Cecilia Sakatira – Opening prayer
1. Father, we worship you this morning. We know that you are here. We welcome your Holy Spirit. Because in your presence there is fullness of joy. We want to encounter you in our worship. Through the Word, Lord, that no one leaves this place the same way that we came. You, the broken-hearted today, set the captives free today, as we worship You. Because You alone are God. We love You; we honor You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Gail – Welcome
2. It’s so good to see all of you today. You look wonderful. We have friends from Turkey again, praise God. We see you? We have our family members from Kefalonia. Praise God. Hallelujah. And just above all, we have God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen. Goodness this morning. And isn’t he a good, good Father to us? Amen. Let’s continue to worship.
3. For those of you that have not met Leonardo and Camilla’s baby, they’re with us today. It’s so good to see the little baby. You may be seated. Praise the Lord. We’re so blessed in this church. There are so many here that serve the Lord, really, it’s like mission work. It’s a huge blessing. So, Billy is going to share with us a little bit today what he does.

Billy Hellmark – Testimony
4. A little while ago I listened to debate on TV. And there were a Christian and an atheist. And the atheist made fun of the Christian. And he said, he described how he thought God would be. And he said, I cannot believe in a God like that. But it really hit me, how far his picture of God would be to what we have experienced. Almost everyone, whether they believe in Him or not, have an idea of what God is like. But we have experienced God in our own lives. As we sang here earlier, I heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like. But they haven’t heard ‘the tender whisper of love in the dead of night’. That’s how we can know God.
5. So, I’m going to say something about the work that I do. There should be a couple of pictures. Did you receive the pictures? Oh. Yeah, that’s okay. It’s okay. I work at a place that we call ‘Nea Koinonia’. It’s a very simple place. In an area called Exarchia. It is known to be an anarchist area. When we started a few years ago, we were really trying to melt into the area in the best way.
6. But because many people that don’t really like organized religion. But we have been received well. They all know by now that we are some kind of strange Christians. Some people call us the Jesus people. That’s good. We started very simple, just by opening it up for people to come.
7. And we’ve been functioning now for three years. And a lot of what’s happening there. I would say we have the privilege to have most of our visitors are people that are very close to God’s heart, I believe. We’ve had all kinds of people coming, but right now most of the people are homeless.
8. There’s supposed to be 24,000 homeless people in Athens. I haven’t counted them. But that’s what they say. And some sleep on the street; you see them on the streets. Some find some social housing or some like a shelter for some nights. Some move around from friend to friend and so on.
9. Most of these people are very lonely. Most of them don’t have a family. Most of them know about God. But I don’t think they dare to think that God could love them. They have these thousands of stories of what they think God would be like.
10. And what we do is very simple. We welcome them, make them feel comfortable and at home. We can’t really offer them a lot. We sometimes eat together and they know they can come, they know they are secure. But we show them that there is a Father in Heaven that loves them. That’s basically all we do, even though we do a few other things as well.
11. Many of them pray. It’s said here in the song that ‘he knew the tenderness of God in the night’. And I tell you, many of these people pray in the night. They call out to Him. They ask for mercy. And it’s a privilege just to be able to show them that there is a God who loves them.
12. We have a pretty small place. It’s not super small. And over the last few months it’s been really overcrowded. And we’ve been stretched in all kinds of ways. The place is too small. We don’t have enough chairs. Not space enough to put the chairs. There’s too few of us. So, we have asked people, please don’t ask more people to come right now. And also, by becoming too many we lose a little bit of the intimacy.
13. So, a few of them, they come and join us and ask for prayers. And you can see sometimes the joy of someone sitting down and praying with us. I tell you the smell in there is not always the best. But the joy for someone that’s been on the street for decades sometimes. Despised by basically everyone. And then we pray. And they discover, oh I can pray ‘the Lord’s Prayer,’ I remember it from when I was a child. And they light up. This is a real privilege.
