Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220051A
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00:01 ♪ ♪
00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:26 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello friends. My name is Ryan Day and I want to welcome you to 01:10 watching the 3ABN Today program on the Three Angels Broadcasting 01:15 Network. We're so excited that you are joining us during this 01:18 time. We have a very special program, very special hour ahead 01:22 of us in which we're going to be talking about a very, very 01:25 exciting evangelistic outreach effort that you at home and all 01:30 around the world watching are more than likely going to want 01:33 to become involved in because we know that Jesus is coming soon. 01:36 That's why we're here. That's why this network exists to get 01:39 the gospel message out there to as many people as possible to 01:42 wake up people to the realization, to the reality, 01:46 that Jesus Christ is coming soon and so we have indeed Streams of 01:51 Light International Ministries with us here. How are you 01:53 Brother Oleg Lotca, my good friend. How are you, my brother? 01:56 Oh Ryan, doing good. What a blessing to be here with you. 01:59 Amen, amen. We have lots to discuss in regards to the 02:04 wonderful outreach the mission of the Lord has placed upon your 02:06 heart and many others and we're going to get into the details of 02:09 that in just a few moments. But before we talk with Oleg and 02:13 Streams of Light Ministry we want be blessed by a very 02:16 special musical number that's going to be brought to us by 02:19 Miss Vanessa Aldana and Ben Jenkins and they're going to be 02:23 singing a song entitled I Will Rise. 02:31 ♪ ♪ 02:55 ♪ There's a peace I've come to know ♪ 02:58 ♪ Though my heart and flesh may fail ♪ 03:07 ♪ There's an anchor for my soul ♪ 03:13 ♪ I can say It Is Well ♪ 03:19 ♪ Jesus has overcome, and the grave is overwhelmed ♪ 03:32 ♪ The victory is won, He is risen from the dead ♪ 03:42 ♪ And I will rise when He calls my name ♪ 03:50 ♪ No more sorrow, no more pain ♪ 03:54 ♪ I will rise on eagles wings ♪ 04:00 ♪ Before my God fall on my knees ♪ 04:07 ♪ And rise, I will rise ♪ 04:23 ♪ There's a day that's drawing near ♪ 04:28 ♪ When this darkness breaks to light ♪ 04:34 ♪ And the shadows disappear and my faith shall be my eyes ♪ 04:47 ♪ Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed ♪ 04:58 ♪ The victory is won, He is risen from the dead ♪ 05:07 ♪ And I will rise when He calls my name ♪ 05:14 ♪ No more sorrow no more pain ♪ 05:20 ♪ I will rise on eagles wings before my Lord fall on my knees♪ 05:32 ♪ And rise, I will rise ♪ 05:45 ♪ I hear the voice of many angels sing ♪ 05:53 ♪ Worthy is the Lamb ♪ 05:56 ♪ And I hear the cry of every longing heart ♪ 06:04 ♪ Worthy is the Lamb ♪ 06:13 ♪ And I will rise when He calls my name ♪ 06:18 ♪ No more sorrow no more pain ♪ 06:24 ♪ I will rise on eagles wings before my God fall on my knees ♪ 06:36 ♪ And rise, I will rise ♪ 06:54 ♪ There's a peace I've come to know ♪ 07:00 ♪ Though my heart and flesh may fail ♪ 07:06 ♪ There's an anchor for my soul I can say, It Is Well ♪ 07:28 Amen, wow, praise the Lord. Thank you so much Vanessa and 07:35 Ben for that beautiful song. I Will Rise. And that's exactly 07:39 what we're essentially going to be talking about during this 07:43 hour as we have Streams of Light with us in the house, my brother 07:47 Oleg Lotca, my friend. You've been here with us a couple of 07:50 times. I think we talked a few minutes ago and you said this is 07:53 your third time but I think we might have done some type of 07:56 interview together. And it's always a blessing to have you 08:01 back and to talk about what the Lord is doing through you and 08:03 through the ministry Streams of Light. And just because we have 08:07 always some new viewers from time to time they don't know who 08:10 Oleg is and they probably never heard of Streams of Light so 08:14 tell us a little bit about yourself and Streams of Light 08:16 Ministry. 08:20 Well Ryan, my name is Oleg and I am pastor of the Seventh-day 08:23 Adventist Church. I work for the Central California Conference 08:28 but also I work with Streams of Light International. But also I 08:34 have a wife and four children. They are probably watching now 08:39 as well also. We're so excited about having a ministry together 08:44 as a family. Yes, so I have been working for Streams of Light for 08:48 the past year and a half. 08:50 Amen, wow. Praise the Lord. And last time we were here we were 08:55 talking about this incredible initiative to take this amazing 09:00 book, if you haven't heard of it you need it in your library. You 09:05 need to read it. It's a life changing book which is what 09:07 we're going to be talking about today and this is this 09:08 initiative to take the book The Great Controversy and put it 09:14 into as many homes as possible and in this case, into every 09:19 home by the year 2026. And you know in our human minds, our 09:26 finite human minds, when I think of that, you know every home by 09:30 2026, it's like how in the world can that even be obtained, right 09:35 Of course, we know all things are possible with the Lord. 09:38 But just put it out there. What is your goal, what is the 09:43 strategy to get this book, this powerful book, into every home 09:46 by the year 2026? 