Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220047A
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00:04 I want to spend my life
00:09 mending broken people. 00:15 I want to spend my life 00:20 removing pain. 00:25 Lord, let my words 00:31 heal a heart that hurts. 00:36 I want to spend my life 00:41 mending broken people... 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:52 mending broken people. 01:06 Hello friends and welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:09 My name is John Lomacang 01:10 and my wife Angela is with me today. 01:12 Once again. I'm always happy 01:14 to be here. Any day above the ground is a good day. 01:17 I like that. I think I agree with you on that one. 01:20 You know, when we could agree in the joy of the Lord 01:25 it's a blessed day. And we are always excited 01:27 to come to you. To come to your home to share what God has 01:30 in-store. And we have a wonderful program today. 01:33 Oh! Two of our favorite people again. YES! 01:35 They fly like birds, don't they? 01:38 We'll find out in just a moment why she said that. 01:41 As a matter of fact, let's just go ahead and introduce them 01:42 right away. Charles and Karen Byrd. Good to have you here. 01:45 Great to be here... good to be back. 01:46 In Search of Trust and Thunder in the Holy Land. 01:49 We'll talk about that in a moment, but it's always good 01:50 to see you. Yeah! We saw you not too long ago 01:53 at the CALLED Convention. 01:56 And we're going to talk about some of the exciting things 01:59 that have propelled you to be involved in what you continue 02:03 to do. And continue to go forward in faith 02:06 and all the exciting projects that are on the horizon 02:09 and new materials and looking back to look forward. 02:13 All of that. We're glad to have you here today. 02:14 Thank you. So we're kind of buckled in for 02:18 a really good program. It's going to be good; I'm excited 02:20 about the program. It's going to be a Thunder in the Holy Land 02:22 program. So get your umbrellas because the goodness of the Lord 02:26 is going to thunder on us today. That's right. 02:28 So we want to thank you for your prayers 02:30 and all of your support of 3ABN. Amen! It makes 02:32 a difference, doesn't it? Absolutely it does! 02:35 To be in the 39th I believe year of this existing ministry 02:38 to see God's hand moving in the way He has 02:40 you've made a major difference in your prayers, 02:43 your financial support, as well as those of you 02:47 that have come to volunteer. 02:48 We always thank you for making a difference 02:51 and we encourage you to continue as we go forward 02:53 in faith getting ready for the soon return of Jesus. 02:57 But right now, honey, we have some music 02:58 before we dive into our program. 03:00 Yeah, we do. Stephanie Dawn and her dad - 03:02 that's right - are going to share a wonderful selection 03:05 called Sanctuary. 03:29 Lately, I've wondered 03:33 as time hurries on 03:38 what have I done with 03:42 the days come and gone. 03:48 And I remember 03:52 how once I was drawn 03:56 into 03:59 Your sanctuary. 04:12 When did I wander 04:16 so far away? 04:21 How did I get here? 04:24 Why did I stray? 04:29 And can I ever 04:32 find my way 04:37 back to Your 04:39 sanctuary? 04:47 Nothing have I 04:51 on earth but You. 04:55 No one but You 04:58 in heaven. 05:02 So why do I 05:06 continue to do 05:11 everything else 05:15 but come to You? 05:31 All of my folly 05:36 I finally see 05:39 I've nowhere to hide, 05:43 I've no place to flee. 05:47 If I ran to You 05:50 would You run to me 05:55 out from Your 05:57 sanctuary? 06:05 Nothing have I 06:09 on earth but You. 06:12 No one but You 06:15 in heaven. 06:20 So why would I 06:23 continue to do 06:27 everything else 06:32 but come to You? 06:40 I will remember 06:43 what You did for me 06:48 climbing that hill 06:51 to die on that tree. 06:56 Then will I go 06:59 and bend my knee; 07:04 there I'll find 07:07 sanctuary. 07:17 Oh, I'll give You thanks 07:22 for Your sanctuary. 07:42 Thank you so much, Stephanie, for that song. 07:45 Setting the stage because really for Thunder in the Holy Land 07:49 and the sanctuary message you know it's the encapsulation 07:54 of the full three angels' messages. Amen! 07:57 Actually, it is... yes. It's the encapsulation of... 08:00 It's all found: "Your way, O Lord is in the sanctuary. " 08:03 Yeah. Well, thank you so much. 08:06 Charles and Karen: good to have you here! 08:08 Yeah. Great to be back. 08:10 You know, every time you come we know you have something new 08:12 on the horizon so today we want to just kind of do a catch-up. 08:15 Just bring us briefly up to date. We're not going to go 08:18 through all the great details but since we saw you last 08:21 what is new? Well... what's new is 08:26 an 83-year-old fellow came out from Oregon 08:30 and he said: "I'm here to help you cut down trees. " 08:35 So we've cut down all the trees. 08:37 Eighty-three? Yeah, 83! We cut down all the trees 08:40 for our new studio. And a fellow came out from Washington 08:44 and helped me burn all the stumps. 08:46 And we're just really close now to having the property ready 08:50 for the new studio to produce the I Met God series 08:54 and continue inserting people into Thunder in the Holy Land: 08:57 pastors and evangelists. Good! And we'll see that. 08:59 We have some photos and some videos here to show today. 09:02 We're not going to go that far yet, but 09:05 you have been working as a pastor - um-hmm - 09:09 for a number of years. 09:12 I mean, what would encourage you to leave the security of 09:16 pastoring with all the insurance and retirement 09:20 to dive into this project as husband and wife? 09:24 Just kind of... Because there's a lot of pastors out there 09:27 that are saying: "Hey, I'm safe and secure from 09:29 all alarm. " And you're in that context and you dive out 09:32 first in search of truth and then Thunder in the Holy Land 09:37 through Quest Productions. Well, I'll answer first - 09:39 OK - by saying how secure can you be 09:43 when you're under the shadow of the Almighty? 09:45 What's more secure than that? That is so true! 09:47 As long as you feel like the Lord has called you 09:49 to something and He's faithful. 09:51 He's always been faithful. 