Jonathan Bowden “The Power of a Yes”

[00:00:05] Speaker A: Today we're going to be hearing from our global director, Jonathan Bowden and his OASIS message entitled the Power of a yes. This message is filled with incredible stories of Elim missionaries that said yes to God, showing not just what happens in your life with a yes, but how your yes can have an impact across the globe. He really touches on this idea of God gave you the call. He will give you the strategy. Your responsibility is to just build an altar and surrender to God's calling. Today. Your yes has the ability to change the world. So let's hear what Jonathan has to say. [00:00:44] Speaker B: Let's give a big clap offering to the Lord. He alone is worthy of it all. Amen. Lord, we bless you. We love you. Lord Jesus, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for this last session, Lord, that you just spoke to us with those 10 wisdom points. We pray for your continued conviction, continued renewal in our hearts, Lord, that your presence would continue to draw us closer to you. We thank you for what you're doing in this time, in this age. Just like Pastor Phil said last night, that I.Q. spencer, he had that vision for revival. It was over 100 years ago for end time, worldwide harvest. And Lord, we. We're not there yet. You haven't returned yet. So this is it. This is the end time that we've been prepared for, that ELAM has been investing in and providing a foundation for for such a time as this. So, Father, we just pray, Lord, that you would help us at this time, Lord, to be able to give you all the glory and all the things that you have been teaching us through the years, the decades of elam, the decades of faithful ministers and missionaries sent all around the world for the national leaders that you've raised up. We pray for a new season, a new wave across the world of dedication to you, of answering call, of saying, here am I, Lord, send me. We thank you, we bless you and we give you all to you. You alone are worthy of it all. Jesus name we pray. Amen. It's an honor to be with you this morning. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Wow. [00:02:07] Speaker B: Wasn't that amazing? Adam McCain, I was just over there just really having an encounter with the Lord. Doing that. I can't wait for tonight. Last night with Pastor Phil, what a great message coming up to the altar. The Lord is moving, so excited about what he is doing in the nations. I just want to give a just thank Brother Tom Brazell for all the years that he has invested into my wife and I. My wife is over here. She's my beloved. I'm so Thankful for her. We have five children. Isaiah, he's at EBC right now. Anna, Grace, Michaela and Rayma, and Tom Brazell, Tom and Judy. And many of you who are here have sown into our lives over the years from times that we've been off the field, coming back for home assignment, encouraging us, praying for us. The season that we're in Niger, even before we were in Niger. I remember Colton Spencer coming up, and I was a freshman at EBC or EBI back then, and he came up and laid his hands on me. I'm just this young guy. He doesn't know me. I don't know about Elam. I'm just fresh from Maine. And he's coming and he just lays his hands on me. Said, what does God put on your heart? And I said, I really have a heart to be a missionary and go to Africa. At that point, I was like, that's impossible. How could God ever use someone like me? I mean, who am I? And Carlton Spencer just put his hands on me. And he said, jonathan, the Lord is able to do above and beyond. He just began to pray for me. He encouraged me. And I didn't even know at that time who Carlton Spencer was until a few days later I saw him out front in the tabernacle, and I was like, he's one of the leaders. And later on, I was like, he is the leader. So that's Elam's DNA, isn't it? It's that servant leadership of those in ministry, serving and bringing in the new generation, bringing in those who aren't even connected with Elam and loving on them and praying for them, believing for them. So it's just a great honor to be with you this morning. And I want to thank you. We owe a debt, our family owes a debt to Elam, to many of you in this room. We just wanted to say thank you. So I have a few things I wanted to share with you. There's a slide here. It says, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And this is perfect timing for this, what God's put on my heart, because Adam McCain was going into a time of praying for the nations, that there's a revival happening in the Middle east, in Iran and all across the world. I mean, in Niger, even though right now most foreign missionaries cannot be there, there's revival happening and people are getting saved. I mean, it's just amazing what's going on in that country, in that nation and all across the world, especially in Islamic countries. The Lord is breaking forth. He's showing his glory. He's doing a new thing. And there's a call going out saying, pray for the laborers to be sent out. Pray of the Lord of the harvest to send out new laborers and ask of me, I'll give you the nations for your inheritance. And we know that it's his inheritance. It's not ours. It doesn't belong to us. It's his. He's the one that was slain. He's the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. It all belongs to him. For the. But God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son to come to save us, to cleanse us, to help us be part of his family. And we're all part of the family of God. And he's doing a new thing around the world. So this morning I wanted to share with you something called the Power of a yes. The power of a yes. And I have some pictures I wanted to share with you of just some of the ELAM missionaries who've gone out in the nations that God used. And they're all now in