Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000066A
00:00 (inspirational music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to Jesus For Asia Now. 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and today my husband Jon is here with me. 00:27 And we're gonna do a little bit different show today, 00:30 it's little bit of dreaming maybe, 00:32 bit of a travelog, welcome to the show dear. 00:35 - Hi darling, good to be here. 00:37 - You went on a trip. - Yeah. 00:39 - And that's what we wanna share about today, 00:40 some possibilities, some learning, 00:43 maybe some language culture kind of learning. 00:46 - Yeah, mm-hmm. 00:47 - Sights and sounds. - Yeah. 00:49 - Where are we going today? 00:50 - Well, I wanna share a little bit about 00:53 why I'm going to these places. 00:55 And a lot of times, what is the motive of our travel? 00:59 For me, I find myself going back to the same spot a lot. 01:04 Of course we have ministries, 01:05 we have projects there 01:06 and so we just keep going back to the same spot 01:09 and I think as a church we tend to, or as humans, 01:12 we tend to go back to what we know. 01:14 And so I wanted to look into places 01:18 that we aren't doing anything. 01:21 A lot of times we talk about all the things 01:23 that we've accomplished and all the things, 01:24 all the mission outreach projects that we're doing. 01:27 And so we kinda get the feeling or the impression 01:31 that a lot's being done overseas. 01:34 A lot of money's going, 01:36 there's a lot of ministries involved in overseas work, 01:39 but in the actuality when you look at the big picture, 01:42 there's hardly anything being done, 01:44 to reach the unreached, 01:45 to reach the major population centers of the world. 01:49 - There are a lot of areas where nothing is being done. 01:52 - Exactly. - Basically. 01:53 - Every week we talk about finishing the work 01:56 and there's a lot of places 01:57 where I'd love to see the work start. 01:59 - So you're looking at where the need is, 02:01 not just where the work is already? 02:02 - Right. 02:04 - [Natalie] So, do you wanna explain to us this map, 02:06 what are we seeing here? 02:07 - [Jon] Yeah, so the yellow is the land. 02:10 (Jon chuckles) 02:11 And the red spots are 02:12 where the population density is higher, 02:16 you know, like, certain number 02:17 of people per square kilometer or something. 02:20 - Okay. - So like in the outback 02:24 of Australia, the center of Australia, 02:26 there's nobody, so that's all yellow. 02:28 You know, in South Dakota, North Dakota, 02:30 the people are really spread out, 02:31 so you're not gonna see any red in those places. 02:34 But in places like China, in Java, 02:39 the island of Java in Indonesia in the South there, 02:41 just over from Australia. - It's all red. 02:42 - It's all red. 02:43 I mean, like, a lot of people in one place. 02:46 And so one of the highest density population 02:50 centers in the world, is there in Northern India. 02:52 - Yeah. - Okay, it's that crescent 02:54 right below Nepal, and even though that's got the most 02:59 number of people, I mean, the numbers just are staggering, 03:03 of how many people are up there. 03:04 Like in one, one union, the North India union, 03:09 has 650 million people. 03:12 That's twice the population of the United States. 03:15 - Wow. - In one union. 03:16 That's not a division. 03:18 - Yeah. - That's just one union. 03:19 And guess how many pastors they have for 650 million people? 03:23 - I hate to guess. 03:25 'Cause we have 4000. 03:26 - [Jon] Yeah, in the North American division. 03:29 - Right. - They have less than 100. 03:30 - Wow. 03:32 Wow. - And so the numbers just, 03:34 they're just-- - Boggle the mind, yeah. 03:36 - They were like, who is sufficient for these things? 03:38 - Right, no one but God and His spirit. 03:41 - Yeah. - And by His spirit 03:42 He can open doors that man can walk through. 03:46 - And that's what we're wanting to do. 03:48 - Right. - Is, you know, 03:49 there's that statement of there's a need for people 03:52 to push the victories of the cross. 03:56 And even Paul was talking about you know, 03:59 in Romans, he's like, everybody around here, 04:02 there's other people that can do this work, 04:04 but where is the work not being done? 04:07 And so, he was wanting to go to Spain. 