David Nelms , The Timothy Initiative April 14, 2024 Cornerstone Church

I can't remember. Second grade, third grade. If you don't want your kids in here, go ahead

and send them out. This morning we have a special guest with us and if you ever met

somebody and you're like, okay, we click. We click. Like I get you. And so yesterday

I got to meet David and have dinner with him. David is the founder of TTI. Now TTI is one

of those, is one of the missionary organizations that we support here at this church. Several

of y'all are supporters of them as well. And it's just so great, good for my heart to visit

with him and I know he will be blessed by David. So I'm going to invite him up here.

David was a pastor for several years, pastor churches in Des Moines, of all places, Des

Moines. Florida, where, there's one more. Maryland, that's right, Maryland. Founded

TTI, which he's going to talk to us about and what God is doing all over the world.

And so please welcome David Nelis. Thank you, Pastor. So good to be back with

you guys. It's been good night several years and a lot of changes since I was here. Last

I have turned 70. Okay. I think I may be the oldest person in this room except for Pastor

Scott. Okay. Scott, are you still in here? Okay. I thought you'd gone outside to smoke

again, but it is so good to see you, my friend. You look great. Okay. You look better than

I remember, which wasn't that good, but still better than I remember. So good to see you.

And since I've been here last, you guys have found a new pastor from Texas. That's not

bad. Very few Iowa churches can claim they have a real life Texan. Okay. And so man,

so it's just, I'm just glad to get, yeah, amen. Let's clap. Should. I'm so excited to

be back. I just love that there's something special about this place. If you're a guest,

you never need to visit another church. You have found your church home right here. Okay.

This place is special. And I've been looking forward to I'm leaving you guys driving over

to Washington and then a tumwa and albia in the next day. Would you pray for me? I'm

hoping I get to see Caitlyn Clark while I'm out here. Does anybody here know Caitlyn?

Oh, my goodness. I'd love to meet that gal. I don't think ladies don't get offended at this.

I don't think I'd ever watched a girls college basketball game until the last year. And I've

watched more now than I think all the NBA and everything else put together from North Carolina,

or I live in North Carolina, I live about 15 minutes from Duke. Duke, by the way, is a four

letter word. All right. But I am a big Hawkeye fan. I mean, every football basketball and now

the ladies basketball too. And so just thrilled to be here. This place is special. And again,

if you're a guest, let me take let me brag on this church a little bit. These guys either directly

from the church or indirectly from members of the church by the end of this year would have given

enough funds to plant 1000 churches ends of the earth. Now that's got to be that's

that's got to be close to a world's record for the Quad Cities. Okay. Think about it. 1000

congregations meeting today, lifting their hands, offering a hallelujah to Almighty God. And I just

if you don't hear anything else I say today, please hear this. I know. I know heaven knows about you

guys. Heaven's got to know about this place. And I want you to know how how grateful I am on behalf

of tens of thousands of people that have been reached for Christ because of you. Thank you.

Thank you for what you've done. It just it's so wonderful. God is doing great things in our

ministry TTI. And when I talk about TTI TTI, I can't do anything without you. You guys are part of

this thing. We in fact, we are simply an extension of this church. From my perspective, I'm under

the umbrella of this place. And we're I'm kind of like an assistant pastor that doesn't get paid

anything. Okay. My job is to make disciple makers ends of the earth. But we can't do that without you.

It's through your giving and your praying that makes it possible. We continue to see great things.

Last year, a new church was started from January 1st to December 31st. And you church was started

every 15 minutes, every 15 minutes. So during this service, there's going to be another four or five

churches started. Okay, just just someone will be under a tree or some of them will be on a rooftop

or out in the jungle somewhere. But a church started every every 15 minutes. And with those,

all those churches, tens of thousands of them, there are hundreds of thousands of stories.

And I want to share just one of them. If you guys want to put up that first slide for me,

you're looking at a guy a before and after picture, his name is man Yica. The on the left there,

this is what he looked like this time last year. He came from a family of witch doctors lived in

Tanzania. He worshiped snakes. He worshiped idols. He worshiped spirits. He was full of demons.

And I don't know what you guys believe about demons, but some of you may not even believe in

believing demons at all. But Jesus sure did believe in them. You can't read the Gospels without

being aware of the fact that they exist. In fact, Jesus was constantly given the devil the devil,

if you know what I mean. He just he was always after those demons and driving them out and

giving them a hard time. Well, this man was full of demons. He lived a brutal and a bloody lifestyle.

