Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000105S
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00:00 (majestic music)
00:22 - Hello and welcome 00:24 to Jesus For Asia Now and our Thanksgiving special. 00:26 I'm Natalie Wood and my husband, Jon, is here with me. 00:29 Hello love. 00:30 - Hi darling, how are you? 00:31 - I'm doing good. - Happy Thanksgiving. 00:32 - I'm looking forward to tonight. 00:34 I know, happy Thanksgiving to you too. 00:35 I'm looking forward to this. 00:36 - Yes, yes. 00:37 - Because it's such a privilege to say, 00:40 you know, to share what God has been doing this last year. 00:43 - Well, it's very important for us as well 00:46 as we go through this life to take some time 00:50 to give God praise. 00:52 Yeah, and Thanksgiving. 00:54 So, yeah, it's really nice to talk about what God has done. 00:57 Because when we do that we remember how he's led 01:00 in the past as the quote says. 01:03 And then we have nothing to fear for the future. 01:06 And also in the Word I was reading this morning 01:08 in Psalms and it was talking about how, 01:11 when we think about God we're supposed to think 01:13 about what he's done and we're supposed to share 01:14 that with our children. 01:16 It was talking specifically in the Psalm I was reading, 01:18 but I think it's valuable to share it with other 01:20 people around us to encourage ourselves and them 01:23 that God is with us, he's trustworthy, 01:26 and he's working in our world. 01:28 - Yes and we see this over and over again, 01:31 people step out in faith to serve 01:33 the Lord and they come back with a strong testimony 01:36 and that encourages others to step out in faith. 01:39 And they end up with a strong testimony too. 01:41 - [Natalie] Right. 01:43 - And so we need to encourage in each other 01:44 that living faith. 01:45 - Right, right. 01:47 We wanna do an overview of 2020 and some 01:49 of the blessings we've seen. 01:51 But also we wanna think about how the world is today. 01:54 I mean, there's been a lot of political upheaval 01:57 and racial tension and all of those things going 02:00 on, plus coronavirus. 02:02 The COVID 19 thing. 02:04 And so it's been a year with a lot of different- 02:08 - [Jon] Challenges. 02:09 - Yeah. Challenges and questions and a lot of fear. 02:14 - Well, I think everybody has been challenged 02:16 by the things that are happening in the world today. 02:19 And so what do we do as Christians, as believers, 02:23 with the events in the world? 02:27 Some people are advocating demonstration. 02:29 Some people are advocating protest. 02:32 What we've chosen to do is a type of protest 02:34 but it's not a direct protest. 02:37 What we're trying to do is to, yeah, 02:41 there's a lot of negative stuff in the world. 02:44 So instead of trying to change 02:47 that through political means or social means, 02:52 we're wanting to make a change by looking 02:54 at the things that most people aren't looking at and say, 02:58 okay, yeah, there's tension and challenges here. 03:01 And a lot of attention is on that. 03:03 But over here, there is a lot of inequality 03:08 but nobody's noticing that. 03:10 And if we make an effort here we're gonna make 03:14 a massive change for the people that are experiencing 03:16 this where we would make very little impact over here, 03:21 where everybody's looking. 03:22 And so we look at places in the world 03:25 that don't have awareness. 03:27 I mean, the truth is that 16,000 kids die every day due 03:32 to lack of food. 03:33 And so let's feed some kids in places 03:36 where they're dying from starvation and that's gonna 03:40 make an impact in lives. 03:43 Maybe it might not get into social media. 03:45 Maybe it might not get into the mainstream news, 03:48 but for them, it makes a huge, 03:51 it makes all the difference in the world. 03:53 And when we're doing that, 03:56 what that's helping us do is to keep our eyes fixed 03:58 on eternal realities. 04:01 A lot of the stuff that goes on in our lives, I believe, 04:05 is designed to keep us distracted from the reality 04:10 of the big picture. 04:12 This world is gonna continue to get worse and worse, 04:15 than Jesus will come. 04:16 And then we'll have an eternity in heaven. 