Pastor Gail – Scripture Reading
1. Would you remain standing for the Word. We’re reading today from Psalm 74:20-23, “Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name. Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long. Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.”
2. Psalm 74:12, “But You O God are my King from long ago; You bring salvation upon the earth.” I am going to ask you to do something a little different this morning. Brian and I have some friends that are trapped in Israel at the moment, and I’m not political at all. I want the Kingdom of God to be lifted up, and as we agree with this Word that we read just now, the Lord sees, and we can ask Him to rise up, and care for the poor and the needy. Can I ask you to take someone’s hand near you and just say, ‘Let’s agree together, because our God is a covenant keeping God, and He wants us to lift Him up as the King, and His will to be done.’
3. So, just pray however you like. I would prefer, me personally, that you don’t pray from a place of fear. Don’t pray from a place of fear. I’ve had people write to me, ‘Is the beginning of world war III?’ I don’t know. God knows. But when we know God, we call on Him, and we agree together, we’re taking hands and agreeing together, that He will be exalted, and care for the poor and needy. Amen.
4. Can we pray right now. Let’s pray out loud. I invite you to let the enemy hear you voice. Tell him God, you believe in Him. God, we believe in You this morning God. Lord, we do not pray from a place of fear. Lord, we do not pray from a place that we have the answer. God, You have the answers, Lord. And You have instructed us to pray with faith, You’ve instructed us, that whatever the day would hold, to lift You up and declare You see. And Lord, my God, You hold this world in the palm of Your hand. Lord, You are Lord of all. You made the heaven and the earth, and the earth is Yours, and I know that man is on a wicked path, but Lord, You see those that are Your children Lord, that call after Your Name, that love You Lord, Oh God, that want to see You glorified.
5. Lord, we pray for the poor in need. We pray for the innocent in these situations, God. We pray that You will enable doctors, Lord, to get to those that have been affected by the situations, in Iran and in Israel, in both countries. We pray for the underground church in Iran, today, we pray for the many believers in Iran, that know You and love You, God. Lord, we know that the enemy has plans to bring harm, but God, You are faithful, God, even in the dark, Lord, even in the dark times, God. You are still God, be glorified, Oh Lord. Lord, we give the situation to You Lord, we know that You can stop it in an instant. We pray after the heart of God, Lord, let Israel wake up that You are Messiah. Lord, we pray that even the government in Iran, will recognize that there is only one Messiah, who is Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray Oh, God, in the name of the Lord God almighty, who is greater than any political power, we pray unto the heart of God, after the heart of God. Lord, we need more of Your love, we need Your power. Holy Spirit, come amongst us with Your power.

Pastor Gail – Prayer for the Healing of (Mary Kehayas)
1. I’m going to ask Mary Kehayas to come forward. All the people that want to pray with her, please come forward. Mary has found out that she has cancer in her eyes. But all of you may not know or remember, Elisa some time ago even though she had lost her eyesight the Lord healed her. I know that others are also ill, but sometimes we need to focus, the whole church to focus on this one particular thing, for the Lord to heal Mary. This morning, the enemy needs to hear our voice. We believe God heals. Let’s pray.
2. Father, we know who you are, one of Your names is, ‘The God that heals you.’ Lord, we believe in your name, Lord, we thank You that You are here this morning. Lord, we have come into this place Lord, believing You can do what no else can do what You can do, Lord. We know the report of the doctors, but Lord, we are going to ask for the report of heaven, Lord. We ask that the report will come back, in the name of Jesus, Lord, that Mary is healed today, Lord. We come against this cancer, Lord, we command this cancer to leave her body today, we command that every part of it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Lord when You speak, Lord, the demons must obey, Lord. Every sickness must obey God. Lord, we pray that Mary will not be afraid or worried, Lord, but her faith will be in You. I know my God; my God is more than able. Today the God of the impossible, Lord, God, there is nothing too hard for You, so, today we declare in faith, as we call on Your name, God, do the impossible for Mary today, dear Lord, that when she goes back for the report this week, Lord, the doctors will be surprised, God, because nothing, absolutely nothing will be there. Lord, we’re praying in great faith, God, we’re not trying to twist Your arm, God, we’re not praying in false faith God, we’re just saying that You are more than able, God, and we want the name of the Lord, Jesus, to heal her, to be lifted high in Greece. Oh, God, for the Word in testimony in Greece, ‘Look what the Lord has done. He healed my body, the Lord, God did it when no one else could. God did it. God did it.’ Great and mighty is the Lord God. Lord, today You are worthy of all our praise. Lord, You are worthy of every Word we can say that is good and right, because, You are the good and mighty God. There is no darkness in You whatsoever God. We declare, light; light drives away all of the darkness. Oh, Lord, we drive the darkness of this disease away, as the light of the love of God, as the light of the healing of Jesus, come Lord, into Mary’s body through in the name of Jesus, today.

