Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY240042A
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00:01 ♪ ♪
00:04 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:56 ♪ ♪ 01:08 Greeting to my 3ABN Family and welcome to another Today program 01:11 My name is Ricky Carter. 01:13 I'm Jasmine Carter. 01:15 And we will be your hosts today. Glad you could be with me on the 01:18 program. 01:20 It's my pleasure. 01:21 All right. Great. Well we've got another power-packed program 01:24 that I'm sure you will be blessed with. And let me say 01:28 thank you for your prayers and financial support here at 3ABN. 01:32 We greatly appreciate it. It's great we can be partners 01:36 together in the ministry of getting the gospel out to the 01:41 world. Well before we introduce our guests Jasmine has two 01:46 scriptures that she's going to read for us. 01:47 I'll be reading from Micah 6 verse 8: He has shown you O man 01:52 what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do 01:58 justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. 02:03 And I'll be reading as well from John 17 verses 1-3: Jesus spoke 02:09 these words lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father the 02:14 hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son also may glorify 02:20 you. As you have given him authority over all flesh that he 02:24 shall give eternal life to as many as you have given him. 02:30 And this is eternal life that they may know you the only true 02:36 God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 02:39 Amen, amen. Well this is the goal of ASI Bahamas Prison 02:44 Fellowship Bahamas. That the ministry we'll be talking about 02:51 today. And this is the goal to come in contact with all those 02:56 to share about the true God and Jesus whom God has sent. So in 03:04 today's program we'll be learning more about ASI Bahamas 03:07 Prison Fellowship Bahamas. So let me introduce you to our 03:11 guests. Here to my right first we have ASI Bahamas vice 03:15 president for evangelism and Prison Ministry Bahamas member 03:18 David Williams. Welcome brother. 03:21 Thank you very much. 03:22 Good to have you on our program today. 03:24 It's a pleasure to be here. 03:25 Amen, amen. And then to David's right we have ASI Bahamas 03:30 President Ian Greene. Thanks for being on the program Ian. 03:35 Oh it's a great pleasure to be here. 03:38 Amen, amen. Well in just a few we're going to learn a lot about 03:44 ASI Bahamas/Prison Fellowship Bahamas. But before we do that 03:48 we're going to have our special music. Jasmine who'll be giving 03:53 our special music today? 03:54 E.T. Everett and she'll be playing I Will Serve Thee. 03:57 ♪ ♪ 08:09 Amen. I Will Serve Thee. Beautiful, beautiful, right? 08:12 Yes, yes. 08:14 Thank you Sister E.T. Well if you're joining us a little bit 08:19 late we have two special guests I want to introduce you to again 08:23 We have David Williams and Ian Greene. Glad you guys could 08:28 be with us here again today. And they're with ASI Bahamas/ 08:33 Prison Fellowship Bahamas. So before we learn about your 08:37 ministry it'd be great if our viewers at home could get to 08:41 know a little bit more about you So David you start off and share 08:45 with us. 08:46 My name is David Williams. I'm from the beautiful country of 08:50 the Bahamas Islands which consist of 700 islands and keys. 08:54 Next to heaven, it's the best place to be. And so I serve 08:57 as an elder At the Redemption Seventh-day Adventist Church. 09:00 I also serve as the vice president for evangelism for ASI 09:03 Bahamas. I'm director of my non profit. It's called Uplifting 09:10 Men's Ministry and a board member of Prison Fellowship 09:12 Bahamas. And I want to say this in my introduction. What is more 09:17 important to me beyond every thing is John 17:3: That eternal 09:22 life is found in Christ and Christ alone. 09:26 Amen (in chorus). And how about you Ian. You get to share a 09:29 little bit about yourself. 09:30 My name is Ian Greene. I'm the President of ASI Bahamas. I am 09:35 married to Michelle Greene and we have four lovely children. 09:38 Believe it or not their names will surprise you because my 09:44 wife's name is Michelle my oldest daughter's name is 09:48 Marissa which is my wife's middle name. My son who's in the 09:52 middle is Ian Greene, Jr. He's married to Christina. And my 09:55 youngest daughter, her name is Michelle Greene. We call 09:59 her Shelley. So we are a close knit family. I am in the 10:03 construction business for over 35 years now. I'm also a vice 10:09 President of ASI on the Intramerican Division and as 10:12 you can see on this jacket here I'm also the president of ASI 10:16 Atlantic Caribbean Union. So again my portfolio is full and 10:22 my scripture that I always tell people is: We need to learn how 10:26 to honor our God. How do we do that? By walking humbly with him 10:30 How do we do that? Because we need to actually show mercy to 10:35 people, we need to be kind to people and we need to let the 10:37 love of Christ shine through our hearts. 10:39 Amen (chorus). Well I know that a lot of our viewers at home are 10:43 very familiar with ASI but for those viewers that don't know 10:47 about ASI, could you share a little bit about that. 10:51 Well ASI, Adventist Laymen's Services and Industry, we are 10:55 part of the global Adventist church and our territory is the 11:00 Interamerican Division. And what we do is we try and get the 11:06 church members involvement so that there are no bench warmers 11:09 in the church. When you join ASI you join an army of workers. 