The Why

Praise God. Here's a simple question. Is our God worthy? Amen. I'm amazed at what he's doing. He's so good to us. He sent his son. Jesus came here willingly and he died for each one of us. Praise God. And you know, he sent back his spirit. And where his spirit is, there's life and there's liberty. And the most amazing thing is he's raised us from the dead spiritually. We have a new life in him and it's gonna probably be a little different, but we want to welcome the fellows from Mission Teens here this morning. We'll give them a little hand. Even though the Lord deserves all the praise, right? I was gonna say special guests, but you know what, they're brothers. And anybody that's born again is brought into the same family. And what a privilege. I don't want to be here very long, but most people know how this has come to be. I want to say the first thing that was done, there was a lot of praying that went on. Our God answers prayer. And over a period of, hmm, from the time we visited, it's actually a little over a year, the Lord led us to help participate and purchase a building here. And the ministry there at Mission Teens, you'll hear more from these guys. Actually, there's no teenagers, but they have each, you know, facility, they let the locals name it. And we, the name of it is Mercy Tree. So if you see a text go about Mercy Tree, that's what it's about. But each one of these, we had the privilege the other night of going over there and sharing a meal with the guys. They have come here because we're starting to take care of the physical aspects of the building, and this and that, and also to get established within the community. They're going to visit other churches. They're here with us this morning. Thank the Lord. And as they move forward, let's remember them in prayer. This is a great privilege for all of us. And it's a privilege to be called by God and to be called according to his purpose. And I'm so thankful. But anyway, they have moved down here permanently, and they're going to help things get started. And eventually, there may be as close to 30 people here in this ministry. In case you don't know, help with people, shrugging a lot of us with addictions. And, you know, sin's addictive. We've all had some kind of addiction. But, you know, we all have the same Savior. We have the same

Deliverer. And the truth of the matter is, we get in a hole we can't pull ourselves out of. That's when God reaches down in great mercy and pulls us out. He pulls us out of a pit and puts our feet on a rock. And actually, he is the rock. His name is still Jesus. He's still the same yesterday, today, and forever. And again, I'm gonna—we've asked the guys to feel free to share. They come from different backgrounds. We were over there the other night, and I told somebody, I said, this is like Ocean's Five or something. Every one of these characters are different. But it isn't like that in the body of Christ. Every joint supplies. We're unique. We're all different. But it is amazing how the Lord can bring us together. And a lot of these men come from actually different centers across the United States. There's only 20 of them. Now there's 21. The 21st one's here. And they're just getting to know each other. Some of them—I knew Aaron and AJ. I didn't meet the other guys until just the other night. Man, what a wonderful blessing. Wonderful blessing. But anyway, I'm gonna—AJ's gonna be kind of the director here of this facility. I'm gonna ask him to come up first, and he's gonna share his testimony. And each one of these men will come up, you know, say whatever they want to say. You feel free. And at the end, we want to have them sing a little song for us. Anyway, come on, AJ. Thank you. Good morning, church. It is an honor and a privilege to be in the house this morning. I've heard a lot about this church, but it's definitely a blessing to finally get down here and see all you lovely people that Steve and Shelly and JP and everyone's been telling us about for over the last year. So it's just exciting to finally be down here. Like Steve said, my name is AJ Howard. I'll be the director at Mercy Tree Mission Bible Training Center. And we are the 21st center of the Mission Teens Ministry. We are an 8 to 10 month Bible discipleship training program. And unlike your traditional rehabilitation centers who just seek to get people— a clean quote-unquote, we take a different approach and we try to renew their minds in Christ and to, for some, introduce them to Christ.

And when you're walking with Christ, that addiction and things of that nature, that sinful nature tend to fall off. So that's just part of the program of Mission Teens. And I'll share a little bit of my testimony. Born and raised in New Jersey, 40 years old, pretty decent childhood, good upbringing. I was raised in the church, whether it be the church choir, youth group, I was raised in the church. I found track and field at an early age, around eight years old. So that was kind of like my first passion in life, something I was really interested in. I ran track all the way up until high school and got a scholarship for track to go to school, to college. And it wasn't until college is when the addiction started. I moved from South Jersey, a kind of like a small town to North Jersey, which was about 10 minutes from New York City. And it was a lot faster paced. And I kind of got caught up. So that's where the addiction started. There was bouts of going back and forth to jail and I ended up dropping out of college after my second year. I was in a rebellious stage at that point. So I just moved up and moved to Memphis, Tennessee for a year with no plan, still in my addiction. After that, I moved back to New Jersey and the addiction just continued to get worse

and worse and worse. I started trying new things and I was just totally out of control until I finally had came to my family. And I said, listen, I need some kind of help. And my uncle went through the Mission Teens program out in Norman, New Jersey. And they said, well, why don't you try Mission Teens? So I went to Mission Teens and like any other center, you have to fill out the application. I went to fill out the application and they said, well, we don't have any beds right now, but we do have 20 other centers across the country. So there's a list of different centers that we had throughout the country and still not thinking in my right mind, I'm looking at these places and I'm thinking I'm going on vacation. I see Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I see Savannah, Georgia. I'm like, oh wow, that'd be nice. Well, the Lord has a sense of humor because out of all those centers, I ended up in Stolzville, Kentucky. And it was definitely culture shock when I got down there. It was in the middle of the mountains, but it's definitely what I needed. And the Lord knows exactly what we need. And I needed to get away for a little bit to get right with God.

