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Bible preaching from the pulpit of Choice Hills Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina
But anyways, it's a blessing to be here.
Thank you so much for welcoming us in.
As your pastor said, we are the Shor family missionaries to Papua New Guinea.
My testimony is that I got saved when I was just a little guy.
I was only six years old.
And so I am so fortunate and blessed to have the privilege of growing up in a family with two parents.
Not only that, in a solid church and in a Christian home. So I consider myself to just
have the trifecta of blessings. I don't deserve any of that, but I was very fortunate, very fortunate. So I got
saved at an early age. My parents, they were, my dad was a 21 dealer in Las Vegas, Nevada. And they were, their marriage was
on the rocks. And my mom, she was, well, they just fought a lot. They fought a lot. They did not have
a very good relationship. And she wound up going to church on Easter Sunday. And long story short, she got saved.
And then my dad, well, he hated the fact that she would smoke.
And so she said, if you come to church with me, I'll quit smoking.
And so he jumped at that.
And he came to church.
And it was only a couple weeks of coming to church.
And then he got saved.
And, you know, we were in Las Vegas there, and I'm just a little guy,
and then we're driving down the road, and Las Vegas is what it is,
and saw a picture on a billboard, and I asked a question, what is that?
And my mom and dad realized this is not a good place to raise a child.
So we moved from there. We moved to Idaho.
I spent most of my life growing up in Idaho.
We did move around a little bit. I lived in Georgia for three years. So a little bit of that
Southern culture, not too much, but a little bit. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for a year,
and I lived in Papua New Guinea for two years, which was kind of the starting point of this whole
process of the Lord calling us to Papua New Guinea. And I'll get into that a little bit more later. I want to
talk to you today about faith that advances the gospel. Faith that advances
the gospel. If you have your Bible, please turn to Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews chapter 11.
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11,
But without faith it is impossible to please Him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, please help me as I try to bring this lesson.
God, help me to say the things You have me to say.
And I pray that it would be a blessing and help to others, God,
and that you'd be glorified through all of it.
In Jesus' name, amen.
You know, I've looked at this verse, and I remember as a little guy,
you look at the Bible and verses differently than you do as you mature in Christ,
or as you even just grow up as an older person.
And I remember looking at this as a child and saying,
well, why is it impossible to please God without faith? What's a big deal about faith? Well,
you know, salvation comes by faith alone. So naturally, if your journey with Christ begins
with faith, then anything you do that's going to ever please him has got to involve faith to some degree or another.
And, you know, living the Christian life requires faith.
Believing God's promises requires faith.
Prayer itself is an act of faith.
The Bible says, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
Faith is the mechanism that God uses to grow his children.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7, it says,
So faith is important. And if you really think about
it, it's so important because it's really impossible to please the Lord if you don't
trust him, right? I mean, that's what faith is. Faith, you can boil it down to lots of different
things. It's belief, it's trust, it's several different things. But trust is that one core
element. How can you really
please the Lord if you don't trust Him? I mean, any relationship involves trust, right? So how can
you please the Lord if you don't trust Him? You know, before God called me to be a missionary,
I was, now don't hate me, but I worked in an insurance office for about nine years insurance
lawyers you know not always the most favorite of professions but I worked in an insurance office
for nine years and the different numbers of policies that they would sell that I would sell
I mean you've got your life insurance your disability insurance you got your health insurance
you got your auto insurance you've got your home insurance you your disability insurance, you've got your health insurance, you've got your auto insurance, you've got your home insurance, you've got, the list goes on and
on. And then within each one of those policies, there's all these little provisions and all these
little coverages of what you are protected from. Like with auto insurance, you've got your liability
and your property damage, bodily injury, you've got your towing, you've got so many things. And I
am not going to bore you with
an insurance and financial review this morning. But the point is that, you know, as Americans,
we buy insurance because we don't like risk, right? We just don't like to risk things.
But the thing is, faith always involves some element of risk.
It does. It does.
And when the Lord asks you to do something that you're not comfortable with,
there's an element of risk.
It can be a big risk or a little risk.
Yesterday we went door knocking,
and I love to go door knocking when we visit churches.
You never know, because that might be the time
in which you can lead someone to the Lord.
You know, sometimes it's tricky when you live in your life and you're on the go, go, go,
and you want to witness, but my goodness, there's a million things pulling you apart
and different things you've got to do.
And it's hard to take that time to give a track out and initiate a conversation.
