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Well, good evening. Sorry, I watched Pastor Mike do that, so. Yeah, that line, we got that line to pose like that for us because a very good friend of mine is a taxidermist, and that's why we were able to come up with that shot.
Actually, most the animals that you see there are because I have contacts. It is wonderful to be here. It is a great blessing and privilege for Gina and I to come up here and visit with you. I felt that it was really necessary that I brought Gina with me this time.
She's never been to New England, and you know, Texans are very proud of where they're from, but Gina loves visiting new places, and that is how I was able to lure her back overseas. She's an adventurous one.
I want to take this opportunity to greet you on behalf of Christ Baptist Church, Christ Seminary, and Samaria Mission, and to thank you for the partnership that we are privileged to enjoy as this church helps support one of our seminary students, a man that is from Mozambique, Amos, a brilliant man, just so amazing.
This guy comes out of the bush, but you can quote some obscure verse of scripture, and he will tell you what book it's from. It's usually Leviticus 27, 19, and you say, how does he know that? But he knows his Bible just inside out, and he is working hard.
He's a man who doesn't speak much English, and so he's had to learn English at the same time he's learning theology, and I believe he's working very hard at doing that. Now, because I've got the privilege of standing up here before you, I don't just want to tell you about what we're doing in the mission, but I want to attempt from scripture to convince you of your responsibility towards missions.
And if you open your Bibles in 2 Corinthians 5, and we'll start reading at verse 17. In my message this morning, you'll hear some of the things that Pastor Mike said this morning. I found out that he had taken my notes, and he was giving you some of the scriptures that I'm going to give to you.
Well, they're similar but from a different book. No, just kidding. I get excited when I come and speak at a church, and I hear preachers and teachers in the same congregation speaking about the same things that the Lord has laid on my heart.
And in Bible study, what do you call it? Do you call it Sunday school? We were talking about election and free will, and I just get so excited. I get so pumped up because God is so incredible, and then Pastor Mike preaches the message that he preached, and God is just so good in our lives.
So, if we can start reading. I'm reading from a New American Standard. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, things have become new. Now, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave us a ministry of reconciliation.
Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us.
We beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Now, as we see in verse 17, it says, anyone who is in Christ is a new creature. Behold, old things have passed away. And if we consider that each person sitting here today would be saved, would be a child of God, would have the right to call themselves a child of God, we must consider one thing, that you were different beforehand.
And often times, you know, we get saved, we experience the love of God in our lives, and we move on, and we forget about from whence we have come. And I want to bring this to your attention, because if you have been saved, God has done a wonderful and amazing thing in your life, and you shouldn't keep it for yourself.
So, if you would like to, you can turn to Ephesians 2, or you can just hear the scriptures. Ephesians 2, 1 says, and you were dead in your trespasses and sin. The Apostle Paul is talking to the church in Ephesus, and he's addressing Christians.
The same way as I stand here and I address you now, you at one time were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were alienated from God, you were separated from Him. It says, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them, we too, so that includes me as well, and included Paul, we too all formally lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
That was our condition before God saved us. And basically, the Apostle Paul is telling us in these three verses, that we were dead, we were deviant, we were deranged, we were disobedient, depraved and demonized, because of our sin nature.
That was the nature that we lived in. Romans 8 .7 says that the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, it does not obey the laws of God and is not even able to do so. We basically, as a lost person, are in a hopeless state.
But the wonderful thing about our Lord and our God, Ephesians 2 .4 goes on to say,. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the age to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
Hallelujah! My friends, as we spoke this morning, or listened this morning about amazing grace, and the way Pastor Mike said, you know, how often we sing that song, but we do not consider exactly how amazing it is, because we forget what we once were.
And you know that everyone who does not know Christ is in this state, in a state of hopelessness without any chance of fixing it themselves. And when we consider the fact that God looked down upon us, poured out mercy, covered us with grace and saved us, and seated us, as it says there, in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, how grateful should we be for such a wonderful salvation?
