happy day. We want to welcome you to this afternoon service. We also take this opportunity to welcome our online viewers to the service. Let us have a word of prayer as we begin. Our Father and our God, our maker and our creator, our sustainer, we come before the presence this afternoon with thanksgiving in our hearts, oh Lord. How we pray that your presence may dwell us, oh Lord, how we pray that your Holy Spirit may abide with us through this session on the Heavenly Father, that we may live to praise and glorify your name in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We want to welcome you and I would like to have the teams having you this afternoon introduce themselves so we can begin from my far right. Happy Sabbath. Welcome to this afternoon. My name is Gijian Kipkwach. And my name is Bradley O'Ching. I'm Kate O'Tieno and I'm AB O'Coucou. So we'll begin with the hymn titled, It's Not an Easy Road. The Savior is Jesus' joy, and walks beside us, walks beside us. The journey is long, He's us walks beside us. In Nimosa Cristo, Gina Laiesu Salamo. Song number four in Nimosa Cristo, Gina Laiesu Salamo, all hail the power of Jesus. Doing song number four to five, Holy, Holy is what the angels sing. Such as we angels sing the praise, and the voices always sing. What us is the soul, let us to this land so fair and bright. Is what the angels sing, and I expect to help the men. The angels stand and listen, for they cannot join the soul. The sound of many waters, by great triumphs, battles fought and victories wore. And they praise their great Redeemer, who hath said to them, What the angels sing, and I expect to help them. I sing Redemption's story, may we angel yet I know that all my trust precious, Thou to set us enough free. Is what the angels sing, and I expect to help them. Redemption's story. And happy day. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. Those of us in the sanctuary, and those who are joining us virtually, various places around the world, and even here in Kenya, we are happy to have you. We are glad you could join us for this afternoon program. And before we start, I'd like to ask my sister and Nicolette to pray with us. Okay, let's believe and pray. Dear Jesus, we thank you so much for the gift of life. We thank you for the gift of the Sabbath. And we thank you so much for the gift of your word. Oh Lord, I pray that even as you want to study your word, may you fill our minds with the Holy Spirit. That what you've prepared for us, you may be able to understand. And even for us, we'll be discussing. Oh Lord, may you increase as we decrease. Isn't it my prayer, trusting and believing? Amen. Amen. Thank you. I'm joined this afternoon by my brother, Brian Ajoan. Brian, please say hi. Hello and happy Sabbath to all of you. Happy day. And Nicolette Ochoala. Good afternoon and happy Sabbath. Thank you very much. My name is Brenda Akedi. And today what we are discussing, our title for discussion is To Every Man His Work. To Every Man His Work. And our emphasis today is basically on reaching the world. Today we just want to understand what every man, and that includes me, you, everyone, what part can we play in reaching the world. Now, these are hymns that I love. That is hymn number 359, Huck the Voice of Jesus Calling. This hymn, where I love it is because it has a lot of encouragement for every one of us to play a part in reaching the world wherever God has put us. This hymn was written by a gentleman called Daniel Match. And this man was a preacher. And one day he was scheduled to preach at a Christian association meeting. And his preaching was based on Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8, which says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me. That was supposed to be the key text for his preaching. And as he tried to look for a hymn that could go in line with that text, he couldn't find one. So in haste, he wrote hymn number 359, which I'm sure all of us are well familiar with in English, Swahili, our local dialects. He wrote this hymn as an accompaniment to what he was going to preach because at that time he felt like he really needed to emphasize to people that we all can play an active part in reaching the world. We all can play an active part in evangelizing to other people. And that essentially is what we would like to emphasize also today. All of us has a special part. God has enabled us. God has given us so much that we can do to be able to just reach the world. I'd like to read the first verse of that hymn. Huck the voice of Jesus calling. Who will go and work today? Fields are white, the harvest waiting. Who will bear the sheaves away? Loud and long the master calleth, rich reward he offers free. Who will answer gladly saying, Here am I, O Lord, send me. I must add that it's quite a timely message given that for all of us and all adventists around the world our rallying call has been, I will go and want to see how we can go wherever God has placed us. Now, just as we introduce and as we get into our topic for discussion, I'd like to encourage all of you, especially those who are joining us virtually, please feel free to share your comments with us, your questions with us, and towards the end of this discussion we'll be able to look into them. So, we've introduced the topic and we've even talked about this hymn and highlighted a few things here and there. Brian, we've talked about it being, we've heard the words, fields are white, the harvest is waiting. Brian, which fields are these, what harvest is this, what is it that we are talking about? Because we just want to see what can we all do. Thank you. So, I would like to start by answering that question with us, Matthew 28, verse 19 to 20. I'll read, it says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of age, amen. So, God was, Jesus was talking to his disciples before he left them for heaven. The fields that we are talking about are the lost in this world, are those who have not yet been saved, are those who are seeking salvation through Christ Jesus. And we have rippers. Rippers are those of us who are actively members of our faith and the Church, who can make a difference in someone's life, who can use their talents to be able to win souls for Christ. Thank you so much. So, we are just basically saying that there is a work to be done. There are a lot of people out there who are in need of the Savior and God is calling us to partner with him in reaching these people. God is calling us to reach out to these people even as we ourselves are preparing for the kingdom of heaven. Now, when we are looking at this, Nicolette, and we are thinking about the vast work, because you are being called to a harvest. It's not easy work. It's not little work. It's not a smooth sailing job. How do you think God has enabled us to reach these people, to go out to these fields and bring in the harvest? Okay. Thank you for that question. So, first I'd like us to go to Matthew chapter 13. And I'll read verse 34. Matthew chapter 13. And I'll read actually. Matthew 25. Matthew 25 verse 15. Sorry about that. Matthew 25 verse 15. And unto one he gave five talents to another two and to another one. To every man according to his several ability and straight way took his journey. So, this is in the middle of Christ talking about stewardship. And here he's talking about the parable of the talents. But before I expound on that, let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I'll read verse 20 to 22. And it says, But now are they many members yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee. Nor again they head to the feet. I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem more feeble are necessary. So, I'll stop there. And to answer Brenda's question, God has given all of us talents. And we know that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are there readily available to all of us. And once we become baptized and we become members of the body of Christ, we all have a part to play in fathering the cause of Christ which as Brian read to us was to teach all nations to bring everyone to repentance and to be ready for the second coming of Christ. And on top of that, I'd like to highlight that you know sometimes someone can be discouraged. God, what is my talent? What can I do for the kingdom? And as you can see, the person who was being spoken about in the parable of their talents, there were three people there, right? One was given more and there was one who was given one. And the verse ends by saying that they were given according to their ability. So, what stood out for me in this verse in a way that I've never seen before is that when you cultivate your ability, God will entrust you with more talents. When you continue to cultivate what you already have or even learn a new skill, God will through that new skill use you to father His kingdom and His cause. So we all have a part to play in the kingdom of heaven and we all in our own special and unique ways can contribute to bringing souls to Christ. Thank you and thank you even for bringing us to the parable of the talents. So we're saying that God is able to give