Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW200027S
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:13 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people. 01:09 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Today Worship, 01:11 and we're so glad that we can come in your home 01:14 and so glad that you can come into our home 01:16 and 3ABN is, 01:18 of course, it's for so many years, 01:20 Yvonne, you know people say, 01:21 "Oh, well, we talk about 3ABN." 01:23 We say it's your 3ABN 01:25 because without you there would be no 3ABN. 01:28 We all here, 01:29 we have Sister Yvonne 01:30 and Jason and Brother Kenny and Chris. 01:33 I mean, we all could be sitting here by ourselves 01:35 talking to nobody but ourselves. 01:37 But it's you, the viewing audience, 01:39 that supply the prayers and the financial support, 01:42 this program is literally goes around the world. 01:44 Praise the Lord. 01:46 I'm always amazed by that, Jay, 01:47 that when we say hello and welcome to 3ABN, 01:49 it goes up 22,300 miles to space, that signal, 01:53 gets on about nine different satellite, 01:56 goes from one satellite to the other 01:58 down into homes 01:59 all around the world in less than three seconds. 02:02 Now, when you talk about the end events 02:05 being rapid, 02:07 you know Daniel talks about 02:08 people running to and fro 02:09 and knowledge shall be increased. 02:11 I mean, how much more can it be increased 02:12 in three seconds. 02:14 People say, well, for generations, 02:15 people said Jesus is coming, you know. 02:18 What else can... 02:19 How do you know it's not going 02:21 to be another hundred years or thousand years? 02:22 I say because how much can you improve 02:24 on three seconds? 02:25 We say, that's not gonna make any difference. 02:28 So we're thankful today that we can spend this time 02:30 in the Sabbath, 02:32 opening the Sabbath, 02:33 because it's such a great time of the week. 02:35 And I guess probably our favorite, right? 02:37 Oh, yes. And the Sabbath is special. 02:39 What we want to talk about today 02:42 is witnessing for Jesus and sharing our faith. 02:45 And I always think about the great gospel commission 02:48 which is Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus says, 02:52 "To go ye into all the world." 02:54 But before He says that, 02:56 He says, "All power is given unto me in heaven and earth." 03:00 And I love that part of it, 03:02 because if somebody just says to you, 03:05 if I say to you, Jay, 03:06 I want you to take this into the whole world, 03:08 whatever it is, I hand you something, 03:10 take that to the whole earth, 03:11 you're scratching your head like what? 03:14 How am I gonna do that? Exactly. 03:15 So even when Jesus says, you know, 03:18 take this gospel of the kingdom into all the world, 03:21 like, how am I going to do that? 03:23 Well, all you have to do is read verse 18, it says, 03:26 "All power is given me, go ye therefore." 03:28 Amen. 03:30 So all of a sudden, wait a minute, 03:31 if I'm a Christian, I submit and commit my life to Jesus. 03:35 And I trust Him. 03:36 Now it's not about me, it's He's saying, 03:39 I'm willing to work in you and through you 03:42 to get the gospel into all the world. 03:43 That's right. 03:45 Then the question might be, 03:46 why does Jesus really need us to get the gospel in the world? 03:50 Couldn't He and the Holy Spirit, 03:52 couldn't He and the Holy Spirit, 03:54 literally, take the gospel without us. 03:56 Yeah. Well, they could. 03:58 They could, but we need it for our own salvation. 04:01 But we're going to talk more about it. 04:02 We hope you have your Bibles with you. 04:04 And what we're going to do is have a little prayer maybe, 04:06 Brother Kenny, we could ask you to say a prayer for us. 04:08 Absolutely. Let's pray. 04:10 Loving Father in heaven, 04:11 truly, we thank You for the opportunity 04:13 to study Your Word, 04:14 to be able to go forth 04:15 and has been mentioned here to all the world 04:17 and to give the good news 04:19 of the soon coming of Jesus Christ. 04:21 We thank You for 3ABN. 04:22 We thank You for the outreach and reaching people again 04:25 for the cause of Christ. 04:26 Lord, we just pray in a special way 04:28 now the Holy Spirit, 04:29 anointing of the Holy Spirit 04:31 upon everything is said and done. 04:32 May we see Jesus in a very special way, 04:34 may we learn more about 04:35 how we have to share our faith. 04:37 We just ask now again your Holy Spirit 04:39 will open ears, the hearts and the minds of your children 04:42 around the world, 04:44 that each one may be involved, 04:45 they will not just be hearers only 04:47 but we need to be doers of the Word. 04:48 Bless us now, we pray to this, 04:50 and thank You for the power of the Spirit 04:51 upon each one in Jesus' name. 04:53 Amen. Amen. Amen. 04:54 So could... 04:56 Does Jesus really need us 04:58 to take the gospel to the world? Of course not. 05:01 So if He doesn't really need us, 05:03 why does He bother? Why do we bother to do it? 05:06 I believe 05:07 He has us like being conduits once we're the, you know, 05:12 we submit and commit our life to Jesus, 05:14 then He's willing to work in us and through us for our benefit. 05:18 Why? 05:19 Because without that, 05:21 without a love for our fellow man, 05:24 everything is going to be me, myself and I. 05:26 Yeah. 05:27 And me, myself and I began in heaven through Satan. 05:31 So Satan is the king of me, myself and I. 05:34 So he said, "I shall be like the Most High God." 05:37 So everything is about him. 05:38 So because he put everything so much emphasis on self. 05:43 That's why 05:44 that for each and every one of us 05:46 if He would love for us just to think about ourselves. 05:48 That's right. 05:49 Kenny you and Chris just worry about 05:51 your house, your things, 05:52 what you're doing, pray for everybody else. 05:54 But hey, this is us. 05:56 What that's going to do to your own salvation? 05:58 Be detrimental, right? 06:00 Absolutely. Absolutely. 06:01 Too much, you know, the first thing Jesus said, 06:03 when He said, when you follow Him, 06:05 He said, deny self, 06:06 take up the cross and follow Me. 06:08 So I'm learning in life 06:11 that life's much bigger than the me or individual. 06:14 It's all about Christ 06:16 and reaching out to touch others for Him. 06:17 Absolutely. 06:19 We live in this whole I generation, 06:21 you know, this whole I time. 06:23 It's all about me. 06:25 It's what I want, 06:26 it's what I want to do is my truth, 06:28 it's my and it's like, 06:30 that is just so antithetical 06:33 to what the Word of God teaches. 06:35 It's all about others. 06:37 It's all about other people. 06:39 And Satan just has it all about ourselves. 06:42 So I think God is... 06:44 It's a great privilege 06:45 that He's willing to use frail human agents, 06:48 like each one of us. 06:50 But what it does, 06:51 once we sense and you feel 06:53 the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 06:55 And I would love to tell you an answer to prayer today, 06:59 but I don't really want to do it, 07:00 because sometimes you hate to sit around, 07:03 say, "Oh, well, the Lord told me this or that." 07:05 I think He speaks to all of us that way. 07:06 Yes. 07:08 But we were impressed to give somebody something 07:10 that we just out of the blue. 07:13 But I thought and I told her, 07:15 I have no idea 07:16 of if they even need something like this, 07:19 because it has something most people would need it. 07:21 But it's something I looked at and I said, 07:23 "We ought to give this." 07:24 So when I call the person, 07:26 she can tell you this just today literally was, 07:30 man, I've been looking for that for two weeks, 07:32 but one of those like that, 07:34 but I didn't think I could afford it right now 07:36 where I was trying to get a good buy on it. 07:38 And we're like, wow, isn't that amazing 07:40 the Lord knew exactly when and where. 