11:14 Rightly trained we will carry this gospel to the end of the 11:17 world. 11:18 Amen, amen. That's great. 11:20 Great. Can you share with us how long you've been involved in 11:23 Prison Ministries. 11:25 Okay for me Prison Ministries, I've been involved in Prison 11:28 Ministries now for maybe about at least 25, 30 years of my life 11:32 I mentioned to you my nonprofit men's ministry. We recognize 11:37 the statistics indicate maybe 70, 80 percent persons 11:41 incarcerated are the males. And I recognize that as Christ leads 11:47 and directs us, Christ meets us where we are. We all are sinners 11:50 born in sin. And so the same thing applies in Prison 11:54 Ministries. You asked me in terms of how long, why did I get 11:57 involved in Prison Ministries. Christ has called me to share 12:02 ministry to persons who can't give back. There's nothing 12:07 glamorous about Prison Ministries. You don't get to be 12:10 in the cameras and say what you are doing in prison ministries 12:15 and so it has to be a passion. Christ has to plant that in you. 12:17 You see. And so that where he led me into that ministry and 12:21 like how Christ met us, Christ meets us where we are. We're 12:25 bottom down and he picks us up. When you go into a prison okay 12:30 when you go into a prison most of the persons know what they 12:33 have done, okay. But what they need to hear is hope. And the 12:40 hope presented to people in prison that it is Christ. People 12:46 today are trying 12-step program 10-step program. They don't need 12:52 10 and 12-step program. You need one step. That's Jesus Christ. 12:56 Then everything else flows over having Christ. 13:00 Amen, praise the Lord. 13:01 You sound really passionate about this. Was there anything 13:04 in particular that inspired you to get involved in prison 13:07 ministry? 13:09 Well for me what inspired me like I said I know Christ is 13:13 calling me is being able to minister to individuals who 13:18 can't give back. Can't give you praises or get in front of the 13:25 cameras and say, David Williams did this or David Williams did 13:29 that. And so that's the motivation. When you're in a 13:32 situation like that it has to be all Christ. He has to use you. 13:36 He has to use what he's planted inside of you. Why? Not for you 13:40 but it brings glory to him. (Amen) It brings glory to him. 13:45 Because you recognize if Christ doesn't do it the transformation 13:48 of those individuals could never take place. 13:51 Amen, amen. And how has Prison Ministry evolved in the Bahamas 13:56 over the years? 13:58 Over the years in terms of prison ministry has evolved. In 14:03 the past a lot of focus was on church services per se, right? 14:06 And we recognized that we present Christ first and 14:10 foremost and then you want to equip individuals with the 14:13 necessary tools. Example: Person maybe faced with an anger issue 14:18 A person may be faced with a... they may be a sexual predator. 14:22 You know and we could name it. So no longer now in the past 14:27 when you go there, you have a church service and you leave. 14:29 Persons are being educated, they're being equipped with the 14:33 necessary tools, an aftercare program. So an individual has 14:37 been incarcerated. In the Bahamas we don't call them 14:40 inmates. We call them residents. See all of it is the power of 14:42 this mindset of corrections. So when we approach them they are 14:46 residents, right? And then we meet individuals on the street. 14:50 And they approach you. You say boy, I remember you. Said oh yeah 14:53 from the church up on the east. Our prison is located in the 14:57 east. We actually call it no longer prison. It's called the 15:00 Bahamas Department of Corrections. So evolvement takes 15:04 place that we're seeking now one of the things is what they 15:07 call a cell block ministry. Only so many individuals can come 15:11 to the church or the chapel or go to classes. But with cell 15:16 block ministries you are disbursed to the various cells. 15:19 Persons who the chances are they would never come out of there 15:22 only for an exercise period and as a result of it these 15:27 individuals are being reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 15:29 That's the power of the involvement. 15:32 Oh boy! How is this ministry impacting the community. 15:35 The impact of that when transformation takes place 15:41 people begin the see a difference. Prison Fellowship 15:43 Bahamas has we call it a halfway house, a transitional home. So 15:47 the impact is that when individuals have run some 15:51 programs in the prison we call it job readiness. And so what do 15:56 I do? Give me individuals who have two years left in their 16:01 time, put them in a class and we prepare them for outside. How 16:07 to fill application forms for national insurance, you call it 16:11 social services or something else. Driver's license. You may 16:15 need birth certificate, passport You may need to know now how do 16:20 you dress and interview. How do you present yourself now to give 16:25 an interview. A person who may not necessarily work for someone 16:28 I have someone comes who teaches them entrepreneurship, preparing 16:33 them, giving them steps for their own business. So all of 16:36 this is a part of the preparation that when they are 16:39 now returning back to society they are now equipped with tools 16:43 It's no longer you come out, you stand at a gate, someone picks 16:47 you up and you move on. No, we are giving you these skills now 16:51 so that from the day you step out, right, you can now go back 16:56 into society and blend in and you have some equipment, you 16:59 have some tools, you have some skills like you can become a 17:03 part of society. Another thing I'd like to highlight. Today we 17:05 have a challenge with the gender based violence, the sexual 17:11 violence you know very big with our women and children 17:13 and so again 17:14 I've been blessed with the privilege of training locally 17:17 and internationally. That I conducted a class actually 17:20 at the Bahamas Department of Corrections. 