Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000076S
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00:00 (gentle music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now. 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and today 00:25 I have our Jesus for Asia director from India, 00:28 Israel Prasad with me and our show today 00:31 is about Bible workers. 00:33 Welcome to the show Israel. 00:34 - Yes Akka. 00:35 - So glad to have you here. 00:37 Yes, thank you. 00:38 - Now now Israel, you called me something. 00:41 - Yes, I call you Akka. 00:43 - Why do you call me Akka? 00:44 - In my mother tongue Akka means elder sister. 00:47 - Okay. 00:49 All right, and I usually call you Thambi. 00:52 - Yes. 00:53 - So I'm trying to remember to call you Israel 00:55 but I usually call you Thambi because that means 00:58 in your mother tongue it means younger brother. 01:01 - Yes. 01:02 - So when you first started working with Jesus for Asia, 01:04 you were a Bible worker which means this subject 01:07 for this topic today, our topic today, 01:10 is very dear to your heart. 01:12 - Yes. 01:13 - So when you became a Jesus for Asia Bible worker, 01:15 how did that happen? 01:17 What were you doing before 01:19 And how did you become a Jesus for Asia Bible worker? 01:22 - Yes. I was working in a call center. 01:25 I went to a Seventh Day Adventist High School 01:30 and then went to Spicer College and so all my life 01:34 I was in the Seventh Day Adventist background. 01:37 And most importantly, my mother wanted all three children; 01:42 I have a brother and a sister, 01:44 we three studied in Seventh Day Adventist school 01:48 and then the college. 01:49 After coming from the college, I joined in a call center. 01:55 I was working in a call center 01:56 because I wanted to support the church 01:58 but I don't want to work in the church. 02:01 So that was when these call centers 02:05 were offering very good job with high salary. 02:08 And by the grace of God I got an opportunity, 02:11 I got a job opportunity to work in the call center. 02:15 And this is when I started working. 02:18 I was working and I was not feeling comfortable 02:22 because I have to work on every Friday evenings. 02:25 So which is the end of the week and it is very important. 02:30 If we don't achieve our target we have to do it on Fridays. 02:36 So I went and approached my team leader 02:38 because every day when we call someone 02:41 they used to barge our call to see how the conversation was, 02:46 if there is any mistake or something like that. 02:48 And he told me you're doing a wonderful job the other days 02:52 and you're not performing well on Fridays. 02:55 Why? 02:56 So it opened and all like God gave me an opportunity 03:00 to share the Sabbath truth with them 03:03 and I told them, this is why I told you 03:05 I need to go to church on Fridays 03:09 because that is my Sabbath day where I had the whole day 03:14 is meant for the Lord. 03:16 We go to church, we sing songs and then he said, Oh, really? 03:21 And then I asked him, can you give me an off on that day 03:24 so that I can even come and work on Saturday evenings? 03:28 He said, no, we can't do it because, Fridays 03:32 are very important, we have to finish the target. 03:35 And then he said, "maybe you can talk to the manager, 03:39 you know, the management." 03:40 I went and talked with them and they said, 03:42 no, we cannot help you. 03:44 And after a long prayer, my mom was keeping on telling me, 03:48 you know, don't go to this job. 03:51 Sabbath is very important. 03:53 So I quit the job and joined as a Bible worker 03:57 in Jesus for Asia ministry. 04:00 That's an amazing testimony. 04:01 I love that. 04:04 So you started as a Jesus for Asia Bible worker 04:07 and now you're our director 04:09 and that was another miracle that God did 04:12 to show us that need for you to be involved. 04:16 Now, what about other people? 04:19 What about some stories of other people 04:21 that have become Jesus for Asia Bible workers, 04:23 how did they become Jesus for Asia Bible workers? 04:25 How does that happen? 04:26 - Yeah, you know, in the year 2007, 04:30 we did a six village program down south. 04:34 In Tamil Nadu, a group of people came with elder John Wood 04:38 and we had these six programs and six villages. 