Finding Faith and Community on a Mission Trip to Guatemala: CityLight Church Podcast Reflections

Transcript

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You know, jesus said something peculiar in the gospel of Matthew and the Beatitudes.

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He said agree with your adversary quickly.

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So when your adversary, satan, says You're not righteous, agree with him quickly.

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That's right.

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Satan, in and of myself I'm not, but in Christ I am.

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When Satan says you're inadequate, agree with that adversary quickly.

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I'm not adequate, but in Christ I can do all things.

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Amen.

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Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.

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Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

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If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom.

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That's City Light NYCcom.

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Pastor boy on Janssen and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.

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As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by his grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.

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Well, a good number of us have had a whirlwind of a week.

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We're back from Guatemala, from our missions trip, and we want to thank you, city Light, for sending us, enabling us to go and enabling us to minister in that region for 15 years.

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Can you believe it?

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15 years We've ministered there, visited hundreds of churches.

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In 15 years preach the gospel, helped Pay for the supplies and build 40 plus church buildings.

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You can give the Lord a hand for that.

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We had 26 on fire.

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No other gods but Jesus.

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City Lighters come with us and I want to give them an opportunity this morning to share what they observed, what they experienced and what the Lord has done in their heart, and this will minister to you.

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Nobody who's gonna share is in full-time ministry, but God occupies their hearts full-time and Whatever the Lord has done in their lives, know that he can do in yours.

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And we're commanded by the Lord to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

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And we went into the part of the world, but thankfully we live in a city where the world has come to us Any given time, depending on what nation is being recognized or not.

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There's about a hundred and eighty to a hundred and ninety six countries in the world.

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161 of them are in Queens.

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Not even in the whole, five birds are in Queens.

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That means 80% plus of the world Lives here, and you can be a missionary without even having a passport.

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So let me just get five or six people who want to share first.

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Can I just see your hands and we'll go.

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We'll go in rounds of five.

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Rob Yari yeah, you guys come on up.

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That's how you know.

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A kid has grown up in the church since he was one years old.

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Just feels right at home.

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Feels like an Altoid goes up to the altar, gets one, cassandra, won't you start?

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Hey, let me get that second mic.

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Do we know where that went?

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There we go.

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Thank you so much.

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Give Cassandra Comedina a hand.

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Hi everyone.

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I'm happy to be here.

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So let me start with saying I know that I was supposed to be on this trip.

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It was a confirmed word that I remember.

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Nathaniel prayed over me Not only my heart for the nation's, but he saw me surrounded by kids, and this fit exactly into that.

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So just know that when the Lord gives you a word, he's gonna fulfill it.

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I Thought it was gonna die when this trip started.

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I'm not kidding, I actually thought.

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We landed on the plane in Guatemala.

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I actually had the fear that I was actually going to die.

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I started having like serious medical complications on the plane and that fear was there from Satan to keep me from going.

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I was thinking about how I could turn back, how I was gonna coordinate a flight back to New York, and my brothers and sisters of Christ prayed for me.

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We got rid of the fear.

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I stood strong in the faith that I had in the Lord and I didn't let that deter me.

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So not continued into the first day to where I Re-renounced all that and I took my faith over fear and what I knew needed to manifest in the physical.

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And not only that, but that's because the Lord wanted to get different words to people.

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So Chris had shared earlier in the previous service about a woman where he got a word from the Lord, and this is such a confirmation, a word of knowledge.

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I'd prayed over this woman, I felt that she needed to be prayed Over and I had touched her hands for healing.

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And then, as I walked away, I thought, okay, there's actually someone in her family that needs healing.

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I went back and I asked her and it turned out that she did have two people in her family that needed healing.

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So we were able to pray over her, tell her that we're praying, but that the Lord was gonna release healing through her, even if she didn't see it when she got back.

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So, nestor, thank you for helping me to translate with her.

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But the point was she won't.

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The Lord wanted her to know that he saw her.