17:22 It was the first time it happened. 17:23 My class had 25 registered sex offenders, persons who have 17:28 committed violence against women and girls. And they were 17:35 equipped with tools, I use the word tools, skills. When I am 17:36 finished with them we then return them over to a 17:40 psychologist, somebody who's trained now to help prepare the 17:44 transformation. But you recognize now the greatest 17:46 transformation has to come through Christ. Outside of that 17:49 they only have these programs and you go back into society. And so 17:54 all of this helps in the preparation and the 17:58 transformation of individuals once they're returning back to 18:01 society they are now prepared to put the test, right, or practice 18:09 what they have learned. Not only that I have a national radio 18:13 program in the Bahamas which can be viewed on Facebook, Zoom, 18:16 YouTube called Transforming Lives along with my 18:19 co-host Jackie Gardner. 18:20 So what we do we provide an opportunity now for 18:25 these individuals if they desire we take them to the schools 18:28 to talk to the young people. We take you into the communities, 18:32 we take you to the churches and we bring you on the radio to 18:36 share with others now as to what your life was like before and 18:42 now what your life is like when you met Christ and the 18:46 transformation he has taken place in your life. 18:48 Well speaking of being transformed, I think you have a 18:52 video that shows us one of the prisoners that was transformed. 18:55 Is that correct? (Right) All right, well good. Let's take a 18:57 look at that video right now. 18:59 First of all, I want to thank the Lord for this opportunity 19:03 to be standing 19:04 here. Because from what I've been through really I'm not 19:08 supposed to be here. Second I'd like to thank this group, the 19:11 Seventh-day Adventist group for what they have contributed to us 19:17 who most people have already counted out, so we really 19:19 appreciate Mr. David Williams 19:21 and the rest. We appreciate the commissioner, chaplain for 19:26 allowing this to happen. Now since being in this program here 19:34 with lesson this week and the Prisoners Fellowship group. This 19:38 has opened my eyes a lot. I thought coming to prison was not 19:45 the beginning of my imprisonment What I have learned through 19:48 Brother Williams and the others is that I was already in prison 19:52 when I was on the streets and before coming here and 19:54 taking part in these programs actually released me from 19:58 those prisons. They released me 20:00 from the prison of drugs, the prison of gang bangers 20:02 the prison of interference, feeling I have to live up to 20:09 for in me and freed me from that prison. I now realize that I am 20:12 free now in these four walls. 20:16 This program has been great and, we want to 20:19 thank you for Jesus's devices because from the demonstration 20:24 showing would benefit us a lot and take us to another level. 20:32 As a testimony of what the class and this program has done for me 20:35 I wrote this poem and I hope it translates what I have gone 20:40 through and where I'm at now. It's call Whom Shall I Trust 20:44 God Is Enough. The winds are strong the waters 20:48 are rough. Trouble overwhelms me whom shall I trust? The prince 20:53 of darkness who wants to kill us or the Lord who blew life into 20:58 the dust. For the Almighty is true and his reward is just. 21:01 The way is hard, but He built you tough. Material things 21:05 I have not much. As long as I have God I have enough. Trust 21:09 not in man like myself for in times of calamity he cannot help 21:14 Trust not in money for salvation is the true wealth. Ask the 21:19 Lord and you shall receive. He only asks that you believe. 21:22 So I put my trust in God and now I am free indeed. Thank you. 21:26 Amen, amen. Anything else you can share with us. 21:31 One of the things we want to look at we want to thank our 21:34 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the partnership with 3ABN 21:38 because a program like we just listened to can only happen with 21:42 facilitators there and over a specific period of time. But now 21:47 that we have formed this partnership with 3ABN we can 21:51 have programs running we call it 24/7. And it is not necessary 21:56 that a facilitator has to be there because with the wireless 22:00 boxes now we set them up. 22:02 We have some pictures of that don't we? 22:04 Yes and they can constantly run and that is the blessing now 22:09 and not only that there's an appeal even for more TVs that I 22:15 can now place these in various other areas of the prison and 22:18 they themselves now have access to these wireless boxes and so 22:23 the program can be going in five different prisons and in each 22:28 prison in different sections. You see and so that's the 22:30 blessing of a wireless box like that. You don't need the 22:32 internet. It runs 24/7. You don't have to have a 22:37 facilitator there. And so it's like they're sitting down and 22:39 watching a regular television program. And I want to say 22:42 publicly thank you 3ABN for a partnership like that with the 22:47 Prison Fellowship team, with the Seventh-day Adventist Prison 22:50 Ministries with ASI. We know that we're going to look forward 22:54 to future partnership, Bible study, 3ABN has some Bible 22:59 studies specifically designed for persons who are 23:02 incarcerated and any of the equipment that we can use that 23:05 will go a long way in bringing prisoners to accepting Christ 23:10 because above everything else having Christ and having eternal 23:16 life must be the goal because at the end of the day when 23:21 everything else has faded away if you don't have Jesus Christ 23:24 nothing else matters. 