After I left Kentucky, I came back to the New Jersey Center where I graduated the eight to 10 month program and decided to leave. We have a second option or a second phase of the program, which is staff training, which is optional. So I chose to go back into my community and I was doing really well. The Lord really blessed me, but I started making small compromises and those small compromises ended up into big compromises. And this time I knew right from wrong and the Lord had entered my life. And when I was doing wrong, it began to torment me because I know right from wrong. And when you start walking with the Lord and you start backsliding, it'll torment you. And it got to the point where I really felt like I was losing my mind. It became like a psychological thing and it tormented me to the point where I didn't want to live anymore. And I called my mom one day, I said, listen, mom, like I'm not married, I don't have any kids. Like, what is my purpose here in life? And I don't want to be here anymore. She says, son, she said, you do have purpose and you have a calling on your life. So pull over. And she ended up coming to meet me where I was at.

And they took me over to get evaluated by some psychologists and long story short, I was only there for overnight. So I get up from the place that they had taken me to and my mom was driving me back. She said, listen, I'm not taking you back to your house. You need help. So I called Mission Teens, and this is funny. I called Mission Teens to get a number for a 30 day program because I didn't want to do the eight to 10 month program. So Taylor called me back within five minutes. He said, you're not going to any other program. You're coming back to the mission. So I entered the mission again, but it was something different this time. There was something that I missed the first time that I went through. I didn't begin to surrender my life completely to Christ in that first time. And that's where I realized that I had went wrong. So this time I graduated again and I decided to stay. I said, you know what, Lord, you've blessed me in so many ways. I want to stay and give back to the younger people coming in the program that are struggling as well. So that's. exactly what I did. I stayed for the second program, the staff training program. I did what they call program overseer, which basically handles the day-to-day operations of the mission from people calling in to do applications all the way through graduation overseeing the program. And after I finished overseer, I got a little antsy. And you know, sometimes when we get

comfortable, we want to just kind of open doors that God really doesn't open for us. And I was in that kind of season because I wanted to go into the military, and I started reaching out to recruiters. And it was, that ended up falling through. So I said, you know what, well, let me go back to school. And all this is while I'm still in the mission looking for a door to go somewhere else. And I got signed up for school. I got accepted into a college for nursing. And at this time, the North Carolina Center was already in the talks and already in the works. And they had a director's meeting down in Florida about the North Carolina Center and who they wanted to run it. So about a week before my classes were to start at the local college, Taylor said, who's the executive director of New Jersey, he said, I want you to pray about something. And I said, well, what is it? He said, I want you to pray about going to North Carolina. And in that moment, I knew that if God put that on his heart, that was the answer right there. So I immediately canceled classes. And I said, Lord, that's the door that needed to be open. And sometimes when we get into our carnal minds, we want to open doors that God really doesn't open. And that was a clear sign to me that that was an opening, that that was an open door that only God could open. So I accepted it. And I said, yes, Lord, I will do your work. And here we are. It is an amazing, amazing journey that we've been on so far. We just got down here. I've got four amazing brothers who came now with me. You'll hear from them a little bit later. I don't want to be before you long, but I did want to read something out of John 17, starting at verse 18, and I think I'll go through 21. And it reads, As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. And I feel like that is the perfect scripture to kind of summarize what we're doing here, because we are one family, and the Lord has called us down here to serve, and that's exactly what we're going to do. And it's something when God is in the situation, because although Steve, Shelly, JP, Mary, Joel, Don, Buddy, every time I met them, it felt like I've known them for a lifetime. And that's only God that can do something like that. And when I first got down here, I was thinking to myself, I said, what are they putting in the sweet tea? Everybody's so nice. It's definitely not like that up north. It's been a blessing to just be received in the community. We went out to the Vast Spring

Fest yesterday, because we are in Vast. It's just an amazing time, an amazing season in the Lord, and we really look forward to what the Lord is about to do in this season. I just ask you guys continue to pray for us, and we will pray for you all. I do actually have our very first newsletter. I did only bring about 20 copies, so if you'd like one, just see me after service. If I do run out, my brother Rob will take your name and address, and we'll make sure that you do get one when we send those out in the mail on Monday and Tuesday. But again, thank you all for having us. Thank you all for your continued prayers, and God bless you all. Thank you. Aaron. Hi, my name's Aaron. I'm from South Jersey. I've been in mission teams for about a year and a half. I'll keep it very simple. He talked about it in scripture this morning. There's freedom in the name. of Jesus and he set me free from darkness and I was walking in for 20 something years and I was seeking something I couldn't catch up to, didn't sustain me and I was reaching out to the wrong things. I needed a lot less me and a lot more Jesus in my life. And through Mission Teens, that's where it happened. I've been set free and my life has changed. My life's been transformed. It's been restored. Family relationships have been restored. What God has said to me since he said, I want you to go, he said, I want you to go help somebody else the way I helped you and tell them all about who did it for you. And that's what, in James 3 it says, whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. And I feel like a door was open for me to come down here. It didn't go like AJ's did where it just, through Taylor, the director there, he just said, I'm thinking about sending you with AJ and that was it. And so it opened the door for me and that's what I feel my purpose is here to do is to help somebody just how I was helped and that's through Jesus Christ. That's all. I'm going to have Samuel come up. Praise God. I just want to give thanks to the Lord for bringing me here. My testimony is, I considered I could write a book about my life. Okay. First, my name is Samuel Ricks. I'm from Alabama, a little small town down there. They call Hillsborough, Alabama. I was raised up in the church. My mom believed, her and my grandma, they believe in knowing the Lord. Mom rest in peace. Where should I begin? We're going to put it like that. I'm going to make it short and sweet. I was addicted to crack cocaine from 1992 to 2018. The devil had a hold on me. And I always knew this was just a little metamorphic thing. I bought four million dollar cars and two billion

