1 00:00:02,926 --> 00:00:12,039 Brother Bill McDonald and his wife Marie Claire come to us from Austria, where they work with the congregation there in Salzburg. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:17,991 They work specifically and especially with refugees that are coming into Austria. 3 00:00:18,152 --> 00:00:23,634 And they have done work through their time as missionaries on five different continents. 4 00:00:24,438 --> 00:00:32,981 They, uh when they're here in the states, which is rarely, but when they're here, they're stationed and based over in uh north of Little Rock. 5 00:00:32,981 --> 00:00:37,202 The Windsong Church of Christ there in Arkansas is their supporting congregation. 6 00:00:37,683 --> 00:00:46,286 I was introduced to Brother Bill and Sister Marie Claire a couple of years ago by Brother Curry Montague and... 7 00:00:46,286 --> 00:00:47,406 uh 8 00:00:47,406 --> 00:00:54,366 He said Bill has been a humongous help to his work in Budapest and in Hungary. 9 00:00:54,666 --> 00:01:07,926 And through the work that Bill's done, I was encouraged and enabled to go to Albania and to Budapest in 2023 to share what myself and others are doing with Truth FM and the 10 00:01:07,926 --> 00:01:13,766 internet radio work and the work that we're doing through social media as well. 11 00:01:13,946 --> 00:01:17,430 And then this last year, was able to go to the Philippines. 12 00:01:17,430 --> 00:01:27,095 Again, thanks to the invitation of Bill and to be able to speak to missionaries in that region of Asia about what they can be doing with technology. 13 00:01:27,095 --> 00:01:38,320 Bill's one who, I will freely admit he doesn't understand all the technology, but what he does have is a vision for how missions and evangelism can happen through the world and 14 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:39,671 throughout the world. 15 00:01:39,751 --> 00:01:45,654 And so I'm not going to take any more of Bill's time, but I appreciate him being here and look forward to the message that he brings. 16 00:01:50,690 --> 00:01:51,660 Thank you, Aaron. 17 00:01:51,660 --> 00:02:01,777 It's a joy to be with you and especially to have spent the weekend with Aaron and Eddie and some others who work with Truth FM. 18 00:02:01,958 --> 00:02:06,160 Glad to see these young preacher students with you. 19 00:02:06,541 --> 00:02:10,103 I commend you guys for what you're getting ready to do. 20 00:02:10,210 --> 00:02:13,545 I challenge you to do it where no one else has been. 21 00:02:13,846 --> 00:02:16,047 Walk in the footsteps of Paul. 22 00:02:16,088 --> 00:02:19,630 Paul wanted to go and preach not where others had preached. 23 00:02:19,714 --> 00:02:23,917 but go preach to people who'd never had a chance to hear the word. 24 00:02:24,078 --> 00:02:27,861 And I would encourage you, brethren, to seriously consider that. 25 00:02:28,121 --> 00:02:30,943 That's what we've tried to spend our lives doing. 26 00:02:31,744 --> 00:02:37,309 I'm going to be reading some very familiar passages to you this morning. 27 00:02:37,329 --> 00:02:43,674 Most of you could probably quote them, but I want us to think about them again. 28 00:02:43,915 --> 00:02:46,517 You know, the Apostle Paul was one who, well, 29 00:02:47,690 --> 00:02:55,897 most of the writers of the New Testament, but Paul especially, who kept repeating the same things over and over again. 30 00:02:56,178 --> 00:03:01,523 He said on one occasion, wouldn't have you ignorant, brethren, so I'm going to tell it to you again. 31 00:03:01,790 --> 00:03:06,227 And I know that you're not ignorant, but I'm going to tell it to you again. 32 00:03:06,590 --> 00:03:08,738 In John chapter 3, 33 00:03:08,738 --> 00:03:13,501 the most known passage of the New Testament of the Bible. 34 00:03:13,501 --> 00:03:27,810 In the whole world we read from John chapter three, beginning with verse 16, where John is writing and he's quoting Jesus. 35 00:03:28,231 --> 00:03:33,374 And he goes on and he says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 36 00:03:33,634 --> 00:03:42,638 that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting, or this translation says, eternal life. 37 00:03:42,638 --> 00:03:50,141 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 38 00:03:50,341 --> 00:04:01,826 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the Son of God. 39 00:04:03,416 --> 00:04:05,887 God doesn't want anyone to be lost. 40 00:04:06,508 --> 00:04:14,082 don't preach about a God who is a loving God and wants everybody to be lost. 41 00:04:14,082 --> 00:04:16,553 Somehow that doesn't fit together, does it? 42 00:04:16,574 --> 00:04:19,095 God wants everyone to be saved. 43 00:04:19,475 --> 00:04:25,518 Jesus said that we all need to be saved. 44 00:04:25,799 --> 00:04:31,762 He said that He didn't come to condemn us because we're already condemned. 45 00:04:32,202 --> 00:04:40,588 Every single person in the world, whether they claim to be a Christian or not, know that they do things that are wrong. 46 00:04:40,588 --> 00:04:43,590 They might not call it sin, but that's what it is. 47 00:04:43,590 --> 00:04:46,732 But they admit that they do things that are wrong. 48 00:04:47,093 --> 00:04:56,079 And so Jesus is saying, I came to seek, I'm looking for you, and to save. 49 00:04:56,199 --> 00:04:58,401 He says, I'm coming for you. 50 00:04:58,401 --> 00:05:00,002 I want to save you. 51 00:05:00,074 --> 00:05:06,918 I want to find you and I want to share this message with you because I want you to be saved. 52 00:05:07,980 --> 00:05:22,690 When we talk about mission and I spent my entire adult life in foreign missions, we talk about mission, we get different visions, different people, different ideas. 53 00:05:22,690 --> 00:05:25,091 What does mission mean to you? 54 00:05:25,252 --> 00:05:28,254 Well, we know that people were sent. 55 00:05:29,522 --> 00:05:31,883 Way going clear back to Abraham. 56 00:05:31,883 --> 00:05:40,046 That people were sent by God for a particular reason or on a particular special mission. 57 00:05:40,227 --> 00:05:42,718 And they were sent to do all kinds of things. 58 00:05:42,718 --> 00:05:53,642 If you look in the New Testament and the Old Testament, you'll see that they were not just, the apostles were not the first ones sent or Abraham wasn't the first one sent, but 59 00:05:53,642 --> 00:05:58,654 people were constantly being sent by God to do His will. 60 00:05:59,318 --> 00:06:00,839 A few examples. 61 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:12,098 Joseph was sent without knowing it at first, but to be in a position to save lives when a famine came in Genesis chapter 45. 62 00:06:12,155 --> 00:06:16,139 God sent him to do a specific thing. 63 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:17,962 Moses was sent. 64 00:06:17,966 --> 00:06:22,926 unwillingly at first, but to save God's chosen people. 65 00:06:23,106 --> 00:06:29,646 Elijah was sent to influence international politics in 1 Kings 19. 