23:26 Amen, amen (chorus) Brother Ian let's transition to you. So you 23:30 were telling us about health ministry and that's a crucial 23:34 part of the ASI ministry. Tell us more about that. 23:37 Yes. We believe at ASI like most Adventists should the health 23:43 message is the right hand of the gospel. And in order for the 23:48 work to be effective in these last days we must be a set of 23:53 people that has a set aside health that is next to none on 23:56 the planet. Therefore we've engaged in health training in 24:02 every evangelistic outreach that we do health is included. There 24:05 must be a health nugget. There must be something said on health 24:08 We have determined to make health the number one arm of ASI 24:14 so we've had a training set in March of this year for the 24:18 entire month. Cynthia Bonas has come all the way down from 24:21 Alabama to train about 67 individuals who attended the 24:26 course. To God be the glory, it was a wonderful time. Mind you 24:31 many participants had to take time off in order to complete 24:34 this training. 24:36 We have some photos that we can show as well. 24:38 Oh that would be wonderful because at the health training 24:41 we had a wonderful time and as you can see now, this is at the 24:44 end of the training we have a health expo where we practice 24:48 what we've learned. And so imagine 67 persons going out 24:53 into the community and coming together to have a larger net 24:57 in that. This one is our large colon. It's very special. You 25:01 walk through it and you can see all the problems that you may 25:05 encounter if you had colon cancer. So it's unique. And this 25:09 is one of our training sessions where we're sitting in the 25:12 classroom. Again we have a lot of items that we do here. We're 25:16 learning how to make soap, natural soaps. So it helps with 25:21 cancer, skin disease, and the list goes on. And again we had a 25:26 wonderful time at that training session. I'm praying that next 25:29 year when we do it again we have even maybe a thousand people 25:33 there. Like my partner says, I like to think big, when it comes 25:39 to ASI projects and mission. 25:42 Speaking of thinking big, you were telling us about this 25:46 massive wellness center that's in the works or you're thinking 25:49 of building. Can you tell us about that? 25:51 Yes. Tranquility Bay is going to be a one-of-a-kind health and 25:57 wellness retreat and farm center Because in this particular 26:02 center we are going to involve natural health like Uchee Pines 26:08 and Wildwood so it'll be natural healing where we can invite the 26:13 entire world to come to the Bahamas which has the best 26:16 sunshine in the whole world, the purest air in the world and of 26:21 course when you're there you'll experience a little taste of 26:24 heaven and healing and that is unique. In order for us to heal 26:29 people we have to have the best food. Where do we get the best 26:32 food from? Natural farms. So we are going to start the largest 26:37 farms the Bahamas have ever seen We're starting with a hundred 26:41 acres of land and every year we want to add another hundred 26:45 acres of land. You know what the good news about that farm is? 26:48 (What's that?) We have somebody who is willing to take all the 26:52 food we can grow every single year. We don't even have to look 26:57 for somebody to sell the food to That in itself is an amazing 27:01 feat. God truly works miracles. And our retreat center...well 27:06 you know sometimes churches and businesses they just want their 27:11 workers or their members to take a retreat. They're not sick but 27:14 they want to do something in a large group, maybe 60, maybe 70, 27:19 maybe 120 persons. Our retreat center will be able to house 27:23 probably up to 200 individuals in one sitting. So imagine you 27:29 immersing yourself in the Bahamas on the most lovely 27:32 beaches in the world, yeah I must repeat myself. And when 27:36 we're doing things like this again it helps to build bonding 27:41 and it helps people to remain healthy. So we're not just 27:45 looking at healing but we're looking at prevention because 27:48 prevention beats cure. 27:49 Right, right, right. 27:51 Does the place also serve locals... 27:55 Oh yes. We have a special health retreat where we have two 27:59 categories. One is called premium and of course that is 28:02 going to be on the exclusive side for those who can afford it 28:05 And we have what we call a standard side of the wellness 28:09 center. And what we are planning on doing is when we open up both 28:15 centers one will aid the other so that if there's anyone that 28:20 needs help we will not turn them down. So God has a super plan 28:25 for us to help as many persons as we can. By his grace, we know 28:29 that it will come to pass. 28:32 Amen. You know our viewers at home, they love hearing 28:37 transformative experiences and I'm sure you've got some miracle 28:43 stories that you can share. 