us various gifts, various talents, various abilities to be able to employ them in His ministry for effective soul-winning. So when someone, Nicolette, is just out there wondering, so what is my talent? Because the thing, one of the ways that God enables you for His ministry is by giving you talents and gifts. And someone is wondering, but I don't know my talent. I don't have no talent. So what would you tell them? How I'd encourage someone who believes that they have no talent is number one, you have to pray, you have to ask God to reveal to you what He has given you as a talent and also observe yourself. Be a little self-aware and ask yourself, what comes easily to me? Am I a good listener? When someone comes to me with a problem, am I a problem solver? A talent doesn't have to be a preacher or a great singer. The act of listening goes a long way into bringing people into the ministry and even in the ministry of healing we are told that the thing that Christ did was He won people's confidence before He built them to follow Him. So how do we win people's confidence? We listen to them, we minister to their needs. So there is no one way of let's say quote-unquote having a talent. The talents are vast. Even the talent of hospitality is actually a talent. Coming to church and somewhere offering new lunch or being kind enough to cook more food compared to other people. That is a talent because in ministering to someone's need, in this case, hunger, you can spark a conversation and talk to someone and in that close connection lead them to Christ. Exactly, lead them to Christ. So it doesn't have to be something that is just seen from a pulpit or something that is great and big in human eyes. God is able to work with whatever, whatever ability He has given you, however small you may think it is. God is able to use it, multiply it and work out for His goodness and His glory. Still on talents as we are talking about, that you realize when you are talking about the parable of the talents, there are three. Yes. And others multiplied it, but there is this one. Usatinit. Usatinit. Brian, I want you to relate that to our lives because we want to make it practical for us because the people who are supposed to reach the world is me, you and everyone else. How are we then to be good stewards of our talent and are there dangers in us sitting on our talents? Yes, thank you, Brenda. So, I wanted to start with a verse again from Timothy chapter 4 verse 12. It says, Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Every believer in Christ Jesus has God-given talents that should be nurtured to bear fruit. So, we first got to understand we have been given talents by God which we might not know. And as Nicoletta said, one of the areas that we need to work on is to pray. We need to create a relationship with God. We need to understand what He wants for our lives, what is His will for our lives. And in Matthew 6, 33, it says, Seek ye fast the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you. So, we must seek God. We must seek God honestly to know what is it that we're good at, what is it that we can give for God to use. I'll give you a good example that a long time ago, I used to serve in church when I was much younger, and halfway through I fell down the rails and I was not able to serve anymore. I was not able to impact the youth the same way I was able to. But when I came across their vigilistic campaign of Nyapiedo after I'd just been saved, I found I had talents that I didn't even know that I had. We were volunteering to serve God and serve God with our everything. Why I love Nyapiedo is we didn't just have the normal, usual ministries that you expect to be your talent, like singing, like the pastorate and the children's ministries. We also had professionals. So, for example, myself, I'm a designer. I gave my design skills for service to Christ. I didn't charge, but I gave it to God. And in turn, when I got to Nyapiedo, I learned that I was in the deep end, but I learned so much more than I had thought I even knew. You get to do project management of some areas of the Evangelistic campaign. You get to pray for people. You get to do door-to-door service that I've never experienced. But at the end of it all, when you see souls being saved and souls being given back for the Kingdom of Heaven, you glorify God that your talent that you didn't know has been used for that. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, for those of us who are in the sanctuary, those of us who are following us virtually, we encourage you to bring that which you think is very little and watch God work out a very big miracle through it. That which you think is unnoticeable. Just bring it and see God work and use it greatly for His Kingdom. So, we've talked about God enabling us through our talents and gifts, the gifts and talents that He has given us each according to His own ability. We can also get enabled through various trainings and trainings can either be formal or informal. Nicolette, what do we mean by formal trainings? I think in this case, what we are talking about formal trainings is maybe the pastor makes an announcement in church and says for the next two weeks we'll be training, let's say, children teachers.  That's what our describers are formal training. Another example is a few years ago when Amazing Facts was in Kenya and they were having training done for evangelists. That would be quote-unquote formal training. Informal training would be maybe you volunteer for a particular service in church. Let's say you teach the children ministry, you come for VBS, you actually learn on the job. So that's informal training. Another example of informal training would be maybe you listen to someone, you Google how to teach children online and you actually get tips and tricks on how to teach children. I think those are examples of formal and informal training. All right, so let's talk about the formal one first. Where you've said a call is made from the pulpit. Many times we tend to think, not for me. It's for... They are calling out for, say, we have this coming up, please come, let's do this. And people tend to think, that's not for me. That's for other people. What encouragement would you give these people? What encouragement would give to anyone feeling like they have no place in any evangelistic thing taking part in church is come and see. Because everyone who is actually going for this training is just a sinner who is saved like you. No one has been given special talents or God has not bestowed amazing things only reserved for some particular people to do. Like even us being here, talking in front of people is not an easy thing. Public speaking is a skill that people learn and it's something that you learn by doing it over and over again. Teaching in the children ministry, you build your confidence, you talk to young adults, you build your confidence. Then you can talk to adults and older people.  Okay, okay, thank you. And I want you to also comment. I mean we've talked about it based on like we're looking at it mostly from a younger people's perspective. Yes. So what about the elderly? Like I no longer have the energy to do those things. Yeah, yeah, okay. So this is me speaking hypothetically because I am not an older person. I'm speaking from maybe outside looking in. I think the best thing, especially that I've seen even worked for my parents is actually dealing with young people. My mom is very active in the children ministry and not children. My parents are at school. And from what I've heard from her is that it is a blessing that she gets to mentor younger people. So you see the age that has come has also come with wisdom. And as much as you think that you do not have any ability to teach or to do anything the wisdom of the experiences that life has handed you can go a long way in helping someone else and not necessarily younger but even your peers. Yes, actually just sharing your experience can go a long way in winning souls for the kingdom of God. Just taking time to just share what you've gone through. How God has carried through the same. Give testimony. Can go up to Jesus Christ. Brian, we've talked about the formal one.  You've never done this before but here you are, work needs to be done. What would you say about the informal training that you would be able to get? Okay. Even as you share your personal experience on that? Yes, yes. I would like to say that before around 2018 before I came back to Christ I was living a life of sin. I was an alcoholic. I was in drug abuse. I was in addiction. I never thought that I would get out of that. Just like the story of Jonah when God was asking him to go to Nineveh to save the people who he thought God should just erase from there. God had other plans for him and he chose to go the opposite direction. That was a bit of my life going in the opposite direction but one day God made a stop to it and obviously in the story of Jonah he had to jump in the water to save the rest of the crew and he was swallowed by a fish. For three days he was in the belly of the fish. I call this incubation. For myself, when I was having my incubation is when I came back to know who God is and to know what purpose and plan he had for my life and how was he going to use me for his glory. It was not an easy process but I can tell you that I am now four years down the road.  