Sermon
Built To Multiply (Vaughan Choudree, 09/06/25)
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
-
let us pray. Father God, we thank you so much
-
for bringing us to church today, and we thank
-
you for the beautiful singing and all those that
-
took part in this beginning of the service, Cindy
-
and Jennifer, who are so passionate about the
-
storytelling. We thank you, Jesus, for blessing
-
every person here today. In your loving name,
-
amen. So I really enjoy that story which you
-
talk about going down the river, Jennifer. I
-
was born in South Africa, and of course we moved
-
to the UK afterwards, but we go down the river
-
there with kayaks or something, whitewater rafting,
-
and if you fall out the boat, you've got to get
-
to shore as quickly as possible because there's
-
crocodiles in the water, which is really cool.
-
All right, today we're going to read John 8 .31,
-
and it says, Then Jesus said to those Jews who
-
believed him, If you abide in my word, you are
-
my disciples indeed. And of course, 32 says,
-
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
-
make you free. But if you read further back,
-
let's go back to John 8, 27. They did not understand
-
that he spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus
-
said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man,
-
Then you will know that I am he, and that I do
-
nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me.
-
I speak these things, and he who sent me is with
-
me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always
-
do those things that please him. As he spoke
-
these words, many believed him. So as Jesus spoke
-
to the Jews, they began to believe him and what
-
he was teaching, right? Excuse me. I'd like to
-
share a story. I don't know, all of a sudden
-
I've got a runny nose. Okay, so I work for Collegedale
-
Church, and we had two HVAC technicians that
-
came over, and these guys had a really fun time
-
at the church because it was the week of VBS,
-
and we have a really big VBS, probably like 450
-
to 500 children at the VBS. The older guy, he
-
was probably about maybe 60 years old. And so
-
I started asking him, like, hey, do you guys
-
have VBS at your church? So he said, no. And
-
of course, knowing me, I like to prompt, you
-
know, talk, tell me about it. So he said, oh,
-
no, I don't go to church. And the other technician
-
who was working with him for several months wasn't
-
aware of this, but she belongs to the Baptist
-
church. It was a tiny church, and they had no
-
kids, so they never had VBS. So I said, come
-
on, come and have a look at the VBS. And I saw
-
the kids singing and doing all sorts of stuff.
-
They were excited, especially the girl. And of
-
course, that was my opportunity now to disciple.
-
So it was really awesome. Thank you so much.
-
I'm sorry, I forgot my hanky today. Perfect,
-
thank you. I'm good, thank you. So I spoke to
-
them and I spoke to the gentleman as well. I
-
started saying, man, if you'd like to come to
-
our church. I'll come and pick you up if you
-
don't have a vehicle. I know he has a vehicle.
-
But I was just kind of being warm, you know.
-
And if you're passing by, you're welcome to come
-
and sit and watch the VBS. And they were on the
-
clock. And, of course, we were paying for them.
-
So I said, come, come with me. They said, oh,
-
they can't do it. I said, listen, we're paying
-
you guys. Come. So he had a great time. But,
-
of course, he had an experience in his life at
-
church that he stopped going to church because
-
of that. And I don't want to reveal that information,
-
but that is between, you know. But the young
-
lady was so impressed. She said she so wished
-
she had a church where they had VBS. So I said,
-
you know what? And she also belongs to another
-
Baptist church. I said, every time, it was our
-
VBS week, and I gave her the dates. And I said,
-
you're welcome to come over here and help us.
-
So you can learn how we do things, so you can
-
go and share it with your church and other people
-
in the communities. So she was really excited
-
about that. Because even you guys, you're welcome
-
to visit us for VBS Week at Collegedale, at the
-
university campus. It's really interesting. But
-
church family, this morning we gathered around
-
a simple but powerful truth. Jesus didn't just
-
call us to believe. He called us to multiply.
-
How do we multiply? We've got to be disciples.
-
Because as disciples, we duplicate. We make more
-
disciples, right? So we must remember that. Jesus
-
does not want us just to believe. We've got to
-
go out and reach people, reach the communities.
-
In Matthew 28, 19 to 20. Go therefore and make
-
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
-
name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,
-
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
-
you. And behold, I am with you always to the
-
end of age. Notice, Jesus didn't say go and get
-
people to agree with you. He said make disciples.
