 And this day before you, we want for you to be glorified and for you to be the center of attention in this day, and we thank you that we have songs to sing to you and we have your word to read, to be informed about you and to know you and to worship you through your word. We thank you that we have this time to be able to talk about what great things you have done and how you've had compassion upon us. We thank you for the blessing of this day, this day like not like the other six days, but a time set aside just to focus on you and just to hear from you and your word and to exalt you. And so we pray that that would be the case today, that you would be exalted, that you would be made much of, that you'd be worshiped. And so please help us to do that in whether it's reporting about your kindness and your sovereignty or whether it is worshiping you in any other way. So we pray, please help us now to focus on you and worship you, amen. Let's go ahead and we'll open by reading Mark chapter 5 verses 1 to 20. In the end we'll be focusing on verses more in 17 to 20 and the purpose is to try and remember a biblical concept of ministry or a biblical principle that helps us in ministry. Mark chapter 5 verse 1, that it came to the other side of the sea to the country of the Gadarenes and when he had come out of the boat immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains and chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces and neither could anyone tame him. And always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar he ran and worshipped him and he cried out with a loud voice saying, what have I to do with you Jesus, Son of the Most High God, I implore you by God that you do not torment me. And he said to him, come out of the man unclean spirit. Then he said to him, what is your name? And he answered saying, my name is Legion for we are many. And he begged him earnestly that he would not send it out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged him saying, send us to the swine that we may enter them. And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine. They were about 2000 and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea and drowned in the sea. So those who fed the swine, those who fed the swine fled and they told in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon possessed and had the Legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. And those who saw it told them how it happened to them who had been demon possessed and about the swine. Then they began to plead with him to depart from their region. And when he got into the boat, he who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be with him. However, Jesus did not permit him but said, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you. And he departed and began to proclaim into Copolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marveled. So what we're focusing on today is the clash of heaven versus hell and out of this clash of kingdoms we see Jesus Christ ruling and reigning over demonic powers and he brings back a maniac who becomes a missionary and what we want to focus on is verse 19 where he says go home to your friends, tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you. And so this man had a ministry, this man went to go and serve Christ. And what was it that, what was it that the aspect that Mark pulls out, the truth that Mark pulls out that should be continually in our minds in ministry, the words and instructions that Jesus says here in verse 19, to tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he's had compassion upon you. I remember I heard a sermon from Jeremy Walker and he was outlining some of these points and meditations about what would it be like and describing what would it be like for this guy to go back, to go back home and begin to tell this story of what great things the Lord had done and how he had compassion on him. So you could imagine this man who at one time was breaking chains, demonically possessed, doesn't wear clothes, doesn't in every way, shape and form is manifesting that he's under the control and power of Satan. And then he comes back into his hometown and you could imagine him walking the streets and people seeing him and thinking there's something familiar about that guy and yet there's something very strange about that guy. They could perhaps recognize him and they wouldn't believe their eyes. They would see how he's clothed and how he's in his right mind, how he's, there's, he was terrifying before and now he's tamed. They would say this is the same guy and then on the other hand they would say this is not the same guy. And then imagine what his story would be like. Imagine if he came and began to speak to his family. Imagine if he had a wife or he had children and he would sit down with them and begin to say, I have a story to tell you, it's a story about what Jesus, what great things Jesus has done for me and how he's had compassion upon me. And it's emotional because we remember that it's the same for us, it's the same for us how we can say the same thing. Every Christian says what great things the Lord has done for me and how he has had compassion upon me. And so when we think about our maniac who became missionary, we imagine the conversation that would take place, how he would speak of a story of grace, of mercy and the compassion that Christ had upon him. It wouldn't be a story of pride, it wouldn't be a story of himself and the great things that he had done, the great change that had happened, that he had worked up in his life, the great building of righteousness