I have been sober for four years. I am not scared to talk about my past because I believe that there is somebody else out there who is watching who has gone through what I am going through and needs to hear this that when you give your life to Christ he will change everything. I mean everything for his glory. I believe that in serving God you need to be honest with yourself. You also need to give your all. When you give your all to Christ he gives you abilities that you never thought you had. For example, since I got saved I had a call I think many of you who have had a call of going for baptismal class you always feel like there is something holding you down you don't want to stand up to stand in front of all these people and be recognized as somebody who has failed. But I tell you that the moment that I stood up I felt like the shackles on chains that had held me down from addiction from all that time had gone off and I joined the baptismal class. I had always wanted to learn about to study the Bible, to study the word to know God more through the word. I would tell you that anybody who would love to know God more you can join the baptismal class or the post baptismal class that is where you are learning how to apply the knowledge in the Bible to your physical life because as a Christian once you have been baptized that is not it you are still going back to the same life that you were having before you are having to readjust and so I say that giving God everything fast I have been doing what we call daily devotions just after I had come back from Nyapiedo the Nyapiedo thing is what we call an informal training where I volunteered just like many other professionals we have engineers, we have advocates we have designers, we have marketers we have health practitioners, we have agriculturalists we have teachers, accountants all using their skills for the glory of God so that goes to show you that you don't necessarily have to be a great singer you don't necessarily have to know how to do the sign language but you can use what talent God has given you for his glory and so whilst we were in Nyapiedo and we were doing door-to-door evangelism I'll tell you that's baptism of fire because all I had on my side is my testimony how God had saved me from the alcoholism how God had saved me a youth who was reckless, who was lost but now I'm found how he saved me and so in Nyapiedo you are talking to youth who you're trying to also convince that this Jesus that you know is the best thing they'll ever know and I'm grateful to know that through that informal learning space where we cultivated new skills like for example the football ministry that came out of just volunteering to carry a football to bless the youth there and it turned out into a whole new ministry of how I could reach out the youth they love football, I love God and how am I going to reach them so we brought the two together and in fact the football brought the whole community together so it became a much bigger thing than that so I thank God for that opportunity to do that in the part of informal training I never intended to be a person who people call me sometimes a pastor you know I don't feel that I am that but what I know is that the way God has changed me I need to let other people know about that I need to let them know that we're not just going to be idlers in church we come to church on the Sabbath and for the rest of the week we're not doing anything to father God's ministry we want to be active actively looking for people that you can save for his kingdom and remember it's the Holy Spirit that will save them your job is just to start and initiate the process and allow God to use you in a way that he has never used you so in this devotional that we do on a daily basis it has touched so many people's lives and has allowed me to to understand what God can use you might be a mustard seed and he grows into a tree the tree that you never thought you'd be thank you so much and thank you for sharing your experience as well we realize that there are a lot of places you could get training be it formally when we have those organized by our churches be it in formal through the experiences we go for we go through what we volunteer for like God is able to sharpen whatever skills you have and equip you better for using his service and there's also a very important training ground that many of us always tend to forget and that is our homes we could be doing everything right out here because the eyes of the society tend to see us in a certain way but there's a very important training ground for each of us and that is our homes and I'd just like us to think about it how are we effectively training ourselves and even training the members of our families for effective service in God's kingdom how are we doing it in our homes are we taking time to seek God because you realize even as we are talking about all this the master trainer, the master teacher is Jesus Christ the one whose standards we are going to fashion ourselves according to are those of Jesus Christ so if you're going to go out and share Jesus Christ just like the apostles did just like everyone else did in the Bible it has to be a Jesus you have experienced even at a personal level that's why when we see take for instance the adulterous woman and she meets Jesus and Jesus tells her what she's done what she's been doing is something shameful it's not something you'd want to go out there and tell people by the way this is what I've been doing never mind that the whole community knows but the minute she had an encounter with Jesus what was her first reaction to tell the world and when you encounter Jesus Christ it being a genuine, a truthful encounter with Jesus Christ the most common reaction would be to share this Jesus Christ that you have met and I thank you Brian for even bringing out that it's not shameful to talk about where we have come from it in fact serves as encouragement to other people who are probably going through the same and wondering how can I get out of this like will Jesus accept me in the state that I am in will God allow me to minister for him me being a sinner me who is adulterous me who drinks me who does whatever don't disqualify yourself for usage in God's kingdom don't disqualify yourself for actively being used by God show up and watch God work miracles he will give you the necessary training just think about Jeremiah when he's being called but then he tells God I can't do this and God tells him I'm going to put the right words in your mouth God is the ultimate trainer so whether we go through the formal or the informal trainer the ultimate teacher is Jesus Christ think about Moses when he's being called and Moses actually has a reason to not go back to Egypt because of what he had done and now he's been away for so long and I mean there's a lot of hesitation but God assures him that I am going to go with you we see that in Exodus chapter 3 God assures him I am going to go with you you're not going to go alone and that is the promise that God is also giving you today as he's calling you to fulfill the great commission God is giving you that very same promise God is telling you that he is going to go with you he is the one who is going to put the words in your mouth he is the ultimate teacher you just follow him and watch him work thank you very much now Nicolette as we are training and even actively going to do all these things rest, balance because opportunities arise and there could be many where do we strike a balance? before I answer that I'd like just to talk about training and emphasize that many of us take time and pay good money to advance ourselves in our career we go for trainings and we are diligent to actually excel but when it comes to the work of God we only want to come with good intentions and sometimes the best intentions are not enough you can have the best intentions and actually as you're ministering to someone you actually lead them astray because of how you deliver the message I'd just like to implore all of you wherever you can just try and improve yourself and even learn about there you don't know steps on how to win someone or how to speak to someone how to deliver difficult truths so that we are not moving people further away as opposed to bringing them closer to the cause of Christ not to answer your question about rest I think when we were preparing Brian gave a very good illustration that he was doing door to door ministry and he walked and he walked until he couldn't walk anymore and he had to take a break from what he had prepared to do on that day and there's something that Ellen White says in Christian service that though the harvest is great and the laborers of you nothing is gained by sacrificing help and life sometimes it may feel like you're giving up everything for the cause of God by not resting not eating well as she says