09:48 Ryan, you know the goal is overwhelming and the reason why 09:54 I love it because every time you set goals that humanly cannot be 09:58 done you understand that the only way it can be done is by 10:03 God doing something special in and through us. So the year is 10:08 how do we plan to accomplish that is definitely through local 10:13 churches. (Right) We have divided the entire North 10:15 American Division in territories assigning each church their 10:21 territory suggested territory. So what we need is the Holy 10:25 Spirit to convict churches, church members, to understand 10:29 the importance of the time we live in, to understand how 10:32 important this book is for the times we live and then to 10:36 organize this in their own territory, the distribution in 10:40 their local territory. When you divide it all into the churches 10:44 it's not that overwhelming. (Right) It's overwhelming when 10:46 you think about the small group of people at Streams of Light 10:50 will never accomplish that. But with God's blessing and through 10:54 the local churches being inspired by this, it's going to 10:58 be done. And we'll know by the time it's done when we look back 11:03 everybody will know that it was God who did it. Humanly it's 11:06 impossible. 11:08 Absolutely God's going to light people's hearts on fire. I 11:09 believe it. It's already happening. We're going to talk 11:12 about what you have done and exactly what you're going to be 11:14 doing in future missions here but I have to ask the question 11:16 though because I know someone at home's probably wondering why 11:19 The Great Controversy? Because of all the books that Mrs. White 11:22 wrote or all the books that are available that are so 11:25 encouraging why The Great Controversy of all books has the 11:29 Lord placed this upon your heart upon the ministry's heart to 11:31 pass this out. Of course, it's going to go out by the millions 11:34 eventually so why this particular book? 11:37 Well that's a good question and I get that question a lot. I get 11:41 that question a lot. Basically, why this book? I will summarize 11:45 it. I'll try to keep it very short. This book you know there 11:51 is truth in general. In the Bible we have the truth. It's 11:55 like general truth about the plan of salvation, how God 12:00 created the world and how he's saving the world from sin. But 12:04 there is present truth, present truth for these times. It's 12:09 basically, what will happen right before Jesus comes. What will 12:12 Satan try to do and how God is going to prepare His people to 12:17 people to face what Satan is trying to do, how he's to 12:21 deceive people. So this book The Great Controversy basically 12:26 takes the veil and it shows us behind the veil what is going on 12:29 in this great controversy between God and the devil. It 12:33 actually shows God's true character. When we know God's 12:37 true character we can worship Him in Spirit and in truth. If 12:41 we think about God as someone who will burn people forever 12:44 eternally in hell you can't really worship a God like that. 12:48 Because His character is not represented in a true way. This 12:53 book does just that. It guides people to the Bible and reveals 12:59 and magnifies God's true character and Satan's true 13:01 character. I would like to read just two short texts that kind 13:06 of led me into this Great Controversy distribution. 13:10 Revelation chapter 18 verses 1 and 2. And there we see it says 13:17 And after those things I saw another angel come down from 13:21 heaven having a great power and the earth was lightened with his 13:26 glory. So that is that powerful event and Ellen White comments 13:30 on that, that is actually God's church anointed with His Holy 13:34 Spirit. That's what this represents. God's church, you 13:38 and I, right? And all the viewers anointed by God's Spirit 13:42 going like represented in an angel. Verse 2 says: And he 13:47 cried mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great 13:52 is fallen, is fallen. And probably we can stop there. So 13:56 this angel is going to lighten the earth with his glory by 14:01 denouncing the counterfeit. 14:02 Mm-mmm, okay, all right. 14:04 So this book does that because it shows God's true character 14:07 but then it denounces the counterfeit and it shows, choose 14:11 It puts people before a choice; choose God and His ways or Satan 14:16 and what he's presented. And so that's why this is the book for 14:19 the hour. This is the present truth. That's why there's so 14:22 much enthusiasm about taking that book. Some people have 14:25 asked, Why not the Bible? And the Bible should be the 14:30 paramount book in every home. (Right) But when I go door to 14:33 door I see that people have two, three, four, or five Bibles at 14:36 home but they don't understand them. So this is a guide to 14:41 guide people in reading the Bible, in reading the Bible and 14:44 understanding it for this particular times that we live in 14:48 Amen. I mean you've kind of already touched on a little bit 14:50 in what you just talked about. But I do want to go back and 14:54 maybe expound a little bit more on the urgency and importance of 14:57 this project. Because you know you could have set the goal to 15:01 2030 or 2040 but you know in this case we know that Jesus is 15:05 coming soon and you've set the goal at 2026. So talk about... 15:09 You know because there may be someone at home that says well 15:12 I'll just wait until a few years from now and maybe a couple 15:16 years from now before I get involved in this project. Why 15:18 should someone at home feel that sense of urgency to get involved 15:22 in this as soon as possible. 15:23 Oh, that's a wonderful question. You know, why the urgency? First 15:27 because there are people will not make it to next year, who 15:33 will just not be alive. So I think the main urgency is to 15:37 take the good news about God and His character to as many as 15:42 possible while they're still alive and they can make a choice 15:45 So that's the first urgency. It's ASAP. I mean if we could 15:49 we'd say let's do it by 2023. You know but it's a huge project 15:53 so we need humanly as well to you know give some time. Second 15:58 reasons why the urgency. We have freedom now. We have freedom to 16:04 go door to door to distribute. The law of the land is actually 16:08 backing us up. So we need to do this as soon as possible now. 16:12 Financially there is some stability as well. But we are 16:17 told in the Spirit of Prophecy that the work that the church 16:20 has not done in the time of prosperity, the church will have 16:25 to do it under most discouraging and forbidding circumstances. 