Music playing...
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more music...
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some more music...
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music...
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Well, good afternoon everyone.
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Good afternoon.
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I see you're getting
better, that's pretty good,
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all right, all right.
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I want to ask you a
really critical question today,
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and that's, "How
big is your God?"
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How big is your God?
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The Bible talks
about how mighty God is,
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the all mighty God,
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really ask, "Is there
anything God can't do?"
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Well, there may be
one thing and that is...
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God can't go against your will,
He can't go against your will,
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can't and won't go
against your choice
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to not serve Him.
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Unfortunately, in some
ways, but you think about it,
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God is not...
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doesn't want us
to be automatons,
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He doesn't want us
to just worship Him
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because He's going to kill
us, no... that's not God at all,
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as a matter of fact,
God died that we might live,
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that's the kind of God we serve
and this God is all powerful.
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Now, I have the opportunity
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of being in 70
Countries of the world,
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many of those
countries, many times...
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I've had the wonderful
opportunity to talk with people
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in many
locations around the world
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and hear their
stories of conversion,
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amazing stories,
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now, in the
United States, especially
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maybe here in Australia,
you may not hear many stories,
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you kind of
wonder why sometimes,
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well those stories are happening
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but not with
quite the same frequency
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it seems... for whatever reason
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and maybe it's because, I
talked to you earlier about
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we have all the gold
and we have all the silver
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that we just
don't seek after God
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the way that people
in other countries do.
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They believe more strongly,
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once they come to Christ,
they believe more strongly.
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Let me give you a little story
that's kind of interesting,
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it happened down
in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
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In Sao Paolo, Brazil,
this husband and wife,
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they're driving along
merrily in the afternoon,
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and all of a sudden,
the wife says, "Stop! stop!"
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Now, I don't know guys
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if your wife
ever does that to you,
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my wife's done that to
me, scares me half to death,
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this guy slammed on the
brakes, pulls over the sidewalk,
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"What is it, what is it"
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she doesn't say a word,
she jumps out of the car
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runs out in the
field and she comes back
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and she's got a
book in her hands.
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"Honey, honey" she says,
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"What?"
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"Do you see any wind?"
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"No, I don't see any wind"
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She says, "Honey, in the
field, this book that I found,
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the pages were blowing this way
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and then the pages were
turning and blowing this way,
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I just had to see
what this book was. "
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Well, they read this
book and it was incredible,
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it was amazing,
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but there was not a
single bit of advertising in it
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to direct them to anybody
who had any more information.
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One afternoon, the
husband is on his motorcycle
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in downtown, Sao
Paolo, he comes up to a stop
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in the traffic light and...
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and there's a car in front
of him with a bumper sticker
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and the bumper
sticker has an insignia
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that looks like
what was in that book,
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he pulls up alongside the guy
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and the window is down
a little bit in the car
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and he starts talking
to the guy in the car,
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now in downtown,
Sao Paolo, Brazil,
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that's not
necessarily a good thing
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when somebody
pulls up alongside you
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in the motorcycle and
starts talking to you.
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The driver rolls up his window
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as soon as the light
changes, he takes off,
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the guy in the motorcycle...
he's not going to be deterred,
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he whips in around,
he's following this guy
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down every street,
around every corner,
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and pretty soon... the
guy is in the next stop light
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now, he pulls up alongside
him, he starts yelling,
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scares the guy so bad
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the guy runs the
red light, takes off,
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the motorcycle
is riding behind him
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he's following him everywhere
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and he's just
zipping all over the place,
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pretty soon the guy gets caught
in a whole big traffic jam
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and the motorcycle
pulls up alongside him
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the guys starts yelling,
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"Great
Controversy, Great Controversy"
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the guy in the car,
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he was a Seventh-day
Adventist Church Elder,
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he cracks his
window just a little bit,
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and the guy begins
telling him about the book,
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"The Great
Controversy" they ended up...
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about a year ago now,
they had Bible Studies together
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and they were both
baptized because of a book
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out in a field
where there was no wind
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with the pages
blowing back and forth
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first one way
and then the other...
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I ask you, "How big is your God,
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how big is your God?"
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I was down in the
Dominican Republic
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and I was doing Evangelistic
Meetings down there,
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as a matter of fact, I
want to share a story with you
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because, I think
it's very germane
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to our churches and to our lives
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and then I'll go back to
the other part of that story,
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but while I was there, I
was living with a Pastor,
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I was there for about a month,
and so I was eating his food
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and having the shelter of
the roof and everything else,
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he was very nice to me,
he came home one afternoon,
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he said, "Jim,
this old man died... "
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and he had said, "we
need to do a funeral,
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would you mind
doing the funeral for me?"
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Well, that's not on the top
of my list... to do funerals,
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but, like I said,
he'd been really nice to me
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I said, "Okay, all right"
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so, it was going
to be the next day,
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and this was kind
of late in the evening
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so I went to bed,
the next day I get up
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I say, "Pastor,
tell me," I said,
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"this guy was probably
a Seventh-day Adventist"
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"No,"
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I said, "Well,
he was a Christian?"
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"No," as a matter of fact,
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the pastor said
he hated Christians.
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Now, I knew why he
palmed this funeral off on me
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and I'm going,
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"Oh great, what
am I going to do,
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you know, what am I
going to do for this guy?"
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And I had no idea, I'm
just laboring over this
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and by the time,
we're walking up the street
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with my interpreter,
we're going toward the house,
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it's time for the
funeral and we get up there
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and man, it's a
typical... you know...
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Latin American funeral,
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there are people
pouring out all over the street,
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there are people everywhere,
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and as soon as I get
there, they grab me and say,
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"It's time Pastor, come in"
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and they zip me right
in, and put me right...
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there's a wall right
here and there's the casket,
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and it's an open casket,
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the guy is
looking up right at me,
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and I'm still thinking,
"What am I going to do?"
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And finally, I thought,
"Well, God, I'm just going to
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I'm just going to
preach on the second coming,
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I'll preach my heart out"
and that's exactly what I did,
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I preached and I preached
on the second coming of Christ
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and I invited everybody there
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to come into my
meetings in the evening
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and a lot of people did,
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now, do you know what that
old man there in the casket
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had to say about it,
who hated Christians?
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Nothing... Yeah, nothing... why?
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He's dead, he's
deader than a doornail.
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Paul says... what? "I die daily"
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If we in the
church would die daily
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and we would die more often,
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we wouldn't be
fighting with our pastors,
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we wouldn't be fighting
over the color of the carpet,
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we wouldn't be hurt
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when somebody says
something in church,
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because we'd be
dead, just a thought.
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Amen.
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Well, while I was
doing these meetings,
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one night a lady came up to me,
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and said, "Can you come see
me?" I said, "Sure, happy to"
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so the next day,
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the interpreter and I went
to see her... to her house...
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and I mean, it
was... not much of a house,
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you could see...
just boards and then
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big air spaces in
between the boards,
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we get into her home,
it's just a dirt floor,
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she invites us to sit down,
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and we sit down
on this old couch
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that we almost
sat from the couch
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all the way down to the floor,
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and the dust kind
of... came up out of it,
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you know, there's a light
shining through the walls,
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you can see the dust is boiling
up as we sit down on the couch,
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and we talked
with her little bit
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little bit of small
talk, and then I said,
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"Well, how come
you invited us here?"
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"Well," she says,
"when I go to bed at night,
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the moment I close
the door of the bedroom,
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there's a little
man that opens the door,
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jumps up on my bed and
tries to choke me at night. "
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I said, "Well, what
do you think that is?"
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She says, "I
think it's the devil"
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I said, "I would agree with you"
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now, I don't know exactly
why but God, over the years,
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has led me into a lot of
very interesting situations,
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demon possession and
demon harassment and everything
00:09:06.61\00:09:10.25
and I want to put a
little note right here
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at this moment, while
I talk about these things
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you shouldn't see a
demon around every corner
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because sometimes it can be
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the pizza you
shouldn't have eaten at night
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or you brought on
something yourself in life,
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so, that isn't always the case,
00:09:24.66\00:09:26.66
but there are real situations,
00:09:26.70\00:09:28.60
if you believe in God,
you've got to believe that
00:09:28.63\00:09:30.77
there's a real devil
too and the devil hates us
00:09:30.80\00:09:32.90
and he'll try
and do various things
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or if you just open
up your life to him,
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he's going to come in,
it's an open invitation.
