Into ALL the World??

Joedy Melashenko: It's a blessing to be here this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: I've had

Joedy Melashenko: uh

Joedy Melashenko: a

Joedy Melashenko: tickle

Joedy Melashenko: in my throat for a number of weeks, and I

Joedy Melashenko: Wasn't even sure I'd be able to sing this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: So if you hear me, you know, looking for some uh

Joedy Melashenko: sour note, you understand why.

Joedy Melashenko: But it's a joy to be here this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: We're going to be sharing a lot of

Joedy Melashenko: exciting things that

Joedy Melashenko: God is doing in this world.

Joedy Melashenko: Here's a song for you to meditate

Joedy Melashenko: on.

Joedy Melashenko: One day I came to him.

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: was

Joedy Melashenko: so thirsty

Joedy Melashenko: I asked for water, my

Joedy Melashenko: throat was

Joedy Melashenko: so

Joedy Melashenko: dry.

Joedy Melashenko: He

Joedy Melashenko: gave me water

Joedy Melashenko: that I

Joedy Melashenko: had

Joedy Melashenko: never dreamed

Joedy Melashenko: of

Joedy Melashenko: But for this water

Joedy Melashenko: my Lord had

Joedy Melashenko: to

Joedy Melashenko: die

Joedy Melashenko: He said

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: first

Joedy Melashenko: get

Joedy Melashenko: him

Joedy Melashenko: The river

Joedy Melashenko: he said

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: thirst, yet he made

Joedy Melashenko: the sea.

Joedy Melashenko: Oh

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: thirst

Joedy Melashenko: said

Joedy Melashenko: the king

Joedy Melashenko: of

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: ages

Joedy Melashenko: in his

Joedy Melashenko: great thirst

Joedy Melashenko: he brought water.

Joedy Melashenko: To

Joedy Melashenko: me.

Joedy Melashenko: Now

Joedy Melashenko: there's a river

Joedy Melashenko: and it flows

Joedy Melashenko: as clear as crystal.

Joedy Melashenko: It comes

Joedy Melashenko: from

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: 's throne

Joedy Melashenko: above

Joedy Melashenko: and like

Joedy Melashenko: a river

Joedy Melashenko: it wells up.

Joedy Melashenko: Up

Joedy Melashenko: inside

Joedy Melashenko: me, bringing mercy

Joedy Melashenko: and life

Joedy Melashenko: giving

Joedy Melashenko: love.

Joedy Melashenko: He

Joedy Melashenko: said

Joedy Melashenko: I thirst

Joedy Melashenko: yet he made

Joedy Melashenko: the river

Joedy Melashenko: He said

Joedy Melashenko: I thirst

Joedy Melashenko: yet he may

Joedy Melashenko: Said

Joedy Melashenko: the king

Joedy Melashenko: of

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: ages.

Joedy Melashenko: In his

Joedy Melashenko: great thirst, he brought water

Joedy Melashenko: to

Joedy Melashenko: me.

Joedy Melashenko: Oh, he said

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: thirst, yet he

Joedy Melashenko: made.

Joedy Melashenko: The river.

Joedy Melashenko: He said

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: thirst, yet

Joedy Melashenko: he made

Joedy Melashenko: the sea.

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: thirst

Joedy Melashenko: said

Joedy Melashenko: the king of

Joedy Melashenko: the ages

Joedy Melashenko: in his

Joedy Melashenko: great thirst

Joedy Melashenko: he brought

Joedy Melashenko: water.

Joedy Melashenko: To me.

Joedy Melashenko: In his

Joedy Melashenko: great first, he brought water

Joedy Melashenko: to

Joedy Melashenko: me.

Joedy Melashenko: Get up close.

Joedy Melashenko: Get up close.

Joedy Melashenko: Good morning everyone.

Joedy Melashenko: We're so happy to be here with you this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: I'd like to share our scripture that we're going

Joedy Melashenko: Jody's going to be basing his sermon off of, and it's found in Romans

Joedy Melashenko: chapter 10 and verses 13 to 15.

Joedy Melashenko: There, I think there are Bibles

Joedy Melashenko: in the pews in front of you if you'd like to follow along.

Joedy Melashenko: Otherwise, you can read it off the screen.

Joedy Melashenko: Everyone, everyone

Joedy Melashenko: who calls on the name of the Lord

Joedy Melashenko: will be saved.

Joedy Melashenko: What an awesome promise

Joedy Melashenko: is that

Joedy Melashenko: But how can they call on him

Joedy Melashenko: unless they believe in him?

Joedy Melashenko: And how can they believe in him

Joedy Melashenko: if they've never heard about him?

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: how can they hear about him

Joedy Melashenko: unless someone tells them?

Joedy Melashenko: And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

Joedy Melashenko: That's our scripture this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: And you will find out quickly how

Joedy Melashenko: God is working in this world to

Joedy Melashenko: send people

Joedy Melashenko: to share the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: Amen.

Joedy Melashenko: My dear wife

Joedy Melashenko: Judy and I have

Joedy Melashenko: put up with each other in a very wonderful way.

Joedy Melashenko: Fifty-five years.

Joedy Melashenko: I'm still on probation, she tells me though.

Joedy Melashenko: But I'm just, I know she don't want me to say much, but this has been a very difficult

Joedy Melashenko: last

Joedy Melashenko: couple weeks for us.

Joedy Melashenko: Judy lost her best friend, her sister, just two weeks ago today

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: it's been

Joedy Melashenko: Lord Jesus, please come soon.

Joedy Melashenko: That's all I can say.

Joedy Melashenko: My wife and I have

Joedy Melashenko: had

Joedy Melashenko: The wonderful privilege of being involved in youth ministries our whole career.

Joedy Melashenko: The last 15 years we served with quiet

Joedy Melashenko: hour ministries out of

Joedy Melashenko: Redlands, California, with Bill and Jackie Tucker.

Joedy Melashenko: And we organized

Joedy Melashenko: and coordinated about 50

Joedy Melashenko: short-term mission projects, including evangelism

Joedy Melashenko: building

Joedy Melashenko: schools

Joedy Melashenko: and churches.

Joedy Melashenko: And it was by far

Joedy Melashenko: the most life-changing experience, not only for us, but the young people that went with us.

Joedy Melashenko: It was just a very

Joedy Melashenko: marvelous privilege.

Joedy Melashenko: We thought our days of

Joedy Melashenko: mission projects were over.

Joedy Melashenko: Did I say something?

Joedy Melashenko: One of the

Joedy Melashenko: guys who is my

Joedy Melashenko: one of my contractors

Joedy Melashenko: called me a year ago and said, Jody.

Joedy Melashenko: We uh

Joedy Melashenko: we spent a couple

Joedy Melashenko: summers

Joedy Melashenko: in Fiji.

Joedy Melashenko: By the way, does anybody know the greeting

Joedy Melashenko: from the Fijian islands?

Joedy Melashenko: What do they say when they see each other?

Joedy Melashenko: Bula.

Joedy Melashenko: Bula.

Joedy Melashenko: Everywhere it goes.

Joedy Melashenko: Bula.

Joedy Melashenko: He said, we're going back to Bula

Joedy Melashenko: country

Joedy Melashenko: because there's 23

Joedy Melashenko: little churches there.

Joedy Melashenko: That have been meeting in this little pole

Joedy Melashenko: barn for their school, and they desperately want a church school in this region of

Joedy Melashenko: Singatoka, Fiji.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: fortunately, praise the Lord, we were able to raise some funds through our church, through the church up in Battleground, Metal Glade

Joedy Melashenko: Church up in Washington.

Joedy Melashenko: And so in a couple weeks, Judy and I are

Joedy Melashenko: and 50 missionaries are heading to Fiji

Joedy Melashenko: to conduct an evangelistic series and build a school.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: we want you to keep that on your prayer list.

Joedy Melashenko: The

Joedy Melashenko: um

Joedy Melashenko: the reality is

Joedy Melashenko: the world that we live in today

Joedy Melashenko: Especially for young people.

Joedy Melashenko: And I don't want to go crosser

Joedy Melashenko: with any kids here because my whole ministry was

Joedy Melashenko: directed to young people.

Joedy Melashenko: But the young people from North America, from many of the Western cultures, have it so good they don't understand how good they've got it.

Joedy Melashenko: Here in America, we have so much stuff

Joedy Melashenko: we don't want to do with it all.

Joedy Melashenko: If you were an entrepreneur and had a little bit of a entrepreneurial spirit 30, 35

Joedy Melashenko: years ago.

