Participants: Paul Howe
Series Code: 09GYC
Program Code: 09GYC000012
|
00:11 Good afternoon GYC Audience: good afternoon.
00:14 Are you enjoying your Sabbath thus far? Audience: Amen! 00:18 Amen, I have enjoyed this year at GYC, 00:22 this is my fifth year. 00:24 It is good to see some new faces here, good to see 00:28 some old faces as well. 00:30 I am wanting to welcome you all to our afternoon 00:33 evening/session and we have some extra time so I thought 00:38 I would share a testimony of my own. 00:41 I am from California, but I was a graduate student in 00:45 Madison, Wisconsin for the last maybe 51/2 years. 00:49 While a graduate student the Lord impressed me that He 00:53 would like to into the medical field. 00:55 I had never thought about becoming a physician before 00:57 so that was a surprise. 00:59 In the course of applying to medical school, 01:02 we all know that it is very, very expensive. 01:05 As I began my graduate career, I was reading testimonies 01:10 volume 1 and Ellen white talks about returning, what 01:15 some people call double tithe, 10% for your tithe and 10% for 01:18 offering, and my dad had mentioned this to me several 01:21 times and I had read it for myself. 01:22 I said in my heart, God this is something that I want to do. 01:25 I want to be faithful to this knowledge that you have 01:29 given me and I did that throughout my graduate career. 01:33 I applied to medical school I was praying for financial 01:36 support and the Lord blessed. 01:39 He provided me with four year full tuition scholarships 01:42 You know, worth $180,000, so I just want to 01:46 encourage all of you here, not only in that area of 01:49 financial stewardship, but also into every area of your 01:53 life to be unashamed, to be faithful, and to know in 01:56 advance that God is going to work all of your needs 01:59 according to His will and glory. 02:01 Sit back and relax to all those watching online, 02:04 and joining us on 3ABN, and those of you that 02:07 are here again we welcome you to GYC. 02:19 Would you all please bow your heads with me as we pray. 02:23 Heavenly Father we praise You so much for GYC and for 02:26 the opportunity to be here this weekend and for Your 02:29 Sabbath blessings. Lord we praise You so much for the 02:32 commitments that have been made thus far, for the 02:34 speakers and the ways that You have spoken to us. 02:37 Lord I want to pray a special blessing on Paul Howe as 02:40 he shares his testimony today Lord I pray that You will 02:44 speak to us through it Lord. 02:45 We know that in the witnesses of Your saints Lord, 02:49 that You speak to multitudes so 02:52 Lord I pray a special blessing upon that time and upon 02:55 the rest of Your Sabbath hours, in Jesus name Amen. 03:07 Good afternoon, again, GYC! Audience: good afternoon! 03:10 How many of you have your Bibles here with you 03:12 this afternoon? Can I see them? 03:17 Something is happening in our segment this afternoon 03:19 that comes from an exciting miracle that God has been 03:23 working with the Remnant Publication and Thomas Nelson. 03:26 Some exciting developments that have been taking place 03:28 with God putting studying notes into a Bible. 03:31 Before we do that, I wonder if we can show you a 03:33 video about the Bible. 03:42 Welcome to the last study Bible you will ever need. 03:45 The New Remnant Study Bible has all the study aids 03:48 serious Bible students have come to expect. 03:50 Like book introductions and outlines, an extensive 03:53 concordance, over 40,000 cross-references. 03:56 Words of Christ in red, maps and charts. 04:00 But hey check this out, with hundreds of other study 04:02 Bibles on the market, the Remnant Study Bible stands 04:05 head and shoulders above rest. 04:07 Not only because it's every thing you've always needed in 04:10 a study Bible, but because it will take studying your 04:12 Bible to an entirely new level. 04:14 From the hottest pen since the Bible prophets. 04:18 A masterful commentary of Ellen G. White is now included 04:21 alongside the New King James Bible text, as you read these 04:25 thought-provoking nuggets stand out from the main 04:27 Bible text and offer spirit field insight to bring 04:30 text to light in an inspiring and practical way. 04:33 You know what, if we stopped right here, this Bible 04:35 would be an invaluable resource to every home. 04:38 But keep watching because we're just getting started. 04:41 The remnant study Bible offers extensive study 04:44 tools that not only help you understand, but also enable you 04:48 to share these truths with others in a whole new 04:51 and effective way. 04:52 So yeah, go ahead and feel confident to share topics 04:55 such as the prophecies in Daniel chapters 2, 7, and 8 04:59 and the 2300 day prophecy. 05:01 See the plan of salvation plainly revealed in the 05:04 sanctuary and study the miracles and parables of Jesus 05:07 in a deeper way than ever before 05:09 But perhaps one of the most powerful features of the Remnant 05:12 Study Bible is the built in Bible chained reference. 05:15 A ready to go Bible study system that will allow you to 05:19 effectively guide yourself or a student through 05:21 major Bible teachings. 05:23 Select a topic for study from the 20 included topics and 05:27 turn to the first text. 05:28 To help you to find the text quickly, a chain-link is placed 05:32 to the side the text that expands the entire 05:34 passage to be read. 05:35 After you read and discuss the verse, a reference 05:38 to the next text in the chain is found at the 05:40 end of the passage. 05:42 These subjects are made crystal clear as the 05:44 Bible interprets itself. 05:45 The Remnant has teamed with Thomas Nelson Publishers 05:48 working together for over a year making this the 05:51 best study Bible ever offered at any price. 05:55 After the team of over 30 Spirit-led contributors, 05:58 prayerfully and carefully selected the comments of 06:01 Ellen G. White, we compile the note's, images, tools and 06:04 resources, and these were all edited by the world-class 06:08 editing team at Thomas Nelson. 06:10 We have gone to great links to make this Bible one that 06:13 you will be confident to use as you study and share. 06:16 Okay here's the deal, the apostle Peter makes a bold 06:20 call to young people of all ages to be a part of God's 06:23 special forces team. 06:25 We have done our very best to provide you with the most 06:27 powerful sword of truth available. 06:29 Now the decision is in your hand, will you accept the 06:34 challenge to become part of God's Army of youth. 