This morning is a wonderful privilege and opportunity that we have to hear one of our missionaries that we supported for many years. And in fact, when we were going through a stretch of difficulty here at the church where we were a little bit short on some of our funds coming in for our missions program, our missionary brother Ray Hanson was so gracious to say, Jeremy, you know, God's been good to me. You don't need to send me the support this month or even next month. And, you know, as God provides, then you can continue supporting our ministry. But until then, you know, just know that we're here working, God's providing. And I appreciate that. Brother Ray Hanson, I think the one thing that stands out, I've known him, almost all my life, if not literally all of my life, if I slip up and don't say Brother Ray Hanson, I say Coach Hanson, it's because he was the basketball coach at Valley Christian School where my three older brothers graduated. He was able to coach them. By the time I got up into high school, God had already opened the door for him to be in Reynosa with the orphanage ministry. And so he missed out on the best of all four of the brothers that play, but how God wanted it. Or maybe God saved him from a headache, I don't know. But one of the things that always sticks out to me is that if I had to describe him, I would say he's just the real deal. He's a man that when he came to faith in Jesus Christ, his life changed. And it didn't just change a little bit, it changed completely. And for many years, he was a school administrator. And then God spoke to him at age 50, at age 50, to be a missionary and go and start an orphanage in Reynosa for the children there that were in need. And he said, I'll go. It shows that he didn't give an excuse like, God, I'm 50. Seriously, I'm 50. He didn't say that. He said, Lord, here am I, send me. And God has blessed his ministry tremendously. And in fact, before he comes up to preach and challenge us this morning, we're going to watch about a four minute video or so of his ministry there that God has allowed him to do for the last uh since the mid 90s and I'm how many officially how many years has it been 31 years and it's just been amazing to see. What you're going to see, I don't know if in the video, I don't remember it showing what the property used to be, but I remember Jason telling me, my second oldest brother, the one that was leading, that when he went to that first property, it was full of like tires, and it was like an old, almost like a dump site, and they had to clear the whole area. And when you look at it in the video, you're not going to believe that that's what it was before, but it was. And God has used that ministry just in an amazing way. It's used for the Ray. In fact, to the point now where the local authorities, the local government there asks him, hey, could you help us with our schools? Could you help us with certain children that need a place? And Real Bravo Ministries has been there every time to answer that call. And it's just an awesome thing to see and be a part of. And so I thank Brother Ray for his testimony, for being the real deal. And it's just a blessing to see what God is doing. So Brother Ray, we'll start the video. And after the video, you come on up and challenge us with God's Word. Pure religion is that you take care of the fatherless and widows in the time of their need and keep yourself uncorrupted by the world. Reynosa is a large city of 700,000 located on the Texas-Mexico border near McAllen. It has the highest industrial development in the border area and the state. 152 companies generate 250,000 direct jobs for the city. It can also be dangerous, especially for the fatherless and struggling single mothers. Every year, over 300 people, primarily young women and girls, go missing in the city. Young men and boys without direction are easy prey for organized crime. For 30 years, Rio Bravo Ministries has provided a home for this vulnerable group, shielding them from the city's dark side during their youth and preparing them to be independent adults. Casa Ogar Rio Bravo is a shelter that can care for 60 children in family-style cottages. We nurture and love them in the home by providing education, counseling, medical care, and spiritual enrichment. We aim to break the destructive cycle of abuse, neglect, and shame, and replace it with an opportunity for each child to live a life of self-respect, responsibility, and productivity. In 2000, the home created Colegio Puente de Esperanza, a private Christian school to serve the unique needs of the children in our care. Now open to the community, the school has a yearly enrollment of 400 students from kindergarten through high school. The school's mission is to provide quality Christian education to the children in the home and partner with Christian families wanting a faith-based education for their children. With a staff of 40 local professionals, the school is the backbone of the work we do with the children, providing education, discipline, socialization activities, and direction. In 2016, we started a sister school in a poor rural area outside the city. This school provides quality Christian education to the residents of this community