66 00:06:30,186 --> 00:06:36,606 Jeremiah was sent to proclaim God's Word in Jeremiah 1 verse 7. 67 00:06:36,666 --> 00:06:41,226 Noah was sent to call people or to preach repentance. 68 00:06:41,390 --> 00:06:43,890 asking people to change. 69 00:06:44,030 --> 00:06:55,230 Jesus claimed the words of Isaiah that he was sent to preach good news, to proclaim freedom, to give sight to the blind, and offer release from oppression in Luke chapter 70 00:06:55,230 --> 00:07:01,450 four, verses 16 through 19, and he's quoting Isaiah chapter 61. 71 00:07:01,690 --> 00:07:04,910 Even Jesus says that I was sent. 72 00:07:04,910 --> 00:07:06,910 He was sent for a purpose. 73 00:07:06,950 --> 00:07:08,190 People were sent. 74 00:07:08,190 --> 00:07:11,444 You know, there's a host of activities that God's people 75 00:07:11,444 --> 00:07:14,785 can do to participate in missions. 76 00:07:14,785 --> 00:07:17,105 So what's your idea about missions? 77 00:07:17,205 --> 00:07:24,517 Well, the first thing that comes into your mind, some of you would say, well, I think about helping the poor in our community. 78 00:07:24,517 --> 00:07:30,308 Others would say, I think about training preachers to go into all the world. 79 00:07:30,309 --> 00:07:36,374 Some would say, I think about radio broadcasting, about television broadcasting. 80 00:07:36,374 --> 00:07:43,519 Others would say, think about personal evangelism, my mission in going to share the good news. 81 00:07:43,519 --> 00:07:48,922 But whatever it is, it's God's mission. 82 00:07:49,383 --> 00:07:52,204 God's mission is our mission. 83 00:07:52,204 --> 00:07:58,948 So I want to look for a moment at what God explains to us that his mission really is. 84 00:07:59,029 --> 00:08:01,190 God just has one mission. 85 00:08:01,852 --> 00:08:10,727 it's nice that he loves us, and I'm thankful for that, and I especially appreciated your prayer this morning and your mention of love. 86 00:08:11,187 --> 00:08:22,923 We work with Islamic people, and they tell us that the difference between Islam and the reason some of them become interested in Christianity is because there is no love, they 87 00:08:22,923 --> 00:08:24,314 say, in Islam. 88 00:08:24,524 --> 00:08:31,750 But when they read the Bible, they say, and I ask many of them, what got you interested in Jesus or in the Bible? 89 00:08:31,750 --> 00:08:33,521 And they say, love. 90 00:08:33,641 --> 00:08:35,763 We never heard about love in Islam. 91 00:08:35,763 --> 00:08:41,408 Mohammed never wrote anything or said anything about love, but the Bible is full of love. 92 00:08:41,408 --> 00:08:45,130 And that's what drew us to it, God's love. 93 00:08:45,191 --> 00:08:49,478 And so when we think about mission, we have... 94 00:08:49,478 --> 00:08:54,202 all kinds of ideas depending on our background and where we've been and what we've done. 95 00:08:54,202 --> 00:08:56,924 Some of us think about going abroad. 96 00:08:56,924 --> 00:08:59,626 That's what I think about when I think about mission. 97 00:08:59,626 --> 00:09:07,872 Although I know missions right here, right here in Collierville are just as important as the mission that I'm involved in in Salisbury, Austria. 98 00:09:07,872 --> 00:09:10,574 But mission means different things to different people. 99 00:09:10,574 --> 00:09:15,297 But it means for all of us that we're doing God's will. 100 00:09:15,297 --> 00:09:16,726 m 101 00:09:16,726 --> 00:09:20,028 That's our mission, is to do God's will. 102 00:09:21,950 --> 00:09:24,391 What's the scope of God's mission? 103 00:09:24,591 --> 00:09:28,054 And that's what I like and want us to see. 104 00:09:28,054 --> 00:09:30,495 What's the scope of God's mission? 105 00:09:30,556 --> 00:09:40,522 Well, He told us to go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, to all 8 point something billion people. 106 00:09:40,843 --> 00:09:42,984 You'd say, are you serious? 107 00:09:43,224 --> 00:09:45,966 How are we gonna teach the gospel to eight 108 00:09:46,456 --> 00:09:51,387 point four or five now I think billion people? 109 00:09:51,387 --> 00:09:53,158 it cannot be done! 110 00:09:53,158 --> 00:09:57,164 Yes it can or God wouldn't have asked us to do it. 111 00:09:57,164 --> 00:10:00,290 He never asked us to do something that we couldn't do. 112 00:10:00,570 --> 00:10:09,153 He gave us tools all kinds of tools first of all He gave us our bodies our voices our minds. 113 00:10:09,453 --> 00:10:13,634 He gave us the personal ability 114 00:10:13,774 --> 00:10:17,954 to share the gospel and that's a big part of God's mission. 115 00:10:18,114 --> 00:10:22,714 But God's mission has to be much bigger than that. 116 00:10:23,054 --> 00:10:31,634 When I look at the world and because I've been in world missions all of my adult life since I was 23 years old. 117 00:10:31,658 --> 00:10:33,159 I think about this a lot. 118 00:10:33,159 --> 00:10:41,262 How in the world are we ever going to be able to proclaim the gospel to every creature in our generation? 119 00:10:41,262 --> 00:10:51,497 It wasn't done in the last generation, and it wasn't done in the generation before that, and I don't know when it was done since the first century, if ever, but it's been 120 00:10:51,497 --> 00:10:53,828 commanded and we should be doing it. 121 00:10:54,149 --> 00:11:00,171 Thankfully, we can say that there are more people right now obeying the gospel than ever before in history. 122 00:11:00,171 --> 00:11:01,452 Did you know that? 123 00:11:01,642 --> 00:11:10,096 more people responding to the gospel message now than ever before, maybe more than in the first century. 124 00:11:10,116 --> 00:11:19,240 We read about in the book of Acts and we get all excited because you know there were 3,000 and there were 5,000 and they multiplied and it kept getting bigger and bigger and we 125 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:23,122 think wow wouldn't that be wonderful? 126 00:11:23,643 --> 00:11:31,176 Stop saying wouldn't it be and start saying isn't it wonderful because it's happening right now all over the world. 127 00:11:31,458 --> 00:11:33,739 You can say, well, it's not happening in Collierville. 128 00:11:33,739 --> 00:11:41,541 Well, maybe not, but some things happen that we don't even know about, so it might be, but it's happening all over the world. 129 00:11:41,541 --> 00:11:50,784 There are more people becoming Christians today than ever before in history, and all who look at statistics would agree on that. 130 00:11:51,424 --> 00:11:54,385 But what is the scope of God's mission? 131 00:11:54,505 --> 00:11:58,706 Well, it's whether there is ignorance, 132 00:11:59,478 --> 00:12:03,720 of or rejection of Christ. 133 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:04,690 That's the scope. 134 00:12:04,690 --> 00:12:06,401 That's where we need to be. 135 00:12:06,501 --> 00:12:14,004 Wherever there is a rejection or a lack of interest in Jesus Christ. 