3ABN On the Road

Moving Forward in Faith

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Monique Brown

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR001032


01:01 Good morning. Good morning.
01:03 How are we doing today?
01:06 Are we awake? Yeah.
01:08 Amen.
01:09 I'm trying to see how many of us are awake
01:12 by your response.
01:13 It seems like some are still sleeping but that's okay.
01:16 Amen. Amen.
01:17 I'm so happy to be here today, because every day
01:21 that we are alive is another day
01:24 we get to experience the love of Christ.
01:27 And it's also another day that we can tell someone else
01:30 about the love of Christ.
01:32 Let us have a word of prayer and then we will do
01:35 our devotional thought for today.
01:37 Heavenly Father, we thank You so much
01:40 that You have given us another day of life.
01:43 Lord, we have health, we have strength
01:47 but most of all we have peace because we know
01:50 that we are reconciled with You through Jesus Christ.
01:53 May we today and this morning Lord,
01:56 learn something new that we can use in our own lives
02:00 as we minister to others.
02:02 Help us to see what we can personally rise up
02:05 because we have been saved for service
02:08 and it's in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.
02:12 So calling men and women to the mission field.
02:17 If we went like in the call to the mission field
02:21 to the call to receive on our cell phones
02:25 the intensity and the response
02:27 might be different for everybody.
02:30 So for some the call to the mission field
02:35 might be that really loud ring tone.
02:44 And for some of us will quickly pick-up the phone
02:46 andwe will say, hello Lord,
02:48 yes, I'm ready to work for You today.
02:51 I was waiting for Your phone call.
02:54 For others if we're too busy or we're not quite ready
02:59 to pick-up we'll just say to ourselves
03:03 I'll pick-up that phone call little bit later
03:05 or I'll just call Him back.
03:08 For others the call might be more like a vibration.
03:18 And some of us will pick-up that call and we'll say,
03:22 Father, I almost missed Your phone call
03:24 but, yes, I'll labor for You today.
03:29 For others it might be the perfect excuse to say
03:34 I'm sorry I missed Your call, it was on vibrate
03:39 or unfortunately the call might be missed
03:43 because the phone was on silent.
03:46 Now in my life it's been all three
03:49 because my phone was on silent
03:52 until I was baptized in June 2009.
03:56 And then it was switched to vibrate
04:00 and one day I was in class,
04:02 I was working on my PhD in New York City
04:05 and the vibration started to go off
04:09 and the Lord said I need you to work for Me.
04:13 And I sat in class and it was a chemistry class
04:16 so there were reactions every where on all sides
04:19 and I said, okay, Lord, I'll work for You.
04:24 No problem, because by trade I was a forensic scientist
04:28 with the New York City police department.
04:31 And so it was great.
04:33 During the day I'll go to work and during the weekends
04:36 I will server the Lord, no problem.
04:40 Then in March 2011 the ringtone went off
04:45 and it was loud and clear.
04:48 And God said I need you to work for Me fulltime.
04:54 Now that one I didn't pick-up right away.
04:57 I said you know, what, I'll have to call You back
05:00 on that later, God.
05:02 But then He called again
05:05 and eventually in September 2011
05:08 I resigned as a forensic chemist
05:10 with the New York City police department
05:13 and I went to work for the Lord fulltime.
05:17 And so when I speak with you this morning
05:19 about God calling us to the mission field
05:22 am I speaking to you from a perspective
05:24 that I can't relate to?
05:27 I'm speaking to you because I can relate
05:31 and I can share with you thousands of testimonies
05:34 in my little time how God has provided
05:37 and how God has used me to do His work.
05:40 But I'm least excited in sharing
05:42 what God has done for me
05:44 than I'm and what God can do for every one of us in here
05:49 because God wants us all to work for Him.
05:53 Let's turn in our Bibles
05:55 to John 20:19-23.
06:02 John 20:19-23
06:14 and it says,
06:16 "Then the same day at evening,
06:19 being the first day of the week,
06:21 when the doors were shut
06:23 where the disciples were assembled
06:24 for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
06:28 and stood in the midst, and saith unto him,
06:31 Peace be unto you.
06:34 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands
06:37 and his side.
06:39 Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
06:44 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you,
06:49 as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
06:54 And when he had said this, he breathed on them,
06:57 and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
07:01 Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them,
07:07 and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained."
07:12 So let's reflect all the events
07:15 that led up to this moment.
