Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 20 819, 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 teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Josh Gonzalez.
I'm going to share a message with you guys that comes from a thought that I've had over the last couple of weeks and it kind of stayed with me. But as I've mentioned to you guys, I'm not feeling 100%. I've got a little bit of brain fog.
So please pray for me as I try to share this because I think it's a really important thing that as followers of Christ, we need to understand. With that said, I'm going to be focusing in John 17. And so before we open our bibles, though, let's bow our heads.
Let's have a word of prayer. Father in heaven. Lord, we are so grateful to be here right now, Lord.
We've got a full church, Lord, but every single one of us here may be here. Coming off a very different experience this week. Some of us may be here, Lord, because we've.
We're just excited. We've had a great week. We've seen amazing things happen.
Some of us may be a little discouraged today, Lord. Some of us may be feeling a little bit down, Lord, because maybe we've fallen this week, Lord. Whatever it is, Father, the one thing that unites all of us right now is that we all need you just the same.
And, Lord, I pray, Father, that as we open your word, we hear your voice, Lord, that we hear and understand the message that you have for us. And I pray, Father God, that this message may do something in our hearts so that we do not leave church today the same way that we have arrived. Father, forgive us for our sins.
Help us, Lord, because we really need you. We pray and we ask for this in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. Invite you to open up in John 17. I will have verses on the screen, but if you have your bibles, open them up with me.
John 17. John 17 is an important chapter. It's something that we find takes place just before Jesus is betrayed and handed over to the authorities to ultimately be crucified.
And here in John 17, we see Jesus praying. Now, some of the times where Jesus prays in the Bible, we don't actually get an insight into what he's praying about. Sometimes we do get, like a little bit of a snippet, but there are times, for example, where the Bible mentions that the disciples found Jesus praying and that's all that it says.
Jesus was praying or that Jesus was praying all night. But here in particular, we see Jesus praying, we see the words that come out of him at this specific moment in time when he prays. And it starts off by saying, in verse one.
And again, I want you to just focus on the title of the message today. The title is stay close. I'm going to explain that as we wrap up the sermon.
Stay close. Now, John 17. Before we get in there, though, I just wanted to share this with you.
Have you ever seen this saying before? Be in the world but not of the world? We heard this before as christians. It's a phrase that is often repeated. Right.
We say that we are told through scripture, and many times we even say that Jesus said that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. Does anyone know where this exact Bible verse is found? Where it says these exact words, be in the world but not of the world. Does anyone know where it's found? No one knows.
Sort of. But you know what's interesting? That the Bible doesn't actually say this. Did you know that the Bible doesn't actually specifically say it the way we know it? Be in the world but not of the world.
Now, what we're going to read in John 17 is we're going to read where we get this saying from. But it's interesting to note that the Bible doesn't like. Jesus never said, hey, I want you to be in the world, but not of the world, or my children should be in the world, but not of the world.
He didn't specifically say that, but he does say some things that then we get this from, and we're going to see that in John 17 as we read through the chapter. But let's begin because when you go, and if right now some of you may even be googling Bible verse, be in the world and not of the world to fact cheque Pastor Josh to see if I'm preaching truth. And you'll see that it will take you directly to John 17, but it won't take you to these exact words.
It'll take you to Bible verses that when you put them together, you get this principle. John 17. Let's begin.
Verse one. John 17 says, after Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed. And this is what Jesus started, how he started his prayer.
Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. Jesus asked the father in this moment to glorify him.
Now, this is something interesting, because as christians, we understand that we are never to ask God to give us glory, right? We shouldn't be desiring glory for ourselves. We should be praying always or living life as christians in a manner in which our desire is to bring glory not to ourselves, but to who, but to God. Right? But listen to what Jesus says.
He says, glorify your son. He's asking the father to give him glory. But the purpose of him getting the glory is what that your son may glorify you.
You see that Jesus is saying, give me glory, but not for my sake, not for me. Give me glory, but the glory that I want is glory that ultimately glorifies you. This is a beautiful example that we have here from Jesus as to how we should be as christians.
Whatever we desire in life, we should be desiring it so that it ultimately brings glory and honour to God. He goes on to say, for you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those that you have given him. Might be a little bit confusing, but the hymn that Jesus is referring to here is himself.
Now, this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Now, these are verses that sometimes confuse some people, especially people that don't believe in the godhead of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It can be confusing because it sounds like Jesus is saying, eternal life comes from knowing you.
