Pastor Gail – Welcome
1. Amen, amen, amen. Today we want the Lord to reign. I’m going to invite Stavro to come with Awatef. Awatef is a guest today with us. I come to be a peace guest in. Awatef is with us, I’m not going to say the country because, she’s from a secret, a closed country. She’s going to pray for us in Arabic this morning.
Awatef – Opening Prayer

Pastor Gail
2. Thank you. It’s always a blessing to hear other languages from around the world. To give God the glory. Because one day, around the throne of God, every tribe and every tongue will give Him glory. Amen. Could we all just welcome Him together. Would you just speak out of your voice that is here today, you’re thankful to be here.
3. Father, I thank you Lord for being able to be in the house of this building today. It’s where you are. It’s your house for us now and we worship you. I thank you Lord as I bring myself before you God that you are already ready to hear my praises. You’re ready to hear the praises and the love of each one that’s here today. So, Father, we thank you for the wonder of who you are. We give you glory. And honor and praises, all the glory to Almighty God. Hallelujah, who is greater than all. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Amen.
4. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You may be seated.

Koriana Skale
1. Good morning. I am so glad you guys are here today to join us on this second week of Advent. And today is the Sunday of Peace. We often think of peace as calm and crazy circumstances. But most important, the peace that we have is with God who is within us.
2. We warred against God with our sins, but Jesus’ sacrifice puts us at peace with God. We only need to accept his free gift of salvation. And this week’s passage comes from Isaiah 9:6-7. And there’s Bibles around if you want to turn with us. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of the peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom. To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forward and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
3. Let’s tell him today, you are my King. You have rule over my heart, my life, my thoughts, times, and goals. I bow to you only and give you full and free reign over my life. Help me not grip so tightly the things that I am unwilling to release to you. You are not just a King, you are a King, prince of peace.
4. Help me to desire your Kingdom above all of my own makings and the bowing to your will above my own. Holy Spirit, lead me in the ways of your heavenly Kingdom. Teach me your wisdom from above and guide me in truth. Help me to have eyes that see and ears that hear all that God has for me.
5. Help me to know the Word and fully understand his might, to hear turning away from him and to know his grace. We love you, Lord, with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, all of our minds, and all of our strength. We love you. We lavish you with worship. We come and adore you today.
6. Oh, Father we pray that you before the foundations of the world, you chose Jesus our Messiah, to come to earth and show us the way and the heavenly Kingdom and to be the way to the heavenly Kingdom. We thank you for making room for us to redeem us to your heavenly Kingdom. Jesus, we worship you as King of kings and Lord of lords.
7. Oh, God, we were dead in our sins, doomed to spend eternity away from you. But Jesus paid the debt we owed for our sinfulness. Thank you for the peace that we have through Jesus Christ. Thank you for the peace that we can find in your everyday as we pray and trust in you. May we rest in peace with you this Christmas season. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pastor Gail – Prayer for healing
8. Please remain standing. We want to share communion this morning. We come together at his table. It’s not ours, it’s his. Isn’t it beautiful? He came, was born to live for us. He gave his life. And then he won and defeated every enemy that would ever come against us. And he said, when you come to the table, as often as you do this, remember me, remember me.
9. Before we take communion today, and Leto, we want to be ready to pass it up, but before we take communion. One of the things, one of the victories the Lord won for us, was healing, was healing. Vilmaka, I’m so blessed. Some of you may not see our grandmother, Vilmaka, come down her. She’s having to use a crutch, but she wants to be with the family of God so much. We love you, Vilmaka. And you have a smile. Because Jesus is the healer.
10. Fernando, are you well? Better. And then you are going to finish the healing at the end. And then Sunil will be completely healed of cancer again. And Mary, some of you may not know, the doctors have told her she has cancer in her eyes. But I believe, and we share at his table today. Remember, he heals. Remember, he heals. We owe every victory in his name.
