Latest / Called BEYOND / S2 Ep8 The Power of Saying 'Yes' & Walking in Obedience
Transcript
- 0:04Before asking God, what do you want me to do? You know, before saying,
- 0:07God, tell me what do you want me to do? And now I'll want, you know,
- 0:10I'll consider being obedient.
- 0:12What I'll do is, God, I'm putting my yes on the table.
- 0:15No questions asked. Now that the yes is there.
- 0:19Okay, now let me know what I just agreed to. You might hear something you don't
- 0:23want to hear, something you're scared off to lean into.
- 0:25And for us, that was, hey, you should go to Afghanistan. them.
- 0:29We said, yes, God, we're willing. And then the door closed in front of us.
- 0:33Music.
- 0:39Welcome to Called Beyond, a Novo Mission podcast.
- 0:42We love sharing stories about how we can hear God speaking to us,
- 0:46as well as what happens when we say yes to His calling in our lives.
- 0:50During this second season of the podcast, we're highlighting three spiritual
- 0:55rhythms reflected in the life of Christ.
- 0:57Cave, the place of encounter with God's word and presence.
- 1:02Table, the place of belonging with supportive family and friends.
- 1:06And Road, the place of spiritual engagement in the world.
- 1:11Well, welcome everybody to another episode of the Called Beyond podcast.
- 1:15It's a joy to be with you again, whether this is the first episode you are tuning
- 1:20into or whether you have been along the journey with us. Welcome.
- 1:24We're so glad that you're here. I feel like many times on this podcast,
- 1:28I've gotten to introduce you guys to friends of mine that I have gotten to partner
- 1:33up with and watch God do amazing things with.
- 1:35And today, I actually get to meet for the first time along with you what I hope
- 1:40will be a new friend in Dave Matthews, who is the president of Reflejo,
- 1:45which is a independent global partner with Novo, where we kind of link arms
- 1:51with other orgs doing similar things around the world, pursuing movements of God.
- 1:57And so it's a joy to welcome Dave to the podcast. You know, we like to say something
- 2:02fun about our guests so that you can see yourself in them a little bit.
- 2:07So Dave and his wife, they literally are fostering a brand new puppy for a kind
- 2:13of as a service animal, which is so fun.
- 2:15So sleepless nights and the yipping and yapping all night long.
- 2:19I'm very familiar with that myself. But will you guys join me in welcoming Dave
- 2:23to the podcast today? Welcome, Dave.
- 2:25Hey, Tim. It's good to be here. So one of the things that I would love to do
- 2:31is to just ask, what is Reflejo?
- 2:35Maybe give us kind of that rundown of as you explain what a day in your life,
- 2:40what is a day in Reflejo and what is the mission of Reflejo that you get to
- 2:44steward as the founder and president?
- 2:47Yeah, thank you, Tim. I think the mission of Reflejo is a mission very, very dear to my heart.
- 2:53And the reason why is my wife and I were part of being able to start this organization
- 2:58four or five years ago now.
- 3:00All your audience and you are very familiar with Novo. And one of the cool,
- 3:04fantastic things about Novo is if you're in the U.S.
- 3:07And you have a call to the unreached, if you have a call to gospel movements,
- 3:12there's this organization based out of Anaheim you can give a call to and they
- 3:17can connect you with training, with opportunities, with a team on the ground
- 3:21where you can go and live out missionally your calling, whether it's in the
- 3:25States or across the world.
- 3:26But there is that on-ramp for living missionally towards movements and towards the unreached.
- 3:32Well, in many cases in Latin America, the church, in many contexts,
- 3:37a very vibrant church, hears that same Great Commission, gets that burden to
- 3:42be missionally involved with the unreached.
- 3:46And historically, there's not been many organizations that can take that place
- 3:50of walking alongside of the individual,
- 3:52walking alongside of a family or of a church, and help them discover what that
- 3:57calling looks like, and then help them walk through the whole process of discovering
- 4:02the call, of being trained, of going to the field, of thriving on the field.
- 4:07And so that's what Reflejo does. We find people that have that apostolic seal,
- 4:12people that have that burden for the unreached, burden for the nation's passion
- 4:15to see gospel movements happen.
