Like everyone else, you're scared of dying, but the power of death has been
blown apart and you live forever if you soften your heart.
This evening of ministry was taken to over 100 cities starting in the fall of 1982
after the crash.
And over 300,000 of you came to see it.
There's been tremendous fruit.
I've seen lives changed by it.
And I'm anticipating the Lord really speaking into many more lives through this
opportunity to bring it to you in this manner.
So listen with an open heart and ask the Lord if He has something for you.
Alright, I want to share with you a few minutes before we show you Keith's video
because the Lord has been so good to me and I know there are many of you that are
sitting out there that could say the exact same thing, that God has shown you
tremendous grace and tremendous mercy in moments that have been beyond your
control.
And the plane crash that happened two years ago was definitely something that
was beyond my control.
Some friends of ours were visiting from California.
They were on their way to start a church in Connecticut and they had promised their
children a plane ride when they got to Texas.
We were leasing a plane for Keith's tours, so we had one there.
And it was starting to get dark and these friends of ours had six children,
so they took all their children.
Keith took two of our children, our oldest son Josiah, who was almost
four, and Bethany, who was two and a half.
And they all piled in the station wagon and went up to the airstrip.
We said bye, you know, be back in a few minutes.
I stayed home.
I had a one-year-old daughter that stayed home with me and I was pregnant with my
fourth child.
I had just found out just a few days beforehand.
And they took off and I fully expected to see them all back in just a few minutes.
I went out to my office to do some work and what seemed just like a short time
later, the phone rang.
And one of the girls from the office said, Melody, the plane went down.
Tell Keith, because, you know, he'd want to know.
She said, I'm calling an ambulance, but I wanted to call you first.
And I had no idea what that meant.
The plane went down.
All I did was get my car keys and get in the car and try and get to the site of the
crash as soon as I could.
And I didn't know what to expect.
I could see a thin stream of smoke that was rising up over the hills.
So I knew there had been some kind of a fire, but I didn't know what extent.
I didn't know how big of a fire or what I'd find when I got there.
It was hard to get there.
I had to find neighbors to let us through their backfield.
And I can remember knocking on these people's doors, one of the fellas,
and said, can we get through your field?
And these people came out, and I got in their pickup truck.
We're bumping along the backfield, and they're kind of looking at me.
I'd never seen them before in my life.
And I said, my husband's in that airplane.
And I couldn't even form the words.
All I kept thinking is, my children are, too.
And I couldn't even say that out loud.
That was too much.
I just kept saying, well, my husband's in that airplane.
And we got to the area where the plane had crashed.
It was an area of uncleared woods.
I was lifted over a barbed wire fence, and I just started literally stomping
through the woods.
And my dress was tearing.
I had sandals.
They kept falling off my feet.
I didn't know where I was going.
I couldn't see anything.
I didn't know what direction to go, but there were others walking with me.
And when I arrived at the site of the crash, I just saw a huge area of burnt
woods.
It was now cleared from where the plane landed.
The fire was over.
And I walked over.
I went from here to there to the airplane and looked.
And all it was was just this charred heap of nothing.
You know, the top was totally off.
Everything was just burnt.
There was part of a wing over there.
And I kind of looked around and said, Well, did anyone get out?
And they said there were several people there before I had arrived.
And they said, No, no one got out.
I said, Is it our plane?
And they said, Yes, it's our plane.
Do you know who was in it?
And it was at that moment, just two years ago last week, that I realized that my
husband and two of my children, our pilot who had worked with us for a
couple of years, and another family and their six children, they had all gone to
be with the Lord.
And it was one of the most awesome moments of my whole life, just standing there and
realizing that, just looking at that and saying, just trying to let the reality
sink in.
And it took a while for the reality to sink in.
There was nothing else to do.
I just went back home and made a phone call to a dear friend, Leonard Ravenhill.
And I remember I got him on the phone and I said, Leonard, there's been a crash.
And he said, Yes.
And I said, Well, Keith and the children have gone to be with the Lord.
And he just said, Oh, no.
And he says, I'll be right there.
And he hung up.
And from that moment on, I just experienced such an outpouring of God's
grace.
My living room was filled with different leaders of different ministries that had
heard the news and come over.
