Is your wife going to come up at all? Okay, all right. So I'll have them come up here in just a moment and they're going to say what they're going to say. I have no idea. And we're going to see their field in picture or video form. He's going to share his burden for where they're going and then open it up for any questions that you may have for them. And if there's any time left, he's going to preach as well. Amen all right my wife can preach a good message so well You know, like I said today at the Joy Lunch or Joy Fellowship, we really have enjoyed our time with you guys. You guys have a wonderful spirit. We have just been encouraged by various folks and just seeing how active you guys are in missionaries and with the missions letters and stuff like that. That's one question that a lot of missionaries have. Do people read my letter? And to see that being done here, that's a blessing. And thank you. Thank you so much for it. The way we usually do it, if my wife comes up, is that I talk for five minutes and she does the rest. But no, she's going to give her testimony real quick. And, you know, I'm glad it was pastor's idea, not mine, because I usually get in trouble if I don't tell her. But my wife's going to give her testimony. It's a very powerful testimony. It's a very tragic testimony. But even in tragedy, the Lord is great, He is good, and He's what we should be standing on and depending on. And I'll open that up for my wife right now, and then I'll get up and I'll finish it out. Okay, so I wasn't ready for this tonight. I was ready for tomorrow, but I wasn't ready for tonight. Okay, so my name is Mariana Hernandez and I was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico. I come from, I want to say, I don't want to say a single parent household because my dad and my mom did got married when I was five years old. So, but let's start from the very, very beginning. So my mom grew up Catholic and she came to the big city of Monterey when she was 14 and started working cleaning houses and that was her job because she wanted to still help my grandma. They live like outside the state of Nuevo Leon. So my mom is a baby of nine, so she had that burden of helping grandma and grandpa, just sustaining the family. My grandpa was a farmer, so she met my dad when she came to the big city, and they started dating. They started dating, and they dated until Obviously, my mom got pregnant. My mom got pregnant, and she went and told my dad that they were gonna have a baby, and he's like, I'm not interested in having a baby right now. I don't wanna be part of it. I just don't wanna be Mary, because my dad thought that my mom was gonna say, okay, we need to do something, because my mom coming from a Catholic background, that was, Very bad. People would just point at my mom because she wasn't married and having a kid. So my mom is like, okay, if you don't want to be part of it, we're not going to get married, but I'm not going to live with you. I'm going to have my daughter, and if you want to see her, that's fine, but she's not going to have your last name. So I was registered as my mom's sister instead of my mom's daughter because I had her last names. So when my mom was still pregnant with me, there was a church that was going to be started and they were inviting people, so they invited my mom. And my mom went off and on because she worked and all those things, but the Lord really started talking to my mom. So when I was three days old, my mom got, she, She got saved, so I became, she became the first member of the church that started down there with the former missionaries. So I became the baby of the church. So it was really like, honestly, my mom had a lot of babysitters that would take care of me when she was working with a pastor and tried to be a help there. So until today, my mom's still in that church. She's been there for all my life. And, I do, I do, I thank God for allowing me to have a mom that really is strong and It doesn't stop her even though my dad is not safe, he's not there by her side. So when I was five, my parents got married, my dad came back and he said that he wanted to get married and my mom said okay, well yeah, because for my mom that was, Her only love so they got married and they had three more kids. So I had two sisters and a brother So I grew up in ministry my brothers my my siblings grew up in ministry because my mom always took us to church And she even dedicate us there. I remember my mom Standing by by herself and dedicating her kids to the lord um so When I was around eight, nine, I remember that I wanted to get saved. So I did that. But I really didn't understand what I was doing. I just did it because, I mean, all your friends do it, so why not? And I just thought I was saved and on my way to heaven. But it wasn't until I was 16 when one of my sisters, we went through a very tragic experience. My husband was talking about this yesterday. My youngest sister had an accident. The Lord, the Lord took her home very, very young. She was almost six. So if you see my daughter, Aaliyah, my youngest, you're looking at my sister. So she was that, like that. But the Lord had another plan, and his plan was to take her home. So it was really hard because, um, My sister died in my arms. I was 16 at the time. And I became very bitter. I did not understand what God was doing. I really got bitter because I couldn't understand how he was doing that to my mom. after my mom had done so much and I started talking to my mom and I said, mom, we should just stop going to church and not be a part of it anymore. She's like, no, we're not gonna do that. We're gonna keep on going because we're gonna see her one day and that was God's plan. You have to understand that she wasn't ours. I dedicated her to the Lord and the Lord It's okay with me if