Participants:
Series Code: IWTC
Program Code: IWTC000005A
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00:08 Over the past 60 years, there's been a massive decline
00:11 in foreign missions. 00:15 I'm sharing the gospel through church planting. 00:19 In 1930s, if somebody gave $10 in tithe, 00:22 they'd given additional $6 in foreign missions. 00:24 Today, just $0.28. 00:27 We're doing the best we can with what we have, 00:29 but I'm still not satisfied. 00:31 Over 2 billion people in the world today 00:33 still have no access to the gospel. 00:36 God's crazy in love with the Thai people, 00:38 and I sense His Spirit hovering over the city. 00:41 I've come to Bangkok, Thailand to discover the truth 00:43 about foreign missions. 00:45 Come with me as I follow my good friend Pastor Doug Venn 00:48 in his everyday life as a frontline missionary. 00:51 I prayed for God's biggest dream, 00:52 and He gave me this city of 12 million. 00:57 Welcome to my world. 01:11 We're here at the, at one of the Bangkok churches 01:13 and preparation for this week of evangelism. 01:17 And so all week long, our student missionary team 01:20 working with this church has been working hard 01:24 to set up the set as well as 01:27 and getting the challenges of the technical stuff. 01:31 My student missionary Andrew just reported to me 01:34 that we've got challenges with audio, with the video, 01:37 and with all these other things. 01:39 And so this morning we had a chance to pray 01:43 and to, you know, 01:44 try to seek God for the solutions 01:46 because right now... 01:50 He's telling me that we can't, we can't do it. 01:53 This evangelistic series is one of several planned 01:56 to be held in different places around the city simultaneously. 01:59 We have to use this other, 02:02 because similar pipe won't work. 02:04 At this location, the message will be translated 02:06 into the Karen language to benefit 02:08 the minority people group known as the Karen, 02:10 whose homeland is in Burma. 02:12 Our list of things to fix. 02:14 We are still working on audio. 02:18 The composition, I'll work them all, 02:21 speakers are gone and then what else was there? 02:24 We got the books for Shannon, we've got... 02:29 You wanted to move the cameras. 02:30 Okay, so both of them, okay, they are there. 02:33 Then the other thing is that you wanted, 02:35 perhaps we might need tape. 02:37 Yeah, are we using videotape? Yeah. 02:40 Okay, so it might be helpful to have some videotape. 02:43 So we need to go now. 02:45 Hey, what's there, looks like? 02:47 Yeah, those are the wheels that I brought over here. 02:50 No, I'll take that little one 02:51 and fit into car. 02:55 Well, we're on a road to go and try to work 02:58 some technical challenges out. 03:01 I've been told by some of our Thai leaders 03:03 that our city here it's been over 30 years, 03:07 since we've had kind of this city wide 03:12 evangelistic thrust. 03:14 And it's because of the fact 03:16 that we're in a Buddhist country 03:19 that these, the normal kind of methods 03:25 of using a public reaping meeting 03:28 or a public evangelistic meeting, 03:31 although they have their place, 03:33 they're not affective in reaching people 03:37 who don't even know who Jesus is. 03:41 So let alone. 03:43 You know, talking about what He's doing now, 03:46 the fact He's coming back and all the hope that He, that, 03:50 you know, we as Christians have. 03:52 For a Buddhist to even understand 03:55 what we're talking about, that is just, 03:58 they don't even have the same vocabulary. 04:01 When we describe words like sin or merit, 04:06 or salvation, these terms are... 04:12 They come from a worldview that is completely different 04:15 than the Christian worldview. 04:18 And so as a result, they may walk away 04:21 from a presentation of a Bible teaching, 04:24 that is, you know, we as a presenter 04:29 or we as a communicators, 04:31 may think that we have communicated clearly 04:34 but in reality, 04:38 they have just been reinforced in their work spaced faith. 04:45 It's like trying to explain snow to them. 04:48 You know, snow is cold and snow falls down 04:53 from the sky, 04:55 these are all intellectual concepts 04:57 for the Thais, where... 05:01 You know, what does it feel like to pick up snow 05:04 to taste it and then to pack it into a ball 05:08 and then to throw it 05:10 or to have that impact on your face? 05:13 You know, these are intellectual concepts 05:15 that those hear... 05:18 In this part of the world, 05:22 they understand 05:26 but they have no experience, no reference point. 