Sermon

Built To Multiply (Vaughan Choudree, 09/06/25)

Ringgold Seventh-day Adventist Church

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  1. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

  2. let us pray. Father God, we thank you so much

  3. for bringing us to church today, and we thank

  4. you for the beautiful singing and all those that

  5. took part in this beginning of the service, Cindy

  6. and Jennifer, who are so passionate about the

  7. storytelling. We thank you, Jesus, for blessing

  8. every person here today. In your loving name,

  9. amen. So I really enjoy that story which you

  10. talk about going down the river, Jennifer. I

  11. was born in South Africa, and of course we moved

  12. to the UK afterwards, but we go down the river

  13. there with kayaks or something, whitewater rafting,

  14. and if you fall out the boat, you've got to get

  15. to shore as quickly as possible because there's

  16. crocodiles in the water, which is really cool.

  17. All right, today we're going to read John 8 .31,

  18. and it says, Then Jesus said to those Jews who

  19. believed him, If you abide in my word, you are

  20. my disciples indeed. And of course, 32 says,

  21. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall

  22. make you free. But if you read further back,

  23. let's go back to John 8, 27. They did not understand

  24. that he spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus

  25. said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man,

  26. Then you will know that I am he, and that I do

  27. nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me.

  28. I speak these things, and he who sent me is with

  29. me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always

  30. do those things that please him. As he spoke

  31. these words, many believed him. So as Jesus spoke

  32. to the Jews, they began to believe him and what

  33. he was teaching, right? Excuse me. I'd like to

  34. share a story. I don't know, all of a sudden

  35. I've got a runny nose. Okay, so I work for Collegedale

  36. Church, and we had two HVAC technicians that

  37. came over, and these guys had a really fun time

  38. at the church because it was the week of VBS,

  39. and we have a really big VBS, probably like 450

  40. to 500 children at the VBS. The older guy, he

  41. was probably about maybe 60 years old. And so

  42. I started asking him, like, hey, do you guys

  43. have VBS at your church? So he said, no. And

  44. of course, knowing me, I like to prompt, you

  45. know, talk, tell me about it. So he said, oh,

  46. no, I don't go to church. And the other technician

  47. who was working with him for several months wasn't

  48. aware of this, but she belongs to the Baptist

  49. church. It was a tiny church, and they had no

  50. kids, so they never had VBS. So I said, come

  51. on, come and have a look at the VBS. And I saw

  52. the kids singing and doing all sorts of stuff.

  53. They were excited, especially the girl. And of

  54. course, that was my opportunity now to disciple.

  55. So it was really awesome. Thank you so much.

  56. I'm sorry, I forgot my hanky today. Perfect,

  57. thank you. I'm good, thank you. So I spoke to

  58. them and I spoke to the gentleman as well. I

  59. started saying, man, if you'd like to come to

  60. our church. I'll come and pick you up if you

  61. don't have a vehicle. I know he has a vehicle.

  62. But I was just kind of being warm, you know.

  63. And if you're passing by, you're welcome to come

  64. and sit and watch the VBS. And they were on the

  65. clock. And, of course, we were paying for them.

  66. So I said, come, come with me. They said, oh,

  67. they can't do it. I said, listen, we're paying

  68. you guys. Come. So he had a great time. But,

  69. of course, he had an experience in his life at

  70. church that he stopped going to church because

  71. of that. And I don't want to reveal that information,

  72. but that is between, you know. But the young

  73. lady was so impressed. She said she so wished

  74. she had a church where they had VBS. So I said,

  75. you know what? And she also belongs to another

  76. Baptist church. I said, every time, it was our

  77. VBS week, and I gave her the dates. And I said,

  78. you're welcome to come over here and help us.

  79. So you can learn how we do things, so you can

  80. go and share it with your church and other people

  81. in the communities. So she was really excited

  82. about that. Because even you guys, you're welcome

  83. to visit us for VBS Week at Collegedale, at the

  84. university campus. It's really interesting. But

  85. church family, this morning we gathered around

  86. a simple but powerful truth. Jesus didn't just

  87. call us to believe. He called us to multiply.

