All right, Luke chapter number 19, the verse that I want to focus on, is verse number 10.
And so I see this verse in a way that probably some of you guys may or may not see it.
But in verse 10 it says, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost.
That which was lost.
And the title of my sermon is Islam, the religion of the lost.
Islam, the religion of the lost.
And of course you could be saying right now, well, listen, girl, every false religion is
the religion of the lost.
That is absolutely true.
But I don't know about you, how much you experienced talking to Muslims, but one thing that I've
noticed out of all the false religions out there, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, I mean
you name it, Saturday Adventists, I think I've had just about every religion, more than
probably 40 or more percent of their people out at the door or just co-workers, tell me,
and I ask them, hey, I know you're such and such religion, but if you die right now, are
you 100% sure you're going to heaven?
And they tend to say, yes, about 40% of them.
Catholics, I know for sure, because I was one of them.
When somebody asked me that question, that's what I thought, yeah, I think I'll be in heaven.
And I don't know about you, but when you go out knocking doors, you're going to notice
that with Catholics.
You're going to notice that with just about every false religion.
But one religion, one religion that seems to always tell me no are those that follow
Islam.
They always seem to tell me no.
And so what I mean by Islam, I'm talking about those that follow the fate of the Muslims
or Islam is basically based on the words and religious teachings of the prophet Muhammad
as taught by the Quran, I'm sorry, lessons found in the Quran, which is their principle
book that they use to determine right and wrong and what they believe in regards to
God or what they refer to as Allah.
This sermon is not going to be about the Quran.
Passengers preach good sermons about the Quran.
You can find them on the internet.
Go to our website and you can find those.
But I just want to talk about my experience in Muslim countries.
And this is what I found so far as far as the recent stats when it comes to Islam.
Supposedly now, it's a population of almost 1.9 billion followers.
Last time I checked, it was just a billion.
Now it's 1.9 billion as of 2020.
Muslims comprise about 25% of the world's total population.
In descending order, the percentage of people who identify as Muslims on each continent
stands as the follows, 45% of those in the African continent consider themselves to be
Muslim, 25% of Asia and Oceania consider themselves to be Muslim, about 6% of Europeans consider
themselves to be Muslim, 1% of the Americas consider themselves to be Muslim, 90% of Central
Asia and Southeast Asia, I mean it's a lot, the percentage is very, very high.
But just a quick question for those that are here.
Does anybody know what country has the largest Muslim population as of 2023?
What is it?
Indonesia.
Mauritius.
Mauritius, never heard of it, but no, it's not those.
Pakistan.
Pakistan is the one that supposedly has the most populations of Muslims and apparently
Pakistan is known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and that's a country in Southeast
Asia, it's the world's fifth most populous country with a population of 241.5 million
people and supposedly has the world's largest Muslim population as of 2023.
So with an estimated 240 million of their population consider themselves to be Muslim
out of 249 million.
So over 90% of that country considers themselves to be Muslim.
So how did my experience with the Muslim world begin?
I guess it really began back in March of 2003, who knows what the U.S. was doing in March
of 2003 in another country, what were they up to, exactly, they were in war with Iraq.
So as a baby Christian, that's where I found myself, I found myself in my first Muslim
country which was Iraq.
So for those of you that don't know, I was in the military, I served four years, got
out, 90 days later they called me back in, the day I reported back in, that's the day
that somebody came and gave me the gospel, it was Pastor Azarello from Redwood Baptist
Church in Northern California, I just happened to be on his property because my cousin cleaned
the building and I went to pick up her kids and he was in his office and he cared about
me, he got out, walked across the parking lot, came up to me and asked me what I need,
I said, oh I'm just waiting for my cousin, he's like, hey, you know what, are you in
the military?
I'm like, yes, because I have my marine uniform, I reported in my marine uniform, so then he
invited me to church, I'm like, yeah, I already go to church, he said, where do you go?
Well, I go to the Catholic Church, you know, down in my city, even though I didn't, you
know, I just said that.
And he said, well listen, I'd like to invite you to church, you know, I said, oh, but you
also said more important, young man, you know, than going to church and making sure you go
to heaven if you die right now, you know, for sure going to heaven, and I said yes,
but honestly when I said it, immediately I knew that it wasn't true, it just came out
because it just came out, and so of course I'm glad he didn't stop there, and he asked
me, well why is that?
Well, I gave all the wrong answers, you know, because I'm baptized, you know, I'm a pretty
good person, I even said I got the pope, I literally said that, and then he's looking
at me, the pastor's looking at me with a Bible and he's saying, okay, and I'm thinking,
man, you know, I could tell that he's looking for something else, I'm like, well, I'm a
marine, I'm sure if I go overseas and die from a country, I'm sure God will let me
into heaven.
You know, well, he didn't go to, you know, John 513 or anything, he just said, well can
I show you what the Bible says, and I said yes, because I was thinking about death, especially
when they recall you back and they don't tell you what it's for, and your MOS happens to
be a combat MOS, and everybody's like, hey, we don't know what's going on, but our unit
hasn't been activated over 10 years, so just prepare for the worst and hope for the best,
so of course what do you think I'm thinking, this has got to be war or something, so not
just that, we knew that something was going on with Iraq before I got out, so lo and behold,
a year later after training, I found myself in Iraq, on the way to Baghdad to take out
Saddam Hussein, and I felt good about it, because it was called Operation Iraqi Freedom,
so I was like, wow, I'm fighting for so much freedom, not American freedom, but nevertheless,
as a marine, I actually joined because I wanted to fight for something good, I wanted to defend
America, I wanted to do something good with my life, I loved America, I thought it was
a great country, my parents are from Mexico, so of course I thought America was a very
good country compared to where my parents came from, so I wanted to do something to
kind of give back to the American people, and I thought I was doing the right thing
by joining the military and defending American freedoms, and of course when we went into
Iraq, I'm like, hey, America, anyone, I don't care, I'll fight for whoever's freedom, so
I'm thinking, okay, let's take out Saddam, let's take him out, and sure enough, make
this country a whole lot better, but then I quickly realized as time went on, and I
looked at the scriptures, and I started to study the matter, the problem wasn't Saddam
was saying the problem was Islam, that was the problem, why? Because it's a false religion,
bottom line, that's what it is, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about those people
because I do, and why? Because when you see it firsthand, it affects you, you know, if
you have your Bible, go ahead and go to Matthew 9, 935, Matthew 935, and sometimes when I
read Matthew 935, I do think of those days when I was in Iraq, going through the desert,
going from village to village, looking for weapons, trying to find bad guys, quote unquote,
on my way to Baghdad to find Saddam Hussein, take him out, and obviously bring freedom
to the Iraqi people, I thought it was a great cause, you know, but what happened was simple,
it was like, man, at that point I was saved, at that point I wasn't even considering
myself to be a Christian, my pastor got me saved, and all he did, all he had time for
was just to say, hey, thank you for listening to me, let me give you a Bible, give me a
Bible, the next day I'm going back into the military, by Friday I ended up moving
from Northern California to Southern California, and so I didn't have church, I didn't
have anybody to disciple me, just the Holy Spirit and the Bible, amen? And unfortunately
I didn't read the Bible, but I had the Holy Spirit, so he was guiding me, and I don't
know, but everywhere I went, all I wanted to do was tell people that eternal life was
a gift, I didn't know any other verses, but I knew the Bible said that the gift
of God was eternal life, and it was through Jesus, and every opportunity I had, I would
just try to bring it up to see if other people believed it, and if not, I wanted to tell
them, because I was happy somebody told me, that's what converted me, that's what
blew me away, so I was excited to be able to say, hey, you know what, I know I'm going
to heaven, but you know what, before that, I was lost, and that was not a good field,
I didn't know whether I would go to heaven or hell, and it's a terrible, terrible place
