(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, everybody. Good morning and welcome to Sherriff Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seat and grab your song book in the green and turn to page 309. Dare to be a Daniel. Welcome to Sherriff Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seat and grab your song book and turn to page 309. Dare to be a Daniel. Page 309. Page 109 in the green. Dare to be a Daniel. Let's sing it on the first. Who forgot had been a host by joining Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known. Many giants great and tall stalking through the land. Had long to the earth would fall if met by Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known. Hold the gospel banner high on to victory grand. Satan and his host of I and shout for Daniel's band. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm. Dare to make it known. Amen. Amen. Our second song is number 230, Heavenly Sunlight. Song number 230, Heavenly Sunlight. Song 230, let's sing it on the first. Walking in sunlight all of my journey over the mountains through the deep veil. Jesus has said I'll never forsake the promised divine that never can fail. Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah I am rejoicing singing his praises Jesus is mine. Shadows around me, shadows above me never conceal my savior and guide. He is the light in him is no darkness ever I'm walking close to his side. Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah I am rejoicing singing his praises Jesus is mine. In the bright sunlight ever rejoicing praising my way to mansions above singing his praises gladly I'm walking walking in sunlight, sunlight of love. Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah I am rejoicing singing his praises Jesus is mine. And we have our verse of the week on the front cover it says from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praise psalm chapter 113 verse 3 great verse there our service times are Sunday morning at 10 30 am Sunday evening at 3 30 pm Thursday bible studies at 6 30 pm our soul winning times are listed below concerning soul winning today I'm not canceling soul winning because it's hot alright however I'm not expecting you to go take your little ones out and fry them like an egg in the sun so so it's basically going to be up to your discretion if you go or not so it is supposed to be 114 degrees today which is smashing the record of any previous day now if you lived in Phoenix and every day it was like that I could understand you know not wimping out or whatever but it's not that big of a deal to wimp out today alright I'm not going to judge you or whatever so and obviously if it's 114 degrees outside make sure if you're going soul winning if you're going soul winning make sure you drink plenty of fluids get something some salt in you and some Gatorade but we have plenty of water we brought six jugs so if you guys are thirsty today there's plenty of stuff to drink but you might need some electrolytes to put back in your body if you're planning on going soul winning make sure you let brother Brandon know he'll have a map for you and that will be ready to go let's see so moving on here we had I think a couple of salvations this week and we have let's see so soul winning is going on regularly as scheduled in all of our soul winning times it is supposed to be hot next week I think the next time is going to be Friday so but I think it's supposed to start to cool down a little bit towards the end of the week so you'll be safe so no worries if you look at the praise report you can see the salvations baptisms attendance totals and on the right side we have kids Spanish classes coming next Tuesday at 6 p.m. and please make sure you're letting Miss Alejandra know that you're planning on attending that and also we have the I'm preaching on July 1st at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tucson Arizona this Thursday night so I'll be in Tucson and I'm not going to be able to escape the heat down there either apparently so I think it's like this hot everyday there this time of year so anyway it's a vacation so let's see July 4th we'll have our back to back services so we are changing the service times for one Sunday you know we don't do stuff like that very often but it is the 4th of July so we're going to do that we're going to have a Christian Liberty party over at the Sawyer residence and that'll be at 3 p.m. so food and fellowship and fun and fireworks so the church will be providing the fireworks if you want to bring your own fireworks you're welcome to do that we do have like a controlled set off though so we don't want just everybody willy nilly just lighting stuff off because that's what most of Vancouver does we need to do things decently and in order so I will try not to blow up any children this year and so yeah but anyway we're going to have so there's going to be swimming so bring your swimming gear and also yeah so if you are going to bring food we need people to bring sides and desserts so please see Mrs. Sawyer for that and make sure that you're not all bringing the same thing and what else yeah there's going to be a men's preaching night so the back to back services when I get done preaching at 1227 then men's preaching will be at 1230 p.m. so anyway that's a joke I'll I'll just chop my notes in half then I know I'll be okay I'll only preach till 1215 then anyway so we're just going to have a short break in between the services so from like 12ish to 1230 and then we'll have the men's preaching and then we'll have the party alright so we're going to have a great day let's see July 15th through 18th is the Red Hot Preaching Conference and that will be at Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento California you can see all the information on I'm not sure if on our website but you can watch the videos for the Red Hot Preaching Conference on Verity Baptist Church's YouTube page so I gave some false information out so I'm going to correct myself here so the table tennis tournament I thought was only for men but it's not it is a co-ed tournament it wasn't really specifically spelled out in the video so I'm going to blame them no I'm just kidding but I didn't know that it was a co-ed tournament so I got a table tennis or ping pong whatever you prefer to call it it's downstairs so if anybody wants to volunteer to build that up after the service for those people that are going to try to get into the tournament be a good table to practice on except for I don't think anybody does anybody have their table tennis paddles here today well you might have to go out and get one or get some on Amazon or whatever but if you want to be in the tournament the top four people 16 and older will be the adults so we can only have four so we need to have some kind of a tournament does anybody want to head that tournament up and pick a day during the week yeah we can practice yeah we can do the seating tournament then if you want yeah is it a good table yeah cool is it heavy heavy is reliable so alright well we can do it then but who wants to head up the seating of the tournament and do all that stuff I just don't have time for that yeah Brandon ok so Brandon we had like kind of a mini one at Remy's house yesterday and I got beat by a how old are you who beat me yesterday was it Julia huh Emily beat me good night I can't I can't still can't tell them apart so Emily crushed me yesterday severely I didn't even know we were playing and she was like 1-0 I was like what I was still practicing I think I scored five points on her and she just totally obliterated me I think she just accidentally missed or something a couple times but anyway so we can have that kind of a tournament and it's co-ed so now the sixth so under 16 we can have four representatives but here's the thing you have to be going to the Red Hot Preaching Conference and I'm not paying for your ticket to go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference just because you made the seating tournament so if you're not even planning on going then don't I mean you can be in the tournament but you can't be one of the team you know members that's going to be there so anyway so we have like table tennis all over the place for the next month or whatever but let's not forget that we still have a building that we're moving into so if I start seeing nobody helping with the building and like everybody's playing table tennis then I'm going to take a sledgehammer and I'm going to destroy it like a false idol and it will get ugly alright so let's keep everything in perspective alright so anyway I definitely want to send some representatives and if we don't have enough people that make it whatever for that under 16 group then we'll just have to have people added from a different from a different church or something so anyway July 30th through August 1st is our 3 year anniversary and grand reopening and Pastor Bruce Mahiel will be preaching for us Friday night at 7 PM so that will kick off our grand reopening so but that week just so you know is going to be when we have to move everything from the church so I definitely going to need we're going to need some help like filling up a U-Haul taking all the chairs and all the stuff over so we'll probably try to just get one shot or if somebody has a trailer or whatever we'll get it done that week we got to have we got to be out of this building by Thursday so I mean we have till the first to be officially out but like I'd like to get everything done and cleaned and out of here and ready to go Thursday that way when we go to