Participants:
Series Code: IWTC
Program Code: IWTC000006A
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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 the 1930s, if somebody gave $10 in tithe, 00:22 it gave an 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 every day 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. 01:32 God's work is languishing, and one example of that here 01:34 that I live with daily is, what is there to communicate 01:40 the hope that we have 01:43 as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, 01:44 what is there that communicates to the people around us 01:50 what the Bible teaches about 01:52 what will happen in these end days. 01:54 And obviously, if you go 01:56 to your local church literature rack, 01:57 you can find tracks on Sabbath, and the sanctuary, 02:01 and the state of the dead, 02:03 and the fact that Jesus is coming so soon. 02:05 But here in Thailand, 02:07 we're here actually in the office of the Adventist, 02:10 the Voice of Prophecy, 02:12 but I want to just have you take look. 02:17 Here we have photocopies of lessons 02:22 that are what I've been told, they're over 60 years old, 02:28 and you can see here that, 02:32 you know, the truth is there. 02:36 But even at my second and third grade level of Thai, 02:40 some of these words, 02:41 I can't even read what letter this is, 02:44 you know, what is that, 02:45 what is that letter right there. 02:46 It's a blob of ink. 02:48 And so how can the truth be clearly communicated 02:51 when it's... 02:53 we're dealing with a copy of a copy of a copy. 02:56 And I asked John Siphon, 03:00 the Voice of Prophesy director, 03:05 I said, "What will it take to get new lessons printed?" 03:10 And she said to me, "You know, we need money." 03:13 And I said, "Well, how much?" 03:15 And she said, "Well, a typical run of printing 03:18 would be about $3,000 to $5,000 to get new lessons, I mean." 03:22 And I'm like, 03:27 to get new lessons 03:32 so that way the precious Thai people will have hoped, 03:37 and they'll know what's coming." 03:42 Here's another set 03:47 that this is, you know, 03:49 because here in Thailand, we have Buddhists. 03:52 And they have... 03:53 the world view is completely different. 03:55 And so here this is a set that looks at what is good 04:01 in Buddhism, how has God used the truth there 04:05 to then make a bridge to the Bible. 04:08 And so here, 04:10 this is a wonderful set of lessons. 04:12 But you look at the picture, and what do you see here? 04:19 Bunch of blobs. 04:21 It's just, it's not quite clear. 04:23 And... Not very attractive. 04:25 Yeah, it's needless to say. 04:27 Then we can look here that... 04:29 So when somebody calls interested in Adventism, 04:33 this is what we send them? 04:37 When someone calls 04:38 or actually when they write, they come, 04:42 you know, the letter comes here to the mission 04:44 or an email is sent or, you know, 04:46 churches ask for literature. 04:48 And... 04:55 this is what we have. 05:00 Even though we don't have the sharpest tools, 05:03 oh, God, he's still using film. 05:09 Look here on this picture. 05:12 You can see that here is actually, 05:15 these men are in prison, and the seeds of hope 05:19 are still going through to them, 05:21 and God is changing lives... 05:31 despite our selfish greed. 05:38 We have... 05:39 there are some other literature. 05:42 I asked John Siphon, and I said, 05:45 "Where did you get these printed?" 05:48 We got some new ones here, 05:51 and I'll just show you these right here. 05:54 We've got Steps to Christ. 05:55 And we've got these health lessons. 05:57 And I said, "Hey, John," which means leader, 06:00 teacher, boss, "Where did we get these?" 06:03 And she goes, "The laymen paid for these." 06:05 I said, "Well, where's your budget?" 06:08 She goes, "I don't have a budget." 