And we should, and it's good to do.
But that's what I like about door knocking because it's a set side to where you have to do it. That's what we're doing
now. And so I always like to go door knocking whenever the opportunity is there because
somebody might get saved and I want to be a part of that. But when you go door knocking,
you know, there's an element of risk there. What if the person is mean to me? What if it's an axe
murderer and he pulls me inside and kills me? No, that's not going to happen. Well, I mean,
I guess it could. Probably more likely if you were in Detroit versus Greenville, South Carolina. But
regardless, there's that little scariness. There's that element of risk. Whenever you try to do
anything for the Lord, there's always that element of risk. And as
Americans, we don't like it. We don't like it. We want everything to be perfectly aligned. But the
problem is, living by faith means sometimes being a little bit risky. Doesn't necessarily mean being
reckless, but it sometimes means being a little bit risky. You know, some folks, we, I don't know if you are like this,
but sometimes I've been like it,
where I will overreact one far one way to another
instead of just being balanced about something.
You know, well, instead of taking the middle road on an opinion,
these folks believe this, so I'm going to go all the way over here.
It's kind of like, you know like a person who grows up in church and then someone was mean to them at church, so they just quit all churches altogether.
You've seen that before.
Sometimes when it comes to faith, folks will become reckless and step out and do things that maybe God never asked them to do.
That's recklessness. That's not faith.
But the point of all of this is that, you know, we're a team and you've got the pastor, you've got
the church, you've got the missionary, and we all do our part to get the great commission out.
The Bible says that we, it says, for we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry,
you are God's building. We are laborers together with God. It are God's husbandry. You are God's building. We are laborers together
with God. It is our job to get the gospel out. And we have to do it involving faith. And we know that
faith, only faith pleases God. We know that faith is not something that comes natural for us.
So what kind of faith is it that we need as laborers together to do this thing called the
Great Commission? Well, the first type of faith that we need, I've got three for you
today, is faith that believes in God's power to save. Look at Romans
1.16. Romans 1.16.
The Bible says,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
You know, we have to believe that God's power is in the gospel.
And that when we tell people about Jesus Christ, there's power behind that.
Otherwise, what are we doing?
What are we doing?
Is church just, is it just a good opportunity to meet other people that are nice people?
Is it a social club?
Or do we believe that the gospel is real and it can change lives?
I mean, I've seen lives changed.
I told you in my testimony about my parents.
And when my mom and dad got saved, God changed their lives.
They changed their marriage.
They were headed for divorce.
And they lived the whole rest of their lives together.
My dad died in 2004.
And, you know, they had a great marriage.
I had a great example of a marriage growing up.
Look at my parents.
But if you would have known them before,
it was a disaster. But God changed their lives. And we all know people that God changes lives,
and it comes from the gospel. In the 1960s, the Don Richardson missionary family faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge when dealing with the Sawi tribe of what was then
Dutch New Guinea, which is today part of Indonesia and the western half of the island that Papua New Guinea is a part of.
After two years of learning the Sawi language,
he was finally able to communicate
and begin sharing the gospel with the Sawi people.
Richardson soon learned the Sawi word hadi,
which refers to betrayal and treachery.
It was not only acceptable,
but to the Sawi, the concept of building a friendship
only to betray and in many cases cannibalize the deceived person,
were the stuff of legends to them.
Unfortunately for Richards, the Saulwee began to view Judas Iscariot
as the clever hero of the story of Christ's crucifixion.
The value system of the Saulwee made it extremely difficult
to teach biblical concepts of truth, loyalty, sacrificial love,
and especially the gospel in and of itself.
A breakthrough was discovered by Richards through an unexpected cultural practice.
The Sawi village that Richards and his family lived in were in close proximity to another
Sawi village, which was leading to conflict and violent skirmishes. Richards kept telling
the people of his village that they needed to make peace with the other village, to which
they would consistently protest. One morning, one of the men was seen carrying his baby over to the other
village. He was weeping and his wife who had found out much later about the situation was wailing
and crying as she ran to catch up with him. The man stopped at the village's edge and gave his baby
boy to one of the head men of the other village. Richards was shocked to witness this, and as soon as was appropriate, he asked the man what he did.
Tuon, which was a name that they would call an American,
he said, you kept telling us that we needed to make peace with them,
the man said.
The only way to ever make any real peace is to give a peace child.