04:10 And that was God's will for his life, 04:12 accept that his life was cut short, 04:14 but anyway, that's kind of like, 04:17 where are we not doing this? 04:19 So that's the reason for this trip that I took. 04:21 - Okay. - And so we launched 04:24 up from Mumbai. 04:25 And looking out of the plane window, 04:27 you see a slum type of dwelling there. 04:30 As we lift off, we look off into the distance, 04:33 we see high rises. 04:34 If we look to the left here, in the bottom left corner 04:36 of the screen, you can see how the slum 04:38 is right up against these big high rises. 04:41 And so you see this big mixture, 04:43 this big disparity between the ultra poor 04:47 and the wealthy. 04:49 It's a huge city, a metropolitan area of 20 million people. 04:53 It's the size of New York. 04:55 Massive city, and we'll get to that in another show. 04:58 Beautiful cloud formations you can see 05:00 are coming from Mumbai, straight up, 05:02 it's about a two hour flight. 05:04 And now we're zooming into the state of Punjab. 05:07 - Okay. - And we're coming 05:09 to the city of Amritsar. 05:11 - Okay. - So we've come in, 05:13 we land, here's the airport, very modern airport. 05:15 And this is my taxi driver I got from the airport 05:19 to my hotel with an Uber taxi. 05:22 - Okay. (they laugh) 05:23 - And he had a turban and everything. 05:25 So he took me to my hotel through the Gandhi gate, 05:28 coming into Amritsar, passed the tree, 05:31 where they're selling a lot of things. 05:33 (he laughs) 05:34 It's a banyan tree, really cool tree. 05:36 And then this is my hotel. 05:37 - Okay. - So many times we see 05:40 pictures, but it's hard to imagine the feeling 05:44 of being there, you know, in the mix. 05:46 - Right. - And look around 05:48 and there's things happening and the smell and the heat 05:50 and everything like that. 05:53 - We can't share the smell or the heat today. 05:56 But, we can share the sights and sounds. 05:58 - Yeah. - So, we have a video. 06:01 - [Jon] Okay. 06:02 So I was just walking down the street, 06:03 and videotaping as I went, because it's so different. 06:07 It's so, you know, you walk across the street 06:10 and you just weave yourself through the traffic, 06:12 'cause otherwise, you'll never get across. 06:13 - [Natalie] Right. (he laughs) 06:14 - [Jon] And just walking down the side walk, 06:16 it's such a different feeling. 06:17 And the people are friendly, they're open, they're warm. 06:20 As I was walking, I saw this guy come up to his 06:23 Royal Enfield motorcycle. 06:24 - [Natalie] But you have told me that this is really 06:26 an unusual bike. 06:27 So, they still have those? 06:29 - [Jon] Yeah, they do. 06:30 But it was neat just to talk to him, 06:32 and you know, you look at him, he's a normal guy. 06:35 - Yeah. - Put him in Australia, 06:36 or America, he's gonna fit right in. 06:39 And now his Mother comes along. 06:43 Hops on. 06:44 - Yeah. - Then that night, 06:45 I went walking out to go to the Golden Temple. 06:48 - Okay, what is that? 06:50 - I'll show you. - Okay. 06:52 - 'Cause you have to see it to believe it. 06:54 - Okay. - It's amazing. 06:56 So that night, I'm walking down, 06:58 this is obviously after dark, 06:59 around eight or nine o'clock at night. 07:01 Most of the people had already gone passed. 07:04 I was a little bit tired and so I had rested. 07:06 This is what I saw. 07:08 You know, then people started coming. 07:11 More and more people. 07:13 The crowds got a little thicker. 07:15 I love the way she's riding on the back, 07:17 you know, side saddle. 07:19 Big broad streets, and then I started seeing 07:21 these massive statues and stuff. 07:26 It was like, wow. 07:27 And there's this. 07:29 That's like, wow, and then-- 07:31 - [Natalie] There's a lot of motion in that one. 07:33 - [Jon] Yeah. 07:34 And then this bus, look at this bus. 07:36 I mean, it's-- - Full. 07:38 On top and bottom. - Yeah, it's a double decker. 07:40 - Yeah. - Converted. 07:42 And then more and more people. - Was this a festival time? 07:45 - No. - Like, a special holiday? 07:46 - No, it was just a normal day. 07:49 Not a special, nothing special, this is just normal traffic. 