Robert H. Pierson Lectureship Series at Southern Adventist University: This sermon was directed toward a school of theology students preparing to be pastors. It will challenge you, as it did them, to rethink how you go about evangelism, and what should be our aim to be better in alignment with Jesus Christ. 

<p>Robert H. Pierson Lectureship Series at Southern Adventist University: This sermon was directed toward a school of theology students preparing to be pastors. It will challenge you, as it did them, to rethink how you go about evangelism, and what should be our aim to be better in alignment with Jesus Christ. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Adventist Frontier Missions

GoTential

B. Parks

The Heart Mouth Connection

The light of Jesus Christ beaming from the cross of Calvary.

2000 years later and it's still shining upon us.

Your faces look shining and radiant this morning.

The Middle East Union actually has 360 million people and just about 2, 000 members.

That covers all of North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and up into Afghanistan.

360 million people, 2007th day Adventists.

So this sermon today is somewhat of a recruitment call because there is still a great need.

And though we will long that Jesus coming as soon, in some respects, it still is a long ways off Because there are people who need to hear the Gospel.

And 1 thing I've learned after working in Turkey is that there are saved people, that Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit and He is ripening them.

Their hearts are ripe and they have the fruits of the Spirit of gentleness and kindness and joy.

But you know, they don't have surety of their salvation and they live in a very strange fear.

I remember 1 time while I was walking with a friend of mine in the morning, and I told him in Turkish, I said, Friend, I said, Jesus has, God has told me that I will be in heaven.

2 years later, him and I were walking again in a totally different place.

He moved 2 hours away in a village, or walking along, he saw 1 of his friends gardening, and he stopped and he introduced me, and he said to this woman, she was standing there in her spinach patch, he said, this man knows that he's going to heaven.

It really struck me that He had held on to those words for 2 years.

It's something stable, something to hang on to, something to grasp.

It's a little different coming back to Nebraska.

Now gone and come back and see things the same and yet different changes.

I was in Home Depot and we were shopping for a oven.

We were setting up house here and I said to my wife, the man selling the ovens was right there, I said to my wife, These ovens are a little different than they are in Turkey.

And the man says, you mean the turkey's in the oven?

Well, my new role here in Lincoln, I am taking on a role with Adventist Frontier Missions to send out tent makers.

How many of you know what a tent maker is?

The Apostle Paul, he repaired tents, he made tents and sold them, and as he was doing this work, people would come and request from him certain size tent, and he would begin to talk to them.

And as he was stitching and doing his work, he was sharing the gospel.

And by trade, he was a tent maker, but by lifestyle, by his heart, he was an evangelist.

And so we're finding that in many places of the world, difficult places, China, northern India, all through the Middle East, the only way that the gospel can really penetrate there is to send in professional people whose hearts are on fire with the advent message.

They have Jesus living in them and they go as a doctor or an engineer or a teacher, a professional with a trade.

Something that benefits the society and so their visas are no problem.

They get a job as a university professor or with some large international corporation, and then they begin to share their faith.

And by this method the church is sprouting up in places that it sat dormant for years.

My wife and I just last month went to Qatar where there are about 400 Indonesian Filipino workers.

And by God's grace, we have 400 Adventists living there.

They have to be very careful and circumspect about what they share about their faith and how they share it.

But they are sought after because of their skills.

And that is how the Adventist Church has gotten started in Qatar.

Well we'll talk a little bit more about putting Jesus-filled people in proximity to empty people in a little bit later in this talk.

But for right now, let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 6 and verse 45.

Jesus here is giving several different stories and parables.

It says, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.

People do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briars.

Put that in Nebraska language, you don't get corn from the wheat sheaves.

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.

For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks." Today's sermon is the mouth-heart connection.

It says, out of the overflow of the heart, so does the mouth speak.

In other words, if your heart is filled with good things, your mouth will speak good things.

If your heart is filled with bad things, your mouth will speak bad things.

Now, we know that there is a real heart and a real mouth, and this is speaking about a spiritual heart and probably a spiritual as well as a real mouth.

The heart is sort of a symbol of our thoughts and our emotions.

And so if the heart is sick, if it's an angry heart, the mouth will speak angry words.