he want to take it home. So seeing my mom very strong and still going and serving, even though I got bitter, I still was serving their side with my mom because I was the only thing that she had. My dad wasn't there. She had me and my siblings as well. After two years of me battling with all this anger and not understanding really why God had that plan, I was helping in the Christian school. And Mrs. Johnson, which is the former missionary, she was giving a Bible lesson. And that's the first time I heard that she had lost a sister, her only sister in a car accident. And now I had a connection. And one thing she said is like, but I know I'm gonna see her again. I'm 110% sure that I'm gonna see her again. And I didn't have that. I didn't have that and God just started like, speaking to my heart, and I said, Lord, I need to do something, because I do want to see her again. I didn't have the time to say goodbye to her, and I just saw her vanish in my arms, and I waited until Mrs. Johnson was done with class, and I talked to her, and I said, I want to get saved. I want to be sure, like you, that you're going to see your sister again, and I want to see her again. I got saved on December 8, 2008. And from that time, my life just changed completely. I didn't desire to do anything else than just serve, and I didn't know how. I just knew that I wanted to serve wherever God wanted me to serve, and my mom always said, Mariana, if the Lord calls you one day to ministry, I am not gonna be the one that holds you back. You just go, because that's why I'm serving God, because of you guys, and I want you to serve him, so. I said, OK, Mom, I really didn't know that God was going to open a door for me to, later on in life, become a missionary. I got saved and started working in our church, getting more involved, and obviously I already knew Gavino because we grew up together in the Christian school. But I really never, really never had a desire to marry Gavino. I knew him, and I was scared that maybe he wanted to serve God, and maybe I wasn't the perfect fit for him, and I didn't want to hold him back, because I grew up in ministry, but I really was never sitting with pastors and missionaries, so I didn't know how to act and things like that. But the Lord had another plan. We started dating, and my mom was there. At first she wasn't, but then she became very happy that I was dating Gavino, and she's like, Mariana, I think the Lord wants this for you. My dad was not in favor because he doesn't understand working for the Lord means. He doesn't understand that. So for him, it was like, you're wasting your time, or you can't live out of serving God, and things like that. But my mom saw what I couldn't see. because God had given her that. So I started dating Gavino and in 2014 we got married. We moved up for my paperwork in 2017. And I'm just so thankful that I had a mom that dedicated me and that it's strong and still very strong. But I think that the most important thing is that I'm thankful for her because of all the time that she invested in me. and I told her this when they approved us to be missionaries. I told mom, one thing you told me when I was growing up is that serving God is not in vain and I can see it now. I can see it now and I'm so thankful for your dedication and all the time and tears you just shed for me and I'm just so thankful for my mom. Obviously I'm thankful for God that she gave me my mom, but I'm so grateful that I can call myself now a missionary and I'm ready to go serve in my field. OK. So I'm just going to give my testimony, and then I'll get into what I say is our calling. And then we'll see our video, and then I'll open it up for Q&A. And if you have any questions, you can ask my wife also in the Q&A, and she'll be able to respond. But I come from a single-parent household. My mom had me out of wedlock when she was 23 years old. My mom had gotten saved when she was 18 at the University of Toledo in Ohio. Her roommate actually led her to the Lord. And my mom was going against the current a little bit because my mom had just gotten saved and she was going against her tradition, her family religion, which was Catholicism, being Hispanic. And months after my mom had gotten saved, the lady that led my mom to the Lord actually passed away in a car accident. She hit a semi head on and passed away. And my mom questioned God's plan on why he allows things to happen. And instead of continuing in church and trying to understand God, she just fell to the wayside and reverted back to what she knew best. And it wasn't until I was six years old that I asked my mom one day if we could go to church. My mom fell under conviction, and she made a commitment that day that she was going to have me grow up in a Christian home and give me the best Christian heritage she could. And what happened was that we were going back to that church where she had gotten saved. I qualify that place as being my mom's Bethel, going back to where she met the Lord for the first time. And what happened is that we were driving an hour and a half one way, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, and on Saturdays in order to go to visitation. But my mom was very committed. It became a little bit of a financial struggle after going and doing that for quite a bit. So we found another church that was closer by, about 15 minutes away, a little country church. And that church had about 60 people in it, 60 members, and it was a thriving ministry. The pastor was a phenomenal guy. He actually could memorize, he memorized the whole New Testament. He could quote any verse out of the New Testament. Just a phenomenal guy, but he wasn't the exception. He fell into sin and had to resign months after we had arrived there. The church split and we went from 60 down to 25. And with or without