And if this is the case in your life, if you are somebody that is born again, born from above, surely your salvation should be so great to you that you want others to know about it, that you don't want to keep this for yourself, but that you want to take every opportunity you have to share that with others.
And if we return to 2 Corinthians 5, and we have a look in verse 18, this is what the Apostle Paul is saying, he says,. Now all things are from God who reconciled us unto Himself. God did it. We did not do it.
God did that where we were alienated from Him. He brought us to Himself. He rescued us. But it goes on to say, it says, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
Now, if we consider what the Apostle Paul said in verse 17, that we are now new creatures. Our old habits, our old life, our old nature, these are things that are behind us. Things are now new. And if God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ Jesus, and in doing that, He has placed upon us the responsibility of going out and sharing the gospel with the lost.
The ministry of reconciliation. Many people are nervous about going out and sharing the gospel. Many people are nervous about getting on an airplane and flying all the way to South Africa on a long bus trip and into Mozambique.
And the amazing thing about the team from this church was they didn't have all the information. And they thought they were going to be sleeping on the floor. They didn't know if they were going to have tents.
They didn't know if there was hot and cold running water. They didn't know what they were going to eat. And they were nervous. But I love what the book of Acts says in Acts 1 .8, it says,. And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. We have the power of God living within us. We have the ability to make sound decisions. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And we had some people out there who were really nervous. But you know what they did? They placed their trust, their faith in God and took this responsibility upon themselves to go out and share the gospel in the uttermost parts of the earth.
And I'm sure you heard from them and you'll see in our presentation a little later. It's not easy getting there. Your worst roads are highways, super highways compared to what we're riding on. Your bridges are fantastic.
The most modern technology compared to not having any bridges at all. And God has placed us in this area in Mozambique. He's given us a call and we know it and we feel it. And we are out there because we have, as Paul was saying in Romans 1, he has an obligation to preach the gospel to the Jews and the Greeks.
We feel we have an obligation to share this wonderful salvation, the grace and mercy that God has poured out upon our lives with those who don't know Christ. And Mozambique is a remote place. There's nobody else working out there in the area that we're working out.
And it's tough. But you know, we're excited about it. It's an adventure. You know, being a Christian should be an adventure in your life. For you know that God is with you. And if he has directed you, if he has called you, he is with you every step of the way.
We can lean on that promise of the Great Commission where Jesus said, Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. And then we get nervous. We say, well, how am I going to convince these people to come to salvation?
How am I going to do it? How am I going to exercise this ministry of reconciliation that has been given to us? The Apostle Paul says in Romans 1 .16, he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
God's word. We trust in the fact that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10 .17. We need to just speak the gospel in love and the Holy Spirit. God's conviction upon an individual's life.
The regeneration of the individual. That's God's work. Make them alive to what we are saying. And as faith is applied to their lives, they recognize their lostness and their need for a Savior. And all we have to do is use what God has placed in our hand.
And if we have this wonderful, wonderful salvation, if we've experienced God's amazing mercy and grace upon our lives, where we were in a hopeless state, surely that should be a passion. Really a passion.
Like Paul says also in Romans 1, he says, I am eager. He wasn't just little wishy-washy words. He said, I am under obligation to both Greek and barbarian, to both the wise and the foolish. On my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.
That's how we should live. We should be excited about sharing God's word. Who knows? God may be doing the most amazing work in that individual's life, drawing them unto himself. And you get the privilege of sharing the gospel with somebody.
And the light goes on. And they're born again and repent of their life. What a wonderful experience that is. Just to see God at work and using you. Verse 19 says that, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.
And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. We have it here. We have it in our hand. And so we should take this wonderful opportunity and use it. We should take the opportunity to support those who go out on mission trips.
We should take the opportunity to support our local church financially. And with our willingness to labor, these should be privileges that we exercise because of God's great love that he has for us. I know that in this congregation, as the same as the one that we are in in South Africa, that the majority of our congregation are really committed to Christ.
And you know, as I sat here this morning in Bible study, and I listened to Pastor Steve and then sat in the service and listened to Pastor Mike, you have men who are not ashamed to take God's word and open it up, fold it out and teach you.
