Pastor Billy – Welcome
1. It’s great to see all of you here. And I think in a few more minutes there will be more of us. But I pray that you will be blessed today. We’re going to worship the Lord. We’re going to listen to His Word. We’re going to pray. And we’re going to share fellowship. So, I hope you feel a warm welcome.
2. So, we will start by singing a very old hymn. We’ll see if you know it. But this song, I’m not sure when it was written. It’s a long time ago. And it was written by a Swede. So, we are very happy to sing it. So why don’t we sing it one more time and do the Greek first verse and the Greek chorus as well. So, we don’t need to do the whole thing, but let’s do it. Only in Greek? We can do the chorus in English as well. But let’s do the Greek. It’s the one verse we know in Greek.

Pastor Billy – Reading the Word
1. You can stand up if you want to. You can also sit down. But we’re going to read a Psalm together. From Psalm 89. We are not going to read the whole song, but quite a few verses.
2. So, it’s Psalm 89 if you want to follow it. As I said, we’re not doing all of the verses, but I think you can follow. We’ll start in Psalm 89:1-2, “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever. With my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.” Psalm 89:8. “Who is like your Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.” Psalm 89:11-17, “The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth. You founded the world and all that is in it. You created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name. Your arm is endowed with power. Your hand is strong. Your right hand exalted. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long. They celebrate your righteousness, for you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn.” Amen.
3. Let us pray together. And I’m going to ask Stavros to pray. I think as we pray, it’s good to remember what we’ve just read. God is faithful to all generations. We see a lot of trouble in our world today. But God is mighty, He is faithful. He has all power. And let’s pray for His will to be done. That all the peoples of the earth would know Him. His goodness, His faithfulness. So, let’s turn our eyes to you.
4. Amen. Amen. Amen. And we rejoice in His name all day long. We celebrate His righteousness. For He is our glory and strength. And He will bestow His favor on us. His blessings, yeah. So, let’s look to Him. Amen.
5. Most of us carry burdens. It may be very different things. But I would like to invite the prayer team to come. And if you have a need, please come and let them pray for you. It may be a physical need. It may be something mentally that is harassing you. Emotionally. It may be relationships. So many different things we face. We will continue to sing quietly. And please, if you have a need, don’t be ashamed. This is what we’re here for.
6. Some people describe the church as a hospital. And we have the great healer here. So, let’s come to Him.

Eva-Lena – Short Prayer
7. Yes, Lord, we thank You that You are above everything. There’s nothing that compares with You. You are greater. You are stronger. You are more trustworthy. You are able to do whatever You want. And God, we love You for that. We love You for who You are. But we also love You for what You do in our lives.

Pastor Billy – Announcements
8. Yes, Lord, we love You. What more can we say, Lord? You are so good. Help us to never lose that first love. We know sometimes our lives get so busy with so many things. And we need challenges. And our hearts are sometimes wounded and hurt.
9. But Lord, help us through everything to have soft hearts towards You and towards our brothers and sisters, to each other, even to our enemies. We love You, Lord. Move among us, Lord.
10. We will continue our service. And whatever we do, we do it unto the Lord. So now we’re going to have announcements for the Lord, in case He has forgotten. I think He knows. Help me if I forget. I know there’s prayer here like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, in the morning from 9… no, from 10. 10 AM Tuesday to Friday.
11. And on Wednesday, we do have prayer and a Bible talk, a Bible study, or a conversation around the Scriptures. At 7 o’clock here in the evening. Or in the afternoon, as you say here in Greece. For us it’s evening, but here it’s afternoon.
12. Also, this is a way ahead, but it’s exciting to listen to this. On the 12th of July, it’s a Sunday, we are planning to have a day for everyone in the Church. And we will go together to Corinth. And we will enjoy fellowship. We will look a little bit of all the… you know, there’s a lot about Corinth in the Bible. There are letters written to the Church there. We can read about Paul’s visit in Corinth.
13. We will celebrate communion together, the Lord’s Supper together. So, we will have a whole day. There will be more details coming. But the plan is to have a big bus. And maybe some cars. And it will be a great day. So, the 12th of July, so please mark that. And we are going to take up an offering to the Lord. So that would be a help to pay for the trip. So, let’s sing and worship the Lord again. And let’s also give thanks and worshiping through our giving.
14. In case you haven’t noticed, we have a few visitors here. Some of them, I believe, went upstairs with the kids. They’re from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And we’re really glad to have you here today. And I’m going to share a little bit. But we’re also going to listen to Paige, who’s here. So, I’m looking forward to that.