to be where you don't know what's going to happen to you after death, but now things
are different, now I look forward to death, now I know where I'm going to be, and I'm
pretty sure everyone here feels the same way, well yes we want to live to be 120, amen,
and do as much for the Lord as possible, but hey, we can't wait to see Jesus, right? That's
just facts, but hey, Islam, they have no peace, they are truly lost, they won't, in fact,
I'll get into a story of what happened to me yesterday, but at the end of the day, you
know, they are truly, if any religion is the religion of the lost, meaning that they don't
know where they're going, I mean, you're running to Mormons, and having Mormons told
you I was soul winning, yeah I'm pretty sure I'm going to heaven for that right now, you
ask them why? Because of Jesus, because they believe in Jesus, but that's not what they
really believe, they have a different Jesus, Catholics, many Catholics, who out of Catholics
say, oh yeah, I'm going to heaven, I know I have, how about this, Jehovah's Witnesses
says, yeah I'm saved, but that right now I'm saved, I'm good, I'm not talking about going
to heaven because they don't believe they'll go to heaven, but they have told me, yeah
I'm saved, I know if I die right now I'm saved, okay, well what do you believe it takes to
be saved, oh I don't want to talk about it right now, and we can give some information,
no, no, I can't accept it, I can't receive it, thank you for your time, you have a great
day, that's what they do, don't they? But I don't know, just quick test, who has asked
a Muslim, do you know for sure where you're going? And what did they say? Well yesterday
I went to Little Africa, and I don't know if you've ever heard of Pastor Anderson preached
about Little Africa, but it's immigrants from Africa, and what they are is they're primarily
Muslim, so I go there because I wanted to kind of have it fresh, you know, like hey
I got some fresh evidence that the majority has no clue, so I go to the basketball court,
this kid is playing basketball, and I'm like hey I got one right now, but as soon as I
park sure enough, Muslims everywhere, they got the outfit, the ladies have the outfit,
the little girls have the outfit, they're walking around, so I figured let me start
with this dude at the basketball court, see what's up with him, so I go up to him, and
it was a 14 year old kid, and I'm like hey how you doing, my name is Chris, I'm with
people who are Baptist, just inviting people to church, and he's like do you go to church
anywhere, oh a Muslim, I said we got a question for you, did you die right now, are you 100%
sure you're going to heaven, guess what he said, yes, I am, so I'm like well there goes
my point, there goes my sermon, toss it out the window, and that was no good, so I'm like
really, so I'm like man, what in the world, I'm like well why is that, well because I
do good, and I obey God, and I love God, and when I'm talking to him, his buddies start
walking towards me, and I see one kid, two kids, three kids, before you know it, I got
seven other kids just standing around, listening to me talk, hey how you guys doing, I introduce
myself, and I ask them if they go to church, they all say we're Muslim, every single one
of them, well then I did the test again, and I said well if you die right now, where you
going to go, well I don't know, how about you, I don't want to talk about it, how about
you, don't know, how about you, don't know, I'm like one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven of you guys, none of you guys know, but he says he knows, and guess what he said,
well he's not lying, he just doesn't understand, I'm like well what do you mean, he's a young
kid, you know, so he hasn't done that much wrong, and he doesn't really understand wrong,
when he's under his parents, I've never heard this stuff before, so they had like a little
leader, the guy who was kind of in charge, doing all the talking for everybody else,
so then he's telling me everything that I need to know about Islam, I'm like well what's
up with him, he says he's confident, he says you know for sure he's going, so you guys
say, none of you guys say that you're going, so who's right, who's wrong, what's up, but
we're not saying he's lying, we're just saying that he doesn't fully understand, you know
I studied the Quran, I know it very well, and I'm telling right now that if you say
that you know for sure you're going to heaven, hey that's against Islam, so what's up with
him, he doesn't really know really what the book says, but basically yeah maybe he would
because he's too innocent, and if he were to die, God would let him go because he hasn't
done that much bad, so he probably would go, but we're old enough to understand right and
wrong more than him, he's only 14, and that guy's like hey how old are you, 14, yeah he's
too young, so he would get a pass, but hey, us, we're older, we understand sin more, none
of us, if you say that you know for sure, you are wrong, that is not what Muslims believe,
you will not know until after you die and you get judged, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
so then I was thinking okay cool, now it looks like I am right, they truly are the religion
of the laws, so when it came to where did I go, I guess it all started with a guy named
Sam last year in December in 2022, get an email from a guy named Sam, and he wasn't
asking for much, he just wanted to kind of thank Pastor Anderson for preaching hard,
he came across Pastor Anderson, and he said hey Pastor Anderson, if you ever come to my
country and you have a soul winning marathon, let me know, I'll be happy to participate
in it, and so I just thought well, you know, where's this dude from, so then I emailed
him, and then I went soul winning, and then he emailed me back, so then he said hey, you
know what, I want to talk to you, I'm like sure, I'm willing to talk, and it was around
1 o'clock p.m., and so I say alright, we can do Facebook or whatever, and he's like yeah,
let's do it, so he ended up talking, I forgot what I used, I think it was, I don't remember
which platform I used, so I ended up messaging him, he messaged me back, and so this guy
said my name is Sam, I am from Pakistan, I am from Pakistan, I'm from this Christian
slums in Karachi, and I would love if you guys come down here to join you on a soul
winning, so I was interested in it just because I always had this thing where I was in Iraq
for so long, and I never did anything as a Christian, I knew eternal life was a gift,
I knew the gospel, but I couldn't give it to anyone because of security reasons or whatever
the case may have been, so it's kind of like I felt like man, I had an opportunity, it
just feels bad that I didn't do anything with it, and who knows, God, maybe he can help
me kind of make up for what I didn't do, and when he brought up Pakistan, and obviously
Pakistan, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they're the republic, the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, 240 plus Muslims, so I'm thinking how in the world are you surviving
Pakistan? So then I talked to him, kind of wanted to get a feel for him, because you
know what, I kind of thought well maybe, I don't know, maybe it's a possibility that
he can't come here, but maybe we can go there, and even though I don't know him that well,
go to Acts 10 one, hey, he was of the right spirit, he said he saw Pastor Anderson's documentaries,
he was on board, but that doesn't mean that I know for sure this guy is saved, we do get
emails a lot from pastors that want to pair up with us, but they don't mention any of
the preaching, they don't talk about documentaries, I don't know how they got our email, but they
just want money, they need help, they show us pictures of children that are poor, and
they're like hey, we need money to feed these children, but Sam wasn't like that, Sam was
just saying hey, you guys are doing a great job, I'd like to join you if you come to this
part of town, but like Pastor said, when we think of missions, we're thinking of a place
that A, is easy to get to, is safe, and they speak English, so of course I'm thinking man,
I don't know about this one, so when I spoke to Sam face to face, he's like hey listen,
if you come over here, my church loves missionaries, they'll be more than happy to put you behind
the pulpit, and you can talk to everyone, and say whatever you want, and if you come,
I probably can get you about 200 people, I wouldn't be surprised if even 500 people
come, because all these pastors, they love missionaries, and they push hard when somebody
from America comes, and people kind of get guilt-driven to come into church, because
if they don't, they're not right with God, because they're not supporting the man of
God, so they love to do that to their people, and so I'm just talking to Sam, and I'm thinking
well man, it's a possibility, let me just think about it, I don't mind bringing it up
to Pastor, and then later on, me and Pastor start talking about this missions conference,
and he's like hey listen, I want to talk to you about the missions conference, I'm like
okay no problem, I want to have another one this year, I'm like okay cool, sounds great,
and he's like this is what I'm thinking, this pastor can preach about this, this pastor
can preach about that, and so he's like what do you think, I'm like yeah absolutely, and
then he's like well, is there any places that you're thinking that maybe you should go and
check out, and so I'm thinking well, there's this one place, what is it, it's Pakistan,