04:42 These churches were like dead churches, it was blocked, 04:47 it was not functioning and God inspired us 04:50 to start something for these villages 04:53 because they have a church, but it is locked, 04:56 it's not functioning. 04:57 So this six village program was a great blessing 05:00 for those six churches to get back 05:04 to their normal functioning. 05:06 And by the grace of God, we also did 05:08 main revival meeting in the town 05:13 and that is where elder John Wood preached. 05:16 And this was nearly about a 10 days program 05:19 and every day we went not only giving them 05:22 the biblical studies but also teaching them 05:26 about cleanliness and giving them good health tips 05:30 and studies which was very great help for these villages. 05:34 And at the end of the 10th day we had wonderful baptism. 05:41 People were coming up, they said, 05:42 we wanted to take Jesus as our personal Savior. 05:46 They accepted Jesus, and we had nearly about 60 to 70 people 05:50 stood forward and they said we want to be baptized. 05:54 And these people who were baptized 05:57 later after two, three months, 05:59 they can move be just like hiding the light within them. 06:04 They wanted to be a shining light 06:06 to the people in the darkness of sin. 06:08 They came forward, they said, We want to be Bible workers. 06:12 The way we got this message, 06:16 we want to go to all the houses, to all the doors 06:20 and tell those people that there is a Lord Jesus Christ. 06:24 He is our Savior and there is a gift for eternal life. 06:30 So we want to share this truth what we studied. 06:33 They gave up their jobs, they joined as Bible workers. 06:38 So amazing, just believing that God will take care of them. 06:42 It was like I felt like it was like a discipleship 06:46 when God selected Jesus Christ selected those 12 06:50 to do his work. 06:52 These people after God chose them, they couldn't be quiet. 06:57 They wanted to share. 06:59 That is how we started this Bible worker. 07:02 - Wow. 07:03 And how others have come. 07:04 Now Israel after that effort there and the baptisms there, 07:10 we focused on the baptisms. 07:11 How does our program work there? 07:13 - Oh, we were not focused on baptism at all. 07:16 Even today, we don't tell our workers, 07:18 Bible workers to focus on the numbers. 07:21 Numbers are not important. 07:23 You teach them the truth and give them an opportunity 07:27 to choose whether you need Jesus or the world 07:32 which is going to perish. 07:34 It is their choice, they wanted to choose Jesus. 07:39 They themself come, they ask us, they tell us, 07:42 please give us baptism. 07:43 Baptize us, we want to be a part of the church. 07:46 We want to be the part of this program 07:49 so that we can share the love of Jesus. 07:52 - Okay, so the Bible workers. 07:54 What is their life look like 07:55 after they become a Bible worker, 07:57 what's their lifestyle? 07:59 - As I told you, these people when they accept Jesus 08:03 as their personal Savior, 08:05 they don't look the worldly things. 08:08 You know, will I be fed? 08:11 Will my children be fed? 08:13 Can I take care of their studies, no tuition fees? 08:17 What is going to happen tomorrow? 08:19 It is 100% belief, the faith they have in Jesus, 08:25 their determination, the desire they have in their heart, 08:28 I want to share the Word of God. 08:30 What may happen, I'm going to do for Jesus 08:34 because he has given me this great privilege. 08:37 I need to do for my brothers, 08:39 who are still without knowing Jesus. 08:41 It is a great, great commitment what they do. 08:46 Thank the Lord for that. 08:48 - Yes, yes. 08:50 Well, I know we have some pictures 08:52 that shows a little bit of what their life 08:54 is like day by day. 08:55 - Yes. - Right. Okay. 08:56 So you wanna walk us through some of these pictures? 08:59 - Yes, yes. 09:00 - Well, let's put up the first one. 09:01 Now what is this? 09:03 - This picture is a wonderful picture 09:07 because this couple, brother Thomas 09:11 and his wife sister Jennifer, 09:13 they were baptized in the 2007 revival meeting. 09:18 - Right. 09:18 The one in the in the main town? 09:20 - Yes, in the main town. 09:21 - Yeah, that's an amazing story. 