06:09 And I said, "Where do you get this stuff reprinted 06:13 when you run out off?" 06:16 Then she says, "We don't, we just use what we have 06:20 until it's all gone." 06:22 Another example of what's going on here, 06:25 you can see that here are some amazing facts lessons 06:31 for the Chinese because here in Bangkok, 06:33 we have lots of languages, and so you can see here, 06:37 this one's pretty clear but it's a copy of a copy. 06:40 All right, so okay. It's not colored. 06:43 It's not colored, but, you know, 06:45 what's going on in this one? 06:47 Can you tell? No. 06:50 I know the pictures so I know what's happening. 06:52 Right, but you know, you have to look at it that, 06:54 oh, here's someone's foot, and here's glass. 06:57 And you know, and this is actually sand, 06:58 but you really can't tell that because of the quality. 07:02 So anyway that's... 07:04 So this is what we have to use here. 07:11 And it just breaks my heart 07:13 because even at my former church 07:20 in our district, 07:22 our local church literature rack was bigger 07:27 and had more stock 07:30 than what we have here at the mission. 07:34 It was more well stocked than what we had here 07:38 at the headquarters to serve an entire nation. 07:41 And there, we're just trying to serve one or two cities 07:45 of 50,000 in seven nation of 65 million. 07:48 You asked also about the opportunities to learn more 07:55 as some of the Adventists regarding the writings 07:58 of Ellen White. 08:02 I don't even know where they are. 08:04 I've heard that you can get some here and there, 08:06 but many of the books aren't even translated. 08:13 And so there's a condition here in the church 08:19 that for the last 100 years 08:21 because those tools aren't there, 08:23 we've missed that guidance, we've missed that guidance. 08:27 So we've been a missile without a guidance system, 08:29 how's that? 08:30 Okay. 08:34 We've been like a scud missile. 08:37 We're going somewhere, but the guidance, 08:39 that guidance from the spirit of prophecy hasn't been there. 08:45 This place is to be the ascending place 08:48 to across the nation to be a place 08:54 where the hope of Christ's coming, 08:56 the hope that Christ makes in our families, 08:59 the hope that He brings to in our health, 09:02 all this hope that we have, it is... 09:07 I don't know how to describe it. 09:11 We have this work, this deposit of hope, 09:13 but we can't get it out 09:15 because we don't have the money to print it. 09:19 We have prisoners who don't know the hope 09:21 because we don't have the lessons. 09:23 We have this entire city here in Bangkok of 13 million 09:28 who they have not heard it in compelling in creative ways 09:33 because we don't have the tools 09:35 or the finances to publish it 09:39 in vast amounts. 09:43 So yeah, I live with that. 09:48 I live with the languishing every day. 10:06 Gary, I've got a challenge for you today. 10:08 Have you ever been blessed by the book Steps to Christ 10:11 or the Desire of Ages? 10:12 I haven't read. Okay. 10:14 So your challenge today is, 10:16 we're gonna try to go on to this campus here, 10:19 and see if you can find that book. 10:21 Well, this is the Adventist Book Center, 10:23 a good place to find, right? 10:24 Let's see, let's start here. 10:25 Do you have a copy of the Desire of Ages, please? 10:28 Oh, we don't have. Sorry. 10:30 Okay, Steps to Christ? 10:32 Steps to Christ, I think we have only one. 10:35 Okay. Oh, sorry. 10:38 Thai, is it? 10:40 Steps to Christ. 10:41 As for Desire of Ages, 10:43 we are out of stock for a long time already. 10:45 Right. Yeah, here is Steps to Christ. 10:48 Right, so we have it in English, 10:50 and how many copies of this do you have? 10:51 Sorry, we are out of stock also. 10:53 We're out of stock of English Steps to Christ. 10:57 Was this very popular when it was published? 11:00 Yeah, before. 11:02 I'm very happy to know that you have found peace, 11:06 joy and happiness in this book. 11:08 Yes, yes! Very, very good book! 11:11 In Thai, what is this? 11:17 Secret of Happiness. 11:18 Yes. Okay. 11:21 Can you tell me because one day you told me that this book 11:25 is a different book from other books 11:30 that says also about happiness. 