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So when I was done praying for her, then Chris spoke To her as well and got the same word and that gave me the Knowledge, encouraged, that the Lord was speaking to me.

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It was literally the exact same word, that the Lord saw her.

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So Also know that if you don't hear the Lord the first time, he's not just gonna not get the message to you, he'll send another person to make sure that you you get it.

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And I was able to give a few other words to people one child that he'd be a landowner, one child that he would write music Even though he was a drummer, that the Lord would give him songs, and one of our cooks that the Lord would restore the years that she was out of the faith.

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So, thank you, thank you.

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Good morning everyone.

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All right.

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So I just got a couple little bullet notes.

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So I'm past the boy.

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Our first Mentioned that they were gonna do this Guatemala trip, because Andre and I were actually sitting somewhere in that area and as soon as he was done, saying hey, we're gonna plan to do this upcoming trip, she looked over to me and she said I don't know what you're doing that week, but I'll be in Guatemala.

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I'm gonna go to the next one, guatemala.

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So I had to get my application.

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So, yeah, it was an amazing trip.

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A Couple days before the trip I started to have issues with my left foot and I was getting swollen and stuff and I couldn't put any pressure on it.

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And I had originally signed up to be part of the construction team, which I was really excited about, and I was getting really bummed.

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Not only can I not be a part of it, but I was starting to think I'm gonna be a liability on this trip.

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I should just Hit up past the point or Sarah, let her know.

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Like this, I don't think I'm gonna make it because I'm just gonna hold the trip back and it's just gonna be an issue.

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But glory to God, you know, he spoke to me through through some people and told me I needed to be on this trip and it was a blessing to be part of the VBS team To work with the kids.

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It was a blessing I didn't expect to have Because, like I said, I was originally just only thinking about doing the construction work, but the opportunities the Lord gave me To pray over some of these kids, pray over some of the teachers that were there, was truly remarkable.

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So the Lord can take anything and really use it.

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There was a couple of things that stood out to me, which was on one of the services.

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I believe it was night number two after we were done with our service with the kids, but right before we headed up with Pastor Boyan to pray over the members of the church, there was a little boy that came up to me and said that he needed prayer, that he had, he was dealing with some stomach pain.

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But this wasn't a normal stomach ache, this was.

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I got the inclination this was like something internal, something within the organs, something a lot more serious than just a little stomach ache.

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So she ever happened to be next to me and I got Kate to come over as well and we prayed for that little boy.

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And when we were done, man, we gave it all we had.

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And when we were done, and to see that boy lift his head with tears down his eyes, saying that he doesn't feel any pain anymore, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, it really is only something that I can do.

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Then Kate shared this early at the first service, we prayed over one of the teachers there.

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Brian came along and helped us too.

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We just prayed the peace of God over her.

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One of the things that stood out is that, even though for some of us there was a language barrier, when God wants to get a message through there is no barrier.

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And at the end we got to ask her how she felt and she just pointed at her heart, saying that she just felt the peace of God, like when it was all over.

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So it was just an incredible trip, and I'll finish off with this One of the biggest things I got out of it was an increase in boldness when it comes to praying for others.

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You know, when we were at one of the services, they warned us that you may see some manifestations and stuff of that nature.

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Especially if you're not accustomed to seeing that, just be aware it may come out, and I've seen it before, but I've always just like I never went up to pray for anybody about it, I just, wherever I was sitting out, I would just pray over the person, so pretty much from a distance.

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So I remember when we were praying at the second service, when he had a Pessibon, had pretty much almost the whole congregation come up and we had to go forth and just start praying for people.

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I'm praying for this young man and I see this lady kind of manifesting and it's kind of irking my spirit a little bit, like she's kind of annoying me, but not in a personal way, not like she did something wrong, but just like the fact that you know, the devil thinks that he still has territory, even though he's already lost.

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So I'm praying for this man but I can't leave him right Cause I don't want to chip him out of his own blessing, right.

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So I finished for him and when I was done I like bypassed like 17 other people who came up for prayer and I just went straight to that lady Cause there was just something in me that was like all right, these things, we got to start nipping them in the bud, you know, start handing them in the room.

