Pastor Gail Stathis – Welcome
1. I love every Sunday, to see who’s going to be here on time. It’s always fun, you know, and with no judgment, no judgment. I’m just glad you’re here. And I’m glad to see people come in. So, could we just start for just a second, thank the Lord that he’s already here. Would you join me?
2. Heavenly Father, what an amazing day, to call you Heavenly Father. It is such a blessing today to be able to come into your presence. And thank you that you’ve invited us there. And Lord, we lift our praise to you. We lift all of our being to you today. We’re so thankful that Lord, as we begin this new week, we begin with thanksgiving for who you are. In the name of Jesus. Let’s lift our voices. Amen.

Pastor Gail Reading the Word
3. Would you remain standing for the word? And if you need a paper Bible, there’s one behind every seat. We like to read from the paper Bible. It just kind of helps you get the bigger picture. Romans 5:8-11, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him? For if we, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through who we have now received reconciliation.” Amen.
4. You look good. You know why? Because the presence of the Lord is in this place. And no matter what’s happening in our lives, when we are where he is, it’s just a beauty of the presence of the Lord all around us.
5. And I don’t know who all you are here, but welcome. We’re glad you’re here. Who are you? Oh, I love the pelicans. We love the pelicans. We’re so glad you’re here. How long are you here for? Are you the leader? What’s your name? This is, oh, I know your name. This is Jess.
6. Listen, I was up, well, and I was up very late last night at a wedding, so I’m very tired. But I welcome, aren’t you glad they’re here? Yes, yes, yes. We’re glad you’re here to worship the Lord with us. We love having you be with us.
7. The power of prayer is amazing, isn’t it? Prayer changes things. Let’s look into the holiness of the Lord for a minute. Let’s just think about Him.
8. Yes, yes, yes, Lord, thank You, Lord. Father, Son, and Spirit. Thank You for the bread of life of God.
9. Thank You, Lord, thank You, Lord. We worship You. Yes, of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And when we worship Him, everything else just seems so small in comparison. We can search everywhere. I think we’ll find just what we’re looking for.
10. But at the end, it might be good for a bit, but it will ultimately be empty of the infinite. There’s really nothing better than Jesus Christ. Is there? Why don’t you turn to somebody and say that He’s the best?
11. Jesus is the best. Jesus is the best. Amen. Jesus is the best. Oh, hallelujah. Jesus is the best. Jesus is the best. Amen, amen. You start this one like this, don’t you? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Yes, Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
12. You may be seated. Amen. Praise God. Praise God. Yesterday, of course, well, so I’m Greek American, and I half American side watched so much on the news about people going wild and crazy in the celebration. Actually, in the 42 years I’ve been here I realized I have not been back to America for the 4th of July in 42 years. I almost forget that day. But as I watched it yesterday, I was thinking about how excited, and people should be excited, for the freedom America has.
13. And by the way, for those of you that are watching the World Cup, if you happen to know what ranch dressing is, it’s salad dressing. And they’re taking so much on the airplanes from America, they’re asking them to quit putting it in their suitcases.
14. But I was thinking about how excited we are, and it’s wonderful we should honor what God has done to build. But how much more, how much more, to be excited to know the King of Kings. Amen, amen.
15. And I watched as people were jumping and raising their hands and so excited, but I thought, I wonder if sometimes Jesus says, ‘Are you that excited about me?’ I wonder sometimes. We need to be so excited about Him that He fills every fiber of our being. Amen. He’s so amazing. Are you glad you know Him today? Amen.
16. Samantha, I believe, where are you, Samantha? Are you going to give your testimony today? Are you going to do it next week? You won’t be here then, come on. But you can’t preach.

Samantha – testimony
17. Good morning, everybody. In 2017, Sunil, my husband, received a diagnosis that he had cancer of the liver. It was actually 2007. And I forgot, my memory is gone. But before 10 years ago, we did an operation and everything looked good.