07:43 And, but God is willing to work in and through all of us. 07:47 But once you sense the Holy Spirit, 07:50 and you realize when you're up front speaking, 07:52 you know, it's not always you. 07:54 You know the difference when it's, Kenny, 07:55 whenever the Holy Spirit using you, 07:57 you know that Chris, and each one of us. 08:00 And so, what a blessing to say, wow, 08:02 this is really amazing 08:04 God would in all of our frailness 08:06 that He'll use each and every one of us. 08:08 There's Luke 19:40. 08:10 And it says, 08:11 "He answered and said unto them, 08:13 'I tell you that 08:15 if these should hold their peace, 08:17 the stones would immediately cry out." 08:21 So think about that, the stones would cry out. 08:23 So for years, 08:24 I never really thought about that. 08:26 What does that mean that the stones will cry out, 08:29 because you know, 08:30 back in the '70s they had to pet rock, 08:32 remember that, that was really big, 08:34 everybody's, Jay, 08:35 somebody before your time they put a little box, 08:37 a little rock and put it in a box 08:39 and you, the people were buying. 08:40 And they sold it. 08:42 That's your pet rock. 08:43 I guess you get your rock, you pad it. 08:45 You do whatever, I mean, you know, 08:46 hey, everybody's doing something, 08:48 somebody made a bunch of money on a pet rock. 08:51 But when you say the very rocks will cry out. 08:54 So Jesus is telling us, 08:55 look, I'm going to give you 08:58 all power and through Me all power. 09:01 And I'm going to give this to you, 09:03 so I want you to take the gospel 09:05 to every nation, every kindred, tongue, and every people. 09:09 But if you don't do your job, I can't wait forever. 09:12 That's right. I can't wait forever. 09:14 So what's happened is, 09:15 the very rocks 09:17 because we as a church and as a people 09:20 and human beings 09:22 we could have gotten it if everybody, 09:23 if we said something to you today, Jay, 09:25 and you told her, 09:27 she told him and it went around. 09:28 You could get something around the world 09:30 in a matter of days. 09:32 If you go on internet, 09:33 now you can get it 09:34 in a matter of seconds or minutes. 09:36 But we haven't done our job as a church and as a people. 09:40 So God says, 09:41 "I'm going to help you with this." 09:43 Praise God. 09:44 Heaven is not heaven till my children are home. 09:46 That's it. 09:47 So I'm going to help you because I want My children, 09:50 I don't want him sleeping in the graves. 09:52 I wanna bring him home with Me. 09:54 So I was headed to, 09:56 in the very beginning you remember 3ABN, 09:58 Dr. Lee, down in Texas in Tyler. 10:02 And so he invited us to come down 10:04 and we, Kenny and I had been there once, 10:06 I think when Kenneth Cox was there. 10:07 And then I went down a few weeks later 10:10 to talk with some people. 10:12 And so he said, 10:13 I'll come and pick you up at the Dallas airport. 10:15 Well, I got to Dallas airport, and there was a man there. 10:18 And he said, "I'm sorry. 10:20 Dr. Lee couldn't make it. 10:21 He had emergency, he's in emergency room, 10:24 working and he couldn't make it to receive them. 10:26 But he asked me to come and get you." 10:28 I said, "Oh, great." So we went out. 10:30 He's a farmer, 10:31 and it was wasn't a new car by any chance. 10:33 And that's good, because I didn't have a new one. 10:35 But this car, 10:36 he had to move things around like I do sometimes 10:38 when you're carrying somebody. 10:40 And one thing that stuck out, 10:41 I remember for all these years, 10:43 we were driving, 10:44 it's only probably 60 miles or something. 10:46 About halfway there, we stopped to put a little oil 10:48 because the car was smoking really bad. 10:50 So he raised the hood, and we put a little oil. 10:52 So we're going along and he says, so. 10:57 And we didn't know each other, we're young. 10:59 And he said, "So you're 3ABN, huh? 11:03 So you guys are television." 11:05 I said, "Well, we're building." 11:06 We were just building and getting started 11:08 and, you know, raising the funds for it. 11:10 So he said, 11:11 "Well, can you explain a scripture to me?" 11:13 I said, "I don't know. 11:15 I'll try it. What is it?" 11:17 He said, "Well, the Bible says that if we don't do our job, 11:21 even the very rocks will cry out 11:23 to proclaim the name of Jesus." 11:25 So he said, "How do you explain that?" 11:27 And I look dumb as a rock 11:29 because I'm like, 11:31 "Well, I don't know. 11:32 I hadn't thought that far in advance. 11:34 You know, I'm not a preacher, nor son of a preacher." 11:37 So I'm like, "Well, I don't know." 11:38 And he said, 11:40 "You don't even know how the rocks will cry out?" 11:43 And I said, "No." And he said, "Well, 11:44 you of all people should know." 11:46 Okay. 11:47 He said, "What do you think radio was invented from?" 11:51 And I said, "Crystal." He said, "What's crystal?" 11:54 I said, "A rock." 11:55 He said, "Haven't you noticed on every hill 11:57 and every mountain are the antennas?" 12:00 He said, "The very rocks and mountains 12:02 are crying out to proclaim the name of Jesus". 12:04 Amen. 12:06 I mean, that hit me, that was deep. 12:08 The Lord said 12:09 that even the very rocks will cry out 12:11 if we're not doing our job. 12:12 So here, crystal turns into radio, 12:15 radio, into television, 12:17 television into computers 12:18 and satellites and there you go. 12:21 So the very rocks and mountains 12:23 are crying out to proclaim the name of Jesus. 12:25 And why? 12:27 Because I believe 12:28 all nature wants to be restored to the perfection. 12:31 The rose, 12:32 roses want to be there without the thorns, 12:34 right? 12:35 Because now you look at them, but you hate to grab them 12:37 'cause they will struck. 12:38 So all nature because when man sinned, he fell, 12:43 and yet God had to curse the dust of the ground 12:45 to in nature. 12:47 Otherwise, perfect nature would have been dominion 12:50 over imperfect man. 12:52 And so, God had to curse in balance. 12:55 So now we're all, 12:57 so I believe all nature is crying out 12:59 for the Creator Jesus to come back. 13:02 So, what do we do? 13:04 If the rocks can cry out, surely we can, right? 13:07 So today, we want to talk about 13:08 how do you all share your faith? 13:11 You're looking at me. 13:15 We can go around anyway you want. 13:17 Well, you know, I love acronyms, right? 13:20 You do. 13:21 So today, I ask the Lord 13:23 to give me some, just an acronym, 13:25 so the word gospel. 13:27 Okay. 13:29 And all of these letters 13:31 have to do with sharing our faith 13:33 and how to witness to others. 13:35 So the G is, first of all, what is the gospel? 13:38 It's good news. Yes, it is. 13:40 It's good news. 13:41 And it's the light to those who are in darkness. 13:45 2 Corinthians 4:1 says, 13:48 "Therefore, since we have this ministry, 13:50 as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 13:54 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, 13:56 not walking in craftiness 13:58 nor handling the word of God deceitfully, 14:01 but by manifestation of the truth 14:03 commending ourselves 14:04 to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 14:07 But even if our gospel is veiled, 14:09 it is veiled to those who are perishing, 14:12 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, 14:15 who do not believe, 14:17 lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, 14:20 who is the image of God, should shine on them. 14:22 For we do not preach ourselves, 14:25 but Christ Jesus the Lord, 14:27 and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. 14:30 For it is the God who commanded light 14:33 to shine out of darkness, 14:35 who has shone in our hearts 14:37 to give the light of the knowledge 14:38 of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 14:42 So the G in gospel is for the good news. 14:46 The O is observe. 14:49 When we're sharing the gospel, when we're witnessing, 14:52 we need to know the style of the person 14:54 to whom we're witnessing. 14:56 Culture and everything. 14:57 Culture. 14:59 Do they like discussion, are they readers. 