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So just an increase of bonus that came from this trip was absolutely amazing.

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Thank you for the opportunity to bring us along.

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Yes, and thank you all for keeping us in our prayers and your prayers.

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Sorry.

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Thanks a lot.

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Good morning everybody.

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I shared the first service.

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I'm hoping everything lands just as well Second service.

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So, first and foremost, I'm still and many of us are riding this Holy Spirit wave of just how cohesive this team worked together while we were there, how powerful, how effective our prayer was there and, quite honestly, just how many tortillas with the red sauce we put down Amazing to watch.

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Very grateful for that.

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But it's also a testament to the Holy Spirit working through us that we were able to quite simply go there, do what we were called to do and for a large portion of that we were called to do battle and prayer and, as you've heard in these testimonies, it wasn't glamorous.

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It may not have been an immediate variable change in the natural, but the seeds Lord used us to plant, the lives the Lord called us to touch, whether it was by stirring up concrete in a room that'll later be used to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, or whether it was the songs we sang with children, reminding them to have joy in their heart.

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When we placed hands on and ministered to the still spiritually oppressed, the shilled people in the region to help them receive the love of God.

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It was and forever will be for the glory of God and the furtherance of the kingdom, in Jesus' name, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the world forces of this darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.

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So, without getting too deep into the thoughts and theories behind it, it's enough to say that this region, for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, worshiped false gods and idols, and their gods were a wrathful, unappeasing, unforgiving, unloving gods.

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And so when the Spanish came and implemented Catholicism, as one of our team members, chris, really powerfully put it, they just traded one God for another.

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But their method, their manner and their mentality and worship and identity didn't change.

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And even as they became Christians, they still struggled with the weight of feeling unworthy in a faith destructive, in a faith inhibiting sense.

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Their cries and wails are not, excuse me.

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The cries, wails and violent shaking are not what Paul had in mind when he tells us in Philippians to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

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This fear they felt was not an awestruck, reverential one, but rather an incoming destruction, wrathful, vengeful, god sort of fear.

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And their trembling was not from the weight of God's presence on them, but the weight of their own guilt, their own shame, their own fear of not being able to appease God themselves.

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Their violent shaking would evolve into convulsions and projectile vomiting.

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And that told us we're in the midst of a battle.

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But we simply had to remind them who had already won.

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And as we began to minister and lay hands on the people, that first night there at church service, pastor Bo had preached a powerful message reminding the people of the rest they have in Jesus.

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And that need for striving, for earning, for begging, for working for God's love and forgiveness was battled with a sermon highlighting the equal righteousness we have in Christ, not at all of our own doing but because of His great love and sacrifice for us on the cross.

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And this was and maybe even for this room for some of you it's a radical view and it's difficult to accept.

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And in that room with the Yeshua, people certainly felt that way that they struggled initially to accept that truth.

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But as we laid hands and prayed, I believe identities in Christ were realized in old ways, excuse me, old ways were exchanged for new wine, as particularly I'm thinking about this occurrence at the end of ministry time.

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That first night, when I walked past the gentleman and he was whispering a sound that was both foreign and familiar at the same time, and as he spoke and he swayed back and forth in his denim jacket, I looked at his face and there was a really long length of snot just coming down that left nostril, and I immediately walked right past him and said, nope, not you.

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And I don't think the Lord liked that very much, kind of highlighted him in my heart and I was like Lord, are you sure?

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You know, I don't want to get what he has.

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And he said I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure.

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So as I approached him and put my hands on him, started to pray, his swaying actually became even more violent and he started shaking and he's crying out.

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His wails turned into loud, loud, anguish cries and my first thought was that there was something in the spirit realm that caused that reaction in him and I had to go.

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I rebuked whatever voice it was it wasn't the Lord's and I reiterated in prayer to him that he is a new creation in Christ.

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I continued to observe his reactions as I prayed and I felt that he was doing a lot of what he was doing because he felt like that was his only way to access God.

