Participants: Danny Shelton (Host), Pr. Scott Griswold & Julie Griswold
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY015046A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:07 Well, hello, and good day and we're so happy that 01:10 you could spend a good portion of this day 01:13 that the Lord has given to us together with us 01:17 and with our guest today. 01:19 We have a very interesting couple. 01:22 Their life has just been full of exciting things for God. 01:27 Right out of college they went to the mission field 01:30 and we're gonna talk about that in a little bit 01:32 and some of the things 01:33 that have happened in their life since then. 01:36 But you know something, 01:38 we are so happy to bring you these stories of ministries` 01:43 that need your support, 01:45 and we couldn't bring it to you without your support. 01:49 So we want to thank you for your prayers, 01:52 for your financial support and for standing with 3ABN, 01:57 not only now but all these 30 plus years. 02:00 So we're just so thankful that God has placed that 02:04 upon your heart. 02:06 And if the Holy Spirit is inspiring you to do 02:08 something special for the ministry of 3ABN, 02:12 this would be an excellent time to do it. 02:17 And remember it's those that our faithful and giving-- 02:21 I had someone ask me recently, does $10 a month help? 02:25 Oh, my yes, it helps so much. 02:28 I know two sisters who send $5 faithfully 02:32 each every month and it helps this ministry. 02:37 Those that are financially able to do more, 02:41 of course they are blessed as well. 02:44 But it's all of us pulling together 02:48 that helped to keep 3ABN on the air. 02:52 Well, listen, I want to read a text to you. 02:55 It's a text that is so meaningful 02:58 because the last words of Jesus 03:00 while He was here on this earth-- 03:03 You remember the gospel commission was very much 03:06 in the forefront of what Jesus' mission was. 03:11 He would talk about this that we should take 03:14 the gospel to all the world. 03:17 And then the last thing that He said 03:20 in Acts the 1st chapter and let's go back to verse 7. 03:25 "And he said to them, 'It is not for you to know 03:28 times or seasons where is the Father 03:31 that has put his own authority.'" 03:33 Now that's amazing that so many people say, 03:36 oh, I know the time and I know the season, 03:38 God says, it weren't our place to know that. 03:42 Jesus emphasized that it's God only. 03:45 He's the one to know the times and the seasons. 03:49 But he says, verse 8. 03:52 "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit 03:56 has come upon you, 03:58 and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, 04:01 and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 04:09 Wow, what a challenge to the end of the earth. 04:13 And our guests today have spent a great deal of time 04:18 in the end of the earth or at the end of the earth. 04:21 And I just want to introduce you to the Griswolds 04:26 and they are wonderful folks 04:28 who have been able to visit here 04:30 for just a few moments 04:32 and beginning of our time together. 04:36 And, Scott and Julie, we welcome you. 04:39 We're so happy that you could be with us. 04:41 And we're gonna have an exciting next hour together, 04:46 about 42 more minutes. 04:48 But we're gonna have an exciting time 04:51 talking about the Lord and talking about 04:55 how the Lord is reaching out to special people groups 04:59 and that's what we'll be discussing. 05:00 But before we do, I want us to enjoy some special music. 05:07 Our good friend Jaime Jorge was by not long ago, 05:10 and he played for us this far land, 05:13 one of my favorite songs, 05:15 and the favorite song of millions of people. 05:19 "His Eye is on the Sparrow." 10:30 Well, "His Eye is on the Sparrow." 10:34 And I know He watches me. 10:37 You know He watch His people all over the world, 10:40 not just you and me. 10:42 He cares. 10:43 The Bible says, He knows the hairs of our head. 10:46 He knows when the sparrow falls. 10:49 And He knows when someone in Southeast Asia needs help. 10:54 And He knew that there was a young couple 10:59 in Walla Walla, Washington, 11:02 that would respond when God called. 11:05 And you were still in college, right? 11:07 We were. 11:09 We were just finishing up and considering the call 11:12 where we go to minister 11:14 and we got the invitation from Judy Akon 11:17 who started ASAP Ministries and she said we need 11:20 somebody in the refugee camps right now, will you go? 11:23 And we were startled. 11:24 And you were. 11:26 Now you had the background, 11:27 you have grown up in the Adventist Church, right? 11:29 Grew up on missionary stories. 11:31 Right. 11:32 And you grew up in the Northern California area? 11:35 Ukiah. 11:36 And you grew up Washington, did you? 11:38 Milton-Freewater which is right on the border 11:41 of college place in Washington. 11:43 All right. All right. 11:45 Now, I know people are gonna want to ask this, 11:48 but we'll answer it now. 11:50 So how many children do you have? 11:53 We have four. Okay. 11:55 One Cambodian son and three biological, 11:59 three boys and a girl. 12:00 Okay. Two boys and a girl? 12:02 Three boys and a girl. Three boys and a girl. 12:03 And all born over in Thailand. 12:05 Okay. All right. 12:08 And so now they come to Walla Walla, 12:12 American Frontier Missions I think, I mean, right. 12:17 Actually by then we were at seminary 12:20 and Judy Akon was working with Adventist Frontier Missions 12:23 and she said we need somebody 12:25 in the camps now to work with the refugees. 12:28 She had spent years over there in the camps as into Thailand. 