you
will you find us watching
there
oh can you say
we are ready brother
ready for the
songs right on
we will sing
you and me
still watching waiting
waiting when the lord
shall come
man good start to our singing this morning
we want to go and ask lord's blessing on the service
your heavenly father
we come before you this morning and we thank you for the
privilege that we have to be in church this morning
we thank you for the safety you've allowed us
to have this week so that we're able to be here
we just ask lord your blessing upon us now as we
sing out these songs and praise
sent to you help us to be filled with your spirit
and be edified and lord that you'd also
please just uh prepare our hearts for the preaching
fill the preacher with your holy spirit
and uh give him the words to speak and that
all of us will be edified and that we have our hearts
and ears be open to receive the message
this morning and we'll thank you for all that takes
place in jesus name amen
him 396
396 so
little time him number
396
we'll sing it out together
on that verse so little time the harvest
will be over really focus on these
words now as we sing them
396
so little time
the harvest will
be over
are we being done
we reaper
sing and all
report our
word to jesus
lord of harvest
and hope he'll smile
and that he'll
stay well done
today we
reform this
our golden harvest
today
it's given us
our souls to win
all them to
save some
dear ones from the
burning
today will go on
to bring some
sinner in
how many times
i should have strongly
pleaded
how often did
i feel too
strengthfully worn
the spirit moved
oh had i
planned for jesus
the greatest
law when lost ones
not reborn
today we
reform this
our golden harvest
today
it's given us
our souls to win
all them to
save some
dear ones from the burning
today
we'll go
to bring some sinner
in
despite the heat
the ceaseless
full of hardship
the broken hearts
or those we
cannot win
it's understood
because we're on
the gale
still no regrets
will have us
for our sin
today we
reform this
our golden harvest
today it's
given us
our souls to win
all them to
save some
dear ones from the burning
today we'll
go to bring
some sinner in
a day of
pleasure
or a feast of friendship
a house
or car
or garment spare
or fame
we'll all be trashed
when souls are brought to
heaven
and then how sad
to face the slapper
flame
today we
reform this our golden
harvest
today it's
given us lost souls
to win
all them to save
some dear ones from
the burning
today we'll go
to bring some
sinner in
the harvest
winds when
the first few is wasting
and many
souls will
die and never know
the love
of Christ
the joy of sins
forgiven
oh let us weep
and love and pray
and go
today we
reform this our golden
harvest
today it's
given us lost
souls to win
all them to save
some dear ones
from the burning
today we'll
go to bring
some sinner in
alright at this time we'll quickly just go through
a couple of announcements
if you don't have a bulletin with the schedule
on the back go ahead and raise your hand we'll get one
of these to you so that you can get it
we got a hand up over here whoever's got these
to hand out
anyone?
so
we'll get you in a second sorry
on the back we've got
the detailed schedule
for the conference maybe take a picture of it with your phone
as well just so that you'll always have it with you
this supersedes
any of the soul winning times inside the bulletin
so don't think about
any of these soul winning times those are not
happening it's just going to be
the schedule on the back that's all
that we're doing for the next few days
so of course we got the morning service this morning
you're there you figured that out
and then you're on your
own for lunch but then at two
o'clock we're going to have
the roller skating put up your hand
if you need one sorry now we've got them being
handed out so keep your hand up nice and high
and we'll get those out to you
but we're going to have the roller skating
at two o'clock of course free of charge
everything's always free of charge here
so you just show up you're from the
church you're good to go
and make sure that you go to the
right location for roller skating
though are we in mesa or are we
in chandler okay
so there are two of these
skate land usa locations there's
one in mesa and one in chandler make
sure that you go to the one in mesa
i don't remember the address off
the top of my head but it is in
mesa so make sure that you go to
that one uh it's just like
straight east from here pretty much
and if you have any questions come see one of us
we'll make sure you get to the right place
and then that's going to go for
we have it reserved from two to
five so you could go for up to
three hours then we also have
a soul winning opportunity tonight at five
if you show up late for the soul winning
that's fine if you show up early for the
soul winning that's fine too so
we got leeway on that if you end up getting here
early and you're just ready to go soul winning
then we'll send you out
so uh five o'clock is just kind
of a rough time on that and then
we'll be back for another service
tonight at seven
also i think that we probably should tally
up the soul winning each day just because
i think that some people might be kind of coming
and going from the conference and they might
not be here on sunday to report
so let's go ahead and just tally up
any soul winning from yesterday
okay was there was there any soul
winning to report from yesterday
okay let me write these down okay gotcha
got it got it
got
it got it is that what
number is that is that okay got
it what's
that
to who
oh gotcha it was
you doubled up got it perfect okay i won't
do that again then all right
anybody else that i missed from
yesterday okay and then we'll
we'll we can uh tally it
up again tonight we'll just tally it up each day
just that way we don't lose track
when people go out of town
also don't forget to get your passport
stamped at each service
uh there are the little passports that you can
pick up back there to get your stamps
if you get the whole
thing filled in we'll have a prize for you
on sunday night and then
um the option also is to do it in
the back of your bible now
you know the passport idea versus the
bible idea here's the thing
about the bible idea is that you're less
likely to lose your bible
than you are to lose your passport we've had
a few passports already get lost in my
family so we we've got
that resolved but anyway you can
either use the passport
or you can just open the back of your bible
and collect them there and either way
on sunday night if you've got your
passport all dialed in then
you will get a prize all
right i think that that is it for announcements
what do you got
okay so if you
do need a ride to the
roller skating rink we will
run the church van at
130 so most people will just
drive there on their own but
if you need a ride we've got a church
van ready to run at 130
to get you to roller skating what time is that
van going to come back then is it going
to go all the way till five or is it going to go
until four thirty or what's what's that van going to do
Ramon
okay so yeah so there if you
if you choose to take the ride
then you'll leave here at one thirty
and then you'll get back here at five
you'll be leaving the the roller rink at
four thirty so that's an
option most people will drive themselves
but we definitely are ready to give rides if you
don't have a vehicle we want to help you
out and that should be it for
announcements let's sing our next song
alright we'll sing one more song before the reading of the scripture
you should find the insert in front of your hymnal
with the song entitled we've a story
to tell to the nations
let's go ahead and sing it out together on that first
we have a story to tell to the nations
thou shalt turn their hearts to the right
let's sing it out together
we've a story
to tell to the
nations
that shall turn their hearts
to the right
a story
of truth and sweetness
a story
of peace and light
a story
of peace and
light
for the darkness shall turn
to dawning
and the dawning to
noonday bright
and Christ's
great kingdom shall come
on earth the kingdom
of love and
light
we've a song to be sung
to the nations
that shall lift their hearts
to the Lord
a song that
shall conquer evil
and shatter
the spear and sword
and shatter
the spear and sword
for the
darkness shall turn to
dawning
and the dawning to
noonday bright
and Christ's
great kingdom shall come
on earth the kingdom
of love and light
we've a
message to give to the
nations
that the Lord who reigneth
above
has sent us the
one to save us
and show us
that God is love
and show us
that God is love
for the darkness
shall turn to
dawning
and the dawning to
noonday bright
and Christ's
great kingdom shall come
on earth the kingdom
of love and light
we've a savior
to show to the
nations who the
path of sorrow
had drawn
that all of the world's
great peoples
might come to the
truth of God
might come to
the truth of God
for the darkness
shall turn to
dawning
and the dawning to
noonday bright
and Christ's
great kingdom shall come
on earth the
kingdom of love
and light
that's a good
thing of this morning
all right
at this time we will read our
scripture and we'll have brother
nick come what is the passage
acts chapter 6
and follow along silently with brother
nick as he reads acts chapter
6 beginning in verse number 1 we'll read the whole
chapter acts
chapter number 6 follow along
silently with brother nick as he reads
acts chapter
6 the bible reads
and in those days
when the number of the disciples was
multiplied there arose a murmuring of the
grations against the hebrews because their widows
were neglected in the daily ministration
then the 12
called the multitude of the disciples unto
them and said it is not
reason that we should leave the word of God
and serve tables
wherefore brethren look ye out
among you seven men of honest
report full of the holy ghost and
wisdom whom we may appoint over
this business but we will
give ourselves continually to prayer
and to the ministry of the word
and the saying pleased the whole multitude
and they chose Stephen a man
full of faith and of the holy ghost and
Philip and Prochorus and
Nicanor and Timon and
Parmenas and Nicholas a proselyte of
Antioch whom they set before the
apostles and when they had prayed they
laid their hands on them and the
word of God increased and the number of the
disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly
and a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith
and Stephen full of faith and
power did great wonders and miracles
among the people
then there arose certain of the synagogue
which is called the synagogue of the
Libertines and Cyrenians
and Alexandrians and of them of Cilicia
and of Asia disputing with Stephen
and they were not able to resist the
wisdom and the spirit by which he
spake then they suborned men
which said we have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses
and against God and
then they stirred up the people
and the elders and the
tribes and came upon him and called him
and brought him to the council and set
up false witnesses which said
this man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous
words against this holy place and the
law for we have heard him say
that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place and shall change the
customs which Moses delivered us
and all that sat in the council
looking steadfastly on him saw his
face as it had been the face of an
angel
Dear Lord
Heavenly Father we just thank you for this day and we thank you for all the
blessings you've given us and we just
pray that the rest of the conference would be successful Lord
we ask that you fill brother Segura with
your Holy Spirit that we would be edified
we thank you and pray this all in Jesus name Amen
Amen
So really quickly I just want to say thank you
to everyone once again for taking the time
to come here I know it's a sacrifice
especially when you travel so we're hoping to be
the biggest blessing we can for you this week
and also thank you once again
everyone that helped to decorate I believe
they're doing a great job Amen
and it's a tough job my family came
home at 2 a.m
okay 1 53 a.m. but
it's still pretty much 2 a.m.