heaven. They're with the Lord and they're rejoicing. They have run the race. They're the heroes of the faith. And this is just a small fraction of the ELAM missionaries or ELAM leaders. I don't want you to think this is everyone. There's many more. There's dozens and dozens of faithful servants of the Lord that have been. That have gone on to be with the Lord that the Lord used. But these are just a few as an example. And it comes from Isaiah 6, 8 that says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And I said, here am I, Lord, send me. And there's a previous generation that they answered the call of God. And here's a few of the pictures I wanted to share with you. There's. We heard last night about some of these as well. But there's Six Toe and Ruth Lopez. How many have heard of the Lopez's? They opened the Battell work in Cuba. They served there for 16 years. Began in 1944 and left in 1960 due to the communist takeover. 1968, they moved to Columbia. They bought a radio station, did Christian radio broadcasts. They pioneered and pastored a church in Bogota, Columbia. He died in 1986. Ruth died after him. But their legacy lives on in Cuba. We actually have ministry leaders from Cuba here today with us. We just want to welcome you on behalf of elam. We're so thankful that you can be here from Cuba. We're praying that that revival fire that started in Cuba years ago would continue to to the next generation. Then we have Eva Butler. She's famous in Elam because she went through many different seasons of life and brokenness. And I don't have time to go into her story, but the Lord used her to answer the call to go the here am I, send me. And she said yes. She said yes. Despite things that had happened in her life and the brokenness and some relational things and other things that had happened, she said yes to the call to God. And like a grain of wheat that was sown into the soil in Kenya, it opened up the work among the Maasai tribe in the Bukorea mission station. She was there for 40 plus years. In January, I was in Kenya with the elders and I had the privilege of meeting Faith. And Faith was raised by Eva Butler. And it was amazing to meet her. She's now an older lady, she's elderly and she's just filled with faith. And she was just talking about her mummy, her mom, Eva, and she told us stories about her and, and she said when I was a little girl, she adopted me and she loved on me, she raised me up. And now Faith is married to one of the leaders of Pepha. And the Lord has used them over the years because Eva Butler's yes to the Lord then helped others say yes to the Lord. And it continues. And it continues. And there's many people from the Maasai tribe that got saved and know the Lord today because of Eva Butler, because she said yes, I want to encourage you today. Don't disqualify yourself. I almost did that when I was younger. I said, who am I? How could God use someone like me? I said, lord, if you could use anyone, you can use me. If God can use me, he can use you. God can use you. He's looking for those who are willing to surrender and say, lord, I'm willing. I surrender to your call in my life. There's Faith in Forest Dodge. They served in Colombia as well. They were encouragers of national workers and pastors. They were also Bible teachers, highly appreciated. In Columbia we have Art and May Dods White expansive ministry in East Africa, beginning in Kenya, but traveling throughout East African nations. Eventually they changed their focus to Uganda, where they helped establish PEFA In Uganda, Art traveled with a Congolese national named Alexander and together they opened the Pefewic in Congo, a work of about 5,000 local churches. Art passed away in the 1970s. And May continued to serve in Uganda until forced out by Edi Amin. She returned to Kampala after he was deposed. I mean, these are legends. These are people who said yes and they went and God used them and poured through them. And then another whole generation in those areas of the world had the opportunity to say yes to the call of God in their life. John and Jennifer Maxwell. They served for more than 40 years in Kenya. They were Bible teachers, church builders and evangelists. I was on an online memorial service just a few months honoring John Maxwell. He just recently transitioned to heaven. And on the online call, it was just amazing hearing the testimonies from the faithfulness of the Maxwells in East Africa. And he was a builder. He built with his hands. And I resonate with that because I spent 10 years in construction and he would build church buildings. And he blessed the ministry in Kenya by building amazing buildings. And the Lord used him to help build the church there. There's budden, Fay Sickler. 50 plus years in East Africa, Kenya. They started the work in Mombasa, gave leadership to Pefa. Bud was highly influential throughout East Africa. Again in January, I was able to go to Mombasa with the elders and we were there. We saw the grave of Bud and Fay right there in the memorial for them right next to the church. And it was amazing to see the legacy. Like a grain of wheat, their lives were sown into the soil. And there's another whole generation now growing up and being raised up in the work there because of the faithfulness that they said. Yes, Hear my Lord, send me. Amen. Then we have Ken and Helen Bennett, director of the Bible school in Costa Rica for 20 plus years, preparing nationals for ministry. You know, Hayden, their son, took over after they left the field. Just amazing, the heritage in Elam for missions for the nations ask of me. I'll give you the nations as your inheritance. And Roy and Teresa Hill. They were called in 1932 at the Elam camp meeting to Kenya. He developed a deep burden for the Waikuria people and founded the Bakuria Mission Station. Roy and Teresa were Elam's