Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000091S
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00:00 (bright music)
00:22 - Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now. 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood 00:25 and my husband John is with me today, 00:26 as we bring you a miracle story 00:28 and a vision to expand the Kingdom of God 00:31 into an unreached place. 00:33 Hello love. 00:34 - Hi darling, how are you? 00:35 - I'm doing fine. 00:36 I'm very curious about where we're going today. 00:39 - Well we are going to a place that we have been before 00:43 for quite a number of years. 00:45 We're going to see a miracle story 00:47 and this is what i love about our Bible workers is that 00:50 they just keep doing amazing stuff, 00:54 where God keeps doing amazing stuff through them. 00:56 - Yeah, that's the more accurate way to put it. 00:58 Everything is because of God. 01:00 - Oh absolutely. 01:01 Yeah. 01:02 Our breathing, right? 01:04 And then the next part we're gonna go to a place 01:06 that has no Adventist presence whatsoever. 01:08 - Oh okay. 01:10 - 12.5 million people and so I am so excited 01:14 because it's not often you get 01:16 to do something that historic. 01:20 - Right. 01:23 That's for sure. 01:24 - Yeah. 01:25 And so as a as a JFA family, 01:27 our donors, our supporters, 01:30 our people whose hearts are there that pray. 01:33 We're gonna hear two miracle stories today 01:36 and with tremendous potential. 01:38 - Okay 01:40 - And the thing that kind of ties these stories together 01:41 is that the first story is coming from a place 01:44 where little over 10 years ago, 01:46 there was basically no work. 01:50 And they had this one state and 01:53 the eastern half of the state had lots of work, 01:56 lots of Adventist presence. 01:58 The western half of the state had nothing. 01:59 Do you remember that? 02:01 And so they bifurcated the state 02:03 and they sent a pastor, the secretary and the president 02:08 into that place. 02:10 Three people for like 10 million people. 02:12 And they requested JFA for 10 Bible workers. 02:16 and by faith we stepped out and said yes, 02:18 and here 10 years later 02:20 they've got 10 or 20 different meeting houses, 02:26 churches with several hundred, 02:28 probably over a thousand people meeting every sabbath, 02:32 worshiping God. 02:34 - Yeah. 02:35 From nothing? 02:36 - Yeah from nothing to established work 02:38 and today that's one of the reasons why today's story, 02:43 because it's from that area, 02:44 is so special to us. 02:47 - Right. 02:48 Wow. 02:49 - Yeah. 02:50 So we're talking about Rajkot, right? 02:52 - Yes. 02:53 - Okay, yeah. 02:54 I love that place, those people are so sweet. 02:56 That was the place where I was greeting them all 02:59 as they were leaving the church and they got in the line 03:02 and then after I would greet them, 03:04 they would go back and get back in the line 03:06 so I could greet them again. 03:07 And I was like, 03:09 "You guys, this is not according to the plan." 03:15 But anyway we had a great laugh over it 03:16 when I realized that I was seeing them again. 03:19 - Yeah, they just loved you. 03:21 They've seen me several times but they loved you. 03:27 (bright music) 03:43 - I'm really excited because this is the first time 03:46 and my family has been with me in North India. 03:52 - Rajkot is a hundred kingdoms. 03:55 (bright music) 04:34 - Bye-bye. 04:35 (bright music) 05:06 - Happy to be here... 05:07 (speaks in foreign language) 05:10 (bright music) 06:13 - So this is from this story that we're going to be talking 06:16 this next video is from that place. 06:19 - Okay. 06:20 - To kind of understand the power 06:22 and the miracle level of the story, 06:26 we have to understand that 06:28 there's a strong caste system in India. 06:31 It's not legal, 06:33 but it's inbuilt into the religion. 06:36 So everybody thinks along caste lines. 06:38 Now caste as you know, 06:40 there's four major castes 06:42 and then there's the outcastes. 06:43 And the highest caste of all that is the Brahmins. 06:47 They're the leaders, 06:48 they're the spiritual guides, the spiritual leaders. 06:51 And the majority of the Christian church 06:56 is from the lower caste or even from the outcaste. 06:59 - Right. 07:00 - And so it's been very difficult 07:01 to reach the Brahmin caste. 07:06 Because for two reasons, 07:07 number one, they already have their religion. 07:11 And number two, they won't even drink a cup. 07:16 - It's been used by a low caste or an outcaste person. 07:19 - Exactly. 07:20 - Especially outcast. 