Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through australian and international speakers.
And here is today's presenter, Sam Walters.
Dear Lord, as we come to you this morning, I'm just praying that you'll be with my mind. You see, my mind is all over the place. I'm just praying that you'll steady it.
We're claiming the promise of Luke 11:13, which says, if ye then being evil now had to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them? That ask him. Dear Lord, you asked us to pray to send labourers out into the field because the harvest is great but the labourers are few. So, dear Lord, we come to you asking for that this morning that you will do something for us, that you will do something in us, that you will raise up labourers even in our midst this morning.
Dear Lord, may that be our experience. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
The value of mission work can never be underestimated. The value of winning a soul for Jesus Christ can never be understated. Giving Bible studies to somebody in their home and taking them point by point to the great truths that we know and leading them into a relationship with Jesus Christ and watching them give up the ways of this world and choosing Jesus Christ as their personal saviour and coming to Whitehall Church and getting baptised is something that you cannot put a price on.
When I look at my own history, my own family, my mom was a single parent and she had a son. Just a bit of my own story, my own background. She had a son and she was working in my auntie's Jamaican food shop.
While she was there lighting some rubbish at the back, her dress caught a light. She was on fire. She prayed and asked God in a moment of need, God, if you save me, I'll turn to you.
If you save me, I'll turn to you. She was in hospital. She had to relearn to walk because she was in hospital for so long.
And after about two years she remembered her promise, started going to different churches, Sunday churches, Mormon churches. If there was a preacher on the street, she'd stop and she'd listen. She would take a traction because she was searching.
She was searching. You never know who's searching amongst you, have something on you. She was searching.
And as she was searching, we ended up going to a Mormon church. So I would have been about four years old, a mum was going to a Mormon church. And Mom's not just taking me, she's also taking my cousins.
So her siblings, children. And she had a friend from school who was a Seventh Day Adventist, my Auntie Vivian. She's not my auntie, she's like a church auntie.
You know what I mean? Church auntie. But I call her Auntie Vivienne. And Auntie Vivie said, why don't you come and have some Bible studies with Brother Fisher? He's at my home church.
He's in his 80s now. So brother Fisher was giving Bible studies to my mom. And as he relays the story to me, he said, sam, I was giving Bible studies to your mom.
I was in his house and I could just sense there was a block and I didn't know what it was. And he pointed to a place in his living room. Do you call them living rooms here? What do you call them? Living rooms? He pointed to a place in his living room, a spot.
He said, I got down there and I kneeled and I asked God to reveal to me what the block is. He said, the next day your mom said, I'm studying with Mormons. He goes, so then I knew how to tailor the studies.
I knew how to tailor the studies so that I knew kind of the approach to take with your mum. And then mom, she's, you know, Jamaicans don't mind confrontation. So she was getting questions about the Sabbath.
So she just invited the Mormons and Brother Fisher to the house same time because she wanted to know what the answers to the questions were. And from that conversation we became Adventists. And I just look at Mom's life and what God's done to her and for her since accepting Jesus Christ as her personal saviour.
Like my demographic should be in all the wrong statistics when you look at me and where I'm coming from and single person, single parent, home from my particular background in the part of England that I'm from. But she accepts the truth for our time. She becomes a different person.
She goes back to university, she buys a home. You'd be surprised what truth. Truth does something to people on many different aspects and areas of their life.
And sometimes there are people struggling just for a want of knowing who Jesus is. And if they knew who Jesus was, their whole situation would turn around. God's looking for someone to say, I want to reach somebody for Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28. We see our marching orders. Matthew chapter 28.
We see our marching orders. We get given the Great Commission from verses 18 through to 20. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, and I'm sure we all know it.
Go ye therefore, and teach your nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, and with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Mark 16.
Mark 16. So that was Matthew's take on it. In Mark 16, Mark, chapter 16 verses.
Reading from verse 15, we see Mark's taken things and he said unto them, go ye into all the world. Now, you have to forgive me. I was told yesterday I need to speak more slowly.
I'm speaking with a British accent, which I'm trying to speak more slowly so people can understand what it is that I'm saying. Woorumbach. 16.