05:29 And so it is with Christianity when trying to explain 05:31 that to them, is that, they have no reference point. 05:35 It's like we're speaking an alien language to the Thais. 05:41 And that's one... 05:43 A lot of people don't understand that, 05:44 that to even take 05:48 a simple concept of, 05:53 let's say forgiveness. 05:54 The Bible says that, "Though your sins be 05:56 as scarlet and they shall be as white as wool." 05:59 It'd be... 06:01 red like crimson, they shall be as snow. 06:08 This reference point of snow, they have, 06:14 it's never snowed here in Thailand. 06:16 And so that alone makes communicating the gospel 06:22 a challenge that we have to be able to overcome. 06:26 And this is one reason why, you know, sometimes, you know, 06:32 what do you say, what do you say? 06:34 And that's where I've tried to be 06:35 really like a student of the culture and, you know, 06:39 encouraged the church planters here to, 06:41 you know, listen and to read their culture 06:45 and read what's, you know, what's going on society 06:48 and history and literature, so that way 06:51 they can appropriately communicate the essence 06:56 and the meaning of the Gospel in ways that the Thais 06:59 or their audience will understand. 07:02 And are we doing a good job with that? 07:07 I don't know. 07:08 I... 07:10 I pray and I know that God's Spirit is working 07:14 across the city and that we do the best we can for His glory. 07:26 I love how you set up the set. 07:28 So it's a good job. 07:29 That was him too. That was both of us. 07:31 Okay. You did good job. 07:32 When I took you up to Baiyoke Sky Tower 07:35 and you had a chance to see how big the city is. 07:40 What were you feelings? 07:42 How immense the city is? 07:44 Yeah. It's huge. 07:47 Nearly 12 million people live in Bangkok, 07:51 but what does that mean? 07:53 How do you wrap your mind around a number that big? 07:56 Think of it this way. 07:58 If the 1200 Adventists that live in Bangkok 08:00 were to share the Gospel with one new person every day, 08:04 he would take nearly 30 years to reach everyone in the city. 08:09 This is just one city. 08:11 This is one city, its odd city. 08:14 I mean, it's not your adopted city 08:16 for this time that you're here. 08:18 But to share the gospel here, you know, 08:22 there are many Christians around the world 08:24 who think that everyone knows Jesus. 08:27 They've had a chance to hear the truths of these last days, 08:31 that he had a chance to meet Jesus, 08:33 they've had a chance to know the Bible 08:35 and they just have rejected Him. 08:39 But what we're facing here in Bangkok 08:42 is not that, that's not reality, 08:48 that's not reality here in Bangkok. 08:51 So, because, how many people did you see 08:52 at church yesterday? 08:55 Like 40. 40? 08:56 That's cool because that is cool 08:58 'cause that's a neighborhood church time 09:01 and those 40 people aren't driving an hour, 09:04 they're walking to church. 09:05 And did you, did you guys get a chance 09:07 to go to someone's house? 09:09 We dropped a couple of kids off when we're home, 09:10 but they are really in the way. 09:12 All right, yeah, you dropped them off. 09:13 You just walked. 09:14 And see that's the whole point is that, 09:16 these church plants are being neighborhood 09:17 and community based. 09:19 And so it is that kind of saturation 09:23 that we're wanting to do all across the city. 09:27 But many people say, we're done. 09:31 There's 4,000, just to give you a reference. 09:33 There's over 4,000, 7 Elevens in the city. 09:36 Basically, there's either FamilyMart 09:38 or 7 Eleven on every corner. 09:41 Right? Yeah. 09:42 Okay, but so our dream is to have that many church plants 09:46 or that kind of saturation across the city. 09:48 It's a whole lot. 09:50 Do we have, how many in America though? 09:52 That's a good question. 09:54 So in the Conference that I previously served, 09:56 there was a 100 and that covers all parts of three states, 10:00 Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, 10:02 and the northeast corner of Oregon. 10:05 But even in those places, the number two 10:07 is not largest city in Washington State. 10:10 Spokane only had 10, approximately 10 churches 10:14 in the metro area 10:16 and that's a city of half a million. 10:17 Wow! 10:19 So here we have seven established churches, 10:22 22 church plants in a city of 12 million. 10:26 So is the job done? 10:28 Definitely not. 10:30 What are you eating? 10:31 Oh, I have no idea what this is 10:33 but it's like an onion with a Kiwi inside. 10:36 So it tastes like a onion? 