04:18 But right now is our only chance to reach 04:22 those that don't know who Christ is, 04:25 because the second coming is coming, 04:28 but it's not a solution. 04:30 It's an end game. The solution is the gospel. 04:34 - [Natalie] Right. 04:36 - And when we can apply the gospel into people's lives, 04:38 then they can be ready for that end game, 04:41 for the final call, 04:43 because the truth, is there's a lot of people 04:45 out there if the second coming were to happen today 04:49 they wouldn't have a chance. 04:51 And we need to give them a chance. 04:56 And when the second coming happens, we'll never 04:58 have another chance in all of eternity to increase 05:02 the human population of heaven. 05:06 - Right, right. 05:07 To increase Jesus' joy, which is why he came here, 05:10 and to be a partaker of his sufferings, as the Bible says. 05:14 - Right. 05:15 We'll never get a chance to suffer for him ever again. 05:17 - [Natalie] Right. 05:18 - And so we can get distracted and spend time 05:22 thinking about, and spend time analyzing 05:24 and wrestling with what's happening. 05:29 But I would rather spend that time, 05:31 that head space on what is Jesus caring about? 05:35 - Yeah. 05:36 When we think about the eternal realities, 05:39 it comes back to the Bible, and Mark 8:35 says, 05:43 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, 05:46 but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake 05:49 and the gospel, the same shall save it." 05:51 And so God's picture is if we do whatever we can 05:55 to spread the gospel, 05:57 then whether we live or we die it's okay. 06:00 Because we live, we live the right life, 06:03 the eternal life in Heaven with Christ. 06:06 - Right. 06:07 - And so his 06:08 that's God's picture, that's God's reality. 06:10 - It's an amazing concept that if we have eternal life, 06:13 what are we worried about a few decades here on Earth? 06:16 Why are we focused so much on taking care of ourselves now, 06:22 during these few years, when, 06:24 if we're taking care of God's kingdom, 06:26 God's, what's on God's heart, then he gives us, I mean, 06:31 we're entering into his heart when we're doing that. 06:35 So this is kind of our solution for the end times, 06:38 how to survive the times. 06:39 - Right. So specifically, what does Jesus for Asia do? 06:44 Who are we? 06:46 What do we do to do what we're talking about? 06:49 - Okay. 06:50 So the Lord has led us into doing many things. 06:55 And our philosophy is we have, is twofold. 06:57 Number one is to reach the unreached. 07:00 And number two is to re-engage as many people 07:03 in the church into that mission as possible. 07:07 And so what the Lord has led us 07:10 into is that whatever reaches souls 07:14 that's what we wanna be involved in. 07:16 That's what we wanna be a part of. 07:18 We have over 60 projects, (laughs) 07:22 we're in eight different countries and moving 07:24 into new countries still. 07:26 - So what, give us some examples of some 07:29 of the areas where we've expanded. 07:30 - Okay. Sikkim have you ever heard of Sikkim? 07:33 - Well, I have, but I'm sure some of our viewers haven't. 07:36 - Okay. 07:37 It's one of the Northern States in India and it's a little 07:41 thumb that sticks up 07:42 between Nepal, Bhutan and touches 07:44 China on the Northern side. 07:46 And they have been requesting, 07:48 one of our Bible workers went from the South. 07:50 He was working in the South, he went up 07:52 there and he says there's nobody up here in Sikkim. 07:55 And so he's like, okay, let's do this, 07:58 by prayer and by asking God and for permission, 08:03 and he says, go forward. 08:04 And so we hired 20 Bible workers and gave them a training. 08:11 And now they are currently launching into that area, 08:13 Sikkim and a couple of other areas, 08:15 Darjeeling and Lopom up in that area. 08:19 So Sikkim is one of them. 08:21 And we also have Kashmir, which we did a show here 08:24 on 3ABN, just a little while ago. 08:26 And they've never had any Bible workers or pastors 08:30 up there at all. 08:32 And now, praise God, we have seven. 