15:03 I was talking to one of my cousin's 15:06 Jeda yesterday, 15:07 I told her, I give her credit, 15:08 for this was a shout out to Jeda. 15:11 Because she was saying, in witnessing, you know, 15:15 and sharing the gospel, 15:16 you need to know who or to whom you're speaking 15:19 and what they do and what they like. 15:22 So people have different styles, 15:24 one size doesn't fit all. 15:26 Observe in the person that if you know the person, 15:29 observe that in them. 15:31 And then, S is for start with your inner circle. 15:34 That's the place to start, people you know. 15:37 Remember in Luke 8, Matthew 8 and Mark 5, 15:41 we read about the demoniac and how he was naked, 15:45 and he was shackled. 15:46 And he came up against Jesus. 15:48 And Jesus cast the demons, 15:50 demons because he was called Legion, 15:53 because they were many of them. 15:55 Cast the demons out. 15:58 And the guy was well-known in the community 16:01 because he was a nutcase. 16:02 So he was well-known in the community. 16:05 And so when the people found out... 16:07 Yes, that's politically correct. 16:08 I know, he was a nutcase. 16:10 You know, he was filled with demons. 16:12 Okay, okay. No, no. 16:14 It was good. 16:15 You're demon possessed, everything goes. 16:17 Yeah, everything goes, that's right. 16:19 So Jesus healed him. 16:21 Yes. 16:23 And he was clothed, and he was in his right mind. 16:26 And he begged Jesus, "Let me go with you." 16:29 And what did Jesus say? 16:31 He said to him, 16:32 "Return to your own house. 16:35 And tell what great things God has done for you." 16:39 Already he's feeding on his faith, right? 16:40 That's right. 16:42 He sent him back to his home, back to his community to tell 16:46 because they were the ones who saw him before. 16:49 They were the ones who saw him when they were, 16:51 when he was in his, at his worst. 16:53 And now he was at his best. 16:56 So Luke 8:39 says, 16:59 "And he went his way 17:00 and proclaimed throughout the whole city 17:02 what great things Jesus had done for him." 17:05 That's good. 17:06 The P in gospel is for praise. 17:09 When we share what God has done in our lives, 17:12 it brings praise to God. 17:15 1 Chronicles 16:23-25 says, 17:18 "Sing to the Lord, all the earth, 17:20 proclaim the good news of His salvation 17:22 from day to day. 17:24 Declare His glory among the nations, 17:26 His wonders among all peoples. 17:28 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, 17:32 He is also to be feared above all gods." 17:35 So praise is important. 17:37 One thing we can do is we can use music. 17:40 Music is a way to witness 17:42 because some people are music buffs, 17:44 and you can reach them through music. 17:48 So you can share music projects, 17:49 like Give Him Glory, 17:51 which is the three angels' messages in music, 17:55 and accompany that with the booklet, 17:58 Pastor John's booklet on the three angels' messages. 18:01 So there are ways to use praise to reach people. 18:05 And then E is for example, excuse me. 18:09 We are to set an example through our own lives. 18:14 When we are talking to people and dealing with people 18:17 and trying to witness to people. 18:19 People are watching to see how we respond to situations. 18:23 Ephesians 4:17-24 says, 18:26 "This I say, therefore, 18:28 and testify in the Lord, 18:29 that you should no longer 18:30 walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, 18:33 in the futility of their minds, 18:35 having their understanding darkened, 18:37 being alienated from the life of God, 18:40 because of the ignorance that is in them, 18:42 because of the blindness of their heart, 18:44 who, being past feeling, 18:46 have given themselves over to lewdness, 18:48 to work all uncleanness with greediness. 18:51 But you have not so learned Christ, 18:55 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, 18:59 as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, 19:02 concerning your former conduct, 19:05 put off the old man which grows corrupt 19:07 according to the deceitful lusts, 19:10 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 19:12 and that you put on the new man 19:13 which was created according to God, 19:16 in true righteousness and holiness." 19:19 And the L in gospel is for lessons. 19:23 You may find it easier 19:25 to share the gospel 19:26 just by sharing written lessons, 19:28 that, you know, 19:29 there're some lessons that go over, you know, 19:31 all these different topics 19:33 and so you might share it that way. 19:35 So you can schedule a time each week via video call. 19:40 Since we now have COVID, 19:41 we can't go to people's houses necessarily. 19:43 So you can do video calls 19:45 and share lessons that way with them. 19:48 So the gospel we can share with good news, 19:52 observing people and their styles, 19:54 starting with your inner circle, 19:56 praise, example and lessons. 19:59 Oh, praise the Lord. That was it. 20:01 That was. Praise the Lord. 20:03 Yeah. That was it. 20:06 I guess we can close the Sabbath and go home. 20:09 It was very good. Very good. 20:12 That was awesome. 20:14 I had, some, one of those points. 20:16 And one thing, you know, 20:17 we need to pray before we speak. 20:19 Come on. Yeah. 20:20 A lot of times, 20:21 we can go in with our preconceived notions, 20:23 preconceived ideas, judgments, whatever the case may be. 20:26 So we need to pray before we speak. 20:28 But then know who you're talking to, 20:30 that's the point that I had on there as well, 20:32 know who you're talking to. 20:34 And then we need to listen to them. 20:36 You know, so many times we do all the talking, 20:38 but we don't listen very much. 20:40 So I remember, 20:41 I was sitting in a car with an Uber driver, 20:43 and he was taking me, I think, to the hotel, 20:45 I was in either California or Florida or somewhere. 20:49 And I remember talking to him 20:50 about what I was in town for a convention, 20:53 a church convention. 20:54 And he was like, you know, I mean, no disrespect, 20:57 but I'm an atheist. 20:58 And so we begin to have a conversation 21:00 and I shared a little bit about what I believe. 21:02 And I listened to him, 21:03 I listened to the points 21:05 that he starts to bring out and make in. 21:08 I said, "Amen. 21:09 No disrespect taken, 21:11 the same God that I serve 21:13 is the one that gave you that choice 21:15 whether or not you want to believe in Him." 21:17 And so, we continue to have this conversation, 21:20 and I'm listening to him and talking 21:22 and we get to the hotel, get out the car, 21:24 he shakes my hand. 21:26 And he's just saying, you know, 21:27 "I'm thankful for the conversation. 21:30 You're one of the few Christians that I've met 21:32 that took the time to listen 21:34 and didn't take a condescending approach." 21:37 So, you know, 21:38 I don't know what happened after that, 21:40 but the seed had been planted. 21:42 So we need to learn to listen to people. 21:45 We need to know our role. 21:46 In other words, we're not the Holy Spirit. 21:49 Our job is not to plant the seed, 21:52 convict them and grow the whole oak tree and that. 21:54 That's right. 21:55 You know, that's not our job. 21:57 So, we need to know our role. 21:58 And we need to get past the outward appearance. 22:01 You know, sometimes we see people, 22:02 they may be tattooed up, they may have earrings, 22:04 they may have, whatever the case may be, 22:06 we need to get past that outward experience. 22:09 Look at who Jesus hung out with. 22:11 I mean, tax collectors, 22:12 harlots and all of these people 22:15 to witness to them, to minister to them. 22:18 How can they be reached 22:19 if we can't even get past outward appearance? 22:22 So that's important. 22:23 Continuing to pray for the seeds 22:25 that have been planted. 22:26 You know, it's not enough to just say, okay, here, 22:29 you know, learn about Jesus and good luck. 22:32 You know, no, we need to pray for them. 22:34 Thank you. 22:36 And as much as possible, 22:37 we need to keep in contact with people 22:39 that we witness to, or put them in touch 22:41 with people that are in their area. 22:43 I think those are important steps 22:46 in witnessing. 22:47 Amen. Very good, okay. 22:48 Very good. Praise the Lord. 22:50 Going around the table. 