136 00:12:14,364 --> 00:12:28,090 When we go to Vietnam where the Lord willing will be in about two and a half weeks and we meet with the underground church because it's illegal to worship 137 00:12:28,462 --> 00:12:39,987 Christ in communist atheistic Vietnam and we're going to be there teaching for two weeks and some people say, isn't it dangerous? 138 00:12:40,207 --> 00:12:44,609 Yeah, it's dangerous for them, not very dangerous for us. 139 00:12:45,169 --> 00:12:48,636 If they don't like us, they just pull our visa and kick us out of the country. 140 00:12:48,636 --> 00:12:50,121 I'm not worried about going to jail. 141 00:12:50,121 --> 00:12:54,233 I might get kicked out of the country and never be allowed to come back. 142 00:12:54,793 --> 00:12:56,974 But the local people... 143 00:12:57,356 --> 00:12:58,686 go to jail. 144 00:12:59,027 --> 00:13:01,788 And some of them have been to jail before. 145 00:13:01,909 --> 00:13:06,571 And so when they ask us to come, I say, are you sure you want to do this? 146 00:13:06,571 --> 00:13:07,911 They say, yeah. 147 00:13:08,332 --> 00:13:09,573 I we've been to jail before. 148 00:13:09,573 --> 00:13:11,994 It's not that bad, you know. 149 00:13:12,214 --> 00:13:22,219 We've had 24, I believe it was, brethren locked up in Laos for simply worshiping Jesus Christ. 150 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:25,141 That was their crime, officially. 151 00:13:25,281 --> 00:13:26,762 That's what it said. 152 00:13:26,968 --> 00:13:34,241 There was a girl among them who they arrested them on a midweek night when they were worshiping and having a Bible study. 153 00:13:34,602 --> 00:13:45,346 There was a young lady, a teenager, who was arrested and her crime was, officially, teaching the Bible to children. 154 00:13:45,787 --> 00:13:48,808 She had a Bible class with little kids. 155 00:13:49,149 --> 00:13:52,660 She celebrated her 16th birthday in prison. 156 00:13:53,282 --> 00:14:02,889 She spent 418 days in jail because she was teaching the Bible to children. 157 00:14:04,171 --> 00:14:09,074 But as soon as she got out, she went right back to teaching them. 158 00:14:11,682 --> 00:14:13,863 That's the scope of God's mission. 159 00:14:13,963 --> 00:14:22,208 That's our calling, that we teach the gospel wherever it does not exist or wherever it hasn't been preached. 160 00:14:22,669 --> 00:14:26,971 We're also on this next trip, we're going for two months, to Burma. 161 00:14:27,472 --> 00:14:29,532 Me and Ma, they call it now. 162 00:14:29,853 --> 00:14:34,535 Burma, where it's illegal to change your religion. 163 00:14:35,116 --> 00:14:38,638 They say mainly for... 164 00:14:38,776 --> 00:14:40,907 propaganda for the Western governments. 165 00:14:40,907 --> 00:14:43,449 They say, we have freedom of religion here. 166 00:14:43,770 --> 00:14:49,653 Otherwise, the Western governments would have all kinds of sanctions against them because of that. 167 00:14:49,654 --> 00:14:53,136 But they say, no, no, we have freedom of religion here. 168 00:14:53,797 --> 00:14:58,139 Yes, we lived there for years, we know all about it. 169 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:02,362 You're free to be what you were born into. 170 00:15:03,524 --> 00:15:04,604 All right? 171 00:15:04,684 --> 00:15:07,170 That means if your parents were Buddhist, 172 00:15:07,170 --> 00:15:16,916 which 89 % of the population are, you're a Buddhist and you're free to be that, but you're not free to change your religion. 173 00:15:17,237 --> 00:15:19,558 It's illegal to change your religion. 174 00:15:19,799 --> 00:15:25,802 It's illegal for you to teach someone and try to encourage them to change their religion. 175 00:15:26,403 --> 00:15:28,444 That keeps people Buddhist. 176 00:15:28,625 --> 00:15:31,586 And the official religion is Buddhism. 177 00:15:32,347 --> 00:15:34,289 And so they're under threat. 178 00:15:34,289 --> 00:15:36,670 There's a civil war going on there right now. 179 00:15:36,670 --> 00:15:44,735 on three different areas, we're helping brethren there because villages are being bombed where we have brothers and sisters in Christ. 180 00:15:45,316 --> 00:15:53,862 Christians aren't being targeted per se, but they live in these villages where the rebels live and they bomb the whole village. 181 00:15:53,922 --> 00:16:04,800 Not only that, but when the people flee, and they are, and go out into the jungle and live off of roots and berries and whatever else they can find, 182 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:16,018 and live in a cave somewhere, they're sending, the government's sending drones above the trees to look for them and when they find them, they call in airstrikes to bomb them. 183 00:16:17,688 --> 00:16:20,099 That's God's mission. 184 00:16:20,340 --> 00:16:21,920 That's our mission. 185 00:16:22,201 --> 00:16:26,583 We're trying to help them resettle and help them because they don't have anything to eat. 186 00:16:26,583 --> 00:16:27,944 They're farmers. 187 00:16:28,404 --> 00:16:29,965 They can't farm. 188 00:16:30,245 --> 00:16:32,986 And some of them are on the verge of starvation. 189 00:16:33,427 --> 00:16:34,708 So that's God's mission. 190 00:16:34,708 --> 00:16:36,269 That's the scope of his mission. 191 00:16:36,269 --> 00:16:46,014 When we go to Europe, where I spent 20 years as a missionary to Germany and church planting, that's God's mission. 192 00:16:46,092 --> 00:16:57,227 And the pseudo intellectualism that causes people to claim they're atheists and most of them are really not, but they're just ashamed to say that they believe because that's not 193 00:16:57,227 --> 00:16:58,327 popular. 194 00:16:59,068 --> 00:17:06,561 We baptized a brother and he's been a faithful Christian for about 50 years who was a mathematician and physicist. 195 00:17:06,561 --> 00:17:09,932 He taught at the University of Bremen, Germany. 196 00:17:10,032 --> 00:17:14,370 And he said, when I tell my colleagues there, 197 00:17:14,370 --> 00:17:18,711 that I believe in God, they think that my education didn't take. 198 00:17:19,892 --> 00:17:27,494 Nobody as smart as you are, and he's brilliant, nobody as smart as you are actually believes in God. 199 00:17:27,974 --> 00:17:31,314 Something went wrong, your education didn't take. 200 00:17:32,635 --> 00:17:40,197 And yet, when death comes, and when they're on the verge of death, they all suddenly become believers. 201 00:17:41,250 --> 00:17:42,678 In Iran, 202 00:17:42,902 --> 00:18:00,472 where some of our members in Austria have relatives, it's illegal to own a Bible, to read a Bible, to talk to anyone about God or Christianity, and if you're caught, you'll be 203 00:18:00,472 --> 00:18:05,394 imprisoned, sometimes you'll be killed simply for reading the Bible. 204 00:18:07,234 --> 00:18:15,281 We could tell you story after story that our friends from Iran who are now in Austria have shared with us. 205 00:18:15,662 --> 00:18:22,808 One brother said, I went to a barber who I knew was a believer. 206 00:18:23,368 --> 00:18:32,156 And he said, when no one else was in the shop, just I, then this barber would talk to me about God and about the Bible. 