  88. How do we multiply? We've got to be disciples.

  89. Because as disciples, we duplicate. We make more

  90. disciples, right? So we must remember that. Jesus

  91. does not want us just to believe. We've got to

  92. go out and reach people, reach the communities.

  93. In Matthew 28, 19 to 20. Go therefore and make

  94. disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

  95. name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,

  96. teaching them to observe all that I have commanded

  97. you. And behold, I am with you always to the

  98. end of age. Notice, Jesus didn't say go and get

  99. people to agree with you. He said make disciples.

  100. Why? Because by believing, belief is the beginning

  101. of the journey. But that's not the end goal.

  102. Discipleship. is the goal. In John 8 .31 it tells

  103. us, and he makes it plain, we need to abide in

  104. the word and make by disciples, as a disciple,

  105. you will definitely do things to honor Jesus.

  106. Is that correct? So today we start with belief,

  107. and that belief is where it starts. Jesus is

  108. speaking in John 8 .31 to people who already

  109. believed him. The Jews believed the gospel, right?

  110. But they believed in God and not Jesus. But they

  111. had faith in his teachings. They were open to

  112. instruction. But Jesus didn't say, because you

  113. believe, it's okay. He did challenge them. He

  114. said, don't stop at belief. Continue in my word.

  115. In other words, read your Bible every day. Don't

  116. just read it and say, oh, I read it. I read my

  117. five chapters. You know what? You don't read

  118. one chapter. Right, brother? One chapter and

  119. learn it. So you can share it with other people.

  120. That's the important thing, to understand the

  121. Bible, understand the word. But if you think

  122. about it, in James 2 .19, it tells us that even

  123. the demons, even the demons know that Jesus is

  124. God. And they tremble at his name. And we've

  125. read about this. You believe that there is one

  126. God. You do well. Even the demons believe and

  127. tremble. But what happens with us? God isn't

  128. a one -time thing. He's not a one -time moment.

  129. God is a lifetime commitment. So if we get up

  130. every day, get on our knees, pray, pray for our

  131. family, pray for our church family, for friends,

  132. so we can get out there and reach communities.

  133. It's important because sometimes there are communities

  134. around that have never visited your church or

  135. any other church. Why? We have not invited them.

  136. It's very simple. We can say that we fit because

  137. we bought a gym membership. It doesn't work like

  138. that, right? It's the same with the book, with

  139. the Bible, the Word. You need to read it every

  140. day because as you read the Bible, you'll be

  141. transformed. And that transformation happens

  142. when? When we pray and we read. That's important.

  143. We need to read the Bible continuously, daily,

  144. with family and friends. You know, it's important

  145. for us to even share the word with anybody you

  146. come into contact with. Whether they're Christian

  147. or non -Christian. I'd like to share this. We

  148. actually, I'm from a city called Durban in South

  149. Africa. It's on the east coast. And it's a lot

  150. like Florida. You have one season, hot. So I

  151. lived there a long time, but I didn't really

  152. like it. But because all the family was there,

  153. we stayed. It's a good life because you live

  154. around, everything happens on the beach, and

  155. everyone has swimming pools, so you have lots

  156. of fun. But on a Sunday morning, about 300 to

  157. 400, oh, thank you so much. Thank you. About

  158. 300 to 400. of us Adventists would walk around

  159. with our green t -shirts with our seven Adventists

  160. on the back and have all markings, and we would

  161. approach anybody. We don't care which church

  162. you belong to, we would talk to you. So there

  163. were Jews, there were Muslims, Hindus, Tamils,

  164. and of course all those people have a completely

  165. different belief system to us. So we would speak

  166. to these guys. And even the Jehovah's Witnesses,

  167. we'll get them. You know, they always catch people

  168. on Sunday morning. So we will catch them on the

  169. beach and we will just stay there and we'll hammer

  170. them, you know. In a nice way, in a nice way,

  171. okay. So we need to, the Greek word for abide

  172. is meno. And the meaning of that is to continue,

  173. to dwell. So we want Jesus to dwell in our hearts.