12:32 People were coming from Cambodia with the war, 12:35 Vietnam with Laos, 12:37 and then all through these years 12:39 different refugees coming over from Burma, 12:42 the Korean refugees in particular. 12:44 So she was now back in the States helping to resell 12:47 some of those as they came into America 12:49 by the thousands helping the churches reach out to them 12:53 and try to get groups of them started right here in America. 12:55 Right. 12:57 So now you go to Southeast Asia. 12:59 Where did you live? 13:00 We lived in Cambodia. 13:02 Did you? 13:03 Well, we thought would be 2 years, turned into 6 years 13:05 as we began church planting there because the church, 13:08 after the war it just didn't exist. 13:10 There was no Seventh-day Adventist Church 13:12 at all there in 1992. 13:14 Right. 13:15 So then you lived in Cambodia for 6 years 13:18 and then where did you go? 13:19 Back to Northern California to pastor for 3 years 13:23 and then another surprise call to go back overseas 13:25 with the GC, with Global Mission 13:28 with the Buddhist Study Center. 13:29 All right. And how long were you there? 13:31 We again flatting for a short time 13:33 and ended up staying 10 years. 13:36 Ten years? 13:37 And that was in Thailand, right? 13:38 Yes. 13:40 And so tell me a little bit about the mission 13:44 and the work that you're involved with? 13:47 Well, again to our surprises 13:50 we came back to America primarily 13:52 because we wanted to be closer to our parents 13:54 who are getting on in years. 13:56 We want our children a chance 13:57 to go to Seventh-day Adventist academy and college. 14:01 But as we began doing that, we've been missionaries 14:03 for a long time and we're saying, 14:05 what are we gonna do in America? 14:06 Everybody's had a chance to hear the gospel, right. 14:10 And we begin to pray 14:11 and I was sitting at GYC program 14:13 looking around at the many ministries 14:16 and saying, I'm not hearing 14:17 as much as I want to hear about missions 14:21 and then it hit me, missions right here. 14:24 There are two new immigrants coming in 14:27 every minute to America. 14:29 That's about a million a year, 14:31 new people from around the world. 14:33 Some of those coming from countries 14:35 that you cannot share the gospel, 14:37 like 70,000 refugees a year from countries like Somalia, 14:41 Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar or Burma 14:45 and these are people 14:46 when they arrive life is so strange, 14:49 so different, so difficult, 14:51 even though they are so thankful to be here 14:53 coming from war torn countries, yet everything so new, 14:56 the snow, the ice, the school system, everything. 15:00 And it hit me as I came across the statement 15:04 in Evangelism page 570, that this was God's plan. 15:08 Just as back in Jesus' day after He went to heaven. 15:13 It says, there were devout men 15:15 of every nation dwelling in Jerusalem 15:18 and the Holy Spirit came down, 15:19 they heard in their own language 15:21 and they took it back to those countries. 15:23 Here's what it said here in Evangelism 570. 15:27 "We should be able to see 15:29 in the multiplying opportunities 15:30 to reach many foreigners in America 15:33 are divinely appointed means of rapidly extending 15:36 the Third Angels Message 15:38 into all the nations of the earth. 15:40 God in His province has brought me into our very doors 15:43 and trust them as it were, into our arms 15:46 that they might learn the truth and be qualify to do work 15:48 we could not do in getting the light 15:51 before men of other tongues." 15:53 So in another words, we used to send 15:55 missionaries out to the people, 15:57 now the people are coming to the missionaries. 15:59 In a huge way. It make a sense. 16:01 In a huge way. Yeah. 16:03 It's amazing. 16:05 And the number of immigrants that are coming in 16:09 particularly that have had political asylum are, 16:12 they are being prosecuted in their area. 16:15 Does this make them a little more open to the gospel? 16:20 Yeah. You think about-- 16:21 If you never had a chance to choose another religion 16:24 or even learn about it. 16:25 If you have been threatened 16:26 that you would be killed if you did 16:28 and now you're in a country of freedom 16:30 where there are churches around you, 16:32 gospel productions like we have here. 16:36 So, yes, they are wide open especially for, 16:38 my friend says, about five months. 16:41 Especially that first five months 16:43 when they can be greeted, received and loved. 16:46 That is the time to reach out, isn't it? 16:49 Very well. 16:50 So we're coming back and we're thinking 16:52 well, let's find a place to do this. 16:54 But there aren't bunch of jobs around for that 16:56 and so as we're talking with our friends 16:58 Judy Akon, Julio Carrey with ASAP Ministries 17:01 and just sharing our vision and dream with them 17:05 of helping to train up people in America to reach out, 17:07 when people don't know 17:09 what to say to a Muslim or Buddhist. 17:11 And they just looked at us and said, 17:13 we don't have the money for it, but God does, 17:15 we'll support you to put together a kit, 17:18 someway to help train people. 17:21 Maybe take 8 months and just work on this. 17:23 And so they stepped out in faith 17:25 and we began to work on that. 17:27 Now you worked as a fulltime pastor. 17:29 You've been as a denominational missionary 17:32 and now this is entirely different situation though. 17:36 You're in somewhat 17:38 of a self supporting missionary positioned. 17:42 And ASAP is standing with you, 17:46 but they need a lot of support to make it, right. 17:48 Yeah. 17:50 There's a lot of prayer, a lot of faith 17:53 that goes into the ministry. 