dollar houses in my addiction. In 2018, I got delivered. But guess what? I got delivered to something that was even worse. Crystal meth. And it took, it turned up my heart for me to realize that God had a plan for me. I remember one day I was walking, going to one of my little playgrounds, as I call it. And I had a breathing attack. And I fell to the ground, and it was a lady sitting out there in her yard. And I asked her, I said, ma'am, please help me. And that lady shut that door in my face. I'll never forget that day. She shut the door in my face. And no sooner she shut the door, it was like a cool breeze that's come through and hit my body. And I stood up like there wasn't nothing going on. I went on. So I went on to my playground. And I was telling my friend, I said, hey, man. I said, this lady shut the door. I had a breathing attack. She shut the door in my face. And he said, man, you need to go on to the doctor. I said, okay, I'm going. Went on. That's the first time. The second time I was going, same, going to the same little playground. And I hit a chain-link fence. Cut my face, all behind my neck. And when I fell, I Rolled over and I could see a face, but I couldn't even make out who it was. And they said, is she all right? And I rolled over and I kind of laughed, I said, yeah. And I jumped up right quick, because I got paranoid. I got looking, and I didn't see nobody. I'm like, OK. And I went on. Same thing again. So God spared my life. He saved me the third time. That's when I had another attack, and I wound up going to the hospital. And I remember the doctor, when he got ready to do the heart surgery, he said, Mr. Ricks, he said, your valve in your heart is gone. He said, well, I can do this for you. I can put a stent in you that'll give you a year or two, or I can give you this hog valve that'll give you five to 10. He said, lay down and sleep. Think about it. And I was laying in the room. I said, Lord, I don't want to get cut on no more.

I said, I've been cut on so much, I don't want to be cut no more. And I just went on to sleep. So I came in the next morning. Doctor said, well, you made a surgery. And it made me think about a game show. Let's make a deal. Hey, next thing I know, he said, what did you say? I said, I'll take the five to 10. And I went on, and they went on. He told me, so it's going to take seven hours, and we're going to do the surgery. He said, 85% that you're going to be all right. So I met an older lady. At that time, she was 85 years old. And she had had the same surgery. And she said, it's wonderful. I'm still here. I'm 15 years. I still got the same little valve in it. I said, OK. OK. I said, OK. But make that a little shorter. Then I went on. And how I wind up to the Respiration Ranch, that's where I came from. That's in Tuscumbia, Alabama. And I remember one night, it rained, and I was homeless. I've been through it. I know what God can do for you, too.

If you put it, give whatever you got to him. And I believe that, because I cried one night in the wood. It rained. I cried, Lord, I can't do this no more. I said, I'm through. I was staying with my daughter. Things wasn't doing right. My kids grown. I didn't want to stay with them. They was helping me heal up. But I was still rebellious. All my daughter wanted me to do, Daddy, just sit still and get healed. OK. Yeah, I'm going to get healed, all right. Right back in my mess. Didn't know I didn't need to be out there doing that. But see, that's how the devil had you. He got you like that. Boy, when God got a hold to me, everything changed. I came to the Respiration Ranch, and I remember I was saying, they said the ranch. I said, oh, boy, I'm fitting to get out of Alabama. I'm fitting to leave Alabama. I'm thinking I'm fitting to go to Texas. I get out of there, and we go up on this mountain. My ears was just popping, and I was like, where we at? Dude said, the counselor that brought me up, he said, man, you going to Tuscaloosa. I said, we ain't going to Texas.

He said, no. He said, you going up on the mountain where you get some Jesus at. So I made it up there, and then got out there, and I graduated. I did eight months. I graduated that, and I decided to come home. Come, stay on it. And then God opened up a door again. He allowed me to come down here to North Carolina. I remember my director down there. She said, Sam, I want to talk to you. I said, yes, Ms. Sabina. What's going on? She said, God put on my heart, said you would be a perfect fit to come down here to North Carolina. I said, North Carolina? I said, you for real? She said, pray about it. I said, yes, ma'am. I went on. I called my door, and I said, baby, baby girl, I said, I got a chance to go to North Carolina. And I could tell how her voice was just like, daddy, you do what you need to do. Go on down there. We all right. So I told her the next day, she said, well, Sam, what did you say?

I said, go. I said, I'm going to North Carolina. Everybody, all my, you know, my sisters and brothers down there, man, don't go. I said, no, I got to go. I said, because this is an opportunity of my life. Whoever thought that, with all what I've been and all the bad things I did, God showed me a purpose of what he needed me to do. Let's come down here and pioneer this thing. And I can tell somebody, somebody young, if you ain't never did it, don't do it. Don't you do it. I'm going to just tell you just like this. Don't do it. Because that's what the devil's here for, to destroy you. Anything he blesses with, but guess what? I got a, I ain't going to sing this song. I'll wait till later on, but I'm, I'm supposed to sing a song, but see, guess what? I'll wait to bleed. Whatever he took from me, I'm going to take it back. So thank you all for letting me come down here, and it's going to be some good things, and this mercy, it's going to be good. I love you all, and thank you all for letting me share. Thanks to our sponsors. God is good. Very, very good. It's amazing to be here under these circumstances. It is really more than I can comprehend. I just got to sit back and pinch myself sometimes to realize how truly God is good. So I'm from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And I lived there during the time that it was the drug mecca of our country. And so I got involved in that.

