Amen. Good morning, everyone.
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Good morning.
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I nearly said happy Sabbath,
it's not a happy Sabbath,
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it's a good Sunday morning.
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And I'm very happy
to be here with you
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and haven't we've been
blessed at GYC this year?
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I come from a
land far, far away.
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I come from Australia
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and I can't wait to go back home
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and take back a
good report of all that
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we have been blessed with
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and that we've
been fed with here
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at this conference session.
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And it's my just
great privilege now
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to be able to
share with you a message
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that the Lord has
placed on my heart.
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And I pray that as
you hear this message
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that it will not
make you feel comfortable
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but that you'll leave
this place discontent.
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Would you bow your heads with me
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as we open with
the word of prayer?
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Loving Father in heaven,
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we thank You Lord for
bringing us to this moment.
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We thank You Lord
for the many blessings
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that You have given
to us here this weekend.
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And Lord as we study
the Bible again together
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for the last time here,
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we invite Your Holy Spirit
to be present in our midst.
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I pray Lord that You
would speak through me
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that You would speak
through me to Your people
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and You would
give to us a message
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that we need to
hear this morning.
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May Jesus be uplifted
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and may we be inspired
to service is my prayer
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in Jesus' name, amen.
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Amen.
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It was a Sunday
morning back home in Australia
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and I was upstairs in my bedroom
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when I heard a
scream come from downstairs
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in our house and it was my mom.
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So I rush downstairs,
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there was my mom and my dad
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and they were trying
to get the dishwasher out
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from inside our kitchen,
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they were trying to pull
the dishwasher out and I said,
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"What's the matter?"
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And my mom said,
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"There is a snake in the house."
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I said, "Really, how big is it?
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Well, it sounded pretty
big from all the descriptions
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that I heard,
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and so dad got
the dishwasher out
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and then we were all
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just trying to
poke things underneath
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the cavity there in the kitchen.
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And we couldn't seem to find
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the snake beneath the cupboards.
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And as the longer
and longer time went on,
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I began to wonder if
there really was a snake
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in the house after
all because I thought,
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maybe my parents
were making it up.
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My sister had an ingenious idea.
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She decided to get a stick
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and she taped her
iPhone to it with the camera
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and she stuck it in
the hole with the torch
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just to see,
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if we could see if
the snake was there
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and there was nothing
that we could see there.
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And so that night we
sat around in the kitchen
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and we were
watching that cavity there
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as we were eating
our dinner that night
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and then when we
decided to go to sleep,
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I recognized that the next day
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everybody else in my house
was going to be going to work
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and I was going to be the
only one home the next day.
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Well, the next day
comes and everybody goes
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and they apologize to me
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that they had to leave
me at home with the snake.
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And I'm wondering, you know,
maybe there isn't even a snake,
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maybe it was just a big
lizard or something like that.
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Well, the phone rings
and I answered the phone
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and it was somebody from church
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and they wanted
to know something
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so I answered their question.
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And I said, "Well,
it's about lunch time here,
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I'm going to go downstairs
and have lunch with the snake."
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They said, "Really?"
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And I explained the
story how I'd come downstairs
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when I heard my mom scream.
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And he started to tell
me how in South America
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they have snakes so
large, they could eat people.
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And I don't know if that's true
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but I was having all
these mental pictures in my mind
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of these giant
snakes and I'm thinking,
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oh, great, now I'm
going to go downstairs
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and have lunch with one.
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So I come down the
stairs and I opened the doors
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because I closed everything
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because I didn't want
the snake coming upstairs.
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I'm looking around,
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I thought I can't see anything
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everything looked
the way I left it.
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I thought I'm just gonna
go check the family room,
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the rumpus room.
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So I went into the
rumpus room and I did something,
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I don't usually do
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and I don't
recommend you do this,
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but I jumped onto the lounge.
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And when I
jumped into the lounge,
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I looked on the
other side of the lounge
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and there was a
snake looking at me,
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I screamed, it screamed,
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I ran, it ran
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and I went
straight back upstairs
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shut my bedroom
door and I sat there,
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and I realized that
there was a snake in my house
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and I'm in my room
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and it could go
anywhere now in my house
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and I wouldn't
know where it went.
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So I came back downstairs
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and instead of
going to the rumpus room,
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I ran outside
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and I'm looking at the snake
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inside my house
from the outside.
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And I took my phone
out and the first person
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that I thought of
calling was my dad
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because my dad has
always been my protector,
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he's always been
there to keep me safe.
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My dad that works in
the city maybe an hour away,
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but I called him
anyway and I said,
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"Dad, I found the snake."
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He says, "Oh, good.
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I said, "It's inside the
house, it's here in the house."
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And he says,
"Great, let it out."
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I said, "Dad, I can't
just go and let snake out."
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And so he says, "Well,
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that's the only way
you're gonna get it out."
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So I thought well,
if dad can't help me,
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I'll call my mom.
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My mom is a Bible worker
for our church back home.
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And she was in the
middle of the Bible study
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when she took my call.
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I said, "Mom, I
found the snake."
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She said, "Praise the Lord,
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she said, let me pray with you."
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I said, No, I need
you here, I need help."
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My sister was working
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and so it was
just me and the snake
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and I figured all
right, I'm all alone here,
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it's just me, the
snake and the Lord,
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so I took our phone,
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our home phone and I
clipped it to my waist,
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I put gloves on and I put,
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took a broom in my hand
and a good can of Mortein.
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Do you know what Mortein is?
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No, in Australia
it's a bug spray.
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So I had a bug spray, a
broom, gloves and my phone.
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And I took the
highest chair from our kitchen
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and I planted it there
and I watched the snake.
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It had gone beyond the piano
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and it stuck its
head up on the other side
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and it would come out
like this, look at me,
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I would look at it
and it would stand up,
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it get scared, go
back behind the piano
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and I just sit
down again waiting.
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That siege went on
for two whole hours.
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I sat there watching
it, it sat there watching me
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until finally it
went behind the piano
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and I thought all right,
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I've got gloves on,
this should be okay,
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so I ran over open the doors,
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ran back sat there and
finally he slithered outside.
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And you know what?
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It was just a
little green tree snake
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so it wasn't even
poisonous or anything like that.
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But still in my mind
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it was a very courageous moment.
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And as I think of this incident,
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it reminds me, you know,
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it wasn't fun being
in that siege moment,
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but I can tell you what,
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there was a much
more serious siege
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that the
Israelites had to endure.
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You see, for the Israelites
there was no way of escape,
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there was no glass door for them
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to let the enemy out of.
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Israel was outnumbered
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by one of the most
powerful armies in the world.
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Flight was impossible,
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fight was out of the question
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and fright seem to
be the only option.
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The Syrian army had
surrounded the city of Samaria
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and they were
going to stay there,
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they were prepared to
continue their patient siege
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until either the
Israelites surrendered
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or starved to death.
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And things were so bad, I
want you to see it with me.
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Come back in time
with me in your Bibles
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to the Book of 2
Kings, 2 Kings 6,
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and we will begin
our reading in verse 25.
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2 Kings 6:25,
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we'll read through to 29.
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2 Kings 6 and the
Bible reads in verse 25.
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"And there was a
great famine in Samaria,
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and indeed they besieged it,
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until a donkey's head was sold
for eighty shekels of silver,
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and one fourth of a
kab of dove's droppings
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for five shekels of silver.
00:08:38.68\00:08:41.02
Then as the king of Israel
was passing by on the wall,
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a woman cried
out to him, saying,
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"Help my Lord, Oh king!"
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And he said, "If the
Lord does not help you,
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where can I find help for you?
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From the threshing
floor or from the winepress?"
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Then the king said to
her, "What is troubling you?
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And she answered,
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"This woman said
to me, 'Give your son,
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that we may eat him today,
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and we will eat
my son tomorrow.'
00:09:05.64\00:09:07.88
So we boiled my son and ate him.
00:09:07.91\00:09:10.25
And I said to
her on the next day,
00:09:10.28\00:09:12.11
'Give your son,
that we may eat him.'
00:09:12.15\00:09:14.72
But she has hidden her son."
00:09:14.75\00:09:17.19
So, friends, the insanity
and the horror of this famine
00:09:17.22\00:09:21.52
under this siege was so great,
00:09:21.56\00:09:23.99
that mothers were boiling
and eating their own children.
00:09:24.03\00:09:28.06
Now whenever I
travel and I call home,
00:09:28.10\00:09:31.37
my parents, my
mom always asks me
00:09:31.40\00:09:33.30
how things going
and all of that, my dad,
00:09:33.34\00:09:35.80
the first question he
asks me is always the same,
00:09:35.84\00:09:39.11
he wants to
know what I'm eating.
00:09:39.14\00:09:40.48
Says, what you're eating.
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My dad is from Samoa
00:09:41.88\00:09:43.88
and it's an island
in the South Pacific
00:09:43.91\00:09:45.68
and my mom is from Australia.
00:09:45.71\00:09:47.28
So if I look mixed up
that's the reason why,
00:09:47.32\00:09:49.85
and so food is very
important to Samoans,
00:09:49.88\00:09:52.65
so that's why dad just
wants to know what the food is,
00:09:52.69\00:09:55.02
and so I have now
taken into everywhere I go,
00:09:55.06\00:09:58.09
I make it a habit
to photograph my food
00:09:58.13\00:10:00.56
so that I can show him.
00:10:00.60\00:10:01.93
But I tell you what,
00:10:01.96\00:10:03.30
the food was not worth
photographing back in Samaria.
00:10:03.33\00:10:06.30
Things were so bad
00:10:06.33\00:10:07.67
and all the king
could do about it
00:10:07.70\00:10:09.44
as you continue to
read the passage was that
00:10:09.47\00:10:11.71
he would tear his clothes
00:10:11.74\00:10:13.64
and weep as he walked along
the walls of his doomed city.
00:10:13.68\00:10:17.95
In Patriarch, Prophets
and Kings it says, page 258,
00:10:17.98\00:10:21.98
"Never had
Israel been brought into
00:10:22.02\00:10:24.79
so great a strait
as during this siege.
00:10:24.82\00:10:28.62
The sins of the
fathers were indeed
00:10:28.66\00:10:30.96
being visited upon the children
and the children's children."