18. But after 10 years, and in a regular, ordinary examination that we do every year. And they diagnosed. Oh, it’s a cancer inside the veins. And it was in the third level. And in March 2025. They told him there’s no therapy. And he had three months left to live. That was the diagnosis. The doctoral diagnosis.
19. And for me not to just share a lot. When they told us that, it was shock for us. And his health, we believed was good. But inside of him there was death. But we believed there wasn’t death in him. I will tell you, yes. And after a little time, we were preparing, to leave him in the hands of the Lord. And we said, everybody dies. Cancer from a wreck. We all die.
20. And Sunil said, who has cancer? I don’t have cancer. I am good. I’m fine. And if the Lord wants me to die from cancer, I will die. Praise God. Glory to God. And if it’s for me to live, I will live. Glory to God. That was his thoughts for a whole year. The first examination of Sunil after some therapy. And there was a test and it showed that he had cancer. But it should be number 10. And it was always 2000.
21. And from the very first therapy, it went down to 5. And one year later, the doctor said, in the first scenario, we made a mistake. It was a difficult diagnosis. And another scenario, the therapy worked in Sunil better than anybody else ever. And the third scenario, Sunil the Lord did a miracle. Amen, amen, amen, the Lord did a miracle. Amen, praise God.

Pastor Gail
22. Hallelujah, God is good, amen. You know, if we stop and think about this, we’ve been very blessed to see several people healed of cancer that the doctors couldn’t heal. Sunil, would you wave your hand? That’s Sunil. Praise God, praise God, amen, amen, who the Lord healed, amen. And I’m just so thankful that we can have those testimonies to know God can do what no doctor could do, amen. Praise God, what a great God.
23. We’d like to just very quickly share our announcements as we get ready to receive our tithe and offering this morning. Just very quickly, I will tell you that we have changed, we changed the church trip to Corinth from the 12th of July to the 19th because we had several people that really wanted to go and they could not go on the 12th. It’s going to be fantastic. We’re going to go all together on the bus. We will go and have Holy Communion in ancient Corinth. We’ll have lunch there.
24. We’ll talk about how the Apostle Paul, so much of the New Testament, was written from much of his inspiration there. Leto, will take your name today if you haven’t signed up yet. Bring a friend with you. It will be fantastic. And it’s only 15 euros for the bus. Only 15 euros. That’s a lot cheaper. It cost me more than that to drive my car there and back. Well, and to go to the museum, it’s 15 euros, yes. Another 15 euros. So please be sure to sign up today.
25. And today is Holy Communion. What a wonderful time to celebrate the Lord. Amen. And for those of you, young people that might be interested in youth camp, also please see Leto. There’s youth camp happening. There’s a youth retreat in Thessaloniki. Lots of things going on. No reason to be bored. If you’re bored, come see me. I’ll give you something to do. Praise God. All right.
26. Will the ushers come forward? We’re so thankful that we get to give to the Lord and put Him first. I’m going to ask Stavros if he’ll pray for the offering this morning. Amen. And as you are giving to the Lord and this is worship, I’m going to ask Jess with the praying pelicans to come up and just greet us shortly. Praise God.

Jess – Praying Pelicans – Greeting
27. Good morning. Thank you so much for having us again. I always love to bring a team to your church because I always feel so welcome. They are from North Carolina and Alabama. And then Jonathan, our staff, you know him from the Netherlands.
28. And we got to serve a little bit with Henneke over on Friday. We’re going to do some things with Good Samaritan and Eva-Lena and new start. And then we go to Thessaloniki too. Yeah, Thessaloniki will be heading up there as well. But thank you. I want to say God bless you. And thank you for serving the Lord. Many of you here serve. Thank you. Be blessed.

Pastor Gail
29. Thank you so much. Many of our full-time missionaries that call this church home, they’ve just now left for summer furlough. I want to call Corina forward because she’s getting ready to leave us for the summer. And we’re going to pray for her that the Lord will go with her. And I’m going to ask you, Corina, if you’ll pray as we take Holy Communion today too, that we will keep the Lord first.