28:46 Tranquility Bay would be one of them. Why I love this one is 28:50 because it took us two years to get all the plans and the 28:53 details in set for it. Even though God gave me the vision 28:57 from [20]17 and the vision was really finalized in 2021. And 29:04 when that vision came together there were a lot of obstacles. 29:08 And we just couldn't get through them. But I'm going try and do 29:11 this as quick as I can because truly this was miraculous. I 29:15 have a business partner of mine who was sitting at a restaurant 29:18 one night and we actually at Tranquility Bay were at a dead 29:21 end. We can't finish it. But he's sitting at a restaurant 29:24 and he sees a guest in the Bahamas. He walks up to her and 29:28 he says, Excuse me, why are you visiting the beautiful Bahamas? 29:32 Could you give me one reason why you're here. And she says, but 29:35 you know she's looking at him because she don't know him and 29:38 she says well I can tell you. I'm here because I'm interested 29:41 in health. He takes out a piece of paper, writes my name on it, 29:45 and writes my number on it and passes it to her and says, This 29:47 person is the person you need to contact. He walks away. She 29:52 texts me. I don't recognize the number but I respond immediately 29:56 And a couple few minutes later she calls. So I said to her, you 30:01 know my name is Ian Greene. And she said well I'm interested...I 30:05 said well I can help you. Long story short. A week later we're 30:09 in Miami where we actually met. And we're sitting down talking 30:13 Her husband actually is a developer and he hears us 30:19 talking and I mention that I'm a local contractor. So he's 30:22 talking to my brother. He stopped at that moment and comes 30:25 to the table. And when he comes to the table he said, You're a 30:27 contractor? I said yes I am. He said I'm in construction too but 30:30 obviously, we are different levels. So we began to form a 30:35 nice relationship. One month later. His job is not going the 30:38 way he wants it to go. He wants something to do for the next two 30:42 week. He said I got time on my hands. You got any projects that 30:44 you're working on that I can look at. What do you think I 30:47 said. I do. I have Tranquility Bay. I said but this is a markup 30:52 undergoing and we've been working on it for two years, we 30:54 can't finish it. I don't know if you are going to actually say 30:58 that this is something I want to look at. He said, give it to me. 31:01 I have a temp and in two weeks we'll get it back to you. Before 31:03 two weeks he calls me up. Check your email. I look at it. We 31:07 were stuck at 34 million. When he sends it back to me the 31:12 project is now at 85 million, totally completed. We now can 31:17 send it to those who have donors The first two donors that got it 31:22 their reply was this document is done professionally. We could 31:30 not have done that. That is God. Truly God stepped in when we 31:34 stopped. 31:35 Praise the Lord. Where are you in the process? Have you started 31:38 construction on the wellness center? 31:39 No, we have not. We are at another roadblock, but thank 31:45 God for roadblocks. I like to say when you have the biggest 31:49 of the roadblocks that's when God is going to walk over or 31:50 walk through them. So right now the donor who has the funding 31:55 says we need government approval and that's where we are now. 32:00 Well we look forward to hearing more, an update, later on. 32:02 Yes. I'm looking forward to when God opens that door and walk 32:06 across that wall. We can start our construction. 32:09 Now, brother David, I'm sure that you've got some special projects 32:13 that you've been working on as well. Is that correct? 32:16 Yeah. You asked the question about the miracle stories. The 32:19 one that comes to mind: In 2003, I went to the Philippines to 32:24 conduct a crusade with the former president of the General 32:27 Conference at the time there that it's called Global 32:30 Evangelism right. I think they changed it to Share Him. That's 32:34 Robert Falkenberg. And so a team of us went down. 32:37 Philippines I'm conducting the crusade in the night and because 32:40 I had this passion, Christ had put this passion for prison 32:43 ministries. It's 2003 now. I went into the prison in the day. 32:46 So in the night, I conduct one crusade which I went for and in 32:49 the day I'm going in the prison for the two weeks. And the 32:52 miracle story for me was they could not get baptized on that 32:56 Sabbath, right, because some challenges happened. But that 33:00 Sunday morning in the city, I think it's called Olongapo 33:05 watching those men in the Philippines with the chains on 33:09 their legs, okay, marching in the streets going to the 33:16 Baptismal Center for Baptism The image is still in my head today. 33:20 And they're marching along the street. Of course, it's 33:23 attracting attention. The people are stopped watching. But 33:26 they're marching in the chains going to the baptismal center 33:31 to make their decision and seal that for Jesus Christ. That to 33:37 Me, was awesome. That was worth it all. One of the things I want 33:41 to share later on in the year I was traveling to Ghana 33:45 myself, Ian Greene, and a number of us, in 2004 the Lord opened up 33:50 the door again for me to go with Global Evangelism to conduct 33:53 another crusade. And all of that crusade was a church formed 33:59 called the Amazing Grace. 