22:52 I see the eyes. 22:54 Well, when I began to study about this 22:57 and pray about this, 22:58 the first thing that came to my mind 22:59 is you cannot give what you don't have. 23:03 So I think it bears repeating, you talked about the demoniac. 23:06 But it bears repeating 23:08 that we need to be in study every day, 23:11 we need to be in prayer every day. 23:14 When you talked about the rocks crying in out, 23:16 why God, you know, chooses to use us. 23:19 It reminds me of the thought 23:21 that it's because He's reforming us. 23:24 He's reforming us from this old world 23:27 to be fit and ready for the new world 23:29 that He has for us. 23:31 And we have to keep that in our mind. 23:33 And one thing that I thought about, 23:35 the best way to witness or to share your faith 23:38 is to live your faith, no matter where you are, 23:42 no matter who you're around. 23:44 You know, Mrs. White makes it very clear 23:46 that we are responsible for actions 23:48 as well as our reactions. 23:50 And you were talking about where our field 23:52 is because I came up with three different things. 23:55 Mine wasn't an acronym, 23:56 but number one was realize that we have a mission. 24:01 And this mission may be closer than we think. 24:04 It's our family. 24:06 You know, our representation of Christ 24:08 starts with our families, starts with our children, 24:11 starts with our husband and wife. 24:13 You know, he's a pastor. 24:15 But that doesn't give me an excuse 24:16 not to be loving, 24:18 not to be Christ like to him and vice versa. 24:21 You know, because we can hurt, 24:23 you know, we're always with our... 24:26 You know, we are always sowing seeds. 24:29 We're always sowing seeds. 24:31 So we're either sowing seeds for the kingdom of heaven, 24:34 or we're sowing seeds 24:36 for the kingdom that will be lost 24:38 here on this earth, you know, so there's always tears. 24:41 And sadly, we, so many times sow those seeds of tears, 24:48 we lose our patience. 24:49 We're not reflective of God's love, 24:52 you know, when we need to. 24:53 A lot of times, you know, 24:54 if you feel like you're about to burst out, 24:56 you need to just leave the room, 24:57 excuse yourself. 24:58 Go pray if you have to. 25:00 You know, when I was reading about disciplining children, 25:02 Mrs. White says we should never, 25:04 listen to this because I've failed many times. 25:07 But I kept working on it. 25:09 We should never discipline our children in anger. 25:13 We need to go to the closet, 25:15 we need to go in secret to that God 25:17 who hears in secret. 25:18 We need to calm down, 25:20 and we need to handle it 25:21 in the way that we should. 25:23 The second one for me was pray for God 25:26 to open doors to share the gospel. 25:30 Some of the best Bible studies I ever had 25:33 was when I asked God to open a door. 25:36 I still ask Him to open a door. 25:38 I'm asking Him to open a door to those who I love, 25:41 you know, my family members, 25:43 our children, our grandchildren, 25:46 who once knew the faith, 25:47 but they have kind of walked away. 25:50 And, of course, we pray for those 25:51 who are supporting the ministries here. 25:54 You know, we get a lot of calls. 25:56 I know you guys get a lot of calls. 25:58 And we need to be in prayer, 26:00 because we're to work while there is light. 26:03 And we realize the darkness is coming. 26:05 And number three, share true stories of faith, 26:09 answers to prayer, God's power in everything, 26:14 your testimonies. 26:15 Testimonies can be so powerful 26:18 when people see 26:19 what God is doing in and through you. 26:22 You know, I've sat amongst all of you 26:25 and I listened to your testimonies, 26:27 and it's always uplifting to me. 26:29 I never tire of it, 26:31 because God is in that miracle working business. 26:34 He's out to seek and to save those who are lost, 26:37 and which is why 26:38 we have such a wonderful opportunity. 26:41 And I've got more to say, 26:42 but I'm going to throw it on over to Pastor Kenny here. 26:44 And then we'll see, maybe it'll bounce back later. 26:47 Yeah. 26:49 Well, the one thing that really hit home for me 26:50 as I was looking at this, and Jesus made the statement, 26:53 I think it's in Luke. 26:54 You looked up Luke 19 something, 26:56 I think this is 19:10. 26:57 Yeah, you had it. 26:59 He said, 27:00 "He came to seek 27:01 and to save that which was lost." 27:03 That's always stuck in my mind. 27:05 Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost, 27:09 and I automatically inserted my name. 27:12 Okay. 27:14 See, I think it needs to be personal, 27:15 I inserted my name, 27:17 He came to seek and save me, 27:18 to make it personal and to you. 27:20 And we need to be careful 27:22 how we, I love the way he's talking about witnessing, 27:23 there's a way to do it. 27:25 Jesus, I know, I read in the Desire of Ages said, 27:27 when Jesus was witnessing, speaking to a group, 27:31 He always looked at the face, the faces. 27:34 And you could tell, 27:36 and you do that when you're up front, 27:37 you can tell when the face is accepting 27:39 what's being said and one who's rejecting it. 27:40 Yes, that's right. You see. 27:42 That didn't mean he changed the message. 27:43 But he read and I read one time, it said, 27:45 where he, 27:46 when he looked through and saw the people there, 27:48 he saw somebody there for the second time. 27:50 I mean, how many of us can really do it? 27:52 They showed up again. 27:54 He said, it brought such joy and peace to his heart. 27:57 How wonderful it was. 27:58 So we have to be careful, like say, 27:59 when're witness not to apply too much pressure. 28:01 I was thinking of the story was told about, 28:03 people went to church and they said, 28:04 "You don't have anything good happen this week, you know." 28:06 " Oh, yeah, yeah, we had good things happen, " said. 28:08 Can you believe it? 28:09 Somebody ran out of gas right in front of our house. 28:12 And they said, Oh, they did, 28:13 well, they said, "Well, well, " you know, providence, 28:15 God was working because we were able to help them. 28:18 But it says and they ran out, said, "What can we do?" 28:20 "Well, we're out of gas." 28:21 They said, "We're gonna help you with some gas. 28:24 But would you promise to come to church, 28:26 and then we'll give you the gas?" 28:28 Oh, my goodness. 28:30 They put that out there, and the guy said, "Well, yeah, 28:32 we'll come, sure." 28:33 And then we said, "Look around. 28:35 Did he show up?" No. 28:37 That never works that way. 28:39 It's kind of like the guy 28:41 I was thinking about the one little. 28:42 He was 12 or 13 years old. 28:45 And I think this has to do with witnessing and so on 28:48 in such a profound way. 28:50 He was with his grandpa and he's out in the field 28:53 and he was hoeing potatoes or something working. 28:56 And he told grandpa, he said, "Grandpa, 28:58 I want to be a preacher." Grandpa said, "Oh, you do?" 29:02 He said, "Yeah, I want to be a preacher." 29:06 Grandpa looked at him and grandpa in his wisdom. 29:08 Don't think grandpa sat with them. 29:10 Grandpa said, 29:11 "You're gonna need three things, son." 29:13 And now think this helps us 29:14 when we're talking about witnessing 29:15 and what God's called us to do. 29:17 He said, Grandpa said, 29:18 "You need three things and the boy said, 29:19 "Well, what three things Grandpa, 29:21 what three things do I need?" 29:23 Grandpa is talking the way he did. 29:25 He said, "Son, first of all, 29:26 you're going to need some learning. 29:29 You gonna need some learning." 29:30 That's right. 29:32 And number two, 29:33 he said, "You're going to need the grace of God." 29:35 He said, "Well, that's good. 29:37 What's number three? Grandpa, what's number three?" 29:39 He said, "Son, you're going to need some common sense." 29:43 Think about common sense, right? 29:44 And this is in the gospel too. 29:47 And so he said, "Now, listen, son. 29:49 " And boy is looking at him like, 29:50 "Well, Grandpa, what about the learning?" 