- 4:17And we walk alongside of them to make sure that they have everything they need
- 4:21to get to the place God has called them to be.
- 4:24And then we can maximize their potential by coming alongside of them and encouraging
- 4:28them as their missions agency.
- 4:29Well, that's amazing. So in a sense, what
- 4:32Reflejo is doing is it is capturing the excitement of the Latin American people
- 4:39and providing them an on-ramp and a place where they can find home and actually
- 4:46do or pursue the calling that God has put on their life.
- 4:51Exactly. Exactly. The way I think about it, a couple of stories come to mind.
- 4:56And before we started Reflejo, we would go around sharing about this plight
- 5:00of the unreached in Latin America.
- 5:02And we met a couple of people that came to us and said, hey, Dave.
- 5:06And this is my new 2017, 2018. Hey, Dave, I got a call to be a missionary in Asia in 2004.
- 5:14Or a 30-year-old that will come to us and say, hey, Dave, I'm 31 now.
- 5:18We got a call to go serve in so-and-so country when I was eight years old.
- 5:23So this has been a couple decades in the building.
- 5:26And then the next sentence they said was, I've never met anybody that can help
- 5:31me live out that calling.
- 5:32I've been waiting. I've been praying. My church has been waiting and praying.
- 5:36We recognize it as a legitimate calling.
- 5:38We just don't know where to start. We don't know who that partner could be that comes along us.
- 5:43And so really for us, it's been, we know God is calling Latinos to be obedient
- 5:48to the Great Commission.
- 5:49There's a lot of people with that song in their heart. And we just want to be
- 5:53able to unleash that potential, to be there, to come alongside them so they
- 5:57can truly fulfill the Great Commission themselves.
- 5:59Wow. What an amazing story. And it's impacting kind of my worldview a little
- 6:05bit, which is just, you know, the uninformed bias that I walk around with every day.
- 6:10Maybe give us kind of an overview of how broad this reaches,
- 6:15because Latin America is, you know, starts with Mexico and ends at the bottom of Chile.
- 6:20Like where like how far are you is your network of people that you're reaching?
- 6:25And is there a specific location or a few countries or where exactly is kind
- 6:31of the footprint of Reflejo today? Yeah.
- 6:33So around the world, there is 22 countries that speak Spanish or Portuguese
- 6:38as their primary language was known as Hebrew America.
- 6:41It's Central America, South America, Spain, and Portugal.
- 6:44Out of those 22 countries, we have teams of volunteer mobilizers and advocates
- 6:51for missions that are mobilizing the Latin American church in 17 of those 22
- 6:56countries. That's amazing. Wow. That's like,
- 6:59So that's 70%, 75% plus. I'm not good at quick math. I'm good at missions,
- 7:03but arithmetic, you might get me stuck with.
- 7:06We got it. Well, that's amazing. I'm wondering if there's something that surprised
- 7:11you that comes to mind in maybe a story of just like, wow,
- 7:16that it totally expanded the way that I think about missions and the commission
- 7:22and in my own walk and where I'm going.
- 7:25Yeah. So initially my wife and I, we thought we were going to be people that went.
- 7:30We both got individual calls to missions when we were 14. We didn't know each other at that point.
- 7:36And then we met a few years after in college.
- 7:39And eventually we both heard a call to a specific country in Central Asia.
- 7:43And we thought, you know, we'll be the ones, like many others say,
- 7:46we'll pack all our stuff in our coffin and go and maybe never come back because
- 7:50we want to dedicate all our life's there.
- 7:52And while we're preparing to go, one of the things that people prepared us as
- 7:56we're hearing our call to missions was that you might hear something you don't
- 8:00want to hear, something you're scared off to lean into.
- 8:02And for us, that was, hey, you should go to Afghanistan.
- 8:06And if any of your listeners have seen the news for the last couple of years
- 8:10about Afghanistan, typically it's not happy memories or safe as a context that comes to mind.
- 8:16It's a lot of war, a lot of danger, a lot of poverty and persecution and so on.
- 8:22And so we had to wrestle with the fact of, are we really willing to put our
- 8:27lives at risk for me as a husband with my new young wife at that point?
