Lords, please we pray that your spirit would be here this morning That you would empower us lord to sing and to pray and to listen With all of our might and all of our heart in christ's name. I pray amen. Please stand and sing Christ He is a new creed has reconciled us to himself through jesus christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation That is that god was in christ reconciling the world to himself their trespasses to them and has committed to us the world of reconciliation the work Now that we are ambassadors for christ as though god Christ's behalf be reconciled to god glorious god Father in heaven all glory be to christ jesus our lord and savior We are redeemed and saved because of christ. We are forgiven because of christ And it is because of jesus christ our lord. We look forward To our spending eternity with him singing before his throne Glorifying him for who he is We are all but a vapor. We are here one day and we're not here the next Just speaking with family member last night a pastor preached last sunday morning and died last night And I pray lord god that we would serve you this very morning As if tomorrow is not our own But that we would worship you this very minute To glorify you to worship you for who you are for what you've done And for what lies ahead We pray these things in christ's name Amen Amen, maybe seated Before we continue with the service. Let me give you a few announcements from your bulletin I'm pastor mark brashere one of the pastors here at cornerstone if you're visiting with us welcome We're glad you're here and you visiting with this morning. You're visiting on a very special sunday We get to conduct a little family business this morning as we prepare to send a two Beloved Families to Guatemala city boy. It's going to be a long day if Can't move a little faster than this so I'm getting ulterior eyeed over the announcements if you will turn your your bulletin to the announcement page Let me give you a few reminders. Um next sunday being the first sunday of the month We as a church family celebrate the lord supper together And so we want to remind you of that this sunday so that you can take this week to prepare for that It's a very important time. Uh, we don't take the lord supper lightly That's a a time of self examination. It's a time of rejoicing what the lord has done And so next sunday prepare for the lord supper and we'll talk about that more next week Also next sunday being the first sunday of the month We have our leadership meeting after church so leaders deacons Please plan to be at that and also next sunday evening is our bi-monthly q&a session So if you have questions that you'd like to be answered during that q&a session Please fill those out. You can write out on a slip of paper Give that to miss karen after the service miss tina. We'll get those Into the computer and be able to answer those for you next sunday evening this evening We're gonna have a fellowship with the mudges and the russies. And so, uh, please plan to come to that There'll be a time where you can Uh, ask questions of them and a time to encourage them Uh, there'll be a time where we will pray for them and then there'll be ice cream food snacks all those good baptist things Okay, so that's going to be tonight Please come tonight to the uh, the fellowship for those folks and with that before we get into the next part of our service Like to play another video for you. Thanks brothers subjective objective collective and effective So first subjective subjective is the call and the feeling the burden that jeremiah had when he Said that it was a fire in his bones when his mouth was shut That he needed to open his mouth To in order to preach the word of god and burden to preach the word of god. So subjective is one then Objective is another is do you actually have the ability to Be in the ministry has god given you those giftings and and by god's grace. I believe he has So subjective objective collective Collective is does the church affirm that you have the gift to be able to teach? And by god's grace quorum some baptist church has affirmed that that gifting So subjective objective collective and effective effective would be It has a lord produced fruit has a lord given fruit for that ministry So How's that worked out for me? That has worked out for me in that Years ago I began to teach the bible in bible studies and then I began to study Prepare for the ministry in my local church cornerstone Baptist church and Through those things and more opportunities to serve has just grown and grown and grown So that the church now is sending us to be able to go and start another church in Guatemala Well, it started with actually having burden to be able to preach the gospel to her family and That started in 2007 and then since that time we've had the opportunities to be able to go down and Minister there. There have been a number of opportunities of The lord opening the door for the gospel and the community We've had opportunities to disciple people And the more time we spend there the more burden we've had for the people and the more we see the need for Church with sound doctrine there We don't know of another reform Baptist congregation in guatemala So it's a major metropolitan city four million people And for that many people there not to be a reform Baptist congregation is shows there's a great need for the For the biblical doctrine Yeah, and I I think what compels or giving a greater burden Is when I was doing some discipleship with some of the ladies there And how they didn't really have a an idea of what a sound biblical church looked like how it How is it that you would evangelize? How is it that you would practice church discipline? How is it? It was just like they had no clue so that that really just Makes my