I lived down on the Fort Lauderdale strip where all the trouble was, where all the sin was. It was our little Sodom and Gomorrah down there. And I got involved in pretty much every bad thing that you can imagine. You know, it was a daily thing to have a phone call going to my parents, whether the police had me or my parents got phone calls from the principals all the time, several felonies and lots of misdemeanors, all centered around drug addiction and sin. And meanwhile, I was raised in First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Lauderdale, very prominent, one of the churches oldest in the county. So I had known God, and I knew that I loved him for what he had done for me, but I wasn't walking with him in my life at all. It was multiple personalities that I had, one out on the streets with the drug buddies, one in the church, and another one at school because I was like the band guy because I played instruments in the band, so I was that band geek. And I did very well academically there too, so I kind of hung out with the nerds there. And I was glad to. Through all those things, you know, I felt like I was an inadequate and broken human being just because of all the trouble that I got into. It was a nightmare for my parents, it really was. Everybody tried to counsel me. It was a weekly thing to go to a counseling meeting or a psychologist or something of that nature. And during that time, there was two attempts at suicide, one of them inadvertently, but it was a result of me drinking an entire bottle of Jack Daniels in less than 20 minutes. I'd never drank it before. And my respiratory system shut down and they had to revive me. That was the first time I drank. And you'd think, oh, yeah, you better not do that again. No, that was just game on. That's all that was, was game on. And it was just a life of trying to get out of this body and the pain of life that I experienced all the time just because of, you know, who I felt I was.

I did not know that I was and am a beautiful creation of Christ. I did not acknowledge that in spite of what was all around me. And that includes all my flaws. There are many, you know. my flaws and my humanness instead of really, really realizing how beautiful God did make me and to allow those things to come through. So anyhow, got clean in 1987. I went to a 28-day program down in the dregs of Miami, literally watching all the drug addicts and prostitutes walk by on a daily basis, and it awoke in my eyes to seeing the Lord. It was a facility that was run by the Catholic community there, and so it was exposure to Jesus once again that I had turned away from my church at home. So it was a new beginning for me, and at that time I really just kind of erased all of Scott Maxwell before that and created a new human being in God. And it was an amazing time. I spent a year and a half at a Christian halfway house called the House of Hope, and that'll be ironic. I'll get to that in a minute. But that was definitely my new beginning. So I had several careers during this time, found a wonderful wife, I got married, had a couple of children. I really wasn't, you know, heavy into going to church and stuff like that, because I had a very, very bad experience at my church where I was molested, and as a result of that, I left the physical church types of things. But you know, I still stayed in the Bible, and it was definitely my saving grace, because I didn't have the community of a church, I just had my relationship with Christ. But I like to call this time Jesus Light, because I really didn't incorporate it all in my life. Again, it was kind of like a multiple personality type of thing. If I was going to be in a type of environment that, you know, they didn't know God, I wasn't

out there telling the great story of Jesus. And it hurt my heart. I felt bad about it. I really did. So anyhow, here comes the fun part. At least I think it's the greatest, greatest thing in my life, and it sadly starts with my dad passing. He was an amazing man. He and I got clean together. He was an alcoholic, and he and I got clean together and had an awesome relationship after that. As a result of that, I moved down to take care of my widowed mom in Fort Lauderdale. I hadn't moved away to central Florida. So I called up my old church, the one where I had all the problems with, thinking, okay, maybe they've changed. And I met this incredible man. His name is Bill Upchurch, and he was a retired missionary in the Methodist organization. And I called him up, talked to him, and he said, yeah, come on in. And I needed some counseling, so I said, I need some grief counseling. He said, come on in, we'll talk. So we sat at this big, long executive table, and I'm sitting there, and I'm, wah, wah, my daddy died. And, you know, he's like, you need to get over it, and you need to come to work for God. I'm like, come to work for God? I don't really know what that looks like, all right, but I'm in a place that I was submissive. I was willing to listen, you know. And I said, okay, I don't know how that works. You know, I've got a widowed mom, two children, and a wife that I'm taking care of, and I've always taken care of them very well.

I've had many, many good-paying jobs. There was no need for any of that. I mean, you want me to give all that up and go to work for God? Okay. So that's exactly what I did. And every morning, I'd send my kids off to school, make sure my mom had, you know, a good breakfast, and my wife off to work. And I went to church every day. And I got the opportunity to start a nonprofit organization called Hearts for the Homeless, where we went down on the streets every day in Fort Lauderdale, because it's sunshiny, great weather there. That's where the homeless are going to congregate. And I got to minister to the homeless. And I got to go to Bible studies three, four times a week with the leaders of the community, people that I'd known when I was much younger, you know, senators, mayors, all the powerful people. And they supported this endeavor that we had. So then the next step was I started doing missionary work down in South America in Guyana. I went many, many, many times down to Guyana and did some amazing work there, saving lives, created a library, 20, like, it had to be 2,500 book library in the middle of the jungle. And that was absolutely amazing work to go down there. You get an appreciation for America when you go into a third world country. We are so blessed here. We really are. You know, look around and see how blessed we are. we are, it's just, again, it's uncomprehensible how we are until you get a perspective of what other countries and other people live like, and trust me, man, these people are so grateful that I met down there, very grateful, the littlest teeny things.