11. Can we pray together? That he will be glorified through healing today. Father, we thank you right now, in the name of Jesus we give you all the praise and glory, Lord. We thank you for Vilmaka that is here that you’ll finish the healing, Lord.
12. For Fernando and for Sunil, God. Lord, we come against cancer Lord we continue to curse it, you know we have questions we don’t always understand but Lord our faith continues to be in you that you are the answer that you could do what no one else could do. Lord, we command those tumors to leave Mary’s eyes today in the name of the Lord we pray healing we believe healing because you are the Lord God able to do the impossible, you are the Lord God of the impossible and we praise you right now in the name of Jesus. As we sing, they’re going to pass out the communion element and wait for us all to partake together.
13. If you’re here today and you don’t understand what we’re doing, we’re remembering Jesus Christ who is not dead. He gave his life for us, but he rose from the grave and he is now at the right hand of the Father and as we take this cup today representing his blood, as we take it, we’re drinking victory, his victory, we’re remembering his victory, Amen. Every victory we need is good. And did you know what he is doing at the right hand of the Father? He’s praying for you, he’s praying for you and me, for us. Isn’t that beautiful? Stavro, will you pray as we take the cup.

Stavro – Payer for the cup

Pastor Gail – Communion
14. This cup is for those that believe that he gave his life and then if you believe, take and drink. None of us can imagine what his body looked like that day on the cross. Absolutely unrecognizable. And it amazes me. He did it all for love. He calls us into deeper love, deeper love, he calls us into him, for he is love.
15. I thought about this all morning long, when we take communion today, he’s calling us to see ourselves surrounded by him, surrounded by him. So, as we take the bread, we remember his body broken for us, but one day, we will sit with him at his table and we’ll see a glorified body, we’ll see his body glorified, and then we will reign with him forever, and ever is in victory. Amen,
16. Eva-Lena, and would you pray for the bread?

Eva-Lena – Prayer for the Bread
17. Yes, Lord, we thank you so much for what you did for us on that cross, how you allowed your body to be broken for us, we can never really understand what that means, but God, we are so thankful for what because, we know that there is also healing and restoration and just the possibility to come close to you. So, God, as we eat this bread, God, we pray that we will also be reminded again more and more of what you did for us on that cross. Amen.

Pastor Gail – Announcements
18. Take, and eat. You may be seated. It’s so good to be here today, to be with you. Yes, really quickly, we had an amazing week here at the church, can’t really tell you anybody’s names, and it was wonderful. We had a number of women from closed countries, every one of them were formerly Muslims and they now are followers of Jesus Christ, amen, amen, and we’re going to go to that last song, and they are amazing women of God.
19. And before we, we’re going to have a song from Eva-Lena, but before we do, Christi, wave your hand. Everybody know Christi, this is Martha’s son. Martha’s son is with us today, oh yes. So, love on him a lot. For those of you who never got to meet her, Martha is our hero. Not was, she still is. Martha was an amazing woman of God, and when I grow up, I want to be like her. So, we’re glad for Christi, and Christi’s like, I feel like he’s my little brother, I’ve known him all my life in Greece.
20. He used to babysit Micah, my son, and we have with us, yeah, we’re so glad you came, praise God. It’s so good to see all of you today, you look good, you look good, you look good, and Eric, we’re going to, that last song, yeah, we’re going to, okay. We’ll let her do it for, sorry, huh, not yet, kids stay, not yet, okay, give the key to her.
21. Eva-Lena, in case you don’t know, Eva-Lena wrote this song, it’s Swedish, it is, I think it is the number three most famous Christian song in the world, I believe. What a gift to us, yes, and Rahab is here today, she follows Jesus. She’s from one of those closed countries, and she is one of my heroes. She’s going to sing it first for us in Arabic.