first missionaries to Kenya. It's important we remember this because we're talking about a new season ahead. But we have to remember our roots. We have to remember those who've gone before us, the shoulders that we stand upon. It's holy ground. It's not something to be taken lightly. It's like in a race when there's a baton and there's a team and they're running around the track and, and one goes as fast as they can and then they need to hand the baton on to the next one and the next one grabs it and then they run as fast as they can and it's the next one. And the whole point is not about the runner necessarily, but the whole point is winning the race and the team working together. Amen. In heaven. Someday we're going to realize that it wasn't about you and I right now in the present time that we're in. It's about connecting to what God's done in the past, what he's doing now and what he's going to do in the future and being faithful to carry that baton from, from one generation to the next, from glory to glory until the Lord comes back. Hallelujah. We have to connect to the revivals of the past to see the revival of what's going to happen in the days ahead. George and Ruth Veach went to Cuba in the 1950s, started the church in Cardenas. Also served in Argentina, served in Peru. They traveled throughout South America. Georgia's Pentecostal fire prophetic gifting deep understanding of the Word caused his influence to increase more and more throughout South America. He was dearly loved. George and June Lindsay missionaries at the Suna Mission station in Kenya. They moved to Nairobi where George and June were like dad and mom. The missionaries greatly loved by missionaries and nationals. They started the Dunholm Church in Nairobi, a thriving congregation that continues to this day under Kenyan leadership. Costa Da, sometimes known as the Apostle of Joy spent his life traveling to all corners of the world teaching the word of God and, and getting people filled with the Holy Spirit. He was founder of International Leadership Seminars. There are few places on the earth where he is not known, admired and loved. Jack and Ann Schisler Jack and Marianne Schisler served in Indonesia, Argentina and Paraguay where Marianne went to be with the Lord. Jack remarried and he and Anne served the Lord together in Brazil until their retirement. Their ministry emphasis was raising up spirit filled national leaders, discipleship in Bible schools and and bringing unity to churches through revival. Eric Peeples is actually still connected to that work. And it is amazing to hear the legacy that Jack and Ann established and what has happened through the years since and the leaders that are being raised in South America because of the faithfulness of someone to say here am I, Lord, send me. He said if you can use anything, you can use me. And they said yes to the call of God on their life. Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards served Jesus and the people of Peru with excellence. A great desire to see people come into a saving relationship. He did so in practical ways. He taught English to students and coffee farmers. He purchased inexpensive toys for children at Christmas, which would be seen throughout the year. Jonathan walked everywhere, living the kingdom. Dick Dreier. Dick and Shan Dreier. But we know Sister Shan is still with us today. But brother Dick served in Iran, reaching Muslims for many years. Dick Dreier had a great love for unreached people, especially Muslims. He would be thrilled with what's happening in Iran right now and the Middle east with all the underground, the people coming to Christ. I mean, Dick Dreyer prayed for that. He saw that in his spirit before it happened. He was an intercessor and prayer warrior for the Muslim world and specifically the Middle East. Ron and Jerry Childs, we have. Sister Jerry's with us this morning. Ron is with the Lord. They're well known and dearly beloved throughout West Africa. They're loved throughout West Africa. They're the founders of Viabadant, which is a rapidly growing church planting and discipleship making movement in Niger. Ron Childs love teaching the word of God. Countless opportunities to sit under his teaching. One of his favorite messages to preach was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He loved Pentecost Sunday. He always prayed for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I saw with my own eyes people receiving and being transformed just this week. And this is still fresh. We want to honor the memory because it's so fresh. But you know, Robin Steen just went to be with the Lord just a few days ago. Asia, East Africa, Mexico, I mean, all around the world, the Lord used the Steens. He's received his reward. He's with the Lord. But as an Elam family, we're grieving the loss of another hero of the faith. But we're thankful that they ran the race. Well. They carried that baton on to the next generation. They carried it on in Asia, they carried it on in Mexico. They carried it on and they passed it on to the nationals and to others who can carry it on until Jesus comes back. Let's take a moment and pray for the Steen family. Father, we thank you for the Steen family, Lord, we pray for them. Right now. We're a family at Elam and we just lift up those who are. We honor them, Lord, the heroes of the faith. And we thank you for the life of Robin Steen. Thank you for his faithfulness to your call and his life and for the countless lives that you used him to touch. We pray for Susie Steen. And the whole family right now as they're making preparations and doing all this stuff to honor him and to remember him and to. To celebrate his life, we just pray a blessing upon them, the comfort from heaven. And we pray, Lord, that that seed that was planted in Robin into the nations would bear much