14. So, I’m not going to say more, but it’s a very simple approach, simple ministry. And we are seeing changes in people actually. Some are living a life of dealing drugs. Some you can just see on their whole countenance it’s like it’s lit up. But it’s a journey for them and we want to work it with them. Thank you, so please pray for us.
Pastor Gail – Prayer for Billy
15. I’m going to ask you to stretch out your hands. And what a privilege to be able to know Billy. And it’s hard for the people on the edge. Let’s pray the Lord anointing and to meet every need, Amen.
16. Father, we praise and thank You right now God, for Billy’s heart. Dear Lord, God as well as others in this room. But right now, we’re praying specifically for Billy, and ‘Nea Koinonia’ for those who live on the streets, for those that, Lord their lives have been lost, Lord, to drugs or to identity crisis, so many other things, Lord. God the world doesn’t understand them. But Lord, you see them right where they are. We pray oh God that you will provide the funds. We pray that you’ll provide more workers. Lord we’re even going to pray for a larger space or more spaces God and more servants God. Lord to lead the lost and the hungry and the lonely and those that are don’t have any purpose in life. Wonder if anybody cares. In the name of the Lord today we pray an anointing God that your body, that your children Lord, we are your friends and our hearts should be that we Lord bring your love to them God. Help us to show your love. Help Billy more and more give him strength to provide every need. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
17. Praise God. Isn’t that wonderful? Amen. Billy would be happy if you came and talked to him after church today.

Pastor Gail Announcements
18. Well, we’re getting ready to give the Lord a tithe and an offering this morning. It’s a privilege. You’re looking so good today. And while we’re getting ready to give the Lord our tithe and an offering and of course you can give online. Some of you have asked me about that, and yes you can.
19. I want to make a few announcements. The last Sunday of the month on the 30th. Yes, we’re going to have a lunch of thanksgiving all together. Not American but all of us because we’re thankful. But we will have turkey. And we will have pumpkin pie. So, we’ll be having our thanksgiving lunch with one another. So, feel free to bring someone. It will be wonderful.
20. And I want to remind you of Wednesday nights. We have our prayer time at 7 p.m. and Bible Study. And also, you can join care groups. Henneke’s here. She does a group. Who else? Leto has a little group. Anton and Evy have a group. And Christina. We’re looking for other people that would like to open your home. Because this is the hour we really need to let people know there is a God who cares. He is their friend.
21. Of course, Tuesday through Friday morning we have prayer. The church is here is open. And Trudy and Elizabeth and Costa, they have care group and Bible study on the island. We want to remember them.
22. So, Leto, if you and Benjamin will come. We’re so glad to see Benjamin today. I have been gone. Benjamin, come here. Come to this side. I’ve been gone. Somebody may know. I don’t actually know how Benjamin is doing. The doctor’s report. Praise God. All right. Fernando, you’re better, right. Mary had surgery on Thursday.
23. We’re going to pray for the offering. And we’re going to pray for your needs together right now. Let’s give our needs as an offering to the Lord. He cares. So, Lord, we’re going to give You, our offering. We thank you that we can give. But we also give You, our needs. We know You’re the Lord God of the impossible. If you’re here this morning and you have a need whether it’s physical or emotional for your family. Whatever it might be. Would you just slip your hand up? Thank you. Thank you. Many of us have needs. Bring all your needs to Jesus. So, wait just a minute and we’re going to pray. So, pray for one another.
24. I thank you for this morning, God that Lord I have Lord funds to be able to give to you and offer to you Lord, that you will take and you will bless it Lord, and you will use it for your work, for this church, for the Kingdom Lord, to advance the message of the Gospel of the good news. I thank you Lord, for the needs that we have today in this building to be able to pray for. For healing Lord, for Fernando, or for Benjamin, and for Mary, Lord. We believe you are the God that heals. Lord, we bring these to you today. We bring our families to you that don’t know You Lord. We bring them before you and say Lord we trust you God. Oh Lord that one day we will stand before you from and we will worship and praise you altogether Lord. We thank you for this. We thank you to be in every financial need this morning God. Lord you’re the Lord God of overflow. You’re the Lord God of more than enough. Lord there is no lacking with you but God you flow and you flow and you overflow and you overflow. Lord, today we praise You and thank You for the miracles You are preparing. We thank You; we thank You Lord. We thank You for jobs Lord God. Lord where we can serve you Lord, where we can serve you O God. And people will know that we are the light. Lord, we believe Lord. We believe for every need because You are God and we praise You.