  174. If we have Jesus in our hearts. When we come

  175. into contact with people, I think we should only

  176. say kind things, right? Because it's not self,

  177. it's Jesus. So if we have Jesus speaking through

  178. us, we're just the instruments, we're the vessels.

  179. So when we are kind to people, it'll change us.

  180. It'll change us, it'll change our lifestyle,

  181. our thoughts, our decisions, and even our conversations

  182. with people. We'll only be talking about... The

  183. Bible about Jesus. And that's our job. Because

  184. God sent Jesus out to spread the gospel and make

  185. disciples. So he got 10 disciples and they split

  186. up and they went on. And now we are just a continuation

  187. of that. Am I right? We're the continuation of

  188. those disciples. We are here to do the same thing.

  189. So it's important as we read our Bibles, we need

  190. to study. So it's not just about reading 10 chapters

  191. for the day. And that's how I used to read before.

  192. Until I was corrected, you know. But we need

  193. to read with understanding. So the Bible needs

  194. to inspire us. We were talking earlier in Sabbath

  195. school. Brother Ben laid out and we had a wonderful

  196. Sabbath school. Thank you for that. And we were

  197. talking about how people, how the Jews just came

  198. up with ideas. It wasn't the Jews that came up

  199. with ideas. It was God who inspired them. And

  200. we know that, you know, inspiration comes from

  201. Jesus, from God. So it's important for us to

  202. trust God because he will take care of us. In

  203. John 15, 7, it says, If you abide in me and my

  204. words abide in you, you can ask for whatever

  205. you wish for. But if you think about when a child

  206. asks a parent for something, the parent loves

  207. their child. And likewise, God loves us so much

  208. more that he wants to provide and give us things.

  209. But he will only give us things within reason.

  210. I know many people who've had hardships in their

  211. lives and we pray and they pray for financial

  212. blessings, you know. And they don't realize that

  213. sometimes when we pray together, we say, life's

  214. not just about finances. You know, when you're

  215. most blessed, is when people love and care for

  216. you and you love and care for others. That's

  217. a blessing. And so the guys just pray for money.

  218. But in my opinion, I just feel that God blesses

  219. some people to be very wealthy and others not

  220. so. But you have enough, right, Brother Darren?

  221. You have enough to survive and pay your bills.

  222. And I just think that's a blessing in itself.

  223. So many people... have this misconception, and

  224. they think, if I win the lottery, man, I can

  225. do so much. You know what? If you win the lottery,

  226. those people who cannot manage money, you can

  227. have $100 million, and within a couple of years,

  228. it's gone. Unfortunately. So when we abide in

  229. Jesus, and Jesus abides in us, we stay rooted.

  230. And it's important, because if we are rooted,

  231. And we stay close to our source. And Jesus is

  232. the source. As it tells us in Psalms 113, the

  233. tree is planted near the stream, but the tree

  234. doesn't move. It produces good fruit. So it stays

  235. close to its source, which is the river, the

  236. water. If we stay close to our source, which

  237. is Jesus, we'll be grounded and we'll be blessed.

  238. So that's very important. So it's not just about

  239. keeping in touch with Jesus occasionally. It's

  240. not like you're going to visit Jesus. We need

  241. to be with Jesus, walk with Jesus every day of

  242. our lives. You know, sometimes people think I'm

  243. crazy, but when I'm walking around the church

  244. there by us, the church is a little bigger than

  245. this church, Collegedale. And we walk around

  246. there, and I like to... I like to pray aloud,

  247. you know. Of course, I don't pray super loud,

  248. but I talk, you know, when I pray. And I'm walking

  249. around, and I'm praying, and I pray, Lord, please

  250. bless every person that enters the church. Keep

  251. everybody safe. Bless their families. Bless our

  252. friends. Just bless everybody, the sick people,

  253. et cetera. And people, sometimes people who don't

  254. know me, they think, man, this guy's crazy, you

  255. know. But I'm talking to Jesus, and that's the

  256. way I like it, you know. And I love to sing.

