Participants: Greg Whitsett
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000699
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01:16 O Lord, my God
01:23 When I in awesome wonder 01:31 Consider all the worlds 01:38 Thy Hands have made 01:45 I see the stars 01:52 I hear the rolling thunder 02:00 Thy power throughout 02:06 The universe displayed 02:15 And when I think that God 02:22 His Son not sparing 02:28 Sent Him to die 02:34 I scarce can take it in 02:42 Then sings my soul 02:48 My Savior God, to Thee 02:57 How great Thou art 03:04 How great Thou art 03:12 Then sings my soul 03:17 My Savior God, to Thee 03:26 How great Thou art 03:34 How great Thou art 03:42 How great Thou art 03:49 How great Thou art 04:07 When Christ shall come 04:14 With shout of acclamation 04:21 And take me home 04:26 What joy shall fill my heart 04:35 Then I shall bow 04:42 In humble adoration 04:49 And then proclaim My God, 04:56 how great Thou art 05:03 Then sings my soul 05:08 My Savior God, to Thee 05:16 How great Thou art 05:23 How great Thou art 05:30 Then sings my soul 05:35 My Savior God, to Thee 05:44 How great Thou art 05:51 How great Thou art 05:58 How great Thou art 06:05 How great Thou art 06:12 How great Thou art 06:28 Amen, that was great. 06:30 Praise the Lord. 06:32 I would like to invite you to open your Bibles 06:37 and consider the scene as we read together 06:40 from Revelation 7:9-12. 06:45 And I think that song was particularly fitting 06:49 for this scripture reading we have this morning, 06:51 and as we read it, 06:53 I really want you to imagine yourself in this scene, 06:57 singing along with Scott 06:59 and along with the multitude there. 07:02 Let us read together Revelation Chapter 7, 07:06 beginning in verse 9, 07:07 I'm reading from the New Revised Standard Version. 07:11 "After this I looked, 07:12 and there was a great multitude that no one could count, 07:15 from every nation, 07:17 from all tribes and peoples and languages, 07:19 standing before the throne and before the Lamb, 07:22 robed in white, 07:24 with palm branches in their hands. 07:25 They cried out in a loud voice, 07:27 saying, 'Salvation to our God 07:30 who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!' 07:33 And all the angels stood around the throne 07:35 and around the elders and the four living creatures, 07:38 and they fell on their faces before the throne 07:41 and worshiped God, singing, 'Amen! 07:43 Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving 07:47 and honor and power 07:48 and might be to our God forever and ever! 07:52 Amen.'" 08:24 Happy Sabbath. 08:26 Happy Sabbath. 08:30 The last three years 08:33 living in Southeast Asia. 08:38 I can't describe to you 08:39 what it must be like to come back 08:41 and be able to enjoy a good music. 08:46 In fact the first time, 08:49 the first Sabbath when we were back, 08:51 I had the experience 08:53 of just overwhelming emotion. 08:58 You've had that experience when your week is such that, 09:01 that it's, 09:03 things just aren't flowing, right? 09:04 You're just feeling a little bit out of sorts. 09:09 And all you need 09:11 is good Christian fellowship 09:15 and a uniting together in worshiping our Creator. 09:20 And for me, you know, I always thought that, 09:22 that the mission field would be a place 09:25 where I was on a daily spiritual high. 09:28 I mean, how can you not be you're in a battlefield, 09:30 a spiritual battlefield, 09:32 how can you not be on a daily spiritual high. 09:35 My wife and I used to be colporteurs 09:36 and going door-to-door. 09:39 Pastor Shin, you know about this, 09:41 we work together. 09:44 You had the bad doors, you had the bad hours, 09:47 the slam doors, 09:49 but there was always that person 09:51 that it was a divine appointment. 09:53 You knew you were there for the right reasons 09:56 because God led you there. 09:58 And I said, "Man." 10:00 What my experience 10:01 in the literature evangelism work 10:03 that my wife and I had is going to be the same 10:06 but just on a macro scale. 10:08 I mean, it's just gonna to be, what Lord. 10:11 It's gonna be awesome. 10:13 But those of you who've lived in the frontiers of missions, 10:19 you know, 10:21 what kind of a spiritual vacuum it can be. 10:23 It just sucks that out of you. 10:25 Friends don't ever take for granted your family. 10:31 Don't ever take for granted the family of God. 10:35 You don't realize until you've not had that kind of support 10:38 for three years or longer. 10:42 What it means, 10:43 maybe you've been bedridden and sick 10:45 and you've had to be away for a number of weeks. 10:47 You might know what I'm talking about. 10:50 I praise God for the Church of God. 10:53 I praise God for the fellowship and the worship we experience. 10:57 Have you worship this morning? 11:00 Praise the Lord. 11:02 I wanna share a few thoughts with you this morning that, 11:06 that I hope will bless you 11:10 and I hope will challenge you. 11:14 My wife Amy is a nurse. 11:17 I have two boys, a six-year-old Tyler 11:20 and a three-year-old Ryan. 11:24 If you do your math, three years ago 11:25 he was a small tyke. 11:28 Five months, three years are the son's ages. 11:33 And we went to a beautiful country. 