The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Hebrews 12 (partial)used as a call to worship, citing receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and worshiping God with reverence and awe
1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
4 You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6 For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11 All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
12 Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
15 looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;
16 lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal.
17 For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
18 For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
19 the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,
20 for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”;
21 and so fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,
23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
25 See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
26 whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”
27 This phrase, “Yet once more”, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,
referenced to encourage giving not under compulsion but cheerfully and from the heart
1 It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,
2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to them of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for a year past. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them.
3 But I have sent the brothers that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared,
4 lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting.
5 I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you, and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.
6 Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
9 As it is written, “He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever.”
10 Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;
11 you being enriched in everything to all generosity, which produces through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God;
13 seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all;
14 while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.
read aloud in full as the anchor passage for Anders's message about surrendering more deeply to the Holy Spirit as the river rises
1 He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters flowed out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the front of the house faced toward the east. The waters came down from underneath, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.
2 Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me around by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east. Behold, waters ran out on the right side.
3 When the man went out eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles.
4 Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through waters that were to the waist.
5 Afterward he measured one thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be walked through.
used as the closing benediction verse about Jesus being the light of the world
12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This Sunday's message came from Anders and Brooke, missionaries with J Zone Youth Camps in Zambia, who shared what God has been doing through their ministry and what He has been doing in them personally. Anders walked through a season of hidden struggle and what it took to finally surrender it, using Ezekiel 47 as the frame. The call was direct: don't leave unchanged.
What was said
Anders and Brooke gave an overview of their weekly ministry in Zambia, which includes a good news club at Sunset Christian Academy, a program at Woodlands village school, a Saturday kids club at a park, food parcels and a mother's bag program for safe delivery supplies, and an International Leadership Academy for influential eighth graders from eight schools. Each of these, they said, grew out of following God into open doors rather than building a plan first. The Woodlands school was the clearest example: Teacher Violet told them she had dreamed the night before that people in a truck would come to tell her students about Jesus, and they arrived the next day.
Anders was honest that underneath the genuine excitement of moving to Zambia in 2022, something was wrong. He couldn't name it at first, but eventually identified it as anxiety rooted in fear: fear of leaving his life behind, fear of the unknown, and fear of losing comfort. Moments of fruit in the ministry would carry him through the low points, he said, but they weren't healing anything. "It's like slapping a band-aid on a bullet wound."
The turning point came when Brooke told him plainly that he had been relying on superficial joys and on friends in Christ to fill his soul instead of seeking God himself. Her direct word to him was that he needed to rely on the joy of the Lord as his strength. He said it did not get easier after that. It got harder, because he actually had to go searching.
A team leader named Rick came to help with the Leadership Academy and preached from Ezekiel 47, the vision of a river rising from the temple, ankle deep, then knee deep, then waist deep, then too deep to cross on foot. Anders said that image landed on him: he had been wading in just far enough to keep his footing, leaving himself room to breathe, rather than surrendering to the current. He said he knew in that moment God was calling him to let go.
That same season of pressing into God produced a dream Anders had never expected. He dreamed he was preaching at a Bible study, everyone dressed in white, and felt he should give a salvation prayer, which made him nervous. Weeks later, in a village called Duka, he and Brooke found themselves barefoot inside a Church of Zion meeting in the bush, preached the Romans Road, and at the end Anders gave the salvation prayer. People raised their hands. He sat down and realized the scene matched his dream exactly, including the white clothing.
Anders closed by turning the Ezekiel image toward the congregation. He asked people to close their eyes and think about whatever is causing friction or wrestling in their hearts, naming that as the Holy Spirit's prompting. He said the question is not just about a wound or a visible struggle, but whether a person is prepared to go deeper with God at all, and that whatever is in the way, money, social media, comfort, habits, has to be surrendered now, not next week. He was clear that for him it is a daily thing, not a one-time decision, and that God's power is made perfect in weakness.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Anders described a season where he was relying on friendships, fellowship, and outdoor pursuits to fill his soul rather than seeking God directly. Where in your own life have you noticed yourself reaching for something good but secondary when what you really needed was God himself?
Brooke told the story of Teacher Violet, who had dreamed the night before that people would come in a truck to tell her students about Jesus, and then Anders and Brooke showed up the next day. Has there been a moment in your life where you could look back and see that God had clearly gone ahead of you into a situation? What did that do to your faith?
Good morning, friends. How are we doing? You made it here alright. Were you a little bit surprised with the weather this morning? Would you like to stand with me?