207 00:18:32,277 --> 00:18:34,062 And he said, he got me interested. 208 00:18:34,062 --> 00:18:38,382 But he said, if someone walked in the door, suddenly the conversation had to be changed. 209 00:18:38,682 --> 00:18:43,442 But he said, when it was just the two of us, he would talk to me. 210 00:18:43,442 --> 00:18:46,282 And he said, I would ask him questions. 211 00:18:46,282 --> 00:18:50,281 And he'd open the Bible and read the answer to me. 212 00:18:50,281 --> 00:18:52,502 He knew his Bible well, he said. 213 00:18:52,702 --> 00:18:58,482 And he said, one day, he said, he went to his cabinet and he got out a Bible in my language and he gave it to me. 214 00:18:58,482 --> 00:19:02,302 And he said, take this home and answer your own questions. 215 00:19:02,302 --> 00:19:03,562 Read the Bible. 216 00:19:04,238 --> 00:19:10,400 So he did, but he dared not even tell his wife that he was reading the Bible. 217 00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:16,821 They lived in Northern Iran and Turkey is just a few miles further north. 218 00:19:17,262 --> 00:19:22,383 And Turkey's a nice place to go on vacation for people who live in Northern Iran. 219 00:19:22,383 --> 00:19:29,325 It's pretty reasonably priced and the people in Iran, most of them have enough money they can afford to do that. 220 00:19:29,445 --> 00:19:33,696 And so he'd taken his wife and his young daughter, 221 00:19:34,072 --> 00:19:36,423 to Turkey for two weeks vacation. 222 00:19:36,644 --> 00:19:38,564 He had a business of his own. 223 00:19:39,485 --> 00:19:49,531 And he said, we'd been there about a week and my wife's sister, his sister-in-law, called her and said, father found his Bible and you can't come home. 224 00:19:49,912 --> 00:19:52,053 He said, my wife said, what? 225 00:19:52,353 --> 00:19:54,114 She didn't know he had a Bible. 226 00:19:54,555 --> 00:20:00,450 Said, yeah, my father had been going over to their house or her father. 227 00:20:00,450 --> 00:20:07,914 to water their plants and look after things while they were away, lived in the same town, and he found this Bible. 228 00:20:08,815 --> 00:20:12,577 He admitted, the brother admitted to us, he hadn't hidden it well. 229 00:20:13,218 --> 00:20:16,099 And he said, I'm gonna kill him. 230 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:22,844 And he told his sister-in-law, I'm gonna kill him when he comes back. 231 00:20:23,464 --> 00:20:26,536 And she said, you can't come back. 232 00:20:27,936 --> 00:20:35,650 And she mentioned that the sister-in-law said, well, you can come back and the daughter can come back, but he can't come back. 233 00:20:36,251 --> 00:20:41,133 And the wife being a very faithful wife said, well, he can't come back. 234 00:20:41,133 --> 00:20:42,914 I'm not coming back either. 235 00:20:43,135 --> 00:20:45,195 And so they stayed in Turkey. 236 00:20:46,456 --> 00:20:51,439 These refugees, they're called different kinds of refugees than we're used to. 237 00:20:51,439 --> 00:20:54,401 We work with refugees in a lot of countries over the years. 238 00:20:54,401 --> 00:20:56,502 Usually they're poor and destitute. 239 00:20:56,502 --> 00:20:58,103 and need everything materially. 240 00:20:58,103 --> 00:20:59,784 These people have money. 241 00:20:59,925 --> 00:21:05,990 Some of them have ATM cards and they go get money from their bank back in Iran. 242 00:21:06,011 --> 00:21:08,652 Some of them had good businesses. 243 00:21:08,873 --> 00:21:11,906 Most of them have good education. 244 00:21:11,906 --> 00:21:14,558 Most of them have master's degrees. 245 00:21:14,578 --> 00:21:17,841 The people who are in our congregation, the refugees. 246 00:21:18,202 --> 00:21:20,283 They fled Iran. 247 00:21:20,604 --> 00:21:23,436 So this family hung out in Turkey. 248 00:21:23,436 --> 00:21:28,407 and finally begin to say we've got to make a plan, we've got to do something. 249 00:21:28,407 --> 00:21:36,229 And so they said we need to go on to Western Europe since we can't go back and try to start a new life there. 250 00:21:36,570 --> 00:21:41,411 And in the meantime he was studying the Bible with his wife. 251 00:21:41,691 --> 00:21:45,552 They ended up in Austria after going to two or three other countries. 252 00:21:46,392 --> 00:21:53,164 And our brother Gerhard Krosnick, who's an Austrian brother in Vienna, was one of the first people that met them. 253 00:21:53,164 --> 00:21:56,256 and he studied the Bible with them and baptized them. 254 00:21:56,417 --> 00:22:00,040 And they're now Christians living in Austria. 255 00:22:00,801 --> 00:22:09,088 But imagine that you're arrested, that you might be killed just for reading the Bible. 256 00:22:09,529 --> 00:22:12,050 That's the scope of God's mission. 257 00:22:12,171 --> 00:22:14,552 We need to be in those places. 258 00:22:14,793 --> 00:22:20,558 We need to be where evil and ignorance exist. 259 00:22:21,752 --> 00:22:24,243 What about the ignorance of your own neighbor? 260 00:22:25,283 --> 00:22:27,264 All of us have neighbors. 261 00:22:27,264 --> 00:22:32,385 Do all of your neighbors know what you believe about the New Testament? 262 00:22:32,806 --> 00:22:36,907 Or they just think, well, yeah, she's a Christian like everybody else. 263 00:22:37,027 --> 00:22:38,397 My wife is from France. 264 00:22:38,397 --> 00:22:40,248 Some of you met her this morning. 265 00:22:40,288 --> 00:22:42,768 Her older sister's not a Christian. 266 00:22:42,929 --> 00:22:47,340 And her sister said something about, Marie Claire said, well, 267 00:22:47,340 --> 00:22:48,621 They were having a conversation. 268 00:22:48,621 --> 00:22:49,972 She said, well, you're not a Christian. 269 00:22:49,972 --> 00:22:51,773 She said, of course I'm a Christian. 270 00:22:51,773 --> 00:22:53,094 I'm French. 271 00:22:54,876 --> 00:22:56,517 Of course I'm a Christian. 272 00:22:56,517 --> 00:22:58,298 I never go to church. 273 00:22:58,398 --> 00:23:04,963 I never practice what Christianity, never do the things Christians do, but I'm French. 274 00:23:05,163 --> 00:23:12,428 Everybody born in France is a Christian, she thinks, and many people think. 275 00:23:13,389 --> 00:23:14,710 Many people... 276 00:23:14,964 --> 00:23:19,515 in our neighborhoods, in my neighborhood, and no doubt in yours. 277 00:23:19,635 --> 00:23:23,876 Think that they're Christians because they've never been taught. 278 00:23:23,937 --> 00:23:25,277 They're ignorant. 279 00:23:25,277 --> 00:23:29,558 And if we don't tell them, they're probably not going to know. 280 00:23:29,838 --> 00:23:36,480 And if they just say, well, we're real nice neighbors, we have some of the finest neighbors I've ever had anywhere. 281 00:23:36,580 --> 00:23:42,682 We've got neighbors on both sides of us across the street that'll do anything for us and for each other. 282 00:23:42,682 --> 00:23:44,082 Wonderful neighbors. 283 00:23:45,132 --> 00:23:46,803 We know them all well. 284 00:23:47,325 --> 00:23:48,747 They know that we're missionaries. 