fruit, eternal fruit, until you come back, Lord. We believe it and we thank you for it. We ask you to encourage and be with the Steen family at this time. And we thank you. In Jesus name, amen. The power of a yes. You know, Ron and Jerry Childs went to Nigeria. They didn't even know that they would go to Niger until they came to Elam. They didn't know they were going to go to Elam until they got. There's a Teen Challenge connection and someone in ministry. And they heard about Elam, they got connected to Elam, they came up here, and then the Lord led them to Africa, to Nigeria, from Nigeria to Niger. And years down the road, our family was sent to Niger. And the one who's leading the ministry now, he's Nigerian, but he was out in the village and he was. He was a Muslim bell ringer. He was in the mosque in this remote village, never heard the Gospel. And the childs with the team that was with them from Nigeria and from Niger, they went out and they planted a church here. And he was one of the first ones to give his life to Christ. And now he's the leader of the ministry in Niger. And his life has been transformed because those who are here, the child said yes, there's others, the Jorgensons and there's many others went to Niger. And all around this room, I could point out people who have said yes to God's call. And God has done something amazing. There's miracles that have happened. There's been lives that have been transformed. I believe the Lord is giving us a new challenge as an Elam family to prepare ourselves for a fresh season of revival. But there's a cost. We have to be prepared to say yes. And I've talked to these legends. I knew Ron and Jerry obviously, very well. And I can guarantee that they did not know what would happen in their life. They just said yes. They got on the plane, they were obedient, they went. And then the Lord did amazing things. Sometimes after the fact, you look at people, you're like, wow, they're amazing. And they are. But the fact is, it all started with just that initial. Lord, I surrender my life at the foot of the cross. I say yes. I remember when we Were in JFK saying goodbye to grandparents who were crying and they're crying. We have the only grandkids at that point. And we, we have a two year old, a one year old, and we're getting on the plane to go to Niger and it's just the cost of the call. We didn't know what we were doing. We had no idea. You can't be prepared for something like that. You get on the plane, you're flying, saying goodbye to everything you know. Go into a place, you have to learn the language to talk to anyone. You can't. You don't know anything, you don't know the culture. But God has said to go and you go. He said, surrender. You surrender. You say, who will I send? You say, here am I, Lord, send me. And as you say, yes, the Lord does the rest. And I'm just more humbled. Every year goes by because it's just by his grace alone that we've seen the Lord, my wife, my kids. I'm so grateful for the Lord, for what he did in my life. So thankful. In Niger, the experiences that we learned from the national church there, they taught us, despite persecution, despite things, to hold the cross, to hold onto what the Lord had called us to do. I want to encourage you today. You have no idea of the impact that your yes to the Lord will have in other people's lives and in the generations following after you into eternity. I want to read that again. You have no idea of the impact that your yes to the Lord that your life will have in other people's lives and in the generations following after you into eternity. You have no idea how the Lord can use your life if you surrender to him without any conditions, without any requirements of Lord, you have to use me like this. You have to. No. Just like we heard Adam McCain, he got to the point where it's just like, lord, I just surrender. Your will be done, not mine. And that's the cross. Jesus said to the Father, he said, if this cup could pass for me, but not my will, let your will be done. And it was at that moment that he surrendered to the Father's will and his purpose. And that's why you and I are here today. We're saved, we're redeemed, we're filled with the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Because of the cross. And Jesus was willing to pay the cost so that he said yes so that you and I could be born again today. And I'm just, I'm believing in my. I'm sensing in my Spirit in Elam right now, the Lord's giving us an opportunity, there's a new season to be a part of what he's already doing in the nation. So it's not like we have to do something new. It's already happening. It's going on, it's been going on for generations. But he's giving us this new, fresh opportunity to say, lord, here am I. Send me, Lord, here am I. I just say yes to you. I'm saying yes to you. And I remember in two. I first came to Elim in 1996 to go on a short term mission trip to Morocco. And when I was here for the week, the Lord encountered me. And I'll never forget the commissioning service. We're holding the candles, we're singing, ask of me and I'll give the nations. And here am I. Send me as an ambassador. And we have these candles. There's all like 70 of us and all across the room, there's all these candles. And people have come to say goodbye. We're gonna be in the buses and go out to the nations. And as we're singing that song, the Lord said something to me. He just, in my, in my spirit, he's like, I can use anything if you're willing to say yes. And I was 15 years old, first job lobstering. I mean, I was like one of the disciples, right? Like fishermen. Like, I mean, you know, I'm the opposite of anyone that you could ever think that the Lord would ever use in their life. Speech, impediment. When I was young, all this stuff, people laughing at me for talking. And I'm just being