heart heavy for them that they don't I wouldn't have any place to send them to Um, I wish I would have been able to but um, hopefully we would they I will in your future Through the help we've set up the website for that purpose So the website is missions GUA.org And set up for three primary ways to help one would be That you would be able to pray for us We want to be able to continue to update prayer requests there The word of the Lord will run that people will be converted and saved That would be faithful to the Lord's word Second if you'd like to be able to help then you have the opportunity to give financially on the website And we may try to make that as convenient as possible for you And third if you'd like to be able to consider going long term to be part of the church or to Be trained in missions Then we would be glad to be able to disciple and train people for that very purpose so I would I would remind you that if you In partnering with us, we're not Making a mcdonald's and we're bringing a business or a restaurant or something to go tomorrow This is about the glory of jesus christ This is about his gospel being spread And people coming to repentance and faith going to heaven to worship him This is about the glory and honor of jesus christ So please join us in this work and you'll be Glad that you did that in the That gives you good introduction to what we're talking about today And the joy that we have to be able to uh to get this church plan started in guatemal city and The russis and the mudges have purchased their one-way plane tickets and are heading out this week What we want to do. I want to do a couple of things. I want to Exort you I want to call to your remembrance the work that the lord is doing and will do there in guatemal city By his grace through the mudges through the russis there and I want to give you opportunity to praise the lord for this Tremendous blessing that we have With that as you are as we work through text of scripture together this morning We have cards available and I like you to be able to fill those cards out If you'd like to write a word of encouragement We want to be able to collect a bunch of cards from you today tonight For the mudges the russis to be able to look at not any earlier than when they get on the plane To give them something to do on the plane But we want to encourage them and so if the folks will pass out some of those cards as we talk that'll be helpful and um Write some encouraging notes to them. That'll bless them as they Make their way to guatemal city. All right, turn with me in your bibles to matthew chapter 16 matthew chapter 16 This is a tremendous blessing that we have The lord is so gracious so good and we've seen the lord faithful to his promises of faithful to Press the gospel into the world and we've seen the gospel bearing fruit And uh, we are very very grateful to play a part in that but that promise is based In the lord's faithfulness that promise made by the lord jesus christ himself And we get one indication of that in matthew chapter 16 and look down with me at verse 13 And we want to praise and thank the lord rejoice in the lord for what he's doing and matthew chapter 16 In verse 13 Matthew writes when jesus came into the region of cesarei filipi He asked his disciples saying who do men say that i the son of man am And so they said some say john the baptist Some elijah and others jeremiah are one of the prophets He said to them verse 15 But who do you say that i am and simon peter answered and said You are the christ the son of the living god And jesus answered and said to him blessed are you simon bar jonah For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven And i also say to you that you are peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it Well today We have the blessing the blessed privilege of rejoicing in the lord for his un wavering faithfulness to this promise He has said i will build my church. He is worthy of all praise honor and glory amen And we want to acknowledge him in his tremendous blessing that he's given us to be a part of what he is doing In the world to build his church now notice first what he says in verse 18. He says i I will build my church the i there refers to the lord jesus christ with peter in verse 16 We confess also with him that he is the christ the son of the living god One has said that Jesus christ came from the bosom of the father to the bosom of a woman He put on humanity that we might put on divinity He became son of man that we might become sons of god He was born contrary to the laws of nature lived in poverty was reared in obscurity And only once crossed the boundary of the land in which he was born and that in his childhood He had no wealth or influence had neither training nor education in the world schools His relatives were inconspicuous and uninfluenced influential in infancy He startled a king in boyhood. He puzzled the learned doctors in manhood. He ruled the course of nature He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for his services He never wrote a book and yet all the libraries of the world could not hold the books about him He never wrote a song yet. He has furnished the theme for more songs than all songwriters together He never founded a college Yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as he has He never practiced medicine and yet he has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors have healed broken bodies This jesus christ is the star of astronomy the rock of geology the lion the lamb of zoology the harmonizer of all discords The healer of all diseases Throughout history great men have come and gone yet. He lives on Herod could not kill him satan could not seduce him death could not destroy him and the grave could not hold him In revelation chapter