Psalm 100- Prayer and Praise — Francis Chan

We're gonna show you a video right now that Children's Hunger Fund put together for us. If you remember, last year we gave them a million dollars to just kind of do as they please, to take care of people, and we made a video explaining why we're giving the money away.

Well, they made a video for us just to thank us and also to show us where that money went. And as you look at this video, I just encourage you, it can be real easy to get lost in just numbers and statistics and forget that every number represents a person, an individual that is just as significant as you are.

So let's watch this video that they threw together for us.

You can know it It's been a while since anybody had love to laugh Just like you do, my family also means the world to me So as you choose what to wear, remember I fight to stay warm As you decide where to eat, it's my chill, hurt to read Possessions never shield a life from earthly pain As you remember, Jesus, te recibo en mi corazón, Dios mío

Perdona mis pecados, lávame con tu sangre Hazme tu hijo, Señor, y escribe mi nombre

Giving Beyond Numbers and Statistics

Isn't that awesome? I just love that. I just love that we could have some sort of impact in the world, and it's amazing. I mean, pennies, it costs pennies to feed these people, and they're real people.

I mean, I love just even looking at that video, those different faces, like some of the most beautiful kids in the world, aren't they? And you're just looking and going, man, just, I love the fact that we were in their lives last year, and I just pray that every year that that's what we're about is caring about other people, looking beyond ourselves.

I know in your bulletins and on the internet and everything else, we said that today we're gonna start a series on the end times, and I've decided to do that in September. We're gonna do a three, four-week series.

I'm gonna talk about that all through the month of September because there's some other things I wanna do today, and I really believe the Lord is leading us to do today, but I do wanna read this passage.

Paul's Charge to Timothy in the Last Days

I do wanna read the passage that we'll be going through in September because it has been on my mind for weeks, and I just want you to listen to this passage. It's 2 Timothy chapters three and four, and so long, I'm gonna read through a lot of verses, but I want you to remember, this was a letter.

This was a letter written by the apostle Paul, and this is right before he's gonna die. He just knows his life's about over, and so he writes this letter to this young pastor because he's just kinda getting started, and he's still got a long ways to go, and he says these words, and they're so powerful because he talks about how at the end time, well, you'll hear about it.

Just listen to it, but I just wanna read this to you because I just think these words are so powerful, and I so believe it's the time that we live in right now. So 2 Timothy chapter three says this. But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power, have nothing to do with them.

They're the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth, just as Jannes and Jambres also oppose Moses, so also these men oppose the truth, men of depraved minds, who as far as the faith is concerned are rejected, but they will not get very far because as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured, yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. While evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, but as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing in his kingdom, I give you this charge, preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they'll gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

For I'm already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I've fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Isn't that a great passage? I get emotional just reading it. Like, I can't read that passage without, just, it's like everything's getting stirred up in me because I just believe that's so our time. And the Bible, what Paul's telling Timothy, he goes, man, my life's over, and I did it, I fought it, I'm about done, I'm gonna go to heaven, I'm gonna receive my reward, just like everyone will who holds out and is looking forward to his return.

But he warns this young preacher, he goes, you gotta understand, if you keep teaching this book, he goes, what I'm telling you to do, keep preaching this book, but if you do it, you gotta know that people are gonna leave your church.

He goes, in fact, there's gonna be a day that's coming when people, they won't wanna hear this stuff. Who wants to listen to this? Instead, they're gonna go and they're gonna find places where, man, it's all about making you feel good and everything else, and he goes, in the last days, people won't stand for, they just will not stand for this word.

They'll be against it, they'll hate it, and everything else, he goes, but you can't give up. He goes, you gotta keep, you gotta carry it on, you gotta carry it on, you gotta keep teaching it. And I love that, I love that.

It's such a huge charge, you know, and command to us of saying, you know what, and I just felt like I needed to share this. I just wanted to share today in the sense of, some of you guys have been around for a while, for years, and I just wanna encourage you.

I know that some of the things I've said over the years have not been easy to hear, and it would've been very easy to leave and go, you know what, this other place, they never, you know, get in my face, you seem to do it every week, you know, and it's not like I'm trying to look for those passages, it just seems like that's just all it says, and there's tremendous encouragement and the grace of God and everything else, but along with it, there's also some difficult things that God has us say, and I just thank you so much for sticking with it, and even the giving thing.