honest with you, like, I'm the one that you would think would never make it. And yet the Lord did a miracle. And Elam was the catalyst for that because it was an opportunity to say yes. Like, I see myself, I'm unworthy, I can't. But I say yes. I hear your call. And then the list said, this is who you are, you're my son, this is the plan. And just one, step by step. And I feel like there's a new season in Elam of the Lord saying to all of us to say he's done amazing things in the past. We can rejoice, but there's a fresh rededication of saying yes to him. And I want to encourage you. Do not disqualify yourself thinking that you're too young, that you're unworthy, that you couldn't do it, that if God can use me, if God can use you, if God could use Ron and Jerry Childs. I'm not meaning that in a negative way. I'm saying if God can use Robinstein, if God could use all the ones I've talked about, if God can use them, he can use you. Before God even poured out the miraculous things he did in their life, they had to come to the cross and just say, yes, I surrender it all. I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. We've been bought with a price. We don't belong to ourself anymore. That's the biggest issue that we run into in our lives is that we feel like we have rights. But at the cross, we have to give up those rights. We have no right to be offended anymore. In ministry, offense takes people out left and right. We have no right to be offended. At the foot of the cross. We've lost our rights. As scripture says, we're dead. We're life to him, dead to sin. So we have no right to be offended. We have no right to hold onto disappointments or lack of the expectations. And I know some of you have been, you're war horses. You've been doing it for years and years and you've been pouring into things and you probably thought by now you have a much bigger church or much bigger. But you've been faithful. You've been saying yes to the Lord, that He's used you to touch the lives that he wanted you to use. And those lives are going to touch other lives and those lives are going to touch others. None of us are ever going to see the full picture. And until heaven, someday when we get there, we're going to see heaven full. And there's going to be people that run up to us and say, hey, you're the one that said yes. You're the one that I don't even know you. But we'll see how the Lord worked it all together for good. He can use everything for those who love Him. The good, the bad, the ugly. If we surrender at the foot of the cross, he can use it with his redemption power to make an impact. You have no idea of the impact that your yes to the Lord will have in other people's lives and in the generations following after you into eternity. So the power of a yes. I just want to bring that slide up again that says the power of a yes. There's people that have Gone before us amazing heroes of the faith, that they said yes to the call of God. And there's two things I want to just share with you. And we know them at Elam. This is core of who we are. The first is saying yes to the cross, living a life crucified with Christ. We no longer live. He lives in us. I want to read in First Corinthians chapter 2, verse 1 through 5 says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Christ Jesus and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. It's at the cross that there's power. Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the gospel. Amen. And going to the nations, even in this nation, it's important to realize that the gospel changes lives. It's the gospel. It's Jesus Christ and. And him crucified. The church has the only answer to every problem in the world today. Christ is the answer. There is no other solution. It's Jesus Christ and him crucified. The disciples left everything that they knew and they followed Jesus because they knew that resurrection power flows from a life that is crucified with Christ picking up our cross every day, following Him. The Gospel transforms us from the inside out. The world tries to transform us from the outside in. The Gospel transforms us from the inside out. I want to share a story with you. In 2015, the year 2015, there's Charlie Hebdo. Big protest that happened around the world and many Muslims were really upset at that. I don't have time to tell you all those details, but there's protests in a lot of the Islamic nations and, and in Niger, West Africa, there's protests against what they thought was a big attack against Islam. And of course, the church is a soft target in places like Niger. So In January of 2015, there's mobs of people, demonstrators of Islamic leaders who called the youth, the youth to come out and just burn churches across Niger. I mean, there's dozens and dozens of church buildings that were burned down and all across Niger. And I'll never forget we were in Maradi and the Jorgensens were there and the Childs and I just remember all the Reports of the churches that were being burned and not knowing what was going to happen. And we heard the end of the day that in Niamey there were churches that were burned. In Zinder there were churches that were burned. But in Maradi, where we live, there hadn't been any churches burned yet in that one day. But then the end of the day, we heard that they were saying, the Islamic leaders were saying, tomorrow we're going to finish what we couldn't finish today. So we woke up that next morning and Rich Jorgensen's here. He went really early in the morning to the church compound. He took a load of some of the wives and some of the kids out. We all went out to a village that day because it was high security. We thought they might even be attacking and burning the houses of the missionaries and the church buildings. When we went to the church compound, Rich Jorgensen, he'll tell you