And I'd love to to sing together. Here's a good word from Hebrews 12 here to lead us in a worship. It's therefore, since we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let's be thankful and worship God with reverence and awe. Would you join us in singing the song, I Stand Amazed? Also, I wanna make a little introduction.
This is Bee right over here on the piano. Hi, Bee. She she just jumped in just today, and she is a talent. And Nick is also playing the bass today. Yeah.
I know. We're so I'm you're I'm
glad And
And God, thank you for your great love for us. We love because you first loved us. And thank you, God, for pursuing us. Thank you for your your grace that's always aiming in our direction, Lord. And, we continue to sing to you in reverence and awe.
Amen. Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. And Nick, I think, has a couple of announcements.
Sure do. Hey.
Welcome to First Baptist Church, everybody. It's so good to have you here. I have never had to bear balance all this before, but this is exciting. Hey, one is on tomorrow. If you love kids, show up.
Let's take care of them. Let's sow God's love into their hearts. And tomorrow is beach night, so come on dressed as if you're ready for the beach, which is perfect for spring break. Come on by. We'd love to have you.
VBS has been announced. We're already looking for volunteers and for kids to sign up. You can do that on the website. If you have more questions, feel free to check-in with me or the website. And we have a missions moment.
Yeah. I just wanted to share a couple of pictures of Ray and Tanya. They had met up with Ray Binaud's yesterday in Nairobi, and then there's another picture of them with the Kamau's in Kenya. Isn't that wonderful? And so that's been a true missionary encouragement to her, not just for the people they're visiting, but for them as well.
And while we're thinking of them, may I just pray and just ask a blessing on them? God, we are so thankful for our senior pastor and for his heart, for his love, and, Lord, for his gifts too. And, and and Tanya, right alongside with him, Lord. They are a dynamic duo, and thank you that you have placed them in Africa for this time, for encouragement, not just for to be a pastor to the pastors, but, Lord, an encouragement for them as as well. God, would you bless them and continue, Lord, with these divine appointments that you have created for them.
Lord, that they would be encouraged, that the folks they talk to would be encouraged. And thank you, God, for your church, for the local body, this one, this little body right here, God, and for the church worldwide. Thank you for allowing us to participate. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Nice. And for all other information, you can go to the church website. If you have any questions, feel free to talk to me. We've got lots of Bible studies and events going on throughout the week. They're all on the website.
And also in our weekly email, if you wanna sign up, we're adding a new service projects section. So if you're looking for a way to get involved or if you need help with something, maybe let us know. We're gonna just test it out, see how it goes. Okay? Thanks so much.
Let's get back into music.
I'd love to do that. But would you I I I like the introvert's worst nightmare. Would you would you just stand up and just wave or shake even shake a hand? Shake a hand. Shake a hand next to you, and say hello, and we'll bring you back in song.
In Christ alone,
my hope is found. He is my guide, my string, my
From first John four nine through 11, let me share this one. It's God showed us how much he loved us by sending his one and only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It's not that we love God, but that he first loved us and he sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Lord, thank you for the gospel, the good news.
And Lord, would would it fall afresh on us each and every single day, God, your perfect life, your sacrificial death, your resurrection, God, your spirit within us, that we are made alive, that we come from that we are in spiritual darkness, and God, you draw us into your glorious light. God, may it just fall afresh on us today. We experience your goodness in a whole new way today, And thank you, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll ask our ushers to come on forward. Today, we're gonna take up two offerings. I just wanna share that in advance, and it's not because you you you didn't give enough the first time. So and we always say that, but it really, truly, this first one, this one is just for the general fun.
The second one, at the end of the service, that will be a love offering for Anders and Brooke as they prepare to go back to Zambia. So if you only brought one, we'd encourage you to give it to Anders and Brooke and their mission in Zambia at the end of the service. But as we we say, as scripture says most importantly, not under compulsion, like it says in second Corinthians nine, but cheerfully and from the heart. And before we sing a song, mister Baldock, may I ask you
to pray?
Sure. Would you do that?
Open up and drop the line. Okay.
Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we came to worship you today. There is no one like you. I was just thinking during that song. We were kidnapped, each of us here.
We were kidnapped by sin and death, and you paid the ransom. And so we gladly put a little bit in this plate today and ask that, you would use it to further your kingdom and to glorify your name. In Jesus name, amen.
This is my father's word. Oh, let me never forget. Thine, though the wrong seas also
Anderson Brook, can I invite you guys up? I shared in the first service a little fun fact. When I when I arrived here almost fifteen years ago, Anders was in my youth group. He was a a little middle schooler and a wonderful, wonderful little kid. No, for real.