09:53 We kind of were singing in the car yesterday 09:57 on the way up here: we've come this far by faith 10:01 leaning on the Lord 10:03 and trusting in His Holy Word. 10:05 How long has it been since you started Quest Productions? 10:10 Well we started QuestLine Productions back when I was 10:13 still pastoring in Wisconsin. Um-hmm. 10:15 And the conference worked closely with us 10:17 when we made In Search of the Truth 10:19 but I never intended it to... I had to put a name to it 10:24 so I gave it QuestLine Productions 10:26 because I had to have some kind of a name. But... 10:28 But it wasn't that I thought that this was going to be any 10:30 long-term thing. I was just... When I did In Search of 10:34 the Truth we were just creating a series that I could put on 10:37 local cable access before I did local evangelism. 10:39 It was truly self-centered in the sense of: 10:42 "This is me and my ministry. " 10:44 But then obviously the Lord did something great 10:48 and greater and now even greater 10:50 and as He's dragging us along. 10:52 But you asked the question which I thought was a good question: 10:55 "Why would you do that? Why would you leave the security? " 10:59 And... And I think that the real reason was... was 11:02 because in my own personal life 11:04 I was actually as a young person growing up 11:07 serving an impotent God. 11:09 Hmm. My God could not actually help me 11:14 accomplish what He called me to accomplish. 11:16 Which what He has called us to accomplish is holiness 11:19 and righteousness and perfection 11:22 and goodness and love. 11:24 And I tried. I mean, I wanted to be a good person. 11:29 I wanted to follow God in the steps that He was leading. 11:32 But my God was very very impotent. 11:35 It wasn't that I was a bad person all the time 11:38 but in critical times when I knew I should be here 11:43 and I was choosing to be somewhere else 11:46 and I wanted Him to change me. And I prayed: 11:50 "Lord, give me a new heart. " You know? 11:52 And it was just like nothing was happening. 11:53 And what I didn't realize at the time 11:57 at least for me personally was that... that God 12:02 isn't going to "dink" you. That's a word that I have 12:05 kind of have where He just kind of hits you 12:07 and all of a sudden you just are something totally different. 12:12 You know: I'm black and I become white. 12:14 I'm white and I become black. 12:16 That kind of a difference. He doesn't do that to people. 12:18 What He does is offer you a relationship 12:22 where that relationship "by beholding we become changed. " 12:25 And I didn't understand that; I didn't realize that 12:28 even though I'd been raised in a Christian home 12:30 and never darkened the door of a public school system. 12:33 And finally I ended up marrying Karen 12:36 because she was like just one step away from perfection. 12:40 Ahhh! And you know, by beholding you become changed. 12:43 Righteousness by association. 12:45 You know: I'm with her. 12:47 And then that didn't work. 12:50 And I came home one day and I told Karen: 12:53 "You know, I don't believe in God any more. I'm done. " 12:55 Wow! And here she thought 12:57 she'd just married a future pastor. Yes! 12:59 And her dad was a pastor. 13:01 And so that was transformational for me 13:05 because the Lord spoke to my heart and He said: 13:08 "I want you to go back to Steps to Christ. " 13:10 Beautiful book! Wow! 13:12 I said: "Lord, I've read that book. It's boring. " 13:14 He said: "No. Study it inductively. " 13:18 So I picked it up 'cause I knew what that meant. 13:21 And the first chapter was God's Love for Man. 13:23 Well I know He loves me but that's not helping. 13:25 The second chapter was: A Sinner's Need for Christ. 13:27 I know that's the problem. 13:30 The 3rd chapter was repentance. Hmm. 13:35 And there was nothing in my mind. There was no Teflon. 13:38 I mean there was just Teflon. There was no tape; 13:40 there was no nail; there was no Velcro. 13:43 Nothing. Repent what? Re... 13:47 Repent of what? What is repentance? 13:49 I don't even know what that means. 13:52 I didn't have a clue of what the word repent meant. 13:56 So I took my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance 13:58 and I went through every single word on repentance. 14:04 And I wrote down in my journal: "If this was the only text 14:06 I had, what would I know about repentance? " 14:09 Oh wow! And when I got finished doing that process 14:12 I discovered that repentance is just like your hand. 14:15 It's one hand. Repentance: it's one thing 14:19 but it's got five fingers. 14:21 And repentance has five parts. That's right. 14:23 And the first two parts are the parts that I get involved with. 14:26 You look at the goodness of God. 14:28 Behold His goodness; focus on His goodness. 14:32 Everything good. Claim His promise. 14:34 Look at all the goodness of God. 14:35 Read biographies of faith. Read the stories of faith 14:37 but focus on how God shows up. Yes! 14:41 The second thing is is when God says: 14:43 "Listen, I don't like this about you. " 14:45 "You know, you're beating on your wife. 14:47 You're drinking; you're taking drugs. 14:48 You're selfish; you're prideful; you're arrogant. 14:51 I don't like that. I want to change that & make you whole. " 14:55 And then you take that and you say: "Lord, give me the gift 14:58 of repentance over that. " And you're specific about 15:00 what that is. It's not like: "Honey, if I've done anything... 15:05 If I've ever done anything to bother you, 15:08 please forgive me. " None of this is generic 15:11 but specifically - Amen - you ask Him 15:14 for the gift of repentance in that thing. You know? 15:17 And then the next two things are where He shows up. 15:20 Now you wouldn't do the first two without 15:22 God inspiring you, prompting you, leading you. 15:27 But you have to actively engage. 15:29 Just like when you get in a car you have to put the key in 15:31 and turn the ignition. You have to push the start button. 15:34 So you have to be involved. 15:36 Then He does the next two things. They happen in you 15:39 but comes from outside of you to inside of you. 15:43 And it's when He gives you sorrow for sin 15:45 and the joy for righteousness. Amen! 15:48 And then He gives you a hatred for sin - 15:50 yes - and a love for righteousness. That's right! 15:53 So He does that and that's the "new heart. " 15:57 There you go. That's the born again. 