If the heart is a bitter heart, it will speak bitter words.

Whatever is in your heart, your mouth is going to give out that substance.

Now the heart and the mouth are only 14 inches apart.

And yet you know they are intricately connected.

Doctors are finding out that if a person has gum disease, they are more likely to have heart disease.

Because the mouth is the entrance to the whole body.

And so if your mouth is diseased, it brings disease down into your body.

Now your mama always said brush your teeth.

The mouth is a pathway of the body according to the Academy of General Dentistry.

Because you see the mouth is somewhat of a touchstone of reality.

In other words, we create things, we create ideas with our mouth.

For example, right now you're all thinking about different things, but if I say elephant, immediately your mind all focus on elephant.

God in Shoes

We can be so thankful for the Word of God that changes and transforms our lives.

Then say to them, listen well to the message today.

Greet somebody around you and then say, listen well to the message.

You know when I was a young man I went as a student missionary and in church in Pohnpei where I was a student missionary nobody wore shoes.

Everybody would leave their shoes at the front of the door and there would be a big area just of flip-flops, and you would go in wearing 1 pair of flip-flops, and when you came out, somebody had taken your flip-flops, and you would go away in a different pair of flip-flops.

But, you know, different types of shoes have different meanings in this world.

And right now, the Lincoln area is celebrating something called God in shoes.

What kind of shoes do you think God would wear if God wore shoes?

Obviously, allegorically in the Bible it's talked about the feet of God and Him resting His feet on His enemies.

Well, you know, what kind of shoes we wear is somewhat important.

You see a church shoe or a business shoe or a sports shoe that tells about action and activity.

When I was a young man, there used to be a television show that was called Mr.

Yes, And it's a wonderful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

And 1 thing he would always do is he would come in, like he had just been working at a dentist office or some psychologist office in a suit and tie, and he would walk over to the closet and he would take off his coat as he's looking at the children and singing about this wonderful day.

He'd hang up his coat and then he would take a sweater out just to kind of get a little more casual, a little more comfortable with his audience of 5 year olds.

And then he would take off 1 of his shoes and he would be singing and he would say, won't you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?

And then he would put on his other shoes.

Now why did he put on those other shoes anyway?

They kind of were more for action, right?

I'm gonna wear these shoes today because the subject of this sermon is about what kind of shoes you're wearing.

Now if you see me in these kind of shoes and a suit and a tie, you think, this guy must be a little crazy.

You don't see people with a suit and tie and tennis shoes very often, right?

Sports, They're for active people, action.

And so we see here in Ephesians chapter 6 the command that we're supposed to have special shoes, different type of shoes.

A shoe that is designed for something special.

A shoe that is for pilgrims and for warriors.

13 tells us that we're to have this full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground.

And after you've done everything, to stand.

Now what exactly is this day of evil that he's speaking about?

Something that maybe it seems to imply something that is in the future.

And maybe he was speaking about a time when Rome would persecute the Christians and they would gather up the Christians and place them on crosses or put them before the lions.

Maybe he was looking far in the future to a time, a trajectory to the end of the world as he writes to Timothy about in the last days.

We don't know about what this means when it says, when the day of evil comes.

But could we say, if that evil day had come, and it's already over, would this not have implications for us as well?

And that now as we near the end of time, how much more relevant even it is for us that we approach as a day of evil has upon us.

And what are we to do in that day of evil?

We're to put on a full armor, a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of Christ's righteousness, a belt of truth from the Bible and from the things that the Holy Spirit has communicated to His church and to this time.

And we're to have A shield of faith and a sword of what?

And then we're to have something special here.

And have your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace.

I remember a story about a farmer in China as Farmer Fu.

And Farmer Fu was raising waterfowl, and so he had these ducks that he had to get to market.

And he would round up, Farmer Fu would round up all of his ducks and he would try, had a little stick and he would whack this side and whack this side and the ducks were there, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack.

And he was trying to get all these ducks in a row to go to market, but you know, getting ducks to go across the road was very difficult because the asphalt was very hot.

And so, Farmer Fu's plans were foiled when Farmer Fu and his waterfowl found that the asphalt was so sizzling hot.