17:55 And that just showed us, 17:56 that something we wanted to be a part of. 17:58 Oh, we've got all these immigrants coming, 18:00 how can we reach them? 18:03 How can we really minister to them? 18:06 Well, as we begin to pray that through, 18:09 we wanted to find out what people were doing 18:11 already in America and Judy and Julia 18:14 were already helping refugees in America, 18:17 helping churches reach out to them. 18:19 So that's how we begin to just pray about, 18:22 research, lookout together and we found that 18:26 what it takes is a friendly person. 18:28 Somebody who loves people and is willing to go beyond 18:32 and to reach out and care. 18:34 So they don't have to speak their language-- 18:36 No, no, they are trying to learn English anyway. 18:38 They want to learn, they wan to get acquainted 18:40 with the people here. 18:42 And so we put together, we put together a kit 18:46 and we ask those who are already doing it well. 18:49 They have a picture here of two young men, 18:53 Sam, Pastor Sam Nalla. 18:56 The picture right now shows just the call 18:58 and the invitation with the kit that we have 19:01 to begin, meeting together as a church, 19:03 pray for the people in your community, 19:05 get to know who they are and then begin reaching out. 19:09 The picture of these two men, Sam Nalla and Chungtu 19:13 are two men in Indianapolis who came as refugees 19:16 as immigrants to America and began to say, 19:19 hey, there's a bunch of us here already. 19:21 Some Seventh-day Adventist, 19:22 we have many from the refugee camps 19:24 who arrive here as Seventh-day Adventist, 19:26 even pastors and others but they're suddenly 19:29 working in chicken factories, different, different places 19:33 and they began to gather them together. 19:36 But it was a church in Southside Church, 19:38 Seventh-day Adventist Church there in Indianapolis 19:40 who said, let's open our doors to them. 19:42 Let's give them a Sabbath school 19:44 room to meeting and some started with just 20 19:46 and now they have grown to 120, 19:49 bursting the seams, really growing 19:51 because a church took the time 19:53 and the energy to open their hearts 19:55 and to reach out to them. 19:57 Wow. 19:58 Well, I know that you're seeing 20:00 some real positive results from this outreach. 20:04 Well, Julie, where do you fit in this? 20:10 Well, my heart, my heart is always been with children. 20:13 I love children and living in Southeast Asia 20:16 where there's a bunch of kids. 20:19 You can't live in Southeast Asia long 20:22 before you realize the danger of human trafficking. 20:26 And while we were living in Thailand 20:30 we met a lady named Pinpaw 20:32 and I want to just tell you 20:34 a little bit of a story about her. 20:37 She risks her life. 20:38 She's Thai and she risks her life 20:40 to help girls primarily but boys too that are trapped 20:45 and kidnapped into human trafficking. 20:48 And one day we got a phone call 20:50 and she said that I have 16-year-old girl, Laotian girl. 20:57 She's been in the hospital, 20:59 she had terrible fewer and infection 21:02 and she was sold into prostitution 21:05 and if we can come up with $250 21:08 before her owner, her pimp, 21:12 comes in the morning to pay the bill, 21:16 then we can send her on her way back to her home. 21:19 And so quickly we wired her the money 21:21 that she needed and the next morning 21:23 we saw Pinpaw 21:24 and this precious girl at our home. 21:28 And we didn't realize, but she had been-- 21:32 her mother was a Christian and she had been praying. 21:35 This man would come to her village, 21:37 they were very poor, he said you can help your family, 21:40 you can come I'll give you a good job in Thailand. 21:43 You can keep giving money back to your family 21:46 and as soon as she agreed the mother didn't have-- 21:50 she just felt uneasy about it. 21:53 So she had been praying that God would sees her daughter, 21:57 would be able to somehow bring her back home. 22:00 And I wasn't there to go across the border 22:02 and to Laos to see that reunion but I know that 22:06 that just it was precious to see the reunion of a mother 22:11 and a daughter back together 22:13 after being kidnapped into human trafficking. 22:17 Julie, what can you do to help these girls 22:21 particularly there are some boys, 22:23 but with this human trafficking problem? 22:26 What can you do? 22:28 Well, back in 2011, we had a donor come 22:31 on a mission trip with us and she came 22:34 and visited some of the ASAP's Feed and Read Schools 22:38 that we have for children there in Southeast Asia. 22:41 And she began hearing their stories, 22:43 their prayer requests and their interview 22:46 and she, she had been sexually abused as a child herself 22:50 and she recognized the risk that these kids were at. 22:55 And she approached ASAP and she said what, 22:57 if I support this project, 23:01 I would like to see a curriculum, 23:03 a Christ centered curriculum that would help the children 23:07 in our Feed and Read Schools that are so at risk 23:10 to learn, to teach them the assertiveness, 23:15 the techniques and the skills 23:17 that could reduce the risk of child abuse 23:21 and also the numbers of human trafficking. 23:23 Could you do it? 23:25 And we were thrilled because we have had that 23:27 burden on our heart for many years. 23:30 And so Julia O'Carey approached me 23:32 and prayerfully I took it up 23:34 and I knew it was too big for me. 23:36 And miracles, but I don't have time to tell you 23:40 but how God had put into my path 23:43 and on the advisory committee 23:46 professionals like Christa Crawford, 23:48 who has been 14 years 23:50 fighting against human trafficking in Thailand. 