that he had established in his own, no? For him to go back to his home where people knew him, knew the sin that he was in, knew this trail of sin that led to the demonic possession and demonic activity, they would all know his life, his family would know, his neighbors would know the sins that he had been in that had led him to the depth of depravity where he had gotten to. And he could not describe to them a story of his own goodness, a story of his own works righteousness, instead his story would be one about Jesus. He was entirely lost to wickedness, entirely lost to Satan's power, there was nothing good in him. And so then we want to think about what type of story he would tell. It would be a story, that would be a personal story, it'd be a personal story, a truthful story, a grateful story and earnest story. It'd be a personal story and that it would be a story full of emotion for him of what great things the Lord had done for him and how he had kind of compassion upon him. He would be able to tell a story with human detail that only he could tell, it would be his own experience. And so when we think about ministry, we have an aspect of being able to speak about Jesus Christ that no one else has. He saved you in a particular way, from particular sins. He has had a compassion upon you and done great things for you in a way that he has not done for other people. And even other Christians do not have your particular story of grace. And so we have a personal aspect, our own experience of what Christ has done for us makes it so it influences the way that we are able to minister. Because of that we're able to minister in different ways than perhaps other people are not. And our own story of what the great things the Lord has done for us and how he's had compassion upon us is persuasive because it is coming from your lips. So this man would come and he would tell a personal story. He would come and he would tell a truthful story. He wouldn't need to spice it up. He wouldn't need to change the story at all. It's just what Christ wanted it to be. And you may look at your story and say, well I wasn't naked in the wilderness breaking chains. But the truth is, if you just describe with biblical descriptions using the Bible text about who where you were, text of the scripture that described who you were like and text of the scripture, you can take Romans 3 and Romans 3 talks about you. You're there. And if you have eyes to see the depth that Christ saved you out of, then you would be able to say truly and truthfully what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion upon you. So this man tells a personal story and he tells a truthful story and he tells a grateful story. His story will be one that you won't forget. Like even reading it this morning, all of you remember this story. His is a story for Christ's glory. And so the aspect, the way in which he would tell the story would be that Christ is the hero and Christ is the one who came and delivered him. Christ is the one. And so we have the same aspect to apply when we think about ministry, when we think about serving Him, we do the same thing. We think about what great things the Lord has done for us and how he's had compassion on us. When this man would tell the story, it would be personal, it would be truthful, it would be grateful, it would also be earnest. This is that he is genuine. He's dripping with integrity that it's not something made up. He was really lost and he was really found. It would be a story full of truth and emotion. And how many times would he tell it? How many times would he tell it? Many, many times, right? To as many people who would listen. And we get a hint of that when we look in verse 20, he says, and he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marveled. So Jesus tells him go home and he goes home and he goes beyond. So that Decapolis is the ten cities. Jesus tells him go home and tell what great things the Lord has done for you. He goes and he tells all that Jesus has done for him. Clearly Jesus is God. And Jesus is the one who saves from sin. And then Jesus tells him to explain how he's had done great things for him and how he's had compassion upon him. And the word for proclaim is the verb form of creruso, where he's describing in a public way, in a public proclamation. He's preaching in all the streets. And the people marveled. And in Mark that is not necessarily a good thing. And the people marveled. It could be a bad thing or it could be a good thing, whatever the effect. The effect was this was a shocking effect. When the people looked at this man who was a maniac, who became a missionary, they could not deny that it was a genuine work of God. And so what were the effects? Well, we don't know, but we could see perhaps in chapter 7, perhaps when we read verses 31 to 32 that this could have been the effects of some of his preaching. It says, again departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, he came from the midst of the region of the Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. And they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment of his speech and they begged him to put his hand on him. So here he's coming back to the same region, the region of the Decapolis, but yet there's now there's groups of people bringing others to Jesus. But in back in chapter 5, in verse 17, they began to plead with him to depart from the region. So look at the mercy of Christ, where they tell him to leave after he delivers a man from slavery of his sin and from demonic possession. And yet Jesus sends back the maniac who becomes