29:52 He said, "You know what, 29:54 if you don't have the learning, 29:55 you can start to study and the learning will come. 29:59 Number two, if you don't have the grace of God, 30:02 you can pray about it. 30:04 And God will give you His grace." 30:07 And he said number three, 30:09 he said, "If you don't have," notice this, 30:12 "if you don't have common sense," 30:14 then he said, 30:16 "If you don't have common sense, 30:17 son, then get back to hoeing the potatoes, 30:19 because God can't use you and man can't use you." 30:22 I thought it's kind of interesting. 30:24 But you put them together. 30:25 Kind of remind me the fields of Grandpa Shelton, 30:27 you know, out there. 30:29 Oh, yeah. Good common sense. 30:30 We called it the slave farm, you can understand, 30:32 he worked as hard, but we needed it. 30:35 But it's important, we need to be, 30:36 you know, enough learning, 30:38 enough knowledge and wisdom, the Bible talks about, 30:39 we need the grace of God. 30:41 And then in our Christian witnessing 30:43 we're talking about here. 30:44 By God's grace, 30:46 we need good common sense of who we're talking to, 30:49 because we've been talking about whom and what, 30:51 you know, where maybe they're at, 30:53 find out where they're at in their walk with God, 30:55 or whatever it is, 30:56 and not try to give them everything all at once, 30:58 we might just flow them away. 31:01 So good common sense 31:02 and God will be able to use that. 31:03 God can use that and certainly fellow man can use that. 31:06 And so, I just think that's something good. 31:07 I'm gonna keep those three things in my mind. 31:10 It is a commodity today, 31:11 common sense is out the window, 31:13 all you got to do is turn on the news any night, 31:16 almost any channel and you say, 31:17 "Where in the world did common sense go." 31:19 See, just common reasoning. 31:21 Yeah, that's right. 31:22 Now I bounce back to you. Okay. 31:24 Well, I would, one thing he said, 31:25 you know was common sense, 31:28 and he was talking about not giving them too much. 31:31 And that brought me back in my mind 31:33 to think you know that that's why 31:35 I say, "Lord, open the door." Yes. 31:38 Because so many people 31:39 we have met over the years 31:41 that they, like the person 31:42 that was out in front and ran out of gas, 31:45 they go with it and nearly attack them. 31:47 They take the Bible and it's like, 31:48 they're hitting them over the head with it. 31:50 You know, rather than Lord, what do I say, Lord, speak it. 31:55 And you mentioned this earlier, Danny, 31:56 that you know when the Holy Spirit is speaking 31:59 in and through you. 32:00 And like I said, 32:02 those are the best Bible studies, 32:03 because then the Holy Spirit is speaking to the hearts, 32:06 not just our heart, 32:08 but the heart of those who are listening 32:09 and who we're listening to. 32:12 So I think that's, that's very powerful. 32:14 Now, me on the other hand, 32:16 it's not the kids asking me what they want to do. 32:19 I'm telling them, "Now, son, you see grandpa up there, 32:21 you need to learn to be a preacher like grandpa." 32:26 And I'm telling all the grades, 32:27 you need to be a preacher like grandpa, 32:29 you know, I'm trying to plant those seeds, 32:31 you know, every opportunity I get it, 32:34 because honestly, honestly, my heart breaks. 32:40 When I look at those children, 32:41 you know, we've kind of been tossing out some things 32:44 in the times we're living at, 32:45 but when I look at those babies, 32:47 and our youngest is one, 32:48 she'll be two at the end of December. 32:51 And I think about the world that they are born into, 32:54 and what's coming on, it breaks your heart. 32:58 And we need to be, I praise God for 3ABN. 33:03 You mentioned it earlier, 33:04 I gotta throw it back at you again. 33:06 But to me, 33:07 this has always been a fulfillment of prophecy. 33:11 The Bible says, what is it, in Mark 16:15-16, 33:15 "Go ye into all the world." 33:17 Danny's always said, the blessings on the go. 33:19 Go ye into all the world to preach the gospel 33:22 to every creature, 33:23 every tongue, every kindred. 33:25 You know, this gets into homes where we cannot. 33:30 So often we talk to people 33:33 and, in fact, I had a lady 33:34 come in from Colorado the other day, 33:36 I didn't know who she was. 33:38 And she said, "I just stopped by, 33:39 I want to know what you do here." 33:41 So I began to share with her 33:43 and talk to her about 3ABN and different things. 33:46 And she said, 33:47 "Well, I watch 3ABN all the time." 33:49 So it was a setup. 33:52 But you know, it was also an opportunity to share 33:56 and to help her and we're helping her now. 33:59 We'll see how she's acting. 34:01 People do that. 34:02 See, they're gonna act before they say anything. 34:04 They do. 34:05 But that's so scriptural. 34:07 Just real quick, that scripture what everybody's here said, 34:09 "Pray for an open door." 34:10 We always say, "Pray for an open door." 34:12 But you got to listen. 34:13 Listen that's what Colossians 4 says, 34:14 if you read Colossians 4:2-6, 34:16 I'm not going to do that because it's not my turn, 34:18 just want to say something. 34:20 I think two through four is absolutely the foundation 34:24 on how to be able to witness and what you go through. 34:27 Colossians Chapter 2 and it's about 4:2-4. 34:30 And I'm going to read the one because it says right here, 34:32 "Withal praying also for us, 34:34 that God would open unto us a door of utterance, 34:40 to speak the mysteries of Christ, 34:42 for which I'm also in bonds." 34:43 I mean, that's just so beautiful 34:45 when you think about it, isn't it? 34:46 We pray that God will open a door of utterance 34:49 where we get an opportunity to say something to somebody. 34:52 I can guarantee you when you do that of a morning 34:54 before you leave your house, you will, 34:56 you will have an opportunity to lift up the name of Christ. 34:59 Before the day is over, 35:01 you will have that if that's your heart's desire. 35:03 Yes. 35:04 Open the door, every person I see 35:06 is a possibility for heaven, you know. 35:08 That's good. 35:10 It never always, was always that way. 35:11 But I'm looking, I'm trying to through the eyes of Christ 35:13 as we read His Word, 35:15 you know, 35:16 it's to just keep our mind focused 35:18 upon why we were here. 35:20 We're here as His what? 35:22 His witnesses. 35:23 And remember, 35:24 I read sometime in one place where it said, 35:26 "In the plan of salvation, the only possible, 35:30 only way God can use man is for us 35:32 to represent Him to witness for Him, to witness." 35:36 That's the only part the man can play in anything 35:38 in the plan of salvation. 35:39 We can be His witnesses. 35:41 That is a big responsibility. 35:43 You know, may God help us where we fall in short, 35:45 when we're giving people too much all at once, 35:47 where we beat them over the head 35:49 and said, come to church, and I'll give you the gas, 35:50 that type of thing. 35:52 Don't think anybody will do that, 35:53 you know what I mean, 35:54 but still yet, may God help us to see the importance of, 35:57 you know, looking, when Christ spoke, 35:59 He spoke in love, 36:00 He spoke in concern, and people need to know, 36:03 I keep thinking myself, 36:05 they need to know that you love them 36:06 that you care for them 36:08 that you understand where they're at, 36:09 you understand what they're going through. 36:11 Maybe you've been there 36:12 and people be a little more receptive. 36:14 That's a key. Absolutely. 36:15 I wrote down, 36:17 it may raise an eyebrow or two, but I put, 36:20 don't plan too much, just prepare. 36:22 No, that's, that's okay. 36:24 Don't plan too much, just prepare. 36:26 Come on now. 36:27 Unpack it, yeah. 36:28 Okay. 36:30 I always think about May Chung, 36:31 when she says, she called me one night, 36:35 she said about 10:30. 36:37 Son, I always called her mom and son. 36:39 She said, she's a wonderful person. 36:41 And she said, 36:42 "Son, I just thought I'd let you know, 36:43 I'm at the airport headed to the Philippines." 36:46 And I said, "To the Philippines? 36:48 Who do you know there?" 36:50 "Nobody really." 