Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220048A
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00:03 I want to spend my life
00:09 mending broken people. 00:14 I want to spend my life 00:20 removing pain. 00:25 Lord let my words 00:30 heal a heart that hurts. 00:36 I want to spend my life 00:41 mending broken people... 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:52 mending broken people. 01:05 Welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:08 This is a wonderful time 01:10 to be able to share with each 01:11 other. We've got something that's really exciting 01:13 today and which is really new to me. 01:15 So please be patient, OK? 01:17 We're talking to a precious... a precious young man 01:22 in Sweden. And we're not just sitting across the table 01:26 from each other but we're doing this via Skype. 01:28 And so his name is Joakim Hjortland. 01:33 Would you pronounce that the way it should be Joakim? 01:38 That's right. Joakim Hjortland. 01:41 OK. If it's all right with you 01:43 I'm going to call you Joakim. 01:45 That's fine. Our basic... our basic topic this evening 01:51 is What If There's More? 01:54 And what we'll be doing - that's a book that Joakim 01:57 wrote, and we'll be discovering a life of radical purpose. 02:00 Is that correct? 02:03 I know that I'm excited so we're going to kick it off 02:06 here just in a few minutes 02:08 and learn a little bit more about who he is and how... 02:12 what the difference is that he's made in people's lives. 02:16 He is the director of AFCOE Europe. 02:18 He is also the president of ASI Scandinavia. 02:22 And he's also the author of What If There's More? 02:26 But before we start here 02:28 Joakim, everybody likes music. 02:31 And so we have the pleasure of having Layke Jones, 02:35 and he's going to be able to sing for us 02:37 That Sounds Like Home To Me. 02:52 Somewhere just across 02:56 the Jordan River 03:01 there's a place 03:04 of everlasting 03:06 joy and peace 03:12 where the stream of life 03:15 is flowing there forever 03:22 and the crown of life 03:25 is waiting there for me. 03:31 That sounds like home to me! 03:36 Right, where I want to be. 03:42 There'll be no tears 03:46 to fill our eyes again. 03:53 The hills will echo 03:56 with the story 03:58 as we sing 04:01 of His grace and glory. 04:03 Where the saints of God will be: 04:09 that sounds like home 04:13 to me. 04:23 They say there's only joy 04:28 inside that city. 04:34 A crystal river flowing by 04:40 the Tree of Life. 04:46 No pain 04:49 or disappointment there 04:53 will hurt us 04:58 for Jesus Christ 05:02 Himself will be the light. 05:09 That sounds like 05:11 home to me! 05:15 Right, where I want to be. 05:20 There'll be no tears 05:25 to fill our eyes again. 05:32 The hills will echo 05:35 with the story 05:38 as we sing of His grace and glory. 05:43 Where the saints of God will be: 05:49 that sounds like home 05:53 to me... 05:57 the hills will echo 06:00 with the story 06:03 as we sing of 06:05 of His grace and glory. 06:13 Where the saints of God 06:18 will be: 06:20 that sounds like home 06:25 to me. 06:40 Thank you, Layke. That was absolutely fantastic! 06:43 I love the way that you connect... 06:45 connect with our hearts. 06:47 But right now I'm with my friend Joakim. 06:50 Joakim is in Sweden. 06:52 And Joakim has a wonderful story 06:58 to tell and share with you about where he came from 07:02 and where he's on his journey to. 07:06 If you will just take a little bit of time 07:08 and kind of share with our audience a little bit about 07:10 your background and how you became a Christian, Joakim. 07:16 Thank you, J.D. It's a joy to be here. 07:18 I'm excited to share a little 07:19 bit about how God has been working in my life. 07:21 First of all, I thought I would like to share 07:23 a little story that kind of 07:25 introduces the topic as we're getting to my story. 07:27 I read a thought-provoking 07:30 log post from Melody Mason 07:32 some years ago that I will never forget. 07:33 She shared from when she was serving as a missionary 07:36 in Bangladesh. And she went shopping 07:39 and she had some kids with her from a very poor neighborhood. 07:43 And she told these kids as they went to the store 07:45 she told them they could pick whatever they wanted 07:48 and she would pay it for them. 07:51 So at first, they didn't want to take anything 07:53 extra in addition to what she already was buying them. 07:56 But as she insisted 07:58 eventually they added some clothes, 08:01 some sweets, and some peanuts. 08:04 And as she was reflecting on this experience 08:07 she wrote the following in her blog post. She said: 08:09 "The Creator of the universe 08:11 and vast galaxies is asking 08:16 'Is there anything more you'd like Me to do? 08:18 Anything more you need? ' 08:21 He says: 'Just ask... I can do anything! ' 08:24 And yet our requests are so small. He wants to give us 08:29 the world and so much more. 08:30 But what do we usually ask for? The equivalent of a bag 08:36 of peanuts. All I can say 08:40 is: 'Lord, increase our faith. ' " 08:45 And I believe there is a power- ful lesson here for all of us. 08:49 Many times in our Christian life and experiences 08:52 we settle for peanuts in our personal devotional life. 08:56 In our Bible study; in our prayer life. 08:59 We settle for peanuts. Many times in our ministry 09:01 and our service for God we don't aim higher than peanuts. 09:06 We settle for something much less than what God 09:09 has in store for us while His thoughts are much higher 09:13 than our thoughts as He says; His ways 09:15 are much higher than our ways. 09:16 And I can say certainly my background 09:18 I was definitely settling for much less in my Christian life 09:22 and experience than what God had in store for me. 09:25 So I am from Scandinavia. I'm from Sweden and Norway. 09:29 And I grew up... actually, there is a picture 09:31 you can see here from my family. 09:33 I am actually... I'm a sixth-generation Adventist. 09:37 We are five siblings as you can see here on the picture 09:41 probably. And I am #3 of 5 siblings. 09:46 And grew up in a good Adventist family, 09:49 good Adventist home. 09:51 And you know, growing up I learned 09:56 a lot about our faith. I knew a lot about the Bible 10:00 stories and I believed in all these things. 