church Friday you guys can just relax and enjoy yourselves and listen to some ripping face preaching and then we're going to have a soul winning marathon on the next day which is Saturday and then Pastor Jones will be preaching for us on Sunday night so it's going to be a great great weekend so anyway yeah looking forward to it but we definitely do need help with the building brother Roberts kind of and brother Anthony have been over there doing some stuff and getting things ready but if you want to talk to brother Robert about anything that needs to be done or if you want to schedule a time where you're going there or something just kind of talk to brother Robert he doesn't know I'm just doing this and now he's hearing it for the first time but he kind of knows what's going on and so if you have like if there's if you guys want to schedule to be there at the same time as other people are going then talk to brother Robert so anyway yeah so we need the table tennis thing set up make sure if you're going soul winning please go out with discretion we usually go out for like an hour to an hour and a half anyway so if you're one of those hard chargers that wants to go out and get some extra rewards today then I'm not discouraging you from going but I would just say don't take small infants out in this heat it's probably not a good idea so don't be so zealous that you cook your kids out there alright so anyway we're a family integrated church that means the children and infants are welcomed in the church services we have available for your family and mother baby rooms and a dad baby room downstairs for your convenience during all the services comfortable seating and all that and please reserve the back rows for families with young children please no men in those mother baby rooms or vice versa and use caution when going down the stairs and latch the baby gates okay and no food is allowed in the assembly area which is this area right here silence your cell phones at this time if you would please and escorts to the vehicles to your vehicles are available by the ushers and they're the guys that have the pins that say usher on them and they'd be happy to walk you to your car just tap them on the shoulder and say I need you to walk to my car okay and if you're a guy do some push ups whatever anyway online donations are available at surefoundationbaptist.com and then we've covered all the June birthdays and anniversaries but one thing I was thinking about when I printed this is there anybody who has a birthday this week this coming week Candice alright busted what day is her birthday the first alright cool so that's Thursday alright well let's sing happy birthday to miss Candice alright ready happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday god bless you happy birthday to you anybody have an anniversary coming up this week I know there's a lot on the 7th but that's next week alright so that covers everything in the announcements one last thing I need some help with a couple ushers here we have so I got these made at First Works from First Works Baptist Church the Good Works Raiment so these ones here on the right are the Spanish Bible Way to Heaven by Pastor Mejia so what I thought I'd give each person an English and a Spanish one and you can put those in your Bible and so if someone doesn't have time to hear the gospel then you can say well just scan this a lot of a lot of young younger people do this so if you get some like 69 year old lady or something they're not going to scan these things but these are great if someone doesn't have time you can just set you know just like put them in a strategic place in your Bible they scan them you walk off and then they can they can have the Bible Way to Heaven so this is the English one so can you do the you do the English that's your Spanish you do the Spanish I don't think Ramon speaks Spanish do you? yeah he does I don't know I can't remember anyway so just take one each and obviously children if you're doing soul wanting then you can have one too but like it's not like sticker time so I don't want to find these sticking on our walls or furniture please put them up where'd they go alright we're going to sing another song while they're handing out those things and then we'll receive the offering alright the next song will be song number 411 hold the fort song 411 hold the fort and the green hymnal song 411 let's sing it on the first oh my comrades see the signal waving in the sky reinforcements now appearing victory is nigh hold the fort for I am coming Jesus signal still wave the answer back to heaven by thy grace we will see the mighty host advancing safe and leading on mighty men around us falling courage almost gone hold the fort for I am coming Jesus signal still wave the answer back to heaven by thy grace we will see the glorious banner waving here the trumpet blow in our leader's name we'll triumph over every foe hold the fort for I am coming Jesus signal still wave the answer back to heaven by thy grace we will fierce and long the battle rages but our health is near onward comes our great commander cheer my comrades hear hold the fort for I am coming Jesus signal still wave the answer back to heaven by thy grace we will praise the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord Alright go ahead and open your Bibles to Acts chapter 1 Acts chapter 1, if you don't have a Bible raise your hand and one of the Ushers will bring you one. Acts chapter 1 Acts 1, the Bible reads, the former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up. After that, he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in wide apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room where both Peter and James and John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, Zelodes, and Judas, the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of the names together were about 120, men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem in so much as the field is called in their proper tongue, a seldoma, that is to say the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take, wherefore of these men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto the same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was sure named Justice and Matthias. And they prayed and said, thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou has chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and a lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the 11 apostles. Brother Drew, will you pray for us? Amen. All right, I wanna springboard off verse number eight in our text here. It says, but ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the scriptures this morning and for the great commission, Lord, that we're supposed to take very seriously at this church. I pray, Lord, you'd help me to preach this sermon. I pray you'd help me to put a burden on the heart of our people for the places that I'm gonna be preaching about today. And Lord, I just pray that you'd put a burden and keep that burden to my heart, Lord, for these places also. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so Jesus, before he left, he went up into a cloud in front of all of his disciples, and the last thing he says is this statement here, but ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, so that's where they were at, Jerusalem, right, and in Judea, which is basically like the whole country of Judah, and then in Samaria, which is their closest neighbors, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So then basically he says, hey, you're gonna take the gospel into the whole world, okay? This is what I want you to do. This is the last words recorded before Christ was taken up, and it says that when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. What do you think Jesus' most important mission that he left us with is? It is absolutely, without a doubt, reaching the world with the gospel. That is what he wants from us. That is what our mission here on this earth is. It's not the only mission, but it is the main thing, right? I mean, what did he say? He said, go, go out, preach the gospel, do it here where you're at, do it in this whole area. So if you would look at it in perspective from our church, obviously Vancouver, Washington's our Jerusalem. We've reached a lot of our own Jerusalem. It's not really that, I mean, it's about 200,000 people, I think, here, but across, over in, I don't even know, I'd call that Sodom, Sodom area, but there's a lot of people that can be reached over there, too, right? But our state is Washington, so I guess that would kind of be like our Judea, right? And then our Samaria would probably actually be across the river there, but it is closer than a lot of places in Washington, but our uttermost part of the earth would include every place on the face of the planet, right? And so, of course, we have a church in Hawaii, and I love that church, and our church is doing really well over there, by the way. There was 19 people in the service, so it's built from ruins to, you know, we had 19 people and some salvations. We had 43 people saved when we went on that trip, and we really didn't have as many people as we did the first time we went, so we worked really hard to get those 43 salvations, and Brother Sean and his wife were with us, and there was some people from other churches that went with us also. Now, we hit a couple places that weren't very receptive, but we also hit some places that were very receptive, and so Hawaii is a receptive place. That's why we put a church there, and we want to reach the uttermost parts of