30. So let me pray for you first. Would you agree with me? We’ll pray for her. Father, we just thank you for Corina, for her service, for her heart. Oh God, for all these years, you have sent us this amazing servant, Lord, that she comes and goes. Lord, she comes just willing to do anything, Lord. We thank you, Lord. She makes sure the children have candy. That’s wonderful, Lord. She makes sure they’re learning the Bible verses. She asks, how can I help? Lord, she helps with the foods. Oh God, just wonderful things. Going into the red-light district. We just pray, God, you’ll go before her with victory, every victory in your name. And that Lord, when you bring her back again, she’ll be fuller of your presence as never before, in the name of Jesus. Amen. I’ll call you in a minute.
31. We’re getting ready to have Communion this morning. And then we’ll have the word, but just very quickly. While I share, and Leto, if you’ll pass out, if you’ll hold the Communion cup and the bread. Sometimes we don’t always understand the power of the blood of the Lamb. How in the world, how does the blood of Jesus conquer Satan? I think we need to remember today. We need to remember today that the victory of Jesus is our victory. Amen.
32. I mean Satan has been conquered by the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to, I think often, especially on Communion Sunday. Thank you, oh God. You give every victory I need through your sacrifice on the cross. And we know this, but we need to remember it. The death of Jesus Christ is our substitute. He defeated sin, we should have been punished, but he took it all on him.
33. One simple thought I had yesterday morning. If Jesus died because of sin, sin must be murderous. Sin murders, it kills and destroys. But Jesus gave his life. He purchased us to belong to God, amen. So, we don’t use the blood as spiritual abracadabra, not at all. But when we say thank you for the blood of Jesus, thank you for the cup that we will drink today.
34. We’re giving our testimony, the word of our testimony. Because Jesus, you overcame him. You overcame every enemy. I have a testimony that by the sacrifice of Jesus, I too am more than a conqueror. Amen, amen, amen. I’m going to ask Corinna to come forward today and pray for our Communion this morning.

Corina – Prayer for communion
35. Dear Heavenly Father God, I just praise you and I thank you for the opportunity to gather together today. I thank you that we can come together as a family and partake and eat at your table. Father, I thank you that Communion with you and with each other is just as normal part of our day as eating our bread and drinking the water and the wine, Father.
36. I thank you that we encourage each other, we build each other up and we can focus on that. And it’s from that place where we are secure in you and with each other that we can go forth and we can be bold and we can conquer and we can walk on the authority that you’ve given us in the places you have called us to go. I praise you and I thank you that you’ve invited us to the table.
37. What an honor and a privilege it is to be connected with you in that way, to be invited into the innermost parts of your home, of your house and your dwelling place. Not everybody gets that invitation but you’ve called us in and said come, take, eat. This is my blood, this is my body, the very part, the very essence of your being.
38. And you said come and participate, come and be a part of because you and I are one. Father, we thank you for that. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, amen.

Pastor Gail
39. And as the elements are passed out if you’ll just take them and hold them. Let’s worship the Lord, feel free to worship where you’re seated. We come to the table of the Lord. We are celebrating the one whose table we will dine at for all eternity. And because on that night, the last light before his crucifixion. He lifted up the bread. I’m going to give my body for you. Every stripe laid on my back because of those stripes you are healed. He gave his body for victory, for us to know victory, whatever would come against us. Amen.
40. So, as we come to his table right now. And know one day we will see him face to face at his table of glory. We celebrate the victory right now. We thank you Lord for your life you gave, for every sin we would ever commit. Thank you, Lord. You won the victory. Take and eat.
41. Because he was there at the table, the enemy probably thought he was going to win. He was going to keep him in the grave. But we know, Jesus Christ, hallelujah. He gave his blood, hallelujah, hallelujah. That every victory is covered and given to us through the power of the blood of the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah.
