3ABN On the Road

We Do Not Well

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Charissa Fong

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR001041


01:01 Okay, well, I think we're almost all seated.
01:04 This is what they usually call the graveyard shift
01:07 because you've all eaten and the temptation
01:10 will be during this message to close your eyes
01:12 and meditate on the words that are being spoken.
01:16 Do your best to keep them open, okay.
01:18 I'll try and help you as much as I can.
01:20 Let us just bow our heads once more
01:23 and ask the Lord to lead us as we study the Bible together.
01:27 Loving Father in heaven, thank You so much
01:30 for everything that You have done here today
01:33 and in our hearts
01:34 and as we have gathered once more this afternoon
01:37 to study the Bible together, we invite the Holy Spirit
01:41 to take the message of Holy Scripture
01:44 and to make it real to us this afternoon.
01:47 I pray that You would help our spiritual imagination
01:50 to pick up and to take note of what is going on here
01:54 and I pray that the lesson which we learn
01:56 from the study of Your Word
01:58 be one that would be life changing,
02:00 one that we will walk out and put into action
02:02 as we leave the church later.
02:05 We ask this now
02:06 and we ask it in the name of Jesus,
02:08 whom we love, amen.
02:11 My subject this afternoon, I have entitled We Do Not Well.
02:17 And the story begins like this.
02:20 The Syrian army had surrounded the city of Samaria.
02:24 There was a very, very serious siege going on
02:27 so much so that the people inside the city of Samaria
02:32 were literally starving to death.
02:35 This is a good sermon to preach after we've all being fed
02:37 because otherwise you'd be sitting there
02:39 getting hungry on me,
02:40 but I invite you to take your Bibles
02:42 and turn with me to read the story,
02:45 just to set the table a little bit.
02:47 Come over to the Book of 2 Kings.
02:49 And in 2 Kings I would like you to notice with me chapter 6
02:54 and listen to how the Bible describes
02:57 just how serious this famine was.
02:59 2 Kings Chapter 6
03:02 and we will read from verse 25-29.
03:07 2 Kings Chapter 6, we begin reading verse 25.
03:14 If you're there say amen. All right, that's good.
03:18 It says here, "And there was a great famine in Samaria,
03:22 and indeed, they besieged it,
03:24 until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver,
03:29 and one-fourth of a kab of dove's droppings
03:32 for five shekels of silver.
03:35 Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall,
03:40 a woman cried out to him, saying, 'Help, my lord, O king.'
03:44 And he said, 'If the Lord does not help you,
03:47 where can I find help for you,
03:49 for the threshing floor or from the winepress?'
03:53 Then the king said to her, 'What is troubling you?'
03:56 And she answered, 'This woman said to me, give your son,
04:00 that we may eat him today,
04:02 and we will eat my son tomorrow.
04:04 So we boiled my son and ate him,
04:07 and I said to her on the next day,
04:08 give your son, that we may eat him,
04:11 but she has hidden her son.'"
04:14 Now I don't know about you
04:16 but I don't function too well without food.
04:19 I know it may not look like I eat a lot
04:22 but when I'm hungry, my mood changes
04:25 and I just can't do anything until I've eaten.
04:28 I believe I get this gene from my dad,
04:31 he's part-- well, he's Samoan
04:33 and Samoans are happiest when they're fed, amen.
04:37 So whenever I go traveling, for example when I come here
04:42 the first thing my dad asks me when I call him on the phone
04:45 is not, you know, how's everything going
04:47 or how are you doing?
04:49 He asks me, what are you eating?
04:50 'Cause that's all he's interested in.
04:52 So I have taken to photographing my food
04:55 everywhere I go just because I know
04:56 that's all he's gonna be interested in
04:58 when I see him again.
05:00 But, friends, at least I have food
05:02 to photograph in a little while
05:04 whenever I'm hungry. These leprous men
05:07 are facing a very, very different situation.
05:10 The insanity and the horror of the famine
05:14 that is gripping this city of Samaria is so great,
05:17 mothers are boiling their children.
05:21 That is just terrible.
05:22 And you what, the sad thing is is that
05:25 Moses told the people, in Deuteronomy,
05:28 if you read the Book of Deuteronomy,
05:30 he said that, if they forsook God,
05:32 if God's people forsook Him then they would end up
05:36 experiencing things just like this.
05:38 It is a sad day when God's people
05:41 turn their backs on Him.
05:44 Listen to what Prophets and Kings says
05:45 concerning this famine, Mrs. White writes,
05:49 "Never had Israel been brought into
05:51 so great a strait as during this siege.
05:55 The sins of the fathers were indeed
05:57 being visited upon the children and the children's children."
06:01 But, friends, in the midst of a day of utter
06:04 and complete hopelessness,
06:06 God's prophets spoke a word of hope.
06:08 We find what Elisha says in Chapter 7.
06:11 Let's read together from verse 1.
06:14 Then Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord.
06:18 Thus says the Lord, tomorrow about
06:21 this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel,
06:25 and two seahs of barley for a shekel,
06:28 at the gate of Samaria.
06:30 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned
06:32 answered the man of God, and said, 'Look,
06:35 if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?'
06:39 And he said, 'In fact, you shall see it
06:41 with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.'"
06:45 And now we reach the story
06:48 which I am dying to share with you this afternoon.
06:50 Let's read verse 3,
06:52 "Now there were four leprous men
06:55 at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another,
06:59 'why are we sitting here until we die?'"
07:03 Friends, we don't know their names
07:06 but we know their crisis.
07:08 This miserable, wretched, leprous congregation
07:13 of four men is shut outside the city gate.
07:17 They are shut outside from all contact with society
07:21 and they're dying. Not only are they dying
07:24 from the rotting, diseased, corruption of their flesh,
07:29 but they're dying
07:30 because they're starving as well
07:32 and they're starving simply because nobody in the city
07:36 has any garbage to let over the walls to feed them.
07:39 They never gave the lepers good food,
07:41 they just gave them the scraps that
07:43 they weren't interested in.