Pastor Gail – Announcements
1. Well praise God. You look good. And if all of you don’t understand what I’m going to share with you now, you’re free to come to pastor Brian or myself after service, with any questions you might have.
2. Last week, a group shared about ministry here in Greece. The number they used, is a generally accepted number, here in Greece, of born-again, self-proclaiming, they will declare that they are born-again among the Evangelicals, worshipping in churches here in Grece, about 20-25,000. But it was stated, as a total number of Christians, in Greece, and as all of you would know, I wrote this down so that I can say this properly, because it’s been a long week. As all of you know, who have been coming to this church for very long, we try as a local church, to recognize that we are not aware of everything that God is doing in Greece. Or with whom, or where are all of the people that we do know. We don’t know them all.
3. In this local church, we have never said, that we know every person that has a sincere relationship with Jesus Christ, in this country. They may, or they may not, be worshipping in Evangelical churches here in Greece. Just the same, that everybody in our churches, really is born again. Some people are just coming, but they have not invited Jesus into their life.
4. So, we want to be careful, with the language we use, and recognize that God is indeed at work, in ways we cannot see or in ways we cannot count. Our prayer always has been in this local church, that the Greek Orthodox Church would come alive, because we believe very much that they have the Gospel, and whatever walk of life people are on in this country, whether they’re Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Charismatics, evangelicals, atheists. Our prayer in this local church, always has been that people will come alive by discovering life in Christ Jesus.
For the rest of the announcements please watch the video.

Pastor Gail – Prayer for Sunil
1. Some of you may not know, we prayed for Mary to be healed of cancer. Mary, you need to come and pray. Sunil has been given a very little time to live with cancer. Today, we have permission from Sunil, we’re going to believe today, the report from heaven, that Sunil is going to be OK. Sammathi, would you like to come and stand next to your husband. Whoever wants to come, Rebecca, you need to come pray with Sunil. Whoever would like to pray, let’s pray. Father, in the name of the Lord…
2. Sunil, this is a Word for you. Isaiah 50:10, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on their God.” The Lod, just showed me this Scripture recently. And many times, when we find ourselves in difficult situations, like for an illness, we feel that we are in a dark place. Sunil, the Lord would say that, ‘The enemy wants to make it dark, you may not see like, but God is there. Trust Him. This is a Word for you today. Amen. Lord, we thank You for the Word today.

Leto Karantoni – Main message.
1. Praise God. When God moves nothing else is necessary or required. When God stretches out His hand, there’s no need for anybody else. And when God speaks, it’s good to listen. We thank the Holy Spirit for His presence here today, and that God will give each one of us the strength to walk the ways of God.
2. At this time, we’re still on the, ‘Gifted’ theme. We’re speaking about the gifts that God places within us, in our lives. Today we turn to Ephesians, and as I sometimes joke with pastor Gail, ‘Is that in the New Testament?’ And she replies, ‘Yes.’ So, Ephesian 4:1-13, but we will split it into two parts.
3. We’ll first read verses 1-6, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
4. In this epistle, Paul, in the first 3 chapters, it’s like he is saying to the Ephesians, a brief overview of the good news of the Gospel. He tells them that they have been adopted into the family of God, since you have first been forgiven of your sins. You were saved from the slavery of your sins. You are loved of God. You were strengthened. And all your sins and your lawlessness have been forgiven, and the independent riches of God were preached to you. He reminds them, how important it is to be with Christ. How important it is to remember God’s work in our lives.