Reimagining Church as Sacrificial Service

I realize the last two years have been, I'm assuming you guys have been here a long time, but the last two years have been just this complete, like, transition in our church, and there have been a lot of people that have left, and a lot of you are new and have come in over the last couple of years, and for those who have stuck it out, man, I thank you for being patient.

We're still trying to figure this thing out. There's just so many things about church here that I look at the Bible and I go, man, that's just not right. We shouldn't just be a bunch of people that sit in a service and just entertain them and keep them coming back week after week.

That can't be what church is about, and if that's really the least of these is really Jesus, then we've gotta be giving to them, and I know that you, I mean, this is all stuff that I've been really convicted about over the last few years, and so you guys have kinda stuck with me and going, you know what?

Yeah, that is what that word of God says, but it meant sacrifices on our part. I mean, even just the, you know, you think about just the million dollars going to Children's Hunger Fund over last year.

We could've hired like a dozen, 15, you know, pastors for us, you know, and we could've had more staff, and it would've worked out really much better with the about $3 million that we gave out last year.

We could've had 40 or 50 full-time pastors for us, you know, and just take care of us and our needs, and so I know that some of it, you know, the pastors are kinda worn thin and trying to, we gotta use people in the community, and we've all sacrificed because we're saying there's a huge need out there.

I know that was a difficult change. I know that with the communities and trying to change things around and say, man, it's not right that we're believers and we've got other believers, you know, within a block of us, and we don't even know their names, when they're supposed to be like our brothers and sisters, and so let's work toward this, and we don't have it all figured out yet, but you've been patient, and some of you have really been going for it and working on that, and I'm going, man, we gotta do this, we gotta do this.

This is the right thing, and in fact, last service, a guy came up to me, and he goes, man, keep doing this. I'm from a church in Ventura. You know, we had this, you know, building project too, you know, a $3 million building project, and we were so convicted about everything going on here, and God was convicting us the same way that we've decided we're not gonna do that, and we're giving away that $3 million, and I'm going, right on, you know.

It's just, there's a greater need, and things are happening, and I understand, man. It presents a hardship on us sometimes. Those of you who have been faithful in giving over this last year as our houses have just kind of dropped and jobs have been lost and struggles and everything else, you're sticking it out, and man, I just want to encourage you in that and say, you know what?

It's probably gonna get even harder, and there's gonna be more people opposed to this way of living and thinking, but God warns us about that, and he says, you know what? You guys stick it out, though.

Keep preaching whatever is in that book because I'm telling you, just in my lifetime, I'm seeing this become less and less popular, and the truths of this book, I don't feel like I'm changing what I've taught over the years.

In many ways, I've just been teaching this book, but even in the last 10 years, it just becomes harder and harder to teach this, but the Bible says keep passing it on. Keep going because it's gonna be hard, and so we're gonna spend a whole month talking about that and just encouraging you to stay in that mindset, and I also want to encourage you because that whole idea of loving the people in our very neighborhoods that is so lost in our culture where we want to drive in, close the garage door, and just shut ourselves off to the world, we all know that's not biblical, and we gotta care for the needs right in our faces, not just overseas, but our next-door neighbors, and that's why we go, you got to know the people in our community, in your community, and just encourage you in that.

Loving Neighbors Through Practical Care

This was a great week on that. I was so encouraged this week. On Thursday, I was in here doing one of the saddest funerals I've ever done, a little one-year-old, and it was, I met with the family on Tuesday, great couple, they're not believers in Jesus, just really nice people, and we just sat and talked for three hours about everything, but you know what they were blown away by?

They said, we've had perfect strangers from all up and down our street, from Cornerstone Church coming up to us, bringing us food, bringing us cards, bringing us stuff, offering their help, praying for, we don't even know them, and just blown away.

She just couldn't say enough. They couldn't say enough about what you guys were doing in that community, up there in the bridal path, because you were just saying, well, what needs are in my community, in my neighborhood?

Let me take care of them. In fact, and then she was saying, you know, and then we went to the mortuary. We had to go through all these different things, and everyone's giving us such a hassle with all these things we got to do, and then we come to Cornerstone to try to put together the service, and you guys just took us in.

