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Intro
That's why we've got to know.

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Intro
God's Word and why theology really, truly does matter. Why I love to preach God's Word and why I try to do it so passionately. Because it's not just facts or things that that don't really matter to the day to day program of our lives. They literally matter in everything we do, every environment we live, every relationship that we are in.

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Brenton
Welcome back to further. My name is Brenton Graham and I'm here with Andrew Weise. How are you doing today?

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Andrew
Great. Glad to be on.

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Brenton
Yeah. Yeah. So you got the opportunity to, teach on a smaller chunk of John six as we systematically work through it. I wanted to start with just kind of getting, a global update from you here at the church. What's going on? And then, especially as we, kind of come in to Global Week, what should people be looking for?

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Andrew
Yeah. Yeah. Global week is is at least locally the big thing that's going on. And but actually even even more than that. One of the things we'll talk about during Global Week a little bit and certainly spend some time praying for is our nurture program. And that's where we're, raising up and evaluating and equipping those who are interested in going.

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Andrew
And I've been leading, group. Small group of us on, Monday nights, almost weekly. And we're going through some books and reading and talking about global missions and, what it's going to take for them to be prepared to go and some skills and, heart positions. They're going to need to have to, be on a team, live in a different place, and certainly deal with difficult people who come from very, very diverse backgrounds.

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Andrew
So, it's been fun, getting to know each other and digging into some of those topics and even challenging ourselves. One of the books we read was The Peacemaker, and, it's a it's a really great book that, just forces us to wrestle with, are we are we faking peace? Are we avoiding peace?

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Andrew
Or are we actually truly trying to make peace with those in our lives? And so that was really good.

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Brenton
And part of being overseas.

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Andrew
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's not your typical like, global missions topic, but it's it's just a vital part of being a believer. And especially when you're, you're kind of in the, the, the fire, so to speak.

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Brenton
Right.

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Andrew
Yeah. And then yeah, Global Week is is coming up. Super excited for that. We've we've got three great events planned Sunday night. We have Drew Ramsey coming. He is former missionary, currently works, for pioneers. And, really excited to have him share his perspective, some of his stories, and really lay out kind of God's heart for the nations.

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Andrew
And, you know, one of the things that people might ask is like, why? Why do we send our missionaries through other agencies? Like, why do we have a sending agency? And so, you know, like Pioneers or Frontiers or there's, there's several and we've got the Dingle dines and Stafford's with pioneers. And the reason we partner with the sending agency is they have expertise in areas, that we as a local church don't.

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Andrew
That's, that's really the, the simplest explanation. They know or have people who deal with international tax law and getting money from us to them through government channels and, in legal ways. So we don't get ourselves or our missionaries in trouble. So that that has to do with money transfers and taxes and visas and, all kinds of things that they have expertise in that we don't.

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Andrew
And so that's as far as I'm concerned, that's that's worth every penny we pay them.

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Brenton
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of things in.

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Andrew
Support.

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Brenton
That you wouldn't even realize that go.

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Andrew
Into this. Yeah. Tons. And then and they they provide the team aspect. The structure, some oversight on the field. They provide support for our, our field staff and their families and kids and, that they do a lot of different things, but, yeah. So we're we're really thankful for those sending agencies that we have in place and, and our partnerships with them.

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Andrew
And, it's a vital part of that that's great of success of our missionaries on the field.

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Brenton
Yeah. So that's Sunday. What what's the rest of the week?

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Andrew
Yeah. So Tuesday night we're going to do a merge. Global merge is going to have a little bit of, a global focus to it, but we're still going to gather and sing. And then we'll spend some time praying as well. And, really, what we'll, we'll spend time praying about is three by 30. Okay. That initiative.

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Andrew
I'll, I'll talk about that for a little bit, but we'll spend a lot of time praying and then, and then also just our nurture program. We'll spend some time praying for those where we're raising up and sending out. And then on Thursday night, we're going to focus on our field staff. You not so much updates about what's going on in each of their ministries.

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Andrew
We do that more through our our prayer requests and our global gatherings. And then but on Thursday, we'll talk about how can we send our missionaries as well. And so all address some different ways that we can really support them in the work that they're doing. Yeah.

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Brenton
Yeah. Good. I'm glad to hear that. Everything's going well. And you guys are you guys are staying busy on that side?

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Andrew
Yeah.