And I'm not surprised that this congregation is growing. When I first came in here, I said, Man, was this the same church? Seems like I never stood at this pulpit. And the lady said to me, No, you stood on that side.
But there were far more people in the service this morning. And I see growth. And I see you having to build, you know, looking at expanding your property. It's because God's word is the power. And the men teaching you have a conviction to teach you correctly.
And that's the conviction that we have at Christ Baptist Church and Samaria Mission and Christ Seminary. As we go out and we plant a church, we see if there's a man in this group of believers that has a heart for preaching God's word.
And we'll bring them in front of the seminary deacons. What are they called? What do people call the lecturers, teachers, the guys teaching the seminary? Professors. Professors. That's right, they're professors.
And they'll sit down and they'll talk to these people and find out, you know, Man, what do these guys know? And are they really saved? And is there conviction to teach God's word? And you guys, I believe you guys support Pastor Steve Plotnick.
I mean, he's a missionary from this country who is one of those professors. And they're sitting down and they're taking these men and they are working with them. And they are training them and teaching them so that theologically they will be accurate.
In this land and in our land there is so much false or badly understood doctrines that are being taught. And the church is just, you know, falling apart. And we believe that if we're going to labor in Mozambique and in Africa, we want men who are going to continue that work who are well founded in teaching the gospel.
And it's wonderful that you guys are a part of that. And I've actually mentioned to Pradeep that we want you guys just to step up your involvement. We need it. We need these men in the mission. We've got seven men that we've looked at and we've really considered their faithfulness and their willingness to serve the Lord.
And these guys, we need to help them to stay alive. Or else they're going to go out and look for jobs in the secular world. You know, when you've got more than 25 unemployment in a nation, jobs are hard to find anyway.
And to go out and feed their families and live and study and work in the mission field is not easy. And I want to challenge you, you know, if we really and truly consider that God looked down upon us before the foundation of the earth.
And He predestined us to adoption. And He poured His grace and mercy out upon us when we were so undeserving. How much more should we not consider the lost and be faithful to what God has called us to?
The Bible tells us that God has called us according to His purpose. Not because we were nice, sweet people, good looking or athletic or, you know, whatever. But according to His purpose. And, you know, we want to encourage you.
And that's what I've done. This is the 15th church that I am speaking in. We arrived on the 6th of October and we've done nearly 8 ,000 miles. And we've driven in pretty nice luxury. We've been driving on Mercedes Benz.
And, you know, even that is amazing. How God's just blessed us. I mean, a friend of mine said, yeah, take my car, go. Actually, he brought it to me. And he's going to pick it up when I leave. You know, we need to commit what we have to the service of the Lord.
And we're excited to see how in ministry the leaders in our churches are growing. And how churches like yours are coming alongside us. You see, we've got approximately 2 .5 million Shangaan speaking people in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
The majority of them live in villages that are so hard to get to. That's why there's nobody there. You know, nowadays people don't want to suffer. We want everything, cell phone, internet, email. And you don't have that out there.
You've got to struggle and you've got to labor. But if you consider the parable where Jesus spoke about the king having a feast. And he went out and he called all of his friends and none of them would come.
They all had excuses. And we see that in America today. Everyone's got an excuse. And he says, go into the highways and the byways and the hedges. And he said, get the people out there. And these are people in Mozambique that have had 34 years of war in their country.
34 years of war. They had a colonial war. No sooner got rid of the Portuguese and the two factions inside Africa were, I mean, inside Mozambique were fighting for control. And one was Marxist. And finally in 1994 they decided, well, we're sick and tired of killing each other.
We're tired of the fact that our country is worthless. We have nothing. And the Marxists turned around and said, well, we're going to a free enterprise system. This communism is for the birds. And the church has all welcomed it in.
Now, it used to be a Catholic country and they didn't allow the Protestants in. So we're going into a country that is ripe for the gospel. And I tell you, those of you that have been out there, you can testify to the fact they are open to what you have to say.