16:00 And that born-again experience happens daily. 16:05 Um-hmm. Moment by moment. 16:07 Issue by issue; step by step. 16:10 And it's transformational. Called growth. 16:12 It's called growth in grace. 16:14 So the same thing that leads you to Christ 16:16 is how you grow in Christ. 16:17 And so He does that. And as a result of that 16:20 you turn away. And you don't just turn away outwardly 16:25 like: "I'd really like to look at some pornography 16:28 but the Lomacangs are here and they might see me do it. 16:33 You know... the neighbor may. 16:36 I'm at work and the IT guy may catch me doing this. " 16:39 So I would but I won't because... 16:43 No, no, no. The Spirit of Prophecy says - 16:45 Ellen White says in her book Steps to Christ: 16:48 "Until we turn away in heart. " 16:49 That's right... beautiful. And that's the in-heart experience 16:53 that He gives you. That's where He: "I don't want to do that. " 16:57 "I want to be different. " 16:59 And if you really feel that way it's a lot easier to turn away 17:02 from sin not just after you've done it 17:05 but before you've done it. 17:07 Because you've willed. Um-hmm. 17:10 And you turn away in heart before you even get there. 17:13 That's what Jesus did. That's what Jesus did. 17:15 Turned away before. Before... I like that. 17:18 So I'm hearing you say then there was a conversion - 17:20 absolutely - that took you. Not just an idea 17:23 to start QuestLine Productions. 17:25 QuestLine Productions. Absolutely. 17:27 There was a conversion that took place. 17:29 And that's what made me willing to become a pastor 17:32 when I really don't have the aptitude for being a pastor. 17:35 Hmm. In fact when I went to Johnson Econo Research and 17:38 Development Center and they tested me on all my aptitudes 17:41 I said: "I was thinking about being a pastor. " 17:43 They said: "Don't do that... 17:44 you do not have the gift for pastoring. " 17:48 And in many ways, I don't. 17:50 Pastoring is hard for me. In fact, everything I've done 17:54 is hard. Life is hard for me. 17:57 Being happy is hard for me. 17:59 Living is hard for me. 18:01 And so God did something profound there where He put me 18:06 there and then used me. 18:08 And then I've had no training in script writing. 18:11 No training in fundraising. 18:12 No training in videography. 18:14 No training in any of that 18:16 but He had me step out of the safety net - 18:20 yeah - and do this work - um-hmm - with no training 18:25 because He wanted this message of transformation to come out. 18:29 And really that's in many ways the missing link 18:33 with all of our church members - Wow! - 18:35 is they haven't had a conversion experience. 18:39 They haven't had a transformation. Yeah. 18:41 And the world hasn't had it; that's why we're going insane. 18:44 Wow! Yeah... that's true. 18:46 And so that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. 18:49 Beautiful! He qualifies the called. 18:52 Yeah... Amen! But qualifies the called. 18:54 Exactly. Not just called but qualified. 18:56 And that book Steps to Christ is a powerful book. 19:00 We're giving a family Bible studies now 19:02 using that book and of course the Word of God. 19:05 But we know your series Thunder in the Holy Land 19:08 has aired on 3ABN many years. 19:12 Why did you name it Thunder in the Holy Land? 19:15 That's a good question. 19:17 Every episode - the 26 episodes - 19:20 is a teaching of Jesus. Um-hmm. 19:21 Every episode is something He taught. 19:24 So I actually did that in- tentionally because I discovered 19:28 that Baptists believe in Jesus and Lutherans believe in Jesus. 19:32 Muslims believe in Jesus. 19:35 And I wanted to call it Thunder in the Holy Land 19:37 because every episode is something He taught 19:40 and every time He opened His mouth it caused a storm 19:42 of controversy. 19:43 Umm. "I and My Father are One. " 19:46 "Stone Him! " 19:47 "Love your enemies. " "And I do... 19:50 except for Muslims. " 19:51 Well, if that's your attitude then you're not a Christian. 19:55 You can say: "I'm a Christian. " You can go to church 19:57 but I don't care what denomination you are 20:00 you can say: "I'm a Christian" but if you don't love 20:02 your enemies - and they may not be as far away as Saudi Arabia - 20:07 right - or whatever they may be your spouse. 20:11 Yes. You know, I love in the Peanuts comic 20:16 Linus, he says: "I love humanity. 20:20 It's people I can't stand. " 20:24 And so if you love everybody except for your wife 20:29 or your husband or your kids - right - 20:31 or the person you have to work with. "I don't love them 20:33 because they're annoying. They bother me. " 20:37 Do you love them enough to die for them? 20:40 And if the answer is "No" 20:42 that's what you ask for repentance over. 20:44 You know, that's what's missing today in the Christian world. 20:46 We have this world that is all obsessed over politics. 20:49 Christians hating Christians and Christians are arguing with 20:52 Christians, and it's sad that the nation and the world 20:56 has become a place where Christians are showing 20:58 their worst side, and they're connecting Christ to it. 21:01 So that's very necessary, and I think if I'm following you 21:04 carefully that's because there's no internal conversion. 21:07 It's an external commitment to something 21:10 but not an internal conversion to someone. 21:12 And they're not asking: "Lord, give me love for that person. 21:17 I don't like them... I don't love them. 21:20 Would You love them through me? " Amen! 21:24 I like that. Now you have reporters 21:27 that you use in a lot of your videos. Right. 21:30 And you had young ethnically diverse group of young people. 21:36 Why not use yourself in all the videos? 21:40 Well number one: people really vibrate to young people 21:45 when they see that commitment. And ethnically diverse because 21:51 that's the world we live in. 21:52 And it also gave the young people an opportunity 21:58 to work for the Lord in their youth. 22:03 Um-hmm. So multi, multi reasons. 22:06 We have to empower the young people. I love it! 22:07 We have to call them to service. That's right. 22:10 Ellen White was a teenager when God called her to speak. 22:17 Yes, she was! 22:20 She was a teenager. Fifteen was it? Seventeen? 22:23 Seventeen... I think seventeen. 