five He is the only one worthy to open the scroll to open its seals for He was slain and he has redeemed us to god by his blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation Worthy is the lamb Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory And blessing that's who the eye is He is the one that we worship. He is the one that we trust in whom we trust and notice next in verse 18 That he says he promises to build it. He says I will build My church and praise god. He is faithful to his promise these things Says he who is holy he who is true He who has the key of david He who opens and no one shuts and he shuts and no one opens The amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of god He who calls you is faithful who also will do it He's not building here in matthew chapter 16 with brick and mortar. He's not building A school not building a hospital not building a paratroop ministry not simply building a ministry He's building a church. Peter says that his elect come to him as living stones Rejected indeed by men but chosen by god and precious You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god through jesus christ He's building his church amen We see that now this opportunity this blessed privilege this blessing from god to have a part in him Building his church in guatemala city. We are grateful to god for that blessed opportunity that blessed privilege Thirdly in verse 18 The church belongs to him He says i will build my church In acts chapter 20 verse 28 It is the church which he has purchased with his own blood In first chrithians chapter 6 verse 20 Those in the church are not their own. They were bought with a price In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 Christ loves the church and he gave himself For her god has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head Over all things to the church. He's not building a homeless shelter He's not building a hospital. He's building his body. He's building his hands his feet redeemed sinners Blood bought out of bondage conveying them and us into the kingdom of the son of his love And he is the head of his body the church Who is the beginning the first born from the dead that in all things he may have the preeminence The one who's been given All authority has said i will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it amen For mark and ashley Lee and gabby You know for those of us who hold the rope here at cornerstone This is a promise that the lord is fulfilling now amen This is a promise that the lord is fulfilling and this is a promise that we can stand on He says i will build my church and the gates of hades will not prevail against it and we want to pray first And thank the lord for his faithfulness to his word his faithfulness to his promise The fact that his promise that promise his evident faithfulness being worked out among us as we prepare now to send Mark and ashley lee and gabby their families to guatemala city And so i'd like to ask my brother ben ben Would you mind just praying and thanking the lord for his faithfulness? thanking the lord for his Is covenant with us his promise to press the gospel into the world specifically now guatemala. Thanks brother. Let's pray okay, let's pray Holy father, we Exalt you today we glorify you today Your people See you as enthroned We see you as our our king and the creator of all things By whom and through whom all things were made And lord we we depend upon you right now in In this sending we know that this is according to your will and we we greatly desire your blessing First and foremost lord, we we we pray that you would Bring glory to yourself and doing this That you would That you would be exalted in the sight of not just your church But all peoples one day that they would see that the building of your church was your doing and and it will be marvelous in their eyes how In spite of so many obstacles in spite of so many impossibilities The church has overcome Uh Not just the last 2,000 years, but but really uh from the very beginning uh from the from the garden And how you have prevailed and and how We can look back 2,000 years and see the victory that that christ Accomplished on the cross And then how we can see how he sent his apostles out And how they started a a thing that was new to the jews um And yet beloved by those who were saved So lord we we pray that uh you would continue to Dispense your your mercy and your grace through the preaching of the gospel through the building of your church that you would Do as you have told us in the book of romans in chapters 9 10 11 that you would Call forth your elect your chosen people Those who you have set your mercy on from eternity past Those who you've predestined the as we often say here that the the pond is stocked There's no question that people will be saved. There's no question that not everyone will uh reject the gospel But rather than those who to whom the gospel is preached to whom god has Set aside for mercy will respond and so we're not As pastor rick was teaching this morning it it may be seven years before we see a convert although we know we've got converts there now but We would not be laboring in vain even if we had to persevere that long And many of us here in orlando know that we've had to persevere quite a long time through many dry spells and not seeing People being genuinely and soundly saved and yet we do not lose hope and and um We continue uh because of your promise and so we reflect on on the facts of The promises of the word of god and and setting people aside to be saved we we look to the fulfillment of the abrahamic promise that uh That you would give abraham just many seed that would not even be more than the stars that more than could be counted um And so we know that those things are are certain and