sacrificing the laws of health and in the end you'll end up getting sick number one or not glorifying God because you should also minister it yourself before you minister to others that's why God says that love your neighbor as you love yourself not love yourself how can you love it how can you love your neighbor how can I tell you drink water rest and I'm not drinking water and I'm not resting it doesn't go hand in hand you can only preach what you practice so rest is actually important in it's actually part of reminding yourself that you're a human being and that just because you're not doing something someone else will do it there will always be someone to pick up the work of Christ but if you're the only one who's doing it you may not be able to be effective enough if you're being the one who's okay who is doing this I'll do it I'll do it I'll do it excellent thing and that's not discourage people from active participation it's actually just saying also we need to strike a balance number two realize we are part of the body of Christ and just as the body has different paths playing different functions let's learn to appreciate the different functions that all of us can play into bringing into fulfilling the gospel commission the great commission that God has given us let's realize that we can do we can do so much we can do so little but what we need to do is strike a balance allow God to work effectively in us and even better yet practice what we intend to preach to other people we will be going for a short break in a short while but Brian do you have anything to add on rest and balance okay so we can read from Genesis chapter two verse three it says God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy because it was the day when he rested from all the work of his creation so rest is a necessity it is a biblical principle that all creatures must rest without proper rest the human body will break down so really even as we are doing all this and going out and reaching out to other people let's take into account the importance of rest the importance of balance we will take a short break and then we will continue with our discussion thereafter but meanwhile we still encourage you to share with us your comments your questions and your thoughts thank you we've been talking about to every man his work and looking at how each of us can play a special role in just fulfilling the great commission and ensuring that we are playing an active part in God's ministry we have seen that the fields are white the harvest is waiting and God is depending on me and you to be collaborators with him as we work on this harvest we have seen that God has not just left us like that he has given us talents and gifts according to our ability some we thank God that we already know but others we are yet to find out but God is still willing to reveal all that to us and even as we are doing this there are still avenues we can also get trained on whether formally or informally to just be equipped for service in God's vineyard I'd like to read again verse 2 of the hymn that we had talked about earlier that's hymn number 359 Huck the voice of Jesus calling verse 2 reads if you cannot cross the ocean and the heathen lands explore you can find the heathen nearer you can help them at your door if you cannot speak like angels if you cannot preach like Paul you can tell the love of Jesus you can say he died for all and we are looking at just what each of us because to every man his work each of us has a special work a special job a special role they can play in the ministry of God now we've said that when we are looking at this aspect of ministry and us evangelizing and even when we've talked about our talents and the gifts that God has given us we've mentioned that there could be things that people are seeing that can be done from here in the pulpit there are other many things that can be done silently from wherever you are and just to talk about the avenues that God has put for us to be able to minister for him like God is able to open doors for us to be useful in a service because this harvest that we are talking about these fields that are white where are these fields Nicolette where are these fields like where am I going to get them to minister and reach them and bring them to Jesus Christ okay I'd like your question and as I was preparing for this study I was brought to remember about a friend of mine so a friend of mine always carries literature in his car wherever he is driving he always makes sure he has the Bible I think they are called discovery study guides and he always has them in the car and there's a time he was sharing with us a policeman stopped him and the policeman was you know how Kenyan policemen are and he was asking for a bribe and my friend was reluctant because that doesn't align with his beliefs bribing the police and he told the guy I'm really sorry what I did was a mistake but I can't bribe you so if you need to take me to the police station please do and the man was actually intrigued and the man was like oh you believe in God and they had a conversation for a while packed on the side of the road and at the end my friend pulled out the study guide and gave this man and I think the man was blessed and the man said I'll keep in contact with you if I have any questions and I believe that is such a practical example of how being ready even having literature that is an avenue for you to minister to someone you don't have to wait to be called to preach but having something as simple as having a discovery a prophecy study guide having a steps to Christ can go a long way into ministering to someone in your day-to-day activities can you imagine even talking to someone at the office and they have asked you a question about God, about life and you talk to them and the first thing you do is say okay when you get home read this so literature is actually such a broad avenue that you can use and that's a door that God has given us to use to win souls you know sometimes even the conversations don't even have to be so direct because sometimes someone might not necessarily ask you about God directly but they may ask you about how you're coping with a certain challenge and that is an opportunity for you to be able to evangelize to that person to be able to share with them about how God is able to take you through the same like the examples are so many as to how we can be able to just use what God has given us where he has planted us to be able to reach out to his children so how then can we identify this field okay so I'd like to revert back to the understanding of who helps us to identify these things and the person that helps us to identify our spiritual gifts is the Holy Spirit in John chapter 16 verse 13 to 14 Jesus was clear on the importance of the Holy Spirit that he will guide you into all the truth it is the Holy Spirit that controls your thoughts your attitudes, your words, your actions as you follow his leading he will direct your steps through all the complicated parts of life and keep you from sin the Holy Spirit is also the one who gives you the spiritual gifts to all followers of Jesus so that we all can play a role in the body of Christ so the Holy Spirit is important in the aspect also of winning souls because you may have a talent you may exercise it but you may be frustrated that that person you've been praying for so much maybe to leave alcohol maybe to treat his family better he's still doing the same thing regardless of what you have already ministered to him so we always seek God's help to show us the areas that we can do so there are two areas that I've looked at that you can be able to serve one of them notably is the historicals just as Nicoletta talked about in 2018 we had our late senior pastor who gave us a mission for the church which were these historicals of prophecy from the voice of prophecy so each member was to carry one of them and to learn how to evangelize and when the exercise happened we learned that not many of us are confident in the faith that we carry and so these historicals were as Brenda said were weighing a break in the ice to speak to somebody else about their faith, about your faith and how they can strengthen themselves so I was a member of the voice of prophecy department and I was able to to meet so many people I found that when I managed to get the one person I used to think that it is my ability that is enabling me to reach out to people but we forget that it is the Holy Spirit that talks to that other person but you are just a vessel that God is using to meet that person and then through your experiences so number one you need to have you need to have a testimony each and every believer in this church that has been baptized has a testimony of how God saved them from whatever life they were having before number two you need to cultivate your prayer life you need to know how to talk to God and talk to him more frequently even if it is that you are not a good spokesman you are not a good conversation starter but you have the Word of God and you need God to enable you to be able to convey that message that