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"Well," I said, "why
don't we get together and pray?"
00:09:39.34\00:09:44.61
She said, "I've never prayed"
00:09:44.65\00:09:46.72
I said, "Well,
let's kneel right here
00:09:46.75\00:09:48.65
and then... you
just repeat after me"
00:09:48.68\00:09:50.52
so we knelt there on
that little dusty area,
00:09:50.55\00:09:53.56
we got together
and she was right here
00:09:53.59\00:09:55.56
and the Interpreter was here
00:09:55.59\00:09:57.19
and so I prayed and then
it went to the Interpreter
00:09:57.23\00:09:59.53
then to her, and
the first thing I said,
00:09:59.56\00:10:01.40
is, "Lord, I just want to thank
you so much for who you are"
00:10:01.43\00:10:05.53
went around... just fine...
00:10:05.57\00:10:07.47
and then I knew
from past experience
00:10:07.50\00:10:10.64
I figured this would... if
there is any demonic situation,
00:10:10.67\00:10:13.88
this would really cure it
00:10:13.91\00:10:15.24
I prayed, "Lord, may your blood
flow over me and cleanse me
00:10:15.28\00:10:19.11
from all the
filthiness and unrighteousness"
00:10:19.18\00:10:21.42
went to the Interpreter to her,
00:10:21.48\00:10:23.59
as soon as she got the
words out of her mouth,
00:10:23.62\00:10:25.75
slam... she bounces on the floor
and she's grabbing her neck
00:10:25.79\00:10:28.96
as she's choking on the floor,
00:10:29.02\00:10:30.99
I reached over and
grabbed a hold of her
00:10:31.03\00:10:33.23
and demanded the demons to
come out in the name of Christ
00:10:33.26\00:10:35.80
and this went on for
00:10:35.83\00:10:37.70
30 to 40 seconds or so
00:10:37.73\00:10:39.57
and then all of a
sudden, she kind of sat up,
00:10:39.60\00:10:43.14
she wipes her eyes,
00:10:43.20\00:10:44.54
she kind of still has
this feeling in her throat,
00:10:44.57\00:10:46.31
I thought,
"Something isn't right yet"
00:10:46.37\00:10:48.64
and so I said,
"How're you feeling?"
00:10:48.68\00:10:50.45
she said, "Okay,"
00:10:50.48\00:10:51.81
that night, at the meetings
I said, "Are you all right?"
00:10:51.85\00:10:54.52
she said, "Yeah, I'm fine"
00:10:54.55\00:10:55.92
the next day, I asked,
"How're you doing today?"
00:10:55.95\00:10:58.62
she said, "I'm doing good,"
00:10:58.65\00:11:00.32
the next day, she said,
"Can you come again to my house"
00:11:00.36\00:11:02.79
I said, "Sure,"
went back to the house...
00:11:02.82\00:11:05.89
same scenario
again, same scenario...
00:11:05.93\00:11:08.33
now, what I
found over the years,
00:11:08.36\00:11:10.70
when you have someone
that's got a problem like this
00:11:10.73\00:11:14.40
with something going on,
00:11:14.44\00:11:15.77
and you can't
get rid of the demon
00:11:15.80\00:11:17.57
somewhere or somehow or other,
00:11:17.61\00:11:19.21
the person has invited
00:11:19.24\00:11:20.74
the demons to stay in the home,
00:11:20.78\00:11:22.81
and when I really begin to
realize some of these things
00:11:22.84\00:11:26.18
in my own life... I
used to keep a hookah,
00:11:26.21\00:11:28.88
I don't know how many of
you know what a hookah is
00:11:28.92\00:11:30.75
but a hookah is like
a water pipe, you know,
00:11:30.79\00:11:34.19
you got the cooling water
that you smoke your dope in,
00:11:34.22\00:11:38.03
I used to just keep one of those
00:11:38.06\00:11:40.46
as a memento, I threw that out,
00:11:40.50\00:11:42.80
I used to collect voodoo
masks from around the world,
00:11:42.83\00:11:46.67
man! I want
the... they're pretty,
00:11:46.74\00:11:49.00
I want the voodoo masks,
00:11:49.04\00:11:50.57
well, I've discovered that
the devil can seek entrance
00:11:50.61\00:11:54.08
on some of these various things
in your home and in your life,
00:11:54.11\00:11:57.78
and so I began
asking this woman questions
00:11:57.81\00:12:00.32
because the every
same thing happened again,
00:12:00.35\00:12:02.78
we had to repeat the
same scenario, over again.
00:12:02.82\00:12:04.95
As I questioned her,
00:12:05.02\00:12:07.66
seemed like there
was nothing in her home,
00:12:07.69\00:12:09.59
nothing in her life,
and then she tells me...
00:12:09.62\00:12:11.69
"Well," she says,
"by the way, my husband,
00:12:11.73\00:12:13.76
who is not really my husband,
00:12:13.80\00:12:15.66
takes everybody here
00:12:15.70\00:12:17.37
to the witch doctor
for healing including me,"
00:12:17.40\00:12:21.50
ah, well, we kind of
worked out a scenario,
00:12:21.54\00:12:25.64
as she really
wanted to be baptized,
00:12:25.67\00:12:27.24
but... to get her married too...
so we kind of worked on that,
00:12:27.28\00:12:31.41
well, the husband who wanted
to get married "supposedly"
00:12:31.45\00:12:34.35
he kind of missed
the day of the wedding,
00:12:34.38\00:12:37.12
but he apologized, he
was going to make it again,
00:12:37.15\00:12:40.29
on the final night...
my final Saturday night,
00:12:40.32\00:12:43.29
during the meetings,
00:12:43.32\00:12:44.66
I had a call for
everybody to accept Christ
00:12:44.69\00:12:46.83
to come forward,
there were some more people
00:12:46.86\00:12:48.93
and then the pastor over here
00:12:48.96\00:12:50.80
was baptizing people at the end,
00:12:50.83\00:12:52.63
and he made a final call,
00:12:52.67\00:12:54.84
well, we weren't
baptizing her yet
00:12:54.90\00:12:57.11
because she needed
to do all these things,
00:12:57.14\00:12:58.54
but she came forward,
and then he had a prayer,
00:12:58.57\00:13:01.31
and as he had a prayer,
00:13:01.34\00:13:03.31
there's beautiful
tile floor in their church,
00:13:03.35\00:13:05.18
as she had her prayer,
00:13:05.21\00:13:06.58
she was virtually lifted
straight up like this... flat
00:13:06.61\00:13:09.45
and slapped down on the floor,
00:13:09.48\00:13:11.55
now for the
Elders in the church,
00:13:11.59\00:13:13.59
this isn't anything
big and new to them,
00:13:13.66\00:13:15.92
they deal with
these kinds of things
00:13:15.96\00:13:17.69
in many of these
countries all the time,
00:13:17.73\00:13:19.39
they walk up and they close
the drape that was between there
00:13:19.43\00:13:22.10
they dismiss everybody as
she's bouncing up and down
00:13:22.13\00:13:25.33
and grabbing her
throat and everything,
00:13:25.37\00:13:26.84
we all walk over, they
each grab an arm and a leg,
00:13:26.87\00:13:30.21
and I reach up behind her head
00:13:30.24\00:13:31.97
and grab her hair so she's
not slamming on the tile floor,
00:13:32.01\00:13:35.94
and she's looking
the other way though
00:13:35.98\00:13:38.18
and as I'm demanding
the demons to come out,
00:13:38.21\00:13:40.32
all of a sudden, I
felt impressed and I said,
00:13:40.35\00:13:42.35
"Demons, I demand you to
turn over and look at me"
00:13:42.38\00:13:45.22
wham... I mean it
was just instantaneous
00:13:45.25\00:13:48.36
and it was like two black holes,
00:13:48.39\00:13:50.23
there was nothing in her eyes
except these two black pits,
00:13:50.26\00:13:53.36
and as I... even
telling you today...