sure and it's only a matter of being a part of that and actively Seeking to work that out practically here on earth prayerfully and and With planning and and with and with um and with diligence and and and like today with with just action And so lord we we pray that when you build your church in guatemala that You would use our our brothers and sisters mightily out there that you would By the gospel regenerate many souls justify many people through jesus christ through the preaching of the gospel You would radically change the the nature of people that you would They would not require a a 12 step program, but rather just an overnight conversion And that they would see All things new even from the very next day Um as as they begin to realize a new life in In following christ and lord we Pray that for those people that that you will save that you will sanctify them that you will deliver them from the power and the presence of sin and And uh and of course the penalty of sin and that You would form out there another part of your overall universal church of living stones Being put together by the lord himself to one day be just a Testament of your great power and and your great mercy on sinful and wicked people such as ourselves And so we're we're grateful that we we have christ and he has changed us He's delivered us from so such a great penalty Such a great debt, but also the delivered us from the love of sin The love for those passions Um and has transcended us into a place of the love of christ love of the gospel And the love to see sinners saved So we pray that you would do all these things that you said you would do lord and and that you would allow us to have a part in that In guadama in christian. I pray amen And next now What encourage you from scripture with an example of just how the lord does that right turn with me to ax chapter 11 ax chapter 11 We're part of a legacy that began with the lord's promise to build his church He does that clearly in scripture. He's done that throughout out history and now it's our turn to Bear that same torch for him as we print iglesia biblica and torcha They feel like an italian when I say the name Um But we look forward to that as we carry that torch In our generation as in our piece of history But I want to encourage you with this from scripture this legacy. Look at ax chapter 11 and drop down to verse 19 19 You have the church at Jerusalem And after pentecost when the holy spirit was given and the church was founded 3000 were added and then more were added look at verse 19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over steven traveled as far as finicia cyprus and anioch Preaching the word to no one but to jews only immediately after the church was founded there came persecution Often is the case in verse 20 But some of them were men from cyprus and syrene who when they had come to anioch spoke to the helliness preaching the lord Jesus and the hand of the lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the lord and there the church at anioch was planted verse 22 The news of these things came to the ears of the church in jerusalem And they sent out barnabas to go as far as anioch when he came he'd seen the grace of god He was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart They should continue with the lord for he was a good man full of the holy spirit and the faith And a great many people were added to the lord Then barnabas departed for tarsus to seek sol when he found him he brought him to anioch And so it was that for a year a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people And the disciples were first called christians in anioch. So you have the church in jerusalem Gets planted the church immediately begins to share the gospel immediately preaching christ persecution had scattered them And through that means god planted the church in anioch turn the page with me and look at ax chapter 13 Axe chapter 13 Lord promises to build his church and we see him doing that here Throughout the book of ax but specifically with one example beginning in ax 11 We see the church in anioch planted in ax chapter 13. Look at verse one Now in that church that was at anioch There were certain prophets and teachers barnabas Simeon who is called niger lucius of sireen monein who had been brought up with hair the tetrarch and sol And as they ministered to the lord and fasted the holy spirit said Now separate to me barnabas and sol for the work to which i have called them Then having fasted and prayed they laid hands on them and they sent them away Their purpose here was to send them on paul's first missionary journey to plant churches They were planting churches flip the page and look at ax ax chapter 16 Let's look at it the example of one of those churches That was planted ax chapter 16 And again, this is the lord jesus christ faithful to his promise to build his church We see it taking place here in the book of ax throughout history and then now Through us ax chapter 16 drop down to verse 11 Therefore verse 11 Sailing from troas. We ran straight a straight course to saman thrace and the next day came to neapolis and from there to philipi philipi, which is the foremost city of that part of macedonia a colony And we were staying in that city for some days And on the Sabbath we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made We sat down at a prayer meeting as if you will with a group of women who met there in philipi Verse 14 now a certain woman named lydia heard us She was a seller of purple from the city of thiothira who worshiped god The lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by paul And when she and her household were baptized she begged us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the lord Come to my house and stay And so she persuaded us And