Am I Willing To Die For Christ

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning. Would you turn to the book of Acts, chapter 6? And this is a very well-known story about a man named Stephen in the New Testament. [00:00:32] A man that was full of faith and Holy Spirit and just tremendous things said about this man. And he was a deacon, so he wasn't a pastor, he was a deacon. He was supposed to serve tables, and yet this man was so filled with the Holy Spirit and with power that it's amazing. I wish that every one of us doing menial tasks in our daily work could be that kind of Christians, that kind of believers. So I want us to turn to Acts 6, and we're going to read verse 8 to 10, and then verse 15. [00:01:08] All right? Verse 8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Librarians, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and then of Cilicia, of Asia, disputing with Stephen. So there was a lot of people here that talked against him when he started to speak. [00:01:42] And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. So he's an amazing messenger. Now, I want to go to chapter 7, the next chapter. And there, well, chapter 6, let's read verse 15 first. and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. [00:02:33] Thank you for watching. Isaac and Jacob, and then he talks about Moses, how he's born and set aside by God. [00:03:12] And about the wilderness wanderings, about Joseph, Pharaoh, and all these things. Until by the end of chapter 7, verse 54, it comes to a climax. Well, 51, let's look at 51 of 7. Finally, after he talked about Solomon and the temple and so on, and they were worshipping in the temple, he said to them, [00:03:43] Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. 54, and when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Now, he condemned them. He said, just like their fathers were, so are ye, ye stiff-necked, and so on. [00:04:22] You resist the Holy Ghost. He got himself in trouble preaching like that, didn't he? Maybe he should have toned it down a little bit and not be quite so bold, calling them stiff-necked, so on, resisting the Holy Ghost. Because they reacted very, well, we heard that when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. And they gnashed on him with their teeth. [00:04:54] But he doesn't stop. He can see what they're thinking. Again, he can discern his audience, he can, you know, he, and he goes on. Being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly to heaven and saw the glory of Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He had a vision of heaven. He had a vision of Jesus at the right hand of God. And when he had that vision, he shares it with them. [00:05:24] I wonder, would it have been better if he just kept quiet and rather say that, that might have been a vision to him, but he said, and he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, the Son of God, standing at the right hand of God. and they cried a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul and you all know that Saul, as he grew old, he became Paul [00:05:57] Paul, he was called Saul of Tarsus but he became the great Apostle Paul and so he was in on this, he saw this He watched them as he spoke. He must have admired the courage of this man, the boldness. I mean, we witness for Christ and some of us are ashamed to witness for Christ or won't hardly speak one word. This man just boldly told them their sin. [00:06:28] And so then that caused the stoning of Stephen. Verse 60, And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep, he died. He was a true follower of Jesus Christ. Isn't that what Jesus prayed in his last words on the cross? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. A true follower of Jesus Christ. He wanted to follow Christ all the way in life and in preaching and in death and then in forgiving his enemies. [00:07:06] What a Christian! Alright, and then in verse 1 of chapter 8, And Saul was consenting unto his death. And in that day there was great persecution unto the church. So Saul was in agreement with his death. He was so dedicated to the pharisaical laws and so on that he consented to that. You know, Stephen died and Saul was never, or Paul was never the same again. [00:07:42] As you read through the epistles, time and time you hear, I was there when the faithful martyr Stephen died. He couldn't forget that. and so he was bothered by it and then so later when he was converted on the road of Damascus in chapter 9 he said I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest and there he was converted and he was changed and he realized [00:08:15] And can you imagine the guilt came upon Paul, or Saul first, or Paul, how the guilt came upon him, what he had done to help bring about the death of Stephen as a young man. And now he realizes what he's done and he wonders how God will ever forgive him. He marvels. And as a result, he couldn't do enough for Christ. He couldn't do enough for the church. They cast him off, you know, they wouldn't accept him at first, but later on they did. [00:08:49] But he felt he had such a debt to pay after he'd done so wrong. And now God forgave him and made him His apostle. And in a sense, that's the way we are. We have a debt to pay. But God has forgiven us, too. And now all we can do is live for Him and be willing to die for Him. and that's what, you see Paul writing things like that, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain. [00:09:21] He was willing to die for Christ. He went, he was persecuted, he was put on a ship and they had shipwrecked and he was hurting in many ways and they stoned him once on the road to Iconia there in Lystra and disciples stood around him and you know grieving over his death and suddenly he sits back up and he's alive again and he shakes the dust off and what does he do he goes right back into these cities these towns where they persecuted him and where they caused his death I think I'd be tempted to go the other way and I was in the jungle [00:10:06] and these people chased me some days and I ran from them and for many months I wouldn't go back to those parts again. But he goes right back in, there was no stopping, as if he welcomed death, as if he's willing to die for Christ because what he had done in helping cause Stephen's death. But I'm amazed at this man Stephen, he wouldn't quit. You know, most of us that speak to people, we can sense from their faces or from their smiles or from whatever, what they're thinking. [00:10:44] We know when the message we carry is not really being received. And Stephen knew that. He keeps right on. And he gets bolder as he goes. And he tells them of the vision. Stephen chose to die. Don't you think? He could have quit when he saw things weren't going too good and walked out and gone back to his home or wherever he was supposed to be there. [00:11:14] But he wouldn't quit. He saw that this thing was working against him. But for the sake of the gospel, he went on until they got so mad they stopped their ears, literally. They couldn't stand to hear any more of his words. You know, when you read this story, and many of you are younger, and you'll read this story the rest of your life, Acts 6 and 7 and 8, whenever you read that story, I'd like you