00:13:53.40\00:13:55.90
a chill ran up my spine,
00:13:55.96\00:13:58.03
it was like looking
in the depths of hell,
00:13:58.07\00:14:01.00
and I continued to demand
00:14:01.07\00:14:03.34
that the demons come out
in the name of Jesus Christ
00:14:03.41\00:14:05.77
from a child of God,
finally she sighed and sat up
00:14:05.81\00:14:10.91
moved her hair back again,
00:14:10.95\00:14:13.21
I said, "Are you
okay?" She said, "Yeah. "
00:14:13.25\00:14:14.58
I had to leave the next day,
00:14:14.62\00:14:17.39
two weeks later, I got
message from the Pastor,
00:14:17.42\00:14:20.36
the Pastor says, "Praise
God, God got the victory today,
00:14:20.39\00:14:23.39
the devil tried to drown
her in the baptismal tank
00:14:23.43\00:14:25.89
but Jesus won. " Amen...
00:14:25.93\00:14:28.40
Sometimes the devil doesn't give
up these struggles too easily
00:14:28.43\00:14:31.83
he wants to hang
on to his victims,
00:14:31.87\00:14:34.07
you remember how,
when Jesus cast out demons
00:14:34.10\00:14:37.11
sometimes... like
out of the child...
00:14:37.14\00:14:38.47
it rent and tore at the
child before it finally left?
00:14:38.51\00:14:41.61
But the thing you
have to understand is,
00:14:41.64\00:14:44.88
God always wins.
00:14:44.91\00:14:46.68
How big is your
God? Our God always wins,
00:14:46.72\00:14:50.99
the devil is a defeated foe,
00:14:51.02\00:14:52.62
he may try and do things
down here on Planet Earth
00:14:52.65\00:14:55.62
but he is a defeated foe.
00:14:55.69\00:14:58.46
I was up in Ethiopia,
00:14:58.49\00:15:01.20
traveled clear up in
the mountains for some hours
00:15:01.23\00:15:04.33
to get up there,
and I found this fellow
00:15:04.37\00:15:06.50
who had been a witch doctor,
00:15:06.53\00:15:08.70
a practicing witch
doctor for 48 years,
00:15:08.74\00:15:11.34
and man! a witch doctor...
they've got lots of power,
00:15:11.37\00:15:14.74
you know, if I
tell you to do something
00:15:14.78\00:15:17.38
and you don't do
it, you could die
00:15:17.41\00:15:19.91
and if this person dies,
00:15:19.95\00:15:21.55
the first thing the
witch doctor says is,
00:15:21.58\00:15:22.95
"That's because
they didn't listen to me"
00:15:22.98\00:15:24.32
lots of power... and then...
00:15:24.35\00:15:27.32
as soon as they
tell your fortune,
00:15:27.36\00:15:29.46
they want a cow or a pig or
a goat or something like this
00:15:29.49\00:15:31.96
so they're also the richest
person in the whole village.
00:15:31.99\00:15:35.53
So they got lots of
influence, lots of power,
00:15:35.56\00:15:37.93
lots of money and everything,
00:15:37.97\00:15:39.30
but this guy, one day,
heard about Jesus Christ
00:15:39.33\00:15:43.04
and all of a sudden he said,
00:15:43.07\00:15:45.44
"I want nothing else to
do with this ever again"
00:15:45.47\00:15:47.78
turned his life
totally in a new direction,
00:15:47.84\00:15:50.15
and at the same time,
00:15:50.18\00:15:51.51
there was somebody
else in the village
00:15:51.55\00:15:53.08
it happened in their lives too,
00:15:53.11\00:15:54.45
and a guy in
prison from this village,
00:15:54.48\00:15:57.25
it happened to
him too, and he says,
00:15:57.29\00:16:00.19
"I can't wait to go to
get home to tell everybody
00:16:00.22\00:16:02.06
in my village
about Jesus Christ"
00:16:02.09\00:16:03.56
he got home and he
started telling them
00:16:03.59\00:16:05.76
only to find out that
there were many people
00:16:05.79\00:16:07.63
whom God had
touched in that village
00:16:07.66\00:16:09.26
and they started
worshipping together,
00:16:09.30\00:16:10.83
and then they began to say,
00:16:10.87\00:16:13.00
"Well, we need to
find a place to worship"
00:16:13.03\00:16:15.34
as they're doing
their worship hunting,
00:16:15.37\00:16:17.67
the
ex-fortune-teller's wife dies,
00:16:17.71\00:16:20.94
now the lady... she wanted
nothing to do with Christianity
00:16:20.98\00:16:25.08
because it was a
lucrative business
00:16:25.11\00:16:27.18
she had power,
she had, you know,
00:16:27.22\00:16:29.18
prestige in the
village and all of the stuff,
00:16:29.22\00:16:31.22
nothing to do
with it, but she died,
00:16:31.25\00:16:33.39
and on that particular
day, you'll appreciate this,
00:16:33.46\00:16:36.73
I had three cameras rolling,
and I had five guys lined up
00:16:36.76\00:16:40.40
and I asked the first guy,
I said, "This woman was dead?"
00:16:40.46\00:16:44.07
he said, "Oh yeah"
00:16:44.10\00:16:45.93
second guy said that
she was dead for three days,
00:16:45.97\00:16:47.80
I asked the third guy,
00:16:47.84\00:16:49.60
"Three days, she was
really dead for three days?"
00:16:49.67\00:16:51.71
He said, "Oh yeah,"
00:16:51.74\00:16:53.34
fourth guy said,
"but we prayed for her"
00:16:53.38\00:16:55.61
and the fifth guy said,
00:16:55.64\00:16:57.45
"And God raised
her from the dead"
00:16:57.48\00:16:59.61
and that woman,
brothers and sisters,
00:16:59.65\00:17:01.58
was standing
there with us that day.
00:17:01.62\00:17:03.49
How big is your God?
How big is your God...
00:17:03.52\00:17:08.19
We serve a mighty God
00:17:08.22\00:17:10.19
who is capable of doing
anything and everything.
00:17:10.23\00:17:12.89
He's an amazing God.
00:17:12.93\00:17:16.97
In the United
States, I met this fellow,
00:17:17.00\00:17:21.04
he had been in the Merchant...
00:17:21.07\00:17:22.40
not Merchant Marine...
but in the Coast Guard,
00:17:22.44\00:17:24.01
he had been in the Coast
Guard, he was up in Greenland
00:17:24.04\00:17:26.24
and his tour of duty was over
00:17:26.27\00:17:28.84
and he did not want
to take a Cruiser home
00:17:28.88\00:17:32.25
and spend all that
time just across the ocean,
00:17:32.28\00:17:35.65
he knew a guy
who was going to fly,
00:17:35.68\00:17:37.29
so he went to the guy's house,
00:17:37.32\00:17:39.15
he goes to the guy's house and
he starts to knock at his door
00:17:39.19\00:17:42.72
only... there is a problem...
00:17:42.76\00:17:44.76
his hand will
not contact the door,
00:17:44.79\00:17:47.43
he swings harder and harder
00:17:47.46\00:17:50.07
and his hand will
not make a bit of noise,
00:17:50.10\00:17:52.57
now he's a
Seventh-day Adventist Christian,
00:17:52.60\00:17:55.10
he said, "I know
there's something funny here"
00:17:55.14\00:17:57.31
and he goes home,
00:17:57.34\00:17:58.67
he said, "I got on my
knees and I opened my Bible,"
00:17:58.71\00:18:02.44
he said, "I normally didn't do
this but I just opened my Bible
00:18:02.48\00:18:05.85
and it fell open to
Isaiah 52," he said,
00:18:05.88\00:18:09.12
"My eyes went down
and I looked at verse 12,
00:18:09.15\00:18:12.05
'You shall not go out
in haste or by flight'"
00:18:12.09\00:18:14.92
he said, "Okay God, I got it"
00:18:14.96\00:18:18.33
he decided to not go
back to the guy's house.