06:37 Equip your self today. 06:45 Wow, a study Bible with Ellen White and 06:48 New King James Version, I have with me Dwight Hall, President 06:50 of Remnants Publications, did I notice correctly that this is 06:53 being released by Thomas Nelson? 06:55 That is the miracle about this Phil, they came to us. 07:00 They flew into Remnant Publications and here's 07:02 what they said, we see on your website that you sell 07:05 a lot of Spirit of Prophecy books, or Ellen white books. 07:08 We see that Ellen G. White, and we have been reading 07:11 that she is a lot of in-depth study on the Bible. 07:14 Would you be willing to work with us to do a Thompson 07:18 New King James Bible with Ellen White helps? 07:20 I said no not really, I said yeah! 07:25 It was a miracle, and there are so many miracles that 07:27 I don't have time for. 07:28 So Thomas Nelson came to you, they asked if you would put 07:32 together a study help with Ellen White quotes and their 07:35 publishing and releasing it? 07:36 Absolutely and not only that they had their editors, 07:39 they had to go through all these comments make sure they 07:41 went along with the Bible text. 07:43 I mean miracle, after miracle, after miracle. 07:46 Not only are they publishing, they're editors actually read 07:49 the beliefs we have solely from the Bible, Amen! 07:52 And what we wanted to do with GYC it's for every 07:55 Bible that is sold here up to the 15th of January, 07:58 we want to give a donation to GYC to help on this 08:02 Africa Project that you have. 08:04 Africa Project, so if someone gets a Bible here GYC, 08:07 what happens with that? 08:09 They get tremendous study aide, like never before the 08:13 best study Bible that has ever been produced. 08:16 Up to $15 of that Bible purchase will go to GYC. 08:20 Isn't that great? 08:23 And with that we are building one-day churches in 08:26 Africa and also other evangelistic resources. 08:29 So, not only do we have an amazing Bible, 08:32 with Ellen White quotes, but you also are helping 08:34 spread the gospel around the world. 08:37 So everyone can be what? not ashamed of the gospel 08:42 of Christ, thank you so much Dwight, 08:43 I really appreciate it. Thank you! 08:45 Our next guests are going to be coming to us from GYC 08:49 Southwest Youth Conference in lona Missions. 08:52 I wonder if I could invite Angie David and Matthew Morea 08:56 and the group from there that are going to come up with me. 09:00 Angie, tell me a little bit about GYC Southwest. 09:04 GYC Southwest is one of the regional affiliates of GYC. 09:08 We are based in Southern California region and we are 09:12 primarily there to reach out to the young people in the 09:15 southwestern states of the United States. 09:18 We conduct a yearly conference called the Southwest 09:21 Yukon friends and we want to bring the spirit of GYC 09:25 to Southern California, to Nevada, to the Arizona, 09:28 to all the young people in that region. 09:31 I notice that you have Matt Morella of lona here with you, 09:34 are you two teaming together, what's going on there? 09:37 Matthew you would like to tell us a little bit about that. 09:41 Well first off lona is a Bible training program seeking to 09:45 educate and ground young people in the teachings and 09:47 the beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist church by 09:50 showing them how to study the Bible for themselves. 09:54 This June we are teeming with GYC Southwest, providing 09:58 an intense one-week course on how to study the Bible. 10:01 Our director of lona, Peter Gregory is going to take 10:04 the students through a verse by verse study of the 10:08 book of Galatians and that will go through how to 10:12 think, or how to ask a question, and how to understand 10:15 the book of Galatians for themselves. 10:17 So you are telling me that studying one book of the Bible, 10:20 we can understand how to study the rest of the Bible? 10:26 Well the main goal of intense is so that we can provide 10:30 tips, tools, and techniques of how to study the Bible 10:34 for yourself so you can apply those same tools with 10:38 other books of the Bible. 10:41 Angie, one week, please tell us how is it being done. 10:43 Well this is going to be very intense and we have a 10:46 wonderful group of volunteers who are putting 10:49 heart and soul into this project. 10:50 You know what Phil, I have to share a personal testimony 10:53 about why we are doing this. 10:55 Because when I was preparing to come to GYC, I was 10:58 praying and asked the Lord please give me a special 11:01 message just for myself, and as wonderful as the 11:04 speakers and seminars have been, it came through 11:08 personal Bible study with a friend of mine. 11:10 We sat there and we studied a couple verses of 11:13 the Bible and you know the Bible came alive. 11:16 I want every young person to have that experience for 11:19 themselves, to search within the word of God 11:22 for the hidden treasures. 11:24 So as President of GYC South West, you have this passion 11:27 and vision of getting all the young people to be able to 11:31 study and learn the Bible for themselves. -Absolutely! 11:34 When this is taking place? 11:35 This will be held June 13-20, 2010 so mark your 11:39 calendars and you can find out more information by 11:42 visiting the lona Missions booth where you can pick up 11:46 some flyers, visit our website WWW.GYC.Southwest. org. 11:50 Thank you so much, GYC, if you guys that live in that area, 11:54 June 13-19 Mark your calendars and make sure you go 11:58 there, I know that you will be blessed. 12:00 Thank you very much. 12:07 Good afternoon once again GYC. 12:08 Audience: good afternoon. 12:09 Are you excited about what the Lord has done here 12:13 GYC 2009? Audience: Amen. 12:16 Amen, I am so excited and have seen God's work in the 12:20 lives of those around me today. 12:22 I have seen God's work in my own life, and in my own 12:25 heart today and I am excited. 12:28 You know what the best part of this whole thing is? 12:33 I seen the power of God working in a beautiful way here 12:38 in GYC, but the power that has been here working at GYC 12:43 is a power that can carry us, and should, and must carry 12:48 us through every day of our lives. 12:51 Every moment of our lives. 12:53 We come to GYC and it is like this is a time of great 12:56 excitement and a great awakening. 