to remember that Stephen died, he chose to die, and you know what happened? [00:11:54] The Apostle Paul was changed, and he became a fiery evangelist, a fiery preacher, and he went all over, he went north into Greece, remember, and preached the gospel, and as far as Rome, and he just, there wasn't any stopping him. And because of that, because he was so committed to Christ, and so willing to, he became like Stephen. and he won all the known world while all the going west and northwest up into Italy, Greece, Italy and so on. [00:12:34] Now, there were two other branches of the gospel that went forth and one was through the Ethiopian eunuch whom Philip, another one of the evangelists, preached to. And remember, Philip had a great revival in Samaria going and so on. Now, God says, go to the road to Damascus, go to the desert. And he did it. And he encountered a eunuch who was reading Isaiah, and he didn't know what it meant. And Philip preached to him the gospel of Jesus. [00:13:10] And he was baptized then when they saw water. And the Ethiopian eunuch took it back to Ethiopia because he was a man of great authority under the Queen of Ethiopia. And it's reported that he, in history, that he started churches in Ethiopia. But alas, the churches all died out over, I don't know how many generations, so that much later on when Livingston and Stanley and those men went to Ethiopia, they didn't find the faith. [00:13:44] They found buildings still dedicated, but they were empty and not being used. And so that thrust of the gospel that went south died out. There was another one, one of the disciples, one of the apostles of Christ, Thomas, went to India. And there's today in southern India the great churches that were built way back there hundreds of years ago, almost 2,000 years ago. But alas, the message that he carried also died out. [00:14:20] And what a job it is now to go to India to try to reach those people and they're all Hindu and heathen and so on. But the thrust of the gospel that went west and north through the Apostle Paul didn't die out. Are you guys happy about that? Yes. Because that's where we came from, right? The Europeans accepted the gospel and it almost died out in the Middle Ages. [00:14:51] You know, but somehow it survived and the gospel went on and you had the great reformers, the great churches in my own home country Holland, there was great faith in those early days and now that has died out too. Just like the gospel in India and the one in Ethiopia and Africa. But then the gospel went on across the Atlantic, came to the United States. [00:15:23] Now, how do you figure that the one that came our way lived on, and the one that went south to Africa died out, and the one that went east to India died out? Hey, are you happy about that? That the thrust of the gospel came our way, kept going. Very weak at times, but it kept going until it reached us. And then, of course, Americans were part of, and others, taking the gospel across the Pacific. [00:15:57] It seems like it kept going west and reached the Pacific Rim. and now the Chinese there with the Back to Jerusalem movement are reaching it all the way across Asia. My son is in Kazakhstan and he says, Dad, the B2Jers are here. The B2J is the Back to Jerusalem people, you know, and they're taking it all the way through. and now the Indians themselves, people of East India there are reaching India for Christ [00:16:35] and tremendous movements there and so on. But friends, why did that one through Paul live on? Because he's willing to give his life at every opportunity. He was willing to risk his life. He was willing to die for Christ. Christ died for him. Stephen died and he was part of his death and he wanted to pay back, die for Christ and he almost seemed to welcome it but it would always escape him in jail and he went all over the world at that time to preach the gospel. [00:17:11] So, how does Stephen affect your life and my life today? If Stephen had chosen to cop out and say, hey, this is going the wrong direction, and, you know, and if he'd been that way, then it wouldn't have died, it wouldn't have affected Apostle Paul. But it was through Stephen that the Apostle Paul became a flaming evangelist and he wouldn't quit and willing to die for Christ and the gospel that he preached lived on until he got to Europe and finally to America and that's where you and I come in. [00:17:48] So I'm saying that the way Stephen died is a direct relationship to our salvation that we've got to thank God for a man like that that's willing to die so that the gospel would go on and the thrust of the gospel that went north and west lived through the Apostle Paul. And so this is a wonderful truth. and Paul writes things like, oh death where is thy sting, oh grave where is thy victory [00:18:21] and just would not quit. He was like Esther in the Old Testament when Mordecai, her uncle, said for a time like this you're coming to the kingdom and she went into the presence of the king without being bidden and she took her life in her hand and she says though I perish, I perish, but I'm willing. All right, so there again, in the Middle Ages, after Paul, in Europe, how these reformers, remember John Huss, a man who would not keep quiet for the gospel, he was burned at the stake for the sake of Christ. [00:19:06] and many others like him in Europe there and even John Knox was persecuted there and Scotland and so many others, Luther and so on. John Huss didn't have to burn at the stake. Do you know that? He started preaching and he knew it wasn't going well. Well, he could have just kind of walked away and just entered some monastery and in the back room in a dark room monastery sat there reading his Bible and praying, right? [00:19:42] And he wouldn't have gotten burned at the stake. But he didn't do that, did he? He preached the gospel and kept preaching until he was paid for it. Almost choosing to die. At the headquarters of the Bill Gothard Institute, we worked, my wife and I worked there for eight years. And they made a film, a video, of a man named Joseph Tson. Any of you ever heard of him? [00:20:16] Joseph Tson was a Romanian who was in the communist prisons of Romania for his boldness in preaching the gospel in Romania. And he was starving and he was hurting and he's hoping that he would be martyred for Christ. So that's, wanted to die for Christ. But he didn't. He kept on and after communism started to fade in Romania, they let him out. He met another prisoner that had been imprisoned in the same, another Christian, been there outside the prison. [00:20:51] and they met on the road outside the prison and they both alive and they hugged each other and they wept together and what were they reaping for? because they were so sad that they couldn't be a martyr for Jesus Christ this man, my wife and I met their heavy Romanian accent but he made that video for us So we have people throughout history, not only way back there in the Bible times, but throughout history that are willing to die for Christ. [00:21:27] The Moravians, you've heard of them, how they sold themselves into slavery there in Africa. When the Africans, people were bought up and taken to the Caribbean islands in the United States and so on. There was an entrepreneur or a plantation