Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
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Welcome again to
Issues and Answers.
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Today our issue is going to
be; How can we work for God?
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And I guarantee you one thing,
you're going to find that the
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answer is that the Lord
is calling each and every one
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of us to be His hands, and
His feet here in the earth.
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And it actually reminds
me of the scripture found in
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I John 3:18.
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Listen to what Paul, excuse me,
this was John, of course, wrote.
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He said, Little children
let us not love merely in theory
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or in speech, but in
deed and in truth, in practice
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and in sincerity.
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God is calling us to
be His touch in the world.
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And particularly today, we want
to focus on the fact that God
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has a call for
every woman to ministry.
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With us today is
someone who is passionate about
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Women's Ministries
is Heather Dawn Small.
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She is the director for
the General Conference of
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Seventh-day Adventists
Women's Ministry Program.
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Heather, thank you
so much for coming back.
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Now tell us about your new
theme at the General Conference
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for Women's Ministries.
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Well, at the General Conference
there's an over-all theme
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of every department, and
that theme is Tell the World.
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Well, of course, when
you're dealing with women
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Tell the World just wasn't
enough for us because we're
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touchy feely kind of people.
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We want to get in there
and really get involved.
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And so I thought about
it, and prayed about it,
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and God gave us the theme,
Touch A Heart, Tell the World.
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And you've got a beautiful logo.
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Let's look at that.
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Yes, and on the logo
you'll see the first slide.
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It has A
Ministry for every woman
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Touch a Heart, Tell the World.
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And that's what we're trying
to promote, and encourage our
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women that every woman of
the church should be involved
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in ministry to somebody
in some form or fashion.
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And by doing that we'll be
touching hearts, and we'll be
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telling the world.
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Amen, amen!
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How did God lead
you to this theme?
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Oh, that was an awesome thing
that He did because it started
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about a year before the General
Conference session in 2005.
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I remember Ardis
Stanbacken who was then the GC
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Women's Ministry director.
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She and I were talking
about what our theme could be.
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I can't remember who
came up with the idea of,
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A Ministry for Every Woman
because at General Conference,
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session we always have
our meetings, and we do this
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beautiful backdrop, and so we
were thinking, what could we do?
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Then we asked our graphic artist
if she would come up with a
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picture which would depict this.
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And she came up with the picture
which you just saw with a woman
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holding the globe.
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Well, after the session was
over and now I'm here, director,
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and I'm looking at the
General Conference theme,
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and I'm sitting in the hall.
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The session wasn't over as yet.
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That's when it started.
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I'm sitting in the hall and I'm
thinking, Okay, Lord, what am I
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going to do with this?
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I mean, where do You want
me to lead the women of the
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church according to
what You want for us?
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Amen.
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And as I began to think about it
the first thing that came to my
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mind was Isaiah.
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Isaiah 61:1-3 where the Bible
talks about "the Spirit of God
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is upon me. "
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It's the
prophecy of Jesus Christ.
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As I read that I realized, but
this is what God wants to do.
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He wants us to go out
there and proclaim His message,
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but He also wants us to heal
people, and to touch people,
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and to be involved
where there is pain.
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As I thought about that; that
whole idea of touch came in,
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and I thought,
Oh, Touch and Tell.
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But then somebody else gave
us the idea of Touch a Heart,
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Tell the World, which
was even so much better.
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It's beautiful!
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We put it altogether and
then I came across a quotation,
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which is on the second
slide, from E. G. White's
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Ministry of Healing.
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That's on slide two.
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In it she says:
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As I read that I thought
wait a minute; this is not what
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we've really been doing.
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We've been going out there
and preaching, and teaching,
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but we really haven't
spent time meeting the needs.
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And it's not that as a
church we don't do that.
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Yes we do.
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You know we have our Community
Services; we have ADRA.
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But it seems as though, to me,
we need to bring those together.
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Amen.
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So God gave me this whole vision
and this idea that even before
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we do our evangelistic meetings,
women must go into the community
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three to six months
before, and they must work
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in the community.
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They must visit people's homes.
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They must see
what the needs are.
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Meet the needs of the people.
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Then when the pastor, or whoever
it is comes, to preach the word,
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people will come because we
would have touched their hearts
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with the touch of God.
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They will know that
we are really sincere.
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I think that will make a whole
big different to the way that we
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go out there and tell the world.
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I think if we just live
that in our day-by-day life.
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Yes, definitely.
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You know, when you said that
Jesus, and as Ellen White had
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written, that He
ministered to their needs,
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then He said, Follow me.
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People don't care how
much you know till they know
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how much you care.
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And that's just the scripture
we opened up with today.
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That we've got to love,
just not in theory and in words,
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but in action and in truth.
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So I do know that when we
go out, and if we minister to
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people, just becoming friends
with them, helping to meet
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their physical needs, winning
their confidence, then they will
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listen to what love drives
us, or compels us to do this.