you know so they're working hard setting things up
so I just want to take a moment to say that we
appreciate you Jenny we appreciate
you great job and everybody else
that clean and has decorated and
also the preachers because I know it's hard to preach as
well so thank you once again and also
thank you pastor for your vision you know
to send us all over the place so we can
fulfill the great commission Amen
Alright so if you have your Bibles go ahead and go
to verse number 8 in Acts
chapter number 6
Quick little funny story I was actually going to have brother Nick
read Acts 8 but I realized
that brother Kinosho had
asked 8 last night so officially
changed it this morning right before
the service not right before but an hour
or so just because I wanted to take it easy
on him I told him to read Acts chapter number 6
it fits and it's short 15 verses
nice and sweet so I don't have to kill him
this week because he's going to be reading for everybody
else Amen
Alright so the title of my sermon is this
Stay Humble
Sowing in Santo Domingo
So if you're right there in Acts 6
I want you to look at verse number 8
and it says in Stephen full of faith and power
did great wonders and miracles
among the people and this of course where they
picked men to help the apostles
you know with the work of the Lord
and so they chose Stephen
you know why because he was a man full of faith
and here's the thing it says he was full of faith
and power verse number 9 then there are roles
starting at the synagogue which is called the
synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians
and Alexandrians and of Demas, Alesia and
Asia disputing
with Stephen. Listen sometimes
it's great when missions trips go well
but listen if you're doing some work for the
Lord if you're full of faith and power you can
take it to the bank the devil knows it
and he's going to do everything he can to send his
minions just like we see in this story. Amen
Amen
So one thing you'll see that you have to be able to have
in order to deal with these minions
we'll get there soon enough
but let's just keep reading
It says then they suborn men
they suborn men
in simple words suborn means to trick
or persuade someone to do something
dishonest or illegal
don't make that the truth
that's what the devil would love to do
is get you, you, you that are here right now
he would love to suborn you
and trick you into doing something
dumb like hating us
for no reason leaving the church
for no real reason
and guess what the devil has been doing this
since the days of Stephen. Amen
and how does he do it? By getting wicked men
getting wicked men
to suborn good people like yourself
and myself and guess what
the devil's always looking
to see who's the person I can trick
and deceive to get him to do my
dirty work
and especially when we're talking about worldwide
missions you can just expect it that he knows
that we have a trip to Jamaica
and he's already plotting and planning
and getting ready to trip you all up
and to make you not want to go out there
and do it again later on
but one thing that's going to help you to continue
the Christian life is to stay humble
Amen
and it says that the suborn men
which said we have heard him speak
blaspheming words against Moses and against
God and they stirred up the
people. Isn't this how they always work
when they try to destroy churches?
They suborn good people and they
stir up people to try to destroy us
and the elders as well
these are the people that are in charge and should know
better so I need to take
heed. Now it's hard for me to call myself
an elder because I don't consider myself
to be that old or that
wise with that experience
but at the end of the day the elders is
the leadership and of course
everything crumbles if you can go after the
leadership and get them to crumble. It's just
how life is. So it says
and the scribes came up and caught him and brought
him to the council and set up false witnesses
isn't that how they work
which said this man seeks enough to speak blaspheming
words against this holy place
and the law and these wicked people
that are setting up false witnesses they're acting
all holy. Look what he's doing
setting up blasphemous words against this
holy place. They want to talk
all holy but on the inside they're horrible people
and they want to talk great
about the law but they don't even follow the law
Why? Because they're hypocrites
that's why. Except for we
have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth
shall destroy this place and shall change the
customs which Moses delivered us
and all that sat in the council
looking steadfastly on him
saw his face as he had been
the face of an angel
and I wish I could have seen that face
but if you stop and look at what's
going on Stephen is
full of power he's full of faith
he's doing great works for God and the
devil knows it and he sends wicked people
to try to get people to
turn on Stephen but if you
look at what he does hey I don't know
if you noticed what was going on
but when I read this it says they saw his face
that he had been the face of an angry person
no
the face of a what?