36:51 I said, "Why are you going there?" 36:53 She said, "Well, the Lord impressed me to." 36:55 Now she's in her mid 70s. 36:57 That's not so old now is it, 36:58 but it was number of years ago. 37:00 And I said, "Well, Mom, you can't go. 37:02 Did you tell your kids?" 37:03 "No, you can call them and tell them 37:05 because they'd be upset and wouldn't want me to go." 37:07 I said, "What are you gonna do?" 37:09 I said, 37:10 "You can't just go to the Philippines 37:12 with no plans." 37:13 And you know what she said? 37:14 "Son, I used to plan all the time, 37:17 but I got so much in the way of the Lord's work. 37:20 I decided just to let the Lord tell me what to do. 37:22 And so I don't plan anymore, I just go." 37:26 And I said, "But I know I understand all that. 37:28 But still yet I'm worried, you can't just go." 37:31 "Well, I'll call you when I get a chance." 37:33 Two or three days went by, 37:35 her kids were all concerned about her. 37:38 I was worried about it. 37:39 And maybe three or four days later, 37:41 I get a call, "Son." 37:42 I said, "Yeah." I said, "Mom, we haven't heard from you. 37:46 What's going on?" 37:47 She said, "Oh, I've only got a few minutes. 37:49 I'm on a train 37:51 with the president of the country 37:52 and we're going across the Philippines." 37:56 She said, "It's election time. 37:59 And he's asked me to go with him." 38:00 I said, 38:01 "You're with the president of the Philippines. 38:03 Did you know him?" 38:04 "Well, not really." I said, "How did that happen?" 38:06 "Well, on my flight over, 38:08 I sat with the man and we were talking 38:12 and he worked for the government. 38:13 And I said, "Oh, well, my husband was a doctor, 38:17 Chung from Hawaii. 38:20 And it turned out 38:21 that general Ramos who later became president, 38:25 General Ramos was in a wreck of some kind, 38:29 I thought it was a small plane crash. 38:31 But anyway, the doctor helped put him back together. 38:35 So when he says, 38:37 "Oh, well, if you..." 38:39 She told him the story, 38:40 well, the president will want to know you're here. 38:42 So he went and told him, he said, "Well, come with me. 38:44 I'm going to be a few days." So they go downtown Manila. 38:49 She says, He said, "Anything we can do. 38:50 " She said, "Yeah, 38:52 we need to build an Adventist Hospital here. 38:54 Could you give me some property, 38:55 give us some property." 38:56 And they did gave a property. 38:58 There's a big Adventist hospital. 39:00 We've been there. 39:01 She prepared by not preparing. 39:03 Yeah. 39:04 She's on her knees, she's praying and trust. 39:06 She learned to trust the Lord. 39:09 Now, quickly, we're in London, you all remember London, 39:12 was it 2/16 or whenever, 2/16, we're in London. 39:16 There were 13 different churches something, 39:19 13 or 14 different churches. 39:21 And so we would try to go because we were saying 39:24 try to go to different ones. 39:25 You were preaching one, John, you know, 39:27 all the preachers were preaching 39:29 at different churches. 39:30 So we called a taxi 39:32 to take us one evening 39:34 to one of the churches when we called. 39:37 I didn't know this, but in that huge city, 39:39 there are 5,000 or more taxi drivers. 39:44 Five thousand, 39:45 but there's several million people there. 39:47 So I sat up front and several, 39:50 some of y'all were in the backseat. 39:52 And I'm talking to driver there. 39:53 So I'm just trying to make, 39:55 you know, a little conversation. 39:57 We're headed so I say here's the address we're going. 39:59 I said, "It's the Seventh-day Adventist Church." 40:01 Want to see his response. 40:04 He didn't say much at first. 40:06 And I said, "Yeah, we are here to hold meetings," 40:08 I said, "in lot of different churches." "Oh, really?" 40:12 And I said, "Yeah." So as we begin to talk, 40:14 he said, "I used to be a Seventh-day Adventist." 40:17 And I said, "You did?" 40:19 And he said, "Yes." 40:20 And he said, 40:22 "But I left the church years ago, 40:23 and my father and I haven't spoken in years. 40:25 We don't get along. 40:26 And I'm not going to go to church." 40:28 And so, finally, as we talked, 40:30 it took us about 45 minutes to get there through the city. 40:33 And I said, would you, 40:35 he talked with a softness about his father. 40:37 So I said, "Well, would your father, 40:40 would you want us to talk to your father? 40:42 If he wanted to talk to you, would you talk to him?" 40:44 And he said, "Yeah, I would. 40:49 My grandkids hardly know him." 40:51 And, you know, and he was just quiet. 40:55 And I said, "How we're gonna?" 40:56 We're in London, there's all these churches. 40:59 And this was our last Sabbath there. 41:01 We were leaving. 41:03 So how in the world it's going to work out? 41:05 So he dropped us off at the place. 41:08 And, so we went to the church that evening, we came back. 41:12 And the next morning, 41:14 we just picked a church and said, 41:16 "Okay, we're gonna go, 41:17 I think, it's Pastor John's that morning. 41:19 So we said, "We're gonna go to Pastor John's Church." 41:22 We were there. 41:23 We were praying and my daughter Melody, 41:25 I said, "Here's the guy's name." 41:27 He gave his father's name. 41:28 And if there any way, 41:31 first of all, 41:32 he may not be here in the 13 churches. 41:34 But if he was, any way we could, 41:36 how are we going to know who he is, 41:37 because I can't leave London without hooking this up 41:40 because I knew God did it, was a setup. 41:43 Melody hands a bulletin. 41:44 And she said, "Look, 41:45 isn't this the name you're looking for?" 41:47 His name was on, 41:49 in the church bulletin for doing something. 41:51 I don't know something Sabbath afternoon, whatever. 41:54 But then church is over. 41:55 We've got to go to another place. 41:57 We're looking all over. 41:59 And I asked somebody, "Do you know him?" 42:00 "I do." And they looked all around, 42:02 we couldn't find him. 42:03 So we're on a little van, 42:04 holds about 15 of us getting ready to leave 42:07 and I'm just, oh, Lord, please, 42:09 if he's here, the driver as he takes off, 42:11 he's looking in his mirror said, 42:13 "Oh, I see him in the rearview mirror." 42:15 So I go back and we have the opportunity. 42:18 And, of course, tears flowed down his eyes. 42:20 So now, was that coincidence or divine providence? 42:23 Divine providence. 42:25 It really, that's what you all were talking about, 42:26 just be prepared. 42:28 In other words, 42:29 know when you leave the house, 42:31 that it's your commission to go into all the world. 42:34 We didn't have to go to London. 42:36 We can go right here in West Frankfort, 42:37 right here in Thompsonville, 42:39 know that it's our responsibility and privilege 42:42 that if were mind is on, why we're here. 42:45 That's to be a witness into all the world. 42:47 Then everybody we see as you said, Kenny, 42:50 is a potential person that may need Jesus. 42:54 So when I say, don't plan too much. 42:56 I've seen May Chung 42:57 incredible work she did around the world, 43:00 and never really had planned. 43:01 She said, "Well, I don't know, the Lord impressed me. 43:03 So I'll try not to get in the way this time. 43:05 I'm going to go," and it worked. 43:07 Yeah, I've seen that myself. 43:09 You plan, plan and plan. Yeah. 43:11 So even when I go speak anymore, 43:12 I pray, of course, I try to read, 43:14 but I hardly ever will make notes 43:17 or outlines too much, 43:18 because so many times I've been prepared 43:21 in the early years, 43:22 then I get up and it's like, 43:24 the Lord is telling me to go a totally different direction. 43:26 So, but on an individual basis, 43:29 let's... 43:31 Our planning is when we're praying, Lord, 43:33 how can You use me today, let me be a vessel of honor. 43:36 And when you do, 43:38 God will use you as a vessel of honor. 43:40 Somebody he'll put in your path. 43:42 So it is all a setup. It's a good setup. 43:44 God had set it up, 43:45 commissioned you to go into all the world. 43:47 As Chris said, we always say, the blessing is on the go. 43:50 When you go forward, 43:51 you're the one who will be the most blessed 43:53 out of this whole thing. 