Well, good morning, Heights Church. It is such
a privilege to be with you all this morning.
And as John has said, I am Landon, and this is
my wife, Jenny, and we get to serve with Josiah
Venture in the Czech Republic. I am originally
from Southern California, was born and raised
there, and went on my first trip to the Czech
Republic in 2005 when I was 20 years old, but
my wife is from the Czech Republic. That's right.
I grew up in the Czech Republic and I grew up
in a Christian home, which is very rare in one
of the most atheistic countries in the world.
And we get to serve there. And our focus is youth
ministry because we are burdened for Czech youth.
And we also feel a sense of urgency. There is
a very famous statistic that says that the majority
of people who make a decision for Christ do so
before their 21st birthday. And we want to just
say this morning, we are so incredibly thankful
for the way that Heights Church sent us out over
11 years ago when we began our journey to serve
with the youth in the Czech Republic. You guys
have faithfully prayed for us. You guys have
faithfully given financially to support the work
that we're doing. And you guys have sent teams
to come and help us with these camps that we
run in the summer. And we are so incredibly grateful.
thankful for that support. And when we moved
to the Czech Republic about 11 years ago, our
focus was very clear, Czech youth. And then one
year into our time there, we were asked to consider
also taking on a very special ministry, being
part of a team that focuses internally in our
organization on the American missionary kids.
We call them the JVK, Josiah Venture Kids. And
this is a very special ministry. We have about
100 Josiah Venture Kids. You can see a picture
of some of them on the screen. screen. They are
living in Central and Eastern Europe with their
American parents. So their home is English speaking
with American traditions. But they go to public
schools and they interact with the nationals
in their countries. Most of them speak the language
very well. And so that's another culture they're
part of. So sometimes it's very challenging for
them trying to understand who am I. And this
camp that we get to do. It's for 8 to 18 -year
-olds. Even though we have 100 GVKs, usually
about 50 of them are in that age range. And they
come to this camp every summer. And they would
say it's the highlight of their year because
it's the one week in their year when they don't
have to explain themselves. This is where they
truly fit in. We want to thank the Heights family
for providing a very sweet, literally sweet gift
to our JVKs because we have some traditions at
camp. And one of the most beloved traditions
is what you see in the picture, American Cereal
Day. And the kids wake up and they say, is it
today? And we have American snacks all throughout
the week, like Oreos and ranch packets that you
guys bring as mission teams when you. and peanut
butter and pretzel sticks and American candy.
And they live for these traditions because actually
part of being a missionary kid is always going
through some kind of transition, welcoming new
people in, saying goodbye, moving. And so anything,
even American snacks, can provide a stability
and a sense of... okay, this is something I can
look forward to that comes every single year.
So thank you, Heights family, for providing that
for us every year. Every age group gets to have
JV staff counselors. And so you can see a picture.
These are our kids that we were asked to come
alongside for all these years of camp. So we
don't change groups every year. We stay with
our same group every year and we get to come
alongside them and pray with them, encourage
them in their faith because most of them are
in. areas of Europe that are very, very secular.
So it's very normal for them to be the only Christian
in their whole school. And just so you can see
what 10 years of ministry with them looks like,
this was at our very first camp when they were
eight years old. And I can't even begin to tell
you how many years of laughter and American snacks
and prayer and Bible teaching that has been.
And this past summer, we celebrated a JVK milestone
because our JVK are graduating from this camp
and they're moving on to go to college. Most
of them will move back to America where they've
never lived before. You know, 10 years of discipleship
is so much about being present because we want
to show these kids that we want to give them
a glimpse of how their faithful God is present
with them in everything that they're going through.
And so I look forward to you hearing now from
Landon on one of his most favorite attributes
of God, and that is the God who is present. Awesome.
Thank you. Well, it really is just incredible
to be able to be back with you all, Heights Church.
And we've been here this entire week. And again,
you guys have just taken such good care of us
and have been so kind to us. We've been staying
with Matt and Joanne Golaher. And they found
out that it's my 40th birthday this month. And
so Matt and Jake, they took me, or Jack took
me to a son's basketball game. So I got to go
down to Phoenix and watch. a basketball game,
which was a lot of fun. Even though I'm from
Los Angeles and the Lakers, I turned in my Lakers
card for the week and I watched the Suns and
I cheered them on and they won their first game.