12:58 But we can go home friends with the same excitement, 13:02 with the same awakening, and that is what 13:04 I pray we will each do. 13:07 God can make the power that we have felt here at GYC come 13:11 home to us in an individual powerful, practical way 13:16 each and every day of the rest of our lives. 13:19 And to me that is even more exciting. 13:21 Even more exciting than GYC, that is what we are going 13:25 to hear about this afternoon an exciting testimony from 13:28 Paul Howell and we are going to see how the Lord has 13:32 worked in his everyday life and how the Lord is working 13:35 through him to touch the lives of others, but before we 13:39 do that, Isabella and Esau are going bring us a 13:42 beautiful musical number and we ask that you just lift 13:45 your minds to God in prayer as you hear this music. 13:49 Let Him prepare your heart for the words that you will 13:52 hear this afternoon, Amen. 14:14 Time measured out my days, 14:18 Life carried me along 14:24 In my soul I yearned to follow God, 14:30 But knew I'd never be so strong, 14:37 I looked hard at the world 14:41 To learn how heaven could be gained. 14:50 Just to end were I began, 14:53 Where human effort is all in vain 15:01 Were it not for grace, 15:06 I can tell you where I'd be 15:12 Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere 15:17 With my salvation up to me 15:21 I know how that would go 15:27 The battles I would face 15:33 Forever running but losing this race 15:38 Were it not for grace 15:48 So here is all my praise, 15:52 Expressed with all my heart 15:57 Offer to a friend who took my place 16:03 And ran a course I could not start 16:10 And when He saw in full 16:13 Just how much His love would cost 16:21 He still went the final mile between me and heaven 16:26 So I would not be lost. 16:31 Were it not for grace 16:36 I could tell you where I'd be 16:41 Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere 16:46 With my salvation up to me 16:50 I know how that will go 16:56 The battles I would face 17:02 Forever running but losing the race 17:06 Were it not for grace 17:12 Forever running but losing the race 17:19 Were it not for grace 17:45 Good afternoon Audience: good afternoon! 17:48 Before I begin I would like to have a prayer 17:51 for God's special blessing for what I'm about to share with you 17:54 Our kind and loving Father in heaven, 17:59 we come to you today and ask that You would fill this 18:05 auditorium with Your Holy Spirit from on high. 18:07 That Your Angels would have power in this place and 18:12 that they would keep the devil and his forces away. 18:15 So that the words I will speak can reach every heart. 18:19 God I ask a special blessing on the words that I will speak. 18:25 I pray that you would touch my lips with a coal from 18:28 your altar, that I would say the things you want me 18:31 to say and leave unsaid the things I should leave 18:34 unsaid and that every person here would be touched. 18:39 Speak through me, Amen. 18:45 My name is Paul, and I am coming to you today from Ethiopia. 18:49 Now this is the first time, in about 6 or 8 months, 18:53 I have spoken up front without a translator. 18:55 So if I start pausing every sentence or two, 18:58 please bare with me. 19:03 I know it is a little unusual for a 26-year-old to be 19:07 managing an 80 bed hospital, a nursing college, and a 19:11 collection of rural clinics. 19:12 But I also know that the only reason I'm successful at 19:16 my job, is God's daily intervention in my life. 19:21 His power and grace alone sustain the hospital. 19:26 I am humbled and honored that God has given my wife and 19:30 I the opportunity to serve in Ethiopia. 19:33 I hope that my story, and the lessons that I share that 19:38 I have learned will help you to commit your life to God. 19:42 And to live a life of service for Him. 19:48 The road between Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia and 19:52 Gimbie is about 450 km long. 19:56 It is notoriously rough, and in recent times it has 19:59 gotten a little bit better but it is still one of the 20:02 most dangerous roads in all of Ethiopia. 20:04 There are some bandits, but most of the danger actually 20:07 comes from other vehicles. 20:09 Car per car, Ethiopia is the most dangerous country in 20:14 the world in which to drive. 20:17 I pray every time I get behind the wheel, believe me, by 20:21 the grace of God I have not had any serious accidents. 20:25 My road to Gimbie probably started at GYC Sacramento. 20:31 Although I didn't realize it at the time. 20:33 My wife, or future wife, Petra Homen, was one of the ones that 20:38 went forward at the call for a long-term missionary. 20:41 I didn't want to be a missionary, I wanted to be a 20:43 lawyer, I wanted to run for Congress, I had no interest 20:47 in missions whatsoever. 20:49 But in spite of this difference Petra and I were 20:52 attracted to each other and started dating. 20:54 Things went okay for a little while but then she went 20:57 to Argentina to study Spanish and I started law school 20:59 in Washington and our lives just diverged. 21:03 She became increasingly convicted that God was calling 21:07 her to spend her life as a missionary in Africa. 21:09 I still thought that I should be a lawyer and run for 21:13 Congress, so it was not a big surprise that we broke up 21:16 pretty quickly and painlessly and stopped communicating 21:19 completely, just wrote each other off. 21:22 Around about this time Petra agreed to serve as the associate 21:25 Dean of? Adventist high school in Denmark. 21:28 So it seem likely were just on different tracks. 21:32 But in the gap between Petra's time in Argentina and 21:35 Denmark she and her family decided to take a vacation 21:39 at Prince Edward Island. 21:40 If you look at a map you can see the shortest 21:42 route between Petra's parents home in Maryland 21:45 and Prince Edward Island it goes right past my 21:48 parents home in Maine. 21:49 Now it's about sundown on Friday afternoon when Petra 21:54 and her family were getting close to my family house. 21:56 Our moms are old friends and it seemed it is perfectly 21:59 natural to stop in and spend Sabbath together. 22:01 Well I just happened to be at home that summer. 22:06 Audience laughing. 22:08 I was working for the Department of Justice and 22:10 I always plan on getting married when I was in my 30s, 22:13 or something like that. 22:14 But when Petra walked in the door that night, everything 22:18 changed, a couple hours later I took Petra for drive 22:23 in my dad's Jeep and we parked in this beautiful scenic 22:26 overlook of the ocean underneath and everything. 