07:17 Here in this room we have 11 men
07:21 but these weren't ordinary men who were ordinary witnesses.
07:28 We have 11 men who witnessed the life of Jesus Christ,
07:33 the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the whole world.
07:40 These men have the privilege of walking with Jesus
07:43 for three and half years.
07:46 They witnessed Him feeding 5,000
07:49 with five loafs and two fishes,
07:53 the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead,
07:56 Jesus walking on water these men could say
07:59 that the blind can see, the lame can walk,
08:04 the deaf can hear
08:05 and the gospel is being preached to the poor.
08:09 Even John and his gospel in the last verse he says,
08:12 if we could write down everything that Jesus did
08:16 the world couldn't contain all the books
08:19 and then he says amen.
08:21 Talk about the clincher I can't wait to get to heaven
08:25 so hear what else Jesus did while He was there.
08:29 So there weren't ordinary men who were ordinary witnesses.
08:34 In my previous occupation when we would have evidence
08:37 we have to record every single detail.
08:40 What did it look like, what did it smell like,
08:44 what was it wrapped in.
08:46 Because we were eyewitnesses to evidence
08:48 that could turn someone's life upside down.
08:54 And these men were eyewitnesses
08:57 to evidence that turned the world upside down.
09:03 And because Jesus was basing the future hopes of His church
09:07 on this little band of witnesses
09:10 He asks them before His suffering and death
09:13 who do you say that I'm?
09:16 Because if you are going to preach the gospel
09:19 you have to believe that I'm the Savior of the whole world.
09:24 Now Peter response, You're Christ, the Son of God.
09:30 But because they fail to see
09:32 that the deaf and suffering of Christ
09:34 was just as important as His life in ministry
09:37 these men are locked in the upper room
09:40 discouraged and hopeless.
09:44 Acts of the Apostle says, "Crushed by despondency,
09:48 grief, and despair, the disciples met together
09:52 in the upper chamber,
09:54 and closed and fastened the doors,
09:56 fearing that the fate of their beloved Teacher
09:59 might be theirs."
10:01 These men were afraid.
10:04 Their faith cannot see beyond their disbelief.
10:09 Have you experienced that?
10:11 And if you haven't experienced its coming
10:15 because there comes a point in every single life
10:18 where our faith comes in contact with the crises
10:22 and it's in the crises that our character is revealed.
10:27 Because if we never came in contact with the crises
10:30 how would we know our characters?
10:32 How would we know we were impatient
10:34 if we were never stuck in traffic on the way to work,
10:38 on the day when we relate?
10:40 How will we know we were selfish
10:43 if someone never asks us for our last item?
10:48 It's through the crises where our characters are revealed.
10:51 And it was in this moment that Christ comes to His disciples
10:55 and He says on to them, Peace be unto you.
11:00 Consider what was going on in their mind at that time.
11:04 They were probably feeling the most disloyal
11:08 for deserting their master, the most doubtful
11:12 about Him being the Messiah
11:15 and the most fearful about their future.
11:19 And Jesus walks into the midst and He doesn't say,
11:22 I told you I would suffer what you guys doing here?
11:27 He doesn't say, I told you
11:29 I would rise again on the third day.
11:31 Oh, yeah, Peter, where is Peter?
11:33 Peter, I told you would deny Me three times.
11:37 He walks into the midst and He says,
11:39 Peace be unto you.
11:42 Not once but twice.
11:46 And then He says, as the Father has sent me,
11:49 so send I you.
11:51 Despite what was going on in their current condition
11:55 Christ says I'm sending you to work.
11:58 So what are some things that we can keep in mind
12:01 when Christ calls us as men and women to the mission field?
12:06 And the first thing is that Christ calls us
12:09 in our current condition.
12:12 He calls us where we are at that time.
12:17 The disciples were probably at that moment
12:20 feeling very low spiritually.
12:23 They probably felt so disloyal
12:26 but instead of throwing them away and casting them aside
12:29 Christ calls them for the mission field.
12:33 I don't know about you but that brings joy to me this morning
12:37 because that shows me
12:38 that when I feel the least spiritually
12:41 God sees the potential to do a great work.
12:45 God sees in me something that I can't see in myself.
12:49 When I was first baptized
12:52 I felt so inadequate for all of--
12:54 all of you all who are born Adventist.
12:56 I didn't know there was a gene for Adventism,
12:58 apparently there is because that's the term
13:00 that's used a lot.