the earth, and you know, Hawaii is like one of the most isolated places on the whole planet. It's out in the Pacific, and there's a lot of islands out in the Pacific that people are not reaching, and so while I was there, I kind of got this burden in my heart about the other places that are in the Pacific, and it's not, you know, it was reached in the colonial days as they would call it. Ships came with missionaries and things like that, but my sermon today is the plan to evangelize the Pacific Islands, the plan to evangelize the Pacific Islands, and I mentioned it in my sermon when I was in Hawaii about how I'd like to do this. Now, we need to get on Christ's missions program, don't we? What's his missions program? To reach the uttermost parts of the earth. You know, obviously we gotta reach where we're at. There's places all over the world that need Jesus, but a lot of times I see the Baptists are falling down on the job when it comes to the Pacific Islands, and like if you look up the countries, if you look up these islands, when it talks about religion, it says a lot of them are Christian, but like it never mentions Baptists on there. So that means that the Baptist reach there is very small, very minuscule, but the Bible talks a lot about reaching the isles, which would be like the beach and sea coast areas of the world. Isles can mean islands, but the Bible does mention islands also. So obviously it's something in God's thoughts that he wants these islands to be reached, and so like if nobody else has a vision for it, don't you think our church should have a vision for it? Yeah. So, and it's tougher than people think. People like to accuse me of just wanting to go and set up vacation homes in Hawaii and stuff like that, which is complete garbage. Hey, if that's my goal, I'm doing it wrong. Okay, I need to bring the purple lights and the smoke in here and change the music and change the doctrine, just change everything about our church, and yeah, maybe I could have a fortress over in Hawaii, but our church can't afford something like that, and it never will. And second of all, I don't want that, because this world is not my home. I'm not building a kingdom for myself here. We're trying to build the kingdom of God. That's what our goal is. That's what our mission is, but Hawaii is like the pearl of the Pacific, and there's a lot of, you know, obviously it's an American state, and so we have abilities to do things, but Hawaii is a hard mission field. It's harder than people realize. First of all, it's hot. You know, Brother Sean and I were soul-waning, well, we all were, and Waianae, which is the hottest part of the island on the last day that we were soul-waning there, and it was hot, man. And a lot of people didn't have air conditioning where we were at. We did get invited in. It was fairly nice in one of the places, but you know, it's a harder mission field than people realize. There's a lot of enemies there. There's a lot of just hurdles to jump through. I mean, just one of the things alone is that, you know, just how crazy they are with COVID right now. I mean, and just there's an entitlement mentality on the island. There's just all kinds of pitfalls and things that make it hard to preach there and to start a church there, and everything's more expensive there. It's like one of the most expensive places that you could live. So starting a church there is difficult, and starting a church like ours is even more difficult, because if I wanted to change the music and I wanted to change our culture and things like that, it'd probably be a lot easier. But see, I want Christ's culture to be preached in the places that we put our feet on, our souls of our feet on. So, but why the Pacific? Well, I believe the Pacific is receptive. You know, it's just proven even in an American state called Hawaii, and we've only been to the one island. You know, we've only hit Oahu. Like, we haven't even scratched the surface of the Solonine in the Hawaiian Islands yet. So you're like, well, Pastor Thompson, why are you jumping ahead and trying to go to all these other islands already, and you haven't even evangelized Hawaii? Well, part of the plan is to go to Hawaii first, okay? And I'll lay out my plan here in just a minute, but I want to look at some scriptures, because I want you to see, and this is just some of the scriptures that I've found about islands and isles and things like that. But I want to show you some scriptures. Look at Isaiah chapter 42, verse four. Isaiah chapter 42, verse number four. And while you're turning there, I just want to explain to you, and I know you probably can't see this, but this is like where we're at up here, and Hawaii's right here. And then you got like Polynesia, like this triangle called Polynesia. You got Melanesia, which is Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and then New Caledonia. You got Micronesia over here. This is the Carolinian Islands, the Mariana Islands, Palau. That's right by the Philippines here. The Marshall Islands, and here's Hawaii to the Marshall Islands. And so a lot of these places, maybe you've never heard of it before, but like Polynesia, you got the French Polynesia, which is over here, and Easter Island is way over here. That's where they put all those big stone statues are. And then you got the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga. So there's a lot of islands out in the Pacific, and that might look like a small little area, but every place is like hundreds and hundreds, thousands of miles away from. The Pacific Ocean is so huge. This might help you put it in a little bit of perspective, but it's still not really a very good perspective, because Samoa, which is, okay, so you got Hawaii right here, and then you got, I'm trying to find Samoa is right here. So it looks pretty close together, right? That's a five and a half hour plane flight. That's like the equivalent to flying to New York from here, basically. So everything is far away from each other. Is this gonna be an easy thing to do? It's not gonna be an easy thing to do. It's not gonna be a cheap thing to do. It's gonna be expensive. But how much are souls worth? And who else is doing it? We're gonna count on the United Methodist to reach them? We're gonna count on the Presbyterians to reach them? We're gonna count on the LDS church to reach them? That's who's reaching them right now? How about the Jehovah's false witnesses? No, we don't want those people to reach them. We want independent fundamental Baptists to reach them. I want that statistic to change in those areas. When it looks at religion, I want Baptists to be on the top of the list. Now, will that ever happen? I don't know. But you know what? I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try to make it happen. So Isaiah 42, verse four. Now, the book of Isaiah has a lot of verses talking about isles and islands and things like that. And so that's kinda, Isaiah's kinda like my island book, right? So look at verse four in Isaiah 42. It says, he shall not fail nor be discouraged, talking about Jesus Christ, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. So what does that verse tell you right there? Well, it tells you that the isles and the islands are waiting for the law of God. They're waiting for God's word to reach them. And you know what? It takes people to do that. It takes dedicated people to do something like that. Look at Isaiah chapter 51, verse number four. Isaiah chapter 51, verse number four. The Bible says, hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation, for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near. My salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall they trust. So what does that tell you? That the isles are waiting for God's word to get there, and once it gets there, what's it say? On my arm shall they trust. So it's not a matter of if we go, will people get saved? No, when we go, people will get saved. That's what it's saying there, that people will trust on the arm of the Lord. That's talking about salvation there. Look at what it says in verse six. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner, but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. So you know what else? Is when we go to these places, we believe in eternal security of the believer. You know what the Bible preaches that? The Bible teaches that. So when we go to these places, are we gonna be able to reach every single person? I don't know. But I know the ones that we will reach, the ones that will get saved, they're saved forever. Forever. Now look at Isaiah chapter 60, verse number eight. Isaiah chapter 60 in verse number eight. The Bible says, who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Now when I read this verse this morning, I was like, man, that's a great verse. You know, because one of the great things about being able to go to the Pacific is that we can fly to these places now. You know, when you're flying in an airplane, clouds are outside your window a lot of the time. So who are they that fly as a cloud? Well, you know, now is the time where we can fly to these places. We don't have to take some ship that takes months and months and then you get scurvy and you turn into a scurvy swab and all that stuff, right? You turn into a pirate, yeah. But we can fly to these places. And look, even flying to some of these places is difficult. Like I was just, I did a lot of research just looking at all these different islands, and obviously I got a lot more to learn. I'd probably zero in on whatever specific island I was gonna go to. I've watched