a missionary and then this man actually is able to reach and preach the very people who rejected Jesus. It's a very beautiful story, right? There's much more to consider and I encourage you, this particular phrase from Mark has been very encouraging to me to continually remember and repeat what great things the Lord has done for me and how he has had compassion upon me. And so when we remember this, it affects the way we think about ministry. It affects the way that we think about serving him. And so that it changes us so that we think about serving him in a grateful way in a gospel grounded, gospel motivated way. Where because of the great things he's done, everything that we've done is never sufficient. It's never good enough. It's never, he always deserves more. There's no way we can look at ministry and think somehow, excuse me, somehow I can look at it in a prideful way and think what great things I have done and what compassion I have had upon other people. No, that's not the way that we think about serving Christ. Instead, it's for him. And that's what encourages people, Christians to continue to go. And so I'm trying to set this biblical foundation for how to think about ministry. Thanks, Pastor. So let's begin to transition now and I'll begin to explain some of the things that have happened in the past six months in Guatemala. And then I'll try and stop early enough so that we can, I can answer any questions. So what happened in the past six months? How do you sit down and give a summary? How would you do that if you had to make a summary of the past six months of your life or six months of ministry? What would you begin to say? So I thought I'd just go through the calendar and kind of describe some major highlights of how things have happened or what things have happened. So last February, we visited Cornerstone Church and we gave a report. In this building about what great things the Lord has done and how he's had compassion upon us and the merciful things he's done in Guatemala. Well, around that time, we moved to a new place. And so the building, the home that we moved to was right near on the same block as the church. So we walk to church every morning. And so then it makes it convenient for fellowships to be able, people just to begin to walk from church back to home. And it has enough space so that we were able to put the church inside our garage area for fellowships. So it's a great blessing. Around then in the next month in March, there's a sister church in New Jersey. Iglesia Bautista, our mother in North Bergen. And so it's a, well, we'll go up there for pastor's conferences usually in May or late April. And so there's a Guatemalan lady there who's been trying to witness to her family, Amelia. And so some of her daughter and her daughter's husband ended up coming to church. His name is Edgar. And shortly afterwards, he got in a motorcycle accident. So there's a lot of motorcycles in Guatemala and a lot of, and so he got into an accident where he tried to turn the motorcycle. His knee gets pinned and he kind of flips over the car. And so we went to see him in the hospital and began to see to try and explain the gospel to him. His face, he weren't wearing a helmet. So, but, you know, when you get your head hit with a helmet, still you get all this bruising and swelling in your face, right? So it was a very memorable witnessing time because of thinking about how easily he could have died and thinking about texts like this with what compassion the Lord has had upon him. We weren't able to explain the gospel all very much in that time, mainly speaking to his wife. But then another time he had a knee surgery and before that knee surgery we were able to visit him and explain the gospel more clearly to him. And he, even though he'd come to church a few times and even though he has family, lighter Christians, he still thinks in a, you know, works righteousness kind of way that in order for him to be right with God, he just needs to come back to church. He just needs to try harder. He just needs to continually to do better. And that one day God will accept him. So he's, it was a very, it's very encouraging to see how the Lord spared his life and provided with opportunities to witness to him. In the same month we were going through the book of Romans at church on the 1689. And so we're discipling people in a small group kind of settings going through the 1689. So it's very helpful to me as a pastor to go back to the confession. And there's this amazing what things you haven't seen in the confession when you've read it before, but then when you teach through it is very interesting how you begin to learn your own doctoral statement. And I know we, you all have probably had a similar experience as going back to 1689 and going back to the things that we've said is our foundation to be able to look at the way that it describes those things. And it's helpful for us to grow doctrinally. And it's been helpful to me in particular thinking about the Lord's supper, thinking about membership, thinking about coming at theology, thinking about these things. So in our leadership training at that time in March, we're going through the deliberate church, a book by Mark Devere on church ministry and how to conduct church ministry. So it's encouraging to be able to focus on leadership and how to disciple them as well. We had a mission team come that month. Pastor Rick, Edgar, Braulio, Xavier, Mitchell, Ryan, Esther, and Jobi. Yes, Jobi is Adapte Guadalmau. Ryan and Jobi always come. And so in the next month in April, we're able to do baptisms and have new