07:45 And the famine so great, of course nothing
07:47 has been coming over the wall.
07:49 But, friends, as they sit there outside the city gate
07:52 and they look at each other with these bloodshot eyes,
07:56 they say to one another in hoarse whispers,
08:00 why sit we here until we die?
08:04 You know that's a good question to ask.
08:07 Oh, that we too would be done
08:10 with doing nothing, amen.
08:12 Oh, that we too would rather move forward
08:14 than stand still.
08:16 Oh, that we would fear sitting down
08:18 and doing nothing.
08:20 Why sit we here until we die?
08:24 There is power enough in that question,
08:26 that thought, that ought to start
08:28 a great revival among God's people.
08:31 Everyday thousands are ruined by inactivity,
08:35 instead of singing that good old hymn
08:38 like a mighty army moves the church of God,
08:42 we have changed the words
08:43 and we're singing a hymn that sounds more like this,
08:45 like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God,
08:49 brothers and sisters we are treading
08:51 where we've often trod.
08:53 We're not making any progress.
08:55 Notice with me verse 4, "If we say," they continue,
09:00 "'We will enter the city, the famine is in the city
09:03 and we shall die there.
09:05 And if we sit here, we die also.
09:08 Now therefore, come, let us surrender
09:10 to the army of the Syrians.
09:12 If they keep us alive, we shall live,
09:15 and if they kill us, we shall only die.'"
09:19 I love how the cogitation
09:22 of these four men ends in action.
09:25 They didn't just think about it
09:27 and then let that thought pass them by,
09:30 not only they thought about it and then they moved forward
09:32 and did something on that action.
09:35 How many good decisions
09:38 get murdered in the pews of our churches
09:40 before the people leave the building
09:42 because they choose not to act upon the conviction
09:46 that comes to their hearts as the spirit is speaking?
09:50 Verse 5, "And they rose at twilight
09:53 to go to the camp of the Syrians,
09:55 and when they had come to the outskirts
09:57 of the Syrian camp, to their surprise"--
10:00 How many people were there?
10:02 "No one was there.
10:04 For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians
10:07 to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses,
10:12 the noise of a great army,
10:13 so that they said to one another,
10:15 'look, the king of Israel has hired against us
10:18 the kings of the Hittites
10:20 and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!'
10:23 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight,
10:26 and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses,
10:30 and their donkeys, and they fled for their lives."
10:35 This is absolutely incredible.
10:38 When God delivers, He really delivers His people, amen.
10:44 But notice here what unbelief is doing to God's people
10:48 because unbelief is holding the people
10:50 in the city of Samaria captive.
10:52 This is what Spirit of Prophecy says, it says,
10:54 "Every failure on the part of the children of God
10:58 is due to their lack of faith, every failure."
11:02 Samaria sits in the twilight, shut up
11:06 and it's as though the men inside
11:08 are locked inside an iron cage
11:10 because they believe that they are surrounded by an enemy
11:14 when that enemy has taken fright
11:17 because they have been scared off by an imaginary army.
11:20 Isn't that amazing?
11:21 This is the most amazing picture.
11:23 And because that army has taken off, Samaria,
11:27 while the people are going to bed at night
11:30 covering with fear and starving because they have no food,
11:34 just outside the walls of their city
11:39 lies an abundance of a hundred thousand men,
11:42 an abundance that belonged to an army
11:44 of a hundred thousand men
11:46 and it's just sitting there, nobody is touching it.
11:49 Friends, God is able to work in mysterious ways, amen.
11:54 He goes above and beyond our highest expectations.
11:59 Nothing is impossible for God.
12:02 I heard a story just recently and I know it's true
12:05 because they shared at the Adventist Media Network
12:08 and everything that comes
12:09 through there is usually very true.
12:12 We had a delegation go from the AMN
12:15 and they went to Brazil to investigate
12:17 how our media network over there operates
12:21 and they came back with an incredible story.
12:23 There was an Adventist student in Brazil,
12:26 he was at a secular university and an exam which he had to sit
12:30 was being offered on Sabbath.
12:33 So he asked if they could change the day
12:35 from Sabbath to another day and the university,
12:39 the professors or whoever he--
12:40 the board that was taken to said,
12:42 no, we can't change the day.
12:44 Well, word of this got
12:46 to a very wealthy Adventist in Brazil.
12:49 When he heard about this problem that
12:52 the student was facing,
12:53 he went ahead and bought the university.
12:57 He then sacked the staff that prevented the student
13:00 from having his exam changed
13:03 and the student was able to sit their exam.
13:05 So God, nothing is impossible with God,
13:08 if there is a mountain He can move it, amen.
13:11 And He moved it for the city of Samaria
13:13 but the funny thing,
13:14 the ironic thing about this story is that
13:18 even though God has just liberated His people,
13:21 in perhaps one of the most amazing ways
13:23 that God had ever worked for His people
13:25 in all of human history, right here,
13:28 because they had a famine of faith in their hearts,
13:32 they continue to live in a way
13:38 that doesn't show that they have any idea
13:41 of the God that they are serving.
13:43 The famine of faith in their hearts mirrored the famine
13:47 that they were experiencing in their stomachs.
13:51 Notice what we see now, verse 8, I love this.
13:55 "And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp,
13:58 they went into one tent and ate and drank,
14:01 and carried from it silver and gold and clothing,
14:04 and went and hid them, and then they came back
14:07 and entered another tent,
14:08 and carried some from there also,
14:10 and went and hid it."
14:15 The curtain rises in verse 8, upon a new scene
14:20 and in my minds eye I like to imagine things
14:22 when I read them in the Bible,
14:24 like to watch like a Bible movie in my mind.
14:27 In my minds eye I can see
14:29 these four lepers stealing silently and softly
14:32 in the twilight into this enemy camp.
14:35 I mean, they've got nothing to lose.
14:37 If they sat outside the city walls,
14:39 well, they're gonna die
14:40 and if they go into the Syrian camp,
14:42 well, at least the Syrians might be merciful
14:45 but if they die, well, it was nothing, nothing new.