09:23 I think we've shared it before 09:24 but you wanna briefly share that story. 09:27 - It's amazing. 09:28 Sister Jennifer is a housewife and brother Thomas, 09:31 he comes from a very strong Indian family. 09:35 He was a kind of a leader, team leader, 09:37 for nearly 15 people. 09:39 He gathers 15 people and take them to pilgrimage 09:43 to the temples. 09:44 You know, he was like a leader and his name 09:47 is Sindelle Wale and now God has changed the name 09:51 into Thomas and he is really a Thomas now 09:54 because after he got this message through his wife, 09:58 because he was not a attending these meeting 10:00 in the beginning, but his wife, it's a miraculous 10:04 how she came to know about these meetings 10:06 because she was at home taking care of her children. 10:09 She has two daughters. 10:11 And here comes the announcement they were making 10:14 on this three wheeler bike saying that there is a-- 10:17 - But the speaker, loud speaker? 10:19 - Yeah. 10:20 With the loud speaker saying that the every evening 10:22 there is going to be a meeting, you know, 10:24 this time and the place and everything. 10:27 By the time she came out this vehicle just passed by. 10:31 And she was worried, what is this all about? 10:35 You know, I want to go for a meeting. 10:37 It says that if you want eternal life, 10:39 please come to this meeting. 10:41 If you want a change in your life come to these meeting. 10:44 If you want a peace in your life come to these meetings. 10:48 And she was impressed. 10:50 And she was just thinking that if that vehicle 10:53 will come back again and let me know 10:55 what is really all these things are about 10:58 and the envelopes if they give it to me, 11:00 I will definitely go. 11:02 As she was just thinking about that, 11:04 this vehicle was coming back towards her. 11:07 And they came and they handed over the envelop to her. 11:10 She was surprised. 11:12 And she said, Oh, yes, this is the place I have to go. 11:16 Because I was thinking in myself and it is happening. 11:20 So it's going to be real blessing. 11:22 She started going to these meeting. 11:25 In the beginning she didn't even tell her husband 11:27 about these meeting because he was already working 11:29 in a company he would come only in the evenings. 11:34 And she just determined herself to go every evening 11:38 to those meetings and she would take down 11:40 all those messages. 11:42 All those messages and she would come home 11:48 and share with her husband. 11:49 He was really, you know, very angry. 11:52 He said you can't do this, don't go. 11:55 Why are you going there? 11:57 She said, no I'm going. 11:59 And he said, why are you acting like this? 12:03 Then she explained to him what happened. 12:06 She was waiting there, the vehicle came 12:09 and also the messages, what she was hearing there, 12:13 she has never heard in her life at all. 12:17 That really touched brother Thomas' heart. 12:21 And he said, Okay, you go. 12:23 And she said, not only me, you have to come with me. 12:28 We need to go to these meeting meetings as a family. 12:32 So they together started attending the meeting. 12:35 He's even you know, didn't go to work. 12:39 - Wow, he had to take time off. 12:41 - Yes, time off. 12:43 It was like his, you know, his money, his salary, 12:46 will be deducted but still, he was not worried. 12:49 He came every day to these meetings. 12:53 And at the end, they accepted Jesus 12:56 as their personal Savior. 12:59 And they took baptism and he said, I'm giving up my job. 13:05 After within, you know, one of months, 13:07 he said, I don't want to go for my job. 13:10 I want to do God's work. 13:12 And then they became the Bible workers 13:16 without even knowing how they're going 13:19 to take care of their life. 13:21 How their future is going to be. 13:23 They had the complete faith that God will take care of them. 13:27 - Wow. 13:28 So we have a few more pictures 13:29 I think of Bible workers praying. 13:31 There's brother Thomas praying with someone 13:34 and then another one. 13:35 - Yes. 13:36 - So that looks like a couple of Bible workers. 13:39 - Yes. 13:40 And here is brother Thomas, and brother Padna Raj 13:45 with his wife Priscilla. 13:47 They are praying for a lady, Hindu lady together. 13:51 And brother Padma Raj is a very interesting person. 