-
Why? Because by believing, belief is the beginning
-
of the journey. But that's not the end goal.
-
Discipleship. is the goal. In John 8 .31 it tells
-
us, and he makes it plain, we need to abide in
-
the word and make by disciples, as a disciple,
-
you will definitely do things to honor Jesus.
-
Is that correct? So today we start with belief,
-
and that belief is where it starts. Jesus is
-
speaking in John 8 .31 to people who already
-
believed him. The Jews believed the gospel, right?
-
But they believed in God and not Jesus. But they
-
had faith in his teachings. They were open to
-
instruction. But Jesus didn't say, because you
-
believe, it's okay. He did challenge them. He
-
said, don't stop at belief. Continue in my word.
-
In other words, read your Bible every day. Don't
-
just read it and say, oh, I read it. I read my
-
five chapters. You know what? You don't read
-
one chapter. Right, brother? One chapter and
-
learn it. So you can share it with other people.
-
That's the important thing, to understand the
-
Bible, understand the word. But if you think
-
about it, in James 2 .19, it tells us that even
-
the demons, even the demons know that Jesus is
-
God. And they tremble at his name. And we've
-
read about this. You believe that there is one
-
God. You do well. Even the demons believe and
-
tremble. But what happens with us? God isn't
-
a one -time thing. He's not a one -time moment.
-
God is a lifetime commitment. So if we get up
-
every day, get on our knees, pray, pray for our
-
family, pray for our church family, for friends,
-
so we can get out there and reach communities.
-
It's important because sometimes there are communities
-
around that have never visited your church or
-
any other church. Why? We have not invited them.
-
It's very simple. We can say that we fit because
-
we bought a gym membership. It doesn't work like
-
that, right? It's the same with the book, with
-
the Bible, the Word. You need to read it every
-
day because as you read the Bible, you'll be
-
transformed. And that transformation happens
-
when? When we pray and we read. That's important.
-
We need to read the Bible continuously, daily,
-
with family and friends. You know, it's important
-
for us to even share the word with anybody you
-
come into contact with. Whether they're Christian
-
or non -Christian. I'd like to share this. We
-
actually, I'm from a city called Durban in South
-
Africa. It's on the east coast. And it's a lot
-
like Florida. You have one season, hot. So I
-
lived there a long time, but I didn't really
-
like it. But because all the family was there,
-
we stayed. It's a good life because you live
-
around, everything happens on the beach, and
-
everyone has swimming pools, so you have lots
-
of fun. But on a Sunday morning, about 300 to
-
400, oh, thank you so much. Thank you. About
-
300 to 400. of us Adventists would walk around
-
with our green t -shirts with our seven Adventists
-
on the back and have all markings, and we would
-
approach anybody. We don't care which church
-
you belong to, we would talk to you. So there
-
were Jews, there were Muslims, Hindus, Tamils,
-
and of course all those people have a completely
-
different belief system to us. So we would speak
-
to these guys. And even the Jehovah's Witnesses,
-
we'll get them. You know, they always catch people
-
on Sunday morning. So we will catch them on the
-
beach and we will just stay there and we'll hammer
-
them, you know. In a nice way, in a nice way,
-
okay. So we need to, the Greek word for abide
-
is meno. And the meaning of that is to continue,
-
to dwell. So we want Jesus to dwell in our hearts.
-
If we have Jesus in our hearts. When we come
-
into contact with people, I think we should only
-
say kind things, right? Because it's not self,
-
it's Jesus. So if we have Jesus speaking through
-
us, we're just the instruments, we're the vessels.
-
So when we are kind to people, it'll change us.
-
It'll change us, it'll change our lifestyle,
-
our thoughts, our decisions, and even our conversations
-
with people. We'll only be talking about... The
-
Bible about Jesus. And that's our job. Because
-
God sent Jesus out to spread the gospel and make
-
disciples. So he got 10 disciples and they split
-
up and they went on. And now we are just a continuation
-
of that. Am I right? We're the continuation of
-
those disciples. We are here to do the same thing.
-
So it's important as we read our Bibles, we need
-
to study. So it's not just about reading 10 chapters
-
for the day. And that's how I used to read before.