And just everybody feared him and nobody would know if they saw him coming, they'd go the other

way if for no other reason, because of his odor. You see, he had not taken a bath for 53 years.

Now just think about that. You talk about armpits spots, 53 years. He was covered in grime,

just filthy. And so just the odor of the stench, no one would talk to him. No one would sit with

him. Nobody would have anything to do with him. But last year, about this time, a TTI

Timothy, a church planter named John, was told about Tanika and began to approach him and began

to talk to him. And he would sit with Tanika and he would he would he would eat with him. He would

share his food with nobody had done that for decades to this man. And his heart began to soften.

And on July 8, 2023, John shared with Manika the the verse that we all know by heart, John 3 16,

for God's soul of the world. And Manika gave his heart to Jesus Christ. Immediately there was a

change not just on the inside but the outside. The left is what he did look like. The right is

what he looks like now. That's the same guy. Okay. And now he walks around every day with a Bible

in one hand and a walking cane in the other hand, going from village to village, telling people

about Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something. That's what God's been using you to accomplish

all over the world. Can we give God a big thank you. You guys are part of this thing. We are so

much better because of you because you're involved. Today, I want to ask you a very important question.

And that question is how can they how can they and the words are taken from

a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Rome. We know it is the book of Romans chapter 10

Romans 10:13–15

verses 13 through 15. And it's a little small on the screen, but hopefully you can see it.

Let me just read through this. Paul is writing to the church at Rome and he says,

most of you probably know this first verse by heart. He said, for everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. The Lord there is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Word

Lord means master. Paul Paul, as you said, if you can believe in your heart that he died on the cross

and rose from the grave, if you just call on him, you will be saved. I was talking to a young man

at the hotel this morning. I told him it has nothing to do with the church you go to has nothing to

do with the kind of life you live. We're all lost. We all need a savior. Jesus claimed to be that

savior. And he proved it by not only dying on the cross for our sins and being buried, but he

rose again. Now I've pastored for decades. I can tell you people that I bury, they stay in the

grave. You know what I mean? They don't they don't stand up and get out of the casket. But Jesus

was different. He rose again from the grave. That resurrection verified it just it affirmed what he

claimed that he really was a son of God. And then Paul said, if you can believe that call on his name.

Don't try to earn your way to heaven. Don't try to work your way there. You can't do it. You'll

never be good enough. Heaven's perfect. You're not. You got to have a savior. Jesus is that savior.

Do you believe it? Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, the savior of the world? Then call on his

name. The idea is by faith. Just take him at his word. Call on his name. And it says not you might

be saved or he didn't say, well, maybe he'll save you. Maybe you want, but you will be saved. The

word saved means delivered, delivered from a place called hell, delivered from your sins.

And that's the gospel. But then Paul asked how then will they call on him in whom they have not

believed? How can you sincerely call on someone to save you if you don't even believe in that person?

It'd be kind of hard to do. And then he asked second question and how are they to believe in

him in whom they have never heard? How do you put your faith in somebody you've never even heard of?

And how third time are they to hear without someone preaching? And how fourth time are they to preach

unless they are sent? And then Paul sums it up by saying it is as it is written in quotes from the

Old Testament, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. Beautiful feet. When you

think of beauty is the first word that comes thought that comes to your mind, somebody's feet?

Not me. Now, when I think of feet, they're usually mangled and their toes on top of each other and

the toenails are, you know, there's like moldy looking stuff and wrinkled and I don't think a

feet is being beautiful. But you know what? When you were busy telling people about Jesus,

all of heaven says about you, man, that guy, she's got beautiful feet. That guy, he's got

beautiful feet. Daniel, Scott, seriously, I joke with you guys, but I think you got beautiful feet.

I think you do. Okay. And so Paul said, Paul asked a question here. He says, first he says, do you

want to be saved? Jesus will save you. Put your faith in him, call on him, ask him to save you. He

will do it. But then I think Paul stopped and he got to thinking about the world. And he said, but

how can they do that? How can you call on someone to save you you've not believed in? How can you

believe in someone you've never even heard of? And how can you hear unless somebody tells you and

how can they go and tell you unless somebody helps them to get there? Somebody sends them.

I pray these how questions will begin to burn into your in your heart just to drop from your head

to your heart in the next few minutes here. Let me back up for a moment. We work primarily

among what's called unreached people groups. And unreached people group is an ethnicity. We've

planted churches and over 1500, I think it's now 1500 nine different unreached ethnicities. These

would be people that once 2% of the population of that ethnicity becomes a follower of Christ,

they're taken off the UPG list, the unreached people group list, they're now considered reached.