08:34 So now Sikkim and Kashmir have workers 08:38 where they've never had workers before. 08:40 So it's a history-making year for God's kingdom 08:43 in Northern India. 08:45 - Right. And then there's the South of Punjab. 08:47 - Yeah. Southern Punjab. 08:48 The state of Punjab. 08:50 When I drove through there in 2009, the entire 08:52 southern half of the state of Punjab had no 08:54 Adventist presence whatsoever. 08:56 Now they got 20 Bible workers, 08:58 praise God, they've already got baptisms. 09:00 And so the church is being established 09:02 in that unentered area. 09:03 And I'm so happy about that. 09:05 - Yeah. That's awesome. - Yeah. 09:07 - All right. And then there's Tawi-Tawi. 09:09 - Yes. Do you know where Tawi-Tawi is? 09:12 - In the very South of the Philippines? 09:14 - Yes. 09:15 It's the islands between the islands 09:17 of Philippines and Indonesia. 09:20 And a lot of pirate activity was taking place in there. 09:22 And so now the pirate activity and the overall violence 09:28 in that area has gone down because of these people 09:31 called the SULADS which are doing an amazing work. 09:35 And so they, now they're asking 09:36 for pastors to come in and help raise up congregations. 09:39 And so we gave them the green light to go. 09:42 So there's 10 Bible workers in that area now, 09:44 which is beautiful. 09:46 - Yeah, that's awesome. 09:48 Okay. 09:49 Then there's also schools that we've been asked 09:51 to help with. 09:52 And one of them is the school in Manapur. 09:53 Can you tell us about that? 09:55 - It's a school that's a unique situation. 09:58 It's being supported by three different churches. 10:01 And the school's been in operation for like 40 years 10:05 - Three different local churches? 10:06 - Yes. 10:08 And so they have requested that we help build 10:12 the local school, the Advent school into something 10:15 that is representative, so that we can start, 10:17 even the Adventist kids can come to that school 10:20 and have a good education. 10:22 So we've been helping 10:23 in there and it's a tremendous project. 10:25 We're excited about that. 10:26 But also we have a school 10:28 in Bangladesh that we're trying to get going. 10:31 The opportunity's there. 10:32 We're just trying to figure out the last little 10:34 details, then we'll be able to get that going. 10:36 Not only the school 10:38 in Bangladesh but we're also drilling wells. 10:40 We've got over 20 wells drilled already, 10:43 and we've opened up a couple of churches that have 10:45 been closed due to lack of Bible workers. 10:48 - [Natalie] Wow. 10:50 - And so the work is expanding there in Bangladesh as well. 10:52 - Yeah. That's exciting. 10:53 And then there's what happened in Indonesia. 10:55 - [Jon] Oh! 10:56 - With the satellite. - What a miracle. 10:58 Just, I mean if we did just that one ministry 11:03 it'd be worth it. 11:04 - Yeah. 11:05 - Because that's a satellite ministry. 11:08 - [Natalie] Right. 11:09 And it covers the entire country in the Bahasa language. 11:12 - [Jon] Yes. 11:13 - Plus other areas of the world 11:14 where there's Bahasa speaking people they also watch. 11:17 - Yeah. And what's so critical, 11:18 what's so strategic about that satellite 11:21 is that Indonesia is 17,500 islands. 11:25 - [Natalie] Right. 11:27 - [Jon] So there's islands that they can't get to a church. 11:29 - [Natalie] That's true. 11:30 - [Jon] And so the satellite becomes church 11:31 for those believers. 11:32 They learn about the faith, 11:34 they accept the faith and then they are nurtured 11:37 by that satellite. 11:38 One of the viewers is on an Island with the church 11:40 but it's a four hour drive to the church. 11:43 - Right. And that's a drive and he doesn't have a car. 11:45 - So, yes, they have to take local transportation. 11:47 He's never sure when they'll show up, 11:50 when the bus will show up. 11:51 And so they depend on the satellite. 11:57 - [Natalie] Right. 11:58 - And so the satellite was in a place 12:00 where they were very discouraged. 12:02 They're saying, Lord, do you wanna shut this down? 12:06 And I'm like, if God came in and said we wanna change 12:11 your ministry, it was very clear. 12:12 That'd be one thing. 