00:18:18.39\00:18:23.00
The next day,
one of the Captains
00:18:23.03\00:18:26.10
of one of the Cruisers said,
"Hey, we're going to the States
00:18:26.13\00:18:28.14
today, do you
want to come with us?"
00:18:28.20\00:18:29.90
He said, "Yeah,
I'll go with you"
00:18:29.94\00:18:31.61
he gets in the ship, they
were heading out the harbor
00:18:31.64\00:18:35.21
the plane that he was
going to on... flies up
00:18:35.24\00:18:37.38
he thinks, "Man! they're going
to be home days ahead of me"
00:18:37.41\00:18:40.55
they got there
several days later,
00:18:40.62\00:18:42.98
and they discovered...
that plane and all 12 passengers
00:18:43.02\00:18:45.79
aboard had
crashed and were killed.
00:18:45.82\00:18:48.56
God sees the end
from the beginning,
00:18:48.59\00:18:51.23
God wants to have you
in the palm of His hands,
00:18:51.26\00:18:55.40
will you let Him,
will you allow Him?
00:18:55.46\00:18:58.57
No, sure, there are
times that things happen
00:18:58.60\00:19:00.90
as a matter of fact,
00:19:00.94\00:19:02.27
"Have you
considered my servant, Job?"
00:19:02.30\00:19:04.47
Things happen, right?
00:19:04.51\00:19:07.04
God trusts you with an even
greater example of His glory
00:19:07.08\00:19:12.08
and draws you
closer and closer to Him.
00:19:12.11\00:19:15.18
As a matter of fact,
sometimes things that happen...
00:19:15.22\00:19:19.35
I just had a
friend two days ago...
00:19:19.39\00:19:22.02
a pastor that
called me and said, "Jim"
00:19:22.06\00:19:24.66
he was hysterical,
00:19:24.69\00:19:26.03
I couldn't even
hardly understand,
00:19:26.06\00:19:27.76
"Jim, my daughter hung herself
00:19:27.80\00:19:31.10
in the garage
and killed herself. "
00:19:31.13\00:19:34.04
Why do some of
these things happen?
00:19:34.07\00:19:36.94
I had a friend that I did
mission trips with him all over,
00:19:36.97\00:19:40.28
at 49 years old,
he contracted Cancer
00:19:40.31\00:19:43.38
and he died by age 52,
00:19:43.41\00:19:44.75
he asked me a
question before he passed away,
00:19:44.78\00:19:47.12
he said, "Jim,
I've done everything,
00:19:47.15\00:19:48.68
I've followed God's Word,
I've loved... I eat right,
00:19:48.72\00:19:52.79
I've done all these
things, why, why, why?"
00:19:52.82\00:19:56.39
Well, it's simple, we
live in a sinful world.
00:19:56.42\00:19:59.96
We are here on
the Devil's playground
00:20:00.00\00:20:03.23
and it is a world of sin,
and so, until Jesus comes,
00:20:03.26\00:20:07.67
we're going to have pain,
we're going to have heartache,
00:20:07.70\00:20:09.50
we're going to have suffering,
00:20:09.54\00:20:10.87
but our God is able
to help get us through,
00:20:10.91\00:20:14.21
our God is able to lift us up
00:20:14.24\00:20:16.21
that we might
live... above these things,
00:20:16.24\00:20:18.78
and there are times that
God allows certain things
00:20:18.81\00:20:21.88
to happen in our lives
00:20:21.92\00:20:23.25
simply to draw us closer
to Him, because, remember,
00:20:23.28\00:20:26.52
remember... the
biggest thing in this life,
00:20:26.55\00:20:30.16
is getting us to the next,
which is the eternal kingdom,
00:20:30.19\00:20:34.36
the eternal life.
00:20:34.40\00:20:35.73
Down in San Francisco, one time,
00:20:35.76\00:20:38.73
we were filming a little
piece and I went and picked up
00:20:38.77\00:20:40.54
a little pinch of
sand and put it in my palm
00:20:40.60\00:20:44.17
and then I tried to
separate out one grain of sand,
00:20:44.21\00:20:47.08
now think about all the sand
on all the beaches of the world,
00:20:47.11\00:20:52.21
all the sand under
the waters on planet earth
00:20:52.25\00:20:56.22
and then you take
that one single grain
00:20:56.25\00:20:59.42
and that represents
our life, here on earth,
00:20:59.45\00:21:01.82
now one little
brief, miniscule moment
00:21:01.86\00:21:04.59
and all the rest, the
beginning of eternity.
00:21:04.63\00:21:07.86
Did God create us for eternity,
He didn't create us for time,
00:21:07.90\00:21:13.07
understand, he wants us
to spend eternity with Him
00:21:13.10\00:21:16.87
and so the things that
happened in this world,
00:21:16.91\00:21:20.64
Ellen White, at
one time, got up there
00:21:20.68\00:21:22.78
in a vision to
heaven to see her friends
00:21:22.84\00:21:24.65
and they said,
"What's the worst thing that
00:21:24.68\00:21:26.45
happened to you
while you were on earth?"
00:21:26.48\00:21:28.15
And she thought and she
thought and she thought,
00:21:28.18\00:21:29.82
and then she just exclaimed,
00:21:29.85\00:21:31.45
"Praise God,
heaven is cheap enough"
00:21:31.49\00:21:33.52
heaven is cheap
enough, brother and sister,
00:21:33.56\00:21:36.26
we've got to keep
our eyes fixed on heaven
00:21:36.29\00:21:39.49
fixed upon God and the
eternal weight of glory
00:21:39.53\00:21:43.23
because this world is
just a speck in eternity.
00:21:43.26\00:21:46.90
A speck in eternity.
00:21:46.94\00:21:49.24
At Andrews
University, not long ago,
00:21:49.27\00:21:52.37
one of my friends
shared this story,
00:21:52.44\00:21:55.48
his wife was there
in an intensive course
00:21:55.51\00:21:58.71
and there was a group of
people together and they were...
00:21:58.75\00:22:01.65
they were being
taught by this fellow,
00:22:01.68\00:22:04.12
it was a one-week
course, like I said,
00:22:04.15\00:22:06.42
full day, every
day, very intensive,
00:22:06.45\00:22:08.62
and at the end of that
time there the custom is...
00:22:08.69\00:22:12.63
you buy the professor something
as a little "thank you gift"
00:22:12.66\00:22:15.80
one lady said, "We
shouldn't buy him anything,
00:22:15.83\00:22:20.54
we need to pray for him,"
you see, he was in a wheelchair
00:22:20.60\00:22:24.21
and he had
contracted some type of disease
00:22:24.24\00:22:27.91
that a year earlier
left him totally paralyzed.
00:22:27.94\00:22:30.78
Everybody said,
00:22:30.85\00:22:32.31
"Oh, no, no, no, no we
need to get him a gift"
00:22:32.35\00:22:35.82
"No!" she was so intense,
"we have to pray for this man,"
00:22:35.88\00:22:39.45
finally, they said,
"All right, all right"
00:22:39.49\00:22:41.69
so the next day
they called together,
00:22:41.72\00:22:43.83
they got him in,
they called him together
00:22:43.89\00:22:45.89
and this woman got
down, and she said,
00:22:45.93\00:22:47.60
and she said...
00:22:47.63\00:22:48.96
she's never heard a
prayer like this in her life,
00:22:49.00\00:22:50.93
and then she
prayed for this man...
00:22:50.97\00:22:52.53
she began massaging his feet,
and continued to pray for him,
00:22:52.57\00:22:56.47
and pretty soon
when the prayer was done,
00:22:56.50\00:22:58.07
the man said, "I
can actually feel...
00:22:58.11\00:22:59.67
I can feel
something in my feet,"
00:22:59.71\00:23:02.44
the next day... he
walked into the classroom
00:23:02.48\00:23:06.21
some of the
other professors said,
00:23:06.25\00:23:08.32
"Let us tell you
the back story to this
00:23:08.35\00:23:10.62
because we've been trying to
buy him a van fitted with things
00:23:10.65\00:23:14.92
for a person of his problems,
00:23:14.96\00:23:18.06
with the gear
shifts and everything else
00:23:18.09\00:23:19.79
the gas up in the
hands... so that he could drive,
00:23:19.83\00:23:22.23
they said, every time we tried
to get this project together,
00:23:22.26\00:23:25.50
it never happened, we
had just kept falling apart
00:23:25.53\00:23:29.10
now we know why,
now we know why... "
00:23:29.14\00:23:32.61
How big is your God?