he needs you to convey and lastly is that you need to have a Bible study in this church we have a Sabbath school we also have the baptismal classes we also have the post baptismal classes and all of them use the Bible as the main source of knowledge and wisdom and how we can be able to express ourselves utilizing the gifts that God has given you some of us are good at speaking some of us are vibrant some of us are very quiet some of us are good listeners so those are the things that God is going to heighten for you to use to win a soul and thanks Brian while you are still on that I would like you to share with us your personal experience particularly with PMI total member involvement and there is an example you had alluded to earlier and I would like you to share it with the congregation with regards to how a football you can just think it is a ball and it is actually just a ball but how it was able to just bring people to listen to the word of God because here we are trying to see about the various avenues where we can be effectively used for God's ministry because someone may be thinking it's just through the pulpit but just share your personal experience with regards to that okay so first and foremost in my youth days I'm not so old now but in my youth days I used to love football a lot and so when we went to Nyapiedo there were opportunities for us to give give whatever you have for the glory of God and for myself I developed at least three footballs which I thought that I would bless the youth on the other side as gifts for engagement my actual plan was that I would take this ball and the youth of our church and the youth of Nyapiedo would meet and would be able to play a game and between the game where you before you start you can have a prayer you can share, you can get to know one another you can share your testimony and those who are interested we can follow on little did I know that God was about to open an opportunity that we had never experienced or we had never thought about the later pastor senior pastor Okongo has a younger brother who was able to to to gather the youth of the area because he was at some point going for an elective post within the same community so he was able to find different youth groups nowadays they are in what we call Boda Boda operators so they are in parks but they loved football so we found that because they love football and because I really want to tell them about God they are not going to listen to what I want to tell them about God without feeding what they really love and so we visited them there were about four locations around Nyapiedo we visited each and every one of them we played football with them not played in a long time but I participated in the 11th side we took videos, we invited them and told them I have a story that I want you to hear and apart from that story we are also organizing a tournament and this this is how the tournament was born and before you know it we had five teams with about a hundred people each the 11th side plus their followers and at that time I think we also had the evangelism bus so we collect all the players we brought them to the site and we had an opportunity at the current Nyapiedo SDH church to minister to them to tell them why they were there and then after we told them why they were there we then took them to the tournament everyone enjoyed themselves and the football it was like a fever that caught everyone even the people who were in the children's ministry those who were in the medical field those who were in engineering agriculture you name it everyone was there the second thing I learnt about the football ministry that was powerful the youth had never met with their with their chief and the chief had asked several times to meet this youth so after the tournament we actually passed through the chief's camp and she was so shocked to see that every youth she's been calling was there and after we dealt with that we went to the service where now we presented them to the church and asked those who would like to know more about Christ to raise their hand and to be prayed for and one thing I didn't factor in was when you're doing such a ministry things pop up for example many of the youth come from homes whereby they probably don't have a meal to eat they don't see a breakfast they don't see a dinner they don't know where they're going to get the next meal so the first question I had I had 400 youth following me and they asked me are we going to eat and I found myself between a rock and a hard place but somehow God just brought the elders, deacons and deaconesses from the singing team I think they arrived at the same time and I shared with them my plea and I told them I have all these youth I have brought them to learn the word I have told them the ministry we have played the football but they are hungry how do I feed them lo and behold God just miraculously brought the funds bought the food cooked the food they ate and now we have the youth and at the end of it all I would say that after that campaign happened 40 youth from that football ministry got saved and right now in the church is a youthful church and so you can see the fruits of the labor that we give to Christ God asks us who will go and you want to say that I will go you don't want to sit back and be quiet and expect that it's the person next to you who will go between you and God when you get to heaven alright you have been saved and you have lived a good life when you get to heaven God will ask you so and so I gave you an opportunity not just for yourself but for others to be saved where is the fruit of your labor you would love for God to say welcome Brian, welcome Brenda welcome Nicolette you brought thousands through the ministry you thought was not a ministry through the talent you thought was not a talent and so it is my prayer that we we in ourselves can look at ourselves and ask ourselves a question our pastor today said we are 7th day adventists because we worship on the Sabbath day but most of us are not living 7 days for Christ so ask yourself a question wherever you are can you apply this new living for Christ every day reach a soul whether it's in the workplace whether it's in your family whether it's an acquaintance whether it's in the football it doesn't matter where it is but try and reach someone for Christ amen amen thank you so much for sharing we realize that there are people who came for the love of football but they left with the love of Christ and that is a beautiful testimony thank you for sharing Nicolette even as you add to that I'd like you to talk about Christ's method based on what Brian has shared even as you share your personal experience with regards to God opening doors for us to be able to minister for him thank you for that there's a quote that says Christ's method alone is the one that is effective to reaching souls because Christ sympathizes with the ones he worked with as one who desired their good then after that he ministered to their needs want their confidence then he obeyed them, follow me and I think Brian's story follows that trajectory because he met these people and said you guys like football after playing football he said to Nicolette minister to that need of hunger and then they have now confidence in you and they trust you and then that's now when you can open the scriptures and present Jesus to them so based on what you've asked when I finished high school in 2015 I came home in December and the friends that I had who are close to me by then I found them different it's like they had had a new experience and I asked them okay you guys seem different what has happened and they told me that there's this training that is happening by amazing facts if you have time go through it because it's only by going through that you can understand why they change in our lives has happened so I had time I was joining university in September so I asked my parents can you please pay for me this training and let's see what will happen so my parents were kind enough to support me and I joined amazing facts and I did the full course so we did all types of evangelizing from personal to health to child and once we were finished for you to graduate you had to hold an evangelistic campaign for three weeks so here I am freshly from high school I'm 18 I've never had anything about an evangelistic campaign but through the training God had given me confidence by my own might but He would strengthen me through that whole experience so we found us a place to run the campaign and I taught children for about three weeks in Kawanguare and at the end 11 of them decided to get baptized by the grace of God and during that time I remember thinking to myself last year if someone told me this is what I would be doing at the end of next year I would be like no and I would have been speaking from a point of and it will be easier to not fall into temptation so that's how I can say one of the avenues through which God was able to open and you realize that for all of us there is somewhere that God has planted you be it here in church in your neighborhoods at home at your workplaces in