he's like Pakistan, no way, because he's thinking that's the opposite of what we're going to
do at the missions conference, and I just said the only reason is because there's one
guy down there, and I kind of want to encourage him, he says that he goes to a church, but
obviously it's not like our church, like Pastor said, hey there's a lot of Christians that
go to church, but they're not like our type of churches, very watered down, and that's
why he supplements what he's listening to with preaching from this church, so he can
grow a little faster, and so the reason I thought, well I don't know, how bad could
it be to visit this guy, I mean maybe he isn't safe, but then I was thinking of Cornelius,
so you're right there, in Acts chapter number 10, let's just quickly look at that story
one more time, and I was thinking, worst case scenario, Sam, if he's not safe, he's at Cornelius,
I mean he's on our side, he's praying to the Lord, he's doing his thing, and we see right
there in scripture that that is a possibility, those people are out there, you know they
pray and even fast, but let's just face it, they're missing something, they're missing
something, and I'm thinking well maybe I can just go down there, he says that A, it's dangerous,
you can't do door to door, but hey, he says he can put me behind a pulpit, he can talk
to a few pastors, he thinks that they all will agree, so then pastors start thinking
about it, they say yeah, you know what, I'm not still 100% on board, but you know what,
if you can turn this thing into a preaching tour, then that is something that I'll be
open to, because if you can give people to let you preach, and not just that, but if
they have about 100 people in each service, and even Sam said about 25% speak English,
because Sam spoke perfect English, the pastors speak good English, he says well that's about
25 people per service that you can minister and just preach the gospel and just go from
church to church, and I was thinking hey, if they're crazy enough to let me preach,
I'm crazy enough to do it, amen, and Pastor Bolger can testify, we did this in South Africa,
you know, he had Sunday mornings only, and he's like hey, you want me to call some people
and see if they'll let you preach on the pulpit, I don't think they're safe, and I'm like hey,
they're crazy enough to let me do it, I'll bring my team and I'll preach the best gospel
presentation that I can, afterwards we'll just go up to individuals and see if they're
safe or not and try to get them safe, so that was the game plan, not traditional door to
door going to the parks or what we usually do with these mission trips, but hey, we're
thinking, amen, Pastor's like hey, I'm hoping to save anybody anytime, anyplace, anywhere,
but this one seems a little too dangerous, this is new to me, but he was open to do it,
he was open to do it, and it's like Pakistan, I don't know, it's kind of crazy, so he said
hey, you know what, if the guy says he can get you these preaching appointments and they're
willing to put you behind the pulpit, and you think about 25% of them are going to understand
you, that's a decent crowd, I'm open to it, hey, go ahead and start doing some research
and get back with me, so I'm like okay, no problem, now I've got to find somebody to
go with me, man, like who's crazy enough to go with me to Pakistan, you know, it's all
Muslim, it's not legal to go preaching door to door, you're probably going to get killed
if you try it, you can't really take much with you, you kind of have to go there and
hopefully whatever's on your phone is good enough to give the gospel with, so I'm like
researching now, so I had to recruit someone, so I'm thinking who would be crazy enough
to go with me, who would do it, well I don't know if you know this guy, but his name is
Dustin, and I took him to South Africa, and at first he's thinking man, I don't want to
go to South Africa, I'm very white, I'm going to get killed down there, I'm like no man,
just trust the system, Pastor Borger will take care of you, so then sure enough, I finally
convinced him to go to South Africa with us, and he did a great job, he did a great job
soul winning, he enjoyed it, he thanked me for taking me to South Africa, he's like hey
man, let's do this again, I can't believe you got me to come to South Africa, I was
really scared, because when we go to South Africa, we go to the slums, we go to the danger
zone, we get to see a part of South Africa you will not see unless you have Pastor Borger
backing you up and taking you everywhere and telling you to duck when it's time to duck
so they don't see your face, he's that type of dude, he knows when the danger's coming,
he's like hey, hide, and in the words of Caleb, who knows Brother Caleb, is he here, hey Brother
Caleb at Kenosha said man this is the first missions trip when we're in South Africa that
actually felt I was going to die, I thought we're going to get killed for sure, where's
Pastor Borger taking us? And I'm not trying to scare people from going to South Africa,
but that's the danger, it's there, but we try to minimize it, you know, it's like hey
the first time we went soul winning, the last time we went to South Africa, these two clowns
decided to use us as human shields and block the store and they went in there and robbed
it, because we were all outside standing around getting ready to go soul winning, next thing
you know people are screaming and it's like what happened, oh this place got robbed by
gunpoint and it's like hey, what can you do, we try to minimize it, but the danger's there,
God will protect you if you're there for the right reasons man, hey we didn't get hurt,
so then of course it is what it is, I'm talking to Sam, Pastor's open to it, I'm talking to
Dustin, and Dustin's like man I thought you were trying to kill me when you were taking
me to South Africa, now you want to take me to Pakistan? And he's like well you know what
man, I'm down, let's do this, why not, what's the worst that can happen, we die and go to
heaven, we're like hey that's the attitude I need, so I'm like alright no problem let's
do this, he's like yeah you know Pastor's going to basically get with me later and we'll
talk to him more about it, and so while I'm planning with Dustin, you know it is what
it is, Pastor calls me and I'm like hey Pastor's on the phone, just hang up, or hold up let
me get with him, I'll call you back, so I end up hanging up, so Pastor ends up calling
me and I pick up and Pastor's just like hey just want to let you know that I spoke to
Pastor Jimenez, I don't know where he's at, there he is, he's out focused Pastor Jimenez
and he can't go to the UAE, so I'm like okay, well thanks for letting me know and we're
still researching Pakistan so we'll give you the heads up as soon as we find out what's
going on, alright no problem, this is the part I didn't tell you, while I was talking
to Pastor, planning this missions conference, he's like you know what I really want to do
after we spoke about Pakistan, I really want someone to go to the UAE, not the WWE, but
the UAE, and if you don't know what the UAE is, I'll just mention a couple of cities that
are at the UAE, the United Emirates, and that's Dubai and Abu Dhabi, who's heard of those
cities, well it was what it was, Pastor's like you know what, I'm going to see if Pastor
Jimenez can go to Abu Dhabi, and so I'm like wow, that's going to be cool, you know it's
like there's no way he's going to say no to that, well he did, and so I'm thinking okay
no problem, so then we start looking at Pakistan and the tickets are like $1600 round trip,
I mean we're looking at like danger levels and it's high up there you know, it's like
there's bombings and all kinds of crazy stuff going on in Karachi, and I'm thinking where
does Sam live, what Christian slums does he live in, because it seems like Pakistan
is out of control, there's no food, everything's going downhill, but they also required us
if we end up being COVID positive to stick around and we didn't want that, so we're thinking
maybe we shouldn't go to Pakistan bro, and out of nowhere we just thought well what about
the UAE, you know Pastor Anderson said that Pastor Jimenez said no to the UAE, said no
to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and I don't know last time I checked those places they're pretty
cool, they're pretty nice, so he's like hey I think he's going to call Pastor Mahia next,
so let me call Pastor really quickly before he gets to Pastor Mahia, so then we call Pastor
Anderson and it was like hey Pastor we've been looking up this Pakistan trip, it is
pretty expensive, it's pretty dangerous, if you end up getting COVID you're not leaving
anytime soon, and we don't want to risk getting COVID again because it's still a big thing
down there, you know so if we end up getting it we're stuck there, and not only that we
can't be in hotels because you know Sam wouldn't be able to come back and forth and pick us
up so we'd have to stay at his house in order to be able to do what we wanted to do down
there, so then what Pastor Anderson said was like okay no problem, but we asked him maybe
since Pastor Jimenez said no to the UAE, you know why don't we go since he said no, and
of course he said no because he already had booked his life up for that time, and so Pastor
was like yeah you know what go ahead and go to the UAE, you know so that's fine with us,
so this sermon is not about me being in Pakistan but I almost went there man, this is about