You just said, don't worry about a thing. You planned out the service for us. You let us have this place. You put a reception together for us. You pay for everything, and you don't want a dime in return?

She just excited herself. She goes, I couldn't even believe it, when you guys said, when I said, how much is this, and you say nothing, we won't take anything, and then all your people come along. You see, that's what I want in every neighborhood.

Isn't that the way the church is supposed to be, where in every neighborhood there's a need, and even though they're strangers to us, that we just give with wanting nothing in return, other than the opportunity to give and to bless someone else, and good things are happening.

This month, I just want to encourage you, as we're talking about the inner city. It's just been so great, because Keith Phillips from World Impact is telling me about all these different people that want to serve, different ones of you that want to serve down in LA now, and he's emailing me names.

Hey, do you know this guy? You know this guy? You know this girl? I don't know any of them. He's like, they're from your church. This person wants to do this. This person wants to do that. I'm like, that's great.

That's so cool that you're getting out there. That's why we're giving out needs every month of a different place, and this focus was inner city. There's like 15 or so of you this week that are heading up to Richmond in the Bay Area, to one of the worst neighborhoods in the nation, one of the hardest neighborhoods, and you're contractors, builders, that are heading up there and just helping this church out and fixing things up in these homes nearby.

That's huge. That's so cool. This week on Wednesday, Wednesday I was out in the valley, San Fernando Valley to meet with a director over at the San Fernando Rescue Mission, and I just want to see what the needs are there.

I just wanted to see what the place was about because we're giving some money there, and we just sat down, had lunch, and he's just telling me about all the cornerstone people. Again, he goes, man, you're cornerstone people.

They're just, you know, this person's doing this. This person's doing that. This person's doing, I'm just counting on these cornerstone people. I'm like, right on, you know, and we gotta keep going down this path, and I know it's so hard for some of you because you're thinking, man, I got issues of my own, and yet I'm helping other people.

Shouldn't I just sit here and think about me? And yet as you're going, even with your pain, you're going and ministering to others, and you're realizing, wow, this is what's actually helping me take the problems off of my mind, and it's actually, it really is better to give than to receive, and we gotta keep this mindset, you know, when so many churches are going to a consumer mentality of what's in it for me.

It's gotta be about giving. We gotta keep going down this path because this is where the fulfillment is, and let me just say something about that rescue mission in San Fernando Valley. I was totally educated this week in that.

Responding to Homelessness in San Fernando Valley

Did you know that there, just in the San Fernando Valley, there's 8 ,000 homeless people, just in the San Fernando Valley. San Fernando Valley's huge. It's almost two million people just in the San Fernando Valley.

8 ,000 homeless. Now, in LA, in LA, there's 10 ,000 that are homeless, but they have four huge rescue missions. In San Fernando Valley, there's only that one rescue mission. There's only a San Fernando rescue mission, and it only houses 60 people.

I was pretty floored by that, and this place, that rescue mission is only for families, so if you don't have children, this is only, you know, for those who have kids, and, but you gotta see this place.

I mean, it's, they've only got three bathrooms for 60 people who live there. Okay, you're bugged because you have to wait for your daughter or whatever. You know, 60 people, three bathrooms. Their kitchen's smaller than mine, probably smaller than yours for 60 people, but I love this place because, okay, they do, they go out, they give food to those who are chronically homeless because there are people who just don't even want to get off the streets.

They're on drugs or whatever else, and they're just gonna be there, but this rescue mission, while they care for all those people and feed them as well, this place where they stay is only for those who are situationally homeless, for families where they just lost their job, lost their house, which you guys know, that's becoming more and more rampant, especially as last year, it's been absolutely nuts.

In fact, for every family that they accept, they have to turn away 30, and again, these are situational. These are people who, in order to stay at this place, you have to be working, and your kids have to be in school, and you have to save 80 of whatever you make, so you turn over your paycheck to the rescue mission, and they take 80 of it to put in a savings account for you because they want to help you get out of there, and then you can spend the other 20%, but it's that 80 we didn't know.

If you're gonna stay, so there's qualifications for this place, and I just love this, but the thought of, man, you're turning down 30 families for every family that comes there. Half the people are under the age 12 that are in this place, and I don't know, my heart just absolutely broke over that because we're not talking about even LA.