Pastor Billy – Main Message
15. And for those of you who come here regularly, you know we are talking about having a Biblical Worldview. Or a way to look at everything in the world with the same perspective as Jesus Christ taught us to. And it’s important. And it’s not always easy. Because sometimes it’s even completely different or opposite to what we learn in the world.
16. I’m going to tell you a phrase. And I think you have heard it. And let’s see if you notice something. So, listen carefully. ‘Money is the root of all evil.’ Did you notice something? It actually is a quote from 1 Timothy 6:10. But it’s not correct. It says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
17. So, it’s quite a big difference, isn’t it? It’s not money that is the root of all evil. “It’s the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil.” And I think I can say like this that money in itself, it’s not something bad. It’s only a practical way for us to deal with each other with business and buying and selling and so on. But the love of money, that’s a different story.
18. It goes on in 1 Timothy 6:10 to say, “Some people,” have you ever been eager for money? Have you ever been eager for money? I must confess, it happens to me. But “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from their faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
19. Having a love for money, it hurts us, ourselves. And what did it say? “All kinds of evil come out of that.” So, it hurts us and it hurts the people around us. If this is allowed to grow in our lives, and it’s not only those that have a lot of money, even if we have very little, we can still love it. And it’s the root of all kinds of bad things, of all kinds of evil.
20. Just to mention a few, we worry about money. We become envious of those that have more. We can lose friends over money. We never really have enough. Even if you look at some businessmen that have billions and billions and billions. They want to have trillions. There’s no end to it. There’s always a desire for more.
21. It can lead to theft, that we steal what is not ours. Fraud. And even murder. So, it’s a powerful, powerful thing. And not money in itself, but the love of money can have real, serious consequences for our lives. But if we believe it’s not the money in itself that is evil, it’s not the money, it can be used for good.
22. And just to look at a few ways we can use it for good. We see in Jesus’ example how he lived his life, how he was teaching, that care for the poor, those that have very little, was so important to him. It was a constant concern for him. But also looking at the Old Testament, the prophets in the Old Testament, they were many times upset and rebuked the people of God.
23. And then, for the people of God, they rebuked the people of God, for the lack of concern for those that were poor. In the early days, they were very upset. You know, Jesus was very radical in his messages. He even said to one young man, sell all that you have and give to the poor. And I’m not saying that we all should do that.
24. But he did tell this young man, and I think we are very quick and very good to find excuses for not giving. We can always, I know for myself, if I feel prompted to give, maybe more than, so it actually hurts. I can be very creative to find excuses, why not to do it? Those sayings of Jesus have always been a bit uncomfortable for us as a church.
25. But throughout these 2,000 years of the history of the church, there are people that took this very literally and gave away everything and followed Jesus. There was a young guy, his name was Giovanni, from Italy. He was a young rich man, he was partying and spending the wealth he had inherited. He lived, you know, just enjoying the good things of life.
26. But he has had an encounter with Jesus. And he gave everything away. All the riches he had inherited, and his family was very angry with him, but he gave it all away. And he trusted Jesus’ words. And he lived among the poor. And he actually lived with some people that had leprosy. And once, when he was there, he kissed the head of a leper, of a person. And you were not supposed to go close to them.
27. And when he did this, he heard a voice saying, ‘Restore my house which has fallen into ruin.’ That was going against everything that the church was teaching at that time. The church was rich, had a lot of money, but it was falling into ruin. In Matthew 6:24 it says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
28. We all, I was going to say, we all need money. I don’t know if that’s really true, but living in this society, it’s hard to live without money. Let’s put it like that. Where I work, I meet a lot of people that don’t really have any money. And they find food in the dumpsters. You can live without money. But we need to find a healthy way of living as disciples in regards to money.
29. God is generous. He has made his world to be a good place. A fruitful place. And it’s our responsibility to use what he has given us, both as individuals, but also as people of faith to the church. We are accountable for the way we handle our money. Everything belongs to him, and we are stewards. So, whatever if we have little or we have a lot, we are responsible before God.
30. As Christians, we often talk about righteousness of something, a moral virtue, something inside of us. Of being right with God and doing what is right in his eyes. But we don’t always talk so much about justice. And with justice, I know it’s almost the same word, right? That’s complicated sometimes with different languages. But as Western Christians, I’m not English speaking really, but for many of us that are from that side, we differentiate between our inner righteousness and the justice of society.
31. But we can see that both, again, the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus, he was concerned with the justice in society. They could speak out very strongly about when the poor were taken advantage of. So, if we say that righteousness concerns mostly our internal state, something inside. While justice is the practical, relational outworking of this in society.
32. God cares about the injustices of this world. And he wants us to use our money for good. Not just good for me, but good for our brothers, our sisters, for our church, for society. And this is something he has entrusted to us. If we give and not hold on to it ourselves, we need to trust that God cares for us.
33. It’s good for us to give. It’s good for the person that we give to. If I give money to Stavros, it’s good for him. He can pay his bills. He can buy food. But it’s also good for us. We learn to be like God, like Jesus. It does something to our hearts. So, it’s good to practice to give. And we do it here together. And we give to the church. And we can give; there’s no law that forbids us to give.
34. And in the Old Testament, the people of Israel were encouraged to give, or they were supposed to give 10%. And I think it’s something good that helps us to learn, to give, and to be generous. And we should give joyfully. We are going to listen to a story about a person that gave. A lot. So, this is Paige, by the way.