10:03 I went to church every week pretty much before I could walk. 10:06 I had a lot of knowledge; I believed it was true 10:09 but I would say I wasn't a Christian. 10:12 Actually when I was 16 years old 10:15 you know I used to be ashamed of my faith. 10:19 I used to think Christianity, going to church and these kind 10:22 of things is somewhat boring, you know? 10:24 But now I think it's a beautiful thing. 10:27 It's a blessed thing; it's the best way to live 10:29 to follow Christ. I used to be ashamed of my faith - 10:32 I didn't want anyone to know - but God transformed me 10:35 into an active witness for Him. 10:37 I used to be embarrassed of my faith 10:40 but now I am excited and eager to share with anyone I can. 10:44 And God worked a lot to bring that about. 10:49 You know, someone said: "God doesn't have grandchildren... 10:53 He only has children. " 10:56 And it's definitely true. 10:59 You know, Jesus talked about how we need to be born again. 11:02 No one is born again the first time. 11:03 You are born in a Christian home - 11:05 in an Adventist home - but no one is born a Christian. 11:08 Putting it another way 11:11 going to church doesn't make you a Christian 11:14 more than standing in a garage makes you a car. 11:18 And it can help you; it's a good thing to go to church. 11:22 It's a lot of benefits. I'm very glad for 11:25 everything I got from my upbringing. 11:27 But my life changed drastically. 11:29 My Christian experience changed drastically 11:32 when I was 15, 16, 17 years old. 11:35 Three key components that changed my Christian life 11:39 and my life in general was #1 personal devotions; 11:44 #2 full surrender; and #3 getting involved in God's work. 11:48 When it comes to personal devotions, you know 11:50 I believed in the Bible. I brought the Bible to church 11:52 but I didn't really read it so much. 11:54 But when I was 15 11:56 I started to spend time in the Word. 11:57 I actually read the Bible through in a year. 12:00 Every day I started to spend a little bit of time in the Word 12:03 and then more and more time. I thought before that the Bible 12:06 is boring. You know, this is a boring book. 12:07 It's hard to understand. But I started to realize 12:09 "Hey, when you think about this this book is a message 12:13 from the King and Creator of the universe. " 12:15 Like you would receive 12:17 a letter from the president of your country 12:20 or the king of your country, 12:21 prime minister of your country. Would you want to read it? 12:24 It would be hard to believe it was true probably. 12:26 But if you are convinced this is truly it 12:29 you would be curious. Whether you liked the president or not 12:32 you would be curious: "What does it say? " 12:34 "What does he want to tell you? " 12:36 And when I started to realize: "Hey, this book 12:38 is an amazing book. This tells us how to best live life. " 12:41 I like the acronym BIBLE: Bible stands for 12:44 basic instruction before leaving earth. 12:46 So anyway, as I spent time in the Word 12:48 and daily seeking God my faith started to come alive. 12:53 You know it says in John chapter 17 verse 3 12:56 "This is eternal life: that they may know You 12:59 the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. " 13:02 True Christianity - true religion - 13:05 is not so much about knowledge 13:07 as about knowing. 13:09 It's not so much about religious rites and sermons 13:13 as it is about a real relationship with our God. 13:17 And that's what I started to cultivate when I was 15, 13:19 16, and 17 years old. 13:21 And then Christianity went from boring to exciting 13:25 and to meaningful. And so that's the beginning basically. 13:29 When I got into the Word I started to study Bible prophecy 13:32 also. Started to say: "Wow! This book is trustworthy! " 13:35 And we have good reasons to believe, and it's very relevant 13:38 in our time. It's talking about our time! 13:40 It's talking about what happens as we go forward. 13:43 Very useful information! 13:45 If you don't know those things you need to check it out. 13:47 Amen! Now were you involved in sports at all? 13:51 Or did you just spend all day long 13:54 going around with different friends and studying the Bible 13:57 together? What else was in your life? 14:01 Was there any competition 14:04 between you and other activities in your life? 14:10 Yes, good question. I was into a lot of sports. 14:13 All kinds of sports actually from snowboarding to 14:16 cross-country skiing to running 14:18 to tennis to volleyball. 14:20 The main thing, though, was soccer. 14:26 It was the big... it was the purpose of my life 14:30 for many many years. My dream since I was 6 14:33 was to become a professional soccer player. 14:35 And I spent a lot of time in that. It was my big game 14:38 and big focus... so much time. 14:41 And I was good at it! I did well. 14:42 But God drastically changed the direction of my life 14:47 when I was 17 years old. 14:49 And so gradually He started to get involved in my life 14:51 and I started to prioritize differently. 14:54 And it's a long story. I don't know if I can share 14:57 so much of it, but it was certainly a crossroad in my life 15:02 as God "came to me. " 15:04 So I understand that there was a Week of Prayer 15:08 in there someplace. There had to be a place 15:11 where you just totally sold out to Jesus. 15:14 Yes... yeah. The Week of Prayer. I can share a little bit about 15:18 that. That was certainly one of the most life-changing 15:21 experiences and weeks of my life. 15:24 There is a picture from the school. 15:27 I was studying at the Adventist Junior College. 15:30 When I was 16 years old this Week of Prayer took place. 15:33 I lived in the dorm there. 15:35 And we had a preacher... a Week of Prayer preacher 15:38 coming from South America. A missionary from South America. 15:41 He came there and he was preaching powerful messages. 15:44 He was sharing stories about answered prayers, 15:48 angelic protection, and powerful divine appointments, 15:53 powerful miracles. And to me, it's like: "Whoa! 15:56 This kind of sounds like it could be taken straight from 15:58 the book of Acts. " You know, I hadn't really 16:00 quite heard anything like it. 16:02 So the young people there... we were touched. 