We're not talking about Mexico. We're not talking about the ends of the earth. We're talking about San Fernando Valley. You know the border? We border San Fernando Valley. Simi Valley is on one side, so it's not even a minute away.

I mean, we are the border of that, and that's right next door, and so I hear things like that, and I know some of you are going, well, man, another thing, but what else do we do? In my mind, I go, we have to do something.

There's no way Jesus would have a church here and have that need right next door and do nothing about it. I just, I can't believe that, and I know it's throwing another thing on us and everything else, but isn't that something you wanna do?

Isn't it something where you go, man, I would love to be down there with these women, children, you know, that are just, they can't believe it. One day, they're in their job. They're in their home, and next day, boom, they're gone, and they might not have the family support you have.

They may not have the friends and the church around them, and suddenly, they find themselves on the street, you know, and that Pursuit of Happiness movie keeps getting in my head, you know, where you just think, man, it's just, people go through hard times, and suddenly, they find themselves in this situation, and to know that that many of them have no place to go.

Ever since I spoke to him on Wednesday, it's just been on my head where I'm going, Lord, okay, there's something, there's something. Does that mean we build a shelter? Does that mean we do something out there?

And you start going, God, how many things can we do, and yet, you look over the last year and go, well, we were able to do quite a bit. Why not throw another one, you know, and it's coming before the Lord and saying, God, you know what, we need you, we need you.

I believe this next year, God has, he's put so many thoughts in my mind of what I believe he wants Cornerstone Church to do in the elders' minds, and I, we made it through this year. It was the craziest year ever in Cornerstone where we gave away half of our money, and still, we had enough money to pay off debt.

You know, it's just a ridiculous, ridiculous thing, and I want this next year not to cruise, but to say, God, you know what, we wanna live by faith again. Exceed what you did last year. Blow us away. I wanna see something happen in that valley.

I wanna see something more happen in our communities. I want every community to be like what that one community was in the Bridal Path this last week. I want us to be doing that in every one of our neighborhoods because I believe that's the essence of the gospel when we start living and giving to other people.

Seeking God Wholeheartedly

So, we need to pray. I just think we need to pray this morning and spend some time praying for these different projects, but if you have your Bibles, turn to Jeremiah 29. I just wanna read one verse to you.

It's a verse that a lot of you guys are familiar with. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 13. I'm not really texting anyone. I'm illustrating. Don't you hate when people do that? Some of you guys just thought, oh, that looks totally normal, doesn't it?

He's preaching and texting at the same time. You thought that, huh? And some of you are like, wow, is he really texting someone right now? Don't you hate when people do that? You're in a conversation and they're going, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, totally.

And yet you do it to other people. I can't stand it when people do it to me. And yet I'll do it too, middle of a conversation. Just let me check if it's something important. Ah, it's just my wife. And you go, no, I'm just kidding.

But you go and you're doing this and you're talking and everything else. And I was thinking to myself, man, it is so rare when I am just doing one thing at a time. I mean, in my mind, I'm thinking, why not do four things at once instead of one if you can?

And so, I mean, it is not rare for me to be texting and emailing and writing a book and playing Wii with my kids, you know, at the same time. I mean, it's just, that's just life, right? And you do this, you do this, you do this.

And it's driving me crazy, to be honest with you. When I try to just do one thing, I mean, when's the last time you had a conversation with one human being and they looked you in the eyes the whole time and you looked at them the whole time and you were thinking only about them the whole time and not about all the other tasks?

When's the last time you opened your laptop and there's only one window, you know? I can't remember. It's like, I've gotta have five different things that I'm doing at once, you know, and in different parts of my, you know, it's just, I gotta, my mind, I'm just going nuts here.

And something's gotta change, and something's gotta give. And where it's really bugging me is, I have noticed that in my prayer life, I can't concentrate. I cannot do it. I've always struggled with it, but it's like 10 times worse right now.

Do you feel that? Like, I've always been one that was easily distracted, but I could get focused and I get back on my knees and go, okay, let me pray out loud, you know, so it makes sense, you know, because otherwise it's like, no, no, no, no, you know, and suddenly I'm thinking about whatever, and it's like, gosh, I just want to just focus on you, and I'm finding it's harder and harder and harder because we have so many ways to do so many things.

