Pastor Gail – Welcome Prayer
(1) What a day. It’s an interesting day. Praise God. It’s a great day to be here in the presence of the Lord. Amen. And I’m glad we’re the family of God. So, we make room for one another when we’re working on getting it all together. I may say this, two or three times in the service today. But our offices have been very busy for at least the last two weeks, especially the last three days.
(2) In the middle of all the difficulties with the flights, we have people actually arriving today from all over the world. They are coming. We are hosting the EME and this local church. The World Mission Commission. And I’m very honored, actually, I am on that group and I get to represent Greece. And some of the people are having difficulty getting in because of flight changes, but we’re glad to be here today.
(3) So, I think it would be good if you wouldn’t mind if we would just pray for all the people that are trying to make it here today. Pastor Brian is in America. He left on Friday. He will be speaking there today. And so, if you could just join me in agreement today.
(4) Father, we thank you for this morning, another day to declare this is the day that the Lord has made. Oh God, we give you all the glory and the honor and the thanksgiving from our hearts, God. That Father, you are outside of time. You see and you understand and you know, Lord, we bring our hearts to you, bring our minds to you, bring our worship. We bring our all today, God, because we want to give you all the glory. There is no one like you. We praise you today in the name of Jesus. Amen.
(5) 2 Corinthians 1:5-7: “For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you, patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings. So, will you also share in the comfort.”
(6) So, could we begin this morning today with prayer all together, for the situation around the world. Let’s pray with God’s heart, let’s ask for wisdom how to pray, let’s not pray for one side or the other, let’s pray after the heart of heaven, wherever, whatever and wherever in the world right now, that people will find the comfort that only Jesus Christ can bring, Amen. Would you just lift your voices, would you speak out loud so we together can hear as the heavens hear our prayers?
(7) Father we come before you right now together. We lift our voices to you God, and we would ask you Lord, to do what only you could do God, and that would be to comfort people Lord in the middle of war God, that Lord ultimately you are in control Lord. Lord we know that as long as we live this side of heaven, there will be, there will be hurt, there will be hate, there will be afflictions, there will be bombs, there will be wars, there will be diseases and sicknesses, but God we want to let you know that when we don’t know where else to go, we always know we can turn to you, and we turn to you Lord, and we pray to you and we call on heaven Lord, that God not only will you comfort those that believe in you, but God that you will cause them to be your witnesses in this hour God, oh Lord for eternity that there will be an eternal witness in their life today Lord. I pray that they won’t just look to themselves, but they’ll look dear Lord to this opportunity dear Lord, to share the good news that beyond this life, you live and we too shall. Oh God we pray for mothers and children God, we pray oh God for the sadness God, somehow God bring joy in the middle of the sorrow. Where else can we go ultimately, but to you, you are always the answer and we give you glory in the name of Jesus, amen.
(8) You may be seated for a moment, today may be just a little different, one because I have struggled, I have five sermons because I’ve struggled with the sermon. It’s a difficult topic today, eternity is what it’s all about, so I’m yeah to narrow it down has been hard, but I thought just today just to begin, I just want to share a story to set our mind on eternity today.
(9) Some of you may have heard of a woman whose name was Helen Keller. She was born blind and deaf; communication seemed impossible, but her story has left almost an indelible, almost an indelible mark on history.
(10) For people who face physical challenges, her parents sought for someone that would just come and see if they could teach her anything, they found a woman named Anne Sullivan. She came to live with the Keller family when Anne was five. She believed in God, and she began to pray and use her skills that she had learned as a teacher. How can I get a blind and deaf person to learn how to communicate?
(11) And Helen was wild because she couldn’t hear and she couldn’t see. So, there would be times that Anne would just sit her down in the ground and she would begin to do sign language in her hand, she would spell into Helen’s hand. She began by bringing her hand under water and she would spell the word water because she knew she could feel. Suddenly after many months Helen spelled out the word water.
(12) So, her next word was God. She started to put the symbols for God in Helen’s hand and on her forehead. Later on, as Helen learned a full vocabulary of sign language, she signed back to Anne with sign language. Thank you for telling me God’s name. I always knew he was there. I just didn’t know his name, but I knew he was there.
(13) That’s a truth we who follow Jesus know today. The world is blind and deaf in many ways, but we have the privilege of spelling out to the world by our lives, His name is God, the eternal One. Amen, amen, amen, let’s worship.