34:01 There are some photos of that... 34:02 Yes. The Amazing Grace Seventh- day Adventist Church and when I 34:08 left I assisted in helping send some funds to build that church 34:11 They are now preparing to build another church, right, and the 34:16 plan is for us to go in later on in the year to be able to have a 34:22 time to celebrate for them the anniversary when you look at the 34:26 miracles what Christ has done. And this is why I say to people 34:30 Lift Jesus up. Share the good news of salvation. You know 34:36 there's a text I love that says it's found in Matthew 16 and 26, it 34:41 says What does it profit a man, or woman, to gain the whole 34:45 world. I worked at 3ABN. I was always on the programs. I've got 34:50 six cars, I got four houses, worth 10 million dollars but 34:57 when I die I die without Christ. What did it profit anyone, me, 35:01 what did it profit any of us And then Jesus balances it. In 35:06 Matthew 6:33 He says seek first the kingdom of God and his 35:10 righteousness and what? All. I want to ask this to our audience 35:13 how much is all? It would be good if somebody could give me 35:17 a number. How much is all? You cannot give a number so when we 35:22 seek Christ's ways, his righteousness and then all 35:25 things...He gives us everything else that we need, that we want 35:30 because why? He says he'd supply our needs. And so people need to 35:35 know that above everything else eternal life that's found in 35:40 Christ and Christ absolutely alone. You know I like to give 35:45 mentor credit. He's a doctor, Leslie McMillan, right. He was a 35:48 former stewardship director of the Interamerican Division and 35:52 he shared this with me, this is important. When you and I share 35:58 the gospel wherever we go people must always know something about 36:04 Jesus Christ. What do I mean by that? Even in our regular 36:08 conversations we must allow Christ to seek the waiter. We 36:12 must leave them asking them something or sharing something 36:15 about Christ. So every conversation must be tied to him 36:19 We begin with it, in the center and end with it so that when 36:23 that individual leaves from you they must know him and have 36:27 that assurance because the way life happens now people are just 36:31 collapsing and dying. And so people must know that there's 36:37 more to this life than anything else than having that 36:41 relationship with Christ. Because guess what when it comes 36:43 down to your dying bed and my dying bed the only thing that 36:48 mattered, it's not going to matter our families, the wives 36:50 the children and all of that, we love all of that and _ 36:54 but when it comes down to dying bed you better die we call it 37:00 knowing that you have that relationship with Christ. This 37:03 is the last one I want to say. People talk about the hope. I 37:06 cannot die with a hope. That's me now. There's no guarantee 37:10 I will die with the assurance. And so the only way you can die 37:16 with Christ is you have to live in him. And so I can't die now 37:21 if I don't use him again. I can leave here right now, right now, 37:25 with the assurance that I have the salvation that's found in 37:31 Jesus Christ. 37:33 Amen, praise the Lord. Amen, praise the Lord. 37:36 We talked a lot about prison ministry. What's the core 37:38 message you want our viewers to take away and what would you 37:43 like them to do as a result? 37:45 The core message comes back to the fact that Christ can set you 37:50 free. I've heard a testimony that just recently came from a 37:54 conference in Chicago. It was a prison conference and listening 37:58 to individuals 80 percent of the person who led out in the 38:01 the seminar were persons who were formerly incarcerated. And 38:06 they all give credit to one thing: The transformation that 38:11 Christ brings. Let me give you some more stories. I know a 38:14 person very close to me. He came out of prison and he said to me 38:20 because he's at our transitional home, he said to me, Oh David 38:23 I need to look at...what do I do So I said listen to me. You need 38:26 to get Christ in your life. He has to be first and foremost. 38:29 That's just born to it. Oh I don't need Jesus man. I need a 38:33 job man. I need to find something to do. I said, fine if 38:36 that's what you want to then you go do that. But I tell you 38:39 Christ is the answer. Jesus is the answer. I got a call, he 38:42 went over there on our islands, he went to work. The next time 38:46 I got a call. That brother was at emergency room. Slit his 38:52 wrist. When I walked into the emergency room, I'll never 38:56 forget it because it was a Sabbath. And when I walked into 38:59 the emergency room and he saw me and he looked at me and he said 39:02 I just gave up. I didn't say it then to him but later on I said 39:07 to him, this is why I am saying to you, and this gentleman had 39:12 been in and out of the system. At the age of 16. At that time 39:16 he was 58, 57, 58 and I say this is why I said to you Christ is 39:23 your hope. This addiction that you're battling with, going to 39:26 this treatment center, going to this program. That's fine but 39:32 all you need is one step and that step is Jesus Christ. When 39:37 you get ahold of him he will give you power and get you over 39:39 that addiction. But even greater than that I want you to have 39:43 eternal life because to die without Christ would profit you 39:49 nothing. So that's the message that I want people to present. 39:52 You tell them that. That's the message I want you to know. 39:55 Jesus Christ will transform your life and give you the victory. 