Just a little example, a pair of sunglasses, the cheapest pair of sunglasses you can imagine are treated like gold because they live near the equator, and they'll get cataracts by the time they're 30, and by the time they're 40, they can't see, and a pair of sunglasses save their visions. What we find laying on the ground, you know, is a life-changing thing for them, and that just really brought my perspectives around so much. So how's I gotten into mission teens? During the next 10 years after, during this time that I was missionary, I experienced an incredible amount of death in my world to the point where I had three people left in my life that I loved that were still alive, and that was my wife and my two children. Everybody died, literally. Best friends, uncles, aunts, in-laws, my mom, and I don't know how I could've made it through without my tight, tight relationship with Christ, and my environment working for him gave me a lot of peace to get through that. I was named executor of my mom's estate, and I had to take care of three generations' worth of tangibles, stuff, and it was a daunting task. Many, many storage units, and I'm a history buff, so I like things that preserve history. I have a third great-uncle who's former president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, so I had a lot of his belongings,

and I felt an obligation to all these belongings and the things of my relatives and whatnot to take care of them, and they completely overwhelmed me after my mom died, and I just fell into a state of depression, and I couldn't face it every morning. I'd go to open a box worth of things and just break down crying for hours, and there was no consolation. I had made a very, very poor decision also, and this is critical in my story. I had promised God that when my mom passed that I was going to go full-on in the mission field and make it a full-time thing, and I didn't. I listened, and it hurts even saying this, I listened to my wife instead of Jesus. She wanted to get a house in Central Florida out in the middle of the sticks so we could have some peace and not live in the big city, and that's exactly what I did, and my ministry fell apart. My ministry was supposed to be in Fort Lauderdale and not in Central Florida in the middle of the woods, so no ministry to do. Being in that state of depression, I left my house. My wife does not believe in Christ. She just kind of tagged along with me everywhere I went through that. Her name is Shelly, so definitely please keep her in prayer. We've been married in five days. It's gonna be 29 years, and I pray for her every day that she finds the Lord.

I miss her a lot. It's been three years. So anyhow, I left her. I jumped in my truck, and I just left my house. After drinking for two years, I sat in my garage, and I just drank alcohol, Heinekens and Coronas all day long, that's all I did, and after realizing I couldn't do it anymore, I left, and I was sitting in a river in Central Florida, and God gave me a beautiful rainbow right in front of me, and the rainbow went down into the river, into the water. I could see it all the way down, and the skies were clear. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was not raining. It was just beautiful sunshine, so I called up one of my spiritual mentors who was down in Fort Lauderdale named Audrey, amazing woman, and I said, Audrey, I don't want to drink anymore. I can't do this anymore. It's killing me, and it literally was physically killing me, and I said, I just need you to pray for me and stay with me on the telephone as I go get some food because I hadn't eaten in days, and she did, and I said, okay, so Audrey, what have you been doing lately, and she says, I'm teaching at this missionary Bible training center called Sunrise Mission. Okay, that's cool, and that was the end of it. So I called her up the next day and I said look I don't I don't know what this

place is I don't know anything about it but Lord's told me that I need to go there. So she called and I filled out the application on the telephone and they said come on down the next day and I drove down there absolutely no clue what it was about. I walked in those doors ten years to the day when my mentor Papa Bill predicted me he when I came back for my first mission trip I told Bill this is this is really what I want to do I got a calling to do this mission and he goes yeah I know you were gonna feel that way God's already told me your story he said in ten years you're gonna go to a place of great learning and people to the day I walked into Sunrise Mission ten years later the exact day June 13th never forget it. So I did this amazing amazing amazing program there it is just absolutely incredible how the Lord works in this place I've seen so many amazing things people that are literally consumed by a demon get get get healed people that are on medications people that were addicted to to do a most horrible drugs and mental conditions that were healed. I finished the program I was there for two and a half years I also did staff training and and over the overseer and that that was that's a level that is just above and beyond it's you know 16 hour a day constant work and you must have in a great relationship with Christ because you can't make it through on your own you got to turn it over and it's it's just that intense to be an overseer here. Anyhow so God was calling me to bless my sister with the knowledge that I had learned on my mom's dying bed she prayed that my sister come back to Jesus she was a very destructive human being to all that came into her presence so I had been calling her at the latter part of my tenure at Sunrise Mission and she was seeming receptive. So I went up to Fort Wayne Indiana where she lives and I spent about two and a half months with her and I got great news to tell you that I spoke her a night before and even night before last and even after I've left she is still reading her Bible she's reading her devotional she's praying she's singing and she's praising Jesus Christ and I mean that that's literally what this is all about you know I've watched I did a count before I ended at my overseer position at Sunrise 350 people came into that place that's 350 chances