16:04 We were like: "Wow! This is cool! " 16:07 The preacher made appeals to seek God first in our lives. 16:10 To surrender everything to Him. 16:12 To join the Lord's army... to work for God. 16:15 And we were responding... many of us. 16:18 I certainly did. And we were excited. We were like... 16:20 We were saying with Isaiah: "God, here am I. Send me. 16:24 Send me. " And we wanted to get involved. 16:26 And the most powerful part of that week was Sabbath. 16:29 Actually... in my opinion, anyway. 16:32 Sabbath morning for the divine service it was the most 16:35 powerful meeting I've been too, probably. 16:37 I've never felt the Holy Spirit so strongly impress something 16:40 onto me. There was an atheist from my class sitting there 16:44 on the way to freedom. 16:45 There were two non-Christians from my class 16:47 standing up sharing how God has been working 16:50 in their life that week. How they have given their life 16:52 to God. One of them decided to be baptized. 16:55 They were sharing how there was a suicidal person 16:58 I never met that came driving over there to the school 17:02 to get help. And after the meeting 17:06 I don't think there was any dry eye. 17:09 God really worked. And one thing: they shared 17:11 this testimony what happened during the week. 17:14 The preacher challenged a few of the students to get rid of 17:17 things from their lives that were not positive 17:20 for their Christianity. We live in a great controversy. 17:24 So they started to get rid of you know heavy metal music 17:27 and death symbols and things like this. 17:29 And as they were getting rid of their last items - 17:33 they were trashing CDs, in the time we used typical CDs. 17:36 Everything's on the hard drive. And as the last item was 17:41 removed from one of those young people that did that - 17:46 an atheist - she felt this... literally this electric power 17:49 go all the way through her body 17:51 all the way out through the toes 17:53 and in amazement and we see it in her eyes 17:55 she realized that she had been healed 17:58 from the agonizing chronic back pain that she had been suffering 18:03 for more than four months or closer to eight. Um-hmm. 18:05 She had been healed! It's an amazing story. 18:08 If I wouldn't have been there sometimes it's kind of hard to 18:09 believe this kind of thing. But... So they shared this story 18:12 also during the divine service. And the preacher, he builds on 18:15 the momentum and he has this garbage bin right below 18:18 the pulpit in the church there on Sabbath morning 18:21 and he made an appeal to the students to go to their rooms 18:24 and pick up things that are not positive for a Christian life - 18:29 movies, music, books... things like this - 18:31 of course, there are good things like that as well 18:33 but they came. Many of us... we went. 18:36 We took things; we surrendered fully to God. 18:39 We wanted to be all in for God. 18:41 We wanted to serve Him; we wanted to be in the Lord's army. 18:44 And to me, that's when I really started to get involved 18:48 in serving God and in going to mission trips. 18:51 And it was certainly a turning point of my life 18:55 for which I am eternally grateful. 18:56 And it was the biggest revival for that school for decades. 19:00 So people actually they went to their rooms 19:05 and brought out stuff that they shouldn't have in their rooms 19:09 and actually brought it out and tossed it in the can? 19:12 And during that time the Lord even worked more severe 19:16 in their life. And so you've got a full classroom 19:20 now full of people that have been transformed. 19:25 How are those people doing today? 19:28 I mean, did some people backslide? 19:30 Or are most of them still, sold out to Jesus? 19:36 Yes, there is a mix. You know Satan is always trying to 19:39 destroy that kind of momentum and some people were pretty... 19:42 they didn't have so strong foundation. 19:44 But some of us are certainly we have been going strong 19:47 ever since by God's grace. Amen! 19:51 Now there's the IMPACT Program. 19:55 Yes. Exactly what is the IMPACT Program? 20:00 It is a ministry I've been involved with a lot. 20:04 And it's a very exciting ministry. 20:08 The main thing we do is to organize mission trips. 20:10 IMPACT stands for inspiring members to proclaim the 20:14 advent of Christ together. 20:16 OK. IMPACT for Christ... that's what we want to do. 20:19 And so here you can see some pictures. 20:22 Very short. This is how it started. 20:24 It started with... We were a group of young people - 20:26 inexperienced young people - most of us under 20. 20:28 I was 17 at the time. And we teamed up with 20:32 Matheson Mission School. So we have this group of 20:35 young people that was inspired by this powerful preaching 20:39 we heard and then you have Matheson Mission School 20:42 and then there was a helicopter crash. 20:44 You can actually see the picture here of the helicopter. 20:46 It's quite an interesting story. 20:47 There was a SDA pastor in Norway 20:50 that had this helicopter. 20:52 It helped him a lot. You know, you have fjords, 20:54 the mountains, the ferry crossings. 20:56 He saved a lot of time in his work when he could use... 20:59 utilize this helicopter in his ministry. 21:01 But then one day he crashed. 21:03 He had to crash land. 21:05 And you know, it's bad enough to crash with a car 21:08 as you can imagine, but you certainly don't want to crash 21:11 with a helicopter. But by God's grace 21:14 he was uninjured. He wasn't injured. He wasn't 21:18 except for a cut in his forehead from the Plexiglas. 21:21 And even though Norway and Sweden are pretty secular 21:25 countries, but even the secular media, the biggest newspapers 21:28 biggest TV channels in Norway 21:31 talked about this Adventist pastor that "fell from heaven. " 21:35 This Adventist pastor that had engine protection. 21:38 But he was wondering when this happened... He was like: 21:41 "Man! God, why did You give me this tool and You have to 21:44 take it away from me? What do You want me to do now? " 21:47 He prayed like: "God: why is this happening? " 21:50 But then he felt that God answered him 21:53 by directing his thoughts to this powerful quote 21:56 from the book of Education 271. 