Participants:
Series Code: CW
Program Code: CW000024S
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:04 - Welcome everyone, 00:05 we're excited to share some Country Wisdom with you. 00:07 - King Solomon had a thing or two to say 00:09 about the path to wisdom. 00:11 In Proverbs 4, he wrote, 00:13 let your eyes look directly forward, 00:16 and your gaze be straight before you. 00:19 Keep straight the path of your feet 00:21 and all your ways will be sure. 00:23 - Join us now for Country Wisdom. 00:26 (upbeat music) 00:34 (upbeat music) 00:45 This can be a little more for you, 00:47 but this digging- - I can do it. 00:55 I think, ah! (laughs) 00:58 - You know that, that worked good. 01:01 - Ah, it's all your fault. - Yeah. 01:05 Well, here, let me get to you. 01:12 (Jim laughs) 01:13 - Don't tell me I didn't dig my toe in enough. 01:15 - That's right. 01:18 - But I did, it shouldn't have happened. 01:20 - Well, apparently not, 01:21 you wouldn't be sitting down right now. 01:23 - No, I dug my toe (Jim laughs) 01:25 in just the way you said. 01:28 - You did it okay, you wanna... 01:30 - I can do it. 01:35 There. - Okay. 01:36 - I did it myself. - You did it yourself, yeah. 01:39 Okay, look, you gotta go up to this spot 01:41 and dig in really hard. 01:44 - I did before. 01:48 - Got to dig in. 01:50 - I am digging in. 01:51 - (laughs) Whoa, okay, you're okay. 01:54 - I was digging in back when I fell down. 01:57 - Yeah, like I told you, that's why you fell, 02:00 you weren't (laughs) digging in. 02:01 - I was. (Jim laughs) 02:03 I was doing it exactly the way you said it. 02:04 - Had you allowed me to help you? (laughs) 02:07 - I didn't need help, I got up all by myself. 02:09 - You did, but why did you have to fall? 02:11 No need falling. 02:13 I'm just saying, just saying. 02:14 You are a stubborn lady, aren't you? (laughs) 02:18 - My husband would not argue with that. 02:20 (Jim laughs) 02:21 But, okay, I like to be independent, 02:23 I don't like asking for help, which is I think a virtue, 02:28 although I suppose under certain circumstances 02:31 it might be a fault. (Jim laughs) 02:35 - It is not here. 02:36 - Just might be. (Janice laughs) 02:38 - That's true, that's true. 02:40 But in the Christian realm, 02:42 it probably is a negative a lot of times 02:45 because we think we can do it all in our own way. 02:49 - I have to admit you're right there 02:50 because I know there are times where I've had a problem 02:54 or I've recognized an issue, ooh, in my life. 02:58 - Yeah. - See. 02:59 - I don't wanna- - See, I caught myself. 03:00 (Jim mumbles) You didn't need to help. 03:04 And finally I've gotten to the point where I can't 03:08 kick this certain habit or whatever, and I realized 03:12 that pretty much when I'm faced with chocolate cake, 03:16 I have no self-control. 03:18 - I don't know that many people 03:19 would consider that a real problem, 03:24 but it's true, you think about so many, 03:27 including myself many time, 03:29 I wanna lift myself up. - Yeah. 03:31 - I can do this myself, God- - Mm-hmm. 03:33 - Okay, you said it in the Bible, I'll go do it. 03:35 - Yeah. - Really doesn't work 03:37 that way, doesn't it? (laughs) (Janice laughs) 03:38 I've unfortunately found that out many times. 03:40 - It doesn't work well some of the time. 03:42 - Yeah, yeah. 03:43 Kind of, and like you in snowshoe here once in awhile, 03:45 you take a little more direction. 03:47 - But there are parts of it I was doing very well- 03:49 - You were, you were. - Thank you. 03:50 - Well, we've got to get up to the campsite. 03:53 - Yeah, you promised there was 03:54 not any snow on the other side. 03:57 - Yeah, I did promise that, didn't I? 03:59 - I'm waiting to see if you're right about that. 04:01 - Now this is pretty steep, 04:02 so we're gonna be just keep digging in with your toes. 04:04 - I'm digging. 04:06 (upbeat music) 04:13 - Oh, the last of the snow. 04:14 - Good thing because I was so ready to take these off. 04:17 - Yeah. 04:18 I'm really happy 04:19 that everybody got the camp set up for us too. 04:21 - Huh, we stayed away long enough. 