The man then explained to Richards that when one village
gave another village a peace child,
that the peace between the two villages was then unbreakable. He said that the receiving
village would protect the peace child even more than their own children, and to commit treachery
to the other village or harm the peace child in any way would be the greatest act of shame that
could be committed. Richards said a small bell began to ring in my mind upon hearing that. It was the knowledge of this
cultural redemptive analogy that unlocked the power of the gospel to the
Sa'i people. When the Sa'i people saw Jesus Christ as the peace
child of God the Father, they saw the story correctly.
Judas was despised, Jesus was glorified, and just as they had wept for
their own peace child, they felt sorrow for God the Father who gave His only begotten Son
as a peace child for them.
You know, this is a situation, this story.
Worst prospects ever.
Liars, traitors, and cannibals.
And yet, there was something within their culture that God used
and it unlocked the power of the gospel
and it brought revival to people that would have been the worst prospects ever.
And yet, we run into people all the time and we think,
oh, that person won't take a track or that person can't get,
we won't say that person can't get saved,
but in our heart, it's almost like we do.
Do we really believe that God can save anybody?
God's desire is for everyone to get saved.
The Bible says,
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering usward,
not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
God wants everyone to get saved.
And it's our job to get that gospel out.
So we have to believe it.
We have to believe in the power of the gospel.
We also have faith, have to have faith that is willing to sacrifice. Jump back to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. And if you look at verse 8, it talks about Abraham. Hebrews 11 verse 8, it says, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Faith that is willing to sacrifice.
You know, what good is it if we believe something but we aren't willing to do anything about it?
What good is that sort of faith you know you look at abraham and and when he left
or the chaldees he left a place of material wealth and prosperity and comfort security
cultural familiarity family and friends and that's that's what he did he left that and he went he went
to a place of uncertainty and a desert place uh he, scarcity of water and food, conflict with local tribes,
the list goes on and on of all the challenges he faced. And he did that by faith that was willing
to sacrifice. You know, not every Christian is called to be a missionary. Not everyone's called
to be a missionary, but we are all called to be willing to go. We should all be willing to go
if God calls us to be a missionary. We're all called to pray. We're all called to sacrifice
one way or another. We're all called to share the gospel, to endure trials, to love and to forgive.
And all of that sort of stuff involves faith one way or another. But lastly, this faith that we need that will advance the gospel is faith that
trusts in God's leading. Look at Psalms 37.
Psalm 37.
Psalm 37 verse 23.
Psalm 37 verse 23. Psalm 37 verse 23.
The Bible says,
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
and he delighteth in his way.
So I gave you my testimony there about when I got saved
and a little bit of my childhood.
I told you before that my mom and dad, they were involved in different ministries, which had us moving around.
We moved to Georgia when I was about 13 or 14.
No, we went to Phoenix first.
My dad served as an assistant pastor in a church in Phoenix, Arizona for about a year.
After that, when I was 14, We moved to Georgia. And my dad served in a Bible institute, taught in a college
there for about three years. After that, we went to Papua New Guinea. And I was 18 years old.
An opportunity opened up. And we moved to Papua New Guinea. And it was really an exciting time for
me. I was able to, I learned the language. That's where I learned
how to preach. That's where I learned my Bible. And I just, when God put me in New Guinea, I thought,
well, I'm here for two years. I might as well make the most of it. I didn't want to go. I really
didn't want to go. And, but once I got there, God just like like he flipped a switch in my heart.
And I just said, well, I'm just going to make the most of these two years.
And I jumped into every opportunity I could.
And after a couple of years of being in New Guinea, I came back to America.
And I was 20 years old.
And God had given me a heart for the people of New Guinea.
He had given me a heart for missions.
And when I came back to America, all I wanted to do was just turn around and get on the plane and go back the people of New Guinea. He'd given me a heart for missions. And when I came back to America,
all I wanted to do was just turn around
and get on the plane and go back to Papua New Guinea.
That's what I wanted to do.
But that's obviously not what the Lord wanted me to do.
I needed to start my life in America.
And so I went to Bible school.
I went to Bible school at 20.
And in 2001, I met my wife, Melissa, and we started talking online and then through the phone. And then
eventually we got married in 2003. And it's funny because in 2003, we got married, bought a house, and graduated Bible
school all within a two-week period. You know, just take care of all that stuff all at once. But life moved on,
and I remember when Melissa and I were getting to know each other, I would tell her stories about
Papua New Guinea and some of the stuff that we were able to do while we were there.