thus the church in anioc Then begins to plant through barnumis and paul the church at philipi and notice how the lord works, right? You send a man down there to preach the gospel A gospel is preached and through the gospel being preached the lord opens the hearts of those hears And here in the case of lydia lydia becomes the the first convert if you will at the church plant of philipi But how did this church develop and grow look at verse 16 Now as it happened verse 16 As we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us Who brought her master's much profit by fortune telling says fortune telling slave girl becomes the next member of the church at philipi This girl followed paul and us cried out saying these men are the servants of the most high god Who proclaimed to us the way of salvation and this she did for many days Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit. I command you in the name of jesus christ to come out of her They came out that very hour When her master saw that their hope of profit was gone They seized paul and sylas dragged him into the marketplace to the authorities more persecution, right? They brought them to the magistrate and said these men being jews Exceedingly trouble our city they teach customs which are not lawful for us being romans to receive or to observe Multitudes rose up together against them. So we see persecution again breaking out you have now lydia in philipi now you have a little slave girl former fortune teller who now has been genuinely saved and now as part of the church at philipi But the lord's not done and of course wasn't done look at verse 25 They put paul and sylas in jail And at midnight paul and sylas were praying and singing hymns to god in verse 25 and the prisoners were listening to them Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed and the keeper of the prison Awaking from sleep seeing the prison doors open supposing the prisoners had fled drew his sword and was about to kill himself But paul called with a loud voice saying do yourself no harm for we are all here And he called for a light ran in fell down trembling before paul and sylas And he brought them out and said sirs, what must i do to be saved? It's an awesome question, right? Right So they said verse 31 believe in the lord jesus christ and you will be saved you and your household Then they spoke the word of the lord to him all who were in his house And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes And immediately he and all his family were baptized and when he had brought them into his house He set food before them and he rejoiced having believed in god with all his household Lydia and her household slave girl came to church at filipai and now the philippine jailer and his household So what became of this little church this church plant at filipai look with me at second carinthians second carinthians And look at chapter eight This is what the lord does right the lord builds his church And he is faithful to that our responsibility as a people our responsibility is the body of christ Is to put our faith and trust in him and press forward into the work And what if paul and barnabas had never gone right what if paul and sylas had never made it to filipai? No, but the lord said i will build my church their faithfulness to go Was the means by which god planted that church and then in second carinthians chapter eight look at verse one What became of this church plant in filipai moreover brethren verse one We make known to you the grace of god bestowed on the churches of macedonia not macedonia The churches that are being referred to there is the church of the thessalonians and thessalonica The church at berea that we know about from ax chapter 17 and then the church at filipai the church plant at filipai look at verse two What characterized that church? That in a great trial of affliction The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty Abounded in the riches of their liberality for i bear witness that according to their ability Yes, and beyond their ability. They were freely willing Imporing us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints And not only as we had hoped but they first gave of themselves to the lord and then to us by the will of god So we urged titus that as he begun so we would also complete this grace in you as well But as you abound in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and all in all diligence and in your love for us See that you abound in this grace also that little Church in filipai being under a severe trial of poverty being under severe affliction became examples Here specifically to the church at corinth in their giving in their ministering to the saints. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? That through here beginning the beginning of the church age the lord jesus christ promises to build his church We see that played out in the book of acts here specifically with the church at anioc and the church at anioc faithful to obey the lord separating to them Barnabas and paul to go on the missionary journey Part of that journey was to plant the church at filipai we see the lord grow that church at filipai It's through god's work that he does it and then we see the fruit Of that work in second corinthians chapter 8 just one example among many countless examples Of the lord being faithful to build his church and faithful to produce fruit that glorifies him Through that work now we get to be a part of that right the journey that we begin today Is a part of that legacy of god's faithfulness of God's redemptive purposes on the planet We get to be a part of carrying bearing that same torch the torch that brothers and sisters 2000 years ago began to carry and now churches throughout history have done We now in our generation get to