- 8:31I'm willing to bring her into this context to be faithful to God.
- 8:35And then the next thing that happened that really rocked our world was we said,
- 8:40yes, God, we're willing. And then the door closed in front of us.
- 8:43So we kind of went through this whole thing where we're like,
- 8:46are we actually going to get there?
- 8:48And then suddenly, no, this is not happening. And I think back at the story
- 8:52of Abraham, you know, being willing to leave the land of his parents to go to this new promised land.
- 9:00He's promised his whole descendants and all these things.
- 9:02And he's willing to step out of faith, not knowing where his path and journey might end up.
- 9:07And finally, he starts seeing some of the things come together.
- 9:09He finally gets Isaac, his son, after so many years, he's a miracle baby.
- 9:15And then God says, actually, you know what? Go up to that mountain, I'm gonna take him away.
- 9:20And that was that moment for us of, God, we've journeyed thus far already and
- 9:25we were willing to put all this forth and own the risk and so on.
- 9:29And now you're taking this away.
- 9:31What are you doing in the midst of all this? And what ended up happening for
- 9:35us was that God put that passion in our heart for that region of the world.
- 9:40And that just ended up bursting forth and being shared with other people.
- 9:44And what we've been able to see is not only inspire many other people to do
- 9:49the same thing, but also being able to recognize in Latin America and many Latinos
- 9:54that they've had that passion for years in many cases.
- 9:57And it's also frustrating that they couldn't find a way to go.
- 10:01And so we get to sit down with them and look them eye to eye or be shoulder
- 10:05to shoulder and say, I know how you feel and I'm going to try to do whatever
- 10:09I can to make sure that you get to live out your calling because the calling
- 10:13that God's given you is too important to miss out on.
- 10:16So one example of one story that comes to mind, it's this young lady,
- 10:20I'll call her Hannah to protect her identity. She's in the field right now.
- 10:24But Hannah was, or is from Bolivia.
- 10:27She grew up not knowing where her parents were. She grew up in a group home
- 10:31in a little village in Bolivia.
- 10:33I mean, if you think of where the American thinks, I'm gonna go do missions
- 10:36in Latin America, that's the kind of place we will go to, right?
- 10:39It's a little village in the middle of the mountains in Bolivia,
- 10:42and there is a group home there, and there is this young girl who doesn't know who her parents are.
- 10:47She grows up, she gets to be a believer, and eventually she ends up congregating
- 10:52at a house church of 10 people in this village.
- 10:55Now, she gets a call to go to the unreached across the globe in Asia.
- 11:00In anybody's mind, how in the world is Hannah, with no family support,
- 11:05without a large church and large connections in a small village, going to get there?
- 11:10Well, she knew God had called her, and so she said, I'm going to focus,
- 11:14and the first thing I can control is, I'm going to study.
- 11:16She ended up becoming a nurse, and for her to come out of her context and actually
- 11:19get an education, get a degree, get ahead, she said, I'm going to do this because
- 11:24I know this is part of what it's going to take for me to go.
- 11:27And eventually after that, her church said, well, if you're stepping out in
- 11:30faith and getting your degree, we'll step out in faith and look for a partner
- 11:33that can help us figure out how to get there. So we ended up coming across them a couple of years ago.
- 11:40And they said, we don't know what it takes. We're in. What do we need to do?
- 11:45So I said, well, Hannah needs to raise support and Hannah needs to be trained.
- 11:48And so this church, these 10 people, they started calling every other church
- 11:53they knew and said, join us in the journey. Let's send Hannah together.
- 11:58And the Bolivian church rallied around Hannah and said, we are going to send her.
- 12:03And long story short, she is now in Tajikistan serving.
- 12:09She has been a rock star. She's actually the best one on her team in learning language.
- 12:14It's been fantastic. And we're hearing some really, really cool stories of how
- 12:17God's using her in the field already. That's amazing. Wow. That is so cool.
- 12:22I even just I think I'm blown away, right? Because there's there's the story
- 12:25where she had a calling and through diligence,
- 12:29working hard, just trusting and taking the first step and then the next step
- 12:35and the next step and the next step to get there and everybody else receiving
- 12:38their individual callings that became a part of that as well.