22:25 Yeah. But yes, as you're talk- ing about it. So we have some 22:28 pictures of some of the young people 22:29 that I'd like you to walk us through and kind of give us 22:32 where are they right now. They were with you 22:33 in the Middle East? They were with us! 22:35 They were with us in Bethlehem for 4-1/2 months. 22:37 Many of your viewers actually when they contact us 22:39 they say: "Where are those young people? " 22:41 "What are they doing? " 22:43 So we thought we'd share with you today 22:45 some pictures of the young people. Andrea: 22:49 she married 7 years ago to Danny Thompson 22:52 and they have two lovely children. Beautiful! 22:55 They grow... This is them visiting our property 23:01 not too long ago. 23:06 They live in the country and do lots of growing of 23:08 their own food. Very active in the local community 23:13 with many of the churches with Bible studies and so forth. 23:17 One of the fun things they do... really neat things they do 23:19 is give respite to foster parents 23:22 and also parents with disabled children. 23:25 Give them respite. And they work with the family 23:28 business as well managing rental property. 23:32 But just doing all kinds of things. And then 23:34 Levi: he is... Is Levi? Yeah. Is that Levi? 23:39 He got married oh probably a couple years ago - 23:41 something like that - to Deborah. 23:43 She's an Italian. They're in Michigan. 23:46 I meant to tell you that Andrea was in Wisconsin. 23:48 Then Levi is in Michigan 23:50 and they are building a ministry home. 23:55 So the bottom part is going to be a youth center 23:59 and they're building a home on the top level. 24:02 And just a youth center for young people. 24:05 In many ways he says they're just really wanting to 24:08 reach young people. Right now he said he's 24:11 studying with an 11-year-old boy that just has had no exposure 24:16 to God or the Bible or anything... Christianity. 24:21 And he said to him: "Does this book tell me 24:24 what God wants me to do? Because, " he says, "I don't 24:27 know what He wants me to do and I wouldn't want to do 24:29 something to hurt Him. " Ooh. 24:31 Bless his heart. Precious. Look at that. 24:32 The heart of a child. So Levi is definitely continuing 24:36 his ministry. And then Steven: 24:38 he's in Texas and his wife Erika. 24:43 They're there, and they're both entrepreneurs. 24:45 He's actually. Look like a power couple. Yes. 24:48 Like a power couple there. 24:50 And he has his own Jamaican bar-b-que business. 24:56 Oh, he's Jamaican? No. He cooks Jamaican I guess. 25:00 My family's Jamaican. 25:03 I don't really know, but anyway 25:05 I know he's from New York. That's all I know. 25:08 But he is a student pilot. He's been working for 7 months 25:12 on a commercial license eventually. 25:14 Oh, nice! So then she works with 25:17 non-profits. Has her own business working with them. 25:20 So a lot of people are wonder- ing: "What's happened to those 25:23 young people? " They lived with us for 4-1/2 months 25:26 over in Israel and we all got to... we're a family 25:29 there for a while. Amen. Took tours together 25:32 as well as out on the site doing... filming. 25:37 Thank you for that update because a lot of times we see 25:40 young people doing the same thing here when it comes to 25:42 a lot of the children's programs through the years 25:45 and then all of a sudden "Boom! " they're 21. 25:48 What happened? How come you? 25:50 It's kind of like a nostalgia thing: helping people 25:52 to see that the ministry is progressing. 25:54 And it's good to know how God impacted their lives. 25:57 Steven said he's also helping in his church 26:00 in the communications dept. I love it! 26:03 What is the real purpose for Behind the Scenes? 26:07 Well, Behind the Scenes of Thunder... 26:13 I mean, the whole reason we've done Thunder is 26:17 because we want to equip the local church and laity. Um-hmm. 26:22 That's the real Behind the Scenes of Thunder 26:25 in the Holy Land. Thunder in the Holy Land is 26:26 more than just a nice program on 3ABN. 26:30 It was meant to be a small group Bible study. 26:35 And when people miss that little detail 26:38 it can... and I don't want to say something disparaging about 26:41 my own program... but it can become 26:43 religious entertainment. Umm. OK. 26:45 A lot of times programs are religious entertainment. 26:48 They're not transformative. 26:50 And Thunder in the Holy Land was meant to introduce us 26:52 to Jesus and experience Jesus and get close to Jesus. 26:56 And that's why... Many of your listeners may not know 27:00 that there are lessons. Yes! 27:02 That's right! Tell us about them. 27:04 These lessons are online. They are free. Free! 27:08 You go to our website you can download it. 27:10 You can print it off. Um-hmm. 27:11 And I tell people: "This is the magic sauce. " 27:17 The videos are good. The videos are good but this! 27:21 When you're walking through it. This is the magic sauce. 27:24 And if you ignore this you've ignored the part that 27:27 makes it profound. Why? 27:29 Because what this document does is it takes people 27:32 and puts them in the presence of the Holy Spirit 27:34 where they start having a con- versation with the Holy Spirit. 27:37 OK? So the first couple of pages 27:41 is every verse that's going to be in the Bible study. 27:45 So as they're watching the video they fill in the blanks. 27:48 See? Um-hmm. Oh! So if you had a small group... 27:50 So let's go small group. We're going to do a small group 27:52 and we're going to do a Bible study. 27:54 So I had this out to everybody. We watch the video 27:56 for 30 minutes. As we go through you fill in the blanks. 27:58 I love that. So it's very straightforward. 28:01 And a lot of times when an evan- gelist gets up and he preaches 28:04 the people go out and they go: "That was really good 28:07 but I can't reproduce what he did. " 28:09 So they go home and say: 28:11 "Did you know that dead people are sleeping in the grave? " 28:13 "Where'd you ever hear nonsense like that? " 28:15 "I don't know but the preacher said it! " Yes. 28:16 Well now they've got all the verses. 28:18 They've got the lesson... they've got the lesson. 28:20 But the real miracle happens when they flip this paper over. 28:24 Oh? This is the miracle sauce right here. 28:29 They're impression questions except that it's kind of 28:32 misnamed because all these numbers down the side there 28:36 they're not really questions. They're just statements 28:38 that are reiterating what they just saw in the video. 