owner in one of the Caribbean islands. Does anybody know what island it was? Certainly, some of you, all right. Anyway, he bragged and said, we're going to start a plantation there. [00:22:01] And he owned a whole island, a small island. And this is going to be one place on earth that's not going to be contaminated by Christianity. That's how much he was against the gospel. He says there's going to be one place. Well, he bought those slaves in Africa and sent them over. These were heathen people that had not been evangelized. And they were doomed to work as slaves there on that plantation [00:22:31] where a man had said there will never be a church here. Well, God heard that. Doesn't he hear things like that? When we say, no, there'll never be, okay. And that's a challenge to God, I think. He makes it hard for God, but God can overrule. Anyway, these two young Moravian men sold everything they got. They had nothing left. They were hungry and they went to the buyers, the people who buy it, the slaves, [00:23:06] and they sold themselves into slavery. They said, take us, we have nothing here. If you'll take us in the... They took them. So here's these two Moravians on the ship going to that island to be slaves. They were never heard of again in this life. But one thing for sure, that we should look them up and find out who they are. The Lord will tell us who they are and what happened. But, friends, what happened, the thing which is almost sure [00:23:37] when people are willing to give their lives for the gospel, The gospel goes forward and these men praying to God and filled with the Holy Spirit and going on preaching among those slaves there. Maybe they were killed for doing it. Maybe they lived long enough to convert that arrogant plantation owner. We don't know, but they were willing to die for Christ. And these are examples to us today. The five missionaries that died among the Akkas. The Ancestors later that were converted that killed them said they had a gun but we came at them with spears and we thought some of us would die because they would shoot us with their gun. [00:24:21] He said they never even used a gun. They were willing to die without killing any of us. And of course those men, they were willing to reach them for Christ not to kill them and so on. And that's what happened. You know the rest of the story, how these very men that killed the five missionaries, Nate Saint and Jim Elliot and all those, how they reached the people that killed them and those became leaders in the churches. Some of them even visited America here. [00:24:57] So, again, no, we're not going to use our guns. We're not going to save our lives. If we perish, we perish. That was their aim. Have you ever heard of the AIM missionaries, the African, Africa Inland Mission, that went in, back in 1893, there was a man named Peter Cameron Scott, and he was a leader from England. and how he had a band of about ten others with him to reach these people in Africa. [00:25:32] But the disease got him, the malaria, and they died, some of them died. He himself lasted until 1897, he was there four years. But he got letters back to England, sent new recruits, because our group was depleted. And now can you imagine there in England they were recruiting people to go to that place where these men gave their lives. And he got recruits that knew people, missionaries came out to take their place, only to die later on. [00:26:11] It seemed like a hopeless cause there in Africa. And the new missionaries came out with, the natives said they came out with these long wooden boxes. And so that the remaining missionaries who might have been weak and so on wouldn't have to make caskets for them when they died. And they asked them, why did you bring those long boxes? And they said, well, they're going to bury me in this box when I die. And so the word gets out, you mean you're willing to die here? [00:26:45] And then that so affected those people that they started to take heed. And after, by about 1920, there was a church started there. Because they said they were willing to die for the gospel like Jesus was willing to die for the gospel. It's an amazing story, if you ever get hold of it, read it. And, you know, it's said some places the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And we could go many, many more stories about what happened in these places. [00:27:24] Back to New Guinea where we were, that first village, so little response. And one guy, he was a family chief, he wasn't a village chief, but his name was Shuma. Shuma, Shuma was one wicked man. He had a filthy mouth. He would teach us words and we'd put them in our primers and then he'd laugh about it. And then later Christians said, hey, you shouldn't have that in the primer. That's cuss words or that's filthy, immoral language and so on. But that's what he did. [00:27:57] He used to, he called his children the worst names, that when we called them those names, they would all laugh. I had to give them new names, and it was a terrible man. He would come to our church and just sit there and laugh. I had just a little church, there was three men and their families came, and Shuma was one of them. And he would sit there and grin and laugh and make comments and so on. Man, the kind of guy you wish wasn't around [00:28:28] And would we still give him medicine and so on? Carol would do that When I went to another village to preach I'd go out and I'd have my paddle, my boat set to river And he said, Tuan, where are you going? I said, I'm going to Yefu He says, wait a minute, I'll go with you I thought, I don't want the guy to go with me. I mean, this guy is one guy. Can you imagine the evangelistic team coming to a village, the worst guy with the worst reputation in the whole world, in the whole Awu tribe, and me. [00:29:08] Oh, I remember one time the plane came, the float plane, we didn't have an airstrip in Jufo, and the float plane came but there was something about the current that the pilot could not get in to shore. And so he parked it out there on the river and he's floating and he puts his paddle down and tries to anchor it down and he says, Otto, bring your boat. He yells at me. And I said to the men, get the boat in the water. And they pushed the boat out and they dumped the water out. And they pushed it out and finally got it floating. And this pilot, man, he's blowing his horn, you know, he's getting frustrated. He can't hold this thing much longer. If I want my loading and my mail, I better come and get it quick. [00:29:52] So I had the motor up in the shed. We don't leave the motor out there on the river. And so we had only two paddles. But we had all these men that pushed the boat out all jumped in. They wanted to see what's in the plane. We had that boat so full of men and boys that we could hardly stay afloat. The water was just that close to the top of the thing. And we have to get some bags of rice and stuff in that were coming in. And I said, get out of the boat, you guys. And they all stand looking at each other. Who's going to go? [00:30:25] They tell each other, you get out, you get out. They're all talking. Shuma was one of them. That wicked old chief. Man, I didn't know what, I looked at him. He says, some of you guys get out. In other