12:14 But to shut down because of lack of money 12:16 or because of discouragement, that's not God's character. 12:19 - [Natalie] Right. 12:21 - And so we prayed hard and God came through. (laughs) 12:25 - He did. 12:26 - With some miracle stories of people 12:27 that were impressed to give. 12:29 And then when they found out what they had given 12:31 for they were just so blessed that they could be a part 12:34 of such a big portion of the world. 12:38 This is 250 million people in Indonesia. 12:41 - [Natalie] Right. 12:43 - And so we're just praising God for what happened there. 12:45 - Yeah. That's so awesome. 12:47 We wanna talk about our Bible workers in India. 12:49 We've also increased with Sikkim and Kashmir and some 12:54 of these other places. 12:55 Now we have about 455 workers in India. 12:58 So we're thankful for that. 13:00 - So we have increased about a hundred Bible workers 13:02 this year alone. 13:03 - Right. 13:04 - And we're praising God for that. 13:05 We have some, most of our workers are praying 13:08 for 1,000 Bible workers. 13:09 - Right. 13:11 - And we're ready to do that. 13:12 There's Bible workers there that are ready to go. 13:15 - And there are a lot of requests. 13:17 - Yes. Every day. 13:19 - Yep. 13:20 So that's something that we're thankful 13:22 for and we're also praying about. 13:23 - Absolutely. Yeah. 13:25 - The other thing is our evening schools 13:26 in India because of the group that was able to visit 13:28 India earlier this year and we opened 13:32 actually evening schools. 13:33 - [Jon] So we have a total of 20. 13:35 - Yeah. Which is amazing. 13:37 And it's been really valuable, 13:39 the evening schools especially, 13:40 during the times of COVID, 13:42 because they couldn't do any study. 13:44 The government schools were closed but we could still 13:47 feed the children. 13:48 - Yes. 13:49 - And so the village leaders are all happy 13:52 because these kids are still getting the food they need. 13:54 - Right. 13:55 And the government is supportive of us keeping open 13:56 and still feeding them. 13:58 And there's stories about kids. 14:00 I mean, families that are on the edge of starvation, 14:03 and are kept alive by these schools. 14:06 - Right. 14:08 Because they can't afford to feed all their kids 14:09 with the evening schools they can afford to eat. 14:11 - And they're seeing God's hand 14:12 in this and they're learning 14:15 about Christ through connection with our evening schools. 14:19 - Right, which is amazing. 14:20 - Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. 14:23 And now moving to Thailand we have the miracle 14:27 of the Lam Yai tree which we featured 14:29 in a previous episode. 14:31 There's somebody had donated some land for our studio 14:33 to be built on, 14:35 but it had these fruit trees that they used as a cash crop, 14:41 but on the property that they had donated 14:42 to the Lord's work there was no fruit at all, 14:46 even one tree. 14:47 Well, that was hanging over, 14:49 the fruit was on that tree on the non-donated property. 14:53 But on the part that was given to the Lord's work, 14:56 the same tree, no fruit on that. 14:58 - Yeah. 14:59 - So it's like a clear miracle. 15:00 So we took that as a clear sign from God 15:03 that we should go forward and start building. 15:05 So they've already leveled the land, 15:07 and we're moving forward by faith, and God is good. 15:12 - Yep, yep. 15:13 So then also, with the Bouter family, they have 11 children 15:17 including little Evangeline. 15:20 And that's such a blessing to bring those kids 15:23 out of the homes that they've been in, 15:25 the slums, the different environments that are so hard 15:29 for kids, to bring them to a place where they're loved, 15:32 and God is uplifted, and they can see God, 15:37 we can see God working in those young people's lives. 15:39 - And you remember the story of Prow, of course, 15:42 which we shared on an earlier program, 15:45 where she was born in a slum in Bangkok. 15:48 - To a 13-year-old mother. 15:50 - Yes. 15:51 And she was abused in every way imaginable, 15:54 and Josh and Chiti sent her up north 15:58 to a Adventist high school. 