28:42 Yes. The question comes is when they read one 28:45 like #1: Jesus claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath. 28:49 Right. If His Sabbath doesn't exist 28:52 it makes you wonder what? Would He be Lord of it if... 28:55 If it doesn't exist, is He Lord of it? 28:58 And then we turn to the people and we say: 29:00 "What's your impression? " Oh, I like that! 29:02 And when we say that up at the top of this document 29:05 there are possible responses. 29:08 Oh! So if I said to Angie: "Angie: Jesus claimed to be 29:11 Lord of the Sabbath. If His Sabbath doesn't exist, 29:14 it makes you wonder how He could be Lord of it. 29:17 What's your impression? " 29:18 OK, I see that A: I never thought about that before. 29:22 I like that! I love that! That gives me hope. 29:23 Yes! That's interesting. 29:25 That's news to me. "So Angie, I'm going to actually 29:28 let you do it. I'm going to let you pick which statement... 29:32 which of these impresses you? " 29:35 And you notice that there's J. 29:38 Oh, other. Other. Because I'm not trying to fit you 29:41 into a shoehorn. I'm not trying to make you 29:44 this is the size shoe you've gotta be in. This is 29:46 the box you've gotta be in. Yes. 29:47 I'm not going to do that to you. You can go anywhere you want. 29:50 What's your impression? That gives me hope. 29:52 So as soon as you give me an answer then I'm going to 29:55 follow up with: "What about that gives you hope? " 29:58 Ahh. So what about that disturbs you? 30:02 What about that encourages you? 30:04 What about that? And I'm going to ask you 30:05 to unpack that a little bit. 30:07 And then you would unpack that. Why does that give you hope? 30:12 I never saw that before. 30:13 OK, never saw it before. It's in the Word of God! 30:16 Because a lot of times you don't hear from the audience - 30:19 that's right - how they feel about it. 30:20 They're sitting there sometimes and saying: "I wish I 30:23 could say something. " And they're just kind of like 30:26 receivers and not even able to express what they felt 30:29 or what their impression is about the answers. 30:32 What this does, too, is it takes... they just... 30:35 You know, when you watch something on Biblical truth 30:38 it might be new to you. And you receive the facts - 30:42 right - but you only just heard them. 30:45 But this gives you a chance to process them in your heart 30:48 and where the Holy Spirit can be there talking to you. 30:51 'Cause when you say "What's your impression? " 30:54 you really kind of have to go to your right brain 30:56 to get an impression. Um-hmm... I like that. 30:58 And there's no wrong answer. 30:59 There IS no wrong answer. You're just asking: 31:01 "What's your impression? " And that allows the person 31:04 to think about that and transfer that truth 31:09 from their head to their heart. 31:11 To consider it with their heart. 31:13 I like that! I like that. 31:14 So it's designed that way built it. If you look at these 31:17 possible responses they're pretty much emotions. 31:21 That gives me hope! That's an emotion. 31:25 That's news to me! 31:28 That's amazing! 31:29 They're all emotional responses. 31:31 So you're going to go over to your right brain to your heart 31:33 and you're going to check-in. The Spirit of Prophecy says 31:36 "If you get their mind... " Yes. 31:39 "and you didn't get their heart you didn't get them. " 31:41 Hmm. Right. 31:42 Because we're whole beings. Right. 31:44 And there's a whole lot of people who will tell you 31:47 "Saturday's the Sabbath. " "You shouldn't eat that. " 31:51 You know, whatever. They're speaking truth 31:55 but the way they're speaking it is not attractive at all. 31:59 The mind not the heart. 32:00 The mind not the heart. It's not in the heart. 32:02 I want to go to the other questions because now when you 32:04 look at this what kind of results have you gotten 32:07 for the Thunder in the Holy Land series? 32:10 Using this series? 32:11 Yeah, well this has probably been one of the most encouraging 32:15 things because as you know 32:18 we actually insert pastors into it. 32:21 And so we've got nearly 100 pastors, evangelists, 32:25 who've been inserted into this. 32:28 And to hear from them... 32:29 to hear their responses... 32:31 So at the CALLED Convention one pastor came up 32:33 and I said: "Hey, have you been using? " "Oh, yeah! " 32:36 I says: "About... " I says: 32:38 "I know that baptism is virtually never one thing. " 32:42 You know: "I had a Thunder in the Holy Land Bible study 32:44 and I got baptized. " It's: "I met someone 32:46 who met me in a time of trial. 32:50 And then they encouraged me and then they offered a study. 32:54 I went to an evangelistic... " So it's multiple things. 32:56 But I asked them: "How many have you used Thunder with? " 32:59 And they began to share with me. 33:01 One pastor said: "You know I've had over 50 baptisms. " 33:04 Hmm! Carol came by. I didn't know Carol 33:07 but she came by the booth and she said... 33:10 She saw that it was the Thunder booth and she said: 33:13 "This is the best Bible study ever! " 33:16 And I said: "Oh really? Why do you say that? " 33:18 And she says: "Well, because every time I use it 33:21 it get another baptism. " Wow! Amen! 33:23 And I didn't realize it when she first started talking to me 33:26 but her husband is one of the pastors who's been inserted. 33:29 So she took her husband's video Bible study 'cause it's 33:32 his Bible study... doesn't have Pastor Byrd in it... 33:35 it has her husband in it 33:38 and she uses it and shares it with people. 33:40 Using the material but he's the presenter? Right. 33:42 He's the presenter. And then the young people are the same. 33:45 We have an actual response from one of those that are using... 33:47 that use the Thunder in the Holy Land series. Yes. 33:52 Let's look at that real quickly. 33:54 So there's a boy named Josiah Miller 33:56 back in Hutchinson. Last year he went to Maplewood Academy. 33:59 And he wasn't always into spiritual things 34:04 or stuff like that. He was more into 34:08 video games and that kind of thing. 