So that was fun. I got to do some horseback riding
this week. Had some great Mexican food. We've
had some great meetings with people who have
been on the trip. And you guys just always love
us so well. So thank you, Heights Church. And
it is a privilege today to be able to open God's
word with you all. And as John has said, and
as I've been learning, you guys have been going
through a collection of talks called snapshots
from the book of Exodus and looking at characteristics
of God that we can see from the book of Exodus.
And when I heard that you guys were doing a study
of Exodus, I was really excited because Exodus
has a special place in my life because when I
first started out in ministry, I was working
at a church. And I was working in the college
group and then the high school pastor left and
they said, would you go and oversee the high
school kids while we look for a new pastor? And
I said, okay. And they said, you gotta teach
them. You gotta have a series for them. And so
I said, okay, what can I teach them? And I was
taking an Old Testament survey class at seminary
at the time. So I was like, can I teach them
something from the Old Testament? And they're
like, okay. I was like, can I do Exodus? And
they're like. Okay, you can teach them Exodus.
And so I took a group of about 80 high school
kids through the book of Exodus. This was like
my first teaching challenges in ministry. And
I don't know if they got a lot from that series,
but I can tell you the Lord did a lot in my heart,
teaching high school kids through the book of
Exodus. And there's actually one passage that
has been a key passage for me that I remember.
And it stands out that summarizes. so much of
the book of Exodus for me because it highlights
God's heart for his people. And as we know the
context, right? God brings the Israelites to
Egypt because of Joseph, right? Joseph gets sold
into slavery. He goes to Egypt and then there's
this huge famine. He brings all of his family
to Egypt. And then Joseph dies and then the Pharaoh
dies. And now the Israelites are in Egypt and
they continue to grow. And there's a new Pharaoh
that comes to town and he starts persecuting
them, putting them under oppression, making them
do hard slavery. And it started out well in Egypt
and all of a sudden it turned south and they're
suffering and they're struggling and they're
going, God, what are you doing in these difficult
times? And so I want us to look at a passage.
It's Exodus chapter two. It's the very end where
we see God telling the Israelites, I see you
in your suffering. So read with me. If you have
your Bibles, it's Exodus chapter two, starting
in verse 23. It'll also be on the screen. And
let's hear God's word to the Israelites as they're
experiencing slavery and oppression under the
Egyptians. During those many days, the king of
Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because
their slavery and they cried out for help. Their
cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and
God heard their groaning and God remembered his
covenant to Abraham with Isaac and to Jacob.
God saw the people of Israel and God knew. Our
God hears the cry of his people. The Israelites
are experiencing great suffering and hardship
and they cry out to God and their cries come
up to him. And he hears their suffering. He hears
their hardship. And it says, he heard, he remembered
his covenant and he saw his people and he knew.
This is our God. He hears, he sees, and he keeps
his promises. Can I get an amen to that? Amen.
This truth became really profound to me during
our first two years in the Czech Republic. Because
my wife and I, when we left, we left with excitement
and optimism and encouragement for what God was
going to do. through us to change the people
of the Czech Republic. And we arrived, and in
our first year, we faced some very big hardships.
One of the first things that happened was when
we arrived, there grew a conflict within our
organization, and some of the people decided
that they were going to leave. And I had just
been there for six months, and it was really
hard for me to have this tension inside of our
mission team, people we were working with. But
it was even harder because the people that were
leaving were some of my closest friends, people
I knew from California before we had even gone
and served there. And now they were leaving.
And I was heartbroken over that because I was
looking forward to serving with them. On top
of that, in our first year, when we arrived,
Jenny is Czech. Her parents live in the Czech
Republic. We were excited to serve with them,
to have them be in our lives, be a refuge. And
we landed. and found out their marriage was struggling.
And from day one, we stepped into a very difficult
family situation that ultimately over a two -year
period led to them getting divorced. And we were
heartbroken. We're like, man, this is so hard.
And on top of that, within our first year there,
Jenny got diagnosed with a chronic disease. that
had a significant impact on us ever possibly
being able to have children. And here we are,
we've just arrived to the mission field and it's
like one wave after another, after another. And
you're just going, God, what are you doing? Why
would you allow us to have so much hardship?
We came here to serve and to see you work. And
it was in that first couple of years that God
humbled me. that he showed me, I don't need you.
And I'm gonna take you down and I'm gonna humble
you and teach you to walk with me before you
ever do anything amazing for the Czech people.
