Well, it's my privilege to introduce to the congregation no stranger here. In fact, maybe those who are new or don't realize that we are the sending church for the Caps. Eddie, back then, grew up here. And we have some pictures of him when he was a young, what do you call that, a young whippersnapper? Okay, but I asked Ed and give us an update on their mission work there in Mexico. So brother Ed, you come please. Very good. Well, it's good to be here today. I started out here when I was two weeks old. My mother brought me in here and I used to sleep on the pews here. So we thank the Lord that we had a great privilege to be raised in a Bible teaching church where the gospel really touched me at a young age. And I knew at five years old that I was a sinner. And I had need of a Savior. And so, boy, I tell you, the Lord got a hold of me pretty young. And by the time I was 17 is when I surrendered to serve Christ on the mission field. And over at Ben Lippin in a summer conference under Stephen Oldford's preaching. And so, the Lord uses different people in our lives, doesn't He? He brings people along that impact us one way or the other. And I just am thankful that the longer I've been out of the United States, in Mexico, living there, Debbie and I now, for 45 years, we appreciate him more. Even more, and I want to thank Grace Baptist Church for your prayers, your support. You're our heroes. Let's just bow in a word of prayer. Lord, we give you thanks and praise for Jesus Christ. In fact, he's with us. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. And we have experienced that in our lives. And we just thank you that when we go, even though the body of believers here aren't with us, the Holy Spirit is. And Christ is there with us, before us, and behind us, and around us. And we are able to go with and lift up our eyes on the fields that are waiting to harvest. And so we pray that you'd continue to work and minister in and through our lives and Grace Fathers Church as well. In Jesus' name, amen. When I think of this building where we ate over here, my two brothers who were actually in the early 60s both hired and worked on that building to put it up and put the roof on it. And so, you know, we kind of have a history here. And anyway, If you can turn with me and your Bible to Exodus 14, I just want to maybe leave a few thoughts with you this morning to encourage you. And we're living in difficult days. Would you say that? Difficult time. where the Third World War seems like it could even affect the U.S. And so we, you know, there's reason to draw a line to the Lord. The Lord says draw a line to Him, He'll draw a line to us. And so this morning I'd like to look at Exodus here and draw a few conclusions from what took place in Israel with the Egyptian pharaoh and kind of compare it a little bit to our day. And in verse 10, It says that Pharaoh drew nigh to the children of Israel, and they lifted up their eyes. That's one of the first difficulties of living by faith is walking by sight, right? You can, when you live by faith, you can't walk by sight. So Israel, they lifted up their eyes, and they saw the Pharaoh coming with his military. And it says here, And behold, the Egyptians marched after them and they were sore afraid. Now, fear and faith can't coexist together. They just don't work. And we either live in faith or we allow fear to overcome us. And fear is something that If I could put it this way, we all experience. I don't think there's anybody who's never said, I've never been afraid. all of us have. And every time Deb and I cross the border, there's a certain prayer that we pray that the Lord will deliver us from evil men who have not faith. People who are there to rob you or to kill you for whatever they can get. And that happens here in America too. It's not just south of the border. And so We can say with joy in our hearts that God has been our stay, He's been our anchor, He's been our protection, our shield, our defender. All these years we've never been robbed, not the first time. And we are moving in some of the most dangerous areas of Mexico. And the Lord has delivered us, just like Paul said, the Lord has delivered him out of all the traps the enemy had set for him. And so we can testify that the Lord has delivered us in the same way. And so, since they were so afraid, in verse 13, Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not. And we as believers, well it's not, you know, feeling afraid, but it's what do you do with the fear? What are we going to do with our fear? And so we have, we had two groups cancel this year. Basically, they felt like they couldn't come down. They wanted to come, but they canceled because of the news, basically. The news media and things of the government. But, you know, we can't listen to the government what they tell us about not traveling to Mexico. We live there. And so we're going to cross the border no matter what if it's possible. And so, you know, that's just how it is with us. And so Moses is a leader. He's a leader of the people. And leaders, you know, they kind of have to step out and move out. And Proverbs says be not afraid of sudden fear. We're not to be afraid of sudden fear, Proverbs 3.25. And so, you know, a nuclear bomb could be real sudden. But God said, don't be afraid. And that we're in the hold of His hand. And so that is a real calming factor to me. Fear ye not, Moses said. And so, you know, Moses is giving the people some hope, isn't he? He's giving them hope. You know, it looks real dark. And all these soldiers coming after them and the dust rising in the distance, and they can see they're going to be done for, basically. But God. But God. And so G. Campbell Morgan, a British clergyman, told the story of a man whose shop had been burned in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The man arrived at the ruins the next morning carrying a table. He set up the table in the midst of the charred debris and above it he placed a sign that said, everything lost except wife, children, and hope. And then he said, business will be resumed as usual tomorrow morning. hope. And so hope is a powerful element in the life of a believer. And we know what Paul says there in Corinthians 13, now to buy faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. And so hope is a difference maker. It's a difference maker. You know, when we first went to Mexico, we