Pastor Gail – Introduction
1. We’re glad that you are all here today. So, we’re going to have some prayer today for needs later. I don’t know what your mornings been like. Mine’s been very interesting. There is a tour group here from South Africa. And one of them suddenly needs a dentist on the weekend in Greece. For those of you that know Greece in August, you already know everybody’s on their case.
2. It’s late last night, Leto tried to help me find a dentist. One of them is a diabetic. And he left South Africa without any of his insulin. So, when I got the team back to their hotel late last night, I’m searching all over for insulin. I took it to the hotel. And he said, but I need needles. Okay, I couldn’t find needles. So very early this morning before I got to church. I was looking for needles.
3. So, I got here very wide awake. I hope none of you are sleepy this morning. That’s one of the things I love about the Lord so much. The Word of God says, He never slumbers nor sleeps. I love that about the Lord. He never slumbers or sleeps. He’s our beautiful Savior.
4. I’m going to invite you for just a moment today. Just to remain standing as we, I mean remain sitting for a moment. Just everybody to just settle your spirits in the presence of the Lord. Just think about the Lord, how wonderful He is. And that He was already here before we came this morning.
5. Father, we’re here to worship you. There is absolutely no one like you. No one deserves our love, Lord, like you do. We love you, Lord. We just want you to know we’re not asking for anything at this moment. We just want to say we love you; we praise you. Thank you that you are here. Thank you that you are here. Because, Lord, we need you so much. Please know you’re needed by us. We know you know it, but we want to express it, Lord. How amazing it is that you desire to be our God and to fill our lives with your presence and the wonder and the glory and the beauty of who you are. We praise you today in the name of Jesus. Amen.
6. It’s always so good to be in the house of God. You look good. Lord, I think we as humans, we love to be told, it’s so wonderful to be in your presence. I imagine the Lord likes to hear that from us too, don’t you? Oh, God, it’s so awesome to be in your presence.

Pastor Gail – Reading the Word and Announcements
7. We’re going to have our Scripture reading. There’s a Bible on the back behind most of the chairs.
8. He would turn to Psalm 25:8-11, “Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right, and he teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” In Psalm 25:21, “May integrity and uprightness protect me because my hope is in you.”
9. Before we go a little further, I want us to pray today. I’m going to ask Leto, and if there’s another with the prayer team, and we have oil up here. Pastor Brian, as of yesterday, he’s broken four ribs. So, we were in three different hospitals yesterday. My days have been very full.
10. And thank God I’ve never had a broken rib. I don’t know if you have. But from what I understand, the pain is extreme, and they cannot do anything. They can’t bind it up or anything. You just have to live with it.
11. We believe the Word of God, don’t we? And the Lord says, “I am the God that heals you.” We’ve seen a woman receive her sight that was blind. We’ve seen cancers healed in our local church. God can heal Pastor Brian’s ribs. He absolutely can and remove the pain, amen. I believe it does, too.
12. I want to ask someone if they would come and stand in for Pastor Brian. I’m going to ask Leto and Rebecca, will be our prayer team this morning. Kari, would you mind representing Brian today as we pray? They’re going to anoint Kari for healing. And if you need healing today, or someone you know… Who will come and represent them and will anoint us? The Bible says, call for the elders. They will anoint you and the prayer of faith will save the sick. Feel free to come up, yes.
13. Romeo, we are glad for you to come up, please. It’s open. It’s a vocal cord dysfunction, so I can breathe. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yes, we’re going to pray for that now, we believe. For those of you who couldn’t hear, he has a vocal cord that is not functioning correctly and he has difficulty breathing.