Joedy Melashenko: And you had

Joedy Melashenko: invested

Joedy Melashenko: in the U

Joedy Melashenko: store

Joedy Melashenko: it

Joedy Melashenko: facilities

Joedy Melashenko: where people rent a place to store their stuff.

Joedy Melashenko: Because they

Joedy Melashenko: got so much stuff they don't have room for it at home.

Joedy Melashenko: You know what I'm talking about?

Joedy Melashenko: You'd

Joedy Melashenko: become a very wealthy person.

Joedy Melashenko: And young people here in our culture

Joedy Melashenko: In fact, not only

Joedy Melashenko: young people, but many of you old senior citizens out there this morning, every time you turn the radio or every time you open a magazine or television,

Joedy Melashenko: The message that the world shouts to us goes something like this.

Joedy Melashenko: Get it bigger, better, and faster than the other guy, and that'll guarantee your happiness.

Joedy Melashenko: Are you with me?

Joedy Melashenko: Get it bigger, better, and faster than the other guy.

Joedy Melashenko: We spend most of our time, most of our years, if we're really honest with ourselves.

Joedy Melashenko: Trying to keep up with the bigger, better, and faster stuff that keeps coming out.

Joedy Melashenko: Do you think um

Joedy Melashenko: iPhone was happy for iPhone 1?

Joedy Melashenko: How many

Joedy Melashenko: how many generations

Joedy Melashenko: that

Joedy Melashenko: was

Joedy Melashenko: iPhone

Joedy Melashenko: 17 now, whatever?

Joedy Melashenko: I was in a

Joedy Melashenko: cell phone store the other day getting my phone worked on and

Joedy Melashenko: You know, here's this young person.

Joedy Melashenko: They're plunking down twelve

Joedy Melashenko: hundred dollars for the new iPhone.

Joedy Melashenko: I was reminded

Joedy Melashenko: About all the stuff we have.

Joedy Melashenko: When my mom and dad got to the place where

Joedy Melashenko: they needed to be moved in an assisted living facility.

Joedy Melashenko: And my brother Rudy and I, by the way, we lived

Joedy Melashenko: in Paradise, California and sold our home in Paradise, California

Joedy Melashenko: five months before that fire took everything.

Joedy Melashenko: before we moved down here to Sun City West.

Joedy Melashenko: But before that fire took everything, my mom and dad went to this assisted living place, and so we're starting to go through their stuff.

Joedy Melashenko: in the garage to sort things out and find out what we can give to the Dorcas

Joedy Melashenko: Society and what we

Joedy Melashenko: can.

Joedy Melashenko: Okay, my parents

Joedy Melashenko: were

Joedy Melashenko: products

Joedy Melashenko: of the Depression era.

Joedy Melashenko: What do you do

Joedy Melashenko: with

Joedy Melashenko: five hundred

Joedy Melashenko: empty cottage cheese containers?

Joedy Melashenko: What do you do with

Joedy Melashenko: 20 gallons, big

Joedy Melashenko: five-gallon buckets of rusted nails, and on and on and on?

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: My brother Rudy and I were, we had the

Joedy Melashenko: joy

Joedy Melashenko: of hauling one load after another of stuff to the dump.

Joedy Melashenko: Now they don't call it a dump anymore.

Joedy Melashenko: They call it a landfill.

Joedy Melashenko: And they call it a landfill because that sounds so more earth-friendly.

Joedy Melashenko: Have any of you been to a landfill lately?

Joedy Melashenko: It's a dump, okay?

Joedy Melashenko: It's a dump.

Joedy Melashenko: And here

Joedy Melashenko: people come.

Joedy Melashenko: What was interesting.

Joedy Melashenko: The guy that was directing traffic back up into here, he says,

Joedy Melashenko: let me guess.

Joedy Melashenko: You're going through your folks' stuff, huh?

Joedy Melashenko: I said, Yeah, that's right.

Joedy Melashenko: He says, You don't have any idea.

Joedy Melashenko: How many people I meet

Joedy Melashenko: who have to go through their stuff

Joedy Melashenko: because their parents have gone.

Joedy Melashenko: What was it

Joedy Melashenko: really interesting though?

Joedy Melashenko: One of the buildings.

Joedy Melashenko: I mean, there are stacks of old tires and stacks of old appliances and bicycles and

Joedy Melashenko: but they got this building over here

Joedy Melashenko: that is called the Electronic Recycling Building.

Joedy Melashenko: And that's where they take old computers and stuff and they pull stuff, whatever they can use.

Joedy Melashenko: What was interesting

Joedy Melashenko: as we were unloading some stuff, here's a

Joedy Melashenko: An elder

Joedy Melashenko: the gentleman and his younger son.

Joedy Melashenko: They back

Joedy Melashenko: up with a pickup truck to the electronic recycling

Joedy Melashenko: And they've got this massive

Joedy Melashenko: television set.

Joedy Melashenko: Now it wasn't a high definition.

Joedy Melashenko: It was one of these old style, you know, it's a boat anchor is what it was.

Joedy Melashenko: I mean

Joedy Melashenko: they

Joedy Melashenko: weighed a ton.

Joedy Melashenko: Took two of them to unload it.

Joedy Melashenko: It worked just fine, but you see it's not bigger, better, and faster anymore.

Joedy Melashenko: And so that that went to the dump.

Joedy Melashenko: You're following me, aren't you?

Joedy Melashenko: Friends?

Joedy Melashenko: That's a hamster wheel.

Joedy Melashenko: That's a squirrel cage.

Joedy Melashenko: You never stop running.

Joedy Melashenko: But here's the interesting thing.

Joedy Melashenko: Many of these young people that have gone on these mission trips with us.

Joedy Melashenko: Who've been told you need the bigger, better, and faster stuff to be happy.

Joedy Melashenko: When they go into a country

Joedy Melashenko: and they meet young people

Joedy Melashenko: and they meet individuals

Joedy Melashenko: who have absolutely nothing.

Joedy Melashenko: And they're just a whole lot happier than we are.

Joedy Melashenko: Something wonderful happens in many of those young people's lives.

Joedy Melashenko: They come to realize what really, really is important in this journey, and it's not stuff.

Joedy Melashenko: So, if it's not stuff, then what is it?

Joedy Melashenko: A youth pastor

Joedy Melashenko: friend

Joedy Melashenko: and I were having breakfast together.

Joedy Melashenko: I was youth pastor at the Carmichael Church in Sacramento

Joedy Melashenko: for years, and

Joedy Melashenko: we were having breakfast, and he started kind of shaking his head.

Joedy Melashenko: He said, I'm I'm really not looking forward to the church board meeting tonight.

Joedy Melashenko: He said, because

Joedy Melashenko: our church is

Joedy Melashenko: business session, they have decided to place a curse on me.

Joedy Melashenko: And that curse happens to be that I'm going to be the coordinator of the church remodeling project.

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: see.

Joedy Melashenko: I don't need to say anything else.

Joedy Melashenko: And he said so, the reality is

Joedy Melashenko: this.

Joedy Melashenko: We got a whole bunch of the church members that want

Joedy Melashenko: blue carpet.

Joedy Melashenko: And this group here wants green carpet

Joedy Melashenko: and the blue carpet people have given more than the green carpet people and it's gonna be war.

Joedy Melashenko: So I turned to my friend

Joedy Melashenko: Jim and I said, Jim, I didn't come up with this, but somebody shared this motto with me, and I've adopted it for everything

Joedy Melashenko: I do in this journey called life.

Joedy Melashenko: Whether it's with my family, whether it's with my friends, whether it's on the golf course, whatever it is, that motto goes like this.

Joedy Melashenko: The main

Joedy Melashenko: thing is that the main thing is the main thing.

Joedy Melashenko: Did God send his

Joedy Melashenko: son

Joedy Melashenko: Jesus

Joedy Melashenko: down to this earth so you could argue about the color of the carpeting?

Joedy Melashenko: No.

Joedy Melashenko: And so we ask ourselves this morning

Joedy Melashenko: the main

Joedy Melashenko: thing.

Joedy Melashenko: Our dear brother Danny there asks, why are we here?

Joedy Melashenko: What's the main thing?

Joedy Melashenko: What's the purpose for church?

Joedy Melashenko: Well, the main thing is made very, very clear in the Gospels.

Joedy Melashenko: When Jesus himself

Joedy Melashenko: declared what we call the Great Gospel Commission, we read in Matthew 16, go there for, go into the whole world and preach the good news to everyone.