another place that we went and this other place that we went was Dubai, and if you don't
know what the UAE is let me just let you know a little bit about it, so the UAE is this
country made up of seven states or what they called Emirates, it's located in West Asia
in the Middle East, it's located at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and it shares
the border with the country of Oman and Saudi Arabia, so the most popular state is Abu Dhabi
and Dubai, those are very, how can I put it, crazy places, but they're safe, the reason
I say crazy is because they go nuts with the money that they have over there because of
oil and they have created some amazing buildings and I'm sure you guys have probably seen YouTube
videos of Dubai, who knows what I'm talking about when I say Dubai, who knows what I'm
talking about when I say Abu Dhabi, and you probably already know those places are what
they call the billionaire's playground, so we decided you know what, the reason we want
to go down there is not for the reasons you may think of, but we know that that is a Muslim
country, so we want to make sure that we do everything as best we can so we don't make
it go bad, so when they came to the UAE, this is obviously the two most popular states is
Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the other remaining states, I'll just mention them, is Fujairah, Ras Al
Khama, Sarga, Al Juman, Al Quon, and as of 2023, the UAE, or the United Emirates, has
an estimated population of just 9 million people, and only about 11 to 12 percent of
the population are actual Emiratis, they're actual citizens, so there's about a million
of them, but this is the demographic and then we'll kind of get into why we ended up going
to Dubai, so the largest group of non-UAE nationals are South Asians, which is about
59 percent, and that includes Indians, you know, Bangladeshis, that's about 9.5 percent,
Pakistanis about 9.4 percent, and then there's others at 2.3, but it's also Egyptians down
there, which is about 10 percent of the population, and this is the one that we wanted to focus
on.
Filipinos are about 6.1 percent of the population over in Dubai, over in the UAE, so the game
plan wasn't necessarily to go down there to talk to the Muslims, and I'll explain why
in a second, but it was more to go after the Filipino population, that was the main reason
we decided to go down there, why?
Because the ticket to the Philippines, who knows what the average ticket is to the Philippines?
It's about 1200, 1500, can I get another number, no I'm just kidding, they're about right,
but to go to the UAE was about an average of $1000, almost an average of $600 cheaper,
and so not just that, what do we look for in regards to missions?
We look for a place that's safe, and they speak the language, and we also want to go
somewhere receptive, so who's been to the Philippines on a missions trip?
Receptive or not?
Very receptive, right?
Can anyone else agree?
Very receptive, correct?
From what I hear, it's been very receptive.
So on paper, here's what's a game plan, we're going down there, not for the Muslims, even
though they're always in the back of my mind, always looking for opportunities, we're going
down there because the population that we're aiming to reach is the Filipino population,
which is about over 600,000 that are from the Philippines, so we're thinking they're
coming from the Philippines, surely they must be receptive?
So then that was the game plan, is to go down there, see if we can go down there and maybe
end up having a missions trips down over in Dubai and just go towards the Filipino
population.
That was the game plan, so we decided to go for it, and so we did.
So we ended up going down there, did as much research as I could, tried to figure out the
best places or the places with the most Filipino population, which was an area called the Salt
White area, and so they called it Little Manila, they're like, hey, Little Manila's over here
in Dubai, so we're thinking, hey, let's just go get a hotel near Little Manila, we won't
need vehicles, we just get out of the hotel, start walking around, and let's just go talk
to people that are obviously non-Muslims, because when it comes to that country, it's
not necessarily illegal to talk to Muslims, but they don't like it, they don't want to
look bad on the world stage, so they don't make it illegal, they don't say it on paper,
but when you're there, it can become an issue, and I'll talk about that in a second.
So we ended up going to Dubai, that's where we went, not Pakistan, I'm sure you're disappointed,
if you want to go to Pakistan, hey, I can send you there if you like, but we did go
to Dubai, and so of course, I don't know why I didn't think of this, you know, but we ended
up booking it during Ramadan, and if you don't know what Ramadan is, that's their holy month,
and so I'm thinking, oh, man, we kind of already asked for time off, and it is what it is,
you know, it's too little, too late, but when we spoke about going to the UAE, we actually
had people visit our church, me and Pastor spoke at it on Tuesday, and we actually had
people visit the church on a Sunday that were Filipino, and they were from Dubai, and I
don't think it was a coincidence, I think they were just there to help us out, so they
didn't know what we were planning, so we ended up talking to them, and they basically told
us do not go there during Ramadan, it's the worst time to go, but everything had already
kind of been booked, and already time off had been asked for Dustin at his job, so I
said, you know what, we're just going to have to go and see how it is, and not just that,
at least if we go during Ramadan, we can see how bad it is, and if people want to go
down there, we'll just tell them do not go during Ramadan, you know, so we ended up going
to Dubai, we're in Dubai, it's during Ramadan, and I'm thinking, well, you know what, we'll
just go to the Filipino places, and we'll just start giving the gospel there, we'll
just walk around and talk to people that are just sitting around like we usually do, but
the problem is this, they don't mess around when it comes to Ramadan, that's the mistake
that I made when it comes to Ramadan, they don't want people eating outside at all, and
so of course, the Filipino population is down there to make money so they can send
it to their families, so they can take care of themselves, so they don't mess around with
them either, they don't hang around parks, they're not anywhere to be found, you cannot
find a single person, and I'm like, surely we'll find something in Little Manila, so
we go to Little Manila, but Little Manila turned out to be Little Mecca. I don't know
why I thought it was going to be like Chinatown in San Francisco, who's ever been there? So
I'm thinking I'm going to go to Chinatown version of Manila, because when you go to
San Francisco, Chinatown has a lot of Chinese people, so I'm thinking, okay, and not only
that, the YouTube videos are like, oh yeah, Little Manila is so great, I don't miss home
because Little Manila has so many Filipinos, but nobody mentioned in these videos that
for every Filipino that's there, there's like 10 Muslims around, so I'm like stuck, like
oh man, there's so many, I don't think we can get away with giving the gospel without
people paying attention. You know, but if you have your Bibles, go ahead and go to Acts
chapter number 1. Go ahead and go to Acts chapter number 1. So the only thing that I'm
thinking at this point is like, you know what, hey, let's just try to win this and do what
we possibly can. You know, so we decided to just try to go to this park, try to go here,
try to go there. Bottom line, hey, Ramadan, nobody messes around with Ramadan. Filipinos
don't want to be out, because if you're out, you can't have water, you can't have food,
so if you're thinking of going to Dubai, do not go during Ramadan, okay? Learn from my
mistakes. But the other thing as well is that I also was kind of glad that I was there,
because Ramadan is supposed to be their most holy month, the month where the Muslims are
the most pure, where they're the most holy, where they're the most righteous, so then
I just decided to start just asking the drivers, because you know what it is, what it is, at
this point I don't see Filipinos around, I'm not really sure what's going on, I'm talking
to Dustin like, hey, I don't know if it's really illegal or not, I don't know what the
issue is, I don't know if we can just start talking to everyone and hope for the best
that nobody, you know, basically messes with us or reports us or whatever, but also don't
want to waste the church's money and get fined and just blow money for no reason. So just
talking to Dustin is like, hey, well let's just see how bad it is to just start walking
up to Muslims and talking to them. So every single cab driver, we would just ask them,
hey, listen, hey, where are you from? Oh, I'm from such and such, you know, I'm from
India, I'm from Sri Lanka, Muslim, yes I am, oh, you're fasting, yeah, oh, man, it's pretty
rough, you know, working during Ramadan, you say, yeah, it is, well, I just got a question
for you, because I figure at this point, you know, we're desperate, we just want to talk
to anyone, you know, we just want to talk to anyone and everyone, and I literally thought
this was going to be the worst missions trip ever where we're probably not going to get
anyone saved, because it was becoming that big of an issue, but just asking the taxi
drivers, hey, so if you die, where are you going to go? One after another, I don't know.