Pastor Gail – Prayer for the Sick
(14) Please stand. I want us to pray. I want us to pray for the sick. We pray every week for the sick. But God can do anything, can he not? He’s the Lord of the impossible and he is pleased when we tell him we believe in you. We haven’t seen it yet, but we still believe. I want to see Armand, that young teenager; I want him to get up out of the wheelchair and walk down the stairs, and be with us to worship the Lord.
(15) I believe you. He’s pleased. And I don’t know who you might have in your life that’s sick. I know, praise God, Fernando is doing so well now. Praise God. My brother called this morning from the Rome airport, trying to fly, but they are having difficulties with his heart. Lord knows. Mary is here this morning. They still have not said she’s free of cancer in her eyes. Leto, where is the oil. I want us to annoy Mary with oil.
(16) I believe, don’t you? It is well pleasing to him when we tell him we believe in you more than anyone else. We believe in you, God. You’re our creator. And if two or three would like together with Leto and put some oil in your hands and Mary, you could just sit there and we’ll annoy you and pray for healing.
(17) Kata, you need to come up and let us pray for you this morning, please. Come up and sit here by Mary. Kata has been struggling with something for years. We want the Lord to heal her today. We’re going to ask him. We’re going to ask him today. Amen. We’re going to tell him we know who you are. You’re the healer. We know that is who you are. And if you want to be prayed for, you just come up and we’ll pray for you too, or where you’re at, grab somebody’s hand, amen. Listen and say, I want you to pray with me right now.
(18) Father in the name of the Lord, Jesus. Father in the name of the Lord right now, we pray for Mary for this cancer to go. Lord, we pray right now for cancer to go, for her eyes to be completely healed, Lord. God, we believe, we believe, we believe, we tell you there is no other name like your name, Lord. There is no one like you, God. Heal Mary today. Heal her today. That is who you are, the Lord that hears and answers, Lord.
(19) We pray for Armand here today, God. Right now, there in that little apartment, God, to feel angels and the Holy Spirit come in the room. Thus, the anointing of heaven to come in and to touch down those legs, to bring life into those legs, that he would rise and walk in the name of the Lord. Heal his body today, Lord.
(20) We believe, we believe, we pray for Katha today. We pray, God, for this heavy oppression to leave today. We come against it and we declare it must go. But in obedience to the name of Jesus who sets us free in the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, we believe, we believe, we believe. We pray for so many others, God.
(21) Today, we pray for Brian that you will heal this lung situation, God. You are the Lord that has no limits, God, and no distance, God. Even, Lord, as he’s getting ready to preach today, the enemy would like to take his breath in his lungs. But we declare, O Lord, healing in your name, his lungs, his breath belongs to you, O God, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of the Lord Jesus.
(22) I pray for my son, the doctors say, his whole body is deteriorating, but God, you know, God, we believe in your name, he’s healed in the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. O Lord, we praise you right now. We praise you right now. You are the healer. Hallelujah, you’re the healer. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
(23) Lord, we believe, God, this is your service. This is your program. It’s for you to be glorified, not for us, God. We want your name lifted up, Almighty God. We want the world to see how great you are. Jesus, we want to make you famous. Look what Jesus did. Look what Jesus can do. He does what no one else can do in the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord, I will not. It is not who I am. I am a healed daughter of the Lamb of God. Hallelujah, I am your healed daughter, Lord. I will not let him live in me anymore.
(24) It’s a wonderful thing to know that when you say those words, it’s the truth. You may be seated. It’s not just something you’re saying, but when you really mean it, the Scripture talks about it being honey, like honey in our lips. It’s just so beautiful. We praise the Lord this morning.
(25) We want to bless the Lord with an offering for him. Praise the Lord. I think we’re going to put Emmanuel and Nicholas in the future. And Felicia, we’re going to put you to work being our ushers for offering.
(26) Praise God. We’re so glad you’re here today. And would you just turn this open and say, I am so glad I get to worship the Lord with you. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. Praise the Lord. Stavros will pray for our offering.
(27) Just a few quick things. On Wednesday night, we will be having a look in the word here at the church at seven o’clock. We’re doing a little test this month, a little test run. We’re going to just for this month to see what the interest is to twice a month be in the church and twice a month be in the home to see if maybe more people might come to a home. So, on Wednesday night this week, however, we are in the church.