for these people to be healed and and and know Jesus and walk with Jesus and go out and spread the word of Jesus to other people that need to be healed you know and and and we're a little teeny willing obedient part of that you know each day when we wake up having that opportunity to spread that word and and by our testimonies you know I would much rather be reading this right now than sharing my testimonies because this is this is this is my living God right here but it's important to give your testimony too because you're gonna connect with other people and you're gonna they're gonna see yes I can I can get through this too you know so back to the timeline I left my sister and because I was called to be the Mission Teens we have a center in Brazil Indiana and so I went there and I met my brother Rob which you'll meet in a minute and many other brothers and sisters in this program and one of the amazing things about Mission Teens is you can go to any one of the centers and we all know each other because we're we're in that same environment and it's it's like I've never met you before but I know you I know you very very well because you you're in this environment and it really creates an amazing bond so I did hear about the new mission being built when I was down in Fort Lauderdale sunrise and I started praying hey Lord if you want me to go there I'm willing send me okay here I am Lord send me so I didn't think a lot about it I just kept praying for it so I was at the new center in Brazil and the director after a long day came up to me and he goes hey Scott you want to go pioneer mission and out of my mouth flew as fast as it could yes I'll do it I've been praying for it I'm there a hundred percent I'm there let's go I'm there and and it was it was good because I I'm gonna miss even though I was only at the other mission for 50 some days I'm gonna miss that mission and the people there You know the love that is in all of these missions is unmeasurable and it just really really is and the bond that's instantly created when I mean you see we hug each other all the time man you know that's that's a God God love that's God's food you know and that's just the environment there you know another sister or brother is hurting in any way it's instantly recognized by all of us and we're all reaching out and and trying to carry them through giving them some scripture praying

with them singing with them and that's that's that's amazingly healing right now our praise and worship sessions are awesome we're going to give you a little taste of that here in a bit too but um I I am just overwhelmed uh by every day the four five of us are are looking up and seeing God's amazing work um after sharing all the horrible sins that I did you know there's some good news that I got to share and it's one of my favorite verses comes from Romans 8 um the first one in Romans 8 so now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ we are free we are free and we need to walk in that grace I struggle with that sometimes because I want to I want to you know condemn myself but we got to walk in that grace and so this story that I just told you that I walked through this is this is why I know it's all meant to be and it's okay and that's my life verse Romans 8 28 and we know that God causes everything everything not just one thing part things everything is what scripture says everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose and that that's that's two of the greatest things right there so before I leave I got one little thing so Rob's a pretty good musician and he was starting to write a song the other day just listening to him and it kind of inspired me to write some lyrics it ended up being a poem um but it's about a mercy tree our new mission on Calvary a tree was raised upon this tree God's mercy born the Savior's blood was shed for me his mercy shone for all to see mercy tree lives to this day forever forever washing our sins away living waters of his love feed the roots from fertile ground that grow God's fruits abound all the lost souls that now are found from his love five brothers grew and on too vast they all did come a calling answered pure and true the seeds of mercy and grace they shed bringing life to the dead mercy tree 2,000 years old the greatest love story ever told Good morning everyone. My name is Rob Reardon. I'm going to try to keep this real short and sweet because uh Steve and Joel threatened me if I didn't come up here and play a song that great bodily harm is going to come my way so uh name's Rob Reardon. I'm an assistant director with Mission Teens now at Mercy Tree came from the Indiana Center. I've only been following Christ for about three four years uh lived a pretty rough lifestyle before um but none of that really matters what matters now is the Lord has called me to come to North Carolina surrender all of myself and my things and come work for him uh he called I answered it wasn't easy to answer um had a great life in Indiana it was hard to leave a lot of stuff behind but it's just stuff you know it was uh

the relationships though the family that I left behind was pretty tough and I'm still emotional about that uh the Lord has turned me into a big soft baby now so uh which is cool it's cool uh he's still working on me you know um not that's the thing about any of us that run a ministry like we haven't arrived we never will right the arrival is going to be the day we go to glory um and and when you start when you start working in ministry the Lord will humble you at times and say hey don't forget why you're here you know and uh I was getting a little comfortable in Indiana and he's like give me a nudge and said you need to get out of your comfort zone so this is this is where I'm at North Carolina's beautiful the people down here are amazing so far haven't even met a stranger yet down here. Our family is expanding very quickly. We just had a beautiful dinner fellowship the other night and that's how they said you need to bring your guitar and play that song you played for us. So that's what we're gonna do, I guess. I don't know if we're doing that now. Steve, where are you? You're my boss. You're telling me what to do today. Where'd you go? And if you guys truly wanna get to know my story, it's very long. I invite you to come and I'll let you get to know me, but I wanna get to know you as well. But it's all for the glory of the Lord. Also, our door is always open at the ministry. We're not gonna be actually open. We're not gonna take residence for about four months. Me, with the construction background that I have, I'm looking at it thinking it's gonna be like six months, but hopefully I'm wrong and it's only three or four months

when it's open. It's a lot of work. We're so blessed. But it doesn't mean you guys can't stop by and come see us. The door is always unlocked to everyone. You guys, this church, the Lord has made this possible for us to come and do this. We couldn't do it without any one of you. So whether you like it or not, you're part of our family. So come and get to know us. I love each and every one of you because the Lord has put it on my heart to love people now. Well, praise the Lord. I've been sitting there arguing with the Lord. Figuring that was wonderful service and we didn't need any more. But I've had some simple thoughts and I'm just gonna break them down and just say them and try to be brief. And if I miss the Lord, I'm expecting you to tell me. Okay? Because we need him. We don't need any of us. This is not our church. It's his church. And our job is to be expressions of him in one way or another. And I'm not even gonna turn to the scripture. You can look at it someplace. It's one of my favorites in Ephesians chapter three,

