Latest / The Rhett Palmer Show / Tell All The World About Jesus

Transcript

Tell All The World About Jesus · The Rhett Palmer Show

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Tell all the world.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Here we are.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Tell.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: When I was in my teens, of course I was into Eastern religions, but I said, if I ever find out that there's really a God, I'm going to tell all the world.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: And now here I'm a 72-year-old man considering changing the name of my show into Tell All the World.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: And I have two very special guests.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: We attend church together.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: It is, of course, the uh pastor of uh St.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Paul's, Anglican, over on Nine Nan Nine Flame Vine in Vero Beach, Florida.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: And they're um how would we say you believe in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit present day?
0:40
SPEAKER_00: You might put under the category of charismatic, and others not.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: They in the Bible says they will in the end times they will deny the spirit and the power thereof.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: You do not deny the spirit.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit has reign and rule at your church, right?
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, we certainly hope that that's the case, and we certainly invite the Holy Spirit uh to come and to fill that place and fill all of us.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: But there's nobody handling snakes, of course.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's jumping up and down, and nobody yells out they have a prophecy and interrupt the pastor.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean I know I understand kind of the lighthearted uh joke that you're making there.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: But I mean it's sad in some ways that some people would say, oh, if you're charismatic or you believe in the gifts, you're automatically snake handling.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know, yeah.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: But you know I understand.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: And I don't, but others do, you know.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Most do.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: And when I used to travel and say, now let's interview Mike, though.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: Mike Liebler.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Hello, Mike Liebler.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Hello, Dad.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I need you much closer to your mic, though.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: You've got to lean in with it.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: Hello there.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, please.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: Because uh now these two uh these two wonderful men of God, I won't say characters.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we are characters.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Are we not all?
1:48
SPEAKER_00: We're all polluters, yeah.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: Bible says we're peculiar people.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: You just returned from Africa.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: Africanos, how are you doing now?
1:55
SPEAKER_01: Tanzania specifically.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: It sounds a little Mexican to me, but I'll I'll take that.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Well, anyway, so you went now, you're the pastor of uh the Anglican church.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: Now you're wearing a collar too, and you have uh you're a what you're not a pastor, but you're a what?
2:09
SPEAKER_02: I am I am a youth pastor, pastor, but I'm ordained within the ACNA, the Anglican Church of North America, as a as a deacon on my way to become a priest.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, really.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: So and so um you I anyway, we won't talk about anything else right there.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: I want to get over to to Africa.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: So you guys just returned.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of Africans, uh, African Christians now, there's a very serious subject, are being killed, crucified, murdered, uh, because of their faith in Jesus.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: So were you to first of all, why were you going to Africa, the two of you?
2:42
SPEAKER_02: To preach the life-changing message of Jesus Christ, basically, and whatever means we're able to do that in eyeglass ministry is one of them.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: Also equipping the saints for the ministry, the other pastors that that are uh there in Tanzania, and also to help uh facilitate some of the church buildings that we that our church is a part of building churches there in Tanzania.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: So that's Did I miss anything?
3:07
SPEAKER_01: No, you didn't miss anything.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Is that the first time you went to Africa?
3:10
SPEAKER_02: No, I I've been there before a couple of different times.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh you have?
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've been to Zimbabwe.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh but uh and I went into culture shock.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: People don't realize uh when you go, you know, it's right now you talk about Africa and the trouble's there and you're hungry, and but you can walk out of this room and there's a McDonald's down the street.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: When you're there and there is no alternative, it's a little it's a little disconcerting to say the least, you know.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: So, well, first of all, in the in the name of Jesus, thank you for going to Africa, because the Lord does call us to go.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: I personally believe there's definitely a special blessing for those who uh minister in different foreign lands.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: I know that because I went to different foreign lands not full-time, but I could I actually sense some blessing when that happened.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, why were you there?
3:54
SPEAKER_00: You were gonna oh you said you already said you brought you went to bring glasses.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: So you collected glasses because we take it for granted here in America.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Both of you are eyeglass guys.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: You're both wearing your glasses now.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: So we happen to have eyeglasses, yes.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: Because I, you know, like my eyesight's uh I'm supposed to get surgery and uh we're waiting for something that was put off.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: But so we all um so I'm getting older and losing a little sight here, and so uh we all appreciate having glasses.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: So you collected, how did that all work where you collected glasses in the US?
4:24
SPEAKER_02: Well that aspect basically the church, I believe, had purchased the glasses uh in bulk.
4:30
SPEAKER_02: And there were uh probably about three different types of glasses, three or four different types.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh three prescriptions high, medium, low, or strong, weak to weak.
4:42
SPEAKER_02: And then I believe the other glass was uh a type of uh blue lens glass.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: So it was more of a designer slash when I when kids are you know, 30 year olds on down will look at their look at their s their phones, this uh blue lens glass will protect their eyes.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: Well you know Dr.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Mallin from Center for Advanced Eye Care, he's been uh he's been uh here for many years, about thirty years.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: He said his greatest day is the day after surgery because people come in who didn't have eyesight, it's restored because of cataracts, or they can get new lenses put in.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: So, did you guys were you able to see the looks on people's faces when they got a pair of glasses for the first time?
5:22
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: And and I'll just interject here for a second because so this eyeglass ministry started uh probably three years ago.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: And when we went the first time, we were not only doing uh distance correction glasses, in other words, people people who were nearsighted as well as those who were far-sighted.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: The process for helping someone get eyeglasses who are uh nearsighted is more complicated, right?
5:56
SPEAKER_01: And so we had we had a actually uh a young guy who was getting ready to get his uh medical uh doctorate.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: And uh so we had someone a young African man?