(28) So, it’s March and we’re glad we’re all together. I’m excited. And men’s breakfast is the 21st, but we’ll talk about that a little closer as we come to life. I want to thank all of the church that wished me a happy birthday. No, and 39 forever still. We’ll change it next year. My son told me, he said, Mom, why don’t you just have a great big announcement next year? And he said, I’ll fly over for your birthday. So, we might just do that.

Pastor Gail – Main Message
(29) I probably won’t take real long today. I will be honest. I thought heaven and hell were two of the harder subjects to preach on, and they are very difficult to preach about. It’s so funny when you…
(30) I’m going to dismiss the children. I forgot the children. I’m so sorry. Children, how can I forget you? You’re so important. We need you. You’re very important. Michael, what a blessing you are. Thank you, Michael. Hello, Ole, all of our kids we love you. Is Philip here today? Idijane? Good. Good. All right. It’s good to say thank you, Michael.
(31) When you preach about heaven, people actually, for some reason, they kind of just, okay, I know that. They check out, and it’s like nobody connects with you. And it’s interesting. I’ve talked to many preachers, and they all say the same thing.
(32) It’s like everybody acts like they know all about it. We really don’t. Actually, did you know there’s more written in the Bible about hell than there is heaven? But people check out on that one too. They don’t want to know about it.
(33) But this is probably only one of five times in my entire life, and I’ve been preaching since I was 12, that I prepared and prayed to preach just on eternity. And as I studied and prayed, and I actually talked to some others, most of the times when people preach about eternity, they preach about having eternal life, coming to know Jesus.
(34) But as I begin to just try to study eternity, I thought about things like this side of heaven, like the story, many of you that weren’t here at the beginning, Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, but even with those hindrances here, she understood the name God and knew he was with her. King Solomon, he has told us in Ecclesiastes, that God, even before we were born, has put eternity in our hearts. Every human is born with eternity in their hearts.
(35) No, it doesn’t mean they know Jesus. It doesn’t mean they have a born-again relationship. But it’s speaking, there is a desire in all of us to know something beyond this life. So, when you think about all the people in the world, we can look at every single human being and realize nobody’s ordinary. There are no ordinary people. Everybody is trying to figure out, even if they say that they’re atheist, and they only say that because they really ultimately are afraid there is nothing beyond this life.
(36) Everyone in the world is trying to find how to work through this life and they will have a better life. When we speak to people, we’re actually speaking to eternity. But people won’t understand us. Have you ever met somebody that, you know, you’re trying to talk to them about the Lord, about Jesus and eternity, they have no idea what you’re talking about? It’s because their heart does not have eternity in it.
(37) So, I got to thinking about that, and so let me ask you, why were you created? And you can shout it out. The people that are listening online can hear it. Why were you created? To glorify God. And how do we do that? By what? By loving Him and following His commandments.
(38) And what are His commandments? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. That’s eternal language. So, let me ask you, how many of you don’t really care if you go spend your life in eternity or not? It’s kind of, you don’t care. Anybody in here, doesn’t care? Does anybody in here, do you not really want to live forever? Anybody here, does not want to live forever? Yeah, not here anyway?
(39) I want to live forever. Not here. Not with this life. But I think the hardest thing about thinking about eternity as I prayed and talked to the Lord, we have to quit focusing on ourselves. If we were created to worship him, and you said it, not me, you said it, I didn’t, but if we were created to worship him. And I’m just kind of talking to you today. And his desire is that all men everywhere would know him.
(40) John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son.” His desire is for us to carry that love letter to everyone we meet. That means we have to be careful how we live all the time. And I’m just talking to myself, but you can take it for yourself what you want.
(41) Jesus talked to a rich man one night. It’s a story, but it probably was real. He was building lots of barns to keep his treasures, all of his stores in. His wheat, whatever, corn, all kinds of things. And all he thought about, let’s put it in modern day words, my bank account, my career, my family, my life.
(42) That’s basically Jesus said to him, tonight, you will be held accountable. And it sounds really hard, doesn’t it? Is he saying we’re not supposed to have big accounts or care for our family? When we think about eternity, he’s not saying that. He’s saying you can have a big account. You can have a career. But your number one focus should be how I live for him. How do I live for him?