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God only see him if he shook, if he cried out, if he did all those things.

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But I reminded him and asked him to repeat after me that he was saved by the blood of Jesus.

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He was loved and accepted by God, the Father.

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He didn't have to plead or agonize or work to receive God's love and forgiveness.

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He was already forgiven.

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As he repeated each of these things out loud, I observed a physical difference in his demeanor.

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He went from violently shaking and swaying to sort of just standing there with palms wide open in a receptive demeanor.

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Finally, we said together I can rest in Jesus, tango de sconso and Jesus.

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He completely stopped the wailing.

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He sort of just stood there in a posture of peace and his uttering turned into a surrendered silence.

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He encountered grace and I felt so happy for him.

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I'm grateful for the Lord blessing him in that moment.

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So, among many precious moments and conversations and friendships that we built on this trip, that one surely is among the top four.

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I mean, I'm believing his life is forever changed in that identity revealing moment.

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Praise the Lord, all right, all right, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Good afternoon.

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I'm Yari Martino.

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That's right why.

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So, yes, I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala on a mission straight back in 2019.

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That was before COVID happened and even though this was my second time going to Guatemala, god definitely did a new thing in me and it was just a whole different experience.

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And to start, I have to say that the group that went to this trip, we were all so united.

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It was just beautiful the level of trust and comfort that we had with one another and just to feel, have that sense like we all have the same goal, we all are on the same page and we just want to release God's healing power over his people.

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It was just beautiful.

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So in 2019, when I went to Guatemala, god called me to minister to children.

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He put in my heart to just help children to be rooted in the true identity, and it was after that trip that I ended up becoming one of the city kids coordinators.

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And then, when I heard that Jude and Victor were gonna join us to this trip, I was filled with so much joy because, having been able to see them come into city kids and just see them grow in the spirit and just to see the fruit of the spirit in that trip come alive and when they go to city kids and they just embrace the word of God.

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And it was just powerful to see at nine-year-old, 11-year-old with such boldness praying over, not only over kids, but like everyone.

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Like their boldness was just so amazing.

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You know, it's funny because it was interesting to see their innocence during the day, playing Uno cards and spoons and all that and playing running around the camp and then at night there was just filled with the Holy Spirit and filled with the fire.

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It was like whoa, what happened here is just very powerful.

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So I'm sorry, just really trying to catch up.

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You know, that's what God's calling me to do.

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It was just confirmation that this is what I want to see in your children's life.

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This is what I want to see in my children's life, you know, and just to remind them of who they are in Christ.

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So there's this story.

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I want to share this testimony of this little boy that I met during our last BVS and you know he was so small and I just saw like pain in his eyes and he just looked at me and came to give me a hug.

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And you know, in that day, for those that were doing BVS, that day, we received so many hugs, so much love.

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He was like one after another, one after another, even the same kids who were like you know, they were like hold you and really hard.

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But this kid was just special.

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When he hugged me, even though he was tiny, like I felt like his hug was so powerful, like he, it was like like like filled with healing, you know, like it felt like a giant was hugging me even though he was like tiny.

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So, yeah, healing power was definitely coming from that hug.

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So I started praying over him and talking, you know, telling him the calling that God was giving him to heal people, and I encouraged him to use his hugs whenever he saw sadness in people, just to hug them.

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And I was so amazed by the power of his hugs that I even started asking him to like hug all the teachers, hug Heidi, hug Carolina, and like because it was just, it was amazing.

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And so this other kid, you know he was curious.

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I was what was happening and hearing, you know, and hearing and what you know, what I was speaking to these other boys and he said, looking confused, like he likes to hate kids, like he he hurt others, like he's not a good kid.

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And I just laughed, you know, but you know, to to the enemy's lie.

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You know, because it just spoke to me how when we are in pain and we have been hurt, the enemy uses that to make us do the opposite of what we were created to be.

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And the enemy, you know, made him believe he needed to hurt people.