21:59 It says this: 22:12 How soon might the end come? The end of suffering and sorrow 22:16 and sin? So anyway, because of that 22:19 we got involved. We teamed up with him 22:21 and with Matheson Mission School and we started to organize 22:24 this. In the beginning, it was three-week-long mission trips 22:26 in Norway we called IMPACT Norway. 22:29 And here you see a group picture from one of our first mission 22:32 trips. You know, first, we were like 20 people. 22:35 One summer there were about 40 then 60 then more than 100. 22:38 Basically every year we were growing. 22:40 And that's a pretty big number in Norway. 22:42 We don't have a lot of members here. 22:44 And then other people got inspired. 22:46 So also in Sweden, as you see here the group from Sweden, 22:50 they got inspired and like: "Hey, we should do this 22:52 in Sweden too! " You know, the mission trips. 22:53 And people got experiences. They got answered prayers 22:56 and they had experiences with God 22:59 that they had never had before. So they started up in Sweden: 23:02 IMPACT Sweden. 23:04 And we can ask to see a few pictures here. 23:06 They started in Sweden and then also after that in Latvia: 23:11 IMPACT Latvia. Then in Denmark, in Romania, 23:15 Austria, and Netherlands, Germany, Spain. In total 23:20 it spread to 10 different countries. 23:22 We never imagined when we started 23:24 that... what God would do: the ripple effect of this ministry. 23:28 But more and more people are involved in these events. 23:30 Hundreds of people have been coming. 23:32 Many people have made decisions to be baptized; 23:35 to go to mission schools; to surrender their lives to God's 23:39 service. And it's been such a blessing 23:42 and joy to be a part of this ministry and to see how God 23:45 has worked. And actually you have some pictures here 23:49 of the bus. I don't know if we can see that here? 23:53 This is the bus we use when we're driving to the very north 23:58 of Norway. It's a long ways. 24:00 This is what we call a prophecy bus. 24:02 You can see a little bit closer I think in the next picture. 24:05 It's pictures from Daniel and Revelation. 24:07 Daniel 2 on the back of the bus. 24:10 Advertisement for Bible correspondence course. 24:12 Quite some interesting stories. As we're driving through 24:14 the country and all these young people with the same color 24:17 T-shirts in small towns or maybe just across Norway 24:20 people notice this bus. And one time someone was driving 24:23 behind the bus and was reading what it said there. 24:26 I don't know if the bus driver forgot that they were there 24:28 or exactly what happened, but someone he was slowing down. 24:32 And when he was slowing down the car behind 24:35 smashed the bus from the back 24:38 and the glass of the back of the bus broke actually. 24:41 But if he got to know the Bible guess it was worth it. 24:47 And here you see another picture of some trials we had. 24:51 We had a lot of trials also. 24:53 Always when you serve God there will be some trials. 24:56 And this is the second bus we got. 24:58 It's a double-decker. As the group grew we had to get 25:01 more and more busses involved. 25:03 And this particular year so many... actually several busses 25:07 broke down. Some people came to pick us up 25:09 and that bus broke down. It was amazing. 25:11 It was like you could almost not believe it. 25:13 But the groups were praising God: "Rejoice always... " 25:16 started singing these songs. But we had to push the bus 25:19 several times to start. 25:22 But somehow by God's grace we were able to drive 25:26 you know what is that? About a thousand miles up 25:29 to the place where we had the mission trip and about 25:32 a thousand miles down again... three-week mission trip. 25:35 Afterwards the mechanic he looked at the bus 25:38 and he saw all these problems and all the things with the bus 25:43 that wasn't as they should be. When he saw it he was like: 25:46 "Man, you guys... you guys shouldn't even have been able 25:49 to start this bus! " Yeah. But somehow God brought us through 25:53 those weeks of mission and that long journey 25:57 to the north of Norway and back. 25:59 And it's amazing when you get involved in God's work 26:02 you start to see again and again and again 26:04 how God is working. How God is, you know, doing miracles. 26:08 And of course that inspires your faith 26:11 and encourages you to continue onward in service for God. 26:16 So these were three-week mission trips 26:18 and each year more and more people attended. 26:21 And did you hold it the same place every year? 26:25 We usually had a different city each year. 26:28 We try to help local churches to make an impact 26:31 in their communities, yeah. Yeah... yeah... huh! 26:34 And that's the IMPACT movement? 26:37 That's what you're calling the IMPACT movement, 26:40 and that's Inspiring Members to Proclaim the Advent of Christ 26:43 Together. So that's bringing everybody together 26:46 with one individual goal 26:49 and that is to have the opportunity 26:53 to have brothers and sisters in Christ grow together. 26:56 Now do most of these people stay in touch with each other? 27:00 If you've got 100 people coming to one of your events 27:04 I mean that's a lot of people. 27:07 Yes. Yeah, you've got good friends 27:10 and many people have been friends ever since. 27:13 It's a very special unique and blessed fellowship 27:18 when you go on a trip. It's kind of like the early church. 27:20 You know, you pray together - yes - you go out together - 27:22 yes - you travel together, you eat together 27:24 and it's a blessing to be part of it. Amen! Amen! 27:27 Now I was noticing... I think it was even mentioned 27:30 or I saw it in some notes 27:32 that working for God is such a privilege and a joy. 27:35 Can you explain that? 27:37 What do you mean it's a privilege to work for God? 27:40 For those out there that may not have as close a relationship 27:44 with the Lord as you do where does this joy come from 27:49 that you're talking about? 27:50 You've got these groups of people that are meeting 27:53 and they're very very excited 27:54 even to the point that they're all getting together 27:57 and pushing the busses to get them started. 