07:21 - I mean we think there's racism in America. 07:24 - Yeah, it's a touch point. 07:26 But this is even within the race. 07:29 - The religion. 07:31 So it's built into that religion. 07:34 So the idea of a Brahmin coming to Christ, 07:40 number one he's breaking caste 07:41 which means that he'll get cast out of his village, 07:44 be thrown out of his village. 07:45 - Yes, usually. 07:46 - Excommunicated from his family. 07:48 - Right. 07:49 - Not allowed to even associate with them anymore 07:51 and if he's allowed to live. 07:54 - Yeah. 07:55 - And so this is a major serious thing. 07:58 And so the story you're about to hear is just, 08:03 well anyway we should just show the the video. 08:07 - Yes. 08:08 Okay. 08:10 - His name is Maheshdafda from Dharba Tolukah. 08:14 It's a very fanatic area. 08:17 And it's hard to work for the Lord in that particular area 08:21 because people are actually in the idol worship. 08:26 But today we will hear from him 08:29 about how he could bring other people 08:32 for for the glory of God. 08:35 (speaks in foreign language) 08:41 - Actually nearby his village, 08:43 is another village, and he went there. 08:45 Madubai Mohonbai Stimali is living there, 08:49 and actually they are from Brahmimn community. 08:52 They are the highest post in the caste system 08:55 so they never come to the Lord. 08:57 But they were suffering too much. 08:59 He had three daughters two sons. 09:02 Mother was lame. 09:04 And they were actually undergoing 09:08 a very critical financial problem. 09:12 And he uh met our brother Maheshdafda 09:16 and they started praying together. 09:19 And actually first people were mocking on him 09:23 because what prayer will do? 09:26 But after some time, 09:29 the family came out from the financial problem. 09:33 His two sons got job in a private company 09:37 and they helped his family. 09:39 And the family which were actually suffering 09:44 last so many years, 09:46 they got a knowledge of real God. 09:49 His mother is literate, 09:51 so she started reading New Testament. 09:55 Then they believed and they gave a big feast 09:59 to their family members and their relatives 10:03 and nearby 60 people were there. 10:06 And they all openly declared their faith on Jesus Christ. 10:12 (in foreign language) 10:17 And it was actually great day. 10:20 That same day, 12 people were baptized. 10:22 Whole family was baptized. 10:24 All got New Testament and all became 10:27 the first Advent believers in that particular district 10:31 because Sunday worshipers are there 10:34 but we didn't have the Adventist believers 10:38 in that particular district. 10:41 He got the chance actually to meet his relatives 10:44 from the same Brahmin community. 10:45 And he goes there 10:47 and he preaches the word of God. 10:50 And the converted family told their their relatives, 10:57 "At least one time hear Maheshdafda. 10:59 At least one time. 11:00 And you hear what he's saying 11:02 and which kind of God is there 11:04 and how God is working, 11:05 how prayer is working." 11:07 And because of that, 11:09 he is able to reach some five or six 11:11 other Brahmin community families. 11:14 So thank you, Mahesh 11:17 for you're work. 11:19 (in foreign language) 11:22 He's saying that it is God's work and God's Word. 11:27 - So, isn't that an amazing story? 11:29 - Yeah. 11:30 - I mean this family instead of hiding it, 11:31 instead of worshiping God in secret, 11:34 they called a whole family get-together, 11:38 like a family reunion through a party. 11:40 - Yeah. 11:41 - And told everybody about their-- 11:43 - Straight out, they were gonna be serving Jesus. 11:46 - Yeah and then say you need to hear what is prayer, 11:50 how does it work? 11:51 Who is this God? 11:52 How do we serve Him? 11:53 All this kind of stuff, you just hear him once. 11:55 And this is amazing. 11:59 - Yeah, wow. 12:01 What a blessing. 12:05 To think about how this family was hurting so badly, 12:10 and then because of prayer 12:11 they saw God answer their prayers-- 12:13 - Yes. 12:14 - And then they came to know the true God. 12:16 - Yeah and it just reminds me 12:18 that we serve a living God. 12:19 A real God. 12:21 - And he cares about every single one of our problems. 12:23 Every single one of our issues. 12:25 - Yes. 12:26 And he was working, 12:28 I believe He was working with that family 12:30 before they became converted. 12:33 And so Christ is striving with every soul on the planet. 12:37 - Right. 12:38 - And it takes a human to come and connect. 12:40 Make that connection. 12:42 And so it's a beautiful thing. 12:44 Very beautiful thing. 