23:54 And ADRA in Cambodia 23:56 and also in Thailand to help us. 23:58 And once when I was talking with Christa Crawford she said 24:02 that incest is the training ground for prostitution. 24:08 And that 70% of those who go into prostitution 24:12 has been child molest, child abused as a child. 24:17 So we thought we need to create something 24:21 that is Asian based, not the western type 24:25 where you go into a school room and you talk at the kids 24:28 and you say, you scream, no and you run until your mom 24:31 if somebody tries to touch you in a place that they shouldn't. 24:35 Those things, those, that doesn't work so well 24:38 in an Asian culture where kids don't have a voice 24:43 and it would shame the family if the child said that, 24:47 uncle, my uncle or this community member 24:50 that was a good friend is doing something like that. 24:54 So we're prayerful, 24:56 we are praying continually to ask God, 25:00 you know what, what can we do? 25:02 Who can we work with? 25:04 And there are many wonderful organizations 25:06 that are over there that we are working with 25:08 and researching and what we've found 25:13 that a participatory type where the nationals 25:18 can actually help write the curriculum were on a-- 25:21 you know, we've invited them to our board meetings 25:25 and our committee meetings, but they are shy. 25:27 They don't have the English ability 25:29 and they don't feel like they can speak up 25:32 and we need their advice, we need their ideas 25:35 as how if a child was being abused 25:38 how would you address this? 25:41 And to get there you know, by observing 25:44 the children themselves and hearing their stories 25:48 so that we get the Asian, the Asian perspective 25:53 so that when this curriculum is finished 25:55 it's not gonna just sit on the shelf, 25:58 but that it truly is going to reduce the risk 26:02 and help prevent in the future them 26:05 going into human trafficking. 26:08 We wanted to be a Christ centered approach. 26:10 Right. 26:12 And so that is, we're still in those stages 26:15 of preparing that and planning that 26:17 and we seek your prayers on this. 26:21 Our goal is to try to finish it 26:22 by the end of the year and get it out. 26:25 And not just for our Feed and Read Schools 26:28 but our vision is to be able to help the families, 26:32 the communities to become healthier 26:36 in their communication and in their love 26:38 to have healthier communities in their relationships. 26:43 You know, we know that this is a problem 26:45 in this country and around the world, 26:47 but there is some nations where it's like pandemic, 26:50 it's absolutely so prevalent 26:54 that we have to attack it in all fronts wherever we can. 26:59 Yes. 27:00 In this picture that we have of the girls in the school, 27:03 some of the very ones 27:05 that were helped to come to school 27:06 when they were young are now teaching 27:10 the other children and if they had not gotten 27:13 into the schools most likely 27:14 they would be out there being abused, being used 27:18 and so it's excited to be a part of schools 27:21 and a community, a Christian community 27:22 that's reaching out to them. 27:24 Well, this is one more thing that ASAP is involved with. 27:27 But what are some of the others? 27:29 Well, ASAP Ministry stands for Advocates 27:32 for Southeast Asians and the Persecuted. 27:35 The focus came out of the refugees 27:37 and has expanded now to four countries, 27:40 four of the top countries 27:43 where there is persecution going on, 27:44 that the worldwide gives a list of-- 27:47 we ministered to four of the top 30. 27:49 Right. 27:51 And so we're dealing with countries 27:52 where it's hard to show the gospel. 27:54 We're in Cambodia, we're in Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar 27:58 or Burma and Thailand 28:01 and some others that we can't mention. 28:03 So the primary work is to show the gospel 28:06 in a holistic way that, that puts together 28:11 the right arm that God intends of loving, 28:14 caring for those who were sick for those who are poor, 28:17 those who possessed by demons 28:18 as well as sharing Jesus Christ and leading people to the Lord. 28:23 So there's a special story Julie is gonna share 28:27 that I like her to share, of how that actually lives out 28:31 as we train-- if there's a church planter 28:33 we train them for medical ministry. 28:34 If they are medical missionary 28:36 we train them to share the gospel 28:38 so that we can have people that 28:40 represent Christ as best as possible. 28:42 Well, tell us that story, Julie, would you? 28:45 For 20 years Dr. Mary-Ann McNeilus 28:48 would faithfully come over and train the 400 28:52 national missionaries in simple remedies. 28:56 And there was one of our lay pastor's, 28:59 his name is Pastor Gayle 29:01 and he's in Laos he lives in Laos, 29:03 he used to be a Buddhist monk 29:05 and now he has 75 church members meeting 29:09 every Sabbath in his home and excited about 29:12 sharing the love of Jesus 29:15 along with the medical simple remedies 29:18 that he can, that he can share 29:20 when he sees somebody that is in need. 29:23 And one day Pastor Gayle was looking across his field 29:27 and he saw the farmer that live next door to him 29:30 just hobbled over like an old man limping 29:33 and he thought that's strange, 29:34 he's not that old, what's the matter with him? 29:37 And he went over 29:38 and he heard him yelling help, help. 29:41 And the farmer had just been bit by a scorpion 29:44 and when he came closer his foot was really swollen. 