angel so it looks to me
like what's happening he's getting attacked
out doing God's work and it looks
to me like Stephen is staying
humble he's staying humble
maybe he's smiling back
hearing all the accusations
seeing all the false witnesses
but yet they looked at him and it says he had the
face of an angel why? Because he's standing
there humble it's almost like he's enjoying
the show because he knows
this is persecution amen
go to Acts 8 go to Acts 8 as best you can
obviously you got to Acts 6 skip
a chapter go to Acts 8
and see one of the things
that are going to help you to have the most
success that I've noticed when you
do these mission trips if you're thinking of doing
one is to work on your humility
it's to be humble
it'll increase your chances of having
the highest results but let's face it
if you're paying your own way it can be
expensive it can go past
the thousands of dollars it'll
probably average the average mission trip if you're
going to buy your flight if you're going to pay
for whatever food
you name it or even hotels
it can get between $15 to $2
at the bare minimum even to go someplace
that's affordable like Santo Domingo where the
average flight round trip is about
$650 not too expensive
but then you got to count if you're going to pay for
your own hotel room and your food
maybe a little bit of transportation a little
fun money and if you
count the cost it can get to about $1600
easy so you want to go
there and come back with the best results
as possible and it's going to take
humility and let's look at
Acts 8 when I think of humility I think of Philip
and here's why go to Acts 8
and then in verse 29 it says this
Then the Spirit said unto Philip go
near and join yourself to this chariot
and Philip
ran Philip ran
thither to him when was the last time
you ran to get somebody saved
I can't remember the last time I ran
I can tell you maybe the last time I walked fast
but I don't remember
the last time I saw somebody I was like
wait I got to sprint to that guy and give him the gospel
the reason I'm not
sprinting is because I don't want to freak him out
but in reality
think about what's going on here
Philip is running to this guy
you know he doesn't know if this guy
is going to yell at him he doesn't know if this guy
is going to look at him weird you know
but he's taking a gamble
why because he knows that it's worth it
he knows what he's doing he's going to try to get this individual
saved and the Holy Spirit is telling him to go
so when I see somebody running
when I see Philip running I think man this guy
must be a humble individual not to care
what people think he is running
to go do what the Holy Spirit told him to do
he says then he heard him read prophet Isaiah
and said understand this
thou wilt thou read this and he said
how can I except some man
should guide me and he desired
Philip that he will come up and
sit with him now this is just three verses
but you can learn a lot just from
these three verses one thing you'll see
it says that the Spirit said unto Philip
go go near and join
thyself to this chariot
so here's here's what's going on
he's telling Philip go and
I'm sure he's using Philip because Philip
is being obedient
so one thing that you want to do when you
go out on these missions trips is to
ready to be obedient to ready to
obey and to obey right away and to
obey all day every day let me just give
you some verses proverbs 23 17 says
this let thy heart envy
or let not thy heart envy sinners
but be down in the fear
of the Lord all the
day long
seems like God wants us to have obedience
all the day long not half the day
but he wants to have that mentality that God
at least wants you to understand that God
wants you to be obedient all the day
long proverbs 28 14 says this
happy is the man that feareth
all way all way
so God wants you to fear all way
what does that mean God wants you to obey
the person that fears God is obeying
God that's what happens is that the
fear of the Lord caused us to depart from evil
but just a couple of verses to show you
that God wants you to be ready all day to
obey him he wants you to obey him all day
nobody has a license to sin and we know
that's impossible but that's the
expectation that God wants you to at
least try not to get yourself in sin
and to be trying all day long not
to envy all day long amen
but what you see
next it says to him Philip ran theater to him
and to hear him read the prophet says
to him understand it's what I read it so I'm sorry
it says that he he ran to him
and the thing is this if you want to have
the most success the most
funnest missions trip you kind of have to
get yourself in a little
bit of shape amen
and I'll bring that up I'll explain why
later you know one of the lessons
that I learned in Santo Domingo is that I
need to get in a little better shape because it was
wearing me out walking everywhere
talking so much and I was like
man I am getting out of shape I need
to help get myself in better shape
you know but also
the other thing that we see
that we can learn it says that
you know he said how can I set some mental
guide me he desired Philip he desired
Philip that he will come up and sit with
him and that's a good so many tip
you know if I were to talk to my kids and give him so many
tips I would say look what's going on here
you know Philip is wasting his time
with somebody that desires
to hear him that desires
to hear him and we need to
be open to that we need to pay attention to that
because you don't want to waste your time on
someone that doesn't have ears to hear
amen so not
just that it says yeah come sit with me
so just in these three verses
which you can see some things is that the
spirit is telling Philip go Philip
is automatically doing it which shows
you that Philip is ready to obey
not just ready to obey but ready
to obey right away
and that's the kind of people we need to be when
we go on these missions trips you know
you need to be somebody that's ready to obey
and ready to obey right away
sometimes for your safety
I mean when I go to South Africa
Pastor always reminds me make sure you
listen to Pastor Bogart
make sure you do what he tells you
right away because
he's there for your safety and I hope
I'm doing a good job Pastor Bogart
I hope I don't give you a hard time when you're like
hey get in the car get in the car we got to go
he says get in the car I'm like
where's it at whoosh
I don't need to ask him why
he's trying to keep us safe amen
and it's the same with our children
children listen up no I'm just kidding
but it's a fact imagine
if I were to say hey this trash can needs to be
taken out you know it's like we need to
and then all the kids jump up
they're fighting over it it's like whoa
this floor needs to be mopped
and they're all like rushing to get the mop
wouldn't that be an awesome thing to see every time right
but wouldn't you as a parent
but wouldn't you as a parent be like
whoa man I love telling these kids
what to do because I know they're going to do it right away all day
and yeah that's the
you know fantasy world I want to live in amen
but that's the goal kids
right away it'll go better for you
and not only that
but go ahead and go to Luke 10
go to Luke 10
so what's the title of my sermon
stay humble
obviously the sermon is about
and I'll talk about
Dominican Republic in a minute
or probably towards the end
but I want to just lay the foundation as to what I think
if somebody were to say hey what's a good
when I go on missions I would just tell you
to stay humble what does that look like
I'll explain it in a second
the thing about Phillip as well is that
when he was desired you know by
the eunuch to sit with him
you know it's probably he was probably used
the Holy Ghost in his story because Phillip knew what he was doing
you know he knew how to give the gospel
and that's another thing if you want the Holy Spirit
to use you like Phillip
aim for that
aim to be the person that's ready to go
hand always raised
tell the Lord hey send me I'll go
well that's great that's one step
also hey listen if you're out of shape
you might want to get into better shape
because it's going to help you win more souls
because then you can go longer
you won't gas out as much
you know and I'm not saying you need to be on steroids
or anything like that
which is stupid it's harmful to the body
and it doesn't help you in the long run
you know but I am saying hey
you know if you get in decent shape
you can do a little bit more go a little bit extra
you know it's just facts
you know because I went to Santo Domingo
and I wasn't in the best shape possible and I was
gassing out a little too much and I'm like man
this is embarrassing I need to start running again
I'm just being
honest as to what I learned during my time
in Santo Domingo and of course
when it comes to giving the gospel
hey this opportunity to go to Santo Domingo
was not something that I planned
that was of the Holy Ghost is the way I see it
I wasn't planning to travel the whole year
but then comes the phone call
hey what you doing around this time
I don't know what's up
what about Santo Domingo what do you think
I'm like hey my hands always raised
tell me when and where
this time at this time I'm like well let me check with pastor
he's like hey sounds good to me
you know that's just all that happened
the Holy Spirit said hey you're not in the best shape possible
but you're good enough
but one thing that I did
figure out right away when I got saved
is that I need to get good at soul winning
not because I want to travel the world because I saw that
that's something important to know how to do
I mean I'm literally like
able to save people from hell for all
eternity and that's what I focused on
a lot it was just like any little
thing I can get my hands on to talk about soul winning
I would do it a book by Jack Hiles
a video here a CD there
anything and everything but at the time 25 years ago
there wasn't really anything
but praise the Lord for the work that pastor Anderson
has done and the other pastors as well
there's a massive amount of stuff on the internet
that can help you be a good soul winner
you know so I look forward to the future
cause now we got stuff out there that man
it's easy to find
and the people on internet land don't know where to look
email me I'll send you a link of all of pastor Anderson's
videos when he did a soul winning seminar
in Detroit it'll be yours free of charge
you'll have it tonight
so here's the thing
get good at soul winning that's gonna help you out
hey practice makes perfect
and if I can give somebody one tip
as far as like how to get good at soul winning
you just gotta practice practice practice
the best salesman out there guess what they do
they practice practice practice practice practice
they practice 30 minutes before
they even get to work
they're practicing their pitch
they're practicing whatever they can
the rejections you know whatever thing
they go over it so they can do the best
job possible when it comes to
settling why cause they want the most results
you know the best results is possible
and as God's people we should do that
as well you know going out soul winning
it will help you but not if
you're in an unreceptive area like Awatukee
amen
everybody knows about Awatukee that goes to this church
it's virtually impossible to give the gospel
out there I went out there for 90 days
and nobody I was able to drop a
seed here and there but nobody let me give them
the gospel but I wanted to
get rid of it so y'all don't have to do it amen
self sacrifice
but then God blessed me after that cause
guess where he sent me back to South Africa
easy salvation
20 a day 10 a day
15 a day you know so
of course I was blessed for all that hard time I put in
but it takes humility
to keep going it takes humility not to quit
amen you're right there in Luke 10