12:45 - Yeah, wow. 12:46 And God is protecting them many times 12:49 like we said before the video, 12:51 there's so much anger in the community and in the family, 12:55 when someone decides to become a Christian. 12:58 And it's such a blessing that God 13:00 is protecting them from that. 13:02 Opening the doors for more people to learn about Him. 13:05 - Yes exactly. 13:07 So see why I was excited about this story. 13:09 - Yeah, it is a miracle. 13:11 and it's beautiful. 13:12 - Yeah, absolutely. 13:13 - Wow, all right. 13:15 Well now we're gonna talk about an opportunity 13:17 and also a miracle. 13:18 - Yes. 13:19 - So we're going to the north now, 13:21 we're leaving Rajkot and going to the north. 13:23 - Yeah, now Rajkot is already in the north, 13:26 but now we're gonna go to the northern most part of India. 13:32 - Okay. 13:33 - You know how India has that kind of, like that? 13:35 Well we're going up there. 13:36 - Okay. 13:38 - And people are familiar with the state already, 13:41 the name of the state. 13:43 They may not recognize it as an area in India 13:47 but it's Kashmir. 13:49 Everybody knows about Kashmir clothing, Kashmir wool. 13:53 - Right. 13:54 - This is where this is from. 13:55 - Okay. 13:56 - So we're going to Kashmir. 13:57 And the reason why this is so exciting is that 14:00 you remember that we have been talking about Punjab. 14:05 - Right. 14:06 - Where the entire southern half of the state of Punjab 14:08 had no Adventist presence whatsoever. 14:10 - Right. 14:12 - And so through our donors and our supporters 14:14 we've been able to project 20 new Bible workers 14:18 into southern Punjab. 14:20 - Right. 14:21 - And they already have brought somebody to the Lord. 14:22 Now this happened just right here in 2020 14:25 when this project started. 14:26 - Right. 14:27 - Well the president of that, 14:29 they call it the North India section, 14:31 okay, that section is over Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. 14:36 - Okay. 14:37 - Okay, so he's talking to me 14:39 and he is telling me about the north. 14:41 Of course whenever people go touring, 14:44 the large percentage of them go up to the north 14:47 because you can rent motorcycles and you can go up, 14:49 touring up those roads way up through the Himalayas 14:52 and you know it's like a real adventure. 14:55 And so he had been talking to me. 14:58 He started telling me about the north 15:00 and come to find out, there's no work up there. 15:05 There's no Adventist believers 15:07 in the entire state of Kashmir. 15:09 - Wow. 15:10 Did there used to be? 15:11 Were there ever? 15:13 - Back 40 years ago, they had started something 15:16 but there wasn't enough support for it. 15:20 People got and leaders got moved around 15:21 and it just kind of dissipated. 15:24 So basically that 40 years ago, those few members 15:28 were all that there was in the history of Kashmir. 15:34 - And so in Jammu, 15:37 which is on the southern side of Kashmir. 15:40 It's like another state kind of, 15:43 I don't know. 15:44 - Section anyway. 15:45 - Yeah. 15:46 - The state. 15:47 - Yeah gospel outreach 15:49 has been sponsoring five Bible workers in that area. 15:52 - Okay so there's some work there? 15:54 - There's some work there. 15:56 But this is like uh 300 kilometers north 15:59 and separated by massive mountains. 16:02 I'm gonna show you some pictures of these mountains, 16:04 they are the some of the biggest in the world. 16:07 And there's a city in in a valley. 16:12 It's a beautiful green valley surrounded 16:14 by these massive high mountains, 16:15 with Pakistan to the west 16:18 and mountains all the way to Everest, 16:21 all the way through Nepal to the east. 16:23 I mean just hundreds of miles of massive mountains. 16:27 And right in this green valley is a city called Srinagar. 16:31 So we were working to put Bible workers into south Punjab. 16:36 - Right. 16:36 - And we went up there, 16:38 I went up there personally and met the president. 16:41 And it was Pastor Kishore Gill. 16:43 - Okay so this is his picture with you? 16:45 - This is his picture with me 16:46 and we went through some amazing experiences. 16:49 I went back later with my photographer Jonathan Hill 16:52 and we spent a few days touring south Punjab. 16:55 Love those people. 16:57 Wonderful people. 16:59 And then later he said, 17:01 "Look this is the story of what's happening in Kashmir." 17:06 And you have to read this. 17:08 Okay, this is from Pastor Kishore. 17:11 He says, "I've mentioned that Mr Faz and his family 17:13 were the first converted Adventists from Srinagar in 2017. 