Paige (Oral Roberts University)
35. Yes, like Billy said, I’m Paige, and I’m so glad to be with you all this morning. This morning, I want to ask you guys the question, is Jesus worthy of your trust? In a world where we worship and serve many things, maybe it’s time or comfort or money.
36. How do we choose to serve and worship Jesus? We’re going to talk about the story of a woman who chose to worship and sacrifice to Jesus.
37. So, we’re going to be in John 12. This is the story of Mary; Jesus was staying with her family. And this was about a week before he was crucified. So, in John 12:3-7, “Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray him, said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” Then he said, “this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box, and he used to take what was put into it. But Jesus said, let her alone; she has kept this for the day of my burial. For the poor you have with you always, but me you do not always have.”
38. So, Mary offered Jesus a costly offering. This was about a year’s worth of pay. It was her inheritance. It was supposed to be for her marriage and for her future. This is important not because of how much money she gave, but because she was saying, Jesus was the one who was her future. She trusted him, and he was the one that she loved. He was worthy of anything that she could give.
39. Mary also considered what she was doing. She had met Jesus a couple times before this. She had sat at his feet and heard his Word. Jesus had also raised her brother Lazarus from the dead. She knew Jesus and knew that he was worth it. Living a life where we’re radical with our money and our offering.
40. It’s not about doing the best, having the best sacrifice. But it’s just about knowing who Jesus is. Knowing that he is worth and he sacrificed so much more than we did. Jesus gave his life for us. We can trust him with all of our money. Because we can trust him with our lives.
41. And Jesus is beautiful and he’s worth it. And when people told Mary that this was a waste, Jesus said that it is never a waste. Because he is really worth it. Mary’s sacrifice also changed the world around her. It says the fragrance of the perfume filled the room. Even if people didn’t know what that sacrifice meant to her. The worship she gave through the money. Was a testimony to Jesus’ beauty and worth.
42. And Jesus was also blessed by Mary’s sacrifice. It was saying that she was his friend and she believed in who he was. In a world when many people didn’t understand why Jesus came. Mary sat and listened. And he smelled of her love. And this sacrifice also changed Mary. She smelled of this love too. And she also smelled like Jesus.
43. When we bring a sacrifice. Whether it’s money or whatever we have to bring. It changes the world around us. It changes us. But it also just blesses Jesus. And I think that’s the most important part. That we’re able to love Jesus. And show him that we’re grateful for what he’s done for us.
44. Even if no one ever knows what you give. Jesus always will. And he’s grateful. What a privilege. That we can bless him like that. So. Mary gave an offering that was costly. She gave an offering that she considered. And she gave an offering that changed so much around her.
45. The Lord is maybe inviting us to give like this. It might not be all of your money. But it might be a radical sacrifice. The Lord doesn’t command us to sacrifice like this. But we are invited to give this way. I pray that the Lord would have a people, that would give because he’s worthy. A people that are so close to him and know his heart. So, they give so much. And the world might say that we’re foolish. But we know that Jesus is worth every sacrifice. Because we see that he sacrificed so much first. So, I say to you all. Jesus is worthy of your trust. Thank you.

Pastor Billy – Closeout
46. That was good, wasn’t it? We know it’s always good to give response when we hear something from God. We could try to convince you to give away all that you have. When your heart is warmed and you have all the emotions. But I think this is the kind of message that we need to learn to live out in our daily lives. To give of our hearts. Our love, as we heard about Mary.
47. Sometimes it’s maybe time we need to give. There are many people in the church and outside of the church. That maybe most of all need someone that listens to them, who really listens. It sounds so simple. But that’s what a lot of people need.
48. And we know that God listens to everyone, turns to him. But there’s a lot of people that don’t know that. And maybe we can be God’s ears sometimes. And sometimes, of course it is about giving money.
49. But let’s take this, what we heard, and do as Jesus’ mother. Keep it in our hearts. And see how we in our daily life can learn to be like him, more like him. To give generously. With all that he has given us.
50. So let us end this service, by singing. And maybe you can even ask as you are before the Lord. Think about ways that you can give.
51. So, let’s worship him again. And when you go, be blessed. And may the Lord’s face shine upon you. And may he be gracious to you. And may the Lord be with you. Let’s sing to him.
52. And the worship team, you can come up again.