I've been getting ideas from
Brother Raymond and also from
at Kenosha as to what to talk about
and Luke 10 kind of gives me an idea
that I don't really think
a lot of us think about when it comes to missions
but Luke 10 says this
now here's the thing this wasn't an official soul winning
I guess you could say trip
that we announced or anything
cause it was just one guy having an idea
and by the way this individual didn't even speak
Spanish but we'll get to that in a second
but it was just like hey I'm interested in going there
but I don't just want to go there to vacation I want to go there
and get some people saved but I don't speak the lingo
but I want to go there cause that place looks cool I've been wanting to go there
for a while you know what I want you to come with me
so you can at least help me with some souls
and we can have a little bit of fun while we're there I'm like sure
why not you know so when it comes to
missions trips you don't always have to wait
for a big group to get something going
you know you can start thinking well what
about me and this guy cause honestly
the best lonely trips that I've had
is when it's two but four
and no more cause we can all fit in one car
and we can all be together the entire time
and that's how we were aiming at it was like
okay well me and you maybe a couple more
ask church members here and there nobody could do it
so I was like well I guess it's just me and you
then he's like well bring a couple of your boys
I'm like well they don't speak Spanish it's like it doesn't matter
they can help us maybe talk to some kids
and I'm thinking now you're thinking
so they got lucky that it was him
suggesting it to bring your boys with you
and we're like hey we'll keep it in four no more
so that way we don't have to worry about getting two cabs
we can freely move and if we split
up I go with one of your kids you go with the other one
and we get more people saved and we'll
come up with a game plan when we get there
cause it wasn't something that I really studied out
I didn't study Santo Domingo I didn't study the Dominican
Republic I'm just in my office answering emails
trying to just do my work and then
I get a phone call next thing you know it's like hey I want
to go to Santo Domingo I'm like yeah man
if you're ready I'm ready whenever you want to go
unless there's something going on and then we
picked the date we ended up going there
but then I thought of this verse it's like man you know what
it is kind of cool to go two and two or at least
four and no more cause you got a small team
it's easy to move around with and maybe you guys
can start thinking about doing more places
and maybe who knows before I die
I would like to at least have faith for word visit
every country on this planet amen
so we need volunteers
you know we need people to step up and be like yo
help out me and Eric help out me and this guy help out me
and that guy you know so I
guarantee you one thing whatever comes in financially
it always goes to those things
you know it always goes to saving souls
you know I pity the people that send money
to individuals that don't do any soul winning
whatsoever you know they're
going to regret that for all eternity I could have used
that to send this brother that brother to their country
so they can get some people saved
you know but let's not make those mistakes
that other people have made amen
alright so now that you're there
go to second chronicle 714
second chronicle 714 don't worry
I'll get into some of the mingle stories
and don't worry I'm keeping an eye on the clock
I got a big clock this time just because I want to
make sure that we keep things
on schedule amen
60 minutes or less guys
alright don't worry I'm keeping an eye on the clock
I know you guys were having nightmares
from the last couple of days amen
I got your back I think of you guys
alright before I do anything
I'm looking at the big fat
clock right there so I don't lose time because
you're preaching you can get in the zone
but what is the title of my
sermon stay humble stay humble
humility is an important thing
and then I'm going to get into more specifics in a second
but let me just remind you guys
you guys are going to second chronicle 714
I'm just going to read a few verses on humility
James 4.10 humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord
and He shall lift you up Proverbs 22.4
by humility and the fear of the Lord
are riches and honor in life
1 Peter 5.6 humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that He may
bless you in due time Colossians 3.12
put on therefore as the elect of God holy and
beloved bowels of mercy kindness
humbleness of mind
meekness longsuffering
Matthew 23.12 and whosoever shall
exalt themselves shall be abased and he
that shall humble himself shall be exalted
Proverbs 18.12
before destruction the heart of men is
haughty and before honor
is humility so the thing
about humility is that
I'm going to read Zephaniah
I told you guys to go to second chronicles
so let me just make sure
that I have it in here
because I think I might have left it out
but I got second chronicles
semi memorized that says
no I do have it here
but let me just read from Zephaniah 2.3
and this is an important thing about humility
you know and I'll explain why in a second
Zephaniah 2.3 says this
seek ye the Lord
oh ye meek of the earth
meekness is another way of saying
you know it's not an arrogant individual
it's not a prideful person but in Zephaniah
something super important something I want you guys to remember
when you do do missions in the future
it says seek ye the Lord
oh ye meek of the earth which shall rot his judgment
seek righteousness
obviously that's a big duh
seek meekness and why
it may be ye shall
be hid in the day
of the Lord's anger
ye may be hid
in the day of the Lord's anger
what are we seeing here
it's saying listen stay humble
obey me and God says
when I get angry and I pour out my punishment
you're going to be hidden
in other words you're going to be protected
protected
that's a very important thing
when you're out there in the mission field
don't allow yourself
to get arrogant
to get prideful
because then you'll get comfortable
and you can become a victim
hey what we're sending people
but you just never know
i.e. Jamaica
wasn't there a church that just went down there
that kind of likes to copy us
do what we do but you know it is what it is
and they ended up having their people
get robbed at gunpoint
Bahamas my bad
not Jamaica Bahamas
thank you for the correction
but guess what it can happen anywhere
hey it could even happen
I don't know here
but I believe that God will protect you
unless you are obviously
getting a little cocky
then he has to give you a slice of humble pie
it will happen
and I don't know how many times
God has protected us
out there in the mission field
but I'm sure one day we'll find out when we're in heaven
but just remember
hey your cockiness
your arrogance
that hey I know what I'm doing
I can leave my group
I can be on my own
don't worry about me, worry about yourself
we need to be careful doing that
because God doesn't like it
he absolutely doesn't
if you want to have a successful trip
you want to increase your chance of having a super successful trip
you have to be humble
and not get too cocky, too comfortable
that will be the individual that almost
gets robbed
or does get robbed as we saw in the case
of the Bahamas
2nd chronicle 714
714 says this
if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves
and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal their land
go to Proverbs 25
Proverbs 25 the reason I wanted to go over
this verse because it clearly says
shall humble themselves
and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways
then will I hear from heaven
so one of the things that we see is obviously
besides turning from your sin is humility again
and if you want to
ask God to protect you
to help you, to guide you, to lead you
because sometimes these are recon trips
sometimes these are like first time
missions trips and you don't really know where to go
well if you want God to be with you
one of the ways to ruin that
is to go in there with a cocky attitude
it says humble themselves
pray, then he's going to hear from heaven
and he will guide you
and he will help you
God is telling you that being humble
will bring God's protection upon you
being humble will also have God answer your prayers
God we want to bring
a lot of people to the Lord
we want to have a super successful trip
hundreds, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred people
two thousand, whatever the case may be
you know what, God wants that as well
so go in there with a humble attitude
a clean heart and God will be with you
and his will will be done
Amen?
It would be horrible to find out that you could want more souls
you know, had you been a little bit more humble
God would have allowed you to go to certain places
you know, but because of your cockiness
or whatever the case may be
you know, he didn't do that because you would have just got yourself
in a little bit of trouble, going in the wrong areas
more dangerous areas or whatever the case
but we see that God says humble yourselves
pray, seek his face, and he will hear from heaven
and don't you guys pray when you're out there in the missions fields
when it looks a little ugly, like Lord protect us
they don't look too safe
oh Lord look at these roads
we don't want to go off this cliff
we don't want to go off these roads
you know, but hey, humility will keep you protected
and God will answer you
but also what it will do
is it will guide you
being humble will help God guide you
Psalms 25 says this
the meek will he guide
in judgment
Amen?
and also, I'm going to speed it up a little bit
it also will, I guess you could say, enlighten you
in other words, when you're humble
and you're out there in the mission field
hey, he'll hear your prayers
he'll help you out, he'll guide you
and he'll enlighten you
Psalms 25, 9, the second part says this
and the meek will he teach
his way, he'll teach you where to go
he'll teach you how to deal with certain situations
and it clearly says the meek
the first part says the meek
will he guide, and the second part says
the meek will he teach
and when I'm in the mission field, I'm like Lord
teach me how to deal with these people a little bit more
I don't know their culture, how may I be the best
ambassador that I can
you know, besides protecting me Lord
besides guiding me, hey, I want you to help me
I want you to give me the smarts to deal
with whoever I'm dealing with
so I can get them saved, so I can do everything I can
to have the highest results possible
but the other thing, and this is
I believe an important one, another thing
that staying humble will help you do
is it'll help you get along with people
it'll help you get along with people
and listen
if humility
just got me protected
I'll be happy with that, because I don't want to get killed
in the foreign field, amen
I just don't, I don't want to get robbed
I don't want to get stabbed, I don't want to die
so if me, I'm like Lord, I just want you to protect me
you know, that would be awesome enough
but also it does benefit you in other ways
to be humble, and one of the key ways
is it'll help you get along with people
I don't know if I told you to go to Proverbs 13
but go ahead and go to Proverbs 13 if you can
Proverbs 13
is one of the verses that keeps popping up
recently
you know, at least for me, every time I think about this
every time something happens, I think of this verse
you know, but if you're going there
I'll just start reading it, but Proverbs 13
says this
only by pride cometh contention
only by pride
cometh contention, but with the well
advised is wisdom
and what's the opposite of pride?