17:18 And the way he got converted is that 17:20 he used to spend his winters in Jammu. 17:22 with the Gospel Outreach Bible workers. 17:24 He was helping the church there 17:26 but he was living his summers up there in Srinagar. 17:29 Recently he's decided to spend 17:31 his winters up in Srinagar also. 17:33 Over the last four years, 17:35 he and his family have been witnessing 17:37 and they've got 10 other families 17:40 that are joining the faith also. 17:42 - Wow, that's neat. 17:44 - And he's been mentoring and training six other young men 17:49 to be Bible workers. 17:51 - Wow. 17:52 - Okay, so now for the first time in the history of Kashmir 17:58 we've got seven people ready to step out and do Bible work. 18:03 - Wow. 18:04 - I've never been up there. 18:05 I want to go. 18:06 But I wanted to get a sense and a feel 18:09 for what it was like up there. 18:10 So then I purchased some stock footage 18:13 of the Kashmir area and especially Srinagar, 18:18 the main city there. 18:20 The main city has about 1.2 million people in the city. 18:23 And it's got a beautiful lake right there, 18:25 so a lot of tourists go up there and go on the lake. 18:28 They've got like vegetable-- 18:31 - Like a floating market? 18:32 - Yeah, floating market on the lake. 18:35 And so we're gonna just like go there 18:38 but first we wanna check out these images. 18:40 Now this first image is we're coming from the south 18:44 and you can see this beautiful green fertile valley 18:48 and beyond it these massive mountains. 18:50 They just go on forever. 18:52 And right in the middle, a little bit to the left, 18:55 a little bit up you see a little red dot. 18:57 That's where Srinagar is. 18:59 And you go down lower you see maybe some rivers 19:03 and then you see those little kind of gray dots around, 19:06 those are all villages, individual villages. 19:10 So the vast majority of the population of Kashmir 19:14 is in this valley. 19:16 Because the rest is just super mountains, 19:19 I mean tall mountains, okay. 19:21 And so this picture is coming from Pakistan from the west, 19:25 there's that mountain range there 19:27 and then there's this valley in which Srinagar is in. 19:31 And that's the city where that family is 19:34 and our seven Bible workers, 19:36 I'm calling them ours now, are living. 19:39 - Wow. 19:40 - Yeah, okay now this is a closer up shot of, 19:44 you can see Srinagar down there. 19:47 And then this is kind of an overview 19:48 of the mountains looking east. 19:50 Wow that's towards Everest. 19:52 But Everest is on the other end of Nepal. 19:56 So it's a long ways away. 19:57 - Right, so it's not visible to the naked eye? 19:59 - No, not in this image. 20:01 Now this next image, this is coming from the north 20:04 towards Srinagar, you can see we've got 20:07 these white cloud snow cloud mountains 20:10 and this next shot is looking straight down 20:13 from that position that it was at. 20:15 This is glacier. 20:17 So it's just an amazing place to to have a presence 20:26 of the gospel. 20:28 And I'm excited about that. 20:30 Right, it's very needed. 20:32 Okay so now we have this little video, 20:36 it's just short little thing. 20:37 One and a half minutes that I put together, 20:39 just to get a feel for the people, the place. 20:42 It kind of motivates our prayers a little bit more. 20:46 - Right. 20:47 (downbeat music) 22:16 - So the last shot of the slow pan over the city, 22:21 that's Srinagar, so you can see how populated 22:24 it actually is, 22:25 so many people there. 22:26 - Wow. 22:27 - So this is the power of the Bible worker, 22:30 is that they're already there, 22:31 so we don't need to send them there 22:33 and they don't need to learn a new language and-- 22:36 - Or culture. 22:36 - Culture especially. 22:38 So while we're here sitting in our homes, 22:41 the Gospel can still advance. 22:44 - On the other side of the world. 22:45 - Yes we can have an impact. 22:48 We can hasten the day. 22:49 - Right. 22:50 - So I'm excited. 22:53 So the last, you know Ellen White, 22:55 the one of the founding members of our church, 22:58 the last few years of her life, 23:01 I don't know if it's years or months or what 23:03 but she was in a house just below the St. Elena Hospital, 23:09 and they would look down there at night 23:11 and they would see lights in the room 23:13 and those were actually angels conversing with her. 23:16 And she said herself, 23:18 she says, "I hear voices in the night. 23:20 They are saying, advance, advance, advance. 23:23 Press the battle to the gate." 23:26 So in other words there are still victories to be won. 23:29 This is our chance to increase the population of heaven. 