07:53 - Okay. - To go to this temple. 07:55 - Oh, okay. - And of course, 07:57 the Subway there kind of made me, 08:00 well it looked a little out of place to be honest with you. 08:02 - Yeah. 08:03 - I knew if I had any trouble, I you know, 08:06 with the food, I'd just go there. 08:08 - Yeah. - This is the entrance 08:09 to the temple. - Wow. 08:11 - Yeah, and look at all these people. 08:14 They're just walking through and people look like entire 08:17 families are camped out there, spending the night, 08:20 and this is after we come into the entrance, 08:22 this is the temple. 08:24 So inside this entrance is this big square, 08:28 with a big lake, and in the middle of the lake, 08:31 is this Golden Temple. - The Golden Temple. 08:33 - [Jon] And they call it the Golden Temple 08:35 for a very good reason. 08:37 - It's gold - Yes. 08:39 It's actually gold. - Wow. 08:41 - [Jon] That's me. 08:42 - [Natalie] And you have something orange on your head. 08:44 - In order to go in, you have to take off your shoes. 08:47 And they have this little free shoe bank thing, 08:50 where you-- - Check your shoes in. 08:52 - Check your shoes in, and they give you a little 08:53 metal number. - Okay. 08:55 - And then you walk through this disinfectant little pool, 08:59 it's about that deep, just to get the disinfectant 09:01 off your feet and then you go in. 09:02 - You mean you get the disinfectant on your feet? 09:05 - Yeah, the germs. - You disinfect your feet. 09:07 - Get your germs off your feet. 09:08 - Okay. - And then you have to have 09:10 something on your head. - A head covering. 09:11 - So this guy sold me this little orange head scarf. 09:16 And here's some worshipers. 09:18 Now, what's unique about this temple, 09:20 in this religion, is they don't worship idols. 09:23 - Really? - Yeah. 09:25 They've got a big book, I mean, it's a massive book. 09:29 And inside is the writings of their sages 09:32 from generations ago. 09:34 They had like seven very wise sages that wrote down 09:38 all their thoughts and they put it in a book, 09:40 and they don't worship the book, 09:42 but that's what's on display, 09:44 and they venerate the book. 09:47 They have miracles in their history. 09:50 A man was coming to save a part of his kingdom. 09:55 He got in a battle, he got his head chopped off, 09:57 so he carried his head in his hand 09:58 and went and saved the kingdom anyway. 10:02 The pool has healing powers, so you'll see people 10:05 going into the pool, like Pool of Bethesda, basically, 10:09 to get healed and a lot of teachings. 10:13 Teaching and educating the people. 10:14 They walk around with a little dagger in their belt, 10:19 so they have the, - Head covering. 10:21 - Head covering, the big beard and the dagger. 10:24 - Okay. - Now, we have a good friend 10:26 in Bangkok who was a former Sikh. 10:29 And he's now a wonderful Adventist. 10:32 Just a wonderful family. 10:34 A lot of God's people live there. 10:36 - Right. - So, as I was coming home 10:38 the streets were darker, and I went through a different 10:40 section of town, and found this 10:42 dress shop, yeah. - Dress shops. 10:44 - [Jon] And you look at this, this looks like you know, 10:46 what are those, close up, it's like, 10:48 just a lot of shoes. - Shoes. 10:50 (they laugh) 10:51 - [Jon] And then this place, 10:52 - They sell the daggers. - They sell the dag-- 10:53 - And the swords. - Yeah. 10:55 - Long swords, wow. - Yeah. 10:57 And then more clothes, just lots and lots of-- 11:00 - Textiles, yeah. - Yeah. 11:03 - Garments. - It was Friday night, 11:04 so I didn't buy anything. 11:05 I would have loved to buy you something beautiful. 11:08 - Well, that's okay. 11:09 - Next time, I'll take you out there. 11:10 Maybe we can try it on. - That would be nice. 11:14 - The next day was Sabbath. 11:16 So I walked to church. 11:17 - Okay. - And this is some 11:19 of the sights and sounds as I was walking to church. 11:23 - Okay. - We have a man. 11:24 - A pedal taxi. - Yep. 11:25 And then this guy, with-- - I feel sorry for the horse. 11:28 - I know. 11:30 And then here's a Sikh person, 11:32 I asked if I could take his picture, 11:33 and he said, "I don't know why, but sure." 11:36 So, I took his picture, you know. 11:38 Now, this is just standing on the side of the road, 11:41 this is just a normal (horn beeps loudly) 11:44 road side scene. 