16:00 And she tried to take her life life because of the pain 16:04 on the inside. 16:05 And so they decided that the best thing to do for her 16:09 was to move up there and adopt her. 16:13 And so they did that, and now they have 11 kids. 16:16 And Prow during this time, she has stayed in touch 16:19 with her mom, her mom is in jail, 16:21 and over the last few years, she's been writing letters 16:24 to her mom, Bible promises and things like that. 16:27 And this year, her mom was baptized. 16:30 - That's so awesome. 16:31 (both laugh) 16:33 That is so wonderful. - Very cool. 16:36 And she also discovered, when she went down to visit, 16:38 that she had two younger siblings. 16:41 And so she talked Josh and Chitlada about that 16:45 and they were maxed out 16:47 because by law they can't take any more kids. 16:50 And so they contacted the Nortons that were in Sukhothai, 16:56 and they took them. 16:58 - Right, right. - And so this year, 17:02 the Norton's family has increased by five. 17:05 - Right, because there was the first two, 17:08 and then there were two more, and then there was one more 17:11 after that, so now they have five extra children, 17:14 they have five of their own children 17:15 in Thailand with them already. 17:17 So they now have 10 children. 17:18 - And now they found property outside the city, 17:21 and were praying and moving forward by faith 17:24 to purchase that property, it's like 11 or 12 acres, 17:28 where the kids will have room to play. 17:29 And where they can accept more kids. 17:31 And they can turn this into a Bible worker training center 17:35 which has been on our hearts and our prayers 17:38 for almost 10 years. 17:40 - Right. 17:41 Yes, and the most exciting part about what's been going on 17:43 in Sukhothai is? 17:46 - Well, this is a city that we have been praying for 17:49 for almost 10 years. 17:51 Because there's no Adventist presence in the entire city. 17:54 And now the Nortons have just rented a building 17:58 and started a church. - Yeah. 18:02 - And so God's plan is moving forward, 18:05 and this is all a result of prayer and faith. 18:08 - Well, going back to what we're thankful for, 18:11 there's been this pandemic this year, the coronavirus. 18:15 - And the big lockdown. - Right. 18:17 Lockdowns all over the place. 18:18 And one of the things that's really concerned me 18:21 since the very beginning, was the poor people. 18:24 Because like in India, a lot of people, 18:27 they call them daily wages laborers. 18:29 And they work one day, they eat that day. 18:32 They don't work that day, they don't eat that day. 18:34 And it's like you have suddenly this huge workforce 18:37 of those kinds of people where they have no income, 18:42 so that means they can't eat. 18:44 And I've been praying against mass starvation 18:48 since the beginning, because I was very concerned. 18:51 And very early on, the Lord encouraged us to start 18:54 a relief fund, they call it the COVID relief fund, 18:58 and the Lord has used that fund to be a blessing 19:01 in a number of different areas. 19:03 - Yes. 19:04 In fact, just a few days ago was our latest one. 19:05 We just got a report from some family members 19:08 of some friends that we have that are located in Burma. 19:12 And we just found out that there's some families 19:14 that have no job, and they've been out just foraging. 19:18 So we sent the funds for 65 families, 19:21 and we got a report back this morning 19:24 that they fed 135 families, and that these families 19:28 had been out searching for fish, snakes, 19:31 rats, insects, and watercress just to survive. 19:37 And so over 400 people have been helped. 19:42 They were desperate and they're so thankful. 19:46 And they're not our religion, but that's okay. 19:52 They're God's kids, and God cares about them. 19:56 And so- - Yeah. 19:59 I mean there's places in the Philippines, 20:01 in the south of the Philippines, 20:03 there's a prison where, because of the coronavirus, 20:06 the families can't come and visit. 20:08 And when you're in prison in Asia, a lot of places, 20:12 the families have to bring food. 20:13 Especially for those that are church members 20:16 that are vegetarian. 