- 12:42And I guess I'm reflecting back to your and your wife's story as well,
- 12:48where it was sort of like you guys right there on the cusp, about ready to go
- 12:52in that kind of Abraham and Isaac moment that you described so well.
- 12:58There's a juxtaposition there, right? Where
- 13:00it's sort of like the Lord brought you to that place so you could experience
- 13:05the heart for a thing and start asking these questions that are now finding
- 13:10grounds and seeing other people move from an impossibility into it being a reality.
- 13:19And then the stories that you get to help author and come alongside through
- 13:23partnership is just, I mean, it's just, it's hitting me.
- 13:27And I think for, you know, the listener, as you're listening to these stories
- 13:31as well, there's a little bit of that,
- 13:34like, does anybody know what it feels like to have a door slammed in your face
- 13:37kind of moment where you thought you were going to be doing one thing and all
- 13:41of a sudden you got to pivot.
- 13:43You know, I feel like there's a lot of like similarities in that.
- 13:46And then also this just like, like sometimes the Lord puts a thought or a dream
- 13:51in our mind that just seems impossible, feels impossible.
- 13:54But there's this compelling sort of like angst that kind of starts growing inside
- 14:00where you realize like this just this has to be, you know.
- 14:04And so I think, you know, in that wrestle of trying to figure out what's the
- 14:09next right step for me to take,
- 14:12is there a process that you walk people through that you come across and meet
- 14:20with that helps them determine what that next step might be?
- 14:26Yes. One of the things that comes to mind back when I was in college,
- 14:29I was in Bible school and my first college roommate, he was a grade ahead of
- 14:36me and he was also wanting to be a missionary.
- 14:40And this was before I was still trying to determine what my calling was.
- 14:43He gave me some advice that he heard from his youth pastor.
- 14:45He said, Dave, I never heard a call to missions. I just read the Bible.
- 14:49I saw it there and I said, I want to do this.
- 14:51And when I started looking what I could do or how I could get involved,
- 14:55I was wrestling with the same idea.
- 14:56The advice that he got, the advice that he passed on to me was,
- 14:59look at the most harebrained thing that you could do with the biggest need,
- 15:05the biggest open door, the most potential.
- 15:07Just go ahead and go for the wildest dream you can think of and lean into that.
- 15:12And if God gets scared, he'll let you know.
- 15:16Oftentimes, we're the ones to flinch right away and say, unless God invites
- 15:20us, unless God is nudging us every step of the way and holding our hand,
- 15:24you know, every single step, we don't want to step out.
- 15:27And what he told me, and what we've seen a lot of people step into in faith
- 15:30has been, you know, start walking.
- 15:33You know, you can steer a car while it's in movement. It's really hard to steer a car while it's parked.
- 15:39And so that's a reality we've seen. An exercise that we do often with our teams,
- 15:44and one of the things that we do ourselves, it's before asking God, what do you want me to do?
- 15:49You know, before saying, God, tell me what do you want me to do?
- 15:50And now I'll consider being obedient.
- 15:54What I'll do is, God, I'm putting my yes on the table. No questions asked.
- 15:59Now that the yes is there, okay, now let me know what I just agreed to.
- 16:04And then we can figure out the how, but the agreement, the blank check,
- 16:07like I already put the blank check, signed it, you fill in the number, you fill in the request.
- 16:12And that's the kind of obedience that it's taken to get from one small decision
- 16:16to the next, to the next, to the next.
- 16:18And I feel like once you make that decision to be radically obedient,
- 16:23no questions asked on the front end of that obedience, right?
- 16:26Then it just becomes about managing what God tells you. Yeah.
- 16:30Yeah, that's really good. And if the listeners have been on this journey from the very beginning,
- 16:36so much of what you just said has been confirmed by other people is when you
- 16:41give God your yes, first and then trust him to work out, you know,
- 16:45what exactly it is that I just said yes to.
- 16:48That really is the exciting adventure that partnering with God looks like.
- 16:54I've been right there with you too. I mean, it's just like we oftentimes will
- 16:58present God with yes or no questions.