And we all just sat there staring at each other and just couldn't believe it.
I couldn't believe it.
And God just carried me through.
That's all I can say.
I know that it wasn't anything in my own strength, because I didn't have the
strength to go on.
And I had never considered myself a super spiritual person.
And here I was, and I was in shock.
And not only that, I was pregnant.
And it took me several months, probably two or three months, to even know
what I really felt like, because I was so sick from being pregnant.
And God's grace just sustained me.
I know there were times when I wasn't hanging on.
I was just... I didn't want to get up.
I didn't, in my heart, if I could have just laid down and said, that's it,
I quit, I would have.
And yet, there was something in me that was saying, no, you can't do that.
And God's strength was there in such a powerful way.
I found out later that it was only 20 seconds between the time of takeoff and
the time that the plane crashed.
That really wasn't very much time at all.
It didn't give anyone on the airplane time to prepare, to get right with the Lord if
they weren't right, to go and say, oh, there's that brother that I've
offended.
Yes, Lord, I'll do the thing you've been asking me to do for the last three years.
I'll do it now.
Just get me out of this.
There wasn't time.
It happened so quickly.
And I'm convinced, probably, when the plane started to go down, they weren't up
that high.
Maybe they thought they would walk out with some bumps and bruises.
And that may have happened if the plane hadn't exploded.
But it did.
It was on full tanks of gas.
They had just brought it back from the airport.
And it just exploded on impact.
And there was a ball of fire, 150 feet, that went up in the air that many people
saw.
And so it was just instantaneous.
That was it.
And they were with the Lord.
It really made me reevaluate so much of my own life.
So many of my own priorities and the things that I've been doing.
I've been in full-time Christian service, really, since I've known the Lord.
We got saved and just, you know, kind of went crazy for Jesus.
And we were dragging people in off the beach and off the streets.
And we were writing for CBS.
Keith and I, we had a three-bedroom house.
And we had a check coming in the mail every Friday from CBS.
We didn't have to do anything for, but write songs.
No office hours, nothing.
And so we had money and we had a place.
And God just started to fill it up.
And He did fill it up.
That was really the beginning of the ministry.
But God so radically changed our lives when He came in and moved on our hearts.
So from the very beginning, we were very involved.
Just very involved.
And yet I had to look back over my life and say, Lord, you know, have my
priorities been right?
Have I been walking with you the way I need to?
If I would have been in that airplane, and I've said that to myself many times,
would I have been ready to meet the Lord?
I could have gone.
I didn't.
And it's really made me stop and think.
And I've done a lot of soul-searching over these past two years.
And a lot of changing my priorities.
And getting my life right in a more solid way.
I was walking with God, but He showed me areas that He said, Okay, let's tighten up
here and tighten up there.
What about this and what about that?
So the Lord's constantly doing that with us as Christians.
He's constantly showing us things that He wants us to respond to.
Because we love Him.
Not because there's this big club that's coming out of heaven.
And if we don't obey, He's going to hit us over the head.
No, that's not the kind of relationship God desires.
That's a legal relationship.
He's looking for a relationship of love.
A love relationship.
You love someone, it gives you pleasure to do things for them.
It gives you pleasure to please them.
You want to do what's going to make them happy.
And it's a self-sacrificing love.
And it's not because somebody's making you do it.
It's not because you have to.
It's because you want to.
And it's because it's the best thing to do.
So, I know that many of you have relationships with the Lord.
You're Christians.
You may serve Him to one degree or another.
And I believe that this evening, the Lord's bringing a message for all of
us.
To re-evaluate our lives.
To take a look at our lives and say, God, am I living according to what you
have for me?
Or am I planning my own life?
God, are the things that I'm doing right now pleasing to you?
Are they things that you've called me to do?
Things that I know for sure you've asked me to do?
Or are they things that I feel like doing and I'm just kind of hoping you're going
to bless them?
Because, you know, they're okay things.
We all need to do that as Christians.
And hopefully tonight will be a time of challenge.
And re-evaluation.
And just seeking that relationship with God.
I sat out under the trees the other night.
It was a beautiful night.
And I was looking up at the stars and thinking, God, it's so beautiful.
And it's so hard to grasp who you are and who I am in relationship to you.