22:29 Unfortunately we couldn't see anything because it was 22:31 pouring rain and pitch dark because it is midnight. 22:33 But anyway as I was there in the Jeep with Petra, 22:36 we were sitting together and I said Petra 22:40 it would be great if we could be friends again. 22:45 But I'd be even happier if you agree to be my wife. 22:51 Audience laughing. 22:53 Then there was this very long and very awkward silence. 22:57 Audience really laughing. 23:00 Then Petra said in na, nah, ah, ah, yes. 23:06 Audience laughing again. 23:09 And then Petra went off to Denmark and I went back to 23:12 law school and we almost called off the engagement. 23:15 Believe me it is pretty scary to marry somebody 23:17 you don't really know. 23:18 This whole time Petra still wanted to go to Africa and be a 23:22 missionary, I still wanted to be a lawyer and run for office. 23:25 But by the grace of God we were married a few months 23:28 later on top of a mountain and then we both went back 23:33 to school, Petra to finish her bachelors and me 23:36 to finish my law degree. 23:38 Well roundabout that time we start to fall in love, 23:42 and I can tell you... Audience really laughing! 23:47 there are big advantages to falling 23:49 in love after you're married. 23:51 A bunch of my married friends told me their honeymoon 23:54 was fantastic, but as time has gone on we are starting 23:57 to get bored and things are going stale. 24:00 Well I don't want to go into the details, but Petra and 24:05 my experience has been quite the reverse. 24:08 As we got to know each other better we realized that we 24:13 tended to be close to God when our lives were difficult 24:16 and far from God when our lives were easy. 24:19 So we prayed, it may seem to you to be a very stupid 24:23 prayer, we prayed to God give us a life that is so intense 24:28 that the only way we can survive is by walking close 24:32 with you. Audience Amen! 24:34 God give us a life that is so intense the only way we 24:37 can survive is by walking close with You. 24:43 If you are bored today, if you feel lukewarm today, 24:47 if you don't want to spend the rest of your life pushing 24:49 papers across the desk, if you are unsure of your future 24:53 but know that you want to live an extraordinary life of service 24:56 for God, I challenge you, I downright dare you to pray 25:00 this prayer and to keep on praying it every day until 25:04 God leads you into the life of service He has planned. 25:09 As Petra and I continued to pray this prayer, we started 25:12 to feel peace about the future even though we were 25:15 really uncertain what the future would hold. 25:17 I got an offer from the US government to work in 25:20 foreign service, Adventist church offered me a job on 25:23 Capitol Hill, but nothing seemed quite right. 25:25 All this time Petra is poking me, and poking me, 25:27 and prodding me, Paul, Paul, apply for a job internationally 25:31 working for the Adventist church. 25:32 Maybe there is a hospital or something where 25:33 they can use you. 25:35 So I reluctantly started looking into it. 25:38 There's this hospital in Afghanistan and I heard there 25:41 was an internship there and looked into it. 25:43 Adventist Health International, it didn't seem to 25:46 be going very well and I was not surprised one day 25:48 when I got a phone call from Dick Heart who is 25:51 president of Loma Linda University and 25:52 Adventist Health International. 25:54 He said Paul, I am really sorry, but it seems like things are not 26:01 going to work out for you and Petra to go to Afghanistan. 26:03 I said okay, no big deal I wasn't expecting it anyway. 26:06 He said, but Paul we need an administrator for our 26:10 hospital in Ethiopia. 26:12 Would you and Petra be willing to go out there? 26:14 Well, this wasn't even something we had considered. 26:18 I never dreamed of being an CEO over a hospital, 26:21 I was just 25. 26:23 But Petra and I prayed about it and felt that God 26:26 had opened the door and He would enable us 26:28 to walk through it. 26:30 Let me tell you a little about Gimbie Adventist hospital. 26:34 The hospital is located about 6,800 feet, which is 26:37 fortunately above the malaria zone. 26:39 450 km due west of Addis, and the hospital was started in the 26:43 1940s, since that time it has grown. 26:46 It has flourished at different times, and now it has 26:48 about 80 beds, 300 plus employees, a nursing college, 26:52 and a whole collection of rural clinics. 26:54 Some of which are not accessible by road. 26:58 The hospital faces monumental challenges on every 27:04 imaginable angle, but God sustains us day by day. 27:10 In the past year and a half I've learned a number of 27:13 things and I would like to share some of the things 27:15 I have learned with you today. 27:19 The first thing I learned was when we put ourselves on the 27:21 line for God, He comes through powerfully and unmistakably. 27:26 When I was in the US I felt like I did not need God, 27:29 I could live my life just fine on my own, at least that 27:32 is the way I felt about it. 27:33 But in Ethiopia things are totally different, 27:36 our hospital is on a very precarious financial footing. 27:41 The cost of doing business has gone up dramatically 27:45 in the past couple years. 27:46 For example, physician salaries in the market rate have doubled 27:49 in the past few years. 27:50 The price of staple food has quadrupled in 27:53 the past two years. 27:54 Now we could have just raised our prices, but then we 27:57 could only serve the rich people in Gimbie. 27:59 Not that there's any rich people there really. 28:02 But as the mission hospital, we felt it was very 28:05 important to have our service available for everyone. 28:07 What all this means is that we are often very, very 28:11 short of cash and when it comes down to the end of 28:13 the month, it doesn't look like we are going to be 28:14 able to make payroll. 28:16 This is very, very serious because our employees 28:19 live paycheck to paycheck. 28:22 Some of the lower paid employees don't have anything to 28:26 eat towards the end of the month. 28:28 So when it comes down to the end of the month, I meet 28:30 with Henick, the head accountant, at the hospital. 28:33 We pray together and ask God to give us money to meet 28:37 the payroll, and every month He comes through and you know 28:40 what, we never have money left over. 28:43 Our payroll a month is about 20,000 US dollars, which isn't 28:46 much, by the way, for 300 employees. 