several documentaries about some of these places. A lot of these places were war torn in World War I and World War II and we had to fight and take some of these islands away from the Japanese. And so they've gone through a lot, even in the Marshall Islands. They did like nuclear testing out there and a lot of the people died of cancer because of that. And they actually, basically the US government just said, hey, we need to be able to put these nukes out here so we can make sure that the rest of the world is safe. In the meantime, a lot of their children were born with deformities and things like that. So they've gone through a lot, these islands, and they went through World War II. There was a battle for the Pacific. Did you guys know that? And our state in Hawaii was bombed by, Pearl Harbor was bombed. And so obviously a lot of recovery's been made, but there was a time when war was just over all the whole Pacific and I want another war to go there. But this is a war for peace. I want these people to have, I want to battle for the hearts and minds of these people for Christ. That's a good battle to wage, isn't it? I had you turn to Isaiah 60, look at verse eight. It says, who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows? So me and brother, we were all soul wanting the other day. And I don't know if anybody saw the video where Rylan was attacked viciously by that dove. I think it was a pigeon. But it sounded like a dove. I don't know, I've never, usually pigeons are like, brrr, you know, they make that sound or whatever. I've never seen one going, ah, ah. Like that thing attacked me first, like that's the video you didn't see. Is that it like came out of nowhere, we're just out knocking doors and this attack falcon dove came after us. That's why I think it was probably maybe half pigeon, half dove, I don't know what the deal was. But look, it says, who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows? So doves are like a symbol of peace in the Bible, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, right? And so, but who are these that fly as a cloud? Hey, we can fly as clouds. We can fly to these different places and drop in and do like a week's worth of soul wanting or maybe a few days worth of soul wanting and change people's lives out there. It says, surely the isles shall wait for me. And the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far. Their silver and their gold with them and unto the name of the Lord thy God and to the Holy One of Israel because he hath glorified thee and the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their kings shall minister unto thee for in my wrath I smote thee but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. So the isles are waiting for the mercy of God and God, you know, it says, in my wrath I smote thee. A lot of these places have been smitten because a lot of them have like cannibal cultures and you know, worship false gods. But you know, when the Christian missionaries started to come in the 1800s, people did start, or in the 1500s, 15, 16, 1700s, people started to change their culture. You know, when the God of the Bible comes to these heathen lands, people change, you know? And these places are not known as cannibal cultures anymore so he did have some wrath but he also, in his favor, had mercy on them. And you know, but a lot of these islands are ruled over in religion by false religion, false doctrine. In Samoa, the Methodist Church is like the biggest church there. And I'm not saying that they're like the Methodist Church that's over here because they don't like mahous over there so I can't imagine that that's like a big thing for them but you know, they still have false salvation. You know, the Methodists do have a false salvation. They believe you can lose your salvation. And so, you know, I believe if we went to Samoa that we would see a lot of people saved because you know what, in Hawaii, they're very receptive. And so look, they're just waiting for the true gospel to get to them. It says, surely the isles shall wait for me. And why should they have to wait when we can go and bring the gospel to them? Easier than we ever have been able to do in our whole lives. So someone has to do it. Why not our church? You know what I want is I want our people to have a vision for the people of the Pacific Islands. And you're like, well, I've never been to any of those places. Well, you know what, neither have I, just Hawaii. But it doesn't mean that I can't look with my eyes of faith and see that the hearts of the rest of the people in the Pacific Islands are ready to hear the gospel and also they're bottled down and bottlenecked by false doctrine. A lot of them claim to be Christians. But you know what happens when we go into a place that claims to be a Christian and we preach the true gospel to them? People get saved in droves. So what is my plan? Well, it's definitely not to do it by myself, okay? I can't do it alone. And I would even attempt to try to do it by myself. I need people to share that vision with me. And so how long will it take to do this? Well, it depends on what people's level of commitment is. It depends on what my level of commitment is. This is not just like, hey, we can do this in one year and it's all gonna be good. No, it's not gonna happen in one year. Now, would I like it to happen in one year? Absolutely, I'd like it to happen in one year. But we just don't have that much time. We don't have that much resources at this time. But we can go and strategically hit different islands and win as many people in that week to the Lord as possible. So my plan to evangelize the Pacific is, number one, Hawaii first, okay, Hawaii first. Now, we have a church that's in Hawaii that's gonna reach people by knocking doors every single week. But my plan is that every time I go back to visit Hawaii, my plan is to go to a different island in the islands of Hawaii and do like some recon missions and do some small soul-willing bursts while I'm there. And so I wanna make sure to reach at least part, you know, obviously, there's like 1.4 something million people in the islands of Hawaii. So that's like, just to reach the islands of Hawaii is like a lifetime goal. But it doesn't mean we can't hit each island and start to gain some traction in some of these places. And that's kind of my plan. And then my plan is also once a year to hit one of these islands in the Pacific. So to just make that one trip that we do, that, whatever Pacific island that is. Now, Hawaii is usually a good launching point for these because trying to fly to one of these places in one shot is gonna be really difficult, okay? I don't like flying on planes for that long of a period of time, so it'd probably be like Hawaii and then preach and then head to one of these places on a mission strip. Now, if somebody wanted to go that far, they could, but like, I believe just flying to Guam itself would be 12 and a half hours or something from Portland. And I think you still have to stop in Hawaii to fill up or something. I don't think you can fly for that long without, you know, because it's not like, you know, these jetliners are just having people line up to fly to these islands. So you're usually gonna be like, you know, have you ever flown around the northwest on Alaska Airlines and you got the like, pond jumping type planes or the ones with the propellers still and you're like, eh. It's kinda like that, so you probably would have to, it's probably gonna, it would take careful planning. But my plan is to hit at least one of these places and you know, the best places to hit first would be the United States territories, okay? And so American Samoa, so the Samoa is divided in American Samoa and then the nation of Samoa. So you do have, you don't, in American Samoa, all you have to do is have a pass, you do have to have a passport but like, American, they're like, they're basically like American citizens that can't vote. So the best place I think to go to first would be American Samoa and then of course, Guam is also a territory of the United States and so Guam is one of the islands that was fiercely fought over and it's in the Mariana Islands, I believe. I got a bunch of papers up here, so. And then the Northern Mariana Islands is also a territory of the United States. You're like, well, I've never heard of any of these places, Pastor Thompson. Well, if you haven't heard of Guam, maybe you need to read a history book or something but Guam was explained to me like this, that it's Hawaii from 50 years ago. It's very beautiful, it's very tropical but the problem with Guam is it's 95% Roman Catholic. So that's a stronghold, is it not? It's a stronghold of Catholicism but we don't really have a hard time winning people that are Catholic to the Lord. As long as they're not like the dyed in the wool, whip their backs and all that kind of stuff. If they're not like the ones that have like the Shrine of Mary right inside their house, I think we'll be okay and I think, you know, but every island is gonna have its own challenges. So Guam is probably one of the closest ones or best ones we can go to because the American dollar works there, the American dollar works in Samoa. So a lot of these places, they accept the American dollar so the less amount of things that we have to do to go to these islands, the better and that's why I think it's best to go to those islands first. Now, there's also sovereign states that are in free association with the United States and these are the republics of the Marshall Islands, the ones I was telling you that nuclear testing was