One of the things you have to learn to do is
just rest in me. And so one of the things that
I started doing that first year was going on
walks with the Lord. And let me show you this
path that I would go on. This is a picture of
a trail that was in our city and I would go and
I would just meet with God on this trail. It
was by the river and I just started saying, God,
I am suffering, it is hard and I just need to
meet with you. I need you to be present in my
life and allow you to pour out my confusion,
my sadness, my hardship. And so I would meet
with God on that path and I would just. Walk
and talk with God. And as I would do that, and
as I started to develop that rhythm, I started
to see God in my life. Started to find ways that
he was working, even though it seemed like everything
was chaos around me. And so one of the first
things I can tell you about what God is doing
in the Czech Republic is he still is meeting
me in my suffering. He showed up and was faithful
when he allowed us to go through hard times to
still be present. And I experienced great comfort
from God walking along that path and praying
to him as our world felt like chaos during those
first two years. And I just wanna encourage you
this morning, what are some of the trials or
the hardships that you are carrying? Does God
have you in the midst of a storm? And do you
believe, that he hears you when you pray to him?
Do you go to him in your hardship and your sadness
and your suffering and say, Lord, I am struggling.
Will you meet me? Because God promises his people,
he remembers his covenant. God remembered his
covenant to the Israelites and God is still remembering
his covenant with us today under the New Testament.
Now, I have to show you another picture, just
so you know that it's not always snowy and gloomy
in the Czech Republic. There is sun there. This
is another picture of the path during the summer.
And after those first two years, God started
in some ways to bring more joy and hope. And
this was the other side of that path. And this
is during the summer walk. And there are some
beautiful parts of the Czech Republic. And there
are beautiful times. And God has met me many
days as I walk along that path. But as God remembered
his faithfulness to the Israelites in the Old
Testament, he also was preparing them this snapshot
for a future time when he was going to send his
son. And the second snapshot that I want us to
look at this morning comes from God. sending
his son. But I want to just connect it briefly
to the end of Exodus. Because one of the beautiful
things that happens is the book of Exodus is
leading us ultimately when God comes and dwells
with his people. When he comes and he fills the
tabernacle. And this is a foreshadow of when
he's going to send his son, when he's going to
send Christ. And so read with me just briefly
how the book of Exodus ends and then how the
beginning of John begins. And we see the connection
and the foreshadowing from Exodus into the book
of John. This is Exodus chapter 40, verses 34.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting
because the cloud settled on it. And the glory
of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout
all their journeys, wherever the cloud was taken
up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel
would set out. And if the cloud was not taken
up, they did not set out till the day that it
was taken out. And the cloud of the Lord was
on the tabernacle by day. And fire was in it
by night in the sight of all the house of Israel
through all their journeys. This is how the story
ends in Exodus. God comes and he fills the tabernacle
and he dwells with his people. And he says, I
am with you. I am present and I will go with
you. And then as we come to the New Testament,
we see Jesus as the fulfillment of this old.
image of the tabernacle. Look in John chapter
one, how it begins and how we see Jesus coming
and tabernacling among us. John 1, 1, in the
beginning was the word and the word was with
us and the word was with God and the word was
God. He was in the beginning with God and all
things were made through him. And without him,
nothing was made that is made. In him was life,
and the life was the light of men. And the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has
not overcome it. So we see this picture. The
word has come. The word is with God. The word
is God. And then it says he is the light of the
world. He brings life. And so we're wondering,
who is this word? What is this word that it's
speaking about that is with God in the beginning?
And then in verse 14, we see the answer. And
the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And
we have seen his glory, the glory of the only
son from the father, full of grace and truth.
And this is the amazing truth of the New Testament
gospel is that Christ has now come and taken
on the form of flesh and he has dwelt among us.
And this word, dwelt, it actually means to encamp
in a tent or to tabernacle. It's connecting to
that Old Testament image that like God dwelt
in the tabernacle in the Old Testament, now Christ
has come and he dwells among us. He is present
with us. And that's that second snapshot that
has become a huge encouragement to me as I have
served in the Czech Republic, is to look to the
life of Christ as a model of what does it mean
to live for God? And how does God model his love
for us? It's incarnational. He has come and he
has dwelt among us. God is not distant and just
removed, created and just let the world run its
course. But he actually said, I am so concerned
for humanity. that I have sent my son to come
and live and dwell among you. And so for me and
Jenny, one of the things that's been crucial
in our ministry is to try and follow the model
of Christ, to try and live incarnationally, to
try and spend time dwelling with the young people
in our city. And so small groups have been a
huge part of our ministry. From the very beginning,
we have said, we want to spend time with young
people. We wanna meet them where they are, and
we want to create an opportunity for them to
come together and to study God's word and to
read his word and to pray together. And so from
the beginning of our ministry, we have been advocating
and encouraging and supporting small groups.
