Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY200029A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:03 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for today's special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:00 Mending broken people. 01:14 Hello, and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:17 I'm Jason Bradley. 01:19 And I'm so glad that you could join us. 01:21 You know, when I was a little kid, 01:22 my mother used to read me stories in the morning 01:26 and read me bedtime stories at night 01:28 to connect me with Christ. 01:30 So these were Bible based stories. 01:32 And we are going to be discussing long ago stories 01:36 that matter today 01:37 and with me to discuss this wonderful topic, 01:40 we have Pastor Bradley Booth 01:43 and you're out of Rochester, Minnesota. 01:45 That's right. That's right. 01:46 And we have your lovely wife Maribel Booth. 01:49 And you are a nurse and Spanish interpreter. 01:53 Yes. Yes. Yes. 01:55 So glad to have you on. We have so much to cover. 01:59 And you have written so many books, 02:01 and we're going to dive into story by story 02:05 hopefully just give us a little brief synopsis, 02:08 but before we do that, 02:10 we are going to be blessed in song by Matt Throgmorton. 02:15 And the song is "I'll Tell It." 02:35 I'll tell 02:36 Of my Savior 02:42 I'll tell of His favor 02:49 I'll tell it 02:52 Lord, 02:53 Wherever I go 03:02 I'll count 03:04 Every blessing 03:10 I'll go on confessing 03:16 I'll tell it 03:19 Lord, 03:20 Wherever I go 03:30 What He is 03:34 To you 03:37 Maybe you cannot see 03:43 But this thing 03:47 I know 03:53 He's everything to me 03:57 Oh, He'll be there 04:01 Meet me there 04:05 Then go where He's prepared 04:11 I'll tell it, 04:14 Lord, 04:15 Wherever I go 04:24 And 04:26 If I were dying 04:32 With just one word 04:35 To say 04:38 I'd speak it 04:42 For Jesus 04:46 And breathe my life away 04:51 'Cause He'll be there 04:56 Lead me there 05:00 Then go 05:01 Where He's prepared 05:06 I'll tell it 05:09 Lord, 05:10 Wherever I go. 05:36 Amen. 05:37 I'll Tell It, what a powerful message 05:38 and we're talking about storytelling. 05:41 So I wanna get into the stories, 05:44 but I wanna go back into your background. 05:47 So just give us a little bit about your background? 05:51 Background's similar to yours, 05:53 grew up in a little country home 05:54 with a mother and father, 05:56 who believed that the Bible is the number one rule of faith 05:59 and if you wanna teach your kids 06:00 how to live a good life 06:02 and prepare for themselves for heaven 06:03 and be missionary for Jesus and have a great walk, 06:06 you know, have faith with Jesus Bible stories 06:09 so all the time. 06:11 I mean, in the morning on the way to school, 06:13 we were memorizing verses of scripture 06:15 for the Pathfinder JMV thing, right? 06:17 Yeah. And night, always a story. 06:19 Sabbath after church. 06:21 My mother always make us all go in, 06:24 there's eight of us kids, 06:25 sit and listen to my father read stories. 06:27 Wow. 06:28 While she prepared dinner 06:30 and we wanted to help and she said, 06:31 "Nope. This is your time with father." 06:33 Very wise woman. Yeah. 06:35 I learned at an early age to sit and listen 06:40 as well as tell stories. 06:41 My mother was a grand storyteller 06:43 from New England. 06:45 I mean, she could hold 06:47 audiences spellbound with scary stories, 06:49 Bible stories, miracle stories. 06:52 I just admire that woman so much. 06:53 All kinds of stories. Oh. 06:55 Yes. 06:56 And I love the fact that she gave you guys 06:58 that time with your father. 07:00 And it was kind of like the high priest of the home 07:02 at that moment setting that up there. 07:04 Yes. What about you, Maribel? 07:07 I love to read Bible stories. 07:10 So I started reading Bible stories 07:13 with the Bible stories from Maxwell. 07:15 Those were the ones that I loved. 07:17 My brother got them for me. 07:19 And I remember after I read all the books, 07:22 I said, "Oh, man, I need more." 07:25 Yes. 07:26 Yeah, I was not as much as Brad, 07:28 but I love Bible stories. 07:29 Yes, that's true. 07:31 So you went from loving Bible stories 07:34 to creating Bible stories. 07:37 You know, it's a tough generation 07:39 in which we're living. 07:41 You know that most of the books that are being written 07:43 are about mythological characters, 07:45 Harry Potter type series, 07:46 everything that is grandiose the supernatural 07:49 and wars stories 07:54 and to get boys to read 07:55 pretty much that's what people think 07:56 they have to do and so, 07:58 of course, boys get used to that. 07:59 I said, "Lord, we have to help change this narrative around. 08:02 Lord, what can we do?" 08:04 So about 50 years ago, I said, 08:06 "I guess, Lord, I'm gonna try to help." 08:10 So I wrote, started writing for boys. 08:14 And, of course, it's branched out now, 08:15 I write for adults 08:16 and I write for girls too, but... 08:18 What was your first book that you wrote? 08:20 They Call Him The Miracle Man. Okay. 08:22 Is a spoof on the Fourth Wise Man. 08:25 And he kind of looking for Jesus 08:26 and he meets these nine different characters, 08:28 who were closely interacting with Jesus, 08:31 you know, Zacchaeus, Lazarus, Simon the Pharisee. 08:35 Okay. 08:36 A thief on the cross, before he came to the cross. 08:40 And of course, you know, it takes a little imagination, 08:43 but these are lifelike scenarios 08:46 that probably could have happened. 08:47 Okay. 08:48 And this man, of course, is a little bit doubting. 08:51 So I placed that in the narrative doubting 08:53 a little bit. 08:54 So he actually never gets to meet Jesus. 08:56 When he finally sees him, He's already dead on the cross. 08:59 But he does meet Him about three weeks later, 09:02 on the Sea of Galilee 09:04 with all the 500 people so it's a... 09:08 Yes, very... 09:09 Imagination story. Very interesting. 09:11 Interesting story. 09:13 I see that you focus on Bible stories. 09:15 Yes. Now, what's behind that? 09:18 Like, why just Bible stories? 09:20 You know, a lot of people try to get me to go 09:23 and to write some novels for, 09:26 you know, New York Times bestseller list, 09:28 you know, that type of thing. 09:30 And I said, "What's gonna matter? 09:32 When I'm done in life and when I meet my maker, 09:35 those kinds of books will mean nothing. 09:38 If I can bring somebody to know Jesus and actually win, 09:42 help them win them for heaven. 