43:54 God will honor that. Yes. 43:56 I am. 43:57 I've recently been reading more about, 44:00 you know, how to witness to Muslims, 44:02 or Jews or whatever. 44:05 And I think that's something we have to consider too. 44:07 How do we give Christianity to people of other faiths 44:13 to whom Christianity might be in the front? 44:16 Like I have Jewish friends, and you have to, 44:20 if you begin to talk about Jesus, 44:22 they have a certain idea, many of them of who He is, 44:27 and so or who He's not. 44:28 Right. 44:30 And so, it's hard to know how to approach that. 44:34 So I had read an article and about, 44:37 it was like 13 facts about Jesus 44:41 that that Jewish people might want to know 44:44 or something like that. 44:46 And so, I said, 44:47 "Oh, maybe I'll send this to one of my friends." 44:49 So I sent it. 44:51 And, I mean, that's all you can do. 44:53 I prayed about it. 44:55 I sent it and the friend wasn't angry, 44:59 but there was that kind of push back, 45:03 like, "Okay, I know where your heart is, 45:05 I know that, 45:07 you know, you're just trying to share this. 45:09 But don't send me this information anymore." 45:13 And that's sometimes 45:14 we're gonna get that kind of response 45:17 when we witness but the thing is our job, 45:20 as we've said here, we're not the Holy Spirit. 45:23 Right. 45:24 Our job is just to spread the seed. 45:26 But it could lay there dormant for years 45:28 and wouldn't spring up. 45:29 That's right. Exactly. 45:31 That's right. That's the Holy Spirit. 45:32 If I go back later and read the article, again, 45:35 with a different mindset. 45:36 So how, I mean, how do you handle that? 45:38 How does the Christian handle that 45:40 when somebody tells you 45:41 because you're wanting them to find Christ. 45:44 But they say, 45:45 "Don't send me anymore and don't talk to me." 45:47 I've heard people say, "Well, they tell me that, 45:48 but I tell them anyway." 45:50 Oh, no. 45:51 Now, I mean, how should we do that? 45:52 Should we leave it alone? 45:54 Should we shake the dust off our feet and move on? 45:56 And just put them on the prayer list? 45:58 Because I mean, that, 45:59 to me, that's very crucial 46:00 how we deal with it when someone says, 46:02 "You don't say another word." 46:03 Right. Right. 46:05 I think you should shake the dust off. 46:08 And you pray about it in your own closet. 46:11 You pray about it, but you can't, 46:13 if you start beating people over the head with it, 46:16 they resent you. 46:17 Once that shield goes up, isn't that right? 46:19 Once the shield goes up, 46:21 it's very hard to like have to come back down anymore. 46:23 They're not gonna hear you anyway, 46:24 no matter what you said, they're gonna askew. 46:27 I've heard people say it in a negative way. 46:29 It's not really shake the dust. 46:31 All that's really signifying is I can't do it. 46:34 I've planted, 46:35 now God will take care of the rest, 46:36 doesn't mean like, hey, well, fully on you. 46:38 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 46:40 If you don't listen to me, bad on you. 46:41 You know, that's not what 46:42 that means at all, it means, okay, 46:44 I'm going to go somewhere else, 46:45 you know, and then give the gospel. 46:48 And now the Lord will in His own timing 46:51 should these people want truth. 46:53 Wants truth. 46:54 That's not bad. That can't be bad at all. 46:55 Because Jesus shook the dust off of His feet. 46:58 When He went into whole towns and villages 47:00 where He was not accepted, it says where He should. 47:03 It didn't mean He didn't care, 47:04 it didn't mean He didn't die for everyone. 47:06 He loved everyone with the everlasting love, 47:08 but He knew to move on. 47:10 And sometime I think as Christians, 47:11 there's times that we need to move on. 47:13 There's people in the bushes, 47:15 there's people in highways and byways, 47:16 3ABN can reach that can, 47:18 you can't do it individually. 47:20 And we need to move on 47:21 to spend what little time we have 47:23 rapidly giving this message to the world, 47:25 so Jesus can come. 47:26 And Jesus also told the disciples, He says, 47:29 "There's so much information I want to give you, 47:32 but you're not ready for it." 47:34 You know, the Bible teaches that some will plant, 47:36 some will water and some will reap the harvest. 47:39 And so, we just like you, somebody said here, 47:42 we just need to add those people, 47:43 I think, to our prayer list, because I know, 47:45 I know, even with my own family members, 47:48 you know, that I want to give so much too. 47:51 You know, I praise God every time 47:53 I can give a book or I can't, 47:55 but that doesn't mean that they'll read it, 47:58 you know, but I think we're in a time 48:00 where people are wanting to know. 48:02 And we're gonna see more of a differentiation 48:05 between the wheat and the tares. 48:07 And those wheats that are out there 48:10 that we don't recognize yet, 48:11 they're going to be digging into those books, 48:13 which is one reason I saw you had a COVID-19 book. 48:16 That's another reason that that is such a blessing. 48:19 I saw you bring it in earlier, 48:21 but you know, things like that. 48:23 Yeah, it was on there. 48:24 But you know what I'm saying, 48:25 it's things like that 48:27 the people, you know, 48:28 maybe that has some information, 48:30 and it leads them to the Lord. 48:31 I've been blessed to give away 48:33 a lot of Great Controversies here of late. 48:35 We just sent a box of them to Florida, 48:38 and I keep getting little notes 48:40 from one of my friends in Florida. 48:41 And she's like, 48:42 "Oh, this person gave these away, 48:44 this person gave." 48:45 You know, the doors are opening. 48:47 We just have to be willing to listen. 48:49 That's right. 48:50 Yeah, I think that, you know, in that particular situation, 48:53 you continue to pray for them, 48:54 but you continue to maintain that relationship 48:56 and love on them. 48:57 Right. 48:58 You know, because you don't want to just walk away, 49:00 you want to lead by example, 49:02 and just continue to show them, 49:04 "Hey, this is what Christ does in me." 49:07 And you show them, 49:08 you can be a silent witness in that regard. 49:10 Right. 49:12 I remember and speaking about the power of a witness. 49:17 You know, I love food. 49:18 So, I used to work at a restaurant in Atlanta, 49:21 and this restaurant had been around since 1945. 49:25 They didn't do anything on TV, 49:26 they had no ads or anything on television, 49:29 yet, I mean, presidents have been to this place, 49:32 actors, actresses. 49:34 All kinds of people had been to this particular restaurant, 49:38 and it was because people spread the word about the food. 49:42 You know, the Bible says in Psalm 34:8, 49:46 "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. 49:48 Blessed is the man who trusts in Him." 49:50 So we just have to introduce them to Christ 49:55 and let them know that they have a seat at the table 49:58 to taste the food. 49:59 There you go. Very good. 50:02 I'm gonna give one, 50:03 try to give one more little example 50:04 of don't plan too much, prepare. 50:07 So that I make this clear, 50:08 but he said, well, he said, 50:10 "We don't have to do anything." 50:11 Well, what I'm saying 50:12 let's don't plan in our humaneness so much, 50:14 that we're not prepared for the Holy Spirit 50:16 to take over. 50:17 Right. Right. That's good. 50:19 Many years ago 50:20 we had somebody come to this area, 50:22 evangelist from out of state, set up a tent, 50:24 and so held some evangelistic meetings, 50:28 and people were coming to these meetings. 50:31 But one of the men who came 50:33 was somebody we knew lived on Warden Street up there, 50:36 and we were growing up and he was our folk's age. 50:40 He came to me one night and said, 50:42 "Man, I really want to give my heart to the Lord. 50:45 I've been there three nights, 50:46 and the preacher's not made an altar call. 50:49 And I've got to give my heart to the Lord. 50:51 And I'm really wanting him to do it." 50:53 So I said, "Oh, this is great." 