13:56 He's a retired military man 13:59 and he was running a Sunday worshipping church 14:02 for the past 30 years. 14:05 And he has nearly about 50 to 60 members 14:09 attending his church. 14:10 Our Bible workers they went and gave him this Bible study 14:15 and this truth from this Bible, 14:17 which he has not ever heard about. 14:20 Which he has never spoke those truth to his church members. 14:25 - So he was a pastor but he didn't see any of this 14:28 in the scriptures? - Any of this, yes. 14:30 Not heard or seen, it was very, very new to him. 14:36 He was surprised. 14:38 Oh, these people are quoting everything from the scriptures? 14:42 Wow, amazing. 14:44 I've never ever heard about this before. 14:47 And he's a very strong person. 14:49 He is very straightforward. 14:50 You know, and if something is wrong, 14:53 he will not accept it. 14:55 So he's like that. 14:57 But he cannot say anything about against these people 15:01 because they were quoting everything from the Bible, 15:03 from the Scripture which he has not even read. 15:08 And he was surprised and he was touched by the Holy Spirit. 15:14 By the grace of God, he accepted Jesus Christ. 15:18 Our Seventh Day Adventist Sabbath is the true Sabbath day. 15:23 And he told our Bible workers, I'm going to take baptism, 15:27 but I'm not going to allow my members to take baptism now. 15:32 What I can do is, I will open my church, 15:36 the way you gave me the Bible studies, 15:38 you can come every Sunday and give the same Bible study 15:42 to my 60-70 members in the church. 15:45 If they accept like how I have accepted, 15:48 you can give them baptism. 15:50 By the grace of God, our Bible workers, 15:53 not just particularly brother Thomas, 15:56 it was it was like, you know, several of them, 15:59 they had a kind of timetable, 16:01 I will speak on this today, you speak on this next week. 16:05 So continually they were giving every Sunday 16:09 the biblical food for those members, spiritual food 16:15 and those members were really surprised. 16:18 And here is this pastor also supporting 16:21 what the preachers are preaching on Sunday. 16:25 Amen, yes, Hallelujah. 16:28 And, you know, the members were really touched 16:31 and by the grace of God, now that Maranatha Church 16:35 is a Seventh Day Adventist Church. 16:37 All the members took baptism. 16:40 - Wow, all of them? 16:41 - All of them. 16:42 - Wow, praise the Lord. 16:43 - Yeah. 16:44 They don't have any more Sunday worshiping 16:46 they have their worshiping on the Sabbath day. 16:49 The true Sabbath day. 16:51 - Wow. 16:52 Well, that's so beautiful. - Yes, yes. 16:54 - I know we've got a few more pictures here 16:56 of them just praying and studying with people, right? 16:59 - Yes, yes, yes. 17:01 And this is brother Paul, one of our Bible workers. 17:06 He gave up a very good job 17:09 and he became a Bible worker when he was in Valparai 17:13 which is a hill station. 17:15 He gave up a very good job. 17:17 He was a constructor. 17:18 He gave up that job because he got this message 17:22 and he wanted to share his this message 17:25 with the people in that area. 17:27 For the past 10 years he has been a Bible worker 17:30 bringing many souls to the kingdom of God. 17:34 - Wow, praise the Lord. 17:36 - And he's taking care of two churches now (mumbles). 17:40 - Okay. 17:42 So how many Bible workers do we have in India? 17:45 - Right now we have 320 Bible workers in India. 17:49 So God is really blessing and there are doors opening. 17:53 More doors are opening. 17:55 - Right. 17:56 Seems like we're always getting requests. 17:59 - Yes. 18:00 - And I know that you hear them sooner than we do 18:01 because they call you up and they say, please can we please? 18:05 - Yes, I thank the Lord. 18:07 Now, they're even in North India. 18:11 Previously in the north, you know, the the work was like, 18:15 not, you know, going forward, moving forward. 18:20 But now, the leaders are opening the doors. 18:24 They are asking for Bible workers. 18:27 They say we want to do something because we can see 18:31 how devil is really, you know, wants to press this work 18:36 and press Christianity. 18:38 You know, I'm to this. 18:41 There are so many people, so many leaders, 18:44 calling us and telling us please give us Bible workers. 