09:45 For eternity, 09:46 I will be reflecting on that saying, 09:48 'I'm glad I did.'" 09:50 So I have a policy in life. 09:51 I was saying this long before it became a populous theme. 09:54 No regrets. 09:57 No regrets. 09:58 Do what you do to honor God, your parents, your church. 10:02 You'll have no regrets. 10:03 Yes, yes. 10:05 Now that's got to be hard in terms of being a pastor, 10:09 being an author, being a family man, 10:12 I mean, you have so many things 10:14 like how do you prioritize your time? 10:18 Well, Maribel would have some things to say about that. 10:23 First of all, you will find, 10:24 anybody will find there's a lot of spaces 10:26 in a day that we waste. 10:28 We watch TV, and sports. We play on our cell phones. 10:34 I'm not saying I never do those things, 10:36 but usually I'm not watching a football game alone. 10:39 I'm also editing 10:41 the latest chapter for something. 10:42 Got you. 10:44 Or I'm jotting down ideas that I see. 10:45 Even when I have a guest preacher come, 10:47 I'm jotting down ideas 10:48 that I'm inspired by what he's saying. 10:50 Yes, yes. 10:51 Wow, that would make a great article. 10:53 That would be an inspiring book. 10:54 It happens. 10:56 So you're taking, in other words, 10:57 you're taking multitasking 10:58 to the ultimate level pretty much. 11:00 Yeah, truly. 11:01 Taking too much sometimes. 11:02 Absolutely. Yes. 11:04 And so how do you come into play 11:07 while he's writing and all of that stuff like, 11:10 have you ever talked to him about some of the stories? 11:14 And I mean... 11:17 First of all, like our granddaughter says, 11:20 "I really enjoy seeing him writing for God." 11:23 I really do because we want our kids 11:25 to learn about Jesus. 11:26 And what best way to do this. 11:29 He spends, if it's time to go to sleep, 11:32 he will be probably till 1:00 or 2:00 or 3 o'clock 11:35 in the morning writing. 11:37 If something comes up and he has an idea, 11:40 he'll wake up. 11:41 And I say, "What are you doing?" 11:42 He says, "I just got an idea. 11:44 I have to write it down." 11:45 So he does that. 11:47 If we're traveling, and he has a project in mind, 11:49 a book in mind like we did just now. 11:52 I'll be driving, he'll be writing, 11:55 but I miss when he's not writing. 11:57 I really do because I know that this, 12:00 all these books are legacy for our children in the future. 12:04 Yes, yes. 12:05 So you're right, this little bit of the process. 12:08 You know, people say, 12:09 "Oh, writing is probably 90% sweat 12:14 and 10% inspiration." 12:16 And they say, "How do you get inspired?" 12:17 Well, when you have the moment and you have the concept, 12:20 if at all possible, write it down 12:22 because that moment may not return. 12:24 So that's what I do with that, 12:27 but, you know, once you start doing this, 12:29 even I dream scenarios, 12:31 and I wake up in the morning with a complete concept 12:35 for a book in my mind 12:36 that clearly must have come from God. 12:39 I mean, it's coming from my psyche, 12:40 from thinking about, 12:42 you know, how to capture great stories, 12:45 but really, how can we make the Bible become real 12:49 to, for a generation who watches movies and is into, 12:53 you know, surreal, 12:54 it's a real nature of our culture, 12:55 you would think that would come easy, 12:57 it is not. 12:59 And so we have to help this generation, 13:02 and that's my mission in life is to transform the Bible 13:06 into something they can see and say, "Ah!" 13:09 Yes, yes. 13:10 That's what it was like. Yes, very, very important. 13:13 Now when writing a book, 13:14 depending on what you're writing, 13:16 it requires a lot of research. 13:17 Which one of your books 13:19 took the most amount of research? 13:22 Have to be the Noah books. Okay. 13:24 Chosen One and The End of the World. 13:25 Okay. 13:27 But close second would be, 13:31 I just finished a book called The Last Call. 13:33 And it's about the end times of the world 13:36 really parallels the Great Controversy, 13:38 the last seven chapters. 13:39 What will we be facing? 13:41 What scenarios can we possibly imagine? 13:44 Our experiences with God 13:46 will be greater than we can imagine. 13:48 The temptations to capitulate and give it all up 13:52 will be greater than anything we have faced now. 13:55 And we read that 13:57 in both the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, 13:58 so I wanted to capture for people, 14:00 not a frightening story, 14:02 but a story that will help them know 14:06 that God is gonna be with them then just like He is now. 14:11 Standing with us in the midst of our trials. 14:13 And then what we're going through 14:15 in our culture right now or even at the door. 14:17 Yes, yes, yes, I believe that we are. 14:20 This thing's coming to a close. 14:22 This is coming to a close. 14:24 So all right, 14:26 which one was your most fun book to write? 14:30 Probably, 14:33 either Guardians of the Mercy Seat, 14:36 I love that era in history, 14:38 time of the judges 14:40 when the place was coming apart, 14:43 but of course, 14:44 we have the beauty of hindsight, 14:46 which we say, "Well, this is what I would do." 14:49 You have to avoid that. 14:50 People say hindsight 2020. Yeah. 14:52 We didn't have hindsight. 14:55 Second close would be What If? 14:56 What If was one of the easiest books 14:58 I've ever been able to write 15:00 because all my life listening to stories 15:03 about Bible characters, 15:04 some of those took no research 15:06 because I remember my mother telling them to me, 15:08 I remember my father reading them to us. 15:10 And with my imagination, of course, 15:12 I tried to put a little spin on the colors and tastes 15:16 and the sounds so 365 Bible characters, 15:19 what if they had not been faithful? 15:22 Or what if they had been faithful? 15:25 Samson, Esther, Eve. 15:28 All of those 15:29 what would have been the results? 15:30 What would the world look like? Where would we be? 15:32 What kind of a parallel universe 15:33 type of thing, 15:34 you know, would we be experiencing 15:36 because of good choices. 15:37 It's all about choices. Yeah, yeah. 15:40 Now I know that you write all these books, 15:43 but I also know 15:44 that you have to prepare sermons. 15:45 And so, I'm wondering with your storytelling 15:49 and all of that stuff, 15:51 how do you prepare your sermons? 15:53 Well, you know, every good sermon 15:55 begins with a story. 15:56 So we wanna capture people's attention. 15:58 Jesus did it. 15:59 You know, He would say, 16:00 "Behold, a certain man went out and found treasure in a field." 