school wherever God has planted you a minister for you to allow Him to effectively use you for His service so just think about it what am I doing with the field that has been put around me what am I doing with the talents that God has given me to reach out to these people that He has put around me because wherever God has put you He intends that you fulfill the great commission there so just think about it where you are your homes your neighborhoods people like say the shopkeeper what impact am I having in their lives with regards to leading them heaven one so with regards to these personal experiences Brian how would you say it has impacted your life and even how you reach out to other people and my question is coming from a point of you know sometimes you can hear about reaching other people their call is made severally you are reminded they won't listen eh not today maybe next week like you find an excuse not to do it now so having gone through that experience where you thought you would gather people let's play football then ok it grew to something bigger and greater not just even for the ministry of God even for the community at large here how has this impacted your life and how you view reaching out to other people and also how has it impacted your attitude towards just reaching people thank you Brenda so I want to say that before I came to this church many people knew me for my parents and when I came to this church and I performed but I participated in the evangelistic campaign it changed my life I would give you the good example of how you can be thrown in the deep end in an area that you thought that you will never survive and then after you finish you're like ah this was not as bad as I thought on the first day of arriving in Nha Piedo we were at the late elder Masimba's home and Pastor Nyaga was with us and a few elders and so I saw the number of elders and pastors being four and when we looked at the locations that were to be visited for the Sabbath the next day there were four locations and so I said ah this is okay the elders and the pastor they'll take over the leadership will be okay and you'll just follow and we'll just follow you know it's an easy path eh we just follow but the pastor has the power to nominate and to choose who he feels can express themselves and grow their talents so we pulled some straws and he said everyone with number one will be the ones who lead and do the salmon the next day I see elder and then I looked at mine and I found number one and I was like what do you mean I'm going to preach I don't understand and um so I I was able to gather the team and each member of the team was a volunteer from a different background and different experiences we were all thrown in the deep end the way you see that the church is worshiping on Sabbath and you think it is easy you see the people who are doing the maybe the sign language and also the IT the backup, the TV the online you think it's easy but when you come where I am and you realize that you have to talk to people number one who are speaking a mother tongue that maybe you're not familiar with and number two they probably don't understand English well and English is the one that you're strong at so you can see that the challenges were already multiplied so I was in fear and I remember that in just after the baptismal our late elder Dan Orico used to tell us that the two things that will save you is to pray that's the first thing and number two don't answer anything without the word of God and so when I went to give that service in that new place everyone else performed their job well the ones who are reading the verses the ones who are singing the ones who are sharing and so on and so forth when it came to my point of view of now giving the sermon I used Romans 12 verse 2 talks about do not be conformed to the ways of the world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind and you can see through the training that I had here that I had renewed my mind but I was still not confident in what God had given me and so those who I was working with translated for me I spoke in English someone translated the law and I don't translate it swally and I was like wow God you have transformed what I thought was impossible amen thank you so much for sharing that what about you Nicolette through the experience that you have had and what you have shared and I am sure there are many other experiences but how has that impacted your life individually and even how you view your attitude towards reaching out to other people like against the backdrop of you could easily find an excuse not to but how has that changed your life because we are just seeing how God was for us in various places to be able to just mean thank you for that question I think as I shared earlier what stood out clearly for me in line with your question is it's not my ability if you walk into a situation thinking about whether you have the ability to do something you will fail because our righteousness is like filthy rags it's not your work that I can do there is no amount of training that I can do that I can carry out the work of God with my own efforts it will be futile completely futile and understanding that if God has given you a divine appointment if an avenue has been opened he will bring you to carry it out the way he'd like it to carry it out and just as Brian read earlier that I will be with you all the way until the end of time until the end of time so remembering that it is not your ability that is helping you casting all those anxieties and the devil will always be there to whisper to you of course he'll tell you you're not good enough and I'm sure even in my own personal life sometimes when you're about to share the devil is asking you wasn't it to you who was committing sin on Tuesday how do you have the audacity to be the one to be telling people about the word of God until the one who told a white lie yesterday are you sure that these people will believe what you're saying and you will continuously whisper those things in your mind and they'll give you insecurity but you always have to remember that you're a vessel and it is not your own might that you are going to carry out this work but it is through Christ who when you put on his robe of righteousness he equips you with the right things to say the right way to carry out the work and everything will fall into place and God has truly proven to be faithful through the Bible times through our experience through what we have also seen other people go through when God is sending you to do this work he's not going to leave you he's not going to let you just wing it he's going to equip you give you the words and even walk with you through it there's a thing I read with regards to this great commission when God when Jesus tells his disciples and no I am with you all the way even until the end of the age actually my version the new living translation says and be sure of this like it's not just a rumor be sure of it that I am with you always and even when he was saying that God was Jesus was stating a fact that I will be with you it wasn't a maybe it was a serious fact I will be with you always even to the end of the age and even as he was stating this fact it is also a promise that he will be with you always even until the end of the age so even as he's giving you this work he's aware of what it entails he has gone through having to talk to people who don't even want to listen he knows what it means to call for a meeting and have a handful of people show up but even then I like that you've highlighted for us remember that it's God's work remember that it's not your work there's nothing by your own ability that will bring these people to Jesus Christ you allow God to use you as the vessel through which God can work through and even bring people closer to him so as we are thinking about this and going through let me again read my hymn for the days 359 Vastri says if you cannot be the watchman standing high on Zion's wall pointing out the path to heaven offering life and peace to all with your prayers and with your bounties you can do what heaven demands you can be like faithful iron holding up the prophet's hands so we're still trying to look at it and we're saying that everyone has a special role to play each man has a work that they can do each man and woman has a work that they can do so brand how can we then be involved because we've talked about avenues being presented like what's the call for us how can we be involved and be part of this great commission okay so I wanted us first to understand where to use the devotional that I was going to share today the title is witnessing so no one knows the day or hour when the owner of the house will come back not even the angels in heaven nor the son but only the father so be on your guard and be alert because if he comes suddenly don't let him find you sleeping Matthew 5 verse 16 Mark 13 32 to 37 and Romans 1 verse 6 when we're witnessing for Christ this Sabbath do not be ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes therefore let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to