do that That's something to rejoice about amen Don't we have cause for celebrating what the lord has done with this church plant amen So we can't look at that short brothers and sisters That's a glorious glorious blessing and we want to pray now And thank the lord that we've been given this blessing that we've been given this opportunity And I would like to ask dale brother. Where are you? Thank you brother Dale would you mind praying just thanking the lord that we get to take part in that heritage of the lord Of him building his church and specifically with reference to guatemala city. Thank you brother Father in heaven, we are so grateful for how you have worked among us These many years just here in this church we have seen how you have guided us and protected us and blessed us and We are just amazed when we think about even our own Salvation how you've Peeled away the scales from our eyes and Caused us to see ourselves the way that you see us and then At the same time given us The gift of repentance and faith and called us into your kingdom and Praise for you for this kindness is Just endless we worship you and thank you and lord we are So grateful to for The privilege of being the stewards of your gospel Here in this community and Throughout the city even the state and now To other countries Lord over the Years and many visits that The people in this church have made to Guatemala already dozens even hundreds Have heard the gospel preached and Lord we know that Your word does not return void and We think of people that that we've already spoken to Oscar a young man in parque central in Guatemala city and El uhelio a guard that we spoke to at a neighborhood in Guatemala city and Angel and Carlos A shopkeeper and his employee Maria a lady who Wanted to kill her father for the abuse that he had inflicted on her Manuel a drunkard crying as if to be aware of the chains that he was bound by Rolando a cab driver and Carlos a vendor The names just go on and on lord and In that city of millions There are so many who Have not yet heard they've been exposed to All kinds of false messages that are preached by wicked men Who are building fortunes for themselves and Rather than glorifying you And So there's a a war there lord for the souls of people and We just counted a privilege that You've enlisted us to send Mark and ashley and lee and gabby Lord help us to be faithful to remember Them daily and prayer To to give faithfully to their work And to just be thankful for The privilege of of being part of this work Lord, we don't know how the history will be written in guatemala in decades and centuries from now, but What we pray for lord is That you would be glorified that Your truth your gospel would be proclaimed far and wide and all of guatemala and that Other true churches would be planted as a result of This work that that we're embarking on today So we just thank you for How how you're at work among us and for the privilege of of planting this church and it's Just an amazing kindness that you've shown us and So we thank you and praise you in jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you brother The next one I want to do is part of that Legacy is part of that heritage. We have responsibility. We have responsibility So I want to exhort you from the from scripture Look at second Thessalonians chapter three second Thessalonians chapter three So first to cornerstone orlando and then to cornerstone guatemala second Thessalonians chapter three For those of us who will remain here. Look at verse one Finally brethren Pray for us that the word of the lord may run swiftly and be glorified Just as it is with you. That's interesting there We need to pray just as dale was praying We need to continue to pray for the russis for the mudges. We need to pray for People in guatemala. We need to pray that the gospel Runs swiftly and will be glorified and then he adds that phrase just as it is with you We need to maintain faithfulness to spread the gospel here Maintain faithfulness to preach the word of god here. We have unreached people in our own backyard. Amen You have unreached neighbors. We have unreached co-workers. We have to be faithful to the gospel here And that's one of the reasons with a clear conscience before god that as we're faithful here We can then send mark and ashley lee and gabby their families to guatemala city. It wasn't that Paul and barnabas were sent from anioc and then all of a sudden anioc ceased their work of evangelism, you know Paul and barnabas are going to take care of that We'll just deal with our house business here No those faithful brothers faithful sisters kept preaching the gospel and we need to do the same and honor the lord in that verse two Also pray for them. They may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for not all have faith Verse three, but the lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one We have confidence in the lord concerning you both that you do and will do the things that we command you We need to pray. We need to as our brother prayed. We need to continue giving Give we need to give ties to this church offerings above and beyond the tithe to the work in guatemala Praise the lord. He has provided for them financially. We're very grateful for that. There's more to be done Keep giving and a year from now Keep giving keeping faithful to your word to support them in that. This is not going to be a sprint This is a marathon. So keep giving Encourage the families in the work Encourage them text them regularly. I don't know how text works to guatemala, but keep doing it until we figure out If it doesn't work, we'll do something else send up smoke signals carrier pigeons But we need to encourage them in the work. It can be very lonely very difficult work And it's going to be