20:18 - Even the jail officials were desperate. 20:21 - Right, right, and so we were able to send funds 20:24 for them to take to the prison 20:27 to have food for these people. 20:29 - That's through Mike and Michelle Cordes GoBeDo Missions. 20:32 And so they were very happy to have that connection 20:35 with the prisons. 20:37 - Right, right. 20:38 Well then there's also in Mindoro where we've been 20:41 feeding the children for a number of years, 20:43 but we were able to do some relief there as well. 20:47 - Yes, that's ongoing. 20:48 And especially with those kids that we talked about 20:51 so much up in the mountains in the schools 20:53 that we have the lunch program going. 20:55 And ever since we started the lunch program, 20:57 the mortality rate for these kids have gone 20:59 from like three to five kids per year to zero. 21:02 And especially during this pandemic, 21:04 we're able to feed these kids, and it's gone 21:07 to other villages as well. 21:09 - Yeah. 21:10 And one thing I wanna mention, 21:11 we didn't mention this earlier in our thankfulness list, 21:13 but we're able to get them, 21:15 thanks to some really amazing donors. 21:17 We were able to get them another van. 21:20 - [Jon] Yes, they've already saved two lives from it. 21:22 - [Natalie] Within the first three days. 21:24 - Yeah, they're able to take these people to the hospital 21:27 when their other cars were not worth repairing any more. 21:31 They've run them into the ground. 21:32 And so they're just thankful for that. 21:34 - Another place that we've been able to help 21:37 with this COVID relief fund, 21:38 we talked about a little bit already about the school there 21:42 and about the wells and things. 21:43 But this is Bangladesh, we've been able to send funds 21:46 in there, and they were able to feed 21:48 over 60 families from that. 21:50 So we're thankful for that. 21:52 - Yes, we also sent COVID relief to our project, 21:55 satellite ministry in Indonesia 21:58 because the people around them in the village 22:01 where the satellite studio is located, are very poor. 22:05 Very hand-to-mouth. 22:07 And so they were struggling and on the edge of starvation, 22:10 and so we were able to help them, 22:11 and that does more, good will is such 22:16 a beautiful commodity. 22:18 And when you have that good will, 22:19 and you see that people care, 22:21 when the local villagers see that people care, 22:25 that opens doors for the gospel. 22:28 An expanse ministry. 22:29 Now, another thing that we've shared before 22:32 on a different program was the Love For Asia Foundation, 22:36 and the Sharing Love cabinet that they put up in Chiang Mai 22:39 and how they were able to help people, 22:42 and that was coming from this COVID relief fund as well. 22:44 - [Jon] Right, and one or two people 22:47 started coming to church just because of that. 22:50 - Yeah, pretty quickly. - Yeah, and in Thailand, 22:53 that doesn't happen. - No, no. 22:55 - People don't just come to church. 22:58 - Right, and also the Love For Asia team 23:00 along with our missionaries there have been able 23:03 to give out a lot of food in different areas. 23:05 They've taken some to an orphanage, and- 23:10 - And the Sharons have been handing them out door to door. 23:13 We have one of our Bible workers 23:15 is working with the Sharons. 23:17 She was the head woman of a village 23:19 that the Sharons live in, 23:21 and she had gotten to know the Sharons very well, 23:24 and got to know their religion, and wanted 23:26 to become a Christian, and now she's a Christian 23:28 and working as a Bible worker, and now she is opening 23:32 doors into a lot of different homes in that area, 23:35 especially with being able to hand out rice and oil 23:39 and basic staples so that they can live, 23:43 they can survive, they don't have to starve to death. 23:46 And so it's been a beautiful thing there. 23:50 - Right. 23:51 And I know we mentioned India earlier, 23:52 but one thing I wanted to say is that this year, 23:56 our TV studio in India was opened as well, 24:00 and that's been a huge blessing, 24:02 and even with coronavirus going on and all the lockdowns, 24:07 they've been able to go there and spend time 24:10 recording a bunch of shows, and then they pad some 24:13 to air because it airs daily. 