14. Father, in thy name we pray right now, Lord, for Romeo. We pray for Brian, Lord. God, we know that you are our healer, dear Lord. We don’t doubt it today at all, God, we believe God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You will not fail, Lord. You will not fail. I pray that when I speak to Brian again, he’s well. Lord, touch Romeo right now, God. Heal that vocal cord, Lord. Ease his breathing this morning, God. We know that is who you are, the Lord Almighty, able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask you, thank God. Lord, we pray and believe healing. Your name is I am the God who heals you in the name of the Lord. We thank you, Lord. We thank you, Lord, and we believe today in the name of Jesus. Amen.
15. Praise God. I want us to pray. I want us to pray for the family of the missionary girl that was murdered. Some of you may not all know the story. We need to talk about the story now. But she has served the Lord here in Greece since 2019.
16. Many people in our church knew her, and she was tragically murdered. We want to pray for her, and we want to also pray for the wife of the man that they are holding in prison that committed the murder, they believe, they believe. His wife is a believer. They were Muslims, and they’ve turned to the Lord. We’ve got to pray for the mercy of God, for the direction of God. Could we remember them? The family of the girl and the wife of the husband.
17. And also, I want us to remember Eric. Eric is on special assignment right now. I cannot tell you where he’s at. He’s with Samaritan’s Purse. I always get those confused. One of those. And he’s asked us to really pray for protection, and pray for the Lord to be with him wherever he is on assignment, if we could do that today. I feel honored that we get to pray for people that really need the presence of God, the touch of God, because we believe, don’t we? We do believe that God can do what no one else can do.
18. So, if we could just pray together right now. Father, in thy name right now, we pray, O God, for this young woman from England, God. I’m not even going to call her name, but I pray, O Lord, we believe she’s now in your presence.
19. She is in your presence, God. But we’re going to pray for her family. Lord, for great peace, Lord, that their daughter that came here to serve you, Lord, that even though now she is no longer here, one day they will see her in eternity. We pray for this young man, Lord, being held in prison. We pray for his wife. We pray for, Lord, those that we know that are ministering to his wife and to him right now, that God, there will be breakthrough, Lord. And God, if he didn’t commit the murder, reveal who did it, God. We’re asking you, God, that Lord, you will even somehow, though it seems impossible to us, that you will be glorified in this situation. God, there is no situation too hard for you to be glorified in. So, we’re praying for that this morning. We lift you up that God, you will be lifted higher. Lord, we pray for Eric. We pray for protection. We pray for protection in the name of Jesus. Amen.
20. Even though we’re not many today, I’m looking around and I’m seeing so many different nationalities in the room. I love that. I love that. We have Greeks, of course, Australians, South Africans. We have Armenians. We have Lebanese. We have Brazilians. Ah, yeah. Yes. I call that tortilla. Finland, yes. America. America. Cyprus. We said Turkey. That’s okay. We can say it again. The Philippines. The Philippines. And Turkey. Yeah. And Turkey. And Turkey. And Greece. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
21. I’m going to ask you to stand and just greet someone, even if you don’t understand. Just greet one another with the love of the Lord. When they leave the building in the field, we praise you God. We praise you. We pray you never fail. Never. Never fail. No, we didn’t. Amen.
22. You may be seated and praise God. We want to give the Lord our tithe and offering today. Amen. God is so good, isn’t He? And I want us to continue to stand on the promise. Because I’m trying to too, that if we’re obedient to put God first in everything. He’ll provide for all we need, all we need, amen, amen. And that’s not just a job or friends, but it’s even our finances, amen, amen. We thank the Lord.
23. So, we’re so happy to see Felicia and Manolis. They just came back from youth camp. Felicia, did you enjoy it? Manolis? Okay, I have to give a testimony for them, because they’re a little shy. We were told, Leto and I, that guess who the best people were at the youth camp? Felicia and Manolis! Glyfada aren’t we all glad about our youth? Amen, amen, praise God, praise God. So, Stavros will pay for our offering this morning. Amen.