42. We today. Paul says rejoice when you share the cup, rejoice at communion time. Amen. We rejoice, because there is no greater love that the love of the Lamb of God, that gave His life for us. That forever, forever we can worship Him. We thank You Jesus Christ, and we declare we give a testimony today, by the power of Your blood. We are more than conquerors. Thank You Jesus. Amen. Take and drink.
43. Now Lord, we thank You for the Word this morning. We thank You for the anointing, Lord, that comes from You. And we believe that as Pastor Billy ministers today, we will leave changed. We will leave by the power of Your Word. We thank You Lord. Your Word is alive. In Jesus’ name.
44. Turn to some and say ‘I’m glad you’re here.’

Pastor Billy – Main Message
45. You may be seated, yes. As those of you who usually come here know, this is the year of looking at a Biblical Worldview. And today we’re going to talk about something that is not actually named in the Bible. I think maybe you can find a word in the Bible, but I don’t think so. But it’s very present in how we see that God is dealing with His people. And it’s the Unseen Providence of God.
46. Since English is not my first language, and not Greek either, I had to look up what exactly does providence mean. And there are probably different ways of describing it. And I looked up the Swedish word, and it didn’t really help me very much. It’s kind of one of those words, you kind of know what it is. It’s been described as God’s loving care, His guidance and protection. God loves and cares for us.
47. And it says the unseen providence of God. It doesn’t mean that we can’t see it. But we usually see it afterwards. In Ephesians 1:11, it says, “God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” And usually, we see God’s guidance and leading a little bit later.
48. But I think one of the best ways to show God’s providence in a person’s life, in his family, is to tell a story. And you know the Bible is full of stories. It’s full of God’s providence. And this story is about five chapters. So, I’m not going to read all of it. But I will try to tell it without skipping too many important details.
49. You remember Jacob, one of the patriarchs. He had 12 sons. They lived in the land of Canaan. They were shepherds. And son number 11, do you remember who that was? Joseph. Yes. He had a son called Joseph. Joseph was loved by his father in a very special way. He was his favorite son. As a father of five children, I don’t think it’s that good to have a favorite like that.
50. And it created problems in the family. His brothers knew that Joseph was the favorite. And it was clear that they didn’t like it. And his father did many things, but one of the things he did, he gave Joseph a very special coat. You’ve probably heard of that. And he showed that he had a special position in the family. That probably shouldn’t have been given to number 11.
51. Joseph had dreams. Actually, there were many dreams in this story. If you like dreams, read this story. From Genesis 45 – 50. He dreamt that his brothers and even that his mother and father bowed down to him. And he told his family. And they were not happy with him.
52. And one day, as the older brothers were out tending the sheep, Jacob sent Joseph out to check on them and to see if they were okay. When they saw him coming, this envy and anger had stirred in their hearts. And they said, let’s kill this dreamer and say that a wild animal killed him. Then we will see what will happen with his dreams.
53. But the oldest one, Reuben, he wanted to spare his life. So, he suggested that they would sell their own brother Joseph as a slave. And they dipped his clothes in goat’s blood and said that he had been killed by a wild animal. This is really terrible, isn’t it? We are maybe so used to hearing this story that we forget how bad the brothers treated him.
54. Some tradesmen from a foreign country came and they sold their brother and he was taken to Egypt. And he actually ended up as a slave to Potiphar, who was the captain of Pharaoh, the big king’s guard. So, he had been brutally betrayed by his brothers.
55. So where was God? Well, in the story it says, “The Lord was with Joseph.” Almost the worst thing you can imagine being betrayed by your own family, your own blood. Sold to foreign country to be a slave. His actual life was spared on a thin thread.
56. But God was there with him. In the lowest place. And the amazing thing is that he prospered and did really well as a slave in this house. And he was put in charge of everything in that house. And it says that, “God’s blessing was on the house.”
57. Joseph had probably learned one or two things. And he wanted to do the right thing. But the problem doesn’t end there, you know that. They have just started.