And my kids grew up hearing about P&G, and, you know, I always wanted to go back. My wife wanted
to go to Papua New Guinea. We had a heart for that.
But the Lord hadn't called us to do that.
He just hadn't done that.
And it wasn't a sort of thing where, you know, I was rebellious to the Lord
or he had to fix some massive, huge problem in my life.
It just God said, just wait, wait.
He never told me no.
He never told me yes.
It was just wait.
And so we got busy doing
whatever we could do for the Lord. You know, we served in like a rescue mission, nursing home,
bus ministry. We did plenty of door-to-door visitation. I taught in a Bible Institute for
about 12 years. She made music CDs. We did all kinds of things, all kinds of things.
But deep in our hearts, we always wanted to go back to Papua New Guinea. Well, she had never been
there before. I wanted to go back and she wanted to go with me. And, you know, the years would go by
and these missions conferences would come. And, you know, the missions conference would come and
then I would just, they were always bittersweet for me because I would see these missionaries going off to the
foreign field. And that's what I wanted to do. And I felt, Lord, like I'm equipped to do this.
I know the language. I know the people as well as, you know, any veteran missionary might that's
been there a term. I would love to go. God God why don't you send me and and he would just
tell me to wait and you know these other missionaries would come through and they would
tell stories and there would be the story of the missionary who had you know he he was rebellious
to God's call and God had to bring and you've heard this story before where God had to bring
some trial into the person's life to where they would submit to God.
And then finally they went to the mission field. And I would be over there saying, Lord, you know,
you don't have to bring a trial into my life for me to submit to you and go. I'm just happy to go whenever you want me to. And then, you know, sometimes there would be the young couple that's,
you know, they're 23 years old, 24 years old. They're fresh out of Bible school. And God's called them to the mission field.
And that's exciting.
That's great.
And God does that.
And that's wonderful.
But as a man who wanted to go to New Guinea,
and my heart's desire was to be a missionary to New Guinea
and go back there again.
You know, there was a bittersweetness to that.
A bittersweetness.
There was a little bit of sadness to it.
And, but, you know, obviously bittersweetness. There was a little bit of sadness to it. But, you know, obviously,
I still love missions and, you know, obviously very happy for those that would go, but I wanted
to go. And things started changing around 2018, 2019. A missionary came and he preached at our church and he preached a message called A Man in Bethesda.
And it was out of John chapter 5.
And he talked about how so many were at the table of feasting,
but that God needed a man in Bethesda.
And that same night, our church was honoring a veteran missionary
who was retiring from Papua New Guinea.
And I remember when the preacher was preaching, he said, God needs a man in Papua New Guinea. And then he also said, God needs a man here
and there and mentioned all these other countries. But I only heard that one. And apparently so did
my family. Everybody else did as well. And God was impressing on all of our hearts that night
about serving as missionaries in Papua New Guinea. And it was,
it was very unique. It wasn't the typical, man, I would really like to go to New Guinea. That's
something I've always wanted to do. It wasn't like that. God was touching our hearts about the reality
of leaving and being missionaries to P&G. And that night, you know, when he was preaching,
we wouldn't look at each other. Everybody in my family, all seven was preaching, we wouldn't look at each other.
Everybody in my family, all seven of us, we wouldn't look at each other.
And there was a sort of almost like thickness in the air.
And we just were like, is this for real?
And we were just listening to the sermon.
And then when we all piled into the, you know, the Schwarmobile, the SUV that we served us for like 13 years. We still have it.
And we all piled into our SUV.
Lily over there, one on the far, far side there.
She goes, she was little.
She goes, does this mean we're going to P&G?
And, you know, I just said, well, and this is me, the insurance background,
where you manage risks and you don't do anything crazy. I said, well, you know, I'm not going to deny that we all just had a unique experience in there.
But that doesn't mean we're going to make a rash decision and just leave for Papua New Guinea.
We need to pray about this. We need to start seeking the Lord's will about this more.
And we just are going to start heading down that direction.
But no decision has been made.
And we'll see how the Lord leads.
And, you know, for some folks, some folks, guys, God will call people.
They'll be reading their devotions and they'll read a verse.
And boom, God calls them into the ministry.
And then they go off.
And the whole rest of their life, they're in that ministry.
And you look at the ministry and there's evidence that, yes, God really called that person.