22. It’s a very sacred moment right now. We let so many other things crowd in our life and take our attention. But he deserves the glory, I just feel like if it’s all right with you, because we’re family, right, we’re family, could you just pray for one another now, that this is what I want us to pray, God be first in my life, be first in my life, I surrender all, I surrender all, Lord I surrender all, I surrender everything, Lord, that’s not of you, I surrender all, Lord, I need you Lord, I give it all to you today, I give my sorrow, I give my burden, Lord, I give my sickness, I give my doubts, I give my fears, Lord, and you want me to give them to you, Lord, Lord, I give you glory right now, Lord, I give you glory, Lord, as I give it to you, Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, I give my family, I give my son to you, Lord, Lord, I give you all right now, for you are great, you are great, Lord, you are great, Lord, today, we pray, Lord, we pray, oh Lord, oh Lord, that you will be first in our lives, be first in our lives, Lord, be first in our lives,
23. No rush, no rush, maybe as I say, Lord, I give you first place in my life, I give you first place in my life, oh Lord, I give you first place in my life, Lord, you will take care of me, you will take care of me, Lord, Lord, oh Lord, and I will see your care, the more I place you on the throne of my heart, be on the throne of my heart. Don’t worry about the time, Leto can always preach next Sunday, don’t worry about that.
24. Hallelujah, the Lord wants our glory, the Lord wants to be first in our life. Lord, be first in my life, be above everything else, in everything else, through everything else. Isn’t it amazing when you sense the presence of Lord.
25. You can be seated. It’s like warm oil just coming and warming your spirit. The Lord just warming us with his presence, and he wants us to live there, he wants us to live in that, all the time, all the time. We’re so silly sometimes, why don’t we just stay there and we go and we get thinking of the other things, but God is all, he’s all, amen, amen, praise the Lord, we’re going to receive our tithes and offering this morning. And Michael and Katha, I’m so happy to see you, you are on time, they come from so far. And Katha and Michael work way up north at Malakasa, at Malakasa camp. Thank you, I thank you, amen, amen. Michael is in the back with the kids.
26. Lord, I give my tithe to bless the work of the Lord through this house, and I do it with joy in the name of Jesus, amen, amen, praise God. And as they give, praise God, I want to make a few very special announcements, amen,
27. We are going to be giving our Christmas gift to Jesus this year. It’s blankets and socks. Henneke, raise your hand Henneke. Henneke will be taking them, there’s a great need for socks in the refugee camp, where she’s serving. And Katha and Michael work way up north at Malakasa, at Malakasa camp, and they need blankets. Thank you, I thank you, amen, amen. Michael is in the back with the kids.
28. So, if you could wrap them, that would be lovely. Because these are gifts where we’re giving to Jesus and we want to tell the people. Leto, they can bring clear up to the Christmas. Every day, we’re here and just leave them and we’re going to put them in the Christmas boxes. So, it’s a joy always to give to the Lord. It’s His birthday after all, it’s not yours nor mine. Praise God.
29. And this Saturday, the men are going to have a men’s Christmas breakfast. I think it is the very first time ever. Please notice it’s not even on there, because we weren’t sure that we’re going to do it. It will be at Anton’s house; you could call the office for details. It says Friday, but it’s Saturday. The ladies, we will be gathering together for a Christmas coffee time. It’s Saturday, not Friday. And next Sunday is always a fun Sunday. People always tell me; we never get to sing Christmas carols. Next Sunday morning, it will be all Christmas carols.
30. I was invited yesterday; I was at the Greek pastor’s breakfast. I’m a Greek pastor. Three of the ministries that work in the streets among the brothels. They said about us, we love it when you do the Christmas caroling in the streets. The women are always touched, and believe it or not, the men. If you would be willing to come and help me, please let me know. I can’t go by myself. I don’t want to go by myself. Please, please.
31. And don’t forget, on Sunday, December the 23rd, we don’t have service in the morning; we have it in the evening. It will be our candlelight service. So, lots of beautiful, wonderful announcements. And bring your friends who maybe never go to church, but they want to sing Christmas carols. Believe it or not, a lot of people will come to sing Christmas carols. Because, you know, they love Christmas, and maybe they’ll hear one, and their life will be changed.