16:05 And then He spins from that story, 16:08 the need to search for a treasure in heaven 16:10 where your treasure is, there your heart be also. 16:13 So it starts with a story usually. 16:15 I hear a great story. 16:17 It's sometimes it's a story that's happened to somebody, 16:19 you know, some miracle stories that have happened to us, 16:22 and then there's a Bible story. 16:23 There's always a Bible story. 16:24 There's enough Bible stories 16:26 to go around for every scenario 16:28 that you can ever experience. 16:29 And so I couple those two together 16:33 with a few Ellen White quotes, 16:35 and of course, a myriad of Bible verses, 16:37 not too much. 16:38 People don't usually need a lot to be inspired. 16:41 They need something 16:42 that will just turn their face to Jesus. 16:45 And that's enough. Yes. 16:47 And so that's the goal of the sermons 16:49 is to turn their face to Jesus. 16:51 Amen. Amen. 16:53 That's exactly right. I love that. 16:55 And I love the teamwork that you guys have going on 16:57 because I'm a firm believer 16:59 that teamwork makes the dream work, so. 17:00 Amen. Yes. 17:02 Yeah. So that's a blessing. 17:03 What part about writing books 17:05 brings you the greatest satisfaction? 17:07 You know, people might say, 17:10 "Oh, wow, you know the money." 17:12 I remember the very first letter I got 17:14 from Penny Wheeler at Review and Herald, 17:17 the letter starts out. 17:20 "I hope you are gonna enjoy this journey with us. 17:23 The sale of this book won't pay 17:25 for your kid's college education. 17:28 It won't, you know, help you get that dream trip to Hawaii, 17:32 but it will make the difference in somebody's life." 17:34 So of course, 17:36 having people lives change is great, 17:38 but I have to tell you, writing to me is cathartic. 17:42 I mean, it's as much fun as playing basketball 17:44 and I love playing basketball. 17:45 Me too. I get a rush. 17:47 I don't wanna stop. 17:50 You need to stop at some point. 17:52 Especially when Maribel saying, 17:53 "You need to go to bed, you don't wanna look old." 17:57 Happy wife equals happy life. 17:58 Okay. Oh, yes. 18:00 Yes, I'm taking notes. 18:02 Yeah. Yes. 18:04 That's right. 18:05 Okay, so which one would you say 18:07 that you enjoy more writing books for adults 18:10 or writing books for children? 18:12 And if you don't have a favorite, 18:17 what are your reasons for each category? 18:19 I'm not gonna play both sides of the coin 18:21 because we write it right. 18:24 Probably more books for kids now 18:26 because I've been a teacher for 18 years 18:28 in junior high and elementary classroom. 18:31 And I just, I'm saddened when I hear kids telling me 18:35 they don't know a story in the Bible. 18:37 They don't know the story of, 18:39 you know, Daniel in the lions' den. 18:40 I'm astonished. 18:42 I'm concerned. 18:45 And so, I wanna write so that kids, 18:48 I've got second generation families now 18:50 coming back, they read the books, 18:51 they're reading the books to their kids. 18:53 So they say please, don't stop writing for kids 18:57 and don't stop, don't change the style. 18:59 Everybody thinks you have to change the style 19:01 with the times. 19:02 You know, you got it, 19:03 when God's got a good brand going, 19:05 don't change it. 19:06 He brands very well. 19:09 So as far as adults are concerned, 19:11 it's very free, 19:12 I don't have to worry about vocabulary. 19:14 What I usually do is I write a book for adults, 19:17 and then I 19:18 'cause I don't dumb down the plot, 19:19 I don't dumb down. 19:21 You know, I don't dumb down the message, 19:23 and message for kids needs to be a serious one, 19:25 be faithful to Jesus. 19:26 Then I go through and I simplify, 19:29 you know, the jargon. 19:31 And make it shorter chapters, 19:32 you know, a little bit shorter sentences... 19:34 More palatable for the... 19:35 A little bit, 19:37 but the adult ones are fun to write 19:39 because, you know, the vocabulary just unfolds. 19:43 Yes. 19:44 Which one would you say is your most challenging? 19:47 Which one's the most challenging? 19:48 Yeah. 19:50 Got to be Children's Century Classics. 19:51 Okay. 19:53 Maribel will tell you that was... 19:56 It's a major project. 19:58 I'll be honest with you. 19:59 We worked so hard on that series, 20:01 they gave us a timeline, it was incredibly short, 20:04 but there's some wisdom in that 20:06 because the shorter the space of time is, 20:08 the more likely those stories will be of the same pattern, 20:12 the same tone, the same type. 20:13 So we really didn't think it was possible 20:17 'cause I was Superintendent of Education, 20:20 traveling everywhere, 20:22 but God was good, and we managed to finish it. 20:25 I don't even really remember writing some of those stories. 20:30 So I'm telling you Maribel, 20:31 you know, I think the Holy Spirit 20:32 was so close at hand. 20:34 I had to be sure I said, 20:35 "Lord, please these stories in these seven volumes set 20:40 parallel to the Ellen White Conflict of the Ages series. 20:44 Starting with The Fall of Lucifer in heaven 20:45 and Patriarchs and Prophets 20:46 ending with the Great Controversy, 20:48 the earth made new and everything in between. 20:50 So this series has, 20:52 you know, the Great Controversy book 20:54 encapsulated in the lives of the reformers. 20:57 You know, Martin Luther, 20:58 there's 30 chapters just on him. 21:00 There's six chapters just on the greatest deceptions 21:04 that Satan will bring at the end of the world 21:07 to try to get God's people the elect to fall, 21:10 our kids need to know that. 21:11 And, of course, it ends with a finale 21:13 with The Time of Trouble 21:14 and wanted to write it in a way 21:15 that it would be frightening, 21:17 but would be encouraging 21:18 and maybe even exciting for kids to realize that, 21:21 "Hey, this is gonna be the best movie ever. 21:25 I'm gonna be in it." 21:26 Absolutely. Absolutely. 21:28 And on the right side of it. 21:30 Every time. 21:31 That's right. That's right. 21:32 So let's talk about some of these, 21:34 we have God Said It. 21:35 Tell me about the God Said It series? 21:37 God Said It series was a idea 21:40 spawned at the General Conference 21:42 by somebody who had a vision. 21:44 And I don't even know who that was. 21:48 I had not been told 21:49 they would choose to remain anonymous, 21:51 but 16 booklets written on characters, 21:54 and it's usually stories in the Bible, 21:56 short stories, four in a book, 21:58 and each book has four coloring pages 22:01 for the kids, 22:03 so if they're in church, they can read up, 22:04 they can color it. 22:06 And so, you know, 22:07 we have all the way we could start again. 