Sunday Evening Worship Service

Well, let me say it is great to be home. It is great to be home finally. It's been a couple of weeks taught in Indiana the week before last. Came home for a couple of days. enough time to do some laundry and then to fly to Bulgaria, lose our luggage in Amsterdam, not have our luggage for three days, travel across the country. Thankfully, it got there the day we got to the city of the church, and then uh stayed there for a few days, came home. As we got into Knoxville, they're they're saying our name over the announcements. I mean, we just got off the plane. Whitley. Whitley. We're walk We're at the baggage claim and someone says, "Are you Whitley?" Said, "We're Whitley. Your luggage is in Atlanta." So, from beginning unto end, right? Thankfully, he's the alpha and the omega. And uh but I'm glad to be home. Glad to be in God's house. and glad to have my clothes from here on and be in my home and all the things. I'm going to go ahead and starve if that's all right. I want you to turn with me to Joshua 24:15. I want to tell you a few things tonight. And I I I don't say this often, and when I do say it, I try to make sure that I'm saying it uh under the uh authority of the Lord, but I do believe the Lord has given me something for our church and our church family tonight. And so, I'm just going to take my time. Is that all right? I'm just going to take my time. You know, I'm not a long-winded preacher anyway. So, but I do feel like the Lord has given me something for us tonight. Joshua 24:15. I'm going to read the last line of this uh verse, very familiar to us. And for the sake of time, let me just read this last line. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, here's what I want us to do. I want you and me, all of us together, I want us to read this scripture together aloud and let this be our prayer and declaration. Can we do that? But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. One more time. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, I pray that you would minister to your people tonight. Lord, I feel the uncction of your spirit, the anointing helping me, but Lord, you know what you've given me. And I pray that you would help me to uh communicate that with clarity and anointing that your word would go forth tonight as seed, as hammer, as a as as a sword, as fire, as light tonight to encourage, refresh, convict, and move and change us in Jesus' name. Someone say in Jesus name. Show you a few pictures here. Ashley Eastston and myself had the wonderful opportunity to visit Bulgaria to visit our missionaries, brother and sister Kovi. The last few years have had the opportunity to be and the privilege to be our European regional uh director helping oversee our European churches. And so we had the opportunity to go visit the Kovies uh this this last week. And we've seen we've seen the country of Bulgaria is beautiful. We seen a few uh two of the biggest cities there. We flew into Sophia and then we drove to Plaude. Uh and Plaude uh Plaude is not in any of the pictures here, but you'll see some this is the first church in Rodnavville. Uh this is the church. It's full. It's a full building. There's there's no room left uh in this uh this uh sanctuary they have in Rodnavville. You can go to the next picture if you'd like. And this is brother and sister Kovi and the beautiful Ashley and Easton. Uh they thought that we were twins, me and brother Kovi. When I walked into the second church, they they were little they were little taken aback that we looked so much alike. Uh so go to the next one. That's in Rod Navo. Uh and then this is in another church about 30 to 40 miles away. Uh I cannot pronounce the name. It starts with a uh O in our language. I cannot pronounce it, but it is a full building as well. They're in a little house. Go. The next picture, you can see it here. Uh this is the congregation that is there in in this city. The second location meeting in the bottom of a home. I think the next picture you'll see it. So the church is in the bottom of this home. Uh they have no bathroom uh on location there. It's an outhouse where this location is and a well where you can wash your hands uh as well. But they own land uh they own land. They own the building in Rodnavo and they own land uh in this little village here. Uh and they've got the blueprints. They've got $20,000 and they're going to build a building and all they need is $100,000 more and they can get the building up and furnished and I believe they're going to fill it uh in Jesus' name. They're doing amazing work. There's another picture. I'm not sure if there is. And then this is uh the the amazing uh Easton. That's the well uh there behind Eastston. And he had the the picture. add a better picture where you can see um the outhouse. We went to Plottn Plott uh is the second largest city in Bulgaria. We stopped and seen a few sites and then uh sister Kovi, brother Kovi wanted us to see uh some little shops take east to to a few little places. And as we were walking down the street, we stopped at an antique store and she Sister Kovi stopped me and she showed me this sign. This sign here. Now, before I can explain what this sign is, there you can see it there. It's the same as this right here as I'm holding in my hand. Um, communism began in Bulgaria after the Second World War. Uh, and it began when the Bulgarian Communist Party backed by the Soviet Union seized power in 1946 and they abolished the the monarchy. And so under the controlling leaders, Bulgaria became one of the Soviet Union's most loyal satellite states marked by strict state control, collectivized agriculture, censorship, and a personality cult around party leaders. The regime emphasized industrialization of social socialist conformity, suppressing disscent and religious expression. Communist rule lasted more than four decades until 1989 1990 when mass protests, economic decline, and the collapse of the Soviet Union led to peaceful dismantling of the one party system. Bulgaria then transition to democracy and a market economy in the 90s. And so with this in mind, Sister Kovi told us of stories of how her parents uh would smuggle in Bibles and distribute them within a small congregation that they had in Rodnavo. She was just a little girl but experience firsthand the hardships of communism. And if anybody wants to hear firsthand what communism does, you need to go to Bulgaria. You need to talk to sister Kovi before you start propagating the damnable heresy and political system called communism. It is based upon atheism and suppression of religious expression. And she told us firsthand of the hardships of communism. And this leads us back to the sign hanging in the antique store. The sign reads, "Obrafs Odum," which in Bulgarian means the exemplary home or the model house. During the communist area of Bulgar era in Bulgaria, certain households or buildings were officially designated with this title as models of socialist propriety. families that did everything right according to the regime's social, political, and ideological standards. The enamel plaques were typically placed on doors, gates, or facades to publicly display that the occupants were being held up as examples for others to follow. These signs served as both a mark of prestige and as a tool of propaganda, encouraging citizens to conform to party ideals through good maintenance, discipline, ideological loyalty, and participation in community activities. Being awarded an exemplary home sign like this signified approval and recognition from local or state authorities within the socialist system. since her family was Christian and religion.