This is Pastor John welcoming you to our broadcast. Today we hear from Pastor Ovidio who has a ministry to the Romanian Gypsies. WBF has been honored to work alongside this man for well over a decade now. Recently, Ovidio and his family and his small staff have been given the opportunity to minister to Ukrainian refugees, even venturing into the war zone to deliver supplies and food. Let's join the service and hear the heartbreaking story of human suffering that lies behind the headlines you read today and how the gospel continues to give these people hope. So we have been privileged as a church to have a local outreach and to have an international outreach as well. And so I love the fact that we get to visit with people that we are supporting and we only get to see every now and then. So we have Pastor Ovidio here today. And I gotta tell you something, he does not like to be called pastor. I don't think I've ever met a man that has more qualifications to be a pastor than Ovidio has. He's got a heart for the gospel. He's got a heart for his people. He has a heart for Atlantic churches. So we're going to ask Ovidio and Keith to come forward. I greet every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have emotions when I come to visit you because first of all I want to thank you the help that you give us, especially in those first days of the war over there in Ukraine, and I come to greet you for the help that you gave, in the name of the Lord. Because of this work, we've been able to help a lot of people, We help a lot in the Ukraine now, from the time that the war began. The pictures that you see here are in the area called Donets. I got there on the day just before the evening that they had a big bomb go off, and they destroyed 20 houses there. And you see the crater that was formed from that bomb, and you saw the first houses that were destroyed there. And a lady with her tree killed them, were living there, and they killed all of them. And these are areas where I go. And we're coming to pick up the women and the children and take them out of the war zone. I bring them food, medicine, and clothing. And then when I'm leaving that area, I take the women and children with me. I take them to other areas where there's not as much war going on. And the ones that are sick, I bring them back to Romania. And we take care of them. And their wounds and stuff like that, we do whatever we can to help them. And that's why I want to thank you once again for your help, and I want you to understand something. To know that the work over there is only being supported by two churches, your church and Brother Keith's church. And you know what great work the Lord is doing? I've seen that. We don't have to be a lot. We just need to be faithful. And I thank the Lord for your church that's been faithful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. And for me, it's an honor that I could be a part of your church in this work, in helping for those that are in need. And you see here, these are people that are suffering very badly. Some of them, for a month, they haven't even eaten a loaf of bread. And we were able to help them out. And also, we brought stuff for the soldiers. We brought them medicine and sleeping bags. And you see this old elderly lady, and she's kissing her bread there. For about a month, she hasn't eaten any. Because they don't have electricity right now. They don't have water. It's a disaster. What you see on the TV, it's nothing. I'm going into those areas of conflict on the first line of battle, and I see every single time what a disaster it is, how much suffering there is, how many brothers and sisters of ours don't have anything to eat. They're living in the basements. And the bombs are landing all around them. And they don't know which way to go. And when they see my vehicle, they recognize that green vehicle. Everybody comes out to the vehicle. Hi, help us, let's leave here. And I put so many in the vehicle, it's hard to even close the door behind me. And I take them out of those war zones. lines of communication with some of the churches that are in that area and we leave them there. And then we have the work that we're doing in Romania as well. We haven't left off from that work either. We're keeping on working non-stop and we're pulling hard because God has called us to that. And right there we saw, we got a, that's his granddaughter, but there's a little diploma there that he got from the government for the work that they've been doing. And my little granddaughter you saw there, she was, you know, that was the helmet that I wear and the flak jacket that I wear when I go into those areas. And she thinks that she's a soldier. I want to tell you once again, you guys are wonderful what you do here for the Lord. And I want you to know that together we can do even greater things and more powerful things with the help of the Lord. You see, we had a baptism this year in a community of gypsies. And many of them had come to know the Lord, and God is continuing to work. And He's doing His work. If we're available for Him, for Him to use. When this war came, I was supposed to go do work in Africa. And when I saw the refugees coming from the war, they were just broken children and women. I renounced going to Africa. I lost the ticket and the money for