Hey guys, how's it going? I'm Isaiah Huber from Brazil and I want to ask you a question. Have you sometimes felt a lack of purpose in your life? You wake up and say, "Why am I even alive?" I want to encourage you to watch this message where I explain even more about having a missiondriven life. God has something amazing in store for you. So, watch this message. Be encouraged. God bless you. Guys, it is such an honor for us to be here with you. You all are such an inspiration to us in Brazil and to so many people all over the world. And I'd like to just comment that I'm here today with my beautiful, amazing, fantastic wife, Aaron Huber, who's right over here. Give it up for my wife. Such an amazing person. I had to leave Brazil and go all the way to Japan to finally meet my wife. We we we met in high school during um during my stay in Japan. I lived there for 5 years in Japan and she was there she lived there for almost 10 years in Japan. And finally I was able to convince her to marry me when I was 25. She was 24 and now we have three beautiful children. And like we say in Brazil, praise the Lord that our children took after the mother. They are good-looking children and they look like their mother. Praise the Lord for that. So we have Noah. Noah who was 14 years old, Bella who is 10, and the fireball Kiyah who is seven years old. So they are in Brazil right now praying for us and praying for you too. They wanted to come but I said maybe next time. But uh they love you guys and receive their big hugs as well and hopefully they'll be here next time as well. I just want to honor you guys. I want to honor your amazing leadership. Pastor Peter and his amazing family, Pastor Marty's amazing family. Guys, give it up for your leadership. Your pastors, the pastoral staff, the team. Guys, you are so blessed. Do you guys realize that you are so blessed to have your pastors praying over you, pastoring your lives? What an amazing privilege you have to be part of such a lifegiving church here in the Philippines and around the world. So, thank you so much for receiving us with such love. We have felt so loved, huh? so loved, so cared for, and we really feel like we are part of the CCF family. Is that okay? We just feel like we've been accepted and we are part of this family. So, thank you so much. We feel so, so loved. So, today I want to just quickly share uh a word that's been really burning on my heart. It's the importance of us living a missiondriven lifestyle. How do you live your life? Do you live your life purpose driven, missiondriven, or do you just let the days go by and you just wake up without really much purpose? You know what? If you have given your life to Jesus, God has given you a reason to be alive. You have a purpose and a specific calling in your life. Amen. That's one of the many joys and privileges we have of being born again believers is that we have meaning. We have a reason to be alive. We have a purpose in our life. And that's a privilege for us. So we have a mission. We have a mission. In fact, it's not just any mission. It's a huge mission. Say this. A huge mission. We have a huge, in fact, it's called the great commission in the Bible in Matthew 28:19. And I would like to read this verse together with you. All right? So, prepare your voice of boldness. And we're going to read this together as a church. 1 2 3. Let's go. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There we go. That's our great mission in life. Now, this is a big mission. Go and make disciples of all the nations. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. It's a big mission. It's a big task. So, how are we going to do that? In Colossians 3:23, it says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart as working for the Lord and not for human masters." So, we have a task and this is how we're going to do it. We're going to work at it with all of our heart. And we need to be creative. We need to ask God for strategies. We need to ask God for energy for us to be able to complete our task. and to to complete it with all of our heart. Now, because it's such a big task, we need to dream big. Amen. Say this real loud. Say, "Dream big." We need to dream big. We need to be big dreamers because we have a huge task. Now, I love this verse. Ephesians 3:20. Now, once again, we're going to read this verse together as a church family. Okay? Is that okay? All right. Are you guys ready? We're going to read it together. 1 2 3. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. Who here has already read this verse before in your life? Has anybody read this verse before? Yeah, it's a great verse. It's my favorite verse in the Bible, I think. Now, it's interesting though because oftentimes we will misquote this verse. I personally have misqued this verse. Now, it's a very subtle mistake that we sometimes make, but if you pay attention, you might hear other people also misquing this verse. Now I'm going to I'm going to read this verse but I'm going to I'm going to read it how many of us often times misquote it and you are going to tell me where my mistake is. All right. So pay close attention as I read this verse. Then I'm going to ask you where did I make a mistake. All right. So now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. Where did I make a mistake? What can that's right? You guys are very attentive. Good job. Now the verse does not say that he is able to do a measure more than we can ask or imagine. It says that we ask or imagine. Now let's rewind a little bit. Do you believe that our God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine? Yes or no? Yes. Of course. Of course. Our God is all powerful. He's omnipotent. Amen. So of course he's able. Our God is big. Our God is the creator of the universe. So