25. Let’s worship one more time as we take the offering. We’ll dismiss the children in a minute. You are God. Remain standing for the Word. We’re getting ready, we’re going to pray for the children before they go upstairs.

Reading the Word
26. I’ll read from Colossians 3:14-17. “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen.”
27. We’re thankful for the Word Amen. You may be seated But today we want to pray for the children before you’re dismissed. Daniel, will you come up here as many as will, Kristina, will you come let us pray for you today? Alright, we want to pray for our children. Korinna, will you come up with the children? Would you mind? Oh, Nicolas, bravo. You look so good. You look so good. Tina, Cardi, are your kids here? Your children? Oh, oh, I didn’t even, I didn’t see you. I’m so sorry. Hello, Michaela! Listen, I think this is coming a long time. Yeah, don’t they look good? Oh, yeah! Our new little baby. We have this too sweetie. You look like daddy and mama. You’re beautiful. Praise God. Praise God. Amen.
28. Our children, children are so special. Yes. Yes, what’s happening for you? Amen. Amen. This is not just the future. But we believe now. The Lord’s going to anoint these children to speak until our lives even now. Amen. Amen. Amen. The Bible says, “and a little child shall lead them. Shall lead them”. (Isaiah 11:6), Amen. Amen. Amen.
29. Michael, can I ask you to pray for our children this morning? Michael and Katya are going to be far, but I believe we’re going to still see them on Sunday. We thank you for the work they do.

Michael – Prayer for the Children
30. Lord, I thank You for all of these children. It’s so great to have so many children here and to teach them early what is important about you. And I pray that you open their hearts and their ears and help them to understand what is important in the lesson today. That they see your glory and your mercy every day, especially today. Thank you for having them and for trusting us to teach them properly who you are and open their hearts and ears today. Amen. Amen.

Pastor Gail
31. So, we dismiss you and miss Korina. She’ll escort you to Children’s Church. Praise God. We’re thankful for Korina. Praise God. Praise God.
32. Well, you look really good today. And we’re so glad you’re here. 2025 is almost over. I can’t believe it. Even little children say this year went really fast. But as the year gets ready to end, the goodness of God does not. The goodness of God never ends, does it? Amen. And I want to challenge us as we get ready to hear the Word today. To build a relationship with one another.
33. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God”. We need, in this day, that’s getting crazier and crazier, to strengthen one another. To pray for one another. And to care for one another. Amen. So, I’m really excited about the Word today. I think as Brother Billy’s coming to preach for us. Praise God. Amen. Hallelujah.

Billy Hellmark – Main Message
1. Great. Let’s read something from the Word of God again. We’ve been talking about spiritual gifts for quite a long time. I’ve been away a lot, so I don’t know everything that’s been said, but I know some of it. So now we know a lot, but it’s not enough just to know. The Bible speaks about being good stewards, to be responsible for what we have received, to manage and care for the gifts that God has given us.
2. And today we’re going to focus on a maybe unusual gift. Not unusual, but we don’t speak about it as a gift, I should say. So, let’s read from 1 Peter 4:7-11. “The end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
3. You know we’ve been talking about different gifts. Some are spoken. Some are more practical with our hands or things we do. Whatever our gifts are, we are called to be faithful stewards. It says, for instance, about the gift of prophecy that we should eagerly desire it. But here we also hear that if we speak a prophecy or we speak a Word from God, we should do it in a way that if we were speaking the very words of God.
4. It’s not something to be taken lightly. We should be eager to use the gifts to serve others. But we should be doing it consciously that this is from God. I’m just a steward. I don’t know if that word makes sense to you. It’s someone that takes care of something that is not really His.