27:59 So everybody's pretty well on the same page. 28:02 But what do you mean "It's a privilege? " 28:05 Yes. You know, my big dream was to become, to one time 28:09 represent Sweden's national team in soccer. 28:12 And to me, if I could do that that would have been a great 28:15 privilege. It would have been a great honor. 28:18 I would have been very excited about that. 28:21 But when you think about this: 28:22 the Bible says that as Christians 28:26 we are ambassadors for Christ. Amen! 28:30 We are ambassadors for the King and Creator of the universe. 28:34 When you think about that there is no greater privilege. 28:38 There is nothing more exciting, nothing more rewarding, 28:42 nothing more meaningful than that. 28:45 When you think about it a doctor saves lives. 28:47 A firefighter saves peoples' lives. 28:50 That's an exciting work... that's my former work. 28:52 But when you work for God 28:54 you're saving lives for eternity. 28:58 Nothing more important... nothing more exciting. 29:01 In one of my favorite quotes from my favorite author 29:04 Ellen White, she says this: "It is in unselfish ministry 29:08 that true happiness is found. " 29:10 That's Testimonies 7, page 49. 29:12 "It is in unselfish ministry 29:15 that true happiness is found. " 29:17 And I really think that this is true. 29:19 When people get a taste for mission work 29:22 they say: "Hey! This is fun! " 29:24 It's so fun when you see God working. 29:26 You know, one story we had was on one of our mission trips 29:29 some people from our group went to the door 29:32 and they met this man that... he told them 29:36 that he had been a Christian for a while. 29:39 He had been a Muslim for a while. 29:41 But then he was getting kind of confused 29:43 and he was kind of frustrated. So he prayed to God: 29:45 "God, what is true? What should I believe? 29:49 Should I believe in Jesus? In Allah? In Buddha? 29:52 What should I believe? " 29:54 He prayed an earnest prayer then he went to bed. 29:56 That very night he had a dream. 29:59 This is in the west of Norway. 30:01 He had a dream. Long story short 30:04 in that dream, he saw Jesus. 30:06 He was thinking that this was an answer to his prayer. 30:10 That morning after waking up 30:12 he basically accepts Jesus... he becomes a Christian. 30:16 A few hours later 30:18 two of our IMPACT missionaries knock at his door 30:22 to try to find people interested in the Bible. 30:25 Can you imagine? 30:26 It's probably the best day of his life 30:28 to come at his door. God knew; 30:30 God prepared a way. 30:32 As you can imagine, he received some Christian books 30:34 and when those two IMPACT missionaries left that door 30:39 they were smiling... they were happy. 30:40 The thought: "Wow! We are working with God! 30:44 God is working! " 30:45 It's like when Jesus sent out the 70 on IMPACT Gennesaret 30:49 or whatever... IMPACT Jerusalem 30:51 when they came back it also says they returned with joy. 30:55 Amen! And there's no deeper joy, no more lasting joy, 30:59 than what you find in God and in the service of God. Amen! 31:05 Amen! What a wonderful joy it is 31:11 to serve Him. Can you share 31:14 about the radical prayer? 31:18 I know that the radical prayer... 31:21 radical... another word would be extreme... 31:23 is very important to you. In fact, I think that you say 31:27 that that's one of your core philosophies in your life 31:30 is surrounded by this radical prayer. 31:34 Explain what that means. 31:38 Yes... certainly. Yeah, when I was 19 I read this book 31:42 by Derek Morris called The Radical Prayer. 31:44 He's expanding on the prayer of Jesus or explaining the prayer 31:48 of Jesus in Luke chapter 10 31:50 where He said that we should pray that God will 31:53 throw out laborers into His harvest. 31:55 I define it like this in short: 31:58 the radical prayer is to go where God wants you to go 32:02 and do what He wants you to do. 32:05 Amen! It's a daily consecration to God, 32:08 a daily surrender to God where we say: "Hey God, 32:12 I want to go where You want me to go; 32:14 I want to do what You want me to do 32:16 in big things and in small things. " 32:17 And when I was 17, 18, 19 years old 32:20 I really started to pray this. This basically... I started to 32:24 live this prayer basically. This started to be the way of life 32:27 for me. God had... Actually, maybe I can read that. 32:31 It's one of my favorite verses. It's Ephesians ch. 2 verse 10. 32:35 Ephesians 2:10. It says there... well, I know it by heart. 32:39 "For we are God's workmanship, 32:41 created in Christ Jesus to do good works 32:45 which God prepared beforehand for us to walk in love. " 32:49 We are God's workmanship; He has a plan for our lives. 32:53 He has a purpose for our lives. 32:54 I like how I think it was the New Living Translation 32:56 which is an alright translation on this verse. 33:01 It says that: "You are God's masterpiece. " Oh, amen! 33:06 "You are God's masterpiece. " 33:08 God has a purpose and plan for every single of our lives. 33:11 And when we start to realize that 33:13 He's a good God; He know the end from the beginning. 33:18 He wants what is best for us. 33:20 He KNOWS what is best for us. 33:21 And it's such a privilege to really surrender our future 33:25 to Him, that knows the future, that knows our tomorrow. 33:29 So I started praying this prayer 33:31 and, long story... So basically 33:34 that's when I started to get involved in mission work. 33:37 After the Week of Prayer God opened the way... 33:40 the way for me to go to this mission trip to Peru. 33:44 This was my first mission trip. Actually so what happened was 33:47 I was 16. You have to be 18 to join this mission trip. 33:51 We heard about this after the Week of Prayer. 33:53 Me and some friends were like: "Man, that sounds exciting! 33:56 We want to be part of that mission trip. " 33:58 So I decided to apply even though I wasn't 18. 34:01 And I didn't have the money. It was about maybe $1,500 34:06 US dollars. I didn't have the money; 34:08 I didn't have a job at the moment. 34:09 But I prayed: "God if You want me to go to this mission trip, 34:12 open the door. " A few weeks later 34:15 I got an answer that I could go on the trip even though 34:19 I was not 18 years old. 34:21 But still I didn't have the money. 