words, I've got a right to ride in this boat because I go with the missionary all the time to the villages. Oh, what? And so I said again, get out. We have to get. Look, he's going to leave, get out. And I was frantic and I didn't know what to do. [00:30:57] And finally I picked up a small guy and just heaved him overboard. I reached for another guy and threw him over on the other side. Now some of them start to dive in because they can get to shore quicker. You know, crocodiles. I'm literally throwing my people to the crocodiles. And missionaries shouldn't do that. But they wouldn't listen. I reached for another one and he dives in. They can get to shore quicker if they dive in rather than if they just flop into the water. [00:31:28] And, oh man, I got a bunch of them. Finally more of them dove out and I reached for more people. And finally I thought, well, we can make it with this bunch. Shuma was still there. I'm not going to throw Shuma out. He's too big a headhunter. He's killed too many people. We bragged about how many skulls he had in his jungle house of people that he killed and so on. So we went to the, we got the rest of the loading, barely made it back. [00:31:59] Only two paddles and 15 guys, you know. So they were just, anyway, Shuma was going with me. We came to the village of Yefu, Yefuaru. And that village had said, we want you to bring us a teacher to teach us. Now, the teachers down just teach arithmetic and, you know, reading and writing and so on. They teach the gospel in all of our schools. So I wrote to the mission and the Bible school there and said, send me a teacher as soon as you can. [00:32:32] Because they had said we're building a schoolhouse. And they said, no, and when you come to a village, you can gather the adults there and teach the people what you want to teach. The Catholics had had this village for a while. There was a Catholic teacher there, a guru, who was one bad fellow. That's what they would do, get the worst guys that would threaten the people, the boldest guys, so that everybody would be afraid of them. They could control the village. That was their way. [00:33:04] This man had actually lived in our village of Jufo. He was there when we first came. Gave us a hard time. Wicked man. But he had such bad eyes. He had this, and my wife would carefully put eye salve in his eyes and he wouldn't say anything. He'd just come for the eye salve and so on. His wife would bring their baby and, going to die of malaria or something, my wife would carefully get the malaria medicine in them and so on. Save the baby's life, you'd think the guy would be grateful, but now he was angry. [00:33:40] He came out of the jungle on the other side. Here we're standing here near the school building. And I told them they had to get a small house for the teacher that I had coming. And they said they would do that. but here this man had gotten word that I was coming there and he came running out of the jungle with this huge spear in his hand yelling and screaming totally possessed and he says, Tuan, you're going to die today [00:34:13] you have no business here you've taken too many villages from us and he came running towards me across this field I saw him coming and I thought, oh man, this could be it for me. But Shuma, the old chief, that wicked guy standing beside me, he says, John, he's going to kill you. You watch, I'm going to get him first, I'm going to kill him first. He has this sharp machete and he starts running towards the guy. [00:34:46] But Shuma is old, his legs won't go too good anymore. But he says, I've got ten skulls now. He says, he's going to be number eleven. And I said, Shuma, don't kill him. I tried to call him back, but his adrenaline was going and he was ready. He's going to get number eleven. And so I thought, oh man, Shuma, don't kill him, don't kill him. You know, I could just see the headlines in the Jakarta newspaper there in Indonesia. You know, missionary orders guru killed. Wouldn't that be? All the mission expelled from the island. [00:35:20] I mean, what a mess I would cause. And so, I said, don't, don't, don't, kill him, Shuma, don't. And man, he's on his way. Now that Guru saw him coming, he knows him. They lived in the same village at one time, see. And he comes yelling at him and he's swinging his machete and man, he's going at him just like David going towards Goliath, that type of thing. and that guru saw him coming and he got closer and man, he turns around and runs. [00:35:54] He doesn't want to face off with Shuma and Shuma runs after him but this guy is young and he can outrun him and he ran into the jungle and out of sight and Shuma, oh, he comes back huffing and puffing. He's winded. He says, ah, Tuan, I almost had number 11. He's just too young. I said, ah, that's all right, Shuma, that's okay. He says, yeah, but he was going to kill you, Tuan. I said, yeah, that might be true. And I thought it probably was. [00:36:30] And he says, I saved your life, John, but I tried to get him. Now, the amazing thing is, Shuma was a wicked man controlled by Satan. That guru was also a wicked man. Here was two possessed men going at each other over me. I thought, man, it's amazing. God somehow controlled their minds or something. and so I thought, wow, this is amazing. [00:37:03] God can protect me through my biggest enemies. What do you think? He can change your enemies into your friends and they can help you in your ministry. And that's exactly what happened. Oh, Schumer, he says on the way back, Well, I thought maybe he did it just because he wanted to ride back with the boat. I mean, how is he going to get home? You know, so there might have been some selfish motives involved. But he came to me a few days later. [00:37:36] He says, Tuan, you remember when we were on Yefuaru? I said, I'll never forget it. He said, he would have killed you. I said, probably too. He says, Tuan, I need to have a pair of pants, a pair of short pants. I said, Shuma, I happen to have a pair, and I want to give them to you. Ah, that's good to him. So he's walking around now, he's got a pair of shorts on. And a little bit later he says, [00:38:06] Do you remember that time in Jaipur? I said, Shuma, I really need a shirt. A shirt like you've got. I said, Shuma, I've got an extra shirt. and I want to give it to you. Gave that shirt to him. He worked this thing for all it was worth. For the next year and a half that we lived in Jufo. He says, Tuan, look at my knife. It's so busted up. It's so chipped up. [00:38:37] He says, I really need a new knife. And I said, okay, Shumai. But he'd always start out, do you remember that guru who was going to kill you? You would have, you know. Remember I saved your life, didn't I? I said, I think you did. He said, but I do need a knife. I said, well, I've got a good knife. And he was happy. He worked at for everything, whatever he needed down the road, and I was always happy to give it to him. [00:39:08] Finally, we moved away from that village. I saw two men going at each other, possessed men, over me. That really made me think. I told the story at the minister's conference about the two men that were such enemies. They just hated me and how God put them in a position where they got hurt in battle. [00:39:41] They were really cut