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And later than he know, god has, you know, really blessed him and equipped him, you know, with a healing gift and I just spoke life over him.

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I told him who he really was, a child of God, that God was calling him to heal and not hurt others.

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He believed it, he received it.

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You know, I saw a beautiful small smile in his face and he just kept hugging me and I was just loving it.

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And you know, and that's what I want to continue to do for his kingdom, you know, I just want to silence the enemies, you know, and speak God's true about the calling that you know he he's, you know he's giving to his children.

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So, yeah, I'm excited for the next mission trip.

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Awesome, Yari, you gave that to Nesta.

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I'm going to just call my son Victor up.

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Just Did you see that?

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She said boldness, holy cow, Just share with the people what happened to you on the trip.

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So this is my first time doing the missions trip and the powerful time of the missions trip was when we were in the church and like half of the church wasn't believing.

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So like I was just like okay, better bless them, we better bless them.

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So then, like the next minute, the whole church is like crying and like yeah.

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So then God touched me and I spoke in tongues, so you know, I'm up on the altar.

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Let me just tell you this story real quick.

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I'm up on the altar and I'm looking in one direction.

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Next thing, I know I see my son just praying for people and just tears running down his cheeks, and so I'm really touched that he's touched and God is pouring into him while he's pouring out to others.

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And so the next day we're on a rooftop doing construction and I just sense the presence of God, you know, and I say hey, victor, I believe God wants to fill you with this Holy Spirit.

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I said just look to Jesus and, by faith, open your mouth and begin to speak in your heavenly language.

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And he just does it very, very fluently, too fluently.

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You know, when people first get filled with the Holy Spirit, it's with stammering lips and another tongue, and it takes at least five to 10 minutes to form some syllables and words and refer it to resemble a proper language.

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And now he's like an old timer and I go.

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You know, I wanted to have this special moment with him on a rooftop where dad ministers the baptism of the Holy Spirit to his son and he just takes off.

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I said, hey, this is not your first time.

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When did you first speak in tongues?

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And he said oh yeah.

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The other night, when I was praying for our people, at the altar.

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That is good, amen, that's the one she's here.

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Hey, what's up so well?

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First of all, I want to thank God for taking me and putting me back out on the missions field after 10 years and I can easily say this has been the best mission strip I've ever been a part of.

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Every one was solid and man God did some incredible things which I'm going to share with you One of the stories right now.

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So put on my testimony.

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You know, after I got saved, I went to a lot of cessationist churches, you know churches that believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were for yesterday, and all that which kind of you know, rubbed me the wrong way, because I've always read scripture and in Hebrews it says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

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So, mike, doesn't it make sense that suddenly it's like oh yeah, let me just stop somewhere around like 1960 or whatever.

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I've never had an encounter with deliverance in the sense where I've witnessed other people delivering, and I've read the Derek Prince books, I've like watched videos on it, but I'm like all right, well, I've never had an encounter like that personally.

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But if that's the way that God operates with everyone else, amen, cool, that all changed on this trip, and I remember this was the second day, we were in a small church doing vacation Bible study with the children there, and one of the pastors there he was an Eshiel pastor, his name was Pastor Leesh, I don't know where he just decides to come out and say hey, you know what?

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Let's let's pray for the women here.

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There's a couple of women that have been sitting in the back during the lesson.

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Let's pray for them.

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And I was like sure, no problem.

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They brought him up to the front and I remember there being three women there.

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One of them had an ISU, the other one had a rash on one of her legs and the one that was closest next to me.

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You know, I spoke to her and said you know what's going on, what can I pray for you about?

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And she explained well, you know, I have this just crazy headache and I just have pain all over my body and I was like all right, well, let's pray, let's see what God is going to do here.

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So I started praying, I put my hand on her forehead, I put my other hand behind her back and I'm praying and praying.

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I'm praying in English, by the way, so this lady doesn't really understand what I'm saying, and I hear coughing and I'm like man, this lady is really not feeling well, you know, I just started laying into it another minute later, praying and praying, and praying, and then suddenly I'm like okay, at this point I'm thinking I don't know why, but this is not something that's normal.