14:48 But anyway I can hear them as they come into this camp
14:51 and they're trembling,
14:52 softly Simian, your tread is so loud,
14:56 you'll wake the dead if you keep walking like that.
14:58 Yeah, cut it out, guys.
15:01 If they're sleeping, let's not wake them up.
15:04 So as they continue to tiptoe into the camp,
15:08 they didn't realize that they could've walked as loudly
15:12 as they pleased for there was no one inside.
15:15 There's an interesting verse in the Book of Proverbs,
15:17 Proverbs 28:1, it says this,
15:20 "The wicked flee when no one pursues,
15:24 but the righteous are as bold as a lion," amen.
15:29 Well, they come to the first tent
15:31 and one of them, one of the lepers he enters
15:34 that tent very cautiously expecting at any moment
15:37 for a sentry to come and strike off his head
15:40 or at least call him to attention.
15:42 But not a voice is heard.
15:44 The sound of horses can be heard
15:46 as they pull against the chains that bind them
15:48 but apart from that everything is still quiet.
15:52 Guys, guys, come over here, come in here and see this.
15:57 There is nobody home.
15:59 And then another voice comes back,
16:01 you've got to be kidding.
16:02 Are you serious?
16:04 Nobody's in the tent.
16:05 Yes, come in here and see, come quick.
16:08 And so cautiously all four ragged lepers
16:14 step inside this tent
16:16 and sure enough, the tent is empty.
16:20 And what is even more remarkable
16:22 about this whole experience
16:24 is that right there in front of them
16:26 sitting on the table is a hot meal,
16:29 ready and waiting for them, nutmeat stew.
16:33 They can't believe it.
16:35 And so they needed no discussion to decide
16:39 what they would do with the stew,
16:40 they just sat down and ate and ate and ate
16:43 until they were full.
16:45 They looked around them in the tent and they could see,
16:47 wow, there's some really nice Syrian garments in here,
16:51 so they started to dress themselves
16:53 in the Syrian robes.
16:55 And as they looked around further they saw that
16:57 there was gold and silver, spoils of war
17:00 just lying around the tent.
17:02 They said, guys, let's bank this
17:05 and so they took all of these things
17:08 and they banked their bounty the old fashioned way.
17:11 The Bible says they told us they went and hid them.
17:14 In ancient times they'd go dig a hole
17:16 and bury it, that's how they banked it.
17:18 You just would want to remember where you put it, wouldn't you?
17:21 Anyhow, after they finished in the first tent,
17:25 they decided, well, let's try another tent
17:28 and so they again, they cautiously step
17:31 along to a second tent, they look inside
17:35 and again they find that the second tent is empty also
17:39 and again there is a meal sitting,
17:42 waiting, ready for them.
17:44 Tova, chocolate so good ice cream,
17:48 ginger beer, vegetarian pizza,
17:51 all the things that I really love.
17:52 They're all just sitting there on a table
17:54 inviting them to come and eat
17:57 and so they eat until they content
17:59 and they eat and drink
18:00 and carry away as much gold as they can.
18:04 You and I cannot begin to imagine
18:07 the delirious joy that must have overwhelmed
18:12 these four guys in such abundance.
18:16 On and on throughout the night
18:19 they continue this process, they ate and ate
18:22 and took and took as much as they could carry
18:25 how the tables have turned.
18:27 They woke up that morning without a cent,
18:30 they were starving, they literally went
18:33 from rags to riches.
18:35 They were now dressed in some of the finest robes
18:38 that could be found, all in a single day.
18:42 When God provides He really provides
18:45 and He provides like God.
18:48 Friends, faith, we can take a little note from this,
18:51 that faith is always a venture, like for these lepers,
18:55 it was a venture for them to step into the Syrian camp
18:59 but faith is always a venture that God honors.
19:02 God always honors faith and faithfulness.
19:07 And I want you to just pause here
19:09 and reflect, I can't help
19:11 but notice as I think on this story,
19:13 how true it is of the gospel when you think about it.
19:18 Because we too, the Bible tells us
19:20 in the Book of Isaiah, in Isaiah Chapter 1 it says,
19:23 the whole head is sick, we are spiritual lepers
19:26 apart from Jesus, we suffer with the leprosy of sin
19:30 and there have been many lepers who come to God or at least
19:33 before they come to Him they are afraid of Him
19:36 because they think that God will not be merciful,
19:38 that God will not be gracious,
19:40 that He will want to destroy them
19:42 and so it keeps them back.
19:43 But when that sinner takes a step in faith towards Jesus,
19:48 when they come to Jesus
19:49 and accept Him as their personal savior
19:52 and forever friend, what do they find?
19:54 They find amazing grace, they find blessed assurance,
19:59 they find wonderful peace, amen.
20:02 They find more than they could ever imagine
20:05 and the Bible tells us that He exchanges our rags
20:10 for His robe of righteousness, amen.
20:13 And in light of an offer like that coming from Jesus,
20:16 why would we want to hold on to our own rags.
20:19 This is why the Bible says in Isaiah 55:1,
20:23 the Bible says, "Ho, everyone who thirsts,
20:27 come to the waters and you who have no money,
20:30 come, buy and eat.
20:32 Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money
20:35 and without price," amen.
20:37 Ephesians 3:8 says this, it talks about
20:40 the unsearchable riches of Christ.
20:44 Now Google is a very good search engine
20:47 but it cannot search fully the riches of Christ
20:51 that God makes available to those
20:53 who accept Him and love Him.
20:56 When I do that, that was a amen moment.
20:59 Don't miss the amen moment.
21:00 All right, let's read together verse 9,
21:03 "Then they said to one another, 'we are not doing right.
21:09 This is a day of good news and we remain silent.
21:13 If we wait until morning light,
21:15 some punishment will come upon us.
21:18 Now therefore come let us go
21:20 and tell the King's household.'"