And so he thought about this and he had a plan.

And so what he did is he brought over some sand and he poured it out and then he got some sticky tar and he poured that out and he had these ducks walk through the sticky tar and then walk on the sand and he basically he had farmer Foo's waterfowl footwear factory right there as he made special shoes for his ducks and then those ducks could go into market.

What the Bible tells us is that we're to have special shoes.

Our feet are to be fitted, not with any ordinary shoes, but a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

Now, what that readiness really means is to be ready to communicate the gospel to people at any time.

That we would find ourselves in a situation where we could immediately and spontaneously combust with joy about what Jesus has done inside of us.

That the forgiveness that we have received is felt so tenderly and so joyfully that we can express that joy to others and communicate the gospel.

The gospel is about our great God, that we live in a universe with a great and eternal King, who has for all eternity lived in peace and harmony in his universe and that now we find ourself a creature of his who has designed a universe that's got spinning orbs from galaxies down to molecular atoms, and He is in charge of it all, and we find ourselves under His sovereign care, but in trouble, because we have something that we have inherited, which is called sin.

And this sin makes us lust, it makes us envious, it makes us angry, it makes us sometimes lash out and hurt even the ones we love.

And because of God's eternal holiness, we are separated from God.

We have a desire to be with God and He has a desire to be with us, but unfortunately we cannot be in the same place with this eternal fire without being destroyed.

But God has made a way by stepping out of His universal throne and taking on the garb of humanity.

And perfection needs perfection to atone for man's sin.

And so Jesus in His perfection takes on flesh and blood, uncorrupted blood, to atone for our corrupted blood.

And if we will take upon ourselves His blood and His righteousness, that sin which is in us is washed away.

We are not held accountable for the sins that we have committed because Jesus has taken account Himself by being nailed to the cross.

Stirred but Not Shaken

How many of you have ever heard of Adventist Frontier Missions before?

AFM is unique because they saw a problem happening in the church back about 35 years ago.

You know, the Adventist Church is spread all over the world.

We're in so many countries of the globe, and the church somewhere in the 1970s started pulling back and saying let's let the local people handle local problems, but they realized that not all fields had yet been touched and so only missionaries were being sent out who were administrators of existing hospitals, existing schools and that kind of thing and So there was a man, Clyde Morgan, who said, you know, there are a lot of people groups that haven't yet heard the gospel.

We need to send missionaries who would start up churches.

And so Adventist Frontier Missions was started with that purpose to really reach people groups by language and we send people on a long-term basis so you've heard of short-term missions well AFM has short-term missionaries they go from 2 to 4 years that's our short term not 2 to 4 weeks and our long-term missionaries are between 8 to 12 years some 15 years and our family served for 10 years in Turkey Hamdolsun, Türkçe öğrendik, çok zor, çok deflarca defterler doldurdum, cümleler yazdım hepsi, we had to learn Turkish there and boy that was a stressful time and very difficult for this Nebraska-born boy.

I get my lips, I get my ears to even hear the sounds and the words there.

And by God's grace we have started a church there in Turkey against all odds.

And this afternoon at 2.30, I'm going to tell some stories about how the church in Turkey is doing and the movement that is now expanding, the work in the Middle East.

Do you know in the Middle East alone, and this is where the church still has a last frontier, if I can say, the Seventh-day Adventist Church hasn't yet penetrated, let alone the Christian church.

But throughout the Middle East, there are, if you take all the countries of North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, up into Afghanistan, there are about 400 million people.

That's more than the population of the United States.

Over 130 cities of a million or more persons.

And in that area, we only have 3, 000 Seventh-day Adventists.

That's less than Rocky Mountain Conference, isn't it?

I think Rocky Mountain is about 3, 500 members.

And so there's a great work that is yet to be done there in the Middle East.

And this afternoon we're gonna tell you some interesting stories about what is being done, creative works, and how God is multiplying the efforts of those who have gone.

But this is our sermon time, so let's pull out our Bibles and let's get into the Word of God.

Turn in your Bible to Psalm chapter 16, Psalm 16.

And I want you, as we read this together, before we start, let me just say a prayer if you would.