22:09 The first creation of man and animals in the earth 22:14 and through Bible heroes like Moses, like Joseph, 22:20 David, Daniel, 22:21 all the way through the time to The God's Final Church 22:24 and The Earth Made New Again. 22:25 So 16 booklets, 22:28 all to be used as shared booklets for kids 22:31 to give to their friends. 22:32 So it's not just about, 22:34 you know, what your kid's gonna be doing with this, 22:35 but can He really bring somebody to Jesus? 22:38 Yeah. So it's an evangelism tool. 22:40 It is. Yes. 22:41 And that's beautiful. 22:43 And I love the fact 22:44 that it has the coloring pages in there for activities, 22:46 keep the kids occupied as well. 22:49 So let's go to our next series here. 22:53 We've got Esther, 22:55 we've got Adventures in Galilee. 22:58 Tell me a little bit about that? 23:00 It all started with an idea that I had 23:02 back to first version I wrote they didn't accept. 23:05 I said, "No, okay." 23:07 So I like challenges, 23:08 you know, I retooled it 23:10 and send it back, they liked it, 23:12 it became Plagues In The Palace, 23:14 it's the story about a kid 23:15 who grows up and ends up being his father, 23:17 ends up being the scribe for Moses and Aaron 23:20 because everywhere they go, 23:21 so he where his father works in the palace 23:23 and so this kid gets a front row seat 23:26 for all of the ten plagues that go on 23:27 and of course, I really love this 23:29 as a boy story 23:30 because it talk about those frogs 23:31 in the bed with you 23:33 and jumping in your cereal bowl, 23:35 and we're talking about grasshoppers hopping on you 23:36 and, you know, chewing on you 23:38 'cause they think you're a blade of grass. 23:40 And we talk about all of these plagues 23:42 that comes to life. 23:44 So if that book, 23:46 they designed it with a half face on the page, 23:50 Glarus Justin and just took the half page, 23:53 half face for the page and they liked it so well, 23:55 that the next six books in the series 23:57 also have the half face 23:59 so that that branded that series 24:00 called Adventures in Faith also biographies of people, so. 24:04 Okay, what about the Lost Treasure series? 24:07 Lost Treasures is... 24:08 I was at Academy and some kids said, 24:10 "Are you gonna write another book?" 24:12 Yes, I'm always writing books. 24:13 And I said, "Yes, 24:15 what would you like me to write about?" 24:16 And he said, "Lost treasures in the Bible." 24:20 I said, "Okay." 24:21 So that's how that series got started. 24:23 There's three in that series so far 24:25 working on a fourth one. 24:27 And, you know, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 24:29 the movie that they made 24:31 about the framing of the Ark of the Covenant. 24:33 My first book is about the real story. 24:36 How it was lost? 24:37 How it was to return again to God's people, 24:39 you know, they didn't know. 24:40 They didn't know that that Ark was coming back. 24:42 Everybody was saying 24:44 the glory of God has departed from Israel. 24:46 Kind of feel that way in America today 24:48 that, you know, somehow we're departing from God 24:51 and we're afraid, 24:53 people are afraid they don't know what's coming. 24:54 This story kind of brings it full circle. 24:57 So people will say... 24:59 So God has a lot of tricks 25:01 that He can pull out of that hat. 25:03 I just need to stick with Him. 25:04 Got you. Got you. 25:06 So there's some treasures in there. 25:07 Oh, yeah. Yes, yes. 25:09 Now the Children's Century Classics set, 25:12 tell me about that? 25:14 Yeah, we were mentioning that a few minutes ago. 25:15 This is seven volumes. 25:17 All hardback, 25:18 that's the first children's series 25:20 I did in hardback, 25:22 the pages are all glossy, very nice glossy, 25:26 literally, you can spill peanut butter 25:27 on that page, 25:29 and the oils will not soak into the page. 25:30 Wow. 25:33 We were told it couldn't be done. 25:34 It was too expensive, 25:37 horrendous prices for artwork today, 25:39 but we managed to work with a company 25:41 that worked with us 25:43 so there's 680 illustrations in this book 25:46 ultra eleven every page. 25:48 There's 280 stories. 25:51 Wow! Two hundred and eighty stories! 25:52 And at the end of every chapter 25:55 is some questions for the kids. 25:57 And then a little cue. 25:59 Cue code thing there that you can scan that 26:01 and it will take you to the website. 26:03 And you could also get these in audiobooks. 26:06 They're all done now on audiobook, so. 26:08 I think someone in the studio was telling me here 26:10 that her son had listened to those 26:12 in fact, he listened to all of them straight 26:15 over several days straight 26:17 and finished them in a matter of days 26:18 because he couldn't put it down, so. 26:21 He couldn't put it down. 26:23 Do you find yourself reading these stories 26:25 or listening to the audiobooks? 26:27 I enjoy looking at these books. 26:31 I haven't read them all yet 'cause there's quite a bit, 26:34 but I enjoy just our grandkids we show them 26:38 especially the oldest granddaughter. 26:41 She has looked at the books and she loves the pages. 26:46 So I do enjoy reading Brad's books, 26:49 especially the ones that are really true stories. 26:52 Those I love. 26:53 These other ones he reads to me. 26:55 He's a good reader, Bible storyteller, 26:59 so he reads to me also. 27:01 Yes, he's got a great voice. Yeah. 27:03 And they're fascinating because it teaches, 27:06 it gets the kids closer to the Bible, 27:09 closer to what really was what happened then. 27:14 And it, to me is just character building too. 27:18 So these books are very important 27:20 for children. 27:21 Now have, you know, 27:22 some books when I'm telling her about the plot she goes, 27:25 okay, I don't wanna hear any more 27:26 until the book comes out. 27:27 Yes. Say I can't handle this. 27:29 You read me chapter and chapter I wanna see the whole thing. 27:32 The others like devotionals. 27:34 She wants to hear themselves, print them off, 27:35 and put them by her bedside. 27:36 And she'll read this one, and she read that one, 27:38 where gonna I find that in the story. 