Another one, another taxi driver, another Muslim, I don't know where I'm going, another
Muslim, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know where I'm
going, and I'm thinking this is Ramadan, this is your most holy month, this is when you're
supposed to be the most righteous, the most holy, and even during Ramadan, you don't even
know if you're going to be in heaven or not. At least the Catholics, during whatever their
holy month is, you know, they're all going to say, oh yeah, right now I'm good, you know,
I know if I die, I'm going to heaven regardless, you know, I'm going there because I've been
cleaning up my life as, you know, their holy month version or whatever the Catholics believe
in, I don't know, I haven't been a Catholic in who knows how long, you know, but if I
were to do it all over again, obviously I would not go during Ramadan, you know, but
lucky enough, the other reason why we went to the UAE is because we do have listeners
from the UAE, you know, that do email us saying, hey, you know, we're listening to you from
the UAE, so we're able to get a hold of some of them, and they told us, hey, we'll get
together and we'll show you the ropes, so praise the Lord, they're already learning
so many down there, and so that's what it was, we ended up just meeting up with them,
and you can meet up with people, you know, because the thing is, they're not going to
say that you can't meet up, in fact, let me just read something for you, you know, since
the UAE's unification in 1971, that country has continued to welcome Christians from around
the world, about 12.6% of the UAE's population practices Christianity, so there were some
churches down there, but they're obviously a Catholic church, there was one Baptist church
down in Dubai, but guess what they believe, repentance for salvation, and not the right
repentance, the turn or burn type of salvation, you know, so we're not going to waste our
time going to that place, you know, but it says that the UAE is now home to approximately
40 churches and roughly 700 ministries, but of course, they do have blasphemy laws, and
this is where it got a little tricky, so I'm just going to read what it says in regards
to their blasphemy laws, it says the law defines blasphemy as any act insulting God, religions,
prophets, messengers, holy books, or houses of worship, the law does not directly prohibit
Muslims from converting to other religions, but the penal code's blasphemy provision,
it says that it punishes behavior viewed as contemptuous of the Quran and the prophet
Muhammad are offensive to Islamic teachings, says the law provides for punishments of up
to five years for preaching against Islam or proselytizing to Muslims, so we don't want
to be down there for ten years, Dubai is cool, but it's not that cool, amen, it says up
to ten years for establishing an organization for the purpose of proselytizing, so yeah,
they want you to come, they want you to set up churches, but they don't want you to convert
their people, but when you talk to the taxi drivers, all of them say, no, no, it's totally
fine, we're talking right now, you know, no big deal to talk about Jesus, so we're like,
hey, what the heck do we believe, but then finally we got a hold of some brothers down
there, and it was what it was, these guys just started out by living there, and because
of the internet, praise the Lord, you know, they were able to come across Pastor Anderson,
and of course, when you listen to Pastor Anderson, you do learn a lot, you do learn great doctrine,
and so they were able to grow in many different ways, they grew in doctrine, they grew in
soul winning as well, so one thing led to another, they just somehow started to just
get a hold of each other and just hang out and talk about the Bible and talk about obviously
what to do when it comes to witnessing, you know, so they had the same plan that we had
where it's like, hey, it's illegal to proselyte to Muslims, but we can at least talk to our
own people, and they have obviously a population of Filipinos down there, and they do have
a lot of places where they hang out, and this is where it finally started to get better,
because yes, it was enjoyable looking at the buildings in Dubai, it was enjoyable to
go to this place and that place, Dubai is overall a pretty cool place, but we weren't
happy because people were not getting saved, but praise the Lord, once we got a hold of
these guys, they're like, hey, what you need to do is go to the parks, and the parks are
basically around these areas, and you have to go there at nighttime when Ramadan is over,
so hey, there's always hope no matter what, we can reach people and keep people safe,
so they're like, hey, why don't you just come with us, we'll go to the park, and then
you can see exactly what we're talking about, because hey, this country doesn't care if
you talk to other believers, if you talk to other non-Muslims, they don't really have
a problem with that, but some people may, but overall they don't, so why don't we just
go there and start talking to everyone, and so of course the main group we went there
to talk to were Filipinos, you know, why, because hey, they were in an area that would
be considered hostile to the Gospel, but they still did what the Bible tells you to do,
and what does the Bible show you should do, you're right there in Acts chapter number
one, now the story time is kind of over, let's start looking at scripture, amen, so now we
got Acts chapter number six, and this is a time where you can kind of say, hey, this
is similar to what you guys may be going to over here in Dubai, because obviously it's
kind of like a hostile area, so it says right there in Acts chapter number one, verse six,
it says that when they were there for come together, they asked of him saying, Lord,
without this time restore again the kingdom to Israel, and he said to him, it is not for
you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has put in his own power, but ye
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the outermost part
of the earth.
So what do we see here?
We see that Christ is about to leave, and he's like, hey, you guys are going to be witnesses
unto me in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth, you
know, so if you have your Bible, just go to the next chapter, chapter number two, and
we can see what they started to do right away.
So if you go to the next chapter, chapter number two, verse 14, what do we see?
You know, obviously if you know about chapter one, they're kind of there just getting together
and they're praying, but once they're done with that, in Acts chapter two, we see Peter
right away.
What is he doing?
Well, let's read.
But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, ye men of
Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and harken to my words.
So right away, what is he doing?
He starts to preach, he starts to give the gospel.
So even though they're in an area that's not the best area, they're just getting a job
done or Peter's just starting out by just saying, hey, you guys need to listen to me,
and he gives them the gospel.
And they know this over there, you know, in Dubai, so the Christians that are down there,
they listen to us, they're like, hey, we got to do something, something's better than nothing.