people come into membership. And some of you may have seen the pictures or updates about those things. We're able to work through counseling with some people in the church. And so that is very encouraging to be able to see the fruit of counseling and to be able to see people grow in their families, in their marriages, and manifest a good fruit through those times. In that same month, we changed our schedule so that we begin to, every other Sunday, begin to make it a more of a discipleship emphasis because of the way that some people travel from a distance to come to the church, where some people in Guadalmau work six days a week. They only have Sundays. So we tried to set up Sundays so that we would be able to disciple people as much as we could and make use of Sundays in every way possible. So everything that we try and do in small group, we try and put that in Sundays. Everything we try and do in evangelism, we try and pack that all into Sundays. So every other Sunday, what we end up doing is having a regular Sunday service. But in Sunday school, we do a lot of the small group accountability discussions about how to serve the Lord in our daily lives and that interaction. But then after Sunday, we eat lunch at our home and then we'll go over the small group study and then we go and evangelize together. And so it does make for a good full Sunday, but you guys know about good full Sundays as well. And so we try and set up the schedule so that we can disciple those people who are not able to come on any other day of the week. In May, the next month, then I was able to go to a pastor's conference in New Jersey, very encouraging, spending time. And I heard that a pastor from New Jersey had visited our church something long ago. And so one particular thing that happened in May was very encouraging to see Lee preaching Genesis 6 and Lee teaching class on prayer in Sunday school. And so Lee has become or Lee has always been from in the history of Inglisian torture. He's always been a pillar in the church. And so the people genuinely look to him as a spiritual guide, a good friend. They can tell that he loved, the guys can tell that he loves them and will speak the truth to them. And so it's a great, great blessing. And the same with Gaby, but the ladies, it's a great, great blessing to have them there and to see them be reliable, steadfast, somebody that people look to as spiritual leaders. And so him teaching a class on prayer, him preaching in the open air. In that same month when we had a volcano erupt in Guatemala and that some of you saw some of that and how people had died in that catastrophe. So we were unaffected in the city. It's encouraging when you guys text this when you see earthquakes or volcanoes that happen in Guatemala. It's kind of, it's on the ring of fire. So we always have those things happening in some way or form. So usually they're not affecting us. We're in the capital city and a lot of those things happen in the countryside. So we did, it did open up opportunities to be begin to preach the gospel about Luke 13 and verses one to five about when there's a catastrophe that happens. And then how does the Lord use that to call people to repentance? They didn't die because in that volcanic eruption, because they were worse people than other people. You know, that we're all deserving of God's judgment. Instead, it's a warning to us. It's a warning to the people that are living that we would repent or perish. And so also in June, in that same month, we were able to have a, there's a pastor from Texas, and Jonathan Morris, who visited us, and he's trying to do ministry on the other side of Guatemala, other side of the city. And they're praying and seeking how to grow in their philosophy of ministry. So in other words, he's sent from a church in Texas. He's a pastor from a church in Texas. I'm not sure they had the 1689. The preaching pastor is a professor at Southern. So we'd line up in a lot of things doctrinally. And so it was very encouraging to go open our preaching with him. He filmed a, if he has no wretched or Todd Freel and that ministry on the internet, then he did the Spanish version of La Pregunta Grande. It's something about the greatest question, the greatest question, but he did the Spanish version. So he's from Chile. And so it was encouraging to be able to spend time with a pretty much a stranger who we are so similar in thinking and it was very encouraging. It was encouraging to see how his church was trying to think through how to change missions because one of his responsibilities was to be a mission, the pastor over the area, to oversee missions. And so they're trying to think through, he's only been in the church for a few years. So he inherited a different philosophy of ministry. So the philosophy of ministry and missions is basically help a whole bunch of ministries a little bit financially and they know them very little. And so the ministries that they end up supporting may not be agreeing on the Bible, doctrine or on how the ministry should be carried out. So he's trying to, and his church is trying to think through how can we think biblical about missions and particularly focusing on churches and church planting and how can we put the majority of our emphasis there rather than on a social ministry often in another place. And then the social ministry opens up door for us for the gospel, but it's kind of in the reverse. It should be the church that is established and the church that then helps in a social way that's an outflow of that, but the main focus is in the great work of the Great Commission and the church