a pastor, my mom still tried to be faithful in serving God and going out and reaching people with the gospel, going door to door and trying to just be a light where we were at. My mom got called into ministry when I was nine years old, and we moved down to Mexico. We didn't know the veteran missionaries down there, but we moved down there on October 15, 2001. That was the first day that the borders had opened up after the Twin Towers had come down. And we got in there, and we started working with the veteran missionaries. They had a Christian school. They had several church plants. And my mom started working as being my wife's fifth and sixth grade teacher right when we first got there, and kept on teaching in the Christian school. Now, I grew up in that Christian school. I started going to that. And we were at a solid church. We ran about 120 at that time. Just a great thriving ministry. I was no longer qualified as just being a kid that was growing up in a Baptist church. Now I was qualified as an MK. I was a missionary kid. I had a title. And being also in a Christian school, there was requirements that we had to follow, learning chapters on end in the Bible, John 10, John 15, the Romans Road, Ephesians 4, 5, 6. So it became something that we started working and being very active as much as possible in the church. And I could do all these different things, but I wasn't saved. I was being a part, I was acting a part, but I wasn't being a part. I wasn't saved, I wasn't truly a part. I was putting on a facade and acting. And it wasn't till we had a guest preacher that came in one day for the first anniversary of one of the churches, the church plants that was going on. He brought some preacher boys down from his college and about 40, 45 guys, and we had two of the other church plants come to this church, and there was probably 300 people in this little rinky-dink church. and they were celebrating their first anniversary. Everybody's excited, and there was a standard message on just keep on growing, keep on doing more for the Lord, don't be stagnant, keep on witnessing, keep on being a light. And it boiled down to the invitation, and the invitation was very standard. He said, every head bowed, every eye closed, nobody looking around. Then he asked the question. He said, if you're saved tonight, raise your hand. I knew I couldn't raise my hand. I was scared. I was growing up in ministry and I didn't want to affect my mom's ministry. And then he went in and said another phrase. And that phrase was, if you're not saved tonight, just know that hell is waiting for you. And the torture and torment there will never stop for all eternity. And I'm glad he didn't leave it there. And he said, but Jesus wants to save you from that. I understood in that moment that Jesus Christ had come to save me. And I understood the importance of why he came and had gone. It clicked in my mind, but I wish I could say that I raised my hand or came to an altar, but I didn't. I'm still scared and I stayed in my seat. We went back home and we were living with the veteran missionaries and that's where the guest preacher would stay in all the groups because it was a big house. And that night as we were trying to have supper, I'm sitting at the table and I can't eat because I'm so much under conviction. And the guest preacher is sitting at the table also, it's a big long table and he was sitting to my left and he was eating but he was quiet and everybody else was goofing off inside the house. And I just can't get through my food and I get done eating, grab my plate and then go and put it inside the sink and inside the kitchen, he comes up right behind me and he puts his plate in the sink and he looks at me, smiles and gives me a side hug. Doesn't say a word. And then he goes upstairs and goes to bed, and I head to bed, because we had school the next day. And that night, as I laid there in the midst of all the preacher boys, I struggled to sleep, and I couldn't. I tossed and turned, and I just knew that hell was waiting for me, because I wasn't saved. And I rolled over, and I grabbed one of the preacher boys, and I said, hey, brother, I'm not saved. I need to get saved. He grabs his Bible, and he takes me out to the patio, not to wake anybody else up in the room. And he opens it up, and he starts taking me through the Romans road. And I stop him after the first verse, and I said, hey, man, I know these verses by heart. Let's pray. I was so primed with the gospel that I knew if I were to have died in that moment, I was going to spend eternity in hell. I knew I had to pray and get right with the Lord. And that night, I prayed out to God to cleanse me from my sins, and I gave all my burdens to my Lord and Savior. And that night I got saved. I slept like a baby. And the next morning I went downstairs and I told the veteran missionaries of what I did. I told my mother and I also told the guest preacher. And the guest preacher smiled from ear to ear and he was so excited. He said, Vino, he said, I saw you didn't raise your hand last night. He said, and I stayed up all night praying for you to get right with the Lord. I come from a single parent household. But I've had men of God that invested into me personally on a one-on-one basis that have showed me the ministry and have taken me under their wings and just let me walk with them and help me, let me minister with them and to see inside and out of ministry and to be a part of it. And they have invested into me and I have just been blessed beyond measure. I come from a rich heritage, even though I wasn't born into it. Four years later, we were in a missions conference similar to what you guys have going on, and we had all the flags down the aisles, and everybody's excited to the highlight of our year. I mean, the school would do dramas. We