29:49 And he had, he was ready 29:51 and he pulled out a chuck of charcoal 29:53 that he would usually keep in this pocket 29:56 and he crushed it on a rock 29:57 and got some water from the creek 29:59 and he prayed before he put the charcoal 30:02 on his foot, on his leg. 30:05 And he prayed that God would draw out 30:09 the poison out of this man's leg 30:11 and that the power of Jesus would be seen 30:13 and impressed this farmer 30:15 who was a Buddhist of the love of Jesus said, 30:18 he had for this man, in the name of Jesus, amen. 30:22 And then he put it on his leg 30:24 and immediately the pain was gone. 30:27 And the farmer said, what, this is black magic. 30:31 What is this? 30:32 And he said, no, it's just charcoal, 30:34 but it's the power of God 30:36 that's working through the charcoal. 30:38 You can come to my house this Sabbath 30:40 and I can tell you more about that powerful God 30:43 and sure enough that Sabbath he came with not just himself 30:47 but his whole family 30:48 and his son-in-law as well that Sabbath 30:51 and every Sabbath after that until they were baptized 30:54 and all of their family are church members today. 30:58 Isn't that amazing? 31:00 All of this because a scorpion stung him 31:04 but then God had a friend there 31:07 in the right place at the right time 31:09 with the right thing to do and amazing 31:12 what charcoal will do, it's really amazing. 31:16 It's really special with ASAP Ministries 31:18 to be working with about 31:20 400 lay people, national missionaries. 31:25 Instead of the expense that 31:26 goes into sending the missionary, like 31:27 when we were sent 31:29 and there's a place for that like 31:31 where there are the local people to work with, 31:33 but where we can 31:34 where there's still much of the countries 31:36 that are completely un-reached to empower the local people. 31:39 So we raise their support, 31:41 we raise prayer support for them 31:43 and then we go over and at least once a year 31:44 we're interacting with them, 31:46 interviewing them to hear their stories 31:48 to pray for them to find out their needs 31:50 and so the idea is to disciple national missionaries 31:54 who can disciple their own people 31:56 so much better than we can. 31:58 And we would like to just show you one short, 32:00 one minute video clip of one of those national missionaries 32:03 and the difference he made in his community in a ways 32:05 that would take us years to be able to share and care. 32:09 All right, let's watch that. 32:12 One of the ASAP sponsored church planters 32:15 named Chad recently got a desperate call 32:17 from one of his new church members. 32:19 She said her husband 32:21 some Sumsal is acting very strange, 32:23 carrying rice bags around the village for no reason 32:25 and mumbling nonsense to unseen people. 32:29 She said, one night he had climbed 32:31 a way up to the top of palm sugar tree 32:34 and evil spirit urged him to jump down 32:36 and end it all. 32:38 Fortunately, he climbed back down. 32:40 Can brother Chad please come and pray for him? 32:44 Chad and the church members prayed for Sumsal. 32:47 For three days they kept gathering around 32:49 caring for him and praying for him. 32:52 Chad said, I'm not a doctor and have no medicine, 32:55 but the only power I had is access through prayer. 32:59 Spirits went away. 33:01 Now Sumsal is joining his wife to church. 33:04 This is the difference that God's power 33:07 and love working through a national missionary can make. 33:11 Well, that is amazing video 33:13 and this man is making an impact 33:17 and God's using him. 33:19 And this disciple thing is, its exciting 33:22 'cause Christ say go and make disciples. 33:25 And what are you doing is that? 33:27 You know, as we're wrestling with our little piece 33:30 of finishing the great commission, 33:31 we keep saying, how Lord, you're gonna do this? 33:34 We see the millions of people, we fly over Bangkok and place 33:36 and you think, how can it ever be finished? 33:39 But Jesus has laid it all out carefully 33:42 in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 33:44 and Acts and Daniel and Revelation. 33:46 It's all there, if we will study carefully, 33:48 if we look at Peter's life. 33:49 How did he become this person 33:51 who could lead 3,000 people to Christ in one day? 33:54 You have the three and half years of discipleship 33:57 then that's not enough as great as that must have been, 34:00 he fails miserable. 34:02 Then you have him falling and realizing he is a sinner 34:05 and he sees what Jesus does on the cross, 34:07 he dies with Christ, he rises, he becomes a new man. 34:10 And Jesus still says, it's not enough, 34:12 wait for the Holy Sprit to come upon you. 34:15 So he does and then he's ready. 34:17 We have to do the same. 34:18 And in our cooperation with these lay missionaries 34:23 we call them to go through that. 34:25 But some of the challenge, some times I go 34:27 and we're teaching, we're training 34:29 and some of them come from backgrounds 34:31 where they can hardly read or write, 34:32 they are struggling to read the Bible. 34:34 So we think how do we train in a way they can multiply? 34:37 Where they can disciple quickly and go far with it. 34:40 So we put together a set of lessons, 34:42 20 lesson called Disciples of Jesus and Cross of Christ. 34:46 And these 20 lessons take them through the basics 34:49 of what is it mean to what we just talked about 34:51 that experience of Peter all the way through? 34:54 Well, as we shared them with them, 34:56 we just went back recently to a Cambodian camp meeting 34:59 and we met a man named Sooty. 35:01 He's one of these national missionaries 35:02 that we support and he's been using the book. 35:05 It's just a book with pictures that have been made 35:07 similar to the way Cambodians look, 35:10 the way Asians look 35:11 and as Sooty began to share that he got so excited. 