And I wanna show you a picture. of my small group.
So here's a group of young Czech guys from my
church, and we're sitting at a coffee shop, and
we're reading God's Word. And my small group
started with just one boy from my church. And
I met him Sunday, and I said, hey, do you want
to meet together? He kept coming regularly to
our church. I said, let's just meet and start
studying God's Word. So we did. And we would
go for a walk, and we would spend 30 minutes
speaking English and 30 minutes speaking Czech.
So I could practice my Czech, he could practice
his English. And then we invited another boy.
So we had two guys. And then we added a third.
And all of a sudden, they just started inviting
more and more of their friends to where now I
have like over 14 guys on my list for my small
group. And we meet every Sunday and we have three
very basic things we do. We come together and
we share about our lives. And we use the five
Fs to help us talk about it. We talk about faith,
family, females, because that's important for
young men, finances and school, and fitness and
health. And we say, we're gonna share about the
important things in our lives. We're gonna share
our lives together. And I'm gonna help you guys
learn how to talk about your life and how can
we keep each other accountable and encourage
each other. And then we study God's word and
then we pray for each other. And one of the things
that's just been beautiful to see is as Jenny
and I open our home to people, we have these
guys in our home or we meet at our church or
in a coffee shop, is just to get into their lives
and to hear what they're going through. One of
the boys has gone through, his parents have gone
through a divorce. One of the boys in my small
group has struggled with suicidal thoughts. One
of the boys has struggled with... wrestling with
his relationship with his girlfriend? And how
should he handle himself in that relationship?
And I just get to live and be in their lives
and try and model like Christ to be incarnational.
And so I just wanna encourage and challenge you
this morning. What does it look like for you
to be incarnational where God has you? What does
it look like for you to go and to live with the
people around you? As I've been staying with
the Gallahers, one of the things I've noticed
is walking in their street, they live in an area
that's a little bit outside of Prescott and there's
all these homes and there's signs as you walk
by that say, there's a big sign or a gate around
the building. No trespassing, beware of dog,
private property. We will shoot you on sight,
right? You gotta be careful there, you know?
It kind of gives the image, we don't necessarily
want you to come and have a conversation. But
as Christians, we should have a different posture
to the world, right? We should say, look, I want
to engage in a conversation. I want to go and
cross barriers to meet you, to engage in conversation
with you. And ultimately, that's the model that
Christ has given us, that he has come and he
has died and he has given us the call. to be
incarnational, to live among the people. And
the last story I just wanna share is the way
that God has called us to share his gospel. And
in the Great Commission, he tells us to go and
make disciples, tells us to baptize them, which
we're going to see, and he calls us to teach
them all that he has commanded us. And this is
the last thing God has allowed me and Jenny to
be a part of. I get to teach at a Bible college.
I get to work with students. This is a picture
of some of the students we work with. But God,
one more, sorry, one more picture. God is working
among young leaders in Central and Eastern Europe
through a college where I get to teach. And we
have many young students that are coming and
studying and getting a bachelor's degree in Bible
and in theology. We've had over 45 students study
with us. 25 of them have graduated. And we're
just seeing young leaders being trained up and
equipped to share the gospel in Central and Eastern
Europe. And God has given Jenny a heart. He's
given us a passion to invest our lives into young
people. We wanna see them. We wanna share our
lives with them. We wanna study God's word with
them and wanna empower them to go out. And so,
Heights, I just want to encourage you this morning,
as you guys have supported us and prayed for
us, God is allowing your investment to do some
incredible things among the youth in the Czech
Republic. And the last thing is this incredible
partnership with our church in the city of Olomouc.
And our pastor has a message for you this morning
to hear from him, from our pastor at our church,
to encourage you and thank you for the way you
guys have partnered with us for many years. Here's
a video from our pastor. Hello, my name is David.
Hello, my name is David, and I'm the pastor of
the Baptist Church here in Old Roads, where Landon
and Jenny goes and serves the youth group. And
we are very thankful for them and for your support
of them. And we are also very thankful for your
support of our church, sending teams for English
camps. So thank you again and we hope to continue
the relationship with you and partnership. And
if you can pray for us, we would be very thankful
also for the church, for integrity of the church
and for openness to be mission minded also in
our area. And also for the good relationships
within the church and for the small groups also.
Thank you.