34:10 But during the summer he saw the Thunder in the Holy Land 34:14 Bible studies and it literally changed him. 34:17 His parents told me this after he went to college 34:20 after he started attending Union College. He is now 34:25 so... he's so on fire for Jesus 34:28 and those studies are what inspired him. 34:31 He said that he told his parents 34:33 that seeing those young people that on fire for Jesus 34:36 just set a spark in his life 34:39 and he's just on fire for Jesus now. 34:42 Amen! Don't you love that testimony? 34:44 So you're getting a chance to see the fruit of the labor. 34:47 Amen! Right. Not only just bringing people to baptism 34:50 but transforming and changing lives. 34:52 And here's the important thing: 34:54 what I'm doing now... I used to pray: "Lord, make me 34:57 a soul winner. " And when I prayed that I was sincere. 34:59 I wanted to... I wanted to have results like Pentecost. 35:03 I mean, I wanted hundreds, thousands of people to be 35:06 brought to the Lord. Yes. I wanted it to go big because 35:08 God is big and He's got the Holy Spirit and He can do 35:10 big things so I'm expecting big things. 35:12 So instead of making me a profound soul winner 35:16 He made me the person who pounded out the sword 35:20 that nearly 100 pastors and hundreds more 35:24 of their members are using. 35:27 And in fact, when I was at the CALLED Convention 35:29 John Boston II he came up to us 35:32 and I didn't know him. He's been in Australia. 35:37 I've never once talked to him. 35:39 In fact, let's watch that video - show us - of what he said. 35:44 All right. OK. I'm John T. Boston II, 35:47 Associate Director for the North American Division 35:50 Evangelism Institute. 35:51 I came there from the South Pacific where I served in 35:54 Australia as an evangelist. 35:56 We use Thunder in the Holy Land for a very specific reason. 35:59 The postmodern mind is not about indoctrination... 36:03 it's about introduction... it's an experience. 36:04 That's exactly what Thunder in the Holy Land does. 36:07 Absolutely encourage it. I look forward to using it 36:10 across North America with my students and in the field. 36:14 Wow! Great! 36:16 I never heard of him before. 36:18 If he hadn't come by the CALLED Convention and talked to me 36:20 I wouldn't have known he was even using 36:22 Thunder in the Holy Land. 36:23 So he's getting results. 36:24 The encouraging thing he said to me was: 36:26 "I'm going to use this with my students. " 36:28 "I'm going to help other people. " 36:29 Ellen White made a statement that was very profound to me. 36:32 Talking about child-rearing. She said: "Make it 36:34 as easy as possible for your children to obey. " 36:37 Oh! Make it as easy as possible. 36:40 Don't try to make it difficult. Right. 36:41 Obedience is already difficult enough. 36:43 Make it as easy as possible. 36:45 I think the same would apply with: "How do we get our church 36:49 members to share Jesus? " 36:51 Make it as easy as possible. EASY as possible. I like that. 36:54 Make it as easy as possible. 36:55 Now I understand that you also are doing something 36:58 for the 3ABN audience making this material available. 37:04 We are. Make it as easy as possible for them. 37:07 Make it as easy as possible. Let's talk about that. 37:09 So 3ABN has been making Thunder in the Holy Land available 37:13 for $325 for the whole set 37:16 which is cheap when you think "A soul for $325? 37:19 That's cheap. " Twice that: 37:22 you get two souls then you divide the $325 in half. 37:25 And so on and so forth. You know? 37:26 It diminishes that cost per soul. 37:29 We at QuestLine Productions have been selling it for $325. 37:33 Yes. Well right now we want to make it available 37:36 for 70% off. What? We want as many people 37:40 to use it as possible 37:41 and so we're making it available for just $99. 37:45 Look at that! And that's just through our website 37:50 so you need to go to QLP.tv 37:52 and you can get it for just $99. 37:56 And it's 26? Twenty-six episodes 37:59 in a beautiful boxed set. 38:02 What a deal! It's just another way of... 38:06 We're trying to make it more available to more people. 38:10 To empower others to use the series. 38:12 Now let me ask a question. This series that is set up: 38:15 are you the speaker in this series? 38:18 Or is this one that people could? 38:20 This is the one where I'm the host - OK - 38:22 and then the young people do most of the talking. 38:24 I just start it middle it and end it. 38:26 I act like the evening news anchor 38:28 and I turn it over to live reporters. 38:31 And what's fun about that: it has a National Geographic 38:33 look and feel because like when we're talking about 38:35 what happens when you die, 38:37 the young people are in Lazarus' first tomb. 38:40 Hmm. And it was interesting when we were in Israel 38:42 there's the very spot Jesus was crucified 38:45 right here and right here. 38:48 I like that. And right here. 38:50 Well obviously He couldn't have been... No! 38:52 crucified in 3 different places, you know. 38:55 But to my knowledge there's only one place 38:58 that claims to be Lazarus' tomb. 39:00 And it matches the descrip- tions that we have read 39:05 and so I think it probably was. 39:07 And Lazarus isn't there 39:09 because Jesus can raise people from the dead. AMEN! 39:12 So they're in Lazarus' first tomb so it has 39:14 a National Geographic look and feel. 39:15 I like that... I like that. 39:17 And also this is another way we are 39:20 trying to get a little bit more sales: to help 39:23 fund the I Met God Project as well. 39:26 OK. So it's a way that you can be a blessing in your community, 39:30 in your church, as well as help us with the new 39:34 I Met God Project. Wow! 39:35 When you were here last time you sold your home 39:38 and you put the proceeds towards the ministry? 39:40 Yes. Nearly $230,000. 39:44 Oh wow! You say that... 39:47 God had done that so we just gave it back to Him. 39:52 It's God's money. We belong to Him. 39:54 Amen! So what is the project now then? 39:57 Well I just have to pause just a minute on this. 40:02 I kind of grimace because... 40:05 because I'm at the stage where I should be thinking about 40:07 retirement. I should be thinking about... What am I doing? 