  257. He's able, you know, and I sing that and I walk

  258. around and do my work. So we need to be just

  259. like the tree, to be planted close to our source

  260. of nourishment. From the source, it keeps us

  261. strong, keeps us faithful, and we are nourished

  262. spiritually. So the fruit that we produce will

  263. be a good reflection of Jesus, the goodness,

  264. the love, the kindness, and we'll remember. That

  265. as we thrive in goodness, people will want to

  266. be with you. Because if you're a good person,

  267. a kind person, have you ever noticed when you

  268. have a conversation with someone and you speak

  269. very kindly to them, it opens an opportunity

  270. for you to share the gospel. Have any of you

  271. ever experienced that? It's amazing. Sometimes

  272. you're speaking and sometimes you're working

  273. and you're rushing. And it's a work environment.

  274. But if you just step back and just take a minute

  275. and speak to the person kindly, caringly, that

  276. person is willing to listen to you when you talk

  277. about Jesus. Even the person who's not even a

  278. Christian, they will listen. So the thing is,

  279. my mom was Muslim. And when she married my dad,

  280. Of course, I wasn't around, but it was a big

  281. thing. So they didn't come to go to their wedding,

  282. et cetera. But my mom became Christian. And she

  283. was happy not to be with her family. I'm sure

  284. she missed them. But so she was always very careful.

  285. You know, she'd be praying over us. And, oh,

  286. man, it was super crazy for us because she would

  287. always be instilling us, instill the story in

  288. us, you know, the love of Jesus, all those type

  289. things. Of course, it's good, you know. But,

  290. of course. I was a bit of a naughty guy, but

  291. my mom, she would give me a spanking every day,

  292. even if I didn't need it. But that's South Africa.

  293. You straighten the child out very quickly. So

  294. I always took the brunt of it. So that's okay,

  295. but I know Jesus has blessed me for that. So

  296. Jesus has made it clear, because obedience is

  297. the proof of discipleship. Abiding leads to freedom.

  298. That's in John 8 .32. So John 8 .32, And you

  299. shall know the truth, and the truth shall make

  300. you free. They answered him, We are Abrahams,

  301. we are, sorry, where is this one? Sorry, sorry,

  302. sorry. We are Abrahams, we put out of the synagogue.

  303. I'm sorry, I'm lost here. So anyway. You shall

  304. know the truth. And in Luke 6 .46, the challenge

  305. is clear. The challenge is very clear. It tells

  306. us, we were talking earlier about, we all say

  307. that we know Jesus. We know God. We all say,

  308. Lord, Lord. But we don't listen to what Jesus

  309. teaches us, what God teaches us. So the important

  310. thing is for us to obey. Obey Jesus. And stick

  311. with Jesus all the way, no matter what. In any

  312. situation, Jesus will have you covered. He's

  313. got your back, and he'll protect you. Obedience

  314. is not optional for a disciple, because that

  315. comes naturally, to be obedient to Jesus as a

  316. disciple. Because you want to do kind things.

  317. You want to be like Jesus. And Jesus is a good

  318. person, is a good God. So we want to be like

  319. Jesus. If you walk with God, can you think about

  320. this? If we do an inspection today to say, how's

  321. your walk with God? Will it be clear that you

  322. prove to be a disciple for Jesus? Or would it

  323. be completely different? Maybe just be a religious

  324. routine. True disciples are not lukewarm. They

  325. are bold. They are bold for Jesus. So no matter

  326. where you are, you know, I'd like to just share

  327. this story. Sorry I'm deviating. When we came

  328. to America and we're in the South, we love it

  329. here. I wouldn't want to give this up for anything.