23:34 - You know brings tears to my eyes to think about that 23:36 because there's so many people out there that don't know. 23:41 So many people. 23:42 - That don't even have an opportunity to know. 23:45 - Right, and that sense of urgency, 23:47 do we really have that sense of urgency 23:50 that it's like you know this advance, advance, advance. 23:55 It just brings tears to my eyes thinking about 23:59 how many people there are in this world that don't know 24:01 and don't really have opportunity to know. 24:04 - That's the key is they don't have access 24:07 to that knowledge. 24:08 - But thank the Lord, He's opening this area. 24:12 And He's giving us an opportunity to be a part 24:14 of sending workers there. 24:15 - Yes absolutely. 24:17 - What a privilege. 24:18 - That's huge to make heavens, 24:20 to make history in heaven. 24:22 Now I know you said you call it bringing tears to your eyes 24:26 but honey we had to stop the show 24:28 because you were you were weeping. 24:30 And I know that I do more of the traveling, 24:36 you get to sit here and see the finances, 24:40 with the great need and the resources that we have 24:43 and I know that your heart is to see 24:46 the advance of the gospel speed up. 24:51 - Yeah. 24:53 - Because the way that we're going now 24:55 it's not keeping up with the pace 24:58 of what our opportunities are 25:00 and if we're really talking about eventually 25:03 of the world knowing about Jesus before He comes, 25:08 we've gotta go all in. 25:12 - Right, we've gotta be urgent. 25:14 We've got to take the the burden that God has given us. 25:18 So I mean it's really humbling actually 25:21 to think that God shares His burden for souls with us. 25:25 - Yes. 25:26 - And He's willing to let us taste a little bit of that. 25:28 I can't imagine what He feels. 25:30 It touches my heart when I think about this particular area 25:34 or that particular area but He's got the entire world 25:37 and He's looking at all of it all at once 25:39 and He sees my gospel, 25:43 my voice, my heart has no representative over here. 25:47 No representative over here, 25:49 there's one person there, 25:50 there's three people there, 25:51 He has thousands of people. 25:54 Like He told Elijah, 25:55 "I have thousands that have not bowed the knee." 25:58 Like yet how many more can there be? 26:00 How many more can there be? 26:02 - Yes, and that's a topic for another show 26:04 because I want to talk about some people say, 26:06 "Well you know there will be people in heaven that have 26:09 never heard the name of Jesus. 26:11 So then why do we need to go as missionaries? 26:13 Why do we need to work hard 26:14 because there'll be people there anyway?" 26:16 - Right. 26:17 - And I believe that there's three groups, 26:19 one group would be there in heaven 26:21 whether they heard the name of Jesus or not. 26:23 Another group will not be in heaven 26:26 whether they hear the name of Jesus or not, 26:28 but the third group will not be in heaven 26:31 unless somebody tells them about 26:33 a sin pardoning loving savior and they change 26:36 and they accept Him. 26:38 That's the group. 26:40 - Yeah. 26:41 - And who's to say who's in which group. 26:44 those are the people that we're going for. 26:47 - We have no idea which group they're in. 26:50 So we can't say it's not important to send 26:53 the gospel somewhere because it's inconvenient 26:55 or it's expensive or it's you know. 26:58 - It's life and death. 26:59 - Right, right. 27:00 We have to say, 27:01 we have to try to send the gospel everywhere, 27:04 knowing that it's only by His Spirit 27:06 that anything is gonna happen anyway. 27:08 - Right. 27:09 - But if we don't open our hearts to His Spirit 27:12 and let Him use us wherever He chooses, 27:14 in whatever way He chooses then we're closing the door. 27:18 And that's not safe other people for eternity 27:21 and maybe on ourselves. 27:23 - Right. 27:25 But here we have a chance to make history for heaven. 27:27 - And friends, friends for eternity. 27:30 - Absolutely. 27:32 - And have more people to cast their crowns at Jesus' feet, 27:35 that will be amazing. 27:37 - It's gonna be a good day. 27:38 It'll be a great day. 27:40 - Yes. 27:41 - Well if you would like to help make history for heaven, 27:45 make friends for eternity, 27:47 you can contact us at Jesus for Asia, 27:49 PO Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 27:56 Call us at 423-413-7321 28:00 or visit our website at jesus4asia.org. 28:03 May God richly bless you until we see you next time 28:07 on Jesus for Asia Now. 28:09 (bright music) |
Revised 2020-06-29