up and the Holy Spirit says, Go, give them medicine. I didn't want to. I want them to die. I said, you know, it's too late to get my boat in the water now. I can't go there, and he seemed to say there's such a thing as flashlights. And I had two men sitting on the front of my boat, and those guys would not die. Isn't that bad when your enemies won't die? Are you all awake? Now, those enemies had to be won, hadn't they? [00:40:14] And I saved their lives. God saved their lives, because there was nothing to keep them from dying. All right, so these kind of things. Have you heard of K.P. Yohannan? Anybody heard of them? They send out their men there in India and reaching so many for Christ. And they've got 52 Bible schools, last time I heard, and they're training more young men to go to all the provinces of India and they're willing to die for Christ. [00:40:47] The training of them to die for Christ. Because to be honest, sometimes you get more done by dying for Christ than by living for Christ. And it's quicker and it's easier. And so these guys had gone there. And one of them came to a village all by himself. And the Hindu said, what are you doing here? We're going to start a church for Jesus Christ. No, you're not. But there'll never be a church for Jesus Christ here. [00:41:18] Again, one of them never things that God heard. And they really want people to say that. They're really almost, you know, asking them to say the right thing so that they would say a thing like that. There'll never be a church here. He says, well, that was my first, that was my first goal for coming here. Well, what else? He says the second goal is to die for Jesus here, to show you how a Christian dies. And you'll help me get to heaven and he preaches heaven, it's beautiful up there and Jesus is up there and all that and just says it with a smile on his face. [00:42:00] And they all marvel at him and they said, if you kill me, I'll get there faster. Then I won't have to go to any more villages like this and face people like you. And so he said that and they marveled at him. But he says, I've got one word of warning before I die. Listen to me. If you kill me, my God, whom you don't know, who is powerful, will be on your case. [00:42:36] Whenever wicked people in the Bible killed the prophets, oh, it didn't go well with them. It didn't go well with them at all. And you'll be, God will be so against you and you'll be hurting like crazy and you'll wish that you'd never killed me. That's what I said. And my friends will come after me and come here and give you another chance. And when you've got another chance, you repent of your sin and turn to God and turn to Jesus and listen to them. [00:43:10] That's what he said. They arranged for somebody else to follow them up after so long. Willing to die for Christ. Many times it takes one of them to die for the next guy to win the people. Sometimes a couple have to die. And so on. So that's how they win. We will win eventually because we will forgive. We will be like Stephen and say, God, don't lay the sin to their charge. May they be part of your family. And so on. He says, now, you go home and think about it. Shall we kill him and provoke the wrath of God on us, the God that he says, or shall we let him live? [00:43:53] Boy, they talked all night. Came back the next morning and he said, we decided to let you live, not to kill you. Very wise decision. He says, all right, then I'll tell you about the God who's so great. And they try to push him out of the village. Comes right back in. They can't kill him. And so he reaches the people and wins them to Christ and starts churches there and so on. [00:44:24] And friends, just courageous men. And if you read the book Revolution and World Missions, you'll see story after story like that. How they're willing to die for Christ and through that way reaching people. How about it? Stephen was willing to die, John Huss was willing to die, didn't need to These guys, they could have not gone there, they could have gone back and said well they didn't want the gospel They chased us out of the village or whatever [00:44:56] But they stayed on Oh, I had some other, the Amanda confrontation where oh, I thought I was going to lose my life there And God turned the whole thing around And before it was true, the Catholics, those evil gurus, were run out of the village completely. And my people, they complained to me. They said, Tuan, they're leaving. We haven't fought yet. [00:45:28] They came to see a good fight. We haven't fought yet. I said, I didn't promise you we were going to fight. Yeah, because you didn't want us to bring our arrows and spears and so on. And they followed me complaining. Thank you for watching. [00:46:11] Maybe you've heard of the, and this is a whole different twist to this thing. It's been, I don't know, ten years ago maybe, more or less, some of you older ones. Do you remember that there was an Australian missionary in Bihar, India, that was burned to death in a slander. Would you know that? Shake your head if you've heard of that. And these fanatical Hindu people there burned him to death. [00:46:49] He has two sons with him. They were in this Land Rover or Jeep or something like that. And they threw gasoline all over the thing. And they blocked his way so they couldn't drive. Had people and whatever in their way. And they threw gasoline over and burned him to death. The people said that they heard the screaming of those two boys and father, and they gave their lives for the gospel. Do you know what happened? Did you hear the rest of the story? [00:47:21] It's amazing how his wife was home with two daughters that weren't with him. And she got on the news or people talked to her. She was actually on the Indian TV speaking. We still love the Indian people. We've come here to help them get to heaven, to know the way to God. We will stay here. And the three of them stood there and forgave. [00:47:53] What the power of forgiveness in a thing like this. So many times the person that dies, okay, that counts. God can use that. But sometimes the loved ones, the way they react, it's a powerful testimony for God. And so, she was on the radio and all the people honored her. And she was with the rulers of the Indian government. And they treated her well and took care of her because she forgave. They said she really loves the Indian people. [00:48:26] Do you remember, there was somebody here that said they were in Paraguay. You had your people there? I don't know, maybe this wasn't very great. Do you remember the time when the small missions plane was shot down by some rebels? They were going from Peru to Brazil. And this pilot had flown this road and they knew the numbers on this plane. [00:48:59] But here was some over-anxious guys with their guns and protecting their country, and they shot at this little missions plane. The pilot was shot through the leg, but somehow he was able to bring the plane down. But the mother, with her newborn daughter in the back seat, was shot. One bullet went through both of them, through the child and through her, and they both died. The son who was sitting on the other side of the back seat was not hurt. [00:49:31] The father sat beside the pilot who wasn't hurt. But they had two dead people on