The schools, they'll let us go and speak in the schools. I know that won't happen here. And it's exciting that God has really opened the doors of ministry in this place that was really forgotten. Because if I think about what Jesus said in John chapter 10 where he says, I have other sheep not of this fold.
He said, I must go to them. They will hear my voice. They will answer me or they will come to me and they will become one flock. And these are people in Mozambique that are part of that. They haven't had the opportunity and now the gospel is going out.
And we are so blessed that God has put together a team in Samaria Mission that we have the ability to do maintenance. We have the ability to build a well drilling rig. We have the ability to go in and drill a well and provide water for these people.
He's given us technical ability alongside the ability to go and share the gospel and teach these people. And there is a social gospel. And when people are suffering and hurting, have nothing, have no fresh drinking water, and you come and we tell the people quite faithfully and honestly, God has sent us to talk to you.
We have something to tell you. And then they say, but, you know, we're starving. We have no fresh, no clean water to drink. And we say, yeah, but you've got to listen to the gospel. But when we say, yeah, we've come to bring the gospel to you.
And by the way, we're going to drill a well and provide water for you. Because this is God's grace upon these people. He has opened the door for us to do that. Verse 20 says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. You see, when Christ turned around and he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it.
His purpose was to use man to take the gospel message to the lost. And we become God's mouthpiece and God's hands and God's feet as we go out to share the gospel message. And I want you to consider this.
When we were at Bible study, I was talking to the folks on Friday night about what it means to live by faith. Romans 1, it says, and the righteous man shall live by faith. In Hebrews, it says, without faith, it is impossible to please God.
And faith is taking trust and placing trust in the things that God has said and the things that God has promised. You see, we believe by faith in our salvation. But our life needs to be lived, trusting God in everything.
Understanding that you are bought with a price, you are not your own. And everything that you have, you have become a steward of something that is God's. It's not yours, it belongs to God. And the story that I felt Pastor Mike kind of took from me, but I'm sure it was the Holy Spirit that was moving in Mike's life.
And I really do trust that the Lord will place his hand upon him and bring healing to his body. But in Luke chapter 18, it talks about the same as Matthew 19, about the rich young ruler who came to Christ and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And he said, well, you know, by all the laws and the prophets and very arrogantly, he says, oh, this I've done since my youth. And in Luke, it says, he says, well, okay, take everything you have, sell it, give to the poor and come and follow me.
And the rich young ruler turns around and walks away. And it's amazing, Christ does not run off to him and say, hang on a second there, fella, sell half. Or keep one third and give two thirds away. He leaves him and he lets him go.
And he makes the statement that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And of course, you know, the disciples are like, well, who then can be saved?
And Jesus says this, with man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And then my friend Peter, he and I are very similar. We open our mouths from time to time to change feet. Peter says, behold, Lord, in Luke 18, 28, Peter says, behold, we have left our homes to follow you.
And, you know, I had that same experience once. You know, I said to Gina, I said, does God not know we've given up everything, you know, to come and serve him? We had no money. We were just new in the mission.
We were poor. It was the 4th of September, Saturday morning. And I was so dejected. Gina was so happy because she had paid all of the bills. We had a whole month to go. And I felt like Peter just, oh, you know, what about me?
I quit my great airline job. All of my prosperity that I had, I, I, I, I, and we inclined to do that. I've got this great job. I've got this, I've got that. I was talking to the people. They thought I was a little arrogant because I said, you know, I got this job because I was good looking, great personality, character, everything like that.
But that's how we are. And I said, oh, it's all about me. The next day, Sunday morning, I walk in the church and our pastor is walking out and he said, oh, go and see the secretary has got a check for you.
And I run in and I say, oh, hi, I hear you've got a check for me. And he pulls out the checks, about $200, and he says, he said, I'm really sorry. He said, I got this more than a month ago. And I said, oh, don't be sorry.
If you gave it to me a month ago, I would have spent it and I'd still have no money. And I said, oh, this is amazing. I said, I was just crying and complaining yesterday. At the end of the service, I saw a man leave the building.