And I'd had a busy day.
Just going from the time I woke up to the time I had gone to bed.
There was just one thing after another.
And when I sat there in peacefulness, I thought, You know, the most important
thing is my relationship with Jesus Christ.
Because if someone came and dropped a bomb on last day's ministries, or blew up the
house, or I didn't have this to do, or that to do, what we go to heaven with,
the only thing we take to heaven with us, is the relationship that we've built with
Him.
And that's our most valuable possession.
And it's the only thing worth fighting for and worth going for and spending our
energies in, is our relationship with Him.
I visited Asia this last October.
I took a tour of ten different countries.
I spent a month and I would call it a brief overview of these countries because
I wasn't in any one of them long enough.
But, you know, two, three days, four days, that kind of thing.
I walked through the refugee camps on the border of Kampuchea in Thailand.
Some of those camps have since been shelled and just, they're flat now.
And watched the little babies that were really malnourished.
And just watched the women, you know, trying to take care of their children in
this...
I mean, the mud was so thick and it was all... there was no sanitation.
There were some little huts out and back.
But, I mean, the mud was just, you know, nothing you'd want to walk in or
have your children play in.
And I went to Calcutta.
I couldn't get in and out of my hotel room without women coming to me with their
children and asking for money and begging for food.
I visited Japan with Calafi and his wife and stood in that railway station,
Shinjuku, and watched the people just droves upon droves of dark hair just
coming down those stairs.
And God gave me such a burden.
He gave me such a burden for another part of the world that I had never seen.
And I'd always thought it'd be strange.
How do you relate?
You go to another country.
It's really going to be different.
And it is, to a certain extent.
But I found that the things that we had in common were so much more than the things
that were different about us.
That common bond of humanity and being creations of Jesus Christ and knowing that
God loves all of them just as much as he loves all of us.
And being able to talk... I went to a Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong and
went into a little stall, I guess you'd call it, where this man and his wife and
his children live.
And I spoke with him for a few minutes and he was talking about how he had been on
the boat for three months and then how they ran out of food and his baby was only
three months old and his hopes of someone sponsoring him into Australia or New
Zealand to get out of that camp.
It was a very terrible situation, although I've heard it's a lot better now
than it used to be.
And there wasn't a barrier.
There wasn't anything I felt like I needed to break through.
Maybe a little bit of language to minister to him, but that was it.
There was that heart that went out, the heart of Jesus.
And I think as we expose ourselves to some of those things, not be afraid of going.
Not be afraid of what would I say or what would I do, but trust the Lord to put that
love in your heart because it's his love that we wouldn't be so afraid.
There are so many needs.
And the most terrible thing I saw when I was out in Asia and I saw some pretty bad
things, was the lack of Christians, the lack of people to do the work.
Just the lack.
I went to a base in Madras, India, and there were maybe 12 people there to
reach this whole city of millions and millions of people.
And do you know of any other people around?
Well, there's a scattered few, but their arms are not being lifted.
And we have so much in America to give and so much to share.
God's blessed us so richly that I know I had to search my heart.
When I went five days into the trip, I was in my hotel room in Manila and I
said, Lord, do you want me to come?
Because already my heart had been won by the people I'd seen.
I said, God, do you want me to go back and get my kids and come?
And he definitely told me at that time, no, I don't want you to.
I have other things for you to do.
This is part of it tonight.
But I had to ask because the need is so, so very great.
So, as we show you Keith's video tonight, I really want you to watch with an open
heart.
Keith and I had just come back from a trip to Europe when the video was taken.
And God had just placed that fresh burden on our heart.
And of course, Europe is nothing compared to Asia in the area of human physical
suffering.
And yet in the area of just the spiritual darkness and the lack of Christian
witness, it's desolate.
And the Lord so impressed our heart.
I'm blessed that we have this video.
I think it's a miracle, really, because Keith didn't like to be taped.
If he was here tonight, we would not have the cameras up.
But somebody was at a festival and they were taping all the artists of a record
company.
And the guy that was doing the taping just felt like he was supposed to tape Keith.
And it wasn't until after the crash that we knew we had this tape.
So, I think that God just sovereignly planned it that way.