34:23 But that very same day I went to my dorm room 34:25 there at the school at Tyrifjord 34:27 and when I came to the dorm room 34:31 I saw this... actually, I have it here... 34:33 I saw this kind of this paper bag. 34:35 It looks kind of like garbage. 34:38 It was this brown paper hanging on the door there. 34:40 And you know, some of the kids wasn't so much 34:43 grown-up. They were throwing around garbage sometimes. 34:46 I thought it was someone just playing a trick. 34:48 So I took it down and I thought: "Well, I'll just take it in 34:50 my room. I will have a look. " 34:52 So I opened this bag up and there was a white paper inside. 34:56 I took out the paper; I opened the paper... nothing on it. 34:58 Nothing. I was like: "Man, someone is just playing. 35:01 Someone is just messing with me. " 35:02 But then I took a last look before I put it away. 35:05 And in the bottom there I found about 50 US dollars. 35:08 It wasn't what I needed, but I sensed that God was 35:11 saying to me: "Joakim, I want you to go 35:15 on that mission trip to Peru 35:16 and I will provide the money you need. " 35:19 So I remember I was 16 years old. 35:21 It was one of my first personal clear answers to prayer. Amen! 35:24 I remember kneeling down in my dorm room 35:28 and thanking God for opening the way for me to go 35:31 on this mission trip. And long story short 35:34 God ended up providing all the money I needed. 35:36 More than I needed 35:38 from places I would never have imagined. 35:41 And you know, the thing is this: "If it's God's will, 35:43 it's God's bill. If it's His voice, it's His invoice. 35:47 And so I went to this mission trip. 35:49 It was a great time; this was my first mission trip 35:52 and since then I've been going to mission trips all the time. 35:55 You know, every year I go to a number of mission trips 35:58 to different countries. God has opened the way. 36:00 I think actually I have a few pictures here. 36:02 Just a few glimpses from how God has opened more and more doors 36:06 for me in different countries to go and to preach 36:10 in some 20 countries minis- tering on some 6 continents. 36:14 Writing books. Things that I would never have imagined. 36:16 Peru, Australia, Kenya, US, California, Michigan 36:20 and more and more countries. 36:22 I would have never imagined. 36:23 I like FAITH as an acronym. I LIKE to use FAITH as an acronym. 36:27 I think you have this on the screen too. Standing for: 36:32 And as I started to surrender to God and to choose 36:35 "Hey God, I want to choose Your plan for my life. " 36:37 I started to experience this fantastic adventure. 36:41 And it's been so much joy... such a great time. 36:44 It's such a privilege to serve God. 36:47 And you know, the thing is this: 36:48 I would have never imagined. You know, 36:50 when I preached the first time when I was 17 years old - 36:54 that's when I started preaching; that's when I started giving 36:57 Bible studies - a person that knew me since I was little 37:00 when she heard I was going to preach in church 37:03 you know what she said? 37:04 She said: "And the stones will cry out. " 37:07 The stones, right? I used to be shy. 37:10 You know, in school I would rather have a 5-hr. written test 37:13 than a 5-minute presentation in front of 15 people 37:16 when I was 15 years old. 37:18 I used to be shy... whatever, a quiet person. 37:22 I would never imagine, but God opened more and more doors 37:25 for me to preach, write, to do things I would never 37:27 have imagined. Neither did she. 37:29 The thing is this: it's not so much about 37:31 ability as availability. Amen! 37:36 God does not always call the qualified 37:39 but He always qualifies the called. 37:43 And I have seen that in my life and many other people's lives. 37:46 And it's... Yeah, it's a joy; it's a privilege 37:50 in so many ways to serve God. 37:52 So you yourself can see the transformation 37:55 you've gone through. 37:57 And here you wonder: "I was just a shy kid 38:02 that really had no idea what direction I wanted to go in. 38:05 But then again all of a sudden He put me with the right group 38:09 of people. " It was nice to have like-minded people 38:14 in the same group and each of you grew. 38:18 And so then it wasn't long before you were... 38:21 Did you do any Bible working or anything like that? 38:25 Yes. I was Bible working a number of years. 38:28 Been giving Bible studies a lot actually. 38:31 From I was 16 to 19 I think I started having 38:34 Bible studies with about 60-70 people. 38:37 Like everyone, I could find... you know? 38:39 Classmates. Neighbors maybe. 38:43 People I met while traveling in secular countries. 38:45 I prayed for opportunities 38:47 and God led me in contact with more people. 38:49 And I was Bible working actually for two years in the 38:52 northernmost town of the world as they call it 38:55 in Hammerfest. Northernmost SDA church in the world. 38:58 A small church about 10 people at the time... eight people. 39:01 And it was a great time. I was 19 years old 39:04 moving up there far away. That's the first place 39:07 the radical prayer led me: to move all the way up 39:10 north there. I didn't know anyone there. 39:12 I didn't... It was a hard decision. 39:13 You know, it's kind of no sun in the winter. 39:16 Dark and cold and no friends or family far away. 39:20 But it was such a great time. 39:22 And yeah actually, one thing was you know... 39:26 For our first Bible study there you know I was kind of like 39:28 "God, do You really want me to go there? 39:30 And should I really go there? " 39:32 But I felt impressed that this is where God wants me to go. 39:35 And I was... I was like 39:38 "But I don't know if people want to study the Bible... 39:41 if they are interested in that. Why should I work as a 39:43 Bible worker far away from family and friends 39:45 you know in this crazy place? " 39:47 But then I moved up there with a guy from France. 39:50 And we lived together; we worked together. 39:52 For our first Bible study group we invited the contacts 39:56 from one of our mission trips. 39:57 Only one person came. 39:59 When that happened I was disappointed. 