11:35 Yeah. Yeah. 11:36 I read two books, and I like two books very much, 11:40 it's a best seller. 11:42 Million of books. 11:44 International best seller. Yeah, yeah. 11:47 But when I found this book, it's very, very old look, 11:53 not attractive but when I read, I... 11:59 exciting! 12:01 It's a deep spirit of happiness. 12:06 I read and read and read... 12:09 very, very happy, it's a deep truth 12:13 for people to become happiness life. 12:17 I think we should give to Thai people. 12:22 This one? Yeah. 12:25 When will we get some new copies in? 12:27 This one is from Mr. Odum. 12:30 Okay, so one of our laymen in here in Bangkok, 12:34 he's the one who published this, 12:35 not the Thailand mission? 12:37 Not the Thailand mission. Okay, can you tell me why? 12:42 Maybe of some... 12:44 sometimes because we ordered before, 12:50 before we had here a press, and now we don't have. 12:55 Is that an accident that it's upside-down? 12:59 Probably that's why, Gary, 13:00 that's the last copy is because... 13:02 It's a misprint. 13:03 It's a misprint. Yeah. 13:05 Which Ellen White's books do we have 13:06 in the Thai language? 13:08 Do we have like, Patriarchs and Prophets? 13:10 Yeah, we have Patriarchs and Prophets. 13:12 She has some of them. 13:13 What about Acts of the Apostles? 13:15 We don't have. No. 13:16 Great Controversy? 13:17 Great Controversy, we have just... 13:19 Do you have a copy? Used up. 13:21 I'm wondering, you know, the people, like, 13:24 people here in Bangkok which are the sort of books 13:28 that speak to them the best like, 13:29 is it the story of Jesus, 13:31 is it something like the Patriarchs and Prophets? 13:35 I mean, if you had your choice, if you could have only one book 13:38 that you could print, which one would it be? 13:40 Right. 13:41 Well, I know that one of my friends 13:46 who Pastor Sirachet Insom, 13:47 he's the director of the Spirit of Prophecy. 13:50 And so, I think the next challenge 13:51 is let's go and try to find him 13:53 to try to get to some of these answers. 13:57 Do you know where he is? 13:59 Okay, all right. 14:00 Well, she's saying that he's in his office. 14:02 So let's go and check that out. 14:06 He's there. They have the Adventist Book. 14:10 In Thai? 14:12 In English, mission matters. 14:15 There's an Adventist Church, Christian Church in general, 14:18 we have tended to put our resources 14:20 where the church is strongest. 14:23 And I think we need to confess that we've done that. 14:25 We have put money, time, personnel into places 14:31 where they've already had an opportunity 14:33 to hear about Jesus. 14:34 I'm not saying that they don't need 14:36 more opportunity, 14:37 but we've tended to put our resources 14:39 where the light is the strongest. 14:41 And so we need to confess that, 14:43 and we need to start do something about it. 14:44 I think we have started to, I think that for example, 14:47 the 10/40 Window. 14:49 The focus is much stronger now. 14:50 It's now become part of the vocabulary 14:53 of Seventh-day Adventist. 14:55 I think when we're looking at the cities, 14:56 more people who live in the cities now 14:58 than ever before, 15:00 and yet the Seventh-day Adventist Church 15:02 is strongest in rural areas and on Islands. 15:05 So again, we've focused where the people aren't. 15:10 There are more people on planet Earth today 15:12 that are unreached by the Adventist Church 15:14 than there was when global mission began. 15:16 When I was a kid, growing up, 15:18 at the end of the week of prayer, 15:20 we had the annual sacrifice offering. 15:22 There was an annual sacrifice. 15:24 My parents would give a week's wages. 15:26 You don't hear that sort of talk too much today. 15:30 Giving to mission offering is decreased, 15:32 and giving to the local churches increased. 15:34 Now I understand that to run a successful church ministry 15:39 in the United States or in something like Australia, 15:42 it's expensive. 15:44 You know, it's an expensive operation, 15:45 and there's no doubt that there are huge challenges 15:48 in places such as North America and Australia. 