That we had it to show you and to show others.
I met people in Asia that were there because they had seen this video.
Because they had come to a memorial concert last year.
And they were serving on the mission field the next year.
So, listen and watch with an open heart.
And let the Lord speak to you.
I want you to enjoy the tape.
I think that it's powerful.
There are some neat songs on it.
Keith asks you to sing along in some of them.
And please feel free to do that.
So, I will be back right after that.
Okay?
God bless you.
So many times I've tried to tell you.
But I don't think you've been listening.
There's nothing I want to try and sell you.
Because His love is free.
You're so proud of saying you're a seeker.
But why are you searching in the dark?
You won't learn a thing until you soften your heart.
The message is oh so very simple.
You gotta be like a child to see.
Because Jesus said let those little children come unto me.
You try to make things too complicated.
But you really don't have to be so smart.
You won't learn a thing until you soften your heart.
Well, if just this once I could show you your empty life.
I know you would follow Him right now.
Well, I know it sounds just too good to be true.
But if it lives in you, you'll never die.
You'll never die.
You'll live forever.
You'll never die.
Take care of it forever now.
You tell everyone to keep on smiling.
Your outlook on life is so positive.
But deep down inside you're searching for a reason to live.
Like everyone else you're scared of dying.
But the power of death has been blown apart.
And you'll live forever if you soften your heart.
You'll never die.
You'll live forever.
You'll never die.
Take care of it forever now.
You'll never die.
You'll live forever.
You'll never die.
For those of you who weren't here this afternoon, I just wanted to share a few
things about what the Lord's been doing on my heart and my wife's heart concerning
the needs of the world around us.
There was a man that lived 2,000 years ago.
And I know you're thinking, I'm going to talk about Jesus.
Well, I am in kind of an indirect way here.
The person I want to talk about tonight is a guy named Paul.
He used to be called Saul before that.
Always seems like when people found the Lord, they got their name changed,
you know.
Jacob to Israel.
Simon to Peter.
Judas to mud.
My wife and I just came back from a trip overseas visiting missionary bases.
And it opened our eyes to a couple of facts.
One of them was, God's not an American.
He's not even a Republican.
But God's... God's world belongs to Him and He loves everybody the same.
That's an amazing thing to realize.
That He loves an old drunk in the streets of Calcutta right now, passed out,
as much as He loves Ronald Reagan.
And He loves you and every other person, whether they're known or forgotten.
And His heart goes out to the masses, for it says in the Bible, the Word of God.
It is not God's will that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.
And I run into people and I say, what are you doing for the Lord?
And they go, well, I'm a banker for Christ, you know.
I'm a lawyer for Jesus.
I'm a student for Jesus.
I'm a biker for Jesus.
Everybody's, you know, you put a dove or a fish on your shirt, then you can
Christianize it, I guess.
But as I traveled around and I saw whole nations of people, where there was only 50
or 100 believers in the whole country.
What I saw was, it's either God's will for it to be this way, or it's gotta be
somebody else's fault.
It's either God's fault that the world isn't being won.
No, there's no fault in God.
And I already told you what His Bible says.
It's not His will for any to perish.
But there's a little command found in the Bible.
And that little command says, Go ye into all the nations and preach the gospel unto
every creature and make disciples of men.
And we like to think, well, that was for the disciples, you know.
That was for the apostles.
That's for the missionaries.
That's for old ladies that can't find husbands.
That need to bury their troubles on the mission field.
That's for humanitarians.
That's for real Christians.
I mean, really, you know, really.
They're so spiritual they can't stay in society, so they gotta go overseas and
bury themselves in some tribe somewhere down the Amazon.
But I'll tell you what, folks.
The world isn't being won today.
Because we're not doing it.
It's our fault.
This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls
on the earth.
And nowhere in the world is the gospel so plentiful as in the United States.
Nowhere.
And I don't want to see us stand before God on that day and say, but God,
I didn't hear you call me.
Here's something for all of you to chew on.
You don't need to hear a call.
You're already called.
In fact, if you stay home from going into all nations, you'd better be able to say
to God, You called me to stay home, God.
I know that as a fact.
I want to see the hands of everybody here that's heard a definite call from God not
to go into all nations and preach the gospel.