(43) And what does my life say to others? If the Lord asked you to give up all of your bank account today to him, would you, do it? Pretend like you’ve got a drachma. Oh, we don’t have drachmas anymore. One cent, a cent in your hand. This is a cent. And the Lord says, give me all you have. OK, OK, OK, OK.
(44) We struggle to understand eternity with life here and now. And Jesus and the Father and the Spirit understand that, because we don’t have the minds, the mind of God completely. But Psalm 119 says, “You are forever, O God. He says, heaven and earth, we’re even going to pass away. But my word will not.” And Jesus tells us to come follow him into eternity.
(45) And sometimes that’s hard. But he’s working on us. I heard a beautiful story. A Jewish family was taken away to concentration camps. And somehow, no one knows, this actually happened. But their little dog, their King Charles Spaniel. Yes, was in the concentration camp with them. And the owners were killed in the camps. And the dog would just sit there when the camp was liberated.
(46) He wouldn’t go to anybody; he would respond to anybody. But some Jewish people came into the camp to see if they had a family there. They started speaking Hebrew. And the little King Charles puppy, well, dog, ran and jumped up on their arms and on their legs. He understood home, the language of home. The language we should understand above any other is the language of heaven.
(47) Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice and they hear me.” If he asks you to give up your career or give up your bank account, if he asks you, he’s only going to give you something better because he is your loving Father and he wants you to be ready for eternity.
(48) And I told you, I’m just kind of talking to you today because this topic is so huge. Maybe I’ll get to preach it again. We were all born into a very wide road. Jesus said there are two ways. A wide road or a narrow road. And we can stay on the wide road. We can live there. But if you understand eternity. If your heart is longing to know more about eternity, you will choose the narrow road. Amen.
(49) And I want to tell all of you in this room today, you were all made for eternity. The Lord wants you there. One day he’s going to investigate and examine all of our lives.
(50) 1 Corinthians 4 says, you are going to be judged. And when we think of that word in English, but I don’t think so in Greek. In English we think of condemnation. But crema in Greek, I studied it a lot yesterday, it just means a decision will be made.
(51) A decision. And a decision is going to be made about your life depending on how you’ve lived. Did you live for yourself? Did you call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus? But it was always about you. I think in real, simple terms, that’s what eternity is about. It’s about him. Because I won’t live forever unless I live for him.
(52) He made a way. He made a way for me to live forever. There is no other way. The cross is so critical to us. The cross broke open the heavens for us. To be able to freely go and live with God forever. But the way you live determines how you’re going to spend eternity.
(53) It’s a really serious topic. Your words, your thoughts, your actions are all going to be judged. And that’s why I think Paul said, I die daily. I want him to count me worthy. At the end of the day, if we choose the narrow road to follow Jesus in the way the world thinks is silly and stupid and ignorant often, if we choose to follow Jesus because we believe eternity is there for us, and in this life, the world makes fun of us, will it matter? Will it matter? Will you stand before Jesus and he looks at you, and he says, ‘Enter in, my good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful.’
(54) He doesn’t say perfect. He doesn’t say perfect. But he says, you were good, you’re faithful, you sought forgiveness when you failed or sinned, you sought forgiveness, you sought to live for me, that the world you live in would know there’s something more than a bank account here.
(55) You know, oh, this is a hard saying but I’m going to go to say it, too, that you even knew there was something more than your flesh and blood family. Sometimes we can put our moms and our dads and our brothers and sisters above God. But if they don’t live for Jesus, are you brave enough to tell them about eternity? If they don’t live for Jesus, they’re not going to be with you there.
(56) So even if they tell you, you’re stupid, you’re too spiritual, all you talk about is heaven, it’s okay. Because you know what? Heaven will be worth it all. Heaven will be worth it all. It takes real courage. I’m always amazed when people don’t recognize how courageous you have to be to be a Christian.
(57) The Lord is calling us to live with an eternal perspective. When we have an eternal perspective, we live with purpose and hope. And I don’t know about you, but some days I get disappointed. I do, Henneke, because I know my purpose in the Lord and I’m thinking, why isn’t it working out better? But the wonderful thing is, I give that purpose to the Lord.
(58) And he says, ‘Keep following me, step by step, I am working out the purpose in your life for the glory of heaven.’ Our life, it says in James 4:14, is just a mist or a vapor.
(59) I had never known this before. If I learned it in elementary school, I didn’t remember. But in simple math, it says if you take a finite number, you’re a mathematician, you know what I’m saying, a finite number.