285 00:23:48,747 --> 00:23:50,929 They think that's nice and good. 286 00:23:51,290 --> 00:23:54,784 But they also know because we've told them. 287 00:23:56,802 --> 00:24:08,201 that we're New Testament Christians and we've tried to get them interested in going to church with us or maybe studying the Bible with us so far without much success but at 288 00:24:08,201 --> 00:24:10,834 least we've tried to give them an opportunity. 289 00:24:10,834 --> 00:24:12,875 That's all God asks us to do. 290 00:24:13,196 --> 00:24:15,317 Provide an opportunity. 291 00:24:15,678 --> 00:24:26,196 If we never said anything to them they would think well McDonald's they think we're fine and all of these people if you ask them 292 00:24:26,688 --> 00:24:31,319 I think all of them, maybe not one neighbor, but the rest of them would say, yeah, we're Christians. 293 00:24:31,799 --> 00:24:34,080 Most of them don't go to church anywhere. 294 00:24:34,158 --> 00:24:35,560 A couple of them go. 295 00:24:35,801 --> 00:24:40,042 One to a Methodist church, another to a Disciples of Christ church, and so on. 296 00:24:40,042 --> 00:24:41,782 We've had some discussions. 297 00:24:41,922 --> 00:24:46,063 But if we never talk to them, they don't know. 298 00:24:46,404 --> 00:24:55,426 And if we never talk to our neighbors, we're keeping the most important information that we could ever share with them to ourselves. 299 00:24:55,842 --> 00:25:00,985 And in reality, we're telling them that they're okay. 300 00:25:01,686 --> 00:25:04,367 So that's our mission, our neighborhood. 301 00:25:05,369 --> 00:25:11,112 Our mission is to stamp out spiritual ignorance and misinformation. 302 00:25:11,112 --> 00:25:15,895 And I want to emphasize misinformation because there's so much misinformation. 303 00:25:16,336 --> 00:25:19,358 Like Marie Claire's sister who said, well, of course I'm a Christian. 304 00:25:19,358 --> 00:25:20,619 I'm French. 305 00:25:21,239 --> 00:25:22,760 Misinformed. 306 00:25:22,941 --> 00:25:25,342 She doesn't understand what a Christian is. 307 00:25:25,742 --> 00:25:30,102 Do my neighbors and friends understand what a Christian is? 308 00:25:30,982 --> 00:25:36,838 God's mission is and always has been the whole world. 309 00:25:38,552 --> 00:25:46,226 In Genesis chapters one through three, we read about the creation, about Adam and Eve, stories we're all familiar with. 310 00:25:46,226 --> 00:25:48,087 I'll not read it to you. 311 00:25:48,608 --> 00:25:55,210 And how Adam and Eve sinned and God had to put them out of the garden, but that wasn't the original plan. 312 00:25:55,972 --> 00:26:06,657 God created Adam and then he created Eve to help Adam because he was lonely and needed someone. 313 00:26:08,522 --> 00:26:14,384 and created this beautiful place for them to live called the Garden of Eden. 314 00:26:15,165 --> 00:26:23,908 And I think that was God's happy place because it says He would go in the cool of the evening and walk in the garden and talk to them. 315 00:26:24,909 --> 00:26:26,910 That was God's happy place. 316 00:26:26,910 --> 00:26:30,291 And that's the way He originally planned it all. 317 00:26:30,872 --> 00:26:37,044 But we human beings fouled it up and we sinned. 318 00:26:40,098 --> 00:26:43,037 But God didn't just give up on mankind. 319 00:26:44,974 --> 00:26:51,314 And when I think about that, and I ask myself, why didn't he just give up on us? 320 00:26:51,774 --> 00:26:56,714 Well, know, a little while later, he said, we need to start over. 321 00:26:56,714 --> 00:27:00,454 And so he sent the flood and destroyed everybody but the faithful family. 322 00:27:01,154 --> 00:27:06,294 But he never completely gave up because we are God's family. 323 00:27:08,142 --> 00:27:16,482 Some of us have family members who aren't Christians, but never give up on them, and I hope you have it. 324 00:27:16,482 --> 00:27:17,982 Pray for them. 325 00:27:17,982 --> 00:27:24,422 I've been seeing these signs and I understand it's a movement and you probably know more about it than I do, but people are putting signs in their yard. 326 00:27:24,422 --> 00:27:27,342 I want one of them that says, never stop praying. 327 00:27:27,662 --> 00:27:29,302 Have we seen those around here? 328 00:27:29,302 --> 00:27:31,102 They're all over our neighborhood. 329 00:27:31,302 --> 00:27:33,022 Never stop praying. 330 00:27:33,202 --> 00:27:35,822 Well, it's a movement about the U.S. 331 00:27:35,822 --> 00:27:37,294 political situation. 332 00:27:37,294 --> 00:27:40,914 But I think it applies to all of us every day. 333 00:27:41,374 --> 00:27:42,794 And I'd like to have one of signs. 334 00:27:42,794 --> 00:27:51,014 I tried to find where I could buy one, but you had to send some guy, a contribution is all I could find, and then he'll send you a sign, and I'm not gonna support his political 335 00:27:51,014 --> 00:27:51,294 movement. 336 00:27:51,294 --> 00:27:58,654 But I do support the idea that we never should stop praying. 337 00:27:59,034 --> 00:28:00,194 Never stop praying. 338 00:28:00,194 --> 00:28:02,374 Never give up on our kids. 339 00:28:02,534 --> 00:28:06,394 Some of us have kids who are not faithful Christians. 340 00:28:06,594 --> 00:28:10,477 Some of us have grandchildren who are not faithful Christians. 341 00:28:10,477 --> 00:28:15,660 Some of us have siblings, brothers and sisters who are not faithful Christians. 342 00:28:15,660 --> 00:28:21,004 Never stop praying because that's the scope of God's mission. 343 00:28:21,004 --> 00:28:28,509 We're all God's family and He hasn't given up on us and we must not give up either. 344 00:28:29,370 --> 00:28:32,712 The Bible is a stark contrast to the world. 345 00:28:33,373 --> 00:28:36,034 If I go too long here and pull the plug. 346 00:28:38,094 --> 00:28:42,998 The Bible is a stark contrast to the world. 347 00:28:43,098 --> 00:28:51,405 When we look at the world and we look at the Bible, it's like our Iranian friends are saying, there's love in the Bible. 348 00:28:51,646 --> 00:28:53,747 There's no love in Islam. 349 00:28:53,928 --> 00:28:56,249 It's a stark contrast. 350 00:28:56,450 --> 00:29:06,088 That's why we enjoy so much our visits to America, because where we live, we don't hear prayers like we heard this morning. 351 00:29:07,468 --> 00:29:15,735 Because we're dealing with young Christians who are just learning how to pray, who just learning how to trust God. 352 00:29:15,735 --> 00:29:23,811 they pray, but there's not that depth of understanding that there was by the man who prayed this morning. 353 00:29:24,632 --> 00:29:34,259 The thankfulness that we all feel who've been a part of God's family for so long, that takes a long time to build and develop. 354 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,462 And if you never worship with a group of 355 00:29:37,594 --> 00:29:40,095 where there were no older Christians? 356 00:29:40,395 --> 00:29:46,776 Young men, you'll come to appreciate older Christians a lot more than you did in the past. 357 00:29:46,817 --> 00:29:50,077 They're not those old fogies that keep us from doing things. 