21:24 The Bible doesn't tell us how many tents
21:27 they went through before they finally had
21:30 this amazing thought strike them.
21:33 But suddenly it occurs to them
21:35 or at least it occurred to somebody,
21:37 guys, what we're doing isn't patriotic?
21:42 In fact, guys, what we're doing, it is scarcely human.
21:46 How can we sit here enjoying a feast
21:52 and hoarding wealth untold.
21:56 When our friends, our family, our loved ones,
22:02 our people are starving to death
22:05 just a stone throw away from where we are.
22:10 And this thought just they cannot shake it.
22:13 Suddenly pictures as they reflect on
22:15 what they're saying here, pictures of Samaria
22:18 and the people there of the hollow eyes
22:20 and the hideous meals
22:22 that they're eating there come to mind.
22:25 They remember the king
22:27 who has sackcloth under his royal robes.
22:30 In fact, the Hebrew of the passage
22:33 could be translated like this,
22:35 it could be saying this is a day of good tidings
22:38 and we hold our peace, that is a sin.
22:45 And if we continue before morning like this,
22:47 then some punishment may come upon us
22:50 because of what we're doing.
22:52 Now it's interesting as I did a little bit
22:54 if research on this passage,
22:56 I find this moment in the story,
22:58 one of the most remarkable.
23:00 But as I've done a little bit of research,
23:02 I discovered something interesting in that
23:04 is if you read the writings of Josephus,
23:07 Josephus tells us that he believes one
23:11 of these four lepers was a man by the name of Gehazi,
23:15 the foremost servant of Elisha,
23:18 who had received the leprosy from Naaman,
23:20 remember that story?
23:21 This touch is very interesting, if this is true.
23:24 And so Jewish white writings continue
23:28 to go on further to say that
23:29 they also believe that the three men
23:32 who are with Gehazi were possibly his sons.
23:36 So if that is true, if this is Gehazi
23:38 who has already been punished because of greed,
23:41 well, it would make sense to me that
23:43 he was most probably the one
23:45 upon, well, for whom the penny dropped first.
23:48 He was the one that woke up to what they were doing first.
23:51 And as they realized and they sat
23:53 and they pondered this incredible thought,
23:56 We do not well when this is a day of good news.
23:59 They realized that something needed to be done
24:02 because if they were to delay now,
24:04 well, if they were to hold this secret
24:07 for just a matter of 24 hours,
24:10 hundreds might die of starvation
24:12 within the walls of the city.
24:14 This was a message that demanded urgency.
24:19 And, friends, I hope you're realizing that
24:21 there is a very strong application coming through here
24:25 for you and I right now this afternoon,
24:27 because we have a King's household as well.
24:30 We are part of the King's household.
24:34 And it is a great company, a multitude
24:36 that exists all around the world,
24:39 they live in every corner of this planet,
24:42 they're in Brisbane, they're in Sydney,
24:45 they're in New Zealand, they're in China,
24:47 they're in the islands, they're in Africa,
24:49 they're in every country of this world.
24:52 People need to hear the message of salvation
24:56 and the secret which we know,
24:58 we know about this wonderful bounty that
25:01 God has prepared for those who love Him.
25:04 It is up to us to go and tell.
25:07 We who know best the grace of Christ
25:11 and who know what God can do
25:13 for those who have been defiled by the leprosy of sin.
25:17 We have a story that must be told
25:20 and we heard his message about how--
25:22 that is a story that we should tell this morning.
25:24 We do not well to hold our peace in times like this.
25:30 Verse 10, so they went
25:33 and they called to the gatekeepers of the city
25:36 and told them saying, "We went into the Syrian camp
25:39 and surprisingly no one was there--
25:41 not a human sound only horses
25:43 and donkeys tied, and the tents intact."
25:46 And the gatekeepers called out
25:48 and they told it to the King's household inside.
25:52 I do not know of a finer illustration
25:54 of what it means to be a preacher,
25:57 of what it means to be witness,
25:59 of what it means to be a Christian.
26:02 We were not called to philosophize or theorize,
26:06 we were called to be witnesses,
26:08 we were called to go to a dying world,
26:11 a world that is starving for lack of the bread of life
26:15 and say there is a way to be saved
26:17 and Jesus is the only way.
26:21 We have that message, we are witnesses,
26:23 we are heralders, we are proclaimers.
26:26 And you might not think that
26:27 God could use you to be a witness
26:30 but friends, God often uses the most unlikely people.
26:34 A good witness is just like a sign,
26:37 a sign in order to be effective it doesn't matter
26:40 if the sign is old or young, pretty or ugly,
26:44 it just has to point in the right direction
26:47 in order to be understood
26:49 and if you are continually living a life
26:52 that is pointing to Jesus,
26:54 then you are a good witness, God can use you.
26:57 I will never forget,
26:59 at the time when I was at an AYC in Cannes
27:02 and Pastor Torres, some of you might know
27:04 Pastor Louie Torres, he got up
27:06 and he was preaching a sermon
27:07 on how rejects make good evangelists
27:11 and as he was preaching his sermon,
27:13 he looked down and he saw me in the audience
27:15 and he said take Miss Fong for example,
27:18 if God can use her He can use anyone.
27:21 I didn't know whether to be flattered or flattened.
27:23 But it's true, God uses anybody
27:28 and that is exactly what we're finding here in the story.
27:32 We must not keep the gospel to ourselves
27:35 and that's-- the gospel means good news.
27:38 Do we have good news to share?
27:40 I mean we've spent the last few days listening
27:43 to wonderful messages about what God offers to us
27:47 in His word so we have a story to tell.
27:50 Yes, what the lepers did,
27:52 I want you to know too, was a bold thing,
27:56 but note that they did what they did unanimously
28:00 and they did it instantaneously.
28:02 You say, Charissa, why do you say
28:04 it was a bold thing for the lepers
28:07 to go back to Samaria and tell this good news.
28:11 Well, keep in mind lepers weren't
28:13 exactly the most popular people in town,
28:16 they were social outcasts.