00:23:32.64\00:23:34.38
In North Carolina,
this couple was studying
00:23:34.41\00:23:40.22
God had touched their
hearts so they were studying,
00:23:40.25\00:23:43.18
now on Tuesdays, brother,
00:23:43.25\00:23:44.59
they were studying
with a Seventh-day Adventist
00:23:44.62\00:23:46.22
and on Thursdays,
00:23:46.25\00:23:47.59
they were studying
with somebody else,
00:23:47.62\00:23:49.86
and on Tuesdays, the guy said,
00:23:49.89\00:23:55.16
"Brothers and
Sisters, you're here...
00:23:55.20\00:23:57.33
you've got to keep
God's Commandments,
00:23:57.37\00:23:59.67
you've got to
follow the Sabbath day"
00:23:59.70\00:24:01.50
and listed out
all these other things
00:24:01.54\00:24:03.24
and then on Thursdays,
the guy would come in and say,
00:24:03.30\00:24:05.21
"You don't need to do
that, that's all done away with,
00:24:05.27\00:24:07.18
that's the old law"
and on and on and on...
00:24:07.21\00:24:09.94
well, one day,
they asked him about the
00:24:09.98\00:24:12.65
Seventh-day Sabbath
specifically and, of course,
00:24:12.71\00:24:15.65
the Seventh-day Adventist said,
00:24:15.68\00:24:17.02
"Absolutely, it's at the
center of God's Decalogue,
00:24:17.05\00:24:19.05
it's the center of God's law,
00:24:19.09\00:24:20.42
it's immortal, it's right there,
it's the fourth commandment,
00:24:20.46\00:24:23.22
all the others kind
of center around that,"
00:24:23.26\00:24:25.43
the other guy on Thursday said,
00:24:25.46\00:24:28.33
"No, no, no, no, you know,
God did away with all that stuff
00:24:28.36\00:24:31.57
it's just grace now, we
can do anything we want,"
00:24:31.60\00:24:35.30
well, they were perplexed
00:24:35.34\00:24:37.17
and when everybody left,
00:24:37.21\00:24:38.97
they said, "Let's get on
our knees and let's pray"
00:24:39.04\00:24:40.71
they begin praying, and
just as they're praying,
00:24:40.74\00:24:43.95
you know it was kind
of a funny situation,
00:24:43.98\00:24:46.92
and as they were
praying, they smell smoke,
00:24:46.98\00:24:50.12
they get up and they
start sending the family
00:24:50.15\00:24:53.25
to different parts of the house,
00:24:53.32\00:24:54.66
and they're checking
things out, and all of a sudden
00:24:54.69\00:24:56.59
as they're trying to find
where the smoke is coming from,
00:24:56.62\00:24:58.66
there's loud thunder
and rain begins to pour,
00:24:58.69\00:25:01.36
and at the... I
mean... in the front door,
00:25:01.40\00:25:04.03
it is just gushing under...
00:25:04.07\00:25:05.90
it's like somebody
has got a fire hose
00:25:05.93\00:25:07.27
blowing water up
underneath the front door,
00:25:07.34\00:25:09.30
and the wife, she's yelling,
"Please," to the kids...
00:25:09.34\00:25:11.31
"get some towels,
get some towels... "
00:25:11.34\00:25:13.54
and she's throwing
towels in front of this thing...
00:25:13.58\00:25:15.74
now, one of the boys
was at the back door,
00:25:15.78\00:25:19.61
he was still out there and
he's looking at the back door,
00:25:19.65\00:25:23.28
and funny thing
is as he's looking,
00:25:23.32\00:25:25.75
there is no rain
at the back door,
00:25:25.79\00:25:28.16
he calls the rest of the family
00:25:28.19\00:25:31.19
after they kind of
got the emergency plugged
00:25:31.23\00:25:32.96
at the front door,
called all the family,
00:25:32.99\00:25:35.20
the family looks
at the back door,
00:25:35.23\00:25:36.67
they peak out and it's
clear sky at the back door,
00:25:36.70\00:25:40.44
they get back to the front door,
and finally the rain stops,
00:25:40.47\00:25:45.07
the wife clears up all
the water and everything,
00:25:45.11\00:25:47.54
mops up everything,
and opens the front door
00:25:47.58\00:25:49.94
bam... out falls this package
that burned quite a ways through
00:25:49.98\00:25:55.75
she picks it up and she looks,
00:25:55.78\00:25:58.29
it's the book, "Bible
Readings for the Home"
00:25:58.35\00:26:01.69
and it's burned all
the way down to the part,
00:26:01.72\00:26:05.03
"What day is the Sabbath day?"
00:26:05.09\00:26:07.46
She called the
Seventh-day Adventist,
00:26:07.50\00:26:11.50
who they had been studying with
00:26:11.53\00:26:12.87
and asked,
"What does this mean?"
00:26:12.90\00:26:14.24
He said, "Well, it's
the great controversy,
00:26:14.27\00:26:15.60
God sent you the truth,
the devil tried to destroy it,
00:26:15.64\00:26:18.07
it happened right
here at your front door,"
00:26:18.11\00:26:19.87
then she calls her brother,
00:26:19.91\00:26:22.58
the brother was a
Seventh-day Adventist,
00:26:22.61\00:26:24.78
and she begins to tell
him and the brother said,
00:26:24.81\00:26:28.08
"You're kidding, I sent that
book to you three months ago,
00:26:28.12\00:26:32.12
and you just got it today?"
00:26:32.15\00:26:34.09
How big is your
God... how big is your God?
00:26:34.12\00:26:40.90
Akimotu was a young
man in Papua New Guinea,
00:26:40.93\00:26:47.64
and maybe some of you
might even know that story here,
00:26:47.67\00:26:52.54
Akimotu is about 14 years old,
00:26:52.57\00:26:54.91
and he came to the
Secondary School there
00:26:54.94\00:26:57.35
and nobody really
knew him that well,
00:26:57.38\00:26:59.71
but he signed up for class,
00:26:59.75\00:27:02.02
he's sitting in
the class everyday
00:27:02.05\00:27:05.52
and everybody is a
little nervous of him
00:27:05.55\00:27:07.36
because he comes from
kind of a... warring tribe
00:27:07.39\00:27:09.96
apparently, and one day,
00:27:10.03\00:27:12.89
the Professor asked a
question, Akimoto answered it,
00:27:12.96\00:27:16.10
and I tell you,
00:27:16.16\00:27:17.50
the class just thought
it was a stupid answer,
00:27:17.53\00:27:21.67
and a boy in the back really
started making fun of Akimotu
00:27:21.70\00:27:25.17
now that got Akimotu so
mad his little pygmy-frame,
00:27:25.21\00:27:28.84
he jumped up on top of the desk
00:27:28.88\00:27:30.55
running across
the tops of the desk
00:27:30.61\00:27:32.21
out from his tribal
gown he pulls out a machete,
00:27:32.25\00:27:34.98
and he's ready to
decapitate this kid
00:27:35.02\00:27:36.69
when the rest
the class tackles him
00:27:36.72\00:27:38.29
and wrestles the sword away,
00:27:38.32\00:27:39.65
now, needless to say,
everybody is scared of Akimotu,
00:27:39.69\00:27:43.02
the season progresses,
00:27:43.06\00:27:46.90
classes go on,
00:27:46.93\00:27:48.26
and the professor
notices... you know
00:27:48.30\00:27:50.07
there seems like the Holy
Spirit is working in his life,
00:27:50.13\00:27:53.23
he sees changes, his
facial features change
00:27:53.27\00:27:56.84
as a matter of fact, you realize
00:27:56.87\00:27:58.77
that that's what
happens with the Holy Spirit,
00:27:58.81\00:28:01.11
when the Spirit begins
to come into your life,
00:28:01.14\00:28:03.41
you change, you
can even glow for God,
00:28:03.45\00:28:06.01
remember Moses,
coming down the mountain?