15:51 I do get a little bit, 15:54 I don't want to use the word upset, 15:55 but I do get a little annoyed when I hear some people saying 16:00 that the biggest challenge is at home in North America 16:04 or at home in Australia. 16:08 True, it's a huge challenge, but we're not talking 16:11 the numbers that we're talking about 16:12 when we come to somewhere like Asia. 16:15 We're talking when we come to areas like Asia, 16:18 we're talking about the vast majority 16:21 of the population who have never even heard 16:23 the name of Jesus Christ. 16:24 The amount of challenge that we have 16:26 in the 10/40 Window makes the challenge 16:29 in North America, I don't want to say 16:32 pale and insignificance, 16:33 but it does put us in a sense of proportion, 16:35 and plus, let's get it into perspective, 16:37 we're putting more money into North America 16:39 than we are into these areas. 16:41 Let's go and see if he's here. 16:46 Come in. What a coincidence. 16:48 He's here. 16:51 This is Dr. Sirachet Insom. 16:52 He's the director for the Spirit of Prophecy. 16:56 And Gary Krause is on the challenge today. 16:58 I've given him an assignment 17:00 to try to find Steps to Christ in Thai. 17:03 And he was able to find the last copy 17:06 of Steps to Christ. 17:07 But you can see that it's, they printed it, 17:10 it's upside down, and it's not quite perfect. 17:13 But at least he found one. 17:15 But the other part of his challenge 17:17 was to find Desire of Ages. 17:20 So can you guide and help Gary, you know, 17:25 find out why the Adventist Book Center downstairs 17:28 does not have Desire of Ages? 17:30 As far as I know right now 17:33 that there is no Ellen G. White books 17:36 available in our ABC. 17:38 I understand, and I can accept that, 17:42 you know, our people in the West 17:44 or in the Christian country, 17:46 when you give away Steps to Christ, 17:48 it is so easy for people to read 17:51 because they are Christians. 17:52 But when we talk about the Buddhist, 17:55 they don't know anything about... 17:57 It is so easy for us to understand, 18:00 it's a wonderful book. 18:02 But if we want to print it, next time, I think, 18:05 we need to simplify it. 18:06 Right. 18:08 Simplify it, and then give the background of it. 18:12 This is the book that I was the editor. 18:16 This is the Thai Great Controversy. 18:19 You don't have that at ABC. 18:20 No. No. We could not by one. 18:22 They're all finished up. 18:24 Every chapter of the Great Controversy, 18:27 the condensed edition, I give, 18:33 I put the history of Thailand here, 18:36 every chapter. 18:37 So you would link in... 18:39 Yeah, To the Thai people. 18:40 I link it to the history in the Bible, 18:43 and the history of the West because the Thai 18:47 will not know anything about Jerusalem. 18:51 Yeah, they learn about Jerusalem of the present day, 18:55 but not of Jerusalem of 2,000 years ago. 18:57 Is it true that not everyone can understand 18:59 the Great Controversy? 19:01 When it comes to history, I mean, whatever history is, 19:07 like country, or everything that there is 19:11 to learn about history, 19:13 I have a very short memory to remember, 19:17 especially Thai, but I was surprised 19:21 when I read the Bible, 19:28 and once when I get, 19:32 understand the meaning, it's all stuck in here. 19:35 Really? Yeah. 19:36 And when someone asks I just like, 19:38 ah, because of this, because of that, 19:40 because of that, you know. 19:42 So you've got the interest there 19:45 and the Holy Spirit helps. 19:47 Yeah, I think because I open my heart so that things, 19:52 like, just automatically come and lives in me. 19:57 I can feel it. 20:00 He lives in me! 20:03 Goosebumps now... 20:06 That's awesome. 20:07 How long have you been a Christian? 20:09 It's about four months in total. 20:14 I asked her to listen to the audio version 20:16 of the Thai Great Controversy 20:17 to see if she could understand it. 20:20 Are you understanding that? 20:21 Yes. Really? 