28:18 They were cut off from their community.
28:20 In fact, many of their families probably within the city
28:24 have held funerals for these guys
28:27 because as far as they're concerned
28:30 they're dead to them.
28:32 And so for them to go back to a city
28:34 that has despised them,
28:36 to a city that has shut them off,
28:38 that has cut them off, that has shut them out,
28:41 that took courage but it took compassion.
28:44 But they went back
28:46 because they had a sense of duty,
28:50 they felt upon them rested the duty of saving Samaria
28:54 and for that they wasted no delay
28:56 because as the sun reddened the sky
29:00 they knew that lives were at stake.
29:02 To waste time was to sacrifice life.
29:09 So they rose up and went and told.
29:13 Now here's where this message gets its feet.
29:16 Because if, for this story,
29:19 if these men felt such a solemn sense of duty
29:24 to announce their news to a perishing city,
29:29 how much more should we feel a sense of duty
29:34 to share our news with a perishing world.
29:39 As Edmund Burke once said, he said, all that is necessary
29:43 for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
29:48 Now if we were to translate this story
29:50 into a modern day parable
29:52 and suppose there was a community
29:54 in outback of Australia and within this community
29:57 there was one man who had a whole cupboard full of,
30:01 let's say, canned baked beans,
30:03 tin baked beans and nobody else had any food,
30:07 we would think that what that guy did
30:10 if he didn't share his food with everybody around him
30:12 because they were dying of starvation,
30:15 we would think that what he was doing
30:16 was inhumane, correct?
30:18 We would think that guy was really, really bad
30:21 and we'd want some justice, go and share your baked beans.
30:24 But listen, Ellen White says this,
30:27 when you think about that the sin of Simons
30:31 when you know something
30:32 she says in Testimonies Volume 8,
30:35 she says, Christians are daily repeating this sin.
30:42 A little boy was traveling with his parents one day
30:46 and they were traveling along this mountainous road
30:50 and as they were driving along this road,
30:52 suddenly a car sped up and overtook them,
30:56 and as the car sped up and overtook them
30:58 there was a bend in the road
30:59 and another car came around the corner, bang.
31:02 Cars collided and it was a very, very bad accident,
31:06 the little fellow he saw a body flying one way.
31:09 I mean, it was really bad.
31:11 Well, the family kept driving
31:13 and nobody really had much to say,
31:16 it was a very sobering sight that this family had witnessed,
31:19 but as they continue to drive, they got home that night
31:23 and the parents they tried to comfort him,
31:26 tried to say things that would put him at ease
31:29 and they put him to bed,
31:31 but as time went on it was very apparent that
31:33 the little fellow just wasn't going to sleep.
31:36 So his father went into the room
31:38 and said, "Son, why don't you try to sleep?"
31:40 And the little boy with his eyes wide open,
31:43 he broken to tears and he said, "Daddy,
31:46 when people die can we sleep?"
31:52 If we believed as strongly that men and women
31:56 without the bread of life that comes to us in the Word,
32:00 that comes down from heaven.
32:01 If we believed that to keep this to ourselves was a sin,
32:05 then wouldn't we too be more earnest
32:08 and more urgent in sharing our faith with other people.
32:12 We would struggle to remain silent.
32:15 As I read the Spirit of Prophecy,
32:17 I have found some really good quotes
32:19 and I've been struggling to try and choose the ones
32:22 that I thought was most appropriate
32:23 because there's so much.
32:25 Listen to this, "My brother, my sister,
32:28 is it nothing to you to know that everyday souls
32:32 are going down into the grave unwarned and unsaved.
32:37 Ignorant of their need of eternal life
32:39 of the atonement made for them by the savior.
32:42 Listen to what Spurgeon said,
32:44 I was telling my workshop the other day that Spurgeon,
32:46 one of the greatest Baptist preachers of all time,
32:49 one of the greatest preachers I think of all time, full stop.
32:53 He was a man who was so consumed
32:55 with a love for Jesus,
32:56 he had a passion for souls and it gripped him.
33:00 I told them in my workshop that Spurgeon
33:02 was so consumed with his love for Jesus
33:04 that one night he broke out
33:06 into a sermon on Jesus in his sleep.
33:10 His wife woke up, took notes, handed them to him
33:14 when he woke up the next morning
33:16 and he went down for the tabernacle
33:17 and preached the sermon.
33:19 That's how much Spurgeon loved Jesus.
33:21 You go-- you can Google
33:22 his sermons online and read them
33:25 there's some gold in what he has to say.
33:27 But listen to what he says.
33:29 Now, I'm gonna use some old English.
33:30 "If sinners will be damned,
33:33 at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.
33:36 And if they will perish, let them perish
33:38 with our arms about their knees,
33:40 imploring them to stay, if hell must be filled
33:44 at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions
33:47 and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."
33:54 A minister conversed with a man
33:57 who was professing to be a Christian.
33:59 He asked him, have you united with the church?
34:02 Have you joined the church of God
34:03 and he said, well, no, I didn't think
34:05 there was a need to,
34:06 the dying thief never joined the church.
34:09 Well, the pastor continued, he said, well,
34:12 have you talked to your neighbors about Christ,
34:14 do you talk to them about the gospel?
34:16 He said, why no, the dying thief
34:19 never talked to his neighbors abut Jesus.
34:22 Well, the pastor said, do you go on missions then?
34:24 Do you give money to missions if you don't talk to people
34:26 maybe you support the work of the church?
34:29 The man said, no, the dying thief
34:32 never supported missions, why should I?
34:35 And that's when the minister said,
34:36 well, my friend, the difference between you
34:39 and the dying thief is that he was a dying thief,
34:41 you're a living one.
34:44 I think some of us have been robbing God of a service.
34:47 I mean, there are souls out there
34:49 that needs somebody to say something to them,
34:52 to be a helping hand to them and we are just robbing God
34:55 of an opportunity to save a life,
34:57 because we refuse not to lift a finger.
35:01 We have got to lay our lives down
35:04 for the purposes of God.