40:01 I was like: "God, why did You lead me up here? 40:04 All the way up north? These people aren't actually 40:06 wanting to learn about the Bible anyway? " 40:07 I was kind of frustrated; I was kind of angry with God. 40:09 I walked up on the mountain there... I think we have 40:11 a picture there from Hammerfest when I was Bible working 40:14 up there north on the mountain close to... this is right next 40:17 to the house... very close to the house where I lived. 40:18 I walked up on the mountain there. I was praying to God: 40:21 "God, why did You lead me up here? " But as I prayed 40:24 God reminded me of Jesus. 40:27 You know, how Jesus came to this earth. 40:29 He worked hard 30 years. 40:31 He sends out 70 disciples around the area 40:34 as well as the apostles. They were working; 40:35 they were reaching out to so many people. 40:37 But now at the end of His life in Gethsemane 40:39 it looked like it all would be in vain. 40:42 It looked like it would lead to nothing. 40:44 All the 12 were about to leave Him. 40:46 One would deny Him. 40:48 One would have already left to betray Him. 40:52 And it looked like the great pain 40:54 the great sacrifice He was about to give 40:56 would be in vain. 40:59 It wouldn't help anyone. 41:01 And the thing is this: at this point in time 41:03 Jesus could have taken away the blood from His forehead. 41:05 He could have called for a legion of angels. 41:07 He could have gone up to the throne of heaven again 41:10 and left mankind to perish in their own sin. 41:13 But He didn't do that. Praise God! 41:15 The radical prayer led Him to leave the glory and joy 41:20 of heaven - the BEST PLACE EVER - 41:22 to come down to this dark earth - 41:24 this earth of sin - to serve. 41:28 And God impressed me as I'm praying there 41:30 on top of the mountain. "God, why did You lead me up here? 41:33 No one is interested anyway. " 41:35 God impressed me with this thought: 41:37 "Jesus would have gone through all of that pain 41:42 all of that suffering on that cross 41:45 even if it was only for one person. 41:47 Even if it was only for you. 41:50 Even if it was only for me or for you. " 41:54 He would have done it only for one person! 41:56 And I felt that God impressed me with this thought: 41:58 "I want you to be here. I want you to serve Me here 42:03 even if it only leads one person to salvation. " 42:08 So when God impressed me with that thought I decided 42:11 "Hey, I want to serve God. " I stopped complaining. 42:14 Six months turned into one year 42:15 into two years. It was the beginning of my ministry. 42:18 It was such a great time. 42:20 It was the beginning of all these fantastic adventures 42:22 in trusting Him. And since then 42:26 you know all this time I'm determined to go 42:29 where God wants me to go to do what He wants me to do 42:32 whether it's easy... whether it's hard. 42:34 Because I believe... You know, 42:38 I wouldn't exchange the life I'm living now for anything. 42:42 Not for becoming a professional soccer player 42:44 which was my big dream. 42:45 Not even if I became the best soccer player in the world! 42:48 You know why? Because I know 42:51 that the life my Creator and Redeemer leads me to live 42:57 is the best life I could ever live. 43:01 And I know all of you watching, tuning in listening to this, 43:05 beloved of God: the life that God wants you to live 43:09 is the best and most fulfilling the most exciting, the most 43:14 meaningful life you could ever live. Yes, 43:16 sometimes it's difficult, sometimes it's hard. 43:19 But I like to put it like this: 43:20 life begins at the end of your comfort zone. 43:26 Amen! Amen! 43:28 This kind of segues into whether there's more. 43:33 Tell us about your book. 43:36 Yes. I'm very excited about this book. 43:39 It was just published a couple months ago. 43:41 I worked on it for more than four years. 43:43 What If There's More? Discover- ing a life of radical purpose. 43:46 And in this book I'm basically sharing things 43:49 that have really been a great blessing in my life 43:52 that helped to turn my Christian experience from boring 43:55 to blessed. From a burden to a delight. 44:00 And really to experience God's plan. 44:05 You know, one key sentence that I love is 44:07 the two most important days of your life 44:11 are the day you are born 44:13 and the day you find out why. 44:16 Amen! And one of the purposes of this book 44:19 is to help you find out what is God's purpose for you? 44:21 He has a purpose for you. 44:23 He has a plan for you. 44:24 A great plan... a beautiful plan. 44:27 I want to help people to find that plan, 44:29 to trust that plan, and then also to 44:32 powerfully fulfill God's purposes 44:35 in the degree He wants them to be fulfilled. 44:38 To reach the God-given potential 44:41 that every single one of you have. 44:43 And so that's really what the book is about. 44:45 I can read maybe what a few people say about this book here. 44:52 Anna Scheglov, President of GYC Europe at the time, 44:55 she said this: "What If There Is More? 44:57 provides fleeting glimpses at the dream of God 45:00 for our lives amidst an irresistible invitation 45:03 to aspire to new heights with Jesus. " 45:07 Andrew Park, President of GYC in the United States, 45:10 he said this: "I have been extremely blessed 45:13 reading What If There Is More? 45:15 Everything in this book is exactly what I would want 45:18 to communicate to another person who has not experienced 45:22 the beauty of Adventism. " 45:24 Henry Fiason, one of the leaders of IMPACt Denmark, he said: 45:27 "I wish every Adventist would read this book 45:30 and catch the vision it conveys. 45:32 It would no doubt result in the finishing of the work 45:36 in this generation and speed the return 45:38 of our Lord Jesus Christ. " 45:40 There are many endorsements. You can read more about them. 45:42 Melody Mason... she loved the book as well. 45:44 I love her so I'm happy that she enjoyed it. 45:46 And I'm very thankful how God has led, 45:49 how this has come together 45:53 and to get the response from people how they are blessed. 45:57 A few days ago someone ordered 25 more books after reading it 46:00 they were so blessed that they want to share it with others. 46:02 And it's a blessing to see how God has used me 46:05 to transform lives. 