5. Like Stavros has a lot of cars. He loves cars. And he asks me to look after them. To clean them and make sure they are filled with petrol. Enough air in the tires. Always shining. So, I’m a steward of something that belongs to all these gifts. Everything we have and own, belongs to God. It’s His.
6. We cannot claim it as ours. And I think especially if we’re talking about the spiritual gifts, we’re on dangerous ground if we think it’s our gift. It’s God’s. But we should do our very best to use them, to treasure them and honor them and give the honor to God.
7. So, we should be aware that the gifts come from God. We should do it in His strength with His power for His praise. To serve people. So, all that we have, all that we are, belongs to God. Hold it lightly. Whether it’s money, a house, or whatever, or even people.
8. So, I’m going to speak about relationships. You know, if we go back before God created His world, in Himself, God had fellowship. God had relationship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created us in His image. We are created for relationships.
9. I mean, some of us enjoy being on our own sometimes. Some more than others. Some can’t be alone for more than two minutes. But I do believe that all of us as humanity, we are created for relationships. First of all, with God, but also with one another. You better like it. It’s okay, we can have times alone as well. But we are relational beings.
10. So how can we steward relationships? How can we care for them? Both with God, but also with one another. Sometimes, I think we kind of think that the church should be like a very efficient business company. And if you’re responsible for people in a business that wants to make as much money as possible, we should use the people as efficiently as possible. To make as much money as possible.
11. It’s easy to forget that these are people that have needs like I do. People can be taken advantage of. You know, throughout human history, we’ve had slaves. It’s like we forget other people’s humanity. But the church is not a business. The church is supposed to be God’s family.
12. So, to steward relationships, it’s not about getting as much out of people as I can. It’s about caring for people. Anyone here that wants to be a martyr? It’s not such a big issue for us today, as it’s been in some parts of the world throughout church history. So, I didn’t see a lot of hands.
13. But you know, sometimes it’s talked about that getting married. It’s becoming a martyr. Not because of who you’re marrying. But because of the nature of that relationship. We are called to lay our lives down. And sometimes I think, I confess, I did it. I was looking for someone that would meet all my needs. That would serve me. That would make me happy. And she did, of course.
14. But that’s not what a marriage should look like. That’s not how any of our relationships should look like. It’s not what I can get out of this. It’s what I can give. But it’s not only about one person giving and you get nothing back. It’s a connection that’s made. That does something. I can’t explain it. You know, I hope you’ve learned that one plus one is two. But it’s wrong. One plus one is much more.
15. When we come together, when we really come together, in our hearts, we grow. Things can happen. There are much more than just what Stavros has and what I have. We are created to be in relationships. And of course, it’s not just Stavros and me. We forget about our wives. It’s God. God is in that relationship. And that one plus one can become something much more.
16. Not just because God wants us to do more. But he wants us to experience life in a deeper way. He wants us to experience Him in a deeper way. So, stewardship, when it comes to relationships and people, it’s not about how I use people in the most effective way. It’s about honoring, respecting, and treasuring people.
17. We should always learn about prioritizing relationships and not always effectiveness. But I actually do believe in a church or in a group, if we treat each other well, if we respect each other, we will last much longer and we will be more effective for God.
18. When I was young, a long time ago, we were taught something and they called it friendship evangelism. And it could be understood like this. We become friends, so I can preach to Stavros. But Stavros was not very interested. So, then it was okay just to ignore him and discard him. And I don’t think that’s right. It’s a true relationship. I understand the idea, but I do believe it’s important to be true, to be honest, and God will honor that. It may take time for Stavros to repent, but he will. And even if he doesn’t, God still loves him.
19. And we are called to love. We are called to love our enemies. We say that God works through relationships. He wants to work through His church. There are exceptions where God just does something, has nothing to do with us, or maybe just through one person. But the most normal way for God to work is through us as His people.