yes, he is able. But here we are learning something very interesting. The author is saying guys, our God is able to do immeasurably more. Another version says abundantly beyond all that we not just theoretically can ask, but he's saying he can do more than you are actually asking. In other words, it's your turn now to take that step of faith and actually ask God and actually imagine. In other words, God's big. God's all powerful. So, we need to understand that. Have faith in his power. Take steps of faith in that knowledge and actually ask God for bigger things. Amen. You guys understand that? That's so powerful. One day I was I was in Lagos, Nigeria, part of a big conference called the Holy Spirit conference. It was by far the largest conference I had ever been to. They told us that the last night there were almost three million people present. I'm not sure if that's true, but I know that there was huge multitudes of people there. Just the venue where we were located, imagine this, okay, was 2 kilometers wide by three kilometers long. The place where we were meeting, it was huge, huge, huge. And just on the stage was seated 6,000 people. So, it was a very large location. The pastor of this denomination, his name is Pastor Enoch Ado, and he was preaching, and he said a phrase that I will never forget. He said, "When you ask God for something mediocre, for something weak and measly, you dishonor God." And I sat there listening to him and I thought about what he said and I said, "Yes, that's right. When you ask God, God's all powerful. And if you don't have faith to ask for big things and you just, you know, ask according to your own lack of faith and ask for measly little things when you should be asking for big things, you dishonor God. God wants you to believe in his omnipotence. He wants you to believe that he is all powerful and to ask according to that knowledge, according to his greatness. So I want to encourage you guys today to dream big, to ask God for big things because he wants to do the miraculous in your life. Amen. So dream big. Say that again. Dream big. I love this quote by CT Stud. I always quote this in Brazil. Wherever I go, I love to quote this quote here by CT Stud. It says, "Only one life and it will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Such a powerful quote. We only get one chance. Only one chance at this life. You will not get a second chance. After you pass away, after you go to glory, go to heaven. You will not come back to earth to relive your life and get a second chance. We only get one life and it's going by really quickly. And only what's done for Christ will last. So let's take advantage of every waking moment that we have to live a missiondriven lifestyle. Now who are we reaching? We saw we saw the the what the how. And now let's see the who. In Matthew 9:35 through 38 it says Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues. proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask, ask, ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. So, who are these crowds today? Who are the crowds that we need to have compassion on? Of course, there are friends. There are family. There are circle of friends. There are colleagues at work. There are campus university students. There are generation Z alpha. They're the people around us. Of course, here in the Philippines and all over the world. These are the people, the crowds on which we need to have compassion. And we are one of those workers. God says here in the Bible that that the the workers are few, but we are one of those workers. Say real loud, I am one of those workers. Now, point to the person next to you and say, you are one of those workers. There's a few quotes here from amazing men of God that I want to just quickly read so we can reflect on this real quick. By Oswwell Jmith, an amazing missions mobilizer. He says, "We talk of the second coming, but half of the world has never even heard of the first coming." So many people have never even heard that Jesus came the first time. Sometimes we get we get so caught up by saying, "Oh, when's he coming back? When's the second coming?" And we try to debate and try to guess, but half the world has never even heard of the first time he came. In other words, we have a big task ahead of us. David Livingston, an amazing missionary who was already in heaven. He says, "If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a heavenly king be considered a sacrifice?" How many times have I asked somebody, "Hey, how's it going? How's the ministry going? How's your life with Christ?" And they say, "Oh, yeah. It's challenging. It's a sacrifice. You know, it it's it's hard. It's challenging." Here he's saying when an earthly king gives gives you a commission, it's an honor. Wow. The king commissioned me. So how much more so is it an honor for us to be commissioned by our heavenly father, by our heavenly king. The great commission is such an honor. And then he says another phrase. He says sympathy is no substitute for action. That's powerful. So just seeing a picture and seeing people suffering and you're feeling compassion, that's good, but that's not a substitute for you taking steps of faith, steps, action steps to actually go through with something. Jim Elliot, another amazing missionary, he was a missionary martyr to uh in in Ecuador. He said this, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." That's powerful. That's powerful. He gives what he cannot keep. You can't keep your life. Your life is passing away. You can't keep it forever. So, he's no fool who gives his life to gain what he cannot lose. What can you cannot lose? You cannot lose your salvation when you give your life to Christ and you're following him. You're following him eternal life. When you're