And it was really that devotion experience where he read a verse and boom, God called him. God
didn't do that with me. God did not do that with me. It was a slow gradual process and a realization.
We began the process of trying to get plane tickets to go visit Papua New Guinea. It was
a thing we wanted to just do a missions trip. It wasn't a survey trip. It was a missions trip.
New Guinea. It was a thing we wanted to just do a missions trip. It wasn't a survey trip. It was a missions trip. And we got tickets. And then something happened. It was 2020. You know, I always try to
remember, what was that big, it was like a really big deal. Anybody remember what something happened
in 2020? No, no. You can't say that word. You can't say that word.
Anyways, that thing happened in 2020 and our tickets,
they did not do us any good at all.
We did eventually get a refund on them,
but we were not able to leave the country in 2020.
We wanted to do our mission strip then.
It didn't work out.
2021, didn't work out again.
And in 2022, the middle of 2022, we had the money and we were going to buy the tickets.
And we were really close to buying the tickets and everything. And then our air conditioner broke and it was August.
And our furnace broke along with it. And we were struggling because it was hotter in the house than it was outside.
So we would sleep outside at night because it was, because it was the only way we could actually
sleep. And after a few nights of this, I thought, this is ridiculous. We cannot live our lives this
way. This is not being a good steward. And so we use the money for the plane tickets to fix the air conditioner and um you know uh at this point
i'm i'm pretty i'm pretty discouraged because here my whole life my whole adult life i wanted to go to
negini and to be a missionary the lord seems like he's leading that direction and so we don't make
any wild crazy steps we just want to go visit it. And then boom, boom, boom, three times in a row,
we get shut down. So I'm just, you know, like, Lord, what are you doing here? I'm really confused.
And I just said to the Lord, I said, Lord, I'm just, I'm, I'm just, I don't know what to do.
I did not give God an ultimatum, but I was, I was discouraged. And I said, God, I just don't really have it in me to try
anymore. I've wanted this for so long and I've asked you for it. And right when I thought that's
what you were leading, it seems like you just took it away three times in a row. And so if you want
to give us the money to go, we'll go. And if you don't, we won't. And I'm not going to tell anybody
we need the money.
You're just going to have to make it happen, Lord, and just show yourself that this is something you want.
And he did. He did. The Lord provided the money for us to go. It was an unusual set of circumstances.
But we didn't tell anybody we need the money. A couple opportunities came our way.
We were able to get the $4,000 we needed and get it very quickly to go to Papua New Guinea. So my wife and I, we bought tickets and we visited
P&G. And that's just the beginning of the story of how the Lord called us. When we got to Papua
New Guinea, I remembered Melanesian Pigeon, which, you know, for a middle-aged man who can't even remember the garage code to his house,
that's a pretty big deal to remember a foreign language that you really haven't used for about 23 years at this point.
I was trying to brush up on it a little bit before we went,
but I went from not really ever using it and brushing up on it a little bit to preaching in it,
as in the very next day day the day after we had arrived
I preached about 14 times when we were in New Guinea for those three weeks
I taught in their Bible Institute a couple two hour long sessions complicated subjects like
the end times and the kingdom and things like that and I did it in their language
and nobody had any idea what I was talking about.
No, just kidding.
But no, it was God blessed, God blessed.
And that was just one of the things
that the Lord started touching my heart about.
Like, I gave that to you, Rick.
I gave that back to you.
I went there expecting to not be able
to really do much of anything,
maybe to preach in English and then someone would translate. And maybe towards the end of the time we were there,
maybe I would get back to using pigeon. But it was day one. God had given that back to me.
And I remember every night the Lord was waking me up at like three in the morning every night and
basically saying, okay, let's talk about this. Let's talk about this. And I would say, well, Lord, do you want me to serve
here? I didn't come here so you could call me God, but are you trying to do that? And God would
basically say to me every time, well, you know, if you did serve here as a missionary, this could
happen. Would you be okay with that? And I would say, well, Lord, that could happen in America too.
Would you be okay with that?
And I would say, well, Lord, that could happen in America too.
And in the end, God, it really just comes down to what you want.
If you want me to serve here,
then I'm just going to cast myself upon your mercies.
And whatever happens, happens.
I just want you to make it clear to me about what you want me to do, Lord.
And if you want me here, great.
If you don't, that's fine.
I would just like final clarity. And this you want me here, great. If you don't, that's fine. I would just like final clarity.