- 17:01Do I stay or do I go?
- 17:03Do I, you know, do I turn right or do I turn left?
- 17:05And I think even in the New Testament, like when Jesus gets presented with definitive
- 17:11answer questions is he tells a story.
- 17:13He tells a perfect story for the perfect moment for the people that were there.
- 17:17And it teaches them a life lesson that allows them to be able to answer the
- 17:23question for themselves now and throughout time.
- 17:27And we all get the benefit of getting to read that.
- 17:29And as we learn through these parable stories of what it looks like to partner
- 17:35with God and what the kingdom actually looks like is it's a heart posture of yes.
- 17:41And that heart posture of yes steers you towards the next breadcrumb,
- 17:46if you will, as you're on this path trying to follow Jesus.
- 17:49Maybe tell us what has prayer kind of meant for you?
- 17:54Maybe in the early days when you and your wife are one, figuring out like,
- 17:59well, what do we do now that this door is closed in kind of the inception of Reflejo.
- 18:05And as like the first couple of people, what does it look like to pray through
- 18:10and discover what that yes meant to you guys?
- 18:14One thing that I remember learning when I was a student at Moody,
- 18:19as a professor always told us that the Spirit speaks to us and abides in us.
- 18:24And as long as we're leaning into obedience, we'll kind of still be in tune with the Spirit.
- 18:29And if it's disobedience or it's sin or something else that gets in the way,
- 18:34it kind of starts to stifle the voice and the clarity of the Spirit in his dialogue with us.
- 18:42So one of the things that I thought early on was, well, if we don't create room
- 18:46for that stifling to begin with, once we're hearing him clearly and we just
- 18:51lean into obedience, we can just stay at that space.
- 18:56And so one of the things that I mentioned was that exercise of just saying yes
- 19:00first. That's been very important.
- 19:02Something else that's come to us that's been super, super helpful has been just
- 19:07clarifying, God, what is on our hands and what is in your hands?
- 19:11So if you think about starting Reflejo and where Sarah and I were in our early
- 19:1720s, we think God is calling us to start a missions agency to send people to
- 19:22places like Afghanistan.
- 19:23And we're gonna have to be responsible for their training, for their wellbeing, for all these things.
- 19:27We don't know who's gonna even trust us to be responsible for them.
- 19:32Where are the people gonna come that are actually going to be helping be part
- 19:36of this team to put this organization together, you know, but we think that we can do our part.
- 19:41God, help us be faithful on our part and we will completely trust you for your
- 19:45part. I think of the story of Noah. He was called to build the ark.
- 19:49He wasn't called to rally the animals, you know?
- 19:52And so very clearly thinking through that and saying, God, we are gonna pray
- 19:56aggressively about just, we are handing this over to you.
- 20:00This is your part. We trust you for it. And we are gonna act like it's already
- 20:04a reality. and then on our part, just help us be good, faithful stewards.
- 20:11When you dream big dreams, when you're taking on a big challenge and you see
- 20:14it, this is totally, I'm way over my head.
- 20:17It becomes easier to pray because there's no other choice.
- 20:21And so one of the things that we've been blessed us in our prayer life has been
- 20:25asking God, keep us uncomfortable because then it's easier to come to you.
- 20:29Growing up, my pastor always used to say, it's hard to pray for your daily bread with a full pantry.
- 20:36Wow. Yeah, you mentioned Abraham earlier, and he believed God and it was credited
- 20:41to him as righteousness.
- 20:44And I think there's that, you know, faith is really choosing to act without
- 20:50all of the information and putting your faith in God rather than in your own
- 20:56circumstances, what's in your hand,
- 20:59what's in your pantry, as it will, and moving anyway.
- 21:04And I think what you're saying there is, I mean, it's simple,
- 21:09profound, it's very difficult.
- 21:11But the reality is, if you want to see God show up, if you want to see the extraordinary
- 21:18things happen, it's going to be in places where you don't feel qualified,
- 21:22where you don't have the influence you think you need to have.
- 21:26And when you're like, you're really, you're off balance, you know?
- 21:31And I don't know, I've done a little bit of thinking about this too because
- 21:34it's just like, well, why does it always have to feel so uncomfortable to see
- 21:38something amazing happen?