13:02 And there is all these words 2,300 days, bees, horns,
13:05 kingdoms, it just sound like a modern day fairytale to me,
13:09 just in a make sense.
13:11 But God used the little that I knew and He blessed it.
13:16 And as long as I kept my eyes on Jesus
13:19 and I focused on Him God began to add more and more.
13:25 We should never feel that, you know, what,
13:27 I can be a witness for the Master
13:29 because I don't know enough.
13:33 I believe that the less we know intellectually
13:36 is the more we cry out for the Holy Spirit.
13:40 Because we have less confidence of what's in here
13:44 and more confidence in who lives in here.
13:51 We can consider the demoniacs
13:54 whom Jesus delivered in Decapolis.
13:56 Now these men they were so overtaken by Satan
14:01 that they no longer looked like humans,
14:02 they look like wild beast.
14:05 And when Jesus walks into this-- they get off the boat
14:08 and He knew what these men do.
14:09 The disciples go running
14:11 and Christ delivers these two men.
14:14 And these men who terrorize the whole city
14:18 were now clothed and sitting at the feet of Jesus.
14:22 But because others in the city were not ready
14:24 to receive the gospel they forced Jesus out the city.
14:28 And these two men they wanted to go with Jesus,
14:31 they wanted to learn more but Christ told them
14:34 to stay where they were
14:36 and to share what had happened to them.
14:40 These were the first two missionaries
14:43 that Jesus sent in this region.
14:46 And they never heard a sermon that came from His mouth
14:50 but all they knew was what Christ had done for them.
14:54 All they knew was what they had experienced.
14:58 And because of that experience they were able to prepare
15:02 the region for Jesus.
15:04 Because when He came back
15:05 the people were ready to receive Him.
15:09 God wants us to do something as simple
15:12 as sharing the love of Christ.
15:15 I was doing intercity health work in Detroit, Michigan,
15:19 and I have a opportunity to sit down with the lady
15:21 who came for health consultation
15:23 because I specialize in health ministry.
15:25 And she thought she was coming to talk about
15:27 fruits and vegetables
15:29 but God had been working on her heart
15:31 before she came.
15:33 And when she came to the center
15:35 and be began to sit and talk
15:36 she shared her testimony, she had it all at one point.
15:41 She had restaurant, she had stores,
15:42 she had house and cars
15:45 but she also had an unfaithful spouse.
15:48 And when she found out
15:50 instead of turning to the Savior,
15:53 she turned to drugs.
15:56 And next thing she knew 12 years of her life was gone.
16:02 At that moment and time what she needed to hear
16:06 was that God has forgiven her.
16:09 At that moment and time she needed to hear that--
16:12 you know, what, I can move on with my life
16:15 because of the freedom that I have in Christ.
16:19 This is what the world needs to hear.
16:22 This is the witness for which the Lord calls
16:26 and for want of which the world is perishing.
16:29 Consider Paul when he was Athens, was in Athens
16:33 he made logic with alliance, logic with logic,
16:36 philosophy with philosophy, science with science
16:39 that at the end of his time he had little fruit.
16:43 But when he went to comment
16:46 and he determined not to know anything except Christ
16:49 and Him crucified he had much success.
16:54 In choosing men and women for His service
16:58 God does not ask whether they possess worthy wealth,
17:02 learning or eloquence and that makes me very happy
17:07 because I'm very poor and God owns everything
17:11 so I don't have enough worthy wealth
17:14 and I'm so happy that He doesn't choose on learning
17:16 because I'm not very smart
17:18 despite with my testimony sounds like
17:20 I just read very well.
17:22 And I'm so happy He doesn't choose based on eloquence
17:25 because sometimes I say the wrong words
17:28 at the wrong time.
17:30 He chooses us based on our humility.
17:34 He says can I teach them?
17:37 Will they walk in My ways and will they represent Me?
17:42 So when God wants us to work for Him,
17:45 when He calls us to the mission field
17:47 He calls us in our current condition
17:52 but also if Satan can't distract us
17:58 and make us believe that you know, what,
18:00 I don't know we're not to work for him.
18:02 He will distract us on what we have done in the past.
18:05 Remember he is the accuse of the brethren
18:09 and he will make us think
18:11 you're gonna use her or him to do Your work.
18:14 Have you seen what she's done in the past?
18:18 How can she possibly represent You?
18:22 But when I think of that and when I go into God's word
18:26 I'm reminded that the greatest sinners,
18:29 the greatest servants were the greatest sinners
18:32 who are saved by great God.