35:06 This is not about a picnic.
35:09 This is not about a happy Sabbath every week.
35:12 This is not an invitation to continuously good times.
35:16 You and I are living in the middle of a war.
35:19 Lives are at stake.
35:22 There is an eternal destiny
35:23 for every human being on the planet
35:25 that is weighing in the balance,
35:27 we need to do something.
35:29 The time demands action.
35:32 I can't help but think of a sermon
35:34 that I heard of a preacher
35:36 by the name of the Carter Conlon,
35:38 shortly after September 11 and the attacks,
35:41 we all know about those.
35:42 He said this, "My mind is forever branded
35:46 with the story that I heard of police officers
35:49 from the city of New York, as people were fleeing
35:52 from a crumbling building
35:55 there were police officers and firemen
35:57 and others who were running towards the building saying,
36:00 run for your life, at their own peril.
36:04 And in some cases he said, I believe that they knew
36:07 that they were going to die but there was a sense of duty.
36:11 Oh, that our sense of duty would not be any less
36:15 for your kingdom than were these firemen
36:18 and police officers who are running in
36:20 to a burning building to save lives.
36:25 Would to God, that the church of God
36:27 would realize the urgency of the hour in which we live.
36:34 Christ's Object Lessons, page 303,
36:36 "Multitudes are perishing.
36:39 But how few of the professed followers
36:41 of Christ are burdened for these souls.
36:44 The destiny of a world hangs in the balance,
36:47 but this hardly moves those who claim
36:50 to believe the most far-reaching truth
36:52 ever given to mortals.
36:54 There is a stupor, a paralysis, upon the people of God,
36:59 which prevents them from understanding
37:01 the duty of the hour."
37:03 Sometimes I wonder if perhaps, that God had,
37:06 if He had told us that the gospel was a secret,
37:10 maybe it might have spread more quickly
37:12 'cause we're good at sharing the secrets, aren't we?
37:16 But you know what, ants, I think when the Bible says,
37:19 "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, and be wise."
37:22 Ants make the best evangelists.
37:24 If you ever leave something on your kitchen sink,
37:27 all that takes is for one ant to find your marmite sandwich
37:33 because we all like marmite.
37:35 And you would-- that one ant
37:37 finds the marmite sandwich and that ant goes back
37:40 and it bumps into every friend that they can find
37:42 and tells them, there's a sandwich over here
37:45 and they all come and have a party
37:47 around your sandwich.
37:49 You know what?
37:50 Evangelism is like the ant,
37:52 and evangelism is like the lepers,
37:55 evangelism is just one beggar
37:57 telling other beggars about where they found bread.
38:02 1 Corinthians Chapter 9, let's go there.
38:04 1 Corinthians 9:16.
38:11 1 Corinthians 9:16.
38:22 This is the words of Paul.
38:25 Listen to the passion with which he writes, he says,
38:28 "For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast
38:32 of for necessity is laid upon me."
38:35 He had this burden for souls.
38:37 "Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel."
38:43 He had this burden to preach.
38:45 And you know what?
38:46 Sometimes when we preach,
38:48 when we share, when we witness,
38:50 we may not see the results of our activity straight away.
38:53 But come over to Isaiah Chapter 55.
38:57 This is the verse that I claim often.
38:59 Isaiah 55:10 and 11.
39:04 Isaiah 55:10-11.
39:13 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
39:16 and do not return there, but water the earth,
39:19 and make it bring forth and bud,
39:21 that it may give seed to the sower
39:24 and bread to the eater.
39:25 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth,
39:29 it shall not return to Me void,
39:32 but it shall accomplish what I please,
39:34 and it shall prosper in the thing
39:36 for which I sent it."
39:39 I just want to share a couple of stories
39:41 that make these verses real for me.
39:46 I'm very privileged to be joined this afternoon
39:48 by some family members, I've got my aunt
39:51 and uncle here and my mum's here.
39:53 I've got my grandparents here and that's very special.
39:56 We have been-- when I come to Queensland,
39:59 I go to my grandparent's house and I have a holiday.
40:02 I mean, as soon as I come to Queensland it's the same,
40:05 every time it's the same, I just feel this peace.
40:08 Come over me, I'll leave all my problems in Sydney.
40:10 But, now I'm gonna go back there soon but anyway,
40:14 but I came to my grandparent's house
40:16 and this week I-- we were spending
40:18 some time together and we were sharing,
40:21 one evening, we were talking about
40:23 how we came into the message
40:24 and grandma was telling her story
40:27 and I hope if I get anything wrong,
40:30 she's right there she'll correct me,
40:31 but there was a man that must have gone door knocking
40:35 to appeal for missions.
40:36 And I think my grandma's mum, so my great grandmother
40:39 she made a donation and they left an Appeal
40:43 for Missions magazine in her home,
40:45 my great grandmother's house.
40:47 And that magazine, grandma tells me,
40:49 in those days was a lot thicker than the Signs of the Times.
40:52 It was like this big and it was large
40:55 but when my grandma went to her mom's place
40:58 and she saw that magazine there, something inside her
41:02 just said to her you must have that magazine.
41:04 You've got to have it. So she asked her mom
41:07 could she take it and her mom said
41:08 sure she could have it.
41:10 She took it home and she read it
41:12 and in the back of that magazine
41:14 was a little form that you could fill in
41:16 and send away for a correspondence
41:18 Bible study course.
41:20 My grandma started studying the truths of the Bible
41:23 through a correspondence Bible study course
41:26 and that wasn't easy for her
41:28 because my grandpa who is sitting here--
41:30 he was a very dedicated catholic man
41:34 and that caused some problems in the home,
41:35 but grandma, she continued to study the word
41:39 and she said, this is the amazing thing,
41:41 but one night she was feeling really troubled
41:44 about what was going on
41:46 and the trouble that all of these new truths
41:48 were causing and she was so nervous
41:51 but she sat there on her bed
41:53 and she said to us, she said she felt,
41:55 as she sat there she felt like these arms
41:58 came around her and a voice spoke to her
42:00 and said, "Don't worry, don't worry."