-
Until I was corrected, you know. But we need
-
to read with understanding. So the Bible needs
-
to inspire us. We were talking earlier in Sabbath
-
school. Brother Ben laid out and we had a wonderful
-
Sabbath school. Thank you for that. And we were
-
talking about how people, how the Jews just came
-
up with ideas. It wasn't the Jews that came up
-
with ideas. It was God who inspired them. And
-
we know that, you know, inspiration comes from
-
Jesus, from God. So it's important for us to
-
trust God because he will take care of us. In
-
John 15, 7, it says, If you abide in me and my
-
words abide in you, you can ask for whatever
-
you wish for. But if you think about when a child
-
asks a parent for something, the parent loves
-
their child. And likewise, God loves us so much
-
more that he wants to provide and give us things.
-
But he will only give us things within reason.
-
I know many people who've had hardships in their
-
lives and we pray and they pray for financial
-
blessings, you know. And they don't realize that
-
sometimes when we pray together, we say, life's
-
not just about finances. You know, when you're
-
most blessed, is when people love and care for
-
you and you love and care for others. That's
-
a blessing. And so the guys just pray for money.
-
But in my opinion, I just feel that God blesses
-
some people to be very wealthy and others not
-
so. But you have enough, right, Brother Darren?
-
You have enough to survive and pay your bills.
-
And I just think that's a blessing in itself.
-
So many people... have this misconception, and
-
they think, if I win the lottery, man, I can
-
do so much. You know what? If you win the lottery,
-
those people who cannot manage money, you can
-
have $100 million, and within a couple of years,
-
it's gone. Unfortunately. So when we abide in
-
Jesus, and Jesus abides in us, we stay rooted.
-
And it's important, because if we are rooted,
-
And we stay close to our source. And Jesus is
-
the source. As it tells us in Psalms 113, the
-
tree is planted near the stream, but the tree
-
doesn't move. It produces good fruit. So it stays
-
close to its source, which is the river, the
-
water. If we stay close to our source, which
-
is Jesus, we'll be grounded and we'll be blessed.
-
So that's very important. So it's not just about
-
keeping in touch with Jesus occasionally. It's
-
not like you're going to visit Jesus. We need
-
to be with Jesus, walk with Jesus every day of
-
our lives. You know, sometimes people think I'm
-
crazy, but when I'm walking around the church
-
there by us, the church is a little bigger than
-
this church, Collegedale. And we walk around
-
there, and I like to... I like to pray aloud,
-
you know. Of course, I don't pray super loud,
-
but I talk, you know, when I pray. And I'm walking
-
around, and I'm praying, and I pray, Lord, please
-
bless every person that enters the church. Keep
-
everybody safe. Bless their families. Bless our
-
friends. Just bless everybody, the sick people,
-
et cetera. And people, sometimes people who don't
-
know me, they think, man, this guy's crazy, you
-
know. But I'm talking to Jesus, and that's the
-
way I like it, you know. And I love to sing.
-
He's able, you know, and I sing that and I walk
-
around and do my work. So we need to be just
-
like the tree, to be planted close to our source
-
of nourishment. From the source, it keeps us
-
strong, keeps us faithful, and we are nourished
-
spiritually. So the fruit that we produce will
-
be a good reflection of Jesus, the goodness,
-
the love, the kindness, and we'll remember. That
-
as we thrive in goodness, people will want to
-
be with you. Because if you're a good person,
-
a kind person, have you ever noticed when you
-
have a conversation with someone and you speak
-
very kindly to them, it opens an opportunity
-
for you to share the gospel. Have any of you
-
ever experienced that? It's amazing. Sometimes
-
you're speaking and sometimes you're working
-
and you're rushing. And it's a work environment.
-
But if you just step back and just take a minute
-
and speak to the person kindly, caringly, that
-
person is willing to listen to you when you talk
-
about Jesus. Even the person who's not even a
-
Christian, they will listen. So the thing is,
-
my mom was Muslim. And when she married my dad,
-
Of course, I wasn't around, but it was a big
-
thing. So they didn't come to go to their wedding,
-
et cetera. But my mom became Christian. And she
-
was happy not to be with her family. I'm sure
-
she missed them. But so she was always very careful.