04:23 - Yeah. 04:28 Now I just gotta get a little bit of wood for the fire. 04:31 - And sit. - And sit. 04:33 - Let me sit. 04:34 All right, on the way here, 04:37 about the third or fourth time that I fell, 04:40 and insisted on getting up by myself. 04:44 I did, if you caught it, 04:45 I grudgingly admitted that sometimes 04:48 my wanting to do it my way 04:52 isn't always the best way. 04:54 - Was that a- - No, that is as close as- 04:56 - That's a little bit of an apology. (laughs) 04:57 - You'll ever get to an apology for my attitude. 04:59 - Just joking. 05:00 - But it reminded me, we have evidence of that in the Bible. 05:04 There, I can actually think of several, 05:06 but one that comes to mind. 05:07 If someone who do it my way was Saul 05:12 on more than one occasion. 05:14 But do you remember the time when he had been told 05:17 to wait for Samuel? 05:19 - Yeah. 05:21 - Well, even before that, he had been told exactly 05:24 to destroy everything- - Yep, yeah. 05:26 - In the city that he was trying to, that they were taking. 05:31 And he had a better idea, it was, 05:33 hey, I can improve on God's plan, 05:36 and so he didn't destroy everything. 05:38 He thought, no, we'll keep all the best 05:42 for a sacrifice to God. 05:44 Somehow thinking that by disobeying God's orders, 05:47 he was going to end up making God happy. 05:50 - Yeah, here's the text, amazing text. 05:54 I would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was, 05:57 he said that was good, I kept everything that was good. 06:00 What he didn't keep was the vile, 06:03 the refuse that was no good anyway, that's what he kept. 06:06 That was his idea and his plan. 06:09 - But Samuel, when he got there corrected him right away. 06:14 - Yeah, it's amazing. 06:16 Let's see. 06:17 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said, 06:20 blessed be thou of the Lord, 06:22 I have performed thy commandment of the Lord. 06:26 - He was so blind, he didn't even recognized 06:28 that he had not followed what God had said to do 06:31 because in his mind I think it was like, 06:34 but I'm helping God, I'm doing it better. 06:37 And there's a verse in the Bible 06:40 that talks about running before the Lord. 06:42 And too often, I know I do that, 06:45 it's like God will give me an idea and then I run with it, 06:49 and it doesn't end up as well. 06:51 I end up tripping or falling like I did on the snowfield. 06:55 - Yeah. 06:56 - Even though I think I'm doing it right 06:58 because I swear I was digging my toes 07:00 and doing everything you told me to do, 07:03 and yet I ended up sliding halfway back down the hill. 07:06 - Just for the record, you weren't quite doing everything 07:09 or you wouldn't have fallen down the hill, 07:10 but that's okay. - But it seemed like I was. 07:12 - Yeah, and that's what- 07:13 - I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, 07:14 I thought I was doing everything the way you said to do it. 07:17 - And that's what Saul kind of thought too. 07:19 - I still think you left a step out. 07:21 - (laughs) You know, it's not, 07:23 and this is not reflecting what you did, 07:25 we're having fun here and talking about it, but with Saul, 07:31 Samuel had said, 07:32 hey, you wait until I come back, 07:34 and then I'll just sacrifice to God. 07:36 Saul said, I can't wait. 07:39 Samuel goes away and Saul sacrifices to God. 07:43 He was not his position, he was not the high priest, 07:45 there was not anything to do with him, 07:47 but he began thinking in his own mind, 07:49 I can do just as good a job as God's high priest. 07:52 - Right, and it didn't make sense to him to wait, 07:55 they already been waiting for Saul. 07:57 - Yeah. - The men were getting 07:58 impatient and he thought, we can do this, I can handle this. 08:02 - Yeah, and the end result unfortunately is, 08:04 it turned out very bad for Saul, 08:06 he ended up losing his own life. 08:08 You don't follow God and things aren't gonna turn out well. 08:13 But hey, let's go get some firewood 08:15 for the fire. - Yes. 08:16 - And I wanna show you- - I was thinking it was time 08:16 for a campfire. 08:17 - There's a tremendous location, 08:19 I wanna show you out here, the views are incredible. 