18:36 Let's listen Noah, he was a junk.
18:41 Abraham was too old.
18:45 Jacob was a liar.
18:48 Lia was tender, right.
18:52 Gideon was afraid.
18:54 David had an affair and he was a murderer.
18:58 Moses had a stuttering problem.
19:01 Rehab was a prostitute.
19:03 Elijah was suicidal. John who ran from God.
19:06 The Samaritan woman had many husbands.
19:09 The disciples fell asleep. Paul was too religious.
19:13 And Lazarus was dead.
19:16 But God still did a great work.
19:20 One of my favorite verses in the Bible
19:23 is when the angels tell the woman at that tomb,
19:26 go tell the disciples and Peter.
19:30 Because that mean that God calls us by name
19:33 even when we fill Him miserably
19:36 He still wants to save us and use us to do a mighty work.
19:41 God calls us in our current condition
19:44 and then He gives us our mission.
19:46 Acts 1:8 says, "And you shall be witness on to me
19:51 in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria
19:55 and on to the other most parts of the earth."
19:58 Then when we look at that on the map
20:00 we know that Jerusalem is in the region of Judea
20:03 and then Samaria is the next region
20:05 and then we the other most parts of the earth.
20:08 Now Jerusalem was considered the most hardest
20:11 and unpromising field because it was there
20:15 that Jesus have begun to plant seeds
20:17 but we know, He wasn't well received
20:19 by the Jews priests and the Rabbi's.
20:23 So if we were to liken Jerusalem to us today
20:27 the hardest and most promising field
20:29 in our missionary experience
20:32 it would be our hearts, it would be ourselves.
20:39 Because the warfare against self
20:42 is the greatest battle that was ever fought.
20:46 The yielding of self, surrendering all
20:49 to the will of God requires a struggle
20:53 but the soul must submit to God
20:55 before it came to renewed and holiness.
20:59 So before we go out wanting to minister to everyone else,
21:04 is it well with our souls.
21:08 Because what good would it be
21:10 if we went and we share the gospel
21:12 and then we never made it to heaven
21:14 to see all the people that we met
21:16 while we were here on earth.
21:19 What a man is has more influence than what he says.
21:25 You see the reason why Jesus was so successful
21:29 in His labors is because He lived what He preached.
21:35 He took time to commune with God.
21:38 He knew where His soul stood.
21:41 He knew, you know, what, I can't commune--
21:43 I can't go and serve and minister to others
21:46 if I have not connected with my heavenly Father.
21:51 And no one was more busy than Jesus was
21:54 but He made time to connect with God.
21:58 He made time to consider himself.
22:03 In order for us to affectively labor for the Master
22:07 we ourselves must have a relationship with God.
22:11 Everyone in here us as Christians
22:14 we should be the most kind,
22:16 the most unselfish and the most curious.
22:21 The strongest argument in favor of the gospel
22:25 is the loving and the lovable Christian.
22:29 You really want to minister, you really want to go out there
22:32 and share the gospel of Jesus Christ
22:34 we ask Christ to come into our hearts
22:36 and to teach us how to be loving and lovable.
22:41 Because how can we love others if we don't know
22:44 the one who is the author of love itself.
22:47 How can we go out and share
22:49 well, how good Jesus is if we never experienced it
22:53 in our own lives.
22:56 When Christ is in us it brings a healing
22:59 and a life giving current.
23:03 How else would Peter shadow be able to heal people?
23:07 Is because Christ was in him and it spread out.
23:13 And when we want to minister, when we want to serve
23:15 we first have to make sure is my-- is my soul
23:19 right with Jesus.
23:21 Am I joyful?
23:24 Because what other see around us
23:26 is what they think of Christ.
23:29 So what are we saying about our Savior?
23:32 Are we saying that He is the source of all our joy
23:37 if we are just as unhappy as everyone else?
23:41 Are we saying He is the provider
23:43 when we are always complaining about something we don't have?
23:48 Are we saying that we can trust Him
23:51 when we go through life just as confuse as the next person
23:54 instead of trusting God's promises?
23:58 Before we go out and save the world
24:01 self examination is something that we can all do.
24:06 As we seek to draw others
24:08 within the circle of Christ love
24:12 the purity of our language, our usefulness for service
24:17 and our joyfulness will be a witness to others around us.
24:23 When I was in college
24:24 I remember there was one gentleman
24:26 and this was before I was converted
24:28 and I would sit in the lunch room
24:30 and every day this gentleman will come
24:32 doing hot wheels, he was always happy.