the Father who is in heaven and I always finish with the hashtag because you have to put God first you want to serve God you got to put God first in everything even when you feel at your weakest point put God first alright and voluntary the voluntary work that we have practiced through the opportunities that the church has given have enabled us to be who we are today have enabled us to be on fire for Christ in our several different areas of life Brenda I mentioned earlier that in the home you too need to be ever present as a godly figure and I'm talking to the fathers because God gave us the priesthood to lead the family to him so it begins with us and if we can be a good example to our families then we can be a good example to the community and it spreads and spreads and spreads so wherever opportunity you have in church for example the last opportunity we had I think was VBS quite a lot of youth and parents gave their time to volunteer for this service and when they came out of it they came out ten times better some of them even the things that they thought they never could do they were like wow I mean I can do this because you gave yourself honestly for God give yourself for God to use I always have opportunities to serve opportunities to share but I felt like this one talking about evangelism was closest to my heart because it is the same place that nurtured me to be who I am today to be able to reach out to so many other people you see the football ministry that I did in Nyapiedo I'm trying it out in my hometown I have joined myself into football teams and their youth like myself and I give them my experiences and I pray for them and I minister to them you may be somebody who feels that many people are calling you for finances and you know your life you don't have the finances but what do you have you have the word of God and you have prayer you can pray for that person I recently prayed for someone I didn't know what else was going to get the money but I prayed for that person because I knew that God can answer what he is asking for and I was praying asking God can he believe like I believe that you can deliver that which he is asking for that which is lacking and God answered that prayer instantly so these are testimonies that we have every day testimonies that each and every one of us can have and share and impact somebody else right now when I do my devotionals I only started on WhatsApp I used to do groups and sometimes you find groups that don't want you there I prayed about it God opens the groups that want you there in fact the ones where you share and then people keep quiet when you tell them okay I'm going to take a break that's when they now start saying no no no that message you give us every day it's impacting us it's helping us so I really believe that if we put God first in everything we'll be able to achieve more than we know thank you thank you so much Bran for sharing those very practical examples and even reminding us whatever avenue God has put before you take it up and just allow the Lord to use you what would you say Nicolette about being involved and as you're talking about that I'd like you to highlight the importance of us belonging to our various Sabbath school units with our classes here okay thank you for that so I think Sabbath school is one of the most interactive sessions we have in Sabbath in that it's a very interactive session I don't know about you but being in a place where you're discussing the Bible and sharing your takes on different topics and this is a universal topic in that wherever you'll go in the world Sabbath school will always be the same in that we'll always be studying the same part of the Bible so what I think Sabbath school is very important because the way we do it in my class is we'll share about our week we'll share our prayer requests and then I will get into the study when you develop a personal relationship with someone you are better equipped to be a minister to them and that is a given when I am your friend Brenda it is easier for me to know what your needs are and where you're stumbling in your spiritual work and be able to hold you up as you do the same for me and I think now that we've gone back to having our groups it's very important for us to cultivate those friendships because when you're present in your Sabbath school you'll be able to form connections that even decide to minister together I've heard of Sabbath school groups that go out to children's homes that raise money for each other when each other are down and you kind of build that community and by ministering to each other's needs you're actually helping the cause of Christ that's true and even just to add to what you have talked about even through this unit and that doesn't mean it excludes we are able to do effective follow up you know sometimes a brother or a sister could be going through something and no one else might know say for you people in that particular action unit there's a time I was talking to my mother and she had mentioned about someone in the action unit who had gone missing for some time and when they finally were able to find this person you realize that this person was going through a lot and they were not able to make it through this action unit it is through this action unit that you're able to even just encourage this person you're able to notice that ah we have not seen so and so for a while they could be going through something they could have fallen off by the wayside like what I'm just trying to say is follow up is also an active part of evangelism follow up whether it is internally through our action unit follow up through the people that we have reached out to but even as we are doing that we ought to remember that the major the major work is done by the Holy Spirit so let's continue lifting them up in prayer let's continue people the love of Christ wherever they may be may they feel the warmth of Jesus Christ through our actions through our prayers through our encouragement so for me I'd say as we are how each and every one of us can be involved number one show up me I think that is usually the first and most important step for me just show up whether you feel like you are equipped whether you feel like you are qualified or not you show up and watch God work with whatever you have to make a mighty miracle for his vineyard and his kingdom now we talked about this journey of evangelism and even just reaching out to people Brian is it an easy path gathering 400 youth to bring them is it easy because me I'm just thinking by the end of that day even my voice would be lost that shouting for is it an easy path I'll tell you 100% it's not an easy path it also depends on your work in life I would say that my biggest encouragement in life is I always look back at where God has brought me from as I told you for the ones who have just joined my past life was a life of alcoholism a life of drug abuse a life of I would say that I'm a person who I'm either very good or I'm either very bad I don't have a middle so I'm either for God or I'm for the devil so there's no look home area so I would say that be committed be committed to Christ work work on work on your prayer life work on studying the word of God this daily devotionals as I tell you are also are also a way of me studying me putting time inside every day to find out the word of God or to find out a problem so for example it can be the title can just be finances and I have to research verses that are going to impact people from the Bible about finances and then look at my own life and how God has been able to impact my life on that subject or somebody else's and then being able to now summarize this and give it out to those who are listening and when you see the impact that that message does to people when they tell you you know I never used to read the Bible I never even had an opportunity to read the Bible but through your ministry every day I am studying I am learning I am growing in my faith is what I am for as Brenda was saying earlier where are those fields those are the fields the ones you don't see the people you don't meet I would say that even in another example that's very short from the baptismal class when you shine for God people can see it you know when you're not lying about it people see it naturally so a couple approached me about the nephew who had derailed knowing my background knowing where I had come from knowing how I am saved knowing how I am living right now they know that there is something about me that can just help him and I told them I am not a counselor I am not professionally trained and you know the Bible says that God calls them unqualified amen so he calls so for us it is your choice to listen and then after you've listened you act on it so this gentleman we have never met we just prayed online I kept talking to him encouraging him and we're in similar situations you know I'm a father he's a father he has children and we we're related on that part these are people who have never met every time we try to meet something comes up but somehow when I was away I think last weekend I had gone for a funeral