6:08
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: A Western guy who from the bureau Brad Menzer was.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he came with you who went with us the first time.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the first time.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: This is now two or three years ago.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: And so we actually did uh distance glasses as well as what we would call readers.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Of course, all of us who are you know getting older, and once you hit like 40, you start needing reading glasses.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: And so we found it was much easier to help those specifically who need readers.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: And so we shifted the ministry to focus on those people who need it for reading.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: And focus is not a plan word too.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: I'll say we stand on the shoulders of of other people who have uh gone in front of us in ministry.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: Um so Brad and Robbie would be another person who would praise God for their faithfulness, because if not, then the ministry would not be able to continue on, and people like me just tag along and continue on with that vision.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And so I know we won't go into specifics, but after returning, they need roofs on uh was it six?
7:12
SPEAKER_01: So right now there are thirty-seven congregations, and I think it's actually up to forty-one.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh these are little modest concrete buildings you you've helped build some of them?
7:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so and and it's it's in process.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: In other words, uh out of those let's say 41 congregations, we have some congregations that are literally just starting.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: They are gathering for the first time.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh and literally we were told there were four new congregations that just started in the last two weeks.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Generally speaking, when a new congregation starts, they begin by gathering under a mango tree.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: They have nothing, right?
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Which is because you remember I had that dream the last time before you went, I said I saw you preaching underneath the tree, and they actually went and he ended up preaching underneath the tree.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: And so they gather under a mango tree.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: Why is it under a mango tree?
8:00
SPEAKER_01: A mango tree has incredibly lush branches.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: So that if it rains, the the rain really doesn't it serves as an umbrella of sorts and shade.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: So, and both of those things are very, very important.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: So you start with the congregation under a mango tree.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: I wrote a song.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: I know you're gonna think this is weird, but mango, mango, mango tree, let that mango fall to me, let it fall into my hands, and I will be a happy mango man, mango tango, down in the rango.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Yellow, green, no, no, red, green, and yellow, yellow, mellow.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so I decided to get that in there.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so you go from a mango tree, and then eventually you build what they call a tabernacle.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: So, of course, that references in the idea.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: What's the difference between a tabernacle and a church?
8:56
SPEAKER_00: How do we differentiate?
8:57
SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: And do you remember in the Bible, of course, when the Israelites were uh wandering for those 40 years in the desert, the the Lord had a tabernacle or a tent set up for the Lord.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: And only the priests could go in there and make sacrifices unto the Lord, right?
9:15
SPEAKER_01: But it was a tent.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: It was basically a tent, yeah.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Right, that was portable and movable.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: So in the African culture, a tabernacle is more of a temporary structure.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: It tends to be just wooden posts with either a tarp over the top of it, and oftentimes the tarp goes down the sides.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: So it's just becomes a shelter.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Have either of you been to Pennsylvania?
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh don't please don't laugh.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: It's called Intercourse Pennsylvania, and they have it uh you've been there.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Explain to the people what that is.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a it's a recreation of the tabernacle.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: You can walk in.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: Well, I didn't go into that, you know, but we were we were in that area, yes.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: Some other areas too.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they have the the uh the Amish, I think it is, they have recreated the tabernacle.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: And it's good to see the whole all all the uh the degrees of uh the God demanded.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, this would have been the Ark of the Covenant that would be in there.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the holy of holies, and that had the pieces, the dust or whatever from the the first Ten Commandments given to Moses, right?
10:16
SPEAKER_01: It had the stone tablets, it had the um showbrad.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: But now it's disappeared, too.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: Aaron's rod that butted in the wilderness.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure it's a little bit of a big thing.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: Aaron's rod.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: There are people on listeners right now that's like, okay, there's passions, you know what's in the tower.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: In in 15 seconds or 30 seconds, I never knew about what about Aaron's bird?
10:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that story.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: Aaron's but uh Aaron's rod that budded in the wilderness.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: So basically it's it's a sign of God's presence and his power that went with them through the wilderness.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: So you have physical evidence that, yep, he's been with us.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: I thought Moses is the one that had the stick, the cane or whatever you call it.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: No, Moses did have Moses rod, but now Aaron also had a rod that butted in the wilderness.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean?
11:01
SPEAKER_01: It means all right, so you have a stick.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: Normally a stick doesn't spontaneously grow leaves and and flowers and that kind of thing.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: And as a sign of God's presence, the Lord did it did it for Aaron to show that the anointing was on him.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Wow, is that cool?
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I never knew that before.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Imagine that.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: I I learned something from a couple of guys wearing collars.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Look at it.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: So uh well, by the way, folks, I'm excited to have these two fellows in here.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: We're talking with Mike Liebler, and he goes to the uh the Anglican church on 999 Flame Vime St.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: Paul's, and of course, right here is um Pastor Um John, J-O-O-J-O-N, spelled that way, John Robbins.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: And we've been friends for years and years.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: And um anyway, we you know, we're friends 20 years.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: You've been coming on the show with I remember David used to bring you on here, special events, and we just maybe it's my fault, never connected because I kind of associated all organized religions as being you know questionable.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: And uh God's kind of like delivered me from that later on in life, realizing that uh there's saved people in every church, and there's unsaved people in every church.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: And it's about individuals, not about clustering people together, uh, you know, right?
12:16
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, but I'm happy to have you.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I'm attending that church right now and uh really enjoying it.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: The lovely, kind giving people there.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Unusually so.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: We came from a church, well, don't thank don't thank me, thank the Lord that he's done this, because I tell you what, it's amazing.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's amazing.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: And so uh and and and anyway, some of the people we know are uh can be well-to-do, but there's no snobbishness, there's nothing.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: They're in service of each other.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you don't show up to a hail a healing service on Thursdays at eleven o'clock praying for others if you're there for uh any other purpose, because it's a it's a sacrifice of time and energy, right?
12:55
SPEAKER_00: And it's quite a lovely thing.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: So and yeah, we're human beings, so yeah, you have all kinds in every church, and that defines uh St.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: Paul's as well.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Now some people go under the helm of whether it's uh cat Catholicism or Episcopalian or whatever church, you know, and uh they have a perfunctory relationship, you know.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then there are those who actually have a born-again experience.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Now, Michael, Michael Liebler, you're from where originally?
13:22
SPEAKER_00: Originally my you gotta come in.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: Originally Miami, Florida, three or five.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're Floridian.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh you're a rare breed.