24:15 And they're still having a lot of response, 24:17 a lot of people, especially during this time of- 24:20 - Uncertainty. - Yeah. 24:22 Panic, fear, whatever you wanna call it, yeah, 24:25 they've had a lot of response. 24:27 And so the Bible workers have been kept busy 24:29 praying with people on the phone and things like that, 24:32 and going and meeting where they can. 24:34 - A lot of people are meeting Jesus. 24:36 - Right, right. 24:37 - And giving their life to him. 24:39 So it's been very productive in spite of the lockdown. 24:42 - Right. 24:44 Well, it's been really encouraging to me 24:46 to think back through this year 24:48 and the things that we have to be thankful for, 24:49 and there's so many more. 24:52 I'm very thankful for our donors specifically 24:55 that pray for this ministry, and that give. 24:58 I know that sometimes we focus on a big donation, 25:02 or we seem to focus on a big donation, 25:04 but we know very strongly here 25:06 that it's all of the donations that God adds together 25:09 to make a difference. 25:11 And so I just wanted to say that I'm just so encouraged 25:13 when I think about what God has done. 25:16 And yet? 25:17 - Yeah, I'm thankful for what God has done. 25:19 I'm more than thankful, and yet still, 25:22 there are souls that are going into a Christless grave, 25:26 that have not had the opportunity to even hear 25:29 the name of Jesus. 25:31 And so while we can be thankful for what God has done, 25:33 and for what we've been able to do a part of, 25:36 we cannot relax and be thankful for what has been done 25:39 without taking that as encouragement to go forward 25:43 with greater strength, with greater faith, 25:45 and with greater zeal into next year. 25:47 Because who knows what's gonna happen next year? 25:50 Will this pandemic ease up? 25:54 Or will something worse happen? 25:55 We don't know. 25:57 I mean, this is the first year where we've not been able 25:59 to send missionaries. 26:00 - Right, and we have people ready to go. 26:02 - People ready to go, and we can't launch them 26:04 because there's the lockdown. 26:06 That hurts because, and what hurts even more 26:11 is we don't really talk about that. 26:14 That should jar us into realizing that the end is near 26:19 and we can't stop. 26:22 We cannot stop going into all the world. 26:26 We've gotta do it while we still have time. 26:29 There's a quote by one of my favorite authors that says 26:31 that the work that God has called us to do, 26:34 we can either do it when it's convenient and easy 26:37 during a time of prosperity and ease, 26:39 and that which we fail to do then, we'll have to do 26:43 when it's tough, and when everything makes it 26:46 very formidable to accomplish. 26:49 And we're getting a taste of that this year. 26:51 And I believe strongly, my personal opinion, 26:55 according to Matthew 22:14, is that the world 26:58 will continue to get worse and worse and worse 27:01 until the gospel is preached- - In all the world. 27:04 - In all the world. 27:06 And there's still a lot of people, 27:07 there's still a lot of people groups that don't 27:09 have access to the gospel yet. 27:12 And so until we engage in that work wholeheartedly, 27:16 Christ can't come. 27:18 - That's very right, dear. 27:20 That's really, it's sobering, and yet it's a challenge 27:24 that we need to step forward and take. 27:27 And I would like to invite you to pray 27:28 and ask God how he wants you to join his vision 27:32 for this next year. 27:33 To join in what he wants you to do, 27:35 to be of service to those around us, 27:38 to see how many ways he can give you to be thankful 27:41 in how he expands your life. 27:43 If you'd like to get in contact with us, you can reach us 27:46 at Jesus For Asia, PO Box 1221, 27:49 Collegedale, Tennessee, 37315. 27:53 Call us at (423) 413-7321 27:57 or visit our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:02 Happy Thanksgiving, and may God richly bless you. 28:04 Until we see you next time on Jesus For Asia Now. 28:08 (majestic music) |
Revised 2020-11-24