I'm even, while I was up here, you know, saying, hey, turn to that passage. It made perfect sense to some of you that if I got 10 free seconds, I can text four people, you know, that makes total sense.

Oh, good, he's making use of his time. In fact, I'm gonna, you know, and I see some of you, you think I don't see you, you know, during my talk. Okay, but it's just that whole, it's driving me nuts, man.

I mean, I've always struggled. I mean, you guys know me, I'm King ADD, but now it's like so much worse, and it's really taken a toll on my prayer life this last year, and it's just been hitting me, and I'm just going, okay, Lord, something's got to give, something's got to change, because I just, I can't live this way.

I'm getting a lot done, you know, but am I really? In Jeremiah 29, verse 13, God says, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. And I just gotta throw the question out there.

When's the last time you sought after God with all, okay, key word, all of your heart? You weren't in the back of your mind thinking, well, I'm kind of in a hurry right now. I still got a few things to do today.

I got this, I hear the baby crying. Oh, you know what, I'm listening to the TV at the same time. Okay, they didn't score that inning. You know, you're just, all these things are going on, you know, your pocket's vibrating, you know, because of the text you're getting, whatever else, and it's like, Lord, do we ever just seek you with all of our heart anymore?

And I'm getting a little, I'm just being honest with you. I'm getting concerned about the person I'm becoming. And it's not that I wanna be this, it's just, it's just happening to me, and I've gotta pull some things under control, and every once in a while, I think about taking a step, you know, that's why I haven't gotten a Blackberry yet, you know, I'm still with a goofy little razor, and just going, man, I gotta take bigger steps, though, because I gotta be able to think, I gotta be able to pray with a clear mind.

I was thinking, man, do I just not take the laptop home? Ooh, you know, like the thought of that, and just work a normal job, you know, and leave the job at the job, you know, like, can I do the, you know, these things that are just radical?

Do I get rid of cell phone? Do I do this? Because I just gotta, I gotta seek God with all my heart again, and I feel like I'm losing the capacity to do so, to seek God with all my heart. So here's what we're gonna do.

Five Minutes of Undistracted Prayer

I wanna give you a present this morning. I wanna give you five minutes where we turn off all the cell phones. Five minutes, we're not gonna sing, I'm not gonna talk, we're just gonna come before God and seek Him with all of our hearts.

I'm not even gonna tell you what to pray for. I'm gonna ask Nathan to come out and just kind of play softly on the organ so that we can just drown out the coughing and the noises and anything that might distract you.

I just wanna, I just wanna give you five minutes where you just do one thing, okay? Let me prepare you for this, because this is gonna be weird, okay? I promise you that five minutes from now, things will be okay.

God will still be on His throne. He's still in control, okay? Whatever text, just finish them off right now, and just for five minutes, okay? Don't think about your kids. Don't think about your work. Don't think about all the problems.

Don't think about the relationships that have been bugging you. Just for five minutes, can you just seek God with all of your heart? It's such a great time for a service, just doing that, just having some silence.

So you just bow your heads. I've been praying for this time, for you. Forget that anyone else is in this room. Forget about life completely. There's just nothing else going on in the world. It's you and your Creator.

God, picture Him sitting on His throne in heaven, and He very well could take you home right now when all this earth, it'll be a distant memory. Just picture Him right now on His throne, just you and Him.

Seek Him with all your heart. Just talk to Him and say whatever is on your mind.

One thing I single-minded, wholehearted One thing I ask that I may gaze upon your beauty Seek your mind and heart

Praying in Faith for the Church's Mission

We could just stay in this attitude of prayer. I'd like you to pray for certain things for the church, and I want you to believe in this time. I wrestled with doing this, and honestly, it was because of my own doubts.

You know, early in the week, I thought, man, I feel like we need to just spend a few minutes praying for the church, and then I thought, no, everyone wants to hear a sermon. Let me just do that, and it was almost like I doubted that whether our prayers would be effective or something.

And I really had to get my heart right before God, because James 1 tells us that if we doubt, then don't expect to receive anything. But to really believe that if we devote the next few minutes to prayers, things will be different, and there's things we really need prayer for in the church.