So if you're 2% saved, you're considered reached, believe it or not. So we work with groups that

are like one half of 1% or one tenth of 1% or one and a half percent would be followers of Jesus

Christ. Many of them have never seen a Bible. In fact, I would say most of them have never seen a

Bible. Many of them most of them have never attended a church. You drove by five or six

churches on your way to church this morning, but they've never driven by a church. They've never

walked by a church. There is no church body there. They've never met a Christ follower.

You, you may feel like you're a distinct minority in the Quad Cities here as a born again follower

of Jesus Christ, but at least there are other believers. But in an unreached people group,

you can be born, you can live your life, you can die, and you will never ever meet personally

someone who believes Jesus is the virgin born, sinless, died, buried, and rose again, Son of

Almighty God. Most of them have never heard a clear gospel message. Some of them, many of them,

millions of them have never even heard His name. Paul asks, how can they call on somebody

they've never even heard of? How do you fall on your knees and cry out to a God you've never heard

of? How do you cry out to Jesus? How do you call on the name of Jesus to save you if you have never

even heard of the name Jesus? And yet when they do finally hear, when someone finally sends them,

when somebody sends them, somebody goes and proclaims the gospel, oh my goodness, I never

cease to be amazed how many of them respond. It is a sight to behold. Take a look at this next

picture if you would, if you want to put it up for me. Whoops, skip back one, did we, right there.

Nope, that's not it, go back another one, and another one, and one more. That's the one I want

right there. All right, this is a beautiful picture. It's hard to see it, but there's a guy on the far

right with a little hat on, sitting on the couch. He's 91 years old. This picture was taken, by the

way, about a month ago. He's a retired captain in the army in the country he lives in. He's actually

what's called a Gurkha warrior, and that doesn't mean anything to us, but think Navy Seal. Okay,

he'd be the equivalent of their Navy Seals. 89 years old, today he's 91, but when he was 89,

two years ago, a Timothy told him about Jesus, lives up in the Himalayas out in the middle of

nowhere, told him about Jesus, he called on Jesus to save him, and two years that retired captain

has led 24 Hindus and Buddhists to Jesus Christ, 24. Now I'm 70 years old, I haven't led 24 Hindus

and Buddhists to Christ in my entire life, okay? 17 of them have already been baptized and have become

the captain of King Matimothi, and those 17 have become that Timothy's Timothy. We call Timothy's

Timothy Titus, just the next generation. That's his Titus is in that room right there. He has led 24

people to Christ in two years, and he's training 17 of them to be disciple makers, and they've actually

started a little church there in his house. That's what happens when somebody finally goes

into an area where they haven't heard about Jesus, and they start telling people about Jesus, these

are the kind of things that begin to happen, and I could share so many stories with you. In fact,

those next three pictures I just skipped, I'm going to skip them because I don't have time to get into

it, but take a look at this map. Put the map back up if you would. See that map, that red area, that's

where we work. The red area is where your unreached people groups of the world live, your Muslims,

your Hindus, your Buddhists, your animus type people, that's where they live. It comes out to 41%

of the world's population, over 3 billion people. They're not rejecting Christ. They don't know who

He is, and the reason they don't know who He is is because nobody's ever told them. So how can they

call on His name? How can they put their faith in Christ? How can they become a follower of Jesus

Christ? How can they, if nobody has ever even told them? There's an estimated 5 million churches,

bodies of believers, not buildings, but bodies of believers in the world today. The guesstimate is

we need another 5 million churches started strategically placed in the right places in order to have a

body of believers within walking distance of every man, woman, boy, and girl on the face of the earth.

The problem is the 5 million churches that are still needed are in the harder to reach areas.

The lower hanging fruit has all been taken. What's left are areas of the world where it's extremely

difficult, where persecution is really rough, and where it costs you pretty much everything

to preach the gospel, the harder to reach areas. But again, for these billions of people,

how can they, Paul said it's not rocket science. Jesus is the Son of God. He proved it when He

came out of the grave. He's willing to forgive your sins. Call on Him. Ask Him. Put your faith

in Him. He will forgive you. He will cleanse you. He will save you. That all you got to do is call

on His name. But then Paul asked, but how can they? How can they? They don't even know who He is.