didn't know if we would be effective or not. We knew the Lord was always effective, but we didn't know about us, you know, because we still are growing in our sanctification. And so hope is the greatest asset and the greatest weapon we can use to battle our losses when they seem to be overwhelming. our losses. So hope is powerful. Hope looks for the lesson in defeat instead of just leaving us defeated. And so Winston Churchill was asked, what was England's greatest weapon against the Nazis? He responded with one word. He said, hope. Hope was the greatest weapon. And so as believers, here's the Egyptians coming and Moses, he stands up and he gives to the people hope. Hope in the midst of darkness. He's a shining light in his leadership. And old Napoleon, he said, leaders are dealers in hope. Well, that's pretty good, huh? Dealers in hope. And so, as a leadership of a local church or an organization, if you can give hope to people, it will strengthen them and cause them to see beyond just the natural, temporal things that are taking place that look so dark and bleak on the outside. And so, Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever." That's pretty final, isn't it? You're not going to see them anymore forever. Forever. And we all face our Egyptians, our giants in our life. You know, if it's something you can handle, then there's no reason really to fear because you can handle it. It's when things get out of control that all of a sudden we have to trust the Lord. We had these doctors come down years ago in Mexico and they came all excited to go on this trip into the canyon with me. At the end of the trip, they got down and prayed and wept. And they just couldn't believe what God had done. Because they got themselves in a situation that was out of their control. As long as they were in the operating room, they had things under control pretty much. And giving out medications, the doctor said, the surgeon, he says, well, as long, all these trips I come on, I just give out aspirins. That's about all I do. And this time, he was able to do surgeries. And we had a doctor dehydrate on us down there, and they thought they was going to lose him, the podiatrist. And so I'd given strict orders to bring hats because the sun is merciless down there. And this doctor said, well, I'll never wear a hat. And he had hair about that long. And after about three or four hours of that sun walking in that canyon, it just, by the time we got to the river. that night, he was being carried. His muscles had tightened up. He was in a terrible shape. And if he just wore a hat, it made all difference in the world. And so we, as believers, you know, when we enter into areas that are not, we're not used to, there's other people who give us good information, you know, that we need to heed. And so the Egyptians are after the Jews to do them in. And verse 14, the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. You don't have to fight. The Lord is going to do it for you. And that to me is one of the greatest blessings. So to wake up to the fact that the Lord is going to do the work. And one of the things I appreciate about local church and Christian education, we taught our kids homeschooling in Mexico. And now my daughter homeschools our grandchildren there at home in Burnsville. But one of the things that you learn is good habits. Good habits. The author of The Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino, said, In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. And you think about that, I learned good habits. I remember being at Ben Lippin, you know, we had to get up at 6.30, we had to have devotions, first thing out of bed. And be with the Lord before we ever went down to breakfast or anything. And so, the poet John Dryden said it this way, we first make our habits and then our habits make us. And if you think about it, the kind of habits that people have, either good or bad habits, people are known by their habits and either their disciplines or lack of discipline in their personal lives. And so habits are the daily battleground of character. You know, to form godly character in our lives requires building certain godly, effective habits in our lives where we have discipline and go forward. Once you learn to quit, or throw in the towel, it can become a habit. You know? That can become a habit, just quitter. You ever seen folks who just quit and no reason? And so, are we developing the habit of character growth in our lives where we do what we say and fulfill, where people can know that our word is good as, you know, when you tell them you're going to be there, you're going to be there. And it's just, you're just like a clock, you know. When you say something, you follow through and do it, and that is a good. And so Moses, he not only was teaching the people about hope, he was teaching them about courage. courage, having courage in the midst of fear and being overcome with fear. And you never need courage if you're facing easy time. What do you need courage for? And so courage is for the folks that are willing to go out and fight the giants and get in a situation that's impossible for them apart from Christ. and to realize that Christ has to become our strength. And so, how do we get courage when things intimidate us? And so nothing is ever, never accomplished unless we do something. Courage gives you the power to do something. Do something. In other words, do, find out what the will of God is and get in step with God. That's one of the things I've tried to do in my life. And so courage gets you up, it gets you walking, it gets you started. And on the other side of courage is where the promised land is. That's where the promised land is. And so as we've gone to Mexico, we've had to trust God to give us hope that our going would not be in vain and we can look back 45 years later and say it was not in vain. And praise God, all the trials and difficulties we faced and all the pressure, crossing the border time after time after time all these years, traveling miles and miles, seeing people with guns on the side of the road getting ready to stop traffic. And we go right through. And then two hours later, hear about how they're taking vehicles up from people in this place. We saw them getting out of their cars with their guns. And God let us get through before they ever stopped the traffic. And it was just God's mercy that