-
You know, she'd be praying over us. And, oh,
-
man, it was super crazy for us because she would
-
always be instilling us, instill the story in
-
us, you know, the love of Jesus, all those type
-
things. Of course, it's good, you know. But,
-
of course. I was a bit of a naughty guy, but
-
my mom, she would give me a spanking every day,
-
even if I didn't need it. But that's South Africa.
-
You straighten the child out very quickly. So
-
I always took the brunt of it. So that's okay,
-
but I know Jesus has blessed me for that. So
-
Jesus has made it clear, because obedience is
-
the proof of discipleship. Abiding leads to freedom.
-
That's in John 8 .32. So John 8 .32, And you
-
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
-
you free. They answered him, We are Abrahams,
-
we are, sorry, where is this one? Sorry, sorry,
-
sorry. We are Abrahams, we put out of the synagogue.
-
I'm sorry, I'm lost here. So anyway. You shall
-
know the truth. And in Luke 6 .46, the challenge
-
is clear. The challenge is very clear. It tells
-
us, we were talking earlier about, we all say
-
that we know Jesus. We know God. We all say,
-
Lord, Lord. But we don't listen to what Jesus
-
teaches us, what God teaches us. So the important
-
thing is for us to obey. Obey Jesus. And stick
-
with Jesus all the way, no matter what. In any
-
situation, Jesus will have you covered. He's
-
got your back, and he'll protect you. Obedience
-
is not optional for a disciple, because that
-
comes naturally, to be obedient to Jesus as a
-
disciple. Because you want to do kind things.
-
You want to be like Jesus. And Jesus is a good
-
person, is a good God. So we want to be like
-
Jesus. If you walk with God, can you think about
-
this? If we do an inspection today to say, how's
-
your walk with God? Will it be clear that you
-
prove to be a disciple for Jesus? Or would it
-
be completely different? Maybe just be a religious
-
routine. True disciples are not lukewarm. They
-
are bold. They are bold for Jesus. So no matter
-
where you are, you know, I'd like to just share
-
this story. Sorry I'm deviating. When we came
-
to America and we're in the South, we love it
-
here. I wouldn't want to give this up for anything.
-
But in South Africa, you had a mixed pot, you
-
know. We had friends that were all different
-
religions, all different colors. We'd just be
-
there and we'd do things together. And you could
-
tell people about Jesus. And of course, for me,
-
I love to hammer my Muslim friends and my Hindu
-
friends. And I say, guys, there's only one way.
-
There's only one way, and that's through Jesus
-
and with Jesus. But the Muslim guys always say,
-
if they become Christian, they'll be Seventh
-
-day Adventists. Do we know why? It's our diet.
-
It's our diet. But I said, end of the day, it's
-
all about Jesus. You can get up there and say
-
what you want to say. You guys worship false
-
prophets. Of course, we mustn't be so harsh,
-
but these are close friends. We can talk. We
-
need to talk openly. They used to also try and
-
hammer me, but I said, let's open the Bible.
-
And I said, sometimes you get to a part in the
-
Quran that says, if you don't understand this,
-
refer to the Bible. Have you ever heard that?
-
It tells them, you need to refer to the Bible.
-
So when you show them that, And these guys' eyes
-
opened so wide. That's amazing. But we must be
-
very careful. We must not be wishy -washy. We
-
need to be bold for Jesus. Have you ever heard
-
of the narrow few principle? Okay, the narrow
-
few principle works like this. It's like a bottleneck.
-
The fewer people you reach out to, the fewer
-
people, the fewer souls you win. You make less
-
disciples. So let's say your closing ratio is
-
10%. So if you only speak to 10 people for the
-
month, you make a disciple of one person. But
-
if you speak to 100 people for the month, 10
-
% is 10, and so on. So that's the narrow few
-
principle. So the more people you speak to, the
-
more people you can convert and make disciples.
-
When you make a disciple and they come to church,
-
they mustn't just sit and warm the pews. They
-
need to help Cindy. Because I see that poor young
-
lady has worked like crazy in this church, you
-
know. So we need to get people in here to volunteer
-
and to be committed. That's one way of keeping
-
people in the church. In Ministry of Healing,
-
page 148. We are told that every church should
-
be a training school for our Christian people.