18:48 We want to do something for the Lord. 18:51 We have so many people without knowing Jesus 18:54 and we don't have that many workers here. 18:58 So please give us. 19:00 - Wow. 19:01 Well, I know we can talk a lot further 19:03 about miracle stories and things like that 19:05 but first let's share because we're almost to the end 19:08 of our time amazingly enough it has passed by. 19:11 But can you please share with us some of the future vision? 19:15 I know we've got workers also in Nepal at the present time 19:19 but we also have requests from other countries. 19:21 - Yes, yes. 19:22 Like Sri Lanka, there is a request 19:25 saying that we need Bible workers. 19:28 We are in need of Bible workers 19:30 because we have very less workers. 19:33 We need to do something for the Lord. 19:35 And in Bangladesh, there is a request from Bangladesh. 19:39 I thank the Lord, Praise the Lord 19:41 for these countries opening up, you know, 19:44 so that we can utilize this time 19:47 spread the work of the Lord. 19:49 - Yeah. 19:50 Well, okay, so we have over 300 now. 19:53 - Yes. 19:54 - Now what's your prayer Israel? 19:55 What are you praying for? 19:56 - My future prayer and my vision is that give us 20:00 thousand Bible workers at the end of 2020. 20:04 - So in one year? 20:05 - One year yes. 20:06 - 1000? 20:07 - Yes, 1000. - So another 700? 20:09 - 700 yes. 20:10 - Or another thousand? - Another, yeah. 20:13 Yes. - Okay. 20:14 Well, that is an amazing, amazing prayer. 20:17 - Right, because I see that India is a vast country. 20:22 Right now we have 1.3 billion people population 20:26 and the Christian, statistically when we see, 20:31 the population of Christianity is just 4% 20:35 or something like that. 20:36 - Right. 20:37 Well, one of the statistics we've heard 20:38 is that there's over 400,000 towns and villages 20:41 with no Christian presence. - Exactly, yes. 20:44 - Not even Adventist, no Christian presence of any kind. 20:47 - Exactly, yes. 20:48 - So there's a lot of work to be done. 20:50 - A lot of work to be done. 20:52 I praise the Lord for the doors which is opening. 20:55 I pray that God will give us the strength 20:58 to utilize these time so that his name will be glorified. 21:02 - Right, wow. 21:03 Can you tell us one of the stories from, I mean, 21:06 we've already heard stories of lives change. 21:08 Those are miracles, but also do you have 21:11 another miracle story that you would like to share? 21:13 - Yes, yes. 21:14 Recently we baptized a man called Jay Paul. 21:19 He has a very good education. 21:22 He was working in a college as a professor and in Monterrey 21:28 and he came to Chennai because he married 21:30 a girl in Chennai. 21:32 And this man, he was sitting 21:35 in the railway station in Chennai. 21:39 Everyday he would come, sit in one spot 21:42 and cry and just very depressed. 21:47 Because we have Bible workers 21:48 from various places in Chennai, 21:51 so they come to a spot, a main spot, 21:53 where they will gather together 21:55 before they would disperse to their areas, 21:58 they would pray and surrendered their work to the Lord 22:02 so that God will open the way and bless them 22:05 with the Holy Spirit. 22:06 They does every day where before going, they pray together. 22:10 And they were looking at this person 22:13 sitting in that station, railway station, 22:17 every day morning and crying, depressed, 22:21 and they thought that something is happening, 22:24 some bad thing is happening. 22:26 So our Bible workers, they went and approached him. 22:29 They asked brother, can we pray for you? 22:33 And he said, no, I don't want prayer. 22:36 And they said, why you look very sad. 22:40 We see you every day you come here, 22:42 you sit in the same place. 22:44 And he said, every day when I come from my home, 22:50 I come with an idea to kill myself. 22:54 To jump in front of the train, 22:56 so that is why I come every day 22:59 but something used to just stop me but I want to die. 23:04 That is my aim and I want to do that. 23:07 They asked why? 23:09 Why do you did you take this kind of decision? 23:12 He said, my family life is not good. 23:16 I have a very good education but my work is not good. 23:20 I'm not satisfied. 