Joedy Melashenko: Well that's pretty simple.

Joedy Melashenko: And then I think since we've all been in crin

Joedy Melashenko: kindergarten, we memorized Matthew 24, 14

Joedy Melashenko: that says

Joedy Melashenko: this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world

Joedy Melashenko: as a witness unto all nations, and then the end shall

Joedy Melashenko: come.

Joedy Melashenko: But there's part of that verse that's very troubling to my spirit, and that happens to be this word

Joedy Melashenko: all, because

Joedy Melashenko: there are parts of this world you can't get there from here.

Joedy Melashenko: And there are parts of this world

Joedy Melashenko: you wouldn't

Joedy Melashenko: you wouldn't want to be there

Joedy Melashenko: because as a Westerner you'd last

Joedy Melashenko: two minutes.

Joedy Melashenko: But the Lord says, all the world.

Joedy Melashenko: That passage of scripture that Judy read earlier, I'm going to repeat it to you

Joedy Melashenko: because there's actually in this scripture

Joedy Melashenko: The Apostle Paul, he wrote this letter to the Roman Church after his third missionary journey, and the Apostle Paul had such a passion for Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: He has such a passion to share the good news of the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: He literally shared the gospel in the then-known world.

Joedy Melashenko: And if you've ever traced the footsteps of Paul and see

Joedy Melashenko: where he went

Joedy Melashenko: in those journeys, unbelievable.

Joedy Melashenko: And so he gets back from his third missionary journey, and he has a letter that he's sending to the Roman church, and he says

Joedy Melashenko: ,

Joedy Melashenko: Now, you know.

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: wish Paul could stand up here this morning

Joedy Melashenko: because

Joedy Melashenko: he makes the gospel about

Joedy Melashenko: as plain as you can make it

Joedy Melashenko: right here.

Joedy Melashenko: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Joedy Melashenko: Well then we add all this other stuff to it.

Joedy Melashenko: Friends, if Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord, you c

Joedy Melashenko: you can have the assurance of your salvation.

Joedy Melashenko: If you know Jesus, you're saved.

Joedy Melashenko: End of discussion.

Joedy Melashenko: But then

Joedy Melashenko: he adds these

Joedy Melashenko: four questions.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: they get more and more intense through these verses.

Joedy Melashenko: But how can they call on him

Joedy Melashenko: unless they believe on him?

Joedy Melashenko: And how can they believe in him

Joedy Melashenko: if they never heard about him?

Joedy Melashenko: And then

Joedy Melashenko: and how can they hear about him unless someone goes and tells him?

Joedy Melashenko: And then how

Joedy Melashenko: anyone go and tell them without being sent?

Joedy Melashenko: You get the intensity of his

Joedy Melashenko: Friends, I am so

Joedy Melashenko: grateful

Joedy Melashenko: to be a part of a church

Joedy Melashenko: that still is sending out missionaries

Joedy Melashenko: that are sending out people to share the good news of the gospel in some of the most remote parts of the world.

Joedy Melashenko: Now, I'm just gonna cue my friends back there at the booth.

Joedy Melashenko: Bye, I want to lift them all up.

Joedy Melashenko: You got a great group of people here.

Joedy Melashenko: Uh

Joedy Melashenko: they're they're flying a 747

Joedy Melashenko: this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: It's a brand new sound system and they've made it work really, really good.

Joedy Melashenko: But they said, you know, we've only

Joedy Melashenko: had experience buying a pipe or cub, so we're we're gonna have to learn and curve

Joedy Melashenko: it.

Joedy Melashenko: But we have a video I want to show to you right now.

Joedy Melashenko: Let's go ahead and show it.

Joedy Melashenko: We need sound.

Joedy Melashenko: Let's start it from the beginning again and we can bring the level down just a little bit.

Joedy Melashenko: And this

Joedy Melashenko: gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world

Joedy Melashenko: as a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.

Joedy Melashenko: Join us now for a journey that may change forever your

Joedy Melashenko: understanding of foreign mission work and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Joedy Melashenko: Today, we travel to an area of the world largely ignored by Christians.

Joedy Melashenko: Known as the 1040 window, it's located between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude in the eastern hemisphere.

Joedy Melashenko: It stretches from North Africa toward the rising sun, across the Middle East, India, China, and southward

Joedy Melashenko: to catch Thailand and the Philippine Islands.

Joedy Melashenko: All

Joedy Melashenko: told, nearly 70 countries lie within this window.

Joedy Melashenko: The area accounts for one-third of the world's land mass

Joedy Melashenko: Yet more than five billion people live here.

Joedy Melashenko: That's two-thirds of the world's population.

Joedy Melashenko: Poverty, hunger, illness?

Joedy Melashenko: Illiteracy, oppression, idol worship, fear, and hopelessness are ways of life for many.

Joedy Melashenko: Dominant religions include Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Joedy Melashenko: Worldwide, an estimated 3.

Joedy Melashenko: 2 billion people

Joedy Melashenko: have yet to hear the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: If you were to guess what percentage of these unreached people live in the 1040 window, what would you say?

Joedy Melashenko: 40%?

Joedy Melashenko: 60%?

Joedy Melashenko: 80%?

Joedy Melashenko: Actually, the stunning answer is 97

Joedy Melashenko: %.

Joedy Melashenko: Virtually all of the world's unreached people

Joedy Melashenko: live in the 1040 window.

Joedy Melashenko: We've shared the gospel close to home, but have left one final

Joedy Melashenko: frontier for evangelism.

Joedy Melashenko: Millions of people in the 1040 window haven't, even once, had a chance to hear the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: Despite the great need in the 1040 window,

Joedy Melashenko: Less than 2%

Joedy Melashenko: of Christian mission giving goes here.

Joedy Melashenko: There is enough evangelism taking place today to reach the world dozens of times.

Joedy Melashenko: Unfortunately, most of it is happening among people who have already heard the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: In all candor and to our continuing shame.

Joedy Melashenko: Let us admit that the world's perishing unreached people are very seldom mentioned or thought about in almost all churches.

Joedy Melashenko: Gospel Outreach was founded in 1993 to help introduce people to Jesus in the 1040 window.

Joedy Melashenko: The all-volunteers staff works closely with the church.

Joedy Melashenko: The goal?

Joedy Melashenko: Raise

Joedy Melashenko: funds to support indigenous evangelists and Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: These workers are hired and trained by local church conferences.

Joedy Melashenko: Through the Gospel Outreach Adopt a Worker program, a worker can be sponsored for $150 U.

Joedy Melashenko: S.

Joedy Melashenko: dollars monthly.

Joedy Melashenko: Compared to foreign missionaries coming into a country, indigenous workers have many advantages.

Joedy Melashenko: They already know the culture, the religion, the language, the traditions, and the people.

Joedy Melashenko: Gospel outreach is the heartbeat of the South Asia Division.

Joedy Melashenko: Hundreds of thousands of people have given their hearts to Jesus and chosen to be baptized as a result of Gospel Outreach Sponsored Workers.

Joedy Melashenko: Not only are these Bible workers effective, they are also efficient.

Joedy Melashenko: On average, very few dollars invested in their work results in a decision for Jesus that leads to baptism.

Joedy Melashenko: In the 1040 window, millions and millions of honest-hearted people are searching.

Joedy Melashenko: They need hope.

Joedy Melashenko: They need the savior

Joedy Melashenko: Yet they have never had the chance to hear the story of Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: Today

Joedy Melashenko: it's up to us to make a difference.

Joedy Melashenko: We must help hasten the Lord's return.

Joedy Melashenko: We

Joedy Melashenko: believe

Joedy Melashenko: let's act

Joedy Melashenko: Now I have a question.

Joedy Melashenko: How many of you

Joedy Melashenko: up until this

Joedy Melashenko: moment

Joedy Melashenko: have never heard about gospel outreach?

Joedy Melashenko: Can I see your hands?

Joedy Melashenko: There's a number of you.

Joedy Melashenko: Unfortunately, I think it's the church's best kept secret.

Joedy Melashenko: But I know my wife and I

Joedy Melashenko: we

Joedy Melashenko: we retired from full-time ministry about ten

Joedy Melashenko: years ago and

Joedy Melashenko: God opened the door for us to continue using our music and preaching ministry

Joedy Melashenko: to reach churches and camp meetings and other venues

Joedy Melashenko: to share what this incredible ministry is doing.