Because who's Jesus speaking to? He's speaking to the father, right? And so if he's saying that eternal life comes from knowing you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, we can get confused to think that he's somehow implying that he is outside of what is the only true God. But we need to understand why Jesus is saying what he's saying and in the context in which he's saying it, in, Jesus is speaking in the context of the jewish world, at a time where they're still trying, they're struggling, grasping the reality of the fact that he is the messiah, the messiah that has been sent from God. And so when you hear Jesus speaking in a way in which he is asking God to let the people know that he is the one that has sent him, it's so that the jews can understand who he really is.
Because if God, if they could understand that God was the one that sent him and he was the messiah, then they would be able to understand and believe who he really was. And so he says, and now, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had I had with you before the world began. Verse six.
This is where we start to get into this idea of the world. Because remember, we're looking at this concept of being in the world, but not of the world. All right? Verse six says, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me.
Out of the what? Out of the world. So what we get here straight away is that there is an implication that those that are following God, those that are followers of Christ, have come out of the what? They've come out of the world. Okay, just keep that in mind as we move forward.
They were yours. You gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that what you sent me. So here Jesus is speaking about those that have made a decision in their lives to follow him.
And the reason why they made the decision in their lives to follow him is because ultimately they came to this understanding that it was the father that had sent the son. And who was the son? He was the messiah. He was the one that was prophesied.
He was the one that they were waiting for. And when they realised that, when they clicked, they became followers of Jesus. But Jesus says that one of the other identifying factors of this group of people that are now followers of Christ is that they have been taken out of the world.
What does that mean? What is the world? Is the world the people? Is the world everything God created, or is the world talking specifically about something else? We get more as we go on. So we're going to be talking about this. We need to understand, what did it mean when Jesus told us to be in the world but not of the world? Verse nine.
This is really deep right here, because this is Jesus praying for his followers, right? He says, I pray for them. I am not praying for the world. Now let's just stop there for a moment.
This is where we need to have a clearer understanding of what the world means here. Because if Jesus is saying, I'm praying only for those that have made a decision to follow me, only for those that believe in me and not for the world. If we understand that the world in this context is speaking about the people, then it seems pretty unchristlike that he's saying something where it ultimately sounds like he doesn't really care about anyone outside of those that have made a decision to follow him.
Is the world in this context, speaking of the people? We need to understand this right, it says, I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those who you have given me, for they are yours. Now, when we look at what he's saying, it does imply that.
It does imply that Jesus is speaking about the people. But let's keep going. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.
And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you, Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. A lot of Bible scholars believe that in this context, Jesus is speaking of two things.
The world is implied in two different ways. One, he is speaking of the people that haven't made a decision to follow him, but he's not speaking of them in a manner in which he's cutting them off. He's speaking in this moment specifically for his followers.
Why? Because Jesus knows that what's about to happen from this moment forward is he's about to be betrayed, he's about to be handed over to the roman authorities, and he's about to be crucified. And what's going to come for his followers is persecution. It's going to get really difficult for those that have made that commitment and the decision to follow him.
And so he's specifically praying for them. But when he says, I don't pray for the world, he's not saying it in a way in which he's cutting them off. He's just specifically focusing on his people at that moment.
But obviously, we know in the context of what the Bible teaches that the word of God, salvation, is available, free and open to everyone, to the world, because we know, right. John 316 for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever may believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. But as you see Jesus, when he says, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world.
Now we get another understanding of what the world means. The world is speaking about, literally the world that we live in, the society that we live in. When we as christians think of that term, be in the world and not of the world, that's exactly to what we go to.
We go to a thought of the world that we live in is an ungodly world. The world that we live in doesn't follow God. The world that we live in is trying to get us to do whatever it can so that we don't follow God and we understand that we are called to be different.
We'll get to that in a moment. Jesus is still praying. He says, while I was with them, verse twelve, I protected them and kept them safe.
By that name you gave me, none has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled. What's he talking about here? Who is he talking specifically about here? He's talking about his disciples. He says, while I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me.
Now let me ask you a question. Are you also called to be a disciple of Jesus? Are you called to be a disciple of Jesus? Now, did jesus tell us when he gave us the great commission, did he not promise? First he says, go out and preach the message to all the world, right? But then he says, and lo, I am with you always until the very end. And so this is something important that we need to always keep in our minds.