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So I start gently tapping her on the back and then she starts spitting out all over the floor and I'm asking her you know, how are you feeling?

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She says you know, I feel good, but like I got to vomit.

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I'm really like I need to just release all this.

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And at this time we were like interrupted because we really had to finish the lesson and kind of just go about our day.

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And when I try to find the lady again afterwards she was gone.

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She wasn't in the school, but I continued to pray for her in my personal time and just thinking about that testimony.

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I didn't mention this in the first service, but I remember having a conversation with Terry McComb, who was one of our hosts down in Guatemala, which there are amazing people, the Mike and Terry McComb.

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I remember we were having a conversation with them where they did an IQ test of the population in that area and these people only have the ability to answer true or false questions.

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And while I was on a trip, I was reading this book called Sky People right, these mess.

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It's about Mesoamerica and these Mayan people having these crazy experiences with these sky gods.

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And this is not something that these are not old stories.

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These are stories that are currently happening now, from my witnesses.

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So, my point being number one these people, on a cultural level, believe that life is inherently supernatural, right?

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And then my second point is if these people believe that life is inherently supernatural, these just rural farmers, how much more supernatural is life for us, for those who abide in the multi-god right?

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So I hope that this testimony encouraged you and just pray that, if you are abiding in the Holy Spirit, expect to receive the impossible and expect to accomplish the impossible through Him.

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Thank you, thank you, take that.

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Let me get another five people.

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Brian and Heidi, can you come back up?

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Josh, come on up Please.

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Chris and Matthew and Nicole, can I ask you to share too?

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Just share, I know.

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Can I just give you the mic next, cause I know you're instant in season, out of season Guys, if you can just cause, I want them to be able to hear from everybody.

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Keep your testimonies to two minutes, three minutes max, all right.

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I don't want to feel like I need to receive an offering for you after you're done.

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So I do get to do ministry full time All over the country and, please excuse me, I think I have a half a bag of cement in my nostrils and in my sinuses still from bringing that in, which was a blast.

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I will have to do a shout out to the Skirt Brigade that did all the shoveling of the rock right.

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We had a blast.

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One of the incredible things that I get to see is the church at work all over the country.

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But what stood out to me is standing with the Macombes, who are the missionaries on the ground.

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See, they've been doing this for 30 years there, day after day, night after night, ministering to pastors, to people all over the place, and we got to all over Guatemala.

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We got to just step in right and spend a week with them and have fun and see God move.

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But there they're tilling the ground day after day after day, and we may plant a few seeds and water others.

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But I thought, you know, when I came out here I'm tired.

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I wrote 24 Bible studies last year, I spoke all over the country and it gets exhausting and I thought I just want to go and do something with my hands.

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I just want to do something different and then talking in the Macombes for hours each and every day, I thought you know what we're called to do the hard work, to stay consistent, persistent, to endure to the end.

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And God has placed us here to endure, not to look for the break, which is always nice, right, but to see that we're here tilling the ground.

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We're here doing our job, our part, and others may come in and they may plant some seeds and water, but our responsibility is here.

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And the other thing I learned is the scripture kept popping out to me left and right James and I spoke about it Is that we don't fight against flesh and blood.

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Right Principalities and powers is what our battle is with.

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And when I saw those people and they're wailing and they are physically showing the inward oppression that was happening, it was just coming out.

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When you see them do that.

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Not once did I look at them and say, oh, I cannot believe this.

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I cannot believe.

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Instead, you run, you run.

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Freedom, right, freedom.

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You wanna see them experience freedom in Christ.

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Well, that happens here.

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It looks very different here, though, and it's so easy to walk right past them.

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Oh, I don't wanna deal with that.

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I don't wanna deal with that homeless person.

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I don't wanna deal with that addict, I don't wanna deal with this or that, but our hearts is to see that they are oppressed and they need freedom, and they need freedom in Jesus.