Joedy Melashenko: Now, when I first heard the statistics

Joedy Melashenko: that were shared, 97

Joedy Melashenko: %

Joedy Melashenko: of the people that don't know about Jesus

Joedy Melashenko: Live in the 1040 window and yet we only give about two

Joedy Melashenko: percent of our evangelistic efforts to to reach them.

Joedy Melashenko: Now I'm happy to tell you

Joedy Melashenko: that's percentages

Joedy Melashenko: for Christian churches.

Joedy Melashenko: The Adventist Church does quite a bit better than that.

Joedy Melashenko: Your pastor, I'd

Joedy Melashenko: love to sit and chat with him.

Joedy Melashenko: I'm gonna have a chance this afternoon.

Joedy Melashenko: He served in one of the regions in the 1040 window in Vietnam and Mongolia

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: In 1993, when gospel outreach was first

Joedy Melashenko: started, I was a young pastor in the Oregon Conference.

Joedy Melashenko: And there was two retired pastors, Pastor Frank and Pastor Edgar.

Joedy Melashenko: Pastor Edgar was

Joedy Melashenko: from the Philippines.

Joedy Melashenko: And he said, we have some remote islands in the Philippines that desperately need to hear the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: the Oregon Conference at that time

Joedy Melashenko: They took some of the evangelism funds and they sponsored five or six Bible workers

Joedy Melashenko: in that region of the world, and the rest is history.

Joedy Melashenko: That term

Joedy Melashenko: 1040 window, I think most of us have become familiar with it.

Joedy Melashenko: It's 10 degrees north, 40 degrees north latitude in the eastern hemisphere.

Joedy Melashenko: There are many, many countries in that region

Joedy Melashenko: that you and I could not go to without putting our life at risk.

Joedy Melashenko: I'm going to be sharing some things with you this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: You have to be careful who you share it with.

Joedy Melashenko: And I have to

Joedy Melashenko: remain kind of anonymous.

Joedy Melashenko: But the things that are happening right now.

Joedy Melashenko: Especially

Joedy Melashenko: in

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: radical

Joedy Melashenko: Muslim countries.

Joedy Melashenko: I'll just leave it at that.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: here's some statistics.

Joedy Melashenko: Through gospel outreach, in the 30-some years they've been in ministry

Joedy Melashenko: ,

Joedy Melashenko: Their gospel

Joedy Melashenko: Bible workers have added about two

Joedy Melashenko: million members to the Adventist Church.

Joedy Melashenko: These are volunteers.

Joedy Melashenko: These are laymen

Joedy Melashenko: that we put

Joedy Melashenko: through training centers

Joedy Melashenko: to our training facilities.

Joedy Melashenko: These are the ones that are tent makers and the

Joedy Melashenko: they

Joedy Melashenko: they

Joedy Melashenko: know how to reach their people.

Joedy Melashenko: And I think you probably caught that in the um

Joedy Melashenko: in the video.

Joedy Melashenko: Um

Joedy Melashenko: We

Joedy Melashenko: now have

Joedy Melashenko: 400, close to 2,500 Bible workers that are in 54

Joedy Melashenko: of the 70 countries in the 1040 window.

Joedy Melashenko: I can't tell you the country because it would put our Bible workers at risk.

Joedy Melashenko: But one of the countries had not had a Christian presence in decades.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: we sent

Joedy Melashenko: 40 Bible workers into that country.

Joedy Melashenko: Four years later, they have a membership of over 80,000.

Joedy Melashenko: In four years.

Joedy Melashenko: 40 Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: Now, I have to watch what I say.

Joedy Melashenko: But the cost to sponsor those 40 Bible workers who resulted in 70 or

Joedy Melashenko: 80,000 baptisms

Joedy Melashenko: If you would look at the cost for those Bible workers, it's the same as one full-time pastor here

Joedy Melashenko: in North America.

Joedy Melashenko: There's a lot of people that say, you know what?

Joedy Melashenko: If I have some discretional giving, if I've got some money in my evangelism budget, I know where I'm sending it.

Joedy Melashenko: You

Joedy Melashenko: talk

Joedy Melashenko: about the bang for the buck.

Joedy Melashenko: Unbelievable.

Joedy Melashenko: We'll be sharing a few

Joedy Melashenko: that you know the the wonderful thing about

Joedy Melashenko: I can

Joedy Melashenko: I

Joedy Melashenko: remembered

Joedy Melashenko: When I listen to this video again, I think I was maybe twelve or thirteen years old

Joedy Melashenko: at the Southern New England camp meeting in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, where a family began our ministry together.

Joedy Melashenko: Singing and preaching.

Joedy Melashenko: And um

Joedy Melashenko: used to love going at camp meeting

Joedy Melashenko: in the evening, especially

Joedy Melashenko: when you knew a return missionary was going to come.

Joedy Melashenko: and was going to share it right up the frontline

Joedy Melashenko: story about what was happening in the mission field.

Joedy Melashenko: And if any of you have ever heard

Joedy Melashenko: Eric B.

Joedy Melashenko: Hare

Joedy Melashenko: or Josephine Cunnington Edwards and these incredible storytellers

Joedy Melashenko: You'll know that they brought mission life right to the front row.

Joedy Melashenko: I remember listening to a a couple, I don't remember what country they're from, but I do remember they said something like this.

Joedy Melashenko: You know, my wife and I, we've been in such and such a country for seven or eight years, and we're just starting to learn the language, and we're starting to understand the culture.

Joedy Melashenko: And in my little 12 and 13-year-old brain, you know what

Joedy Melashenko: thought went through?

Joedy Melashenko: Lord, don't you have some local folk down there that we could train

Joedy Melashenko: and teach

Joedy Melashenko: because they have

Joedy Melashenko: they understand the language

Joedy Melashenko: They understand the culture, they

Joedy Melashenko: know the traditions, they

Joedy Melashenko: know the people.

Joedy Melashenko: That is exactly the philosophy why gospel outreach was started.

Joedy Melashenko: And I don't want to get myself in trouble, but the days of sending Westerners into many of these third world countries to try to westernize them, those days are gone.

Joedy Melashenko: We need to respect and understand the people's culture and their traditions.

Joedy Melashenko: And that's what these Bible workers are able to do in incredible ways.

Joedy Melashenko: So here's

Joedy Melashenko: typical.

Joedy Melashenko: Bible worker

Joedy Melashenko: meeting people and they're very, very remote.

Joedy Melashenko: Very simple homes up in the foothills

Joedy Melashenko: One of the very effective tools that they use is they conduct medical clinics, health clinics in the local fair, the local town square, and here the people come.

Joedy Melashenko: And and the Bible workers become known as the as the health outreach ministers in their communities.

Joedy Melashenko: We even have some of them working in some of the refugee camps.

Joedy Melashenko: And if you want to see destitution,

Joedy Melashenko: Unbelievable.

Joedy Melashenko: That's their baptist

Joedy Melashenko: that that's their

Joedy Melashenko: baptistry for many of them.

Joedy Melashenko: They meet people on the front steps

Joedy Melashenko: in their homes, on their porch, or in the town square.

Joedy Melashenko: Wherever they can meet people, they're out there sharing the good news of salvation.

Joedy Melashenko: Now

Joedy Melashenko: There is

Joedy Melashenko: an interesting picture I want to show you right now.

Joedy Melashenko: This happens to be a picture, the country that has the largest number of gospel outreach Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: is in India.

Joedy Melashenko: We have about over a thousand

Joedy Melashenko: Bible workers there.

Joedy Melashenko: And the work in India has just exploded, but it's becoming more and more challenging and I'll share that with you in a minute.

Joedy Melashenko: But these are the Bible workers that came to get new training, learning new techniques, and a story emerged from those meetings.

Joedy Melashenko: The man that you see kneeling, his name is Pastor C.

Joedy Melashenko: J.

Joedy Melashenko: Saman.

Joedy Melashenko: Pastor Saman

Joedy Melashenko: was a ministerial

Joedy Melashenko: secretary, ministerial director for all of the Pentecostal churches in India.

Joedy Melashenko: He oversaw thousands of the Pentecostal churches in India.

Joedy Melashenko: He was reading his Bible

Joedy Melashenko: and he kept

Joedy Melashenko: Hearing a message that just

Joedy Melashenko: it convicted his spirit, I need to understand more

Joedy Melashenko: about the Sabbath.

Joedy Melashenko: And so he prayed, Lord, I'm having a hard time understanding, but I just keep reading it throughout the Old and New

Joedy Melashenko: Testament.

Joedy Melashenko: I need more understanding.

Joedy Melashenko: Send someone that can help me.