28:48 After we meet the payroll, we will have two dollars 28:52 left over, five dollars left over. 28:55 Every month at Gimbie is a miracle from God. 29:00 Now our hospital is the referral center for our 29:06 whole region in Ethiopia. 29:07 There are a few other hospitals in the region, 29:10 but none of them provide care on our level. 29:12 So we get all the most difficult and desperate cases 29:15 in Gimbie, and some of those cases are very difficult 29:18 and desperate indeed. 29:19 A couple months ago a young Muslim woman came in with 29:22 her family, late in the afternoon. 29:23 She had severe post operative complications. 29:26 Our medical staff took one look at her and said she is 29:29 going to be dead in a couple hours. 29:31 Petra, my wife, is the chaplain at the hospital. 29:34 She came into the family and asked 29:36 if they wanted prayer. 29:37 Normally Muslim families are reluctant for prayer and 29:41 this family was no exception. 29:42 But they felt the situation was desperate enough that 29:46 they would try anything. 29:48 So Petra prayed and they weren't particularly enthusiastic 29:51 about it, and they definitely refused her 29:53 offer of a Bible, because God has blessed us with the 29:56 ability to give Bibles free to all of our patients. 29:59 At this point, all of us in the hospital, myself, 30:03 Petra, many of our staff started to feel a special 30:07 burden for this girl and throughout the afternoon 30:10 and into the evening we continued to come into her room 30:12 and prayed with her. 30:13 At about midnight I checked back into her room and 30:16 things look really, really grim. 30:19 The nurse told me this girl's going to die in a couple 30:21 minutes, maybe maximum would be an hour. 30:25 The next morning we came into the hospital and 30:27 everything was quiet. 30:28 I said to Petra, ah shucks babe, I bet they have 30:31 taken her and buried her by now. 30:33 Then the nurses came and said Mr. Paul, Mr. Paul, 30:36 Mr. Paul, Sister Petra, Sister Petra, 30:38 and let me just explain. 30:39 In Ethiopia your last name is not important. 30:41 Everyone goes by their first name, so I'm Mr. Paul. 30:44 Anyway, they said Mr. Paul, Mr. Paul, come look, come look. 30:48 So I opened the door to the ICU and the girl was sitting 30:52 up in bed eating breakfast. 30:54 She was talking with her family and completely healed. 30:57 Her family came all around Petra and said, your prayer 31:00 saved our daughter's life. 31:02 Can you tell us more about God? 31:04 Can you give us Bibles? 31:05 I'm telling you God is working every day to save souls 31:09 at Gimbie Adventist hospital. 31:12 We have large construction site at our nursing college. 31:15 We are expanding our nursing college to also be a 31:18 midwifery college, and one day I found out there were 31:21 some stealing going on at this worksite. 31:24 So I investigated things a little bit and we terminated 31:26 the workers who had been responsible and we set up some 31:28 patrols for the future. 31:30 These guys we fired were really, really unhappy. 31:33 I started getting death threats. 31:35 One day I got a whole bunch of death threats back to 31:38 back, so that night when I went to bed I carefully 31:41 locked up all the doors and windows in my house. 31:43 Then Petra and I went to bed. 31:45 In the middle of the night we woke up when our 31:50 bedroom door started opening. 31:53 I can tell you that both of us started praying more 31:56 fervently than usual. Audience laughing. 32:01 Our bedroom door stopped opening and then it started to 32:04 close, and then I heard footsteps running away. 32:07 I jumped up out of bed and grabbed my machete and ran 32:09 after them and found the front door wide open. 32:12 I had locked everything down before went to bed and 32:17 there were no signs of forced entry. 32:18 So what this means is that somebody had been hiding 32:21 in my house when I went to bed. 32:24 Then opened my bedroom door. 32:26 GYC, I had no idea of what I was getting into when I 32:29 prayed to God that He would give me life so intense that 32:32 I would only survive if I walked close to Him. 32:35 You have to be careful what you pray for. 32:38 Audience laughing. 32:41 But today if there is any of you feeling like God isn't 32:43 real in your life, like He has never done anything 32:45 for you, I challenge you go to a place that requires 32:49 God's presence for your day-to-day survival. 32:52 Second lesson I learned in Ethiopia is that God works 32:57 through people, but there is often a shortage of people 33:01 who are willing to let God work through them. 33:04 In most of Ethiopia there is one medical doctor for 33:07 every 5000 people, but in our area there is only one 33:10 physician for every 100,000 people. 33:13 This shortage is even tougher for the hospital because 33:17 almost all physicians in Ethiopia are sponsored by 33:20 the government, when they finish school they owe the 33:22 government time and go work for the government and 33:24 then leave the country. 33:26 So we have a huge challenge getting good physicians. 33:29 When I arrived we had 2 general practitioners. 33:32 One of them was only willing to work a couple hours a 33:35 day, the other one was a fraud. 33:38 I mean literally we are talking catch me if you can 33:40 sort of a situation. 33:42 One Sabbath afternoon, Petra and I were in the wards and 33:45 we were praying with patients and singing some hymns 33:47 and one of the nurses came and got me, Mr. Paul, 33:50 Mr. Paul there is an emergency in the ER and we can't 33:52 find a doctor, I looked around, no doctor. 33:56 So I grabbed a medical student and she grabbed her 33:58 textbook, and we all ran to the ER together. Audience Laughing! 34:02 We sat down and opened up the book and tried to figure 34:03 out what in the world this patient had. 34:05 I was thinking to myself, God, this can't keep going 34:09 like this, but God knew and God sent us Dr. Priscilla, 34:14 a young general practitioner from Argentina. 34:17 I wish I had time to tell you all the stories, but let 34:19 me just say, there are many, many people alive in Gimbie 34:22 today who would be dead if it wasn't for Dr. Priscilla. 34:26 When I first came to the hospital, the accounting 34:29 was a wreck. 34:31 Just to give you an idea of how bad the accounting was. 34:34 The hospitals international bank account, were most of our 34:38 financial activity took place, was not on our hospital books. 34:42 The hospital building was not on our hospital books. 34:45 I realize that this was a very serious problem. 