40:11 having a home paid for 40:12 and then I'm giving the money away. 40:15 But you know, there's a promise in God's Word. 40:17 It says... Jesus said in the teachings of Jesus: 40:22 "There's no one who's left their house 40:24 or their land who's not going to get 100 fold more 40:28 in THIS LIFE AND eternal life. " 40:31 Wow! And I never asked God to make good on this. 40:36 I've never gone to the Lord and said: "You said... 40:39 that You'd give me houses. " Like magic? You know? Right. 40:43 But I did hold that verse up and put my finger on it 40:46 and say: "Lord, I'm not asking for me. 40:48 I'm asking that You fund the I Met God Project. " 40:50 "I've given my all. I want You to match that. 40:55 To triple that. To give me more than that. 40:59 To give me everything I need for that. " 41:01 And He's been doing that. We're not all there yet. 41:03 OK. But I just want to talk about the promises of God. 41:09 Yes. So I don't have a house to live in. 41:12 So we're renting an old farmhouse 41:14 but we've got enough land to put a house there on the property. 41:19 And we actually drew up plans for a house 41:22 because you can always dream. 41:24 And I looked at plans, I looked at plans, I looked at plans 41:27 and every time I talked to Karen "What do you think about this? " 41:29 "That's really nice, but it doesn't have this. " 41:32 "Oh, what do you think of this? " 41:34 'It doesn't have that. " 41:36 She always had something that she didn't like about it. 41:39 Or more specifically something that you forgot. 41:42 Something that wasn't there but she wanted. 41:44 Or something that was there that we didn't need that. 41:46 Right. Yeah. Exactly. 41:48 So finally I got tired of all that. I sat down and I drew 41:50 my own house plans. Oh, you did? I did! 41:53 I drew my own house plans. 41:54 Of course not that I can afford this 41:56 because I gave up all the money, you know. 42:00 A little bit of equity is about all we have. Yeah. 42:03 And then somebody came to me and they said: 42:10 "Well I'll just give you the money to finish building 42:13 that house and you pay me back as you're able. " 42:16 Wow. Wow! 42:19 And then I said: "You know God's promises are true! " 42:22 Amen! God's promises are true. 42:24 You know, I didn't ask. 42:27 Yeah. I didn't ask for that. 42:29 So we're going to have a studio and a home right next to it 42:32 thanks to someone who believes in what we're trying to do. 42:35 Wow! Donated the land. 42:37 Let's put up a picture. You have a picture of the land 42:39 cleared. We do; we do. Let's see that. 42:41 We have cleared the land. 42:43 This used to be all solid trees. 42:45 Wow! And we've leveled it off. 42:47 We're about to hopefully here... 42:50 One man cut all the trees. 42:53 All the trees. That's a lot of cutting! 42:55 Dallas Hilligoss came out from Oregon. 42:57 Paid his own way out. 42:58 Paid for his rental site for his camper 43:02 and just stayed up there and worked with me. 43:04 Helped me knock it all out. 43:05 Skil saw? It was a chainsaw. 43:08 His was a Husky and mine was a SKIL. 43:11 That's a lot of work, but then you know what you do is 43:14 there's faith without work and then there's faith WITH works. 43:18 That's the evidence of work. 43:20 "Lord, I'm cuttin' these trees down because I know that 43:23 You will provide all of our need" Yes! "according to Your 43:26 plan according to the purpose of our lives. " 43:28 And you know the passage: Romans 8:28. Go ahead, 43:31 say it for us: "And we know that all things 43:33 work together for good for those who love God 43:36 and those that are the called according to His purpose. " 43:38 If you love Him; if you're called. 43:39 I love Him and I know He called me. 43:41 That's right, that's right. Yes. 43:43 You have another photo with the walls up? 43:45 No... I don't have a photo with the walls up. Oh! 43:47 But this is what the new studio is going to look like. 43:51 The tallest part of the building there in the back: 43:54 that's where the studio will be. 43:56 The front part will have four offices, 43:59 a production room, an editing suite, 44:03 a little kitchenette and a work room and a green room. 44:06 Yeah. So we're ready to go with the I Met God Project. 44:11 Wow! And why are you pushing so hard on this project? 44:14 This is really... You just said a moment ago 44:16 and I want to go back to what you... rewinding that audio 44:18 here. You said: "At this point in my life 44:22 I should be looking for a beach somewhere 44:25 and a pair of slippers. " 44:27 That's never going to happen with this visionary. 44:30 But as a pastor - and I know this is true about a lot of 44:33 pastors - there's this thing called "retire. " 44:36 Well what that actually means is just get a new set of tires. 44:40 Retire the tires? Retread the thing. 44:43 Yeah. But this is a call... this is not just a passion. 44:46 Talk about that for a moment. 44:48 This is not just a passion... this is a call. 44:52 When we were asked multiple times by multiple languages 44:57 "Can we have something like Thunder in our language? " 44:59 "Can we have something like Thunder in OUR language? " 45:01 "Can we do that? " "Can we have that? " 45:04 My answer was "No" 45:06 because I knew it was going to be too difficult. 45:09 And then God comes along and He says: 45:12 "You CAN do it. " 45:14 "This is how you can do it. " 45:15 "Here's the equipment you can use. " 45:17 And He put it all in my head. 45:18 Went to Las Vegas National Assoc. of Broadcasters 45:22 and all the equipment that He put in my head was there. 45:24 Equipment I'd never heard of before. 45:26 Cameras that just walk around the floor by themselves. 45:30 Zoom in, zoom out... all by themselves. 45:32 Big cameras that look like what you have here in this studio 45:35 except there isn't somebody behind it. 45:37 They're just walking around doing their own thing. 45:39 Expensive! 45:41 It will be expensive but it will be cost-effective 45:44 because we'll do language after language after language 45:47 after language after language. Wow! 45:49 And that's what God wants. 45:52 He said in Matthew 24:14 45:56 that when "this gospel of the kingdom goes 45:58 to every nation, goes to every kindred. 46:02 When all the nations have heard I will come back. " 46:07 And you and I, and you do the same thing here at 3ABN, 46:11 you're literally all over the world through satellite. 