11:38 The country we went to 11:42 in the monsoon season just has, 11:45 I don't know what kind of green you would say 11:47 maybe lime green, just a vivid, 11:50 just life bursting out of the shoots 11:52 just all over the fields or, 11:54 you know, the rice paddies are just gorgeous. 11:57 And then in the middle of this field, 11:58 all of a sudden, the cars come out 11:59 and we just spire up out of the ground. 12:02 And it's like, oh, Lord. 12:05 What beauty and then there's the jungles, 12:08 the steamy jungles 12:09 and the country we live in Southeast Asia 12:13 it's filled with beautiful trees 12:18 teak, rosewood, mahogany 12:22 that just the tower high and the last couple of decades, 12:26 you know, they've been clear cutting logging that 12:27 because the country is poor. 12:29 It's one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. 12:31 And they need some income and I can't blame them 12:34 as much as we need our trees in this world, 12:36 I can't blame them for looking 12:37 for any possible source of income 12:40 and they've just clear cut those forests. 12:43 But even today there are wild elephants 12:46 and tigers roaming in those forests, 12:47 toucans, monkeys, all sorts, what a beautiful place. 12:52 After 6,000 years of sin, 12:57 of death, of ugliness, 13:01 our God is an awesome Creator. 13:04 And we're so excited to be in a country like this. 13:07 A couple of months ago, we found a waterfall. 13:09 And we went out there 13:11 and it's beginning of rainy season 13:12 and the butterflies, thousands of them. 13:15 You know, you talk... 13:17 I talked with old timers here in our country and they said, 13:19 "Boy, when I was a kid, 13:21 there were tons of butterflies around us, 13:23 they just all over the place." 13:25 Well, if you want to enjoy 13:27 what you remembered from childhood, come visit us. 13:30 At the beginning of rainy season, 13:32 the butterflies are everywhere. 13:33 What beauty. 13:38 You know, the rains do have their toll, though, 13:41 of all the beauty that they bring they, 13:44 there's a single serpentine highway, 13:48 two lanes sometimes paved, 13:50 sometimes striped with paint for the lanes, 13:55 but oftentimes not, don't even have 13:57 that that's the main highway running in the country. 14:00 And as it winds through the mountains 14:03 the rains will sometimes create mudslides 14:06 and the whole mountain will just come washing down, 14:09 wash out the road. 14:10 And you can imagine that the buses 14:12 that are filled with merchants, 14:16 with their squealing pigs, and chickens, and ducks 14:18 and the students on their way to the capitol. 14:22 When they come to such a place they have to go on. 14:25 They can't stop and so what they make an agreement 14:28 all these bus drivers 14:29 that will go as far as the mudslide, 14:31 you guys cross over 14:32 and then you pick up the bus on the other side 14:34 and go on into town. 14:37 You know, the first time I ever ride on a bus. 14:40 My wife would probably remember better than me 14:42 because she's not typically carsick, 14:44 but she felt for sure at any moment 14:46 we were gonna go careening down 1,000 feet of mountain there. 14:51 But we stopped at one village and they stop all along the way 14:55 as people wave the bus to stop 14:57 and at one village there bamboo huts and so forth. 15:01 The man who wanted to get on was carrying a bag 15:05 and the bag was squealing something fierce. 15:08 And, you know, this is my first introduction 15:10 to a bus ride throughout the countryside 15:13 and I'm thinking what is he gonna do with that? 15:15 You know, I hope he doesn't bring it in here 15:16 because already people were sitting on the floors 15:19 in this bus. 15:21 And the folks that were, 15:24 we live among aren't used to the fast-paced travels 15:29 that we are and they're all getting sick. 15:31 So it's better to sit closer to the front of the bus 15:34 as you can imagine, the smell 15:36 and what objects coming pass to your windows 15:40 just makes you want to sit 15:42 as close as you can to the front of the bus 15:44 and so I thought, 15:45 "Well, what is he going to do with this pig?" 15:48 You know, obviously, it's squealing. 15:49 There's no question in my mind what's in this bag. 15:52 And it's quite a big bag, 15:53 a big burlap bag and he's hefting this thing, 15:57 strong guy 15:59 and he hands it to the guy who collects the fare 16:01 and he hoisted it up 16:03 on the roof of the truck or the bus 16:05 and we take off and that pig's just squealing. 16:08 And he's like, 16:09 "Well, that pig knows what I feel like." 16:12 My wife, you know, squealing herself. 16:14 What are we gonna stay on this road 16:15 and then the bus driver opens up his bottle 16:17 of something interesting M-150 16:20 it's called then drinking this down. 16:22 And my wife's, "Oh, he's, you see what he's drinking? 16:25 I think he's drinking whiskey. Uh-huh. 16:27 I got to get off of this thing." 16:30 Come to find out. It's just a power drink. 16:31 You know, it's got lots of caffeine and sugar. 16:33 And I'm sure that's not so much better than whiskey itself, 16:35 but at least our lives weren't quite in danger. 16:38 Although we were squealing around, the tires were just, 16:42 you know, as it go around every corner. 16:44 And wow, what a experience. 16:48 You know, life in the frontier is exciting. 