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Brenton
Yeah, I know there's a lot of field staff out right now. And hearing about the nurture program being, being at work is is exciting.

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Andrew
Yeah. Praise the Lord. And and just as a heads up, a lot of them, are coming back, for a little break this summer. So between May and, sometime in the fall, we'll have several of our field staff families back to, to interact with us.

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Brenton
So, so as we, as we think about people coming back, on leave for a little bit. What's a way that the church can can support them while they're home?

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Andrew
Yeah. They. So it's kind of a catch 22 for, for some of our field staff. They want to rest. So, sometimes we we want to love on them too much, and, and and it's great. And they feel the love. But at the same time, they can they can feel like, obligated to, to do a lot of meetings and, and then they don't get a chance to just, to just relax and rest.

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Andrew
But they do they do want to interact with us and see us. So we try to have open houses. And that's probably the best way is when we have those open houses to try to get to them. That gives you a chance to interact with them and encourage them. And then it also allows them to, to kind of have all of that at once.

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Andrew
And, and spend the bulk of their time, really kind of relaxing or, you know, a lot of them have to raise more support when they're back. The cost of living goes up. Cost of ministry goes up, or the, they lose supporters for whatever reason. You know, financial situations change. And and so they're the sending agency says, hey, your supports a little low.

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Andrew
You need to, you need to raise up some, some supporters. So another way. That we can support them, giving them space to do that. But but at the same time, if, if there's, if there's a way that we can give more to them or if, if you don't have someone that you're, supporting, to, to meet these guys at their open house or find a time to hear about their ministry and, and maybe even start supporting one of our field staff.

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Andrew
Okay.

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Brenton
Yeah. Well, that's that's a lot. For you guys listening. Let's be praying about. And, especially, you know, coming up this week, the 26th is the first night of Global Week. So I'd encourage you guys to attend that. And, I know we're we're bringing our community group to the one on Thursday. So excited, to hang out and see what's going on there.

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Brenton
So.

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Andrew
Yeah. And, and I forgot to mention we're going to have some stuff for kids that night, so. Oh, great, great, great opportunity for families to come out together. And not that kids won't get things out of the other two, but they'll be sitting in with the adults if they're in elementary school. So, they'll have something a little tailored to their, their age group on Thursday night.

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Andrew
Yeah.

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Brenton
All right. We'll be there. So let's let's jump into, John six here. So in verse 30 we see the crowd talking to Jesus. They say, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? So this is obviously after the crowd had seen the feeding of the 5000. You pointed out that they didn't find the miracle impressive enough compared to manna falling from the sky.

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Brenton
And so bringing this idea into our culture today, do you think we see the same thing? You know, where we expect God to keep proving himself? You know, like we're always kind of waiting for the next trick that God's going to do. So we can, so we can kind of re bolster our faith.

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Andrew
Yeah, I think we I think we love to see God's work, and we love we love the idea of a miracle. And, and maybe, maybe some of us get a little too focused on. Oh, that's a miracle. That's a miracle. And maybe some of us are a little more skeptical that they happen at all today.

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Andrew
But I do think that, we can be we can have short memories and, and, or get into this comparison game and I really think that's what the crowd's doing is I, I'm sure they were amazed when it happened. But you know overnight and as they're journeying and then and now they're having this discussion with, with Jesus and it's getting real and they recognize, okay, he's a prophet and, and all this.

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Andrew
That's maybe where some of the skepticism sets in. And it's like, okay, if he's real, what does that mean for me? If he's more than just this, this, guy, we want to make a human king. If he is a messenger from God, like, that's a little scary. So then I think sometimes we try to justify it or guard or hedge our bets and, and kind of put obstacles in God's way.

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Andrew
It's like, well, God, you got to do this before I'll do that. Or, you know, we kind of like Gideon lay the fleece out and then and then and then lay the fleece out again and then maybe a third time. And, and I think some of that's because we're afraid, some of that, you know, we're we know what God's asking of us.

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Andrew
And we know what it's going to cost. And maybe we're not ready to, to take that plunge a little bit. So I think, I think today that's maybe how we act like that crowd and, test, test. God, maybe a little bit or require more of him than, than the amazing thing. He's already done. And I really didn't see that in the past when I, when I had read through this passage, thinking, thinking to myself, man, like feeding the 5000, this is incredible.

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Andrew
And then in like, reading them like, like, apparently they don't think that's impressive at all. Like it's like, wow, we think this is this huge miracle. So, yeah, the the crowd seemed a little jaded to me. Yeah.