in heaven, you are never going to be cast away from heaven. You cannot lose that. That's amazing. That's powerful. That's powerful. So in summary, desperate love generates immediate obedience. If you desperately love Jesus, you should feel an urgency to obey what he said. go and make disciples. Who loves Jesus here? Raise your hand. Yeah, that's right. All over the room, we love Jesus. So, this love should generate an immediate obedience. You know, sometimes we need to simply stop a little bit. Stop a little bit and reflect and really understand how millions of people are perishing, are dying without ever hearing about the love of Jesus. And that should also cause in us a sense of urgency. You know, my parents felt that. My grandparents felt that they were just an ordinary couple, an ordinary family living in Illinois in the in in the US and they felt that urge to go and make disciples of all nations. Excuse me. So then they prayed about it and they went all the way to Brazil to be missionaries. They dedicated their lives as missionaries in Brazil. My parents, they always dreamed of taking the gospel to the unreached people groups in the Amazon jungle. Right now in the Amazon, there are about 80,000 villages along the Amazon River. and all the tributaries that run into the Amazon River and maybe 7,000 have a bibleelving church. In other words, more than 70,000 unreached villages still to um to this day in the Amazon and they felt that sense of urgency to go to the Amazon. So, if you have gone there, has anybody here been to Brazil? Raise your hand. Anybody? Anybody? All right, we got some people here. So in the northern part of Brazil is the Amazon basin. It's a huge huge area, lots of jungle and lots of water. So to get to the villages, you don't go by car, you go by boat. Has anybody traveled by boat here? Raise your hand. All right. So you we actually built a little boat and we lived on a boat. So you can imagine this American family moving to Brazil and now we are living on a little simple little housebo on the Amazon River. Now you might say, "Wow, that sounds great." You might imagine a big cruise liner, you know, with all the comforts of a cruise ship. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It was a very small little boat, little house boat, just big enough for us to sleep on and us as kids to do homeschooling on this little boat. No AC, no air conditioning. The Amazon is extremely hot, very, very humid, and it's a challenge. But you know what? Ever since I was a kid, my parents would say to me and my my my brothers and sisters, you guys, we are so blessed to live on a boat in the Amazon. We are so privileged to live on a boat in the Amazon. And they said that so many times that I believe them. I grew up thinking that I was the most privileged child on earth. Only later in life did I understand that that nobody wants to live on a boat in the Amazon. But to this day, I really do believe that we that we were so privileged to live in that missionary environment. But it's a challenge. It's a challenge. We have a mission, but there's always challenges and distractions. You might say, "Oh, maybe somebody told you, but this is not true. Somebody told you, you know, when you give your life to Jesus, all your problems will go away." That's not true. Oh, when you give your life to Jesus, your life will be perfect. No, the Bible never says that. The Bible actually says the opposite. The Bible says you will face hardships. You will be persecuted. But take heart because through it all, we have the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling with us and holding us throughout the hardships and throughout the persecutions. Amen. Give God the glory. He deserves it. He deserves it. So on the Amazon as well, there are hardships. There are reasons for us to give up. For example, as we lived on the boat in the Amazon this one time, uh I have I have a sister her her name is Esther. And when she was seven years old, this happened on a certain day. So, we were on the boat traveling in this direction. Okay. So, she needed some some water. So, she got a bucket with a rope tied to the bucket. So, she walked to the back of the boat and she threw the bucket with the rope into the water to get some water. The problem is that the boat was in in motion going this direction. So, when she threw the bucket at the back of the boat, the bucket caught water and then pulled her into the water. So, she fell into the water. Try to imagine this. A seven-year-old little girl gets pulled into the water. This huge river in the Amazon. It's so big that you can't even see the other side. So, she gets pulled into the water and the boat is going away from her. And she screams, "Daddy!" But because of the noise of the engine, nobody hears her scream. So, she falls into the water. In the meantime, my parents are in the front of the boat just talking, talking about how good God is, talking about missions, and the boat is going this way. Finally, after a long time, we don't know how long, but they say almost an hour, they heard my other sister calling for Esther. My other sister is Sarah, and she called Esther, but Esther wouldn't answer. So my ma my my mom got up and said, "Where is she?" So she looked, could not find her. So then she cried, "Luke," my dad, "Luke, Esther is not with us." So we turned the boat around and went back along the path. There's no path in the water, but we went back along the same way we had come, looking for Esther. Now, in the meantime, Esther is here floating in the water, and she heard a loud audible voice that said, "Esther." It was so loud that she turned to look to see who was talking to her, but she didn't see anybody. So, she understood that this was the Holy Spirit talking to me. And the Holy Spirit said, "Esther, don't be afraid because you will see your family again." Now, today when she tells that story, when she heard that voice, she thought the voice said or meant that you'll see your family again, but it'll be in heaven. But it it comforted her and she was floating in the water and she had just learned how to float on her back. So, she's floating and floating in the water and legend has it that until this day, she is still there floating in the water. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Anyway, okay, let's go back. So, we're coming back in the boat searching and searching for Esther. Now, at this point, it's been maybe an hour and a half, you know, almost two hours, and we're coming back looking, searching. But to be honest, we had already lost hope because it's practically impossible for a little seven-year-old girl to survive in the middle of this Amazonian river jungle for for very long. And she didn't know how to swim. She could barely float on her back. So, everybody was crying, crying already, already with the belief that she was in heaven. But we were still searching, still searching and crying and crying, but searching for her. At the same time, just declaring a miracle that would happen. Finally, after almost two hours, way up in front, a big wave went up and came down. And we thought we saw a little hand waving. And then another wave came up and went down. And we saw two little hands waving. And it was Esther. So we went over there, pulled her in. Of course, she was completely burnt, sunburnt cuz she was, you know, 2 hours with the Amazonian sun. So completely sunburnt, but completely fine. No problem. God did a miracle that day. Praise God. God is good. God is good. So today, Esther uh she's married, has four kids. They're pastors in Brazil alongside us there in Brazil. So praise the Lord. But you know during that moment after that happened the devil came and said you guys look look what happened. You almost lost your daughter. She almost died. You guys shouldn't stay here in Brazil. You should go back to the US. Go back to where it's safe. Trying to discourage my family from staying from persevering. And they said no. God has called us here. God has called us here. So we will persevere no matter the cost. Your life won't be easy. We will face challenges. We will face hardships. But where God is calling you, that is the best place for you to be. Amen. God is calling you and he has called you. Amen. Give God the glory. God's amazing. God's amazing. So they remained focused on their mission. They remained focused. And you know what? That is the secret. Focus. You will never be able to defeat someone who is truly focused on their goals. And you know what? When I say that we need to be focused, it always brings me back to another memory I have when I was a when I was a 13-year-older. Is it okay if I tell you guys some stories today? All right. So, when I was 13, I uh I was still in the Amazon area because when I was 14, then I moved to Japan. But before that, I was still in the Amazon. And what I love to do, I I loved to go fishing, go hunting, camping. So one day I wanted to go fishing and I realized I didn't have any any bait. So I I heard that there's this pond nearby that I could get some bait to go fishing. So I walked. Now you can imagine, okay, a little 13-year-old skinny little kid walking through the jungle. And then I went to this pond called the alligator pond. Now, why do you think this pond had this name? Why do you guys think? Yeah, it's filled with alligators. That's right. It was lots of alligators in this pond. I don't know why I did this. It wasn't very smart, but I went there by myself, a 13-year-old, and I went there and I was looking for some bait. Finally, in the middle of the pond, I see a little alligator floating on the water. Now, I'm not going to exaggerate and say it was a big alligator. It wasn't very big. Maybe maybe this big. But, of course, I wasn't very big, you know. So, for me, it was a big alligator. And I see this alligator, you know, floating in the middle of the water. And I thought to myself, wouldn't it be amazing to catch this alligator with my bare hands? Now, I uh I wasn't very smart. All right? I was Today, I would never do that. But back then, I don't know why I decided to do that. So, I said, "Well, it can't be very difficult. Uh, I'm just going to, you know, sneak up to the alligator and catch it with my hands." No secret, right? So, I said, "All right, I'm just going to be very stealthy and sneak up on the alligator." It wasn't very far. It was maybe from here to the the pulpit, maybe, for example. And so I started to walk in, but it wasn't that pond like of crystal clear water, white sand. No, it was the Amazonian pond. So that murky murky water with lots of vegetation and lots of mud, really deep mud. So I took that first step into the pond like this. It's that mud that is so deep that if you're wearing sandals, you know, uh and you you pull your foot out, your foot will come out of the mud, but your sandal will never leave that mud. And you can go back and dig. You will never find your sandal. But anyway, I was barefoot. So, I slowly but surely, you know, uh made my way towards the alligator. As I was approaching the alligator, as I got closer, I began to think about my situation and I said to myself, "That's a baby alligator. Where's the mother? Where's the father? Where's the family of this alligator? It's called the alligator pond for a reason." So, I started to get very scared and I started to get distracted from my mission. What was my mission? My mission was to catch the alligator, right? But as I got closer, I started to get very distracted and fearful and look in the water next to me, look in the water over