16:58 The land where we live in Southeast Asia 17:01 is a Buddhist land. 17:04 At 4 o'clock in the morning monks and novices, 17:08 young boys starting at age three and four, 17:12 get on their saffron robes. 17:14 And they, you know, 17:18 as all young boys sometimes have to be 17:21 shook and awakened 17:22 and they go into the temple 17:24 and there they chant and meditate 17:28 before the bronze Buddha. 17:30 That is lifted up on a pedestal in front of them. 17:35 And they do that for about an hour and a half. 17:40 And then around 5:30 they have these big brooms 17:43 and they and all of them young and old, 17:45 sweep the courtyards. 17:47 And then about 6 o'clock 17:52 you start hearing the big massive drums, 17:57 huge drums, maybe eight feet long. 18:02 Standing about the diameter 18:04 is probably about four or five feet 18:05 depending on the size of the drum, 18:07 start beating that thing for about 10 minutes 18:10 telling the neighborhood 18:11 that the monks are coming on their morning rounds 18:15 where they beg for the alms, 18:18 the gifts 18:21 that will be the one of two meals 18:23 that these monks will have including the little boys. 18:25 They don't eat after 12. 18:27 So eat that early breakfast, 18:29 and then they'll eat again at noon. 18:31 And all they can have the rest of the day 18:32 is some kind of liquid. 18:34 And the country where I live 18:37 isn't a typical spot on the tourist track 18:40 but because it's off the beaten path. 18:43 A lot of tourists like to come through 18:46 and as they snap their photos of this idyllic life. 18:52 They don't see beneath the veneer, 18:56 the beauty. 18:59 What they see is what I've just described. 19:02 What they don't see is the husband and wife 19:05 who lived across from our house 19:08 who are fighting tooth and nail 19:11 because of the alcohol that's in their system. 19:15 They don't see the car wrecks. 19:18 The car wrecks 19:19 that that make the city that we live in 19:22 one of the worst cities 19:25 for accidents per capita in the world. 19:30 They don't see the fear 19:35 that people have of the spirits 19:39 that haunt their dreams and destroy their lives. 19:43 The photographers, the tourists, 19:45 they see the beauty. 19:47 And when we first got there, we saw the beauty. 19:50 But there are real human beings with real hurts. 19:53 And I want to describe to you those 19:55 in the next few minutes. 19:59 I told you that this was a poor country. 20:03 The average income per household is $390 per year. 20:11 Their economy is sustained by agriculture, 20:14 but only 4% of the land 20:16 is fit for animal husbandry and crops. 20:21 In this country 20:25 only about one in three people 20:27 have clean water. 20:29 The life expectancy is 54 years. 20:35 Education is a major need. 20:38 Only one quarter of the population 20:39 has finished high school. 20:41 Less than 3% have a college degree. 20:45 Teachers often go months without pay. 20:48 And when they do get paid 20:50 they only get $20 or $30 or up to $40 per month. 20:56 Society is quite illiterate. 20:59 Health services are predictably poor as well. 21:04 In that country, there is about one physician 21:07 for every 2,200 people. 21:09 If you compare that to our country, in America, 21:11 we have one doctor 21:14 for every 182 people. 21:22 But let me tell you a little bit about our story, 21:23 and I'll come back to Laos. 21:26 Amy and I arrived three years ago 21:30 on August 15, 2002 21:34 and within two weeks, I was very sick. 21:40 You know, I kind of finally nicknamed it 21:44 the Oriental Express. 21:48 You know, what I'm saying? 21:50 It was one of those experiences 21:51 where you couldn't hold on to anything. 21:53 And I felt pretty, pretty clean 21:56 slick as a whistle on the inside. 21:57 But oh, I felt terrible. 21:59 I felt quite terrible. 22:01 And, you know, I took charcoal and got my rest 22:04 and just was looking forward to the day 22:07 to get back out there and see the world around me. 22:10 Three days later, my legs were in such pain, 22:13 I said, "Amy, please just massage my legs." 22:16 It's 2 o'clock in the morning, Sunday morning. 22:19 I had slept in bed all weekend 22:21 because I just couldn't get out of bed. 22:22 My legs are just, 22:24 they felt like somebody had taken knives 22:25 and just were just cutting my legs 22:28 and they felt like 22:30 great charley horses in every muscle. 22:32 And I was like, "Amy, 22:33 my muscles are just tensing up." 22:35 And so she starts to do massage. 22:37 She says, "Honey, your legs are soft. 22:40 There's nothing there." 22:41 It's like, "Well, we have to do something." 22:43 I said look, "We need to go to the hospital." 22:44 I was pretty certainly we need to go 22:48 and I tried to make it to the bathroom 22:49 and I collapsed on the floor 22:51 and we both agree we should wait for our hosts, 22:54 you know the wake up, 22:55 you know, it's was 2 o'clock in the morning. 22:57 Let's wait maybe until 6. 22:59 Well by 4 o'clock, I couldn't handle any more. 23:01 I said, "I don't care. 23:02 You know, we're not gonna be polite any longer. 23:04 I need to go to the hospital." 23:05 And so Brian Wilson took us in his truck. 