Joedy Melashenko: Two days later, he meets two gospel

Joedy Melashenko: Bible workers, and they start talking.

Joedy Melashenko: And he starts asking them some questions, and he discovered that these Bible workers

Joedy Melashenko: They could share some insights theologically about the Sabbath, about the state, and so forth.

Joedy Melashenko: And so he started, he set up some Bible studies.

Joedy Melashenko: And every day, for months, these Bible workers met

Joedy Melashenko: with

Joedy Melashenko: Brother

Joedy Melashenko: C.

Joedy Melashenko: J.

Joedy Melashenko: Simon.

Joedy Melashenko: About six months later

Joedy Melashenko: Pastor Simon stood up before his church congregation

Joedy Melashenko: and he said, Brothers and sisters, I have an announcement I need

Joedy Melashenko: to make today.

Joedy Melashenko: It's not an announcement I want to make, but

Joedy Melashenko: I have to resign my position as your pastor.

Joedy Melashenko: They love

Joedy Melashenko: this man.

Joedy Melashenko: You're going to resign.

Joedy Melashenko: Why?

Joedy Melashenko: I've discovered some truths in Scripture

Joedy Melashenko: that are not consistent with

Joedy Melashenko: the theology of this church.

Joedy Melashenko: Well, Brother Simon,

Joedy Melashenko: you can't resign until you share with us this new truth that you've heard, that you've understood.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: for the next number of months, Pastor CJ

Joedy Melashenko: Simon

Joedy Melashenko: is sharing the good news of the three angels

Joedy Melashenko: message to his church family.

Joedy Melashenko: The entire church gets baptized.

Joedy Melashenko: And now that church, they took the sign down.

Joedy Melashenko: It's an Adventist church.

Joedy Melashenko: And his mission is now to reach every Pentecostal pastor.

Joedy Melashenko: in India

Joedy Melashenko: to share with of the good news that he has

Joedy Melashenko: he has come to understand.

Joedy Melashenko: That's how God is working.

Joedy Melashenko: Powerful.

Joedy Melashenko: The challenge is, Prime

Joedy Melashenko: Minister Modi

Joedy Melashenko: is a militant Hindu, and he has convinced his parliament.

Joedy Melashenko: to outlaw any non-Hindu organizations from his country.

Joedy Melashenko: And so in the last five years, more than 2,000 non-Hindu organizations

Joedy Melashenko: Have been banned from India

Joedy Melashenko: because they

Joedy Melashenko: claim they're accusing these Christian organizations

Joedy Melashenko: of buying converts.

Joedy Melashenko: And unfortunately, many of these

Joedy Melashenko: organizations, they'll offer twenty

Joedy Melashenko: or fifty dollars to a family to join their church, and that's a month's wages for them.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: now thankfully the Adventist Church doesn't do that.

Joedy Melashenko: There are only four main organizations left in India that are Christian organizations.

Joedy Melashenko: Pentecostals, the Baptists, the Lutherans, and the Seventh-day Adventists.

Joedy Melashenko: And what we're doing in India, because

Joedy Melashenko: we

Joedy Melashenko: want

Joedy Melashenko: the Indian

Joedy Melashenko: people to understand that

Joedy Melashenko: as Seventh-day Adventists, we're giving more than we're taking.

Joedy Melashenko: And so we're training all of the

Joedy Melashenko: spouses, the wives of the gospel

Joedy Melashenko: outreach

Joedy Melashenko: Bible workers

Joedy Melashenko: to be health educators, to trade them in the right arm of the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: There's an organization up in Portland, Oregon called Ultimate

Joedy Melashenko: Missions, and they've already trained over a hundred of our Bible workers' wives in India.

Joedy Melashenko: And those those health workers, they'll go into a village before that they even move into the village and they become recognized that they are an emergency room nurse.

Joedy Melashenko: They're

Joedy Melashenko: uh

Joedy Melashenko: What do you call the

Joedy Melashenko: midwife?

Joedy Melashenko: Midwife.

Joedy Melashenko: Thank you there.

Joedy Melashenko: They become known as the health experts in the community.

Joedy Melashenko: And then when the husbands come in and they start announcing, you know, these

Joedy Melashenko: these meetings, it's it's just fabulous what's happening.

Joedy Melashenko: Thankfully, the Prime Minister has had to back off a little bit

Joedy Melashenko: because now he has a coalition government he has to work with.

Joedy Melashenko: And so they've backed off on some of their

Joedy Melashenko: uh

Joedy Melashenko: some

Joedy Melashenko: of the organizations that they're banning from the country.

Joedy Melashenko: But it's a very, it's a huge challenge in India.

Joedy Melashenko: And I've got to

Joedy Melashenko: I've got to move on here quickly because I've got

Joedy Melashenko: that clock

Joedy Melashenko: right.

Joedy Melashenko: Well

Joedy Melashenko: Do we need to take a motion?

Joedy Melashenko: All in favor say aye.

Joedy Melashenko: It's opposed or it's carried.

Joedy Melashenko: Okay, whatever.

Joedy Melashenko: I want to show you

Joedy Melashenko: one of my favorite pictures.

Joedy Melashenko: This is a young 13-year-old

Joedy Melashenko: young lady from India.

Joedy Melashenko: And I don't want to get in the political scene here, but if you

Joedy Melashenko: understand anything about

Joedy Melashenko: India, even though the government has

Joedy Melashenko: outlawed the caste system.

Joedy Melashenko: The caste system, there's about eight different levels of castes in the Indian culture.

Joedy Melashenko: And if you're born in the Brahmin caste, your

Joedy Melashenko: wealth and your

Joedy Melashenko: fame, but the people in the lower caste.

Joedy Melashenko: You cannot buy your way out or educate your

Joedy Melashenko: out of being in that lower caste.

Joedy Melashenko: They've basically

Joedy Melashenko: been predestined to be servants and slaves and whatever.

Joedy Melashenko: And this young lady was from a lower caste.

Joedy Melashenko: system

Joedy Melashenko: family.

Joedy Melashenko: All her life she's been told that women

Joedy Melashenko: in their culture

Joedy Melashenko: are worth less than

Joedy Melashenko: a cow.

Joedy Melashenko: The

Joedy Melashenko: worse

Joedy Melashenko: less than

Joedy Melashenko: they're they're just

Joedy Melashenko: you're like chattel.

Joedy Melashenko: She goes to a gospel outreach

Joedy Melashenko: group of meetings, and for the first time, this young lady hears that in Jesus

Joedy Melashenko: There

Joedy Melashenko: 's no Greek or slave, and they're Greek or Jew.

Joedy Melashenko: There's no free or slave.

Joedy Melashenko: There's no male or female

Joedy Melashenko: that we all stand

Joedy Melashenko: on equal ground in front of the cross.

Joedy Melashenko: Can you see the happiness in her eyes?

Joedy Melashenko: She's now a youth leader in her little church there

Joedy Melashenko: where she gave her heart to Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: That's the good news of the gospel, friends.

Joedy Melashenko: The request from India?

Joedy Melashenko: They want

Joedy Melashenko: 10,000 more Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: Well, we've got 2,500 worldwide

Joedy Melashenko: or the

Joedy Melashenko: 1040 window.

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: I'm going to share now for a few minutes with you

Joedy Melashenko: change cultures.

Joedy Melashenko: In many of those radical countries in the 1040 window.

Joedy Melashenko: For

Joedy Melashenko: years, many

Joedy Melashenko: truth-seeking Muslims

Joedy Melashenko: have been experiencing dreams and visions.

Joedy Melashenko: You can go onto a website called Dreams of Isa, ISA, that's their term for Messiah.

Joedy Melashenko: Tens of thousands of reports of these people.

Joedy Melashenko: Having dreams and

Joedy Melashenko: all their dreams and visions are pretty much the same.

Joedy Melashenko: It's a dream of a man robed in white

Joedy Melashenko: with a golden crown,

Joedy Melashenko: Bloodstains

Joedy Melashenko: on his hand, and he turns and he says, Follow me.

Joedy Melashenko: I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the light.

Joedy Melashenko: Now you have to pause there because

Joedy Melashenko: if you're a Muslim, you understand you pray five times a day, you repeat the prayer three times a day, three times, so

Joedy Melashenko: fifteen

Joedy Melashenko: times a day, you're praying.

Joedy Melashenko: For

Joedy Melashenko: Allah to show you the straight path.

Joedy Melashenko: That's part of the prayer.

Joedy Melashenko: Show me the way, the straight path.