here, and every every shadow I would imagine an alligator, and I would get I I would get really scared. And finally, I said, "No, no, no, no. I have to focus on my mission. I have to focus on what I'm here to do." So I forced myself not to imagine anything happening around me, not to think about the dangers and I just kept going towards the alligator. Finally after about 30 minutes, took me a long time, I was on top of the alligator about this deep in mud and water and the alligator is here. And then I thought about, well, how am I going to catch this thing if I if I should have thought of this earlier, huh? If if I try to catch it on the tail, he's going to bite me. If I try to grab him on the mouth, he's going to, you know, scratch me or cut me with his tail. I said, I know. I am going to grab him right around the neck and I'm just going to squeeze with all of my might. Now, I was not very strong. You could you you know imagine a little skeleton walking through the jungle and and and I said I'm just going to jump on him and grab him and squeeze him with all of my strength. So stay focused, don't be distracted on three. One, two, three. And then I just yelled like a crazy little kid in the middle of the jungle. I ah I jumped on him and I grabbed him right around the neck and I squeezed with all of my might and I just ran out of the pond with mud and water all over the place and I'm outside of the pond now just panting and and just squeezing that alligator and just shaking the alligator. But as I shook the alligator, I noticed something strange. I shook the alligator and the alligator wasn't fighting back. He He was limp as I shook him. His head would just bobble back and forth. And I was shaking him and his head was just going like this. And finally I And then I thought, "Oh my goodness, all this work to catch a dead alligator. Oh my goodness, how how embarrassing." That's what I thought. So, I thought, well, since the alligator's dead anyway, I don't have to squeeze so tight. So, I began to loosen my grip on the alligator. Has anybody seen a demon-possessed alligator? I'm just kidding. But at that moment, it the alligator just came to life as I as I loosened my grip on the alligator. He came to life and he looked at me and he said, "I'm going to eat you." No, I'm just kidding. But he he communicated that to me. He became, you know, he woke up and he just went crazy. Went crazy. And then, of course, I went crazy and I screamed again. I And I squeezed him as hard as I can. I found a tree and I just threw him 30 times against that tree until he finally went back to sleep. Anyway, long story short, we ended up eating that alligator. Amen. That was amazing. Yeah, it was good, too. It was delicious. Has anybody here ever eaten an alligator? Okay, we've got some. We got some. It's delicious. It's good, isn't it? It's like a mixture of fish and chicken. I don't know. It's it's it's delicious. So, but the the point of the story is we need to remain focused focused and not get distracted and we will achieve our goal. You know, there was a man in the Bible who was very focused. His name was Nehemiah. Nehemiah was extremely missiondriven and extremely focused and we can learn a lot from this man. Of course, Israel was in exile and God called Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city walls. It was a very huge task. But he he he he left um where he was in exile with a team of people, returned to Israel, and his goal was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that were torn down. So let's pick up this story here in Nehemiah 4. Now, keep in mind that Israel had many enemies at this time. So they did not want to see the rebuilding of the walls because when the walls were torn down they could dominate and they could really you know do whatever they wanted with the with with Jerusalem with the the population. So when they saw that Nehemiah was going to rebuild the walls they did not like this and we see that here in Nehemiah 4 1 to3 it says when sand ballot heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews. Now us as as believers, as Christians, we will also be ridiculed. Maybe Jesus was ridiculed. He was persecuted. We will also possibly be ridiculed. And you know what? If you're not being ridiculed, maybe you're not being bold enough in your Christian lifestyle because we do have an enemy. We are waging a spiritual war at this very moment. Okay? So these were the enemies of Israel and he ridiculed and he said in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria. He said what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life? Those heaps of rubble burned as they are. Tobaya the Ammonite who was at his side. How many of you guys know that people that are very critical, who are very are always criticizing people, they tend to walk in groups? I want to encourage you guys to stay far away from those groups. Do not walk with people that are always criticizing people or else you might begin to start having a critical spirit. And we want to live encouraging and uplifting people. Amen. So distance yourself. distance yourself from these negative, always criticizing people. All right? And he says, "What are they building? Even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones." But Nehemiah and his team, they stayed focused and they were dedicated. They were focused and dedicated. Say that real loud. Say, "Focused." And dedicated. dedicated. All right. So Nehemiah 4:6 says, "So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height. For the people worked with all of their heart, just like Colossians 3:23, the people worked with all of their heart. They were focused. They were determined. They were missiondriven. And that's why it was going along so quickly. We cannot get distracted. They were not distracted. They were focused. We can't be distracted. I remember one time I was driving and I got really hungry. So I said, "I'm going to stop and buy a pizza." Who here likes pizza? Raise your hand. Yeah, we love pizza. I said, "I'm going to buy a pepperoni pizza." Who likes pepperoni pizza? You guys like pepperoni? All right. So, me, too. I love pepperoni pizza. So, I pulled over. I bought a pepperoni pizza and I put it on the passenger seat in my car. And my plan was to only eat it when I got home. So, I started driving home, but all of a sudden, that pizza started to communicate with me. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? And he started he started to say, "Isaiah, eat me. I'm delicious." And the smell, the pepperoni. Oh my goodness. And we had this conversation, you know, me and the pizza. And finally, I said, "You know what? Ah, I can't wait. I'm just going to eat a slice right now." So, by the way, what I did, I do not recommend. You should not do this. Okay. But I reached into the box and I grabbed a slice of that delicious stretchy cheesy pizza with pepperoni on it. And with one hand on the wheel, the other hand holding my slice of pizza, I began to drive and eat at the same time. Now, all was going fine until one precious pepperoni rolled off the pizza and fell onto my knee and onto the floor of the car. And I said, "No, pepperoni. You're so precious. I can't abandon you. I'm going to go after you like the 99 pepperoni there. You can stay there. I'm going to go after the one lost pepperoni, like the one lost sheep." And then so I'm there, but then I realized that my hands are full. One hand on the wheel, one hand holding a slice of pizza. But then I realized that this pinky finger was still available. Wasn't doing anything. So I said, "Ah, this finger." So I started to search around my knee trying to stay focused, but searching for that pepperoni, but I couldn't find it. Finally, I did what you should never do. I looked down. That's right. I looked down to try to find that pepperoni. The moment I looked down, of course, what happened? I started to veer off the road onto oncoming traffic. There's this big truck coming in. Honked his horn real loud. And I looked back up and I swerved and I just missed the truck. But why did this happen? Because I was distracted. because I took my focus off of where I was heading and I was distracted and that almost cost me my life. When you take your eyes off of Jesus, that can cost you your life. The devil comes to steal, to destroy, to kill. We cannot take our eyes off of Jesus. He is the author and the perfector of our faith. Amen. Amen. Give God the glory one more time. We love him. He's amazing. All right. So, Nehemiah 6:1-4, it says, and we just read this, "When the word came to Sand Ballet, Tobaya, and the other pepperonis, they're trying to distract you uh to the rest of the enemies that I had built the wall and not a gap was left in it. Though up to this time, I had not yet set the doors and gates. Sandbell and Grim sent me this WhatsApp message." I'm just kidding. They sent me a message and it said, "Come, Nehemiah. Neima, come down off the wall. Come. Let us meet together in one of the villages in the plane of Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. But they were scheming to harm me. So I sent messengers back to them with this reply. All right, for let's read this reply as a church. All right, with lots of boldness and authority. On three. One, two, three. I am carrying on a great project and I cannot go down. I love this response. I love it. They tried to distract him saying, "Nemiah, come on down. We want to meet with you. We want to, you know, have a meeting here." And he said, "Uh uh uh, I know what's going on here. You're trying to distract me from my mission." And he says right here, I can't I'm I'm carrying on a great project. We are carrying on a great project. We have the great commission going on. We have a purpose in our life. We are carrying on a great project. And he says, "No, I'm carrying on a great project and I will not come down. I will not be distracted." And this should be our response anytime someone tries to pull you away from your focus. Tries to distract you. No, don't get so involved at church. Ah, come on. You have other things to take up your time. No, don't get so involved in in your Dgroup. No, there's other things. No, don't get so involved in disciplehip in the ministries at church. No, come on. Let's let's do something else. That's pepperoni talking to you. That's sandbotlet. That's Tobaya. That's people that are trying to distract you from your calling. Your answer should say, "No, I'm involved in amazing church, in a great church, in a great project. I will not come down. I will not be distracted. I will get more involved in church. I will get more involved in my mission to make disciples of all nations because that is our calling and that is our great project. Amen. I like you guys. You guys clap. That encourages me. You guys are amazing. So he said, "Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" Four times they were perseverant, but four times they sent me the same message and each time I gave them the same answer four times. In other words, again and again and again and again. No, I will not go down because I am doing a great project. You know, we we need to be like, have you seen those raceh horses that have those Yeah. They have those peripheral vision blockers. Have you seen that? So the raceh horses, they have these vision blockers. They block the peripheral vision of the horse. Why? So the horse won't get distracted. He will stay in his lane and he will win the race. Because if he gets distracted, he will lose the race. So we need to be like those raceh