planting. So that's the work that endures. That's the work that Christ has said for us to do. So it's very encouraging to me other people and other churches who work that then begin trying to think through using their Bibles about how to think about missions as opposed to do things just the way that all that evangelicalism generally doesn't. So in that same month, or no, I'm moving on to the July, and we're into July, right? Yes. Okay, into July. Then we've had that, maybe perhaps the honeymoon period ends. When you when you establish a church and church planting, there's normally the first year to two years is normally considered a honeymoon period. And people pastor say the same when they move into a church. Everybody thinks his preaching is great. Everybody thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread. And then you begin to realize that we're sinners and you begin to have to work through issues with people. And so we've had a couple of families leave in this past month and there were members. And so for unrelated reasons and unbiblical reasons. But the Lord has used it for good in the in Glacier and torture. It's it's very encouraging to see how the other members that have continued how they see the importance of reaching out to the people who are who are struggling behind and not attending. They begin to see the importance of reaching out to people that don't attend that have missed. And it's not like molesting somebody or I'm sorry that's I'm using Spanish thing in Spanish and that's a bad word to use in English. We just bothering bothering in Spanish is more like yeah molestar is more like bothering somebody. Usually a problem is the other way going from this is a new experience for me. So it's not bothering somebody to send them a text and bothering them to to try and reach out to them when they're when you see them drifting. And so it's very encouraging to see the other the church growing in that. And they saw the signs in the people before this they left the membership. They saw these things happening. And so now they're connecting the exhortations now with reality and faces and faces that you love people that you love and you see them make foolish or sinful decisions. So it's a hurtful hard thing to learn. But it's a good you can see how the Lord we have a small little tree and the Lord prunes this small little tree and you think there's only a few more branches Lord how much more pruning can we take them but the branches that remain are more fruitful than and so the Lord has a good plan Lord has a good plan and it's very encouraging to see that happen in the people. So it's I remember we were studying in the glacial torture we're studying Rome the book by Thomas Watson the Ten Commandments in that book I think it's in that book. Thomas Watson is making the comment that Romans 828 doesn't apply just to individuals but God does those things for churches corporately. He works events in churches corporately for the good of those who love him to those who are called according to his purpose and that corporately he does these things and so it's a very encouraging thought when we you think back on all the things that have happened in in church life and how the Lord does those things to edify us to sanctify us and so in this month also we started a new leadership training where we're taking the class the introduction to biblical counseling some of you have taken that class years ago by Stuart Scott over the internet or DVDs and so that class is very helpful very encouraging and so now that we're beginning to go through that for leadership training. Ashley and Benjamin are a continual encouragement and joy and Ashley has mentioned before it has mentioned before what joy and seeing the the russies minister and grow in the faith and so yeah we have seen the Lord work and them and them and their own particular growth by them having more opportunities to lead which have made us glorify God by the work that's in their lives. She has also mentioned before about joy and seeing the ladies grow joy and seeing the ladies grow in evangelism in the church growing seeing them love for the sisters and growing in the ladies growing discernment and so God has given her much grace and not only the miscarriage of Samuel or the loss of Samuel last year but then also miscarriage in this year as well and so Lord has been helping her to trust God with the church and with the people she loves in the church and with in our family too and so please continue to pray for her that Lord help her to grow in those in those ways of trusting God and the future for the children and church and with the church. Benjamin is constantly growing and changing he is a little spanglish machine and he'll uh he I was with my aunt my aunt since my aunt wanted to buy him a toy and target and he runs up to her she's like polish american but doesn't pretty much just knows english and he's like let's go say something and he like carries another uh I like this one too and he's what he says and he carries her another toy so he's he doesn't when people tell him that they don't know spanish and he looks at them like is that really true so he is very funny he loves bible story time he loves his grandma and he was and he he was in we weren't taking a uber our car broke down and so the driver was in christian and he is a Mormon and so he was taking us in zinguara mall and benjamin was sitting in the back seat and then he's he's telling him how he has two churches he says um I have two churches he's in spanish I have two churches and one of them is on torcha and the other one is cornerstone