23:09 And he said, "What do you want 23:11 the best hospital or the closest one?" 23:12 I said, "The closest one, 23:14 please just get me to a hospital." 23:16 And as we got there, 23:17 they had to carry me 23:18 and took me actually by a wheelchair 23:20 and they started doing blood work 23:22 and they started poking me 23:23 with all kinds of great needles and stuff 23:25 and they admitted me. 23:31 I thought that was a little bit extravagant. 23:33 You know, I just wanted some medicine 23:34 so I could go back home. 23:39 By the Sunday afternoon, they said, 23:41 "Well, you have amoebic dysentery." 23:44 I said, "Okay, well, that's, you know, Oriental Express, 23:47 amoebic dysentery, I can handle that. 23:48 Need some antibiotics." 23:50 And they said, "Well, we think you also have leptospirosis, 23:52 which you catch from actually 23:56 walking through treatment of pigs or rats." 23:58 And I'd been out the village and cut my foot. 23:59 I said, "Oh, man, this is a spirochete, 24:02 you know, it's a little tougher, 24:03 what's going to happen?" 24:05 And... 24:09 Okay, so I'm gonna spend the night, 24:11 they're going to do some tests and get me fixed up 24:13 so they start pumping in 24:15 all kinds of fun stuff into my system. 24:17 And the next day the doctor was very concerned, she said, 24:19 "Your kidneys are shutting down." 24:23 And I thought, "Well, okay, well, maybe up the milligrams 24:29 on my antibiotic or do what you can." 24:32 And she said, "And we think you have dengue fever 24:35 because of the pain in your legs 24:38 and the high fever that you have. 24:39 And we've noticed 24:41 that your platelets are dropping 24:42 in your blood. 24:43 So we don't want you to brush your teeth." 24:45 Well, that's the first time a doctor 24:46 or a dentist has ever told me that. 24:48 I said, "Okay, yeah, I can handle that." 24:50 And by the next day, 24:55 they decided that I should go into the ICU. 24:57 I said, "Well, you know, this is really extravagant." 24:59 But I figured, you know, the nurses weren't as good 25:01 as I would have expect, you know, from America. 25:03 So maybe the ICU just could get better nurses so I don't care. 25:05 All right, take me to the ICU. I'll go in there. 25:08 And they put me in there 25:09 and other people that were very sick. 25:12 I was like, "Well, you know, 25:14 I'm glad I'm not as sick as they are." 25:15 And it's true. 25:19 And so I thought, you know, I'm still doing pretty good 25:22 and they were talking back and forth. 25:23 And then they wheeled me into another room 25:24 with all these great machines 25:26 and they started hooking the EKG up to me. 25:28 I'm thinking, wow, 25:29 they're really giving me a great treatment here. 25:31 You know, rolling out the red carpet, 25:32 I felt very, very happy. 25:34 You know, this is great medical care. 25:35 I wasn't expecting it in a developing country. 25:37 And by the way, 25:39 they were giving me excellent medical care 25:41 and they called in the specialist. 25:43 They did a spinal tap and I'm like, 25:44 "Man, this is a little bit much, 25:46 you know, I was kind of like, okay, 25:48 you know, I'm a very, very grateful 25:50 that you're helping me out, 25:51 but the spinal tap, is that really necessary?" 25:54 And they assured me 25:56 that it was and it was actually getting quite bad. 26:00 My kidneys did shut down. 26:01 And Amy came in to visit me. 26:05 And that was actually the first time 26:07 I started to get worried 26:08 because I saw the worry in her eyes. 26:11 By the way, I didn't understand why they hooked me up to EKG. 26:14 So I asked Brian who was translating for me, 26:16 I said, "What's going on?" 26:17 He said, "Oh, they can't get your blood pressure." 26:21 Oh, all of a sudden the great treatment 26:24 was getting kind of serious. 26:26 It wasn't just great treatment. 26:29 I had a real problem. 26:30 And he said the pulse is very hard to feel, 26:33 they can't find your pulse very well. 26:35 And they said that your platelets 26:37 have dropped below 10% what they should be. 26:42 And Amy tells me now 26:43 she says I was surprised you weren't unconscious. 26:46 As a nurse, she knew 26:47 that I should be in worse shape. 26:50 And she brought Tyler and Ryan in to visit me 26:54 and I had IVs coming out of my arms, 26:56 my hands, my feet. 26:58 Oh, I was sore. 27:00 And I wanted to hold my kids I couldn't, 27:03 I just kind of touched them. 27:05 And just before the short visit ended, 27:10 Tyler handed me a little digital recorder 27:13 that we had purchased for language learning. 27:16 And Amy said, "You know, 27:18 I want you to listen to our messages for you, 27:20 after we leave. 27:21 You listened to that." 27:22 That evening I played those messages 27:24 and to hear their loving words 27:29 and hear Tyler pray for my healing 27:32 and then they sang a couple of songs. 27:35 First they sang the song that our friends, 27:39 Cheryl Hosford put to music, 27:42 Philippians 4:19 27:43 "My God shall supply all your needs 27:45 according to His riches which are in Christ Jesus." 27:50 And I began to feel a peace coming over me. 27:55 And then after that they sang another song 27:57 which is our good night song we sing every night. 