horses. Yeah. Just like that. And run and run our race focused on Jesus. Amen. And as we do that, God will do the miraculous in your life. He will open up supernatural opportunities, supernatural doors. As you're faithful with the little, he will give you much, much more. Nehemiah 6:15 says, "So the wall was completed in 25th of Il in 52 days." God, guys, that's a miracle. If you've been to to Jerusalem, the walls are still there today. Big walls, big stones. For them to complete it in 52 days was a miracle. How do I know that? Nehemiah 6:16 says, "When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and they lost their self-confidence because why? Look at this. They realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. Amen. When you do this, when you remain focused and missiondriven, all the people around you will say, "Wow, the favor of God is on your life." The favor of God is on your life. And he will open up the supernatural for you to walk in the supernatural. Signs and wonders will follow you wherever you go because you're being faithful with the little and he will give you more. So the the miraculous will happen as we remain taskdriven, missiondriven. So focus on the mission. I want to close by reading this last passage here in Hebrews. Hebrews 11 is an amazing chapter and it talks about all the heroes of the faith. Have you read this chapter before? Hebrews 11. It's an amazing chapter. It's like the hall of fame of the heroes of the past. And the author starts to list the heroes of the faith. In fact, if I can call the the worship team to to join me here on stage. So this it's a hall of fame. It's the hall of fame. He talks about the all the heroes of of the faith. that have already run their race and now are part of a cloud of witnesses in heaven cheering us on. Let's read this. Hebrews 11:32. It says, "What more shall I say? I don't have time to tell you about Gideon, Bareric, Samson, Jeepa, David, Samuel the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised." Look at this. Shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames. escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength, who became powerful in battle, routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refused to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sawed in two. They were killed by the sword. They went about in sheep skins and goat skins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith. Yet, pay attention to this verse. Yet none of them received what had been promised since God had planned something better for us. So that only together with us would they be made perfect. This thought continues in the next verse. Hebrews 12. It says, "Therefore, therefore, since we today are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses." Who is this cloud of witnesses? It's the heroes of the faith. It's these people that we just read about. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all these heroes of the faith, David. Since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us do what? Let us throw off everything that hinders that distracts us that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. I'd like to invite you to stand with me right now and close your eyes. So, if you could you could just stand up with me right now and close your eyes. I'd like you to reflect a little bit on what we just heard. So, close your eyes. I want you to imagine that you are in a huge stadium right in the middle surrounded by billions and billions of people. So, with your eyes closed and you're imagining that you are right now in the middle of a huge stadium and you are part of a relay race team, you know that a relay race, the first runner runs with a baton in his hand. He runs his race and then he passes on that baton to the next person. So let's say the first person has just run and the second person and you are the fourth person, the third person runs and runs and runs and it's getting closer and closer to be your turn. Closer and closer to you being handed that baton into your hand and closer and closer to being your turn to run your race. And as it gets closer, the crowd goes wild and they start just cheering for you and shouting your name. The Bible says that they were not yet perfected because they were waiting for something even greater to receive the prize together with you. Because the heroes of the faith that have already run their race, they are part of our relay race team. They have done their part, but they know that if you run well, then they will also receive their prize in the end. So now they're cheering for you. They're saying, "Go. You can do it. It's your turn. Get the baton into your hand and run. Run." And they are a cloud of witnesses cheering us on. So with your eyes closed, you're imagining right now your hand accepting, receiving that baton. And now it's your turn. And you start running and running and running and you're running with all of your strength and you are focused on finishing your task. Only one life, it will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Could you extend your hands to receive? I want to pray for you today. Father, thank you so much that we are part of a bibleelbelieving family. Thank you for CCF. Thank you so much that we are taught the truth here. Father, I just want to bless right now every person under the sound of my voice, maybe physically here in this building, maybe online, maybe in a campus somewhere, maybe in a a different country. Father, that each and every one of us under the sound of my voice that we would live a missiondriven lifestyle. That we would consider it an honor to be commissioned by a heavenly king. That we would consider it a privilege to live this life that will soon be passed. Consider it a privilege to