58. Joseph, it says, was a good-looking guy. And Potiphar’s wife saw that. And tried to seduce him. But Joseph refused to give in to that and said he would not sin against God. And in the end when he refused to go to bed with her, she ripped off his robe and accused him of taking advantage of him. So here we go again.
59. His master was angry. And threw him in prison. So where was God? The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph in prison. And again, God blessed him and he was put in charge of the prison. Pharaoh had many servants. And he became very angry with two of them. And they were thrown in the same prison as Joseph was.
60. And here again we have dreams, these two servants, they had dreams. And the dreams were disturbing to them. They wanted to know what do they mean. And Joseph looked to God to have an answer and God gave him understanding. And he understood that one of these servants would be released, the other one not. And he told the one that would be released, please remember me and tell Pharaoh and the others about me.
61. Of course, he forgot. So where was God? Well, God continues to bless Joseph even in these difficult circumstances. Two years later the big king Pharaoh had two dreams. Maybe you remember there were seven fat cows. And seven very full and rich heads of grain. And then seven skinny cows and seven tiny scorched heads of grain, come and swallows the healthy ones. And Pharaoh was looking desperately for someone to explain. What does this mean?
62. And throughout all Egypt he couldn’t find anyone. Finally, the servant remembered Joseph. And God was with Joseph and gave him the interpretation. Egypt would have seven good years of abundance and then seven years of famine. So, God gave Joseph wisdom to show him that they should prepare for the seven lean years, stored up from the good years.
63. And Joseph was put in charge of all this. And in all of Egypt you could not find anyone with as much power as Joseph. God was with Joseph again. So, he prepared Egypt and the famine that came was not only over Egypt. A big area of neighboring lands. The land of Canaan where Joseph came from was also starving.
64. So, Joseph’s family was suffering. And Jacob who was an old man by this time, he heard that there is food in Egypt. So, he sent his older sons there to see if they could buy food. When they arrived to buy grain for their family, Joseph recognized them. But his brothers didn’t recognize them.
65. He remembered what they had done. What do you think went through his mind? It’s a good time for revenge. He had all the power and he could get back at them. And he spoke a bit harshly to them but he did not reveal who he was. He asked about their family and he gave them food to take back to his father and the family.
66. So, they had food in their country for some time but eventually they needed more because the famine continued. So, Jacob sent the brothers again to get more food. This time he also sent the youngest brother Benjamin. Where are you, Benjamin? When Joseph saw his youngest brother Benjamin he went out and wept.
67. There is a lot more happening. But we are not going to go on with all the details. But Joseph is so emotionally touched by meeting his family, his youngest brother. Eventually he cannot control himself any longer. He reveals who he is and cries and embraces them. And what do you think went through the brothers’ minds? It actually says in the text that they are first afraid for what he may do to them.
68. And then Joseph says something that I think is one of the most important things in spite of all the different details of this story. And it is something that applies to us as well. So, in Genesis 50:19-21, Joseph said like this. “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children and he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”
69. Well, when Pharaoh finds out about Joseph’s family, he gives them the best part of Egypt to live in. He treats Joseph’s father with honor and Jacob lives his last years in Egypt and many lives, both Egyptians, Joseph’s family, and many others were saved because of all this that happened.
70. We see here a story that has many levels. A lot of human evil plans. Really some of the worst betraying your own family. But it’s also full of God’s providence. God’s care, guidance, and protection. A story that brings us hope.
71. Do you think Joseph saw this when he was thrown in prison? Do you think he was thinking, oh, it’s all going to be all right? I’m going to be next to the king. I’m going to save my family. Do you think that’s what he was thinking when his brothers sold him to be a slave? I’m sure at those moments he only saw betrayal and darkness.
72. But he learned through his experiences just as he said that if someone intends evil for us to hurt us, God takes that and turns it around for good. I don’t believe it was God’s idea to make him a slave and to throw him in prison. But God can use even the most terrible things that happened to us. And he still does.