28:00 I love you so much. 28:02 I love you so much and on it goes. 28:06 And I just, the tears just start coming down. 28:11 Lord, we're supposed to be doing some work here. 28:16 And now my body's shutting down. 28:20 You know, family start calling 28:22 and death was smiling at me. 28:27 Lord, you know, we prayed and said, 28:29 Lord, if one of our kids were to 28:31 something terrible were to happen 28:33 to one of our kids, 28:34 we would not be shook in our certainty 28:37 that you had called us but Lord, I mean, not me. 28:41 You know, how can the work go forward? 28:42 You know, Lord, you need me? 28:45 And He does. 28:46 He needs all of us, but who am I? 28:50 Who am I? 28:51 And... 28:57 But there was a peace. 28:59 There was a peace. 29:04 You know, the frontier missions is a beautiful thing. 29:09 But there's a reality to it too. 29:13 In fact, a lot of people have said, 29:16 you know, we really admire you. 29:19 We don't know how you can do it. 29:22 I'm not sure I could. 29:26 And that comment takes me aback. 29:31 I understand the kind words that are... 29:34 The kind heart that is behind those words, 29:36 but I'm still taking it back. 29:39 It's not about whether I can do it. 29:46 I can't. 29:49 It's about whether God has called, 29:52 whether He is sending. 29:55 And, friends, I'm here to tell you this morning 29:57 that God is sending a lot more people than go. 30:01 I want you to turn in your Bibles 30:03 to Philippians Chapter 2. 30:08 Last night, Mark Scalzi took us to Philippians. 30:13 And I was touched by his words. 30:15 And I think the Bookof Philippians 30:18 is one of my favorite books in the Bible. 30:20 If you haven't read it through recently, 30:23 I encourage you do it today. 30:27 Just read it through. It's a short little book. 30:29 You can do it in an hour. 30:31 Philippians Chapter 2. 30:34 When people ask me, why would, 30:37 you know, I've asked myself this question, 30:39 why would anyone in the world wanna be a missionary? 30:41 Why? 30:43 You know, let me list some of the reasons for you. 30:45 Cut in pay, it's a reality. 30:49 Two, you introduce yourself 30:51 to all kinds of exotic illnesses. 30:53 You know, exotic is good sometimes, 30:55 but in this case, 30:56 I just assumed have domestic illnesses 30:59 and then you introduce yourself to an environment 31:01 where the medical care may not be what you expected, 31:05 or what we have here in the States. 31:07 How about modern conveniences 31:09 sometimes you leave those behind, 31:10 you know, hot water, washing machines, 31:14 or air conditioner. 31:15 You know, I feel bad for people who lose power. 31:18 But, you know, it doesn't really faze me 31:21 because I've learned 31:22 that if you just keep the air conditioner off, 31:23 it actually you kind of get used to it after a while 31:25 and it's okay to have a dripping nose 31:27 half of the day. 31:28 And, you know, so you leave behind 31:31 some of those modern conveniences. 31:32 By the way, the desire for them still stays with you, 31:34 by the way. 31:38 The other day, my wife and I, we went to Walmart, 31:40 and we were just overwhelmed. 31:42 Wow, look at all the choices 31:43 and I was looking at the PDAs and I say, "You know what, 31:45 I think I'd be a lot better organized. 31:46 If I just had one of those PDAs right there, 31:48 I could put all my schedules in there 31:52 and appointments 31:54 and I probably still forget them, 31:56 but I could put them in." 31:57 And, you know, the desire to stay with you 32:02 even when the opportunities to indulge isn't there. 32:09 Now here's a big one. 32:10 Live far away from your loved ones. 32:13 Whether that's your family, your parents, your children, 32:18 or your friends. 32:22 We went there for our family, 32:24 we thought this would be great thing for our family. 32:26 We never realized how much we loved our family and friends 32:30 until we were far away from them. 32:33 Why would anyone want to be a missionary? 32:35 Well, we go for the spiritual, 32:36 you know, it's gonna be an awesome experience 32:37 when we put ourselves 32:39 right in the middle of a battlefield. 32:40 People are shooting, spiritually, 32:42 shooting back and forth 32:43 and we're like, this is not the place to be. 32:48 I don't know what it must be like for a servicemen 32:51 to be out there in the middle of fire. 32:53 But spiritually, the experience is rather intimidating. 32:57 You know, I'm a non-confrontational guy. 33:00 You know, if there's a fight, I'm happy to watch or run. 33:03 I'm not the type of person 33:04 that really wants to engage in hand-to-hand combat 33:07 in that situation. 33:10 Why would anyone want to be a missionary? 33:12 Well, let me read with you about Christ. 33:15 You know who better to look to for an answer. 33:20 Philippians 2:6 says, 33:25 "Who, though he was in the form of God, 33:28 did not regard equality with God 33:30 as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, 33:34 taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. 33:38 And being found in human form, He humbled Himself 33:43 and became obedient to the point of death, 33:48 even death on a cross." 33:51 So by giving up His divine, Jesus Christ, 33:57 fully God 34:02 lowered Himself in humility 34:04 by giving up His divine position in heaven, 34:07 by becoming a servant to others, 34:11 by becoming a human baby, 34:13 by humbling Himself among humans, 34:15 by becoming a poor human baby, 34:21 by allowing Himself to die. 34:25 Can you imagine that the source of life dying? 