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And instead of running, we need to be tilling that ground here, day after day, and not getting tired, and keep enduring and knowing that Jesus is the answer.

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And we need to run to the people who are oppressed.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, hello, city light.

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I'm Heidi and this is my husband, brian.

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He and I and our 11 year old son, jude, went to this mission trip together and we had an amazing experience.

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That's an understatement.

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I was actively seeking something more.

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I was looking for a radical movement, a connection, and I got it.

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And some and there are so many moments during the trip that I can pick from that were so moving and so powerful.

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In the first service I spoke on just kind of not feeling like I didn't know how I could be used, not exactly feeling equipped, a little bit intimidated, and how God just washed all that away and I felt like during the altar calls we were just unleashed on this crowd of people that are dealing with unworthiness and this sort of ritualistic bowing down and groveling before God, and we were able to just go out into the crowd and pray over these people to break that spirit off of them.

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I was what I didn't mention in the first service.

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But the second service I didn't initially sign up for VBS.

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I signed up for the construction team because I just felt like, okay, I know how I can do that.

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It made sense to me and so, with the VBS on the last day.

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Both my husband and my son we were on that team and I was completely.

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I was like wow, I get this.

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The VBS, like this is where it's at.

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The innocence and the engagement of the children were so moving.

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They were just so thirsty and open for God, like there was no barriers, there was nothing.

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You just saw it in their eyes and you saw them like little lights.

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It was so beautiful and so moving.

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I felt like I'm supposed to be pouring into you guys and I'm receiving.

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I felt like that moment was just amazing.

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It was so moving and I just wanted to share that.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, thank you.

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All right, so my 11 year old can be here today, but I have a quick little thing from him.

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He said I had an amazing time with City Light on this trip.

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I think Victor was a big part of that too.

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You guys had a ton of fun together.

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Yari, I think, hit it on the head when she said they were running around the camp gun Like kids one moment, the next moment, praying on people, and what a joy it is to see kids, especially your own kids, serving the Lord.

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That was amazing.

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Doing that as a family was special.

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He wanted to call out one particular memory you had.

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It was Saturday night.

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He was able to pray for a number of people.

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He said I remember praying alongside Miss Yari for one woman we could see who was feeling a lot of distress.

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As we prayed for her, we saw the peace of God in her face as she received his love and healing.

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So this is an amazing experience.

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I mean I could just tell you he's really anxious to get back at it and pray for people.

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I mean he really enjoyed that.

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I think there's nothing like experiencing God flowing through you and touching somebody.

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He really experiences love in some kind of new, profound way and I think he just he saw a part of God's heart he hadn't seen before, as he prayed for people.

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All right, this is my bit here.

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I wanted this trip expecting to be impacted by ministering to the Ishmael people, and I was.

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It was awesome to see the Holy Spirit move and set people free.

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I'll never forget that.

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But something else happened on this trip that I was not expecting.

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I wasn't expecting to be so deeply impacted by being able to spend a week with this amazing, the amazing people of this church.

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We took flights and bus rides together.

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We prayed for other people and we prayed for each other.

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We shared meals together morning, noon and night.

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We shoveled rock and gravel and mixed the mint together in the hot sun.

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We sat around fires in the cold evenings and played games, laughed, shared stories of how God had drawn us to him and to this church.

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We shared the miracles we had seen God perform in each of our lives.

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In the process of it all, heidi and Juni felt our hearts being knit together even deeper with this church family.

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We felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude welling up in us for God placing us in this family.

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We found ourselves truly amazed by the maturity, strength and love of the people around us, and we felt such gratitude for the church leadership team for helping lead us into greater maturity in Christ.

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So, just like I did in the first service, I just wanted to give a few words of gratitude for the leadership team, because the health of this church is no accident.

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To Pastor Boyan and Emily, thank you for leading us with strength and speaking to our identity in Christ so often to give us the courage to step into the freedom that is found in him.

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Your strong leadership and just being unapologetic about the truth is evident in the health of your people.