both boards when they landed. And it was the same kind of story. They died for the sake of the gospel. But the father was honored in Peru. And he forgave and he said, We will stay on being missionaries, even though my wife was shot by your people and they forgave. [00:50:04] And they're forgiving the people, one the people in that area to Christ. Hey, sometimes, and in your own, you remember the situation up there in Lancaster County where the Amish school, God bless you. [00:50:51] to heal them. But you remember the story how this went all nationwide over the years. These Amish people do not hold grudges. They went to the funeral of the, first to the funeral of their own children, but then they went to the funeral of the gunman who had killed them. And they went to them, all their buggies and horses and all were going down the street. It was national television. [00:51:23] And they hugged the widow woman. We love you. That kind of forgiveness is very powerful in the face of problems like this. And what a testimony that became in that whole area. They made a monument there, and the government and so on, outside of Lancaster there. and my wife and I was able to see that. But that is so, so death can be so used by God for his glory to the salvation of many [00:52:02] and to the spread of the gospel in many places. Dave Horsington was a pilot. MAF flew us around in New Guinea many times And one given day we heard the tragic news that Dave had crashed. He had taken off and then he, but he went beyond the beach and all over the water and his engine completely quit. And he banked the thing around the best he could and landed that plane on the beach. [00:52:39] But it was all, it was a bad landing. There was too much stuff on the beach. and he was alive when they got him out but his bones were broken he had so many broken bones that man he's a big guy from California and he had broken every bone in his body it seemed like and they thought oh Dave hasn't got a chance and they put it on the radio Dave Hoisenden crashed he's in a very very serious place they took him to the doctor who said no we've got to get him to a hospital [00:53:10] and so on and finally they flew him to Australia Thank you for watching! [00:53:43] I flew with him many times, go to the villages, some villages I couldn't get by boat that were our language. I remember him, he lands on the river, this was in Pontoons, lands on the river and I go up there, he says, well I'll get back as soon as you can, we can make some more stops. And he's out there washing his windows and polishing his plane and waxing it while I'm up there on the shore talking to the people, you see. So he was more concerned with his playing than he was with the souls of men. [00:54:18] And I guess God saw fit that. So he crashed. But somehow he was a healthy man and they set every bone, the most important ones, first. And he was in that hospital for, I imagine, I don't know how long, months anyway. And finally he got them all set and he came limping back to the mission field. Okay? He became a pilot again. But he was a different man. [00:54:49] Now when he took me to the villages, I remember him sitting in one village and he had natives sitting on each side of them and he used to put their arms around those men and he would say, listen to them, listen to them. In Indonesian because he didn't know how to use language. And he was helping and concerned with the gospel, oh how God can turn it around. So if you're more in love with something, some car or something, than you are in love with Christ, better give it up folks, give that car away, get something, because God has a way of dealing with his people. [00:55:28] Do you know that? Do you believe that? All you young people, I don't know what you love most, but oh brother. Anyway, we were going through the Eastern Highland. Carol was in the back seat of that little plane with a couple of the children, right? I don't know. One was out there in Centani at the school. And one, I wasn't born yet, I don't think. But I was sitting besides Dave in the front seat, and we are, oh my, in those mountains, some of them are snow-capped mountains, high. [00:56:00] And he goes along, he says, all of a sudden he banks that plane. I said, Dave, what are you doing? He says, hey, look at that, Autumn. And I tried to look past him. There was a volcano-type valley, a round valley. He says, look at it. There's huts down there. Smoke coming out of the top of the huts. There's people there. Who is going to win those people? Now, see, he's a changed man. Who's going to win those people? I said, you can't fly your plane in there. He said, no, it's too tight. There's no way we can get a plane in there. And I said, well, Dave, we've got to pray that God would give us, he says, a helicopter. God, we've got to get a helicopter and MAF so we can just drop right down there in that valley Open space in the middle there, you know, and they're probably wondering what we're circling just over the mountaintops, you know, to look at and contemplate what should we do? How can we win those people? And he says, he says, we got to get a helicopter. I says, you're going to fly it? He says, I don't know how to fly a helicopter. I said, well, I don't know neither. Would you go as a passenger? [00:57:17] He says, let's worry about the helicopter first. Yeah. All right. Now, we're praying about that thing. Who is going to go? All these people are headhunters and cannibals and heathen tribes that have never been evangelized. And obviously this group hadn't been. And you could say, well, it's not that bigger group. You know, let's win the big groups and then maybe they can go in there and reach them. But there's mountains on the side. You'd have to be a professional mountain climber. To get in there. [00:57:49] Is there anybody here like that that would qualify? You'd have to be a mountain climber and you'd have to be willing to die for Christ like Stephen was. And you're... Okay, think about it. And I came back on furlough and I made this need known in various churches, you know. And I didn't get any volunteers to reach that people. In other words, we're not where Stephen and where Apostle Paul were, willing to die for Christ if need be to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. [00:58:24] But that's how he was, Dave was. He says, we've got to get a helicopter and we've got to get a real committed Christian and throw his baggage out and then the helicopter take off. Yeah, okay, you know, what's the guy going to do? Well, we'd have to come back and get him if he's still there. We've thought about these things. Unreached peoples needing someone willing to die for Christ to get the gospel there to them. [00:58:57] And yet God is with us, isn't he? So, Bill Gothard told us about the cancer missionary in New Zealand. This is quite a story he taught. There was a tribe among the Maoris, or how do you say that, Maoris or something, And they were living there, didn't want anybody, didn't even have the government in there, didn't even have government schools or anything. They were there, they didn't like any foreigners, and so on. And this is the guy that got in the plane, I think it was the guy, maybe it wasn't, that learned their language on the way over, he