would set up a whole entire classrooms in order to, as a country, and we would just have people come in and just walk through it, and just be able to represent some type of country that needed the gospel. And we had a veteran missionary that came up that we had supported for years, and he had just started an orphanage. And he was so excited about presenting this orphanage because it was something that he was so close to his heart. He was in the state of Chiapas down in Mexico. And as he came up and he showed his video and he showed just the pictures and video clips of what was going on in that ministry, I saw kids that looked just like me with the same hair color, same skin color and smiling and just looking like they were so excited. I understood while I was watching that video that there was a need in that area and somebody saw that need and somebody did something about that need. And it was that missionary. But after the video, the missionary comes up and he stands up in the pulpit and he said, church, I want to let you guys know that not only in Asia and Africa and Europe do they need the gospel, but they need the gospel here in our local area. He said, the mission field is not just out there, it's here too. He said, there's people all around us that are dying and going to hell, and who will tell them? I understood in that moment that I was in a city of 5.4 million people, and there's people all around me dying and going to hell. There was neighbors around me, people in just my reach that needed the gospel, and if I wasn't telling them, then who was? Because I had a personal responsibility to do it. I fell under conviction, I came to the altar that night and I surrendered my life to preach and to do whatever God wanted me to do. And I told my pastor that night and the next morning I started working with my pastor full time as I finished out high school and as I finished out our Bible Institute. At the age of 22 I married my wife, two and a half years went through immigration paperwork, we came here into the States, we came to a church that didn't know us from Adam. We came there and I started working there, and after us being there for three months, the pastor passed on the junior church. We took over the junior church and started working there. After two and a half years of us being there, the pastor had me come on staff, and now after being there for five years, going on six years in April, the Lord opened up the opportunity for us to be ordained and to be sent out as missionaries from that church. I've seen God's hand completely move in miraculous ways in my life, and I can't explain it. But I am just so grateful for what the Lord has done in our lives and how he's moved us. And I believe it's his time and for our time and for him to move us down to Mexico. And he's opening up the doors left and right for us to do that. We're at 22.8%, it's very precise, because I just looked at it. 22.8% as of today. And we still have four more churches that are supposed to be putting in. The Lord has just been doing an amazing work, and we just started in September. The Lord has been doing an amazing work, and we're just blessed. But as we're going to go into our video now, I just want to encourage you, church, to understand that the mission field is not just out there. It's also here in Taylorville, Illinois. And the question is, who's going to tell them if we're not? There's people dying all around us that are going to hell. It's not just in Mexico. It's not just in Europe. It's not just in Africa. It's here in the United States. This is our mission field. This is your mission field. We're going to Mexico particularly, but who's going to reach Taylorville? Guys. Mark 6, 34 says, in Jesus, when he came out, so much people, and was moved with compassion toward them. Because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. Hi, I'm Gavino. And I would like to share a quick story with you about two girls in college. One was a faithful, compassionate, loving soul winner. And the other was a lost girl that had no clue in what she believed. And that girl was my mom. And that compassion set us on a different path. And that's why we're here now, sharing the love of Christ here in Mexico. Missions is not a foreign concept to me, because in 2001, God put compassion in my mom's heart for the Mexican people. My mom came down to Monterey, Mexico and started working alongside veteran missionaries. This is the same field where God has called me. Growing up here, I saw firsthand the investment of compassion of the ministry workers in not only the national people, but also in my life. The investment in me showed me many things from discipline to longevity to responsibility. But not just that, it showed me a compassion and a love for lost souls. What does that investment mean if I fail to pass that on? Our plan to pass down the investment of compassion that was given to us, to the Mexican people, is through evangelism, one-on-one discipleship, and at the same time, planting a local indigenous Baptist church here in Monterrey, Mexico. Whether your support be through prayer, financial, or both, we would be honored and grateful to be your representatives here in Monterrey, Mexico, and if some have compassion, making a difference. Even if we found the time to care Would we take the risk involved in always being there? Or we hold the very thing they need so much? Sometimes the Word of God can pass through just a simple touch How can we reach a world we never touch? How can we show them Christ if we never show them love? Just to say we care will never be enough. How can we reach a world we never touch? We hide behind these walls and the security of friends. While beyond the stained glass windows, the world is lost in sin. How can we reach a world we never touched? How can we