10:37 No, no, no, it tastes like a kiwi. 10:40 I was just gonna say. Yeah. 10:41 So... 10:42 But it looks like an onion, isn't that? 10:44 Do you wanna... Do you wanna know what it is? 10:45 Yeah. 10:47 This here is called Dragon Fruit. 10:48 Really? And it comes from a cactus. 10:51 You know, beside the road. 10:52 Yeah, and it's really delicious. 10:56 This here... That looks pretty good. 10:58 This here is what they call guava. 11:01 That's guava? Yeah. 11:03 This is guava. 11:05 They call this farang or, because it's white inside. 11:11 I had that in Mexico 11:12 and it tasted completely different. 11:14 Yeah, it's a different variety. 11:16 Nicole, I just wanted to ask you a question of that, 11:18 you know, you were saying earlier that... 11:23 What was she saying earlier? 11:25 Why are you here in Thailand? 11:30 Yeah, why are you here? Why did you come? 11:32 Why did I come? 11:33 'Cause I was called here, I'm supposed to be here. 11:35 That's right. Yeah. 11:36 Right. 11:37 I know there is a reason that God wants me here, 11:39 so His work must not be done with Thailand yet. 11:41 Yeah, right. 11:42 But see this is the problem, is that, 11:44 many people think in missions that we're done, that we have, 11:48 you know, a couple, you know, a satellite, 11:50 TV station or TV programs that are going around with, 11:54 you know, sermons in English all around the world. 11:57 I can remember one student missionary 11:58 came to Bangkok and they were surprised 12:01 that no one spoke English. 12:03 Really? Yeah. 12:04 Because they got off the plane and they said to me that, 12:09 "You know, you know, Pastor Doug, you know, 12:11 I came here to serve 12:13 and how come people don't speak English here?" 12:16 And they were just, you know, part in that culture... 12:18 Shocked that they have their own language. 12:20 That's right, that's right, and, or this assumption that, 12:23 you know, we are that, the entire world is, 12:28 thinks that they are weak or how we think, 12:31 they speak how we speak, they dress how we dress, 12:34 they eat how we eat, and all these things. 12:36 But this is where, as you're experiencing that, 12:41 that's not the case. 12:42 And so thus and communicating the Gospel, 12:45 we also have to then, you know, 12:48 find ways that will connect to the people here. 12:51 How much did you raise to come here? 12:54 I raised about, about $2,000. 12:57 Okay. All right. 12:59 And so by God's grace you'll be with us 13:01 at least six months to... 13:02 Yeah, yeah. Okay, six months or longer. 13:06 It's what we're praying. 13:08 I don't have the tig yet, so, so something in the air. 13:10 So but, you know, and, 13:11 but this is something where that... 13:12 According to some of the statistics 13:14 that we found is that, even just you raising 13:17 that funds to come over and to give, you know, 13:19 six months of your life for service to Christ, 13:22 that this, you've out given, you know, 13:25 the most Christians across North America. 13:29 Unfortunately, Pastor Doug is correct. 13:33 The reality is that the average North American Adventist 13:36 will give through the church about $820 per year in Tithe 13:40 and around $400 for the local church budget. 13:44 Yet, the same person will give only $21 a year 13:47 for foreign missions. 13:49 That's less than $2 a month or about 0.40 cents a week. 13:53 At this rate, it will take a hundred years 13:56 of one person's average giving to foreign missions 13:58 to equal the amount Nicole has raised 14:00 for her half year of service. 14:02 And you raised $2,000 to get yourself over here 14:06 and now you're gonna see 14:07 what the rest of the church has given 14:09 because that's the stuff that we work with, 14:12 is that, you know, we are at the receiving end 14:15 of the those mission offerings 14:17 and now you'll get to see what that looks like. 14:21 I found that really astonishing. 14:23 Astonishing, but true. 14:24 In the 1930s, if someone gave $10 in tithe, 14:28 they would give a little less than $2 14:30 for the local church budget 14:31 but an additional $6 for foreign missions. 14:34 Today, for every $10 given in tithe, 14:37 another $5 has given for the local church budget, 14:40 but only 0.28 cents is given to foreign missions. 14:44 Let's look at the numbers. 14:45 The average Adventist in 1933, gave about $311 for tithe 14:50 in today's money and an additional $193 14:54 through the church toward foreign mission. 14:56 In 2006, the standard of living is much higher, 14:59 so we each give an average of about $820 a year in tithe, 15:03 which is over two and a half times 15:05 what was given in 1933. 