that was not available before. Enrollment is tuition-free for the community's residents, and the students receive a complimentary breakfast before every school day. Rio Bravo Ministries shows our commitment to the community with our outreach program. The ultimate goal is to make disciples of Christ. We host and facilitate conferences, youth camps, staff training, and spiritual retreats for local churches and organizations throughout the year. Classes for street children are held at local churches with the goal of getting them back in school. Rio Bravo Ministries hosts mission teams throughout the year that support the community through construction projects to repair, expand, and plant new churches and host free medical clinics held at local churches to encourage church participation. The name of the home and school is Puente de Esperanza, which means Bridge of Hope. For 30 years, Rio Bravo Ministries has been a bridge of hope and refuge for unwanted, unloved, neglected children. The school has been a community pillar by providing jobs for teachers and educating generations of students with a Christian worldview. If you want to support our work, you can go to our website at rio-bravo.org to make an online donation. There will be more information about the ministry in Reynosa and how to organize a mission team to come and work with us. My first step has been completed. I got up here without falling. I was a little concerned about those stairs, and I'm concerned about the light shining in my eyes, but that's all right, all right. Jeremy, I have a different story as to why I never had a chance to coach you. You opened a door. After three Mendozas, I was done. I was done. They wiped me out. Well, I thank you for the opportunity to be here and to share in God's goodness. He's been so, so good to me and to my wife. Very difficult to explain all that has happened. I'm going to try to, continue along with the theme of missionaries. John did an excellent job the first two weeks, the how and the why and the what. It's almost amazing to me that a church who really wants to obey, not this church, but the church, has to have a special time set aside for missions. What we do, we start to believe a lot of crazy things and everything. I'm going to try to handle the, there won't be mission prizes without missionaries. I'm not going to talk about me. I want to talk about you. In Mark chapter four, Verse 19 talks about some of the opposition we might have. It says, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things entering into the choke, the word of God, and it becometh unfruitful. What has happened is the cares of the world have choked off the power of the word of God in people, individuals, and in churches. Now the cares of this world are not bad. the characters of this world, we all got families, we all got children, we all want to provide education, and it gets to be a really, really mess. And in this day and age, with the craziness that's going on in the world, and if you don't think it's crazy, you're crazy. And it's becoming more difficult. to take care of your family, to do all the things that you need to do, and to serve God at the same time. And that's a reason. It's not an excuse. It's a challenge. What are we gonna do with the power of the word of God? My verse for today is gonna be found in, first, in 2 Peter chapter one. Chapter one, verse three. Do you have that up there? According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him who hath called us to his glory. God has given to us all things necessary to overcome the carriage of the world. He didn't admit anything. He didn't make any excuses. And we've got all kinds of excuses that we could be making. John 10, 10 says that God, Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly. And here we are facing this entourage of craziness in this world. But God says, I want to give you the abundant life. Well, I hope we're going to be able to talk about the abundant life and what it really, really is. We know it's not riches. We know it's not fame. This Bible is very, very clear about that. C.S. Lewis said, one of the most cowardly things ordinary people can do. Is anybody here ordinary? I'm so ordinary. One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to knife X. to deny the truth. We become so accustomed. First we tolerate it, then we allow it, then we celebrate it. That's what our world is doing right now. I'm going to share some facts, make some statements. I'm going to ask you some questions. I'm going to start with what really is the abundant life. Charles Swindoll summarizes in his commentary on 2 Peter. He said, the abundant life, what all people really want, when you take your life and you peel everything back and you find out what is the core, what is the core of the abundant life? What really is it? It all comes down to some very simple stuff. That if we were to be really honest and we look in that mirror, really honest, the things that we wanted. God says, I have provided all things for you to have that. First thing that we really want to do is we want to matter to somebody. We want to be important to somebody. We want to make a contribution to our world. We wanna be significant or a part of