but it talks about being rooted. It uses the term rooted. And a root, we think about how the Lord uses things in nature to teach us, don't we? Doesn't he? And a tree is rooted. We see the part that's above the ground, the beautiful branches, the leaves, and the fruit, if it's a fruit tree. But if a tree is gonna be healthy, it has to have its roots in something. You know, we see the problems of our society and we know the roots aren't going to good places. They're going into drugs, but into the culture, into self, into money, into you name it, pleasure, whatever it is. And I especially wanna talk to the young people. You know, your roots are going somewhere. Maybe they're going into a place where you're trying to find out who you are and you're trying to say, trying to measure your identity by how people treat you and how they, you know, you're trying to get something. Young women looking for love in all the wrong places. But I'll tell you, there's one thing that God wants to have as our root, and that's what I'll get to in a second. But one thing I think that we tend to do, and I think the Lord's brought this to my attention because it certainly affects me. We tend to think about the what when it comes to serving the Lord.

What are we supposed to do? How do we do it? We're supposed to pray. We're supposed to read the Bible. We're supposed to believe the right things. We're supposed to get together. We're supposed to sing songs and, you know, live good lives. And it's all about the stuff that you see above ground. But there is a root that has to get nutrition from something. And the root that God inspired Paul to talk about was into the love of God. Because when you get to that level, it's not about the what do we, what are we supposed to do? It's why is all of this happening in the first place? What is the reason for it all? It's because there is one God, and he has a nature that is defined by the word love. Everything about his kingdom, everything about his heart is to build a family based upon divine love, which is, we said so many times, is focused on the welfare of others. But how many times do we in our lives get so immersed in the things that we can see and touch and feel and all of that, that we forget why we're doing all of this? And that was why Paul emphasized, you need to have your, I guess I better go ahead and turn. This won't take long.

I'm going to do my best not to have it take long, because you don't need to be listening to me. We need to be listening to him, don't we? But Paul is praying in this passage all the awesome things he's talked about, what God has done, what God has done. Notice that word, what. See, you're answering all that question. What has he done for us? He's planned for the foundation of the world. He sent a savior. He's done all that awesome stuff. For this reason, in verse 14, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. Now I'll drop this in. Do you suppose that God sent Paul and then inspired him to write this, and then this prayer is somehow offline? Or is this kind of according to his will? Is this an expression of God's heart? I believe it is, don't you? Certainly it is. All right. Let's look at this prayer. I pray that out of his glorious riches, has he got enough? Out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being. Thank God we don't have a religion of rules. We have a gift of eternal life that comes from the inside and begins to help us change from the inside, not just trying to conform to something outwardly. Do you see the danger that we could get into by turning relationship into religion? Where we are doing all the right things on the outside, but the inside is not there.

And this was the burden on God's heart, all right? So he's talking about the need for God to do this work on the inside, and the purpose of that is so that Christ may dwell. This is a living relationship, may dwell in your hearts through faith. Now all of that is still about the what, isn't it? This is kind of what we see, and what people see on the outside, and they need to see Jesus. But if they're going to see something on the outside, there needs to be something on the inside, and for that to happen, there's got to be some roots that go somewhere, because that's where it all comes from. Everything we are about in this place, if it is not about what Paul is about to say, it's empty. This is the heart. This is why God's establishing this center up there. It's because of what's in his heart that reaches out. And many times, to what we think of as the worst of the worst, we're all the same. I don't care what our experience has been, we are all made of the same stuff, need the same Savior. Praise God. Not one of us can look at another and say, I'm better than you, because we're not. All right, I pray that you being rooted and established in love, rooted and established in love, that's where my roots need to go every single day. It's the reality of the fact that the God who made everything actually loves me. It's personal. When we hear verses like John 3.16, for God so loved the world, don't we need to be seeing that as a personal thing, not just some vague general thing? God looked down at me. He knew my name before the foundation of the world. He knew everything about me, all the stuff that I'd rather you not know, all the needs that are in me. He knew me, and He didn't wait for me to clean myself up and then say, okay, now I'll love

you. He demonstrated His love while we were yet sinners. He sent His Son to the cross who did it willingly. Where does that come from? Does that come from following a book and a script and doing it right? That's got to come from somewhere. Jesus was one with the Father in His love for us. See, that's where everything has to flow. We talk about loving one another, and that's absolutely where God's going with this. But I mean, my roots, and I see a need in me. I see a need in all of us to be conscious more perhaps than we have of what God is looking for in us. our relationship with Him. Do we get up in the morning and just pray and read the Bible and go on about our business and we're not, we're doing the what, but it's awfully easy to forget the why and really connect because, you know, if you love somebody, you would like to have a relationship based upon that sense that you have. You feel a connection, you're drawn to somebody in a very special way, even on a human level. But you'd kind of like a little bit of reciprocal, wouldn't you? You want some of that coming back. I wonder how much the Lord misses you and me when we don't talk to Him and acknowledge Him in all of our ways and trust in Him in all of our ways. I mean, you could build a long message out of that. We don't need that. You get the point. But I just have this sense that God is wanting to deepen us. And I have, I confess as somebody who, I hope I have some gift of teaching, I don't know, God knows, but a lot of times I've spent time teaching the why or the how. Here's how you live for the Lord. Here's the stuff that we need to do.