15:07 But when it comes to foreign missions, 15:09 only about $21 per year is given, 15:12 which is an 89% drop from what it used to be. 15:17 Here's a graph showing the overall trend 15:19 during the 73 year period. 15:21 You can see that there is a huge increase 15:23 in tithe due to the economic boom 15:25 of the 20th century, 15:27 giving to the local church has also grown dramatically. 15:31 However, something has gone dreadfully wrong 15:33 with foreign mission giving. 15:35 Instead of growing with the economy, 15:37 it has steadily shrunk to the point 15:39 where today our foreign mission program 15:41 is statistically nearly extinct 15:44 and this downward trend still continues. 15:48 Just how much money are we talking about here, 15:51 between 1933 and 2006? 15:54 A total of $1.2 billion was given to foreign missions, 15:58 while over $32 billion was given for tithe. 16:01 If giving for foreign missions had continued 16:03 at the same percentage of tithe that it was in 1933, 16:07 $9.9 billion would have gone into the work. 16:10 What we're looking at here is an $8.7 billion shortfall. 16:15 I found that really astonishing. 16:17 I thought people gave more. 16:19 Well, what can I say? 16:24 Thank you for giving. 16:26 I don't just know people that's what I've been, 16:28 I've been taught like in Sabbath school 16:30 and stuff that, that, "Jesus is coming any day 16:34 because the word has been preached 16:35 everywhere around the world." 16:38 You are here in Thailand now, is that the case? 16:40 No. Why? 16:42 It's not because like Pastor Doug was saying, 16:45 there's less than 1% has claimed Christ 16:51 as their Savior. 16:52 And I mean, there's point like, 16:57 there's plenty that... 16:58 I mean, sure they've, there maybe people 17:01 that have heard of Him but there's plenty 17:02 that haven't even gotten that. 17:05 How will they hear? 17:08 How will they know? 17:11 How will they ever find the truth if we don't go? 17:17 How can we fear God's love to show? 17:24 Jesus desires every child His love to know 17:31 And around the world in every tongue, 17:34 To every nation, tribe and clan 17:37 The Gospel must be preached to every man. 17:40 Yes. Okay. 17:41 Okay. Ready? 17:43 Yes. 18:00 They say, they never heard about Jesus. 18:02 Really? Yeah, they never. 18:07 Would you like to know? Would you like to know? 18:13 How will they hear? 18:18 How will they know? 18:21 How will they ever find the truth 18:24 If we don't go? 18:27 How can we fear God's love to show? 18:33 Jesus desires every child His love to know 18:52 Finished. 18:53 I asked him, 18:54 "have you ever heard about Jesus?" 18:56 He said, "No, but sometimes he saw like the poster 19:00 that they put on the tree." 19:02 Yeah, something like that. 19:04 I asked him that, "So how do you think 19:07 when you saw that 19:09 and how do you feel about Christianity?" 19:11 He say that, "Yeah, it's good because every religion 19:14 teach the people to be a good people." 19:16 Oh. Yeah. 19:18 Okay. 19:59 How will they hear 20:04 If we don't go? 20:08 How will they hear 20:10 If we don't go? 21:19 In the beautiful country of Thailand, 21:21 99.3% of the people do not consider 21:24 themselves Christian, while less than 1% 21:27 are Christian of any denomination. 21:29 96.2% are classified as unreached, 21:33 which means that they haven't been exposed 21:34 to the Gospel in any form. 21:36 So many people are like satisfied 21:39 with the way our church is. 21:42 And that's, and that's why I go back 21:44 to the 7 Eleven vision, is that, 21:46 we need to have that kind of saturation 21:48 across the city but that takes money. 21:51 I mean, real estate here is the same price as, you know, 21:55 New York, you know, Seattle. 21:58 And so this is where or it might even be 22:00 more expensive but this is where to, 22:04 you know, we're wrestling with those very issues 22:06 of how are we finding, you know, 22:08 ways to share the gospel to people like Sue who, 22:11 you know, we were able to go to her baptism yesterday. 22:14 Amen. 22:16 But it takes that community, community based church plant 22:21 that's meeting needs and then living the gospel 22:23 and then people are drawn to how Christ changes lives. 22:27 And just like you saw, and we witnessed 22:29 yesterday's Khun Su and her daughter. 22:32 How long have you been here, Nicole, now? 22:34 Now wait, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 22:38 and so weekend, three days, 10 days. 22:40 So 10 days. Ten days. 22:42 So how many Christians have you seen? 22:45 Oh, wow. 22:48 Not very many. 22:49 Even the woman that was on Sabbath was Buddhist. 