(60) Let me give you an example. If I divide 80 by 0, it comes up 0. If I divide 3 by 0, it’s 0. A finite number, if you divide it by 0, it’s 0. It’s a finite number. Okay, times are 0. I can’t remember. But that’s it. I told you, I’m not a mathematician. So, if you multiply it by 0, it’s 0. So, you might like to say, I have all these years. Oh, I’m going to have lots of years. I’m going to multiply them, like Henneke said. But really, this time here is 0. Your time here is 0.
(61) That was kind of a wake-up call for me. This is just kind of practice run. When we worship, we’re practicing for heaven. When we join billions, trillions, zillions, I don’t even know the number of other people up there worshiping. We’re practicing how we live now, how we will rule and reign.
(62) How are you ruling your life? Does it belong to God? The Lord is looking for people who will use every gift He has given them. To build His Kingdom. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. And all these things, the things of God, the things that matter will be added to you.”
(63) Heaven or eternity is a reality. It is a reality. And we need to make it our aim to be well-pleasing to Him. I think today, just a few more thoughts. The thoughts of eternity. I’m going to go there. I’m planning to go there. I want to live with Him forever. It must be the cornerstone of our logic and reasoning. How we live and move. We should be conscious of eternity. We should be living life, to have eternal impact.
(64) I saw an interesting testimony yesterday. This man was talking about he went to the mission field actually. And at the end of his story, he was talking about how sad he was. Because in his own mind and desire, he wanted to win thousands for Jesus. But he never knew if any of those thousands really did anything for the Lord. And he was sitting with the Lord. And the Lord said, ‘That’s not what I ask you to do.’
(65) And he realized his life, he had missed his call because it was what he wanted. But God wanted him to witness to a small group of people. And that small group, and God found another way, they were going to reach many more than he ever could. And they were going to build the Kingdom.
(66) I’ll give you another example. Does anybody remember the name of the man who witnessed to Billy Graham? Do you know his name? Nobody remembers his name. That man, if you read his story, he wanted to be a great evangelist. It didn’t happen. But he became great in God’s eyes. Because he was faithful to serve God and share Jesus with whomever crossed his path. One night in the little church he pastored a young man, a young teenager named Billy Graham.
(67) How many, Billy Graham has witnessed to, has preached to and came to know the Lord? I don’t know, none of us know. But what you do for your own self at the end of the day, it really isn’t going to count. But what we do for Jesus, that’s what’s going to count forever. It lasts for eternity. We were all designed to be filled with the love of God. We were all designed to give out the love of God.
(68) In this journey we’re designed wherever we go to be thinking about eternity. It’s in your heart and the Lord wants it to just be magnified. Each one of you was created by design. Think about how much you love him today. Did you know you can never love him more than he loves you? And that’s the love we’re going to know for all eternity. For us to have courage to live in this world, we’re going to have our eyes on Jesus and then we’ll have an eternal perspective.
(69) When we know where we are headed, that will begin to define our life in a fresh new way every day. And I like that. Sometimes we think it’s defined once and it’s a done deal. But each new day, he has fresh anointing. He has something new for each day. And that gives me hope to be courageous with him each new day.
(70) Because, lives hang in the balance. People are dying without God. Only what we do for Jesus will count. Lord, please put souls on my heart. Lord, please help me to carry a burden for eternity. You came and lived and died and was resurrected.
(71) Help me to have an eternal perspective. To be, Lord, your message wherever I go, that there’s so much more. There’s so much more. We’re just at the beginning. Lord, we pray today that each one of us in this room will begin to think about we already live eternally and we want to take others with us. I’m going to heaven. I’m going to heaven. And I’m going to join the voices of a thousand generations. And I know you’re jealous for me to be with you one day. Face to face. Face to face. He is jealous for each one of us.
(72) Do you have a soul on your heart? Are you burdened for people to know him? None of us are promised tomorrow. But should you leave today, those of you in this room that know him, we’re a little jealous of you. You’re going to be in that place where there’s no more sickness, no more pain, no more sorrow, no crying, joy forever in the presence of Jesus, in the presence of Jesus.
(73) If you don’t know the Lord today, and I think all of you in the room too, but if thinking about eternity bores you, I ask you, I invite you to pray for yourself today because that’s where Jesus is. He’s in eternity. He’s in eternity.