this. When he went there, he asked the, the head of the ministry that I told you that got saved, who was an Islamic bell ringer who is now the leader of the whole ministry in Niger, he asked him, he said, do you want to, you have to come with us, you have to get out of here because they're come and burn the church down. And he said, no, we're going to make a stand. We're going to make a stand right here because if we don't make a stand here, they're going to come back and they're going to keep doing. We have to make a stand. And the youth that were there, there was like 15, 16, 17 year old youth on the compound. And they said, we're going to stand with him. And these youth, they stood. And I have a picture here, I want to put it up. There's a picture of the gate because around 7 or 8 in the morning there's demonstrators, the Islamic youth that have been sent out, they came and there was hundreds and hundreds of them at the front gate of the church compound in Marathi. And this is the day after the event. But that's the gate. That's the gate. So that's the gate to the main church compound and, and the Bible school. And there was like about a dozen youth and a pastor or two. And that was it on the whole compound. And what they did was the pastors and the youth, they got behind this gate and they held it like this because the demonstrators came to burn the church building, they came to burn the Bible school, they came to make a statement to burn the church out of Marathi. And when they came, they were trying to get into the church and they couldn't get in, so they lit these tires on fire and. And they were trying to burn the gate down. And then the mob was starting to throw rocks inside and over the gate. And they were landing on the ground, they were hitting some of the youth who were holding the gate closed. I saw the bruises, I saw the cuts afterwards. But the youth didn't stop. They held that gate. They didn't go to the bathroom, they didn't get a meal. There was no lunch, there was no breakfast, there was no supper, but they held that gate. They called the security forces to come. The security, of course, wanted to wait a little bit and see how much damage could happen before they came to rescue it. And so they just kind of. They just kind of held out there. They didn't 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours. We heard that there was reports of up to 6 to 800, probably over a thousand people that were trying to get into this church building. And there's like 12 youth who held that gate. You know, we're missionaries. We're outside the city, we're in the village. This isn't us, this is the nationals. They're saying yes to the Lord. They're taking a stand. They're saying yes, here am I. Send me. Use me and my generation to make a difference. And these guys are there and they're just holding that gate. And eventually the soldiers came and they dispersed the crowd. And I asked the pastor of the ministry now, the president, I asked him a few weeks later, I said, why did you do that? You could have died. And he was like, my life means nothing to me. I have no rights. It belongs to him. And I had to make a statement. I had to stand for the next generation and for my Muslim brothers and sisters so they would know that we believe the truth. If I ran right now, it would be like a hireling. It would be trying to save my skin. He's like, I'm willing to die for Christ. He died for me. I'm willing to die right now in this moment. He's worthy of it all. And that's when I was being taught by a national pastor. He was teaching me faith. He was teaching me things that I had never heard before about following the cross, a crucified life that we have no rights about. All life belongs to him. It's the cross. Countries like Niger, they know persecution. But in the midst of the persecution, there's revival. A few months ago, we saw pictures in a place that Westerns can't even go. And they're baptizing 100 people in a very insecure place with ISIS and Al Qaeda all over the place, baptizing all these youth just coming in, getting baptized, being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can't stop the word of God. You can't stop the Holy Spirit. It multiplies. You try to press it down, you try to stop it, it just grows. Hallelujah. The power of a yes. The power of saying yes to the cross. I've been crucified with Christ. I don't know where you are today, where the Lord's called you to be or to serve. There's different seasons, different assignments, but it all starts with the yes. And I've learned, as I've gotten a little bit older, is that it doesn't stop. I said yes at 2. I said yes to pastoral ministry. I said yes to Niger. Our family said yes. Now our children are saying yes. My daughter's going to Kazakhstan. My son's going to Nisum. I mean, it keeps going. Yes, yes, yes. In Niger, right now, they're saying yes. They're taking it the next level. That's the power of the cross. The world tries to transform us from the outside in. The gospel transforms us from the inside out. Don't water down the gospel. You have to preach Christ and him crucified. The gospel is not just doing good deeds or digging or drilling wells. And please hear me, don't need the emails. We love drilling wells. We do it in Niger. But you can do that. And Islamic nations are doing that too, by the way, if you don't attach something to it, like the preaching the gospel, at the end of the time, it doesn't mean anything. It's just good deeds. And sometimes in the west, it's like writing a big check and doing a good deed. And that's the gospel. That's not the gospel. The gospel is preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified. There's a power and Jesus and his name. It transformed my life. It transformed your life. It will transform the world. But we have to remember it's the preaching