  330. But in South Africa, you had a mixed pot, you

  331. know. We had friends that were all different

  332. religions, all different colors. We'd just be

  333. there and we'd do things together. And you could

  334. tell people about Jesus. And of course, for me,

  335. I love to hammer my Muslim friends and my Hindu

  336. friends. And I say, guys, there's only one way.

  337. There's only one way, and that's through Jesus

  338. and with Jesus. But the Muslim guys always say,

  339. if they become Christian, they'll be Seventh

  340. -day Adventists. Do we know why? It's our diet.

  341. It's our diet. But I said, end of the day, it's

  342. all about Jesus. You can get up there and say

  343. what you want to say. You guys worship false

  344. prophets. Of course, we mustn't be so harsh,

  345. but these are close friends. We can talk. We

  346. need to talk openly. They used to also try and

  347. hammer me, but I said, let's open the Bible.

  348. And I said, sometimes you get to a part in the

  349. Quran that says, if you don't understand this,

  350. refer to the Bible. Have you ever heard that?

  351. It tells them, you need to refer to the Bible.

  352. So when you show them that, And these guys' eyes

  353. opened so wide. That's amazing. But we must be

  354. very careful. We must not be wishy -washy. We

  355. need to be bold for Jesus. Have you ever heard

  356. of the narrow few principle? Okay, the narrow

  357. few principle works like this. It's like a bottleneck.

  358. The fewer people you reach out to, the fewer

  359. people, the fewer souls you win. You make less

  360. disciples. So let's say your closing ratio is

  361. 10%. So if you only speak to 10 people for the

  362. month, you make a disciple of one person. But

  363. if you speak to 100 people for the month, 10

  364. % is 10, and so on. So that's the narrow few

  365. principle. So the more people you speak to, the

  366. more people you can convert and make disciples.

  367. When you make a disciple and they come to church,

  368. they mustn't just sit and warm the pews. They

  369. need to help Cindy. Because I see that poor young

  370. lady has worked like crazy in this church, you

  371. know. So we need to get people in here to volunteer

  372. and to be committed. That's one way of keeping

  373. people in the church. In Ministry of Healing,

  374. page 148. We are told that every church should

  375. be a training school for our Christian people.

  376. Does that make sense to you? We need to train

  377. everybody. I personally think we need to train

  378. them young so they can be committed to Christ.

  379. And we need to make church exciting for the young

  380. people. I remember when we lived in the UK. And

  381. I hope you don't mind me sharing this. I like

  382. to share my, you know. I had a little daughter

  383. at the time. Well, she's big now. I still have

  384. her. But she had just turned four years old,

  385. and we were worshiping at Newbold College. And

  386. Newbold didn't, they used to worship in the

  387. hall that time. That was back in 2000. And it

  388. was traditional service. So, of course, for a

  389. four -year -old child, it wasn't exciting. It

  390. was not exciting. So we found this church just

  391. across the road from Newbold. It was an Anglican

  392. church, but it was rented by Newbold College.

  393. And that service was loud. And they had drums

  394. and guitars and all sorts of instruments. But

  395. this little girl of mine was so excited to go

  396. to that church service, I said, Lord, forgive

  397. me. I'm going to go sit there with my child.

  398. So I would take her straight off to Sabbath school.

  399. Because if you don't go straight off to Sabbath

  400. school to that service, you will not get in.

  401. You'll be standing in the vestibule, or you'll

  402. be looking through the windows. That small little

  403. Anglican church was full, full to capacity. But

  404. my daughter was excited to go to church. And

  405. every Sabbath, we'd be rushed in the morning

  406. to be on time for Sabbath school and to be super

  407. early for that church service. It's not always

  408. the best thing, but if it works for the particular

  409. child or the person, I think we should do it.