So even though they cannot go door to door and they don't go door to door, because that's
a quick way to get yourself arrested and get yourself locked up and deported back to the
Philippines, they're like, hey, let's just go where they're all at, let's just go where
our people are at, where the receptive people are hanging out, and that's usually the parks
at nighttime, they go there to just spend time with their families.
So we went with them, and it was something that I didn't experience before, where you
got six people sitting here, ten people sitting there, and they all want to hear the gospel,
every single one of them, which is not a surprise.
So just going there, just saying, hey, you know what, what do you want us to do?
Well, we just go up to the groups of people, and I'm like, man, they're kind of here eating,
is this something?
Because I'm not used to this.
I'm not used to just going at nighttime, I'm usually a daytime guy, we go door to door.
So this was something new, where it was just another place where we went to give people
a say, but I never had to go to a park and just go up to a group of six to ten people,
and they basically all said, yeah, go ahead and just tell us what you got, and I was able
to just witness to them, and they were very receptive, like you would think, and so of
course when it comes to even a Muslim country, there are opportunities that God does provide,
but you have to be smart about it, because I'm pretty sure if they were to know what
we're up to, they wouldn't be too happy about it, but in reality, they don't really care
as long as it's not Muslim, so hey, you know what, just start with what you know, start
with those people around you, which is what Peter is doing, he's just starting with those
that are around him, that already have kind of like a fundamental belief in regards to
Christianity, and he starts preaching to them.
You know, but if you have your Bible, you know, go ahead and go to Acts 1.13, just go
ahead and go to Acts 1.13.
And of course, one of the first things that we see that God wants people to do, you know,
Jesus Christ is a great example, is he just wants you to go out there and start preaching
the gospel right away, and one example that I like is in Mark, you know, Mark 5, it talks
about the guy that was in the tombs with the unclean spirit, then in verse 18, I'm just
going to read it really quickly, it says, how bad Jesus suffered him not to go with
him, or by saying something to him, go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things
the Lord has done for thee, and has compassion on thee, so we know about this guy from the
tombs with an unclean spirit, you know, Jesus Christ cast out the spirit out of this man,
he wants to join Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ says, no, I want you to go to your friends
and tell them how great the Lord has been to you, tell them how he has compassion on
you, and you know what, when I got saved and I found myself in a Muslim country, you know,
a year later, and I couldn't witness to the population, you know who I went after, I went
after my friends in the military, every single one of them as best I could, as soon as I
knew that, hey, these guys are interested in Christianity to some degree, I started
just asking them, hey, I know you are Catholic, or I know you're whatever, you know, but if
you die, where are you going to go, and they didn't know, and I would just tell them, hey,
listen, the Bible says eternal life is a gift, I don't know where it's at, I don't have a
Bible, but hey, I just wanted to tell you that, and of course, some of them agreed,
some of them didn't, but at least I was doing my best to get them saved, and I started with
my friends, I started with my coworkers, and I did all I could, and it's the same thing
if you find yourself, and I guess this sermon is, yeah, talking about the Muslim world,
and not necessarily relating just to Muslims, or people in Muslim countries, it's kind of
like if you find yourself in a country where it's just you, it's just pretty much you,
like what do you do, you know, where do I even begin to just start serving the Lord,
well, if anybody's watching, or listening from YouTube land, obviously, if you have
no one, then just start like this guy who had a devil taking out of him, and just talk
to your friends, you know, talk to those that are close to you, I know that we got brother
Adrian from Croatia, hey, he doesn't really have anybody in Croatia to go soul winning
with, he goes soul winning in Croatia, and it's not very receptive, but you know what,
he was able to reach those closest to him, like his brothers, you know, by just going
out and trying to get people saved, God just blessed him with the opportunity to witness
to his close family, and he ended up getting them saved, and that's exciting, amen, and
then that's kind of how you need to just be, if you happen to find yourself in a country
with no church, obviously, I'm not talking about America, but you find yourself maybe
in Dubai, or whatever the case, and you happen to come across Pastor Anderson, and you happen
to get saved, then what's next, what do you do, well, just start with those around you,
start with those that already have an interest in Christianity, and that's all we can do
for now, if you end up being in a country like Dubai, or in some other country like
brother Sam in Pakistan, because brother Sam, his way of witnessing in Pakistan, like I
said, is the most Muslim country in the world, is he just goes to church, and whatever opportunities
he can find with people at his church, he tries to get in the gospel, and those around
him, his friends, and everyone that he knows, he tries to get them saved, and of course
his church is not like our church, his church is a little bit watered down, but he still
understands that, hey, regardless, I need to grow, and praise the Lord for the internet,
so Sam who's in Pakistan can listen to Pastor Anderson and grow a little bit quicker.
You know, so what can I really do or recommend for people to do if they happen to find themselves
in a situation where they have no friends, no church, I mean, just from looking at scripture,
you know, this is all I really see is that, hey, if you're safe, and you happen to be
in a country, especially a Muslim country, and you're safe, I mean, just start with those
around you, and we see it, because I told you to go to Acts chapter number one, you
know, that's one of the things that we see in verse six, it says, and when they therefore
will come together, you know, they ask of him, Lord's saying, you know, will you restore
Israel, and of course you tell them, hey, it's not for you to know, but he wants you
to be witnesses, so we already saw that he wants us to just go out there, but another
thing that I highly would recommend to anyone who's listening in another country that is
hostile or if you're listening in a Muslim country, and I can't help but think that we
do have Christians in all these Muslim countries, because that's what the Bible says, that there's
going to be people of all nations, and I'm on the live stream sometimes, just there,
because I'll go in the back, and we're doing the money count, and we're just listening
to the preaching, but sometimes I see the comments, and there's people that are saying,
hey, you know, how's everyone, you know, I'm from Saudi Arabia, so we got people in Saudi
Arabia that listen, I don't know who that person is, but he seems to be commenting,
and he always says, hey, hi everyone, listening from Saudi Arabia, so I don't know what church
he's going to in Saudi Arabia, but this term is more geared to individuals like him that
may not have people like us to rely on, and this is what they have as their primary way
to grow, but they still need to go, amen, they still need to figure out how they can
get someone saved, whether it's their close friends, and obviously be smart about it,
you know, because that's all you can really do, and even the Bible tells you to be careful
talking to people that are going to waste your time.
The Bible says, he that is here, let him hear, so if someone's not interested out even in
this country, we just move on, we just go find somebody that is interested, you know,
so it's no different in other countries, now it's more dangerous in other countries, you
know, sometimes we're here, and if somebody obviously is Muslim, we kind of want to just
push Christianity down their throat, because we want them to know the truth, but you know
what, other people don't have that luxury because they do live in a hostile country
where if you end up doing that, you know, you could cause yourself some unnecessary
harm, but the Bible doesn't even tell us to talk to everyone, it talks about talking to
those that have ears to hear, because if we talk to people and they're not interested,
they're going to despise the wisdom of our words, so we just need to treat everyone,
you know, the same way no matter what country you are, if they're not interested, they're
not interested, if they can let you give them one verse, just give them one verse, and just
do your best to witness no matter where you're at, the person that listens from Saudi Arabia,
I don't know how he's doing soul winning, I don't know if he's a guy or a girl, but
at the end of the day, you do have to do some soul winning, so hopefully God will bless
you with the wisdom you need to succeed, and just look at the scriptures and realize that
yeah, it can get ugly and we're about to see, so let me just quickly finish with the sermon,
so obviously one thing we all need to do, regardless of where you live, whether you
live in a country that's like Pakistan, or you live in a country like America, we all
know based on Acts 1 that God wants us to be witnesses all over the place, amen?