20:23 Yeah, actually. 20:25 I understand because I have a Bible study with you! 20:30 That's why. 20:32 I used to not understand before 20:34 when I haven't had any Bible study. 20:38 Where were you the first time you heard it? 20:40 In my house, so that like my Mom and whole family 20:44 will listen to this because my Mom always 20:47 turn on the Buddhist song. 20:49 So it's my turn, something like that. 20:53 So I turned it on, and this lady just talking 20:57 about in the Bible and everything, 21:00 and I found out that 21:02 "Oh! I don't understand about what they say at all." 21:06 Wow! 21:08 I'd thought that I can understand, like, 21:10 at least I understand some because you know, being... 21:17 You're a Christian. Yeah, yeah. 21:19 So I mean, maybe it's not like pastor, 21:23 but I think that once when I listen, 21:27 it will be more understandable than read. 21:31 So we started listening for 10 minutes. 21:35 And my Mom said, "Bo, please stop it. 21:38 We don't understand it." 21:40 And I'm surprised. 21:41 I was surprised that so do I, I don't understand! 21:45 Whatever they say in the CD and this one, 21:51 that surprised me because I expected to understand it. 21:57 I was looking forward to listen to all of them. 22:03 But once when I start listening, I was like, 22:05 "Ah, I can't," because I don't understand. 22:08 And I don't know like how can I understand that? 22:12 What did you study in the Bible study 22:13 that helped you understand? 22:16 Because when we have a Bible study, 22:20 you always teach the whole... 22:24 like make us understand the whole story like overall. 22:30 Like the big pictures? 22:31 Yeah, big picture, and then explain what's happening 22:34 at the beginning to the end, and what does that mean, 22:39 each one of them. 22:41 'Cause we don't have any books that clear 22:47 and give us the details of our own belief. 22:51 I wish we had the whole book, the whole set of this series. 22:56 In Thai? In Thai. 22:58 Simply because it is like a commentary for anyone 23:03 who wants to know about the Bible in our church, 23:06 among our church people. 23:09 It is the most effective and easiest way to understand 23:15 the Bible truth. 23:16 So here's my question, okay? 23:17 You know, you're not the editor in terms of priorities, 23:21 if you had an unlimited budget, 23:23 what would you be your first priority 23:24 in publishing? 23:26 The first book that I'd like to see is the Desire of Ages. 23:32 And why? 23:34 The reason is we want to let the people know more 23:38 about Jesus. 23:40 My first book in my Christian life 23:42 is Desire of Ages. 23:44 Because previously you were a Buddhist. 23:45 Yeah. 23:47 You came from a Buddhist, now... 23:48 I came from Buddhist family. 23:49 And when I come to join 23:51 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 23:53 the church pastor conducted, what we have, 23:58 midweek prayer every Wednesday night. 24:01 And he used that book, Desire of Ages. 24:04 What we need today is... 24:05 we don't have that book. 24:07 I have one copy at home, 24:09 and I keep that for more than 20 years. 24:11 I never give it to anyone. 24:14 I never bring it to my office even. 24:16 I keep it at home 'cause I don't want to lose it. 24:21 That's the only copy that I have. 24:26 And many others Ellen G. White books 24:28 that we have like, Testimonies for the Church, 24:33 a condensed edition in Thai, we have it. 24:39 That book was printed, I think, 60 years ago. 24:43 Can we buy it downstairs? No. 24:46 Why not? No, no. 24:47 No, there is no, no, 24:49 it's out of print more than 30 years ago... 24:53 that book. 24:55 I'm now translating, still struggling with my time, 25:01 The Acts of the Apostles. 25:03 No, that... I finished about half way. 25:04 You're basically doing that 25:06 in your own time at night, right? 25:08 Oh, yes. 25:09 I volunteered to do it by myself, my personal time. 25:14 But Dr. Sirachet, I know that you have this title 25:18 and if I actually pull these things here 25:19 from your door here. 25:21 Yeah. 25:22 You have actually these other titles and job. 25:24 You are the director for Adventist World Radio. 