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I know I've said this before,
but I think I'll say it again,
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because it's something
that we all need to hear.
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People don't want
perfect Christians.
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People don't want us to go
out there looking all nice,
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and dandy and fine, with our
Bibles tucked under our arms.
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And we go out there and we open
the word of God, and we preach
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these wonderful sermons.
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The average person out
there does not want to hear what
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the word of God says until
they have felt the word of God
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in their lives.
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They want to
know, "Oh, is this true?
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Well then, tell me
what this is done for you. "
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Yes!
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Now, if I can't share with you
what God has done for me through
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His word, then why should
somebody else listen to it?
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So we've got to change the way
that we have been reaching out
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to people's lives.
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We've got to realize that unless
somebody needs, unless a person
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who has a suffering; there
is a woman who's being abused
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by her husband.
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There's this other woman who
doesn't have any money to feed
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her hungry family.
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How can we tell them God's word
and expect them to accept it,
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if we do not first meet their
need; meet them at the point
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of their pain.
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Amen, amen.
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It's when we do that; that's
when ministry really begins.
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And, you know, sometimes
that pain, it doesn't have to be
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just physical abuse, sometimes
it's a pain of loneliness
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or isolation.
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That's right.
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When we go out and prove
ourselves to be friendly,
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and interested in someone;
listening, sometimes it's just
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people need someone
who will listen to them.
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How do you, as you're
taking this message, this theme,
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across the world, and I
know how much you travel.
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You're doing what,
close to twelve international
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trips a year?
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Ah, I'd say
between eight and ten.
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Eight and ten?
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That's amazing, especially when
you're gone two weeks at a time.
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Two to three weeks, yeah.
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That is amazing, Heather Dawn.
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But when you go out, and you're
teaching women this and say,
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Let's Touch a Heart, and Tell
the World, have you ever had
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women who say, Well, I
don't know what my gift is?
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I don't know where begin.
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How do you teach
them where to begin?
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First thing I ask them
what are they passionate about?
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What do they like?
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What do you
think you are good at?
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It doesn't matter, tell me
something, whether it's baking
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bread or it's doing
some kind of art work.
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Whatever it is, that's
what God is going to use.
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One of the big crazes that I
see here in the United States
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that I've gotten myself
caught up in is scrapbooking.
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I love scrapbooking!
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I scrapbook cards all the time
because it's become a personal
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ministry for me.
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But somebody who loves
scrapbooking can go to a crop
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meet, a group where there
are other women meeting to do
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scrapbooking, and share
God's word with them as they sit
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and they talk.
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Just talk about
what God has done.
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That's ministry!
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I'm using whatever God has
put in my hand to reach out
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and to become friends with
other people because, you see,
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it's not that I
have to go with my Bible.
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I don't have to have a
neat set of Bible lessons there.
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No, I don't.
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I just need me, and God
with me, speaking through me.
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And so it could be anywhere.
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I could be knitting
with my friends in a group.
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I could be painting.
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I could be baking.
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I could be... it
doesn't matter what it could be.
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There was one lady who told me
once, "Well, I don't know what
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I do well. "
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I said, "Well, think about it.
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What do you enjoy doing?"
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She said, "I love to read. "
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And I said, "Do
you read out loud?
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She said, "I love
to read out loud. "
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I said, "That's a ministry.
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Can you think of anyone
in your community who needs,
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or who would love to have
someone come and read the word
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of God for them?
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Or read a book for them?
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Or read the newspaper for them?"
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She thought about it and she
said, "Yeah, I guess I can. "
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I said, "Then go and do it. "
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Just take that; take your voice,
and let your voice be what God
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will use to
touch someone's life.
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Amen.
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When you were talking I was
thinking about a precious lady
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in Berkley Springs, West
Virginia, who loves to quilt.
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She started a
quilting group at her home.
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She had many different
denominations available,
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or that were
attending this quilting group.
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So then one day she had
been introduced to the book
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that I wrote, Exalting His
Word, and she had left that
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out and some woman there picked
it up and said, "What is this?"
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They all decided, after reading
a little bit, that they'd like
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to study that.
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So they started getting
together thirty minutes earlier
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than their quilting time,
and began this devotional.
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It turned out that, she said
that it ended up that they were
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spending just a lot
shorter time doing any quilting,
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and more time studying the word.
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So we can reach out
and be friends to people.
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That's true.
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One of the things that
I've noticed over the years
00:11:12.94\00:11:15.21
in the church is that
people in the world think
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Seventh-day
Adventist's are strange people.
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Yes!
00:11:19.41\00:11:20.44
We are so "other
worldly" so they think.
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You know, they look at us: the
way we dress, the food we eat,
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you know, what we do and what
we don't do; which is a very
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long list, and they think,
Oh Adventists are just strange.