He was. He was and is, and the privilege of being here this long has allowed me to see the fruit of God's work and his life, and then he met this wonderful, wonderful wife, Brooke, and then called to missions to Zambia, and you'll get to hear their story. But before they share, may I just pray for them and ask a blessing on them? God, I'm so thankful, and I'm so proud of these two. Lord, the the theme that stuck out to me is surrender and sacrifice this morning.
And Lord, I pray that you would lay that on our hearts, and also your work where where you're meeting, where where where you're working at, we want to meet you there and ride that wave. And, Lord, that requires us to stay attuned to you, to be to be communing with you each and every single day. And, Lord, I I I feel like the songs have kinda prepared us to to hear the word and to hear from Anders and and Brooke this love relationship that you're pursuing with us. And and unity in Christ, that you are the vine, we're the branches when we remain in you, and you and us will bear fruit. And, Lord, I thank you for the fruit that's coming of this ministry that has and will continue.
And, Lord, I ask your blessing on Anders and Brook as they share. And thank you, Lord, that we get to participate. Lord, help us to to listen in, to listen close, most importantly, to listen to you and how we can participate in your work. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright.
Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Morning. My name is Brooke. This is my husband, Anders.
We are missionaries in Zambia. I'm originally from California. Anders is originally from here, as you just heard. We met at a camp in Northern California where I was home from the mission field because of COVID, and then together have been pursuing God's mission in Zambia since 2022.
Good morning. It's a little bit more intimate in here than first service. It's nice. When we first met with Ray and Tonya, we asked them if we could speak in front of the congregation to share what we were doing, and they said, you should preach. I'm like, ugh.
I don't know about that. Yeah. You know, we said hesitantly, and I know what you're thinking. Oh, the missionaries, they don't wanna preach. But usually in Zambia, we have a translator next to us.
We get to pause every sentence or so, think about what we wanna say next. Or when we're working with kids, we're focused on who's distracting the group or who's reading the Bible, who's taking notes, that sort of thing. But we're excited to be here. Whether when when we're in America or Zambia, one thing is the same. We're here to encourage you.
We're here to share the good news of Jesus that, because God loved us so much, he gave his son Jesus to die for us so that we can have everlasting life if we confess and believe in our hearts. And so, yeah, this is today. And in typical Zambia fashion, I have everything that I need to say written down, and Brooke's freestyling. So let's start.
Well, that's not entirely true. I do have a page of bullet points to go off of today. And, also, I have the privilege of kind of expanding and telling some stories about our ministry in Zambia. So first ministry I wanna highlight is our school ministry. This is our some of the kids from Sunset Christian Academy.
We're at this school every Wednesday doing, like, a good news club, singing, dancing, learning memory verses. So I have personally been at the school since 2019. In fact, Titus, the kid under my arm, I've known him since he was in kindergarten, and he's in, like, fourth grade now, which is crazy. But we have felt called to graduate this school from our program, handed off to the teachers to continue discipling these children so that we can go out and reach more schools, both in town and in villages. So this last year, we have really been focusing on memory verses with these kids.
You wanna click to the next one? Where they were winning some prizes for memorizing verses from our curriculum about fruits of the spirit. These were not just, like, one off verses. These were huge passages, half chapters. These kids were our winners.
They memorized the most. Zindaba is the kid holding the keyboard Memories in the middle. She won a watch. And then Frank on the end won his skateboard that he has been asking for for years. So they're very excited about that.
Our second school that we go to every week on Tuesdays is Woodlands, which is a village school out that neighbors the future home of j zone youth camps. So it's been really great to really start setting some roots down in this community that we will be living in full time, hopefully very soon. This year, Anders sat down with the teachers and asked, what can we do to help you guys other than just bringing snacks snacks and doing our normal program? And they have been saying they've been asking their PTA to help them fix up their school for years now. And so we had some extra room in our budget, we're able to help fix the roof, get some weatherproofing on, and a fresh coat of paint on the outside, and patch a few cracks in their walls, which was super exciting.
We use that as an opportunity to teach the students how to take care of their community and that this school is theirs to take care of. And so the handprints on the wall is their pledge to take care of their community and to take care of their school. We also have a mural on there that we were pretty hesitant to put up, but the teachers begged us. They wanna be able to tell people who helped them. And we said, it was Jesus who helped you, but if you really want this mural, we'll put it up.