Raise your hand.
One.
Two.
It might be three or four that I missed.
Well, the rest of you are called unless God tells you otherwise before you leave
on your airplane trip or hitchhike across the ocean or whatever you're going to do.
Now, don't go out and sell everything and leave tomorrow.
Get some training.
You don't need a college degree necessarily.
Sure is a good reason to go to college though.
I know so many kids that go to college, they don't even know that God's told them
to go.
They don't know why they're there.
Everybody else in church is gone and mom and dad wants them to go.
That's good enough for them.
I'll tell you what, it ain't good enough for Jesus.
He wants you to be in His army and He wants you to take orders from Him.
And sure, He wants you to submit to your parents.
But He wants you to find out what your Father in Heaven has to say first.
What does He have to say for you?
If you don't hear anything, know this.
You are called to go.
There's a rule in the armed forces.
Always obey the last order you got until you get new orders from command
headquarters.
The last order I got in my Bible was go!
Jesus commands us to go.
But we go the other way.
So He carries the burden alone.
While His children are busy at play.
Feeling so called to stay.
Oh, how God grieves and believes that the world can't be saved.
Unless the ones He's appointed obeys His command.
And His stand for the world that He loved more than life.
Oh, He died and He cries out tonight.
Jesus commands us to go.
It should be the exception if we stay.
It's no wonder we're moving so slow.
When His church refused to obey.
Feeling so called to stay.
Oh, how God calls as He storms the great judgment of fire.
So He can gain His greatest desire.
Cause He knows that the souls of the lost.
Can only be reached through us.
Where His hands and His feet.
Would you sing it with me?
But only if you believe it's true.
Jesus commands us to go.
But we go the other way.
So He carries the burden alone.
While His children refuse to obey.
Feeling so called to stay.
Sing it with me.
Jesus commands us to go.
But we go the other way.
So He carries the burden alone.
While His children refuse to obey.
Feeling so called to stay.
Oh, how God calls as He storms the great judgment of fire.
So He can gain His greatest desire.
Cause He knows that the souls of the lost.
They can only be reached through us.
Where His hands and His feet.
Jesus, sing it.
Commands us to go.
It should be the exception.
If we stay.
It's no wonder we're moving so slow.
When His children refuse to obey.
When God's children refuse to obey.
Feeling so called to stay.
I don't know what you think a Christian is.
I've known so many people that think a Christian means going to church a lot.
You may have heard this before.
But going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonald's
makes you a hamburger.
Saying a prayer don't make you a Christian.
People in every religion pray.
Even praying to Jesus doesn't make you a Christian.
He says, many shall come in that day and say, Lord, Lord.
He says, depart from me, I never knew you.
Having the gifts of the Spirit or looking like you've got them doesn't mean you're a
Christian.
Jesus said, many shall come in that day and say, Lord, did we not cast out demons
and heal the sick and raise the dead and all kinds of stuff.
And He'll say the same thing, depart from me, I never knew you.
You know what a Christian is?
I've got a really good definition.
Someone who's bananas for Jesus.
Someone who loves the Lord thy God with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind,
and all his strength.
Don't forget the second part.
And he loves everybody else as much as he loves himself.
Paul goes even further.
He prefers that others get served before him.
An unquenchable, undeniable love.
That God puts in our heart.
And that love doesn't just stay within the borders of the United States.
Or in the borders of our own denominations.
Or in the borders of our own church.
But it's so large and it's so explosive.
It explodes everything that gets in its way.
With gentleness and power from the Holy Ghost.
I've got a good, what they call, an acid test for you.
If people can't tell that you're changed, you're not.
If people can't see that you're born again, you're probably not.
If your mother doesn't know that Jesus lives inside of you, she probably knows
better than anybody.
If Jesus isn't born again, you're probably not.
And he isn't showing in your clean, spotless bedroom.
And he isn't showing in the way that you deal with people.
And your Christianity leaves a lot to be desired.
And sure, there's people that go to the ends of the earth that aren't Christian.
In fact, the Mormon church sends their young people for two years out of their
lives to the mission field.
Every single Mormon youngster goes for two years to the mission field.
How come we can't even match that?
How come we can't send our young people for six months?