Somebody has to tell them. Well, the answer is obvious, isn't it? Someone does have to tell

them. How can they call? They can't unless somebody tells them. And that leads me to the verse I want

to close out with. Acts 1 verse 8. If you're not familiar with this verse, you need to be. This

Acts 1:8

is the very last thing Jesus said before He went back to heaven. His very last words. I mean,

the last thing He had to say was right here. And here's what He said. He said,

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. I noticed something,

Daniel, a couple of months ago, I'd never seen in that verse. I memorized this verse decades ago,

preached on it a million times. But I never noticed. So just recently, Jesus said the word to you

three times. Let me ask you another question. Have y'all received the Holy Spirit? Does the Holy

Spirit live inside of you? Come on, talk to me. It's not a trick question. Have you received Jesus

as your Savior? You either have it or you haven't. When you asked Jesus to save you, the Holy Spirit

came to live in. You've received the Holy Spirit. You know, according to this verse, I know the Holy

Spirit is given to us for many reasons, not just this, but Jesus connected the dots here. He's,

literally as He's ascending into the heavens, He says, hey, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. I'm

going up. He's coming down. He's going to come to live inside of you. And when He does, He's going to

give you, He's going to give you, He's going to give you the power you need to be my witnesses here,

near and far. He didn't say, He didn't say it's going to be the mission board's responsibility.

He didn't say it's going to be TTI. He didn't say it's going to be the denomination. When Jesus said

these words, there was no missions agency. There was no denomination. In fact, there was no church.

This is Acts 1. The church wasn't even birthed until the next chapter, Acts chapter 2. He wasn't

Acts 2 · chapter mention

talking to ordained pastors like me. There wasn't an ordained pastor on the face of the earth when

Jesus said these words. He was talking to His followers. That's you. And He said to His followers,

you, you, you will be my witnesses. He didn't say you can be my witnesses. He didn't say you could

be. He didn't say you should be. He didn't say you ought to be. He said you will be. There's not a

lot of wiggle room there. Question. Shouldn't someone tell these three billion people? Shouldn't

someone tell them that there's a Savior who can forgive their sins and give them a home in heaven?

Shouldn't they be told? Well, who's going to tell them? Jesus looked at His followers and said,

you. And that's what I'm here to tell you today. It is your responsibility to proclaim the gospel here,

Jerusalem's Judea, near Samaria, close by a different culture, far to the ends of the earth.

But it's more than a command and it's more than a responsibility. It was a great day in my life

when I came to see telling others about Jesus is more than a responsibility. It is an honor.

Nobody twisted my arm this morning to make me talk to that guy at the counter. I got up this morning,

my first prayer was God, give me somebody I can talk to about you. Somebody I can talk to about you.

You see, as I told Ashton this morning, nobody's ever died for me in my life, except one person.

You got to really die. You got to really love somebody to die for them. I've had one person die for me.

And he died for me before I was even born. And if I'd been him, I wouldn't have died for me. I may have died for a couple of you, maybe.

But I would not have died for me, but he did. Have you ever studied the cross?

Did you know before Jesus ever got to the cross, do you know what they did? They strung them up.

They used that cat of nine tails. You're familiar with it, aren't you? Nine pieces of leather embedded with rocks and glass and lead.

And he strung up there and they took that whip and they lashed them. And the leather would wrap around his back and around the front.

And the soldier would jerk it back. And as the lashes went around his front side, the glass and stone would embed into the flesh.

And then it would just rip it. Have you read about what happened when victims were scourged?

I saw an artist's conception the other day of what it would have looked like. Sometimes the entire backbone was exposed.

Sometimes all the ribs were exposed. Sometimes the insides of victims would literally fall out. There was nothing left to hold them in.

That's what they did to Jesus. He spent all night nothing to eat, nothing to drink. They spit in his face.

They slapped him. The thorns. They plucked out his beard. Then they lashed him with a cat.

No wonder as he walked to the cross, he stumbled and fell. Can you imagine the bloodshed? Can you imagine how weak he was?

This is before he ever got to the cross.

I got to thinking about as he hung on the cross. You know what he did on that cross? He took care of his mother.

He prayed for his enemies. He talked to his father. And he bore my sins. And then he died. He did it all for me.

He dropped a blood with shed for even me. My Savior cried about his head and died.

He did it all for me. Praise God.

Nobody's got to twist my arm. I have fallen in love with him.

And I'm going to spend to my dying breath. I counted in honor to spread the good news to tell people.

You say, how do we do it? Through our giving?

You guys have funded a thousand churches almost. Through our living, the way we live our lives.

Through our going, witnessing. And through our praying. Each of us. No exceptions.

I want to close with a video that explains why what you guys are doing in this partnership is so important.