08:21 - Sure, if I can get up. 08:24 (laughs) 08:35 - Look at that view. 08:37 - That is great. - Did I tell you? 08:38 Did I tell you? - That was worth walking 08:39 out here for, but on the way here I thought of another story 08:44 because we were talking about Saul 08:46 and how he had this great idea 08:48 and he could do it by himself. 08:51 There was another classic example, 08:53 and that was, after Jericho. 08:57 Do you remember what they did? 08:58 What the children of Israel did? 09:01 - Yeah, that was the city of Ai. 09:03 - Ai, not AI as in artificial intelligence. 09:06 - It is true. - But the town of Ai, 09:09 they had just conquered Jericho, 09:13 but the problem was, 09:14 they forgot that they hadn't conquered it, 09:16 all they had done with Jericho is walk around 09:19 and then yell and watch what God did, 09:22 but they got it in their heads somehow 09:24 that they had taken Jericho. 09:27 And a little while later, 09:29 they see this little town beyond Jericho 09:32 and they go, no sweat. 09:34 - That was my direction of their leader, right, Josh. 09:37 Josh would just go out and check out this place 09:39 to spy out over there and see the city of Ai, and so they- 09:44 - And they said, ah, it's tiny, 09:45 compared to Jericho it's nothing. 09:47 - Yeah. - We can do that 09:48 in the morning because they forgot 09:51 who had really been working for them. 09:54 - That's the key, they'd absolutely forgot. 09:56 - They thought they could do it themselves. 09:57 - And the thing is, God had just told him with Jericho, 10:00 look, how on earth are you gonna take Jericho without me? 10:03 They couldn't, they were supposed to learn that lesson. 10:06 God wiped out an entire monster city, a huge city, 10:11 walls that were massive, but yet they thought, well, yeah, 10:15 look, with 3,000 men, I mean, that sounds like a lot to you 10:19 and me right now, but just 3,000 men, 10:21 we can go take that city. 10:22 - Right, they didn't even think they needed their full army. 10:24 - Yeah, monster army really, the whole nation. 10:26 - They could take Ai with one arm tied behind their backs. 10:29 - Yeah, yeah, so they head out with 3,000 men. 10:32 Yeah, I remember that story. 10:34 - Yeah, it didn't turn out so well for them. 10:36 - No. 10:37 - Their great plan didn't turn out so well. 10:40 - Yeah. 10:41 - Because they hadn't taken God with them. 10:42 - That was the key. 10:44 - They were doing it themselves. 10:46 - Yeah, and of course, 10:48 we've talked about that already a little bit today. 10:50 It's so easy to do in the Bible, there's so many, 10:53 we could probably spend hours 10:55 talking about the different situations of God's people. 10:58 God's people saying, yeah, I can do it myself. 11:01 It's so easy to slip into that mold. 11:04 God gives you victory one time, 11:05 and the rest of the times I can just sail through. 11:08 Prayer, eh, I don't need to pray today. (laughs) 11:11 - I did it yesterday. 11:12 - I did yesterday, (Janice laughs) 11:13 I'm covered, right, I'm covered. 11:15 - And I don't think that we're any smarter 11:18 than the children of Israel were. 11:20 There are so many times I've read stories like Ai 11:23 and thought, you idiots, 11:26 you just ran off to do that on your own. 11:28 God didn't tell you, go take Ai and I'll be with you. 11:32 They were just all pumped up with their own abilities. 11:36 Forgot who it was that really took Jericho. 11:38 - Yeah. 11:40 - And I think, why were they so senseless 11:44 except that then in maybe smaller ways, 11:46 I don't know that I've ever tried to sack an entire town, 11:51 but I'm constantly doing that in my own life. 11:54 I see a little problem or something and I think, 11:56 oh, no sweat, I can handle that. 11:58 And I don't go and ask God, 12:02 first of all, should I be doing this? 12:03 Second of all, how would you like me? 12:07 - You don't ask God, should I be doing this? 12:08 Because you're scared of the answer sometime. 12:10 I am. - Or I'm just overconfident 12:13 because I'm so certain I have a brilliant idea, 12:15 why would God object? - Yeah. 12:17 - God is gonna look at me and go, oh, she is brilliant, 12:20 I should let her have her own way more often. 