13:29
SPEAKER_02: I I I am.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: I am.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: I I will say back in 18 something, my one of my great-great-grandfathers was actually the governor of Florida.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, how do you like them?
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're talking to the governor's great son here.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: That's right, man.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Did you read A Land Remembered Yet?
13:46
SPEAKER_02: Did I read A Land Remembered Yet?
13:48
SPEAKER_00: No, that's the The Book on Florida, yeah.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: My mother would read maybe five books a week.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: And she said it perhaps might be the best book I ever read in her life.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: And I actually got to do the I I interviewed him on uh, you know, all throughout the years, but I happened to be with him uh in his bed was in his living room the last few weeks, and I got I was the last person to interview him.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: But uh but uh uh yeah.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, that's it's she's kind of walked into history of that book.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: I think you might thoroughly enjoy that you have too.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Your grandfather, which is really your father, father, father, father.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's a father of yours, he's a grandfather, uh, was the governor of Florida.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's quite a cool thing, man.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Down here when they had uh in his book, he mentions that the the uh mosquitoes were so thick, literally, they would have these groups together, they would come on a cow and kill the cow.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: Holy cow.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: That's a bite.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so um so I'm particularly you guys went to Africa.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: It's great to go in the service of the Lord.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: Um what else did you do?
14:57
SPEAKER_00: You got there with your glasses that the church had purchased or collected and gave these to these people, and you actually got to see the looks on their faces.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, some of these never had never could really see well.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what's what's really great is that you're you're providing, yes, a physical service.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: So you would have individuals come and there really was was three types of individuals.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: Um three types of individuals that that would come.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: They were um let's see, the the freebies, the wannabes, and the thrifties.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: That's how it was.
15:36
SPEAKER_02: And the freebies basically were the type of people who the Americans are here, so they they they want anything we're passing out.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: So we really weren't able to gauge in a sense of where they were at.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: And most of those were were young, I'll call them adolescents, 30 on down.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: And so our blue lens glasses that weren't prescription, those were the ones that were were great for them.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Now hold on.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: When you say blue lens here, blue lens, when you say that in the United States, that means the blue lens that you wear when you're looking at your computer so you don't hurt your eyes.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Is that what those are?
16:06
SPEAKER_00: So they're not they're not they don't focus or anything.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: Yep, correct.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: So there's no prescription in them.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: They can look at their phones, it's great and fine.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: So that would be for the freebies.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: And now the wannabes are following the freebies.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: They they they're not quite sure, they're a little bit skeptical.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and once you try on it certain prescriptions, one prescription, like I said, was would be weak, and then you know, they'd try stronger, and then and then the third one would be stronger.
16:32
SPEAKER_02: So you're like, is this is this clear?
16:35
SPEAKER_02: Is this better?
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Is this worse?
16:36
SPEAKER_02: So you'd ask, and the and the wannabe would be like, Hey, I I actually need glasses for reading.
16:42
unknown: Uh-huh.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: So then you'd have So some of these people never could read a Bible because you know, yeah, and like me, I can't read a thing without my glasses.
16:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and that's the key right there.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: We would use John 3.16, or we'd use a scripture verse that we'd have them point them to to read.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: And the word, we know the word is not gonna return unvoided, it's not gonna return um empty.
17:05
SPEAKER_02: So we'd have a Muslim lady, if you want to take example, who would read John 3.16, she'd read use these glasses, and she would go into the area of thrifty.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: She came and she got a good deal.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: Not only did she get a pair of glasses, but she got to read the gospel.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there was no charge for these.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: No charge at all.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: No charge at all, just like salvation.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: No charge for that.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: So what did what did uh what were the expressions on these people that suddenly could read the word of God mean God bless her?
17:32
SPEAKER_02: You know, I was okay, I'm a little jaded.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: All right, been in ministry for 40 years.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: You're a spoiled American, yeah, yeah.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Like I am.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and so here's here's some people that they would take these glasses and it's clear, and they would say, I could read my Bible now.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
17:49
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going, I'm going, you know, I've taken it for granted.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: You know, just just put them on my head.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: I just uh I take it for granted, and thank you, Jesus, for for opening my eyes to be more grateful to what I already on words, brother.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: But you know, for them to see, for them to put on these glasses that's clear, we're we're we're praying and hoping that the Holy Spirit would illuminate, would open let them see Christ, that that Christ will come to them.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, in that moment.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: And what you guys oh yeah, yeah, that's great.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among men, and and Jesus is the word of God, and the ramifications of that are we're made in his image.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: So God said, Let there be light, and we can speak cursing or blessing to each other.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: I can say, Hey Mike, you're a good guy.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Does that feel good?
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Sure, it feels good.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm actually now they know your tone and everything actually affects people.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: And they've they've recorded people like saying negative stuff over water, then they freeze it and see it has a different uh crystallization than when you take water and you speak positive and loving over it, and then it's frozen, it has a different crystallization.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: It's simply amazing.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: So we're made in the image of God.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: So as he spoke the world into existence, so we too.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: And then he decided, you know, there's something about the written word.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, I you know, we don't we all don't know each other that well, but I can tell you this.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: When I was in my mid-20s, I took a class on goal setting and I wrote down uh it was either, I think it was 10 things that I wanted.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: And and I went to this class and I wrote them down, put them in my drawer.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: So uh my friend comes in six months later.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: She's the older woman who believed in Jesus, was kind of like a mentor, and she said, Boy, that's amazing about your list.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: I said, What list?
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Remember, you took the class, the list.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: I pulled out the list.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: So help me God show I wanted a new white van to go and minister with.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: I had a brand new white van.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to go to Israel.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: I'd just gotten back from Israel.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to shoot a music video, that's what we shot there.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be on a national TV show.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: This is all written down.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: And I've been they debuted my video on the 700 Club.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I mean, uh, whatever else.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there were and uh actually I wanted a boat, and I had possession of a boat.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: So I made a deal with somebody for advertising.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: I exchanged a brand new boat.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: So the 10 things that it blew my mind.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Writing down, and I give this as a gift because you know I you know who Zig Ziegler was, right?