34:48 Now I didn't have any accounting background so I got 34:51 a textbook and started looking through it. 34:53 What am I going to do, how am I going to solve this? 34:54 But God knew we had this problem, and God sent 34:58 David Hagstead, a highly qualified tax accountant 35:01 from Washington, DC. 35:03 He said Joel Kurtz, a brilliant business student 35:05 from Southern, and He sent Henick Tecs, this great 35:08 Ethiopian accountant and these three guys 35:10 revolutionized our accounting. 35:12 Let me give you an idea of how much work they did. 35:14 In international auditing there are five levels. 35:18 One is a clean audit, that means you financial activity 35:21 is pretty good and transparent. 35:23 5 is no opinion, an audit that is a 5 means there is so little 35:28 documentation that the auditing firm can't begin to tell you 35:32 how bad your financial activity is. 35:35 Every year before I arrived the hospital was getting 35:38 fives on every audit. 35:41 But by the grace of God, and through David, Joel and 35:44 Henick we went from a five to a one in one year. 35:50 Audience: Amen. 35:51 What is even more remarkable, is that each one of these 35:53 guys is 23 years old. Audience: Amen. 35:57 I'm telling you these stories partly as examples of a 36:01 huge positive change that one person, or a group of 36:05 people can bring when they dedicate their life to God. 36:07 But I am also telling you these stories because there 36:11 is a great need for these kind of people. 36:14 All across the world there is a need for missionaries 36:18 today, there is no skill set that is irrelevant. 36:22 I have a great volunteer nurse named Scott Billow and 36:25 he likes to say, God needs missionary janitors. 36:29 He is not knocking janitors, he is just saying that 36:31 everyone has a role in the mission field. 36:34 But some of you guys are young and you may say I am 36:37 too young to go work for God. 36:38 I could never be in the mission field. 36:40 Let me tell you a story. 36:41 The General Conference came to inspect the hospital 36:44 one-day, we had all these top guys they came to the 36:48 hospital and we welcome them. 36:49 We gave them a walk-through and they said wow, 36:51 this place is looking great, like things have really 36:54 improved since we were here last. 36:55 Can we talk to the administrator? 36:57 So I took them up to my office and we all sat down. 37:01 And they say where is the administrator? 37:05 I said, that's me. They said, ah, really? 37:10 Where is the rest of the administration staff? 37:12 We are all here. Audience laughing! 37:17 At that time the average age of our administrative 37:19 committee was 26, and they said what, this is being 37:22 run by a bunch of kids. Audience laughing! 37:25 And we said, yet that is pretty much true. 37:28 You know, sometimes it pleases God to use people that 37:33 are inexperienced, but people who are willing to commit 37:36 themselves completely to Him. 37:38 Audience: Amen! 37:41 Now I know a lot of you think the way to be missionaries 37:45 is to stay home, get a good job to make money, and send 37:49 some tax deductible contributions and brighten the 37:53 corner where you are. 37:54 That is all fine and good and there is a time and place 37:56 for that, believe me I love tax deductible contributions, 37:59 and if any of you want to make one, 38:00 please see me right after this program is finished. 38:04 But this sort of mindset ignores a very important 38:08 point, diversity is valuable. 38:12 I think all of you already know this from school and 38:14 work, but in the context of mission work let me make 38:18 things a little more clear. 38:19 The people who will listen to you least are the people 38:24 who know you most. 38:26 The Bible tells us no prophet has honor in his hometown. 38:31 As an example, if we had two missionaries campaigns 38:34 going out, like an evangelistic series. 38:36 One in Ethiopia and one in the US. 38:39 We could double the attendance at both if we put the 38:42 Ethiopian guy in the US and the US guy in Ethiopia. 38:45 That is just the way it works, diversity is very important, 38:48 but it is also important in the theological sense. 38:52 Here at GYC our theme is unashamed and I haven't said 38:56 much about being ashamed yet. 38:57 The reason I haven't said much because we do not have 39:00 a problem with being ashamed in Ethiopia. 39:02 At least the members there don't 39:03 I am reminded of this every morning about 4:30 a. m.. 39:07 The local mosque cranks up its speakers and 39:10 starts the call to prayer. 39:11 And you hear something like Ton Con Sa Be Soo, 39:14 Ton Con Sa Be Soo and it goes on and on and on. 39:16 And a half an hour later the Orthodox Church comes on. 39:20 Ton Con Sa Be Soo, Ton Can Sa Be Soo, they pretty much 39:24 say the same thing. 39:25 Anyway what I'm saying is, if GYC had been held in 39:30 Ethiopia, unashamed would have never been the theme. 39:33 See this is where we in the United States really need 39:36 to learn from our Ethiopian brothers and sisters. 39:41 Why is it that in Ethiopia people are unashamed and 39:44 yet here in the United States we feel ashamed? 39:48 Turn with me to 1 John 2:28 reads, 39:57 "now little children 39:59 "abide in him so that when he appears we may have 40:02 "confidence and not shrink away from him in 40:05 "shame at his coming. " 40:07 I know here at GYC you have been talking about being 40:11 unashamed before the world. 40:12 That's great and tonight David is going to be talking 40:15 about being unashamed of the second coming. 40:19 But I would submit to you that it is equally, if not 40:21 more important that we are unashamed when Christ comes. 40:25 In fact these two concepts are pretty closely related. 40:28 If we live our lives so we are unashamed when Christ 40:33 comes, we won't be ashamed of anything else. 40:36 If we are living our lives for God, we will really 40:40 not care what anyone else thinks. 40:42 We can see in this verse, I defended myself a little 40:46 but if we abide in Christ, 40:49 we will not be ashamed. 40:51 What does it mean to abide in Christ? 40:53 Do we look at 1 John 3:23, 24 we will see that 40:59 abiding in Christ means believing in Jesus 41:04 and loving each other. 41:06 That is all pretty simple, right? 41:08 Well now I have got a question for you. 41:12 How many of you have the love of God in your hearts 41:14 today, please put up your hand? 41:16 I'm not seeing very many hands folks. 