40:00 Amen. This young man did he give his life to the Lord. What is he 40:04 doing now? 40:05 I saw him two weeks before I came the answer I'm sad to say 40:10 is no. He still has not given his life to Christ He's battling 40:14 with drug addiction, in and out of the prison system. 40:16 Wow. (Pray for him) It sounds like there are some challenges 40:22 that you face with Prison Ministry or maybe even ASI. Can 40:26 you share any type of challenges you may have with us. 40:28 I'm not the person to answer that. 40:30 Well the biggest challenge ASI has in the Bahamas, I guess 40:36 maybe in some other fields or so is to inform or enlighten the 40:40 church that Adventist Laymen's Services and Industry is for 40:45 first and foremost laymen. Everybody. It's the millionaires 40:49 industries. No, it's the workers It's everybody that works in the 40:54 church. Everyone. It's from the gas station attendant to the 40:59 maid in the hotel to the supervisor on the job to the 41:02 construction worker or the construction owner. It doesn't 41:04 matter what you are. As long as you are a Seventh-day Adventist 41:07 you should be a part of ASI. Here is why. Sharing Christ in 41:13 the marketplace is not for a certain amount of people in our 41:16 church. Sharing Christ in the marketplace is for every single 41:21 Adventist. There are no back bench warmers. We all need to 41:28 get on the field and carry the ball. We all need to be a part 41:30 of the program. A lot of times I believe most of Adventists are 41:35 so comfortable hearing the program, watching the program, 41:38 they just don't want to be involved as part of the program. 41:44 Christ did not call spectators. And the one thing I must say: 41:49 What has helped me tremendously and that is paying attention to 41:57 still small voice of God. I've read the Bible over and over 42:01 hundreds of times but until I started listening to God's voice 42:05 until I started paying attention to his voice then there was a 42:11 big difference in my life. Now I believe God has called me to 42:15 call everyone in the church to become a part and listen to the 42:19 Holy Spirit because just like Brother Dave at the end of the 42:22 day you're not following the dictates of the Holy Spirit in 42:26 your heart you can know the Bible, you can quote the texts 42:28 but how is evangeliving in your life? 42:33 You know and I want to add to that and he asked the question 42:38 how I want to share with someone I want to give them here is what 42:42 happened. My spiritual mentor Dr. Leslie shared something with 42:46 me that stuck with me from then to today. He used this acronym 42:51 now but you can get your own. It's called PSRL. P stands for 42:57 prayer. First thing in the morning, I must do it every day. 43:01 This morning as soon as my foot hit the ground I get on my knees 43:06 in prayer. S I surrender to Christ, talking to me. I commit 43:13 my life to him afresh. This morning, right? So P is for 43:20 prayer, S is surrender. R is reading. So then I take up my 43:26 quarterly, my Bible, my devotional, right, and spend 43:32 time reading his word. And then the L, I listen to him, I'm 43:39 listening now to see how he's responding back to me after 43:42 reading his word. PSRL And so as a result, my point is the 43:46 tool. When men and women...you see I am I use this term I am an 43:51 Adventist in Christ. People don't need a revival. We need to 43:57 spend time with Christ. That's what we need. When you spend 44:00 your personal time in the midst of trials and tribulations, when 44:06 you go to Christ, I have that personal time, that personal 44:10 devotion, he talks to you. And he has many ways of doing it. 44:13 You see and the revival begins in you. So the revival begins in 44:18 you, and Ian Greene, and both of you and all of us in the studio, 44:24 then we allow Christ to use us. Here's what happens. We as a 44:30 people, we want to do things. Here is the secret to it 44:32 Galatians 2 and 20. I am crucified with Christ, 44:35 nevertheless, I live. Watch this. Yet not what I David. So it is 44:43 now Christ living in me and it is Christ works now through his 44:47 Holy Spirit, right? So that's how it starts. So when stand 44:52 here, Ian Greene and I here, it is not Ian, it's not David. It 44:56 is the Holy Spirit and Christ speaking through us. 44:59 (indistinct) 45:01 Every word comes out of my mouth represents him. We have our 45:06 thoughts and you have your thoughts but it is Christ. And 45:08 so when we spend time with him I mean my metaphor is not 45:13 Christ up here, Christ is on the side, Christ is walking with me. 45:15 He is in me. He's in me through his Holy Spirit. So then when my 45:22 mouth opens up it is him speaking. So when you spend 45:24 time with Jesus Christ especially in the midst of your 45:28 trials and we have trials and tribulations. And then there's a 45:31 text in Jude 24 says because people doubt their salvation 45:35 You ask the question right now how many people could put up 45:38 their hand in the church and know that they're saved right 45:40 now _ their body and we are afraid. That's why I say you 45:46 can't die with a hope. Hope is no guarantee. You could die with 45:48 assurance and Jude 24 says says Now unto him who is, what, able 45:52 to do what keeps you from falling. So then Christ dying 45:59 for us makes no sense. If my name comes up before the Father 46:01 right now, David Williams, he's innocent. Not because of what I 46:06 have done but because of what Christ has done. He's able to 46:09 keep you from falling and watch this, he presents you faultless 46:13 I want somebody to tell me what is the meaning of the word 46:16 faultless. So before the Father right now we are faultless. And 46:22 so this all comes out of a relationship is key. If men and 46:27 Women, boys and girls could spend their personal time, their 46:30 own time with Christ and Christ alone, listen to me, a revival 46:35 would take place because above everything else that Christ 46:40 wants to give you and I, that's eternal life. Everything is 46:43 secondary. The plan that Jesus died, the Son of Man came to 46:46 seek and to save that which is lost and we are in a lost 46:51 condition so Christ wants to save us first and foremost. 