00:10:30.99\00:10:35.10
Friends, Israel had
forgotten two things.
00:10:35.13\00:10:38.37
Number one, that she
served a powerful God,
00:10:38.40\00:10:41.30
and number two that
she needed to trust Him.
00:10:41.34\00:10:44.21
And don't ever think that
00:10:44.24\00:10:45.87
the devil isn't
trying to convince you
00:10:45.91\00:10:48.08
to forget those two things
00:10:48.11\00:10:49.51
as well that
you cannot trust God
00:10:49.54\00:10:52.31
and that He is not
powerful enough to help you.
00:10:52.35\00:10:55.48
He knows that if he
can succeed in starving us
00:10:55.52\00:10:58.89
from the bread of life
00:10:58.92\00:11:00.26
and from drinking from
the fountain of living waters
00:11:00.29\00:11:02.69
that we too will
turn to biting and,
00:11:02.72\00:11:06.13
and to treating one
another with contempt
00:11:06.16\00:11:08.60
through gossip and criticism,
00:11:08.63\00:11:10.80
selfishness and hate.
00:11:10.83\00:11:12.97
If he can convince us
00:11:13.00\00:11:14.50
to live off
other people's sermons
00:11:14.54\00:11:16.94
whether they are on
YouTube or AudioVerse.
00:11:16.97\00:11:19.14
If he can convince us to
live of the spiritual food
00:11:19.17\00:11:22.01
we might find
and spiritual names
00:11:22.04\00:11:24.01
on Facebook or Instagram.
00:11:24.05\00:11:26.11
He knows that we
are on the sure word
00:11:26.15\00:11:28.98
to eventually
being starved to death
00:11:29.02\00:11:31.95
because we are
learning to lean on others
00:11:31.99\00:11:34.39
instead of learning to
lean on Jesus and His word.
00:11:34.42\00:11:38.19
But, friends, when
hope seemed hopeless,
00:11:38.23\00:11:42.33
God had a message
of hope for His people
00:11:42.36\00:11:45.90
and announcement
of hope for them.
00:11:45.93\00:11:48.40
That even though they
had turned their bags on Him,
00:11:48.44\00:11:51.94
the Holy Spirit,
00:11:51.97\00:11:53.31
he comes upon
the Prophet Elisha.
00:11:53.34\00:11:55.38
And Elisha gives a
message to Joharam the King
00:11:55.41\00:11:59.01
and the message is
this that within 24 hours
00:11:59.05\00:12:02.98
the famine would be over
00:12:03.02\00:12:05.39
and there would be
enough food for everyone.
00:12:05.42\00:12:08.02
Let's read what
happens in 2 Kings 7:1-2,
00:12:08.06\00:12:14.56
"Then Elisha said,
Hear the word of the Lord,
00:12:14.60\00:12:17.63
thus says the Lord,
00:12:17.67\00:12:19.57
tomorrow about this
time a seah of fine wheat
00:12:19.60\00:12:23.41
shall be sold for a shekel,
00:12:23.44\00:12:25.47
and two seahs of
barley for a shekel
00:12:25.51\00:12:27.98
at the gate of Samaria.
00:12:28.01\00:12:29.84
So an officer on whose hand
00:12:29.88\00:12:31.91
the king leaned
answered the man of God,
00:12:31.95\00:12:34.15
and said, look if the Lord
would make windows in heaven,
00:12:34.18\00:12:37.72
could this thing be?
00:12:37.75\00:12:39.19
And he said, in fact you
shall see it with your eyes,
00:12:39.22\00:12:42.79
but you shall not eat of it."
00:12:42.82\00:12:45.96
You know what?
00:12:45.99\00:12:47.33
They might get the announcement
00:12:47.36\00:12:48.76
for the winner of
Miss Universe from,
00:12:48.80\00:12:51.27
but the God of the
universe never makes mistakes
00:12:51.30\00:12:54.40
when He makes announcements.
00:12:54.44\00:12:55.77
Amen. Amen.
00:12:55.80\00:12:57.61
By the way when I do
this that means amen.
00:12:57.64\00:12:59.94
So, friends, the
officer of the king though
00:12:59.97\00:13:02.48
when he hears this announcement
from the prophet's lips,
00:13:02.51\00:13:05.68
he finds it too hard to
believe in the promise of God.
00:13:05.71\00:13:09.85
He rejects the promise
and so the prophet says,
00:13:09.88\00:13:12.95
that because he
rejects the promise
00:13:12.99\00:13:15.39
he would miss out on
the promised blessing.
00:13:15.42\00:13:18.19
Do not reject
the promises of God,
00:13:18.23\00:13:21.16
trust in the promises
of God because watch this,
00:13:21.20\00:13:24.43
while this is
happening, just outside the city
00:13:24.47\00:13:28.24
there is an
incredible story unfolding.
00:13:28.27\00:13:30.81
And we continue
to read in verse 3,
00:13:30.84\00:13:33.64
"Now there were four leprous men
00:13:33.68\00:13:36.91
at the entrance of the gate
00:13:36.95\00:13:38.98
and they said to one another,
00:13:39.01\00:13:41.15
'Why are we
sitting here until we die?"
00:13:41.18\00:13:45.49
Outside the city
that is starving to death,
00:13:45.52\00:13:49.22
outside those
walls sits four men.
00:13:49.26\00:13:53.73
And these men are
not just miserable,
00:13:53.76\00:13:56.16
they're not just wretched,
00:13:56.20\00:13:57.57
they are hungry
and not only that,
00:13:57.60\00:14:00.44
but they are diseased.
00:14:00.47\00:14:02.07
The Bible tells
us they are lepers.
00:14:02.10\00:14:04.47
As my sister said to me,
00:14:04.51\00:14:05.84
at least nobody
wanted to eat them,
00:14:05.87\00:14:07.58
that's probably
the only good thing
00:14:07.61\00:14:09.54
about their
predicament right now.
00:14:09.58\00:14:11.81
And they were so
cut off from society,
00:14:11.85\00:14:13.98
they've been
removed from society,
00:14:14.02\00:14:15.78
they're outside the
walls, and you know what,
00:14:15.82\00:14:18.19
sometimes in these cultures
if a family member had leprosy,
00:14:18.22\00:14:22.66
not only would they
banish them from the city,
00:14:22.69\00:14:24.93
but the families back home
00:14:24.96\00:14:26.70
would even hold the
funeral service for them.
00:14:26.73\00:14:29.26
They were dead to them
00:14:29.30\00:14:30.63
as far as their
families were concerned,
00:14:30.67\00:14:32.60
that's how cut off they were.
00:14:32.63\00:14:35.10
These men were
living off the garbage
00:14:35.14\00:14:37.81
that was let down
over the wall to them
00:14:37.84\00:14:40.58
but because there
was no food in the city,
00:14:40.61\00:14:42.48
you can imagine there
hasn't been a lot of garbage
00:14:42.51\00:14:45.08
that has been let
down over the wall to them.
00:14:45.11\00:14:48.08
And by the way as
a little side note,
00:14:48.12\00:14:49.98
I used to think that
leprosy was a disease that
00:14:50.02\00:14:52.75
ate away at your limps.
00:14:52.79\00:14:54.52
Actually what it does
is it numbs your nerves
00:14:54.56\00:14:57.43
so that you feel no pain at all,
00:14:57.46\00:14:59.89
which is why you damage
your extremities to the point
00:14:59.93\00:15:03.06
where you can lose them
00:15:03.10\00:15:04.43
or they get
infected without notice
00:15:04.47\00:15:06.57
because nothing hurts.
00:15:06.60\00:15:09.37
So they have
nothing, they're lepers,
00:15:09.40\00:15:12.14
they're outside the city,
00:15:12.17\00:15:13.54
they're dying not
only of the corruption
00:15:13.58\00:15:16.38
of their diseased
flesh but they're dying
00:15:16.41\00:15:19.05
because they've
eaten nothing for days.
00:15:19.08\00:15:21.68
And it's within this context
00:15:21.72\00:15:24.35
that one of them
turns to the others
00:15:24.39\00:15:27.26
and he says with bloodshot eyes,
00:15:27.29\00:15:30.49
"Why are we
sitting here until we die."
00:15:30.53\00:15:34.63
It's one of the most profound
questions in all the Bible.
00:15:34.66\00:15:38.47
Why are we
sitting here until we die?
00:15:38.50\00:15:41.64
He was discontent to continue
with the way things were
00:15:41.67\00:15:46.11
and so he goes on to
suggest in verse 4, If we say,
00:15:46.14\00:15:50.25
"We will enter the city
the famine is in the city,
00:15:50.28\00:15:54.48
and we shall die there:
00:15:54.52\00:15:56.08
if we sit still
here, we die also.
00:15:56.12\00:15:58.52
Now therefore come,
00:15:58.55\00:16:00.09
and let us surrendered
to the army of the Syrians,
00:16:00.12\00:16:03.02
if they keep us
alive we shall live
00:16:03.06\00:16:05.23
and if they kill
us, we shall only die."
00:16:05.26\00:16:08.03
They were in a
catch-22 situation.
00:16:08.06\00:16:10.47
If leprosy didn't get
them, starvation surely would,
00:16:10.50\00:16:14.30
and so they figured
00:16:14.34\00:16:15.67
they take a
chance on the Syrians.
00:16:15.70\00:16:17.61
Maybe the Syrians would
have compassion on them.
00:16:17.64\00:16:20.91
But think about
this for just a moment.
00:16:20.94\00:16:23.48
If their own
countrymen have banished them
00:16:23.51\00:16:25.91
from the city,
00:16:25.95\00:16:27.28
what on earth makes them think
00:16:27.32\00:16:29.38
that the Syrians will
have compassion on them?
00:16:29.42\00:16:32.22
What would the
Syrians do with four lepers?
00:16:32.25\00:16:35.89
I don't know,
00:16:35.92\00:16:37.26
but God has not
forgotten about them.
00:16:37.29\00:16:40.16
Keep reading verse 5,
00:16:40.20\00:16:42.66
"And they rose at twilight
00:16:42.70\00:16:44.57
to go into the
camp of the Syrians,
00:16:44.60\00:16:46.63
and when they had
come to the outskirts
00:16:46.67\00:16:48.50
of the Syrian camp,
00:16:48.54\00:16:50.21
to their
surprise no one was there.