42:03 The next day, guess what,
42:06 she discovers the truth about the Sabbath
42:08 and as she discovers the Sabbath truth,
42:10 it began to shine a light on all other truth.
42:14 Suddenly everything began to fall into place
42:16 and later she went forward in baptism,
42:19 became a baptized Seventh-day Adventist
42:22 all because somebody went to her mom's home
42:26 and left the magazine there.
42:29 That's all they did.
42:30 And now grandma is in the church
42:31 and now grandpa got baptized and my great grandmother,
42:35 she came around as well.
42:37 And you know what, I wouldn't be here,
42:39 I wouldn't be here, if that man hadn't gone
42:42 and left that magazine at that house.
42:45 You and I just don't know, what the little things
42:47 that we do, the little witness that we do,
42:49 will do for somebody else, I think heavens going be
42:52 a really wonderful place to visit
42:54 when we get there, but you might say,
42:56 well, Charissa that's easy for you to say
42:59 but sometimes I just don't feel like witnessing.
43:02 Well, I tell you what?
43:03 God can work with people like you as well
43:06 because He works with me like that.
43:09 I think I might have shared this once before
43:11 but I'll share it again.
43:12 I was coming back from a youth conference in Guam,
43:16 sorry in Pohnpei which is in Micronesia.
43:18 Do you know about that, Micronesia?
43:20 I don't even know Micronesia existed till I went there.
43:23 But got back from this wonderful time
43:26 we had there, God really moved,
43:28 it was a wonderful program, came back to Guam
43:31 and then I flew from Guam to Cairns,
43:33 and I landed in Cairns at 11:30 in-- at night.
43:38 And when I landed I was so excited
43:40 to be back in the country, to be back in Australia,
43:42 I could use my money, I could use my phone,
43:45 I could plug my charger in the wall without an adaptor.
43:47 There's just no place like home.
43:50 And I came off the plane and I heard my name
43:53 come over the loudspeaker it said
43:54 "Charissa Fong, will you please come
43:56 to the baggage department, immediately."
43:58 And I was so thrilled because I thought to myself
44:00 they're welcoming me home as well.
44:03 Well, it turns out I'd left my iPad on the plane
44:06 so I went, got the iPad and then I came down
44:09 and I needed to go over to the domestic airport
44:12 to catch my flight to Sydney, the next morning
44:15 and so I looked over but it was late at night
44:18 and I didn't want to walk over there by myself.
44:20 Because even though I could, yeah never mind,
44:23 so I just didn't go there by myself and I saw a man
44:26 in the distance dragging a suitcase
44:28 and he was an older man, I thought to myself
44:30 well he looks safe so I'll follow him.
44:33 I followed him at a distance,
44:34 we went into the domestic airport
44:36 and nobody was around,
44:38 just the cleaners so I felt great.
44:40 I went and found a seat next to a power socket on the wall,
44:44 plugged my phone in, began texting my family
44:46 and friends, "don't worry, I'm nearly home."
44:49 You can be excited, telling them.
44:51 Anyway, this man came and there are heaps of seats
44:56 available in this airport, but he came and he sat
44:59 right next to me, just two seats between us in this airport
45:03 and I was a little bit annoyed because I'm thinking,
45:05 you know this is night time,
45:07 we don't really want to talk right now
45:08 there's plenty of seats for you to choose from.
45:10 You didn't need to come and sit next to me but he did.
45:14 Anyway, I smiled at him
45:16 and continued texting my friends
45:19 and then he said to me, "So, ah, where did you come from?"
45:22 I said, "I've just come from Pohnpei,"
45:24 kept texting, he said, "Ah, so did I."
45:26 "So that's interesting," kept texting.
45:29 He said "What were you doing in Pohnpei?"
45:31 "Oh," I said "I was at a youth conference."
45:33 "Oh, who is the youth conference,
45:35 where was it held, sorry where was it held."
45:36 I said I was in the Seventh-day Adventist school
45:38 and kept texting.
45:40 He said, "Oh, yeah, what's-are you Seventh-day Adventist?"
45:42 I said, "Yes," kept texting.
45:44 "What's a Seventh-day Adventist?"
45:46 And I was in the middle of the text message,
45:48 it was midnight and I didn't feel like talking to him.
45:52 I mean my mission trip had ended
45:54 when I landed in Cairns.
45:55 I thought my mission was over
45:57 but you know what, when we serve the Lord,
46:00 every trip we take is a mission trip.
46:02 Because you meet starving people everywhere,
46:04 but I wasn't thinking straight.
46:06 I'm not telling you to copy me, I'm telling you what not to do.
46:10 So he asks me, "What is a Seventh-day Adventist"
46:13 at midnight and so I love it when people ask this question
46:17 because I get so excited, I never know where to start.
46:20 So I stopped texting and I said to him,
46:22 "Well, are you a Christian?"
46:24 He said, no, but, oh sorry he said yes.
46:27 And I said, "Well, what kind of a Christian?"
46:28 He says, "I'm not really with any religious persuasion,
46:32 but I've read the Bible through from cover to cover."
46:35 So I knew that he was seeking.
46:37 Anyway, we began this conversation
46:40 in the airport, I began talking to a man
46:42 that I didn't even want to talk to.
46:45 We talk for four hours,
46:47 we finished at 4:30 in the morning.
46:49 We went back and forth and we did everything,
46:52 I don't know what-- you heard me,
46:53 I was in the panel here a minute ago
46:55 had nothing really to say,
46:57 but I don't know I couldn't stop talking
46:58 to this man in the airport.
47:00 I don't know where all the words came from.
47:02 I didn't know I knew so much, we talked about the Sabbath,
47:05 we talked about the state of the dead,
47:06 the Second Coming, heaven and hell, the millennium.
47:09 We talked about Revelation 3, Revelation 20,
47:12 Revelation 14, Daniel 2, Daniel 7.