Joedy Melashenko: And now this messenger comes and said, I am the straight path.

Joedy Melashenko: I am the way.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: now many of the Bible workers, social

Joedy Melashenko: media, whatever it takes, they put an advertisement.

Joedy Melashenko: They say, Have you had a dream of a man in white?

Joedy Melashenko: Now they're not saying anything about Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: They're not saying anything about Christianity, but thousands of these people now get together and they start comparing notes and they're discovering that their dreams are the same

Joedy Melashenko: from

Joedy Melashenko: the same source.

Joedy Melashenko: Now this will thrill your hearts.

Joedy Melashenko: Many of those same people

Joedy Melashenko: are now having dreams of three angels.

Joedy Melashenko: Flying through heaven.

Joedy Melashenko: And the messenger turns to them and says, Find the people of the book that can explain this dream to you.

Joedy Melashenko: Now, I don't know how many of you know anything about the Muslim culture, but in that culture, through Prophet

Joedy Melashenko: during

Joedy Melashenko: Prophet Muhammad, that near when

Joedy Melashenko: just before Issa

Joedy Melashenko: returns

Joedy Melashenko: They are going to receive a special message from the people of the book.

Joedy Melashenko: That's followers of Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: And many, many of those, and I don't have the time today

Joedy Melashenko: this morning, but many, many of those imams, because when they find out

Joedy Melashenko: that

Joedy Melashenko: a

Joedy Melashenko: Seventh-day Adventist

Joedy Melashenko: Uh

Joedy Melashenko: you don't eat pig?

Joedy Melashenko: No.

Joedy Melashenko: Uh you don't drink alcohol?

Joedy Melashenko: No.

Joedy Melashenko: Uh

Joedy Melashenko: you don't

Joedy Melashenko: You don't worship the Pope?

Joedy Melashenko: No.

Joedy Melashenko: You don't have big idols that you worship all around?

Joedy Melashenko: No.

Joedy Melashenko: And you dress modestly?

Joedy Melashenko: You must be believers.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: in the mind of a Muslim, a Christian

Joedy Melashenko: is

Joedy Melashenko: what I just listed.

Joedy Melashenko: But as a Seventh-day Adventist, they refer to them as fellow believers.

Joedy Melashenko: The word Christian has a negative connotation.

Joedy Melashenko: They say,

Joedy Melashenko: your

Joedy Melashenko: fellow believers.

Joedy Melashenko: The stories

Joedy Melashenko: of

Joedy Melashenko: things that are coming out of

Joedy Melashenko: Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan

Joedy Melashenko: and those countries, I'll just have to be careful.

Joedy Melashenko: Our main

Joedy Melashenko: um

Joedy Melashenko: contact person

Joedy Melashenko: in that region of the world, he has to remain anonymous.

Joedy Melashenko: Because he's been involved in an underground

Joedy Melashenko: um

Joedy Melashenko: work

Joedy Melashenko: to reach

Joedy Melashenko: Muslims

Joedy Melashenko: for many, many years.

Joedy Melashenko: I talked to him on the phone just the other day.

Joedy Melashenko: He said

Joedy Melashenko: in Iran right now, especially northern Iran, which used to be Persia, still call it Persia, Persia used to be all Christian.

Joedy Melashenko: He said there are literally still

Joedy Melashenko: the hundreds and thousands of Persian Christians that can't wait for this regime to be taken over so they can have freedom of worship.

Joedy Melashenko: That's all they want.

Joedy Melashenko: Freedom of worship.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: um

Joedy Melashenko: this is not political, but

Joedy Melashenko: these

Joedy Melashenko: are people that have been praying

Joedy Melashenko: that they'll have some kind of freedom

Joedy Melashenko: sometime

Joedy Melashenko: and with this whole crazy thing that's happening over there.

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: in that

Joedy Melashenko: in that country, there have

Joedy Melashenko: been literally hundreds of thousands

Joedy Melashenko: of home churches that have sprung up

Joedy Melashenko: That's the only way they can worship.

Joedy Melashenko: They can't make an announcement, you know, we

Joedy Melashenko: got a church down the road.

Joedy Melashenko: Come and meet Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: It's all through home churches.

Joedy Melashenko: Let me let me tell you

Joedy Melashenko: one example of a story.

Joedy Melashenko: Here is an Imam.

Joedy Melashenko: Imam is their clerical leader among Muslims.

Joedy Melashenko: He's walking in his village one day.

Joedy Melashenko: And he has a dream.

Joedy Melashenko: And the messenger says to him, very

Joedy Melashenko: soon

Joedy Melashenko: you're going to receive new light and new truth.

Joedy Melashenko: End of the dream.

Joedy Melashenko: Dream number two.

Joedy Melashenko: A couple days later, he

Joedy Melashenko: he met

Joedy Melashenko: two

Joedy Melashenko: Goswatreach Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: Didn't know each other, they

Joedy Melashenko: got started talking together, and um

Joedy Melashenko: they departed.

Joedy Melashenko: And as the emam was going home

Joedy Melashenko: Dream number two happened, and the messenger said, those two men that you just met today, those are the men who are going to share with you new truth and new light.

Joedy Melashenko: Well

Joedy Melashenko: then I

Joedy Melashenko: gotta find out where these guys live.

Joedy Melashenko: So he found out where they lived.

Joedy Melashenko: They got together

Joedy Melashenko: and they started comparing

Joedy Melashenko: the book

Joedy Melashenko: and the Quran.

Joedy Melashenko: But they had

Joedy Melashenko: this Imam

Joedy Melashenko: had some very, very

Joedy Melashenko: difficult

Joedy Melashenko: theological questions that these Bible workers couldn't answer.

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: they had a seminary professor at whatever university.

Joedy Melashenko: If they ever got to a situation where they couldn't answer a question, call him and he'll he'll answer it for them.

Joedy Melashenko: So he turned to the imam and he said

Joedy Melashenko: We can't answer that question, but we have a good friend of ours.

Joedy Melashenko: We have

Joedy Melashenko: uh

Joedy Melashenko: a scholar, a religious scholar that can

Joedy Melashenko: explain it to you.

Joedy Melashenko: And here's his cell phone number.

Joedy Melashenko: And you

Joedy Melashenko: probably all know

Joedy Melashenko: everybody in this world has a cell phone, it seems like.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: the imam, he gets on his phone, said

Joedy Melashenko: said goodbye to the two Bible workers, gets on his phone to call.

Joedy Melashenko: This

Joedy Melashenko: seminary professor

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: no cell signaling

Joedy Melashenko: couldn't get through.

Joedy Melashenko: Now this is gonna make your hair stand up

Joedy Melashenko: when I

Joedy Melashenko: what I tell you.

Joedy Melashenko: Dream number three

Joedy Melashenko: Go

Joedy Melashenko: at the back gate of your village

Joedy Melashenko: up the hill

Joedy Melashenko: where that big cypress

Joedy Melashenko: tree is.

Joedy Melashenko: Climb up to the first limb of that cypress tree, and there you'll get a sell

Joedy Melashenko: signal and you'll have your questions answered

Joedy Melashenko: Now

Joedy Melashenko: friends, have an atheist or an agnostic explain that dream to you.

Joedy Melashenko: So here's this imam

Joedy Melashenko: now climbing up this tree

Joedy Melashenko: for weeks now.

Joedy Melashenko: You've been having these questions

Joedy Melashenko: about

Joedy Melashenko: some of the doctrines.

Joedy Melashenko: And now in that little village, we have a Muslim

Joedy Melashenko: Seventh day Adventist home church.

Joedy Melashenko: You see, we still respect the Muslim culture.

Joedy Melashenko: They still pray five times a day, but they understand

Joedy Melashenko: who Esau is.

Joedy Melashenko: They understand who Jesus is.

Joedy Melashenko: And they've now become believers.

Joedy Melashenko: We can't really get an exact number of how our church has grown there, but it has grown

Joedy Melashenko: Unbelievably

Joedy Melashenko: the numbers that they anticipate

Joedy Melashenko: in the in the 1040 windows, there could be upwards of 250,000

Joedy Melashenko: Muslim

Joedy Melashenko: Seventh-day Avenist home churches.

Joedy Melashenko: I thought maybe that would get an amen, but it didn't.

Joedy Melashenko: I'm not sure what I need to say.

Joedy Melashenko: Gospel outreach, the amazing part of this ministry.

Joedy Melashenko: It's an all

Joedy Melashenko: It's an all-volunteer organization.