How come it's a special breed?
But you're going, Keith, what about the lost in America?
What about the lost in America?
Hey, don't worry.
If God makes it clear to you to go, which I think he already has to many of
you this weekend, there will always be enough people who won't obey the call to
stay around and witness here.
Don't worry.
You're going, but Keith, I need to keep my secular job and keep sending my 50 bucks a
month to World Vision.
If I don't, who will?
Don't worry.
There will always be enough people around that won't obey the call that will send a
check rather than their bodies as living sacrifices.
There will always be enough people.
Now, I'm not saying everybody who doesn't go is disobedient.
I'm just saying about 99.99% are.
That's what I believe.
I've seen the world, folks.
And I've seen that it's lost.
And there's billions of people out there that don't know God.
Now, either it's his fault or ours.
Do you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?
God's calling and you're the one.
How can you be so numb?
Not to care if they come?
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done?
Oh, bless me, Lord.
Bless me, Lord.
You know, it's all I ever hear.
No one aches.
No one hurts.
No one even sheds a tear.
But he cries.
He weeps.
He bleeds.
And he cares for your needs.
And he keeps soaking it in.
Can't you see it's such sin?
Because he sends people to your door.
And you turn them away.
While you smile and say, Oh, God bless you.
Be at peace.
And all heaven just weeps.
Because Jesus came to your door.
You've left him out on the streets.
Open up.
And give yourself away.
You see the need.
You hear the cries.
So how can you delay?
God's calling.
And you're the one.
But like Jonah, you run.
He's told you to speak.
But you keep holding it in.
Oh, can't you see it's such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark.
That the church just can't fight.
Because it's asleep in the light.
How can you be so dead?
When you've been so well fed?
Jesus rose from the grave.
You can't even get out of bed.
Jesus rose from the dead.
Come on, get out of your bed.
How can you be so numb?
Not to care if they come?
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done.
Don't close your eyes.
Don't pretend the job's done.
Oh, come away.
Come away.
Come away with me, my love.
Oh, yes.
Come away from this mess.
Come away with me, my love.
Do you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care?
How you gonna let them drown?
Open your eyes to the world all around you.
Open your eyes.
This world is much more than the things that surround you.
You must arise and open your eyes.
Sometimes we're too busy to share.
But Jesus wants us to care.
Care.
Open your arms to the naked and shivering.
Open your arms.
We need a little less taking.
A whole lot more giving.
We're so safe and warm.
We can open our arms.
And love a little bit stronger.
And pray a little bit longer.
Longer.
Jesus says if we love someone in his name, we're loving him.
Jesus says if we touch someone in his name, we're touching him.
And we need to show them the light.
And we've got to pour out our lives.
Our lives.
Open your hearts to the ones who are desperate.
Open your hearts.
They may never repay you.
But their souls are worth it.
Just open your heart.
Jesus loves all men the same.
So we've got to go out in his name.
His name.
Jesus says if we love someone in his name, we're loving him.
Jesus says if we touch someone in his name, we're touching him.
Jesus says if we feed someone in his name, we're feeding him.
Listen.
Jesus says.
Jesus says it's him.
Open your eyes to the world all around you.
Open your eyes.
I think the message tonight has really been clear.
And I want to give you a chance to respond to that before we leave.
I'm not saying that you will be responding to, yes, I'll go to Africa tomorrow.
Okay, I'll pack my bags.
I'll be down at the Greyhound station.
But what I think God is saying tonight is that we need to be available to him.
To do whatever he asks us to do.
To go wherever he asks us to go.
Wherever that might be and whatever that might mean to us personally.
You may end up on the mission field.
You may end up in YWAM.
Not necessarily, but you might.
I just heard a report from Lauren Cunningham.
He's the founder of YWAM.
About a girl who was called of God to go to Mombasa.
And she prayed before she left.
And God gave her a scripture.
It said, to live is Christ, but to die is gain.
And she went to her parents and said, Mom, Dad, God's given me this scripture.
I know I'm called to go, but promise me one thing.
If I don't come back, that you'll bury me in Africa.
And the father reports that he wept for two days.
And then he went to her and said, okay, I'll agree to that.
And the day that she was scheduled to come home for her Christmas leave, she was
buried in Mombasa.