24:35 He would heart wheels, he would sing
24:37 and it would frustrate me.
24:39 And I will say, I'm trying to enjoy my lunch
24:41 what is this guy doing,
24:43 doing cart west through the lunch room.
24:46 But then eventually Christ got hold of me
24:49 and eventually I have said now with this guy
24:51 who began to speak and I asked him
24:54 why are you always so happy?
24:58 And he said, you know, what, its Jesus Christ.
25:03 He's done so much for me.
25:05 He changed my whole life that I just can't contain myself.
25:09 And so sometimes we don't have to say a word
25:13 but when we reflect
25:14 the love of Christ in our hearts that's enough.
25:18 Someone once said preach the gospel
25:20 and when necessary use words.
25:25 So Jerusalem the hardest and most unpromising field
25:29 for the disciples for us today that would be our hearts.
25:35 And then Jesus says Judea, where is our Judea?
25:41 That would be our families
25:44 because sometimes we can become so immersed
25:46 and going overseas
25:47 and there is nothing wrong with going overseas
25:49 because I'm from New York and I'm here in Australia
25:53 but sometimes you miss the work that lies closes to us.
25:58 Sometimes in our homes if we're fathers and mothers
26:02 our children are lost.
26:06 Our first missionary field as parents--
26:09 I'm not a parent by the way, but if you are,
26:12 if you want to be one day it's your home.
26:16 Because if you aren't raising your kids
26:18 the TV is raising your kids, the radio, or their peers
26:24 and Satan would get a hold of that and will change
26:27 the whole course of their lives.
26:30 But if you as a parent
26:32 if you set that tone in your home,
26:35 if you have morning and evening devotionals,
26:37 if you speak with your children you are doing a mighty work.
26:42 An Adventist home it says
26:43 "No work entrusted to human beings
26:47 involves greater or more far-reaching results
26:50 than does the work of fathers and mothers."
26:54 No other work is far-reaching
26:58 than that of fathers and mothers.
27:01 And if you are a son or daughter
27:04 are we fulfilling God's command
27:06 where it says to honor your father and mother.
27:09 I know I had a hard time doing that
27:11 because I don't have a very happy home.
27:14 I wasn't raised in a functional family,
27:18 very dysfunctional
27:20 and God had to do a lot of work on my heart
27:23 to forgive my parents.
27:25 And every day sometimes I still have to ask and pray
27:28 Father, teach me how to love them.
27:31 But our mission field, our Judea's are those
27:35 that are sometimes in the next room.
27:38 How often do we say, I love you.
27:42 Do we wait for crises
27:44 before our family members hear those words?
27:47 Do we wait till they are in the coffin
27:50 before we say how much we appreciated them?
27:54 Let's put time into our families.
28:00 Samaria well, should be the next region after Judea.
28:04 For us that would be our family--
28:07 that would be our friends and our neighbors.
28:11 When I was in Detroit I did some Bible work
28:15 and missionary work with the church.
28:17 And there was a gentleman there powerful testimony,
28:20 he was immerged in the world and unfortunately
28:23 before he could get out he was in a party scene
28:26 and someone shot him in the back.
28:28 And in one night the course of his life changed
28:31 because now he is forever in a wheelchair.
28:34 But God still uses him to do the mighty work.
28:36 He has a powerful testimony.
28:39 And one day I was walking into church
28:41 and I was extremely busy-- I believe I had to preach
28:43 and so we are just running to church to grab something
28:45 and so I could leap quickly to go somewhere else.
28:47 And I said, happy Sabbath
28:49 and I kept going as happy Sabbath.
28:50 How are you doing? And I kept running on.
28:53 And in my mind I though he said happy Sabbath I'm doing well
28:58 because I had not conquered Jerusalem.
29:02 But later on that afternoon when I sat down with him
29:04 he said you know, what,
29:06 Sister Monica have a bone to pick with you.
29:09 And I said,
29:11 I don't like when people have bones to pick with me
29:13 because I don't eat meat and that's the problem.
29:17 And he says this morning you said happy Sabbath
29:20 and you asked me how I was doing
29:23 and I said terrible and you walked right by me.
29:29 In that moment I miss an opportunity
29:34 to share the love of Jesus
29:37 because I was so wrapped up in myself.
29:41 I was in such a hurry to do something
29:44 that I missed it to serve a friend,
29:48 to serve someone who looked up to me,
29:52 someone who just needed an encouraging word.