25:27 That means you're, you know, writing scripts, 25:30 and you're doing this Spirit of Prophecy, 25:31 and we heard about that. 25:33 And you're also a Health Ministry director, 25:35 and then also you're wanting to do 10 other things. 25:38 What I've seen is that you're working yourself 25:40 into the ground, and like you and I are, 25:43 and we don't have enough workers. 25:45 Yeah, we need to train our own people. 25:50 Maybe we need to send some of our young people 25:53 to study in a university. 25:58 Previously, you shared that you taught 26:00 in Thai language a better college, 26:02 so what happened to the Thai program? 26:04 Oh, you mean the Theology? Right. 26:06 Our university, we don't have... 26:10 right now, we have English medium. 26:13 We don't, we have a Thai. No, we don't have Thai. 26:15 Theology program? No. 26:17 We don't have Thai Theology program 26:20 in our Mission College. 26:22 We really need a Bible College 26:27 or a Bible School for the teaching in Thai. 26:33 Because right now in that, in our church planting setting, 26:36 I have a vacancy of four Thai Church Planters, 26:40 out of the nine church plants that are Hope for Bangkok, 26:42 and then we have another 26:43 13 church plants across the city. 26:45 And they also need Thai workers. 26:47 Yes. So right now... 26:48 We don't have enough, right? Correct. 26:50 Because we close this program seven years ago, 26:54 no, eight years ago maybe. 26:56 They said they want to have only one program 26:58 so they closed it down. 27:00 I said, okay. 27:01 I told them at that time, I said, 27:03 you have to wait and see in another 10 years, 27:07 you will have a lack of workers. 27:08 Why? 27:09 Because many of our workers are retiring every year, 27:12 and there's no replacement. 27:14 Yeah. 27:15 It's not okay because right now, 27:16 we're facing this shortage in the city. 27:18 Yeah. Not even 10 years now. Right. 27:20 You thought you're only on this challenge, 27:22 you're looking for a couple of books 27:23 about Jesus, 27:24 but you're actually finding this unveiling story 27:27 that because of lack of workers, 27:29 a lack of funding, and resources, 27:31 as well as our the press closing, 27:34 why we see the picture the way it is here in Bangkok 27:37 in the city as well as in across the country. 27:40 In 1980, Adventist and North America 27:43 gave just over $23 million to Foreign Missions. 27:46 Thirty years later, 27:47 we gave almost exactly the same amount. 27:50 It looks like giving is holding steady. 27:52 But look what happens when you factor in inflation. 27:56 And that's what they're left with. 27:57 Now compare that with the $500 million 28:00 we spend back home 28:01 on our local church budget every year. 28:03 This problem will be increased, 28:06 not decrease in the future more and more. 28:11 It's such a tragedy to see presses closing, 28:14 to see a lack of literature, 28:16 to see basic mission functioning 28:19 just stopping because of lack of funds. 28:22 And in the West, we take so many things for granted. 28:24 We expect that we'll have Bibles in the house. 28:27 And we'll have literature to read. 28:29 And we forget that many people around the world are living 28:31 on less than a dollar a day. 28:33 So I want to thank you for your prayers 28:35 and for your financial support for mission 28:38 because a little bit goes a long way 28:41 to make a difference. 28:42 Our work in Bangkok is still small 28:44 but it is reaching hearts, and it exists because you gave. 28:49 Thank you so much, 28:50 especially those in North America 28:51 whose sacrifice for mission. 28:54 Let's pray together that many will see and fear, 28:58 and put their trust in the Lord God. 29:20 Next week, the challenge of reaching Thailand, 29:23 we ask a Buddhist to read from the Gospel of Luke. 29:26 Do you understand what you're reading? 29:28 No. Watch Wednesday. |
Revised 2018-01-10