And we used to have our men's Bible study at his house. And he had sold his house four months earlier, moved away to another town. And he was back. And so I wanted to just greet him. And it was right at the end of the service.
And I called him outside and I said, Andre, what are you doing here? And he said, well, he said, you know, we sold our house four months ago. He said, we have waited four months to finally close on that house.
And we closed yesterday. And he said, oh, and by the way, and he pulls out an envelope. And he said, this is a little gift for you and Gina. And that's God. You know, it's just so amazing. And even though we whinge and we whine and we think, oh, woe is me.
You know, I've given so much. Jesus goes on to say, in verse 29 of Luke 18, he says,. And he said to them, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left his house, his wife, his brother, his parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom.
In Matthew it says, it's to follow me, I think. I'd like to just make sure about that. For my name's sake. There's nothing that we can do, leave, give up, commit, deny ourselves for the kingdom's sake.
And he goes on to say, he says, who will not receive many times as much at this time. Man, how has God blessed you? I mean, really consider that. Consider first of all that great blessing of grace and mercy and salvation.
And he says here, in this time and in the age to come, eternal life. My friends, we cannot out give God. It's impossible. And God who so loves us, who so looked down from eternity past and poured out his grace and mercy upon you, predestined you to be his children.
Surely that should be a heart's desire that the lost, that those in the far off places, that those next door or those in our office building should hear the gospel. And you know, we don't have to worry about whether they rejected or not.
You know, they rejected our savior as he stood before man. Our responsibility is just to bring that gospel message. Just to be out there and support the work of those that are committed to serving. The pastors teaching and growing and raising up the body of Christ for works of service.
For those who are committed to go out and teach as Steve Plotnick does. Leaving all of his family behind as Gina and myself left good jobs to go and serve God. And to go and serve God in a place that is difficult.
But he calls us and because we have a call, we are excited by it. And you know that if we understand that we have a responsibility, if we understand that what we have is not our own, but it is for the building of the kingdom.
And that our lives are one that glorify God. It says in John 15, I think it's verse 17, he says, By this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. So that is my challenge to you as a congregation.
I know that you are involved already. I know that you are working on a building program. But God will provide when you trust in him and you commit to him your life and everything in your life. God will bless you.
We are so excited that we have got a new well drilling rig. We have been successful in the town of Shikumba where your team came out to, to drill a well. And just 20 feet from that well is a mud pool where these people were digging a hole in the mud, letting the water seep through.
And you'll see in some of the pictures how they do that in the river. And we were able to provide fresh, clean water for them. And really we tell them, you know, it is God that has provided this for you.
Consider that. Who are you people out here in the middle of nowhere that God would care so much about you? We have seen such growth in our leaders. For those of you who don't know, we use short-term teams as your team came out about three years ago.
And we use short-term teams for evangelism. And from the middle of May to the middle of August, we have short-term teams. They come out for two weeks. And I know just talking to Pradeep that, you know, he would like to see another team come out.
And I want to encourage you. The folks that you sent out, we sent them all back. We didn't lose any. And really to this day we've had several thousand that have come out. We have not lost one person. And we're proud about that because I think it would be a little more difficult to get some people to come.
We'd misplaced a few. But it is exciting. And they can tell you, they can bear witness that it is a wonderful adventure to be out there on mission with God, using this ministry of reconciliation, bringing the gospel to the people.
And we want to encourage you, if you yourself can't go, support those who really can. And if you want to go and feel you don't have the financial support to go, pray about it. Pray about it. And you'll be amazed how God will provide.
We can tell you story after story of people that have come out on short-term team with us. And they said, we did not have the money. There was no way we were going to get the money. And this just fell in our lap.
You know, it's a coincidence. We believe that, don't we? Everything happens by chance. No, God is at work in our lives. First scripture I love is Philippians 2, 13, 14. It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
If we are truly born again and God's spirit lives within us, he's at work in our lives. And that is my challenge to you.