I want you to watch this video and then I'm going to close it with just a statement when it's over.

Could you play it please?

What if your life's desires were incredibly basic?

Not hoping for success at work or to create a happy family?

What if your biggest desire was just to feed yourself?

Each morning as the sun rises to scorch the already cracked ground in Northern Kenya,

Icarot wakes up with one thing on her mind. Find enough food to survive the day.

Icarot is living in the middle of the worst Kenyan drought of the last decade.

Our people reared livestock, but now the sun bleached skeletons of their cattle

are the only memory of their livelihood.

Icarot and four of her friends had not eaten for a week,

and word had spread about a church that was helping people with food.

Icarot and her friends set out on the half-days journey to find this church.

Joseph, a TTI trainer, welcomed them when they arrived.

He had seen these same-parched lips on countless others in his church.

As part of his TTI training, Joseph learned to love people and meet their basic needs.

Joseph brought the little food he had left to Icarot and her four friends,

and with bodies nourished, Joseph knew it was time to share the gospel.

Can I show you something? He asked.

Joseph went and fetched a small gadget with the entire Bible recorded on it in Turkana,

the woman's heart language.

Another tool Joseph had been equipped to use.

We pressed play. The woman stunned by what they were hearing.

They had never heard Jesus speaking their language before.

Maybe this Jesus understood them, their lives, their struggles.

With each passing sentence, Joseph used his TTI training to clarify the gospel for them.

When the conversation was over, all five women surrendered their lives to Christ

before beginning the half-day walk home.

Three days later, Joseph received the news.

Icarot has passed away.

She died from a hunger-related illness.

The three-year drought in Kenya had claimed another life,

but the Kingdom of Darkness did not claim another soul.

Icarot had been welcomed into heaven, where she was now eating every meal at the King's table.

For Icarot, the gospel had come just in time through a TTI disciple maker.

The gospel is good news whether it gets there in time or not,

but as far as your soul is concerned, it's only good news if you get to hear it.

I think God, Icarot, was reached last year. She died last year.

But every second, 1.8 people perish. They die lost.

60% of them are from unreached people groups,

where most likely they never even heard His name.

I can't prove what I'm getting ready to tell you,

but I've got my mind when Paul wrote Romans 10, I've got my mind he had to brush the tears away.

I think what he was thinking was, Jesus died so we can be saved.

Call on Him. Put your trust in Him.

But then Paul's missionary heart began to burst.

How can they? How can they?

I'm asking you that question this morning. How can they?

And the only answer is, you have got to tell them.

So what's the response to this? Do we just go to a class now and then go out?

I don't know, the hungry hobo, get something to eat.

What's the, how do we respond?

I'm going to give you a couple of responses. Number one, we desperately need you guys to pray for us.

I'm on your team and I'm telling you, I need your prayers.

I'm going to be sitting over in my chair just a moment when we close. I've got some cards.

If you'd be willing to join our prayer team, come see me.

I'll give you the card, you fill it out, you leave it. We'll send you an email once a month.

We just ask that you pray when you can. Don't ever post anything I send you on social media.

Just pray over at the email and then delete it.

Christmas morning, this past Christmas, four months ago, Christmas morning in North Nigeria,

a group of Falani Islamists went out and for sport slaughtered 140 Christians.

I've seen the video. It's the most awful thing I've ever seen in my life.

Just dead bodies scattered from here to your main road out there.

Little babies lying on top of their dead mothers.

We have three training centers in that area.

One of our training centers, everybody in it, their houses were destroyed.

Everyone of them had their houses burnt down on Christmas Day.

We need prayer. I'm asking you please to pray.

Number two, if you're not already funding, supporting your church with your ties and offerings,

my goodness, do so. This is a church that's getting the gospel out to the whole world.

Do so. Get behind what your church is doing here and support it.

This week, number three, tell somebody your story. Tell someone about Jesus.

It's been a while since I've been in the Quad Cities, but unless this place has had a tremendous revival since the last time I was here,

there's a lot of people around here that need Jesus.

And finally, number four, if you've never called on Him yourself in faith, call on Him today

and ask Jesus to be your Savior. And all God's people said,

Father, thank you for this time together. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.

Thank you for this great church. Lord, help us to leave here today with that question in our minds.

How can they, and Lord, help us to leave understanding that the answer is they can't unless somebody tells them

and that we are that somebody. They're our giving, our praying, our going.

Lord, I pray there'll be people in heaven one day as a result of what we've just shared.

And ask us in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you.