humility
so what is the issue when we have issues with other people?
pride
hopefully it's not on your side, hopefully it's on their end
but as much as we can, we need to be at peace with one another
but we need to also be careful
that we're not the prideful ones
that are making things harder in the group
amen?
and when it comes to pride
here's the thing, we know the opposite of pride
is humility
another thing for humility, I guess you can say, is harmony
let me give you a simple definition of harmony
harmony is when people
or things work well together
without conflict
it's a feeling of peace
agreement, and getting along
easily
getting along easily
so pray God, help me with humility
Lord, help me to be a humble person
because I want to be a big blessing when I go on these missions trips
I want you to be on our side the entire time
I want you to protect us, guide us
teach us how to deal with the locals
and I also want
to get along with everyone on the trip
help me with humility
and if anything, you're like
oh, I see what you're saying brother girl
but hey, let me think about it
well at the bare minimum, being humble is something that's commandment
or it's a commandment, it's commanded
so if you don't do it, you're in sin
and I would be careful if I were you
going to another nation when you've got sin in your heart
I would be very careful if I were you
but Micah 6 says this
He has showed thee, O man, what is good
and what does the Lord require of thee
but to do justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with thy God
so go ahead and go to Isaiah 66
and I'm just going to quickly give some tips
on how to become more humble
something that you can easily see
in the word of God
if you can get Isaiah 66 2, that's great
if not, you can meet me at Joshua 1
Isaiah 66 2 says this
for all those things have my hand made
all those things have been
saved the Lord
but to this man will I look
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit
and trembleth at my word
so a person who's poor
is a person who's needy
a person who realizes, hey, they can't do it on their own
a person of a contrite spirit
is not somebody who just feels sad
it's somebody who's sad for their own sins
somebody who feels bad for the bad stuff
that they've done
so it's a good thing to have a contrite heart
it's a good thing to not just look at people
but look at yourself and realize, man, I've done wrong
and I truly feel bad for the stuff I've done wrong
so I just need to realize that
I need to confess it, forsake it, and move on
but not to get too arrogant
and start looking at others and start saying
I'm glad I'm not like this person
you know, because that's not what God likes
but it's clear that it says that, hey, trembleth
at my word, and reading God's word
will help you to get humility
Joshua 1 says this
this book of the law shall not depart out of my mouth
but that shall meditate therein
day and night that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein
for then thou shall make that way prosperous
and then thou shall have
good success
I'm sure when you plan a missions trip
I'm sure when you want to go somewhere
you want to have good success, do you not?
but one way to do it is to do what?
please God
He's the one that's going to give you that success
and how's He going to do it?
you already saw the many verses out there
where God is saying, stay humble, fear Me
do what's right, and I'll give you good success
meditate on my word
and that's one thing that's going to help you
but Deuteronomy 17.14
I love preaching on this
I love saying it as much as I can
why? because I think we all need to hear it as much as possible
and if you can, go to Deuteronomy 17
go ahead and meet me in verse number 18
I'm just going to read in verse number 14 that says this
when thou art coming to the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee and shall possess it
and shall dwell therein and shall say
I will set a king over me like as all the nations
that are about me
then I'm just going to skip to verse 18
just to let you know what's going on
here Moses is teaching the children of Israel
when you decide you're going to have a king
that's what I want, verse 18
and it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne
that he shall write him
not read him, write him
a copy of this law in a book
out of that which is before the priest, the Levites
and it shall be with him and he shall read therein
all the days of his life
so what do we see?
a guy is becoming king
what does Moses say he should do?
write himself a copy of the law
and what should he do with that?
read it all the days of his life
to feel the Lord
to keep all the words of this law
and these statutes to do them
that his heart
this is the part I want you to see
that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren
so what's the results of reading the Bible
all the days of your life?
yes it's great to feel the Lord
yes you're going to keep all the words of this law
because the more you read the Bible
the more you remember his commandments
the higher chance you'll obey him
but also above everything
keep it from being a prideful individual
and that's not what you want when you go on these trips
you want to be as humble as possible
because when things go bad
you'll be easily able to adapt to them
when things go wrong
like getting attacked by whoever to get you to stop
just do what Stephen did, just stand there and smile
like the face of an angel
and just take it and then figure out what to do next
amen?
so if you have your Bibles
go ahead and go to Acts 2 16
so what does it look like
when there's somebody that I would consider
hey this guy is a humble individual
here's what I'd say it looks like
similar to Stephen
it's somebody that's willing to preach to everyone
somebody that's willing to preach to everyone
somebody that's willing to go up to anybody
anybody, everybody
I think that person is practicing humility
or has humility
what does that look like?
somebody that's across the street
and they're too embarrassed to cross the street
to go talk to that individual
it's called pride
that's what it's called
you don't want to cross the street to go talk to that individual, why?
because you're afraid that
he may reject you
what is that called?
pride
what else?
I would say being afraid to talk to a group
just walking up to a group just standing there
why are you afraid?
because of pride
and in these mission trips
if you want to come back with the best results
you have to go up to groups
you have to be willing to go up to people
that may not look very friendly
sometimes a little scary
amen
the big dude with the tattoos
they're like, I don't know about this guy
the kid with the t-shirt that says
something bad about cries or whatever
you're like, oh this guy ain't gonna want to hear it
I have so many experiences
where I'm like, I don't know about this person
and it turned out to be good
and I have some experiences where I'm like, oh
for sure he's gonna listen, and he doesn't
so a person that's humble
hey, they're willing to go to anyone
right?
I have this thing, anyone, anytime, anyplace
anywhere
unless they're in their underwear
that's kind of my policy
and those that are laughing
I don't want to ask
but I'm sure if you go out so
long enough
you answer that door and you're like, bro, really?
whitey tighties?
what are you, watching the Simpsons, bro?
what is this?
or excuse me, they're not in their underwear
they're in their two-piece swimsuit
teenagers partying in the back
they open the door and they're like, are you serious?
and they just want to provoke you
to react in a certain way
I'm not gonna get too much into that
but they weren't trying to do anything horrible
but come on, it's like, we got Bibles in our hands
what do you guys want? what do you think we want?
you know, it's like
really? it's like, you guys are swimming
bikinis, why even open the door?
you know?
I don't know, if it hasn't happened, it will happen
or in a guy in a dress or something
because apparently some pastors don't get that
I'll talk about that if I want to
but here's the thing
when it comes to Santo Domingo
what really happened? like I told you guys
one phone call says it all, hey, yeah, you wanna go?
I'm free, no problem
Lord, allow me to go
we ended up going
and so it was what it was, we get there
you know, get in the car, take off, go to the hotel
from the hotel, hey, let's go swimming
sure enough, we get in the cab
and in Santo Domingo, the thing about Santo Domingo
is that they don't really care about traffic loss
over there as much
I don't know how we didn't get into so many
accidents, it was insane
I'm talking about you think people have cut you off
in America? No
get ready for a wild ride when you go over there
Santo Domingo, those guys are like
going in front of people, making the other vehicles
like press on the brakes super hard
but I guess they're used to that
but here's another thing
you know, that can keep you
from doing this if you're a prideful individual
is talking to your taxi driver
talking to your taxi driver
I mean, when you go places
especially on missions field
I've taken taxis just about everywhere
because I don't want to rent a vehicle
but a lot of people won't even try
to win this to their taxi driver
and I'm thinking, man, you already spent dollars
there's a dollar, there's a place
and I'm not saying you have to do this every time
but that's one thing that has helped me
on missions trips to get more people safe
is talking to the drivers
even when I'm thinking with this guy
I'm sure he wants to make money
this guy's going to talk to me
but that was the first salvation
we get in the cab, we take off
trying to start up a conversation
it was easy, where are you guys from
we're from America, oh cool, what are you doing here
in Santo Domingo, well let me tell you
we're missionaries from America
do you go to church anywhere?
oh yeah, I do, great, where do you go?