35:17 One young girl who came along straightly up 35:19 as she began to, she's watched them doing it, 35:21 she said, I want to read the Bible. 35:23 I want to learn these lessons, but I can't read or write. 35:27 And he said, never mind I'll teach you, 35:29 come on I'll help you. 35:30 So he began to just open the Bible 35:32 and these simple lessons that are story based 35:34 and within three months she could read and write 35:37 and she began carrying the book around herself. 35:39 And she said to her friends, 35:41 they looked at her and they said, 35:42 what are you carrying that for, you can't read? 35:44 And she said, I can too. Want to see, come. 35:47 And she began to teach them the Bible stories 35:49 just as she learned them and now has other young people 35:52 ready to be baptized along with her. 35:54 Wow. 35:55 So Jesus is gonna use all of us. 35:57 If we will simply tell a story, love people holistically 36:01 and deliberately disciple those that 36:04 we reach out to, so that they can in turn-- 36:06 Now some of our viewers may not quite understand. 36:10 How do you love holistically? 36:13 Give this a little insight into that, would you? 36:15 Well, I think learning 36:17 how to care for peoples health needs. 36:19 We all know if we have any 36:21 Seventh-day Adventist background, 36:23 we know enough about health that we can help the majority 36:25 of people in the world have a better life, 36:28 just sharing that. 36:29 Natural remedies, learning to care 36:31 for the poor to help them, they help themselves, 36:34 being a friend like we mentioned earlier 36:35 with the refugees, with those who have 36:37 just come taking them to the bank, 36:40 to the grocery store and getting them acquainted, 36:42 sometimes providing them with the basic necessities 36:46 that they don't have as they have just arrived. 36:48 So loving like Christ did. 36:50 Amen. Amen. 36:52 Well, it is an exciting thing to see 36:56 the results of sharing Christ. 36:58 But here at 3ABN, you know, we're almost 37:01 all around the world. 37:03 I mean, pretty much as somebody has said, 37:06 70% of the world is water 37:07 and the rest is covered by 3ABN. 37:10 And so we do reach around. 37:12 Of course, mostly usually in English, 37:15 but its amazing how many people like you say, 37:17 want to learn English. 37:19 So when they see 3ABN they start to watch. 37:22 We're hearing constantly from countries 37:25 that we can reveal 37:28 where they have a underground churches going on. 37:31 Some of them 200 and 300 meeting 37:34 and all involves 3ABN. 37:37 This is where they started, started with one or two people. 37:40 It kept growing, kept growing and has continued to grow. 37:44 So God is using all of these methods 37:49 to reach the people of the world 37:51 and of course, you know, media, 37:53 media has a way of getting behind closed doors 37:56 that is pretty hard sometimes to do otherwise, 37:59 but if somebody has a background 38:01 and then they meet an individual it makes them 38:04 something like eight to ten times 38:07 more likely to be receptive to the gospel 38:11 if they watch something like on 3ABN. 38:13 Amen, just Sabbath we met a lady Christy 38:17 we were talking to her at lunch 38:19 and she said, you're going down to 3ABN? 38:21 Tell them that I just came to this church 38:23 in the last three weeks 38:24 because I've been listening to 3ABN. 38:26 Tell them thank you. Where was she? 38:28 Tell them thank you. This is in Benton Harbor. 38:31 In Benton Harbor? 38:32 She was just like three or four doors 38:34 behind the church but didn't know about us 38:37 and showed up because she found out 38:38 we were Sabbath keeper, believers. 38:40 But believe me we get this all the time 38:42 and we're getting more and more 38:44 and we're asking you to do it too. 38:47 Whenever someone comes to me I pull out my iPhone 38:50 and I get it a one minute testimony 38:53 from, 1.10 seconds I don't time it exactly, 38:57 but this tell us how you heard about it, 39:00 how you started watching 39:02 and we'll hear from thousands of people every year 39:06 that they found the message through 3ABN. 39:08 I'm confident so much of that 39:10 is because of all the prayers that are going on for 3ABN. 39:13 And the same thing happens with ASAP. 39:17 We-- our ministry in prayer. 39:19 After worship we have 15 minutes of prayer, 39:22 at noon we take a half an hour for prayer 39:24 and the community joins us. 39:25 At staff meeting, when somebody presents their part, 39:28 someone else prays for them before we go to the next 39:30 and it's made a difference. 39:32 Julie, you've got a story again of what happened 39:36 through prayer with our Feed and Read School, 39:39 a couple of girls there that-- 39:40 Tell us about that, Julie. 39:42 Well, prayer and faith combine can do 39:45 what no other power can do. 39:48 And in one of our training we were introducing 39:51 the united prayer method. 39:54 And one of our young teachers 39:56 in one of our Feed and Read Schools 39:58 began using united prayer in the school. 40:03 And from four to five every day he invites students, 40:06 and staff and teachers to join him for prayer. 40:11 And one day he had two young girls, 40:15 they are sisters and they came up to the teacher 40:17 and said, we're not gonna be in the school next year, 40:19 our parents are forcing us to move to Thailand 40:23 and to help them cook, have like a little restaurant 40:26 and we have to go and help wash the dishes. 