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Brenton
No, it is interesting following all these miracles kind of in in order because it's it's showing, you know, the the crowd is, is still really hard hearted toward a lot of these things. And they're, they're looking for things that Jesus isn't. And yeah, it takes a while for them to realize that the Jesus is what they've been looking for.

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Andrew
Yeah, it's not here, but it's somewhere else. Jesus says a wicked and adulterous generation always seeking for a sign. Right? Is just this. Like you're always searching for the next big thing or something bigger and better and and again, you know, as he, as he gets to in this passage, just like I'm right in front of you. Yeah.

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Andrew
You know.

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Brenton
Yeah. And you know, this this is kind of, in a, in a sense, the culmination of all these miracles. Right? Is everyone kind of comes together and he's, he's saying, no, I am the bread of life, right? So, yeah. So another thing I was just kind of curious about. We we also see the crowd miss, attributing the manna to Moses.

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Brenton
And Jesus is quick to correct this, but I wanted to get your thoughts. Why do you think that this was even included? Like, it seems obvious that it was God that caused the miracles? Not and not Moses. Do you have any idea what their what their view of Moses was at that time?

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Andrew
Yeah, I think they they definitely held him in high esteem. Sure. Looking back, he and even looking back at all of the prophets, there's certain ones that, kind of get brought up in the New Testament. Moses and Elijah are are these like the big dogs, some of the other prophets, maybe not so much. And part of that, I think, you know, it's like Elijah he did he did a lot of miracles.

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Andrew
Very. You you read through First and Second Kings and it's like Elijah and Elijah. These they were they were the miracle workers, the sign givers. And Moses to to some extent, you know, with the, confrontation with Pharaoh in, in Egypt and then striking the rock and giving water to Israel and the man, and I think they they also viewed Moses as, just this idealistic hero of the people of Israel.

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Andrew
And, and certainly he was a prophet. He wrote the, the, the first five books of the Bible for us. And, and so we have, you know, and so, so they saw here, you know, even Jesus refers to the first five books of the Bible as Moses. And, and so I think, I think there's this understanding that Moses is a significant figure in Israel's history.

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Andrew
But I think maybe that they've elevated him to high. He's he was just a man. He was a great leader. God did great things through him. But sometimes I think we can leave the God part out and see just the the physical on the man's side of things, and maybe even a little bit of what they're doing in their own lives.

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Andrew
Right. Focusing on the physical rather than the spiritual.

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Brenton
Well, yeah. And I think you see that, like, they, they obviously think that Jesus is a prophet, right? It's he's another Moses. Right. So, you know, they're obviously looking for someone to measure up to what they've had in the past, or at least what they've heard from their from their forefathers or whatever.

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Andrew
Yeah. Are you going to be as good as Moses? Right. Yeah. Yeah.

00;15;47;19 - 00;16;23;28
Brenton
Okay. So we talked a little bit, earlier about, you know, the, the from the perspective of the believer. Expecting miracles or, or wanting to see greater miracles. But we also see Jesus critique the crowd for seeing and still not believing. And so I'm thinking from from, maybe secularists, atheists point of view. What can this tell us about our modern tendency to to demand evidence or proof before faith?

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Brenton
I think we've talked about this on a previous episode, but I'm kind of curious to get your, get your thoughts on it.

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Andrew
Sure. Yeah. I think that there for sure is this huge desire and and kind of a modern and even even to some extent postmodern. We're certainly in a postmodern. It's it's actually interesting. Modernism is for sure. Like I need proof, I need evidence, I need signs, I need, you know, all this coming of that other renaissance. We're more in, like, a postmodern now, and, and it's fascinating to me watching our culture because there's some things we demand evidence for, and there's other things that we just, we write off and accept and, and, and don't need evidence for.

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Andrew
We just believe them strongly enough. And so it's just kind of this weird mix. If it's not religious, we can believe in it, without proof or evidence. But if it is religious, then it's skeptical. And we need we need all the all the proof and all the evidence and all the science still. Yeah. To prove it, the.

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Brenton
Amount of times I've heard. Because science. Yeah, it's too many, right?

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Andrew
Yeah, yeah. And and I think, and I think, you know, there there's, there's a compelling nature to science, like saying, like there's it's true. God gave us science. He created the world. He he gave us order and, and and all of those things. And in some ways, we're discovering the truths that he's given to us.