And in Mark 16, reading from verse 15, the Bible says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe in my name.
They shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. In Luke 24, it's not so much of a full thing as you see Matthew or Mark, but you just see a little glimpse, a little glimpse, and it's Luke 24, verse 8, verse 48. Sorry.
And ye are witnesses of these things. And ye are witnesses of these things. Now, I'm intentionally doing this, so I'm hoping you guys are following.
We're going Matthew. We're going Mark, we're going Luke. And now we're looking at John.
And in Luke, John, Jesus zooms in the author. John zooms in on one specific individual. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, he's speaking to everybody.
But in John, he zooms in on one specific individual. And in John, chapter 21, you see him zoom in. And we're looking at verse 15.
So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again, the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? He said unto him, lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. If we're going to talk about last day adulting, you can't talk about last day adulting and you don't talk about mission. If you study Adventist history, it will soon become very apparent that anybody that was becoming an adult, a young person that was transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, recognised that they had a need that there was something that was necessary for them to do.
And it was be a part of the mission that God has given to his last day people. Mission. Somehow, I don't know how somehow it can feel as though mission has become relegated to those that are professional.
But mission isn't just for professionals friends. And mission isn't simply a holiday. I love a mission trip.
I love a mission trip, but mission's more than two weeks elsewhere. But mission's more of a lifestyle and also. Which I'm going to try to go through in a second and we'll see it.
Mission isn't simply about God trying to reach somebody over there, but mission is God's way of not only reaching people over there, but mission's also God's way, God's way of God also trying to reach us in here. All right, let's work with that. Let's take another look at those verses that we've just seen.
Matthew, chapter 28. We're going to go back to all four of them. Matthew, chapter 28, and let's see who it was that Jesus was speaking to.
Let's identify their Characteristics. Matthew, chapter 28 and read from verse 16. We're just going a few verses up from the Great Commission.
Read from verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him.
But some doubted. And in verse 18, we've got all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Okay, so Jesus has been dead, he's resurrected.
He's been in the cross, he's been in the grave. He's come out of the grave. This wasn't a secret.
This was public news. And he's appearing to his disciples. And they've come worshipping.
But some have come worshipping, but they're also struggling with doubt. They believe. But there's some things in them that I don't know, maybe they've got questions, maybe they haven't got everything figured out.
And they're looking at their own experience, they're looking at their own spiritual experience and some of the faith that they wish they could have had, they don't have it at that moment in time. And so they believe they're worshipping, but they're also struggling. And Jesus says to these people that are worshipping, that are worshipers that believe but are also dealing with struggles, he gives them the Great Commission.
He says to these people that are worshipping but are struggling with doubt. Listen, you worshipping doubters, you're the ones who want to take the gospel to the world. Let's carry on.
We're building, we're building. Let's go back to Mark 16, Mark 16. 16.
Mark 16. And we're going to read from verse nine. Mark, chapter 16.
Reading from verse nine. Now, when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him as they mourned and wept.
So Jesus has appeared to Mary Magdalene and she's gone. And told some people who were mourning and weeping over the situation with Jesus, of Jesus death that Jesus is risen. But verse 11 says, and they, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, believed not.
They didn't believe Mary. After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country, and they went and told it unto the risen Jew. Neither believed I them.
So Jesus is appearing to people. And as he's appearing to people, he's explaining to the people, are saying, jesus is alive. Jesus is alive.
But some of the disciples aren't believing. And then verse 13, sorry. And then verse 14, afterward, he appeared unto the 11 as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believe not them which have been seen after he was risen.
And then he says to them, go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Okay, so in Matthew, in Matthew. In Matthew, Jesus tells people who are struggling with doubt, you're the ones who will want to take the gospel to the world.
In Mark, Jesus tells people who are struggling with unbelief and hardness of heart, you're the individuals who want to take the gospel to the world. Have you ever dealt with unbelief? Has there ever been something that God's told you to do? But you didn't want to do it because your heart was hot. Have you ever struggled with sin and overcoming certain things in your life and your experience? Has it ever been something that you know is wrong and you're trying not to do that, but your heart's just hardened? And here God takes some individuals who are struggling with unbelief and hardness of heart and he says to them, I want you guys.