done and then the federated states of Micronesia and then the Republic of Palau. Now, these places are friends with the United States and basically the United States helps them do a lot of things. The Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is also one of those places. So we can reach those places and you know what the great thing about it is is that they speak English. A lot of these places, a lot of these Pacific islands, they speak English in these places because English is a very dominant language now in the world so my plan is to what first hit Hawaii first, then hit like the territories of the United States and then make sure that we hit the English-speaking ones first. Now, I would definitely love to go to French Polynesia. Who's ever heard of French Polynesia, right? Well, we have two people in our church that speak French and I'm not one of them but I would like to learn French. You know, if I can, it's a very difficult language to learn and especially when you're older but like, hey, you know, we can still try, right? So I would love to hit the French-speaking people of Polynesia so that would be like Tahiti, Bora Bora, the Marquis Islands and things like that. So who's ever heard of Tahiti? Okay, who's heard of Bora Bora? All right, who's heard of the Marquis Islands? Yeah, okay, so these are French-speaking places so hey, if that's something that you would desire to do is to learn how to speak French, well, there's a lot of people that would love to hear the gospel in French and obviously, there's people from Europe that we could, you know, have partner with us. Well, you know, it can't just be our church alone. Obviously, a lot of people have to get in on the philosophy and have a heart to reach these places and like I said, it's not cheap. You know, it can be expensive to go on these types of trip and so that's what makes it difficult because they are paradise. You know, you're like, well, you just wanna go in paradise and mother, shut up, okay? It's hot and I figure, well, today is a good day to do that because it's the hottest day ever recorded in this area but it's definitely a different kind of hot. It's tropical hot so in those islands, it's tropical so it can be difficult to do so when in humid and hot places like that but we need French speakers. We need, you know, I mean, part of my plan is to hit the French speaking areas, you know, and obviously, we're not gonna be able to knock every single door on one trip to one of these islands so like I'm just hoping that this takes off and people just like get really super motivated to wanna go to one of these places. You're like, I don't know, I don't know if I could do that. Well, you know, God makes all things possible to them that believe. So look, we limit ourselves by what we think we can do and what we need to start getting on is the mind of Christ so that we know that, you know, God will do all things, you know, through faith so when we just have lack of faith and it really hinders us from being able to do the things that we could do and, you know, Jesus, you know, he went into his hometown and he went into different places that were not wanting to hear him or receive him and he couldn't do very many works in those places. Why? Because of their unbelief. And so, you know, maybe God's not doing things in your life because of your unbelief. Maybe you need to like broaden your mind a little bit and just say, hey, look at all the great and wonderful things that God's done in the history and just in the Bible alone. You know, there's so much stuff that's not even written in the Bible that God's done and, you know, the books can't even be, the tale can't be told because there's just so much stuff that God has done but yet we limit God in our own minds by our lack of faith. Do you know that God can dominate every single sport in the world? I mean, think about that for a second. We have people that just train every single day and they're just like, you know, the best at their sport, the best at their abilities and they fail all the time. But you know who never fails? God. And so, and I'm just talking about people just in a worldly sense, who's the best swimmer that's ever been? Was it, what's that guy, the pot smoker guy, what's his name? Michael Phelps. Is he the best one of all time or? Okay, yeah, so. Michael Phelps, you know, has he ever lost a match? I don't know if he's ever, I'm sure he has. Yeah, so he's failed, hasn't he? So people that are like the best of what they are, you got the best hunters, you got the best people in the military, all these people, but what is my point is that they fail all the time. But you know who never fails? God never fails. God would hit the bullseye at our men's shooting every single time. God made everything. God spoke this world into existence. He made everything. He knows what the ins and outs of everything, and so you know what, he'd do with all things well. He's never gonna fail at anything. You know who fails? We fail with our lack of faith. We fail. So we need to have like a mindset where we can do all things because Christ has given us the power to do those things. Isn't that what Acts chapter one says? You're gonna receive this power, the power of the Holy Ghost. Well, you know what, each person that's saved in this building has the power of the Holy Ghost, but you're restricting yourself by your unbelief and the things that you think you can't do. So I say that this is not gonna happen overnight, but just by saying that, I'm limiting God. Obviously, it's not gonna happen tonight, but what is my mindset about how long it might take? Well, 20 to 25 years it could take. It could take that long, and I just kinda got through, I just was like lettering all these islands as different islands that we could go to, and I got to T in my lettering. There's so many, and that's just the ones I got to. Those are the major ones that we should go to, but if you figure 20 to 25, then if you figure a trip a year, then that's how long it's gonna take. Now, what's an X factor to speed things up? What's gonna exponentially grow this thing? Well, people, they get behind the vision to reach these islands. Maybe people from other churches, or our church grows, and more people get a burden a lot, maybe we can step up and have more trips. We can have people go in and do little commando missions to these places, and we can just, God's kingdom builds by exponential growth. But if people aren't doing the work, then it's not gonna grow. So we need people to have the vision to do that. So we need people that wanna be missionaries to these places and people that are interested in taking these kinds of trips. And I think what would help is native speakers that would get saved and baptized, and they could be trained as missionaries and wanna win their own island to Christ. So I just think that we can't limit what God does. We have to just think, well, hey, we have this vision to reach these islands, well, let's get it done, or start it. We can't just sit around and go, well, I think God's just gonna do it, he's just gonna appear out of the sky, and he's gonna save these people. It says that they're waiting, we're not Calvinists here. We actually have to go out and preach the gospel, that's why he told us to do it. That's why the last thing he said was for us to go and reach these islands. Turn to Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter number 13. And Jesus puts all kinds of parables forth in the Bible, and he really talks a lot about the kingdom of God. And here's a parable that's very important, I think, to this sermon. It says another parable, verse 31, put he forth unto them, saying the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. So the word of God, just even the smallest amount of the word of God sown into a field, right? And the mustard seed is the smallest seed that there is. So it's like this big, you can't see that little hole, but it's really small. And so, but what's it say? It says, which indeed is the least of all seeds, so the Bible, Jesus actually says it is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Attack pigeons, right? No, but what is Jesus saying? Well hey, just a little bit of the word of God can grow into a gigantic tree that birds of the air can come and lodge in. And you know, you think you got this little small seed, but it can do great things. God's word can do great things and grow and become a mighty, powerful kingdom in this world. But see, it's limited by people's faith. If you don't even have the faith of a grain of a mustard seed, you're in a lot of trouble. I mean, everybody has a little tiny bit of faith, right? So, but people just won't get on God's program and they don't believe these things. So there's another parable spaking unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. So what is it saying? Well, you just take one person, that one woman. She took and hid three measures of meal. So a lot of times, leaven is pictured in the Bible as something bad, but in this, it's not. It's showing that the word of God is like leaven to where it'll grow up and just take over the whole lump, right? So we need to understand that God's, just a little bit of God's word does a lot of stuff. Does a lot, does big things. Look at verse 45, it says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it. So like, you figure like Hawaii's kinda like that pearl, right out in the Pacific Ocean, but you know, and we went out and we bought it. We went and got a church started there and everything, and you know, we went out and bought it, and we didn't sell