Jesus is saying that while I was with them, and he's speaking in the physical sense, while I was with them, I protected them. Is God still with us today? How is God with us today? Through the Holy Spirit. So through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is still with us.
And if jesus protected his disciples when he was on earth in the physical sense, jesus is going to still be protecting us now, modern day disciples in today's world, in the spiritual sense. But he promises that he's still with us and he will still protect us now. None was lost except the one doomed to destruction.
Who's that talking about? He's talking about Judas Iscariot, the one that the scripture said would betray him. He keeps going on, I'm going to get to the main crux of the message in the morning. This is just important that we understand the context of what's happening here.
Verse 13, he says, I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world anymore, that I am of the world. He is where we get the first clue of how we ended up with this famous phrase and saying in Christianity, to be in the world but not of the world.
Jesus says here in verse 14, I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world. Jesus makes a point to say that my followers are in this world, but they're not of this world. In other words, there's something different about my followers than everybody else that's in this world.
And this is a challenge for us as christians, because how do we apply this principle that God gives us in our lives? How do we apply the principle of being in this world but not of this world? We can't avoid the world, right? There are some people that try to avoid the world, but we see in this context that actually, I'm going to get to that one in the next verse. But for now, I just want to focus on this. The world has hated them because they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
Jesus came into this world, did he not? He left glory, and he came into this world. And what we saw was that the world hated him. Why? Because John explains this really well in the very first chapter of his gospel, where he says that the light came into this world, but the world was what? Full of darkness.
And the darkness did not comprehend the light. Right. And that's a reality.
Like, you know, we kind of experienced this in our lives. Have you ever been woken up very early, way before the time that you were supposed to wake up, woken up with a bright light, when they turned the light off on in the room? How do you react to that? You're like, oh, man, turn the light off. I don't want the light.
Right? I'm not ready for the light right now. I want to stay in the darkness. Right.
That's, in essence how the world responded to Jesus. When Jesus came, the world wasn't ready. Why? Because the world was contrary to God.
It was contrary to holiness and righteousness. The world revelled in evil. And, man, we don't have to look too far anymore to see that reality in the world that we live in today.
You know, these last two weeks, my social media has been filled with posts about Taylor Swift and the Taylor Swift concert and the swifties, they call them, right, her followers. And it was this big thing because apparently, I think yesterday there was a concert on and then there was like a storm and lightning and the stadium had to be evacuated. This is, like, top news in the world that we live in today.
Now, Taylor Swift is someone that has been promoted to the world as being America's darling, right? She looks wholesome and everything, but I was watching some videos earlier, a couple of weeks ago, and in the videos, I saw Taylor herself say some really interesting things. You know, that she considers herself to be a witch. Did you know that? That she practises witchcraft, that in some of her concerts there's been open what appears to be, at least by sight, some pretty demonic, satanic things going on.
I've heard stories of people that have gone to her concerts and they've just been overwhelmed by this feeling. They couldn't stop crying and stuff that's messed with their heads, you know what I'm saying? The world, it tries to present itself as something that's good, but there's darkness behind it. And you can go on YouTube and just see so many interviews with famous artists where they themselves openly tell you who they are worshipping.
You know, I remember, and this wasn't supposed to be a message about this, but I just shared because it's interesting, I remember that there was a song that was really popular when I was a child in the nineties by a group called colour me bad. And the song was, I wanna sex you up. And I remember when that song came out, it was kinda like people were like, how can a song like that be, like, in the top ten of the charts, like on video hits and stuff? Because of the lyrics, right? Anyways, I remember when I was a child, I listened to the song.
It was a catchy song, right? One of the guys in the group calling me bad ended up becoming a minister, and he ended up preaching a sermon one day. And do you know what he said in his sermon? This just. It struck me.
He was preaching one day and he said, and this is from him, right? He says that he remembers when they were really young and. And the record label had put the group together and this was the hit song that they were going to come out with. He remembers the day when they went to the studio to record the song and he says, and then something really weird happened that I didn't take much note of then, but now I understand what was going on, he says, this is according to him, that after they recorded the song, a group came in after.
And when he inquired who that group was, he was told that it was a group of witches that were coming in to the studio after they recorded the song to do some kind of prayer or spell or ritual, whatever over the song. And he remembers he was young, he thought that was silly. He didn't pay much attention to it.