32. We want to dismiss our children. And Korina, if you’ll bring them up really quickly, I want to pray with all the children before they go up. Philip, Philip, sweetie pie. Hello, we’re so glad to see you. And you’re speaking English very well, I understand it, yes. These two little ones have learned excellent English. Philip, please, sweetie, where’s Olay? Olay! I’m waiting for you, my darling. Please, come. Anastasia. Please, sweetie. And Christina. Anastasia, you’re like a leader now. You’re not a kid; you’re one of our leaders of the children. Christina? Amen.

Leto – Prayer for the kids
Our sister Leto will be bringing us the word today.

Leto Karantoni – Main Message
1. God has humor. For all this time we have been talking about how privileged and gifted we are. We are people that have been given so many things that we have never imagined about them. But the very first thing that God did in our life is our redemption, our salvation. The fact that we are here today, is a gift. Is a gift from God.
2. He found us, he extended his arm and he said, ‘Here is my gift, it is my salvation and come with me.’ And we sit here because we are people of gifts. And if you are like me, I really love gifts. I don’t care about the size, I couldn’t care less about its price, but I do like to have a gift. So, when God came into my life, I was so pleased that, I danced for a whole night without music. It was so beautiful that small gift.
3. It was a gift that is eternal. And for all this time we have been talking about the gifts in our lives and in our hearts. And today I want to say thanks to Pastor Gail because she gave to me a subject to preach today that in the beginning it sounded a little bit strange to me. She told me, ‘You are going to preach about the gift of creation.’ And I thought to myself, okay, I’ll do it. I don’t know how, but I will try.
4. But during this time from then till now that I have been studying and thinking about it, I have been getting more and more excited while unwrapping this gift about the message of Pastor Gail. I hope that today you are going to receive a little bit of my enthusiasm as I’m sharing this message.
5. So, let’s go to Psalm 136:1-4. And let’s read a little bit from there. “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. To him who alone does great wonders. His love endures forever.”
6. Although I would like to read the entire Psalm, please do so when you go home. This Psalm, when you read it, it takes you back to Genesis, where it says that God was above the chaos of the earth and above the waters and God separated the waters and God separated the darkness from light and everything was great.
7. And from that point on, I began thinking. Do you really believe that God needed to make all these things? Do you believe that God really needed it was necessary for him to do them? Do you think that God really needed to create the firmament and separate the light from the darkness, the waters above the firmament and below, make the forests and everything, the whole creation?
8. God preexisted before all these things. God has no beginning. God always is and he doesn’t have a beginning. And the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in perfect harmony. They had perfect communication among them. And that made me start thinking why he did all this. But God did all this because he was thinking about you and you and of course me, when he created all these things.
9. God loved us so much even before our existence. God wanted to provide for us a perfect world for us to be in. He created all these things and, in the end, he created man. And he told him, ‘All these are yours.’ God was very thoughtful about Adam and Eve to have a perfect home. He enabled them to find joy in everything in the Garden of Eden.
10. And God was happy to walk with Adam and Eve in this garden. And God gave us all these things as a gift. Many times, if not all the time, we consider these things as a given. We take the sun, the sea, the nature around us as a fact. But if God had not given us these things with love, and if God didn’t allow us to wake up every morning, none of these gifts would be a fact or a given.
11. And you know, maybe you have already started shopping for Christmas. And these gifts are very nicely wrapped. But the same goes for God. God wrapped all the gifts that he gave us with mercy, love, and empathy for us.
12. Therefore, when we unwrap a gift, and I’m going to speak about me again. I said to Stavros, this Christmas I want a gift for me. And I told him, be careful though because I want it wrapped and with a ribbon. Because my joy, is to unwrap the paper and untie the bow. And so, the surprise will be when I see what is really inside. And my joy is going to be when I really get this gift in my hands.
13. I firmly believe that God wrapped all the gifts on this earth with a very nice ribbon. And he told us. his people, to unwrap it, to undo the ribbon, to have the joy to tear apart the wrapping, to open the box, and to be in awe about what we’ve seen there, and say, Lord, ‘I really thank you for my gift. I’m giving you the entire glory for this.’