show them Christ if we never show them love? Just to say we care will never be enough. How can we reach a world we never touch? How can we reach a world we never touch? Okay, at this moment, I'll open it up for Q&A. If anybody would like to start, that would be great. I'm okay with awkward silence, Pastor Taylor said. Anybody? Yes, sir. Yeah, so basically, my answer to that is, is, as you see, I never reference it in my at any any type of presentation, I never focus on it. But because I've grown up in it. I've seen it firsthand ever since I, from 2005 to 2013, it was like a war zone. I mean, we had police officers, all the police officers were arrested by the military and taken down for questioning in Mexico City. So we had army tanks up and down, and that was some type of law enforcement. But yes, the cartel is very, very bad. Actually, in the past three months since November, since January 3rd, when El Chapo's son was arrested. Now there's another cartel that's taking over and we were down there for a month and we had six killings within, you know, a five block radius of my mother in law. It's just crazy They don't respect innocent people if you're in the line of Who they're trying to kill the you'll you'll get hit to A famous taco joint that we go down to every single week the first night that we pulled into Mexico They had just killed a guy that same night outside of the taco joint So it's very dangerous, very, very dangerous. But I don't focus in on that in the aspect, because I already know what I'm getting myself into. It's not a big thing for me. What it boils down to is that it's still people that need Jesus Christ. It's still lost people, and Jesus Christ came to die even for the most vile person in this world. So it boils down to the same issue, is that we need to preach people with the gospel. So, yes, sir. Anybody else? Anybody else? My favorite tacos are tacos de trompo, which are al pastor. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So our main focus will be a church plant. I reference it in the video a little bit. So it'd be starting a local indigenous Baptist church. So what we're going to be doing is that there's three church plants there now that the veteran missionaries had left. And we're going to add on, Lord willing, a fourth one. And we're going to focus in on that and start a Bible college there and kind of start a network. And then after that one's pretty solid, then we'll head out and start some other smaller church plants. But the whole point is to I want to say this in the most polite way. We need a balanced college out of Mexico. A balanced Bible college. There's a big thing with the Spanish Bible, and there's so many things. If we think about different camps here in America, it's as bad, it's just as bad down in Mexico. Baptists will fight over just ridiculous things, and then We're not even doing our job. So there's a need for a balanced college. There's a need for a balanced, I would say, just center place where everybody can just come together and say, okay, we're on the same page, even though we can defer, we're on the same page and we need to reach people with the gospel. I mean, we know that our time is running short, and we still want to fuss about, you know, white shirts. So, anybody else? I saw Pastor Chuck on that one. Anybody else? Come on, I need, I know somebody else wants one. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So down there, as you could see on our video, 77% of Mexico still qualifies themselves as being Catholic. And you guys probably know a ton of missionaries that are in Mexico, but we're still, you know, for decades, we've been trying to reach Mexico with the gospel, and you would think that there would be more, but 77% is the statistic are Catholic, but they are very open to the gospel because they don't even know why they're Catholic. So yeah, they'll accept they'll accept something that actually has answer and has depth to it. So yes. Anybody else? Yes, ma'am. Yes. Yes, so our plan is to have a Christian school alongside with a Bible college. So yes, yes, ma'am. And Lord willing, we'll be planning on opening up also a language school. So a lot of missionaries that come into, you know, and come into Mexico, they can actually go there and start off their ministry there and learn Spanish. So that's kind of our, this is our like 20, 30 year goal. So right now it would be get there, one-on-one discipleship, you know, Bible studies, and then just forming a church. And then from there, moving forward, you know, everything's a process and a step. So, anybody else? Yes, sir. 5.4 so here's this and in 2021 a 20 2001 when we went down there We used to say 7.2 That was our statistic back in 2001. Somehow during the pandemic, I don't know if they just didn't do their job right or what was going on, but somehow there's a discrepancy of 2 million people. I don't know if they just didn't go down to the poor areas or what it was. But yes, sir, we do have an area, a specific area that we have strategically prayed about, about going and starting a church. It's an area that's very difficult for other pastors to go, but as an American citizen, we're able to step in to be able to have common ground with those people and be able to start a church, Lord willing, through that. So yes, sir, we do have that located. Anybody else? Anybody else? Yes, ma'am. So right now we are doing a Becca videos on So that's what naya is doing right now. She's doing a Becca video. So even in the car She's able to watch her videos and do class, but my wife was a teacher for 10 years And so she's been able to teach my my youngest daughter Kindergarten right now and then once she gets into first grade, she'll be going into a Becca videos, too So yes, we will be doing that for the first first few years up until we can