  410. I'm not saying change things in your church.

  411. Please don't misunderstand me. So we have 1 ,440

  412. minutes in a day. How do you plan to use those

  413. minutes? These are 1 ,440 opportunities in a

  414. day. How would you make these work for you? So

  415. it's important for you to use your time effectively

  416. and efficiently to serve Jesus. Because God is

  417. a God of order. He's a God of love. But he plans

  418. things. So there's another piece that I've picked

  419. up. People are leaving churches, not just our

  420. church, every church. Why? They don't feel included.

  421. They don't feel like they're loved. So the simple

  422. thing about discipleship is, where does the mission

  423. start? At the front door, the greeter. When I

  424. came in, sister and brother greeted me very warmly.

  425. If I didn't have a church, this would be my church

  426. because of them. And that's how it works. You've

  427. got to greet people. Can you imagine if a visitor

  428. comes to your church and the greeter's there?

  429. Welcome. You know, no smile, no handshake. That

  430. person is not going to feel welcome. So it's

  431. a very simple thing. Just be warm and kind and

  432. loving and a genuine welcome. But you must remember,

  433. as we spoke earlier, even in a workplace, or

  434. if you walk in the store, you're going to buy

  435. bread and milk or whatever, my wife often...

  436. It gives me a bit of grief because wherever I

  437. go, I'm always talking about church and things

  438. like that. And sometimes I know I may overdo

  439. it. I stand and talk to a person for 10 minutes

  440. and I don't know this person from anywhere. But

  441. we talk. And then all of a sudden we exchange

  442. numbers and we contact each other later and we'll

  443. have a Bible study. Whether it's over the phone

  444. or they'll come to the church or whatever. But

  445. it's simple things. And I'm not forceful. I don't

  446. force myself on anybody. But I just like to be

  447. kind, greet them nicely, and say, hey, Jesus

  448. loves you. And the person will say, hey, sometimes

  449. some people haven't even heard about Jesus. And

  450. that's in America. Can you believe that? In America.

  451. So I come from Africa, and man, people know about

  452. Jesus there. And I come to America, this great

  453. country, and people don't know about Jesus. So

  454. that's kind of shocking for me. But kindness

  455. definitely opens the door. A smile is like a

  456. magnet. It draws people. People may not say things,

  457. but it's powerful. It shows the love of Christ.

  458. And that's so important, to be loving and to

  459. be kind. In Luke 14, 23, it tells us, Then the

  460. master said to the servants, Go out into the

  461. highways and hedges and compel them to come.

  462. Come in that my house may be filled. But if you

  463. read further back, let's read 16. A certain man

  464. gave a great supper and invited many and sent

  465. his servant at suppertime to say those that were

  466. invited are to come over because they are ready

  467. for them. But these people that were invited

  468. all made excuses. Are we like those people? Sometimes

  469. I feel that I am. Especially friends that invite

  470. us out, non -adventures invite us for lunch on

  471. Sabbath to their homes, because obviously I won't

  472. go to a restaurant, but to their homes. And I'm

  473. the type of guy, I work the whole week, I work

  474. long hours. When it gets to Sabbath, I like lay

  475. activity, you know. So we must be very careful.

  476. Because Jesus is inviting us. And sometimes that

  477. opportunity to go and sit with non -Adventists

  478. is what Jesus wants us to do. Just to be kind,

  479. loving, and to sometimes just talk about the

  480. Bible. I have my special verses that I like to

  481. talk to people about. And sometimes my kids say

  482. I'm embarrassing, but, you know, if you share

  483. something, people will go, they become inquisitive.