11:48 Now, you can't feel the heat, can't smell, 11:49 but just, here's a young couple, getting a taxi. 11:52 Obviously they're going somewhere on a weekend, 11:55 or an extended trip. 11:57 And so the guy that was in the taxi already, 11:59 gets out and goes and sits with the driver, 12:01 and then they can get in. 12:02 And this guy's asking if I could, 12:05 if I need a ride. 12:06 And then, just this is normal life. 12:11 - Yeah. - There. 12:13 Here's a bicycle repair shop. 12:16 - Okay. - With his tools spread out. 12:17 (she laughs) 12:18 - Ready for anything. - Uh-huh. 12:20 Another shot of the street. 12:21 And you can see a couple of guys hauling their stuff. 12:26 Here's a man, this is a moving truck. 12:29 Taking some pipes to a construction site. 12:33 I walked over an overpass, main thoroughfare into town, 12:37 and then main train tracks. 12:39 - Okay. - And this is a shot 12:41 looking down on one section of the city. 12:43 Just a couple more shots, and then here we are, 12:46 at the Adventist church. - Nice. 12:48 - And we come inside. - It's nice building. 12:50 - It was really hot, but it wasn't hot enough 12:53 to turn on the AC's. 12:55 (they laugh) 12:57 So, it's what you're used to. - Right. 12:59 - So they have the fans running, and right across the aisle 13:02 was a man wearing a turban. 13:05 - Okay. - And it's kind of neat 13:06 to see when you travel to different parts of the world, 13:08 you see people from different backgrounds. 13:10 That's your brother. 13:11 - Mm-hmm. - You know, we have 13:13 the same God, same Christ, same hope, 13:17 same opportunity for salvation. 13:19 - Yeah, that's neat. 13:21 - They had Sabbath school, 13:22 here's a little bit of their singing. 13:25 (singing in foreign language) 13:59 It's not a song that I recognize, 14:02 it's a different style that I'm used to, 14:04 but it really touched their hearts. 14:05 - Mm-hmm, it's always interesting to me to see the types 14:08 of music and hear it in different languages. 14:11 - Yes. - I love to hear the songs 14:13 that they sing in different languages. 14:14 It sounds similar to a song I've heard 14:16 in other areas of India, in other languages. 14:19 But I couldn't tell you if it really is, 14:22 because it's a totally different language. 14:23 - Yeah. - So. 14:26 (he laughs) But it's also a different style. 14:27 - Right. - And it reaches their heart. 14:29 - Right. - It's their heart 14:30 style or language. 14:32 After church, they invited me to pot luck. 14:34 - Nice. - And so we had tamarind rice, 14:36 and some rasam or something, I forgot what else. 14:39 And of course, naan. 14:41 - Okay. - Naan. 14:42 - [Natalie] Naan. 14:44 Yum. 14:45 - We fellowshiped for a while, I walked back home, 14:48 read and prayed and tried not to die from the heat. 14:52 And then that evening, I went out looking for a restaurant. 14:55 And down this little tiny alley, 14:57 I found this Punjab Dhaba restaurant. 15:00 - Okay. - And went inside, 15:02 and it doesn't look like much, but it was so tasty. 15:06 - Yeah, it looks like it's a little bit spicy 15:09 to me actually. 15:11 (they laugh) 15:12 - It wasn't very spicy. 15:13 - Oh, that's good. 15:14 - To me. - Okay. 15:16 Yeah, your tastes are little bit different from mine. 15:18 (he laughs) 15:19 - It looks like maybe paratha you had. 15:21 - Yes, it's a paratha, done differently than in South India. 15:24 - Right. - It was oily, 15:26 but just really good, and across the aisle again, 15:29 was a man that you don't normally, 15:31 you know, dressed in a style of dress 15:33 you don't normally see 15:33 here in America. - Right, right. 15:35 - And I liked that, I liked that. 15:37 And then after the meal, they brought me the desert. 15:40 - [Natalie] Okay, looks like, is that ice cubes, 15:44 or salt cubes, or sugar cubes? 15:46 - Sugar cubes. - Okay, and then the fennel 15:48 on the right side. 15:49 - Yeah, fennel is a traditional way throughout India, 15:52 where you finish your meal with a little refresher. 15:54 - Yeah, kind of a breath mint, almost. 