24. And we’ll just real quickly announcement. Wednesday night, for the rest of this, the next two weeks, Wednesday night, our prayer, the prayer will be online only. But if you’d like to come into the building Tuesday mornings, usually we have Rebecca or Evy in the building praying. And we’re just so glad if you stop and pray here, it’s just, we believe it breathes strength. Prayer has to be our foundation.
25. Do I have any more announcements? Do I have youth meeting? Oh, we have a youth this week, yay! We didn’t have it last week, but we will have it this week. All right, the youth meeting. And the care groups were not meeting this month, but go for coffee with somebody. It’s good! Before you leave today, invite somebody you don’t usually go for coffee with. Invite them out. Yeah. Amen. Do it. Okay. All right. Anything else? Oh, Joyce has covered.
26. I told you last week there’s a gentleman on Vouliagmeni. But we’re seeing, probably you’re seeing many people at stoplights that are asking for money or whatever. Romeo, if it helps you to walk around, feel free. All right. This is home. Church is home with Jesus.
27. But please, if, when you go to the store, buy like little croissants or crackers or something that you could give at the stoplights. Don’t give them money for drugs, but give them food. Have some extra dry food in your car for these people at stoplights, okay? And then pray for them as you give it to them. Just say, bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
28. We never know what God’s going to do. And if you don’t have anything and you think you might forget, Leto could give you something from Joseph’s cupboard. And of course, if you have a prayer request because we pray all through the week, you could send your request to prayer@glyfadacc.org. We will be praying for them.
29. And during this month, if you will just pray, is there a way that you could serve the church a little bit? Serve the Lord. It’s not serving the church, but the church is his body. Come and see me. I’m looking for help, okay?
30. So, we’re glad you’re here. We need to be glad. And next Sunday is going to be a very special Sunday. This will be different. We’re going to meet upstairs. We’ll have some worship. We are not going to call you and ask you to bring anything for brunch or breakfast. But if you would like to bring, you can share it with one another. So, there’s no plan, okay? It might be all pickles. I don’t care. But if you’d like to bring something, we’re going to just share coffee and tea. We’ll have cold drinks. But the morning will be your time after worship to share with one another what God has done. We need to hear from one another. We will encourage one another by sharing our testimony, okay? I think it’s going to be great.
31. So, plan to come and hear good things. And today, Leto is coming to preach to us today, and we’re very blessed. We have Vasilis with us. We have missed you, Vasilis. You know, I know he needs a job, but let’s pray he gets a better job in Greece than America. So, we want to call Vasilis and Leto forward today.
32. Bless the name of the Lord. Father, we thank you as Leto comes forward. We thank you for the word this morning. We thank you for the anointing of Vasilis as he translates. We give you all the glory in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Leto Karantoni – Main Message
33. I believe that the most beautiful day of the week is Sunday. It is like we gather from all around Athens from Attica to be together as a family. And it’s very nice to meet because it’s like that our Father is waiting for us every time here.
34. And as Pastor Gail says, August is a surprise every Sunday. You never know who’s going to come downstairs. You never know who you’re going to meet after a long time of absence. And especially for me that I’m standing at the back, when I see them coming down the stairs. Oh, he’s here. It’s so surprising, so wonderful. Katheryn, I’m so blessed to see you. And I’m glad to see all of you here today in the courtyard of God.
35. We’re going to read from John’s Gospel. And I want to apologize for not having the verses on the screen. It’s only two verses, nothing more. And therefore, open your Bibles to read with us, at the Gospel of John 7:37-39. “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’”
36. I like that it starts by saying, “The greatest day.” Back then, that day, during that day, the Israelites, the Hebrews, celebrated one of their most important celebrations. I think this is the third most valued ceremonies of the Israelites. Yes, it was the celebration of Tabernacles. Those days, the Israelites set up tents, and they lived inside those, for them to remember the days during the days when they lived in their tents in the desert during their exodus.