12:22 (laughs) 12:24 They're like we did the snowshoing, right? 12:25 - Are you gonna keep bringing that up? 12:27 - Probably. (laughs) 12:29 Let me share one with you I was thinking of 12:32 is in Joshua 23, God speaking. 12:35 One man of you shall chase a thousand, 12:37 for the Lord, your God, it's he that fighteth for you. 12:42 As he's promised you. 12:43 Who does the fighting for us? 12:45 - God. 12:45 - God does the fighting for us. 12:47 So many times I get in the situation 12:50 where I just wanna fight it on my own. 12:52 All these things had come up in my life, 12:53 I want to do battle with the devil on my own. 12:56 And how many times am I gonna win against the devil? 12:59 - Zero. - Yeah, zero; yeah, zero. 13:02 - But why is it that I so often have exhausted 13:06 all of my resources before I think to turn to God? 13:11 It's like he's my last resort. - Yeah, yeah. 13:14 - Instead of being the first one. 13:15 - We can't make God our last resort. 13:18 - No. (Jim laughs) 13:19 (upbeat music) 13:32 - Talking Donkey International 13:34 is a worldwide media production ministry. 13:38 We have a dream that can become a reality 13:40 with your financial partnership. 13:43 - You see, Janice has been portraying 13:44 great women of the Bible to churches 13:46 and spiritual organizations for years. 13:50 Now is the time to expand this work. 13:53 Our goal is to produce a powerful 13 episode series called 13:56 Women of God, set in a period of Israel during Bible times. 14:00 The characters will virtually come alive, 14:03 allowing you to witness how God has always empowered women 14:07 who are committed to him. 14:09 God created a man and a woman to represent him. 14:13 It took both. 14:15 Women have always been an essential part 14:18 of the gospel message. 14:20 With your help, we plan to bring to life 14:23 the powerful stories of women like Deborah, 14:26 the warrior and judge; 14:27 Rahab and the woman at the well. 14:31 We also planned to create a series of corresponding 14:34 Bible studies designed just for women. 14:37 - So please help us create Women of God, 14:39 the opportunity is now. 14:41 Another film group has invited us to join them in Morocco 14:44 to participate in the filming of The Book of Judges. 14:47 The studios at Morocco are where many of the great 14:50 biblical epics are being filmed today. 14:53 Something that would normally cost us in excess of $300,000 14:57 will only cost us team travel, gear, 15:00 crew expenses and final editing cost. 15:02 Total cost will be about $89,000, that's a major saving. 15:07 - I love finding a bargain. (laughs) 15:09 - Absolutely. 15:10 The GoFundMe link is on your screen, 15:13 help inspire God's women today. 15:16 And thank you so much for your prayers 15:17 and financial support. 15:21 - Jim, I have to tell you, 15:22 as much fun as I had yesterday in the snow, I- 15:26 - Sliping down the hill. 15:28 - Oh, that was the most fun, yes. 15:29 (Jim laughs) 15:30 I like this area. 15:33 I hadn't been here before until you brought me here, 15:35 and it is just so quiet and peaceful 15:38 and there's less chance of me landing on my back. 15:41 - There you go, there you go. 15:43 It's a great area. 15:44 And I don't know why, it kind of reminded me 15:47 of the peace of God in here, the creator. 15:50 - Yeah. 15:51 - And I was kinda thinking about Hezekiah 15:53 as we're talking about a difference, 15:56 people who lay their lives out to God. 15:59 - Well, we were talking about people 16:01 who ran before the Lord who wanted to do it their way. 16:05 Are you saying that Hezekiah was the opposite? 16:09 - Well, it seems to me, he did it God's way, 16:10 at least in the beginning there was a couple foibles as- 16:13 - We all have hiccups. - Humanity does, yeah. 16:15 But yeah, he did a tremendous job. 16:19 - So of which incident are you thinking about? 16:20 - Well, I was thinking about when all the kings said, 16:23 we're gonna come, we're gonna take you out, 16:25 we're gonna wipe you out completely. 16:28 And they wrote him a letter. 