The second thing that I obviously am going to recommend is that hey, listen, just do
what they're doing in the book of Acts, go ahead and go to Acts 13, so the other thing
as well, if you find yourself in a country like Pakistan, or a country where you're not
allowed to be a Christian like you are here in America, then what I would do if I were
you, I would get serious about prayer, and I would get serious about prayer real quick,
because if you live in a Muslim country, it can get ugly for you real quick, and what
you're going to need is you're going to need God's protection, and you have not because
you ask not, amen?
And we see that in Acts 1 13, I'll quickly go through these verses, St. Norman at a time
it says that when they were come, they went up into the upper room where were both Peter
and James and John, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus
and Simon and Judas the brother of James, these all continue one accord in what?
Prayer.
Prayer in what?
Supplication with the woman and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren, and that's
a good idea if you're in a hostile environment like they were, amen?
Go to Acts 3 1, and of course Jesus said in John 15 5, go ahead and go to Acts 3 1, I'll
just read from John 15 5, one of my favorite verses, he says, I am divine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me
ye can do nothing.
Matthew 7 7 says, ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it
shall be opened unto you, for everyone that asks shall receive it, and he that seeketh
findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
But I know there's a catch, Matthew 21 22 says this, in all things whatsoever ye shall
ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive.
So if I found myself getting saved and I found myself in a Muslim country, obviously if you
read the book of Acts you're going to see that God wants us to be witnesses all over
the world, and besides witnessing, yes, you better look at the scriptures and realize
what they were doing, they were getting into prayer and they were getting serious about
prayer because they were in an area that was dangerous, they were in an area that was
hostile to what they were doing, and that's similar to what people are doing in these
Muslim countries, you know, I'm talking about Christians, is that they have to be careful
and rely heavily on God, more than we usually do here, you know, so I try to be in the habit
of prayer, I try to always seek the Lord, you know, I try to pray every single day,
but sometimes things get in the way until bad things happen, and I don't want to wait
until bad things happen for me to have a prayer life where God is pleased with it, but you
know what, people that are in other countries that's more dangerous, they need to basically
focus on this a whole lot more than probably us, amen?
But another thing, if you're right there in Acts 3.1, another thing that's simple but
it can help, you know, people that are in these Muslim countries is just try to look
for any opportunities, even the littlest opportunities, and what do I mean by that?
Look what happened to Peter right here in Acts 3.1, it says, Now Peter and John went
up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, and a certain
man laying from his mother's womb was carried, whom they lay daily at the gate of the temple,
which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple, who seen
Peter and John about to go into the temple, asking alms, and Peter fastened in his eyes
upon him with John, said, Look on us, and he gave unto them, expecting to receive something
of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee in the name
of Jesus Christ, and after this rise up and walk.
And this is one thing that I found, and I even found this last night, is that there's
going to be poor people all over the place, there's going to be people like this individual
all over the place that are going to come to you and just look at those opportunities.
I mean, this story's in the book of Acts for a reason, and even when we weren't having
success, you know, we have people over there in Dubai, we had a Muslim man come up to us
just asking us for money because he had a wound, he had some kind of surgery, and he
couldn't work, so he comes up to me asking for money, and guess what, I didn't have any
because I honestly did not have any money, but silver and gold, I had none, but what
did I have?
Exactly right.
So at this point, it's like, hey, he's coming to me, so the best thing I could do is just
tell the man, hey, listen, I don't have money, but why don't I just pray for you right now
that that'll heal up, you know, why don't I just pray for you right now, would that
be okay?
And he was, no, no, I really need money, I really need money.
And I said, well, listen, I don't have money, but also more important than money is what?
Going to heaven.
So, hey, this happens in Mexico, this happens all over the place, this is in the book of
Acts for a reason, so what am I doing?
I'm just going over a few things that I see in the book of Acts that can help you no matter
what country you're in because these are the things that are expected of us.
So even Mexico can get a little dangerous if you're in an area that's too Catholic,
you know, but at the end of the day, hey, these are the things that they did and we
should kind of learn from what they're doing.
And so we saw that, yes, when there were witnesses, Peter got up in Acts chapter 2, started preaching
right away, they're all getting together and they're praying, and not just that, hey,
they see this man who's asking alms and what is he doing, silver and gold, have I none?
So they're using every little opportunity they can to try to preach the gospel and get
people saved.
Brother Sean Jolly is in here somewhere, I don't know where he's at right now, but one
of the memories I have with Sean Jolly is when we were in Mexico, and you probably remember
this story, we were at this restaurant and this lady comes up to Sean and guess what
she wants?
She says, hey, I'm poor and I need some money, you remember that?
We're at this restaurant eating in Mexico, it was the first missions trip we ever did,
and this lady comes up to you and I see you talking to this lady and I'm sure you were
doing the exact same thing they're doing here because afterwards she just walked away and
you're just telling us what happened and we're like, yo, what was that?
Oh, she needed money for whatever reason, you remember that story?
And what did you say?
You quoted this scripture.
You're like, hey lady, I don't have money to give, silver and gold, have I none?
You know, but hey, what did you tell her?
Hey, more important than the money is going to heaven, so you were taking the opportunities
that they're taking here in the book of Acts as well, amen?
So that's the one thing that I wanted to just talk to people about that are in these countries,
you just got to do something, you got to do whatever you can, just like the guy who had
the devil taken out of him, he started with his friends, Jesus says, hey, you know what,
you're all alone now, you're all by yourself, you know, go talk to your friends, go talk
to everyone you can, and obviously we see the apostles praying, so that's the other
thing I wanted to point out, and of course you see in Acts 3, just the littlest opportunity
that people may just skip out on, you know, hey, hear faithful word, I think we're more
alert to this than probably other Christians that try to be lovey-dovey, because I see
here, even when we know that this person just wants money, we try to get them saved.
This happened last night, who saw this guy hanging out in the parking lot last night?
Jesus knows what's up, this guy's in the parking lot as soon as they get out of the vehicle,
he's like, yo, yo, hey, hey, I'm a Christian, can I talk to you really quickly?
I'm like, man, I got to get in there, set up the live stream, I got like five minutes,
but come in here, we can talk after the services, come in, don't worry about it, just sit down
wherever, and he didn't.
And I guess he went after brother Ball, the young Ball, and he wouldn't let him leave
the parking lot, you know, so of course, hey, this guy's asking for money, but what are
we trying to do?
We're trying to get the guy saved.
At the end, what does he do?
He just ends up saying, no, I just want money, forget you guys, and he left.
You know, well, these people are all over the place, you have the poor always, right?
But hey, don't just like paint them with a, sorry, I'm missing a lot, don't just assume
they're all like that, because hey, once in a while, you'll get the one person that
is interested in salvation, amen?
And so that's the person that will get saved.
You know, so think about the littlest opportunities, because sometimes we want to do a lot, but
not everyone can do a lot, because you do live in a hostile country like Pakistan, you
can't do a lot, but do what you can, amen?
Everybody can pray, everybody can talk to their friends, I mean, are your friends really
going to turn you in if you're in Pakistan, to get you locked up and thrown away, you
know?
So I'm thinking like, hey, I don't know what to tell people except for that, you know,
but go ahead and go to Acts chapter number four, and I'll just quickly go through these.