00:28:06.08\00:28:08.58
The closer he got to God
the more he glowed for God.
00:28:08.62\00:28:11.72
You want to glow for
God? That's the way to do it,
00:28:11.75\00:28:14.82
get closer to Him,
and people ask you,
00:28:14.86\00:28:16.99
"How come you look different,
how come you act different,
00:28:17.03\00:28:19.59
why are you different?"
00:28:19.63\00:28:20.96
And then you can begin sharing
the joys of Jesus Christ.
00:28:21.00\00:28:23.90
Well, summertime came,
00:28:23.97\00:28:27.24
and the pastor always
traveled out to another area
00:28:27.27\00:28:31.67
to evangelize in another area,
00:28:31.71\00:28:33.11
but in this
particular situation,
00:28:33.14\00:28:35.08
this area that he had picked,
00:28:35.11\00:28:36.61
he found out that they
only spoke a particular dialect
00:28:36.64\00:28:39.91
of Pidgin English which
nobody knew except Akimotu
00:28:39.95\00:28:43.18
and he really
didn't want to take him
00:28:43.22\00:28:46.15
but he finally said,
"Okay, all right... "
00:28:46.19\00:28:48.79
So, he invited Akimotu
who was happy to do it.
00:28:48.82\00:28:51.96
They head up to this place,
00:28:51.99\00:28:54.10
and everybody... when
they get to the village,
00:28:54.13\00:28:55.96
everybody accepts
the men with open arms
00:28:56.00\00:28:57.83
they give them a
place of esteem...
00:28:57.87\00:29:00.77
the pig house to sleep in,
00:29:00.80\00:29:02.50
Akimoto curls up, he's
asleep in the pig house,
00:29:02.54\00:29:05.34
Bill has kind of got his body in
there but he's got his head out
00:29:05.37\00:29:07.84
so that he can get a breath
of fresh air once in a while...
00:29:07.91\00:29:09.64
and all of a sudden,
in the middle of the night
00:29:09.68\00:29:12.31
the jungle air is
broken up by, "You Seventh-day,
00:29:12.35\00:29:14.95
come a quick house,
come a quick house... "
00:29:14.98\00:29:16.75
which is, "You
Seventh-day Adventist,
00:29:16.79\00:29:18.95
you're needed at the witch
doctor's house come quickly"
00:29:18.99\00:29:21.16
they jump up, they run,
00:29:21.19\00:29:23.39
and they run, they get there,
00:29:23.43\00:29:24.86
and apparently,
they're too late,
00:29:24.89\00:29:26.26
because everybody is
standing around this place,
00:29:26.29\00:29:28.56
the Pastor peeks
under the little door,
00:29:28.60\00:29:31.00
and everybody inside is crying,
00:29:31.03\00:29:32.80
and a lady is holding a
little baby in her arms.
00:29:32.83\00:29:36.17
"Well," he's thinking...
"I need to pastor up, I guess,
00:29:36.20\00:29:39.81
I need to say something,
I need to do something,"
00:29:39.84\00:29:42.04
and just about the time he's
ready to duck under the door,
00:29:42.11\00:29:44.98
little Akimoto runs
past him shoves him aside,
00:29:45.01\00:29:47.18
runs in there and grabs the baby
00:29:47.22\00:29:48.88
from the mother's
arms, and everybody was...
00:29:48.92\00:29:51.65
"What's going on?"
and the Pastor is going,
00:29:51.69\00:29:54.36
"I've never seen
anything like this"
00:29:54.39\00:29:55.72
and Akimotu holds that baby up,
00:29:55.76\00:29:58.39
"Papa, you gave
life to this baby,
00:29:58.43\00:30:01.33
Papa, you took
life from this baby,
00:30:01.36\00:30:04.20
now you give life back
and we'll give you the glory"
00:30:04.27\00:30:06.84
you could hear a
pin drop in that place
00:30:06.87\00:30:10.77
and all of a
sudden, a finger moves,
00:30:10.81\00:30:13.74
a toe moves, and the
baby begins screaming,
00:30:13.78\00:30:17.05
Akimotu hands the baby back
to the mother who was in shock,
00:30:17.08\00:30:20.52
the chief comes to
the Pastor and says,
00:30:20.55\00:30:26.45
"What kind of
spirits do you have,
00:30:26.49\00:30:29.09
we've never seen anything
like this with our spirits"
00:30:29.12\00:30:32.73
the Pastor and Akimoto
talked all night with the chief
00:30:32.76\00:30:36.30
all through the next day
00:30:36.36\00:30:37.70
and now there's a Seventh-day
Adventist church there,
00:30:37.73\00:30:39.93
because of a
young man's faith...
00:30:39.97\00:30:41.80
of God working in the
heart of that young man.
00:30:41.84\00:30:46.71
We've been training
some people in a Country
00:30:46.74\00:30:51.61
I can't mention to you,
00:30:51.65\00:30:54.12
we'd sneaked them
out of the Country
00:30:54.15\00:30:55.62
into another country and
trained them up on how to
00:30:55.65\00:30:58.72
raise up their churches,
00:30:58.75\00:31:00.09
the guys are walking
along the jungle pathway,
00:31:00.12\00:31:02.79
kind of
sneaking across the path,
00:31:02.82\00:31:04.49
just about ready
to come over the bank,
00:31:04.53\00:31:06.39
and up the other side
of the bank comes a police,
00:31:06.43\00:31:09.36
the police said,
"There they are, get them"
00:31:09.40\00:31:11.53
our guys were like
deer in the headlights,
00:31:11.57\00:31:13.44
you guys have deer around here?
00:31:13.47\00:31:14.80
Some deer maybe?
Yeah... not much...
00:31:14.84\00:31:17.57
well deer... you know,
00:31:17.61\00:31:19.31
when you hit them
with the headlights
00:31:19.34\00:31:20.68
they just kind
of... their eyes go big,
00:31:20.71\00:31:22.04
they don't know what
to do, they just freeze,
00:31:22.08\00:31:23.41
and that's what these guys
were, there's no place to run,
00:31:23.45\00:31:26.51
it's a wide open
area in the jungle,
00:31:26.55\00:31:28.08
and they just freeze,
00:31:28.12\00:31:30.45
the cops come
running right up to them,
00:31:30.49\00:31:32.65
they got their
bayonets affixed and they run up
00:31:32.72\00:31:35.22
I'm told they were
five to ten feet from them,
00:31:35.26\00:31:37.76
they were looking right at them,
00:31:37.79\00:31:39.13
saying, "Where did
they go, where did they go?"
00:31:39.16\00:31:41.33
all of a sudden one of the cops
said, "There they go, that way"
00:31:41.36\00:31:44.73
and they took
off running that way,
00:31:44.77\00:31:46.10
they left our guys
to come to our meetings,
00:31:46.13\00:31:48.40
they never saw
them, never saw them...
00:31:48.44\00:31:52.71
I was talking
with... some time ago
00:31:52.74\00:31:56.95
one of our Radio
Producers in North Africa,
00:31:56.98\00:31:59.11
this particular city,
00:31:59.15\00:32:01.75
Muslims were
killing a lot of Christians,
00:32:01.78\00:32:03.69
one of our pastors
gets a call from that city,
00:32:03.72\00:32:07.06
"Would you
please come visit me?"
