Jesus 4 Asia Now

Beyond The Known

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

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)


Home

Revised 2019-09-03