Bow your heads, Father in heaven, as we open the Bible together this day, we pray for your Holy Spirit to be here.

Open our minds and our hearts in a new way to see this passage in an impactful way that would give us hope and courage in a time in which is full of dangers.

Thank you, Lord, in thy name we pray, Amen.

We're going to read through 11 and imagine yourself just lying in your bed and the Lord is speaking these words of hope to you.

Even at night, my heart instructs me." So there you are laying in bed and the Lord is instructing you.

And you're taking in courage and strength as His words fall on your ears.

Verse 8, I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices.

My body also will rest secure because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy 1 see decay." Verse 11, you have made known to me the path of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

This verse speaks about contentment, about rest, and about peace.

Those are things we all want, aren't they?

And yet those are things that the world only makes promises about.

Even really in the media, you don't hear too many times people talking about contentment or peace, and maybe only a few life coaches or some guru might try to promote the idea that you could have rest, soul rest.

How many of you would like in a life filled with worries and anxieties and fears to have calm?

I've been watching the presidential debates just a few times.

Anybody watch the Republican Party debates and them going back and forth?

I told my boys, I said, when I was a kid and they had Republican debates, they would just talk about taxes and inflation.

Now, I mean, everything, every week, we have bombs exploding and things happening in Iran and Saudi Arabia and they're pressing these men with answers.

Well that's worries on a macro scale, but on a micro scale we have our own worries, don't we?

And here the psalmist writes, I will not be shaken.

Because there are things in life that shake us, shake us to our very core.

For my family and I, moving to Turkey really shook us up.

And I can say that, you know, refugees get a lot of attention in the world.

People being uprooted from their homeland and then have to move across without just carrying on their backs what they can and and we worry about the refugees.

Why because we all want Stability in our life.

We want Predictability in our life the life of a missionary is just the opposite.

It's to say I am going to reject stability and predictability, and I am going to move to a land in which the language I don't know, and the people I do not know, and the food I do not know.

And so I'm standing in a supermarket fumbling to even understand as the woman is saying to me that she wants this amount of money.

I just give her all my money and she's got to pick through it.

And I'm sitting on a little bus, and we're zooming up a hill that I know is going to my house, and I shout out, stop!

And we go mile after mile, and I can't get that bus to stop.

Oh, it's so difficult, and our life is just, you know, shaken up in so many difficult ways.

And times where the gendarme, the gendarme is like the sheriff, you know?

They're the police of the outer lands and they come at midnight and knock on my door and they're these soldiers and they say, we want to talk to you.

You are in our country and we think that you are here on false reasons.

You know, there's things that can shake you in life.

While we were there, this is a beautiful land of Turkey where Paul the Apostle worked and did his labors.

While we were there, these men who ran a Christian publishing house were having their devotions quietly in a little publishing house in the middle of our country and Muslim extremists broke into there who had actually, those extremists had come to church the Sunday before and gotten acquainted with these men, learned about their meeting time, and then they tied them to chairs and tortured them for 3 or 4 hours until their screams were heard by people outside of the building and finally the extremists cut off their heads, jump out the window and ran on their way.

And all of Turkey of course knew about this, perhaps all of the world you heard of this, but that story combined with the fact that the public opinion was on the side of the terrorists who did that, left me with an unsettled feeling each morning as I ate my breakfast and thought about how can I start a publishing house here in this country?

You know, we don't have to have those kind of things in our life to have a sense of disease and a sense of unrest Because you all know that life has its worries.

Some of you lost somebody very close to you, somebody that you loved, a child, or your own mother, your own father.

How are we going to be able to stand in those times of shaking, losing a job.

1 of the most unsettling times in my life was I was a pastor here at Franktown and at Colorado Springs.

And for me, Franktown was like an oasis, you know?

And I'd come back, anybody here from Colorado Springs?

Anyway, there was a lot of fighting and troubles down there and I just come up here and I'm so thankful and finally those people decided that I was actually the problem of the source of their problems and they called the conference and and and got together a coalition to fire me as their pastor in Colorado Springs.

And I had just rented a house, put a deposit down on a house and then the conference called and said, we're gonna move you, you're now gonna be pastor of Franktown and Littleton.

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