34:31 And by dying 34:33 a cursed criminal's death on the cross. 34:39 Oh, how can it be? 34:42 How could he do that? 34:47 It was only because of His relationship 34:51 that He prized the relationship He had with you. 34:57 The relationship He had with you 34:59 was not what He wanted. 35:01 He wanted to go deeper. 35:03 The surface relationship wouldn't do. 35:06 He was willing to do everything. 35:10 And when you're talking about an infinite God, 35:11 I mean everything. 35:18 And I left the kicker for the last, verse 5. 35:22 "Let the same mind be in you." 35:25 "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." 35:29 Oh, Lord. 35:31 I don't have Your mind. 35:34 I feel sorry for myself sometimes. 35:37 You ever felt sorry for yourself? 35:38 Missionaries do too. 35:40 You know, you're sitting there say, Lord, what am I doing? 35:44 You know, I had great ambitions coming out here. 35:47 And man, it was all kinds of great dreams 35:51 and I get out here and I realize 35:53 reality is not what you expect. 35:59 Lord, I want Your mind. 36:01 I want to have the mind of Christ, 36:03 but at times, that's painful. 36:12 You know, I can tell you about the statistics in Laos 36:14 about all the problems. 36:16 You know, one of the statistics is that in Laos 36:21 there is one doctor 36:26 for every 2,200 people. 36:33 And in Laos, 36:34 there is one delivery 36:39 out of five 36:41 that has a trained attendant. 36:45 Now to give you an idea what that's like, 36:47 you know, those are statistics, right? 36:49 That's a statistic and the mind can't comprehend that, 36:53 but let me give you a face. 36:54 There's a man by the name of Lee. 36:56 I'll call him Lee, 36:57 it's actually not his real name. 36:59 Lee brought his wife 37:04 to church one Sabbath. 37:07 His wife was full-term and unconscious. 37:14 Amy went over to see if she could help. 37:18 She felt for a pulse. 37:20 It was very weak and thready. 37:22 She feels her abdomen to see 37:28 if there's any movement of the child 37:29 and she can't detect any. 37:32 And she asks Lee, "Lee, what happened?" 37:36 He said, "Three days ago my wife collapsed 37:38 and she's been unconscious. 37:39 I don't know what happened." 37:40 Amy looked at the swollen ankles and feet 37:43 and figured that 37:46 if she'd had some kind of medical attention 37:49 or someone knew something, 37:51 they could have detected the pre-eclampsia 37:55 and now the toxemia 37:58 after rushing to the hospital, 38:00 she survived a couple of days before she died. 38:04 Something so simple to prevent 38:09 that's a face on the statistic 38:10 and the following Sabbath as we went to the graveyard. 38:15 There's an open, shallow, red dirt grave. 38:21 They had a wooden cross set in there. 38:25 And as the four men, 38:26 young men lowered that simple coffin 38:29 down into that grave. 38:33 Lee just leaned against that cross 38:35 and cried, just sobbed. 38:40 His wife 21 years old 38:43 with a daughter two years old. 38:46 That little girl would ask, where's my mommy. 38:50 For a simple medical condition 38:52 that could have easily been prevented. 38:57 You know, why would anyone wanna be a missionary? 38:59 When you put faces to the statistics, 39:03 the heart that is touched by God by a compassionate God 39:07 cannot do anything else but say, Lord send me. 39:12 How can I not go? 39:14 We were having a Sabbath worship. 39:19 Evening worship we went to the riverbank, 39:21 and we were skipping stones and playing with our kids 39:23 and three little children came down off the bank 39:27 and barefoot, messed up hair, 39:32 dirty, holes in their clothes, 39:35 and they come up and they start to beg, 39:37 please sir, anna, anna. 39:44 Please give me money I need to eat. 39:48 And, you know, we're kind of, 39:51 you know, our mentality is this legitimate or not, 39:54 you know, they're taking advantage 39:55 of the rich foreigner or not 39:57 and so we rejected their pleas just kind of ignore, 40:00 but they started playing with our kids. 40:01 And at the end of the sun as it was setting there 40:06 we I went and sat down on the bank 40:10 and kind of hunched down like this. 40:13 And I called our boys over 40:16 and we started singing some songs 40:17 but the songs drew those other children over. 40:21 Those other three little kids. 40:23 And as I was sitting there 40:25 getting ready to read all of a sudden 40:26 one head popped into this arm of the little girl, 40:29 and then his older brother popped into this one, 40:32 and then the other one tackled me from the back 40:33 and here I am, 40:35 and my first reaction was tickle them get them off, 40:39 you know, and I was accost not only by their bodies, 40:41 but by their smell 40:43 and I was like tickle, tickle, tickle, 40:44 you know, in the kind of a friendly way 40:45 to get them off. 40:47 You know, I'm not confrontational. 40:48 And, but then my heart was just like, 40:50 "Wow, these kids are affectionate." 40:53 And we began to sing some of our songs 40:56 and we switched over into their language. 40:59 And that evening as we went home, 41:01 I thought the first time for those children 41:06 to probably hear the name of Jesus 41:09 was in a context of a family worship 41:13 on a riverbank. 