And a fun story about Woodlands, when we first heard about this school that is on some back road in the bush, we were like, this is close to our property. Let's just go check it out. And we kinda just turned down the road and drove a few kilometers and found the school. And we got out and started to meet the teachers. Teacher Violet, she is the headmaster.
She's the woman standing next to me in that photo. She welcomed us in, and we kinda explained what we wanted to do. And she said, great, and pulled out her calendar and said, how many days a week can you come? And we're like, okay. Let's just start with one, go from there.
And after that conversation, we're getting ready to leave. And she's like, thank you so much for answering the Lord. And we're like, well, of course. Thank you. And she's like, no.
You don't understand. I had a dream last night that people were gonna come in a truck and wanna tell my students about Jesus. And then we showed up the next day. And so God has really orchestrated everything we've done at Woodlands and starting our roots in this community, which has been amazing. Our next ministry that we do every week is our Saturday j kids club.
We hang out at this park and play soccer and sing songs and learn lessons. And it's super fun. It's the same kids every week from just random kids who walk from their house or orphanages, and then some kids from a school in another neighborhood where teacher Fidus, who's in this photo, brings her students. She is a fully credentialed teacher, had been working in the school system, and realized that so many kids in her neighborhood couldn't afford to go to school even though it's just uniforms and books. Additionally, or they didn't have birth certificates, so they wouldn't be accepted into the schools because they weren't born in a clinic or a hospital.
And so she took them in and educates them for free. They don't need a uniform. They have a book. They have a book. And so we've been really blessed to be able to partner with her more, not only on Saturdays, but to visit her school and visit her students throughout the week as well, has been super amazing.
We were also blessed with this big gray bus this year for j kids that we drive around town and can pick up kids to bring to the park who wouldn't be able to walk. We fit about 60 kids in this every Saturday. Anders is our resident bus driver or as we say in Zambia, Chinyante driver, which means crazy driver. And it is definitely pretty wild in there every week going back and forth from the park. Our next ministry is our pantry in our mother's bag.
So the first photo is one of our staff members, Ruth, buying some beans just to re stock our supply. This year, Zambia was hit by a forty year drought, one of the worst droughts they've ever seen. We were actually in a state of emergency the entire year because of how bad this drought was. It rained three times in the three months it was supposed to rain for a whole three months. It affected our power, our water supply, and obviously crops weren't able to be grown, so the food situation was pretty dire.
We were really thankful to be able to help wherever we could with our food parcels. Most importantly, Ruth on our staff is a psychosocial counselor, so she did some social work with them and sat down with them and figured out, okay, how do we get you to get a job? How do we supplement your income this year so that you can provide for your family? And we're here to help you, but we don't want you to rely on us every single month to give you food. Let's start to support your family.
So that was a really sweet opportunity for her. Then the second half of that is our mother's bags. Like I said, those kids who didn't have birth certificates and couldn't go to school was because they weren't delivered in a hospital or clinic, because their mom couldn't afford to because you have to provide all of your own supplies. Things like gloves for the doctors to wear, surgical blades, plastic to deliver on, bleach to sterilize things, some pretty simple things but are hard to find. So we pack those bags and moms can come to our office and receive those so they can deliver safely.
Their kids can get birth certificates and they can be educated. This picture is our latest recipient. This is Nyla, is the baby, and then her mom's name is also Ruth. They have an interesting story. Ruth had to have a scheduled c section at thirty two weeks due to preeclampsia and actually had a full hysterectomy during that operation.
So through those complications, it was hard for her to take care of Nyla, things like that. And we were able to just come to her house, sit with her, support her, hold the baby, make some meals, do things like that, and really start this beautiful relationship that we will hopefully continue as Nyla grows. Yeah. So our next is our biggest camp and the only camp we were able to do last year, which is our International Leadership Academy. So we go to eight schools and ask for their 10 most influential eighth graders, whether that be good influences or bad influences, whoever really sets the culture of that school.
And we bring them into camp for a week and we teach them how to be good Christian leaders and how to impact not only their community but the world and how their choices and all of that affect everything. And so this photo was taken our last day of worship. We brought in a local Zambian gospel artist who the kids loved and got all of his autographs and things like that, but he led us in a time of worship. And during that time, the Holy Spirit blew through the room, and there are kids speaking in tongues and on their knees not able to give up get up bowing down to the Lord in prayer, and it was so powerful and so beautiful. And we meet with these kids once a month to continue mentoring and discipling them, and that fire has not burned out at all.