358 00:29:50,278 --> 00:30:02,141 They're those wise people who help us and encourage us and show us the example and lead the way. 359 00:30:03,161 --> 00:30:06,942 The gospel is not just to be heard. 360 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:09,470 but is to be obeyed. 361 00:30:10,131 --> 00:30:14,353 We see a lot of that being taught in the New Testament. 362 00:30:14,393 --> 00:30:17,134 God's Son Jesus taught that. 363 00:30:18,174 --> 00:30:24,757 In the passages we're real familiar with, when he told the apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel. 364 00:30:25,157 --> 00:30:31,300 And he said, if you believe and you're baptized, you're going to be saved. 365 00:30:31,300 --> 00:30:36,212 But you gotta believe, yes, and you gotta do something. 366 00:30:36,812 --> 00:30:38,944 You've got to be proactive. 367 00:30:39,064 --> 00:30:40,725 You've got to be baptized. 368 00:30:40,725 --> 00:30:53,078 And once you've been baptized, you've got to continue with your proactivity and become a disciple, a follower, one who wants to be like Jesus if you want to be saved. 369 00:30:55,020 --> 00:30:58,371 If you love me, said, keep my commandments. 370 00:30:58,772 --> 00:31:01,953 James said, be doers of the word. 371 00:31:02,290 --> 00:31:04,054 They're not just hearers. 372 00:31:04,334 --> 00:31:11,157 There were people in the first century who liked what they heard and they were good listeners. 373 00:31:11,497 --> 00:31:16,439 They liked it, it's good stuff, but they didn't want to do it. 374 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:22,982 He says, if you want to be saved, not only are you hearing it, but you're doing it. 375 00:31:23,384 --> 00:31:31,633 The apostle Paul reiterated this in Romans chapter 12, where he said that we should present ourselves a living sacrifice. 376 00:31:34,476 --> 00:31:36,748 holy and acceptable to God. 377 00:31:37,389 --> 00:31:42,814 I'm acceptable to God when I present myself a living sacrifice. 378 00:31:44,654 --> 00:31:47,594 were to be transformed, he said. 379 00:31:48,814 --> 00:31:52,934 I remember several years ago when kids had those transformers. 380 00:31:52,934 --> 00:31:58,634 You remember those things that look weird and they'd twist them two, three times and all of a sudden it was something different. 381 00:31:58,634 --> 00:32:00,374 I love those things. 382 00:32:00,854 --> 00:32:03,094 Transform, changed. 383 00:32:03,094 --> 00:32:05,154 All of a sudden we're something different. 384 00:32:05,274 --> 00:32:11,314 We're sinners and we obey the gospel and we try to live like Jesus and we're different. 385 00:32:12,454 --> 00:32:14,744 People should recognize us. 386 00:32:14,744 --> 00:32:18,416 when they see us that we're Christians. 387 00:32:18,656 --> 00:32:21,939 Mary Claire and I spend a lot of time in airports. 388 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,021 And one of the things we enjoy is people watching. 389 00:32:26,262 --> 00:32:34,487 And we sit in airports and we see people walking by and people sitting over here, especially when airports are real full and busy. 390 00:32:34,628 --> 00:32:36,849 And we say, I bet he's from Italy. 391 00:32:37,530 --> 00:32:40,611 She looks like she might be from China. 392 00:32:41,192 --> 00:32:44,044 And maybe this one is from 393 00:32:44,632 --> 00:32:46,424 you know, hungry. 394 00:32:47,267 --> 00:32:49,440 And we try to guess where they're from. 395 00:32:52,418 --> 00:32:54,341 And how do we do that? 396 00:32:54,341 --> 00:32:56,724 We do that by their appearance. 397 00:32:58,107 --> 00:33:03,595 Usually we can spot people from France very often, because she's from France. 398 00:33:04,057 --> 00:33:07,401 I'm pretty good at spotting Germans, because I lived there 25 years. 399 00:33:09,694 --> 00:33:19,277 Usually not always, but we can spot Americans by their dress, by the way they walk, by the way they act. 400 00:33:19,517 --> 00:33:21,577 We recognize people. 401 00:33:22,638 --> 00:33:30,440 But when we become Christians, people ask me sometimes, say, Bill, are you a Christian? 402 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:31,721 I say, yes. 403 00:33:31,721 --> 00:33:33,271 They say, what kind of a Christian are you? 404 00:33:33,271 --> 00:33:36,822 And they want me to tell them what denomination I belong to. 405 00:33:37,452 --> 00:33:39,446 You are you Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal? 406 00:33:39,446 --> 00:33:40,527 What are you? 407 00:33:40,749 --> 00:33:42,752 I say, I'm a Christian Christian. 408 00:33:43,836 --> 00:33:45,428 They say, I never heard of that. 409 00:33:47,790 --> 00:33:49,510 I'm a Christian Christian. 410 00:33:49,510 --> 00:33:51,710 That's the only kind there is. 411 00:33:52,510 --> 00:33:54,710 I'm a Christian Christian. 412 00:33:57,006 --> 00:33:59,286 were to be transformed. 413 00:33:59,927 --> 00:34:03,027 The mission is a matter of loyalty. 414 00:34:03,908 --> 00:34:09,909 And I can't help but encourage you to look at that strongly. 415 00:34:10,050 --> 00:34:13,550 Trust is so important. 416 00:34:13,851 --> 00:34:15,871 Can God trust me? 417 00:34:16,511 --> 00:34:18,192 I know I can trust God. 418 00:34:18,472 --> 00:34:25,214 Can he trust me to be his son, to act like a Christian? 419 00:34:25,274 --> 00:34:26,644 Am I loyal? 420 00:34:28,866 --> 00:34:37,014 When countries send ambassadors to other countries to represent them, they don't go and just say, this is my idea. 421 00:34:37,014 --> 00:34:42,479 They say, my government should stand on this particular issue is this. 422 00:34:43,180 --> 00:34:45,972 This is what my government wants me to tell you. 423 00:34:47,746 --> 00:34:50,217 God says, you're a part of our family. 424 00:34:50,217 --> 00:34:52,508 This is what I want you to tell them. 425 00:34:53,349 --> 00:34:55,370 Don't just make up something. 426 00:34:55,571 --> 00:34:57,631 Don't just shoot from the hip. 427 00:34:57,732 --> 00:35:04,135 Don't just think, well, I think if you say that word, get it out of your vocabulary. 428 00:35:04,135 --> 00:35:06,216 It doesn't matter what you think. 429 00:35:07,377 --> 00:35:09,338 You don't care what I think. 430 00:35:09,338 --> 00:35:10,559 Be honest. 431 00:35:10,559 --> 00:35:12,320 You don't really care. 432 00:35:12,540 --> 00:35:16,372 You might be remotely interested, but what matters? 433 00:35:16,757 --> 00:35:19,398 It's what God thinks. 434 00:35:19,859 --> 00:35:23,200 And so try to remove that from your vocabulary. 435 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,621 Somebody says, what do you think the scripture means? 436 00:35:26,862 --> 00:35:28,542 I say, I don't have a clue. 437 00:35:29,703 --> 00:35:32,644 What does God say that it means? 438 00:35:32,745 --> 00:35:34,085 Let's look at it. 439 00:35:34,085 --> 00:35:37,307 Let's let the Bible interpret itself with other scripture. 440 00:35:37,307 --> 00:35:41,849 Let's find out what it means without giving my ideas. 