just had a linguistic ability. [00:59:37] but the guy was cancer he had six months to live at the most he hated to slowly die in pain and problem he wished he could die for Christ so he's an ideal candidate for this tribe this Maori tribe so he walked his way over to New Guinea some people said it wouldn't be fair if they're cannibals and they'd eat them they'd probably get cancer too but he didn't think of that I guess [01:00:07] Anyway, he had cancer and he had so many months to live And he flew over to New Zealand No, he was a New Zealand guy This guy was a New Zealand guy It was the other one that was in America But he was a New Zealand guy And he heard about the mission and about these Maori people that needed to be reached And he volunteered to go And that mission sent him I guess they figured the risk was so great that you wouldn't send a healthy man to go in there. [01:00:43] And he came in there praying to God. He says, God, if I can reach them before I die, fine, but I've only got so many months, so you're going to have to work in their hearts. And he came and the people threatened him just like they had done with all others that had come in there. And no foreigner lived there and could stay alive there. And he comes walking in and he's smiling at them. He said, maybe God will take me out of this pain. Maybe I'll die today, you know, but I'm going for him. [01:01:15] He's praying. He says, God, I'm going for you. If I can win him before I die, okay. And so he goes in there and he smiles. And they're putting their spears up and putting them to his chest. And he just stands there and smiles. He wants to shake their hands. I think they don't know how to shake hands. But anyway, they brought them to the chief. The warriors were so taken by the fact that he didn't run and he didn't care that they went to the chief. And the chief, he couldn't talk to him, he didn't know the language. [01:01:47] And the chief said, and he smiles. He takes some food out of his pack and gives it to the chief. You know, why not? And tries to win him. Gets some things with him. Man, they went to other chiefs and everywhere he went he won the people over. They wouldn't kill him because he was such a unique guy. And that was God's way with him. And then the battle came and he stood in the middle of the battlefield while arrows and spears were flying past him. [01:02:18] And he says, hey, don't fight. God doesn't want you to fight. You're all going to have to meet God someday. And he was so bold that they just put their arrows down and quit fighting. And he did this every time. And wherever he went, no fear. God gave him a spirit of boldness because he was wanting to die for it, you know, so he wouldn't die of cancer in the long run. And he won those people over. And finally, he learned their language. [01:02:49] and they said we want you to be one of our army leaders when we go out to fight because you're the boldest man we've ever met and they honored bold warriors and they said no, no, I didn't come here to fight I come here to make peace peace with God and so on and friends this goes on and on and they marvel at him and he stays several months and he isn't dead yet and finally he forgets that he has cancer [01:03:21] and he's so busy helping people and encouraging them and befriending them and he stays there and finally he goes to the New Zealand government and said this tribe there needs a school, they need a clinic, they need help. Yeah, but they said we can't go in there. He says I've been there, I learned their language somewhere and sent some medical workers with me and so on And he got them schools, and he got them clinics, and all over this Maori area. And he never did die yet. [01:03:53] And he's wondering when he's going to die. But finally he realizes he's not sick anymore. He's feeling much better than when he came. And God probably looked, hey, this guy is so valuable to me, because there's a lot of other Maori tribes that need the gospel. He's so valuable to me that I am going to heal him, so that he can keep on going. Now, what would happen if he got, he knew that he was healed and he got out of there to run his business again? He'd probably get cancer again. I don't know what would happen. [01:04:24] But he didn't. He just was so enjoying leading people to Christ and starting worship centers and so on that he, I don't know how long he stayed. I don't know the rest of the story. He's probably still there. There was a church in, no, this is where I got the Paraguay thing next up. There was a church in Paraguay, way back in the jungle, and these rebels with their guns and machine guns and bullets around [01:04:58] came walking into the church on one Sunday morning. It was just a small church in the bush. And they were scared. Oh, we'd be scared too if we saw that coming. And they said, they pulled and pointed their guns at him, and they said, All you, all you Christians, stand against the walls, put your Bible down, and stomp on your Bible with your feet. [01:05:30] In other words, they're telling him to reject the gospel. And so, what would you have done if you had been in that little church and they had all these guys in there with their machine guns? And the people lined up along the walls, praying, praying and crying out to God, and they're pointing their guns, and finally, Okay, then they said, now the rest of them that aren't going to stand against the walls, you get out, you can go home. Oh, now the guys standing along the walls thought, man, we're certainly going to get killed. [01:06:07] And after they stood there around, most of those guys with the guns left, and they heard shots, and they heard cries, and they heard people hitting the ground, and they killed everybody that walked out that didn't want to, willing to give up Christianity. If you're willing to do that, the rest of you can go. And the rest of them all died outside the church. The yard was filled with a lot of bodies later. [01:06:39] And then this chief came in again, this old army rebel leader, came in again. He said, they're all dead, the ones that went out. And people started to cry, and we will die for sure, you know. And he says, you know, in our organization, if a man isn't willing to die for the cause, we shoot him. He can't stay. Now, those people that left your church weren't willing to die for the cause. [01:07:13] They ran for their lives. So we just ridded you. We just purified your church. All the guys that went along, all the guys that are just going along and not really willing to die for Christ, They're gone. And he laughs. And he walks out of that church. And there they stood for a while along the signs. Finally catching their breath and they said, well, let's look. And these soldiers, these rebels were gone. [01:07:46] And they looked at the people that were dead, the ones that weren't willing to die for Christ. that denied Christ and went. That these guys in the church were alive. Purified the church. Everybody that was ashamed of Christ died that day. That was the ones that were willing to die for Christ and take their stand along the sides. And put these two stories together. [01:08:19] I told you about the bold missionary in New Zealand. And I marveled when I heard this story. Had you guys heard