They come hungry for something more every single time we see them and wanting to know what they can do next and wanting to tell us how they prayed for their parents or what they did in their schools and things like that, which is amazing. We're super excited that when we head back in April, have their camp three days after we get back. We're jumping right back in for their year two camp and we're really excited to see them. Next is our rural Bible studies. The month of August, schools are not in session, and we weren't doing any camps, which is normally when we do our camps.
And we're like, what are we gonna do for this entire month without any ministry? And so we felt called to ask our rural discipleship team how we can help them. And they said, well, there's these villages that are really far away that we normally walk to. Can you drive us? And we're like, yes.
Let's go to a different one every day. And so we would go to some that are fifteen, twenty kilometers off the highway, and just encourage these believers and these pastors in what they're doing. And during that time, we were able to provide 80 local language bibles to people who had never had a Bible of their own before and to just see their face light up when we told them they get to keep this and they get to read this every day in their own language was amazing. And during this time, we were really pressing into what the Lord wanted us to say and what the Lord wanted us to do, and he revealed some pretty amazing things to us. And Anders has a great story about that.
Yeah. Yeah. Like Brooke said, it this bottom left picture, we gave about 15 Bibles away in their own language, and it was just extremely cool to see, these people that everything that they know about God and Jesus is from what a pastor says, but to empower them to have their own Bible and to read was a really cool thing to be present for. Our slides are out
for you.
Okay. This was a Bible study that we did in a village called Dunka, and I just wanted to share a testimony and a dream that I had about this place. So, yeah, as Brooke said, as we started doing Bible studies, I would reuse lessons that I had previously written. So maybe I would reuse them twice or three times. And the second time, it it kinda started to lose its punch, its power, at least for me.
And and so I asked everyone on our team to write a new, lesson for that day. And that meant that every day we were intentionally seeking a word from God, trying to to hear from the Lord to give us something to say to those people. And in my life, I've never had a dream or a vision or an moment where I heard from God, but in this situation, I did. I had a dream where everyone I was in a Bible study. Everyone was wearing white, and it was my turn to preach.
And at the end of my preaching, I felt like I should give the salvation prayer. And in that moment, I was like, I've never, like been a long time. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I don't know what to say, but I feel like I need to do it.
I'm gonna trust, and I'm just gonna do it. And then I woke up. And I don't know how many hands were raised. I don't think it mattered, but, that was my dream. And weeks go on.
We have the incredible experience at our Leadership Academy. And I'm questioning, you know, is this the word that I got from God? I don't really feel like it's it. I'll just keep searching, going about life. And we have this Bible study in Duca.
We get to the church. No one's there, which isn't uncommon for Africa. Usually, people start trickling in as the minutes go by. But no one showed up for about an hour. I'm like, pastor, what's going on?
He's like, oh, there's another meeting farther in the bush. We could go there. I was like, okay. Take us there. We later found out or we found out as we were going there that it was a Church of Zion, and Brooke has some more info on that.
Yeah. So Church of Zion is a denomination in Southern Africa and probably other parts of the world that is technically Christian. However, they have some different theories, I guess, of things like wearing bracelets to ward off spirits, and you're not allowed to read the Bible for yourself, the pastor has to read the Bible to you, things like that that aren't quite the gospel. And so they're they're partway there, but they're pretty hesitant to let outsiders in. Women are not allowed to preach.
They can only sit and sing. And then also, you have to remove your shoes whenever you enter one of their holy spaces. So even though this was just some tarps held up by sticks in the middle of the bush, before we were able to go in, they asked us to take off our shoes. And we slid our sandals off and walked right in, and they were pretty shocked that we would take off our shoes. I guess a lot of outsiders are pretty freaked out by that.
But we were like, if all it takes is for us to take off our shoes to tell you about Jesus, we will never wear shoes again. And so that's how we found ourselves barefoot in the bush preaching the gospel.
Amen. The head pastor says, okay. Once we get there, you stay in the car. We're gonna go check and see if it's okay that you guys can preach. And we're scrambling.
We're like, oh, this is a change up for us. We don't know what we're gonna preach about. We're all brainstorming. We come up with Romans Road, and that is that we are sinners saved by grace. Christ took our punishment, and we have salvation by believing and confessing in Christ.
Pastors come back. They say, you're good. Let's go. So we walk in, and Brooke starts preaching. And I'm up.
I'm the closer. And I get a prompting, thought at the end of my sermon that I was like, I think I should do the salvation prayer. And I'm nervous. I think I'm gonna say the wrong words. I want it to be, obviously, the best salvation prayer that anyone's ever heard, but I don't know how to say that right.