441 00:35:42,129 --> 00:35:44,064 We don't need to get together. 442 00:35:44,064 --> 00:35:48,939 in what we call a Bible class when it's very often just a time to share our ignorance. 443 00:35:51,074 --> 00:35:54,089 We need to follow God's word. 444 00:35:56,984 --> 00:36:00,755 We need to be trusted messengers. 445 00:36:00,995 --> 00:36:07,077 Can God trust me to share His message as He gave it? 446 00:36:07,697 --> 00:36:09,498 Am I trustworthy? 447 00:36:10,298 --> 00:36:13,299 Trust and commitment are non-negotiable. 448 00:36:14,219 --> 00:36:19,601 God is uncompromising when it comes to loyalty. 449 00:36:20,141 --> 00:36:24,012 He doesn't want me to be half loyal. 450 00:36:24,332 --> 00:36:28,423 to be loyal when it feels good and when it's popular and when it's all right. 451 00:36:28,863 --> 00:36:33,024 He wants me to be loyal all the time. 452 00:36:33,205 --> 00:36:35,605 From the very beginning this was Adam and Eve's problem. 453 00:36:35,605 --> 00:36:37,426 It was a trust problem. 454 00:36:37,986 --> 00:36:40,647 They loved God. 455 00:36:40,647 --> 00:36:42,067 I think they did. 456 00:36:42,427 --> 00:36:44,308 They were friends with God. 457 00:36:44,968 --> 00:36:49,109 But they weren't sure that they could trust him. 458 00:36:49,649 --> 00:36:52,500 Otherwise the devil wouldn't have been able to influence them. 459 00:36:53,368 --> 00:36:55,880 When he came along and said, well, did you know such and such? 460 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,621 They didn't say, well, we know that's not true. 461 00:36:59,302 --> 00:37:01,322 God told us otherwise. 462 00:37:01,763 --> 00:37:07,186 They said, ah, looks good, tastes good, makes me look good. 463 00:37:08,227 --> 00:37:10,208 They didn't trust God. 464 00:37:10,509 --> 00:37:13,440 And so are we trustworthy? 465 00:37:16,052 --> 00:37:22,946 Evil and sin will weave its way into every aspect of our lives if we're not trustworthy. 466 00:37:23,746 --> 00:37:33,832 From creation on, it brought about physical problems because of a lack of trust of Adam and Eve. 467 00:37:34,172 --> 00:37:35,293 That's why we get old. 468 00:37:35,293 --> 00:37:37,114 That's why I have arthritis. 469 00:37:37,114 --> 00:37:40,256 That's why I have a knee that doesn't work real well. 470 00:37:40,256 --> 00:37:42,376 That's why I get white hair. 471 00:37:42,437 --> 00:37:45,108 I still have some hair, but it's all white. 472 00:37:47,096 --> 00:37:55,832 That's why I need to go to the dentist often because Adam and Eve didn't trust God. 473 00:37:55,832 --> 00:37:57,633 That's the bottom line. 474 00:37:57,894 --> 00:37:59,154 That's why. 475 00:37:59,695 --> 00:38:01,856 It affects us intellectually. 476 00:38:01,957 --> 00:38:13,184 We actually sometimes use our God-given powers to rationalize and excuse our own sins. 477 00:38:13,645 --> 00:38:15,476 We say, I know what... 478 00:38:15,756 --> 00:38:19,382 that it's not good but you know everybody's doing it. 479 00:38:19,547 --> 00:38:20,670 It's okay. 480 00:38:22,580 --> 00:38:27,013 It affects our societies. 481 00:38:27,734 --> 00:38:34,198 It affects every human relationship that's fractured and disrupted. 482 00:38:34,699 --> 00:38:38,381 It affects parents and children's relationships. 483 00:38:38,942 --> 00:38:50,149 Social and ethnic, international relations are all affected because of sin. 484 00:38:53,262 --> 00:39:05,088 The wonderful truth though is that the Bible gives us the gospel and that this addresses every dimension of the problem that sin has created. 485 00:39:05,589 --> 00:39:16,134 God's mission is the final destruction of all that is evil in this world and in people's lives. 486 00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:23,873 And I wish I hadn't used all my time telling you stories and I could go on with my lesson, but my time is about up. 487 00:39:24,694 --> 00:39:32,758 But when Abraham was called by God and he said, I want you to be a blessing. 488 00:39:33,939 --> 00:39:35,780 That's what he's saying to us. 489 00:39:36,020 --> 00:39:37,921 I want you to be a blessing. 490 00:39:38,141 --> 00:39:39,902 You can be a blessing. 491 00:39:39,902 --> 00:39:46,956 And once you help someone, when you do something for someone, when you stand for the truth, 492 00:39:46,958 --> 00:39:50,578 in front of others, then you're a blessing. 493 00:39:52,728 --> 00:39:58,241 The church is actually the multinational fulfillment of the hope of Israel. 494 00:39:59,082 --> 00:40:01,143 God called Abraham. 495 00:40:01,244 --> 00:40:07,327 Through his seed, he said, the whole, every nation, the whole world is going to be blessed. 496 00:40:07,928 --> 00:40:11,210 Israel were his chosen people. 497 00:40:12,011 --> 00:40:14,172 Israel fulfilled their mission. 498 00:40:14,593 --> 00:40:18,775 Jesus came, opened it up to the rest of us. 499 00:40:19,076 --> 00:40:22,558 We are the result. 500 00:40:22,752 --> 00:40:26,525 of the blessing that Abraham shared. 501 00:40:28,238 --> 00:40:36,798 We brought, or the gospel brought to us, what God's chosen people always had. 502 00:40:37,038 --> 00:40:40,098 And now we're a part of the chosen people. 503 00:40:41,238 --> 00:40:46,718 The church demonstrates God's transforming power in this world. 504 00:40:46,718 --> 00:40:48,698 And you're a part of this great mission. 505 00:40:49,458 --> 00:40:50,558 Be glad. 506 00:40:50,558 --> 00:40:54,598 Don't say, oh, you mean I gotta go tell somebody about Jesus? 507 00:40:54,758 --> 00:40:56,658 I don't know how to do that. 508 00:40:57,018 --> 00:40:58,378 Sure you do. 509 00:40:58,702 --> 00:40:59,782 sure you do. 510 00:40:59,782 --> 00:41:06,204 You do just like our Iranian new friends and tell the people about how God loves them. 511 00:41:06,524 --> 00:41:16,987 I wish you could meet Javad, Javad and Nasini and Mohammed and Arash, all from Iran and Afghanistan who've obeyed the gospel. 512 00:41:17,228 --> 00:41:25,900 And they're so excited that they tell their friends Javad brings new people to church almost every Sunday from the refugee camps. 513 00:41:26,968 --> 00:41:40,649 This morning earlier, because they're five hours ahead of us time wise, Javad, I know, came with seven other people that he has found in this new camp where the government led 514 00:41:40,649 --> 00:41:43,831 him to church. 515 00:41:44,292 --> 00:41:50,557 All but one of them is a Christian because Javad talked to them. 516 00:41:51,158 --> 00:41:56,802 He brings new people and he comes and he says, Bill, I can't teach him, but you can. 517 00:41:58,050 --> 00:42:00,331 But they trust me, trust. 518 00:42:00,331 --> 00:42:01,871 They trust me. 519 00:42:02,071 --> 00:42:04,092 And they come with me. 520 00:42:04,192 --> 00:42:06,132 And I bring them to you. 521 00:42:06,413 --> 00:42:08,153 Everybody can do that. 522 00:42:08,493 --> 00:42:13,495 Invite your friends to obey the gospel and to come and to hear the gospel. 523 00:42:14,395 --> 00:42:17,116 Enjoy sharing the message. 