You guys have an untapped potential. You guys have an unrealized dream within you. There's a capacity, there's a capability, if you align yourselves with me, to take the gospel to the world.
Right here in Waitara. I believe this is not hyperbole. Right here in this congregation.
I believe this is not an exaggeration. Right here, right here, the people in this room, this is not me being over the top. There is a capacity to change the world.
Someone came this morning struggling with doubts. God says, I've got something for that. See, see, see, see, see.
The process of sharing. The process of sharing. The process of sharing is not God simply trying to reach somebody out there.
But God says, as you work alongside me in trying to reach your neighbour, I'll do something inside of you. I'll change you from the inside as you walk alongside me. Let's build this thing up.
Let's go to Luke 24, Luke 24. In Matthew, the people are struggling with doubt. In Mark, the people are struggling with unbelief and hardness of heart.
Let's look at Luke 24, and we're reading from verse 44. And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Verse 45.
Listen to this carefully. I mean, this is unbelievable. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.
And he said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.
For three and a half years, Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples certain topics. He's been mentoring them, he's been giving them parables. They've been hearing him in the synagogue, they've been hearing him teach by the wayside.
And for three and a half years, three years, Jesus has been teaching the disciples. And at the end, he's coming to the end of his ministry. He's coming to the end of his ministry and they still don't get it.
So he has to give them an on the spot Bible study. And then he says, you guys are taking the gospel to the world. If you don't get it after three and a half years, when are you going to get it? Sometimes someone's thinking, I can't share because I've not got all the answers to the questions.
I don't get it. Sometimes I get 1798 mixed up with 1844 and I get the different dates wrong. And I don't figure.
I haven't got it all figured out. God says. What God says is that even if you don't get it all, start sharing what you know.
Sometimes I'm struggling with doubts. God says, go. Sometimes I'm struggling with unbelief and hardness of heart.
God says, go. Sometimes I don't know all the answers to all the questions. God says, go.
I remember when I gave my first Bible study. Let me tell you what I did. I went onto YouTube.
This is the day I'm giving the Bible study. And I typed in how to give a Bible study. Sda.
You've got to regulate it. Sda. The guy said some things of what to say.
And I went in there and that's what I said. I didn't have all the answers, friends, and I still don't have all the answers. But what I do know is that God through that process was not only impacting the person who was getting the study, but God was changing me on the inside in John.
Let's take a quick look at who John is speaking to. John, chapter 21. Reading from verse one.
After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, the other two of his disciples.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into the ship immediately.
And that night they caught nothing. Simon at this point in his life has denied Christ three times. Simon, at this point in his life is feeling probably a bit discouraged.
Jesus has called him from a life of fishing. He left his nets and Jesus has said to him, I'm going to make you a fisher of men. And here you see Simon go back to something that he had previously left.
And Jesus says to Simon, feed my lambs, feed my Sheep, have you ever gone back to something that you've previously given up? Something that you thought you'd got invicted over this particular thing? But here we are, we've gone back in circles and we're back again. See, in Matthew they're dealing with doubt. In Mark they're dealing with unbelief and hardness of heart.
In Luke, they haven't got all the answers. They don't know everything. Jesus had to give them an on the spot Bible study.
And in John we're seeing someone who's despondent, who's discouraged. He's gone back to some things that aren't quite right. And Jesus says to them, listen, I've got something for you.
He said, you've got more than this, friend. I want you to feed my sheep, I need you to feed my lambs. I haven't given up on you, but I've still got a place for you in my mission.
I've still got a place for you in my work, and I've still got a position for you in my service. And God says to us today, friends, that mission is something that he's longing for us to engage with. Because God's not simply trying to change other people, he's also trying to change us.
He's also trying to change us. Now it's one thing, one thing to know that, it's just another thing to do it because I feel like we all know, we all know. Yes, I'm giving Bible studies.