37. During these seven days of celebration, the priest was obliged to carry a golden bucket and visit the pool of Siloam and get some water from there. And he poured out the water at the base of the altar. And that was a reminder of the stone that had been following them and provided water for them. And Jesus Christ picked that very special, greatest day, the seventh one, to stand in front of everyone, the Israelites at the temple. And I like it even more because it says, ‘with loud voice.’
38. Yes, if you read what comes before these verses, you will find out that Jesus visited Jerusalem in secret. Yes, and he had been teaching everyone in the temple, with a small voice, but that specific day he chose to stand in front of everybody and tell everyone, Hallelujah. Whoever is thirsty shall come to me. Whoever. A simple invitation. Whoever is thirsty shall come to me to drink.
39. He didn’t ask for religious terms. He didn’t oppose any limitations. He didn’t set any requirements like going to church every Sunday to give your credit to tithe. He didn’t ask to love one each other. At that time, he set no restrictions, no prerequisites. And although what I already said, we should do them and we shouldn’t let them… But at that specific moment, it wasn’t about requirements and qualifications. They weren’t needed. He said, whoever thirsts.
40. The only condition was to be thirsty. Thirsty. It was the desire to quench your thirst. And he said whoever. He didn’t say just the Hebrews. He didn’t say just the Greeks. But he said whoever. He addressed everyone, the whole humanity. Jesus Christ didn’t deny himself to anyone. He said whoever is thirsty shall come to me to drink.
41. Sometimes, for us to find water, we have to dig deep into the earth. And to have a well. But Jesus Christ didn’t ask for any effort on our side. He said only if you are thirsty. And when I was reading these verses, I was reminded of the Psalmist that he said that in Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
42. This is how our hearts should be to have that fiery desire to quench our thirst. And as you may figure out already, Jesus here doesn’t speak about a physical thirst. But he was speaking about the thirst of the soul.
43. And you know what? Everyone’s soul longs for something. It’s only us that we cannot understand that in the midst of the noise of the world and the plethora of information. We don’t realize that this thirst that we carry is our genuine thirst for our Creator. The soul longs for God. And Christ satisfies this need. And not only does he satisfy it, but Christ himself, is the water that quenches our thirst.
44. The other good news, is that we don’t have to buy this water. We don’t have to go to the kiosk or to the grocery store. And pay half or a whole euro to buy a small or a big bottle. But this water is given for free. Whoever is thirsty shall come to me and buy from me. Without silver, without a price. And this is Jesus Christ calling to us. It is the simplicity of the invitation of Jesus Christ. Without prerequisites, without effort, come to me and get it.
45. He loves us so much. That’s the only thing that he wants from us, is a personal relationship with him. He only wants us to reach out to him, to go meet him, and he will provide everything that we need. Because he is the only one that we need. He came, he was crucified, he died, he was buried, but he was resurrected.
46. And he came on this earth, and he went through all this, just because he loves us so much. And now he says, come to drink, come to drink. Because I am the water. Come to drink. Put me inside you. And I that am the source, will fill your belly with streams of cool water.
47. I will fill your belly with streams of living water. And I like that he uses the word belly. Because it is the most inner part, or the most inner organ in our body. And from there, living water is going to flow out.
48. And two days ago, I was thinking, that the river water, never go back, always go forward. Similarly, the water that Jesus gives, is renewed every day with new water every day in our life. God’s waters never go backwards, but flow forward. They overflow us. And this overflow, is seen by other people, and this cool water, is very attractive to the other people.
49. And this is why Christ said, come and drink from me. Because I am the resurrection, the life, and the truth. Because I am the patience and the persistence. I am the truth. Yes, because I am good, goodness, kindness and because I am love. And because of that, when we drink from his waters, and we drink daily from those, what is going to overflow from us, is going to be Jesus Christ himself.