524 00:42:17,456 --> 00:42:18,696 It's fun. 525 00:42:19,037 --> 00:42:23,258 I have a son-in-law and daughter who are missionaries in Athens, Greece. 526 00:42:23,790 --> 00:42:34,450 And every once in a while when we send out a little report about something that happens good in the congregation in Salzburg, Phil, by son-in-law, will tell our daughter, said, 527 00:42:34,450 --> 00:42:37,286 you know, your dad's having a lot more fun than we are. 528 00:42:38,892 --> 00:42:40,063 It's fun. 529 00:42:40,184 --> 00:42:41,586 Having a lot more fun. 530 00:42:41,586 --> 00:42:43,468 You want to have a lot of fun? 531 00:42:43,542 --> 00:42:46,072 Go share the gospel with somebody. 532 00:42:46,694 --> 00:42:52,401 In a closing note, when we all get to heaven after the judgment, 533 00:42:54,510 --> 00:42:56,810 There are going be people there that we've known. 534 00:42:57,690 --> 00:42:59,870 We're told we'll know each other. 535 00:43:00,470 --> 00:43:02,330 There are going to be people there that we've known. 536 00:43:02,330 --> 00:43:09,450 And I like to kind of envision, and this may not be exactly how it's going to be, but this is my idea. 537 00:43:09,570 --> 00:43:11,010 So if you disagree, that's okay. 538 00:43:11,010 --> 00:43:12,690 It's just an idea I'm sharing. 539 00:43:13,430 --> 00:43:23,410 I like to think that we're going to be there, and there's going to be a young man that I met in Brownfield, Texas when I was going to love a Christian college and working for a 540 00:43:23,410 --> 00:43:24,470 church there. 541 00:43:26,050 --> 00:43:30,294 that became a deacon and then became an elder, Damon Brock. 542 00:43:30,916 --> 00:43:37,012 And Damon would tell everybody that I'm out visiting because Bill encouraged me to do that. 543 00:43:39,682 --> 00:43:44,905 And I'm gonna look forward to seeing Damon because he brought a lot of people to the Lord. 544 00:43:45,465 --> 00:43:49,967 And he's gonna be saying to me, Bill, I want you to meet so-and-so. 545 00:43:50,188 --> 00:43:57,752 Remember when I took you by his house in Brownfield, Texas, and we always said they named that place right. 546 00:43:57,832 --> 00:43:59,933 It was a Brownfield, all right. 547 00:43:59,993 --> 00:44:05,256 When I took you to visit that fellow and he wasn't really interested, well, I didn't give up on him. 548 00:44:05,657 --> 00:44:08,788 And now he's a Christian and we're all here together. 549 00:44:10,156 --> 00:44:13,147 And I'm going to look at my family. 550 00:44:13,627 --> 00:44:16,087 I'm a fifth generation Christian. 551 00:44:16,268 --> 00:44:19,729 Those of you who know restoration history in America. 552 00:44:20,729 --> 00:44:26,891 My great great grandfather was baptized by Raccoon John Smith in southern Missouri at a camp meeting. 553 00:44:27,671 --> 00:44:32,592 And I'm so thankful he was because if he was and I'm not sure I'd be here today. 554 00:44:32,592 --> 00:44:37,353 Hopefully I would, but I grew up in Idaho Mormon country. 555 00:44:37,474 --> 00:44:39,284 Not many Christians there. 556 00:44:39,722 --> 00:44:43,683 Our youth group had four young people in it. 557 00:44:43,843 --> 00:44:49,805 We used to hitchhike 150 miles to go to youth meeting just to be with other young people. 558 00:44:49,805 --> 00:44:54,286 I'm not sure I'd be a Christian today if my family weren't Christians. 559 00:44:54,286 --> 00:44:56,367 And I'm so thankful for them. 560 00:44:56,907 --> 00:45:02,308 But when I get to heaven, they're going to be those people that I've helped along the way. 561 00:45:02,489 --> 00:45:04,909 And the people that they've helped along the way are going to be there. 562 00:45:04,909 --> 00:45:07,850 And there's going to be a multitude of people 563 00:45:08,236 --> 00:45:12,888 because I was faithful and the same will be true with you. 564 00:45:13,149 --> 00:45:17,651 If you remain faithful, there's going to be a multitude of people that are there. 565 00:45:17,651 --> 00:45:20,733 Well, maybe you didn't have a Bible study with them. 566 00:45:20,933 --> 00:45:33,020 Maybe you didn't actually teach them, but you influenced them for good, for Jesus Christ, and they're there and wouldn't be there possibly if it wasn't for you. 567 00:45:33,661 --> 00:45:36,662 And so, feel the joy, 568 00:45:37,390 --> 00:45:43,270 the excitement, the joy of sharing the fact that you're a Christian. 569 00:45:43,710 --> 00:45:44,910 Don't hide. 570 00:45:45,230 --> 00:45:50,490 I know preachers who actually don't dress up because they don't want to look like a preacher. 571 00:45:51,130 --> 00:45:55,030 And I say, well, you're probably not much of a preacher if you don't want to look like one. 572 00:45:55,030 --> 00:45:59,230 If you're ashamed of it, you're probably not much of a preacher. 573 00:45:59,230 --> 00:46:00,230 All right? 574 00:46:00,230 --> 00:46:01,450 What a preacher looks like. 575 00:46:01,450 --> 00:46:04,470 And he looks like different things in different places. 576 00:46:04,910 --> 00:46:06,708 Went to India and they gave me a 577 00:46:06,708 --> 00:46:08,939 long dress to wear. 578 00:46:08,959 --> 00:46:10,719 That's what preachers wore. 579 00:46:11,460 --> 00:46:16,942 I haven't worn it since I left India, but nevertheless, that's what they wore. 580 00:46:17,483 --> 00:46:21,344 And people recognize them by what they wore. 581 00:46:22,265 --> 00:46:27,066 Be proud of the fact that God has blessed you. 582 00:46:27,307 --> 00:46:32,288 Be proud that you have the opportunity to share the greatest message in the world. 583 00:46:32,909 --> 00:46:35,766 You're not a Christian, then we want to encourage you. 584 00:46:35,766 --> 00:46:39,247 all we can to look at the blessings. 585 00:46:40,407 --> 00:46:43,028 Do a comparison. 586 00:46:43,648 --> 00:46:46,009 Our Iranian friends do that a lot. 587 00:46:46,009 --> 00:46:48,269 They say, look at Islam, look at Christianity. 588 00:46:48,269 --> 00:46:50,310 Which one do you think is best? 589 00:46:50,430 --> 00:46:51,750 Pretty clear. 590 00:46:51,950 --> 00:46:54,531 You want hate or you want love? 591 00:46:55,111 --> 00:47:03,774 You want eternal salvation or you just want to hope that you might make it to a safe place in eternity? 592 00:47:03,774 --> 00:47:05,364 Do a comparison. 593 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:08,531 and there's really no comparison. 594 00:47:08,932 --> 00:47:19,780 God sent His Son to die, and when He was on the cross, we really could have called 10,000 angels. 595 00:47:19,780 --> 00:47:33,940 10,000 angels had perhaps drawn their swords and ready to revenge Him, and He said, no, if I come down off this cross, nobody will have a hope of salvation. 596 00:47:34,646 --> 00:47:43,409 And so he bled and died for us willingly because he knew if he didn't, we had no hope. 597 00:47:44,069 --> 00:47:49,851 People out there, if you don't share that hope with them, have no hope. 598 00:47:50,530 --> 00:47:55,453 If you'd like to respond in some way to the invitation, we're going to sing a song and invite you to come. 599 00:47:55,453 --> 00:47:56,053 Let's stand.