15:57 - Yeah, yeah. 15:58 So, I didn't eat all of it. 16:00 - Okay, that's good. 16:02 You wouldn#t have teeth now. 16:04 (they laugh) 16:06 - And by the time I came out, it had rained. 16:07 - Oh, okay. - And so we went back to my 16:09 hotel in the rain. 16:11 On the way back, I found some guava juice, 16:13 and I was thirsty, so I bought this little guava juice. 16:15 And something was wrong with it, 16:17 I was drinking it and was like, "Whoa, something--" 16:19 - Is it bad? 16:20 - Yeah, is it bad? 16:22 It had a little, it felt like you know, 16:23 a little bite to it. 16:25 And I'm like, "What is wrong with this?" 16:26 But it smelled okay, and then I looked closer at the label, 16:30 masala guava. - Masala! 16:32 (they laugh) 16:33 - Spicy guava drink. 16:35 (they laughs) 16:36 It was spicy drink. 16:38 - Traditional Indian flavor though, masala. 16:41 - Yes, yes, and after I understood what it was, 16:43 it wasn't so bad! 16:45 (he laughs) 16:46 But very different, and I like the variety, you know? 16:51 It's kind of interesting. 16:52 - Okay. 16:53 - The next day, 'cause I'd gone up there 16:55 with the plan to meet the President of that section. 16:58 - Okay. - Okay. 16:59 And so the next day, I got another Uber taxi. 17:03 And I drove from Amritsar all the way to Jalandhar, 17:07 and the first thing I did, of course, 17:09 was have breakfast, it was all I could find. 17:11 - Okay. - Asia's not real 17:13 big on breakfast. - No. 17:15 - You know, so I found that and I got my Uber taxi, 17:17 and we drove the two and a half hours. 17:19 This is the gate leaving the city. 17:21 - Wow. - And I wanted to show you 17:22 what I saw on the way, of a family vehicle. 17:26 This is a SUV. 17:28 (they laugh) Sport utility. 17:30 - [Natalie] Oh, but it's scary that that child 17:31 is standing on there. - Yeah. 17:34 This is slow-mo of course, you know, so. 17:35 - [Natalie] Right, they weren't actually driving that slow. 17:37 - [Jon] No. 17:39 - Wow. - It's not something 17:40 you see in America. - Nope. 17:42 - Okay. - Not without them getting 17:44 pulled over and everybody yelling at them 17:47 for endangering their lives, and their child's life. 17:50 - Oh yeah. (she laughs) 17:51 Different philosophy. - Lifestyle. 17:53 - Yeah. - Different philosophy, yeah. 17:55 - Then this is the North India section, 17:57 and headquarters office, there in Jalandhar, 18:00 and that is over two states. 18:02 It's over Punjab, as well as Jammu and Kashmir, 18:05 up in the north. - Okay. 18:07 - And we're not gonna talk much about Jammu and Kashmir, 18:09 because it's two reasons, number one, 18:12 it's highly contested. 18:14 If you look at the border, a lot of, you know, 18:17 a lot of the state is claimed by China. 18:19 And a lot of the other part of the state 18:20 is claimed by Pakistan. 18:22 - Oh. - And so there's been recent 18:24 fighting between India and Pakistan, in that area there. 18:30 There's only about 10 or 11 million people 18:32 that live in Jammu and Kashmir. 18:34 - Only. - Yeah, but I figure, 18:35 you know, two million people per Bible worker, 18:38 that's not bad. - That's really bad. 18:40 - That's really bad. - That's really bad. 18:42 - Yeah. 18:44 So, as you go into new areas, 18:46 you see more areas to go into. 18:50 - Right. 18:52 - So then I met with the pastor, 18:54 this is Pastor Kishore Gill. - Okay. 18:56 - The current President of the North India section. 19:00 - Okay. - And a wonderful man, 19:03 this was a Sunday, they're all dressed up, 19:05 and then I also met the ministerial director, 19:08 - Okay. - Of that same section. 19:11 And we had a wonderful talk, we spent about five hours 19:13 together talking, and brainstorming and praying, 19:16 and fellowshipping and eating together. 19:18 There's this little map that was pinned up on his wall. 19:21 This is the Jammu and Kashmir map. 19:23 And some day, I'm gonna rent one of those 19:25 Royal Enfield motorcycles, and travel that road. 19:30 That is, you know, because there's people out there, 19:33 that God knows, but I don't. 19:34 - Yep. - And this map doesn't show 19:37 it, but where that one road that goes off to the right is, 19:40 that's like the Himalayas. 19:43 - Oh, okay. - So it's like big, steep 19:45 mountains and ravines and stuff like that, so. 19:48 - Not a huge population. - No, no not over there. 