-
Does that make sense to you? We need to train
-
everybody. I personally think we need to train
-
them young so they can be committed to Christ.
-
And we need to make church exciting for the young
-
people. I remember when we lived in the UK. And
-
I hope you don't mind me sharing this. I like
-
to share my, you know. I had a little daughter
-
at the time. Well, she's big now. I still have
-
her. But she had just turned four years old,
-
and we were worshiping at Newbold College. And
-
Newbold didn't, they used to worship in the
-
hall that time. That was back in 2000. And it
-
was traditional service. So, of course, for a
-
four -year -old child, it wasn't exciting. It
-
was not exciting. So we found this church just
-
across the road from Newbold. It was an Anglican
-
church, but it was rented by Newbold College.
-
And that service was loud. And they had drums
-
and guitars and all sorts of instruments. But
-
this little girl of mine was so excited to go
-
to that church service, I said, Lord, forgive
-
me. I'm going to go sit there with my child.
-
So I would take her straight off to Sabbath school.
-
Because if you don't go straight off to Sabbath
-
school to that service, you will not get in.
-
You'll be standing in the vestibule, or you'll
-
be looking through the windows. That small little
-
Anglican church was full, full to capacity. But
-
my daughter was excited to go to church. And
-
every Sabbath, we'd be rushed in the morning
-
to be on time for Sabbath school and to be super
-
early for that church service. It's not always
-
the best thing, but if it works for the particular
-
child or the person, I think we should do it.
-
I'm not saying change things in your church.
-
Please don't misunderstand me. So we have 1 ,440
-
minutes in a day. How do you plan to use those
-
minutes? These are 1 ,440 opportunities in a
-
day. How would you make these work for you? So
-
it's important for you to use your time effectively
-
and efficiently to serve Jesus. Because God is
-
a God of order. He's a God of love. But he plans
-
things. So there's another piece that I've picked
-
up. People are leaving churches, not just our
-
church, every church. Why? They don't feel included.
-
They don't feel like they're loved. So the simple
-
thing about discipleship is, where does the mission
-
start? At the front door, the greeter. When I
-
came in, sister and brother greeted me very warmly.
-
If I didn't have a church, this would be my church
-
because of them. And that's how it works. You've
-
got to greet people. Can you imagine if a visitor
-
comes to your church and the greeter's there?
-
Welcome. You know, no smile, no handshake. That
-
person is not going to feel welcome. So it's
-
a very simple thing. Just be warm and kind and
-
loving and a genuine welcome. But you must remember,
-
as we spoke earlier, even in a workplace, or
-
if you walk in the store, you're going to buy
-
bread and milk or whatever, my wife often...
-
It gives me a bit of grief because wherever I
-
go, I'm always talking about church and things
-
like that. And sometimes I know I may overdo
-
it. I stand and talk to a person for 10 minutes
-
and I don't know this person from anywhere. But
-
we talk. And then all of a sudden we exchange
-
numbers and we contact each other later and we'll
-
have a Bible study. Whether it's over the phone
-
or they'll come to the church or whatever. But
-
it's simple things. And I'm not forceful. I don't
-
force myself on anybody. But I just like to be
-
kind, greet them nicely, and say, hey, Jesus
-
loves you. And the person will say, hey, sometimes
-
some people haven't even heard about Jesus. And
-
that's in America. Can you believe that? In America.
-
So I come from Africa, and man, people know about
-
Jesus there. And I come to America, this great
-
country, and people don't know about Jesus. So
-
that's kind of shocking for me. But kindness
-
definitely opens the door. A smile is like a
-
magnet. It draws people. People may not say things,
-
but it's powerful. It shows the love of Christ.
-
And that's so important, to be loving and to
-
be kind. In Luke 14, 23, it tells us, Then the
-
master said to the servants, Go out into the
-
highways and hedges and compel them to come.
-
Come in that my house may be filled. But if you
-
read further back, let's read 16. A certain man
-
gave a great supper and invited many and sent
-
his servant at suppertime to say those that were
-
invited are to come over because they are ready
-
for them. But these people that were invited
-
all made excuses. Are we like those people? Sometimes
-
I feel that I am. Especially friends that invite
-
us out, non -adventures invite us for lunch on
-
Sabbath to their homes, because obviously I won't
-
go to a restaurant, but to their homes. And I'm
-
the type of guy, I work the whole week, I work
-
long hours. When it gets to Sabbath, I like lay
-
activity, you know. So we must be very careful.