00:16:50.24\00:16:53.94
For the Lord had cause
the army of the Syrians
00:16:53.98\00:16:57.38
to hear the noise of chariots,
and the noise of horses,
00:16:57.41\00:17:00.88
the noise of a great army,
so they said to one another,
00:17:00.92\00:17:04.19
look, the king of
Israel has hired against us
00:17:04.22\00:17:07.39
the kings of the Hittites,
00:17:07.42\00:17:08.99
and the kings of the
Egyptians to attack us.
00:17:09.02\00:17:12.19
Therefore they arose
and fled at twilight,
00:17:12.23\00:17:15.20
and left the camp intact,
their tents, their horses,
00:17:15.23\00:17:19.43
and their donkeys, and
they fled for their lives.
00:17:19.47\00:17:23.77
My sister, I mean,
she text me on her phone,
00:17:23.81\00:17:27.81
sometimes she's so
excited about something
00:17:27.84\00:17:29.91
or she is so
busy trying to text me
00:17:29.94\00:17:31.75
as quickly as she can.
00:17:31.78\00:17:33.31
She forgets to
correct the spelling
00:17:33.35\00:17:35.38
on the autocorrect
that comes through.
00:17:35.42\00:17:37.99
And so my nickname,
so my name is Charissa.
00:17:38.02\00:17:40.89
My nick name is Reece,
00:17:40.92\00:17:42.82
but I get texts
from her that say,
00:17:42.86\00:17:44.89
hey, Ross where
are we going tonight,
00:17:44.93\00:17:47.30
or I get things
from her that says,
00:17:47.33\00:17:49.03
"Hey, Russ, I'm catching the bus
00:17:49.06\00:17:50.83
or something like this."
00:17:50.87\00:17:52.37
One morning I got a
text from her that said,
00:17:52.40\00:17:54.67
"Hey, Russ, I have
something amazon to tell you."
00:17:54.70\00:17:58.57
I want to tell you
00:17:58.61\00:17:59.94
we are at an amazon
moment here in scripture.
00:17:59.97\00:18:03.21
Friends, nothing
is too hard for God.
00:18:03.24\00:18:06.31
No situation is
too hard for God.
00:18:06.35\00:18:09.22
Can God help you? Yes, He can.
00:18:09.25\00:18:11.95
No matter what you
face, can God help you?
00:18:11.99\00:18:14.22
Yes, He can.
00:18:14.26\00:18:15.76
I work in the
Adventist Media Center
00:18:15.79\00:18:17.83
back home in Sydney.
00:18:17.86\00:18:19.39
And some of our,
00:18:19.43\00:18:21.10
some of my
colleagues they went overseas,
00:18:21.13\00:18:23.10
they went to
Novo Tempo in Brazil.
00:18:23.13\00:18:25.33
And they came back
with an amazing testimony
00:18:25.37\00:18:27.64
that they heard there.
00:18:27.67\00:18:29.14
They were told the
story of a student there
00:18:29.17\00:18:32.31
who was attending a university
00:18:32.34\00:18:34.14
and one of their
exams fell on a Sabbath.
00:18:34.18\00:18:37.01
So they had a choice,
00:18:37.05\00:18:38.38
do they sit the exam on Sabbath
00:18:38.41\00:18:39.81
or do they honor God.
00:18:39.85\00:18:41.28
They chose to honor God
00:18:41.32\00:18:42.68
and the university
would not let this student
00:18:42.72\00:18:45.32
change the day of their exam.
00:18:45.35\00:18:47.29
Well, the student prays,
guess what, word gets out,
00:18:47.32\00:18:51.53
a wealthy Adventist man
00:18:51.56\00:18:53.33
buys the university
00:18:53.36\00:18:54.83
and the student is
able to sit their exam.
00:18:54.86\00:18:57.77
So listen, it has
to be a true story
00:18:57.80\00:19:01.40
because it was told at
the Adventist Media Center.
00:19:01.44\00:19:03.64
Now listen, if there is
a seed, God can split it.
00:19:03.67\00:19:08.24
If there is a
furnace, God can cool it.
00:19:08.28\00:19:11.35
And if there is a siege,
00:19:11.38\00:19:12.88
God can break it
with the soundtrack,
00:19:12.91\00:19:14.98
a good one,
00:19:15.02\00:19:16.35
that's what he did right
here to an absolute miracle.
00:19:16.38\00:19:19.39
There was now an
abandoned abundance of food
00:19:19.42\00:19:23.22
and things for an army
of at least 100,000 men
00:19:23.26\00:19:27.96
right outside
the gates of a city
00:19:28.00\00:19:30.90
that was starving to death
00:19:30.93\00:19:32.47
and going to bed
afraid every night.
00:19:32.50\00:19:35.70
They had no idea
00:19:35.74\00:19:37.17
what was just outside the walls.
00:19:37.21\00:19:39.91
Verse 8,
00:19:39.94\00:19:42.21
"And when these lepers came
to the outskirts of the camp,
00:19:42.24\00:19:45.95
they went into one
tent, and ate and drank,
00:19:45.98\00:19:48.68
and carried from it
silver, and gold, and clothing,
00:19:48.72\00:19:51.75
and went and hid them,
00:19:51.79\00:19:53.36
then they came back
and entered another tent,
00:19:53.39\00:19:55.96
and carried
some from there also,
00:19:55.99\00:19:57.79
and went and hid it."
00:19:57.83\00:20:00.00
So, friends, the
curtain rises on a new sin,
00:20:00.03\00:20:03.67
and in my mind's eye,
00:20:03.70\00:20:05.20
I can see all four of them
00:20:05.23\00:20:07.14
stealing softly into
the Syrian camp at twilight.
00:20:07.17\00:20:12.24
Perhaps as they come
in, they're trembling,
00:20:12.27\00:20:14.61
their hands are already
raised in ready surrender,
00:20:14.64\00:20:18.38
shh, softly,
00:20:18.41\00:20:20.78
your tread is loud
enough to wake the dead,
00:20:20.82\00:20:23.79
if they're
sleeping, let's not wake them,
00:20:23.82\00:20:25.89
shh, come on,
guys, keep it down.
00:20:25.92\00:20:28.16
And as they come into the camp,
00:20:28.19\00:20:30.69
one of them enters the
first tent that they reach,
00:20:30.73\00:20:34.56
hands up, he looks in
00:20:34.60\00:20:36.93
and next thing the
others hear is guys,
00:20:36.97\00:20:38.77
guys come and see this,
00:20:38.80\00:20:40.97
you've got to see
this, nobody here.
00:20:41.00\00:20:43.27
Really, are you sure?
00:20:43.30\00:20:45.51
Yeah, come in, come and see.
00:20:45.54\00:20:48.24
I haven't seen a table like this
00:20:48.28\00:20:50.08
since Thanksgiving.
00:20:50.11\00:20:51.75
And so all four of
them enter into the tent
00:20:51.78\00:20:55.92
and sure enough
the tent is empty.
00:20:55.95\00:20:59.12
And there on the table
00:20:59.15\00:21:00.49
right in front of
them is a warm meal,
00:21:00.52\00:21:02.99
it's freshly prepared
00:21:03.02\00:21:04.63
and so they come
00:21:04.66\00:21:05.99
and no one needed to
suggest what needed to happen
00:21:06.03\00:21:08.16
next they could eat that food,
00:21:08.20\00:21:09.90
it is gone and
as they're eating,
00:21:09.93\00:21:11.43
they look around the tent, and
00:21:11.47\00:21:12.83
they see gold and silver and oh,
00:21:12.87\00:21:15.40
designer Syrian
clothes all around them.
00:21:15.44\00:21:18.17
And so they change their clothes
00:21:18.21\00:21:19.57
and decide to bank their bounty
00:21:19.61\00:21:22.28
beneath the nearest tree stump.
00:21:22.31\00:21:24.35
On and on throughout the night,
these four ravenous lepers,
00:21:24.38\00:21:29.08
they go from tent to tent
00:21:29.12\00:21:31.15
hoarding and hiding
all that they could carry.
00:21:31.19\00:21:34.46
You and I cannot
even begin to imagine
00:21:34.49\00:21:38.09
the delirious joy that
these lepers felt that night.
00:21:38.13\00:21:42.63
They had more food
than they could have wanted
00:21:42.66\00:21:45.37
or eaten in a lifetime.
00:21:45.40\00:21:47.60
They had gone from rags
to riches in a single day.
00:21:47.64\00:21:52.07
Truly, God had opened the
windows of heaven for them.
00:21:52.11\00:21:56.51
And, friends,
isn't this what it's like
00:21:56.54\00:21:58.18
when we find Jesus.
00:21:58.21\00:21:59.55
Come on now.
00:21:59.58\00:22:00.92
Isn't this what it's like,
00:22:00.95\00:22:02.28
do you remember
what it feels like,
00:22:02.32\00:22:03.65
what it felt like when you
first fell in love with Jesus
00:22:03.69\00:22:06.89
because, friends, these lepers
I believe are a picture of us.
00:22:06.92\00:22:11.59
Sin, all sin is
terminal but, friends,
00:22:11.63\00:22:15.53
as soon as there was
sin, there was a savior.
00:22:15.56\00:22:18.70
And when we come to Jesus,
00:22:18.73\00:22:20.57
what do we find more
than we could ever imagine?
00:22:20.60\00:22:23.57
We find amazing
grace, blessed assurance,
00:22:23.61\00:22:27.04
showers of blessing and a love
that will not let us go, amen.
00:22:27.08\00:22:31.11
We find that for
God so loved the world
00:22:31.15\00:22:34.58
that He gave His
only begotten Son
00:22:34.62\00:22:37.09
that whoever believes in Him
00:22:37.12\00:22:39.12
should not perish but
have everlasting life.
00:22:39.15\00:22:42.76
That's what we find
when we come to Jesus.
00:22:42.79\00:22:45.19
But notice what happens next.
00:22:45.23\00:22:47.06
Verse 9, "Then they
said to one another,
00:22:47.10\00:22:50.87
we are not doing right,
00:22:50.90\00:22:53.13
this is a day of good
news and we remain silent,
00:22:53.17\00:22:56.67
if we wait until morning light,
00:22:56.71\00:22:58.81
some punishment
will come upon us,
00:22:58.84\00:23:01.38
now therefore come let us go
00:23:01.41\00:23:03.61
and tell the king's household."