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Andrew
But we I think we can we can focus on those too much and, and and a lot. And it really, when I, when I look at science and I look at religion, most of the issues were missing on are not the subtle aspects of science like Christian faith. And the subtle aspects of science are in 100% agreement.

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Andrew
It's these weird areas where we're looking back and making assumptions about how things were before we could measure and, and, and things like that. And that's where it gets really wishy washy and you really end up having faith on the other side. But it just depends on where you're starting from. Yeah. And and what kind of evidences you're going to use to support, your view.

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Andrew
My, my son is, doing a research paper. Now, he got to pick the topic. So this is like his, his curriculum. It's always like you have to do a research paper on this. But this time he gets to pick and he came home, from from the gal who kind of mentors him in English. And, he was so excited.

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Andrew
He's like, mom, I know what I'm going to do for my topic. I'm going to to write a paper on, like proving young Earth. And and when my wife told me that I had the same response she did is like, oh, that's rather ambitious. But he he's got this, Jonathan Park. It's kind of like Adventures in Odyssey series, and they focus a lot on science, on these kinds of things and talk a lot of it out.

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Andrew
So. So he's been hearing this for years, and, and it's just something he, he, he loves and he's passionate about. So he's super excited to to be doing this research paper on young earth I love it. That's great. I grabbed some books off my shelf and said, here, I saved you some time in your research.

00;20;08;09 - 00;20;47;13
Brenton
That's good. Yeah, I think you're right. When we when we go back to this kind of historical science, things are, dim and yet they're they're pronounced with such, such surety and and it's, but but now, you know, like, it's moved beyond that and it's moved to the kind of philosophical and, psychological view on ethics and all of these things that, you know, I don't know, it's hard to, it's hard to kind of have that conversation with someone that's just bought into.

00;20;47;13 - 00;21;05;16
Brenton
Well, science is the answer to everything. And so, yeah, it's just been interesting to see the shift in the last even few years that, you know, it's, it's become this religion of science. And, like you said, we're certainly not against science.

00;21;05;19 - 00;21;47;19
Andrew
Yeah. No. And I and I think they've had to move away from kind of the traditional scientific arguments because, the, the, the Darwinist influences, the Darwinist thinking, the that, that traditional Darwinian evolution that is taught still at almost every level in public education, the thinkers behind that have abandoned it and they've, they recognize that it doesn't hold water and they're searching for other options and other valid, kind of substructures to, to base this evolutionary idea on.

00;21;47;21 - 00;22;20;20
Andrew
And they don't have good answers. And, and that's why the schools continue to teach what they've always taught because there's nothing to replace it with other than, a religious point of view, or, you know, intelligent design or something that sounds religious to them. And, so then they have to start getting into these other, maybe pseudoscience or more philosophical, points of view because, they don't know where to go with the science because the science isn't taking them where they would hope.

00;22;20;22 - 00;22;54;02
Brenton
Interesting. All right. Well, I'm going to kind of end with a, softball here for you. So you teaming up? Yeah. So you talked for a while about global missions. In in your sermon and, you said that the scope of salvation is not limited to borders or languages. So how can we continue to reorient our hearts towards seeking God's glory in, in the whole world and said instead of just our local, context?

00;22;54;05 - 00;23;21;27
Andrew
Yeah, I, one I would just say read your Bibles. And, and read it like, chapter by chapter and book by book. And I think you'll be amazed, like, if you just, like, did a Bible reading through the year, and, and, you know, just a few chapters a day, cover to cover, you'll see that God's focus has been on the world from the beginning.

00;23;21;28 - 00;23;50;06
Andrew
So in Genesis, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. Right. And then, and even in, even in, Genesis three, we see the proto gospel there. Yeah. In salvation for there's my reminder to, pray for three by 30. So. Yeah. But, yeah. So, and then, and then you get to the Tower of Babel and why did God confuse the languages and disperse them over the.

00;23;50;06 - 00;24;13;10
Andrew
The whole earth is because they weren't obeying his command to fill the earth to to be his image bearers in the whole earth. And so even but but then from then on out with Abraham, he said, I'll bless you to be a blessing to all nations. You'll be the father of of many nations. And so, and all through the Old Testament, we see this huge focus on the nations and God's heart for the nations.