40:29 And so the rest-- that whole year, 40:32 they rested a year in the united prayer time 40:35 they would pray every day and through the summer 40:38 they prayed that that mother would be impressed 40:40 to send her daughters back to the school. 40:44 Well, it was the day before school was to begin 40:47 and the teacher was at the market 40:50 and there suddenly in the market 40:51 he saw his two students, and he said, 40:53 what are you doing here, 40:54 I thought you moved to Thailand? 40:56 And they got those sheepish look on their face 40:59 and they said, we came back 41:01 and we were sick every day that we were there 41:05 and our parents couldn't do what they were to do there 41:08 and they finally got fed up with our sickness 41:11 and sent us back to live with our grandma 41:14 and we'll be in school tomorrow. 41:17 Wow. That's amazing. 41:18 It is. 41:20 I have seen the power of prayer so many times. 41:22 I don't want to take your time but Leonard Westphal 41:26 and I were holding an evangelistic meeting. 41:28 I was holding meeting in his church 41:30 in New Bedford years ago and we just-- 41:33 we came down to the last weekend of the meetings, 41:38 we only had a few decisions that just weren't coming. 41:43 We knelled around the bed in a little room 41:45 where I was staying and David Peterson 41:50 another pastor and Leonard Westphal 41:52 and myself and all we did was talk to the Lord. 41:55 No fancy prayers, we just said Lord, 42:00 here's Vernon, Vernon has a problem with tobacco 42:03 or Vernon has this or somebody else, 42:06 pray for them and then ask the Lord to help 42:10 or make a decision. 42:12 That Sabbath we baptized 60 42:15 and then he went on to baptize 40 more out of that meeting. 42:19 So we've seen the power of prayer. 42:22 Folks, don't stop praying. Amen. 42:25 Don't have to be fancy, just talk to God. 42:29 He understands your heart and just, just talk to Him. 42:33 I'm so happy you shared that about the prayer. 42:35 That's exciting. Yeah. 42:37 So what else is going on there that 42:39 our people need to hear about? 42:41 Well, I think it's a matter, 42:43 you know, when we hear all these good things 42:44 and there's so much 42:46 that's happening beautiful ministries. 42:48 But we're asking the question, what can I do? 42:51 How can I be involved? Yeah. 42:52 And so I would say, number one is prayer. 42:54 What we've just said we have prayer partners 42:57 that sign up to receive the exact information 42:59 what's going on, what the prayer needs are, 43:01 that can be found at the asapministries.org website. 43:05 Secondly, He's giving, there's a huge need to give. 43:11 I think I once saw in particular just recently 43:15 when we met with the Vietnamese workers, 43:18 they said we would like to give out a million DVD's, 43:23 sermon DVD's across our country. 43:25 You know, a lot of restrictions in Vietnam, 43:26 but they can pass out DVD's and just, you know, risk 43:29 whatever someone does when they see it. 43:32 But a million and we said, well, that's a lot of money 43:35 at least cost one quarter for every DVD, 43:37 but, so maybe 250,000 but we'll try. 43:41 And so they said, you know, this is so needed 43:43 because amazing things happen. 43:45 One of the stories was, a businessman 43:49 was going to deliver some goods at a house 43:51 and the lady said, do you want these three DVD's? 43:54 So I don't know why? 43:55 She said, well, I'm gonna throw them away if you don't. 43:57 He looked and they were religious DVD's 43:59 and he had grown up 44:00 in a Sunday keeping Christian church, 44:02 but he wandered away from his faith. 44:04 So he takes them home, he watches them 44:06 every day for three days. 44:07 He just absorbed it. 44:09 They are bringing him to God, they are showing him that 44:11 the Bible is the source of truth. 44:13 And he begins to find a contact number, 44:17 ASAP sponsored worker visits him 44:19 and begins to lead him to Christ 44:21 and to a full understanding of truth. 44:23 He gets baptized and his business immediately 44:26 begins to go downhill. 44:28 So okay, what's the deal? 44:29 I've given my life to the Lord, I'm seeking it first, 44:31 I'm gonna seek the kingdom of God even further. 44:34 And so he does and he shuts his business 44:36 and he begins to pray and fast 44:38 and then he goes out giving DVD's everywhere 44:41 to all the Protestant pastors that he can possibly find. 44:44 Some come even to stay at his home 44:46 and are led to Christ until in this district area, 44:49 there are now about 800 people studying the truth 44:52 or baptized at different stages 44:54 and they want more of those DVD's. 44:56 So people can get behind it and give out these DVD's. 45:01 We saw one school Ukiah Junior Academy 45:03 where I grew up, as we had a weekend prayer with them, 45:06 these kids just started gathering money, 45:09 by the end of the week we had hundreds of dollars 45:11 and quarters and bills that they were all put together. 45:15 So giving is another way, but probably the thing 45:18 that is most important right now, beyond our giving, 45:22 well, I don't know if I want to say more then praying 45:24 but is saying I am a missionary, 45:27 I am a disciple of Jesus for the ends of earth, 45:30 that doesn't mean all of us have to go overseas. 45:32 But with the mission field having come here, 45:35 it means all of us can learn from say, 45:37 they reached the world next door kid 45:38 or other ways to just get out and go and began to share. 45:44 Okay, well, listen if you would like 45:46 to support ASAP Ministries and you want more information, 45:51 this is how you can get it. 45:56 If you would like to support ASAP financially 45:58 or as a volunteer or if you would like 46:00 to know more about their ministry, 46:02 you can reach them by writing to ASAP Ministries, 46:07 206 Cass Ave, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49103. 