5. So, in the 4th chapter, Paul begins with, ‘I urge you, therefore.’ In the Greek, and I believe it is the same in English, this ‘therefore’ brings us to a conclusion, to a second section. It’s like he is saying, ‘Seeing that these things have taken place, and all these things are in your lives, (you’ve been forgiven, you’ve seen the riches of God, you’ve been loved by God). So, now you must live in accordance with what has been given to you.’
6. The riches of the glory of Christ, which has been given to you, you must now live it out in a way that is worthy of Him who gave it to you. I don’t know if you remember, but in my generation, when we went to a general store, and we wanted a kilo of rice, actually it was an ‘oka’ which weighed 1.232 kilos, the salesman would put the ‘oka’ on one side and on the other side he would place the rice, and then he would add rice until it would even out. So, Paul is saying here that our lives must be like a scale before God.
7. On the one side is what Jesus has put into our lives, and on the other side is how we are meant to live our lives, and these two should balance out. We have to live worthy of what we have received. The worthiness means that it has the same value. For example, Evy gives me a golden ring, and I give her back a golden earing. To be at least of the same value.
8. I know that nothing can compare with God’s love or His forgiveness. But here, Paul encourages us to live a life worthy of our forgiveness, that God has accepted us into His family, that God died for us and gave His life for us. He wants us to live worthy of all this. And he says, that we should try to live this way.
9. He sets some principles here which are very important. He says to live humbly, meekness, patience, tolerate one another in love, and to live together peacefully. These principles which Paul provides here, are fundamental principles, to be able to built upon them.
10. We need to become ‘slaves’ or ‘bondservants’ of Christ, to become like Him. These new things which we have in our lives, which is love, humility, meekness, gentleness, all these things are to be put down to build a foundation, and on this, the building must be built. God wants us to rely on these things to build. He is calling us to live a new way of life. All things have been put away and everything has become new. We must live our lives in a different way.
11. Christianity is not an idea. Christianity is a way of life. For us to be Christians, for us to love God, is not just plain knowledge in our heads, it’s not just a plain ‘belief’ in our minds. But it is something that comes from the heart. It is a faith that is formed inside and it causes us live in a different way, in a new way. And these are things that God gives us.
12. Patience is from God, to be polite to one another is from God. To love one another is from God. And these are gifts that all of us should cultivate in our lives, so that we can support and bring unity. When we love one another, we have unity. And God wants to build His church upon unity.
13. He doesn’t want us to all be dressed in the same way. He doesn’t want us all to wear the same shoes. But He wants us to have one faith; to have one Lord, and one Spirit that works within us, and one God and Father of all. That’s our unity; this is what God wants from us.
14. Let’s move on, since we could stay on this topic for a long time. In Ephesians 4:7-13, it says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” (What does “he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So, Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
15. To each one of us, separately, because in God’s eyes each one of us separately are special, a special gift has been given. Listen however, as to how it was given: according to the donation God gave. These gifts, the specific gifts, are separate for each individual. I cannot have the same gift that Stavros has; this special gift is only for him. That’s why many times, instead of looking at what gifts others may have, it’s better to look within ourselves to see what gift we have, so that we may use it.
16. The Gifts of Christ are not to be hidden in a cupboard. The gifts of Christ should not be used once or twice and given away as gifts somewhere else. The gifts of Christ are given for a special reason, to each one of us separately. Ver special gifts. They are gifts, for the building up of the church.
17. The One who ascended, after He had descended, He is the One who gave the gifts, so that we can use them for His glory and in His ministry. When I woke up this morning, and I was sitting on my balcony, I remembered and I was thinking about this sermon in my mind. Next to me there is an apartment block. About 25 years ago, maybe even a little longer, we went with pastor Brian to visit an architect who lived in that apartment block. We wanted to find a parcel of land to build a church in a prefabricated fashion.
18. This man had come from America, but was Greek and was very knowledgeable in this type of building. He took us upstairs to his office and on a very large bench he had a very nice sample. This thing that he had there, had its windows, its doors, and it was exceptionally beautiful. And today I was thinking of this thing. This structure could not be built if everything was made of wood. It could not be built if everything was made of glass. And it could not have been built if everything had been plastic. But this architect had combined all these things, and built this sample, and it was there before us.