Joedy Melashenko: And here's a picture of some of our volunteers

Joedy Melashenko: out

Joedy Melashenko: at our office in

Joedy Melashenko: College Place, Washington, they're in Walla

Joedy Melashenko: Walla.

Joedy Melashenko: And uh you'll notice they all share something in common.

Joedy Melashenko: Yeah.

Joedy Melashenko: These are all retirees, school teachers, pastors, hospital administrators, physicians.

Joedy Melashenko: uh

Joedy Melashenko: you name it, who've all

Joedy Melashenko: decided, you know, I'm not ready to pull it, put the plow

Joedy Melashenko: down yet.

Joedy Melashenko: And so as a volunteer organization, we have nobody on a payroll.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: five percent is all it costs for them to do administrative.

Joedy Melashenko: That's to print whatever brochures and stuff.

Joedy Melashenko: I don't want to get myself in trouble, but boy, don't you wish our conferences

Joedy Melashenko: could maybe uh

Joedy Melashenko: get a get a picture of what volunteers could do.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: that 95

Joedy Melashenko: %

Joedy Melashenko: of donations

Joedy Melashenko: go directly to those Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: And what they're doing in the field is

Joedy Melashenko: just thrilling.

Joedy Melashenko: I'm happy to tell you

Joedy Melashenko: gospel outreach.

Joedy Melashenko: Excuse me.

Joedy Melashenko: Praise the Lord, we have some deep pockets.

Joedy Melashenko: Our budget is about four and a half million dollars a year.

Joedy Melashenko: Just a couple weeks ago, we got a donation from an estate of nearly two

Joedy Melashenko: million dollars.

Joedy Melashenko: That's now going to give us

Joedy Melashenko: the ability, because

Joedy Melashenko: as soon as the doors open in Iran, we have a hundred

Joedy Melashenko: Bible workers ready to go in.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: now we have the funds to do that.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: um

Joedy Melashenko: but most of the Bible workers, they're sponsored by people just like you and me who say, you know, I I can

Joedy Melashenko: I can afford $20

Joedy Melashenko: a month

Joedy Melashenko: or I can afford $50

Joedy Melashenko: a month

Joedy Melashenko: or whatever.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: with that being said, they do not receive any funds from the General Conference

Joedy Melashenko: or the Unions

Joedy Melashenko: or the Division or the Conference.

Joedy Melashenko: They are truly a faith-based ministry that is doing something unbelievable for God.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: again,

Joedy Melashenko: Bible

Joedy Melashenko: work

Joedy Melashenko: can be sponsored for $150 a month.

Joedy Melashenko: And

Joedy Melashenko: friends.

Joedy Melashenko: In a few minutes, folks, I'm going to be queuing up that last song I'm going to do, hopefully.

Joedy Melashenko: These Bible workers are just common, ordinary people, just like you and me.

Joedy Melashenko: Who've decided they want to do something uncommon for Jesus.

Joedy Melashenko: And so they put the

Joedy Melashenko: many of these Bible workers put their life on the line every day

Joedy Melashenko: because

Joedy Melashenko: in many of these communities

Joedy Melashenko: it is

Joedy Melashenko: illegal.

Joedy Melashenko: To share the gospel.

Joedy Melashenko: I could tell you about one of our Bible workers in one of these countries

Joedy Melashenko: who was arrested.

Joedy Melashenko: four times for sharing the gospel, was imprisoned

Joedy Melashenko: and was sentenced to be executed, to be beheaded.

Joedy Melashenko: The judge kept staying the execution.

Joedy Melashenko: We had our prayer warriors around the world praying for the the girl

Joedy Melashenko: went by

Joedy Melashenko: her nickname was Surrender.

Joedy Melashenko: Praise the Lord.

Joedy Melashenko: The judge finally released her and said, Don't be out

Joedy Melashenko: there talking about Jesus anymore.

Joedy Melashenko: You'll be back in here.

Joedy Melashenko: And uh, but you're free to go.

Joedy Melashenko: Guess what

Joedy Melashenko: she's doing that afternoon?

Joedy Melashenko: Here's

Joedy Melashenko: something else that I just discovered.

Joedy Melashenko: In some of the countries where we have some of our Bible workers that have been arrested, the prison guards are having dreams and visions.

Joedy Melashenko: And the dreams and the visions you're having is

Joedy Melashenko: these

Joedy Melashenko: people that are

Joedy Melashenko: that you've locked up here, these people

Joedy Melashenko: are true followers of Isa.

Joedy Melashenko: And they have truth and light.

Joedy Melashenko: And so here these prison guards now, they're going to these inmates and they're saying, at one

Joedy Melashenko: o'clock this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: The gates are going to be unlocked, the prison doors are going to be unopened, and you're free to go.

Joedy Melashenko: Praise

Joedy Melashenko: God.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: I want to just close with this statement

Joedy Melashenko: from the book

Joedy Melashenko: Acts of the Apostles, God's faithful people

Joedy Melashenko: Have always been aggressive missionaries, consecrating their resources to the honor of his

Joedy Melashenko: name

Joedy Melashenko: and wisely using their talents

Joedy Melashenko: in his

Joedy Melashenko: service.

Joedy Melashenko: That's why the Seventh-day Avenue Church, as we sit here this morning, is the fastest growing denomination in the world.

Joedy Melashenko: Because people have come to understand the truth of our message.

Joedy Melashenko: I love the words of Paul.

Joedy Melashenko: It's always been my ambition, and this is the

Joedy Melashenko: motto we've adopted at Quiet Hour.

Joedy Melashenko: It has

Joedy Melashenko: always been our ambition to preach the gospel where Christ is not known.

Joedy Melashenko: And that's

Joedy Melashenko: that's

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: That's the message I want to leave with you.

Joedy Melashenko: The harvest is plentiful, the labors are few.

Joedy Melashenko: Pray the Lord of the harvest

Joedy Melashenko: to send out labors

Joedy Melashenko: into his harvest.

Joedy Melashenko: And this morning, before we leave, you received

Joedy Melashenko: As you came in, you received a little brochure like this.

Joedy Melashenko: If you didn't get one, raise your hand.

Joedy Melashenko: Maybe we can get some deacons or somebody to hand them out.

Joedy Melashenko: Because inside of this

Joedy Melashenko: is

Joedy Melashenko: an envelope.

Joedy Melashenko: Could we get a couple?

Joedy Melashenko: Yeah, thank you.

Joedy Melashenko: And this envelope gives you a place where you can

Joedy Melashenko: make

Joedy Melashenko: an option as to what kind of a donation, what kind of support.

Joedy Melashenko: you'd

Joedy Melashenko: like to

Joedy Melashenko: give for a Bible worker.

Joedy Melashenko: Please know

Joedy Melashenko: Judy and I are volunteers.

Joedy Melashenko: We don't get a cent

Joedy Melashenko: for doing this.

Joedy Melashenko: We do this because we love the work that they're doing.

Joedy Melashenko: There's even a

Joedy Melashenko: QR code on this little

Joedy Melashenko: brochure here.

Joedy Melashenko: If you want to click on that, it'll take you right to our website.

Joedy Melashenko: You might want to donate online.

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: this morning, as we leave, there's going to be a couple of deacons standing at the doors, and you can put your envelope in

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: bag or the or the

Joedy Melashenko: offering bucket, whatever they have.

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: please know

Joedy Melashenko: your gifts are greatly appreciated by gospel outreach.

Joedy Melashenko: And it's a ministry that I know God has anointed for these

Joedy Melashenko: last days.

Joedy Melashenko: So

Joedy Melashenko: with that.

Joedy Melashenko: While you're filling out that envelope, there's a song that wanna f that we're gonna finish with.

Joedy Melashenko: One day

Joedy Melashenko: a Roman soldier

Joedy Melashenko: in a shameful

Joedy Melashenko: gambling game

Joedy Melashenko: One

Joedy Melashenko: the bloodstained garment

Joedy Melashenko: that

Joedy Melashenko: once

Joedy Melashenko: had clothed

Joedy Melashenko: my king

Joedy Melashenko: Just a cheap robe of linen

Joedy Melashenko: No

Joedy Melashenko: great value did it hold, but when worn

Joedy Melashenko: by

Joedy Melashenko: the master, it was worth more than gold.

Joedy Melashenko: See, a few days

Joedy Melashenko: before

Joedy Melashenko: this old garment

Joedy Melashenko: had changed the life

Joedy Melashenko: of

Joedy Melashenko: a time

Joedy Melashenko: and helpless.