00;24;13;10 - 00;24;37;04
Andrew
And, even the, the, you know, Israel was to be a light to the nations and people flocked to them to come and see this great God that they worshiped. That was the intent. Another another tool, I guess, or a way to maybe grow our heart and understanding is reading missionary biographies. There's so many good ones out there.

00;24;37;06 - 00;25;25;24
Andrew
And, they're just. Yeah, they're they're just like, grow your heart. So a couple, I'll just I'll just recommend, Peace Child by Dan Richardson. He, was a missionary in Papua New Guinea. Fascinating story about, trying to understand how this tribe of warring cannibals could wrap their minds around, a loving God who gave himself for them because, treachery was just like an essential part of their, and like, Judas was, was the hero of the story to them when they first heard the story of Jesus in the gospels.

00;25;25;24 - 00;25;50;07
Andrew
Right. And so it's just like, oh my goodness, how do we get how do we get them to understand the goodness of the gospel? Right. So great. Fascinating one. A lot of you have probably heard of, Jim and Elizabeth Elliot. Elizabeth wrote shadow of the Almighty, which is really just a compilation of Jim Elliot's journals from youth through up until the day he died.

00;25;50;09 - 00;26;12;17
Andrew
And she reads them and adds commentary. And it's just I love the audiobook version is great because she's the one reading it. And, it's just kind of like she's telling you about his life and reading these excerpts from his life. So I really, really enjoyed that one. And then what I'm currently listening to is Things as They Are by, Amy Carmichael.

00;26;12;19 - 00;26;35;13
Andrew
And, she's just laying it out for her, her supporters about how hard missionary work is, because everybody wants the good stories. They, you know, they want the numbers. How many came to faith and, and and that stuff's great to share when it happens. And, she's just like, let me tell you how things really are, like things as they are.

00;26;35;13 - 00;26;59;24
Andrew
And she just tells story after story about going to village after village in India and how they were sharing the gospel and people seemed receptive. But then others in the caste system, just like, shut them down and whisked them off to another part of the country and and wouldn't let their friends and family hear the gospel because they they didn't want that disrupting their society.

00;26;59;24 - 00;27;26;19
Andrew
And so just the, the pushback and controversy and then and then even just people who seemed interested, the fear they had of leaving their family and their caste for the gospel because they understood the implications of the gospel. And so, there's there's so many good missionary biographies out there. Those are just a few I've, I've listened to, within the last couple of years that, I've just found really, really helpful.

00;27;26;21 - 00;27;39;09
Brenton
Cool. Yeah, yeah. We'll leave, links to that in the episode description. Is there some good options for you? Since your alarm went off, you want to just go ahead and pray for three by 30 while we're here?

00;27;39;09 - 00;27;39;27
Andrew
Let's do it.

00;27;39;27 - 00;27;40;14
Brenton
We'll end by.

00;27;40;14 - 00;28;00;16
Andrew
Do do it. Lord. Just thank you so much for the work you're doing in your world. And, just thank you that we get to be a part of it, that that really, there's been a long history of a desire to be involved in your work around the world, here at Harmony for years and years and years.

00;28;00;16 - 00;28;20;09
Andrew
And, we're kind of just riding on the coattails of those who have gone before us. And, And, Lord, I just want to lift up, our three by 30 initiative. Lord, we, we recognize that, there needs to be a lot of, a lot more goers, to reach all the nations with the gospel.

00;28;20;09 - 00;28;57;17
Andrew
And, we we feel like you're you're calling us to raise up three teams, to kind of focus our efforts on three different places and send, as many workers as you'll have from us to there. And so I just pray that you do that, that you'd raise up, leaders for those teams that you raise, teammates for those teams, Lord, that you'd move in our hearts to, to get behind them and, and to really support them well, so that they can stay on the field and thrive on the field and, and do everything they need to, to learn the gospel and the culture so that they can, just

00;28;57;19 - 00;29;19;09
Andrew
as we saw in the passage, this week, hold out the Bread of Life, to those who are spiritually starving, that they might eat and be filled for all eternity. And, so, Lord, I just, I pray, that you give us wisdom in that and patience in that. And and yet, that you does help us work hard, to achieve what you want to do through us.

00;29;19;16 - 00;29;21;18
Andrew
Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

00;29;21;21 - 00;29;37;26
Brenton
Amen. Well, thanks for coming in, Andrew. Appreciate you, preaching this week. You guys at home, if you have any questions, continuing on John six. So, ask it further podcast.com. Feel free to send them in and I'll talk to you next week.