16:30 - He was surrounded, was that Sennacherib? 16:32 - Yeah, Sennacherib. 16:33 - Sennacherib, I love that name. 16:35 He got a letter unlike any that we're ever likely to get 16:39 because I'm not important enough to get threatening letters. 16:41 - (laughs) Yeah. 16:43 - But he got one that, didn't it basically say, 16:46 look at everybody else that we've wiped out? 16:50 Their gods didn't save them. 16:52 What makes you think you are any different? 16:54 Pretty much just get ready, you might as well roll over 16:57 and just play dead and let us come on in. 16:59 - Yeah, exactly. 17:01 I mean, how would that make you feel? 17:03 - (laughs) I probably would have curled up 17:06 in a little ball on the floor and being crying, 17:09 but I don't think that was his reaction. 17:11 - Yeah, no, really, it wasn't, 17:13 rather than I could do it myself, he ran to the sanctuary, 17:17 he unfurled that whole letter out to God and said, 17:20 God, these guys are trying to kill us, 17:22 these guys are trying to spit in your face, God. 17:25 Eh, you got a, man, got him. 17:26 - (laughs) I know. 17:27 - Yeah, the mosquitoes. - Nature. 17:29 - But he just laid the whole letter out to God 17:32 and said, here it is. 17:33 What are you going to do about it, God? 17:35 - I think I mentioned yesterday 17:36 that sometimes God is our last resort, 17:39 it's only after I've exhausted myself, 17:42 exhausted all of my resources. 17:43 - Yeah. - But Hezekiah, you're right, 17:45 it said, he got the letter and he got up 17:48 and went to the temple. 17:50 - I got to tell you, there are so many times 17:52 when I catch myself, okay, let's see, I'll try this, 17:55 I'll try this, I'll try that on, then we'll pray. 17:58 - Uh-huh, we do it backwards, don't we? 18:00 - Absolutely backwards, Hezekiah had it together, 18:03 he laid it out to God 18:04 and God answered his prayer in a mighty way. 18:07 - So did it work? 18:09 - Well, let's see if I can find that. 18:16 Here is, I wanted to read this to you. 18:17 It says, now therefore, O Lord our God, I besiege thee, 18:21 save us out of his hand, 18:23 that all the kingdoms of the earth may know 18:25 that thou art the Lord, God. 18:28 It's interesting too because it says, 18:29 I want to give glory to you, 18:31 it's not about me, it's about you, 18:32 and your glory and your honor. 18:35 And God answered the prayer and he wiped them all out, 18:38 he wiped out all the enemy. (laughs) 18:40 - And they hardly had to lift a finger. 18:43 - They really did. 18:44 - Just like Jericho- - Yeah. 18:45 - Where their part was minimal, God did it. 18:49 - So many times you find throughout the Bible, 18:51 if we rely on God, God totally takes care of, 18:53 he says, I will fight for you. 18:55 Matter of fact, remember children of Israel says, 18:58 fear not, I am with you. 19:00 Fear not, if you went through the Bible 19:02 and you found out there those fear not times, 19:04 there's a lot of that. 19:05 - Well, that's because we tend to get afraid. (laughs) 19:08 The children of Israel were- - Yeah. 19:09 - A lot like me or I'm a lot like them 19:11 because they came first. - Yeah. 19:13 - But there's still plenty of fear. 19:15 - Yeah. - My first reaction, 19:16 and then it's, God take this. 19:18 - It really is, it really. 19:20 We're gonna take just a momentary break here, 19:22 but I wanna share a story with you 19:24 about another fellow in our time 19:27 that really allowed God to work in his life. 19:30 I love your stories. (Jim laughs) 19:32 I told you I was gonna share 19:34 an amazing story with you. - Mm-hmm. 19:35 - But I can't do it with one hand, 19:36 so would you hold my Bible? 19:37 - Oh, you have to talk with both hands, do you? 19:38 - I gotta talk with both hands, yeah, yeah. 19:41 This is basically, it's a story of Akimatu. 19:44 Akimatu lived in Pacific, or Pacific, PNG, 19:48 Papua New Guinea. - Okay. 19:50 - And basically Akimatu was a young man about 14-years-old. 19:55 He lived with a warring tribe, 19:56 I mean, it was a pretty nasty tribe. 19:59 One day he showed up to a school. 