So I'm asking you to pray, believing right now with me, praying in faith. The first thing I'd like you to pray for is for our new property on Tierra Jada. We close escrow on Friday. It's been a two-year process, and we're still not through it with the county, but things are looking good as far as I, it looks like it's gonna work, but the problem is, is something I want us to pray about is, in the process, after the media got ahold of it, it's created like this negative feel in our community, and I hate that.

I probably had five strangers come up to me this week and tell me about the different things that they were bugged by about the project. I'm like, man, you got it all wrong. That's not what we're trying to do, and even as I explain it, you know, this week, flyers went out this week about how, you know, even if it's just gonna be grass in a park, still they're bugged about the parking lot, that there'll be asphalt on the parking lot, which will make it warmer there in that whole community, and everyone's gonna be hot, and, you know, pretty soon, we'll be the cause of global warming.

It's just, you know, I'm going, man, this is not what I expected, you know? I thought everyone's gonna be like, wow, that is so cool. You guys are gonna meet outside and sit on grass so that we can have a greenbelt, and then you're gonna build Children's Hunger Fund, right on, you know what, so that Ventura County can be known for sending, you know, food all around the world, and we can come with our families and pack food.

Yeah, that's my crazy mind, and thought that that was gonna happen, and so I'm meeting with some different city and government officials, and just trying to go, you guys, what do you want us to do, man?

I just, I don't want this to be a negative thing in our community. I want it to be something you guys are proud of and excited about, and so help me out with that, and I know some of you guys probably hear comments, and I appreciate just your heart and gentleness, and part of it is just, it's just love and instruct people, and, but I just want that all to change, you know?

I mean, I just want people to see, you know what, what we're trying to do is help whoever, and we'll do whatever it takes to do that, and so would you just bow your heads right now, and just pray for the property on Tierra Jada that somehow God would use it to his glory.

Now pray for your immediate neighborhood, just the few blocks around you. Pray specifically for families you know there in your specific neighborhood. Pray for them by name, and pray for their needs, and if you don't know their names or their needs, then pray for yourself, that you would actually get into your neighborhood, and care about these people, so just pray for your immediate neighborhood right now.

Pray for the rescue mission in San Fernando Valley, that God would just do more in that valley, and that we would figure out as Cornerstone Church how he wants us involved. Pray huge on this one. Pray for those 8 ,000 people that slept on the street last night, right next door to us, just pray for them.

Interceding for Missionaries and Gospel Workers

I'm gonna have you pray for some of our missionaries now, actually some of them are here, so I'm gonna actually have them come up here, and we're gonna pray for, there's Mike and Jennifer Cratch, and a couple of their boys.

They had to come back from Papua New Guinea for a few months, because Jen was having some medical difficulties, and it's been all worked out now, and she's had some treatment, and they're about ready to head back, but they've been out in the jungle for three years before that, they were preparing for it for four years.

For the last seven years, they've been about this, and we're about to send them back out again, and man, you're out in Papua New Guinea in the middle of a jungle with this tribe, and learning their language, and sharing the gospel with them, and you can just feel really alone sometimes.

Then another gal that's just up the river, what'd you say, an hour canoe ride? This girl, Melissa Sparrow, who's also a part of our church, young single gal, 20-something years old, and her tribe is, she's been trying to share with this tribe out there, and they're called the Wabuku people, and just recently, a lot of these people have decided that they want to leave their tribe and flee before she's really even getting to get in the gospel, because a lot of them are dying in that region, and they believe it's because of this witch doctor that's in that area, and so they're all wanting to flee, and she's saying, would you have the church pray that they stay, because they gotta hear the gospel, and not only that, but then she says, one of her best friends out there, one of the ladies, one of the tribe's people, she just recently just started freaking out, where she would just tear her clothes off and start pounding on people, and they would tie her up to trees, and she'd break loose, and it's just this strange thing that's going on with her, and so her whole world's kind of just, here's this young gal on the opposite side of the world, going, I'm just feeling so alone, and just feeling like, what am I doing out here, and so we wanna lift up Melis, too, and so let's pray for the Cratches, let's pray for Melis Sparrow, let's pray for Tim and Courtney Chantier that are also in Papua New Guinea with another tribe, and they're sharing the gospel with them.