41:18 This is GYC, we are supposed to be unashamed here. 41:21 What is going on, put up your hands if you have 41:23 the love of God in your heart. 41:25 Thank you, that is more like it. 41:27 Now let us turn to 1 John 3:17, "but whoever has the 41:35 "world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes 41:39 "his heart against him, 41:40 "how does the love of God abide in him?" 41:43 It's a rhetorical question here, what John is really 41:46 saying is this, if I had some thing and you need it and I 41:51 I don't help you, God's love is not abiding in my heart. 41:56 I have another question for you. 41:58 How many of you have made a significant sacrifice to 42:04 help someone who is desperately poor? 42:07 Please put up your hand, and don't lie to me today. 42:11 This is GYC we're before God. 42:13 Not that many hands, so GYC we need to look at verse 42:17 18 of 1 John 3, "Little children" or we could say 42:22 GYC, "let us not love in word or tongue," or by putting 42:27 up our hand, "but in deed and in truth. " 42:30 Here is were the church in Ethiopia walks all over us. 42:35 If I had been in a church in Ethiopia and said put up 42:39 your hands every person who has made a significant 42:40 sacrifice to help someone who is desperately poor, 42:43 every hand would have gone up. 42:45 Every person would have been telling the truth. 42:47 In Gimbie today, it is a poor place, malnutrition 42:50 rates are high, about 30%. 42:52 Yet no one starved, because everyone helps each other. 42:58 We need to learn from our brothers and sisters in 43:01 Ethiopia, now today if we are going to think about how 43:05 our church is doing, we have a church that is ashamed of 43:07 what it believes and were ashamed what we believe because 43:10 we don't have God's love in our heart completely. 43:13 How well do you think this church is going to be doing? 43:15 Not very well, today you're probably not surprised 43:20 to learn that the average age in our church is 43:22 closing up on retirement if you just look at 43:24 North America and Europe. 43:25 If things keep going like this, the average 43:28 Adventist is going to be in a nursing home and the 43:30 average Adventist is going to be dead. 43:31 The average Adventist pastor is going to be looking 43:33 for more work which is really bad because God knows 43:35 there aren't enough jobs to go around now. 43:37 But there is really good news today. 43:42 All through the developing world Africans are 43:47 reaching back to help. 43:49 Today in Germany, students from Africa are standing 43:54 firm against heresy in the church. 43:57 Today in Canada, Rwandan immigrants are revitalizing 44:01 parts of the church. 44:03 And all across the United States people from Africa 44:06 our breathing life back into our dying church. 44:09 Isn't it fascinating that when the gospel first 44:13 came out from North America and Europe, 44:16 but now the people who are outsider, are coming back 44:20 in to bring us the gospel. 44:22 I don't want you to think the church in Africa is perfect. 44:27 It is not, there are two main problems, 44:29 corruption and tribalism. 44:32 Now if we are going to look at the world as a whole, 44:35 for our church that is, we see we do not have that many 44:39 theological problems like we have here in the US. 44:42 But corruption and tribalism are really, really big 44:45 deals, in fact I would venture to say to you that for 44:48 the world church as a whole, music, worship, dress, 44:54 worship styles, prophecy, and sometimes even inspiration 45:00 of Ellen white are trivial issues compared to the 45:03 massive damage that is being done to our church by 45:06 corruption and tribalism. 45:07 My wife was in Rwanda when church leaders started 45:10 hacking each other apart with machetes. 45:12 Corruption and tribalism are still killing people 45:16 in Ethiopia today. 45:18 Churches and institutions are in shambles and we 45:21 don't really hear about this stuff today. 45:23 But this is how it is, and corruption and tribalism 45:26 may have been all fine and good back in the day 45:28 when Democrat and Republican Congo was called Zaire. 45:32 Back in the day with Zimbabwe was Rhodesia, 45:35 back when India used be part of the British Empire. 45:38 But it is not going to cut it today. 45:40 Let me share another sobering piece of information 45:44 for you, according to some studies our church is losing 45:49 its market share, that is the world's population just 45:54 maybe growing faster than our church is. 45:57 GYC, if our church is going to grow, if our church is going to 46:03 survive, we have to leave corruption and tribalism behind. 46:07 We have to embrace 21st-century ideals like 46:12 communication, like transparency. 46:15 You may be saying to me today what in the world does 46:19 this have to do with me? 46:20 Paul in Louisville, this is the US, why you talking 46:22 to me about Africa? 46:24 Why should I care? 46:25 Well I would say to you that you should care. 46:28 Turn with me to Luke 10:30, this is the very familiar 46:38 story of the good Samaritan. 46:40 I'm not going to go through until you are nauseated. 46:41 I do want to make one very important point, 46:44 the wounded guy was a Jew. 46:48 The dude that helped him was a Samaritan. 46:51 What this tells us is that differences of race 46:56 ethnicity, religion, and geography are not legitimate 47:02 limits on our God-given obligation to help each other. 47:06 Let me just repeat that for you. 47:08 The parable of the good Samaritan teaches that 47:11 differences of race, ethnicity, religion and geography 47:14 Are not legitimate limits of our God-given 47:17 obligation to help each other. 47:19 Here in the United States God has given us a lot, 47:23 and to whom much is given, much is also required. 47:27 We can't just sit on our pot of gold people. 47:29 There are people in Africa who really, 47:32 really need our help. 47:37 So how can you help? 47:39 Well interestingly enough missionaries turn out to be 47:43 a great check on corruption and tribalism. 47:49 You see there is nothing like unbiased third party to 47:54 resolve messy tribal conflicts. 47:57 Also missionaries don't tend to be involved in corruption, 48:01 in my case if I lifted the entire gross 48:04 income of the hospital, I would still have less money 48:07 than most of my law school classmates make in a year. 48:10 There is just no reason that most missionaries 48:12 have to start stealing stuff. 48:15 Let me give you some practical examples. 48:19 There was a man in Ethiopia from Bermuda. 