50:54 So I go to the evangelist, 50:56 and I say tonight 50:57 really make an altar call because Jimmy, 51:00 I said, Jimmy is coming, 51:01 and he wants to give his heart to the Lord. 51:04 And he said, "Oh, no, no, 51:05 that's not planned yet." 51:06 He said, "I knew that on number 12. 51:09 Number 12 nights, I give my." And I said, "What?" 51:12 He said, "No, no, it's all planned out." 51:14 He said, "I have each of my sermons and on 12." 51:17 I said, "But here's a man 51:18 who wants to give his heart to the Lord tonight." 51:21 And he said, "Well, if he keeps coming, 51:23 just tell him keep coming back." 51:24 What if he died the next day? Exactly. 51:25 But you know what he did? 51:27 There was another church that in the area. 51:30 He went out to that church, that pastor made an altar call, 51:33 and he continued in that church till he died. 51:35 So don't plan so much in our humaneness 51:38 thinking here's what we need to do. 51:41 When someone says, 51:42 I want to give my heart to Jesus, 51:44 prepare, be prepared for that. 51:46 That's what you dream about as a Christian. 51:48 Wow, somebody is ready. 51:49 So let's don't in our own humaneness 51:52 try to plan too much, 51:53 our church services are planned so much. 51:56 So many times, 51:57 the Holy Spirit came 51:58 and there's no time for the Holy Spirit. 52:00 Yes. 52:01 So let's prepare for the Holy Spirit 52:03 and maybe plan less in our humanity. 52:05 Didn't that make that any clearer? 52:06 Yeah, yeah. That's good. 52:08 Amen. 52:09 All right, all clear, good. 52:10 And I think we need to remember that everyone can do something. 52:14 You know, we are not all speakers, 52:17 we're not all singers, 52:18 we're not all, you know, apologists, 52:21 Christian apologists, or biblical scholars, 52:23 but everybody can give somebody a tract, 52:26 or everyone can make a phone call and say, 52:28 "You know, is there something 52:30 you want me to pray with you about?" 52:32 Anyway, you, we, 52:33 we don't have to be gifted in all the gifts of the Spirit 52:38 in order to witness and share our faith. 52:40 We can all share, we can all do something, 52:44 whether it's sending the COVID-19 tracts, 52:48 or sending a music project, or card, or whatever, 52:51 YouTube link. 52:53 There might be a program. 52:56 Recently, 52:57 I was talking to a friend of mine 52:59 who is really, really ill 53:01 and sent a link to one of the sermons on Jesus, 53:07 who is Jesus, 53:08 just to share them before they die 53:12 because, I mean, you just don't know. 53:14 But we can all do something 53:16 and I think that's important to reiterate. 53:19 And today more than ever before because of the technology 53:23 God has given us. Yes. 53:24 I don't know how many people have said, 53:26 "Well, you know, you got a gift to gab, 53:28 I just can't talk to people, I just can't do this or that. 53:31 Well, how come I see you on Facebook all the time? 53:33 You're telling all you got. You have to keep yourself. 53:36 You're describing your house, your car. 53:38 You're describing all these things you can talk, 53:40 but when it comes to putting Jesus on, 53:43 we, well, we don't really do that. 53:45 So what we really need to look at, you know, 53:48 within ourselves, 53:49 I'm talking to me 53:51 as I talk to everybody out here. 53:52 Hopefully, we understand that, 53:54 hey, all of this technology and social media 53:57 is here for us as Christians to get the gospel to the world, 54:01 and I go on and I've been in the past 54:03 I'm guilty as everybody else 54:04 getting involved in this chat or that one 54:06 or going back and forth. 54:07 But really, 54:08 we have to keep our focus on, you know, what? 54:11 We should be using every means that we have to reach people 54:15 and tell them about the love of Jesus. 54:16 Yes. 54:18 And the very simple, Jesus loves me this I know, 54:20 for the Bible tells me so, right? 54:23 Little ones to him belong, we are weak, but he is strong. 54:27 Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. 54:30 Yes, Jesus loves me. 54:31 How do I know? The Bible tells me so. 54:34 You know, if you want to have a good evangelistic series, 54:36 you know, or something to every church 54:38 is real quickly here. 54:39 Pastor always gets that to people and say, 54:40 start studying the Word 54:43 and do some praying and naturally you study, 54:45 you pray with sanctuary message, 54:46 study, pray and witness, the church got on fire. 54:50 I'm believer in this, I've seen it. 54:51 The church got on fire. 54:52 They start studying, 54:54 they started praying, they got on fire, 54:55 but all of a sudden it backfired. 54:57 They studied, they prayed, 54:58 everybody seemed like there's really going on 54:59 and just, it all fell apart and I said, 55:01 "What happened?" 55:02 They did not witness. 55:04 You pray, study and you must witness, 55:08 remember in the sanctuary, isn't that right? 55:10 Three things, prayer, study, witness, let our light shine. 55:12 If you don't do that, it'll fall apart. 55:14 Witness is so important. 55:16 And what a blessing. 55:17 How many times have we been blessed? 55:19 And what a testimony it gives us 55:22 when we listen to the Holy Spirit, 55:24 and we talk to somebody. 55:26 Kenny with Larry Welch, you know, 55:28 before 3ABN probably 40 years ago, 55:31 long beard, 55:32 you know, used to ride with Hells Angels motorcycle, 55:35 drinker in the lumberyard, talking to the people there. 55:39 And so Kenny was talking about what happens to you, 55:41 I think, when you die. 55:43 And the guy was saying, "Well, people burn forever." 55:45 And Kenny would just know what I said. 55:46 Larry, this guy, 55:48 rough looking guy walks over and says, 55:49 "What are you talking about?" 55:51 So they got into a conversation. 55:52 He had left the church when he was a kid, 55:54 because he said he wouldn't gonna serve a God 55:56 who would burn you forever, ended up having Bible studies. 56:00 Larry and his wife 56:01 ended up joining the church and worked into church deacons, 56:04 and then actually pastored it for years, 56:07 because Jay said, 56:08 "You don't look 56:10 on the outward appearance, you know." 56:11 So here's this guy that's rough looking. 56:13 I mean, scary to me, Kenny said, 56:16 "We should have Bible studies." 56:17 And I said, "Can we have him at your house?" 56:19 I remember then, 56:20 I didn't know if I wanted the guy in my house. 56:23 It's like Kenny said, 56:24 "Yeah, he can come to my house." 56:26 Maybe he shamed me a little bit, you know, 56:27 but turned out to be wonderful. 56:28 Leave it open, just like you said 56:30 just when you pray about it, 56:31 leave it open for the Holy Spirit. 56:32 The prayer that morning was, Lord, 56:34 help lead me to somebody 56:35 that I can witness and lift up Your name. 56:37 Yes. 56:38 No accident, you were in the lumberyard 56:40 at same time he was. 56:41 Not that point in time, and the Holy Spirit said 56:43 and it will introduce yourself to that man. 56:44 And he moved here from California 56:46 to get away from basically all the things 56:49 he had been in to get away, 56:50 move somewhere else and happened to run into him 56:53 that very day. 56:54 Amazing. 56:55 So, God is in business of, isn't He of changing hearts, 56:59 changing lives for the better. 57:01 So it's our hope and prayer today 57:03 that each and every one of you 57:05 that when you submit and commit your life to Jesus. 57:07 Then He says, 57:08 "Go and tell what He's done for you." 57:10 Amen. 57:11 Sister White says, 57:13 "Our greatest asset is our own personal testimony 57:16 of what God has done for us." 57:17 See, nobody can argue with you about your testimony. 57:20 That's between you and God. 57:21 So hopefully each and every one of us today will leave here 57:25 and say thank You, Lord, 57:27 that You've allowed us to be workers in Your vineyard. 57:29 Amen. 57:30 Our time is all gone for today. 57:32 Until we see you next time, 57:33 may the Lord richly bless you abundantly 57:35 more than you could ever ask or think. 57:36 Amen. |
Revised 2020-10-06