- 21:41And I think it comes down to God receives glory as a result of it being so clear
- 21:47that it had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with you.
- 21:51This is his great work that we get to partner in as his human ambassadors here
- 21:56on earth for the benefit of the people that we have placed care and compassion for on our hearts.
- 22:04And so I absolutely love that.
- 22:06So I'm super curious, Dave, in your mind and in your life, what is the thing
- 22:12that feels like is next for you?
- 22:15Is it a next place, a next region, a next movement?
- 22:20What is the thing that you're sort of holding with eager anticipation that you
- 22:26can't wait to see what God is going to do?
- 22:28So the really exciting thing about where we are right now is we've been sending
- 22:36missionaries for the last couple of years to really tough places.
- 22:40And they started to get their footing. They've started to get language and culture
- 22:44down. They're starting to sow seeds.
- 22:47We're just waiting for that first spark of multiplication to start so that we
- 22:53can ride the wave of what God's going to do next.
- 22:56You know, it's kind of like you put enough missionaries, enough people out there
- 23:00doing good things, waiting and listening to God.
- 23:04Eventually, we're just going to find where he's moving. We're going to be able
- 23:08to lean into that and we're going to be able to see movements happen.
- 23:12And we are so excited for something to happen overseas. We actually have one
- 23:15story of something happening in Latin America like that.
- 23:19And I'll share very briefly. So we always teach discovery Bible studies and
- 23:24movements to our team as they go.
- 23:27But we decided to do a training for the people that are in Latin America, mobilizing.
- 23:31One of these women, Jessica, said, I'm going to put that into practice in my city in Lima, Peru.
- 23:372023, she started one Bible study and 13 women came to faith.
- 23:43Wow. That Bible study multiplied and in 2024 from that one group,
- 23:49156 people came to faith.
- 23:531,400 were exposed to the Bible last year.
- 23:57From the obedience of one person to one group to the start of a movement.
- 24:02And we're going to see that on the field as well. We're going to see that in
- 24:05Asia among the unreached. We can't wait for that to happen.
- 24:10Wow, that is incredible. You know, as you were talking about the excitement,
- 24:14like the eagerness, the anticipation I was picturing, which sometimes happens
- 24:19to me, I was picturing, and I'm not a surfer, so I don't know why I'm picturing
- 24:23surfing kind of metaphors in my mind, but it's a little bit like you've paddled
- 24:27out, you've got the board,
- 24:29you're in the right spot, and you're just waiting for that wave to come.
- 24:34That is your wave and you get to see and experience the goodness that that is.
- 24:40I'm picturing that and I'm listening to what you're saying and I'm just thinking
- 24:44about how amazing it is to be ready and to be waiting and to have expectation.
- 24:51You know that that next perfect wave is coming and you are well positioned for it.
- 24:58In that story of Jessica, I just wonder, you know, if you were to tell her in
- 25:0223, when she gets this idea in her head that I'm just going to see if anybody
- 25:06wants to come and you were to tell her, hey, guess what?
- 25:10Six months from now, 12 months from now, 18 months from now.
- 25:14There's your entire village is going to hear or this entire region is going
- 25:18to hear because of this single, simple act of just inviting a few friends over
- 25:24that you're connected to.
- 25:27And that's just amazing to me. It's just amazing. That's what God can do.
- 25:31And I think that, that surfing analogy is very appropriate, right?
- 25:34In that picture that I'm picturing out of my mind, we don't control the water.
- 25:41God moves the waves as He wants. They start when He wants, they stop when He wants.
- 25:46We are just trying to be in the place where He is moving and holding on in alignment
- 25:51with Him for as long as we can to be witnesses to something amazing.
- 25:57There we are. There's the Holy Spirit bumps right there. Just got them.
- 26:01Yeah, we're not in control. That's the thing.
- 26:04Our job is to be ready and to be out there. And so I think it's amazing the
- 26:09way that you guys are able to come alongside with an entire people group, entire region.
- 26:14And 22 countries of people that want to say yes, but don't quite know how to
- 26:21find their feet or get that under them.