16:28 (Yeah) We want to be wise. We want to do it while there's 16:31 still time of some stability, of some freedom. We want to do as 16:35 much as possible now, so that's why the urgency and the last one 16:39 it's just so good for the local churches to go out. In that 16:44 sense we need to do that ASAP. Whenever we do that with the 16:47 churches, when they come back from the outage of distributing 16:50 the books there is a glow in people's faces. They say why 16:53 didn't we do this before? So that is another reasons why 16:57 we're doing ASAP because it revives local churches. 17:01 Amen, praise the Lord. Beautiful answer and you know there may be 17:03 someone thinking right the opposite and thinking you know 17:05 what, why extend this longer. Why not just mail all of these 17:09 out in a much shorter time. But I understand you guys...you know 17:13 mailing is still an option, we know that, and you can talk 17:15 about that a little bit if you want but I also know that you 17:17 guys and the mission that the Lord has laid on your heart you 17:20 have boots on the ground, people delivering these books in person 17:24 So talk about why just go in person. Why not just mail all of 17:29 then out rather than putting people on the ground and 17:31 actually going out to the homes. 17:33 Yeah, again we are told in the Spirit of Prophecy that God 17:36 could have saved people through angels. But He left that work to 17:40 us so that our character would be more and more like Jesus's. 17:44 So really in the work of evangelism working for others 17:49 there is a huge benefit to us as a church. So mailing out is 17:54 there a benefit to us as a church. Well maybe. We still 17:57 have to gather finances. There is probably a good benefit to 18:01 the mailman. His character will be developed but we want our 18:05 character to be developed so that's the first reason why the 18:08 personal approach, because the church is going to marbleize to 18:12 do this work. Second reason is that personal contact with 18:16 people. That just has such a lasting and converting impact on 18:21 people and I'll be sharing a story a little later about how 18:24 that personal contact, even when the person did not read the book 18:27 yet, that personal contact can bring people to a conversion 18:31 experience. When they see a loving Christian that comes in 18:36 the heat or rain or whatever, comes to their door, they think 18:40 there's something there. 18:41 There's got to be something, right? This person's showing up 18:43 in the rain. 18:45 And when that persons prays with them there, when they just smile 18:48 and they encourage and they give them that gift, it's just 18:52 powerful. So that personal contact. You cannot replace that 18:55 by any method so that's why we're encouraging personal 18:58 distribution, hands-on distribution. 19:02 Amen, and you guys to this in mission trips in which you pick 19:06 a location and sometimes you go out with tons of people and the 19:10 one that comes to mind, of course the recent one you guys 19:12 did in St. Louis prior to the General Conference session and 19:16 I got to participate with this a little bit because you guys 19:20 don't just set a 19:22 date and go out. I mean there's weeks of preparation 19:24 and I understand you guys fast and pray for like so many weeks 19:28 or days before you actually go out, boots on the ground, you 19:32 know passing these out. I got to pray and do a devotional with 19:34 you guys a couple of times and so I know the Lord is involved 19:38 in this. But let's talk about the St. Louis mission trip in 19:41 which you guys, you distributed thousands and thousands of Great 19:47 Controversies in St. Louis prior to the General Conference 19:50 session. So tell us a little bit about that. 19:52 Oh it was...that was such a marvelous experience. Every time 19:57 you plan to do this there's like mountains that you have to pass 20:02 There are challenges. So one of the challenges, because we never 20:06 do this work with our local churches being involved in it. 20:10 If the churches don't want it, we're not going there. We want 20:13 that connection between local churches because they will do 20:16 the follow-up after that. So when we were trying to get into St. 20:20 Louis, one of the churches that we addressed, one of the members 20:25 called me and said we would love to be part of this. I said, well 20:28 the way to do it, you have to take this project to your church 20:33 board and then if the church board approves it then we'll go 20:37 to the next step. So he calls me back and says we have a 20:39 stumbling block there, not everybody's on board with this. 20:42 Not everybody wants...I say well you know it could happen. 20:46 So he said the pastor doesn't really think that this is the 20:50 approach that he wants to take. Anyway to make it short, the 20:54 pastor later calls me and he says why would you distribute 20:58 The Great Controversy, why not other book? So I shared with him 21:02 the reasons. I shared with him the Bible text and the Spirit of 21:06 Prophecy quotation. He said, you're up to something. Why 21:09 don't you come to my church and preach. So we went into that 21:12 and then Pastor Darren not only embraced the project but his 21:18 church was the hosting church for the whole event. Not only 21:21 that but his church now is desiring to be a chapter for 21:26 Streams of Light in St. Louis area. So that was marvelous. 