The song goes out, becomes a number one hit all around the world, and then months later, they start receiving all of this fan mail, hundreds and thousands of letters. And he says, there was one thing that really just shocked me as I opened all the letters, most of the letters, more than 90% of the letters were from young women. And, you know, what they were writing in the letters they were writing, man, we love your song so much.
We want to let you know that it was while I was listening to your song that I lost my virginity. We live in a world that's run by darkness. This is why Jesus says, my people, even though they're in the world, they're not of the world.
Do you understand that? This is something that is a challenge for us because we live in a world that's very alluring. We live in a world that's very attractive. And we struggle as christians to find sometimes the line of demarcation, of when people know us and meet us and see us, do they know that we are not of this world? So this is where it comes from.
All right. He says, I've given them your word and the world has hated them. Why? Because the world hates darkness.
And we know that today it's not very popular to be a Christian. And something that's very interesting has caught my attention. You're either despised for being a Christian by a great part of the world, and there is another part of the world that salutes you for being a Christian, but the kind of Christian that they want is a very distorted version of Christianity.
It's not popular today to be a Bible believing, commandment keeping child of God. But if you want to go, for example, in the US, where they have a huge christian base, right, you're seeing that the part of Christianity there that's becoming very popular is a bit of an extreme version of Christianity. And we get confused sometimes as 7th day Adventists, because we look at the political spectrum and we look at one side, the far left, the radical left, and the things that they're doing and all the things that they're introducing into schools and all of that.
We look at that and we're like, oh, that's bad. And so then we look at the right and we think the right that more aligns with us, right, because they're conservative and they have our values. But don't be fooled that far right section as well.
They're going to be the ones that usher in the Sunday law. You do realise that, right? They're the ones that are going to usher in. And so we don't belong to either group, because Jesus says, my true followers are not of this world.
We shouldn't be looking to political leaders for salvation. We should be looking to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone for salvation. All right, verse 15.
Look what he says here. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
And he says, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world for them.
I sanctify myself that they, too, may be truly sanctified. What jesus is saying here is profound. He says, listen, he's praying to the father.
He says, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them while they're in the world. This is something that we need to understand as Christians, because there are some of us, even within our ranks, that have taken this idea that we need to completely separate ourselves from the world. We need to go and live in the bush somewhere, hours away from civilization or in some cave, or we need to go back to living like the 18 hundreds.
And that's not what Jesus is telling us to do. Jesus is not saying, separate yourself from the world in the sense of completely abandoning the world. He doesn't even ask the father to do that for his children.
He says, clearly, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world. Why? Because we have a duty and a responsibility and a mission to reach the world. How are we going to reach the world if we take ourselves out of the world? We're not to be out of the world.
We're to be different than the world. That's what God is calling us to do. And he says, don't take them out, but protect them.
They're to stay in the world, but protected. This is where it gets challenging for us, because some of us don't understand this very well. He says, they're not of the world, even as I am not of it, just as Jesus was not of the world.
But where did jesus go whenever he was preaching? He would go to the uttermost places in society. He would go to where the drug addicts were. He would go to where the prostitutes were.
He would go to where the criminals were. He would go to these places to share a message of hope and life with them. But he was never like them.
Do you understand that? He never participated in the things that they participated in. Sometimes. The 7th day Adventists.
We want to keep ourselves so holy and righteous that, you know, there's a saying that sometimes, sadly, it's us. It defines us. There's a saying that says we can be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.
What does that mean? We're so focused on keeping ourselves righteous and keeping ourselves clean that we're no earthly good. We're not actually doing the work that God has called us to do to reach this world. Amen.
Amen. One of the things that we need to understand is that everybody is in a different walk and has a different purpose in their walk. Sometimes we don't understand this.
As 7th day Adventists. I'm going to share something with you. I was working in the northern beaches a few years ago, and I had an amazing opportunity to work with at risk youth in the northern beaches through the PCYC there in Dee, and I was working with the police because there was a youth command officer that was stationed at the PCYC and together with him and with the club manager, we would have programmes throughout the week where at risk youth that were young people that had different issues and going through different things, they were considered at risk.
They were coming through the PCYC three times a week for programmes and I was helping in those programmes and it was an amazing thing. And, you know, there were many times where they would allow me to share my testimony and all that. One of the things, though, once when I was sharing my testimony, was that for some of you who haven't heard this, might not know, but I used to do rap music.