I only know how to say it in my words and how it makes sense to me. And so I'm just like, okay. I'm just gonna trust, and I'm gonna do And at the end, a bunch of people raised their hands and it was amazing. And I walk over and as soon as my butt hits the seat, I'm like, that was my dream. And it was like it was like to a tee.
Everyone was wearing white. All the ladies over here on the left of the picture are wearing white. And I was nervous about doing the prayer, but I trusted and I did it anyway. And I think it was just a cool moment, and I was just at, like, peace and amazement at God that he would give me something like that while I was in constant pursuit. And I think it was just like a glimpse of what's possible when we are chasing God with everything that we have, that God can speak to us in those ways, ways that we can't even think about.
And so yeah. And then another cool thing that happened during that time of seeking God was committing to full time ministry. Previously, we had been doing six months on in in Zambia and then six months here. But now we're committing to full time, so we're gonna move there April 6. And I felt like we were at a mature place in our faith where we could distinguish whether the thoughts in our head were coming from our conscious or coming from the Holy Spirit.
And there was about two weeks there where we'd just be driving down the road. I'm thinking about cool trucks or whatever. And, oh, a thought comes in, I think we need to stay here longer, and then it goes away. And then doing something else, I think we need to stay here longer, it goes away. I'm like, okay.
I should probably talk to Brooke about this. And I go up to Brooke and she says, I've been having the same thought. We're like, okay. Yeah. You know, we should probably stay here longer.
So it was pretty easy from there. But I just wanted to share my testimony about moving to Zambia and some encouragement for you all. So when I first moved to Zambia in 2022, it was hard. And, yes, it was this fun, new, exciting experience moving to a new country, doing something completely different, but deep down, there was something lingering. There was some friction or wrestling in my heart.
And I couldn't name it yet because I had never experienced this in my life. But through walking with God and prayer, I was able to name it as anxiety of fear, anxiety and fear, fear of leaving my life behind, fear fear of the unknown, and fear of leaving comfort. And the anxiety was just a secondhand feeling from that fear. I didn't know if I was ready to surrender my life to what felt like God's calling. And it was very hard to to figure out my role in j zone.
Every time we are abroad, I get this feeling of being homesick or missing my sports and outdoor pursuits, the things that I thought defined me. And I think that's a normal feeling when you go out and you spend long chunks away from home, but it felt like there was something preventing me from experiencing true freedom. But God always reminded me why I'm there for a reason. For example, when a kid says, the best part of my week is when you guys come and we play soccer and you get to share, or when we've been praying for a few kids to to be saved that weren't yet, and then they receive Christ. And it's like, that's amazing.
And so that has carried me in those low moments, but it hasn't cured the root of the wound. In a way, it's like slapping a band aid on a bullet wound. Stop the bleeding for a second, but you're really gonna feel the pain. And then last year, about two and a half months in, I really started to feel the lack of passion it takes to do our job. And Brooke started to see it.
One day she said, can I be blunt for a second? I said, oh, boy. Here we go. You all your life, you've been relying on these superficial joys of the outdoors, sports, and even good things like Bible studies with your friends to fill your soul. Like, yeah, that's that's pretty true.
And then direct quote, you've been relying on your friends in Christ to spoon feed you encouragement instead of picking up the spoon yourself. I was like, dude. That's heavy. But it's true. I had been relying on friendship and fellowship to fill my soul rather than me searching for that searching for whatever God has for me.
And then Brooks says, right now, you need to rely on the joy of the Lord as your strength. And not to say it got easier after that. It certainly got harder. I had to dig deep and to search for God. How do I make God my joy?
How do I find his joy as my strength? And a few weeks later, we had a team from America to come help us with our Leadership Academy. And one of the leaders, Rick, gave a message, and it was just what I needed to hear. And so I have a verse on the screen. You can put your bibles on your lap, but don't open them.
If you have your phone, don't open it. You know, we're gonna have we're gonna play a game right now that we play in Zambia. And that is whoever finds the verse first gets a prize, and you get a J Zone sticker. Okay. So when I say go, you can turn to Ezekiel 47, and then when you have it, you can raise your hand.
Is everyone ready? Yeah. There you go. Get Bibles. Ready, set, go.
Hurry up. Up. Hurry up. Who's gonna get it? Who's gonna get it?
Zecho is a hard one.
No one reads the Old Testament I know. Oh. Oh, Timdal. Nice. Good job.
In in the in the local language, you say, which means go go go. Okay. Ezekiel forty seven one through five says, in my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the temple and passing to the right side of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance.