I go to whatever Catholic church
sweet, you ever been to a Baptist church before?
Baptist? No, never
well listen, the most important thing in the Baptist
is make sure people go to heaven
if you die today
Armando, are you 100% sure
you're going to heaven?
not 100%
well listen
can I just show you a few verses from the Bible
do you believe the Bible is the word of God?
I love asking that question
it pains people in the corner, especially at the door
do you believe the Bible is the word of God?
yes I do, now just about everything
you show them, they have to say yes, I believe that
even if they don't
that's what I like to ask, ever been to a Baptist church?
nope, well most important thing to us
make sure people go to heaven
hey, you believe the Bible is the word of God?
yes I do, and then this is my favorite line
well you know the Bible says there's only one thing
you have to do to go to heaven
just one thing, can I quickly share it with you?
I know you're driving, yeah go ahead
ok, try not to crash, but I'll talk loud
and I was just amazed after giving the gospel
because it was a short ride from my hotel
to where we were going, 5 minutes, 7 minutes tops
so I had to kind of speed it up
but we got there before I was able to finish
and I just thought no way he's going to want to hear the rest
so I'm just like hey listen, if you've got a little bit of time
can I finish up?
and the guy's like yeah, I do
so what was I looking for?
what you saw over here in the book of Acts with Stephen
somebody that desires to hear it
somebody that's willing to sit with me and hear it
so he just parked the vehicle to the side
turned on the emergency lights
and I continued to finish it
and the guy prayed in his vehicle
and I'm thinking man, I've got to make sure
that I do this as much as I can
but I'm going to tell you one thing
if I don't do it, it's probably because of my pride
this guy ain't going to want to hear it
the other guy, yeah, this guy, no way
but trust me, I was thinking
there's no way this guy's going to want to listen
and praise the Lord, at least
didn't have too much pride
because a little bit kicked in
then I'm thinking no, I've got to do it
hey, you ever go to church anywhere?
and that's one thing that will hurt you
and maybe you won't be taking a cab everywhere
maybe you'll rent a vehicle
but hey, listen, that's one thing that you can even do here
if you take a cab somewhere
it's something that's easy to start up
hey, where are you from?
hey, we're out here, you know, missionaries from America
that's one thing when you guys go anywhere
that's a good line for you guys to use
you may not be missionaries on paper
but you're missionaries, amen
we're out here from America
so what ended up happening in Santo Domingo
well here's the thing
like I mentioned, the guy who wanted to go
he doesn't speak that much Spanish
he can't get anybody saved in Spanish
so that's why he wanted me to go with him
so I ended up doing all the talking
and we were not there for two weeks
we were there just for five days
I think it was Monday to Saturday
we flew back Saturday
and we weren't there for that long
but in the amount of time we were there
we were able to witness
and I'm talking about witness, I give the gospel
give the gospel just by myself
to over 120 people
I wasn't counting the numbers
but my partner was and he's like
bro, it's over a hundred and something by now
I don't remember the exact number
and out of those, we prayed with about 90 of them
about 90 of those individuals
and out of those 90 individuals
I felt comfortable
with counting 77 of them
as saved
the reason why, because I have this thing
where if you're not confident, I'm not really too confident
and what I mean by that is
after we pray, after I ask
did you mean that? Yeah, so if you die right now
where do you think you'll go? I'll go to heaven
well, are you a hundred percent sure?
if they kind of like take a few seconds to answer
I kind of lose confidence in that
and if they say yes
I'm like okay, you know, and why is that?
oh, because I believe
well, depending on how they say that
I'll count them, but they're kind of slow to answer
I'm not going to necessarily count them
because obviously we need to be confident
that's believing, and when that happens to me
maybe I'll just put them to the side
but if they got saved, it's not going to change
if I don't believe they did
so I just want to be conservative
so I just ended up counting 77
and man, it was some long days
but we ended up getting to 120
because we went up to as many people as we could
we went up to people that were sitting down
just by themselves
we went up to people that were just, you know, sitting together
you know, with someone else
we would see just a few people standing around
we would go up to them, introduce ourselves
not that I was trying to hide it
but Dustin just wanted to try the intros every single time
he's like, why not?
let me just try my intros
and I hope by the end of this trip, it's better than ever
and I'm like, yeah, go ahead, you start them all
and I'll just jump in whenever it's time for me to jump in
so we're just going back and forth
and so that's what he would do
he would just go up to as many people
so we did that on Monday, we did that on Tuesday
we did that on Wednesday, we did that on Thursday
you know, and I believe Friday, he wanted to check out some areas
I'm like, sure, it wasn't going to take that long
but in the amount of time that we were there
you know, the people that we got saved
sometimes it was in a group
and we were going after everybody
like when we saw people just walking around
we were obviously looking for young people
and there was like some school nearby
and that's kind of the thing that we always try to focus on
try to see if there's an area of the schools
but that's what we do, we just wait for the students
we figured out they all get out around 3
so there's a certain path that they all took
so we're witnessing all over this area
so we realized, yo, it's almost 3 o'clock
hey, let's get back there and see if we can talk to people
and that's kind of how it was
so we talked to just about everybody
you know, from adults to kids
and in regards to the importance of kids
I'll tell you to go to Acts 2.16
hopefully you're still there, if not I'm just going to read really quickly
you know, Acts 2.16 says this
but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel
and it shall come to pass in the last days
sayeth God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy
and your young men shall see visions
and your old men shall dream dreams
and on my sermons and on my haymanes
I will pour out in those days of my Spirit
and they shall prophesy
the important part I want to focus on is young men
so of course we should be training each other
and we should be training our children
you know, to become good soul winners
and even though my kids didn't speak Spanish whatsoever
you know, they did help to get a small group of people
about I would say 10, I'm just being conservative
about 10 people
because of them we were able to get them safe
and let me tell you how it went down
so obviously we're just walking on this little area in Santo Domingo
and I'm just trying to look for groups
and Dustin and my kids were in front of me
so I was behind them because my foot was all messed up
for some reason my foot just had a lot of pain on the bottom
you know, so I was just a little slower than them
and they're just walking, I'm just looking
and there's like a group of teenagers
just kind of to the side, sitting around the bench
you know, it's like maybe half and half
half boys, half girls
and I'm just walking
and then sure enough, they're just like
staring in front of me and I look over
and I thought they were staring at my kids
I wasn't sure until one of them says
hey Mira, you know
don't Mexicanos
that's what they say, don't Mexicanos
and for you guys that don't know what they're saying
they're like look, they're saying hey, they're Mexican
I'm like how in the world do they know they're Mexican
but as soon as they said that
I'm like go for it, so I'm like yeah
so I'm speaking in Spanish, I'm like yeah
how do you know that, you know
I'm like oh no, we just guessed, you know
so I'm yelling at my boys, I'm yelling at Dustin
hey, yo, yo, hey, turn around, turn around
I wanted to talk to them really quickly and they just
came back and I just kind of got in front of them
introduced myself, what we were doing there
and I just asked them if they went to church
and they were like well, we go to this church, we go to that church
asked them if they go to a Baptist church, they're like
no, I've never been to one, and I told them that it was one of the things
to us, make sure people go to heaven, and then I told them
if they were to die, where are they going to go, they didn't know
so I said hey, do you believe the Bible is the word of God, they said yes
and the first was history, you know
but what was funny is that the reason why they looked
and they said hey, look at that, look at them
it's because one of the girls liked one of my kids
so talk about having your kids
help you with some souls, amen
and if my kids ever wondered
why am I not ugly, why am I good looking
you know, it was just for that individual right there
amen, that's it
alright, now you can go back to being arrogant
but that's why God made you who you were
I always say my kids don't talk like that
but we kind of sometimes joke around with them
you guys are good looking kids, you should look to keep people safe, amen
got to do it
you know, but in conclusion
I'm at 45 minutes folks
45 minutes, y'all can hang with me for 15 more, right
now let's talk a little bit more about Santo Domingo
because like I said, I don't have a whole lot to say about Santo Domingo
you know why?