- 26:23And you're providing surfboards and surf lessons and all of this stuff to get
- 26:28people ready to be out there to experience what God wants to do through their
- 26:33yes. I think that is just incredible.
- 26:36So how often, I'm just curious, Dave, how often are you actually out and about
- 26:42traveling, meeting with people?
- 26:44Is the majority of this stuff kind of a virtual, you know, we're thankful for
- 26:48this technology, even the technology that we have here to, you know, connect.
- 26:52But how often are you kind of out in far off places meeting and ministering
- 26:58and checking in with people?
- 27:00It's changed over time. In the early years when it was just a small team and,
- 27:04you know, it really started with Sarah and I, we were out there.
- 27:07We were doing different things, visiting different people, you know,
- 27:10kind of checking in and all the things that were going on.
- 27:12But as we've been able to empower others and helping them be able to take more responsibility,
- 27:17then being able to send them to go to all these places, it's been really encouraging
- 27:21for us because we get to empower local leaders to do this thing even more so
- 27:26or even better than we could.
- 27:28As like Jessica, you know, she's one of our local rock stars in Peru.
- 27:31And so we sent her to other places to check out and train and do things and
- 27:35like that. We've just been blessed with God bringing the right people.
- 27:38And that's one of the things that was our prayer from the beginning.
- 27:40It's, God, we can do our part.
- 27:43You need to bring the right people to help us build this together.
- 27:46And that is the staff, the volunteers, the partners.
- 27:50Noble has been a great partner from the beginning. And we couldn't have put
- 27:54that together. That was God.
- 27:55Again, it's the power of yes.
- 27:59Without having everything figured out, you know, as a result,
- 28:03there's no five-year, ten-year plan that we get to do.
- 28:06We can have vision for and have goals and outcomes and things we think God's doing.
- 28:10But we can't plan ourselves into the way where we run out of our dependency
- 28:16on God doing His work, the waves coming, you know, as it were.
- 28:22And I think that that is just fascinating. And so I think here as we get to the end of this,
- 28:29and one of the things I feel like our listeners really love are these opportunities
- 28:32that we have to kind of experience a practice, if you will, something that you love to do,
- 28:41or it could be a new rhythm for you or something you've found has been helpful
- 28:45over time that you can kind of give us something to try.
- 28:49And as we're all looking to grow in intimacy with the Lord, in obedience to
- 28:55Him and experiencing what those yeses look like.
- 28:58Totally, totally. So I would say the practice that comes to mind right now is
- 29:02that of putting your yes on the table before hearing what it's for.
- 29:06You know, that the yes with no questions asked. And it's very simple to do, right?
- 29:10I mean, it's just, you can spend a minute with God and saying,
- 29:13God, whatever is the next thing that you asked me to do, I've already agreed
- 29:17to it. My yes is on the table.
- 29:20Now, what do you have for me?
- 29:22And most of us that are not familiar with this will say, well,
- 29:26God, if I put my yes on the table, what will you tell me to do?
- 29:30And that's kind of like getting on one knee in front of your girlfriend and
- 29:32saying, hey, if I ask you to marry me, what will you say? And that's a wimpy way out, right?
- 29:38This is a bold practice and they could take you on a very, very surprising twist
- 29:43and turn of what God might do.
- 29:45But by the same token, as we mentioned, God already knows what's coming.
- 29:48He knows what he's doing.
- 29:50And putting that yes on the table might mean we don't have to struggle and strive all night fishing.
- 29:56But God might say, you know what? Instead of what you're thinking,
- 29:58cast your nets on the other side and they might be easier than you thought because
- 30:01I'm already there. I'm already providing.
- 30:04I'm already showing up. So I'd encourage everybody listening to this,
- 30:08you know, do you have the boldness?
- 30:10So we almost dare, you know, trust God and say, God, my yes is on the table.
- 30:15Tell me what I just agreed to. I signed a blank piece of paper,
- 30:18write whatever you want in that paper.
- 30:21Wow. We'll be right back.
- 30:22Music.
- 30:32Well, what incredible words that we got to hear from Dave.
- 30:37And if you're anything like me, I'm kind of left with my head spinning a little bit.
