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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Eugene Prewitt Weekend

Eugene Prewitt

01 Reaching the Least Reached

02 Apostasy of Faithful People

I was on my mountain in Malaysia, and as I was walking, I heard the dogs.

Now I told you that we have dogs in the mountain last night, but if you didn't hear it, you might not know.

But what I didn't mention is we have lots of monkeys on the mountain.

Why at the mountain where I was there were 4 types of monkeys and the dusky leaf langurs were the most common type.

They have white eyebrows and a white mustache with an otherwise dark face and kind of a pinkish lips.

Well there was a dusky leaf langur in a banana tree surrounded by our 4 local dogs.

Oh the dogs were excited because there's no way out for the monkey.

Monkeys can climb trees, but monkeys can't climb thin air, and there was no big tree around that banana tree.

And so the monkey, all it could do is jump over the dogs, but who's gonna be faster on the ground, monkey or a dog?

I mean, it was exciting to them and they're wagging their tail and barking and just, just carrying on.

And as I got closer, I observed something a little sad to me.

That mother monkey on the banana tree had a baby clinging to her breast.

And I didn't think the dogs would probably show any mercy on account of that baby.

And And while I was watching that scene, I saw the most amazing thing.

That mother took the baby off of her, put the baby on the banana tree, and then she crouched, and she jumped over 1 of the dogs to the ground and led all the dogs away on a chase.

And that little baby on top of that banana tree climbed down the banana tree safely over to a jungle tree and climbed up lot about what I saw there I've thought what if the baby had not climbed down?

Do you think those dogs would have come back?

And then there would have been no way to escape for that baby.

And I've thought about Jesus, that Jesus, like that mother monkey, he's already jumped over the dogs.

And what I want you to be thinking about, boys and girls and parents of boys and girls and future parents of boys and girls, I want you to be thinking about the fact that let's not waste any more time.

Let's just get down and get over to the jungle, because it's possible to waste what Jesus has done.

Why Paul in the book of Galatians in chapter 3, at chapter 3, verse 4, he said that, I'm afraid of you, that I've done labor in vain.

And also in chapter 4, verse 11, In both of those passages, he indicated that the sacrifice Jesus has made for us is not necessarily going to be useful.

I mean, that mother's sacrifice that she made for her baby, it was a tremendous sacrifice, but it would be worth nothing practically if the baby had stayed in the top of the tree.

So boys and girls, maybe you know the thing that you need to do to be right with God.

Maybe you know the things you need to do and I'd say today's a good day to start doing them.

And now the story for the adults, for the parents.

I don't mind children if you listen to the parent's story because they listen to your story.

So long ago in Iran there was a mother who developed cancer and her cancer was getting quite bad and she was afraid she was going to die and she didn't find any hope, any help from the religionist around her and she decided to just go experimenting and see if maybe outside of Islam might be a better a better something.

So the first thing she tried was a Christian church and she took her little five-year-old boy with her to that church and when she got to the door they wouldn't let her in.

You know, there are some Christians in Iran and those Christians have had peace there for a thousand years because, well, they have submitted to some things.

And 1 of those things is you do not evangelize the locals.

And so they were afraid and so they didn't let her in.

So then she went over to some Zoroastrians and looked into that.

It's kind of like the worship of fire and spirits.

And she started leaning that way, but she died.

And that little 5 year old boy grew up, and when he was old enough he came to Malaysia to study.

Shervin came to study, and while he was there in Malaysia, he got the idea that maybe he should try what his mother tried.

Maybe Christians in Malaysia might be different.

And so he asked a Christian girl in his university if he could attend her church and you know she was scared and so to save her church she took him to a different denominations church.

She didn't tell him that it wasn't her own church But the church that she took him to was a Pentecostal church.

And what he saw there did not impress him at all.

It looked to him a lot like the religion he grew up with, kind of a sentimental nothingness, kind of how he viewed it.

And well, it was more than a year later when a lack of peace and fulfillment in his life led him to decide to try again.

And he asked another Christian girl if she would take him to church.

And I want to thank God that that second girl he asked was a Seventh-day Adventist.

And she took him to the Seventh-day Adventist church.

And Shervin began to study and to learn, and he loved the things he learned there.

And he was baptized and became a Seventh-day Adventist.

I met him the first month I went to Malaysia.

He came to study in our missionary school there.

It was his sale of a great controversy to a Muslim lady that got his whole group of fellow students and him put in jail.

And in Shervin when he was put in jail that was very dangerous for him because well if he was deported from Malaysia as an apostate he would certainly be killed in Iran which could happen And so he wisely disappeared after they let him out of jail after 1 day, and I didn't see him for a while.

But now I know where he is, and now he's working for me.

And if you watched that video that was put up recently on the Advent Hope page, that doodle video about the prophecies of Daniel.

And already it's been meaningful and helpful to quite a number of people.

He began doing that work when he was home, a very courageous person I tell you, a very courageous person.

So I hope that you're going to be more like that girl that invited him to church.

My experience is that almost everyone in the world is more religious than Christians.

I mean almost everyone is highly religious and it makes you look quite secular when you're nervous to keep your religion to yourself.

You know, it doesn't make any sense to that good friend of yours why you would wait till you've known him for 10 years before you tell him about how to get to heaven.

It seems to him like either you don't really believe in heaven or you took a really terrible risk to wait that long.

I had a man in Malaysia that came over to visit my wife and I and I had a good time studying with him some and he wasn't quite ready to dive into actual weekly studies but he liked the Bible he believed that as a Muslim he should read the Bible and the Quran and and anyway it was a good contact a warm 1 but I couldn't, I couldn't push it into where I wanted it to go.

So, so I contacted him a few months later, 6 months later, just to try again.

I found good success with giving people a second, third, fourth, fifth try.

Many people that aren't interested today are interested 6 months from now or are interested a year from now.

And conversely, it's also true that many people who are interested today aren't interested 6 months from now.

So that being around is important in this business of soul winning.

And anyway, I tried, I sent him a note and I saw with some delight on WhatsApp, he was writing me back, you know, how social media spies on people, you can see their typing.

And then when the message came, my delight disappeared.

She said, I guess she didn't hear, my dad died.

And when I heard that, I was just thinking, this is the tragedy of friendship evangelism.

Series

Eugene Prewitt Weekend

02 Apostasy of Faithful People

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Experiencing the Revival

1h 16m

Emmanuel Institute - Ignite Your Church

Ignite Your Church - Part 3: GROW-The Soul-Winning Road

1h 5m

Out on a Limb

45m

ECYC 2012 Seminar: Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones

Reaching the Hearts of Your Loved Ones, Part 2

50m

Everything Depends On

1h

Plenary

Eager to Preach

39m

Daniel Vis Weekend

03 Walking with God

44m

Final Charge

1h 12m

The Sanctuary, God's Answer to the Sin Problem

Why Jesus Waits

1h

Eugene Prewitt Weekend

01 Reaching the Least Reached

55m

Plenary

When Temptations Return

1h 18m

ASI 2012 Seminar: Evangelism

Bible Studies Made Easy

1h 22m

Sound Doctrine