the ticket and all that. I said, I need to stay here and help these people. And I thank the Lord because I stayed behind. to do what God wanted me to do. I believe that that's what God's will was. And where we had the camp, you guys, many of you know about the camp, we were having about 130 refugees come every day. I mean, they would stay for two or three days and then we'd get other ones that would fill that position. And we had to feed them, give them clothing, medicine, and God worked in a wonderful way. And we were able to keep up with the work there. And now I keep going back to the war zones because they keep calling me because they need our help. At first, I told the church who would like to go. There wasn't anybody that wanted to go. I said, I don't know what we're going to do. In the evening, I went home. I talked to my wife. She said, you don't feel anything? No. He said, think, she said to him, he said, no, think about it. I said, I'll say, I'll pray and we'll see what the Lord says. And that night I was reading in the Bible where it says, you give them something to eat. He said, I need to go. That's what it says. I said, I need to go. He said, good, safe trip. And God is with us. And He does miracles. If you would know how many hearts have been broken, how many mothers Don't have any place to put their kids to sleep. Don't have food to give them. It breaks your heart. And you have to do that. Because you're there, with that purpose, to help them. And the last trip that I went over there, in the war zone, with the bombs they've really destroyed the roads and it's night. And my vehicle was full of aid. I hit a big hole. And then the drive shaft got bent. And I was like, Lord, what am I going to do now? We got to the place where he died, and that's where that family died. And then I headed back 1,300 kilometers. with the vehicle shaking the whole way. But the Lord helped me to get it back on. Now I need to fix it up so I can go and do another trip. Because they need us. Sleeping bags, food, and medicine. Because they don't have any help there. You need to understand that there's a lot of aid going to the Ukraine, but most of it goes to the capital. And whatever's left over, you know, they'll send to those other areas. And that's why I take the stuff directly to those areas, exactly where they need the help. That's kind of in total about the... So that you can understand your part in the work that we do together, and with Brother Keith's church, and whoever else wants to help, the door's open for you. But until now, But this is how we are. And I thank you once again. I thank the Lord once again for you and the love that you have for the work. I would like to today, I knew that I was coming here. And I prayed to the Lord that he would give me a text. And he gave me this text that I've been working on for a few days, and that you would take it as from the Lord. And if there's some mistakes, take it as from me. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord does. But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring fruit, and that your fruit should remain. And whatsoever ye ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you that you love one another. As I was thinking and praying and studying the Word of God, how much evil is in this world. how people have forgotten the two great commandments that the Lord gave us, that you would love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor. People are very evil. You see that the darkness of this world is growing, and it's getting deeper and deeper. And I was thinking about us, that we that know the Lord Jesus Christ, how should our light be so that we can turn back this darkness. How does our light need to shine? And I know how. In loving our neighbor. To love him truly. Not just with our mouths, but through our deeds. And if you love them truly, You share your greatest blessings about the most important man in this whole world, which is Jesus Christ. If you love your neighbor, your mouth cannot stay silent. Because Jesus Christ changed your life and you need to love because He is love. He is love. And all that we do and all that we say, we do it because we love the Lord Jesus. Why? Because He loved us first. He chose me. When I was a sinner and living in deep sin, in my evilness, for my people around me, or maybe for my family, living for my friends, in my evilness, Jesus came to me and he made me his friend. Not because I was good. Not because I was something special. Because he is. And he chose me. And he said, I want you to be my friend. He chose me in my sin. What did you find good in me? I'm bad. But Jesus said, I love you. I love you truly. I pay the price for you. We need to understand this morning when the Lord Jesus He chose you to be His friend. He didn't choose you because you were good or that you were something special. He's that. That's what He is. That is His nature. When I read here, it made me to fall down before Him. You're my friend, the Lord Jesus said. And I want to give you something new. I want to tell you something. I want to give you a command. Love your neighbor. When I see how much love the Lord Jesus gives me, when you see it, how much He loves you, How can you respond to that love? How can you respond to what he's done to you? You can't even measure