46:12 That's ASAP Ministries, 206 Cass Ave, 46:17 Berrien Springs, Michigan 49103. 46:20 You can call 269-471-3026. 46:24 That's 269-471-3026 or visit their website 46:30 at asapministries.org. 46:33 That's asapministries.org. 46:41 Well, contact them, 46:42 they will be anxious to hear from you 46:44 and this is definitely a ministry 46:47 that's worth supporting. 46:49 Scott, you've got some other things 46:50 to share with us I know, so... 46:53 There's a lot of stories to share 46:54 that we've been able to, but every week 46:57 I do an eight minute podcast 46:58 that people can find at the website there, 47:00 that tells a specific need that is going on in the world, 47:04 either right there in Southeast Asia 47:06 or here in North America 47:08 and then shows how somebody is doing something about it. 47:10 This is what God wants us to do, 47:12 to look at the world and say, that problems got to be fixed. 47:15 I hate that problem worst and well 47:17 and then say, okay, Lord, how do You want to use me? 47:20 So our podcast is there, reach the world ASAP. 47:24 The other resource that is extremely helpful 47:26 just simply a card, but it's a website 47:29 that is a portal to hundreds of websites 47:32 for over a hundred languages. 47:34 This is MyLanguageMyLife.com. 47:37 And so when I'm traveling and I get on the airplane 47:39 and I meet people from, like the girl I just met from Dubai. 47:44 She was Indian, I was able to hand this to her 47:46 after we had a good conversation 47:47 and I know that she could look things up 47:50 in her own language and hear the gospel, 47:51 watch a Jesus video, listen to AWR 47:54 or read Bible studies from Voice of Prophecy 47:57 just in one card, instead login long the huge stack` 48:00 that would fit them many people who are meeting now. 48:03 So when they respond to this, 48:05 what kind of information do they get? 48:06 It's taking them. 48:08 If they go to MyLanguageMyLife.com 48:10 they can just immediately see in Japanese, 48:12 everything we've got as a church 48:14 that's worth putting up there and we're still adding 48:16 and gathering more, but there's things there 48:19 in their language it's a portal to other websites 48:22 that they can find. 48:23 All right, so this is a true witnessing card. 48:26 How do they get these cards, from you? 48:28 They can get them right there online 48:30 at asapministries.org or they can order them from us 48:34 and some have ordered a bunch 48:35 and they have just have given them out wherever they go. 48:37 Can they just have their own printed? 48:39 They sure can. 48:40 They can print their own business card in the back 48:42 as I have got and do that. 48:44 So that's there, it's done, 48:46 they can download it and put it on. 48:47 All right, man, that's a great way to witness. 48:51 I have a 3ABN card that I use when I'm on 48:55 and it tells on the backside how to watch 3ABN, 48:59 all the different ways that you can watch. 49:01 3ABN is on there too. All right. 49:03 So if they go to English or the Spanish 49:05 they are gonna link as well. 49:07 All right, you have got one more story 49:09 you're gonna share with me, right. 49:10 We have about two minutes. 49:12 Okay. 49:13 In closing I just want to share 49:15 that we need to have more of the priority 49:21 that God has and just to-- 49:24 I've learned to pray a prayer 49:26 that just says Lord, today interrupt my day with 49:29 what's on Your agenda and then give me courage 49:32 and boldness because it's not always easy 49:35 to listen to the Holy Spirit and it takes courage 49:39 and to pray that God will use us 49:43 when the Holy Spirit wants to tangibly use us, 49:46 our voice, our hands to love, love the people. 49:51 I want to end with this story. 49:52 We were just last, two months ago 49:54 we were back in Thailand and it's been three years ago 49:57 since we moved from Thailand 50:00 and we had just flown into Bangkok 50:02 where there's 13 million people in Bangkok 50:06 and I was hungry and I was excited to go 50:08 at the little Hole in the Wall place after the road 50:11 where I known this lady to-- 50:13 She's just a vendor right off the street, 50:15 but she makes the best Thai food. 50:17 And so just I and my son and I went there 50:20 and Scott said, quickly comeback 50:22 because we're gonna meet with the all the missionaries, 50:24 national missionaries and have a worship at 7.30. 50:27 So we went across the busy street and went 50:30 and got our food and we were just coming back 50:32 and they were hundred of vendors out 50:35 and selling fruit and food and all kinds of things 50:39 and the Asians look all the same, 50:42 but there was one lady that from her side view, 50:46 I thought that looks like Kunluck 50:48 and in my mind I thought no, I'm in a hurry, 50:52 I forgotten Thai, I don't think I'm gonna, 50:55 you know, be able to talk with her, 50:56 but the Lord kept nudging me go back to her. 50:59 So two blocks later I turned around 51:01 and I can go back and sure enough it was Kunluck. 51:04 And right there on the street we hugged, 51:07 she's poured her heart out in about 51:09 30 seconds telling me that 51:11 she had just separated from her husband, 51:14 she stopped going to church and she had cancer. 51:16 Long story short she gave her heart to Jesus that week. 51:20 Wow. 51:21 And came to our training, 51:23 our national missionaries training. 51:25 All right. 51:26 Well, listen, we'll be back in a few minutes 51:28 but we want you to hear this right now. |
Revised 2015-08-13