19. We are here and we say that God is building His church, and He wants to use all of us to build His church. And in this unity, what we need to use correctly are His gifts. It is not that we should all wear the same clothes, it’s not that we should all walk in the same way. I cannot wear your shoes to run with you. I must wear my own shoes to run the race together. I must use my own gift, so that the glory of this church may show. And you have to use your own gift before me, next to me, behind me. We all have to proceed, and we need to reach the level that Christ wants us to attain. If we don’t show our gifts, our own gifting that God has placed in our lives, this is what will allow the church to join and to mix, look at my hand which is behind Evy. We are not only close but we are joined together. We have to be joined to Christ. And when we have a gifting, we must use it so that we may be united.
20. It says that, He gave some evangelists, some prophets, some pastors, some teachers. He didn’t make everybody pastors; He didn’t make all of then evangelists. I cannot become like Judy, who prays for 15 hours a day. I cannot. This is a great calling. This is a great gift. I cannot be like pastor Gail, whose calling is to evangelize to the world, praise the Lord. God gives her the strength. Amen. I cannot. But I can do what God has placed in my life, to stand next to pastor Gail, so that I can stand next to Judy, so that the light of this church can show. So that the glory of God may show. So that people can see the building that God is building.
21. Way back, in my village, the brides that were going to be married on Sunday, would open up their homes on the Thursday, they would display their most beautiful handwork, they would bake the best sweets, everything that they had made, handwork, bedspreads, duvets, weaving, etc. And the whole village was invited to pass through to wish the bride. But in actual fact it was everybody would go past to see how worthy the bride was.
22. This is what Christ does in our lives. He says, ‘My bride, I want you to display your gifts. I want you to let your gifts show. If you are supposed to preach, then preach. If you are to teach, then teach. If it is to evangelize, then move and evangelize. If you have been given the gift of prophecy, ask the Lord to open your mouths and then prophesy. Because all these things will show how special our Christ is. We are His bride. And He want to show His wonder and His glory through us.
23. And He says, ‘Our aim is to achieve the level of stature of the Father, through the fullness of Christ in us.’ May our God bless you, may you all be well. When you go from here, I want you to remember, that you are Christ’s bride, and that you have been given gifts in your lives, and to use these gifts, for us to be united, so that our unity may show. Because we are all united by chords that cannot be broken, with the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. May God bless you.

Pastor Gail – Closeout
1. The proverb I learned in Greek is, ‘Bean by bean, the sack is slowly filled.’ It goes so well with this word, if each one of us, will work together. Bean by bean, fills the sack. Amen. I love that so much. We all have gifts. Do you realize as we are sitting here this morning, how true this song is today. There are people who have helped us fill the sack. It’s not just this local church, it’s not. It’s all of those, through the centuries, who have wanted to come to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we would live for Him, to make His body beautiful.
2. How many of you have loved ones who are already there, that are already worshipping Him? I do. I have loved ones and I can’t wait to see them. And they have gone before us. But it is exciting to know, as we build His church, we’re going to join all together one day. Singing the song of ages to the Lamb.
3. If you’re here this morning, maybe you have just been comfortable with Jesus; maybe you never really asked Him into your life. Because when you invite Him in, to be Lord, it’s like saying, ‘You have control.’ And that’s the only way, that we really will become that beautiful bride.
4. I don’t know about you, but these days are just hard for me. Brian and I were with a lot of people who knew people who had died in Russia and Ukraine, young men, 16-17 years old, and in Gaza, and what’s happening now. But do you know what comforts me, is passages like this, in Ephesians, when it talks about being united in His love, to become more like Him. And that brings me joy and I hope it does you too.
5. We will sing the song of ages. One day, with those young men from Ukraine and from Russia, with the many secret believers in Iran. And Stavro, I’m going to give a testimony for you. I’m giving your testimony. A lot of you don’t know this, but Stavro was in Iran last week. Do you realize that if he had been there this weekend, he wouldn’t be with us today. Amen, what a God! His name is the highest, and we have to remember, He’s got it all under control.