21:30 So we have distributed by God's grace more than 40,000 books in 21:35 four days. So it was marvelous to see church administration, 21:41 church members, even the General Conference Administration there 21:44 with us distributing. It was just such a powerful experience 21:48 in those four days. 21:50 Wow, wow. That's amazing. Over 40,000 different books 21:54 distributed to so many people. That's powerful. I actually 21:57 think we have a video that we'd like to share at this time that 22:00 kind of encapsulates and gives us a summary of what happened 22:02 there in St. Louis. 22:04 ♪ ♪ 22:09 To have Streams of Light come here instead of answered 22:12 prayer. What we saw through the pandemic it was incredibly tough 22:16 to get evangelism back up on it's feet and rolling again. 22:23 Really it's been an answered prayer but what we're 22:25 experiencing here today is nothing short of a miracle. 22:28 Okay, it's my turn. Your turn. And so it's just a wonderful 22:39 experience. I've met amazing people all around St. Louis. 22:43 Divine appointments. People that were literally on the ground 22:47 praying for somebody to show up and somebody from Streams of 22:51 Light this mission trip showed up right at that moment. So no 22:57 it was beyond words because we're talking about only 22:59 something that God can do. 23:02 ♪ ♪ 23:05 Well because I came once before and it was one of the most 23:11 wonderful experiences of my life. So I want to do it again. 23:14 and again. I'm working for the Lord. Just the miracle of being 23:27 able to be a coworker with Him in the salvation of many. It's a 23:32 high calling and it's very fulfilling. Even the long days 23:38 without any "Divine" appointment because as I've really concluded 23:43 every home where we've left a book is a Divine appointment. 23:47 So it's very satisfying. It's very late in Earth's history. We 23:53 have little time. So it's a privilege to finish the work, to 23:56 work together to finish and see our Jesus soon. 24:03 ♪ ♪ 24:15 I wanted to come on this trip because this is the time to get 24:19 out the three angels messages. And there's no other book that's 24:23 so succinctly and comprehensively 24:26 discusses what those messages are in a way that people can 24:31 understand and that would motivate them to be ready for 24:34 Jesus to come. 24:35 One day television's going to be closed down, radio's going to be 24:41 closed down but these books are going to be silent witnesses. 24:44 They're going to go on again and again and again. People are 24:48 going to read them and some of the fruit bears immediate fruit 24:50 some of the books will bear immediate fruit, some the fruits 24:53 are long-term. So I think it's critically important to get 24:55 actively involved because every book gives Jesus a chance to do 24:59 something special. 25:01 This book, Great Controversy, was a book that Ellen White 25:11 said she wished circulated more than any other book that she had 25:14 written. Why? Because it gives history, it gives prophecy, it 25:19 gives a fantastic complete picture of God's last day 25:24 message. What a privilege to be able to share this book with 25:28 others. 25:31 ♪ ♪ 25:39 Wow, praise the Lord. God has certainly blessed in St. Louis 25:42 and all the work that you guys are doing and it's evident that 25:45 this Great Controversy book has changed and influenced in a 25:50 positive way so many lives. And speaking of changing lives, 25:54 we have a special guest with us. Via Skype we have Elder Anthony 25:59 Kent who is the associate ministerial secretary for the 26:02 General Conference. He's joining us live via Skype right now. How 26:06 are you my brother? 26:07 I'm real well Ryan. Thank you for the opportunity. 26:10 Amen, amen. And I know. I've heard some incredible stories 26:13 of how this book has changed lives and I know that you also 26:17 have an incredible story as well I think it involves your great 26:21 great grandfather. Would you mind telling us that story or 26:23 introducing to us how the Great Controversy had influenced you 26:26 and your family. 26:28 Sure. My great great grandfather and great great grandmother they 26:32 lives in Australia in a very remote place, a place called 26:36 Yuggera. Not even Australians have heard of Yuggera. They 26:41 lived on a wheat and sheep property and they had 11 kids. 26:45 And my great great grandmother's name was Mary, my great great 26:48 grandfather's name was Tom What else would it be in the 1800s? 26:53 And Mary got very sick. She caught pneumonia and she 26:56 realized she wasn't going to survive and so she said to Tom 27:00 her husband, she said Tom I'm not going to make it. She said 27:04 promise me that when your time comes that we'll meet in heaven 27:08 and do all that you can so that the kids will ultimately come 27:12 too. And Tom made a promise but he didn't know how to keep that 27:17 promise. A little while later Tom was out plowing on his farm 27:22 behind a horse and a guy on a bicycle rode up to him in the 27:28 middle of nowhere. This guy was a literature evangelist. His 27:31 name was Phillip Reike and he sold my great great grandfather 27:35 the Great Controversy. He read it. It wasn't an easy thing for 27:42 him to accept. He wrestled with what he was reading. But 27:46 ultimately he realized that this is true. He got a Bible. He 27:53 checked out the Great Controversy with the Bible and 27:54 he was convinced. And then he shared it with his children. To 28:00 begin with they thought he'd gone nuts. They said he had 28:03 religious mania. He was keeping Sabbath down by the river by 28:08 himself just reading his Bible but ultimately they came to 28:14 faith as well. The whole family was baptized and then my great 28:19 great grandfather began share. He lent the book, he gave Bible 28:24 studies to his neighbors and five other families, neighbors, 28:29 became Adventists. And they built a church, a Seventh-day 28:34 Adventist church in their little community out in the middle of 28:38 nowhere. And it was made of pressed earth. They were poor 28:42 people. They used what they had to build this church. And wow 28:46 what an extraordinary journey and story has come from this. 28:51 You know in our family alone there's seven generations of 28:56 Adventists. There's been 11 pastors in our immediate family 29:00 The other families there've been pastors. This community ended up 29:07 really being the source of many influential pastors, workers, 29:13 missionaries for the whole of the South Pacific Division. You 29:17 know from that one book that this literature evangelist. His 29:20 name was Phillip Reike, that he sold to my great great 29:23 grandfather more than 20,000 people were baptized and have 29:30 come into the Seventh-day Adventist church. All from one 29:33 copy of the Great Controversy. 