20:02 Nobody knew why, nobody had reached out to this tribe 20:05 and they weren't the type of people 20:07 that went out and studied or did anything like this, 20:11 but they signed him up. 20:13 Every day he sat in Bill's class, 20:16 the professor sat clear in the back, 20:20 never said a word, nobody said a word to him, 20:22 they were a little nervous about him and- 20:25 - They were afraid of him. - They were afraid of him. 20:27 - Hmm. - Because of the tribe 20:29 that he'd come from. 20:30 And in New Guinea, there can be some 20:31 (Janice laughs) - Pretty nasty people. 20:34 Well, things went on and progressed and nobody said much, 20:38 but the quarter of the year has gone through, 20:41 he never says a word. 20:43 One day Bill asked a question and he answered it. 20:47 Now the student, one of the students upfront just thought 20:50 that was the dumbest answer, just the craziest thing. 20:54 And he starts razzing, you know as young people do. 20:56 - Yes, I work at a school. 20:58 - There you go. - I know what you mean. 20:59 - Young teenagers. 21:01 And, man, they started just razzing and razzing and razzing. 21:04 And it just got so bad, little Akimatu, 21:07 he has four foot pygmy frame stood up on top of those desks, 21:10 he started running across all those desks. 21:13 And he's got his little tribal gowns on 21:15 and he pulls out a big old knife, 21:17 and he's going to decapitate this kid. 21:19 He gets almost to him, he is just ready to take him down, 21:22 and all the classroom jumps on him, 21:23 wrestles the knife away from him. 21:25 Now any place elsewhere, you'd probably go to jail 21:28 or whatever, but no, 21:30 they just stayed away from Akimatu. (laughs) 21:32 They really treated him with kid gloves now. 21:34 They didn't wanna get anywhere near him, 21:36 but they never said much. 21:38 Akimatu didn't say much more after that. 21:40 - And he kept coming to class. 21:42 - Kept coming to class as like he, 21:44 and matter of fact it seemed like 21:45 he started enjoying class a little bit. 21:48 Well, toward the end of the season, 21:51 the professor Bill, he noticed 21:53 that it seemed like there was some changes in him. 21:56 He could kind of see that, 21:58 yeah, things are getting a little bit better here. 22:01 What's going on? 22:03 And he kept instructing and instructing, 22:07 and finally Akimatu would answer a few more questions. 22:09 The classroom never dared say another word, 22:12 no matter what the answers were like. 22:14 (laughs) 22:15 And, anyway, he continued on in class 22:19 and everything seemed fine. 22:20 Now at the end of the school season every year, 22:23 professor Bill would go out someplace in the mountains 22:26 and he'd do evangelistic meetings, 22:28 he'd hold a little meeting with some tribe. 22:31 He found out that this one tribe he was going to, 22:34 basically they were, well, in a situation that... 22:39 What can I say? 22:40 They didn't speak any of the languages that he knew 22:42 or any of the translators that he had, 22:44 it was a variety of pidgin English that nobody knew. 22:48 He discovers when he gets back to the school 22:50 that Akimatu knew that language, 22:52 but he didn't wanna ask Akimatu anything at all 22:55 because he's scared of him too. 22:57 But he's thinking, well, I don't know. 22:59 Finally, the Holy Spirit keeps getting to him, 23:01 working at him, working at him. 23:03 And Bill finally thinks, okay, I'll listen to the spirit 23:07 and I'll go ahead and do what the spirit says, I'll ask him. 23:10 He asked him, Akimatu was just excited about it. 23:12 He said, yes, I'll do it. 23:14 Okay, cool. 23:15 So in the school year they take off up in the mountains, 23:19 hike and hike and hike 23:20 to get to this tribe way back in there, 23:22 and this tribe is very happy to see them. 23:24 They give them the place of honor to sleep that night. 23:27 They arrived there pretty late, 23:28 they give them a place to sleep. 23:30 It's right in the pig house. 23:32 Yeah P-I-G, (Janice laughs) 23:33 pig house, you got it, where they keep all the pigs. 23:36 - That was the place of honor. 23:37 - That was the place of honor, 23:38 real honor with all the pigs 23:40 because they're precious, they're important. 