everything, though. But we need to be sold out, though. We need to be sold out for the kingdom of God, and that's the problem that a lot of churches have is they have no vision for anything. You know, it's just like, well, let's just keep meeting here and you know, we'll have a taco bake for kids to go to camp and then maybe, you know, the preacher we bring can preach all these kids up the aisle and get them saved again this year, right? That's their vision. You know, and I like going to camp. I liked going to the kids' camp and I thought it was great, but you know, if the same kid's getting saved every year, then maybe he didn't really get saved. I don't know. Maybe that's another way to look at it, right? But look at verse 47, it says, again, the kingdom of heaven's like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of this world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. So the kingdom of God is like this net, and you know what, we dragged this net, and that's what we do when we canvas neighborhoods. People call it canvassing, but we're like this big net that just goes through the neighborhood, and we're trying to grab all these good things, but sometimes some junk gets caught in there. But you know, the word of God's gonna go forth and do what it is supposed to accomplish, and if it's reprobating someone, then it's reprobating someone. If it's getting someone saved, it's getting someone saved. But regardless, when the word of God goes out, it does the things that it's supposed to accomplish. And unfortunately, there's gonna be some people that are in hell, a lot of people. A lot more people are gonna be in hell than are gonna be in heaven. But you know, we need to redeem the time that we have here on this earth. You know, a lot of people didn't get saved until later in life. I didn't get saved until I was 25 years old. Look at Ephesians chapter five verse 13. Ephesians chapter five verse 13. We gotta stop thinking and having this mentality that we have all the time in the world. I can serve God later on when I've made all my money. I can serve God later on when I've done all the things I wanted to accomplish. But that's not necessarily true. You could be in a wheelchair next week. You don't know what's gonna happen. You don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what a day may bring forth. Why are you wasting time and being idle when we could be doing great things for God? Don't start thinking that I'm gonna do this later on in life. That's a bad mentality to have. Look at Ephesians 5, 13. It says, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore, he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Hey, it's time for the Christians in this country and in this world to wake up because we are, there's a lot of people that are asleep at the wheel. There's a lot of Christians that are just asleep and just trudging through life, not caring about anything. And you think you got all this time, but you don't. Look at verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. What is the will of the Lord? That you should seek him, that you should worship him and all these things, but you know what else he wants you to do, is to redeem the time. Because a lot of people think that you just have all, you know, you think you're gonna be knocking, you're gonna live to 100 years old, and the last thing you're gonna be doing is like, Lord, one more door. You think that's what you're really gonna be doing the day you die? I mean, maybe somebody in here might be. But think about the life of Jacob. Think about the life of, Isaac was blind, right? Wasn't Isaac blind at the end of his life? How many doors was he knocking? Probably not a lot. And as a matter of fact, he was like ready to give the blessing to his son that was not even, he wasn't really, he wasn't the one that Christ was called through. And he cared more about meat. He cared more about the venison that his other son, Esau, made over the one that God said, this is who your seed's gonna be called through. You think Isaac didn't know that? Of course he knew that. But at the end of our lives, we're not as spiritual as, you know, was Isaac a spiritual man? Absolutely, he's one of the patriarchs. He's a great man in the Bible. But at the end of his life, what was he doing? Trying to give the promises to the wrong guy. Had to be tricked with a goat's hair on Jacob's arm. Jacob had to go through this elaborate thing to get the blessing. You think that you're gonna be doing all these spiritual things at the end of your life, but you might not be, that's my point. Jacob, at the end, he was worshiping the Lord, but was he knocking doors? Was he getting people saved? No, because look, when you get old, you're like, you know, people have this expectation that, you know, people, you see on gravestones, right? You know, so and so live from here to here. And you think that you're gonna be just serving God through that whole dash? You're not. First of all, you're not serving God even until you get to the first part where you're actually saved. And then the other dash goes to whenever you lose your mental capacities, or lose your physical ability to do things. So what, you know, you think you have all this time, rethink, you know, what you're thinking about. Be renewed with, you know, you need to have your mind renewed. And you need God to do that. So we're not supposed to walk, we're supposed to walk circumspectly. That means you're looking around at all the angles. What's gonna happen, what, you know, and you need to plan your life out accordingly. So we need to walk circumspectly and redeem the time, because the days are evil. And your last 20 years on this planet might be you sitting in a wheelchair on dialysis or something. You don't know. You really don't know. So why not get busy for the things of God right now, and just get on the program with whatever the church is doing, and just work as hard as you can. Maybe you don't have a vision. Well get on the church's vision. Get under the vision of what the pastor wants to do. And if that vision's good, honestly, turn to James chapter four, verse 13. James chapter four, verse 13. Here's the problem, is we think we know what we're gonna do in our life. But life can strike you a blow that might put you out of commission for the rest of your life. You just don't know. James chapter four, verse 13 says, go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such city, or excuse me, such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain. This is exactly the mentality I'm talking about. Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time, and then vanishes away. If you've ever cooked Top Ramen noodles, you have that vapor that comes up, right? Okay, I'm just using that as an example, because I've cooked a lot of Top Ramen noodles in my life. But that vapor goes up, and when you turn it off, the smoke's gone, right? That's what the Bible's explaining to you right here, is that your life is short. It's shorter than you realize. I mean, I'm about to have 20 years' marriage to my wife over here, praise God. But you know, it seems a lot faster after 20 years. We're here, and it's like, man, where did the time go? And that's exactly what's gonna happen to you. You think the days are long, but really, the more time you waste, the faster. Honestly, it's gonna go fast when you're doing a lot of stuff, but it can seem to go slow. And you can seem to be doing, if you're not doing anything, it'll still go by fast. Maybe not as fast as if you're working hard. You know when you're at work, and you're just working really hard, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, it's already time for lunch. That's what's gonna happen when you're working hard, and that's great. But even if you're not working hard, if you're looking at your watch every five minutes, and it's like you're working a 12-hour day, those days can go long. But I'll tell you what, your life is still like a vapor, regardless of whether you're working hard or whether you're not working at all. And when you're not working at all, and you think, five years from now, I'm gonna really hit the missions, I'm really gonna go on these trips and all this stuff, but then you get to that point, and you haven't done anything. So what I'm trying to tell you is that we don't know what's gonna happen. We don't know what our life's gonna be like. We don't know whether we're gonna develop some disease that puts us out of commission. We don't know. And so now is the time to do things. Behold, today is the day of salvation. It's the day, today is the day of salvation for all these people that are in these islands and have nobody to preach to them, except for United Methodists, who believe you can lose your salvation. Charles Wesley, that's the Methodist religion, and you know how there's an argument of Armenians and Calvinists? Well, the Wesley brothers are the ones that started that whole Methodist movement, and they're a bunch of lose your salvation heretics. Yeah, they're Armenians. They believe you can lose your salvation. So we need to get busy, because there's a lot of people dying and going to hell in these islands that haven't even got to hear the true gospel, and we need to bring it to them. So only what's done for Christ is gonna last on this earth. The only thing that's gonna be done for Christ, only what's done for Christ will last in your judgment or whatever, because the things that are wood hay and stubble are gonna burn up. They don't mean anything. It's like all the times you played ping pong at the church. Do you think that's wood hay and stubble, or do you think it's eternal rewards? But it's not wrong to play. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying that if you spend all your time playing ping pong and no time serving the Lord, all that stuff's gonna burn up. It's all gonna burn up, and again, I'm not saying not to play, okay? Don't get me wrong. I don't think we should just not have fun ever, but too much of a good thing, you know? As Pastor Shelley preached a couple weeks ago, good sermon. So only what's done for Christ is last. Well, what if you die, Pastor Thompson? You could die tomorrow, Pastor Thompson, and where's your vision gonna go? Well, my goal is that other people get on that vision and carry the torch forth, and I wanna have not only just IFB influence in the Pacific Islands, but new IFB, right? So I want people to understand the Bible and truth, not go over there and say, hey, at any moment, Jesus could come and take you off the island. I mean, he could, but just not in the way that they're trying to say. So, but anyway, hopefully someone will pick up the torch. Look at Matthew chapter 24. Now I'm gonna rattle off some verses, and we'll be done. Matthew chapter 24, verse 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. See, what are we supposed to do? We're just supposed to keep going forth and preaching the gospel all throughout the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end's gonna come. Do you know when the end's gonna come? No, but God does. And what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to be busy doing these things. I was thinking about these different gates in heaven and how they are made up of all these different jewels and things, and I just wondered, like, I wonder what that represents, you know? And you're like, well, someone's gonna email me and go, Pastor Thompson, you're a pastor, and you don't know what that represents. Well, maybe I don't, I don't know. But one thing I know is that there's gonna be a place where there's a gate, there's gonna be 12 gates, and they're gonna be made of pearls. Now where do pearls come from? They come from the ocean, don't they? So if you think about the city, if you're on one part of the city, and then you gotta go all the way across to the other side of the city, isn't that, that's gonna be a far distance, right? And the New Jerusalem's pretty huge, right? So, but it's gonna have these 12 gates that are 12 pearls. Revelation 21 verse 21 says, and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every several gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass. So this city's gonna be very beautiful, but what I think is very interesting is that it's made of pearls. And what is usually the uttermost parts of the earth? These islands where you can get pearls. So I mean, and obviously you can get pearls on most seacoasts and things like that, but like in Tahiti they have what's called a black pearl. Have you ever heard of the black pearl? And so there are one in 10,000 of a specific kind of oyster produces these black pearls. So they're very rare. But I wonder what the, if those city gates are supposed to represent the uttermost parts, because like the farther you are, it's the farthest point to the outside, right? If you live in the center of the city, isn't it the uttermost part? If you're in the center of New Jerusalem, the gates would probably be the uttermost parts of the earth. So I just thought that was an interesting little tidbit. So let's roll through some verses, and I'm gonna show you a lot of the verses just in Isaiah alone, but how the Bible talks about these islands. And I'm not gonna go through all of them, but I just, there's just so many of them that I wanted to hit the highlights here. Isaiah, Psalm chapter 97, verse one. I'm just gonna have you like rapid fire. So if you don't have time to turn all these, just write them down. You can look at them and study them later. Or you could just do like a search on isles or islands, and you'll find all these verses. But Psalm chapter 97, verse one says, the Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Isaiah chapter 24, verse 15, wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God in Israel, in the isles of the sea. Isaiah chapter 41, verse five says, the isles saw it and feared. The ends of the earth were afraid and drew near and came. So when the isles see, you know, the things that God does, you know, think about Rahab the harlot. You know, she heard about the fame of the Lord. That was the point of why God did that in the first place so the whole earth would know the things of his glory. So when the isles see the things, it says they and feared and the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near and came. See, fear is the beginning of knowledge, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And look at Isaiah chapter 42, verse 10. Isaiah 42, verse 10 says, sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise from the end of the earth. Ye that go down to the sea and all that is there in the isles and the inhabitants thereof. See, God wants his name to be praised from all locations on the earth and notice how he specifically says, from the end of the earth, and then he says, ye that go down to the sea. So the ends of the earth are these island locations in these far-reaching lands. So it says, Isaiah 49, verse one. Listen, O isles, unto me and harken ye people from far. The Lord hath called me from the womb and from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. Isaiah 66, verse 19, Isaiah 66, verse 19. You see why I call Isaiah like the island book? So Isaiah 66, 19. And I will set a sign among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations to Tarshish, Pol, and Lud and draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the isles afar off that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. You see, God wants his name to be put out there. The people that have not heard of the fame of the Lord or have not seen his glory, hey, they need to be, those Gentiles need the glory of God declared unto them. And who's gonna fulfill these scriptures? Who's gonna fulfill them? Save people, Christians that are going forth and preaching the gospel, and that's what needs to happen. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 25, verse 22. Jeremiah chapter 25, verse number 22 says, And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea. Jeremiah 31, verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, O you nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth a flock. So God wants all the nations to hear his words. Hear the word of the Lord, O you nations. Declare it in the isles afar off. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 11. Now this actually specifically talks about islands themselves. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 11. Why am I rambling through all these verses about isles and islands? Because I wanna show you how much there is in the word of God about it. It's not just some very obscure thing that God just mentions every once in a while, no. It's very prevalent through the scriptures. Look at Isaiah 11, 11, it says, And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, and Egypt, and Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. So it says the second time to recover the remnant of his people. Now look at Isaiah 41, verse one. Keep silence before me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let them come near together to judgment. Let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands. So does God want us to reach the islands? Yes or no? Yes, he does. And so what if we don't reach them, though? What's gonna happen if we don't reach them? Well, we know that they're gonna end up in hell and it was designed for the devil and his angels, but there's gonna be multitudes of souls who go to hell too. Look at Isaiah chapter 13, verse 22. Isaiah chapter 13, verse 22 says, and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses and the dragons in their pleasant places, and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. See, these places where the wild beasts are, it says of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses. Why are they gonna be desolate? Because their time has come. Their days shall not be prolonged. So there's a danger in not reaching them. The danger is that these people are all gonna die and go to hell. Do you actually care about whether people die and go to hell? Right. We should. Amen. If you're saved, you should care. Ezekiel chapter 39, verse six. Ezekiel 39, verse six says, and I will send a fire on Magog and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles and they shall know that I am the Lord. See, there's people that dwell carelessly. They just don't care, you know, and the fact is is that they're not being reached. Maybe they would care if they got reached. Obviously, this is way into the future, but there's apparently in the thousand year reign, there's gonna be people that dwell carelessly in the isles too, you know, and God's gonna send a fire on Magog and among them that dwell carelessly. So it's not just gonna be Magog and Gog that get destroyed. It's gonna be people that are careless in the isles. So turn to Daniel chapter 11. Turn to Daniel chapter 11. I almost don't have any turn, I know. It's not even 12 yet, so quit whining. Daniel chapter 11, verse 18. And after this shall he turn his face unto the isles and shall take many, but the prince, but, excuse me, but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Without his own reproach, he