So the other thing that I wanted to talk about is, yeah, you know what, if you're in these
countries that are just hostile towards you and you can't run free like us here, you know,
preaching Christianity, you know, besides obviously what I already talked about, hey,
you just got to go, you got to do something, figure it out, you know, just because you're
in a hostile country like Pakistan, you got to do something, you know, it's like, hey,
if you don't know what to do, you got to get into prayer, you got to become a good prayer
warrior, you also have to look for opportunities, but the other thing is, you know, you see
it all over the book of Acts, you just got to prepare yourself for persecution, because
it's bigger in these countries than everywhere else.
Now, you would think that a country that says, hey, you know what, come visit us, you know,
we want you to come check us out, come check out Dubai, come check out this, come check
out that, they surely wouldn't really care if you're just witnessing to other people
that are Catholic or whatever the case may be, but, hey, it got real for these guys that
were down there at one point, because that's all they were doing, they were going to parks,
just talking to other Filipinos, because they're very receptive, trying to get them safe, and
there was a guy who just did not like it, he just did not like it, and so he ends up
interrupting them, it's like, hey, what are you guys doing at this park, and they say,
oh, we're just talking, what are you guys talking about, oh, we're just talking about
our faith, what faith is this, oh, we're talking about Christianity, oh, we're not allowed
to do that, he's like, to my knowledge, we are, he said, okay, well, let's see what the
police think, so right away, what are they doing, they're trying to get them to stop,
and sure enough, what is he going to do, call the police, for what reason, just to get them
to stop, just because he doesn't like what he's hearing, and he's not even talking to
another Muslim, he's just talking to a guy who's Catholic, sorry about that, this is
the Holy Spirit telling me to wrap it up, amen, but that's one thing that, hey, if you
just read the book of Acts, one word comes to mind a lot, and that's persecution, you
see it just about everywhere, let's just take a look at a few verses, and then we'll end
up finishing this sermon, so we see right there in Acts chapter number 4, it says, and
as they spake unto the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and his agencies
came upon them, being great, that they taught the people and preached through Jesus Christ
the resurrection from the dead, and they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the
next day, for it was now even tied, now even though this is talking about Jewish people,
it's the attitude of false religion all over the place, you know, if you're saying something
that goes against what they believe, they're going to be all over you, so for my people
over in these countries, all over these countries that have to deal with Islam, you just got
to realize that this is something that's real serious in your country, hopefully you can
pray and God can move you to America, become part of the faithful word, and live happily
ever after, amen, but that's not the case, God asked you in Pakistan Sam for a reason,
and since you can't leave, you might as well start doing the best you can, and you already
know that persecution is real, and you don't have to read the Bible much to figure it out,
especially in the book of Acts, amen, you know, but of course, what are they to do,
well, I'll just read from Matthew 10 23, and when they persecute you in the city,
flee you into another, for verily I say unto you, you shall have not gone over the cities
of Israel, till the Son of Man has come, and Sam did get persecuted and he did flee, he
fled to Thailand, but guess what, they didn't get him asylum, they sent him back, so he's
back in Pakistan, but he's doing good, amen, you know, so I'll just wrap it up with this,
what can these guys really, really do, you know, at the end, all you can do is just try
your best to get the people around you safe, you know, if it's that heavy, where you're
going to go out there in the parks, and they're going to persecute you, the Muslims are not
going to like you, they're just going to come down you, try to arrest you, try to deport
you, whatever the case may be, then just be as smart as you possibly can, because do you
think that that stopped them from continuing to go, so what do you know, it didn't, you
know, they're just saying, hey, maybe this one guy just had some issue, but at the end
of the day, we have to go out, so they do make it an issue where they go out, even in
a Muslim country, at least once a week, to be able to give people safe, and of course
they're being smart about it, they're being wise about it, you know, they're like, hey,
let's just stick to witnessing the Filipinos, and if you happen to take a cab, and the cab
driver happens to ask you where you're from, what are you doing here, hey, he started it,
amen, so you finish it, I'm from America, I'm a missionary from faith-forward Baptist
church, we're out here just visiting Dubai, hey, you Muslim, yes, well, if you die, where
are you going, I don't know, well, listen, this is what the Bible says, and what is he
going to do, tell you to get out the cab, no, he's not, because he wants a tip, so he's
going to listen, but I guess if I can just have you guys remember one thing, if there's
anybody from a Muslim country that's listening, I don't know if Sam's even listening right
now or if he's ever going to listen to this, but if you can remember just one thing, if
you look at the book of Acts, just one thing and one thing alone, is simply this, if you're
there out there trying to get people saved, praying, you know, and if you're out there
just doing every little thing to get, you know, take advantage of every little opportunity
that God gives you, and not just that, you know, you're going through the persecution,
we all know how it all ends for the apostle Paul, and it's going to end for you and it's
going to end for me the same way, we stay faithful, we endure to the end, guess what,
there's always a happy ending, no matter how ugly it gets, how ugly did it get for the
apostle Paul, he was stoned, he was shipwrecked, he was cold, he was hungry, he was miserable,
he was persecuted from place to place, left for dead after he was stoned, it didn't go
pretty at all times, but the end result was what, a happy ending, and hopefully none of
you guys get stoned, I wouldn't want any of you guys to get stoned, hopefully you don't
get shipwrecked, you know, but we all know that you got to stay with it, no matter where
you are in this world, Muslim country or not, you just got to stay with it, you know, whatever
little you can do, and just keep reminding yourself, you know what, I'm just going to
go through it, no matter how bad it gets, because there is a happy ending for you, how
do we know we're right here, right there in Acts, right, go to Acts 28, 29, because after
all the suffering, all the pain, everything that happened to the apostle Paul, this is
how it ends in the book of Acts in chapter 28, verse 29, so while you guys are going
there, I'll just read from Psalm 16, therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices, my
flesh also shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will
thou suffer, thou only want to see corruption, thou wilt show me the path of life, in their
presence is fullness of joy, and thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore, I like
that part, pleasures, happiness, forevermore, but you're right there in Acts 28, we saw
how much, if you read the book of Acts, you'll see how much the apostle Paul went through
a lot of persecution, I mean, he's running, he's fleeing, they're taking him down a basket
to escape death, many times they plotted to kill him, because that's the next step, first
they try to shut you off, they threaten you, that doesn't work, then they're like, hey,
you know what, let's figure out how to kill this person, it's just how it is, and it's
more serious in other countries that are not Christian nations, but right here it simply
says this, and when, verse 29, and when he has said these words, the Jews departed, and
a great reason among themselves, and Paul dwelled two whole years in his own higher
house and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching
those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding
him, and at the end of it all, he wins, amen?
He wins.
Lord, I just want to remind everybody here, if you remember anything, just stay with it,
stay with Christianity, no matter where you're at, no matter where you live, Muslim, non-Muslim
country, Christian nation, whatever the case, you stay with it, and guess what, at the end
of the day, hey, no one's going to forbid you, you will win, there will be a happy ending
for you, let's pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for all that you've done, Lord, and I can't thank you enough for
the opportunities that you've given all the members here at Faithful Word, who preach
the word all over the world, and Lord, I just want to thank you for the leadership of Pastor
Anderson, the leader of these pastors in the NIFB, because they understand missions very
well, they all try to go to all of, you know, different places all over the world, and be
a blessing to those that may not be able to get the gospel straight to them, and so
Lord, I just ask you to bless this group here, and bless the next preachers that are going
to preach this week, and we ask you to do all this for your honor and glory, in Jesus'
name, amen.