46:06 I love the way that you... 46:08 I don't know if it came from the New Living Translation or what 46:12 but Ephesians 3:20 and Ephesians 2:10. 46:14 I like the way that you are tying those in together. 46:17 God has much more in mind for the Christian life and ministry 46:21 than most people experience. 46:23 You are God's masterpiece; 46:26 thus He has a beautiful plan for your life 46:30 and wants to do powerful things in you and through you. 46:34 Now it seems to me like you are sitting here saying 46:37 "Hey, I stepped out in faith because I know that I know 46:40 that I know that I heard the Lord. " 46:42 "I knew that I was on track. 46:46 I had no idea where I was going 46:48 but I knew that I was on track. " 46:50 And then it seems like 46:54 the transformation begins to work 46:57 taking one baby step to a little bit bigger baby step. 47:01 Whenever you found yourself wondering 47:04 you had no problem in asking "Lord, is this from You? 47:08 Am I on track? " 47:10 And then He makes it perfectly 47:12 clear to you. 47:14 And so then as you turn around 47:16 and you look at what you're finding out 47:19 there is more. 47:21 Never in a million years would I have thought 47:25 that I would go as far as I've gone. 47:29 And I truly believe that I haven't even started yet 47:33 because the Creator of the universe 47:36 is being my guide. 47:38 Amen. What? Are there any? 47:44 Are there any other things that you think about 47:47 maybe about the story behind this author? 47:54 This name? Yes. Yeah, you know 47:58 I got into writing... I got first the idea 48:02 to write my first book when I was 24. 48:04 I never thought about writing a book before. 48:06 But it was after a very busy summer. 48:08 You know, I'd been on IMPACT mission trips 48:10 in different countries preaching. 48:11 I spent some days in the solitude of the Swedish forest 48:15 seeking God, recharging my batteries. 48:17 That's when God impressed me with the idea. 48:19 And for the new book again it was after a very busy 48:23 time I'd been on different mission trips, different 48:26 preaching in Australia... different places. 48:29 On Sabbath morning I woke up and I really felt this strong 48:32 impression I should write a book on this topic. 48:34 And all these ideas came to me: the aim, 48:37 the structure, the target group. 48:39 And when I read it today - reviewed the notes today - 48:43 it actually fits very well with what the book turned out to be 48:46 eventually. And the next morning 48:48 you know I woke up before 5 o'clock 48:51 and I had all these ideas. 48:53 For 1-/2 hours I got all these ideas for the book 48:56 and at 6:30 AM I started writing. 48:59 And then I talked with people 49:01 and more and more people encouraged me. 49:02 Like: "Man, this sounds great! " 49:04 and confirmed that this was something I should do. 49:05 When actually that came I had been praying for several months. 49:08 I was at a crossroad in my life. 49:10 "God, what do You want me to do next? " 49:11 This is when this vision came 49:14 and I think God gave me this. 49:16 I took several months to focus really on writing this book 49:18 shortly after I was in this crossroad in my life. 49:22 And it's exciting to see how this has been coming together 49:24 and how God has been leading and impressing people also 49:26 to donate. I printed half of the books a couple years ago 49:30 so I could give it to everyone attending GYC Europe. 49:32 And more and more the book is getting out 49:35 in different countries, also different languages. 49:38 My first book. And yeah, it's been a joy to see! 49:42 Well, it certainly has a wonderful title: 49:46 What If There Is More? 49:49 I mean, that's enticing. 49:52 Do you have some closing words? 49:55 We're going to go to a newsbreak here in about a minute 49:58 but do you have some closing words 50:01 on what's so special about What If There Is More? 50:07 Yes. I have a short promo video. 50:10 I don't know if we should watch it now or afterward. 50:13 Let's look at it right now. Yeah. 50:26 The early church consisted of thousands of active 50:28 lay people that were personally sharing the good news about God. 50:32 What if the same could happen today? 50:37 At AFCOE we have great classes ranging on topics 50:40 from Spirit of Prophecy to personal evangelism. 50:45 Another big blessing is to be around people 50:48 that are mission-minded... people that are willing to 50:51 do the mission work and put in practice everything 50:53 that they learn in classes. 50:55 Before coming to AFCOE 50:57 I didn't know how to do mission work 51:00 and I was afraid to do it... 51:02 but now I know and I am no longer afraid. 51:06 Have you ever asked yourself 51:08 "How could I be able to do that? 51:10 To be able to share God's love with others? " 51:12 I have never grown so much in my life 51:14 from fear to confidence, from discouragement to perseverance, 51:20 and from insecurity to leadership skills. 51:24 It has been such an incredible blessing to see 51:27 how when we ask God to send us people 51:30 He will be faithful and true 51:31 and He will send us people at the right time 51:34 and the right place. 51:36 Leading a person to find what you have found in Jesus 51:39 there's nothing better than that. 51:43 If there's one thing I've learned at AFCOE 51:45 it's that the harvest is great. 51:47 It is truly plentiful. And empowered by the Spirit 51:50 harvesting doesn't have to be difficult. 51:53 By taking part in God's work 51:56 and seeing all the wonderful and powerful things He has done 52:00 my faith has grown like never before. 52:04 Inspiration tells us that when the members 52:06 of the church of God do their part 52:08 the whole world will soon be reached and the Lord Jesus 52:12 will return to this earth in power and great glory. 52:15 Now it's exciting to see how God is working 52:18 across Europe and around the world today 52:21 to raise up such an army of workers. 52:25 Now my question to you is this: 52:28 do you want to be a part of it? 52:40 Wow! Boy, that said a whole lot right there. 52:43 Let's just take right now and go into 52:45 our newsbreak and really just start... 52:50 how to get in touch with Joakim. |
Revised 2023-03-30