29:55 And how often do we do that?
29:57 We take for granted our friends and our neighbors.
30:01 We don't think that they might need an encouraging word
30:04 and we hurry pass them.
30:07 But Jesus the busiest man in the whole world
30:10 was never in a hurry
30:14 yet no one left Him unfulfilled.
30:18 Let's think about it.
30:19 Mary said, if You would have come earlier
30:22 my brother Lazarus he wouldn't have died.
30:25 But Jesus was still on time, amen.
30:29 Let's think about on his way to see Jairus' daughter
30:33 and that going through the crowd and the woman
30:36 who have the issue of blood touches His robe
30:38 and He said who touched me
30:40 and the disciples are like, look at the multitude.
30:42 What do you mean who touched You?
30:43 We have to go see Jairus' daughter.
30:46 But she was healed.
30:48 Jairus' daughter was healed.
30:51 And Christ was never in a hurry.
30:54 No way in the word of God does it say and Jesus ran.
31:00 He took His time and so we should take our time
31:04 ministering to our families and to our neighbors.
31:09 How can we minister to our neighbors?
31:11 We can start by saying hello, good morning.
31:15 And we can start by smiling
31:18 because when we smile to someone else
31:21 that might be the only smile they get that day.
31:26 For some people the hug that you give them
31:28 might be the only hug they get that day.
31:32 Can you imagine, they say that if you get 16 hugs
31:37 I believe it is, don't quote me on it,
31:39 that it helps you to lower your blood pressure.
31:42 Sixteen hugs a day.
31:43 When I heard that I just started hugging people.
31:46 I don't even know them, I just say, give me a hug,
31:48 give me hug, I need to get my quota in.
31:51 But those are the little things that we can do
31:53 to those that we know, those who are our friends,
31:56 those who are our neighbors, to show how much we care
31:59 and to show that Jesus loves them.
32:02 when we see our friends going down the wrong path
32:05 let's not take the approach of godly work on them,
32:09 Jesus will won't work on their hearts.
32:12 Jesus wants to use you to save your friends
32:15 and to save your neighbors.
32:18 In Ministry of Healing it says that,
32:20 "We should study how you can best help those
32:23 who take no interest in religious things."
32:28 We should study how to serve
32:30 those who don't believe in Christ.
32:32 Sometimes we thing, they don't believe in Christ
32:35 I got to run. I can't help them.
32:39 But what we should do is see the points
32:41 where we can connect with them on.
32:43 They might not believe in Christ
32:44 but you know, what, last time I said
32:47 we all get hungry and we all like to eat.
32:51 Maybe I can just invite them over for dinner.
32:54 Maybe I can invite them over to a health talk.
32:58 The health message is one of the easiest ways
33:01 that we can reach the hearts of men and women.
33:04 Because everyone is sick these days, almost everyone
33:08 and our health message is the right arm of the gospel.
33:14 How do we reach our neighbors and friends?
33:18 Just by taking time and by finding ways
33:24 that we can save them through the power of Christ.
33:28 Judea and then the other most parts of the earth,
33:33 what is that mean for us today, everyone else.
33:37 So when I first started to do God's work,
33:40 when I first thought of literature evangelism
33:42 and this was when I was still working
33:44 and I woke up one day and I had some glow tracks
33:47 and I said Lord, I'm gonna give this to someone today.
33:51 I'm not gonna put it in their mailbox
33:53 though there is nothing wrong with that.
33:54 I'm not just gonna you know, slide it, you know,
33:56 on the table though there is nothing wrong with that.
33:59 I said, Lord, give me the courage
34:01 to hand it to somebody.
34:03 And so I went to the bus stop
34:06 and there are a couple of people that were there
34:08 and my heart was beating like crazy and I was afraid
34:11 and I said, Lord, I don't know who to give this to.
34:13 And so I just waked up to one gentleman
34:15 and I walked, hey, how are you doing
34:17 and I just gave it to him and I left them.
34:20 And I said oh, Lord, hopefully that blesses him.
34:23 And he comes back over to me
34:25 and he says what church are you from?
34:28 And ask camera says no I answered
34:31 I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian
34:32 have you heard of us?
34:35 And he says yes, I grew up at the Seventh-day Adventist
34:39 but I left the church.
34:42 And on the back of the card
34:44 I stamped the church that I attended
34:46 and he said thank you so much for this.
34:49 I want to start going back to church.