00:32:07.09\00:32:08.49
He was a little nervous
about that but he's a pastor
00:32:08.52\00:32:11.73
so he said, "Okay" he
heads down to the city,
00:32:11.76\00:32:15.43
knocks on the door,
a man opens the door,
00:32:15.46\00:32:19.07
he's invited in, on the
way in, the fellow says,
00:32:19.10\00:32:21.74
"I'm a Muslim Imam"
00:32:21.77\00:32:23.10
now he figures, "I'm a dead man"
00:32:23.14\00:32:25.64
he walks around the
corner and in the living room
00:32:25.67\00:32:28.51
there were 30 bearded men
sitting in the living room,
00:32:28.54\00:32:31.18
now he knows for
sure... "I'm a goner,"
00:32:31.21\00:32:32.85
while he's standing there
kind of quaking in his boots,
00:32:32.88\00:32:36.18
the Imam says, "We
brought you here today
00:32:36.22\00:32:39.12
because we want you
to secretly baptize us. "
00:32:39.15\00:32:42.92
Wow! now while he's
kind of pastoring up,
00:32:42.96\00:32:46.86
he said, "Well, I
need to study with you all"
00:32:46.90\00:32:50.77
"No," the Imam
said, "there is no reason
00:32:50.80\00:32:54.24
because God has sent his angel
00:32:54.30\00:32:56.71
to study with me
in person, every day,
00:32:56.74\00:32:58.77
and I've shared with
these men for a long time now. "
00:32:58.81\00:33:02.11
The pastor
00:33:02.14\00:33:03.98
shared and
talked with these guys,
00:33:04.05\00:33:06.31
studied the Bible with
them the rest of the day,
00:33:06.35\00:33:08.45
they knew the
Bible as well as he did.
00:33:08.48\00:33:09.88
He baptized them all.
00:33:09.92\00:33:11.25
Brothers and
Sisters, how big is your God?
00:33:11.29\00:33:14.36
In this one
area, this one country,
00:33:14.39\00:33:19.43
we were broadcasting into...
00:33:19.46\00:33:21.16
we knew there were a
lot of things happening,
00:33:21.20\00:33:23.33
a lot of
exciting things happening
00:33:23.37\00:33:25.07
but we couldn't get in there,
00:33:25.10\00:33:26.43
one of our guys, at
one point... was killed,
00:33:26.47\00:33:27.94
another one narrowly escaped
in the jungle with his wife,
00:33:27.97\00:33:30.57
but finally, later, we
got somebody in there...
00:33:30.61\00:33:33.68
to this village,
00:33:33.71\00:33:35.04
I say "village"
but they're huge,
00:33:35.08\00:33:37.01
thousands of
people, they got there
00:33:37.05\00:33:39.15
and everybody...
everybody in that village
00:33:39.21\00:33:41.12
was a Seventh-day
Adventist Christian,
00:33:41.15\00:33:42.98
he went to the Chief, he
said, "How did this happen?"
00:33:43.02\00:33:45.85
The Chief said, listen to this,
00:33:45.92\00:33:48.12
"One day, a large man,
00:33:48.16\00:33:50.19
an imposing
figure of great stature
00:33:50.23\00:33:51.99
with an aura of
light about him... "
00:33:52.03\00:33:53.83
you guys, do you have
anybody here in Sydney
00:33:53.86\00:33:56.10
with an aura of
light about them?
00:33:56.13\00:33:57.47
"came into our village,
he wanted to see the Chief,
00:33:57.50\00:34:01.10
I sat down with him right here,
00:34:01.14\00:34:02.47
he pulled a radio
out of his clothes
00:34:02.50\00:34:05.27
he tuned it to the
Seventh-day Adventist Station,
00:34:05.31\00:34:09.08
and he said,
'Here, listen to this,
00:34:09.11\00:34:10.68
it will bless
you and your people'"
00:34:10.75\00:34:12.21
I took it, I looked at it
with the fellow next to me
00:34:12.28\00:34:14.88
we turned back
and he had vanished,
00:34:14.92\00:34:16.45
and we took it as a sign
"we should do as he says,"
00:34:16.48\00:34:19.15
see, these guys are Animists,
00:34:19.19\00:34:20.89
you know they worship the
rocks and the trees and the sky
00:34:20.92\00:34:23.22
they worship the
creation, nor the Creator,
00:34:23.26\00:34:25.83
but he said, "We all fell
in love with Jesus Christ"
00:34:25.86\00:34:28.96
now this was
good, this was exciting
00:34:29.00\00:34:31.10
but he got to a second village,
00:34:31.13\00:34:32.57
they're so far away,
they don't visit one another,
00:34:32.60\00:34:34.40
they got to a
second village, same thing,
00:34:34.44\00:34:36.81
the Chief had the same story,
00:34:36.84\00:34:38.17
"Large man, imposing
figure, great stature,
00:34:38.21\00:34:40.41
with an aura of light
about him, carrying a radio"
00:34:40.44\00:34:42.81
three, four, five, six villages,
later on... another six,
00:34:42.84\00:34:47.52
later on... another dozen,
00:34:47.55\00:34:48.88
we believe in
that area of the world
00:34:48.92\00:34:51.92
because of... whoever
this... I almost said, "Angel"
00:34:51.95\00:34:56.09
carrying radios with an
aura of light about them
00:34:56.12\00:34:59.93
there are 300,000 to
400,000 thousand believers,
00:35:00.00\00:35:03.37
Seventh-day Adventists
just in this one area alone,
00:35:03.40\00:35:06.74
though they're not
on the Church books,
00:35:06.77\00:35:08.20
but I can almost guarantee you,
they're in the books of heaven.
00:35:08.24\00:35:11.34
We serve an
amazing God, a mighty God,
00:35:11.37\00:35:15.21
who is all powerful,
who is a tremendous God.
00:35:15.24\00:35:19.71
I got a little bit of time left,
I want to share a story of Max.
00:35:19.75\00:35:23.22
I don't know if you've
heard the story of Max,
00:35:23.25\00:35:25.92
Max was the kind of
guy... if you saw Max coming,
00:35:25.95\00:35:28.26
you'd want to get on
the other side of the street
00:35:28.29\00:35:30.56
he just shouldn't
shoot you or look at you,
00:35:30.59\00:35:34.70
one day the
police caught up to Max
00:35:34.73\00:35:36.93
and they threw him in prison,
00:35:36.97\00:35:38.67
now, while Max was in prison,
00:35:38.70\00:35:40.34
he notices there's a group
of people who worship on Sunday
00:35:40.37\00:35:43.87
and they don't have to work
if they go to church on Sunday,
00:35:43.91\00:35:46.94
all this is pretty good, so
Max goes to church on Sunday,
00:35:46.98\00:35:49.98
then he sees another group
00:35:50.01\00:35:52.31
and this other group...
they go to church on Saturday
00:35:52.35\00:35:55.72
and guess what, if you
go to church on Saturday,
00:35:55.75\00:35:58.32
you don't have
to work on Saturday,
00:35:58.35\00:36:00.96
and so, he goes
to church on Saturday
00:36:00.99\00:36:03.56
and he goes to church on Sunday,
00:36:03.59\00:36:04.93
but now it doesn't...
00:36:04.96\00:36:07.00
he doesn't stick
around long enough
00:36:07.03\00:36:09.16
to really get into it
because in about 3 or 4 weeks,
00:36:09.20\00:36:12.47
he breaks out of
prison with two other guys
00:36:12.50\00:36:13.97
and they head up in the
mountains, they're gone,
00:36:14.00\00:36:16.20
when they get up in
the mountains, they said,
00:36:16.24\00:36:18.37
"You know, we've got to come
up with a really good reason
00:36:18.41\00:36:21.51
if the police catch up to us
that our lives are different,
00:36:21.54\00:36:24.58
maybe they'll let
us go," then they said,
00:36:24.61\00:36:26.61
"Well, if we are
of this denomination,
00:36:26.65\00:36:28.62
that's meaningless,
because everybody is that... "
00:36:28.65\00:36:31.55
but then they said,
00:36:31.59\00:36:33.15
"You know, if we say
we're Seventh-day Adventists,
00:36:33.19\00:36:35.49
they'll believe that,
00:36:35.52\00:36:36.86
because nobody here
likes Seventh-day Adventists. "
00:36:36.89\00:36:38.63
So they said, "Okay,
we're Seventh-day Adventists"
00:36:38.66\00:36:40.43
and they go on and
they chop all this lumber
00:36:40.46\00:36:43.06
and they build a
Seventh-day Adventist church
00:36:43.10\00:36:45.57
on the top of
this little mountain,
00:36:45.60\00:36:47.44
it's kind of a
criminal's no-man's land,
00:36:47.47\00:36:49.44
they put
Seventh-day Adventist on it,
00:36:49.50\00:36:51.37
and then, on top of it,
they dig a big old tunnel
00:36:51.44\00:36:55.28
all the way
out, put a trap door,
00:36:55.31\00:36:57.05
and that area is a good
place for an escape route
00:36:57.08\00:36:59.21
in case the police come,
00:36:59.25\00:37:00.58
and it's also a good
place to keep his AK-47
00:37:00.62\00:37:03.18
and all his
other assault weapons.