Joedy Melashenko: Woman

Joedy Melashenko: who

Joedy Melashenko: believed

Joedy Melashenko: with all her might

Joedy Melashenko: she

Joedy Melashenko: reached down

Joedy Melashenko: and touched it

Joedy Melashenko: with the hope

Joedy Melashenko: to be

Joedy Melashenko: restored.

Joedy Melashenko: Oh

Joedy Melashenko: she

Joedy Melashenko: knew

Joedy Melashenko: this plain old garment.

Joedy Melashenko: Was the

Joedy Melashenko: vesture of

Joedy Melashenko: the

Joedy Melashenko: Lord

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: uses

Joedy Melashenko: common

Joedy Melashenko: commands

Joedy Melashenko: to do?

Joedy Melashenko: Un

Joedy Melashenko: carbon

Joedy Melashenko: things

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: uses

Joedy Melashenko: cause

Joedy Melashenko: people.

Joedy Melashenko: To live

Joedy Melashenko: up

Joedy Melashenko: is

Joedy Melashenko: uncovering

Joedy Melashenko: great

Joedy Melashenko: it's not

Joedy Melashenko: what

Joedy Melashenko: you

Joedy Melashenko: You are

Joedy Melashenko: that

Joedy Melashenko: matters.

Joedy Melashenko: You see

Joedy Melashenko: it's what he

Joedy Melashenko: can

Joedy Melashenko: make

Joedy Melashenko: you

Joedy Melashenko: to be.

Joedy Melashenko: Cause if

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: can

Joedy Melashenko: take an old

Joedy Melashenko: club

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: garment

Joedy Melashenko: and change a life, then

Joedy Melashenko: surely

Joedy Melashenko: he can

Joedy Melashenko: use you.

Joedy Melashenko: You

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: me

Joedy Melashenko: and here it is.

Joedy Melashenko: We

Joedy Melashenko: are

Joedy Melashenko: the reason.

Joedy Melashenko: That

Joedy Melashenko: Jesus came to

Joedy Melashenko: die, and we

Joedy Melashenko: have

Joedy Melashenko: been chosen

Joedy Melashenko: to

Joedy Melashenko: send forth

Joedy Melashenko: his

Joedy Melashenko: light.

Joedy Melashenko: Now it doesn't matter

Joedy Melashenko: if

Joedy Melashenko: your worth

Joedy Melashenko: is great or small.

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: needs

Joedy Melashenko: some

Joedy Melashenko: willing vessel.

Joedy Melashenko: Just common garments, that's all

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: uses

Joedy Melashenko: common

Joedy Melashenko: garments.

Joedy Melashenko: To

Joedy Melashenko: do

Joedy Melashenko: uncommon

Joedy Melashenko: things

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: continues

Joedy Melashenko: calling.

Joedy Melashenko: People

Joedy Melashenko: to live up

Joedy Melashenko: is

Joedy Melashenko: hard

Joedy Melashenko: for

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: you are

Joedy Melashenko: all

Joedy Melashenko: that

Joedy Melashenko: matters.

Joedy Melashenko: You see

Joedy Melashenko: it's what

Joedy Melashenko: he

Joedy Melashenko: can make

Joedy Melashenko: you

Joedy Melashenko: to be.

Joedy Melashenko: Cause if God

Joedy Melashenko: can

Joedy Melashenko: take an old

Joedy Melashenko: common

Joedy Melashenko: garment

Joedy Melashenko: and change a lot, then

Joedy Melashenko: surely

Joedy Melashenko: he can

Joedy Melashenko: 't be able to do it.

Joedy Melashenko: Can

Joedy Melashenko: use

Joedy Melashenko: you

Joedy Melashenko: and me

Joedy Melashenko: Cause if

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: can

Joedy Melashenko: take it

Joedy Melashenko: off

Joedy Melashenko: and garment

Joedy Melashenko: and change a lot.

Joedy Melashenko: Then

Joedy Melashenko: surely

Joedy Melashenko: he can use

Joedy Melashenko: you

Joedy Melashenko: and me.

Joedy Melashenko: Use you

Joedy Melashenko: and

Joedy Melashenko: me.

Joedy Melashenko: If God can take

Joedy Melashenko: an old common garment

Joedy Melashenko: and change a life, then what's your excuse?

Joedy Melashenko: God

Joedy Melashenko: is looking

Joedy Melashenko: for common people to do something uncommon for his

Joedy Melashenko: kingdom.

Joedy Melashenko: And as we mentioned this morning, hey

Joedy Melashenko: All of us here, we can't go to Africa.

Joedy Melashenko: We can't go to the 1040 window.

Joedy Melashenko: But you can be a sender.

Joedy Melashenko: You can be someone who can help sponsor one of those Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: One of the things I just want to share with you

Joedy Melashenko: at the table in the back where Judy will be and I'll be at the door,

Joedy Melashenko: there's magazines and some other gospel

Joedy Melashenko: Reach items.

Joedy Melashenko: But

Joedy Melashenko: just

Joedy Melashenko: for you to think about something here, and I should have mentioned this earlier.

Joedy Melashenko: The Meloshenko family

Joedy Melashenko: singers, over the years, we've produced numerous CDs and DVDs.

Joedy Melashenko: Uh

Joedy Melashenko: people

Joedy Melashenko: don't buy CDs and DVDs anymore.

Joedy Melashenko: My daughter, dad, you still have a CD player?

Joedy Melashenko: Yep.

Joedy Melashenko: I just got rid of my A

Joedy Melashenko: -track

Joedy Melashenko: last week.

Joedy Melashenko: So we have taken

Joedy Melashenko: we've taken all of our music and we've put them onto a thumb drive that looks like this.

Joedy Melashenko: It just pops out.

Joedy Melashenko: There's about six hours of music on there.

Joedy Melashenko: And we give those to the

Joedy Melashenko: for those of you who can make a pledge to help sponsor a Bible work.

Joedy Melashenko: And come up to Judy at the table back there.

Joedy Melashenko: She'll hand one to you and show you how to how it works.

Joedy Melashenko: Some of you might want to

Joedy Melashenko: Check out our websites

Joedy Melashenko: called Go

Joedy Melashenko: Aim, which is

Joedy Melashenko: gospel

Joedy Melashenko: outreach adventures in missions.

Joedy Melashenko: And there we have

Joedy Melashenko: fresh stories every every week about the incredible things God is doing.

Joedy Melashenko: Well

Joedy Melashenko: You have been incredibly gracious with your time this morning.

Joedy Melashenko: I just praise God my voice is held up, at least part way.

Joedy Melashenko: I wasn't sure if I could preach or sing, but it's all in God's hands.

Joedy Melashenko: Would you please bow your heads with me as we close our service today?

Joedy Melashenko: Lord, when we think about

Joedy Melashenko: The promise of your soon coming that this gospel, the

Joedy Melashenko: kingdom, not

Joedy Melashenko: might, but it will go to the whole world.

Joedy Melashenko: We see that happening before our very eyes.

Joedy Melashenko: And Lord, we know that

Joedy Melashenko: you have

Joedy Melashenko: precious children

Joedy Melashenko: that have not heard the name of Jesus, but they are your children.

Joedy Melashenko: And you've come to offer salvation

Joedy Melashenko: to all those who

Joedy Melashenko: call upon the Lord as their Savior.

Joedy Melashenko: Lord, we just are so grateful for the dedication of these Bible workers.

Joedy Melashenko: We're grateful for the dedication of our

Joedy Melashenko: conference and

Joedy Melashenko: union

Joedy Melashenko: and division leaders.

Joedy Melashenko: And we just pray, Lord, that you would continue to help us keep the main thing, the main thing in our focus.

Joedy Melashenko: And that is to share the good news of salvation.

Joedy Melashenko: To our neighbors, our friends, those we work with, the guys we play golf with, whatever it might be, Lord, we want Jesus to be seen in us.

Joedy Melashenko: Thank you for this church family.

Joedy Melashenko: I lift up everyone, all the kids.

Joedy Melashenko: The generations that are here, Lord, they're your children as well.

Joedy Melashenko: We claim the promise

Joedy Melashenko: In Philippians

Joedy Melashenko: said, He who began a good work in you

Joedy Melashenko: will be faithful to complete it.

Joedy Melashenko: We give you permission to complete that work in us today.

Joedy Melashenko: We love you, Lord.

Joedy Melashenko: Please come soon, we pray.

Joedy Melashenko: And everybody said together.

Joedy Melashenko: Amen.

Joedy Melashenko: God bless all of you