I used to do that and I was pretty good at it. At least I think I was pretty good at it, but that's what I did, all right? Now, when I gave my life to Christ, God took me out of that world, out of the rap world and all of that stuff, and I have no desire to be a rapper anymore, in the sense where back in the day, that's what I wanted to do with my life and my future. So one day they approach me and they say, listen, this is the manager and the police officer.
Like, we want to run a new programme because there's a specific group of young people that we really want to get, and we've struggled to get them in here, but they really need help. And so they say to me, we're thinking of putting together a workshop on rap music. In other words, how to write rap, how to write rap.
And then we'd like to record a song with them at the end of the programme that we're doing. And we feel like, because these young people these days, they really love rap music, this is a good way to get them in. And so they said, you have experience in this.
Could you help us lead this workshop? Now, I'm presented with a decision that I have to make, but you see any decision like that, because this is not something I looked for you understand, this is something that came to me, so I had to take this to the Lord, and I had to pray about this. And I said, God, what do you want me to do in this situation? I know you've taken me out of this world, and I have no desire anymore to be a rapper, but this is something possibly that I can use to connect with these young people, to hopefully be able to introduce them to you at some point. And I prayed, and I prayed about it, and the more I prayed about it, the more the doors opened for this to happen.
And I remember I had to have a conversation with the conference about it, and I said, hey, I just want you guys to know the Lord has opened his door, and he's convicted me that I need to go down this route. I want to let you guys know as a conference, you know what the conference had to say to me? The conference said, josh, if that's the work God called you to do, you do that work. Just maybe don't say it publicly, because there are some people in our ranks that won't understand.
They're going to have an issue with it. Amen. And so you know what happens sometimes when these things happen in our life, sometimes that's enough to say, oh, because some of the brethren are not going to understand.
You see, you don't understand the journey that people are going through. You don't understand the experiences they've had in their life, and you don't always understand the way in which God wants to lead them. If you go to the New Testament, you'll see that many times, Paul and Peter, for example, they clash because they didn't understand in the way that God was leading the other one.
And at the end of the day, I have to obey the Lord. I can't go by what people think about me, because no matter what you do in this life, there's always going to be someone that's hating. Always.
The reason why I'm sharing this with you is this. When we're called to be in the world, but not of the world, sometimes God is going to call us to go back to something from our life. But maybe we're now in a good place where we can.
But he calls us to do that in order to reach people. The apostle Paul said this. He said, I to the Jews, I'm a Jew.
He said, to the Greeks, I become a Greek. And he says, the reason why I do this is that so I may be able to reach some. So I prayed about this, and I brought it to the Lord.
And I said, God, if this is your will, you make it happen the right way. We went forward. The whole programme was a blessing.
To this day, there's still two of those young people that I'm now still mentoring and giving a positive influence to in their life, sharing the gospel with, because I obeyed what the Lord called me to do. But you see, because I did that, I didn't become a rapper again. Do you understand? I didn't go back into that world again because I'm not of that world.
But I found something in which I could connect with some young people to bring them to Jesus. And this is something that if God puts this on your heart one day, this is something that you need to be very prayerful about in considering. But we are not to be of the world.
Jesus went to Matthew the tax collector's house, and the Bible says that that house was full of sinners and tax collectors. Who knows what kind of things they were doing. I just think about from my past life, the kind of houses I used to go to where there were drugs and alcohol and all these things everywhere.
Jesus was there. But was Jesus partaking? No. Was Jesus doing what they were doing? No.
That's what it means to be in the world, but not of the world. We are called to be a light in this world, and the world is full of darkness. We are called to be the salt of the earth.
He says, they are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.
How are we sanctified? How can we go out into this world of darkness as light? It's by the word of God, by his truth. That's the only way. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
You need to ask yourself the question like, this is one of the things that really kind of bothers me, and I want to be honest with you guys. It bothers me because, you know, when I became a 7th day Adventist, I was so excited to join this church. I came from a different church, I came from a different denomination.
And when I went into the Bible and I found out the truths that this church had, I was so excited. I went to revelation, chapter 14, and I saw the three angels messages and I said, wow, this is a prophetic movement that has a prophetic mission and message, and it's an end time thing. And I believe we're living in the end times and the mission of the church is to go out and share the gospel with the world.