00:37:03.22\00:37:05.12
For Sabbath,
they're sitting in church,
00:37:05.15\00:37:07.79
they sit there
and they say, "Hmmm...
00:37:07.82\00:37:10.43
well, something's
not right" so they go out
00:37:10.46\00:37:13.26
and they come
back and they've stolen
00:37:13.29\00:37:15.33
three ties and three Bibles
so that they can do church,
00:37:15.36\00:37:17.80
okay, so, they're sitting there,
00:37:17.83\00:37:22.67
and now, let's see...
there's three of us so...
00:37:22.70\00:37:24.04
"Okay, you do Youth Services
and you do Sabbath School
00:37:24.07\00:37:26.78
and I'll do
church" others said, "Okay"
00:37:26.84\00:37:28.54
Now, down in the city,
00:37:28.58\00:37:30.81
there's a big school down there
00:37:30.85\00:37:33.95
not an Adventist school
because there just wasn't...
00:37:33.98\00:37:35.45
hardly any Adventists around,
but there were quite a few
00:37:35.48\00:37:38.72
Seventh-day Adventist young
people going to that school,
00:37:38.75\00:37:41.02
and these young
people hear about this
00:37:41.06\00:37:43.93
Seventh-day Adventist church,
00:37:43.96\00:37:45.49
there are no
other churches around
00:37:45.53\00:37:46.86
except the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
00:37:46.90\00:37:48.23
up on the
mountain, so the next Sabbath
00:37:48.26\00:37:49.60
they say to
everybody, "Let's go up"
00:37:49.63\00:37:50.97
zoom, they all
head up the mountain,
00:37:51.00\00:37:52.33
they knock on the door
because the door is locked
00:37:52.37\00:37:54.27
they never heard of a
church being locked on Sabbath
00:37:54.30\00:37:56.77
but the door is locked,
scares Max half to death,
00:37:56.81\00:37:59.14
he knows it's the cops,
00:37:59.17\00:38:00.51
he just barely
peeks out the window
00:38:00.54\00:38:02.64
and sees all these young
people, what's he going to do?
00:38:02.68\00:38:05.41
He opens the door and
says, "What do you want?"
00:38:05.45\00:38:06.78
They say, "We've come
to do church with you,"
00:38:06.82\00:38:08.15
"Well, okay," he invites
them in they come in, sit down,
00:38:08.18\00:38:13.72
then he's saying,
"What am I going to do,
00:38:13.76\00:38:15.66
what am I going to do, we
don't know how to do church,"
00:38:15.69\00:38:17.06
says "Well, you're the visitors,
why don't you hold church?"
00:38:17.09\00:38:19.23
They say, "Okay,"
so they hold church,
00:38:19.26\00:38:21.26
they kind of liked it,
00:38:21.30\00:38:22.76
Max and his
buddies kind of enjoyed it,
00:38:22.83\00:38:24.17
and they did that
for several Sabbaths,
00:38:24.20\00:38:26.00
then one Sabbath, guess what?
00:38:26.03\00:38:27.77
They don't show up, the
young people don't show up,
00:38:27.80\00:38:30.24
finally Max figures out
00:38:30.27\00:38:31.94
the Principal of
the school down there
00:38:31.97\00:38:34.34
chained the school gates
and won't let them come up,
00:38:34.38\00:38:36.88
he grabs his AK-47, he's
heading down the mountain
00:38:36.91\00:38:39.38
he is so mad, he's
shooting banana clubs,
00:38:39.41\00:38:42.12
whirrrrrr, whirrrrr...
whirrr... he gets down there,
00:38:42.15\00:38:44.45
he blows off the
padlock off the gate,
00:38:44.49\00:38:46.52
he opens the gate and
says, "Where are you?"
00:38:46.55\00:38:47.92
He's looking for that Principal,
00:38:47.96\00:38:49.29
that Principal... man!
he's hiding behind the desk.
00:38:49.32\00:38:51.29
Max comes up,
shoves the gun in his chest
00:38:51.33\00:38:56.03
he says,
"Where's my congregation?"
00:38:56.06\00:38:57.87
and then he says, I
don't know where he got this,
00:38:57.90\00:39:01.17
"I don't know if
you believe this or not
00:39:01.20\00:39:03.64
but I'm going
to send you to hell
00:39:03.67\00:39:05.01
and I'm going to meet you
shortly there afterwards. "
00:39:05.04\00:39:07.81
Needless to say, the
congregation was released.
00:39:07.84\00:39:10.81
Then one day,
the young people...
00:39:10.85\00:39:12.91
as they're
continuing having church,
00:39:12.95\00:39:14.92
said, "Max, let's do
an Evangelistic Meeting"
00:39:14.95\00:39:16.48
Max said, "Well, okay,
what's an Evangelistic Meeting?"
00:39:16.55\00:39:19.72
They finally go along with this,
00:39:19.75\00:39:22.99
they call the Mission
President way down the mountain,
00:39:23.02\00:39:26.23
he doesn't want to come up
00:39:26.26\00:39:27.60
but they finally guarantee him,
00:39:27.63\00:39:29.10
saying, "No, it will be
safe because Max and his buddies
00:39:29.13\00:39:30.80
are going to do guard
duty for them at the meetings"
00:39:30.87\00:39:33.47
They ended up...
they held the meetings
00:39:33.50\00:39:36.97
and the final night,
00:39:37.01\00:39:38.47
Max and his two
buddies were baptized.
00:39:38.51\00:39:41.14
Someone asked him,
00:39:41.18\00:39:42.51
"Max, why did you wait
till the very last meeting?"
00:39:42.54\00:39:44.28
because people were
being baptized all along,
00:39:44.31\00:39:46.15
he said, "You know, I
didn't think it was right
00:39:46.21\00:39:49.12
if I had to shoot
somebody while I was baptized. "
00:39:49.18\00:39:52.05
Now, the Union
President... he tells me that
00:39:52.12\00:39:57.33
Max and his
buddies are responsible
00:39:57.36\00:39:59.39
for ten Branch Sabbath
Schools and two churches.
00:39:59.43\00:40:02.43
Brothers and
Sisters, how big is your God?
00:40:02.46\00:40:05.57
The God of the
Bible is all powerful,
00:40:05.60\00:40:09.54
He is a mighty God and He
wants to work in your life,
00:40:09.57\00:40:12.31
He wants to work in mine,
00:40:12.34\00:40:13.68
He wants to work in
the life of the church,
00:40:13.71\00:40:15.74
isn't it time that we let him
00:40:15.78\00:40:17.71
and allow Him to open
our hearts to Him and say,
00:40:17.78\00:40:21.58
"Lord, come in and live in
my life, change me, mold me,
00:40:21.62\00:40:25.15
make me and shape
me into your image. "
00:40:25.19\00:40:28.12
Will you do that today,
will you say that to the Lord?
00:40:28.16\00:40:32.16
And there's no doubt in my
mind that God is coming soon
00:40:32.19\00:40:35.86
He is looking for a
people that He can fully trust,
00:40:35.90\00:40:39.53
looking for a people
that will do anything
00:40:39.57\00:40:43.27
and go wherever the Lord
leads, let's pray, shall we?
00:40:43.30\00:40:46.78
"Father, we just
want to thank you so much
00:40:46.81\00:40:49.28
for your incredible
love, thank you for your power,
00:40:49.31\00:40:52.45
Lord, I know you're
working around the world
00:40:52.48\00:40:55.08
you're doing so much
today I pray that you fill
00:40:55.12\00:40:57.79
each and every listener
here with your Holy Spirit
00:40:57.82\00:41:00.46
in Jesus' name, amen. "
00:41:00.49\00:41:02.82