29:36 Praise God! Wow! That goes to show you the power of the 29:40 gospel. That if we're sharing Christ all it takes is one, one 29:45 connection and it starts a domino effect. That is so 29:47 powerful and obviously stories like Phillip Reike and with your 29:50 grandfather and all that you just told us there brother... 29:54 Now I heard a story about that you're quite a cyclist and all 29:58 of this has encouraged you enough that you recently, from 30:02 my understanding, you are a cyclist and you took a trip 30:04 along with others on your bicycle from Maryland, you rode 30:09 from Maryland to the state of Missouri distributing the Great 30:13 Controversy along the way. Tell us a little bit about that. 30:16 It was a great experience. We rode from Washington, D.C. to 30:23 St. Louis for the GC Session. There were a group of eight of 30:28 us and this was self-funded. We didn't want anyone to think that 30:34 this was like a General Conference junket. We paid for 30:39 our own lodging and our meals and anyone we saw on the way 30:44 we shared a Great Controversy and a flyer and some other 30:50 Adventist literature with them. It was a thrilling experience. 30:53 In the footsteps of Phillip Reike, will in the cycle path of 31:00 Phillip Reike, we wanted to find the remote places, the 31:03 quiet roads where we'd meet people while they were cutting 31:08 their grass, checking their mailbox, walking their dog, 31:15 going for a jog. We'd have a brief conversation with them, 31:19 tell them briefly about Phillip Reike and his ministry and share 31:25 with them The Great Controversy. And I've got to tell you, people 31:28 were so open. It was often a lot of evangelism but I've never 31:36 found an opportunity where people were so open to receive 31:41 the message. Now I've got a little something here that I'd 31:44 like to share with you. This is the jersey that we rode, that we 31:50 wore on the way. We were pretty bright and colorful. On the 31:53 front and on the back the I Will Go logo. So that's what we wore 31:59 When a group of eight of us were riding along it kind of 32:05 attracted attention (of course) and people particularly in these 32:08 quiet little hamlets and villages, you'd just ride past 32:11 somebody's house and they'd see these eight cyclists. We'd wave. 32:14 They'd wave back. And two of us would peel off and have a 32:19 conversation and share a Great Controversy with them. Ryan it 32:24 was a fantastic experience. It invigorated me. It helped me in 32:28 my health. It was just such a thorough blessing in every way. 32:33 Praise the Lord, brother, praise the Lord. We certainly thank you 32:35 by brother for taking the time to join us today and sharing 32:38 with us your stories and we wish you the best my brother and 32:41 we're going to let you go at this time, but we thank you so 32:44 much for all that you're doing for the Lord and until next time 32:47 we'll see you soon. 32:48 God bless you. 32:50 All right. Praise the Lord. Obviously Oleg The Great 32:52 Controversy has changed so many lives and I know that in the 32:55 field and in all of your ministry work that you've done 32:59 you've see lives changed and influenced in a powerful way 33:01 through this book, The Great Controversy. And there was a 33:05 particular story that I heard a little bit about, Marybel. Could 33:08 you tell us the story of Marybel in Texas. 33:11 Last year I was in the month of May I think I was in the parking 33:16 lot, Sam's Club parking lot. And I gave the book The Great 33:20 Controversy to a lady telling her this is a gift, your gift. 33:24 She says what's the book about? I tell her it's a blend of 33:27 history and Bible prophecy. She says Oh so it's about Bible. I 33:30 said, Yes. She said because I'm looking for a church, she says 33:33 but I'm looking for a church that would preach the truth, not 33:37 just stories to make me feel good but the truth. And I said 33:41 I happen to go to a church like that tomorrow. Why don't you 33:44 join me? She said I will. So she joined me and she started 33:48 studying the Bible. Then she got distracted but after a few 33:55 months, actually it was about three months ago now, that the 33:59 Pastor from that local church called me. He says, Oleg, I 34:04 forgot to tell you Marybel is getting baptized today. I think 34:07 we have a picture there of Marybel and it was such an 34:11 amazing, amazing testimony of that personal encounter because 34:16 that's Marybel receiving the book there, the Spanish version 34:19 of The Great Controversy and the next picture is Marybel 34:23 getting baptized by Pastor Antonio there in McAllen, Texas 34:27 So she didn't even read the book yet but the personal interaction 34:32 the personal contact, inviting her to the church then she was 34:37 crying and just thanking saying thank you so much for leading 34:42 me to Jesus, leading me to the church, to the true church. So 34:46 that's the power of not only the book but the personal 34:49 interaction. It's just so amazing. 