so he's uh he saw pastor market a fellowship and I could tell by the look on his face he was like that's the tv star because we see it on the internet and watch on the internet while we get ready so for him it's like somebody on tv he's like see somebody on tv and that he only sees on tv and then we're standing next to him but he forgot he called him pastor rich though later on so I'm trying to express with little stories and landing notes um well a lot in a short amount of time um but something give you a taste of what benjamin's like and and so again um in all these things we want to remember that the lord is the one who does the work of in churches he's the one who does the work for the ministry and so god's the one who builds churches and so you have to believe that and live off that in order to continue in the ministry trust him to know that everything good has been a result of him and he deserves the glory for it and that it's necessary it is a miracle that for you all to be here and to be a church and to be continue following the lord is a work of his miraculous hands and so in for there to be a church in guatemala is a work of his hands he is the one that does those things and forms those things and raises up men so ultimately yes we have our responsibilities I'm not trying to downplay that but I'm also trying to remember this this great point of that god is sovereign and god is the one who will rule and reign and his church will not fail even if the gates of hell comes against it and so I don't have a lot of time I didn't leave a lot of time but there is time for questions and answer for the things from ministry in guatemala for those who you who are newer I'm mark mudge I didn't notice myself I was a pastor here before and now a missionary in guatemala and so if anyone has questions about ministry in guatemala or how the things have gone with the church I want to be able to have this time to answer any of those those questions we best pray for you thank you thank you yes how can pray for us is you pray for there are a number of people who attending the church who are unconverted them who or who are open or may perhaps newly converted and so that the lord would give us grace mercy you will be able to speak the truth to them and help them the lord would have been able to help the people in in the glistening torture grow through the membership so from people leaving and so that those things like are all this month and happening this month so and that we will trust scott and trust scott for a few personalities a family with future children and with the ministry in the church thanks that's a great question smith so you only got a couple chapters left in mark and then what do you have any ideas what your next book will be or what you're going to teach over after that no I haven't I'm not sure yet what will be the next book I'm not sure if I'll continue the tradition of keeping everyone in suspense and in our in our church but we'll see yeah we're in mark 13 so we're we're going over the Olivet discourse and so it's been a great encouragement listening to pastor mark sermons if you haven't heard them I would encourage you to hear them they're very helpful in understanding the Olivet discourse so yeah we're enjoying the art we're in a couple months of eschatology and like I've seen that you guys have been in an eschatological time here that's good questions about leadership training and then whether there's people who are other people who are joining that we want other people to join that right now it's just the russies in us and there's also alex joins but he's kind of like our intern and that he wants to just to get every kind of teaching that he can and take advantage of every kind of class or that we're doing so it's very encouraging to have him along he understands he's not in that position but he just wants to to learn and follow Lord so yeah we're hoping and praying for a few more to raise people up understand sometimes it takes time we have to be patient I've been curious about the next trip coming up who's just wondering if you have any updates like a tinnary or is it like going to be kind of like how he was when we were there or something different well the the trips if you're looking to come to Guatemala sometime that typically we're trying to plan the trips around and it's typically two trips a year so one will be more of a focus on evangelism and the other will be more focused on a conference so this trip that's coming up in September in the first weekend of September I think it's the first weekend in September that will be the that focus of that trip is on the conference so attending the conference it's more of a conference trip yes it'll be evangelism but and so you'll want to talk to the leader of are you the leader of that trip brother I don't know if someone if there's been a designated I don't know if there's I didn't want to push you under the bus there but there will be a designated leader in time of the trip and so who will help coordinate things here and so you'll you'll want to ask them those detailed questions about what types of things Robinson you mentioned because the people go to work throughout the week you condense a lot of the ministry's on Sundays are you still able to meet with some of the people throughout the week or just on Sundays no we are able to meet with some people throughout the week we have a Thursday night Bible study and that's encouraging helpful other there's other ladies have angelistic time on during the week to Friday in the mornings there's so we're open to those things and because I'm