41:17 And in my heart, you know, 41:19 it just kind of started aching holes inside my heart. 41:23 Oh, Lord, helped me meet these guys again. 41:25 And sure enough, we did meet them again. 41:27 And I want to tell you about the last experience. 41:30 We just saw them one time here before we came. 41:34 The Lord just seems to keep bringing these kids 41:36 back into my life whether I like it or not. 41:38 They've come into my office 41:40 and just kind of tried to play with everything. 41:41 Can I have this? Can I have this? 41:42 And they start playing with stuff 41:44 and so we get that our boys have given them 41:45 a little matchbox cars and things like this, 41:48 but we're at the street market 41:49 where they sell prepared food a couple of months ago, 41:52 and it was drizzling rain. 41:53 It was cold. 41:55 And I saw these three little kids. 41:56 I thought, wow, here they are, 41:58 you know, and as I go close to them 41:59 I saw them shivering by this time we're friends 42:01 and so they recognize us and they say, 42:02 "Please, can I have some money sir 42:04 to that so I can get something to eat." 42:06 And so I proudly took up my wallet, 42:08 you know, okay. 42:10 What would you like? Yes. 42:11 Okay, so they pointed 42:13 to the little bread pastry thing. 42:15 It's not very sweet but little thing there 42:17 and so I happily bought three of those 10 cents each 42:20 and felt good. 42:23 I feel good. 42:25 And I noticed that they walked on along 42:28 and were still begging. 42:31 Still, I just gave them some food. 42:35 Yeah, I was feeling good. 42:36 And now they're begging on from other people. 42:38 I'm like, wait a minute. 42:41 And a voice inside my heart said, 42:44 "If those were your children, 42:46 would you only give them a pastry for dinner?" 42:53 So I had to catch back up with him. 42:56 I said, "What else do you want?" 42:59 That. 43:02 Well, they look like some kind of a sugary drink thing. 43:04 No, I guess some healthy. 43:05 No, no, no that. 43:07 And sure enough, 43:08 they're pointing to the barbecue stand 43:10 has selling chicken. 43:11 And I thought, sure, 43:13 that's probably the healthiest thing out here 43:14 with the most nutrients. 43:15 So I went over there and proceeded to point out 43:19 we wanted three of these chicken wings and heat 43:23 and so she took those and heated them up. 43:25 And along came this other this other guy 43:26 and he looks over and looks down at them. 43:30 He also ordered a chicken wing 43:32 and he didn't see me or didn't realize 43:35 I was standing over there and he says, 43:38 "Look at you ugly, dirty children. 43:42 You must have unloving parents to treat you this way. 43:45 Look at you. 43:47 What are you doing here anyway? 43:49 You don't belong here, go away." 43:51 And I'm standing over here and I'm thinking, 43:56 I'm confrontational, 43:58 but I said, "Sir, they're with me. 43:59 I'm their friend." 44:01 And I don't know if he was more stunned 44:03 that I understood what he had said. 44:05 Or the fact that I was saying that they're with me 44:08 but anyway, he quickly took what he had 44:10 and walked off and we went ahead 44:13 and got the chicken wings 44:16 and they had the leg and wrap them up 44:18 and put them in a bag, 44:19 and then they're just kind of standing around 44:21 and I thought well, they should eat or leave 44:24 is kind of what the next step would be. 44:26 But they just kind of sit around and say, 44:27 "What's the matter? What do you need?" 44:28 They said, "We need some rice." 44:30 Oh, of course, you know, they want to have... 44:32 Every meal has to have rice with it 44:34 'cause that's the bulk of the meal. 44:35 So we got the rice and I gave that to them. 44:38 And they started to leave, and then again, 44:39 I noticed their bare feet, 44:41 the drizzling rain and they're shivering. 44:43 And I thought I should take them home. 44:47 So I said, would you like a ride home? 44:48 Oh, my goodness. They were so excited. 44:50 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 44:51 It was the first time I think that they'd ever been in a car 44:53 and so we put them in the back of our truck. 44:54 Our boys rode in the back with them. 44:56 We took them home. 44:57 But the thing that touched me 44:59 is that they weren't eating the food. 45:01 I said, "Why aren't you eating food?" 45:02 They said, "Because we're taking home 45:04 for family meal." 45:14 Do we have the mind of Christ? 45:17 We know the statistics. 45:20 We've got more statistics than we know what to do with. 45:25 But do we care about the faces? 45:28 Children just like yours, 45:31 brothers and sisters just like yours. 45:36 We're great about supporting disaster relief, 45:39 but what about the day to day grind, 45:40 the silent deaths? 45:47 You know, 45:52 Philippians 2 45:54 doesn't stop with humiliation. 45:59 In verse 9, it says, 46:02 "Therefore God also highly exalted him 46:07 Jesus Christ 46:08 and gave him the name that is above every name, 46:13 so that the name of Jesus every knee should bend, 46:17 in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 46:22 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 46:27 to the glory of God the Father." 