73. We usually don’t see it until a little bit later afterwards. If something bad happens to you, if someone falsely accuses you and you’re thrown in jail. Or if you’re sick, I don’t think our reaction is to say, oh, yeah, that’s great. But we can be assured that God is with us.
74. Joseph was thrown first by his brothers in an empty well in a desert. There’s not much hope there. But God saw him. God was there with him. And the amazing thing, I said there were many layers in this story. It was an amazing end to the story for Joseph himself.
75. God saved many, many Egyptians from famine. God saved Joseph’s family from starving. And this family would later become a nation. That nation would be the home for the Son of God coming into this world. A home for the Son of God.
76. So here we can see that God is at work. I don’t think Joseph knew that, I don’t know how long, much later, but a very long time later that we would be here seeing that God worked through his circumstances, where he paved the way for a family that would receive the Son of God.
77. When we see what’s going on in our lives, maybe we don’t all have the same kind of experience as Joseph. But there is a lot more going on than what we see when we’re right in it.
78. God was with Joseph when it seemed most unlikely. Is it possible that when everything goes wrong for you that God wants to tell you, I am with you? When we pray, we are taught to pray our Father, and let your will be done on earth as in heaven. And I think I’ve discovered something in my life and in my prayers. Even if I say those words, many times what I really mean is God, do my will. Do what I want. And it’s a very different thing to praying for his will to be done and our will to become like his.
79. And it takes trust to trust that he knows better than I. I’m pretty sure that Joseph prayed to get out of that situation. But God used that situation for his purposes. In Philippians 2:13 Paul writes, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
80. And if you go back again, sorry about this. And from Romans 8:28, and “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
81. So, God works in us and through us to fulfill his purposes. And as we grow to know God more and more. All our will and his will become more and more in line. All things work for good. God works for good, for those who love him.
82. We like to be in control, at least I do. To know what’s going to happen. Joseph lost all control. Several times in his life. But at the end of his life, he could see that God had been there leading him. And today we can even see that God led Joseph in a way that even Joseph couldn’t see at the end of his life.
83. One important thing was he was able to forgive. And his family was restored. It’s not always as clear as his story is. But I think I can with confidence say that God is with all of us. When we feel good, we think, oh, yeah, God is with me. But if you’re thrown in a pit and you see some angry brothers up there wanting to kill you, God is still with you.
84. So, in any situation we are in, we should always seek his will. Give up a little bit of control, or a lot, or all. Trust him when you can’t see. Trust him. Forgive when you’re being hurt. God can use what was intended for evil by someone else. So, trust him today with the unseen providence.
85. And I think it’s good to say that it’s unseen in some aspects, not every aspect. But a lot of the time it’s a matter of trusting and believing. Jesus says that those who believe without seeing are blessed. And he wants us to trust him and to believe in him. Amen.
86. I’ll pray. Thank you, God, that you’re always there. Even when we don’t see you, even when we don’t feel you, you are there. And I pray for any of my brothers and sisters here today that feel abandoned, that feel that everything is going wrong, and are asking themselves, where is God? Thank you that your message is, I am with you, and you will bring us through. It doesn’t mean that it will be an easy life, but you will never leave us. You will never forsake us. And for that, we are eternally grateful. So, bless us today. And may we leave this place with just a deep, secure knowledge that you are with us. Help us to trust your loving care. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Gail – Closeout
87. As we get ready to close this morning. Just one more example of providence. There was a young woman named Esther. And she thought, wow, I’m going to get to be queen. But she didn’t see the unseen providence of God. That by becoming queen, the nation was going to be saved. All of those people were planned for death, but they were saved.
88. We just never know. Whatever situation you’re in, just praise him where you’re at. As we stand to get ready to close, and if you’re here this day and you have any need, just as you’ve worshiped the Lord, give it to him. As you’re ready, we release you to go for coffee at a time of fellowship with one another. What a wonderful God, amen.
89. Thank you, Billy. Powerful word today. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.