Before Jesus comes back. And he's coming back soon. And so I joined the church and I'm so excited and I'm like, this is a church full of people excited about doing the work.
And then I joined the church and everyone's sleeping and I'm like, what's going on here? And one of the things that I found throughout my journey is one of the reasons why this happens is because we've been so heavenly minded. We're just no earthly good. We're just so focused on keeping ourselves righteous and holy.
We're not going out into the community and finding people that have needs and ministering to those needs. We're not leaving the church. Even though in the great commission, Jesus says, go today, the church, instead of going, we're comfortable where we are and we just say, come, come join us.
The commission was never to find a nice cosy place and say, come, the commission's to go. And we struggle because we realise that we live in an evil world. And so it's like if we go out, we don't want to taint ourselves.
But understand this. Look, what Jesus says, my prayer is that you don't take them out of the world, but that you protect them. God promises to protect you.
He wants you to go. He's protecting you. How can you be sure? And look, I wanted to go through the rest of John 17, but I don't have time.
Today. I'm going to get to the point of what I really wanted to share with you guys today. And this was something that I was thinking about.
Jesus says, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. I remember last year, as you guys know, our family, we took a holiday and we went to Spain. And Spain, it's a nice, it's a beautiful country, but like every part of the world, there are bad places, right? I'm also half peruvian, for those of you who don't know, in South America, like when I go to South America, the very first thing that happens when I get to Peru, my cousins are telling me all the new scams that are happening, all the new ways that the people that they're robbing you and what to look out for.
Because in Lima, in Peru, in the capital, it's dangerous, right? You get robbed anywhere now and things are so bad now, there's not even a good suburbs. Like, doesn't matter where you go, you can get robbed. And so when you go, you're going to a part of the world and you're going there, but you're going there with your eyes open.
You're going there with an understanding. I need to look out for certain things. I need to be weary.
That's where, you know, when you come from places like the third world, you pick up street smarts, right? You're always looking around and it's something to like, you know, I've had friends that have told me, man, you're paranoid. I'm not paranoid. I just don't trust anyone.
Right. We go to Spain last year, and this is the first time I've travelled internationally like this with my daughters. One of the things that we were learning about before we went overseas, because the movie sound, the freedom had come out.
The problem with child trafficking and Europe is a hotbed for child trafficking. And so I'm going to a european country. It's a nice country, but these things happen, and so we're going there.
I'm getting to a point. The one place in all of Spain that our. How do I say that we were the most awake was in Barcelona.
Barcelona is considered to be the most dangerous city in Spain. Before we went there and we told people we were going there, even people from here that had been there. And people when we got to Spain, they were telling us, be careful in Barcelona.
They're going to rob you like you get robbed, telling us all these things. So we get to Barcelona. Now, when we get to Barcelona, are we going to go to the Airbnb and stay in the Airbnb all day? Is that the point of it? We're there to do what, we're there to experience the city.
But this is the thing. Before we leave the place where we're staying and we're heading to the city, I have to have a conversation with my daughters. I have to say, babies, listen, the place we're going to is dangerous.
But you know what I say to them? This is how you're going to be, okay. I say, whatever happens, and wherever we go, make sure you always stay close to daddy. Stay close to daddy.
Don't leave daddy's side. Whatever happens, stay close. As your dad, my responsibility is to make sure that you are being looked after, to make sure that you are protected.
That's my responsibility as your father. The mic is going again, right? We're not to go to be holed up in some room. We're there to experience the place, God willing, maybe even if the opportunity comes, praise the Lord.
To even be able to share with someone about Jesus. That would never happen if we stayed in the room all day. God is not calling us to do that.
Some christians, they misinterpret this thing, and they get scared and paranoid and they're like, they just want. No. God says, go into the world, because the world is full of darkness and it needs the light, the light that you have.
The world is desperate for the light. Go into the light. But as Jesus says, my prayer is not that you take him out of the world, but that you protect them.
So God says this, I'm gonna leave you with this thought. Go into the world. But as you go into the world, stay close to your father.
Stay close. I got you. I wouldn't let anything happen to my daughters.
I'd fight anyone for my daughters. Do you understand what I'm saying? Like, I wouldn't let anything happen to them. I love those kids.
I will protect them from anything and anyone. And if I can feel that way as an earthly father, and I'm a sinful man, how much more does our heavenly, perfect, righteous, loving God, our father in heaven, feel about us? So I want to leave you with this thought. We have a work to do.