full-time I have availability when there are people available so we'll kind of change those things because we're a small church we're able to be flexible about that kind of stuff so there are some times but I'm not too many right now yeah Brian hey brother good to see you oh Troy the lights it's hard to see what are I got a million questions but I was asking too what are some of the obstacles you face as the church do evangelism or maybe just the resistance from people around you and then how is the church doing financially you're able to support yourself to lose two questions thank you so some of the obstacles we were constantly in uh in the charismatic chaos so last time I was here I think I talked about the constant idea of works righteousness and that that is there but another continual aspect is is how somebody in evangelism will talk about experience and how from that experience they know God's with them and because they know God's with them yeah you can come in the bible but that's really an old word you know we're hearing new words from the Lord at our place and the letter the letter kills but the spirit gives life that kind of uh that kind of I know you've heard those people use those ideas and phrases as before so in out of context trying to establish their experience over the bible and that they so we we spend a lot of time explaining first Peter one that we have a more sure word and that the word of God is really how we know what's right and wrong and not our own experiences and our own ideas and feelings so that that's a a constant I'd say almost a weekly topic with somebody because you know the various conversations that take place not so much people in the church but more of like evangelistic um conversations it's very very calm so the support we're very thankful for how the Lord has provided for us um um I would just express I would want to take this time to express thanks to all you for supporting us financially and we're able to be there and minister because of you all somebody asked me if I was doing typically missionaries come to town they they visit various churches because they need support from various places and so I was explained to them this week they asked me about how you go visiting various churches and going around um and take to basically like a circuit right and I was explained well most all my support is coming from the cornerstone so I'm I'm going to give a report to them and I'm very thankful for how you all have have provided and cared for us financially so we're able to serve the Lord there so thank you for that it's very loving and I'm I praise God for how he's provided you're making that change from working in a you know a regular a regular job to being in the ministry you kind of had those questions beforehand like I wonder if I'll have to go back to like like I was a mechanic every mechanic so I think oh I guess I'll save my tools you know it and it's it's fine to do those things be wise and plan but I'm saying you sometimes you do that kind of stuff wondering am I going to need to be a mechanic in Guatemala and a pastor and but I'm I'm just giving testimony the Lord has been very merciful very provided everything we needed and it's not been an issue for so I'm I'm just thanking him for his his work and primarily through you all so thank you again any other questions about Guatemala and it's it's fine if there's not we can end early but that never happens in cornerstone right Doris or Dorian sorry sorry so as far as the members and everything of your church I know it's still relatively early but do you foresee maybe like in the next couple years or so maybe you know someone among your membership like right you know growing into a leadership role and things like that like how's that looking for you right now yes there are there are people that that were praying about the Lord were raised up and so we want to continually disciple them or into them and pray that the Lord would develop them in time so we know the Lord will raise up those people in time because he cares for his church and he Ephesians 4 talks about how people who are serving in those capacities are gift to the church from God and so we believe that it that Lord will use those discipleship means to raise up people in time so yeah there's there's potential people and now and in the church and time will tell time will tell so that's a good question brother thanks let's go ahead and we'll pray and we'll get ready for our worship together Lord thank you for the great love that is here for us thank you for the the great work that you've done in Guatemala by forming this church and we know that it's your by your hand we know it's not by the power persuasive words we know it's not by the the force of our own endurance and effort we know that it's made it's by your hand that you save and you're mighty and powerful and we want to give you glory we want to give you praise and depend upon you help us Lord to fulfill our responsibility please help us to be faithful in in praying for one another as churches please help us to be faithful to serve one another and as churches please help us to seek to encourage one another and love and good works in as we do from different places in different countries thank you Lord for being kind to us thank you Lord for what great things you have done for us and how you've had compassion upon us so we praise you and glorify you please help us now in this time of corporate worship to focus our attention towards you to give all of our praise and glory to you so help us Lord to to love you with all of our hearts and souls of mine