-
Because Jesus is inviting us. And sometimes that
-
opportunity to go and sit with non -Adventists
-
is what Jesus wants us to do. Just to be kind,
-
loving, and to sometimes just talk about the
-
Bible. I have my special verses that I like to
-
talk to people about. And sometimes my kids say
-
I'm embarrassing, but, you know, if you share
-
something, people will go, they become inquisitive.
-
And I don't. Push it on them. I say, go and read
-
your Bible. Not my Bible. Read your Bible. So
-
we need to remember, simple things makes things
-
happen. So we're talking about we must not make
-
excuses. Because when it comes to Jesus, we need
-
to go out there full force. Put on our coats,
-
not formal, casual, so we can go out and reach
-
these people. We need to reach the communities,
-
which is people in our community that would like
-
to come to church. At our church, we've been
-
getting lots of Muslim visitors, Hindu visitors,
-
lots of Indian folks are coming over to the church,
-
and people are searching for Jesus. People are
-
searching, people. They really are. We may not
-
notice it, but people are really out there, and
-
they're hungry for the truth. So we need to invite
-
these people in. Sister White reminds us, one
-
soul is more value to heaven than a world of
-
houses, land, and money. One life changed for
-
Christ can set off a chain reaction that multiplies
-
for eternity. So every disciple you reach and
-
you make will make more. Can you imagine if you
-
make one, that person makes two? Those two make
-
two. The numbers increase. So we need to go out
-
there and make disciples of people. God gives
-
us a simple example. Do we know Abraham from
-
the Bible? Joseph? Job? Abraham, who walked blameless
-
before God. So Abraham lived a life of integrity
-
and obedience. But God made him a father of many,
-
didn't he? So we need to keep up that integrity,
-
that way of life. It's very important. And what
-
about Job? Job suffered. He lost his family.
-
He lost wealth. We don't care about money, but
-
we worry about our family, our children. He lost
-
those people. But Job never cursed God. He continued
-
to trust God and love God. Even told his wife,
-
because his wife said, why don't you die, you
-
know, and then you can just curse God. He said,
-
no way, he'll never do that. And then Joseph,
-
Joseph, even he prospered in prison. The prison
-
warden trusted Joseph so much that he gave him
-
the power to be in charge of all the other prisoners.
-
Can you imagine that? That's the guy that was
-
sold. Do you remember? He was sold. But that
-
was God's plan. He turned him into a good person,
-
a good leader. God blessed him. So Genesis 39,
-
God is with him in prison, giving him favor as
-
he put him in charge of all the other prisoners
-
and allowing the warden to trust him to lead
-
the other prisoners. These are the promises.
-
I like to hold on to. Philippians 4 .19. Does
-
anybody know that one? My God shall supply all
-
your needs according to His riches in glory by
-
Christ Jesus. That's one, but I've got five.
-
We must remember, this particular verse tells
-
us that God loves us. He cares about us. When
-
something happens to you, God knows. He knows.
-
If something bad happens to you, He gets sad.
-
It's like a parent. If something happens to you,
-
as big and old as I am, my dad is late, but my
-
mom, if something has to happen to me, she'll
-
be worried about me. Well, at least I hope. But
-
God will be sad. So God makes a way, no matter
-
what our challenges we face, the challenges we
-
face, God will help us overcome this. The second
-
one for me is Philippians 4 .13. We should all
-
know that one. We can do all things through Christ
-
who strengthens me. So you know we can do all
-
things. In Sabbath school, we spoke about the
-
things we can accomplish with Christ and the
-
things we can accomplish without Christ, which
-
is nothing. So we need to trust Jesus because
-
Jesus will make it happen for you. Then the third
-
one is 1 Corinthians 10 .13. No temptation has
-
overtaken you except what is common to mankind.
-
God will give you a way out of temptation. Let's
-
trust Jesus and follow Jesus every day of our
-
lives. The fourth one is Micah 7, 18 to 19. God
-
pardons sin and forgives the transgression. God
-
forgives our sins. Why? Because he loves us.