27:40 So from those she got interested 27:42 and now she'd been reading in 1 and 2 Samuel, 27:44 1 and 2 Kings, 27:46 where the bulk of Bible stories 27:48 from both the good side and the bad side 27:51 of the Great Controversy come 27:52 and so you can be greatly encouraged 27:55 by the good stories, 27:56 and learn lessons from the stories 27:57 that aren't so fun. 28:00 People made bad choices. Yes, yes. 28:02 Talk to us about the devotional series. 28:04 What are some topics within these? 28:08 I know you talked about the What If? 28:11 But talk about the 101 Reasons to Go to Heaven? 28:14 101 Reasons to Go to Heaven was an idea that we hatched. 28:17 We were in Thailand, 28:19 we made a flying trip over to Thailand 28:20 where we had lived for three years. 28:22 I was a professor at the university. 28:25 And she was a nurse. 28:26 So we made a flying trip back to teach a summer class. 28:28 Well, of course, you can imagine 28:30 it's 12 hours difference. 28:31 It's 03:00 in the morning and we are wide awake 28:33 because it's time for a 3 o'clock afternoon nap, 28:36 but we have already been sleeping 28:37 for hours. 28:39 So we hatched this idea and actually embed there 28:41 wrote out 101 ideas, things that would be logical. 28:47 Why would you wanna go to heaven? 28:49 Is there a number one reason you wanna go? 28:51 Well, everybody has their own reason. 28:53 And so, the first one is No More Phobias. 28:57 Everybody's afraid of something. 28:59 So I go through all the phobias, 29:00 that technical names for them and I said then I say, 29:03 think about this in heaven No More Fears. 29:07 There's even one in there that says Fear of Sermons. 29:09 Oh, really? 29:11 Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. 29:12 Right. Yeah. 29:14 Public speaking, it's like the number one fear, 29:15 it seems like. 29:16 Yeah. Yeah. 29:18 So that was we... 29:20 There's some serious ones, there's some fun ones. 29:22 No More Bad Hair Days. 29:23 Yes. Well, yeah. 29:25 But and I find myself realizing that most people 29:29 talk about going to heaven 29:31 'cause of the bad things they don't want, 29:33 but what about the good things? 29:35 Yes. Yes. 29:36 What about being able to swim underwater for hours 29:38 with aqua lungs 29:40 or what about being able to fly anywhere 29:41 with unlimited frequent flyer miles? 29:44 Yes. You know? 29:45 Yes. Yep. 29:46 And not having to pay the cost of a ticket. 29:50 Or what about being able to talk with God 29:52 and there I say, 29:53 "I just kind of run the gamut." 29:54 I say, "Wait a minute." 29:56 Well, there's so many people gonna wanna talk with God. 29:59 I'm gonna have to wait for 40,000 years, 30:01 and then I said, 30:02 "Wait a minute. 30:04 God can probably talk to millions of people at once 30:06 and you won't know it. 30:07 You will think He's just talking to you." 30:09 Yeah. 30:10 And that's how it is now 30:11 because that personal individualized relationship 30:15 with Christ, you know, 30:16 one of my reasons is like, 30:18 "I just can't wait to see Jesus face-to-face 30:21 and to be in an atmosphere of pure love. 30:25 No hidden motives, no selfishness, 30:28 none of that stuff, just pure love. 30:31 Like that's gonna be incredible. 30:34 So you have 101 reasons in here to go to heaven. 30:38 Interesting. 30:40 And what other books have you written? 30:44 Well, I mentioned, you know, all books. 30:46 There's a narrative series for adults. 30:48 I wrote a book called The Prodigal: 30:49 A Tale of Two Brothers. 30:51 Yes. 30:52 And that one was, I think that was the second, 30:54 third book I wrote. 30:56 And the idea is we always talk about the prodigal, 30:59 Shaman the prodigal. 31:00 Well, you know, he shouldn't have left home. 31:02 He dishonored his family. 31:03 He actually did more than dishonor his family. 31:05 In the story that I write, 31:07 they scratch his name out of the family lineage, 31:10 'cause he's no longer going to be part of them. 31:11 We see that in Bible chronologies 31:14 that sometimes the son's name must have been removed, 31:18 because you're seeing generations again skipped. 31:20 He did something that dishonored the family. 31:23 Well, what about the brother that stayed at home? 31:25 He was the good guy. 31:27 Well, if he was the good guy, 31:28 why was he so angry when his brother came home? 31:30 So we catch a little bit of this animosity 31:32 that sometimes we feel toward people who go astray. 31:36 I've heard people say, 31:37 "Why do we spend so much money 31:38 to reclaim the lost? 31:40 They don't appreciate it. They don't come to church. 31:42 Why would we do that? 31:43 Let's spend the money on our own people." 31:46 And, you know, that's a very real concern. 31:49 The point is, those of us who stay home, 31:51 we're prodigals too. 31:53 Everybody is a prodigal. 31:56 Unpack that? 31:57 Everybody needs to come back to Jesus. 32:01 Paul said, "I die daily." 32:04 Paul, the great missionary man who probably changed the world 32:07 more than anybody since Jesus 32:09 because he helped set the tone for Christianity. 32:12 He said, "I'm the worst of sinners. 32:15 The things I want to do, I don't do. 32:17 The things I shouldn't do, I do." 32:21 And so that means, 32:23 lest we forget, we are all prodigals. 32:25 We all need to come back to Jesus. 32:27 Every day, I tell people, 32:29 "You must have some time in the morning 32:32 to keep that connection with Jesus. 32:34 Put the armor on in the morning. 32:36 You'll be straying less. 32:39 You'll be leaving less. 32:41 And won't have to make those horrible mistakes 32:43 the prodigal made. 32:44 He was probably the kind of guy that says, 32:46 "Oh, I need to experience these things for myself." 32:50 Bad, bad teacher, I think sometimes. 32:52 And sanctification is the work of a lifetime. 32:55 And sometimes we seem to forget that. 32:57 Yes, yes. 32:58 Talk about the devotionals a little bit? 33:01 Devotionals are the book 33:03 that you can take to read every day. 33:06 And the theme is the secret. 33:08 You know, some of my great ideas 33:11 on themes never panned out 33:13 because I couldn't get enough devotionals to go. 33:16 I marvel at guys like Mark Finley 33:19 or, you know, some of the guys from Voice of Prophecy, 33:21 they read it, "365 devotionals? 33:24 How do you make sure you don't go over territory, 33:26 you've already covered?" 33:28 Of course, me being a teacher, 33:30 you know, I want to entertain the kids 33:31 and I don't want to look old and have a short memory, so. 33:34 One of my, the first devotional I did 33:36 was called Time Warp. 33:38 Okay. I love history. 33:40 I love imagining. 