She had contacted cerebral malaria.
Something for which there is no cure except for the hand of God.
They fasted, they prayed, and the Lord chose to take her home.
And about a year before that, she sat in one of these audiences.
So, there may be a cost.
And you shouldn't be too quick to count it.
I mean, that is always a possibility.
That the Lord may call you somewhere where there's disease or famine or war.
And it will affect you.
But, Keith and the children were not on the mission field.
You know, if we let fear dominate us, then we're never going to even leave our
house.
You're going to say, well, they shouldn't have been in a small airplane.
What if it was a car wreck?
Should we not drive in cars?
What if they got hit in the crosswalk?
Do you not cross the street?
There are costs that we need to count just by living and just by serving Jesus.
So, maybe that's not the way to start out.
A challenge to go to the mission field is to say you might die.
But it's possible.
It's very possible.
We all will someday.
That's the way the world is.
Because death is a reality.
It's just we don't know the time.
We don't know when it's going to happen.
But it's going to happen to all of us, one way or another, some place or another.
And we just need to be doing what we know God's told us to do.
So, when He comes, we're ready.
So, maybe many of you haven't ever thought that you could go to the mission field.
Or that God could use you in that way.
Or that you'd have to go to four years of college before you could do something like
that.
You don't have to.
It's possible.
Like Calafi said, there are short-term outreaches.
But this is to say, Lord, I am available.
Maybe I've never considered this before.
This is something that I want to say in obedience to you.
If you call me to do anything or go anywhere, I will obey.
I will respond.
And I'll do it.
So, I'm going to ask you to respond.
Those of you that feel that God has spoken to you.
And you can honestly say, Lord, I'm yours and I'm going to do whatever you
ask me to do.
Whatever that is, just stand up right now.
We're going to pray together.
As you can see, hundreds stood to commit themselves to the Lord that night.
And I believe that there are many more of you that are watching this right now.
That God has spoken to you.
And that he's touched.
And that he's asking for a commitment from.
Now again, this isn't a commitment to me.
But it's between you and the Lord.
And what I want to do is pray for those of you that feel that you can say honestly to
God.
God, I will go anywhere that you ask me to go.
I will do anything that you ask me to do.
No matter what that's going to cost me.
I want to pray.
And you close your eyes and just agree with me in prayer.
If you can agree, then just say a similar thing to the Lord in your own words.
And then I'll pray for you.
Lord Jesus, I commit myself to you 100%, God.
I'm willing to go anywhere that you ask me to go.
I'm willing to do anything that you ask me to do, Lord.
No matter what the cost, God.
I ask that you prepare me, Lord.
And I ask that you guide my steps, God.
And I ask this in your name, Jesus.
Amen.
Now, Lord, I want you to bless those who just committed themselves, God.
And I want to ask that you would direct them specifically, Lord.
That you would show them their next step, Jesus.
That there would not be any confusion in their life.
But that they would have clear marching orders from you, Lord Jesus.
I ask that you would use them beyond their wildest dreams, God.
That you'll anoint them and empower them to do things that they never dreamed they
could do, Lord Jesus.
For your glory and in your name.
Amen.
There's a scripture in 2 Chronicles that has been a great encouragement to me.
And I believe it will encourage you, too.
It says,
And every time the Lord asks me to do something that I think I can't do,
He reminds me that my heart is completely His.
So He will strongly support me.
And He will strongly support you as you endeavor to do His will.
So believe that, because it's true.
God will anoint you and give you every good thing that you need to carry out His
will as you walk with Him.
There are some things that you can do to help you to understand more of the needs
of the world.
And you should familiarize yourself with the organizations that are working in
missions.
And find out just where you fit in and how you could maybe hook up with one of these
organizations and serve the Lord somewhere in another country.
If the Lord has laid a particular burden on your heart, possibly you've always had
a desire for India or Africa, the things of those countries interested you,
well, maybe that's from the Lord.
Do everything you can to find out about those people.
Go to the library, read everything you can get your hands on.
And allow the Lord to speak to you through the desires of your own heart.
He'll lead you.
I want to thank you for taking this time and allowing us to share a little bit of
your life tonight.
God bless you.