48:24 He's a church leader his name was Delbert Pearman. 48:27 During his time in Ethiopia there was a massive tribal 48:30 conflict, but Delbert stood firm. 48:34 He was respected by both sides and as long as he was 48:38 in Ethiopia there was peace. 48:43 Every three months or so we have general staff meetings 48:45 at the hospital, all the staff come together and they give me 48:47 constructive criticism, and not so constructive 48:50 criticism, all that good stuff. 48:52 At the end of day, after we have talked about payroll, 48:55 housing and all that good stuff, someone always raises 48:57 this issue, Mr. Paul, Mr. Paul. 49:00 Please send us some missionaries can you get us some 49:04 missionaries, and when they go to the churches around 49:07 Gimbie I hear the same thing. 49:08 Mr. Paul, Mr. Paul, can you please give us 49:11 some missionaries so it will be like it used to be. 49:17 You know right, that in 1970 our church sent out 3 times 49:21 as many missionaries as we send out in 2009. 49:23 GYC, if we are going to reach the world for Jesus in 49:26 our generation, it is not going to be by cutting back 49:30 on missionaries, it's time to expand these programs. 49:34 Especially at a time like this when every person can 49:38 make a meaningful contribution to God's work. 49:41 There is no skill set that is irrelevant. 49:44 I understand that there is some of you who cannot go 49:49 to the mission field, and to you I say please help our 49:54 church set a good example. 49:56 Ethiopia really looks up to the United States and Europe 50:00 were Adventism started in the first place. 50:04 But it is very, very hard for me to speak against 50:09 tribalism in Ethiopia when we have racially separate 50:14 conferences here in this country. 50:16 Audience: Amen, Amen 50:18 We just can't keep going like this. 50:24 I am absolutely sure of at least one thing in my talk 50:29 today, that is that the church in America needs the 50:33 church in Ethiopia, and the church in Ethiopia 50:37 needs the church in America. 50:40 We are all part of the body of Christ. 50:42 If we want to be serious about this whole idea of 50:45 reaching the world for Christ in one generation, we 50:49 have got to work together on an unprecedented level. 50:54 It's time to join hands in faith and prayer all around 50:58 the world, and we need to move forward with unity that 51:02 this world has never seen before. 51:08 Today I am here to tell you that when I gave God 51:12 control of my life, He led me into a life that is 51:17 so intense that the only way I survive is through 51:21 His daily intervention in my life. 51:23 Today I urge you, I challenge you to let God take the 51:28 lead in your life, to let Him shake off the shackles 51:33 of shame and indifference that binds you to an 51:36 ordinary life so you can freely walk into this 51:39 extraordinary life that God has planned for you. 51:42 Today God is calling for people who are willing to put 51:46 aside racial and ethnic differences. 51:49 God is calling for people who are willing to commit 51:52 themselves totally to Him. 51:55 God is calling for people who will put it all 51:59 on the line for His cause. 52:03 Today, and I'm sorry to use a slightly stale phrase 52:07 here, today, here at GYC God is calling for an army of 52:11 youth, not just from the United States, not just from 52:15 Ethiopia, but United from every nation on the globe. 52:20 God is calling for an army of youth that is so committed 52:24 to sharing His word, so connected with God and so 52:29 unashamed of their faith that nothing can stop us from 52:33 reaching the world for Jesus in this our generation. 52:41 Five years ago, at GYC Sacramento, when I was 52:45 just starting to get together with Petra. 52:49 There was a theme song called, I'll go where you want me 52:54 to go, and at that conference thousands of us promised 52:59 to go were God wanted us to go, to say what He wanted us 53:03 to say, and to do what He wanted us to do. 53:05 And be who He wanted was to be. 53:07 And if we had lived up to our promises we would not be 53:12 here today, but we are here and we are here because we 53:17 failed, and we failed because we're ashamed. 53:23 But now we are starting a new year, 53:25 it is time for a fresh start, 53:27 it's a chance to do things over and do things right, 53:30 it's a chance to recommit ourselves to God. 53:37 Today if there are any of you who would like to say God 53:41 I'm sorry for the past, but today I want to commit 53:45 my life and I will spend a significant part of my life 53:49 as a missionary for You abroad. 53:52 I'm asking you to come to the front with me for prayer. 53:56 You know missionaries are needed all over the world 54:00 today, and some time ago, several thousand years ago 54:04 Jesus told His disciples to go through the whole world 54:08 and spread the gospel. 54:10 When they went through the whole world and spread 54:11 the gospel they reached the world for Jesus 54:13 in one generation. 54:15 Today if we are going to be serious about reaching the 54:19 world for Jesus in one generation, GYC we need to go. 54:23 We need to say and we need to do and need to be. 54:28 The harvest is ripe, all that God is waiting for is 54:32 workers, workers like you, workers like me. 54:36 As nice as GYC is, I'm tired GYC, I don't want to be 54:42 coming back here when I'm 37. 54:46 Today I encourage you to join the diverse army of youth 54:52 that by the grace of God will reach the world for Jesus 54:57 in this our generation. 55:04 Our kind, loving, and merciful Father in heaven. 55:08 You know that in many ways we have failed You in the 55:13 past, but today, as we start 2010, we ask that You give 55:18 us courage, that You would fill our hearts with Your 55:23 love so there is no room for shame. 55:25 Today I thank You for all these people that have come 55:28 forward to commit their lives in service to You as 55:32 missionaries, and I pray that You will continue to give 55:35 them the courage to go where You want them to go, 55:38 to say what You want them to say, and to be 55:42 who You want them to be. 55:44 We know that this is not possible on our power, 55:48 but today we just lay ourselves at Your feet and we 55:53 surrender ourselves to You. 55:55 We trust that You, who have begun a good work in so many 56:00 hearts today, will continue this good work and we will 56:04 no longer be coming to GYC year, after year, after year, 56:08 but instead we will be having reunions together with 56:12 You in heaven. Amen! |
Revised 2014-12-17