22:53 Yeah, yeah, she was Buddhist. 22:54 We're at the temple and she was doing her rounds. 22:56 She was definitely... 22:59 Wow. 23:00 So even though, if you're... 23:02 You're already hanging out with Thai friends 23:03 and you didn't even know that. 23:05 I assumed she was Adventist but apparently she wasn't. 23:07 Right. 23:09 And I think that, that's the assumption 23:11 that many people make is that, around the world that, 23:13 you know, they've, that, everyone around the world 23:15 already had a chance to hear the gospel. 23:18 And you're going to, your eyes will be opened. 23:22 I find that really hard to believe. 23:26 Yeah, that, at space. 23:36 The prison was completely changed 23:39 into a safe place. 23:44 And many prisoners were reformed 23:47 and they were able to go back into the society. 23:52 And what did He mean by saying this kindness 23:56 to the prisoners? 24:28 This is such a high Sabbath because another seven people 24:32 have made their decision to follow Jesus Christ 24:35 and thanks to the sacrifice and the teamwork 24:39 of the church members across the city. 24:41 These are now seven people who have accepted Jesus Christ. 24:46 I know there's a party going on in heaven, right? 24:55 Let's walk today is such a high Sabbath 24:58 and I just wanted to, you know, find out, you know, 25:01 it was your, it was your sacrifice 25:03 and your, you know, God used you as a tool 25:06 to touch the lives of these people. 25:08 And so what did you see today or what feelings you have? 25:12 Oh, I'm really exited to see seven people decided 25:18 to join the church and decided to follow Jesus all the way 25:23 and we're so exited about it, definitely. 25:26 It's not a sacrifice. 25:28 This is something I enjoy doing it. 25:31 Praise God. Praise God. Yeah. 25:37 Run to the heart 25:40 That never changes 25:45 Run to the arms 25:48 That are always near 25:53 Run Lord to fall upon 25:57 Your saving grace 26:01 Your saving grace 26:03 Today at this church plant, 26:05 we've witnessed an awesome scene, 26:06 where God is changing the lives of these precious Thai people. 26:10 And if it wasn't for the fact that this church plant 26:13 working in its local community, these people would not have 26:16 had a chance to meet Jesus Christ 26:18 as their Lord and Savior. 26:19 And so it was so cool today as we saw that, 26:22 when the one woman, who'd been, Thai lady was studying 26:26 the Bible with their church planting team 26:29 and she attended these meetings and then her husband 26:32 also who'd been studying with them. 26:35 He also took his stand with his wife 26:37 and that just broke my heart that God's grace, even as, 26:41 with working and poured out on this family. 26:44 And today, we got to see this family 26:46 come to Jesus Christ and take their stand together 26:49 and that just broke my heart. 26:57 I'm just so excited about this fact that we had, what, 27:01 what 17 people accept Jesus Christ. 27:04 But, Pastor Mok, you know, 27:07 this city has 12 million people. 27:10 Yes. 27:11 So is this a fruit of 17, are you satisfied with this? 27:17 We're very happy and exited about people, 27:21 you know, accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. 27:25 We are happy. 27:26 But we look comparing 27:28 with the population of this city, 27:30 of course, we are not satisfied, 27:32 we want as many of them come in to the church as possible. 27:36 Yeah. 28:13 As you can see, we've got a real problem. 28:15 And Bangkok is not the only unique situation, 28:18 we've got metropolitan centers all over the world, 28:21 more than 500 that have little 28:24 or no Seventh-day Adventist presence. 28:27 God is calling you to get involved. 28:29 Whatever skills you have, they are needed. 28:32 God needs you. 28:34 Go to adventistmission.org to learn more about 28:38 the possibilities of mission activity 28:41 and your involvement. 28:43 I'll never forget the people where I met 28:46 when I lived here in Bangkok. 28:47 From the street sweepers, the taxi drivers, 28:50 the mall executives, all I want all of them to meet Jesus. 28:54 And that's why I'm so grateful for your sacrifice 28:57 for the mission offering, because someday soon, 28:59 you'll meet them too. 29:15 Next week on "I Want This City," 29:17 we take a look at the literature that's available 29:19 for the entire country of Thailand. 29:21 We don't have that book. 29:23 The truth is there, 29:25 but some of these words I can't even read. 29:27 Watch "I Want This City," Wednesday. |
Revised 2018-01-10