00:23:03.65\00:23:06.21
How many tents
they had been through
00:23:06.25\00:23:09.55
before this thought
finally hits one of them?
00:23:09.58\00:23:13.05
The Bible doesn't say,
00:23:13.09\00:23:14.59
all we know is that
00:23:14.62\00:23:16.39
as they're feasting
in one of those tents,
00:23:16.42\00:23:19.26
suddenly this new thought
begins to dawn upon them.
00:23:19.29\00:23:23.50
What are we doing?
00:23:23.53\00:23:26.74
What we are doing
right now is scarcely human?
00:23:26.77\00:23:30.31
How can we sit here feasting
and hoarding this wealth
00:23:30.34\00:23:36.11
when the whole city filled
00:23:36.14\00:23:38.25
with our family and our friends,
00:23:38.28\00:23:40.52
and our loved ones is
about a stones throw away
00:23:40.55\00:23:43.85
and they're dying of
starvation just there.
00:23:43.89\00:23:47.29
Their laughter ceases
00:23:47.32\00:23:49.56
and silent
descends on these four
00:23:49.59\00:23:52.43
as they now chew
upon this new realization
00:23:52.46\00:23:57.10
as they do in silence
00:23:57.13\00:23:59.47
the horror film
of the hollow eyes
00:23:59.50\00:24:02.27
and the hideous meals
00:24:02.30\00:24:03.94
back in Samaria
replays over in their minds.
00:24:03.97\00:24:07.74
They remember
how that very morning
00:24:07.78\00:24:09.94
they had seen the king
walking along the walls
00:24:09.98\00:24:12.78
and weeping over
their doomed city.
00:24:12.81\00:24:15.95
And suddenly as they
remember these things,
00:24:15.98\00:24:19.75
they discovered
contentment morphs
00:24:19.79\00:24:23.32
into a strong
feeling of discontent
00:24:23.36\00:24:27.33
and they can eat no more.
00:24:27.36\00:24:29.06
Interestingly enough
Josephus says that one,
00:24:29.10\00:24:32.50
one of these four was Gehazi,
00:24:32.53\00:24:35.90
the former
servant of Prophet Elisha
00:24:35.94\00:24:38.81
who had received
leprosy of Naaman,
00:24:38.84\00:24:41.64
the Syrian
commander for being greedy.
00:24:41.68\00:24:44.41
You continue to
read in Jewish writings
00:24:44.45\00:24:46.41
and they go on further
to say that the other three
00:24:46.45\00:24:49.35
who were with him were
most probably his three sons.
00:24:49.38\00:24:52.99
And if this is the case,
00:24:53.02\00:24:54.42
then Gehazi was
probably the first one
00:24:54.46\00:24:57.09
who came to the realization
that they now come to.
00:24:57.13\00:25:00.73
The Hebrew might be
translated this way.
00:25:00.76\00:25:03.50
This is a day of good
tidings, and we hold our peace,
00:25:03.53\00:25:07.84
that is a sin.
00:25:07.87\00:25:09.70
In the Middle East,
they say if you know
00:25:09.74\00:25:12.41
where the water is
00:25:12.44\00:25:13.78
and you don't
tell somebody about it,
00:25:13.81\00:25:15.84
you don't tell
people where the water is,
00:25:15.88\00:25:18.11
they call that
the sin of the desert.
00:25:18.15\00:25:21.58
And so we read verse 10 and 11,
00:25:21.62\00:25:23.42
"So they went and called to
the gatekeepers of the city,
00:25:23.45\00:25:27.09
and told them saying,
00:25:27.12\00:25:28.46
we went to the Syrian camp
00:25:28.49\00:25:30.69
and surprisingly
no one was there,
00:25:30.73\00:25:33.26
not a human sound, only
horses and donkeys tied,
00:25:33.29\00:25:36.36
and the tents intact.
00:25:36.40\00:25:38.03
And the gatekeepers called out
00:25:38.07\00:25:39.87
and they told it to the
king's household inside."
00:25:39.90\00:25:43.94
Friends, I think
00:25:43.97\00:25:45.34
this is the one of
the finest illustrations
00:25:45.37\00:25:47.78
of what it means to
share Jesus with others
00:25:47.81\00:25:51.01
that we find in all the Bible
00:25:51.05\00:25:52.68
because, friends,
00:25:52.71\00:25:54.05
true evangelism is just one
beggar telling other beggars
00:25:54.08\00:25:57.39
about where they found bread.
00:25:57.42\00:25:59.75
These four lepers
told the gatekeepers,
00:25:59.79\00:26:02.02
and the gatekeepers
told the king's household
00:26:02.06\00:26:04.49
and before you know it,
00:26:04.53\00:26:06.26
the news of this
good news has spread
00:26:06.29\00:26:09.06
right throughout
the city of Samaria.
00:26:09.10\00:26:11.87
They were the most
unlikely people to rescue a city
00:26:11.90\00:26:15.84
but God often uses
the most unlikely people,
00:26:15.87\00:26:19.77
and that means that
God can use and I as well.
00:26:19.81\00:26:23.61
Well, friends,
I want you to know
00:26:23.65\00:26:26.28
that today is a
day of good news.
00:26:26.31\00:26:29.55
I don't know if you
watch much of the news
00:26:29.58\00:26:31.75
or read it in the newspapers,
but I have watched some news,
00:26:31.79\00:26:34.86
and I had read
some of the papers.
00:26:34.89\00:26:36.86
And every time I watch
the news or see the papers,
00:26:36.89\00:26:39.29
I'm appalled at
what I see there,
00:26:39.33\00:26:41.16
I think, oh,
00:26:41.20\00:26:42.53
I've seen the
worst headline but no,
00:26:42.56\00:26:43.90
there is always one
that's much worst than that.
00:26:43.93\00:26:45.93
And I want to
tell you that today,
00:26:45.97\00:26:47.84
the everlasting gospel
of Jesus Christ is still
00:26:47.87\00:26:50.91
the best news that there is.
00:26:50.94\00:26:53.27
And in Matthew
24:14, Jesus said,
00:26:53.31\00:26:56.68
"That before he could come back,
00:26:56.71\00:26:58.78
before he could come back
00:26:58.81\00:27:00.62
this gospel of the kingdom was
to be preached in all the world
00:27:00.65\00:27:04.55
and then the end would come."
00:27:04.59\00:27:06.89
And there is one
other place in the Bible
00:27:06.92\00:27:08.96
where we find a gospel
00:27:08.99\00:27:10.49
that must go to all the
world before Jesus comes back,
00:27:10.53\00:27:13.70
it's in Revelation 14.
00:27:13.73\00:27:16.13
There we find
three angel's messages
00:27:16.16\00:27:18.63
and the angels have,
00:27:18.67\00:27:20.00
the first angel, he
has the everlasting gospel
00:27:20.04\00:27:22.00
which is to be
preached in all the world.
00:27:22.04\00:27:24.41
And as we continue
to read this message,
00:27:24.44\00:27:26.81
we discover that
one of the reasons
00:27:26.84\00:27:28.98
why the spreading of
this message is so urgent.
00:27:29.01\00:27:32.25
It's because there is
another city at the end of time
00:27:32.28\00:27:35.48
in a very serious
condition like Samaria of all
00:27:35.52\00:27:39.25
who had turned her back on God.
00:27:39.29\00:27:41.06
Babylon is fallen
00:27:41.09\00:27:42.72
and things are so bad
that are going on inside of her
00:27:42.76\00:27:46.29
that they are abominations
in the sight of God.
00:27:46.33\00:27:50.10
Let me read to you this quote,
00:27:50.13\00:27:52.43
Testimonies volume 9, page 19.
00:27:52.47\00:27:55.24
"In a special sense
Seventh-day Adventists have been
00:27:55.27\00:27:59.77
set in the world as
watchmen and light bearers.
00:27:59.81\00:28:03.65
To them has been entrusted
00:28:03.68\00:28:05.45
the last warning
for a perishing world."
00:28:05.48\00:28:09.72
There is no other
warning after this.
00:28:09.75\00:28:12.15
To them has been entrusted
00:28:12.19\00:28:14.56
the last warning
for a perishing world.
00:28:14.59\00:28:18.93
On them it's
shining wonderful light
00:28:18.96\00:28:21.40
from the word of God,
00:28:21.43\00:28:22.86
they have been given a
work of the more solemn import,
00:28:22.90\00:28:26.57
the proclamation of the first,
00:28:26.60\00:28:28.80
second and third
angels' messages.
00:28:28.84\00:28:31.37
There is no other work
of so great importance,
00:28:31.41\00:28:35.18
they are to allow nothing
else to absorb their attention.
00:28:35.21\00:28:40.05
Now let me ask you something.
00:28:40.08\00:28:42.45
If these lepers felt it to
be their solemn sacred duty
00:28:42.48\00:28:48.29
to announce
deliverance to a perishing city,
00:28:48.32\00:28:51.99
how much more should we feel it
00:28:52.03\00:28:54.63
our solemn sacred duty to
share the everlasting gospel
00:28:54.66\00:28:58.67
with the perishing world.
00:28:58.70\00:29:01.60
I want you to imagine something,
00:29:01.64\00:29:03.14
this is a hypothetical
or as my friend Sania says,
00:29:03.17\00:29:05.67
the hypothetical situation.
00:29:05.71\00:29:07.91
I want you to
imagine that this country,
00:29:07.94\00:29:10.25
the United States of
America was experiencing
00:29:10.28\00:29:13.72
a severe famine.
00:29:13.75\00:29:16.75
And we heard about
it back in Australia
00:29:16.79\00:29:19.45
and we had compassion,
00:29:19.49\00:29:20.89
we had compassion
so we put together
00:29:20.92\00:29:22.59
a fleet of ships
00:29:22.62\00:29:24.03
and we weighted them
with life sustaining supplies
00:29:24.06\00:29:27.46
to send help to the
United States of America,
00:29:27.50\00:29:29.96
to help the people here.