follow you, to be persecuted for you. consider it a privilege for us to persevere focused on what you have planned for us. Father, I declare that each and every person under the sound of my voice would leave here today with a new level of boldness, of spiritual authority, that they would boldly proclaim the gospel, that they would boldly disciple people all around them. Father, I declare that spiritual boldness and courage over each and every one of us today. And I declare focus, focus. We don't accept any distractions in our life. Father, thank you so much for the privilege that we have to serve together as a family to see the kingdom of God reaching all of the Philippines and all of the earth. If you accept this prayer, would you just clap right now to God saying, "Thank you, Jesus. I accept that. I accept it with all of my heart in Jesus name." God bless you guys in Jesus mighty name. Good day CCF family. Welcome to Sunday Fastrack, where you ask real life questions and we give you biblical truths. I'm Unika Amore Gorin Suezo from Exalt Worship Ministry and we're here today with Pastor Isaiah Huer of Past International all the way from Brazil to answer some of your questions. Good day, Pastor Isaiah. How are you feeling today? Doing great. Praise the Lord. Good day. Good day. Thank you for your wonderful message this morning. Are you ready to answer some of our questions? I'm ready. All right. Okay. For the first question, when following God feels uncool and unpopular, how do we stay bold in our faith and actually lead change in our circle of influence? That's a great question. But it's interesting because sometimes we may feel influenced by the world around us. Oh, what's unpopular? What's uncool? But actually, we should be the ones influencing what is cool, what is popular. And the gospel will always be popular. It's interesting because I like to surf. So sometimes when I'm on the beach and I'm carrying my surfboard and I'm talking to other surfers on the beach and I tell them that I love Jesus and they say, "What? You're a Christian and you surf?" And I said, "Yes, of course I'm a Christian and I love to surf." And they say, "Well, can that can you do that?" And I said, "Of course you can." We, as Christians, we need to influence in every walk of life. And if somebody ridicules me and says, "Wait a minute. You're a Christian." Trying to criticize me, I turn it around and I say, "Of course I'm a Christian. Aren't you? Why aren't you a Christian? It's amazing." And I turn the situation around and then they feel like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why am I not a Christian?" So, we are the trendsetters. We are influencers in the world because the gospel is the power of Jesus Christ. That's a really great answer. I'm I'm actually amazed that I I feel you're a cool person, right? All right. For the second question, how do we know if the people or things in our lives are pulling us away from God's mission or pushing us towards it? Yeah, that's an easy answer because you can see what are my priorities. So, if your friends are slowly pulling you away from the things of God, you can easily see that in your priorities. Are you having time with Jesus every day? Are you developing an intimate relationship in a on a daily activity? If you see in your agenda that you're starting to not do that anymore, then an alarm must be sounding saying, "Hey, something's wrong." If you're starting to not go to church every Sunday, if you're starting to not be involved in your D-group as you were before, then alarms should be sounding like, "Listen, something's wrong. What is going on?" You need to evaluate what you're what you're being influenced by and say, you know, how am I being influenced? Am I being influenced to be more involved in church, be more involved in my in my time with Jesus? Then that's good. But if not, then alarms should be sounding off in your in your life saying, "Hey, something's wrong. Correct it right now." All right. Very practical. So for our last question, for those who want to make an impact, how can they start something meaningful for the next generation wherever God has placed them? Whether in campuses or even in their isolated jobs. So God has something so special in each and every one of our lives. God has something for you that I could never do. God can reach people through your life that I could never reach. But God can reach uh people through my life that you can't reach. So we need to be very um intentional as we pray and seek God's voice saying God what do you have for me? How can I be involved in a very special and practical way in my campus or at my job or with my family and be very sensitive to what the calling of God's uh voice is leading us to do. Each one of us has a very specific calling. So as we seek God's face and as we develop an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, we will develop a sensitivity to his voice and as we spend time with him, we will hear his voice guiding and directing us on what to do practically. Now on a very practical note is to get involved in your church's projects that already exist. And then as you do that, God will lead and direct your steps to a more specific level. All right. That's also very practical. I love it. So, thank you for answering our questions, Pastor Isaiah. And before we go, we're so excited to invite you to a special two-day evangelistic concert with Jeremy Camp at the CCF Center passing on June 20 and 21, 2025. With each ticket, you are helping the Upleaf Cares to continue their mission in providing educational help to those in need. And good news, tickets are now available at ww.tickmax.ph. Bring your family and friends with you. We'll see you here next week. And that's it for CCF Sunday Fast Track. God bless.