20. I think this church is a very good place for treasuring and learning to steward relationships. It’s easy to feel loved here. And that’s such a treasure. It doesn’t matter what church, you know, a beautiful building, wonderful music, whatever it is. If there’s not love, it’s empty. And I know we have leaders in this church that really want to see all of us released and do whatever God has called us to do.
21. So, we want to treasure relationships. We need, of course, to let that form how we live our lives. I think we all know how we can prioritize our relationship with God. In all that we do, to put Him first. But it also has a lot to do with how we treat one another. John wrote like this, 1 John 4:12. “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” I’ll read that one more time. “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
22. God lives among us. I’ve actually seen, I think more than ever, that healing takes place in relationships where God is present. Love heals, God is love, and God heals, love heals, God’s love heals. And I’ve seen that in many people, that just being with people that love them with God’s love brings healing.
23. In the New Testament, the term one another is used a lot. And it’s used in a context where the New Testament tells us how we should be to one another. I will just mention a few of them. The one that is most common, can you guess? Love one another. It keeps coming back repeated time and time again. Honor one another. That’s a way of carrying and stewarding our relationships.
24. Serve one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Accept one another. In all these ways, we care about our relationships. Not just with our brothers and our sisters. But with God. We should forgive one another, forgive each other. And if we say we love God, but we don’t love our brother, John again says we are liars.
25. It’s not a fun thing to hear. But this is serious. If we claim that we love God and don’t love our brother, we are liars. And we love because he first loved us. Maybe you say it’s impossible to love that person. I mean, I think that’s just human to feel that way. But if we open our hearts and we receive His love, when we understand He’s forgiven us, and we allow Him to touch our innermost being, we can love. And then we can truly show that we are his disciples.
26. I want to do something right now. Maybe you can play something. I hope this is okay. I think we could have a few minutes of honoring each other through maybe praying for someone or just speaking words of blessing and honor. Maybe there are people you need to forgive. Maybe there’s someone you know they need something or maybe you can do something for them. Or just smile at them and hug them. And I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable now. We are all His children. He loves all of us equally. And we can just act and move in that love.
27. And what maybe is a bit different from what we usually do? Is that I would like our leaders, I’m thinking especially of Gail and Brian. Brian, would you be willing to come and also sit here at the front and Stavros and Leto. They are often giving. And others also that you know, we have Anton, we have many people here that serve the church.
28. But if we would have a few minutes where you can be served. And we as the body have the opportunity to pray for and to bless and speak encouragement to our leaders. And I would like to say that we are not only to the leaders, but I think so many times they give and they give and we receive. But now it’s time to give also to our leaders.
29. So, I hope you understand what I mean. I’m going to repeat it again. Only if you feel comfortable, but I think we could all feel comfortable with this. Go to someone, bless them, pray for them, speak encouraging words to them, hug them, whatever you want to do to bring encouragement. And it can be to the leaders of the church, but also all of us need that. And don’t be shy. Even if you don’t know what to say. Just say that you appreciate them. You love them. Smile at them. So, let’s do it. Let’s do it. And don’t forget our leaders. They need encouragement. So just feel free to go to someone, bless them.
30. We’re going to sing a song and end our service. But don’t stop ministering to your friends. You can stay here and you can continue to pray if you want. But in all that we do, let’s serve Him as we serve each other. So, bless you and we’ll sing.
31. Hallelujah. So special today, the thought. We sometimes hear the word of God and we see it just kind of like a theological teaching. Thank you, Billy. Thank you, Billy. Because this today, let’s live the Word of God. Let’s live the word of God. Amen. Amen.
32. How many of you here do not have any blood family? No, you know, relatives in this country. Look around. You have no relative in this family of blood. Yeah. Look around. Hold your hand up high. Look at this. Yeah. It’s for people like that. We want to tell the rest of you. We need you. We need you. And God gives us to one another. Amen. Amen.
33. To love with the love of the Lord. Amen. Amen. Oh, praise God. What a beautiful time today. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Amen. Thank the Lord. Let’s spend time in fellowship with coffee now. Amen. Amen. God bless you; you’re dismissed.