- 30:42Actually, if I'm honest, I'm
- 30:44reflecting on my own life and in ways that I have, you know, talk to God,
- 30:49fears that I had about giving him my yes and just thinking about even my own
- 30:54story of being raised in the church and the opportunities that I had to really
- 30:59lean in and actually deciding not to at portions of my life.
- 31:04And I think that this is something that is actually crucial for us to do as
- 31:09we listen and respond to stories like this is really counting the cost of what
- 31:13are some of the things where we can say, absolutely, I gave God my yes and look what he did.
- 31:18And maybe there's even moments if you're like me, where I think back to maybe
- 31:23opportunities that I could have said yes, but I actually did not.
- 31:26And in almost the morning, I don't know what I missed out on.
- 31:31And I'm not a big FOMO guy, but I don't know what could have happened as a result.
- 31:36So Dave and Reflejo, what an amazing ministry.
- 31:41In the podcast notes at the bottom where you click to listen to this episode,
- 31:45we've put some notes there where you can learn more about their ministry.
- 31:49Also on our Novo page, there are a few stories from our story map that are directly
- 31:54from the field from our friends at Reflejo that you can read about there as well.
- 32:00And we do hope that you will get involved with them as you feel led.
- 32:05One of the things that I loved about what Dave said was kind of this blank check
- 32:09idea of just putting your yes on the table and seeing what God does with it.
- 32:15What an amazing practice to do as an individual.
- 32:18You know, I feel like as we're looking at Cave Table Road, there's a cave application to that.
- 32:24Maybe in doing this in a kind of meeting place, prayerful posture of God, I want to give you my yes.
- 32:30And see what he does with that yes.
- 32:32There's a community aspect to this. There's an opportunity to do this at the
- 32:36table where you talk with friends.
- 32:38Guys, this is what I feel God's saying to me.
- 32:41What does that sound like to you? And you can come around together as a community
- 32:46and really develop what those yeses look like.
- 32:50And of course, obviously the road application of actually putting your feet
- 32:54to the pavement with obedience and following Jesus into that yes in order to see what he does with it.
- 33:03I absolutely love that discipline.
- 33:06And I'm even thinking about doing that with my kids tonight around the table.
- 33:12And as a good father and representing that to them, if they put a yes on the
- 33:16table in front of me, what are the things that I am going to supply for them? Is it dessert?
- 33:21Is it a chance to go out? Is it an experience that we get to have together?
- 33:24I want to reward the yeses that they give me as a father. how much greater would
- 33:31our Father in heaven do that for us?
- 33:33And so thank you guys so much for being here, for listening to this podcast.
- 33:38And yeah, I just wanna bless your yes,
- 33:42that the Lord will come alongside you and that the risk that you take in following
- 33:46him will be oh so worth it by watching him show up in ways that you did not
- 33:52expect by enabling you to see things that you really don't feel qualified to see,
- 33:59but it's because the Lord qualifies the unqualified in Jesus' name.
- 34:05So as we wrap up this episode, we want you to know that you too are called beyond.
- 34:10We believe there is more that God desires for your life than you could possibly ask or imagine.
- 34:15Are you eager to cultivate a healthy, fruitful, and holistic walk with God?
- 34:20We bless you in Jesus' name to experience spiritually rich times in the cave,
- 34:25around the table and on the road.
- 34:27We pray and believe for transformation in your personal relationship with Jesus,
- 34:31your community with other believers, and in the missional spaces the Spirit
- 34:36of God is inviting you into.
- 34:38Music.
- 34:39Let your hope rise up, let your kingdom come,
- 34:44let your will be done, even here or now.
- 34:59Thank you for listening to today's episode. Call Beyond is a production of Novo Mission, Inc.
- 35:04To learn more about Novo's commitment to multiply movements of the gospel and
- 35:08mobilize the church for that mission, we invite you to check us out on our website
- 35:11at novo.org or follow us at Novo Mission on Facebook or Instagram.
- 35:16The music in today's episode was written by the band Wild Earth and used with
- 35:20permission from the artist.
- 35:21Thank you again for giving our podcast a listen. We hope you'll join us for more Called Beyond.