Yeah, I know, I know, I know we need to do that. But then to actually live it in my life, James talks about faith and works. And In James chapter 2, reading from verse 14, the Bible says, what doth it profit my brethren? Though a man say he have faith and have not works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you saying to him, depart in peace, Be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye, give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit.
James here says, there's an individual who's there who's here and there's another individual who's here. The individual who's here is destitute and needs some food. And the individual who's here can do something about it.
The individual who's here sees the person who's destitute and needs some food and thinks about it in their mind. Thinks about it in their mind. They take in the fact that this person is destitute and needs some food.
They've seen it, they've observed it, they've thought about it. And then the Bible says, and one of you say, depart in peace, Be ye warmed, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit. Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead.
Being alone, James says that faith here for this individual is more than what the person sees. Faith here for this individual is more than what the person thinks. Faith here for this individual is more than what the person says, that faith, if he doesn't act on it, if he doesn't do something about it, well, the Bible calls it dead, verse 18.
Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show you thy faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God.
Thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble. This is where our title comes from. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? James then gives two examples of faith.
Two examples, ones of a man, ones of a woman, ones of a Hebrew, one's of a non Hebrew, one is rich and one's poor. Abraham and Rahab and their faith led them to do something. It's more than what you say, it's more than what you think.
But the faith that they had went beyond just simply thinking about it and having conversations in the Sabbath school, but it impacted their daily life during the. They recognised that this thing called mission is something I've got to live out. Friends, when it becomes 247 for you and you commit to saying, God, I want to do something this week for you, and you commit to saying, lord, show me someone who I can win for you.
Show me someone who can serve you. Trust me. All around, the harvest is plentiful.
It's the labourers. I started praying this. I had an interview, my friend and I've got a little podcast going on and we interviewed somebody and they started to talk about divine appointments and, you know, heard it all.
You know, when you've been in church for a long time, you've heard all the lyrics. Investigative, judgement. Divine appointments.
Just another phrase, just another phrase. Divine appointments. So I said, you know what, let me start praying.
I'm at my workplace, as I'm going up the steps in the hospital, somebody stops me. I've just been praying for divine appointments. Somebody stops me.
Sam, have you seen Mr. Wright recently? Oh, I know who he is. I haven't seen him for a long time.
Yeah, you need to go and see him. Yeah, I need to go. I need to go and see him.
You're a Seventh Day Adventist, aren't you? Yeah, I'm a Seventh Day Adventist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, she carries on, but you know, you hear something.
How come she sits on the Adventist? Anyway, we carry on, we're talking and let's think, you know, I was brought up as Seventh Day Adventist. We work in the same place. I was brought up as Seventh Day Adventist.
So now we're talking. I've been praying for divine appointments. I was brought up as Seventh Day Adventist.
Okay, so as we talk, I said, well, you know where my church is. She goes, yes, I know where it is. Right by the dentist and right there in the steps in the hospital, there's tears in her eyes.
And to be honest, Sam, every time I go to the dentist and I see your church, I feel like God's been calling me home. Last week, Friday, no, yeah, yeah, not yesterday. My time is all over the place.
Last week, Friday, I'm at work saying, sam, what are you doing next week? I'm off. I'm going to be in Australia. I'm giving some talks, preaching, some meetings, what have you.
Oh, Sam had a rebuke from the Holy Spirit. Didn't I tell you to invite me to church so I can hear you speak? She Sikh. She Sikh.
My Muslim colleague was there. Yeah, invite me too. You never know who God's trying to reach.
Sometimes in your own mind you've got your own barriers about who you think is more receptive. But all around you I'm learning from my own experience that the harvest is plentiful. But friends and family of the Watara Seventh Day Adventist Church, the labourers that are few, God's calling us to have a faith that's more than what we think, that's more than what we say, that's more than what we believe, but impacts what I do.
And as you do that, as you begin to reach out, as you begin to see an impact in other people's lives, I promise you you'll be changed from the inside. Now you don't need much for God to bless it. I love this.
I tell you, I love this. I'm in Australia and you guys don't know any of these British illustrations. There's a guy called Captain Tom during COVID Yes, good.
Well, I'm glad we're glad we're together. Captain Tom wanted to. He's a World War II veteran and wanted to raise some money for the National Health Service.