I hear that he tells me I'm going to church I've not been to church for five years I'm going to church I told God thank you amen my work is done you know so that's as little as it can be those of you online who are struggling feel and believe you can't overcome I am a living testimony that you can overcome and there's nothing that I've not experienced that you are experiencing right now I know that this God that we serve this God that we love this God that we evangelize for each and every day we testify for he has a place for us a place where we'll be rejoicing where there'll be no more tears no more shackles you understand even the ones who have already gone our family, our loved ones he says that we'll meet again so I believe in that and even if the path doesn't look easy God is promising still to be with you always always Nicolette sometimes even as we are walking through this difficult path the results might not be instant you could go out there and evangelize you could plan a beautiful program then you have two attendees and you're thinking after all that work no one is giving their lives to Christ what would you say about reward I mean Bren has highlighted the part of it not being easy but reward the fruits of maybe your efforts and sometimes it may seem it may seem discouraging because as human beings you'd like to put in and see results that you can quantify immediately and I think we can even look at the life of Noah Noah held an evangelistic campaign for 120 years imagine and we are told some people believe but then they died but in the end only 8 people were saved can you imagine how frustrating it would be if Noah was looking at results if he was waking up every day and saying these people are not listening to me I'm not doing this again because no one is coming to Christ but you have to remember that maybe your work in that season is to plant a seed and then maybe a few years later Brenda will water it and then 3 years later Brian will make the harvest the results might not be instant exactly so we are all working together for an end goal that we all agree towards and I think Ellen White puts it well in Christian service and she says I'll just read the quote Christian service page 264 paragraph 3 and she says the good seed may for a time lie unnoticed in a cold, selfish, worldly heart giving no evidence that it has taken root but afterward as a spirit of God breathes on the soul and the hidden seed springs up and that last bears fruit to the glory of God we know not which shall prosper this or that this is not a question for us to settle we do our work and leave the results to God it's the Holy Spirit that convicts people and I know sometimes you get frustrating when you are telling Brenda this life of sin is bad and Brenda is like I am enjoying it and you feel like convincing her but that is not your work your work that God has called you is to be kind to Brenda in a way that there is a better there is a better side to life and if she doesn't listen now that's up to her but you have planted a seed and as I said I can plant a seed you can water it and even as years span over someone else may harvest and it should never discourage us that what we are doing you know sometimes even in church here and that's why I think the pastors even prayed for us you may feel like you've been doing one work for so long and you're putting in the results but the results are not for you to see as we have been told do the work and leave the rest leave the rest to God and pray for God to strengthen you even as you feel those low moments because it would be a lie and say that those low moments don't come they actually come we get discouraged but we have to look back to our greater purpose and to Christ to remind us why we are doing this work Thank you so much for coming to the end of this discussion just wrap it up and bring it home so what are we telling people today? So I wanted to present again Matthew 13 verse 31 to 32 he presented another parable to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a master seed which a man took and sowed in his field and this is smaller than all other seeds but when it's fully grown it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come at nest in its branches so here Jesus was talking to us about you and I as much as we have our talents and we feel that our talents are not sufficient enough to bring another soul to the kingdom of God he says that if you have faith like a master seed anything is possible so my closing part is as a youth and after living a life where sometimes I feel like I wasted a lot of years in my life and then I come to think and look at the full picture of what God was wanting to do he was wanting to use me it is just that he was speaking to me and I was never listening or he was speaking to me and I was always running you may be hearing calls for evangelism calls for volunteering into ministry into even visitations and one day when life is over God will ask you I gave you a plan and a purpose I gave you an opportunity to solve what did you do with it would like to say that God I gave it my all I did everything you asked me and here is the fruit each and every member of this church should bear fruit for Jesus amen that is the story receive salvation but find another person who you can influence to receive the same salvation amen thank you Brian Nicolette what is our take home now I think what stands out for me especially as we are discussing preparing to go through this Bible study is we looked at the example of the disciples who were discouraged after Christ had died and on their walk to a mouse Christ joined them but he disguised himself so that they would not know who he was and he spoke to them and he encouraged them and at the end when Christ revealed himself to them they were so happy and I remember asking Brenda what was the next thing they did after they became happy what was their next impulse what was it to go and share the word of God so it is very strange for you to witness and experience God's love at a personal level and sit in the house and just say wow God is amazing that is not how Christianity works what happens when we experience the true love of God is we want to share it with others and I believe we have all shared practical steps on how we can get training be it formal or informal how we can get strengthened when we feel discouraged but my challenge to all of us including myself is are you taking up the divine appointments that God has put in your life are you ignoring them are you prioritizing other things above the greatest work that God put us on this earth for all are you prioritizing your other secular things so may God strengthen us to identify those divine appointments that we will be able to remember the first work that we have as these children amen amen thank you so much as the hymn writer finishes off the hymn he says while the souls of men are dying and the master calls for you let none hear you idly saying there is nothing I can do gladly take the task he gives you let his work your pleasure be answer quickly when he calleth here am I O Lord send me and I pray that for you for me for all of us may that be our response when God is calling us to this work so great when he is giving us this privilege to be collaborators with him may our response be quick ready and precise here am I O Lord send me and even one thing I'd like us to realize is when God is calling to this work the first candidate that he wants to save is you forget the people that yes he has a keen interest in the people that he's sending you to but the very first candidate he wants to get to heaven as he's giving this work is you as an individual so take up this work as even your ministering to other people God is ministering to you and even preparing you for the kingdom of heaven even as he uses you to reach out to the people and the ultimate goal the ultimate price is to receive the crown of life live with God eternally and hear the words well done good and faithful servant may that be your portion may you heed the call may you truly answer and say here am I O Lord send me thank you so much I'll ask Brian to close for us with the word of prayer let us pray for the world and for you this afternoon we are thanking you Lord for using us to further your message to the world that is needing you we thank you O God for gifting us with the talents and our skills that we can use for your service we pray for those who have been convicted by the message and the words and the testimonies that we have given today to be involved Lord Jesus may they come forward may they participate in your kingdom in Jesus Holy Name I pray and believe Amen let us rise for closing him song number five hundred and sorry three hundred and fifty nine hark the voice of Jesus calling if you cross the ocean and the heathen lands explore you can find the heathen nearer you can help them at your door in angels if you can look free like born and tell the love of Jesus you can say he died for be the watchman step to all gladly the words of the grace sorry may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore Amen