47:15 It was the most unconventional Bible study ever,
47:19 but that man he listened the whole time.
47:22 About 2 o'clock in the morning,
47:23 he started to fall asleep on me.
47:26 I said, "oh, Lord please,
47:28 this is the most amazing conversation
47:29 I've ever had with anybody, would you please wake him up."
47:33 And that's when the Lord reminded me
47:36 that I had some choc-chip cookies in my bag,
47:40 which I had bought when I was in Pohnpei
47:42 'cause I was craving processed food
47:45 and I had eaten the whole packet, except for two.
47:48 So I said to this man, his name was Wayne,
47:50 I said, "Wayne, would you like a cookie."
47:51 He said, "Oh, yes."
47:52 So he had one, I had one we both woke up and kept going.
47:56 It was just the most amazing conversation
47:58 and as Wayne was talking and we were talking,
48:02 he said to me at the end of that conversation
48:04 that he believed that our conversation
48:07 had not been an accident.
48:08 He believed that it had been a, he didn't use these words
48:11 but it was to the effect of a divine appointment
48:14 and he also said to me that
48:16 "what you say, I've talked to a lot of people,
48:18 but what you say makes sense."
48:22 And you know what?
48:23 Our message does make sense. It makes a lot of sense.
48:28 And, friends, when you meet people, don't be like me,
48:32 don't be like me and feel tired,
48:34 someone else you have to witness to.
48:35 No, have an urgency in your soul,
48:38 here is a dying person that needs the bread of life,
48:42 here is somebody that I can bring to Jesus.
48:45 Listen to what Testimonies Volume 8 says one line,
48:48 "Christ gave himself for sinners."
48:53 Let that taught sink into your mind.
48:55 Jesus gave himself for sinners.
48:59 Are we as a people asleep?
49:02 "Oh, if the young men and young women
49:04 in our institutions who are now unready
49:07 for the Lord's appearing,
49:09 unfitted to become members of the Lord's family
49:11 could only discern the signs of the times.
49:15 What a change would be seen in them."
49:18 Friends, I believe that
49:20 we are seeing some incredible things
49:22 that are happening in our world right now,
49:24 and I don't want to take away,
49:26 I could, that's a whole other subject,
49:28 so we won't go there,
49:29 but you're watching the headlines
49:31 you're seeing what's happening in the religious world.
49:33 We are so close, the table is set,
49:37 everything is ready to go,
49:38 God is just holding back the winds of strife.
49:41 Because He is waiting for more people
49:44 to come to know Him
49:46 and He's counting on us to share that news.
49:49 In closing, there was a flight that crashed into a river.
49:55 It was the-- it plummeted into Boston River
49:58 on the 13th, January, several years ago
50:01 and as it did, there was a man that was flung out of the plane
50:05 and he was flaming around in this icy cold water.
50:08 Well, a helicopter pilot came over and he was offering,
50:12 you know, a lifebuoy to people
50:14 in the water, to try and get them up
50:17 and he got the buoy to this man
50:19 that was flaming around in the water,
50:21 but as soon as that man got that lifeline
50:25 guess what he did? He took it and he gave it somebody else.
50:29 So they winched that person up, dropped it again to him,
50:33 he took it gave it to someone else,
50:35 five times they dropped that lifeline to this man,
50:39 five times he took it, gave it to someone else.
50:42 When he came back the sixth time
50:44 the man was gone, he drowned, he was gone.
50:47 We do not know what he was--
50:49 who he was rather but we know that this man
50:52 represents what Jesus has done for us.
50:55 He gave himself for the lives of all of us,
51:00 we owe it to others to do something for them too.
51:03 I want to finish right here
51:06 and I would like to finish with an appeal
51:08 and that is, God's house is full but his field is empty,
51:14 who will go and work in His field?
51:18 Would you just close your eyes with me
51:20 as I finish with a word of prayer.
51:23 Father in heaven, we thank you Lord for Your word,
51:25 for the story of these four lepers
51:28 and how you provided for them a deliverance that was divine.
51:32 All they saw it was deliverance from famine
51:34 but you gave them clothes, and food,
51:36 and gold more than they could've imagined.
51:39 I pray, Lord, that as we reflect on this
51:42 and on the burden that they had to share
51:44 the news with their city,
51:45 may this story too inspire within us,
51:48 a necessity of sharing the gospel
51:51 with those around us in this community
51:53 because, Lord, if we hold our peace, we do not well.
51:57 I pray that this conviction
51:58 will stir us to action and I thank You Lord
52:01 for hearing our prayer in Jesus' name, amen.
52:04 We're going to sing,
52:06 we're gonna try and sing a song called
52:08 "My House is Full, But My Field is Empty."
52:11 May the words of this song speak directly to your hearts.
52:25 There is peace and contentment
52:30 In my Father's house today
52:34 Lots of food is on His table
52:40 And no one is turned away
52:44 There is singing and laughter
52:49 As the hours pass by
52:54 What a hush calms the singing
52:59 As the Father sadly cries
53:07 My house is full
53:11 But my field is empty
53:16 Who will go and work for Me today
53:25 It seems my children
53:28 All want to stay around my table
53:35 But no one wants to work in my field
53:52 Push away from the table
53:58 Look out through the windowpane
54:02 Just beyond the house of plenty
54:06 Lies a field of golden grain
54:11 And it's ripe unto harvest
54:16 But the reapers, where are they?
54:20 In the house
54:22 Oh, can't the children
54:25 Hear the Father sadly say
54:33 My house is full
54:38 But my field is empty
54:43 Who will go
54:45 And work for Me today
54:51 It seems my children
54:54 All want to stay around my table
55:00 But no one wants to work in my field
55:10 My house is full
55:14 But my field is empty
55:19 Who will go
55:21 And work for Me today
55:27 It seems my children
55:30 All want to stay around my table
55:37 But no one wants to work in my field
55:47 No one wants to work in my field
55:57 Who will go and work
56:02 In my field
56:11 Amen.


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Revised 2015-03-26