There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,700 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. He measured off another 1,700 feet and led me across again. This time, the water is up to my knees.
After another 1,700 feet, it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1,750 1,700 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through. And the passage that Rick, was alluding to is kind of the rest of that passage where it says that everything that the river touches brings life, and that's amazing. But I wanna focus on those five verses because for me that was what I needed.
As the river of the Holy Spirit rises, our surrender becomes greater and greater. I think about walking across the snake, if you ever walk across a snake. You get to your ankles and you're stomping in the water. It feels nice. Right?
But there's no you can't feel the current. But then as you step more and more into the middle of the water, maybe it's up to your waist, and it's really hard to stand up straight. You really feel the force of the current. That's what I'm talking about. Is and and without knowing, I had been giving I hadn't been giving myself fully to God.
I was leaving just enough room for me to breathe. And I knew at that moment God was telling me to let go, to surrender to the mercy of the current, and to surrender to the mercy and movement of Christ in my life. And so I have some encouragement for you, but I want it to be more than encouragement. I want to apply it just like I did. That day, Rick told us to not leave camp unchanged.
So in his words, we're not gonna leave church unchanged. I want to tell you that whatever situation you have in your life right now, God sees you. Financially, family, infertility, marriages, God sees you there and he loves you and he has not stopped loving you. God will continue to sprinkle love in your life and let you know that he loves you. But in a way, have to let him.
You have to open your heart and seek him through prayer and worship and reading your Bible. You have to surrender to his ways and fall into the current of Christ. Even if you feel like you don't have a wall in front of you or a wound or whatever it is, Instead, are you prepared to give up your whole life to God? Are you prepared to give up that comfort? Are you, prepared to go deeper?
The mercy of God never leaves us or abandons us. But it's up to us to go deeper with him. We can't expect God to do anything in our lives if we don't give up something of ourselves. Is it time, money, addiction, social media, friends, some sort of hurt or wound? If we truly want God to be glorified, what in our life isn't glorifying God?
So we went to a Bible study in a village, and for some reason, there's a guy there that got caught up on judgment. He was so caught up in how is God going to judge me? What are the ways that I'm gonna be judged? When does judgment happen? And he wasn't saved.
I said, we we gotta focus on salvation first before we even talk about judgment. And I said, now is the time of salvation, not the time of judgment. And he said, oh, no, boss, boss. Whenever you come back, then we can talk about salvation. I said, no.
I don't know when I'm coming back. I might never come back. And so now is the time for salvation. We're not leaving this place unchanged. So now is the time to give something up.
Not this afternoon, not tomorrow, not next Sunday when someone else preaches. Now is the time to surrender. So I wanna take a moment. I want you to close your eyes. Think about or maybe you're already thinking about something that causes wrestling or friction in your heart.
That's the Holy Spirit prompting you. Where you don't necessarily want to give it up, but you kinda know you should. Now is the time for surrender. And I want you to pray in your own words because you're going to surrender this. This is between you and God.
And so whatever you feel like in your life is preventing you from going deeper, would you just ask God to take it away? Maybe it's these superficial joys that we keep giving ourselves. Maybe it's the time you spend on social media when you could be reading your Bible. Maybe it's the excuse of hanging out with friends instead of spending time with your family. Whatever it is, I want you to say, God, I give it to you.
In my words, it looked like this. It looks like this, and you can pray this with me. I surrender all that I am to you so that you can make something fresh in me and glorify yourself. Thank you, Jesus, for surrendering your body to die on a cross so that we can have new life. We don't have to live in shame and punishment anymore.
Thank you that you bring life and life to the full. Thank you that you reign on the throne, and you will never stop reigning on the throne. Father, would you out of this surrender of every person here, would you work a miracle in their lives? Would you speak to them? Would you give them visions?
Would you give them dreams of who you are? Would you show your love to them and shower them with your spirit? Would you reveal your spirit to them in a new way? We entrust our lives to you, Jesus. Everything we are is yours.
Use us, father, to spread your love to those around us. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Nice. That feels good. I just another thing I wanted to say is that God's power is made perfect in our weakness.
And when we give things up, maybe that we have comfort in, we become weak and then God is able to work mighty things in the in that way. And so whatever it was in your life, leave it here. Don't walk out with it. Leave this place unchanged. Just give just give it to God.
In my case, it's a daily continuous thing. God, here's my life. Use me as you want to. And and sometimes, at least in my case, I've said, oh, great. I gave this to God.
I'm free. And then I don't pray about it anymore. And then I start to fall back into the same things. It's a daily continuous thing every day, no matter where you are. God, take this from me.