Would God help us never to get to where we're doing and not loving? And I'm not talking about working up an emotion. I'm talking about choices to believe what He says and to thank Him by faith. When we don't feel like it, when it doesn't look like it, when we, the devil will do everything he can to stop us from going down this path. He will point out the circumstances, the feelings, the lack. God couldn't love me because there isn't a single person here, if you're honest, you couldn't look in the mirror and say, God, how could God love somebody like me? How could somebody like me possibly be qualified? Well, I thank God I know somebody who qualified me. He did it and He was, what was His motivation? Is He a crime boss looking to gain control? He's a loving, loving Savior who is a loving Father who wants to bring everything into a whole brand new creation ultimately, and the defining characteristic of that creation will be love. Oh my God. Every once in a while we get a taste of it. But how easy is it? Because you think of a tree, you look at what's above the ground. But I pray that God will give me and all of us more of an awareness of how much we need, not just to pray and go through the formation or the form, even if it's sincere, but to realize the why of it. Why are we doing this? Why is God helping us? Why does God even care? And it's because of His nature that that is why He's seeking to reproduce Himself in us. Praise God. Or God, I'm trying to remember another scripture. That's all right. I don't need to drag this out.

But I pray that God will help me to make this more personal. God wants a relationship with you where we're talking to Him, we're looking to Him, we're asking Him, we're seeing our own needs, but we're never listening to the other voice that says, God couldn't love you because. Stop listening to any voice other than the voice that God gives us. He showed His love, He demonstrated His love. His love is not just some warm, gooey emotion, and it certainly isn't a love that just wants to cater to human nature. His love will pull us out of human nature and deliver us and take the chains off if we'll let Him. If we'll believe in what Jesus accomplished on that cross when He declared it is finished. To Him be glory. I say, you could say a lot in saying this, but I don't think it's necessary to drag it out. But there's one thing that kind of struck me as I was thinking about this subject of how important love is, that we love Him, that we do what we do because of we love Him, not out of some sense of, I'm supposed to do this. I want to do it because I love Him. If you love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments, and He's not talking about a legalism, He's talking about do what I say. I have your best interest at heart. If you really believe it, you're going to obey me, even when it's. It's painful even when it hurts because you got stuff in you that needs to be killed. That's what this is about. I want to kill all the bad stuff so the good stuff can come forth and live, and I gave that to you at the price of the cross and the blood that was shed there. But one other scripture popped into my head, and I won't even turn to it because I believe you know it, John the Apostle, who was listed as the disciple that Jesus loved, he seemed to have a greater sense of what God was looking for, the relationship that he wanted, defined by love.

In fact, he's the one who wrote God is love. But he was the one that God gave the book of Revelation to. I'm certainly not going to try to unpack that. But Jesus sent messengers, or letters, to the messengers of seven churches. Remember what the first one was? What was the first church? Ephesus. There we go. Somebody knows their Bible. It was the church at Ephesus. That, by the way, is the same congregation that Paul wrote this to about putting your roots down. Because the love of God is endless, you can't exhaust that. No matter what the need is, you're going to be able to send your roots down, and that's going to give you the sustenance that you need, the motivation that you need, the character that you need. The winds will blow up here, but you sink your roots deeper and deeper into my love and you'll be okay. So what happens years and years later when the Lord sends a message to that church, and He commends them for all the good things? I guess I will turn over to Revelation 2. I think this will pretty much take care of it. But anyway, to the angel of the messenger of the church in Ephesus, write, these are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands, I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. You don't give up. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. You have persevered and endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. Wow, what a church.

Sounds like the most awesome church you could imagine. All these positive things. What's the next word? Yet. I hold this against you. What is it? You have forsaken the love you had at first. So what is it that's most important? Is it getting all our doctrines just so, or is it getting our procedures all so, all that? Is it even being led by the Spirit? We certainly need that. We need all of these things. But why? See, those are all the what. We absolutely need all the what, the what's, whatever you want to call them, but we need the why at the root and the heart of everything. God wants every one of us not to do what we do out of habit, duty, or any other reason except I have a love relationship with Him. He loves me and I'm going to respond to that love. And if I do, I'm going to want to obey Him. And guess what? He has promised to give me everything I need to help me to do that. So the what is going to work out. He's going to supply all the what, but I want to be in connection with the why. So that I never, my heart, my spirit, that's what's exuding from my character and my heart. And that's what I can share with others within the body of Christ and outside. They don't need to see my good works. They need to see Jesus. They need to hear, they need to not just hear the words, God loves you. They need to sense that and see it and feel it.

And I'll tell you, there are people right now in this area and other places that God has His eye on. He's preparing hearts right now. They're going to be with you guys. Why is that? Because He loves them. And I believe with all my heart, God's going to use you in a powerful way. And we pray that it will. But may God connect the dots for us so that we don't get the top of the visible part of the tree right and miss the root. Where does it go? It goes down into the love of God. The love of God is greater far, so far. I think that's probably more than enough, but I thank God that, I thank God for His love for me. Every time I look in the mirror I have to, and if I'm honest at all and self-conscious, God how could you love somebody like me? You know everything about me. You know my past, you know all those mistakes I haven't even made yet, and you love me. Lord I love you, I praise you, I worship you, you are worthy. Lord just give me the grace to to walk in that with more of us, more of a consciousness. We get conscious of the things we can see and feel in that sense, but I want to be conscious of the reality of what's behind it. That's why Paul wrote what he did. Let your roots sink down, because there's an inexhaustible supply of God's love. We'll never run out of it. Thank God.