something that is really significant. We all feel like we have some unique purpose in life. First Philippians 1.6 says, being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you, In you, it's gonna be different. In me, it's gonna be different. In you, it's different. He who began a good work in you wants to complete it. On the day of salvation, God put a plan. God put your heart. He gave you these desires. He says, I want you to be significant. I want you to be important. Why? Because we've got the most important message there is in the world to share. We sang this song, the first song. I'm getting off my notes, but that's okay. What was the first song we sang? I love to tell. You don't want to hear me sing, do you? Do we really? Do we really? How many outside of this, outside of this room, in your daily life, talk to somebody about Jesus? I love to tell the story, but only to certain people in church. Huh? Do you love to tell the story? You want some significance? You want to be important to somebody, to something? Tell him about Jesus. There is no other thing more important, no other reason that this church and this building is here. There is no other reason that God saved you. He wants you to be important. He wants you to be significant. You're a child of God. And along with the inheritance from God, you got responsibility. How many times did we love to tell a story last week? Ouch. It's getting worse. I get worse. To sum it up, to sum up what Swindoll says, He says, we all want to be useful and fruitful. Useful and fruitful. I've got news for you. God wants you to be useful and fruitful. And that verse in 2 Peter 1 says, we have given you everything you need. There is no unique person who does not have the ability to share Jesus Christ. I don't care what your age is. I don't care what your background is. When you come to Christ, you're given that. Yet we choose to be a part of the silent majority. Salvation starts a process. The day God called, that day that God called you could be significant. He wants you to matter. Do you remember? This is gonna sound crazy. I was saved over 50 years ago. I don't even feel that old. Do you remember that day? I mean, sometimes I can't remember yesterday. Sometimes I'll walk into rooms and can't even figure out why I came in there. But I remember that day, 1972 Father's Day. I remember the shirt I had on. I went into a Baptist church with a pack of cigarettes in my hand. Uh-oh. Can you still hear me? You see how handy I am? Remember that day? I want to make an announcement to you that you might not know. On that day, God called you to be a missionary. He didn't necessarily call you to go to a foreign country, even though right here, it's pretty easy, isn't it? 10 minutes, boom. but God called you to be a missionary. You have the most valuable, valuable information. And he says, when I gave it to you freely, I want you to share it freely. And somehow we get intimidated by this stinking world that we're insignificant. And what happened to us is insignificant. I don't know what happened to you when you got saved, But I know what happened to me. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things are becoming new. That happened. My wife got saved about three months later. It happened for her. And we started our trip. And we started our trip. All of a sudden, the house we just bought didn't mean as much. Trying to stay on track here. You know, there's a lot of crazy ideas going around today. I'm going to give you the most extreme crazy idea, and then we'll come back from that to the reality and how it's affected the church. Do you know in the world, there's 8 billion people? 8 billion. Do you know that eight billion of those people were born of a woman? Huh? Zero were born of a man. And yet in this world today, that's a debate. To deny facts. That doesn't affect us. But our church has been affected with some bad thinking. We don't think like the day that I got saved, God called me to do something significant, to do something great, to be positive, to be an influence, to have a legacy. Even though I'm dead, He lives. We start to believe some crazy things. We believe that, I don't know where this came from. We sort of believe that when we got saved, Jesus was going to let us go to safe places and do easy things. Pretty soft. No, I got it. I don't have to do anything hard because I'm saved. We somehow think that when we accepted Jesus that he died on the cross to make us happy. Not to make us happy, to make us effective. We somehow hope that being faithful is showing up at church every Sunday. I don't even go to Sunday school. I'll be faithful. It's not faithful. We believe that surrendering our life to Christ is radical. No. It's a plan. It's normal. We have so moderate that what's normal seems radical. It's time to start living as the goal in life is not to end up at death safely. We got to get in the game. My background in coaching taught me a lot of things. Like when you go, when you go to a basketball game and I've been to, I don't know how many, a whole bunch. When you go to a game, There's going to be two different teams. And the two teams are going to have different color uniforms on. And they're going to find players in two locations. Some of them are going to be in the game. And the others are going to be on the bench. Tell you what, I've been on a bench for a while. Didn't like it. No fun. But in a game, the church is on the bench. God called the church for one thing, to get yourself involved, get off of the bench and get into the process. Nothing else. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added to you. Everything. God will not accept second place. Where is he in your life? I don't mind. I know a friend. I exchanged an email with him every so often, but. He. We grew up together. We were friends. We hung out. He never married. He was an accountant. His whole life. He was a. Bought a house. Then he bought a little condo. And now he's in a communal living situation where they take care of him. Never warned on one thing. Significant. But he's gonna arrive at death safely. What a shame. What is faithful? What is faithful? Hebrews 11, chapter 11, verse 6, it says, but without faith, it is difficult, hard, strenuous. Without faith, it is what? Impossible. No es posible. Can't do it. If you don't practice enough faith to please God. For he who cometh to God must believe that he is, that it is real. This is not some mystery story. This is not some illusion. This is a real deal. We are going to spend an eternity either in heaven or in hell. It's the real deal. God's real, heaven's real, hell's real. Our lives count. We are significant in God's plan. Must believe that he is. Now, I don't know how you read this last part, and that he is a rewarder. What could that reward be? Significance? Purpose? A life well lived? Be able to look? and see the people that you affected for Christ, the amount of people you planted seeds for, the amount of people that you watered the seeds that's been planted. Must believe that he is a rewarder of them that go to church on Sunday. You see that? I know they go to church and Sunday school and they tithe. That's what it says there, isn't it? Church, Sunday school, I tithe and I'll go on a mission trip once a year. That's got to do it for those that diligently seek Him. What's diligently mean? An hour on Sunday? I love to tell the story when I'm in church to a Sunday school class, but not at work. Diligence, understanding who you are and the responsibilities of who you are. Save for one reason, to share that you got saved. For those that diligently seek Him. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13. Verse 13 talks about all who have died, talking about Moses and Joseph and Isaac and Abraham, all the prophets, all those not having received the promises. They heard about the Messiah. They believed in the Messiah. They never saw the Messiah. But having seen them afar off, I see three stages here. And I wish I was at all three. First of all, they were persuaded that a Messiah is going to come. You heard about Jesus Christ and you were persuaded that he is the way. The second says, and they embraced him. Not only did they accept him, but man, they became a part. They put their life on the line. They embraced what he taught. And the final stage of that verse that not many of us get to. that they confessed, they said, that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. That's what's happening here. Yeah, it's bad. I'm not a citizen of Mexico. I'm a resident of Mexico. I'm a citizen of the United States. But more important, I'm a citizen of heaven. I'm a citizen of heaven. What happens in the United States, as stupid as our government is, as stupid as I think that they are, as mad as I get at them, when it comes down to it, I don't care. I'm a citizen. I got one day to take care of, that's tomorrow. What can I do tomorrow to help my country? My country's there. Talked about the basketball team. Talked about the uniform. I would like to rename churches. I would like to rename Bible services as being like a gymnasium. And this is a pep rally. A pep rally. The game is out there. The pep rally happens before the game. The celebration happens after the game. But we don't have any uniforms, or do we? How is the world gonna know? How is the world gonna know who we are? Very clear, it says, by their works, they will know you. Are you identified where you work? Are you identified where you go to school? My God works. We got to get in the game. We got to get our hands a little dirty. There's people with great needs. This isn't church. This is a pep rally. What are we going to do when we get out of here? We okay in time? John last week started with the Great Commission. I'm gonna get close to finishing with that. To say that no way he's gonna preach 12 minutes? Did you say that? Impossible. The Great Commission. Go, ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth. I want to add something to that. I want a word, two words, not optional. Not optional. A lot of times on the computers, you're filling out forms. And I said, this one's not optional. You got to fill it out. Well, I don't want to give you my phone number. I can't fill it out. Some things were optional. This is not optionable. This is necessary. This is our reason. That's why we're here. That's why we're here today. I wanna be useful. Luke chapter nine, verse 62 says these things. It