of the gospel. Second thing is the power of saying yes to the Holy Spirit. In Nigeria, you know, they don't have a lot. And what they do have, I should say, they actually have a lot. But in the material realm, they don't have a lot. They don't have an educ. They don't have much education. It's not their fault they don't have it. It's not even accessible. They there's pastors that learned how to read and write in the Bible school in their 30s and 40s when they first got saved. They're first generation Christians. They had never heard the gospel until that moment. Then they learned how to read and write. And now they're amazing, preaching and proclaiming the gospel. But one thing I realized is that if you strip all the material stuff away and all the educational stuff away, if you just have the Holy Spirit and you have the word of God, I'm telling you, that's enough to transform a nation. It changed the disciples and the Lord used those disciples and became the apostles. They changed the world. Peter preached and full of the Holy Spirit, fishermen. Who would have thought God would use them like that? God used them to draw many to Christ and to go to the nations. You're here today and I want to just encourage you. You don't know the power of a yes, what it could do in your life. And not just in your life, but through your life to the nations. Just like we saw today, the example of the people that we looked at. There's so many people that have said yes to the Lord in Elam, but I'm just sensing a burning in my spirit of afresh. The Lord saying there's a new generation and it includes the old generation who have been saying yes for decades. It also includes a newer, younger generation. And the sense is that there's something he wants to do in the earth. He's already begun to pour it out and he wants Elam to be a of part and to be part of it. We have to come to the cross and say yes. I have no rights. Disappointments, offenses. They have to go. They're at the foot of the cross. We can't afford that. The kingdom of God can't afford that. Right now. The nations are at stake. God so loved the world. Saying yes to the Lord means saying no to other things. No to offense, no to bitterness, no to unforgiveness, no to doing it my own way, no to living for myself or the things of the world. Is saying yes to the Lord being willing to be a grain of wheat that he puts into his field the world to die. And from that death comes abundant life, resurrection, power. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, you shall receive power. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, to the end of the earth. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said in Acts 4, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus. Have you been with Jesus? This is our heart at Oasis this week is for the Elam family, for you and I, for all of us, to be with Jesus, to be filled afresh with the power of the Holy Spirit, to go forth knowing that we've been crucified with Christ. We no longer live the word of God, the Holy Spirit. That is what he's calling his church. To go back to the basics right now, the very foundations of how the church was established and to a new generation preach Christ and him crucified, to preach the power. In the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Lord transforms us. It starts at the cross. I'd like to invite the worship team to come forward. We're going to sing a song, and I just really, I feel this strongly. It's already begun with Pastor Phil, last night with Adam McCain. There's a real anointing in this room. It's not in the front, actually, necessarily just here. It's like, I felt it over there. It's like there's an anointing. There's a new season. There's something the Lord's wanting to do and impart to us the next couple days. And I believe that you probably feel that as well. And it's really important to position our hearts before the Lord and come to the cross. And, you know, some of you are ministry leaders. You've been doing it for decades. I mean, I've had the privilege, my wife and I, to learn from and work with people who've done it for decades. I mean, 40, 50, 60 years of ministry. What an honor to be with them. But sometimes, as the decades go on, you can get weary, you can get discouraged. It can be disappointments, it can be things that hurt, that cause pain. But it all comes back to the cross, doesn't it? We have to come to the cross and say, yes, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. And at that moment, there's that resurrection life of a new season, of a new wine for a new wineskin. And I just feel that this morning there's others who are here, who are young. You haven't even been to Elam before. This is your first time in Elim. You've come from a place. This is your first introduction to. To being here in Lima, and you're here. It's not a coincidence. You're here, you're not here by accident. The Lord called you here for this moment, for this season, to experience this next wave of revival, this next wave of outpouring of the Holy Spirit. To be a part of what he's doing in the nations and to say yes to his call. And you don't have to know the details. That's the big thing as Americans, you know, I'm American, so I get it. I'm one. I be one. As Pastor Phil says that sometimes we just like our to do list, right? We're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to do this, this, this. When Jesus walks by your boat and he says, follow me, what are you going to do? Are you going to stay in the boat or are you going to leave the boat and follow him? I mean I look back now, I'm like, I would have been foolish to stay in the boat. I thought it was such a big cost to say yes when I was young, look what I'm giving up to go be a missionary, to serve in full time ministry. And now I'm looking back, I