how much he loves you. And then you try to offer him something. Why? Because he's my friend. We have a saying in Romania, With who you hang around, if you tell me who you hang around with, we can tell you who you are. If you walk together with Christ, we need to be like Him. Brothers and sisters, not with our mouths, but with our whole being. It is the time. Today is the time. We know, we can see that the end is coming and Jesus is coming back soon. How should we respond to that? And how should that love flow from our lives? And the Lord says, because you're my friend, I've made you to know everything. His glory. Amen? He made me understand all of that. We know the way we're supposed to go. What a great friend that we have. He hasn't hidden anything from us. He discovered everything to us. That's what a true friend is. a friend that we can't find anywhere else in this world, a friend that we can have trust in. We have trust in him, right? Maybe you told him what you haven't told to your wife or your husband or your children. I've told him things, but because I know I have 100% trust in him. I know who He is. He proved it to me when He went to the cross on Golgotha, and He paid for my sin and your sin. When He spread out His hands on the cross, remember. How the love was pouring out of him. That soldier, when he put that nail into his hand and was looking in his eye, he says, I love you. This hand that he's putting the hole in, it's for you. And maybe the soldier said, oh, no problem. The next hand is going to hurt you even worse. So he extends his other hand. And with love, he looks into his eyes. I love you. You're my friend, even if you're doing evil to me, because I love you. I want you to understand this morning. No matter how much evil you've done, or maybe that you continue to do, Jesus loves you. He doesn't love your sin, but he loves you. And he wants you for himself. And here it says, if you're my friend, do what I tell you to do. Go. You know the great commandment to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel and whoever will believe and be baptized, he will be saved. But the one that doesn't believe will be condemned. If you're the friend of Christ, do what he tells you to do. Not because I don't want you to misunderstand him. I don't want you to think that you're not his friend. If he chose you when you were living in your sin, but I believe when you fulfill what he tells us to do, you have a much more special relationship. Isn't that right? We see that same thing with our own families, right? When your children listen to you and they do what you like, you get into a more special relationship. And we can all have that same relationship if we desire to do what He tells us to do. Because this is what He tells us here. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, that He may give it to you. Amen? How wonderful He is, you and I. that Jesus has given us the right. You are my voice here on this earth. You are my hands here on this earth. You are my feet on this earth. You are my eyes here on this earth. You are my ears. You don't want to? You don't want the Lord to say, hey, Lord, take my hands. I want them to be your hands. Lord, my mouth, I want it to be your mouth that speaks. What grace that we have to be able to witness about the Most High and to tell about our friend. Look to where he came down to. In this world, we have a lot of friends, and sometimes it's bad. Sometimes people make friends for the wrong reasons, and it's, you know... But we have certain friends that are more intimate, a little bit closer to our hearts, and we like to talk to them. We like to share with them. But you see what I've observed with our friend Jesus Christ, our common friend, that doesn't make any kind of difference between anybody. He showed us and continues to show us. We like to talk all the time. Help me, bless me. And we like for him to listen to us, right? But if he's my friend and your friend, let's also listen to what he tells us to do. Amen? If he's your friend, listen to what he says to you, so that he can have enjoyment as well, because you're listening to him, and you do what he tells you to do. You know, the Pharisees, they would say a lot of things. But they didn't do those things. Let's not be Pharisees. Let's be true friends. He says, go and do. You need to go and do. Because he's your friend. And he listens to you. And he does it for you. What great God we have. Amen? I like it because it says here in the Great Commission. Turn to Romans chapter 10 and verse number 12. He says, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all those that call upon him. Until verse 14. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? You understand? How are they going to hear? How are they going to know Jesus Christ if we don't do that? How will they hear about him? This morning, maybe you have friends. You've helped them in different situations. But you forgot to present your best friend. I can't just keep him to myself. That's something very interesting. When people find a treasure, they want to have it just for themselves. It's kind of normal, but this treasure that we have in Jesus Christ, it's a value that you can't consume, but we need to give it to others. Why? Because the Holy Spirit that's in us desires that, this work. to witness about Jesus Christ. And I want to close with one more verse from Corinthians 9, verse 16. It says, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Amen? Woe is unto me if I don't proclaim the gospel. Woe is unto me if I don't present my friend. If Jesus is your friend, present him. Don't be embarrassed of him because he's not embarrassed of you. He came and he picked us up out of the depths of sin and he gave us a colossal promise. I'm going to prepare a place And afterwards, I'm going to come back and take you back to where I am. There you may be also. May God bless you all. Okay, so what you just saw was a Romanian guy that preaches like a Southern Baptist. I've always thought that I could understand every word he said, even though I don't understand the language. So I'd like to ask the elders to come forward. Dan, would you join us? We're going to pray for you guys. Thank you. How good and gracious you are, oh Lord, that you have blessed us with this brother, these two brothers, Lord, that you've blessed us and your work is continuing and you give us a glimpse, Lord, just a glimpse of who you are in a foreign land. We thank you now, Lord, and we ask that you would continue your blessing upon these brothers, Lord. that you would be with Brother Ovidio and that you be with Brother Herndon, Lord, as they continue your work, both here and in distant lands, Lord. We thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. So aside from the fact that we only get to hear from Ovidio every now and then, I want you to see what just happened. A couple of things. In the middle of his sermon, he was given a certificate by their government for the work he's doing. You know who he ministers to? Non-persons, people that are not recognized by the government. Immigrants, people that have no home and have flooded into Romania looking for food and shelter. And the government recognizes the work he's doing, even though they don't recognize the people that he's ministering to. It's a tacit acknowledgment that he's doing some incredible stuff. The other thing that's happened is, you know, not all of us are able to go to Romania. Not all of us will be able to go to a mission field. Amen? We just can't all do it. People like Ovidio are at the tip of the spear. People like Keith are the tip of the spear, but brothers and sisters, we are the rest of the spear. Okay, so all those times that we've spent in prayer for him and his ministry, for those who've prayed, those who have given of their finances, those who have encouraged, those who've gone over to help, you know how that turns out? That manifests itself in a loaf of bread being handed out from the back of a van to people that have had no food for a month. So your efforts reach deep into Ukraine where people have lost their homes and their families and have lost all hope. And a guy shows up saying, God loves you. Here's some food. So don't minimize, don't ever minimize the part that you play in the body of Christ because all of our efforts, everything that we do, even as they set up for lunch downstairs, contribute to that loaf of bread showing up in Ukraine. Lord bless you guys for being faithful, for being self-sacrificing, for being an encouragement to the body of Christ for the sake of the gospel. Amen, amen. And Kelly and I have been over there. Kelly's been over twice. Keith, how many times have you been over to Romania? And you started when? 98, we've been over there since 1998. And I'll tell you something, Keith took good care of us while we were over there. If you're interested in going, let me know. We'll put a group of people together and go. It's really, it's a life-changing experience to see how the Lord is moving amongst these non-people who are oppressed by the Catholic Church when Ovidio shows up and offers them freedom. Amen? So would you stand so we can bless you? I'm gonna read from Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with goods so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children. So the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Father, we give you thanks. We give you thanks for the food we're about to receive. We give you thanks for the ministries we've seen over the last few weeks. We give you thanks for the hands that are working so hard to serve us downstairs. And we pray all this in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Have a good morning. Thanks for joining us online. Pastor John back here again. If you are blessed by the service, let me ask you to do us a favor. Would you click on the like button below that little thumbs up? If you're listening on Sermon Audio, perhaps you can comment or even share the sermon with someone else. We'd love to hear from you. We're on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter at WBFVA. We're on the World Wide Web at WBFVA.org. Let us know if you'd like us to pray for you. If you'd like to support us financially, you can make donations through our website at wbfva.org. Just click on giving. You'll receive a tax deductible receipt at the end of the year. Either way, we would love to hear from you or even have you visit us in person one Sunday. We meet at 46 Winchester Street in downtown Warrington, Virginia at 11 o'clock every Sunday morning. And now, may God bless you richly until we gather again.