34:52 So the other most parts of the earth
34:55 it could be the bus driver,
34:58 it could be the person on the chair next to you,
35:01 it could be the co-worker that you pass by
35:03 every single day and you never even look at them.
35:07 We should pray and ask God for opportunities to minister
35:12 and they will come.
35:15 Right before I left my job about two weeks before
35:19 I got into a car accident and I expected it
35:22 because when you're getting late to work for the Lord
35:25 to do anything things are going to go wrong
35:27 because the enemy will be upset.
35:30 And I got into this accident
35:32 and I said, oh, great, this is wonderful.
35:35 I asked the Lord well,
35:36 hopefully I can minister to this person
35:39 and so we got out, we exchanged details,
35:41 and I had Steps to Christ
35:43 and after we exchanged insurance information
35:45 I gave him the Steps to Christ and we began to talk.
35:49 And he also grew up
35:51 in the Seventh-day Adventist church.
35:54 There are many who have left the fold
35:56 that God wants to call them back
35:58 and He wants to use us to do it.
36:01 And he said things happened.
36:04 I started to work on the Sabbath and after a while
36:06 I just drifted away.
36:09 And after we had that conversation
36:11 I encouraged him.
36:13 You grew up in this wonderful message.
36:15 You know that you to back our Sabbath day,
36:17 Jesus loves you He wants you to come back.
36:20 Won't you come back?
36:22 And I said a prayer with him.
36:24 Now I don't know what happened after we left
36:27 but God knows what happens.
36:30 And sometimes all God want us to do
36:32 is plant that little seed and God will give the increase.
36:38 He doesn't need us to do everything all at once.
36:42 Sometimes He just wants us to play a little part.
36:47 In the United States there is the Golden Gate Bridge.
36:51 Is anyone familiar with the Golden Gate Bridge?
36:53 Very popular bridge in California.
36:56 Its also the number one bridge for suicides,
36:59 suicidal jerks in America.
37:01 Number one, people will fly, people will take buses,
37:04 people will drive to this bridge to die.
37:08 This bridge it was open in 1937 and since then
37:14 more than 1,400 people have jumped from this bridge.
37:19 This bridge is 75 meters high
37:23 and when you hit the top of the water
37:26 you're hitting at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
37:31 As you would expect most people die upon impacts
37:35 but some people don't and Kevin Hines
37:40 was one of those men who didn't die.
37:45 And when he shares his testimony
37:47 he shares that he was on his way to the bridge,
37:50 he was on the bus and he was crying
37:53 and he purposed in his mind, he said, God,
37:57 if one person stops me on the way to this bridge
38:01 I won't jump.
38:03 If one person will tell me how much they care
38:06 I won't do it.
38:09 As you would expect no one stops, no one asked him.
38:13 he gets to the bridge and he stood on the bridge
38:17 for 40 minutes.
38:20 No one asked him what was wrong.
38:24 Someone did come up and they asked him
38:26 if will take a picture of them.
38:30 And he took the picture and it was than point
38:33 that he realized that no one cared and he jumped.
38:37 But someone did care and His name was Christ Jesus
38:42 and He saved him.
38:45 But what about the people who don't make it?
38:49 What about the people who are just waiting for us to say,
38:53 how are you doing?
38:55 Why are you crying?
38:58 Where a society that's so engrossed
39:00 with virtual friends and Facebook friends
39:03 and Instagram and Twitters that we fail to see
39:06 the ones who walk by us everyday.
39:10 Our mission field sometimes it's not some where
39:13 over in Africa though there is nothing wrong with that.
39:16 Sometimes it's in some intercity
39:19 thought there is nothing wrong with that.
39:21 Sometimes it's the person that's right next to us
39:24 that we miss
39:26 because we are on our phones,
39:29 over engrossed in ourselves.
39:34 None need wait until call to some distant field
39:39 before beginning to help others.
39:42 Doors of service are open everywhere, all around us
39:46 are those who are in need of our help.
39:49 The widow, the orphan, the sick and the dying,
39:54 the heart sick, the discouraged, the ignorant
39:57 and the outcast on every hand.
40:01 And God just wants us to help
40:03 meet whatever need that they have
40:06 because some people won't hear the gospel
40:09 unless you meet a simple need.
40:12 We were knocking on doors in Detroit and we met one lady
40:16 and she was hungry and she needed clothing.
40:20 And we took her request and at the end of her request
40:23 we ask that we could pray for her and she said no.
40:27 Because plenty of people always want to pray for her
40:29 but no one ever helps her.