00:29:30.00\00:29:32.03
And so we sent that fleet
off with praise and well wishes,
00:29:32.07\00:29:35.74
but along the way as our fleet
is heading for your country,
00:29:35.77\00:29:39.57
they passed Hawaii
and they decided to stop.
00:29:39.61\00:29:43.28
And they stopped in Hawaii
00:29:43.31\00:29:44.65
and they liked
the beaches there.
00:29:44.68\00:29:46.51
In fact there was some good
prospects for business there
00:29:46.55\00:29:49.85
and so they
started to trade there,
00:29:49.88\00:29:51.79
and all the while
the thought of the dying
00:29:51.82\00:29:55.12
and the
perishing in this country
00:29:55.16\00:29:57.09
was pushed out of their minds.
00:29:57.13\00:29:59.16
You know what, if
that happened today,
00:29:59.19\00:30:01.66
you and I would look at that
00:30:01.70\00:30:03.26
and we would say that
such an action was inhuman.
00:30:03.30\00:30:08.00
I actually just paraphrased,
00:30:08.04\00:30:09.60
I put it in my own words
00:30:09.64\00:30:11.24
an illustration that Ellen White
00:30:11.27\00:30:12.87
uses in her writings,
00:30:12.91\00:30:14.88
and at the end
of her illustration,
00:30:14.91\00:30:16.95
she says this,
00:30:16.98\00:30:18.58
Christians are
daily repeating this sin.
00:30:18.61\00:30:24.19
Testimonies volume 8, page 25,
00:30:24.22\00:30:27.16
can I read to you another quote?
00:30:27.19\00:30:28.79
Christ Object Lessons, page 303,
00:30:28.82\00:30:31.16
multitudes of perishing,
00:30:31.19\00:30:33.96
"The destiny of a
world hangs in the balance.
00:30:34.00\00:30:36.36
But this hardly
moves the people,
00:30:36.40\00:30:38.53
hardly moves those
who claim to believe
00:30:38.57\00:30:41.17
the most far reaching
truth ever given to mortals.
00:30:41.20\00:30:44.74
There is a stupor,
00:30:44.77\00:30:46.41
a paralysis upon
the people of God
00:30:46.44\00:30:48.88
which prevents them from
00:30:48.91\00:30:50.35
understanding
the duty of the hour.
00:30:50.38\00:30:53.01
Again the Review and Herald,
Review and Sabbath Herald,
00:30:53.05\00:30:55.78
"My brother my sister,
00:30:55.82\00:30:58.09
is it nothing
to you to know that
00:30:58.12\00:31:00.92
every day souls are going
down into the grave unwarned
00:31:00.96\00:31:04.73
and unsaved,
00:31:04.76\00:31:06.13
ignorant of their
need of eternal life
00:31:06.16\00:31:08.06
and of the atonement
made for them by the Savior.
00:31:08.10\00:31:11.73
These are very strong quotes.
00:31:11.77\00:31:14.67
Spurgeon, the
great Baptist preacher,
00:31:14.70\00:31:17.67
one of the greatest preachers
00:31:17.71\00:31:19.04
I think the world has ever seen.
00:31:19.07\00:31:20.68
He loved Jesus so much,
00:31:20.71\00:31:22.98
I love that when I was
reading a biography on his life.
00:31:23.01\00:31:25.81
The biographer
wrote of how one night
00:31:25.85\00:31:28.55
while Spurgeon was asleep,
00:31:28.58\00:31:30.09
he broke out into a
sermon about Jesus in his sleep.
00:31:30.12\00:31:34.39
His wife woke up, took notes,
00:31:34.42\00:31:37.49
handed them to
him the next morning
00:31:37.53\00:31:38.96
and he went down
to the tabernacle
00:31:38.99\00:31:40.33
and preached it.
00:31:40.36\00:31:41.70
That's how consumed
Spurgeon's heart was with Jesus.
00:31:41.73\00:31:44.53
He loved the
Lord, but you know what,
00:31:44.57\00:31:47.14
that love for the Lord
00:31:47.17\00:31:48.77
always causes us to
love people as well.
00:31:48.80\00:31:53.81
And he loved people,
listen to what he said.
00:31:53.84\00:31:57.05
This is, this is
good Spurgeon English.
00:31:57.08\00:31:59.35
If sinners will be damped,
00:31:59.38\00:32:01.58
at least let them leap
to hell over our bodies.
00:32:01.62\00:32:05.42
And if they will perish,
00:32:05.45\00:32:07.42
let them perish
without arms about their knees,
00:32:07.46\00:32:10.29
imploring them to stay
if hell must be filled,
00:32:10.33\00:32:13.53
at least let it be filled
in the teeth of our exertions,
00:32:13.56\00:32:16.93
and let not one go there
unwarned and unprayed for.
00:32:16.97\00:32:23.14
There was a family
00:32:23.17\00:32:25.07
and they were traveling
home after a family holiday.
00:32:25.11\00:32:28.21
And as they were
driving along the road,
00:32:28.24\00:32:30.65
they were enjoying,
00:32:30.68\00:32:32.01
you know, talking in the car
00:32:32.05\00:32:33.38
and they had a
little eight year old boy
00:32:33.42\00:32:34.75
and he's
sitting in the back seat
00:32:34.78\00:32:36.12
and he's talking away to his
mom and dad in the front seat.
00:32:36.15\00:32:38.85
They came over a hill
and as they came over a hill,
00:32:38.89\00:32:42.26
another car coming
around the corner was flying
00:32:42.29\00:32:44.59
at top speed and it ended up
veering into oncoming traffic,
00:32:44.63\00:32:48.56
and as that car comes around,
it veers into oncoming traffic,
00:32:48.60\00:32:51.33
next thing you know,
this is terrible accident
00:32:51.37\00:32:54.30
and cars and
bodies are going places
00:32:54.34\00:32:56.97
and several cars stopped
but this family they soared,
00:32:57.01\00:33:00.28
they were shocked and
they just kept driving.
00:33:00.31\00:33:03.35
That night, as they
are going to go to sleep,
00:33:03.38\00:33:07.25
the father puts
his son into his bed
00:33:07.28\00:33:09.98
and the son had not spoken much
00:33:10.02\00:33:12.52
ever since he saw
what he saw that afternoon.
00:33:12.55\00:33:15.22
And he says to his son,
00:33:15.26\00:33:17.09
he says, "Son, try to sleep."
00:33:17.13\00:33:19.39
And the little boy was silent,
00:33:19.43\00:33:21.36
and finally he
broke out into tears
00:33:21.40\00:33:23.87
and he said daddy,
00:33:23.90\00:33:25.63
how can we
sleep when people die.
00:33:25.67\00:33:30.54
My friends, every
day thousands are dying
00:33:30.57\00:33:34.98
without any
knowledge of Jesus Christ
00:33:35.01\00:33:37.71
or the salvation that
he gave to purchase them.
00:33:37.75\00:33:41.68
The salvation he purchased
for them by giving his life.
00:33:41.72\00:33:45.59
According to the Adventist
Frontier Missions website,
00:33:45.62\00:33:48.76
I got this, this is fresh,
00:33:48.79\00:33:50.66
there are 7, 000
unreached people groups
00:33:50.69\00:33:54.86
representing more
than two billion people
00:33:54.90\00:33:57.27
in our world today,
00:33:57.30\00:33:58.63
86 percent of these
unreached people groups
00:33:58.67\00:34:01.24
live in the 10/40 window
00:34:01.27\00:34:02.60
which stretches
across northeastern Africa
00:34:02.64\00:34:05.07
and across
southern Asia as well.
00:34:05.11\00:34:07.98
Not only that but
even in our own backyard,
00:34:08.01\00:34:10.98
there are people here
00:34:11.01\00:34:12.35
who have never heard the gospel.
00:34:12.38\00:34:14.62
Most people never attend church
00:34:14.65\00:34:16.62
because no one
has ever invited them.
00:34:16.65\00:34:19.92
But Jesus' instruction to
you and I has been very clear.
00:34:19.95\00:34:23.63
If He Himself was here to
give this charge this morning,
00:34:23.66\00:34:27.70
He would be
telling us to go there for
00:34:27.73\00:34:30.57
into all the
world and teach them,
00:34:30.60\00:34:32.77
baptizing them in
the name of the Father,
00:34:32.80\00:34:34.37
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:34:34.40\00:34:35.74
He would be charging us
to go and share the gospel.
00:34:35.77\00:34:39.01
So my friends,
how can we sit here?
00:34:39.04\00:34:42.28
How can we just come to
conference after conference
00:34:42.31\00:34:44.81
and just sit here and
be satisfied like this?
00:34:44.85\00:34:48.02
Paul could not be satisfied
00:34:48.05\00:34:50.02
with sitting
around and doing nothing.
00:34:50.05\00:34:51.75
In 1 Corinthians 9:16, he says,
00:34:51.79\00:34:55.02
Woe is onto me if I
preach not the gospel.
00:34:55.06\00:34:58.93
He was committed to
the gospel of Christ.
00:34:58.96\00:35:01.83
Too many of us are
like this man who went,
00:35:01.86\00:35:05.40
who professed conversion
00:35:05.43\00:35:06.94
and he was
talking with his minister
00:35:06.97\00:35:08.74
and the minister said to
him, have you joined the church,
00:35:08.77\00:35:11.91
have you joined the
church and the man said, "No,
00:35:11.94\00:35:14.14
I'm a converted man
00:35:14.18\00:35:15.51
and I don't need
to join the church
00:35:15.54\00:35:16.95
because the dying thief,
he never joined the church.
00:35:16.98\00:35:20.22
Well, do you talk to
your neighbors about Jesus?
00:35:20.25\00:35:23.15
No, the dying thief,
00:35:23.18\00:35:24.89
he never talked to
his neighbors about Jesus.
00:35:24.92\00:35:27.09
I don't think I have to.
00:35:27.12\00:35:28.89
Well, do you
support missions in any way?
00:35:28.92\00:35:31.19
Do you give to missions?
00:35:31.23\00:35:32.96
The man looked at
his pastor, said pastor,
00:35:32.99\00:35:35.30
the dying thief
never gave to missions
00:35:35.33\00:35:38.33
and he was
promised eternal life.
00:35:38.37\00:35:40.67
Well, said the
minister, my friend,
00:35:40.70\00:35:42.87
the difference
between the two of you is that
00:35:42.90\00:35:45.34
he was a dying thief
and you are living one.