-
It's like a baby. If you smack your child that's
-
three or four years old, That child will forgive
-
you very quickly. But smack your brother or your
-
sister, oh, they're going to hold a grudge against
-
you forever, you know. So he loves us so much,
-
and he wants us to prosper. The fifth one, Isaiah
-
41 .10. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not
-
be dismayed, for I am your God. God is with you,
-
so we should never fear. He is present. At every
-
single minute of the day. You're never alone.
-
He's always got you. So we need to live this
-
mission daily. There are over 2 billion people
-
in the world that have never heard about Jesus.
-
Including people in America. Yet every day we
-
pass people in the supermarket, on the roads,
-
wherever we are, we pass people who have never
-
heard about Jesus. So we need to be bold. Even
-
if we have a simple Jesus loves you t -shirt,
-
that simple t -shirt will get people's attention
-
and they will want to acquire about Jesus. So
-
we need to be active, be welcoming, be warm.
-
We must be quick to forgive. When people do something
-
against us, we need to forgive them. We need
-
to mentor people, mentor the next generation,
-
share the gospel, talk about Jesus, pray and
-
read your Bible every day. Have you thought about
-
this? The more people you teach about the word,
-
the better you become. You are more blessed than
-
the person you're teaching because you learn
-
it. And I tell you, if you read something 20
-
times or 50 times, it's like the back of your
-
hand. You know where to find it in the Bible
-
quickly. You can actually just say it out loud
-
without even looking at your Bible. That's what
-
a blessing it is. I remember there was a pastor
-
who had finished, left school in elementary school.
-
But he read the Bible about a hundred times.
-
And he could quote just like that. He was so
-
blessed. And it was a blessing to be in his company.
-
Because when he preached, he would just preach
-
and he'd rattle off from the Bible without even
-
looking at his Bible. And of course, we'll check
-
through the Bible quickly and see if it's true.
-
And he was 100 % correct all the time. So the
-
mission is not just for pastors or missionaries
-
or evangelists. It's for every one of you. That's
-
the mission. We need to go out there and reach
-
communities. Even a child, I was looking at the
-
young lady that was singing up here today. She
-
did such a great job. I forgot her name, I'm
-
sorry. But she did a great job. Even a child
-
that shares a story about Jesus with another
-
child, that's part of the mission. They're spreading
-
the gospel. They're making disciples. So when
-
this child advances the mission by singing up
-
here and going to school and telling their friend,
-
that friend will be inspired to do the same thing.
-
They don't always have the courage to do what
-
she does, but you know, maybe someday. But we
-
need to remember, belief begins the journey.
-
And we need to abide so we can sustain the journey.
-
But obedience also proves the journey is true.
-
Jesus has called us all to multiply the mission,
-
not to keep it to ourselves. Let's live our lives
-
for Jesus. Anthony, can we? I have a little slide.
-
Can you guys see it? It says, Satan tries to
-
limit your praying because he knows your praying
-
will limit him. So the more you pray, the more
-
evil and bad things will repel. So we need to
-
remember that. That is so important that as we
-
pray and read our Bible, Jesus will continue
-
to bless us. You have 1 ,440 minutes. How will
-
you use them? Will you use them to disciple others?
-
That's something you need to ask yourself. But
-
I will be praying that every one of you will
-
invite just one person to church. Maybe next
-
Sabbath, or the following, or next month, whenever.
-
Invite one person. Let's fill this church, fill
-
these pews, because Jesus loves you. Anthony,
-
can we do one more, please? Now this one, okay,
-
it's important because Adam and Eve did not think
-
about the consequences, right? They did not think
-
about the consequences. The things they did,
-
the sinning. So now we have to deal with that.
-
So that's why I put this on, just to remind you
-
that when you think of Adam and Eve, you think
-
of this. Because if they had listened to God,
-
we would not be doing laundry. All right? So
-
this is so important. I just want to share, people,
-
you all know the truth. We've all read our Bibles
-
and we've studied. But the great thing is if
-
we can study with other people, whether they're
-
Adventists, Christians, non -Christians, whoever,
-
let's just read our Bibles and share the gospel.
-
Thank you so much.