about this, Francesca? When I wondered about this story here from Paraguay. And I thought, you know, what can we learn from this? This guy in New Zealand was so bold, he's wanting to die for Christ. He's, you know, bearing its chest, you know. You know, he's, a lot of people come at him with a spear and he'd walk right up to the point of the spear. [01:08:55] He even took his shirt off. He says, hit me right here. That kind of thing. And they couldn't understand this. They'd never met a person like that. And here in this whole group of people in that church in Paraguay. And I say, wasn't there anyone there that could face that man with the gun and say, shoot me first. I'm willing to die for Christ and I'm going to be in heaven. And say to all the people, don't be afraid. None of you leave. All of you be ready and be willing to die for Jesus Christ. Make sure you're right with God. And I will show you how a Christian is supposed to die. And we'll die together for the sake of the gospel and meet up in heaven and so on. Wasn't there any man there that was willing to face the guy with the gun? To be bold? And, you know, what it turned out that they honored boldness. [01:09:56] They said, we've purified your church now, you know, so they wanted to see people that had really meant it. That they're really willing to die for Christ. And so, hey, there was nobody there that would take his shirt off, so to speak, and say, shoot me right here. And later on they found out that if they had done that, they probably wouldn't have killed the others. Oh, man, friends, think of it. [01:10:31] If you'd been in a church like that, what bunch of you would be willing, the ones that are willing to forsake Christ and leave? Or stand against the wall here? and so on and stay. And so what the sad thing is is that the ones that left the church and weren't willing to die for Christ died in that frame of mind. And that's the sad thing. [01:11:03] All right. Now, hey, you say, well, that's on the mission field, all these things you're talking about. Cassie Burnell. Do you remember who that was? The girl that got killed in the Columbine High School in Colorado? And the evil guys pointed a gun at her and said, Do you believe in Jesus? And she said, Yes. And he shot her. Boy, that was odd for the United States, but it can happen here too. [01:11:36] and she died for Christ and yet her testimony was printed up and played in our many magazines. We read it, Cassie Brunel, willing to die for Christ in her high school in the United States. Now, I know it's time to close, but suppose I ask the question, how many of you are willing to die for Christ? It is not a fair question, is it? [01:12:07] This is something you have to think about. This is something you have to work through. This is something that you have to consider. How determined are you to serve Jesus Christ that you would die for him? Isn't it true that if we're not willing to die for him, we're really not fit to live for him? And many of us are living, and we say we're living for Christ, but we wouldn't want to die for Christ. To follow Christ. Didn't Thomas say, why don't we go to Jerusalem with him that we might die with him? [01:12:42] Remember that? He said that. And yet, in the garden, they all fled. And Peter denied him. They weren't willing to die for him. They were concerned with their own lives. So, what Jesus wants is people that will follow him all the way. Not only in life but in death Whatever God requires If we by our lives can win a group of people or a tribe for Christ Why then we'd have so many more converts [01:13:14] And you've read the book of Fox's book of martyrs And you read these stories and so on So for me to ask how many are willing to die for Christ It wouldn't be fair You've got to think this over Some of you have already made that decision I'd venture to say that there's a number of people here that have already faced this and have said, yes, I have made that decision. I am ready to die for Christ. Are there any like that? Yes. See, there's a number of hands. Praise God. [01:13:45] Let's be faithful to that, no matter when or what. But there's others of us that haven't decided this, that have to work this through. You've got to go home and pray and seek God's face and say, God, I haven't got the courage, give me courage, give me boldness, may I be willing to die. Stephen was willing to die, and we got the gospel in America. You see? The Apostle Paul was willing to die, and because of his boldness, the whole area of Eastern Europe there was won to Christ, or many churches were started. [01:14:25] And then the Europeans, John Huss and all these guys. Luther was willing to die for the gospel, and he probably did. And the church became stronger. The more martyrs there were, the stronger the church. Something's got to happen here in America or here in this town that would make this church stronger. Do you agree? So, that's what I'm saying to you. Pray it through. Think it through. Come to your pastors and say, I've made the decision. I'm willing to live for Christ. I'm willing to die for Christ. Whatever. And I'm going to walk with Him, not counting the cost, not the things of this world, oh how they tempt us, and all the things that we live for. No, we're going to live for Christ. [01:15:25] Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist You dear women wearing your head coverings, keep wearing them. Wear a bigger one. Make sure that they can see it. Show them that you're living for Christ, that you're a Christian. [01:16:05] Alright? And whatever. But you men, you go to work, your wives wear the head covering and you're not willing, hey, put the cap on or something. Show people that you're on Jesus' side and that you're willing to live for Him or die for Him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I pray for this good audience here, these wonderful people. [01:16:38] They've treated us so well. Would you bless them for it? And Father, would you help them not just to live for you, but to be willing to die for you? So that whatever it takes, others might see and there might be evidence that Christianity is real and works. Help these dear ladies to keep wearing their head coverings that all might see that they are your children. Not just Mennonites, but Christians. And Father, we pray that you might help the men to somehow identify with you. Give us grace, give us courage, give us boldness, Lord. [01:17:13] May we be like these early Christians who were willing to die for their faith and go to the Colosseum and be eaten of lions and so on. And they were willing, they would not forsake you. And they are going to receive the martyr's crown up in heaven. And so, Father, make us real Christians. To follow you, not in life only, but in death, to follow you all the way, and to do your will, so that you might look down on this church and say, I like what I see, I like the character and the way these people are, and that your blessing might fall, and that you might greatly use them to win the area. [01:17:50] Something's got to happen to win people to Christ Because the churches are losing ground so much, we confess it But we realize now what you require of us So help us to be faithful, faithful unto death, in Jesus' name, Amen