34:51 Oh, oh man, that's just...I tell you that makes all the 34:54 difference when you're preaching the gospel, sharing the good 34:57 news in whatever way, whether it's literature evangelism, 35:00 public evangelism, friendship evangelism, whatever the case 35:02 may be. My friends, those who are watching now, it's such a 35:05 blessing because it's all worth seeing those individuals, their 35:09 lives being changed, they're coming to the realization that 35:12 life is precious and that time is short and that Jesus is 35:15 coming soon. And so you have people like Marybel who get that 35:18 They understand. And praise the Lord for this book. I'm telling 35:20 you, I've read it. You need to read it. It's powerful. The 35:23 Great Controversy. And that's exactly what Streams of Light is 35:26 doing to get a copy of this book in all homes all the way up, the 35:32 goal is 2026. But that being said, you're moving that much 35:35 closer to obtaining this goal because I understand that 35:39 Streams of Light has partnered with the Central California 35:42 Conference and you guys now have targeted the Silicon Valley 35:46 area and here to talk to us about that, we have the Central 35:50 California Conference, the President of the Central 35:54 California Conference and the Seventh-day Adventist church. We 35:56 have Elder Dan Serns with us. How are you, my brother? 35:59 You with us? 36:01 Hey, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. 36:05 Amen, amen, my brother. Well Oleg was talking to me a little bit 36:07 about you know the Central California Conference and 36:10 Streams of Light partnering together to now target the 36:13 Silicon Valley area and I just have to ask you, you know, of 36:19 all the areas, why Silicon Valley for one and also we 36:21 would like you to share with us over the next few minutes of you 36:25 know why you are so passionate about this project as well. 36:27 Will you know Silicon Valley is where so many things happen 36:32 that impact the entire world. You know we have the 36:34 headquarters of Apple and Google and Facebook and all of those 36:39 right there and 10s of thousands of employees. And we just said 36:43 they need to know that Jesus loves them, they need to know 36:46 that Jesus is coming again soon. They need to know that Jesus 36:50 has a good plan for their life and that now's the time to take 36:53 Him seriously. So Oleg is really on our team in Central 36:57 California even though we share him with the rest of the North 36:59 American Division and the world. And we just said can you imagine 37:04 inviting hundreds and maybe even thousands of people into Silicon 37:08 Valley to team up with the believers who are already there 37:11 and are mission-minded and just go out door to door with a smile 37:16 on your face and a prayer in your heart and meeting the 37:19 people, getting The Great Controversy into their hands 37:22 We said this could be a game changer. We we've set aside a 37:26 labor day weekend the next three years specifically to invite 37:31 mission teams to come into Silicon Valley and San Francisco 37:34 and we just are thankful for this partnership with Streams of 37:38 Light that allows us to have local churches and missionaries 37:43 that come in for a few days and just working together for the 37:47 Lord side by side to place these books in homes and to pray with 37:51 the people. 37:53 Amen and so do you remember the first time you ever read The 37:56 Great Controversy? 37:59 You know I was just a kid. I grew in a minister's home and I 38:02 got ahold of the whole Conflict of the Ages Set and I thought 38:06 this is heavy reading. But once I started getting into it I said 38:10 wow this is so powerful and then I drifted away like many people 38:16 do, I drifted away. And then as I began seeing things happen I 38:20 said, No this is the book for the times. Just as was said 38:24 this last weekend I was in Silicon Valley in one of our 38:28 Seventh-day Adventist churches and I met a little lady and her 38:32 103-year-old mother. They were originally from Peru and they 38:37 said that literature evangelist came to their family and the 38:41 103-year-old mother and the other nine siblings and the 38:46 parents were baptized and there are just hundreds and thousands 38:49 just like we heard from Anthony Kent. I mean, the Bible is what 38:53 changes lives. This book helps people understand the truths of 38:58 the Bible, connecting the dots in ways that they've never seen 39:01 before. 39:03 Amen, amen. That is so powerful. Brother Serns I just have to ask 39:08 this also because there's someone that's probably watching 39:10 right now that says you know what I want to become involved 39:13 and I want to get involved in this. Do you have any thoughts 39:17 or any appeal or any type of encouraging words to those who 39:20 might be watching right now that's kind of in the valley of 39:23 decision as to whether or not they want to get involved in 39:25 this financially or physically who might want to get involved 39:28 with the Silicon Valley project or maybe they can't be near that 39:33 area but they maybe want to spread the word in their area. 39:35 What words of encouragement do you have for those watching now? 39:37 First of all, August 30 to September 4 this year. I can't 39:43 think of a better place to be or a better thing to be doing than 39:46 gathering with hundreds of people, praying in the morning 39:49 and encouraging each other and going out. So I'm going to be 39:52 there and I'd love to meet as many of you as possible that 39:54 can come physically. And if you can't come physically you can 39:59 help cover somebody else going. You may know some young people 40:03 you may know some other people who you could help sponsor to go 40:06 and you can sign up. I'm sure there'll the information here 40:09 on how to do that. And at the same time every church can think 40:13 of their territory and they can go out Sabbath afternoons 40:17 meeting the people, encouraging people. You know we talk a lot 40:21 and we do a lot but this is really high-impact work and God 40:26 is...wants us to be involved and engaged, personally engaged 40:31 in this kind of work in these last days. 40:34 Amen and amen. Well my brother thank you so much Brother Serns 40:37 We appreciate all that you are doing there in the Central 40:40 California Conference and for the cause of our Lord and we 40:42 appreciate you taking the time to be with us and sharing with 40:44 us today and we hope to talk to you again soon. 40:47 Hey, thanks so much for the chance to be here and to share 40:51 together this great project. 