Use me as you want to. And God can use our surrender for big things. I look at my life. I used to be a ski bum party kid. Now I'm a missionary.
He can do big things. And so I just wanna transition now to, what we have planned for j zone youth camps for the future. We've been planning a lot and preparing for this new season of building. Right now, we do camps at schools or we do them at our park in town, which only has toilets. So we have to bring everything in.
We wanna we have this land already, 67 acres. We've built a fence and a road, and this is what our dreams consist of. We want it to be legit. We want it to be real and something that can last for a long time. Have and these are gonna be Zambian kids coming.
We're gonna have a pool. We're gonna have a dining hall. We're gonna have an office and storage space. We're going to have a team house for maybe a first B team somewhere down the road to come and stay. We're going to have a football field and basketball and volleyball and fire pits.
If we're when we're dreaming big, we're we want a ropes course and a bike course and archery. But for right now, we're focusing on the Team House. The Team House is the first building that's going to be built. It's $82,000 for everything. And from there, we can host teams in there.
We can host camps. We will live there once construction is going. And the the total cost for everything that you can see is 512,000. And we're really trusting God for funding in that moment. So if you feel led, we'd really appreciate it.
This is our some renderings of the buildings. Top left corner, we have the team house, and then clockwise, we have our office space, and then our dining hall, and then our cabins. And it usually doesn't look that green. It's usually a lot more brown and dead in the background, but it's beautiful. And quickly, we just wanted to talk about our current needs.
Sorry. I I took your spot. Our monthly ministry and expenses comes down to $5,100 a month. We're usually looking for recurring gifts for this because this is what sustains us while we're out there. And then our construction cost is more one time things for impactful over and above giving.
Actually, can go.
Thanks. So, yeah, that monthly ministry expenses is not just our lodging and food. That's also what pays for things like the school renovation and the local language bibles and the camps and things like that. So it's not just us gallivanting around Africa with that money. That's really mostly goes into the ministry.
Yeah. And our prayer requests are always that kids can encounter Jesus in life changing ways. And then additionally, safe travels back on April 6 as we head home to Zambia that we're really excited for. So if we can pray together and then we can end.
We have if you didn't see them out front, we have these cards that you can take home, put them on your fridge, on your counter, give them to your friend to pray, to remind you to pray. And at the bottom, it has our website where you can find out more. If you feel called to donate, you can. And you can sign up with your email for our newsletter, monthly newsletter. So that's a good way to stay in touch with us.
So we really appreciate letting us speak to you this morning. Hopefully, you are encouraged. And yeah. Thank you. No.
It's okay. You go. Already there. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, thank you for today.
Thank for your word that remains true. We we trust you with our lives. We trust you to guide us and direct to direct us. Thank you for your mercy and your grace that is new to us every morning. We just thank you for all these people here.
Father, would you reveal yourself to them in new ways? Would they sacrifice themselves for the glory of you and to make your name known in Jackson, in Hoback, in Wilson, in all parts of the world. We love you in Jesus name. Amen.
Stay up here a second. Did you turn me off? No. We just wanna pray for them and I wanna thank the Lord for about what he's doing.
Let's
pray. Lord Jesus, we're grateful for the challenges you've given us through Anderson Brook this morning. Lord, through the encouragement, through showing us a little bit of how you're working around the world and especially in in Zambia and in their hearts, Lord. And we ask that you would please remind us of your your goodness and your kindness to us that you pursue us. Lord, you want that relationship with each of us.
And, Lord, it it's just a joy and a privilege to be able to be a part of giving and supporting and praying for this young couple. And we just ask for you to go surround them, go ahead of them, go behind them and beside them, provide for them, encourage them, and we just, we thank you that you are providing and you're surrounding them, and we look forward to what you're gonna do with them and through them in the future. We ask, Lord well, I wanna thank you for this congregation, the generosity, and I pray that you bless the giver and the receiver with these gifts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Song.
The world behind. The cross before me, the world behind me. The cross before me, the
I've got a little benediction verse, and this one's from John eight twelve. This is one of my favorites. I think it very applicable to today. And Jesus spoke to the people one morning, he said, I'm the light of the world. And if you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.
And God, thank you that you are the light of the world. You say, I'm the light of the world. And then you tell the disciples, us, now you're the light of the world. And, God, we wanna shine bright for you right here in Jackson, and we ask your blessing on Anderson Brook as they bring that light to Zambia as well. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to participate in sharing the good news of your love and forgiveness.