50. On a daily basis, our patience will grow. On a daily basis, our kindness will grow. On a daily basis, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is going to grow even further. And sometimes that may hurt a little bit. Because our ego gets hurt. But be aware that the clean waters that flow, at the very bottom they have pebbles, little stones. And as the waters flow, these pebbles stones become smooth. In the same way, when God’s water flows through us, and my pebbles rub against Stavros’ pebble’s, Jesus Christ increases my patience. Because we need to mingle with each other and have that friction.
51. But above all, we have to resemble Jesus Christ. We shouldn’t be like the water that flows into the Dead Sea. Because the water of the Dead Sea is never renewed. So, whatever goes into that Dead Sea becomes dead, it has no life. But God wants us to be living waters that flow into the oceans for life. So that others see the life that we have, the joy we have, the love we have, and to become attracted by that, and say, I want to be as alive as Helen and the other Helen over there.
52. I want to witness this joy in my face, but not only to witness to others, but I also wanted to have it for me. And this is why God wants us to have these streams of living water. It is not only for us. But it is also for us to share with others and so that they may quench their thirst as well.
53. And I thank God for the Holy Spirit, because He sent Him down here on earth, so we may not be alone. When Jesus spoke on earth and stood up in front of everyone, and He said with confidence, “Whoever is thirsty should come to Me and drink from Me.” He said that because He was standing there.
54. But for us today, there is the Holy Spirit. That day Jesus Christ had not been glorified yet, and the paraclete had not yet been sent to us yet. But now we have that huge privilege for the paraclete to be with us, the Holy Spirit to be our guide, the Holy Spirit to renew us, and for us to be able to share with others, come to Jesus because whoever is thirsty, Jesus Christ can quench his thirst, and whoever drinks from that water, will never feel thirsty ever again, because this water will be renewed on a daily basis within us.
55. The only thing that we need to do, is to surrender our soul to Jesus Christ, and say, Jesus Christ, my soul is yours, you fill me up, overflow within me, and our purpose should be to give that water to others as well, so that they may also drink of it, to introduce them to Jesus Christ, to let them know about the beauty of our Jesus, to let them know about His love.
56. The invitation of Jesus Christ was, and drink, and drink. If today your cup is not full, if your cup today is half filled, say, Lord, fill me up, fill me up, fill me up with your Holy Spirit, I want to experience these living waters flowing inside me. I want to live that experience of the waters overflowing my life. We need the love of Jesus Christ, His presence in our life, His quenching of our thirst.
57. And I want to remind you again, Jesus Christ said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, whoever believes in me,” as the scripture has said, “streams of living water will flow from within him.” Whoever believes, as is told to us in Scripture, what must we believe? Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and this Lord of lords, and the King of kings, invites us today to come and drink, because I am the rock of water, because I am the source, that I give the water because I am the water myself.

Pastor Gail – Closeout
58. When Jesus ascended to heaven, and went to the presence of the Father, He was glorified again. And when that happened, the plan of God began to completely open. Yes. At that moment, the promise that I must go away, but I will send another. He will be with you, and in you. At that moment, when Jesus was glorified in the Father’s presence, the promise to have living water at all times, deeper than ever before, became available to us.
59. Maybe it’s, I think everyone in the room knows Jesus. But sometimes we search, you know, just in our everyday lives for things to fill us up. But as you’re sitting here this morning, I want to invite you to think about, when was the last time you asked the Holy Spirit to come and fill you to overflowing. When was the last time that the flow of the Holy Spirit caused your heart to jump for joy? The Holy Spirit wants to come into our lives with deeper joy than we’ve ever known.
60. And this morning, I believe that some of you, if you would just invite Him in an even deeper way, He wants to speak to the Father, your greatest needs today. So, as we just lead in one more song, we’re going to just worship the Lord, but where you’re at, I invite you, Holy Spirit, come I need you, Holy Spirit come I need you. Lord, I feel like I’m empty from yesterday. Holy Spirit, overflow from me today, cleanse me Lord of everything of yesterday. Holy Spirit, lead and come guide me. Just where you are seated.