46:36 Friends, we read the passage this morning, 46:39 the picture in heaven. 46:43 There are in the world 2 billion people 46:49 who are speaking languages 46:51 that don't know the name Jesus Christ. 46:57 We praise the Lord about the work being done. 47:00 And it isn't done if we don't care 47:02 about one third of the world's population. 47:07 Where are you, Lord, please return. 47:13 I want you to picture in your mind a beach. 47:16 And at that beach, 47:18 you take two children, your children 47:21 and it's a stormy day on that beach. 47:25 And you tell your kids be careful 47:27 because there's a strong current 47:29 and the waves are crashing, 47:32 but the huge waves 47:33 and they like to swim so it's a great day, 47:35 if you enjoy that. 47:37 So you're out there on the beach and one child, 47:39 they both swim for a while 47:41 then one child comes in wants to build a sandcastle. 47:44 And as you're helping that child 47:45 building that sandcastle, 47:47 the one out in the water still, you start to hear some screams. 47:53 And you can't really see him 47:54 'cause the waves are crashing so high 47:56 but as the wave crashes in, 47:57 you see your second boy 48:02 crying for help. 48:05 Let me ask you a question. 48:08 Where would you be at that point? 48:11 Would you continue to sculpt the most majestic castle 48:15 that has ever been on this beach 48:17 with that child who's there safely on the beach? 48:21 Or would you go over and risk your own life 48:23 to save your other son? 48:26 Where would God be? 48:29 Where are you, Lord, please come back? 48:32 Friends, the Holy Spirit is being poured out 48:34 in all the world, 48:36 trying to reach the hearts of the people 48:39 who know not the name Jesus Christ. 48:44 Lord, when are You going to come back? 48:52 God's desire is to form a relationship with you 48:57 in which you will have the mind of Christ. 49:02 That will be glory 49:05 when we have the mind of Christ. 49:08 I don't claim to have it. 49:10 You know, I'm telling you some stories 49:11 that tug at my own heart. 49:14 You know why it's tugging at my heart? 49:16 Because Jesus Christ is transforming me. 49:22 There are days when I don't feel like being a missionary. 49:25 There are days I don't wanna be on the frontier. 49:28 And God gives me these kinds of experiences to say, 49:31 you need the mind of Christ. 49:35 Friends, do you need the mind of Christ? 49:41 I want you to pray with me. 49:48 Oh, Lord, our God. 49:56 You love us beyond anything that we can ever imagine. 50:01 We think we love our kids, 50:03 but we don't love our kids the way You love us. 50:08 Dear Lord, 50:09 please create in us a clean heart, 50:15 a mind like Christ. 50:18 Lord, help us to get beyond the black and white 50:20 the statistics 50:21 and the idea like photos of foreign lands. 50:29 Lord, help us to see faces of our children, 50:35 of our brothers and sisters 50:39 who the devil is trying to keep in ignorance, 50:43 in hopelessness, and in fear. 50:48 Lord, I pray that Your Holy Spirit 50:49 would move across this room and across anyone 50:51 who's watching this on television. 50:53 Lord, I pray 50:55 that You would stir upon us 51:00 to adopt people groups throughout the world 51:04 who have not heard Your voice. 51:08 Oh, You may say, "Well, I don't even know people groups names." 51:14 Well, if you type that into the WorldWideWeb, 51:18 you will find lots of names. 51:21 Adopt people for Christ. 51:28 You might say... 51:30 And those of you who say, wow, 51:31 I pray for the frontier missions, 51:33 and I just couldn't be one myself. 51:35 If God hasn't called you to ministry, 51:41 I want your heart to open to the call of God right now 51:45 because He needs every able-bodied 51:48 or less-bodied person out there. 51:51 It doesn't matter what your condition is, 51:53 He needs you. 51:55 The Lord wants to return. 51:57 He wants to stop the suffering. 51:58 He wants to stop the hurricanes. 52:00 He wants to stop the terrorism. 52:01 He wants to stop the wars. 52:02 He wants to stop the suffering 52:04 and the death that the devil is laughing over. 52:08 Lord, please, 52:11 the fields are ripe with harvest. 52:14 Send out Your people. 52:16 And, Lord, may we never waste today. 52:21 May You be glorified and, Lord, 52:23 whether You call us to missions in our neighborhood, 52:25 across the street down the road, 52:30 or overseas. 52:34 Lord, may You be glorified. 52:38 I pray in Jesus' name. 52:43 "John looked, and there he saw a great multitude 52:49 that no one could count. 52:54 No one could count, from every nation 52:58 from all tribes and peoples and languages, 53:01 standing before the throne and before the Lamb, 53:03 robed in white, 53:05 with palm branches in their hands. 53:07 And they cried out in a loud voice, saying, 53:09 'Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, 53:13 and to the Lamb!' 53:15 And all the angels stood around the throne 53:17 and around the elders 53:18 and around the four living creatures, 53:19 and they fell on their faces before the throne 53:21 and worshiped God. 53:23 They worshiped singing, 'Amen! 53:26 Blessing and glory, 53:28 and wisdom and thanksgiving, and power 53:31 and might to be our God, 53:34 forever, forever and ever! 53:39 Amen.'" |
Revised 2020-03-21