40:54 Amen. All right God bless you my brother. We'll let you go. 40:56 All right Oleg so Silicon Valley and he briefly mentioned the 41:01 dates there. Could you tell us those dates again? We want to be 41:05 able to invite people to participate so what are the 41:06 dates that we're going to be meeting. I believe it's in San 41:08 Jose, so what are those dates again? 41:10 It's August 30th, it's a Tuesday August the 30th to September the 41:15 4th. It's Sunday, September the 4th. And that's their Labor Day 41:19 weekend. 41:21 Okay, so what specifically people who are going to come to 41:22 San Jose what can they look forward to when they get there? 41:26 How would they get involved or what would they be doing once 41:29 they get there? 41:31 Awesome. Everybody will be staying at a hotel and 41:33 then we are 41:34 transporting everyone. We have reserved close to 45 mini vans, 41:39 seven passenger mini vans to transport so it's quite a 41:42 logistics there. So people will be transported to a church, a 41:46 hosting church where the operations are going from. So in 41:49 the morning we have powerful prayer time, a good hour and a 41:53 half of prayer time, different types of prayer and then Bible 41:56 study and powerful messages. Good food and then we're going 42:00 into the field. Training in the morning and then going into the 42:02 field. In the evening, we're coming back and everybody's 42:05 sharing testimonies what the Lord has done through them. It's 42:09 just awesome. It's a foretaste of heaven. When you're on those 42:13 mission trips it's just amazing. Yes physically it's tiring. 42:17 Everybody comes dead tired physically but spiritually oh 42:23 you're like it's amazing, amazing, amazing experience. 42:27 The one down side to a mission trip like that that once you 42:31 come you're hooked for the rest of your life. They can't stop. 42:35 They keep coming to the mission trips because that experience is 42:37 just such a high experience with the Lord. 42:40 Amen, praise the Lord. I'm looking forward to it. I think 42:42 we have actually a video that's going to be played right now in 42:45 regards to the Silicon Valley effort. Let's watch that. 42:50 Everyone in the world needs to know that Jesus loves them and 42:57 He's coming again soon. One of the best ways to let them know 43:01 is to give them The Great Controversy book. Hi, I'm 43:06 Dan Serns, president of the Central California Conference 43:09 and over the next three years we are getting a Great 43:13 Controversy book into every household in Silicon Valley and 43:17 San Francisco. We're not mailing them. We need you to come by the 43:22 hundreds to hand out tens of thousands of these books with a 43:25 smile and a prayer. You can give a book to somebody and this can 43:29 make an eternal difference in their life. This year, 2022, 43:35 August 30 to September 4 we're inviting hundreds to come from 43:39 all over the world to the Silicon Valley and San Francisco 43:42 where in the morning we'll study the Bible and we'll get 43:45 strengthened spiritually. In the afternoon we'll get our exercise 43:49 and we'll go out with a smile on our face and a prayer in our 43:53 heart, knocking on doors ringing doorbells delivering books and 43:57 seeing the divine appointments God has set up for us in these 44:00 last days. Come over to Silicon Valley, come over to San 44:05 Francisco and help us now. 44:08 ♪ ♪ 44:13 Amen. Again that website is www.CCCAdventist.org. I'm 44:19 excited about this man. And so you guys are going to be passing 44:21 out not just The Great Controversy book but they're 44:24 going to be getting some other things as well. Would you talk 44:26 to us a little bit about the contents of the book. There was 44:29 a QR code you wanted to talk about. So tell us what the 44:33 people will be receiving once they receive this bag and the 44:35 content of the bag. 44:37 Yes, so when we were thinking of The Great Controversy, when we 44:42 read what Ellen White says, she says that the health message is 44:46 the right hand of the third angels message and it's the 44:49 entering wedge. So we thought somehow we need to put in this 44:53 packet the health as well. So this is the result of it. It's 44:57 the Thrive magazine written by different authors. One of them 45:03 is Dr. Neal Nedley and the last article is written by Pastor 45:08 Mark Finley. Pastor Mark Finley makes a bridge from mental 45:13 health to spiritual health and basically leading people to the 45:17 book that leads people to the Bible that leads people to Jesus 45:20 Anyway but you know when we were talking about people reading a 45:26 book, big book like this, like The Great Controversy, some 45:29 people are more inclined to read that others. There are some 45:32 people that say well we don't really like reading so what we 45:37 thought of we have the QR code at every chapter so people can 45:44 scan the QR code with their phone and it leads them to 45:47 videos related to the chapter. Or it leads them to audio, you 45:50 know they can listen to the chapter in audio or have a Bible 45:53 study on the chapter. Then as well they can see right there on 45:57 that website where it leads them a church nearest to them, a 46:01 Seventh-day Adventist church around them or how many of them. 46:04 So the idea is to connect people to a network of people that can 46:10 bring them hope and that can love them in, you know, that can 46:13 bring them the truth that it is in Jesus. 