Wanted to raise somebody for the National Health Service. He couldn't do much. He couldn't do much.
Now we call them Zimmer frames Walker. So he walked with his walker. Captain Tom.
Captain Tom. Captain Tom wanted to do something for his country and for the National Health Service of the uk. And so he said, I can't do much.
I can't run a marathon, I can't run a 10k. But what I can do is that I can take my walker and I can walk up and down my garden. And so walking up and down his garden for his hundredth birthday, his hundredth birthday, he raised not a thousand pounds.
I don't know what that is in Australian dollars. I had no Australian dollars with me, so I just put some pounds in the offering basket. I pray that the deacons will be able to do something with that.
He didn't just raise a thousand pounds or $1,000. It wasn't just $2,000, but millions of dollars he raised walking up and down his garden. And God says, if you give me the little bit that you have, just a little bit of time, I haven't got the whole week.
That's fine. Give him an hour. Give him a little bit that you have.
You're at work, just open up just a little bit. Sometimes it can be, I don't know, in England, I don't know how it is in Australia. You can be so British in the way you are at work that everything's so closed, so professional, so reserved, so not open about what I'm doing on the Sabbath and what I'm doing in the week and what my Christianity really means to me and my relationship with God.
It's so just about me. And I just let people live their life and I'm living my life. But God said, just open up just a little bit.
And if you open up just a little bit, you'll watch and see how God is able to transform somebody's life. But you're just giving God a little bit of a chance. Give him a little bit of a chance.
And in a little bit of a chance, you'll see God work and do miracles with just a little bit of a chance. Just, just five loaves and two fish. That's what God's asking for.
Just, just. Just a little bit of. Just two mites, like that lady put in.
That's what God's asking for. Like the widow of Zarephath, all she had was just her last little bit of oil and a little bit of flour. God says, just give me the little.
And as you give me the little bit that you have, I'll do something with it. And I'm wondering today if there's somebody that's willing to do that. Right, well, as we wrap up, challenge from this morning's sermon is this.
All around us, there's unpicked fruit. There's a labour shortage currently in the UK because of Brexit. We're about 300,000 workers down.
I don't know what they were thinking. And so 20, 22, the first six months, there was about 60 million pound worth of unpicked fruit left in the ground because there was nobody to pick it. But all around us, friends in Sydney, there's unpicked fruit because there's nobody to pick it.
And God's calling somebody in this room to say, you know what, let me give God a little bit of a chance, give him a little bit of time. And as I do that, as I test him, as I taste and see that the Lord is good, God will do something, I promise you. Friends, inside of you, someone struggling with doubt and said, I haven't got time to help somebody else.
I just need to get myself sorted out. Friends, you've got the paradigm completely wrong. It's as you help other people that you're blessed yourself.
Someone saying, I just need to come to church and get a blessing. But friends, you've got the paradigm completely wrong. It's as I seek to be a blessing that I'm blessed.
Somebody saying, I need someone to serve me because my wounds need fixing. But friends, you've got the paradigm completely wrong. It's as I'm serving that God in service transforms my own life.
May God help us then Step out in faith this week, this week of worship and give God a chance. Is there someone that I can invite to the meetings? Have a think this week. Is there someone I can send a link to to watch have a think this week and watch God work a miracle that you weren't expecting.
If it's your desire to say, lord, I want to be a labourer and as I help bring change to others, Lord, please change me. Would you raise your hands where you are? Dear Heavenly Father, you see the hands that are raised? We're asking for this transformation to take place in our own lives and in the lives of others. May we be the people that you called us to be.
May you fill us with your spirit today, dear Lord, we want to give you a chance. Sometimes we're so close, sometimes we're so reserved, sometimes we're trying to be, I don't know, just have this protection around us, that we think we can do it in a self sufficient way. But dear Lord, we want to open up ourselves to you this morning, this afternoon.
And as we do so, dear Lord, please may you reveal yourself to us. May we be the labourers. You've called us to be these things.
We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
This message was made available by the Masterton Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit Masterton SDA NZ.
This programme has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia radio.