was like, what would I have missed? The treasure of what I have seen the presence of God touching people, the word of God, the Holy Spirit moving in nations. I would have missed it if I had said no. I've been to churches, we've preached. Afterwards, people come up and they'll say, tears running down their face. In their 80s and 90s, I knew that I was called. I never said yes. I have never met anyone, including those who have gone through major seasons in ministry and difficulties. I've never met anyone who has walked with the Lord and said yes. Who ever regrets that? They'll be the first ones to say it wasn't easy. They'll be the first ones to say it was difficult. I mean the cross is not easy. But there's resurrection power. There's a transformed life. It transforms us. It transforms the ones the Lord calls us to minister to. And that's the power of the cross. And once you say yes, you look back and you say, I received so much more. I would have missed it if I hadn't said yes. So we're gonna, I just wanna invite the worship team to come forward and we're gonna have a time of just open a time of just open altar right here and where you are if you want to come up to the altar. And it's just gonna be a time of saying yes to the Lord in a fresh way of saying, here am I, Lord, have your way, not my will, but your will to be done. And I want to challenge you. The Scripture says, I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. We have no rights. If you're here, you've already been in ministry for a long time. Maybe looking at a transition. You know, those are difficult seasons. We just came to a transition ourself, and it's not easy. But when the Lord calls you to a new assignment, a new thing, you have to be willing to say yes, to let one season go, to embrace the new thing that he wants to do. There might be some people who are here who are younger, who just don't really know what God wants. And they just. They're looking at the options. Like, this would make the most sense with schooling and money and education, all this. But you still have to come to the cross. You have to. Through the lens of the cross. He will show you where you're supposed to go. College and education could be a wonderful thing if it's seen through the lens of the cross. If it's seen through, what can I get from myself without the cross? You're going to become someday one of those that looks back with regrets and said, I had that call. I didn't say, yes, I got wealthy, and there's nothing bad about wealth. But I'm saying that if that's all you have without experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit, without experiencing the Lord transforming your life and those that he's called you to, then you really missed the reason why God has made us to exist and to be here until he calls us home. Robinstein. He was faithful. He carried that baton on. He passed it on. Ron Childs. He was faithful. He carried the baton. He passed it on. George Veach, Eva Butler. I could go on and on. All of us have names of the mentors, fathers and mothers of the faith. We're very blessed because in Elam, we still have many of them alive today with us. Don't take that for granted this week. Show appreciation, honor those who've gone before us, those who've given us the opportunity to take the baton and carry on to another generation. But we must see everything in our life through the lens of the cross. Let's build an altar today. Just invite you to stand with me and just have a position of surrender. If it's opening your hands or if you feel led to kneel down, please do that. But we just want to do an action right now of something. Just do an action of Faith that says Lord in a fresh way. I just want to surrender to the call that you've placed on my life. In a fresh way. I want to say yes. They might be coming up to the front. This is wide open right now. Up here at the altar is open. Just come forward and just in this worship time, just resurrender to the Lord. With missionaries here, you're going back on the field. This is a great time to just come to the front and say, lord, this next season, this challenges. I know. I know what I'm going back to. But, Lord, I'm coming to say yes. I want to say yes to the lens of the cross. I want to say yes to the language learning. I want to say yes to reaching the nations. I want to say yes to what you're calling me to do, but I want to see it through the lens of the cross. I know I can't do it. I need you. I'm not smart enough. I'm not educated enough. I can't do this thing. I need you. There's international leaders who are here. They have an impartation of what God's doing in the nations. There's challenges. Things are happening. I just believe at times like this, even international leaders, that you're going to have a fresh encouragement that God's speaking to you. A new season, a new assignment. As you go back to your home country, God has a new vision, a new strategy to reach that nation, a new wineskin. He's going to give you strategies and how to implement that. To see another generation discipled and leaders raised up. It's through the word of God. It's through the cross. It's through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. [00:44:28] Speaker A: Thank you for watching. We have so many more amazing episodes to share with you both upcoming and on our website. So make sure you check them out wherever you get your podcasts. For even more amazing content, go to elamfellowship.org and check out the Hub. Not only are all the well podcasts there, but there is so much more content for you. And if this message was meaningful to you, please show your support by liking, subscribing and sharing this channel and drop your thoughts down below. It really does make a big difference for us. Us. So until next time, I'm Thomas and we will see you around the well.