46:16 Amen, amen, praise the Lord. So there's someone watching at 46:19 home right now that says you know what Oleg I would love to 46:21 be able to come to Silicon Valley, I'd love to be able to 46:24 come to these places like St. Louis and help distribute this 46:28 but maybe they can't show up physically but they want to 46:32 support the effort and they want to get involved in the 46:34 distribution of The Great Controversy so talk to us about 46:37 how they can do that. 46:38 Oh absolutely. We need all hands on deck. In order to achieve 46:44 this massive, massive goal we need you there that is watching 46:50 now. As a matter of fact, I just received a phone call this past 46:53 week, a lady saying I have seen you on 3ABN and whatever comes 46:58 from 3ABN I sign up because everything is so good on that 47:02 so she just signed up for the mission trip and because of my 47:06 appearance here some time ago with you guys. So what I want to 47:11 ask you that who is watching. Take this idea to your local 47:14 church. Take it to your pastor. Talk to your elders and say can 47:19 we be involved in distributing this book in our own community? 47:25 Only this way we'll be able to accomplish this goal. And then 47:31 if you can, if you can join us, we still have the registration 47:35 still open for the Silicon Valley mission trip. Please go 47:40 to the web site. There are two ways of going: One to the 47:43 Central California Conference website and one going to the 47:47 Streams of Light website directly and sign up. You can go 47:51 to either or. We'll lead you to the same place, the registration 47:55 page and you will have five unforgetable days in your life. 48:00 Going and taking this book out. But maybe you can't. Maybe you 48:05 can't come. We need financial help as well. We distributed 48:10 thousands and thousands of these books. We're bringing people 48:14 there. You know renting 45 mini vans, hotels, and everything else 48:18 has its cost. So if the Lord impresses you go to 48:24 StreamsOfLight.net and there you can donate. I believe you'll see 48:29 okay right there. You can click the donate button and you can 48:33 mention, there is a scroll down bar you can see the mission trip 48:38 Silicon Valley Mission Trip. You can donate directly towards that 48:41 or just in general. So there are many ways you can be involved 48:44 or you can just find us on Facebook and like us on Facebook 48:49 and follow us and share and reshare this news we have every 48:54 day almost we have a new video about somebody impacted by The 48:59 Great Controversy and Thrive Magazine. So join us in that. 49:01 And also we have this 40 days of prayer now that we're going 49:05 through. We're on day, I think number 18 or something like 49:09 that. So we 49:10 still have 22 days to go. You can join us on our website. You 49:16 can find a like, a Zoom link to join us 6:30 a.m. Pacific 49:20 Time every morning. 49:22 All right. I've been there. I know that it's awesome. 49:25 I know you have. This morning we had Jim Caster. He was leading 49:29 us in prayer. Wonderful times. Wonderful times where we have 49:33 some devotional thought, they're five to seven minutes, and then 49:37 prayer time. Different people praying about this initiative so 49:41 yeah, there are many ways how you can join, many ways how you 49:44 can participate. So whatever the Lord impresses you follow 49:47 through. You will be blessed and you will bless others. 49:50 Amen and praise the Lord. I have to ask you just because we only 49:53 have like a couple of minutes left here but what is your favorite 49:57 chapter in The Great Controversy I know everybody's got their 50:00 favorite chapter or the one that really spoke to them, but is 50:03 there a particular chapter, I know they're all great but is 50:05 there a particular chapter or particular passage in here that 50:09 really spoke to you when you read this? 50:10 Um, I have three. I love the chapter Scriptures, Our Only 50:18 Safeguard and then I have the chapter 38, The Final Warning. 50:22 It's just, I love that chapter because it shows a church that's 50:27 sleepy sometimes Laodicean, but it shows how the end time the 50:31 church will rise up and will shine in the world. That chapter 50:36 38 just shows a church that's full of power of the Holy Spirit 50:40 going out and showing God's character to people. It is just 50:44 so marvelous. And the last one is the last chapter. (Yes) It's 50:47 a chapter when everything is over, the conflict is over and 50:50 we are with Jesus and we're with all those that were distributing 50:55 the books and we're taking the message to 3ABN or any other 50:59 channel. They will be with us in heaven. What a joy that will be. 51:02 Praise the Lord. You were talking about the church rising 51:05 up but a passage that came to my mind Isaiah 60 verses 1-3. It 51:09 says: Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of 51:12 the Lord is risen upon you for behold the darkness shall cover 51:18 the earth and deep darkness the people but the Lord will arise 51:22 over you and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles 51:25 shall come to your light and the kings to the brightness of your 51:28 rising. That's what you're doing brother. Shining light. That's 51:32 what we're doing. We're taking the lesser light. We're pointing 51:35 people to the greater light of Jesus in the scripture. So again 51:38 you may want to participate in this work somehow, whether by 51:42 financially or physically get involved in this project and so 51:45 you can do that and so we want to give you an opportunity. The 51:49 information we'll pull up on the screen right now. 51:51 If you would like to contact or know more about Streams of Light 51:57 International you can write to them at P.O. Box 2804, Clovis, 52:04 CA 93613. You can also call them at (877) 222-5221. You can visit 52:21 their website at StreamsOfLight.net 52:26 Or you can email them at Info@StreamsOfLight.net |
Revised 2023-04-27