00:35:45.37\00:35:49.44
Sometimes I wonder
00:35:49.48\00:35:51.91
if maybe God had told
us the gospel was a secret,
00:35:51.95\00:35:54.98
maybe it would
have spread more quickly
00:35:55.02\00:35:56.69
because we don't want
to tell everybody about it.
00:35:56.72\00:35:59.15
Friends, the world needs to know
00:35:59.19\00:36:01.86
that there is a
fountain filled with blood
00:36:01.89\00:36:04.49
and sin is plunged beneath
00:36:04.53\00:36:06.66
that flood lose
all the guilty stains.
00:36:06.70\00:36:09.86
People need to know the gospel,
00:36:09.90\00:36:11.83
everybody deserves
to know about Jesus.
00:36:11.87\00:36:15.40
How can we sit
here and do nothing?
00:36:15.44\00:36:20.34
I don't know, oh,
00:36:20.38\00:36:21.98
probably that came
from America, Popeye,
00:36:22.01\00:36:24.48
are you familiar with Popeye?
00:36:24.51\00:36:26.18
Okay.
00:36:26.21\00:36:27.72
We have that in Australia too.
00:36:27.75\00:36:30.09
Well, some of you
might have grown up
00:36:30.12\00:36:31.69
watching a bit of
Popeye, the sailorman.
00:36:31.72\00:36:33.99
And you will
remember that Popeye,
00:36:34.02\00:36:35.36
he has a girl in
his life it's Olive
00:36:35.39\00:36:38.43
and every time
Olive is in trouble,
00:36:38.46\00:36:41.43
Popeye usually
come the minute changes.
00:36:41.46\00:36:44.80
He gets so worked up and if,
00:36:44.83\00:36:47.44
if she is in danger
00:36:47.47\00:36:48.80
or if something could
potentially harm Olive,
00:36:48.84\00:36:50.87
he explodes, and he shouts,
00:36:50.91\00:36:54.01
that's all I can stand,
I can't stands it no more.
00:36:54.04\00:36:57.35
And he pops the
can of spinach downs it
00:36:57.38\00:36:59.31
and off it goes and saves Olive
00:36:59.35\00:37:01.18
from whatever
could happen to her.
00:37:01.22\00:37:02.92
You know what?
00:37:02.95\00:37:04.59
I think we need to have a
Popeye moment as a church.
00:37:04.62\00:37:07.99
We cannot be contempt to
let this go on like this.
00:37:08.02\00:37:12.76
Do you think that God is content
00:37:12.79\00:37:15.23
to let the world
perish around us like this?
00:37:15.26\00:37:18.73
No.
00:37:18.77\00:37:20.10
How can we be content
when God is not content?
00:37:20.14\00:37:24.07
The divine discontent,
00:37:24.11\00:37:25.77
oh, that is in the
heart of God or to stir us,
00:37:25.81\00:37:29.08
in order to touch us, in
order to move us as well.
00:37:29.11\00:37:33.68
Oh!
00:37:33.72\00:37:35.05
Amen.
00:37:35.08\00:37:36.42
Friends, Calvary happened
00:37:36.45\00:37:38.49
because the heart of
God could not be content
00:37:38.52\00:37:41.99
until the way of salvation
had been made for you and I.
00:37:42.02\00:37:45.99
The Godhead was rent asunder
00:37:46.03\00:37:48.00
because God could not bear
00:37:48.03\00:37:49.50
the thought of an
eternity without you.
00:37:49.53\00:37:52.53
The Bible tells
us in Romans 5:8,
00:37:52.57\00:37:54.90
but God demonstrates His
own love toward us in that
00:37:54.94\00:37:58.74
while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
00:37:58.77\00:38:03.78
We have got to
lay our lives down
00:38:03.81\00:38:06.41
for the purposes of God.
00:38:06.45\00:38:09.18
This is not a Sabbath picnic.
00:38:09.22\00:38:11.69
It's not an eternal potluck.
00:38:11.72\00:38:14.79
This is an
invitation to challenges.
00:38:14.82\00:38:18.66
It's not an invitation
00:38:18.69\00:38:20.06
to continuously
good and happy times.
00:38:20.10\00:38:22.83
Friends, we are at war.
00:38:22.86\00:38:24.63
Lives, eternal
destinies are at stake.
00:38:24.67\00:38:27.80
After the terrible
events of September 11,
00:38:27.84\00:38:30.67
a pastor in your country,
00:38:30.71\00:38:32.57
he said these words
in a passionate sermon,
00:38:32.61\00:38:34.94
he said, "My mind
is forever branded
00:38:34.98\00:38:38.01
with the story that I
heard of police officers
00:38:38.05\00:38:40.52
from the city of New York.
00:38:40.55\00:38:42.98
As people were fleeing
from a crumbling building,
00:38:43.02\00:38:46.62
there were police
officers and firemen
00:38:46.65\00:38:49.52
and others running
toward the building
00:38:49.56\00:38:52.49
saying run for your
life at their own peril,
00:38:52.53\00:38:56.73
and in some cases he said,
00:38:56.77\00:38:58.63
I believe they knew
they were going to die
00:38:58.67\00:39:01.10
but there was a sense of duty.
00:39:01.14\00:39:03.91
Oh, that our own sense
of duty would not be less
00:39:03.94\00:39:08.18
for God's kingdom than
that of the police officers
00:39:08.21\00:39:11.41
and firemen who had,
00:39:11.45\00:39:12.95
they had for
those who are perishing
00:39:12.98\00:39:14.72
in a burning falling tower.
00:39:14.75\00:39:17.35
Amen.
00:39:17.39\00:39:19.29
Time I believe is running out.
00:39:19.32\00:39:22.79
The clock of
prophecy is ticking.
00:39:22.82\00:39:25.03
I think we would
be stunned speechless
00:39:25.06\00:39:28.13
if we knew how much
time we really have left.
00:39:28.16\00:39:32.43
The situation is serious,
it's the saints who are not.
00:39:32.47\00:39:37.74
Friends, Testimonies
volume 8, page 28 says,
00:39:37.77\00:39:41.54
Christ gave himself for sinners.
00:39:41.58\00:39:45.88
When we truly know,
00:39:45.91\00:39:48.25
when we truly
understand and meditate
00:39:48.28\00:39:51.59
on how God
bankrupted heaven for you
00:39:51.62\00:39:54.49
and for me when we truly
know the love of God for us,
00:39:54.52\00:39:58.46
then we two will get this,
00:39:58.49\00:40:00.43
we will have this burning divine
00:40:00.46\00:40:02.66
discontentment in our hearts
00:40:02.70\00:40:04.97
for the salvation
of the world around us
00:40:05.00\00:40:07.44
and it will consume us.
00:40:07.47\00:40:09.60
We'll think about it all day,
00:40:09.64\00:40:11.34
we will toss and
turn over it at night
00:40:11.37\00:40:13.41
because it grips us,
00:40:13.44\00:40:15.04
it will kick and
scream inside of us
00:40:15.08\00:40:17.35
until we will say I
can't stand this no more,
00:40:17.38\00:40:20.65
Lord, please send me,
00:40:20.68\00:40:22.45
show me how I can reach out
00:40:22.48\00:40:24.79
to the perishing world around me
00:40:24.82\00:40:26.82
and take the gospel to them.
00:40:26.86\00:40:29.19
Well, our theme verse
00:40:29.22\00:40:30.86
for this whole weekend has been
00:40:30.89\00:40:33.13
from Revelation 17:14,
00:40:33.16\00:40:36.46
if you want to read it with me,
00:40:36.50\00:40:37.87
please go there,
Revelation 17:14.
00:40:37.90\00:40:43.20
Revelation 17:14,
00:40:48.34\00:40:49.98
we probably should
have this memorized by now.
00:40:50.01\00:40:53.18
It says, "These will
make war with the Lamb,
00:40:53.21\00:40:56.32
and the Lamb will overcome them,
00:40:56.35\00:40:58.52
for He is Lord of
lords and King of kings,
00:40:58.55\00:41:01.86
and those who are
with Him are called chosen
00:41:01.89\00:41:06.39
and faithful."
00:41:06.43\00:41:08.06
Friends, those who are with him
are called chosen and faithful.
00:41:08.10\00:41:14.87
Every heart with Jesus.
00:41:14.90\00:41:17.01
Every heart
that has Jesus living
00:41:17.04\00:41:19.51
inside of it is a missionary.
00:41:19.54\00:41:22.08
And every heart without
Jesus is a mission field.
00:41:22.11\00:41:26.75
When we have a
relationship with Jesus,
00:41:26.78\00:41:29.95
when we have this
relationship with the Lamb,
00:41:29.98\00:41:32.75
his mission becomes our mission.
00:41:32.79\00:41:35.89
We too will want to be about
our Father's business as well.
00:41:35.92\00:41:39.13
Amen.
00:41:39.16\00:41:40.70
Dwight Moody, an
amazing wonderful soul winner.
00:41:40.73\00:41:44.83
He once made a vow,
00:41:44.87\00:41:47.00
never to let a day go by
00:41:47.04\00:41:48.97
without witnessing
to at least one person.
00:41:49.00\00:41:52.44
One night he was
going to go to sleep,
00:41:52.47\00:41:55.68
it was 10 pm at night and
then he realized something.
00:41:55.71\00:41:58.98
He hadn't shared
Jesus with anybody that day,
00:41:59.01\00:42:02.32
so he put his
coat on walked outside,
00:42:02.35\00:42:04.59
and the first man he found
standing underneath a lamp post
00:42:04.62\00:42:08.12
or a light post,
00:42:08.16\00:42:09.49
he said, "Excuse me, friend,
00:42:09.52\00:42:10.86
do you know Jesus Christ?"
00:42:10.89\00:42:12.63
That man broke out into a rage.
00:42:12.66\00:42:15.23
Who do you think you are?
00:42:15.26\00:42:16.63
Where do you come from?"
00:42:16.67\00:42:18.03
He found himself that man went
00:42:18.07\00:42:19.83
and found the
elder of the church
00:42:19.87\00:42:21.27
and he complained
about what Moody was doing
00:42:21.30\00:42:23.27
and how he had
accosted him on the street
00:42:23.30\00:42:25.31
and the elder
pleaded with Moody,
00:42:25.34\00:42:27.28
please stop what you are doing.