get a Christian school Going. Yes, ma'am Anybody else? Pretty silent on this area. I'll put pressure there. No pressure. Anybody else? Yes, sir. Yeah, 5.4. Yes, sir. Yeah, we're closer to New York City, but I think there's a discrepancy. So the reason why I believe there's a discrepancy because even the census from 2020 for Mexico City was 10 million, even though they've always said 40 million. The Mexican government doesn't even know if it's a state or it's a city. Yeah. So, it's just like, we call it district, so, because we don't know. So, anything, anybody else? Yes, sir. We are aware of several. I know personally of a missionary that's out of, I think he's out of, towards the Cleveland area in Ohio, and he started, I think he's tried to start a church in every municipal, but they're very, very, very liberal, and the Bible that they use is worse than an IV. So I would say there's several like going back to the camp thing It's it's where we kind of boil into this thing that they've been influenced by too many people that it boils down to They'll be solid on one thing, but they're way off on some other stuff Whether that be doctrine or whether it be music or whether it be you know certain things so that's kind of why we're just kind of trying but I would say Personally, I'd probably know about 15 churches that would probably be decent where the Gospels preached so Anybody else but with with that with that many people even if we were to plant 20 churches That's still not enough for four five point four million people just put that in perspective Yes Here's this. I had a preacher friend of mine. He was an evangelist. He said, if you would have asked me 25 years ago if I would support Govino, I would say no. But you know what? It comes down to everybody else has seen God's hand in my life too. And they just want to be a part of it. But yeah, I would say that there's certain people that even during my teenage years, there were certain times that I got bitter. I got bitter with certain things I saw. I got bitter with backstabbing in the ministry. And I didn't want to have part of it for a bit. But I was still at church. And there was people that just like, okay, well, he's a lost cause. So, but most of the people that we've grown up around have supported us. And there's probably like one or two that just don't. But I guess they expect me to be perfect. Yes, sir. As in, like, give me an example on people not inside the church. Okay, on witnessing, yeah. I would say I don't have any problems. I would say that I've definitely been going back to kind of what we've joked around pastor with. I was an MK, and I hung around a whole bunch of PKs, and we always pushed boundaries. That's one thing that we're known for, you know. And you always do that, and it just kind of comes with, I would say, the pressure of the ministry. I always, when I was old enough, I always wanted to talk to people outside of the church. And so I always established relationships outside of the church. Like I knew a lot of the gangbangers that were in my area and I just wanted to get to know them. I had a friendship with them they would come for VBS and stuff like that and you know or for for stuff and and I have a good relationship with them actually in our video I'm actually talking to the one of the head of the the biggest gangs in our area I was talking to his mom because their dad had actually his her her husband had just passed away Two weeks before we had gotten there and I was actually just wanted to talk to her and my mom had let her to the Lord Years previously and they live right in front of our church that's down there and they don't across the church in order to come to church. But yes, I don't feel like I've struggled at all in order to establish relationships or to be able to witness to anybody or have conversations. Plus, I like to talk. You guys couldn't tell. So, anybody else? All right. All right, let's open up our Bibles to Romans, Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5, I got about 15 minutes, so we can get through this real quick. And let's stand for the reading of God's Word real quick, stretch those legs. Revelation chapter 5. You know, I've read through the Bible several times growing up, and I have Sometimes you get into this routine where you read the Bible just to read it, and then you don't get anything out of it. And you're just like, what did I read about? But I would have to say that, you know, try to always get something out of the Word of God. Always try to find one verse that connects with you when you're reading. And that's kind of what happened here about two years ago when I was reading through, and especially when everything was shut down. I read through the Bible, and I came up upon this chapter, and I've read it several times. But it meant something different to me when I was reading it during this time and the Lord spoke to me. And he showed me something that I needed to fix in my life. And we're gonna look at the whole entire chapter real quick. I'm gonna read it, just follow with me with your vision. It says, and I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open the book and to read the book. And to read the book neither to look thereon and one of the elders saith unto me weep not Behold the line of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals the seven seals thereof and I beheld and low in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain and having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, and the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden veils full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou art what slain and hath redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue people and nation and has made us unto our God priests as kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature and which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth. and as such are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said amen, and the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever." Talking about amazing chapter. We are just blessed in order to have this chapter. in the book of Revelation because we can see this lamb that was worthy enough in order to step up to the plate. Tonight, I would like just to touch on a quick subject, worthy to serve. When I was reading through this, it just meant something completely different for me. And I would just like to share that with you tonight. Dearly Father, we come to you right now and we just thank you for what you have done. God, I thank you for dying on the cross for me, Father. God, I thank you for taking my place, taking my sins. God, I thank you for this church. Please be in our midst right now as we open up your word, talk to hearts, talk to my heart. God, I ask that I would just be a vessel in your hands and be used of you. And we thank you for all that you have done for us. Be our guest of honor in Jesus' precious name. Amen, you may be seated. You know, one thing that we may love about Revelation is the cool imagery that happens in Revelation. You can see all the way from Revelation chapter one, all the way to Revelation chapter 22, and you just see a lot of things that you cannot explain. We can see here that there are several creatures that would be a little weird looking. And if we look at these four beasts we can see them in Revelation chapter 4 verse 5 it says verse 7 Sorry and it says and the first beast was like a lion and the second beast was like a calf and the third Beast was like the face of a man and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle Up until now we can see That we wouldn't have a problem You know, if we were to see a lion, we would be okay with it. If we were to see a calf, I think we would be okay with that. How about a man? Yes. How about an eagle? I think everything is hunky-dory up until right there, right? But if we look at verse eight, and it says, and the four beasts had each of them six wings about them, and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. Okay, now I start having a bit of an issue. You know, I'm the type of kid that would have gone up in the zoo and go up to the lion's den and go up and, you know, tap on the glass to have the lion react to me because I knew he couldn't get to me because there was a glass there, right? And if I see a lion out in the open, I would probably run like a little girl because I didn't want him to be eaten. But now, if I were to see a lion with six wings and eyes all about, I wouldn't know how to react. I would be scared. How about a calf? Let's make it even worse. How about a man with six wings and eyes all about? You know, if we just heard an eagle with wings, that would be fine, but how about with eyes? Talk about some weird imagery, but one thing that I can see here in verse eight is that they were worshiping Lord God. The Bible references them to be as beast But if we were to probably put it in layman's terms in our day and age, we would probably say they were monsters If I were to see them, I wouldn't know how to react and probably be scared We have to understand that even the most weirdest creation even the most vile thing has to worship God because he is the almighty creator, the almighty being, and that's who I serve. That's who I call my father. The Bible even says that the demons tremble. That's the person that I serve, the superior being. He's my father. We can even see that in Revelation 5 that there's a lamb, and that lamb is Jesus Christ. And we can parallel that even with 1 John 1.29, it says, The next day John seeth him coming unto him and saying, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the world. You can see that Jesus Christ was referenced as being the lamb that had shed his blood for us. And we can see that here in Revelation 5, this lamb that stood up in the midst He is Jesus Christ. Now we have to understand that Jesus Christ was also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. He was the one that sacrificed himself for us, for our redemption. We have to understand that. He is worthy and that His blood was worthy in order to be shed for that because it was a perfect blood. It was a blood that was shed and that was shed in order to cover all of my sins and all of your sins if you're in this room tonight and you're saved. But I want to take you back to that night where you got saved, and I wanna see this in verse two real quick, and it says, and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book. Neither to look, they're on. You know, we can see this reaction of what's happening in heaven as this is happening, and we see this angel, probably very muscular, and he's saying, who's worthy to open up this book? And nobody can say anything. Except for Jesus Christ could. And God really hit me here while I was studying this. That night when I got saved, I was told that I was not worthy enough in order to go to heaven because of my sins. It dawned on me. If somebody in this room were to say, who is worthy in order to go to heaven because they have been such a good person? This room would be quiet. And you would feel hopeless because you know the state that you are in. Maybe your reaction was the same reaction that John had here. And I said, and I wept much. I know I cried. When I understood that I was unperfect and I was hopeless without Jesus Christ, but Here's the great part, and if you look in verse five, and it says, one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Praise the Lord that it wasn't stuck there, where I was completely hopeless, and I was unworthy to go to heaven. Praise the Lord it wasn't left there. That person that was witnessing to me told me, but there's one. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to die and to shed his blood for me because I was unworthy to go to heaven. But he was worthy in order to stand up in the midst and to say, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Talk about a bold statement. There's no way to get to heaven except through him. Even in my hopeless state there was an answer. And that answer was Jesus Christ. Because he is worthy, because he's always been worthy, and because his blood was worthy, because he was a perfect sacrifice, and because he gave himself up as a lamb. Praise the Lord for that. And it wasn't left there. He has been my answer and he will always be my answer. You know, if we look in verse 12 and 13, it says, and saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing, and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea. and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Sometimes we just jump over these words and we don't define what they mean. But a simple definition of blessing means make happy. Honor means respect. Glory means to magnify. Power means doing or performing anything. If we break these down and we start and seeing if we are being able to say this, are we making God happy with what we produce or what we have in our life? Are we honoring God? Are we respecting God with who he is in our life? Are we magnifying God? Are we glorifying God with what we do? Is he superior than everything else? Does he have a place in our life? Does he have the power to do anything or perform anything in our life that he wants to? You know, we, We say that we can do this, but in reality, do we allow God to do this in our lives, to have total control? We have to understand that God was worthy enough in order to save us from our sins, but when it boils down to is God worthy to serve, sometimes we have issues with that. If God says, I want you to serve me full time. Whoa, God, that's a little bit too much. I want you to give a little bit more. I don't have enough income that's coming in. God will always provide a way if he's asking you to do something. But is God worthy enough in order for us to serve him, in order to trust him? If I were to ask you tonight and you would be completely honest with me and honest with yourself, if you 100% understand salvation, we would all really say, yeah, I understand, but do we understand why Jesus left glory in order to come and die on a cross for us? Do we understand why we get the benefits, why we get to have a mansion, why we get to walk on a street of gold, why we get to sit by a crystal river, why we get to spend eternity in hell, when I was the one that sinned before an almighty, holy God, and yet I just have to accept the fact that Jesus could save me. And I put my faith into it, and yet I'm saved. If I were to ask you in reality, do you understand that? You would say, no, I don't understand that. And that's how it is with the Christian walk. We don't have to understand God, we have to trust God. Because he is the one that knows from the beginning to the end. He's the one that sustains us. He's the one that gives us our breath. He's the one that's there for us always in heartaches and in good times. When it comes down to us doing something for Christ, we almost limit him and say, God, you're worthy enough for me to get saved, but when it comes down for you to ask me to do more, that's too much. But is he really worthy of that? And I would have to say, yes, he is worthy of everything of me. He is worthy of every last breath of mine. I get the pleasures of everything that comes with salvation because of Jesus. When we hear a verse like an open invitation like Isaiah 6, 8, it says, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Tonight, if they were saying, there is somebody that is lost outside of these four walls, and who will go and tell them? And the Lord places that on your heart. Is God worthy enough in order for you to go tell them? Well, they might spit in my face, they might throw a track at me, but is God worthy enough in order for you to give up over yourself in order to give it to them? Is God worthy enough in order for you to be a part in somebody's destiny changing from going to hell to going to heaven? Isaiah's reaction is, here am I, Lord, send me. We sang it just a little bit ago. We have to understand that we should live our lives like Romans 12. 1 and 2, it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies, by the mercies, I think we all have experienced mercies of God, that ye present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Your reasonable service is something that would be minimally required of you. That you would just be a living sacrifice in God's hands, that you would be a vessel that is used by God. Why? Because you've experienced the mercies that God has given you. Now tonight, as I just shared with you, sometimes we say that God or Jesus was only worthy enough for us to get saved. But He's worthy way more than that. He's worthy of everything of us. He's worthy of a surrendered heart that would be willing to be a living sacrifice in His hand. Are we that tonight? Is God worthy to serve? With every eye pout, every eye closed, I pass it off to Pastor. Excellent question for us to be left with. Your heads are bowed, your eyes are closed. Just answer it now. And the answer, with our answer, we will be showing honor to God by doing that when we leave here. But we have to choose, make that commitment. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for the truth that we've heard tonight, the challenge. You are worthy of honor and glory. And God, I pray that each of us would reflect that outside the walls of this building. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much.