19:51 And so we don't, but there's a few towns over there, 19:54 and we don't have any Bible. 19:55 There are no Bible, there is no Adventist 19:57 presence in that area. - Okay. 19:59 - The only Adventist presence is like on the left hand side, 20:02 the Western side, five Bible workers. 20:05 That's it, for the entire state. 20:08 Then this is Punjab. 20:09 You can see that it's separated 20:10 into about 23 different provinces. 20:12 - Okay. - When I've come through 20:13 in 2009, they told me that the entire southern half 20:16 of the state of Punjab had no Adventist work whatsoever. 20:19 Nothing. - Wow. 20:21 - But when you look at the state of Punjab 20:24 from satellite, see all those brown dots? 20:29 - Yeah. - Every single one of those 20:30 is a city or a town or a village, with people in it. 20:34 - Wow. - So, this is an area 20:36 where there's no Adventist work. 20:38 - And there's lots and lots of town and villages. 20:40 - Huge. 20:42 Huge, wide open, and as I zoom in, you can see, 20:45 suddenly start to make out little features 20:47 of towns and villages. 20:49 - Wow. - While we were there, 20:51 what we talked about and brainstormed and dreamed about, 20:54 was sending Bible workers into those, 20:57 the far south west, okay. 21:01 No Adventist work whatsoever right now. 21:04 But we wanna project those Bible workers into that place 21:07 and start something. 21:09 - Wow. 21:10 - Anything's better than nothing, right? 21:12 - Yep. 21:13 - So, that's our dream, that's our hope. 21:16 On the far right of that, in south eastern Punjab, 21:20 you'll see a town called Patiala. 21:23 - Okay. - Okay, and the district 21:24 of Patiala, that's a major city there. 21:26 And they had started a congregation there, 21:29 several years back, and they had the opportunity 21:34 to buy land and build a church, 21:37 for that fellowship, that faith community. 21:40 - Okay. - And a company, 21:42 a group from another country, from Korea, 21:44 had come in and said, "We will give you the money 21:47 "to build this church, to buy the land and build the church. 21:49 "But you have to give 10% of the cost of the building 21:53 "from the local field." 21:55 - Oh, wow. - Which was $4500. 21:59 And so they've, he's been looking, 22:01 the President's been looking and praying and begging 22:03 and going all over. 22:05 They cannot find $4500 to build this church. 22:08 - Oh. 22:11 - So that kind of shows you how desperately poor, 22:15 - They are. - They are, the church is. 22:16 - So you shared this at Faith Camp, 22:18 - Yes. - Recently, in the north west, 22:20 and we had a donor that came to you afterward, 22:23 and they said, "If this has not been funded, 22:27 "I will send the money." 22:28 - Yes. - And so we confirmed 22:30 with Pastor Gill, that this has not been funded, 22:33 and no portion of it, and so we told them, 22:36 and they sent a cheque for the full amount. 22:38 - Yes. - So we are so thankful 22:40 to God that we can be a part of sending those funds, 22:43 those funds are on their way right now. 22:45 - Yes. - Sending those funds, 22:47 and we're looking forward to getting 22:48 pictures of that church. 22:50 - Yes, and Pastor Gill is so happy. 22:54 Just so, you know, for us, $4500, I mean, 22:58 it's a chunk of money, not nothing. 23:00 But to see what it can do. 23:04 - Yeah. - You know, and that kind 23:05 of impact to a local faith community, 23:09 where they're, they're like in the minority. 23:11 - Yeah. - They're like, just a few. 23:13 - Yeah. - You know, maybe 20 23:15 or 30 or 50 people, but in a state where 23:17 there's 30 million people. 23:21 You know, and they're just some of the few, yes? 23:25 - Yeah. - It's amazing. 23:27 - It's huge. 23:28 It's exciting. 23:29 - It is. - It's a definite praise. 23:31 - Yes. 23:32 So after spending a few hours with the leaders 23:35 of the church up there, driving back, 23:37 I'm just looking, you know, this is the, the sun was setting 23:41 a little bit, just being there, 23:45 in a place where there's so little light. 23:50 There's so little awareness of the second coming. 