00:42:27.31\00:42:29.21
Try and do things differently.
00:42:29.24\00:42:30.98
Moody didn't changed,
he continued to do this
00:42:31.01\00:42:33.38
and you know what,
three months passed
00:42:33.42\00:42:37.02
and the man eventually came
to Moody's home and apologized.
00:42:37.05\00:42:41.42
And when he
apologized, he told him,
00:42:41.46\00:42:44.03
how that question
that Moody had asked him
00:42:44.06\00:42:46.90
that had set his mind
thinking and asking questions.
00:42:46.93\00:42:49.80
God had let him on a journey
00:42:49.83\00:42:51.43
and Moody was
able to lead that man
00:42:51.47\00:42:53.54
in a prayer of surrender
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:42:53.57\00:42:56.44
Moody was an uncultured,
untrained, shoes salesman.
00:42:56.47\00:43:01.28
He was not ordained.
00:43:01.31\00:43:02.94
And yet God used him to
lead thousands of people
00:43:02.98\00:43:07.68
to faith in Jesus Christ.
00:43:07.72\00:43:10.25
Friends, estimates vary,
00:43:10.29\00:43:11.89
but it is taught
that he has lead us,
00:43:11.92\00:43:15.16
he lead, sorry,
00:43:15.19\00:43:16.52
as many as a million people
00:43:16.56\00:43:18.46
to profess
faith in Jesus Christ.
00:43:18.49\00:43:22.33
If God can use Moody,
God can use us as well.
00:43:22.36\00:43:26.43
We should do that as well.
00:43:26.47\00:43:28.24
It takes courage
to share Jesus today
00:43:28.27\00:43:32.07
and it took courage to share
the good news with the city
00:43:32.11\00:43:36.24
that was already cutting
them off for those lepers.
00:43:36.28\00:43:39.48
It was a brave thing
to go back to the people
00:43:39.51\00:43:42.02
who had mistreated them,
00:43:42.05\00:43:43.62
who had ignored
them and despised them.
00:43:43.65\00:43:46.59
But, friends,
those lepers went back,
00:43:46.62\00:43:48.66
because they felt that upon them
00:43:48.69\00:43:50.93
rested the duty
of saving Samaria
00:43:50.96\00:43:54.30
and to delay even
till the sun again reddened
00:43:54.33\00:43:57.77
the morning sky
would be to sacrifice life.
00:43:57.80\00:44:02.77
To keep their
secret for just 24 hours
00:44:02.80\00:44:06.24
might mean that
hundreds back home
00:44:06.27\00:44:08.51
might die of starvation
within the walls of Samaria.
00:44:08.54\00:44:12.35
And this brings me to
another point, my friends,
00:44:12.38\00:44:15.32
the divine
discontentment of heaven,
00:44:15.35\00:44:17.59
when we catch it,
00:44:17.62\00:44:18.95
when we feel it,
00:44:18.99\00:44:20.32
it will stir us to
action for the world around us.
00:44:20.36\00:44:24.26
Doing nothing is
not an option for us.
00:44:24.29\00:44:28.53
We get one chance
at life, this is it.
00:44:28.56\00:44:32.63
You and I were
made for a mission.
00:44:32.67\00:44:35.60
Amen. Amen.
00:44:35.64\00:44:38.34
We have to do that again.
00:44:38.37\00:44:39.87
You and I were
made for a mission.
00:44:39.91\00:44:43.31
The great commission,
00:44:43.35\00:44:44.78
and notice it's
the great co-mission,
00:44:44.81\00:44:46.55
when we go, we do not go alone,
00:44:46.58\00:44:49.02
God is with us.
00:44:49.05\00:44:50.99
It's time you and
I felt discontent,
00:44:51.02\00:44:53.76
the divine
discontentment of heaven
00:44:53.79\00:44:56.19
burning in our hearts
over our own spiritual refuge,
00:44:56.22\00:45:00.26
and over the
salvation of the lost
00:45:00.30\00:45:02.03
and starving souls around us.
00:45:02.06\00:45:04.30
GYC, that's you.
00:45:04.33\00:45:06.67
I want to charge you
this morning to be discontent.
00:45:06.70\00:45:11.67
Be discontent
with your devotions
00:45:11.71\00:45:14.21
until your
devotional life draws you
00:45:14.24\00:45:16.95
into great devotion to Jesus.
00:45:16.98\00:45:19.35
Be discontent
with your prayer life
00:45:19.38\00:45:21.92
until your prayers
are red hot with sincerity
00:45:21.95\00:45:24.89
and total surrender.
00:45:24.92\00:45:26.65
Let us be
discontent until like Moody,
00:45:26.69\00:45:29.52
we have shared the
everlasting gospel of Jesus,
00:45:29.56\00:45:32.59
either by word or deed
with someone every day.
00:45:32.63\00:45:37.33
Let us be discontent
00:45:37.37\00:45:39.40
until our churches are active
00:45:39.43\00:45:41.60
centers of soul
winning and evangelism.
00:45:41.64\00:45:43.97
And if you must
gossip, gossip the gospel.
00:45:44.01\00:45:47.64
Let us be discontent
00:45:47.68\00:45:49.81
until our board
meetings are busy
00:45:49.84\00:45:51.71
not with deciding
the color of the carpet,
00:45:51.75\00:45:54.12
but with the
prayerful development of a plans
00:45:54.15\00:45:57.55
for the urgent and
strategic sharing of the gospel
00:45:57.59\00:46:00.59
with the
perishing world around us.
00:46:00.62\00:46:03.46
Let us be discontent
00:46:03.49\00:46:05.63
until our oath on the
altar of sacrifice is laid
00:46:05.66\00:46:09.86
and our hearts
does the Holy Sprit
00:46:09.90\00:46:12.13
have full control over.
00:46:12.17\00:46:13.67
Amen.
00:46:13.70\00:46:15.34
Oskar Schindler was the
member of the Nazi Party
00:46:15.37\00:46:19.17
and he is responsible for saving
00:46:19.21\00:46:22.08
over 1, 100 Jews in Poland
00:46:22.11\00:46:25.71
during the
holocaust, amazing story.
00:46:25.75\00:46:28.58
More than 6,000 people
are today alive in Europe,
00:46:28.62\00:46:32.79
The United States and Israel
as a result of what he did.
00:46:32.82\00:46:37.49
When Germany
finally surrendered,
00:46:37.53\00:46:40.26
Schindler knew
that he was a wanted man
00:46:40.30\00:46:42.60
for using the Jews as
slave laborers and so,
00:46:42.63\00:46:47.04
there is a film that portraits
his story and his life,
00:46:47.07\00:46:50.91
and at the end of the
film there is a powerful scene
00:46:50.94\00:46:53.24
and I want to
relate it to you right now.
00:46:53.27\00:46:55.91
In the last scene of this film,
00:46:55.94\00:46:58.31
Schindler is surrounded
by the 1,000, a 1,000 Jews,
00:46:58.35\00:47:02.52
whom he has saved by
having them work for him
00:47:02.55\00:47:06.55
and his accountant
turned friend Itzhak Stern,
00:47:06.59\00:47:10.49
I hope I said that right.
00:47:10.53\00:47:12.06
He gives Schindler a gold ring
00:47:12.09\00:47:14.70
and on that ring
is an inscription
00:47:14.73\00:47:16.97
which Stern translates for him,
00:47:17.00\00:47:19.10
and he says this, its
Hebrew from the Talmud, it says,
00:47:19.13\00:47:23.10
"Whoever saves one
life, saves the world entire."
00:47:23.14\00:47:27.61
And Schindler is
deeply moved by this gift
00:47:27.64\00:47:30.35
and by all those
that surround him,
00:47:30.38\00:47:32.61
who are thanking him for
what he has done for them.
00:47:32.65\00:47:36.08
He says, "I could
have got more out,
00:47:36.12\00:47:38.62
I could have got more."
00:47:38.65\00:47:41.32
Stern reassures
him, it's okay, Oskar,
00:47:41.36\00:47:43.66
there are 1, 100
people alive because of you.
00:47:43.69\00:47:48.60
He says, "If I
had made more money,
00:47:48.63\00:47:50.90
I threw so much away,
00:47:50.93\00:47:52.30
if I had made more
money, you have no idea.
00:47:52.33\00:47:54.87
I did, I just didn't do enough."
00:47:54.90\00:47:57.14
And he is weeping again,
Stern says, "You did so much,
00:47:57.17\00:48:00.41
it's okay."
00:48:00.44\00:48:01.78
Schindler laments, this
car, why did I keep this car.
00:48:01.81\00:48:05.95
There are ten people right here,
00:48:05.98\00:48:07.62
ten people right here,
00:48:07.65\00:48:09.58
he takes off his Nazi batch,
00:48:09.62\00:48:12.22
it's a lapel and
it was made of gold,
00:48:12.25\00:48:13.76
he says, this is gold.
00:48:13.79\00:48:15.62
Two more people right
here, at least two, may be one,
00:48:15.66\00:48:18.83
they would have given me
at least one more person.
00:48:18.86\00:48:21.76
I could have
saved one more person.
00:48:21.80\00:48:25.73
My friends, Jesus is coming soon
00:48:25.77\00:48:29.20
and when he comes,
00:48:29.24\00:48:30.57
he's goanna split
open that eastern sky,
00:48:30.61\00:48:33.17
he's goanna come with all
the holy angles of heaven,
00:48:33.21\00:48:36.54
and on that day when
every eye will see him.
00:48:36.58\00:48:39.08
It won't matter how much
money we have in the bank.
00:48:39.11\00:48:42.65
It won't matter
what car we drove.
00:48:42.68\00:48:46.02
It won't matter even
how many GYCs we went to.
00:48:46.05\00:48:50.13
The only thing that
will matter is whether or not
00:48:50.16\00:48:52.23
we have been faithful to Jesus
00:48:52.26\00:48:54.33
and faithful to his
course in sharing the gospel.
00:48:54.36\00:48:58.10
Because, friends, if
we don't share who will?
00:48:58.13\00:49:01.50
We've got to tell
others about Jesus.