  484. And I don't. Push it on them. I say, go and read

  485. your Bible. Not my Bible. Read your Bible. So

  486. we need to remember, simple things makes things

  487. happen. So we're talking about we must not make

  488. excuses. Because when it comes to Jesus, we need

  489. to go out there full force. Put on our coats,

  490. not formal, casual, so we can go out and reach

  491. these people. We need to reach the communities,

  492. which is people in our community that would like

  493. to come to church. At our church, we've been

  494. getting lots of Muslim visitors, Hindu visitors,

  495. lots of Indian folks are coming over to the church,

  496. and people are searching for Jesus. People are

  497. searching, people. They really are. We may not

  498. notice it, but people are really out there, and

  499. they're hungry for the truth. So we need to invite

  500. these people in. Sister White reminds us, one

  501. soul is more value to heaven than a world of

  502. houses, land, and money. One life changed for

  503. Christ can set off a chain reaction that multiplies

  504. for eternity. So every disciple you reach and

  505. you make will make more. Can you imagine if you

  506. make one, that person makes two? Those two make

  507. two. The numbers increase. So we need to go out

  508. there and make disciples of people. God gives

  509. us a simple example. Do we know Abraham from

  510. the Bible? Joseph? Job? Abraham, who walked blameless

  511. before God. So Abraham lived a life of integrity

  512. and obedience. But God made him a father of many,

  513. didn't he? So we need to keep up that integrity,

  514. that way of life. It's very important. And what

  515. about Job? Job suffered. He lost his family.

  516. He lost wealth. We don't care about money, but

  517. we worry about our family, our children. He lost

  518. those people. But Job never cursed God. He continued

  519. to trust God and love God. Even told his wife,

  520. because his wife said, why don't you die, you

  521. know, and then you can just curse God. He said,

  522. no way, he'll never do that. And then Joseph,

  523. Joseph, even he prospered in prison. The prison

  524. warden trusted Joseph so much that he gave him

  525. the power to be in charge of all the other prisoners.

  526. Can you imagine that? That's the guy that was

  527. sold. Do you remember? He was sold. But that

  528. was God's plan. He turned him into a good person,

  529. a good leader. God blessed him. So Genesis 39,

  530. God is with him in prison, giving him favor as

  531. he put him in charge of all the other prisoners

  532. and allowing the warden to trust him to lead

  533. the other prisoners. These are the promises.

  534. I like to hold on to. Philippians 4 .19. Does

  535. anybody know that one? My God shall supply all

  536. your needs according to His riches in glory by

  537. Christ Jesus. That's one, but I've got five.

  538. We must remember, this particular verse tells

  539. us that God loves us. He cares about us. When

  540. something happens to you, God knows. He knows.

  541. If something bad happens to you, He gets sad.

  542. It's like a parent. If something happens to you,

  543. as big and old as I am, my dad is late, but my

  544. mom, if something has to happen to me, she'll

  545. be worried about me. Well, at least I hope. But

  546. God will be sad. So God makes a way, no matter

  547. what our challenges we face, the challenges we

  548. face, God will help us overcome this. The second

  549. one for me is Philippians 4 .13. We should all

  550. know that one. We can do all things through Christ

  551. who strengthens me. So you know we can do all

  552. things. In Sabbath school, we spoke about the

  553. things we can accomplish with Christ and the

  554. things we can accomplish without Christ, which

  555. is nothing. So we need to trust Jesus because

  556. Jesus will make it happen for you. Then the third

  557. one is 1 Corinthians 10 .13. No temptation has

  558. overtaken you except what is common to mankind.

  559. God will give you a way out of temptation. Let's

  560. trust Jesus and follow Jesus every day of our

  561. lives. The fourth one is Micah 7, 18 to 19. God

  562. pardons sin and forgives the transgression. God

  563. forgives our sins. Why? Because he loves us.

  564. It's like a baby. If you smack your child that's

  565. three or four years old, That child will forgive

  566. you very quickly. But smack your brother or your

  567. sister, oh, they're going to hold a grudge against

  568. you forever, you know. So he loves us so much,

  569. and he wants us to prosper. The fifth one, Isaiah

  570. 41 .10. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not

  571. be dismayed, for I am your God. God is with you,

  572. so we should never fear. He is present. At every

  573. single minute of the day. You're never alone.