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So thank you To Pastor Moe and Tiffany you have invested tirelessly in the community of this church through life groups and otherwise, and your leadership is evident in how people connect and love each other here.

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To Pastor James and Nicole, thank you for the joy that you carry, the transparency with which you minister and the way you draw people in and make them feel valued.

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And to Pastor Robin Yarry, thank you for showing us how to serve with love and grace and compassion.

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You two are an amazing example.

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Can we just like give them a round of applause?

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Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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It's hard work.

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I'm a leader in a business sense and a lot of times the people around you are a reflection of your leadership.

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You kind of look around and say, well, I'm not really happy with how things are going.

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I got to change how I'm leading and it's amazing to see how healthy this body is.

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We're so blessed to be a part of this church and I've been a part of a lot of different churches growing up and sometimes people brag on their church, which I think is kind of cool, but sometimes it's about the work.

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We have really great worship, we have really great this, that great kids program, and we have all that here.

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But I was just blown away by the depth and the maturity of the people.

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I mean, just turn to your left or your right at any time in here and you're bound to run into somebody really amazing who can pray for you can share about their walk with the Lord, and it's just amazing.

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It's amazing and I'm just so glad to be here today.

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Hi everyone, my name's Josh.

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So it's just funny, just because a couple of years ago, when I first started coming to City Light, I didn't even want to go beyond the overflow section or the back row.

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And now I'm here testifying, coming back from a mission trip.

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Yeah, yeah, and I just also just found a couple of years back, I remember just finding mission strips are so offensive for some reason.

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But now, coming back from one, it's just funny how God works in that way.

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But I think, just even so, I just had a hard time understanding why I was even selected in the first place.

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When I got the email, I was like, really this is the best we can pick.

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But I think, just thinking about it, I just remember getting a couple of words, even from Pastor Nathaniel, saying there's a gift of healing on your life and I just didn't know where there could be an opportunity for that.

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This is the perfect thing.

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But I think, just even amidst my struggle of wanting to know why I was even selected and why God even placed me to be in this, I just learned that there's just so much authority.

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Just go and just know that your authority is in Christ and just trust that he's going to take care of everything when you do show up.

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I remember, just like the second service in particular, just the way it was set up.

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We all were kind of called up to the front in a line and then it was time for altar ministry and I just remember just a wave of people coming towards us and I was like, ok, we got to do this now.

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And I remember Pastor Boyn just said, ok, now go.

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And we just had to kind of just step out and go in faith.

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And I just think this, knowing that if we just step out in faith and just pray and just know that God is taking care of everything, you just have to step up.

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I just remember just praying for this one person.

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I remember just saying Jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus.

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And the demon that was inside had to respond and it was just like just coming back at it Jesus, jesus.

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And I just saw things just move in just ways that I never thought I could imagine.

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And that's available to all of us here, not necessarily, not just in these remote areas, where there may be a lot more receptive to it.

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It's here and we can do this in our everyday lives and just know that, even though there may not have been a physical outward appearance, that there's something there, that the Lord is working, something in the spirit, lord, that we planted those seeds and that something powerful is going to come up from that.

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But I think one of the things I was just blessed with is just what other folks have said is that we've just grown so close as a family.

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I've received just by being there.

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We were just ministering to one another, just praying for one another, just seeing all of us just show up in unity and just being in Christ with one another and just pouring into each other.

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It was the most encouraging thing and I came back just so filled and just so blessed and so I just want to encourage you to give this.

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Anyone kind of that was like me a couple years ago that didn't want to go beyond that section.

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The Lord has so much prepared for you.

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He has so much that he wants to give you and he has so much that he wants to use you to share to his kingdom.

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So thank you, guys, so much for just allowing me to come here.

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Thank you, hey, hey, inclines nineteen signs for just giving thanks.

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Hey guys, see, stop, john-force lady, how's it goingda佳 Phoenix lady, slave lady, slave lady.

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Finding Faith and Community on a Mission Trip to Guatemala: CityLight Church Podcast Reflections

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