23:53 Of the crisis that's just at hand. 23:56 You just start to, 23:58 your heart just, you just can't help looking 24:00 out and saying, "How many of these people, 24:03 "have never had the chance to hear the name of Jesus? 24:08 "How many of these people have never had the chance 24:09 "to hear that Jesus is coming soon?" 24:12 and the fact that we can do something, 24:16 and this is what I love about going into unentered areas, 24:19 that if we do just one little tiny thing, 24:24 it's something in the place of nothing. 24:28 You know, if we-- - It's 100% improvement. 24:30 - If we bring one person into the truth, 24:34 that's like an infinite church growth. 24:37 From zero to one, that's not even 100%. 24:40 That's from zero to one. 24:42 - Yeah, that's 100%. 24:44 - Well, one to two, that would be 100%. 24:47 - Oh, that's true. 24:48 - But zero to one, that's like an infinite percentage. 24:51 - That's true. 24:52 - And so it's like, we have the chance 24:54 to put something, to put the truth, put a standard, 24:58 to put God's love, in a place, where there's nothing. 25:02 - Yeah. 25:03 - I just felt a need to pray. 25:05 So I spent the day just beseeching the Lord, 25:08 just going after God, saying, "Lord, give us Punjab. 25:13 "Give us Punjab." 25:15 And, you know, there's something about praying 25:18 for a foreign mission field when you're here at home. 25:21 It's a whole different thing when you're actually there. 25:24 - And you're seeing it. 25:25 - Yes. - And you're seeing the people 25:27 and you're seeing the way they live. 25:29 - Yes. 25:30 It's no longer just a statistic. 25:32 It's no longer just a number. 25:34 It's that guy that you know, his Mom lives in Punjab, 25:37 he lives in Melbourne. 25:38 It's the people that served that paratha to me. 25:42 I looked in their face, you know, 25:44 I know that they're human, they have cares, 25:46 they have concerns. 25:48 They're just trying to you know, get ahead, 25:50 they're just trying to feed their family. 25:52 You know, it's like, they're people. 25:54 And so that night as I was driving you know, 25:56 to the, taking another Uber to the airport, 26:00 I'm just asking myself, "What can we do? 26:04 "What can we do for Punjab?" 26:07 - Well, we're gonna start with Bible workers. 26:09 - Yes. - And the church. 26:11 - Yes. - And then we'll see 26:12 what God does. - There's also, 26:14 we talked to, 'cause think about it. 26:16 Bible workers, is a really necessary and probably the most 26:22 effective, way of bringing people to faith. 26:27 And spreading the light. 26:28 But as far as planting seeds, 26:30 you're looking at 30 million people. 26:33 - That's true. - How many Bible workers 26:34 will we need, to reach 30 million people? 26:37 - A lot. 26:38 - So while the President and I, and the ministerial director 26:41 were talking, I started telling them what was happening 26:44 with our television ministry in the south. 26:48 And telling him how easy it was. 26:50 And how inexpensive it was, if we do it right. 26:54 And they got so excited. 26:56 And so it's like that's another things that's on the table 26:58 as let's figure out if we can do television 27:02 in the state of Punjab. 27:04 - Wow. 27:06 That would be awesome. 27:07 - Oh my goodness. 27:08 - Throw the seed. 27:09 Throw the seed, yeah. 27:11 - And then our Bible workers will be responding 27:13 to the interests, rather than like doing the cold calls. 27:16 Yeah, they need to do that too, 27:18 - Right. - But this can like, 27:20 this is like, but it'll be in a local language. 27:23 - Yeah. - Local language, 27:24 local people, local cultural challenges. 27:28 - Local contacts. - Yes. 27:30 Yeah, it's really what's necessary to reach 27:32 that population. - Wow. 27:34 We have a lot of praying to do. 27:35 - Yes, we do. 27:37 - And I would like to invite you 27:39 to be a part of this great opportunity. 27:41 To pray for them, to do whatever the Lord is asking 27:45 you to do, to be a part of it. 27:47 You can get in touch with us at Jesus For Asia, 27:50 PO Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee, 37315. 27:56 Call us at 423-413-7321, 28:00 or visit our website, at jesus4asia.org. 28:04 May God richly bless you, 28:05 until we see you next time, 28:07 on Jesus For Asia. 28:09 (uplifting music) |
Revised 2019-09-03