  574. He's always got you. So we need to live this

  575. mission daily. There are over 2 billion people

  576. in the world that have never heard about Jesus.

  577. Including people in America. Yet every day we

  578. pass people in the supermarket, on the roads,

  579. wherever we are, we pass people who have never

  580. heard about Jesus. So we need to be bold. Even

  581. if we have a simple Jesus loves you t -shirt,

  582. that simple t -shirt will get people's attention

  583. and they will want to acquire about Jesus. So

  584. we need to be active, be welcoming, be warm.

  585. We must be quick to forgive. When people do something

  586. against us, we need to forgive them. We need

  587. to mentor people, mentor the next generation,

  588. share the gospel, talk about Jesus, pray and

  589. read your Bible every day. Have you thought about

  590. this? The more people you teach about the word,

  591. the better you become. You are more blessed than

  592. the person you're teaching because you learn

  593. it. And I tell you, if you read something 20

  594. times or 50 times, it's like the back of your

  595. hand. You know where to find it in the Bible

  596. quickly. You can actually just say it out loud

  597. without even looking at your Bible. That's what

  598. a blessing it is. I remember there was a pastor

  599. who had finished, left school in elementary school.

  600. But he read the Bible about a hundred times.

  601. And he could quote just like that. He was so

  602. blessed. And it was a blessing to be in his company.

  603. Because when he preached, he would just preach

  604. and he'd rattle off from the Bible without even

  605. looking at his Bible. And of course, we'll check

  606. through the Bible quickly and see if it's true.

  607. And he was 100 % correct all the time. So the

  608. mission is not just for pastors or missionaries

  609. or evangelists. It's for every one of you. That's

  610. the mission. We need to go out there and reach

  611. communities. Even a child, I was looking at the

  612. young lady that was singing up here today. She

  613. did such a great job. I forgot her name, I'm

  614. sorry. But she did a great job. Even a child

  615. that shares a story about Jesus with another

  616. child, that's part of the mission. They're spreading

  617. the gospel. They're making disciples. So when

  618. this child advances the mission by singing up

  619. here and going to school and telling their friend,

  620. that friend will be inspired to do the same thing.

  621. They don't always have the courage to do what

  622. she does, but you know, maybe someday. But we

  623. need to remember, belief begins the journey.

  624. And we need to abide so we can sustain the journey.

  625. But obedience also proves the journey is true.

  626. Jesus has called us all to multiply the mission,

  627. not to keep it to ourselves. Let's live our lives

  628. for Jesus. Anthony, can we? I have a little slide.

  629. Can you guys see it? It says, Satan tries to

  630. limit your praying because he knows your praying

  631. will limit him. So the more you pray, the more

  632. evil and bad things will repel. So we need to

  633. remember that. That is so important that as we

  634. pray and read our Bible, Jesus will continue

  635. to bless us. You have 1 ,440 minutes. How will

  636. you use them? Will you use them to disciple others?

  637. That's something you need to ask yourself. But

  638. I will be praying that every one of you will

  639. invite just one person to church. Maybe next

  640. Sabbath, or the following, or next month, whenever.

  641. Invite one person. Let's fill this church, fill

  642. these pews, because Jesus loves you. Anthony,

  643. can we do one more, please? Now this one, okay,

  644. it's important because Adam and Eve did not think

  645. about the consequences, right? They did not think

  646. about the consequences. The things they did,

  647. the sinning. So now we have to deal with that.

  648. So that's why I put this on, just to remind you

  649. that when you think of Adam and Eve, you think

  650. of this. Because if they had listened to God,

  651. we would not be doing laundry. All right? So

  652. this is so important. I just want to share, people,

  653. you all know the truth. We've all read our Bibles

  654. and we've studied. But the great thing is if

  655. we can study with other people, whether they're

  656. Adventists, Christians, non -Christians, whoever,

  657. let's just read our Bibles and share the gospel.

  658. Thank you so much.