shall cause it to turn upon him. Now you're like, well, Pastor Thompson, what's the context of this, the anti-Christ? You know, and obviously it's, you know, things that have been fulfilled in the past, but it's also things that are gonna be fulfilled in the future. So at some point, you know, the anti-Christ is gonna take over the whole world. And what part, you know, so if we don't reach these people, a lot of these people are gonna go to hell, they're gonna be taken over by the anti-Christ. And so it's super important. You're like, well, how many people live in these places, Pastor Thompson? A lot. There's a lot of people that live in these islands. And is it like 10 million people? No, it's not 10 million people. Is it 20 million people? No, it's not 20 million people. We're talking hundreds of thousands that equal up to millions. So Isaiah 15, let's see, I'm gonna have, you turn to Isaiah 59, verse 18, I'm gonna read Isaiah 40, verse 15. Isaiah 40, verse 15 is a very famous verse. It says, behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, it taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And they are a very little thing, aren't they? They're like little specks out in the ocean. If you, and you're free and welcome to come up and look at these after the service, but I mean, like, you see just little dots all over this paper? Those represent little tiny islands all over the Pacific. And there's people that are dying and going to hell there, too. People die and go to hell in paradise, and it's very sad, but that's what the goal of this sermon is, so that you can have a fire in you to reach these people. And Isaiah 59, verse 18, it says, according to their deeds, accordingly, he will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies, to the islands he will repay recompense. So even in the islands, there's gonna be people that God is gonna smoke. He's gonna puff up and go, you know, look, in most of these places, guess what? They've been raised up from the ocean by volcanoes. You know, and so when God really wants to smoke it, you know, there's gonna be some literal smoke in these places. And why would they be desolate? Well, if there's lava all over them, then I guess that'd be a reason why they'd be desolate, right? Like I said, Guam is 95% Catholic right now. So what is the other 5%? Atheist? I mean, I don't know. I'm sure that there's little percentage points of other different people, but hey, Guam needs to be reached before it's 100%. You know, it's probably never gonna be 100% Catholic, because, you know, there's always gonna be somebody that thinks that that's the great whore, but I mean, we need to reach Guam before it's too late. In Psalm chapter two, verse eight, it says, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. You think Jesus is asking for it today? Do you think he wants those places, the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession? Absolutely, he does. You know what God says? I'm gonna give it to you. But see, the plan for Christ in Acts chapter one, verse eight, is for us to go out from Jerusalem, reach our Jerusalem, reach our Judea, reach our Samaria, and then the uttermost parts of the earth. We're like, well, what about all the other places, Pastor Thompson? We're gonna reach them too. This is just one part of the plan, guys. So we got more than we could ever possibly do in our lifetimes. So let's start working on it. Let's start getting onto it. And this is the last verse. I'll have you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse nine, and we're almost done. It's almost exactly 12. I think that clock is fast or something. Isaiah, or excuse me, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse nine. The Bible says this, and this is true as the day is long. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Let's not forget that in this type of work, when we go and do great things for God, it never fails. When we go do something great for God, that enemies are trying to attack us on the up. Just like when we went to Yakima the first time, where people were attacking us. Yes, they were. We had the Sodomites here to bookend our trip, right? And just there's always people attacking. Don't ever forget this, that when you're doing great things for God, that there's always gonna be multiple adversaries. There are gonna be adversaries that live there. There's gonna be adversaries that live here. There's gonna be adversaries that rise up out of our own church. There's gonna be adversaries in every place that we go. Once we go through that open door, once we go and say, hey, the great door's been opened, let's walk through it, mark my words, there's gonna be adversaries at the other side of that door. When we do great works for God, there's always a great letdown, it seems like, afterwards. But we just have to understand that that's just the pattern of how things go. And we have to just understand that, you know, the devil's always gonna be trying to stop us. He's always gonna be trying to stop this church and tear it down and destroy it. There's always gonna be these enemies that are without and within that wanna destroy and distract us from the work that needs to be done. Just know it, just understand it. And then it won't catch you by surprise every single time that it happens. And they're like, well, what about this, what about? There's many adversaries, people, many adversaries. And they take all shapes and forms. They're the lower level demons and the higher level demons, okay? And usually, you know, when our first church started, our church first started, we had a lot of lower level demons that popped up, right? The Sebastian's and people like that. Low level, right? Very easy to spot, very easy to flush out the, what's that guy's name, the other moron? Taylor, yeah, thank you. I said moron, Justin's like, Taylor, yeah. Guy's not even saved, he's a Mennonite now. You know, and the lower levels happen, but then the higher levels kick in. At some point, they do kick in. You know, then all of a sudden, you got a Garrett Kerchway on your hands, or you got a, you know, whatever, Dominique Davis on your hands. You gotta, you know, there's just, there's so many enemies, so many adversaries, we always have to have our guard up. Because when we go to do great things for God, when we go to try to reach the islands of the Pacific, I guarantee you, there's gonna be battles that take place then, too. So just expect it, just expect it to happen, okay? But you know, the most important thing that I want you to get out of this message is that we don't have a lot of time. And so we need to reach these places while we have the health and mental capacity to do it. If you're like Joe Biden, it's gonna be rough. You know, he can't even speak a single sentence without making a mistake. You know, I mean, and I'm not saying you guys are gonna get to that capacity, but I mean, you just don't know. We don't know what a day's gonna bring forth, so we need to reach this world. We need to reach the Pacific Islands while we have the opportunity, while there's a vision to do it, all right? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this wonderful day and for all the great people in our church, and just pray, Lord, that you would bless our church and this vision that we have to reach the Pacific Islands. I pray that people, multiple people, would have a burden to do this, and Lord, yeah, it's expensive, but like, is there anything too hard for you? There's nothing too hard for you. You know, we need to learn that lesson and understand that you can do all things, and by faith, you can make it happen. I pray that you'd bless the rest of our day, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, the last one will be song number 328, I Want That Mountain. Song number 328 in the green, I Want That Mountain. Song 328 in the green, let's sing it out on the first. I saw the giant of prayerlessness upon the mountain high. He laughed so hard at my unbended knee. No longer in the wilderness I'll stay, and so I cry, I want that mountain, it belongs to me. I want that mountain, I want that mountain, where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of ashe will grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain, the mountain that my Lord has given me. There was a giant of laziness who said I wouldn't go and witness for the one who set me free. I'll come from out the wilderness, I'll witness now I know, I want that mountain, it belongs to me. I want that mountain, I want that mountain, where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of ashe will grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain, the mountain that my Lord has given me. One faithless giant upon the crest of Hebron's lofty hide has vowed that he's the one to make me flee. I'll climb from out the wilderness and trust Jehovah's mind, I want that mountain, it belongs to me. I want that mountain, I want that mountain, where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of ashe will grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain, the mountain that my Lord has given me. Let every giant of distress and unbelief and sin get ready now to vacate for you see. I've come from out the wilderness, I know I'm going to win, I want that mountain, it belongs to me. I want that mountain, I want that mountain, where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of ashe will grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain, the mountain that my Lord has given me. Amen, good to see you brother Eli, could you close your water for him? Wow.