We've been called to go out into the world. We've been called. Jesus said, we're not to take you out.
No, we're to be in the world. Not of the world, but in the world. And the way that we're going to be, okay, is if, as we go out, we stay close to our father.
Don't let your father lose sight of you. Always be at an arm's length. Not even that.
Like I tell you, that wasn't even happening in Spain. Like, I was holding both of them with both hands. Do you understand? Like, I wasn't even letting go.
In certain places, stay close to your father. What has God called you to do? Every one of us has a different journey, a different. Like, we all have the same mission.
Yeah, but the way in which we go about it, it's gonna be different. And one of the things that we need to stop doing is that if God has put it on someone's heart to do it in a way that maybe for you, maybe for you, it makes you uncomfortable. You don't know the work that God's trying to do with that person.
I remember I had a young person come up to me once after I shared something at a youth convention. And they said to me, you know, I've been walking with the Lord for a couple of years now. And I used to be a bartender.
That was my scene in the bar. And God convicted me to leave that life and to follow him. And I've been following him strong for a few years, but I've just started reacquainting, what's the word? I've become reacquainted again with some of the friends that I used to have that are still in that scene.
And they basically said, pastor, would it be a bad thing if I go? Because I know that's where they are and they congregate. I go there to try to share. And I said, look, you need to be very prayerful about this, but I want to ask you a few questions.
One, is alcohol temptation for you? No, it's not. Okay, because if it was, that would be a problem. Right? Do you feel that there's any possibility that you might, you know, fall? You know.
No, no, no. Like, I'm a very different person now, like, that. That life is just.
No. Why is the desire coming from you to do this? It's because these people, I want them to know what I know. I want them to experience what I've experienced.
And so I said to them, I said, look, you be prayerful about this, but if God is calling you to go there to share the gospel, you follow God. If someone turns around, and because they don't understand, they try to, you know, tear you down in the process, you follow God, you follow God's leading in your life. And when God's people understands this and when we're true to what God is calling us to do, we're gonna reach this world in a way in which we've never reached before.
But there's no way we're gonna reach the world from a bubble. God didn't say, go make your bubble and tell him to come. God said, go.
Go into the world. But as you go, remember this one thing. Always stay close to your father.
Let's bow our heads. Father in heaven. Lord, at this moment, Father, we're asking that you help us, Father, to understand the calling that you've placed on our lives.
You have put a calling on us to be different. Sometimes we don't understand exactly what that means. Help us to find out what that means, Lord, to be different.
We're in this world, but we're not to be of this world. When the world sees us, they're supposed to see something different. They're supposed to be inspired and encouraged.
They're supposed to be drawn to us. Because you are in us, Lord, help us to be the light of the world. This world is so full of darkness.
And because of sin, Lord, so many terrible things happen in this world. There's death and there's disease and there's suffering and there's crime and there's injustice. And the devil takes advantage of these things and he uses these things to get people, to make them think things about you that are not true, to stop following you, to start to put the blame on you.
I remember when Jesus said in the scripture, he said that there's a farmer, a good farmer, that goes to put, he puts seeds out at night to grow wheat. But while the farmer is sleeping, an enemy comes and he plants tares among those wheats. And then when the harvest is coming to fruition, people see the tares among the wheat and they say, who did that? And the good farmer says it was an enemy.
We understand, God, that you are not the author of pain and suffering, you are not the author of evil. But we live in a world where this is a reality, Lord. And there are so many things that are attracting us and alluring us.
And so, Lord, help us to be strong, help us to be faithful, Lord, to make that stand, to say, I want to follow you. But Father, also help us to understand that we have a work to do. That to be a Christian is not just about saying I'm going to be different, it's about saying I'm going to be different and I'm going to go out into this world and I'm going to show them through my life, through my testimony, through my witness that God is good.
Help us, Father, God, help us not to be so scared, knowing that you've promised to protect us. Help us to go out in faith. Help us, Lord, to finish this work, whatever it is, Lord, that you've put on our hearts to do.
Help us to be prayerful and to come to you, Lord. But if we know that you are leading, help us to move forward in prayer faith. This is our prayer.
In Jesus name, amen. This message was made available by the Ride Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page.
3AM Ride Seventh-day Adventist Church. This programme has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio.