And this would go on night after night after night. And more and more, I was starting to feel
that the Lord did want me to serve in New Guinea. I remember one night I was getting ready to preach
and I said, Lord, it would make me really feel good
about this whole missionary thing
if I could see somebody get saved tonight after I preached.
And I understand that God's not going to force people to get saved
just because I pray that.
But, you know, I believe that when you pray for things, God moves.
And I prayed.
I said, Lord, if you want me to serve here in P&G,
it would really make me feel good that if someone got saved,
and if not, I'm not going to base my decision on this one way or the other,
but that night five people got saved.
And that was just one more piece of evidence,
one more breadcrumb to the eventual understanding
that the Lord had called me to Hobarton Guinea.
And so this is going on.
I'm praying constantly.
And Lord, I said to Lord,
God, is this what you're wanting, Lord?
Is this what you're wanting?
And it was like God pumped the brakes
and he said, well, let's see about Melissa.
Let's see about Melissa.
And she had been struggling
with some health issues while we were there.
And when they first put us in the bunkhouse,
there's an upstairs and a downstairs. And the downstairs had a big bed. And so Melissa and I,
we jumped in the bed. And the thing immediately just, I don't know what it was about the mattress,
but that thing folded up like a taco. And I mean, I said to Melissa, I said, this might be romantic,
sweetheart, but neither one of us are going to fall asleep this way. So I left and I went upstairs and I slept in a separate bed.
And well, lo and behold, that bed that she was sleeping in that I just, you know, with so much nobility I gave to her, it had mold in the bed.
And I didn't know it. It was really big. So I let her have it.
Well, it had mold in it and it was affecting her lungs the whole time we were in P&G.
And so she was having a hard time sleeping. Now, I don't blame anybody that there was mold in it and it was affecting her lungs the whole time we were in P&G. And so she was having a hard time sleeping.
Now, I don't blame anybody that there was mold in it.
It was because it was a very rainy area and it's understandable.
But she, so she was having a hard time.
And God said to me, let's just, let's just see about Melissa first.
And, you know, I always try to be very careful about how I quote my wife on this.
And she was praying to the Lord, and she was having a hard time.
But if I believe what she said was that God told her,
Melissa, you know that if you told your husband you couldn't make it here and that she'd never want to come back again, he would protect you and you'd never have to go back to Papua
Guinea again. And that's true. If my wife had come to me and said, I don't want to be here.
I can't make it here. This is not the place for me. I, you know, call it what you want,
but I was not going to bend her will towards mine and say,
too bad, woman, we're going. I wasn't going to do that. I was going to take that as a clear
indication from the Lord that my wife isn't behind me on this. We're not going to go and try to do
this. But she also knew, she said that if I did that, I would be sitting in a cushy pew each week completely out of God's will.
And so, obviously, there's nothing wrong with sitting in a cushy pew unless God wants you in Papua New Guinea.
And she basically, she made it clear to the Lord, God, if you want me to go, I'll go too.
She was very clear about that.
And she came to me the very next day after God
had pumped the brakes and said, no, let's just wait about Melissa first. She came to me the very
next day and said, if you want to use me as an excuse to not go to P&G, that's fine. But I want
you to know I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. And that was the beginning of the process.
And to summarize it, I was praying to the Lord a couple days later I said God do you want me to serve here in PNG and he said yes you can stop asking yes I want you to serve in Papua New Guinea
and Melissa had just finished teaching a lesson she comes up to me and she was she told me about
how before she taught this lesson she was nervous it was like to a bunch of ladies and but four
girls came forward and got saved after that lesson she She said to me, you know, I was really nervous.
And I'm thinking, I'm nervous to tell you that I know for sure this is what we're supposed to do.
But I hadn't told her yet.
And I was nervous to tell her.
And she says, I was really nervous.
But one of the girls said to me, the Lord will be your confidence.
And when she told me that, God told me, Rick, you just go and I will be your confidence. And then I told her,
and our lives haven't been the same ever since. You know, when you have your life set up a certain
way for a long time, for almost two and a half decades, and then now you just need to take it
all and just shove it over here and go do this, there's a lot of steps of faith that you have to
take. And that's what faith is. It's one step at a time.
You don't always see the end result,
but you see what's in front of you.
And that's the sort of faith that we need
if we're going to do this thing called the Great Commission
and push the gospel forward.
Let's pray.
Let's pray.