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: I got to interview him a couple of times.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: A lovely Christian man, but motive most famous for being a motivational speaker.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: I'll see you at the top.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: Now, Rhett, if you'll write down your goals here, so just as a little gift to anybody out there, and uh, why did I start talking about this?
20:31
SPEAKER_01: Power of words and the power of prayer, uh, power of the written word is where you started with that.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and so you guys are going to Africa, and you give the gift of sight by bringing glasses to people who have maybe never been had the ability to read the word.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: What a phenomenal.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it it is, it is awesome.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I will say on a sidestep, just something simple as glasses presents the gospel.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: Something as simple as shoes presents the gospel.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: My daughter went at age 12, I believe, she went barefoot for a whole year, raised up money so that she can bring shoes and money to uh to Africa through another ministry that we're part of branches of the vine.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: She went barefoot for a year.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Did her feet get really super callous so she didn't get it?
21:18
SPEAKER_02: You know, we're from Miami, Florida.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: We're from Florida, Stewart area.
21:21
SPEAKER_02: We're I'm barefoot all the time.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: How old is that daughter now?
21:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh she is 22 and she'll be getting married.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: Oh, congratulations.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Did she live around here or no?
21:30
SPEAKER_02: She she's in South Carolina.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, where?
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Where?
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh uh uh Greenville area at Anderson.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: I used to sing in uh lots of churches uh up in and in uh in the Carolinas.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd like to hear you sing on a hill far away.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: On a hill far away.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: You didn't vote for that one, did you?
21:57
SPEAKER_00: So anyway.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: I think we talked about this the last time, but it's interesting.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Like we started this discussion by saying there are a lot of Christians being bordered in Africa.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is very serious.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: But now uh it just to put this in context, a lot of the news that we're hearing is coming out of Nigeria.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: That's where a lot of the border is.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And where were you guys?
22:22
SPEAKER_01: So that's Nigeria is West Africa.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Um we were actually in East Africa, we were on the other side of the continent in Tanzania.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: So they're they're not killing people in Tanzania?
22:35
SPEAKER_01: You're not seeing that there is there is government unrest, and yes, there are people being um being killed, but it's not specifically faith, if that makes sense.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: The other thing that I will tell you is, and it factors into this story about what we're doing with the glasses, because Tanzania is somewhat unique in the sense that the demographic study of Tanzania has shown that a third of the country is Christian, a third of the country is Muslim, a third of the country is traditional religion, which is in essence the witch doctor.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: So you have people, when we're going to Tanzania, we've got all of those people coming to us for glasses.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: You have Christians coming, you have Muslims coming, and you have animists or traditional medicine.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, how can they hate you if you gave them glasses, you know?
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: And this is what this is the point that Mike is making.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Every time you give someone a pair of glasses, you are, so long as you're connecting it with Jesus and the gospel, this is a presentation in essence of the gospel to to each person.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: And they see, oh Jesus is a person who loves me and wants to do good things for me.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: And that opens the heart of a person to receive.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: The gates of hell shall not prevail.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: So going over more stats, we have about 1.6 billion people who live in Africa today.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: 1.6 billion.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: In 1910, in Africa there were 10 million professing Christians.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: But today we see that there are six uh six hundred and thirty-three million professing Christians.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Six hundred from six to six hundred million?
24:22
SPEAKER_02: Ten million to six hundred and thirty-three million.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Well that I'm glad to hear that that it's growing exponentially.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: But so too, so are the Muslim groups.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: The gates of hell shall not prevail.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: So and then let's let's look at Muslims.
24:37
SPEAKER_02: What's happening within the Muslim community around the world?
24:40
SPEAKER_02: People are waking up and they're they're they're professing Jesus as Lord and Savior because they had a dream.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: That Jesus came to them.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: Or they had a dream that said, go downstairs and talk to that person in the lobby who's a missionary.
24:55
SPEAKER_02: And that person in the lobby is a missionary, just went down to the lobby.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Why am I down here?
25:00
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine you go there as one of us, uh American, and you're down in a lobby, and then some uh black-faced individual comes down you don't know and says, I had a dream, and the Lord told me to come seek you out.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Is your name John?
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Because I've had dreams like that.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: I've dreamt of people before I went to London.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm actually on the tube.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, I must I yeah, I dreamt of you, and it's amazing.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: This one guy's an engineer, right?
25:25
SPEAKER_00: So he's in, he's dying in his dying bed in the hospital.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: The doctors are in there, the nurses, he says, Everybody get out of here and let me die alone, you know.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: He was really sick, right?
25:34
SPEAKER_00: So they all leave his hospital room.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: He says, Suddenly, there's a guy standing next to him in a white robe with a beard, long hair.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: And who are you?
25:44
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm Jesus.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: And the guy goes, Well, where's Muhammad?
25:47
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Mohammed is dead.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Then we had a conversation about all kinds of things and stuff.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: So two hours later, the doctor comes in, the guy's sitting in the chair outside of the bed.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: He said, What are you doing in the chair?
25:59
SPEAKER_00: He says, Hey, I'm hungry.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Go get me some food.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And they they let him out of the hospital healed a couple of days later.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, uh simply amazing.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: These things happen.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:12
unknown: Yeah.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's it's crazy good.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is crazy good.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he is.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy good.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: Crazy love.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Crazy love, man.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, well, what what we'll cut.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: But I'm uh I just want to anyway, no one can give more.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: How can you say you love somebody?
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Pastor John, I love you.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Rhett, sure, sure.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: But say somebody comes by here and they're shooting through the window and I jump.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: I said, You you got a congregation, it's okay.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm an older guy, I'll take that bank.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: I take my and I die.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: You go, wow.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Rhett Worley was my friend.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: How else?
26:45
SPEAKER_00: Think about it, folks.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's looking for love in all the wrong places.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, how could God say, hmm, I gotta set up a plan for friendship?