46:53 So you know (indistinct) for me now, I'm talking to me 46:56 when people talk about praying my friends pray to the Father 47:00 in my behalf if 47:01 you want to use that word that they will accept him because 47:05 Christ has healed him for what, to go back into a life of sin or 47:07 and he can heal you and he can do it or he can provide you 47:10 resources 47:11 or whatever. Christ wants you to have eternal life first and once 47:15 you have that everything else is done. 47:17 Amen. Dr. Ian how can our viewers get involved, how can 47:22 they help? 47:23 Well the good thing is ASI is an organization where we reach out 47:29 to everyone and we have pamphlets, we have information 47:32 we have our websites. So we have the local church. And as a 47:37 matter of fact I travel to every single church in our 47:40 conference, our conferences, because we have two. We have 60, 47:44 I think 67 churches in total and so we spread the ASI message 47:48 asking the church members to join ASI. The one thing I can 47:53 say that we're trying to initiate in the churches is for 47:55 members to understand that they're stewards. A lot of 47:58 members believe everything they own belongs to themselves. At 48:01 ASI we own nothing so everything that we have belongs to God. 48:06 And all we're saying to you is you can reach out to your local 48:09 church and they will reach us if we don't have a rep in that 48:14 church because we have so many churches sometimes we don't have 48:16 a local rep. But our local conferences normally carry an 48:21 ASI person who's in charge at the pastoral level and they're 48:24 connected to us as presidents or as our board. So we're asking 48:28 all of our ASI members, sorry all of our church members, to 48:32 contact your local church and ask about ASI. We are here 48:36 for you. 48:37 And how can our viewers get in touch with you. 48:39 You have contacts on a website, email address. We have our 48:43 website and I believe should be on the screen. 48:46 ASiBahamas.org by God's grace and we have contact numbers also 48:49 with that. We have an email address ASiBahamas242@gmail.com So our 48:53 members we really can, our church members really can get in 48:57 contact with us through our website and through our email 49:00 address and our phone contacts. And we'll be looking forward to 49:03 hearing from you. 49:04 Amen. And I see Brother David's contact on the screen: 49:07 DaveWilliams65@hotmail.com 49:09 Right, so they can email me. You can call me at (242) 422-6917 49:13 I'm a very open person that's (242) 433-6917 49:20 email me at DaveWilliams65@hotmail.com 49:22 ASI as we share, we talk about sharing Christ in the 49:28 marketplace and getting people involved, right? Notice our 49:33 primary, and I come back to it, is share, Christ. You see because 49:36 nothing you own belongs to you. Ian and I talk about this and 49:39 this is how Christ connects us because both of us think big. 49:43 I think big too. What we're saying is we believe in 49:49 attempting projects. I was blessed to travel to a number of 49:51 countries. I went to Ghana, to Kenya, to the Philippines, to 49:54 Uganda. How would I get to these other places. I had to do 49:59 something that is bigger than me. Failure was guaranteed 50:04 if Christ didn't do it. I didn't have the money. I've never been 50:09 in those places before. I remember when I went to the 50:12 Philippines, never been to that side of the world. But a project 50:15 so I was talking to Tranquility Bay. Whatever you attempt 50:18 it has to be so big. If I could do it then I don't need Christ. 50:23 It's like faith. I always tell them that. I don't need faith 50:29 to walk all over these studios But if I close my eyes I will 50:34 need faith. I will need it. So this is how we have to do. Your 50:38 project's got to be big enough that it will fail if Christ 50:41 doesn't do it. That's how he gets the glory. That's how I can 50:44 sit here. I watch over the air. Watch a person talk on 3ABN 50:48 I wanted to come. Had a desire. But I had to trust Christ 50:52 Amen, you have to trust Christ. 50:55 It had to be some free date and now I can sit here today. 50:59 Amen, amen, amen. Wow, powerful powerful. First half of the 51:06 program here. We were blessed. I'm sure you were blessed as 51:09 well. You know we're going to be taking a break here in just a 51:12 moment and on the screen, you'll see how you can contact this 51:19 ministry. I'm sure that many of you would want to reach out to 51:22 them. So we'll be taking a short break and you can hear more 51:25 about that how to contact them and then when we come back we'll 51:28 also have some final thoughts from Brother David and Brother 51:33 Ian. So just don't go away. We'll be right back. 51:37 If you would like more information about ASI Bahamas 51:42 you can call them at (242) 556-0492 or 51:49 (242) 433-6917. They're online at ASiBahamas.org 52:03 or email them at ASiBahamas242@gmail.com |
Revised 2024-08-12