23:42 So they climb in there, 23:44 and Akimatu, he just right in there, he is sound asleep, 23:47 he is having a good old time. 23:49 Bill to show on, or he kind of gets in there, 23:53 but he got his head out. 23:54 He got to kid his head out there, 23:56 so he can get a breath of fresh air once in awhile. 23:58 In the middle of the night all of a sudden, 24:00 you Seventh-day come a quick house, 24:01 you Seventh-day come a quick house. 24:02 Well, Bill happened to be Seventh-day Adventist, 24:05 and the translation was, you Seventh-day Adventist, 24:07 you are needed at the witch doctor's house right now. 24:10 They get up, they run through the jungle, 24:12 they get to this little hut, 24:13 Bill peeks in, here's the whole crowd, 24:16 and everybody, basically the women are crying, 24:18 and this mother is clutching this child. 24:20 What, what is happening? 24:22 What, what's going on? 24:23 Well, the child apparently had died, nothing they can do. 24:28 Bill thinks, well, I'm also a pastor, 24:30 I need to say something, I need to do something. 24:35 He takes a breath, he starts to walk under the little door 24:38 because they're all pygmies. (Janice laughs) 24:40 And little Akimatu shoves him aside, 24:42 runs in there, grabs the baby. 24:44 And everybody is going, what, what is going on? 24:46 He grabs that baby, he holds that baby up, 24:49 and he says, God, you gave life to this child, 24:53 now you took life away. 24:55 Now, God, you give life back and we'll give you the glory. 25:00 Man, everybody is just like, whoa. 25:01 And Bill is going, what is going on? 25:04 And all of a sudden fingers start moving, 25:08 toes start moving, and that baby begins to cry. 25:13 And Akimatu walks back 25:15 and he hands that child to the mother, 25:18 and everybody is going, whoa. (laughs) 25:19 The Chief comes to Bill and he said, 25:21 nobody, nobody has ever done anything like this. 25:24 Our spirits can't do anything like this. 25:27 You've got to tell us what your spirits are like. 25:31 Please tell us what your spirits are like. 25:33 - After something like that, 25:34 that whole village was ready to listen to anything 25:36 he had to say. - Exactly. 25:38 Well, Akimatu and Bill got together, 25:40 they studied all that night, they talked all night, 25:42 that night with the Chief and through the next day, 25:46 and they raised up a church in that village. 25:49 Amazing stuff, and I think about, 25:52 here was a young man who basically, 25:54 I don't know, head hunter, whatever else, 25:55 a really warring tribe, and God called him 25:59 and he surrendered to God. 26:01 A young man ready to cut off another student's head, 26:03 that's how bad he was, 26:05 but God allowed the Holy Spirit to work in his life. 26:08 And I think about this situation with each one of us, 26:11 I can do it myself, I can do it myself. 26:13 No, we can't. 26:15 We can't do the things that God would desire to do 26:18 in and through us. 26:19 - But Akimatu recognized who could. 26:22 - Yeah, who could do it, and it's God. 26:24 And friends, I wanna tell you, 26:26 God can do things mighty and through you too. 26:29 No matter what it is in your life, 26:30 no matter what's burdening you, 26:32 no matter like Hezekiah laid out before God, 26:34 choose God today. 26:36 God will work mighty miracles in your life, 26:39 whatever your life is like. 26:40 Please (laughs) do it today. 26:45 (thunder rumbles) 26:58 - There's a storm coming. 27:01 That means any minute now, 27:03 my grandchildren will start appearing. 27:06 The little ones first, 27:08 but the older ones won't be far behind, 27:11 all of them scrambling for the safety of grandma's lap. 27:17 They know their grandmother isn't afraid of any storm. 27:21 And soon one of them is bound to ask to hear it again, 27:25 the story of the great storm, 27:28 how God decided to rid his world of evil, 27:33 how he decided to send the rain 27:37 and how we asked grandpa Noah to build a boat. 27:42 (upbeat music) 27:46 (upbeat music) 27:51 - Thank you for watching. 27:52 Join us again for another exciting Country Wisdom. 27:54 - See you next time. 27:55 (upbeat music) |
Revised 2021-11-26