26:54
SPEAKER_00: First of all, I'll give you free will.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to love me, but I give you free will that you can love me, and then I've got to prove to you that I do love you.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: So we'll set up this thing and this and the fallen nature of man, and I'll come and pay the price.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: It's it's crazy.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, crazy love.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus calls you guys and me to, in our own way, to give our lives up.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: Right.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: You know?
27:22
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh John Piper, that's that's a quote from him that basically about world missions.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: It says you have three choices in world missions.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: Be a joyful, sacrificial goer, be a joyful, sacrificial sender, or be disobedient.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: So you're either.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, I need that quote if I ever need to collect funds again to go, you know.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: Sacrificial sender, which is we're collecting funds for the for the mission, or you're just disobedient.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, when when I when the first time I went to Africa, I'd been flown in to do a concert from New York State to Gerald Durstein's Christopher Retreat Center, and I met this Catholic lady with nine children, eight that were living.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Well, then I was getting over a breakup with a young lady, and she said, Well, don't you come to Africa with my family?
28:04
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna feed the hungry.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: And even one of the pastors went up but said, You're not gonna go with that lady, are you, you know?
28:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, people need to shut up if they don't know what's going on.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: So I go into another little church and I'm singing my I do my concert on a Sunday morning.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: So the I said, uh by the way, at the end of the concert, I've been invited to go to Haiti.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: I I don't have, I was poor, I didn't have any money.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So this old guy gets up.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I've always hated black people.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why, you know, southerner.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Always hated black people, but God, God, Jesus gave me a brand new heart and I love people.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: He says, How much do you need?
28:36
SPEAKER_00: I said,$900.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: He wrote the check.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: And I was off to the friendly skies to hold.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: What amazed me, and I know you guys can't see me, so I don't want to frustrate the listeners and viewers.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: I'll just say this quickly.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: But when I arrived and the van hooked me up in Port-au-Prince, and I'd I looked out the window.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: I see tens of thousands of people living in cardboard boxes.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen such poverty.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Thank God I went to Africa first, because this was like, and guess what?
29:01
SPEAKER_00: I'll throw this out.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't like to cast casting out your pearls before swine, but I felt this joyful peace within me.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking out the window, going, Why are you visiting me, Lord?
29:11
SPEAKER_00: They need you.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: And I realized later on, he's confirming that you went in my name, so I'm with you.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: So if you want favor of the Lord, pack up your bags, get some people.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: So I love what you just said.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: Re-repeat it.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, you're listening to this broadcast, John Piper.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: He's the guy that was killed and dead for like a certain amount of time, right?
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And came back to life?
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Is that who the Piper guy is?
29:32
SPEAKER_00: No.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's another guy who wrote a book on that.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: 15 minutes in heaven or something.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: That's not John Piper.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: Um who's John Piper?
29:40
SPEAKER_02: He's uh he's a a theologian.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: He's a theologian, uh Evangelical theologian.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, Michael, would you read that again?
29:47
SPEAKER_02: You have three choices and world missions.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: So you have three choices, world missions.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: Be a joyful, sacrificial goer, be a joyful, sacrificial sender, sender, be a disobedient.
29:59
unknown: Yeah.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: So whoever you are, you're either called to go or to feed others to go.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: And I'll tell you, you know, it's it's to be a joyful uh goer or sender, you've got this heart for the Lord.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: And there's somebody I met uh many years ago, uh, probably about uh 2017 or so, uh, this gentleman in our church in Charlotte, uh Frank Myers, he was a priest.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: And he just had a heart for for others, for the for the least of these and and for Africa.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: And he he introduced me to prison ministry.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: I should say introduced me to prison.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: Um won't get more into that, but we did prison ministry together up in Charlotte and serving within that community, but also we did prison ministry in Africa together.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: So when you were there, you went to prisons?
30:47
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: This is this is later on.
30:49
SPEAKER_02: My first time in Africa was with John uh with branches of the yeah, from Charlotte with with the ministry called Branches of the Vine.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: Um you can look it up Branches of the Vine.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: You didn't know Pastor Ed Chettester, did you, from Harvest?
31:01
SPEAKER_00: No.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, no.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: I used to sing up there, that church.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: So, but we we basically we we their ministry has been going on for 20 years, uh 25 years in Africa and Ghana, and we we went and visited a couple churches that they built.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh and it was great because all the kids that we would come, they would we play soccer with them, some games with them.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: But they were they were a community, a Christian community, and there was uh good, clean drinking water for them.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of different locations.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: One one place we're building right now is is um for a community of kids who can't get to their local school.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: It takes about 45 minutes to cross through a river.
31:42
SPEAKER_02: So we're building a a church, uh a school, uh yeah, a church, a school, and also a little medical facility at this at this one location.
31:51
SPEAKER_02: So these kids are able to able to have a uh safe place to get to, and it doesn't have to take them too far to walk through the river, and you know, some of those rivers can be dangerous too, uh, with with the animals and crocodiles.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, and folks, crocodiles are about uh okay, uh as wide as a a VW uh you know Volkswagen.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean these things are huge, unlike our they I mean they eat alligators for a l for to stay alive.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: They're very scary.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: I can remember we were there when when we were in Zimbabwe, they get off the boat and they go around checking it out because you know they want to make sure there's no uh uh uh uh crocodiles on the island.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to ask this about you.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Now, Michael, uh Michael Liebler.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now you attend the church that I attend now, and with with the pastor here.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh how did you, at what age did you come to know the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
32:46
SPEAKER_02: So I came to know the Lord uh through some interesting circumstances in Miami.
32:51
SPEAKER_02: One of the schools I grew up in Miami was um it was a private school.
32:56
SPEAKER_02: I have dyslexia, dysgraphia, and all these other extra things can combined with that, and I really didn't know how to read.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: Um and so about age 13, the school I went to, all the drug cartel kids went to that school.
33:09
SPEAKER_02: So I had an interesting experience visiting their houses and hanging out with them too.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Interesting experiences in their houses.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I and and I I always say I partaked in in illegal substances at an early, early age.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh that would be middle school.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: And you know, I came to know the Lord through um a camp ministry in in uh North Carolina.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: Camp for youth?
33:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Christian camp.
33:36
SPEAKER_02: Basically, uh I got caught smoking the biggest cheech and chong size of joint you would ever smoke in your life.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, and my mom was like, you know, you're going to your aunt's for the summertime.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: And then my dad after my parents were divorced at that time.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: Um and my dad's like, all right, you're going to this Christian camp.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: And I arrived up to this Christian camp.
33:57
SPEAKER_02: I was the meanest kid that ever stepped foot at the camp.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: I would I I destroyed the cabin, broke the glass, broke the windows, broke the ceiling.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Why were you were you angry because of the parents' divorce?
34:08
SPEAKER_00: What was there?
34:09
SPEAKER_00: Must have been something angry in you.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: There was that aspect, I will say that your present div uh divorce laws are based on my mom and dad.
34:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, and my brother found that out as he was going through law school region.
34:21
SPEAKER_02: But we'll get that's another side story.
34:24
SPEAKER_02: But there was an anger they had towards God.
34:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah that if my dad was this certain way, then I didn't like God.
34:30
SPEAKER_02: So when I was at this camp, I'd sing what you call kind of satanic type of stuff.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Was it a Christian camp or no?
34:35
SPEAKER_02: It was a Christian camp.
34:36
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't care for God.
34:37
SPEAKER_02: I hated God at that time.
34:40
SPEAKER_02: There was other things to it within that.
34:42
SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the week, um I was walking around camp on Friday, and somebody said, Hey Mike, you're you're uh youth director, why don't you get back up to your room?
34:51
SPEAKER_02: You gotta pack up because after the campfire service, everybody's going back to Miami because you know, nighttime drive.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: So I'm walking up to this to the cabin and I get in there and the youth director, he's like the volunteer youth director guy.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: Uh I get in there and he um he's like, see that window right there?
35:07
SPEAKER_02: You broke that.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, that was like the third day.
35:10
SPEAKER_02: See the holes in the wall?
35:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was the second day.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: You know, and he's just well, what's he doing is he's shaking me around.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: And he's pointing out all these things that I broke within the room.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: They're physically shaking me around.
35:22
SPEAKER_02: And I'm making this connection, this connection that God cares for me.
35:28
SPEAKER_02: God disciplines those he loves.
35:31
SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm making a connection like you actually felt good he was disciplined.
35:35
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, because I'm I'm a gangster, bro.
35:37
SPEAKER_02: And I'm realizing that that God's love and his discipline do work hand in hand.
35:43
SPEAKER_02: And I was getting the other side of the hand, but I understood it.
35:47
SPEAKER_02: I understood it because there's consequences to your sin.
35:50
SPEAKER_02: And I got those consequences.
35:51
SPEAKER_02: He's shaking me around, he throws me up to the top bunk, he goes, I'm getting a director.
35:56
SPEAKER_02: So the director of the camp comes, used to be a guy from the 60s, uh, smoked pot, blah, did acid, and went through Woodstock.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: And I totally related to him because you know, I smoked pop with my teachers and I went to Woodstock, go ahead.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I dated somebody went to Woodstock.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, um Yeah, you're a lot younger than me.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: So basically, I I was like, okay.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: He comes in with a Bible.
36:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, all right, he's gonna just beat the crap out of me.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: You know, that's it.
36:25
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm take the lumps, you know, this is it.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: But he just presented the gospel.
36:28
SPEAKER_02: I lied a little bit about some of the things I did, but he yeah, I I I my heart screamed out for the for freedom in Christ.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: So what happened?
36:37
SPEAKER_02: He presented he presented the gospel to me.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: And you prayed?
36:40
SPEAKER_02: I asked for forgiveness.
36:41
SPEAKER_02: You did?
36:42
SPEAKER_02: And I asked Jesus coming, oh yeah, yeah, I did.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: So the attention they were giving you was love.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: It was love and discipline.
36:51
SPEAKER_02: Love and discipline.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: So instead of being a free agent out there when nobody cared about you, at least they cared.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, Jesus said, I wish above all things you were either hot or cold because if you're lukewarm, I'll spew thee out.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: And so he can deal with people, you know.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: So I say, He said, No, you hate Jesus.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't hate you.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you do.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: You hate Jesus.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said the world hates me because I revealed to them that their deeds are evil.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: So here you made the decision, you hated God and you were angry.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: And so because of that, then he could deal with you.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And what a wonderful story.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: So now when you when you said the salvation prayer, did you feel any difference?
37:22
SPEAKER_00: Some people feel like uh you know, there's a switch that goes on that was off, light to dark, I mean darkness to light.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh did you sense anything within your bosom?
37:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Um how old were you at the time?
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Not 13.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: 13.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: I was 13.
37:36
SPEAKER_02: And uh and just a quick a quick note, and I'll get to something else, that I didn't know how to read really well.
37:43
SPEAKER_02: So you were dyslexia.
37:45
SPEAKER_02: I'll say after that camp experience, yeah, one night I was just like looking at the Bible uh and I started seeing reading like Jesus, you know, this wealth story, and Jesus walks on something, water, and so I'm so I'm actually just going through and reading all these stories, and then it's morning time.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, oh my gosh, I like read through the gospels like all night.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: It was like a miracle.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was like, wow.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: And you you started your program up with um tell what is it tell all the world about Jesus.
38:21
SPEAKER_02: And and you know, I had an experience uh that related to that.
38:26
SPEAKER_02: I was riding my bike home and I was at Trinity Episcopal School in Miami, and at the bus stop right outside from my school was this was a student who I always smoked pot with and drank you know a lot and whiskey with.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: And and he goes, Hey Mike, how you doing?
38:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm doing all right, man.
38:44
SPEAKER_02: He goes, he whips out a joint.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: You want to smoke a joint?
38:46
SPEAKER_02: I was like, nah, man, I don't do it anymore.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: And he whips out from his pants pocket some urine in a little bottle.