40:32 She was also an alcoholic.
40:34 We went back the next day with food and clothing.
40:39 And we handed everything to her
40:42 and she just started to cry.
40:45 And she said you are the first group of people
40:48 who helped me in my need.
40:51 And when we left there we asked her,
40:53 can we pray for you?
40:55 And she said, please do.
40:57 Same lady we met a simple need
41:01 and she was able to accept prayer
41:04 and she was able to accept help
41:06 to get deliverance from alcohol.
41:09 A simple need that God want us to meet
41:12 when it comes to different people
41:14 so it can open their hearts to receive more of the gospel.
41:19 Jesus calls in our current condition,
41:23 Jesus then gives us the mission fields
41:27 but then He also equips us for service
41:30 and I'm happy about that because I feel very powerless.
41:35 But when He gives us the Holy Spirit
41:38 we can do anything in His name.
41:41 When we believe in Christ as our Savior
41:45 the Holy Spirit now becomes our guide,
41:48 our counselor, our sanctifier, and our witness.
41:53 The Holy Spirit teaches us
41:56 what to say and who to say it to.
42:00 I won't dwell them to this too much
42:01 because we have a seminar on the Holy Spirit.
42:04 And I encourage everyone,
42:06 so please go to that workshop if you can
42:10 because it's the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to work.
42:14 It's the Holy Spirit that impresses upon us.
42:18 There was one time when I was at a booth
42:21 and a lady came to the booth and she began to speak with me
42:25 and she had health problems
42:27 but she was concerned about her sister
42:29 and then all the sudden something said
42:32 keep talking about her
42:33 and move it from her sister to herself.
42:37 And we began to speak and then all of a sudden
42:40 she began to share her struggles.
42:42 The hatred that she have for her sister
42:45 and she blows out and she starts crying
42:48 and we have to rush to a separate room
42:51 and she began to share
42:53 how she wanted to murder her sister the other night
42:57 and how she had hatred for her sister.
43:01 And so we prayed and we spoke together
43:06 but if I had not prayed for the Holy Spirit
43:09 the opportunity would have been missed.
43:13 The Holy Spirit is what equips us to do God's work.
43:17 When the disciples were waiting for the Holy Spirit
43:21 they did not wait in idleness
43:24 but they were preparing their hearts
43:26 to receive the Holy Spirit.
43:29 They were repenting before God.
43:31 They were confessing their unbelief
43:34 and they were asking God to help prepare them
43:36 for the work that they were getting ready to do.
43:39 For three and half years they missed a lot of things
43:43 that Jesus was trying to tell them
43:45 and at that moment they just wished that they could go back
43:49 and they could hear once again
43:51 and they could see what Christ was trying to teach them.
43:56 Let's not miss this opportunity to work for Christ.
44:01 Let's not look back on our lives
44:04 five, ten, fifteen, twenty years from now
44:07 and say I wish I could have lived those years
44:09 working for the Lord.
44:11 Let's take advantage of it today.
44:15 Let this weekend be the opportunity
44:19 to really train ourselves
44:20 so we can be equipped to do God's work.
44:24 The greatest want of the world is the want of men.
44:29 Men who will not be bought or sold,
44:33 men whose in their in most souls
44:35 are true and honest,
44:38 men who do not fear to call sin by its right name,
44:42 men whose conscious is as true to duty
44:45 as the needle to the pole,
44:47 and men who will stand for the right
44:49 though the heavens fall.
44:52 That's what Christ wants of us today.
44:55 He wants us to labor for our brothers and sisters.
45:00 For those who are not yet in the fold.
45:05 We're not sent to do battles for God
45:09 but to be used by God to do His battles.
45:14 God can equip us to do mighty things for Him
45:17 as long as we respond to the call.
45:21 Will you answer when the ringtone is super high
45:25 or will you switch it to vibrate
45:28 or will you worse yet turn it to silent?
45:33 When God calls us this weekend to do a might work for Him
45:37 let's pick-up on the first ring
45:40 because He wants us to do a mighty work for Him.
45:44 Let's pray.
45:46 Heavenly Father, we thank You so much
45:48 that though we have failed you in many ways
45:52 You still desire to use us to do a mighty work.
45:56 Be with us this weekend,
45:58 may we take some time not thinking about ourselves,
46:01 not thinking about what we are missing
46:03 but focusing in on the work that You would have us to do.
46:07 And it's in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.


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Revised 2014-12-17