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I grew up in the church hearing
"You've got to be in the world
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but not of the world. "
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Separate yourselves.
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And to me what we've done
is we've built these nice neat
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little boxes for ourselves
called churches, and as long as
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we're inside of this little box
called the church we're fine.
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But God has called us to
ministry outside of the box
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called the church.
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He has called us to
go into the community.
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Now many of us are scared stiff
of doing that because we're
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safe in the church.
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We come to church, we give our
offering, we give to missions,
00:12:02.79\00:12:05.11
and we think
we've done our part.
00:12:05.14\00:12:06.56
But that's not what
God has called us to.
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He's called us to a ministry
of touching peoples lives.
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There are many people who
will never come into a church.
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Never ever will they
walk one step into the church.
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So what do we do
for those people?
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Do we just leave them and say,
"Well, I'm not going to go down
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to that bar because if somebody
sees me walking into that bar,
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or standing outside of
that bar, I don't know what they
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would think.
00:12:30.56\00:12:31.53
If somebody sees me in the
red light district, "What would
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they think if some...
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But God is saying
that's where we've got to go.
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So if we would only allow God
to take us outside of the box,
00:12:37.34\00:12:42.21
called our church, and go and
minister where the needs are,
00:12:42.24\00:12:48.60
It's, I mean, it's just
awesome what it's going to do.
00:12:48.63\00:12:51.68
I'm seeing it taking place
in so many parts of the world
00:12:51.71\00:12:55.95
where our women are
going into the communities,
00:12:55.98\00:12:58.32
and they're just doing what
has to be done, and the changes
00:12:58.35\00:13:01.95
it's bringing about
in the people's lives.
00:13:01.98\00:13:03.58
Amen!
00:13:03.61\00:13:04.58
Sometimes you
can even volunteer.
00:13:04.59\00:13:06.77
I've talked with some
Adventists who had volunteered
00:13:06.80\00:13:09.15
at the Salvation Army.
00:13:09.18\00:13:10.46
Yep.
00:13:10.49\00:13:11.46
They were making so many
contacts in the community,
00:13:11.47\00:13:14.18
and going out and
doing things there.
00:13:14.21\00:13:15.93
People began to know
that they were Adventists,
00:13:15.96\00:13:19.35
They'd already developed
up this wonderful relationship
00:13:19.38\00:13:22.69
with the people, and they were
beginning to make inroads into
00:13:22.72\00:13:26.10
many denominations as
well as into the community.
00:13:26.13\00:13:29.61
That's right.
00:13:29.64\00:13:30.61
We've got to stop
being "those Adventists".
00:13:30.62\00:13:33.13
To me, we need to be Seventh-day
Adventist Christians.
00:13:33.16\00:13:38.51
Amen.
00:13:38.54\00:13:39.86
And there's a huge difference
between the Seventh-day
00:13:39.89\00:13:41.87
Adventist and the
Seventh-day Adventist Christian.
00:13:41.90\00:13:43.87
Amen!
00:13:43.90\00:13:44.87
Because the Seventh-day
Adventist is only interested
00:13:44.88\00:13:46.36
in the "do's and don'ts".
00:13:46.39\00:13:47.50
But the Seventh-day Adventist
Christian has Christ first.
00:13:47.53\00:13:51.43
And if we can only be
on that side, then wow!
00:13:51.46\00:13:56.07
I just can't, I'm so excited
about what I know God can do
00:13:56.10\00:14:00.01
for us, and through us.
00:14:00.04\00:14:01.15
Amen, amen.
00:14:01.18\00:14:02.51
I had to, when you talked
about Christian, you know,
00:14:02.54\00:14:04.96
we believe that God has
his people in every church.
00:14:04.99\00:14:08.13
Oh, yes, definitely!
00:14:08.16\00:14:09.13
I was recently doing
an interview at a prison,
00:14:09.14\00:14:12.55
and the chaplain there
asked me, "What do Seventh-day
00:14:12.58\00:14:15.52
Adventists believe?"
00:14:15.55\00:14:16.52
I said to him, Well, we believe
that the Bible is the inspired
00:14:16.53\00:14:20.80
word of God.
00:14:20.83\00:14:21.80
We believe in the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:14:21.81\00:14:24.50
We believe that
salvation is by grace alone,
00:14:24.53\00:14:27.62
yet we believe that in
the power of the Holy Spirit,
00:14:27.65\00:14:31.35
and the power of the word,
that He empowers us to obey.
00:14:31.38\00:14:34.82
That God works in us to
will and act according to
00:14:34.85\00:14:37.22
His good pleasure.
00:14:37.25\00:14:38.22
And so I was talking along and
then I said, "and we believe in
00:14:38.23\00:14:42.09
keeping all of
the Ten Commandments
00:14:42.10\00:14:43.76
He looked at me and he said,
"You know, there's really not
00:14:44.81\00:14:47.99