38:52
SPEAKER_02: He goes, I'm gonna go get a drug test, ha, someone else's urine.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: And so he's he says, You sure you don't want to smoke a joint?
38:58
SPEAKER_02: Like, no, man, I I don't do that anymore.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm looking into his eyes, his blue eyes, and I'm thinking, Oh my gosh, I just left a whole drug culture of people in the darkness behind.
39:09
SPEAKER_02: I said, I don't do it anymore.
39:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm a Christian.
39:11
SPEAKER_02: And then I start presenting what God had done in my life.
39:14
SPEAKER_02: To him, yeah, to him.
39:15
SPEAKER_02: And then I realize God is calling me back into that culture uh to minister to them.
39:22
SPEAKER_02: And that's what I did.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: Go and tell, go and tell them that about the channel.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: You guys got a guy you want to meet.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: I went to a uh a convention two years ago.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: It was up in Orlando, and it's Christian filmmakers, Angel Productions, and all those other companies.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: There are lots of good movies being made now.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: And um there was a guy there who had been in the uh what'd you call it, the uh where they sell the drugs, the cartel.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, he's written a book and they were gonna make it working on making a movie possibly.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so I said, I said, can I see he said that he was had five girlfriends and he had a wife, okay?
39:54
SPEAKER_00: So he had five girlfriends and a wife.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: And and uh so uh he says, um, he says, uh he's swimming in the in Miami, where you're from.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: And there's a Canadian couple there.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why, but he he lets on to the Canadian couple, I am miserable.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I just hate my life.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: And so they brought him up to their room and they talked to him, and they they brought out a Bible, told him about Jesus he gets born again in their motel room.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: So he leaves the cartel.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: So I said to him, I said, You always wonder, you watch those movies, and the guy robs a bank, he's got five million, ten million bucks.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: The his his the path is getting cold where they're trying to find out who did this.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you get on a plane then and take your five or ten million bucks, go away, and live out the rest of your life in peace?
40:37
SPEAKER_00: I said, Why do you guys not quit?
40:39
SPEAKER_00: I watch it in the movies all the time.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Go, why do you negotiate?
40:41
SPEAKER_00: He says, Because you always want more.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
40:45
unknown: Exactly.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: The deceitfulness of riches, more.
40:49
SPEAKER_02: Got away with once, you want to get away with again.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: There's a high to it, man.
40:52
unknown: You just want to continue.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: So that's what happened.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: Now you said this was leading you to think of something else you want to see.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was it.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: That was it.
41:00
SPEAKER_02: That the the story was.
41:01
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: When so he did he accept the Lord that day?
41:04
SPEAKER_02: No, he didn't.
41:05
SPEAKER_02: He didn't.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: But at that age 15, I felt God calling me to go back into that culture and lead others to Christ.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: I haven't seen that.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: God scratched and said, Go, oh, look at this, he's being bold for me.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: There's only one thing about God, though.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: And I say this to everybody listening, if you're a follower, he says, For those trees that bear fruit, they shall be pruned to bear more fruit.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: And I I used to have a friend up in O'Cala, and she was telling me in her groves that they always ask your farmer neighbor to um what's the what did I say?
41:39
SPEAKER_00: Prune your trees, because you will not be severe enough.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: And so if you see a tree prune, it looks like it.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: What'd you do?
41:46
SPEAKER_00: You took all the prinches, but then it comes back a hundredfold, three hundredfold, it's amazing.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: So the good news is if you work for Jesus, there's eternal reward.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh the bad news is if you get his eye, not only will he love you, but he will chastise you and he will prune you that you can bear more fruit.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was just talking to a smuggler uh this Wednesday, and he was talking about how smugglers smuggled drugs into the mainly pot from Bimini to Miami.
42:13
SPEAKER_02: And he was just basically talking about after he became a Christian, that he it was like seven years of of um of emptiness where he wasn't doing anything.
42:22
SPEAKER_02: He was just studying God's word, studying God's word.
42:25
SPEAKER_02: He's like, God, what what's going on?
42:26
SPEAKER_02: What's going on?
42:27
SPEAKER_02: But it was God pruning him and preparing him for lay ministry.
42:31
SPEAKER_02: And so there's there's those time periods in our life that God does those things to us.
42:35
SPEAKER_02: We don't know what's going on, but God does is part of his divine plan.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: Now let me ask you this.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: So you went to you went uh to Africa to give away these glasses to the people that could not read.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh and this is a concern of mine, I'm a foodie.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: So if it's one thing I remember, I remember the little teeny tiny bits of chicken I got in Zimbabwe, and then I remembered that I had to buy milk in a bag.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then I went to a hamburger stand, the only hamburger joint in downtown Harari, and I asked a British man who was going in there to the printing printing era, they're making posters of my comp my concert.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: I said, Can you drop me off somewhere?
43:08
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, there's one place that makes burgers, so I'm eating the burger.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: And I said, You know, Rhett, I said, they don't have the FDA here, the Food and Drug Administration.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: So this could be camel meat, it could be cat meat, it could be anything.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden I bit into something crunchy, and I never did find the other half of that roach.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: So kind of yucky.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: And then I remember staying at a big Hilton or something and trying to get um ketchup.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
43:36
SPEAKER_00: They're uh the uh they didn't understand the concept of ketchup.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to know when you guys went there, what kind of food did you eat when you were and what what's what country were you in again?
43:46
SPEAKER_01: Tanzania.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: Tanzania.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: So what kind of food did they give you guys then?
43:50
SPEAKER_01: We ate very well.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Um we were we're staying in two areas.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: One was Arusha, which is right near Mount Kilimanjaro, and the other was With Mwanza.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: These are both uh really tourist areas.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh there are a lot of Westerners in that area, some who want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, some who want to go on safari.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: And uh so we happen to be staying uh in two places that had quite excellent food.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: Um but you're eating you're eating local food.
44:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh like I don't have plantain, you know, when I'm here in the U.S.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: And yet they're there's what's plantain meaning?
44:30
SPEAKER_01: Plantain is kind of like a banana, only it's very plantain, yeah.
44:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it's I wasn't gonna correct one.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: Some say plantain, some say plantain.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: Some say tomato tomato, potato, potato.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, whatever.
44:45
SPEAKER_01: So, but they're they're fresh vegetables.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: You gotta be careful about you know, water and that kind of thing.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: But the meat tends to be quite uh tough.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh I lived on peanut luckily, my my roommate was a fellow from the church up in Hopewell, Virginia, and he had bought an extra large jar of peanut butter and jelly and rich crackers, and that's what I lived on.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: That and the milk in the bags for the straw for two weeks.
45:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh no straw, no straw.
45:14
SPEAKER_02: No straw, they didn't give you a straw.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: I had to pour it into a glass or something.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's it when you go to this now.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: This is this is 30 something years ago now.
45:23
SPEAKER_00: You know what's amazing when you do go to a foreign country, you when you look back almost sentimentally, you realize, wow, like mama was there.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: We stayed in mama's house with, she was the married to the minister who invited us to go to Hopewell, uh not Hopewell, from Hopewell, Virginia, uh to uh Zimbabwe, downtown Harari, Chbuok Stadiums where I did the concert.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: And I think back on her and go, you know, that was 35 years ago.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, back then you might say, oh, somebody's, you know, 20 years older than you.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: So if I was 30 and she was, you know, 50 or something, 50, 60, 70, 80, I mean, you know, you go, are if she's still on the earth, you know, and you somehow get connected to people, don't you?
46:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: And different experiences throughout different mission trips, connecting with those who you're ministering to.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: You know, even though they're reading, they're using those glasses and they're reading the word of God in their native tongue, you're feeling within your spirit, this is the word of God.
46:24
SPEAKER_02: And you're praying.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: God, work within their heart, work within them as they read this glass this this this Bible within their own language, work within their heart, draw them closer to you, help them see you clear.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: And it's other experiences where you're you're praying within a the Tanzania church, or you're you're singing songs, or you're singing songs in your Mexico in that church, or you're in India, or you're wherever around the world, but they're you're singing, you're trying to sing within their native languages, they're singing within their native language.
46:55
SPEAKER_02: You're like, we are worshiping the same God, even though I have no idea that what I'm saying, I'm worshiping along with them.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: And so I tell you what, I I'm sensing uh a breath of God now.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can smoke with the nostrils because the single-there's a fellow who has a show on here, and they're gonna record in about an hour.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: And the show, the name of the show is Breath of God.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: And uh he was on the phone with me the other day, and all of a sudden the whole room filled up.
47:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking to him up in Vermont.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: He calls, he does a Zoom show, and it just was right now, I was going, there's a I said, Oh, so I immediately thought, well, I gotta ask these guys to pray.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: So maybe which one of you guys want to pray?
47:33
SPEAKER_00: And we'll pray for whatever maybe how about for people to receive Jesus as Lord if if you don't know the Lord.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: I remember I was driving along one day and I got to hear Billy Graham on the radio, and finally it clicked that no matter what you've done, no matter who you've slept with, what you or what you have done or haven't done, it's all God can can forgive you.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: And you can have a brand a brand new beginning.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: So he can cut those tin cans off your back that are clanging and banging behind you, whispering in your ear that you're no good, and you can have a new beginning through Jesus Christ, right?
48:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: Mike, you want to lead us?
48:09
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
48:10
unknown: Okay.
48:10
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
48:13
SPEAKER_02: Dear God, we thank you for what you've done on the cross, Jesus.
48:17
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for your blood that has cleansed us.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: God, I ask that as we as Christians that you would send people within our path, for you create us in Christ Jesus to do good works, which you would prepare in advance for us to do.
48:31
SPEAKER_02: Help us to be the light, help us to be the salt in their lives, dear Lord.
48:36
SPEAKER_02: And whether we're small or big ways, help us to help them to see you, Jesus, as they were putting on glasses onto and seeing you, Jesus.
48:45
SPEAKER_02: Help us to see their needs so we can minister to them.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: Father, I pray for your Holy Spirit to go before us and before those who are listening.
48:55
SPEAKER_02: Your spirit would go before their friends too, so that they can present the life-changing message of Jesus to others.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: In your name we pray.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: And once again, would you give that quote to Piper that you said that just has to do with missions?
49:11
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
49:12
SPEAKER_02: You have three choices in world missions.
49:15
SPEAKER_02: Be a joyful sacrificial goer, be a joyful sacrificial sender, sender, be disobedient.
49:24
SPEAKER_02: So it's easy, you got three choices.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: So if you're if you're prospering, uh God wants his dough.
49:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not like those people on TV.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: I ain't begging for one.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm I don't get paid for what I'm doing here so far.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: So I'm clean and I always want to be clean.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: That's probably why I'm clean because I'm not going to go out asking people for dough.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: But I will say this uh he does demand, he says, give me the first you're cursed with a curse.
49:46
SPEAKER_00: Why?
49:46
SPEAKER_00: Because you've not brought meat into my storehouse.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: And I do believe the Lord will bless you.
49:50
SPEAKER_00: And that may not be, you may not get tit for tat, you may not get money because you gave money, but there are other ways that the Lord can bless you, whether it's healing or making your path smoother or helping you start a new business, you know, multitude of ways.
50:03
SPEAKER_00: So uh for some it is to go, for some it is to make the way to go, and for some it is to to be disobedient.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I want to thank you guys.
50:11
SPEAKER_00: We've been talking with Mike Lever, and he's a congregant at the St.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: Paul's Anglican Church.
50:15
SPEAKER_00: We've been talking to the pastor over there, uh Pastor Um John Robbins, yeah, my mind.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: We're good friends.
50:24
SPEAKER_00: And when I have to introduce somebody, my mom used to say when she took a test she was a straight A student, she'd forget things, she'd freeze up.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so thank you for listening to this.
50:34
SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys for coming on.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: And remember, whoever you are, tell all the world about Jesus.
50:39
SPEAKER_02: Tell all the world about Jesus.
50:42
SPEAKER_02: Tell them Jesus.