46:14 We're giving the world a chance to know. 46:17 We're giving the world a chance to hear. 46:19 And when they've all heard He can come back. 46:22 I want to go home. Yes! 46:26 Yes! Praise the Lord! 46:28 I was called to the home of a lady 46:31 who went to the restroom and her baby came out. 46:35 Oh! Wasn't supposed to come out now. 46:38 She was this tall. 46:41 Wow! I held her in my hand. 46:43 At that stage of life they say: "Oh, that's a fetus. 46:46 You can grind that up; throw it away. " 46:48 But people are marching now: "They're taking away the rights 46:51 of women! " Well what about the right of that little girl? 46:53 Um-hmm. She had perfect fingers. 46:57 She had perfect toes. Um-hmm. 47:01 I want to go home. 47:03 All the nonsense, the rioting... the rioting that's going on now, 47:09 some guy who resisted the police ended up dying. 47:15 I'm sad about that... don't get me wrong. 47:17 I don't think that's right. But then the rioters go 47:20 burn down this guy's restaurant and burn down this guy's 47:23 convenience store. They had nothing to do with it. 47:27 But then you hear the politicians saying: 47:30 "Well, you know, you've gotta understand them. " 47:34 There's no understanding craziness! 47:37 Well we're not living in an environment of understanding. 47:40 There's nothing... And here's what's happening, 47:42 here's why I think that Thunder in the Holy Land 47:47 and all evangelism is very relevant. Very relevant. 47:51 You try to make sense out of this world 47:52 you can't. It's not going to make sense. That's right. 47:54 It's designed to polarize, to divide, to conquer, 47:58 to cause people to become more angry with each other 48:00 whereas Christians we should be angry with the devil 48:04 and we should be united in doing the work of God. 48:07 And this is affecting so many levels of society 48:09 and in some cases even affecting the Adventist church 48:12 where we're pulling in the wrong direction. 48:14 What I like about this program: we're saying to people 48:17 "Get back to what God has called you to be. " 48:19 Matthew 24:14 He just preached on that. 48:22 We just talked about that. Get back to the things that 48:24 do not divide. Because the devil knows that if 48:27 we are united... He knows that if we are united 48:30 in doing the work of God then the Lord could return 48:33 sooner. That's right. We can't tell Him when to come back. 48:35 "No man knows the day nor the hour. " That's right. 48:37 But we can do what is in our power to hasten the coming 48:40 of the Lord. But all these issues are not intended to keep 48:43 us working for the Lord but to keep us 48:46 working against the Lord. That's right. So let me ask 48:48 this question: what do you think that the 3ABN audience could do 48:51 to help move this project forward? 48:53 You talked about the land. You see the house there. 48:56 And you have an audience that may say: "Charles and Karen: 49:00 we've heard, we've watched, we've seen the passion 49:03 of this ministry. " Yes. "How can we be helpful 49:05 to be able to propel this going forward? " 49:07 What can you say? Look in the camera. 49:08 I want to give you a chance to look at that camera 49:10 and tell. What would you say to them 49:12 that are listening and watching this program? 49:14 Well I'm the one at the phone usually - 49:17 OK - in the office or getting the mail. 49:20 And I have to tell you 49:22 when a 3ABN listener 49:27 I go to the mail and I open up this letter... 49:30 A person - you know a donation - a person I don't even know 49:34 who they are and God has inspired them 49:37 to give towards this project. 49:40 Every time I do that I just look up to the Lord 49:43 and I say: "Lord, You're doing this. Thank you so much. 49:46 You're moving on Your people. " 49:47 And so that's... that's... listen to what God is moving... 49:51 moving you to do to help with this project. 49:55 We're a long way from having it completely funded. 50:00 We're working on the physical plant right now 50:02 and we hope to have that finished, up and running by 50:08 January. And then it will be all the equipment 50:12 and so forth, too. So 50:14 listen to the Lord and ask the Lord what He would have you do. 50:19 And we're going to need ambassadors. 50:22 Ahh... what is that? 50:23 So when we do another language 50:26 I don't speak Swahili. Ah-ha. 50:28 I don't speak Tongan. 50:30 I don't speak French or German. 50:33 I don't speak Chinese. Umm. 50:35 We're going to need ambassadors. We're going to need people 50:38 who are multi-lingual. OK! 50:40 And if you're watching right now and you say: 50:43 "I'm multi-lingual... I could translate one of those 50:45 scripts from English into our native tongue 50:49 and get it ready for our people. " 50:51 We need ambassadors who will... who will 50:54 talk to their people and say: "Hey, we need to fund 50:57 our language portion of the script. " That's right. 50:59 What it would cost to produce eight programs 51:04 at the old Adventist Media Center 51:06 we're going to do 52 programs in their native language 51:10 "on location. " And I put that in quotes 51:13 because it will be done green screen around the world. 51:15 Amen! Well, we're going to need 51:17 people who can go to their people and say: 51:20 "Hey listen. You know, you've come from Tonga 51:22 and you're in the U.S. We can do this. 51:24 You're a lawyer; you're a doctor. Can you give $25,000 51:28 for this project? Can you give $50,000? 51:30 Can we make this a reality for our language? " 51:33 "This is for OUR language. " That's right. 51:35 And so we're going to need ambassadors. We're going to need 51:39 fundraising. We're going to need translators. 51:42 This project is so much bigger than Charles and Karen Byrd. 51:46 There is no way we can do this in our strength. 51:50 Absolutely. But we serve 51:53 a church, a body, that is God's body. 51:57 Amen. We can do this. 51:59 And I just want to also 52:00 remind them of the website. 52:08 Like: Quick! Let's pray. 52:09 OK, I like that. I mean this is an exciting project. 52:12 Every time you both come here 52:14 I can see the flame is still burning. How true! 52:15 And God has ignited you not to consume you 52:19 but to inspire you. 52:21 And once again as we've pointed out 52:23 we're going to have another two minutes on the other side 52:25 of the news break. But QLP.tv is where you can go 52:30 to find out more. Don't go away... 52:32 we'll be right back. |
Revised 2023-02-28