because I was only there for five days
so I really did a whole lot
we spent a lot of time just going soul winning
from 11am till we'd be back probably by 8pm
you know, just out and about
walking around, talking to as many people as we could
then we stopped obviously to get lunch
and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was about 8 o'clock
but in regards to
you know, do I recommend it?
absolutely, 100%
I do recommend this place
100% I recommend it
if you're in shape, I recommend it
because you're going to be doing a lot of walking
to find a lot of people just standing around
and one of the salvations
that happened was a police officer
just standing there doing security
and that's one of the reasons why I recommend it
because it is safe
it is a very safe area
Santo Domingo, I'll explain exactly where we were
but that area was filled with a lot of police officers
it's a high tourist area
but obviously it's surrounded by a lot of locals
so you'll be running into a lot of them
just walking around, people just walking on the street
there's parks, people just sitting around
the kids obviously get out at 3
you just hang around, there'll be a lot of them
and they're willing to talk and they do listen
and just walking around, you'll see people
and there'll be plenty of people to talk to all day long
I mean, 77 salvations in 5 days
man, that's more than I've probably done
probably in any missions trip
and just as an example
I'm not saying that South Africa was
not a successful trip, it was
but because of safety reasons, we can't go out
as long as we did in Santo Domingo
but it was like 4 soul winners when I first
went to South Africa, we were there for about 15 days
and we had a total of 70 something
salvations
but this was a one man
soul winning experience
I was the only one actually giving the entire gospel
and in the 5 days, I was able to get 77 people
and I don't even think I was trying super hard
because my foot was all messed up
but I think in a way, God allowed it to happen
when my foot was hurting
so I wouldn't come back all prideful
and arrogant, because who knows, I probably would've
got 100 salvations and I would've
came back with a big head
and that would've messed me up, but God
made me humble, because everywhere I'm walking
I'm in pain, like what is going on with my foot
but I'm glad it worked out that way
because even if you walk slow
you can still get 77 salvations
out there, because trust me, I was not walking fast
but I was gassing out, because my gas tank
when I was giving the gospel so much
it was just disappearing on me
but I definitely recommend it
if you speak Spanish
if you're in shape, you're going to love it
if you speak Spanish, you're going to love it, obviously it's a great
safe place, there's plenty of restaurants to eat
lots of restaurants, super safe
very receptive, that's the main thing
that we love, amen
and also I recommend it
if you love to dance, I recommend it
because there's a lot of people just dancing around
some music you like, some music you won't
I'm literally walking with my kids
we're done with sewing, all of a sudden
we hear this crazy music and we're like
what the heck is going on, we look over and it's like some kind of courtyard
and next thing you know, there's people basically doing this
that last move, all I can describe it is
that's what my dog does when I open the door
and it goes to a bush
like what is that
like what was
we're just like enjoying the show
like what is it, they take dancing series over there
they're like, I mean all kinds of stuff
and we're like woah
I was tempted to jump the fence, I got 20
who wants some
they be like this gringo
who are these, your friends
I don't have friends, I got family
some of you may know
what movie that is
but the other reason I loved it
because the weather was awesome
I went there around February, end of January
it was better than Hawaii
it was nice and cool
loved it, loved the weather
and obviously the food
and the hotel, now here's the thing I want to do
because I don't just want to talk about Santo Domingo
if you speak Spanish
and you ever get some money in your pocket
you know what, I want to encourage you to go there
because it's super easy
I mean it's easy to get the flight
Google, Phoenix, Santo Domingo
boom it comes up
so many options, pick your option, pick your day
pick your hour, whatever
get to the airport, plenty of taxis
hey, take me to the Plaza Crown
that's where we stayed at, the Plaza Crown
awesome hotel
I don't think it was super expensive
for us it was free
so I would say it cost about $90
maybe $130
but if you do the math for 5 days
you have the $675, maybe expensive
but it's safe, safe and it has awesome breakfast
breakfast is included
I mean when you're eating breakfast you can see the ocean
it's super relaxing, super safe
I don't know, I can't speak enough about that hotel
it was really nice
it was the Crown Plaza
and also recreation, there's a lot of places to go
for recreation
we went to what they call the Fortress of Columbus
that's primarily where we did the sun-winning
they say that it's Christopher Columbus's
son's house, which is kind of cool
I've been hearing about Christopher Columbus my whole life
never thought I'd be at his son's house, amen
but they do have some house
that they claim is Christopher Columbus
they treat it very well, they protect it
but that's where pretty much everybody's walking around
and it's cool to see the house, like wow man, I'm getting people saved
next to Christopher Columbus's son, huh, what have you done with your life?
let me tell you what I've done
I've done
it's super easy to go there
you know
it's super easy to go there
we went to this place called the Three Eyes Lake
and that's where they filmed
Anaconda with J-Lo
yeah
I know what it's like to be J-Lo
oh that didn't sound right
but supposedly
they filmed parts of Jurassic Park
cause it's like a nice cool little lake place
it's like underground caves
it's pretty cool
you know my kids thought it was awesome
and we went to like the Columbus lighthouse
a big gigantic lighthouse
it's pretty cool, I mean there's a lot of recreation
we couldn't have done it all
but it's a great place cause it's safe
plenty of restaurants, pretty affordable
I just loved it
and so Santo Domingo
if you really want to know a lot about Santo Domingo
that's why I got that poster right over there
to make my life easier, you can read it whenever you want
but I'm just going to give you an idea of what Santo Domingo is
it's in Florida if you want to know
it's between Cuba and what's the other place it's near?
Puerto Rico
that's right, my man knows
and you were there last time right
but you're a different area
my man over here was in Vega
that's why the hat is up here to remind me to talk about Vega
but Santo Domingo is about 2 million in population
as of 2024
and here's the thing about it
it's 25 or 52% Catholic
that's why the Salvations were not very difficult
cause they at least are halfway there
to some degree
and so everybody there has
I would say an idea
that Christ died and resurrected
so you're not going to have a hard time starting from scratch
the biggest thing is maybe convincing them
that hell is forever, they cannot get out of it
because you know what the Catholic Church teaches? Purgatory
but once you show them that
it's not hard to get them to change
like I said, the temperature was great
here's what it averages
it averages 77 degrees
and that's in the summertime
you know it's about 86
it is rainy down there
but we were not there during the rainy season
but humidity is about 70%
but I thought the weather was great, it was fun
just walking around
just checking out the area, talking to as many people as we could
and I don't know, I just kind of want to give you guys
a heads up, the cost of the flight
on average is like $675
that's worst case scenario
the hotel, very nice hotel, breakfast included
very safe, 5 minutes from the soul winning
as far as drive, or you can just
walk to the soul winning, it's about 15 minutes
but we just wanted to get cab drivers
saved, so we took a cab every single chance we could
just more chances to talk to the cab drivers
you know, and it wasn't that expensive
maybe $5, $10 bucks, they take a cab every single day
so the hotel was about $675
you know, it's like maybe $135
five days, that's how much that costs
you know, obviously eating out, this is worst case scenario
maybe $30 a day for each
individual, it's about $150
worst case scenario, if you want to obviously get
cabs, maybe about $75 for the week, and if you want
to get souvenirs, it's $100 bucks to get you some cool
souvenirs, and my son wanted to show him his
cool souvenir, alright, so
I don't know how much
we paid for this, but it wasn't me, it was Dustin
but there's plenty of stuff to buy, it's a really
cool experience, lots of salvations that you
can have, if you speak Spanish
I highly recommend it, you just want a week to relax
get out of there, you don't have to worry about getting robbed
you don't have to worry about doing something difficult
it's very fun, very easy, and let me
just quickly, I got 5 minutes
6 minutes to talk about the bad side, not too
much bad, you know, not too much
bad, I guess the top two bad
things was simply just walking on
the strip, you know
there's like a small little
area where there's a lot of little shops, and so
we're just walking there, looking for opportunities
to get somebody saved, and I'm literally just
standing there, all of a sudden I feel somebody grabbed my arm
I didn't know somebody was going for my wallet
or whatever, somebody grabs my arm
and it's this woman that's like yay tall
110 pounds, and she just
grabs my arm, and she's like, hey, you need a
massage? I'm like, what?