says, and Jesus said, we all just see, read that. Jesus said, that's sufficient for me. That's enough authority for me. And Jesus says, any man who puts his hand to the plow. You see the picture? It's a pair of, he's giving you a picture. Puts his hand to the plow. When's that we put our hands to the plow? The day that we accepted Christ. And the idea of a plow is that you're going to go in a straight line. Any man who puts his hand to the plow and goes to the side, Uh-oh, no more straight line. He says, is not fit for the kingdom of God. Don't misinterpret that as being salvation. That's a story. That's an illustration. The word means not useful in the kingdom of God. Can you think of anything worse than not being useful? I can't. Matthew chapter 25, about three or four weeks ago, I was listening to a preacher preach on Matthew chapter 25. The good steward, or not the good steward, on the laborers going, He called his labors together. The picture is God calling his people together. And he gave him, one of them, five talents. Y'all know the story, right? He gave another one, two. He gave another one, one. That was an investment. And God comes back and says, after a long time, I think pretty soon, I think, I'm hoping it's pretty soon. And then he comes back and says, okay, man, pay up, pay up. The guy with five said, Hey, I took what you gave me and I got five more. Well, good, good and faithful service. And he came to the guy with two. What have you done with what I gave you? I got two more. God says exactly the same thing to him. Well done, good and faithful servant. A lot of people confuse salvation on this last one, but it's, but one, what'd you do with your one? I believe the answer would have been, I took the one you gave me, I invested it, and I got one more. God would say, well done. We all have different abilities, different positions, different opportunities. What we do with what we've got, God has already said he's given us everything that we need. But the one that had it, what happened? What did he say? Hey, man, I've missed out on you. afraid. Fear overcame me, man. I took that thing. I buried it. Here, you can have it back. I don't want to be there. I don't want to be there. I want it here. Well done. Good and faithful, sir. Well done. You were significant. Well done, you helped people. Well done, there's a string of people who you brought. You have a very same amount of things that any other person has, any other Christian. You're either a one or a two or a five, whatever it might be, but you're only accountable for what God has given to you. Each one is unique. God has a plan for each and every one of you. And it includes missions. You are, if you are born again, Christian, you are a missionary. Don't use this emphasis on missions to put some money in as a bribe. Hey, let me off the hook on this one. I'll give you some money. I'm very familiar with the bribes. I live in Reynosa. Mordida is very common. You have a chance to be significant, no matter what you think, by being a part of this church. by being a part of the missions program, by getting your hands dirty, by taking what you sang about so beautifully in the beginning of the church service, that you love to tell the story. Let that be so. Let's pray. Father, so thankful for this time and for this church, for your call. Lord, help us all to realize that we're all missionaries. We all have our choices, we all have our responsibilities, and we're all significant in your eyes. We pray all this in Jesus' name, and I ask Brother Jeremy, would you come and give an invitation, please? With our heads bowed and eyes closed, I think this morning, Teaching and preaching of the Word of God has been clear. The invitation is simple. The invitation is, will you live that abundant life? Will you live that abundant life? We've seen that we've been made to live it. We've noticed it's not optional. Salvation has made it significant. I wonder this morning how many would say, yeah, Pastor, I want to live that life. Pastor, pray for me as I make the decision today to say, I want to live that abundant life. If there's someone like that, that would just raise your hand. I want to pray for you. God bless you. I see that hand. Anybody else that says pray for me? God bless you. God bless you over here. Anybody else that says just pray for me, Pastor, pray for me. Amen, God bless you, I see you, sister. Father, this morning, you've seen our hearts. You've seen the decisions that have been made, and Father, there are decisions that are not made lightly. As we've been challenged and as we've been reminded, an easy decision to follow through on. Father, by your grace and by the power of your spirit, we wanna be those that put our hands to the plow and move forward. We wanna be found faithful. So Father, I pray that you would empower us now today. Help us this week to identify with you Help us this week to show others, whether it be those at our workplace or even those that are of our own household, our own family. Help us to share the story. Help us to truly live out this decision. Be with us, I pray. Help us as a church to decide that we will and our missions move forward. Be with us, I pray. In Jesus' precious name, amen.