00:49:01.54\00:49:04.77
I believe that
God is going to move
00:49:04.81\00:49:07.21
in a mighty way
through his church
00:49:07.24\00:49:10.18
in the very near future.
00:49:10.21\00:49:12.01
I believe that the
greatest days of this
00:49:12.05\00:49:14.28
great advent movement
are just in front of us.
00:49:14.32\00:49:17.69
God is going to
pour out his spirit
00:49:17.72\00:49:20.32
with Pentecostal power,
latter rain power and, friends,
00:49:20.36\00:49:24.16
God's people
are going to rise up
00:49:24.19\00:49:25.89
and this world will
be impacted with the love
00:49:25.93\00:49:28.26
and the light of God
00:49:28.30\00:49:29.63
with his truth
and with his glory
00:49:29.66\00:49:31.23
and the work will be finished.
00:49:31.27\00:49:34.70
And in the same way that
God took care of the enemy
00:49:34.74\00:49:37.61
that surrounded Samaria,
00:49:37.64\00:49:39.21
God will take care
of the battle as well.
00:49:39.24\00:49:41.38
The battle is not
ours, it is God's,
00:49:41.41\00:49:44.05
but we must take
care of the good news.
00:49:44.08\00:49:47.58
We must take that good
news to our king's household,
00:49:47.62\00:49:51.45
because the king's
household is in every kindred,
00:49:51.49\00:49:54.12
nation, tribe,
tongue and people.
00:49:54.16\00:49:56.39
They are in Australia.
00:49:56.42\00:49:58.39
They are in New Zealand.
00:49:58.43\00:49:59.89
They are in Mexico.
00:49:59.93\00:50:01.26
They are in Peru.
00:50:01.30\00:50:02.63
They are in the
jungle villages of India.
00:50:02.66\00:50:04.00
They are in the
teaming millions of China.
00:50:04.03\00:50:06.20
They are in the Middle-East
as we've heard on Sabbath.
00:50:06.23\00:50:08.34
Friends, they are everywhere,
00:50:08.37\00:50:09.70
they are in the
islands of the sea,
00:50:09.74\00:50:11.14
and they are waiting for someone
00:50:11.17\00:50:13.31
to come and share
the gospel with them,
00:50:13.34\00:50:15.61
someone to come and bring
the bread of life to them,
00:50:15.64\00:50:18.61
so that their heart
hunger can be satisfied and,
00:50:18.65\00:50:21.82
friends, we haven't.
00:50:21.85\00:50:24.95
How can we sit
here and do nothing.
00:50:24.99\00:50:27.89
This is the day of good news.
00:50:27.92\00:50:30.16
Amen.
00:50:30.19\00:50:31.76
This is the day of good news.
00:50:31.79\00:50:33.60
And God's heart is aching.
00:50:33.63\00:50:35.43
It is longing, it is yearning
00:50:35.46\00:50:37.93
to feed a
hungry world through us
00:50:37.97\00:50:41.00
with the bread of life.
00:50:41.04\00:50:42.60
I want you to know
that as I speak these words,
00:50:42.64\00:50:46.61
that I feel like I
am preaching to myself.
00:50:46.64\00:50:49.58
So I look at my own life,
00:50:49.61\00:50:51.11
I am appalled
at the indifference
00:50:51.15\00:50:53.35
that I showed to a
perishing world around me.
00:50:53.38\00:50:56.55
And today I want
to commit to change,
00:50:56.58\00:50:59.25
but I want to
invite you to meditate,
00:50:59.29\00:51:01.79
we are going to
sing a song right now.
00:51:01.82\00:51:03.86
My friend Sania
and my sister Marleta
00:51:03.89\00:51:05.96
and I are going to sing a song,
00:51:05.99\00:51:07.33
it's called 'My house is
full but my field is empty'.
00:51:07.36\00:51:11.77
As the song is sung,
00:51:11.80\00:51:13.30
I pray that you'll be
blessed by the message
00:51:13.34\00:51:15.24
but at the end of it,
00:51:15.27\00:51:16.60
I'm going to ask you
to make a commitment.
00:51:16.64\00:51:18.24
There is peace and contentment
00:51:31.79\00:51:37.46
In my Father's house today
00:51:37.49\00:51:42.46
Lots of food is on his table
00:51:42.50\00:51:48.24
And no one is turned away
00:51:48.27\00:51:52.84
There is singing and laughter
00:51:52.87\00:51:57.85
As the hours pass by
00:51:57.88\00:52:02.82
But a hush calms the singing
00:52:02.85\00:52:07.72
As the Father sadly cries
00:52:07.76\00:52:13.53
My house is full
00:52:16.97\00:52:21.84
But my field is empty
00:52:21.87\00:52:27.08
Who will go and
work for me today
00:52:27.11\00:52:32.81
It seems my children all
00:52:37.29\00:52:41.66
Want to stay around my table
00:52:41.69\00:52:47.30
But no one wants
to work in my field
00:52:47.33\00:52:53.80
Push away from the table
00:52:57.74\00:53:02.21
Look out through the windowpane
00:53:02.24\00:53:06.61
Just beyond this house of plenty
00:53:06.65\00:53:11.35
Lies a field of golden grain
00:53:11.39\00:53:16.39
And it's ripened unto harvest
00:53:16.42\00:53:21.23
But the reapers, where are they?
00:53:21.26\00:53:26.37
In the house Oh,
count the children
00:53:26.40\00:53:30.67
Hear the Father sadly say
00:53:30.71\00:53:34.74
My house is full
00:53:39.75\00:53:44.69
But my field is empty
00:53:44.72\00:53:50.13
Who will go and
work for me today
00:53:50.16\00:53:55.80
It seems my children all
00:54:00.20\00:54:04.67
Want to stay around my table
00:54:04.71\00:54:10.25
But no one wants
to work in my field
00:54:10.28\00:54:16.38
My house is full
00:54:20.76\00:54:25.16
But my field is empty
00:54:25.19\00:54:30.37
Who will go and
work for me today
00:54:30.40\00:54:35.80
It seems my children all
00:54:40.14\00:54:43.88
Want to stay around my table
00:54:43.91\00:54:49.68
But no one wants
to work in my field
00:54:49.72\00:54:55.82
No one wants to work in my field
00:55:01.56\00:55:07.07
In the harvest field now ripened
00:55:07.10\00:55:12.97
There's a work for all to do
00:55:13.01\00:55:19.41
Hark! the
Master's voice is calling
00:55:19.45\00:55:26.86
To the harvest calling you
00:55:26.89\00:55:34.76
Amen.
00:55:40.47\00:55:42.57
My, friends, that is the message
00:55:42.60\00:55:45.04
that I want to leave you with,
00:55:45.07\00:55:47.08
that his house is full
but his field is empty.
00:55:47.11\00:55:51.21
Who will go?
00:55:51.25\00:55:52.58
Will you go?
00:55:52.61\00:55:53.95
If you are content with
the way things are in your life
00:55:53.98\00:55:58.72
and in your church,
00:55:58.75\00:56:00.09
then don't
respond to this appeal.
00:56:00.12\00:56:02.22
But if you sense the
divine discontentment of heaven
00:56:02.26\00:56:06.33
for the way
things are in this world
00:56:06.36\00:56:08.16
for the lost and
perishing that are around us
00:56:08.20\00:56:10.60
and you are willing to say,
00:56:10.63\00:56:12.00
Lord, here I am,
send me, I will go.
00:56:12.03\00:56:15.44
Then if that is the case
would you stand to your feet
00:56:15.47\00:56:18.14
wherever you are,
00:56:18.17\00:56:19.51
because we want to be
discontent with the same divine
00:56:19.54\00:56:22.94
discontentment of heaven today.
00:56:22.98\00:56:25.81
Let us pray together.
00:56:25.85\00:56:27.48
Our loving Father in heaven,
00:56:27.52\00:56:29.65
you see us
standing before you now
00:56:29.68\00:56:31.82
because we get it, we feel it,
00:56:31.85\00:56:34.69
we feel the burden on your heart
00:56:34.72\00:56:36.99
for the lost and
perishing that are around us.
00:56:37.03\00:56:39.69
We recognize that
you have blessed us
00:56:39.73\00:56:42.60
and to whom much is
given much is required.
00:56:42.63\00:56:45.63
Lord, I pray,
00:56:45.67\00:56:47.14
that this divine
discontentment in our hearts,
00:56:47.17\00:56:50.17
it will grip
us, it will stir us,
00:56:50.21\00:56:52.61
it will make us toss and
turn at night until we say,
00:56:52.64\00:56:55.84
Lord, take us, use us,
send us wherever you need us,
00:56:55.88\00:56:59.61
because we want to share
00:56:59.65\00:57:01.08
what you have
given with us to others.
00:57:01.12\00:57:03.35
And so, Lord, we thank you,
00:57:03.39\00:57:05.12
we praise you for Jesus.
00:57:05.15\00:57:06.82
We thank you for
the many blessings,
00:57:06.86\00:57:08.62
for the good spiritual
fruit that we have had here.
00:57:08.66\00:57:11.66
But, Lord, as we go,
00:57:11.69\00:57:13.16
bless us as we go, go with us
00:57:13.19\00:57:15.63
and may we find many
00:57:15.66\00:57:17.77
whom we are able to share
00:57:17.80\00:57:19.13
the gospel of Jesus Christ with.
00:57:19.17\00:57:20.97
So that one day
soon when Jesus comes,
00:57:21.00\00:57:23.71
we won't have to
pray with eyes closed.
00:57:23.74\00:57:25.97
But we will look up,
00:57:26.01\00:57:27.34
we will see you face to face
00:57:27.38\00:57:29.44
and not only we,
but our loved ones,
00:57:29.48\00:57:31.78
our friends and those whom
00:57:31.81\00:57:33.28
we have been able to
labor for and work for
00:57:33.31\00:57:36.55
to bring the
gospel to them as well.
00:57:36.58\00:57:38.75
And so, Lord, thank
you for blessing us now,
00:57:38.79\00:57:41.26
our lives are in your
hands as we leave this place,
00:57:41.29\00:57:43.99
in Jesus' name we pray.
00:57:44.03\00:57:45.49
Amen.
00:57:45.53\00:57:46.86
God bless you,
you may be seated.
00:57:46.90\00:57:48.23