33:41 One of the questions I asked, my members into my sermon, 33:44 says, "If you could go back to a day and time, 33:47 where would you go? 33:49 You got one day." 33:50 And some picks exciting adventure, 33:52 some say the time of Jesus, 33:54 some say, "I want to see the dinosaurs 33:56 before the flood." 33:57 And so, you know, that's a great imagination. 34:01 Station thing. 34:03 So I said, "We can do this." 34:05 Oh, yeah. Right. 34:06 Try to find something engaging for everyday, 34:09 you know, of the year in history. 34:11 Some days, I had 42 things to pick from. 34:14 Some days, I couldn't find even one thing 34:16 that I thought was engaging for kids. 34:19 Some of them were as simple as like, 34:21 the day SpaghettiOs was invented. 34:24 Wow, that's simple! 34:25 Or the day Popeye was first, you know, put in cartoons. 34:30 Well, those may not be 34:32 the most inspirational things for adults. 34:35 But if you look back in your early years, 34:38 you know, spaghetti was a pretty good. 34:40 Popeye, you know, he eats that spinach, 34:42 it's worth it, right? 34:43 So there's always a note at the end 34:45 about what this can do for me. 34:49 What could this lesson do for me? 34:51 How can I be more like Jesus? 34:52 You know, how can I brand God like SpaghettiOs branded, 34:57 the company that... 34:59 Can you remember the name of the company that... 35:00 I can't either. 35:01 It's been so long. I just remember SpaghettiOs. 35:03 Yes, yes. 35:04 But there's always a personal application 35:07 at the end of it, which is powerful. 35:08 Yeah. 35:10 So that was fun, you know, explorers, inventors, 35:12 great sports people in history, 35:14 you know, who broke records 35:16 and I say, really, you know, they were heroes. 35:18 But really, who's the biggest hero? 35:21 Who's the biggest superhero? 35:22 Jesus. Jesus. 35:24 Absolutely. 35:26 Another devotional, Steps to Christ. 35:29 Probably, the greatest devotional book 35:31 of all time, 35:33 translated into like 150 languages now. 35:36 We use it in prison ministries more than any other, 35:40 more than any other book 35:41 because all the prisoners want to know is, 35:44 "Can God still love me?" 35:45 And the next week we come back to do a service, 35:47 they want to hear it again and again. 35:49 So I said, "How can I take this book 35:51 and make it usable for kids 35:53 or for people who are seasoned Christians, 35:55 who already know that Jesus loves them, 35:58 that He'll accept them, no matter who they are, 36:00 what they've done? 36:01 And so we broke it up into 66 devotionals, 36:04 just happened to be 66. 36:05 And we added a story from the Bible, 36:10 a real life story, 36:12 you know, or a story from modern history 36:15 or our mission story of some sort, 36:16 stories that have happened to me, 36:18 story that happened to us in the mission field. 36:20 And then at the end of that we put up either a hymn 36:23 or a very well-known poem that can inspire them, so. 36:27 Steps to Christ: 36:28 Every Day with Jesus is the name of the book. 36:30 Wow, that's incredible. That's incredible. 36:33 For people that are wanting to learn 36:36 how to tell stories, and how can they learn that? 36:40 Can that be taught? 36:43 It can be taught. This is like being a musician. 36:46 Some people are born with the notes. 36:49 They come out of the womb singing. 36:51 Others have to be trained, others have to learn, 36:54 others have to experience, you know, some horror, 36:58 some scary experiences on stage. 37:00 Same thing with writing, 37:02 and reading, and telling stories. 37:04 I think if you're going to become 37:05 a great storyteller, you need to be able to read. 37:08 In other words, 37:09 you need to be able to like to read 37:11 and immerse yourself in the stories 37:13 to become a person, 37:15 a character in that story. 37:16 So that's the best way. 37:18 The second way is that we grow up 37:20 hearing stories told to us, 37:22 our parents or our grandparents or a teacher, 37:25 and we just hung at every word 37:27 because they were a great storyteller. 37:28 It's a dying art. 37:30 You don't hear a lot of good storytellers now. 37:33 There are now organizations who have contests, 37:36 and I was looking at one the other day. 37:37 And the kids come from all over the world 37:39 to tell their story. 37:41 And it's quite inspirational. 37:46 If you want to be a great storyteller, 37:48 you probably need to write. 37:51 You might not think you're the greatest writer, 37:54 write out your thoughts, write out your inspiration, 37:57 the colors you see, the smells, the tastes. 38:00 Yeah. Very descriptive. 38:02 Very descriptive. 38:04 And because you need to be descriptive in a story 38:07 to get people to be there. 38:09 And, of course, there's the trick 38:11 of telling stories to children, telling stories to adults. 38:14 Adults can handle more details, 38:16 but sometimes they just want to race on 38:19 and get to the... 38:21 They want to get to the plot. Out to the plot, you know? 38:22 Yes, yes, yes. 38:24 So when you're writing for kids as opposed to adults, 38:29 what kinds of things do you include 38:33 that grasps their attention the fast? 38:36 'Cause I would imagine 38:38 that you have to grab their attention immediately. 38:41 Yeah, you better have some adventure 38:42 really, really... 38:43 In the first chapter, you better have some adventure. 38:45 So I'm writing a book about Samson 38:47 right now for kids. 38:49 It's gonna be a new series called Bible Mystery Stories. 38:52 And it's a very mysterious story. 38:54 A lot of people probably didn't know 38:55 where he got his strength. 38:56 They knew he had it, but what was it? 38:58 Did they know that his hair was the secret? 39:01 We don't really see that in the narrative. 39:04 So they're wondering, 39:05 "Okay, he's blessed by God, clearly." 39:07 He's not a ordinary human being. 39:10 Is he a human being? 39:11 Well, yeah, he was. 39:13 He made a lot of dumb mistakes like most humans do. 39:16 And so in that first chapter, 39:19 those kids in that story intersect with Samson. 39:22 And I'm not gonna tell you what it is 'cause, you know, 39:23 I just want to... 39:24 Yeah. 39:26 For kids, it's a little different. 39:27 For adults, you want to capture them 39:30 and try to get them 39:31 to relate to the story as soon as possible. 39:34 Is this a thing that I would be interested in? 39:37 Like 101 reasons to go to heaven. 39:38 Yes. Yeah. 39:40 Or like, what if? 39:42 What if I had been Eve? 39:43 What I have done what she does? 39:46 You know, I don't know. 39:49 See, and that's interesting. 