I need a massage? I know I got baggy
eyes and I look stressed out, but trust me I'm not that
stressed out
so she just grabs my arm and starts
like walking me
you know, so that put him like a massage
so of course
you know what I did, I would do whatever god fearing
man would do, even if he's in pain, amen
I just went with it, alright let's go
where do you want to go?
takes me to the massage, alright get out of here
starts tapping away
alright, how's that feel? Oh, it feels like pain
how about now? Oh, that's painful
what, y'all never had a massage before?
and the kids are wondering
is he lying? yes I'm lying, I'm just joking
of course I didn't do that
you really thought I was going to get a massage
by some woman? I'm married, yo
what's wrong with y'all?
but what I did do, I did
tell her, hey, I don't think my wife would like
if you gave me a massage, plus I'm also
a missionary from America, oh I didn't know
she's like, yeah, I don't think
God would be happy if a woman starts touching me
that isn't married to me
but, hey, I want to give you something
you know, it's like, hey, you ever been to a Baptist church?
no, never, well the most important thing
to us is make sure people go to heaven
you know, we're all going to be gone one day
so if you die right now, where would you go, Rahab?
cause I'm pretty sure it was a special massage
she was trying to sell me
either that, or for some reason
they only hired young, good looking
ladies, you know
mama-san was not walking around
Santo Domingo trying to give you a massage
so she didn't know
where she was going to go, and they said, well do you believe
the Bible's the word of God? she said, yes I do
well listen, if you've got about five minutes
the Bible says only one thing, one thing you have to do
to go to heaven and like to share it with you, if that's cool
and she's like, yeah, sure
twenty minutes later, she's praying in the street
even though everybody's staring
and I told her, hey, now that you're 100%
sure you're going to heaven, you know what
you need to read the Bible
unfortunately, I don't know, I don't remember if we had one
or if we ran out, but hey
you just got to take advantage of every opportunity
you can, amen
and for you guys that are thinking, well I'll just
go to Santo Domingo, sounds cool
and obviously I told that story, so that way
ladies, if your husband's like, well I want to go to Santo Domingo
I know about those massage ladies
you know
I told him, you better stay away from them
you better do what he did
you know, so young guys
you better not be going to Santo Domingo
by yourself
I'm not saying it's the Vegas Strip, I'm not saying that
at all, you know, but
hey, you better take a part in it because Jesus
sent him two by two for more than one reason
amen
La Vega, right
and so besides that
just be careful with the teenagers out there
giving them the gospel, you know
because it was what it was, that's why Dustin
said, hey, take your kids so that way
it's easier for us to talk to kids
and boy was he right
you know, because I guess they've had people pretending
to be godly, turn out to be pedophiles
and so yeah, we're giving the gospel
and in one case, you know, Dustin
he's just going up to as many people as he can
goes up to these two teenagers, starts giving the gospel
the dad comes right over and you can tell
he is fuming, like he's just like
fuming, like he's like ready to punch him
and I just stepped in, like hey, how you doing
you know, just want to give you
I forgot what we had, and he's like, he's with you
I'm like, yeah, he's with me, he's like, where you guys from
this is where Michigan is from America
you know, these are my boys right here, and as soon as I said that
the guy kind of chilled
you know, he's like, this is my boy, this is Sagan
this is Chris, remember that Sagan? I don't know where he's at
remember that? If these guys weren't there
we wouldn't have got that kid safe, because once he saw
these guys, he'd chill the heck out
you know, so he's like, okay cool, yeah
we're just Michiganers from America, you know, he's just
showing your son, you know, the Bible way to heaven
how to go to heaven, he asks your son if he knows for sure
he's going to heaven, you know, he says, you go to church anywhere?
yeah, I'm Catholic, oh listen, you've been to a Baptist church
so it calmed him down, he wasn't interested in hearing it
I said, can we just finish telling your son how to go to heaven?
yeah, yeah, you can, I'm just working over here
because he was, he was working in some store
because they have to make money, you know, it's a tourist area
but he walked out of his store and he's going straight for Dustin
and I'm thinking, oh man, this guy looks like he's going to do something to him
but it was his son, which is waiting for his dad
you know, but because we had our kids
he was able to chill and kind of say, hey listen
a lot of people come around here talking all religious
but they end up messing with the children, you know
just want to make sure that you guys weren't trying to do that
you know, that's not what's going on, you know, that's a little
you can stand and listen if you want, say no, no, I trust you
because you saw my boys
you know, so hey, listen, it is what it is
God can use anybody for something
you know, so even though I wasn't trying to take my kids originally
you know, I'm glad I did, you know
so if God ever, you know, gives you opportunity
take your family if you can, as many as you can
you know, so besides that, that's the only two things
I would tell you to be careful of
you know, because it's not the worst place in the world
but it's awesome, but then let me just wrap it up
I've got 30 seconds because tonight I'm preaching on Columbia
I'm preaching on Columbia
so how did that come about?
almost the same way, but here's what happened
we finished with Santo Domingo
we're at the airport, we're going through the border security
this lady walks up to me asking us where I'm from
telling us, or asking us where I'm from
so of course, what did we say?
we're missionaries from Phoenix, you know
we're just out here telling people about the Bible
do you go to church anywhere? oh yeah, I'm Christian
oh good, you ever been to a Baptist church?
yeah, I actually have gone to a Baptist church
the only thing in the world is going to heaven, right?
yeah, so if you die right now, where are you going to go?
oh I'm going to heaven, why is that? because of Jesus
you know, what do you mean? what does it do to go to heaven?
just believe in Jesus
it's like, well can you lose your salvation? no, it's a gift
she's like spitting the gospel to me
she's like, oh listen, you need to go to Columbia
I'm like, really?
oh yeah, where should I go?
you need to go to Medellin
I was like, well let me go ask my pastor
so I did
and guess what he said?
he said, go for it
and that's what we'll talk about tonight, amen, let's pray
dear God, thank you for everything that you've done, Lord
obviously Father, I was trying to do double duty this morning
I was trying to tell people about a great place to go
so when in an awesome place for many reasons
but also to remind people if they're going to do it
do it with a humble spirit
because things can go bad really easy
but Father, we just ask you to help us all to be humble
all day every day like you want there, Father
and to be able to do your will according to your way
in Jesus' precious name, amen
Amen
Take your psalm books together, go to Hymn 310
Hymn 310
Footprints of Jesus
Hymn number 310
Hymn 310
Sing it out together now
Lord, have we heard thee calling, come follow me.
And we see where the good friends falling lead us to be.
Lord, friends of Jesus that think of Catholic love,
we will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
Though they lead o'er the cold dark mountains seeking his sheep,
or along by Siloam's fountains helping the weak,
the good friends of Jesus that make the pathway glow,
we will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
If they lead through the temple, holy screeching the word,
foreign homes of the poor and lowly serving the Lord.
Lord, friends of Jesus that think of Catholic love,
we will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
Then at last, when on high, he sees us, our journey done,
we will rest where the steps of Jesus stand at his throne.
Lord, friends of Jesus that make the pathway glow,
we will follow the steps of Jesus, where'er they go.
Amen.
Good singing this morning.
We are dismissed.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]