He kept us in the hollow of His hand. And that's just a trust, and it produces courage to move on with the Lord and go further. So on the other side of courage, the door of courage in our lives is the promised land. And the best things in life are on the other side of that door called courage. Taking on things that are beyond us, out of our control. And so the Lord is good, and I could go on and on here about courage, but we got to move on. And verse 15, and the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore cryest thou unto me, speaking to the children of Israel, that they go forward. You get into a place sometimes where you don't feel like you're going forward. And the Lord says you're to go forward. And courage will help you go forward in your life. in my life. And so the Lord is able to give us that courage, but it requires faith on our part to trust in what we can't see. We have to trust what we can't see and go into a position where it's either God is going to make it happen or it's not going to happen. And the Lord makes it happen. We all suffer losses in our lives. And the losses that hurt the most in life, you know what they are? They're the losses that we will never know in this life, because we never had the courage to open the door and experience the blessings on the other side. the blessings that we could have had. And I tell people in our church in Mexico, I say, God is not going to judge us necessarily on what we have done, but what we could have done with what he gave us, what we could have done. And so that to me is a real challenge, that I be obedient and that I come to my fullest potential that God has designed me to be. And that's what you want as well. So I would encourage you, the next time you see something big, formidable, intimidating in your life, just go ahead and do it anyway. Do it anyway. You know? And on the other side, you'll become a better person. Perhaps on the other side, you'll find the rewards of having opened the door of courage. So I want to encourage you to be a person of courage for it will make you a better person. And so, you know, our time is gone, but verse 19, the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. Isn't that neat? The angel of the Lord. The Lord's with us. And we travel in and out of Mexico, you know, people will say, well, you know, I'm not going to go down there. I don't have to go down there. And I said, well, there's a blessing waiting on the other side of courage. There's a blessing you can't see right now. And we've had more people. I had a church from Valdez come down and they went over and opened the water spigot on our sink and nothing came out. And the pastor and the fellows there, they got down on their knees and just started crying. Said, we don't ever see that where we're from. Open the water spigot and nothing comes out. And we're so thankful for what God's given us. You know, that really impacted me. These guys are just way up over that. And we just take it for granted. The water goes off pretty much every day, you know. And so it came between the camp and the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud of darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these. So that one came not near the other all the night. And Debbie and I would cross the border, and we pray, Lord, blind their eyes. blind their eyes. We're not hauling drugs and stuff into Mexico, but we just don't want the pressure of them jerking everything out of our car and us having to repack it all. You know, because we usually go in full and come out empty. That's how we go in and out of Mexico. And so, there was darkness to them and light to the Israelis. So God couldn't blind them. I'll tell you, I'll have to tell this, but we'd gone to the ranch, and we were coming back, and we had been to the States, and my son had been shooting a rifle up there in the desert, and I didn't know he had left some shells in our truck. I didn't know that, and you can go to prison for that down there. Well anyway, here come down the dirt road about six Hooli Seattle police vehicles. And there's about 40 of them in these vehicles. And this lady was in charge. These ladies are always worse. than the men. And anyway, she had us get out. And I had just found those shells before we left the ranch in the truck. And I didn't know what we were going to do. And then I said, oh no, here come the police. They're going to find those shells. And then they're going to think we have a gun. And so, they got us all out of the truck and they got down there and they got their face and they're looking under the seat right where those shells, those shells were within three inches of their nose and they didn't see them. They did not see them. And all we could do is pray, Lord, blind their eyes. And they let us go and with smiles, you know, y'all have a good day. You know, it was God's grace, you know. God was good. And I'll make sure that never happens again, you know. But anyway, thank you for praying for us and for holding us up before the throne of grace. God's been so good. We've gone through the violence that was out at the ranch 42 miles from Gwachuchi has now moved to Gwachuchi. We've had people killed in broad daylight on the Pedifrico, around our town, within a mile of our house. And a little airman, he works for me, taking care of chickens and so forth. And he was shot twice through the arms when he was seven years old. His little baby sister was killed with a bullet. The dad showed up at a narco roadblock and he decided to turn around and go back the other way. They started firing at the vehicle and shot through the vehicle a number of times, killing the sister. and wounded him twice. And when he came to us, Angel, one of the brothers of our church, he started inviting him to come help work. He wanted to help this kid who had been wounded at a very young age. This young boy was around us for a good period of time. Neither one of the parents are believers. And so, Irvin has come to Christ. He's in our youth group now. He's about nine years old. And, you know, as kids like that, it makes it worthwhile. Investing my life for the Lord. And we're going back to be servants. We're going back to prepare leaders to take our place, because we don't know how long we have left. So y'all pray for us so we can invest our lives into other lives and empower others to serve Christ. Lord bless.