14. Two, three nights ago I posted a photo on WhatsApp. It was that night that it poured a lot of rain, and you couldn’t go anywhere And I went and I walked with my dog, which is also a gift from God. And suddenly I turned my eyes to the sky and I saw the moon. But the moon was surrounded by the colors of a rainbow. And I thought, Lord, this moon reflects the light of the sun. And it is there and shines for us, but also in the midst of this storm, you showed us your colors so that we can unwrap the gift of peace in our hearts.
15. How beautiful it is, you and I that we don’t have our own light to receive light from the Son. And whenever others see us, to see the colors of God in our lives and to be filled with peace, God’s love overcomes every knowledge and every mind. And you know, whenever we make a gift, we put our character in that gift. The gift reveals who we are.
16. And God’s gifts show who He is. Look at the sea. Can you measure it? Can you weigh it? It is the length and the depth of God’s love. Unmeasurable. Our God is love. You can witness the moon during the night. It helps us to walk in the darkness. And it shows us how much God cares for us. God is interested in us.
17. You can see the sun in the morning. It is God that warms our hearts. All of God’s gifts of creation point to the character of our donor, to the great God, to almighty God. And you know what? Each of one of us believes that the gifts of God are only for us. And that’s true. These gifts are for each and every one of us separately, but are gifts that are destined for His bride, for His loved one.
18. Thus, God puts us together. God brought the universe together for us so that we can share it. Therefore, we need to be joyful every day, that we have such a God like Him, a God that loves us unconditionally when it comes to His gifts. He gives us, He provides His gifts unconditionally, and richly, and abundantly. This is our God.
19. He brought us together so we can communicate His love among us. Because all of His gifts are gifts of love. And when we communicate and share these gifts, when we celebrate the nature that He made, when we feel that joy within us, whenever we observe the nature around us, we declare that, ‘God, Your mercy, endures forever.’
20. You are a good God. You are a wonderful God. You are a great God. You are a good God. You are an amazing God. He is a God that provides gifts to His children without limitations.
21. Hence, don’t take for granted the stars, the moon, the sun, but receive them as a great gift that God gave to you. And today, I thought that, okay, God said we are His body, His legs, His arms and we celebrate, we enjoy the gifts that He gives us, and every one of us has a gift, and enjoy something of His creation.
22. And later, we are all together and we celebrate together. We are a very strange blend of people. Many legs that become one leg, many arms that become one arm. And this is Christ’s bride who enjoys God’s creation. And we enjoy within the bride. Indeed, we are a strange nation. We are a different people. But we are a nation called by God. That He wants to proclaim His mercy and His love. And we are people that we want to love and do as God told us to do. Because we have Jesus Christ who lives inside of us.
23. And that’s the biggest gift that God ever gave to us. In English, there is a saying that is very simple. The moon needs the sun. But the ‘sun’ may be written with a ‘U’ or an ‘O’. The male child, but also is the sun, the star. And both of them, they are pronounced the same, but the spelling is different. So, we are the moons, and we need the sun who is Christ.
24. So let us enjoy Christ. Let us celebrate His love. Let us find pleasure in creation and His gifts. And never forget that all of us, we are His creations. We are fabulous. We are amazing by His design. Because He is good and His mercy endures forever. God is good.
Pastor Gail – Closeout
25. Praise God. Praise God. Go home and read Psalm 136. You might also want to read Isaiah 40 with it. “Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God.” And I won’t tell you the rest. Go home and read it.
26. I believe all of us that are here today, know Jesus. But when we contemplate or consider creation. You might be here today and you might think, I don’t know, things haven’t been feeling so beautiful lately.
27. But the Lord wants to remind you and we are going to finish with this song in His time. That God truly, truly, truly, truly He’s the only one that can. But He is the only one that can. But He will make all things beautiful in His time. Amen. Amen.