difficult and it's going to be daily evangelism hard Difficulty there's already been difficulty by the lord's grace He's allowed that to happen so that we don't depend upon ourselves or our own strength But we learned to depend upon him and we've already seen a tremendous amount of difficulty Even getting the church started down there So please continue to encourage those families and then you can plan at some point in the future to go down and visit And encourage them by your presence and working and laboring down there with them So we'll talk about that more as the the months pass and we're able to do that after they get settled All right to cornerstone guatemala turn to second timothy chapter four and i want to exhort pastor mark lee and their families From second timothy chapter four With a work that has to be done And paul says to timothy And paul says to you to us He says in verse one I charge you therefore before god and the lord jesus christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom Preach the word Be ready in season and out of season Convince rebuke Exort with all long suffering and teaching For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine But according to their own desires because they have itching ears. They will heap up for themselves teachers They will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables But you you be watchful in all things endure Afflictions do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry. It's a high calling right and Praise the lord for mark lee their families That he has raised up What we see as faithful men to do just that and so we rejoice in the lord for that grace But we want to pray and ask the lord's help now in our keeping our charge and that also that Mark lee their families would keep their charge as well as pastor rick Down here Okay, i'm sorry if somebody pointing. Okay, he's not Robinson. Would you mind brother praying for praying for Us that we would keep our charge for lee and gabby for Mark and ashley they would keep theirs as well. The lord's help. Thank you brother Father in heaven, we come before you once more to thank you for this opportunity lord to be able to send off The mudges and the russis to guatemala to preach your word We pray lord guide that us as a church that we would ourselves be faithful in the ministry That we would care for the dying care for the lost souls that are here amongst us in our neighborhoods And i pray lord guide that even As we reach out to those who are lost in guatemala that you would Charge the russis and the mudges by your spirit lord that they would preach your word With efficacy that they would be Dilligent lord to reach out all of those lord who are Unsaved and who need to hear about christ All of this lord is for your glory. So help us to be faithful To be faithful at home to be faithful at work As we preach your word Here in olando in florida in the united states and throughout the rest of the world May your name be glorified and exalted through this ministry in christ's name. We pray amen. Amen. Thank you brother Oh now um as they did in acts 13 We want to do a proper sending and so what i want to do is i want to ask Mark ashley if you'll come up league abby if you'll come up Maybe just come and stand down front if you will Deacons if you're a deacon here deacons coming up to Let's call our leaders up and um, let's pray for the mudges and the russis I'm doing official commissioning and official sending come on brothers Pastor rick if you want to come up brother. Thank you, man. I can just tell you that um You know over the years being able to serve I know pastor rick would echo these comments that uh the joy that we've had in being able to serve with pastor mark It's pastor mark. You've been a blessing in our church amen Amen, and so it's a joy to be able to send him In this work. He's been a joy to us. I've learned from this brother Very grateful for you brother and Grateful it's been a tremendous blessing To serve you to love this church. I know he loves the lord and loves you and um That's a joy and so like for those in anioc at the time. I'm sure it was a Bittersweet time sending off knowing you're doing the lord's work but at the same time sending off a beloved brother and so It's time to do that for our beloved brother pastor mark and his family We love you, ashley. So many years playing the flute here Working with the kids ministering to the ladies. I just I countless conversations that I've Come to know about uh where ashley has been an influence in somebody's life gabby the same thing Many times gabby Pursuing sisters faithfully serving up here working at the church Uh a lot of you don't know that gabby's up here working at the church every week It's been for for a long time and just her faithfulness with the sisters and um Just highly commendable sister. We're grateful to the lord for that. My brother lee, um, man, I remember when you came and just lee was So serious about the lord of god wanting to honor the lord wanting to love the people very sober minded and the lord just uh took him through that process of bringing him out of Of uh, what wasn't a good church context and now um to being a A beloved brother here serving the lord's people Honoring the lord leading our worship team for a long time just very grateful for what the lord has done through lee And so we're gonna miss you guys very much Oh, we love you I want to be praying that lord will bless your work in guatemala So let's pray together for them Father in heaven Lord i'm very grateful to you uh for these brothers these sisters their families Grateful that they have Served so well here by your grace to them That they have become to us precious And we love them We thank you for them and we praise you and we worship you lord in your goodness