23:22 Everything is gone, I don't want to live in this world 23:25 so I want to suicide, die. 23:29 And the Bible workers, they said, "Can we pray for you?" 23:33 He said, "I don't believe but you can pray for me." 23:36 They all knelt. 23:39 He was sitting in the middle, 23:41 they all knelt, started praying. 23:44 They were praying very tearfully crying out to the Lord 23:48 for this wonderful brother. 23:51 And this man is sitting in the middle, 23:54 they prayed and after the prayer, 23:57 they caught up and they said God is going to bless you, 24:01 don't be worried. 24:02 He was crying, they saw him cry. 24:05 And they asked, why did you cry? 24:07 He said, I have never been loved like this before. 24:12 You don't know me and I don't know who you are 24:16 but you were crying for me and praying to your God? 24:20 I have never experienced this before. 24:23 And he said, please come every day. 24:26 I'm going to come to the same place, give me Bible studies. 24:30 So they were giving him Bible studies. 24:33 At the end, he accepted Jesus Christ 24:35 and they brought him to us, you know, 24:39 and they said, he is now ready for baptism. 24:45 So we arranged and he took baptism 24:48 and after the month, even without paying, getting a salary, 24:54 he went with our Bible workers to the field 24:58 to share what God has done to him. 25:02 And later, now he is now one of our Bible workers. 25:08 And God has blessed his family. 25:10 - Awesome. 25:12 - Blessed him. 25:13 He told his wife, I'm not going to work anymore 25:16 as a professor, I don't want those jobs. 25:18 I want to be a Bible worker, preaching about Jesus. 25:24 - Was that hard for her? 25:25 - That was hard for her. 25:26 She said, Oh, what are we going to do? 25:28 We have two children. 25:31 No, I'm not worried God is going to take care of us. 25:35 Amazing person. 25:37 And now he's bringing people into the church. 25:43 He's giving Bible studies. 25:45 Since he's educated person now we have given him 25:48 a place called (mumbles). 25:51 Most of them they, well not most them, 25:54 few of them speak English. 25:55 So we are also planning to start English church 25:57 in that area and he's one of our main Bible workers 26:01 now working for those people in that area. 26:04 - Wow. 26:05 Wow, that's awesome. 26:07 - Wonderful. 26:08 God is mightily leading Bible workers. 26:13 - Well, one more question I wanna ask and that is, 26:16 how does the Bible workers work with the church, 26:18 with the conferences, with the church structure in India? 26:22 How does that work? 26:23 - Yeah, I thank the Lord. 26:24 Jesus for Asia Ministries work very close with the church. 26:29 Our funds, our everything, we do it through the church 26:33 coordinators are the presidents of those units. 26:37 - Right. 26:39 If it's a conference or region or whatever it is, 26:42 the President is the Bible worker 26:44 supervisor coordinator? - Yes. 26:47 So we work very close with the church 26:49 and as I told you before, 26:52 most of our Bible workers are also taking care of churches. 26:56 So we work very close with the conference. 26:59 - Yes. 27:00 What a blessing it is to be able to do that 27:01 and then there's support on both sides 27:04 for these new believers. 27:05 - Yes. - That's wonderful. 27:06 - The church is very happy because the church is now filled 27:10 and the churches are being taken care, 27:12 because very less workers are there in the field. 27:16 Jesus for Asia Bible workers are great blessing 27:19 for the conferences and the union in India. 27:23 - Praise the Lord. 27:24 - Thank the Lord. 27:25 - Thank you so much for joining us 27:27 for these beautiful stories of lives changed 27:30 and lives being changed and opportunities to change lives. 27:34 If God is impressing you to be a part of this work, 27:37 you can contact us at Jesus for Asia, 27:40 P.O. Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 27:45 Call us at (423)-413-7321 27:49 or visit our website at Jesus4asia.org. 27:53 Please remember to pray for these Bible workers. 27:56 There are many difficulties that they encounter, 27:58 but the Lord helps them through 28:00 all of their difficulties and challenges. 28:03 May God richly bless you until we see you next time 28:06 on Jesus for Asia Now. 28:07 (gentle music) |
Revised 2019-12-18