39:51 Oftentimes we say, 39:52 "Well, I wouldn't have done that." 39:53 Well, you never know 39:55 until you were in that person's position 39:57 and with those same circumstances 39:59 going on around you, you never know. 40:02 And you see in today's day and age, 40:05 where we do similar things to what we see in the Bible. 40:08 I make it in black and white, I say, 40:11 "So, if you were in a place 40:14 where people were not talking about Jesus, 40:18 and they were actually antagonistic about Jesus, 40:20 would you talk about Jesus?" 40:22 Oh, well, there were three guys who got thrown into a furnace 40:27 because they only talked about God. 40:30 Could you do that? 40:32 Or would you say, "Well, 40:34 I'd rather live to see another day 40:35 and be faithful to God tomorrow." 40:38 That's not how it goes. 40:39 No, you have to operate within the time at all times. 40:42 What if we want to read the stories about Shadrach, 40:46 Meshach, and Abednego or Daniel saying, 40:49 "Okay, I'll pray 40:50 even though it's going to cost me. 40:52 I know I'm going into lion's den." 40:53 Daniel know, he's no slouch, he knows he was a statesman. 40:57 He knew what that decree said. 41:00 Oh, yeah. Or the story of Jonah. 41:02 Okay. 41:03 Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. 41:07 Maybe we wouldn't want to do a quite the way he did it, 41:09 but we'd rather be doing what he did in the end. 41:12 Not at all. 41:13 Absolutely. What if? 41:14 Absolutely. What if? 41:16 What's your favorite Bible story? 41:19 My favorite Bible story of all time, 41:21 I have to be honest. 41:23 I'm not a guy that likes, you know, violent war movies. 41:26 But I think David and Goliath. 41:29 I think there's something in every boy that says, 41:32 "I want to be the hero. 41:34 I want to be the champion. 41:36 And then in the end, 41:39 I want to also make God look good." 41:43 Can you do that? Yes! 41:45 I think God gives us chances to do that. 41:47 And sometimes I think we're really surprised 41:49 that God does in such a dramatic, 41:51 dramatic way. 41:52 Yes. 41:54 And to that, 41:56 someone on the outside looking in, like, 41:58 you know, in terms of outward appearance, 42:00 David was the underdog 42:01 but really he had God on his side. 42:03 So he, I mean, he had it in the bag pretty much, 42:07 and Goliath was, 42:08 you know, was the giant, but, um, but yeah, 42:11 it's easy to want to identify with David too. 42:15 That is... Yeah. 42:16 Yeah, we get the idea 42:17 that David's just kind of bumbling along, 42:20 "Oh, well, here I am." 42:22 You know, playing the harp for, you know, King Saul. 42:24 "Oh, here I am. 42:26 Oh, Samuels, anointing me for something. 42:27 I don't know." 42:29 Oh, he says, "Oh, here's the giant. 42:30 Well, I can't have him to be dishonoring God." 42:32 Actually, Ellen White says, 42:34 "The angel of the Lord came and impressed David 42:38 that He needed to go and do great things for God." 42:42 As it, while he was a shepherd boy, 42:44 walking among the smelly sheep, 42:46 low worst job in Israel in those days 42:49 was to be a shepherd. 42:50 And we don't really capture that. 42:52 But his brothers look down on him. 42:56 They look down on him, 42:57 even though he was part of the family 42:59 because he was the sheep guy. 43:00 Yes. Yes. 43:03 What's your most popular book? 43:06 My most popular book 43:07 among the Bible storybooks here, 43:09 I think would probably have to be 43:13 Shepherd Warrior. 43:14 That one is sold by the NAD for all schools, 43:18 and all school curriculums, 43:19 use it for the fifth grade reader, 43:21 and also plugged in the participants. 43:24 This Shepherd Warrior is the story about the boy 43:27 who was a shepherd and became a warrior. 43:30 But really, he was already being a warrior 43:32 before he ever went and met Goliath. 43:35 He had already killed lions and bears 43:37 and he actually was known in those parts of the country 43:40 as being a Man of War. 43:42 But we also get the impression he was still a kid. 43:45 So think about that. 43:47 In those days kids didn't get respected 43:49 and go to war, 43:50 officially until they were 21. 43:51 Wow! 43:53 David couldn't have been more than 17 maybe, 43:56 maybe younger, some want to put him younger, 43:58 16, 17, 18, he is still a boy 44:00 doesn't belong in the battlefield. 44:02 He's too scared to fight a battle, 44:03 but he's killing lions and bears. 44:06 And he told that story to King Saul 44:08 before he even actually went out 44:10 and fought Goliath. 44:12 So here's a young man 44:14 who was considered a brave heart. 44:17 And the rest is history. 44:19 Yeah, absolutely. 44:21 And it's incredible. 44:22 I mean, these are real stories. 44:24 These are real life stories 44:26 that everybody should know about 44:28 and everybody needs to know about. 44:30 I also want to tell how you can get these stories. 44:33 So your website, what's your website? 44:36 Website is TheStoryTellers.one. 44:40 TheStoryTellers, T-E-L-L-E-R-S.one. 44:44 TheStoryTellers.one 44:46 I think is going to be on the screen also. 44:47 So if you want to go there, 44:49 you're going to learn 44:50 how you can buy any of these books. 44:52 You also are going to learn some other things, 44:54 how you can get us to come to your church, 44:58 your school, to do a writer's workshop, 45:01 maybe for the high school kids or the junior high kids, 45:05 how you can get us to come 45:06 and do a week of prayer for your students, 45:09 or your church, 45:10 or how you can get us to do a seminar on 45:13 how to become a great storyteller. 45:14 Nice. 45:16 Trust me, there's a lot of ways to do it. 45:17 There's a lot of ways to tell stories with props, 45:21 you know, with animation, 45:23 you know, the first-person, kid's stories, 45:26 miracle stories, mission stories, 45:29 personal stories that happened to you and me. 45:32 The power of a testimony. Yes, yes. 45:35 Now, I know that you've been on mission trips. 45:38 I know that you've been interviewed 45:39 about mission trips, and all of that stuff. 45:43 Just give a brief story 45:45 about one of the mission trips that you've been on? 45:47 Well, I lived in three countries, 45:49 Africa, Russia, and Thailand. 45:53 You know, I think Thailand was the latest. 45:56 I had students there. 45:58 I was gonna collect our stories, right? 45:59 So, as students there, 46:01 tell me the story that sticks out 46:02 in your mind the most. 46:03 And this young man who was a theology major said, 46:06 this guy, 46:08 he knew who had been in an ISIS fighter. 46:09 Oh, wow. 46:11 And he was captured in Malaysia. 46:13 When you do things you should not do in Asia. 46:15 And they're not nice. 46:17 They're not kind to you. 46:18 They won't give you a prison cell with a television 46:20 and great food. 46:21 They just... It's not nice. 46:23 They put him in jail, 46:24 locked him up and he was angry as a hornet, 46:27 because he's a ISIS fighter. 46:30 First chance he gets out, 46:32 he's gonna murder some more people, 46:34 if he ever gets out. 46:36 But he's locked in a cell. 46:37 The only access he has the outside 46:39 is a little door, 46:40 and somebody comes one day 46:42 and slips a Bible into that door, 46:45 never saw it. 46:46 He saw a hand but he never saw who it was. 46:48 And he said, "What's this?" 46:50 Just throw it in the corner. He was so angry. 46:52 And, but he got depressed as the days went by, 46:54 he's thinking about death, he's probably going to die. 46:59 He finally went picked up the Bible, 47:01 about the light, of the, 47:03 light coming into the cell, he started reading. 47:06 And when he got to the gospels, 47:09 he read the story about Jesus over and over. 47:12 And by the fourth time in the Book of John, 47:13 he said, "This is crazy. 47:16 These are the Christians I've been fighting against. 47:19 This is the Man who saved me from my sins." 47:23 And he started to pray 47:25 and just then a dark presence came into a cell 47:27 and grabbed him by the throat 47:29 and held him up off the floor against their cell wall. 47:32 And he said, "Okay, I knew I would probably die, 47:34 didn't know would happen this way." 47:37 And he managed to cry out, "Jesus saved me." 47:41 He knew Jesus now from what he'd read, 47:43 not from anybody who taught him. 47:45 And that force flying across the cell, 47:48 he hit the wall so hard, it knocked him out. 47:52 And when he woke up, 47:53 it was a glorious being standing in the cell. 47:57 And as the being's face crystallized 48:01 and came and appeared to him, 48:04 said, "I am Jesus. 48:07 Follow Me." 48:09 Wow! 48:10 And he, of course, became a Christian. 48:13 Unfortunately, 48:14 I don't have the rest of the story for you. 48:16 So, you're gonna lose me on the clip end. 48:18 I know that I got to find that out. 48:20 I want to track down this dude. 48:21 He just graduated from southern, 48:23 he came back went to Southern. 48:24 So I need to find out the rest of that story, 48:26 hunt it down. 48:27 Wow! Great story. 48:29 Those stories inspire me 48:32 to become a missionary for Jesus 48:34 again and again and again. 48:36 In fact, a couple years ago, 48:38 we were at the GC five years ago. 48:41 And I remember the Middle Eastern, 48:42 one of the representatives from the Middle Eastern Union 48:46 said, "Please come 48:47 to the Middle East into that Window. 48:49 We have an opportunity," 48:51 10/40 Window, 48:52 "but we can't promise you high money. 48:54 We can't promise you that you'll be safe. 48:57 We need 75 missionaries." 49:00 I felt like I wanted to get up right then and go. 49:04 Maybe someday. Yeah. 49:06 All right. 49:07 You know, I've been to GYC 49:10 and I don't know if you've, have you been, 49:11 ever went to GYC? 49:13 I'd never been to the GYC. 49:14 We do our own version every summer, but... 49:16 Got you. Got you. 49:17 They made a call for missionaries. 49:20 And they had asked these kids to come up to the front, 49:24 the young people to come up to the front and they said, 49:26 you know, "You might die. 49:29 You might not make it back. 49:31 But would you still be willing to go 49:33 and be a missionary for Christ." 49:35 And so many people went to the front 49:37 and that's inspiring to see too. 49:40 And I can only imagine, 49:42 you know, as kids are reading these stories, 49:46 as they're going through these books 49:48 and they're learning about Christ, 49:49 and they're learning who Jesus is, 49:54 that they're even more inspired to serve Him. 49:58 Do you have any testimonies 50:00 of maybe some kids or adults 50:03 that have read your books 50:04 and how it's touched their life? 50:06 I do. 50:09 When I was on the West Coast teaching in a school there, 50:14 I asked them, 50:16 "Do you have criteria for kids coming into the school?" 50:18 'Cause it's a small school, 50:20 the only Christian school on the peninsula. 50:22 And they said, 50:24 "This is the only Christian school. 50:25 We need as many people from the outside to come in." 50:28 So there was no quota. 50:29 In my classroom, I had one Adventist kid. 50:31 The other 13 are all non-Adventist. 50:34 Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Catholics, 50:38 and one of them was a Native American. 50:40 And I said to myself, "Lord, what a mission field!" 50:43 Not even really, really understanding 50:46 what was going to happen in the next two years. 50:49 Two years later, I got a call to go somewhere else 50:51 to teach at a college. 50:52 But the last two days, 50:53 we kind of did it 50:55 unpacking session with the kids. 50:56 And we had this survey that I gave them. 51:01 And I wanted them to list in order, 51:03 the priorities they had, 51:05 what they thought they needed to do 51:06 to go to heaven. 51:07 You know, what the number one thing 51:11 they thought they needed to do? 51:12 What was it? Keep the Sabbath. 51:14 Wow! 51:15 These are non-Adventist kids, they said, 51:17 "If we keep the Sabbath, we'll be closer to Jesus." 51:19 And I was astonished. 51:20 Where did they get these ideas? 51:22 They said, "From the stories." 51:24 One boy was such an introvert. 51:27 He was dressed in Gothic, he's ninth grade, 51:31 and fish net on his arms and black lipstick. 51:36 And the last day of school, he said, "I'm a changed guy. 51:39 I'm not afraid to meet people on the street now. 51:41 I'm a Christian. I believe in Jesus. 51:44 I'll never be the same again." 51:46 Yes, amen. 51:48 So, isn't that our mission... 51:50 Absolute. Touch lives wherever we go? 51:53 And point people to Christ. Amen. 51:54 The young or old, you know, don't think you're just, 51:57 you know, a kids person. 51:59 Go where God asks you to go as a missionary, 52:02 He will take you 52:03 where you will be most effective for Him 52:05 on any given day. 52:06 Amen. Amen. 52:07 There's so much power in the story. 52:10 And people can glean from all the lessons 52:13 that are found there. 52:14 And I can't believe 52:16 our time is running down so fast, 52:19 but we are getting ready to go to a news break 52:22 and we will be right back. 52:24 Don't go anywhere. |
Revised 2020-08-14