Thank you. Yeah, we went. I want to say hello, church family. It's so wonderful to be here today, and thank you for the honor and privilege to get to be here and worship with you all today. We are a family because we have one Father, Heavenly Father.
And we're all one together in Christ. And what a beautiful thing that is. I'm just so glad to be here.
Somebody always says, wonder how old that guy is, you know, there. I wonder sometimes who wants to hear a 93-year-old man. But God has blessed in so many ways. I like to uh I like to tell about the time in Saigon, just not too long ago, I got in a taxi and the taxi driver turned to me and he said, how old are you? At that time, I was 85.
And I said, I'm 85 years old. He said, you don't look a day over 80. I was trying to think whether that's a compliment or not. But we went on to the little room where I was staying and I was preparing to teach that afternoon. And two cleaning ladies walked in and they kept looking at me real strange.
And I wonder, what's going on? Finally, one of them said to me, I think when you were young, you were very handsome. Then Well I I just said You mean I'm not handsome now? And she said, you're handsome now except for your stomach. I decided I wouldn't talk about age anymore.
That's enough. For me. But um God is blessed and he's got me still here and still serving him and I'm so grateful, so thankful. for that. This morning, today, I would like to share just from Colossians.
The first chapter of Colossians, where Paul is writing to the church at Colossae. And he has these words stays starting with the 24th verse, but there is one verse in here that I want to really. pay attention to and highlight today. But Paul says this.
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you. And I fill up in my flesh. what is still lacking with regard to Christ's afflictions. With regard to Christ's crucifixions for the sake of his body. which is the church.
I have become its servant by the commission God gave me. To present to you the Word of God in its fullness. The mystery that has been kept secret for ages and generations. but is now disclosed to the saints. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles.
Here's what I want to pay attention to. To pay attention to chosen, to them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is. Christ in you. The hope of glory. The hope of glory.
What does that mean anyway?
Some people preach this as a teach this as a funeral thing. You be faithful to the Lord and he takes you to glory. Other people, you know, use it in different ways. In fact, you go into some churches, if I say something in the pulpit that they like, they say, glory! Glory to God.
Especially in our beautiful black churches, sometimes they use that word a lot. Glory to God. You know, it occurs over 600 times in the Bible, that word glory. And every time we sing almost, the song will have something about glory. in that song.
And in the Bible, in the New Testament, I think it's over in the Old Testament, over 300 and About 36 times it's used in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, almost 300 times in the New Testament.
So it's a word that's used so much. And we really, what does it mean to say, Christ in you? The hope of glory. Well, you may remember in 2 Chronicles, way back there in the Old Testament, God had given David, King David, the permission to build the first temple. Temple to the Lord.
The first one they ever had. And the day came, it was all finished, and they called the whole nation together, all the priests and everybody. They came for the dedication of that new temple. And the scripture says that David rose to pray. And he prayed this very short prayer.
And everybody was listening. And the fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice on the altar. And then it said this. It says. And the glory of the Lord.
Filled the temple. The glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not even enter the temple. Because the glory of the Lord was upon the temple. And the people all knelt to the ground with their faces to the ground.
Because the Glory of the Lord. was in the temple. You see, that was his manifest presence in that temple. They couldn't touch God, they couldn't feel him. But they knew he was there.
There was that Realization. that God is specially with us. In this place at this time. And they just had to fall to the ground and recognizing His manifest presence with them. And then you come on down to John, the first chapter, where they see Jesus for the first time.
And that 17th verse, that first chapter says, and we beheld... Looking at Jesus, just born. in the manger. They said, we beheld his glory. as of the glory of the only begotten of God.
Full of grace. and truth. But we saw in Jesus, they said. The very presence. of Almighty God in Jesus who came to reveal who God is.
And they didn't know who he was. didn't know anything about him. We're worshiping all these other gods. They didn't know about God Himself. And Jesus came for the distinct purpose.
of revealing to everyone. who God is.
So the glory of God was upon Jesus. showing us who God is, His manifest presence in our midst. And then you come over to To uh Paul here. And he says, It is Christ in you. If there is any hope If there's any hope that the world is going to come to know The Lord Jesus.
It's going to be as the glory of God is in you. And that's what he did when the disciples were in that upper room that time after Jesus was crucified. And Jesus appeared to the disciples. They were afraid, and the door was locked, and Jesus was there. And he said to them, Peace be unto you.
Don't be afraid. He said as my Father has sent me. I am now sending you. into the world. Do the same thing that Jesus did.
That's why Paul can write. It is Christ in you. The hope that people who do not know the Lord We have no knowledge of him yet. will ever come to know. Who he is.
I want to tell you a story. It's a real beautiful story about a young couple just married a couple of years, and they were in church similar to this. They were listening to the sermons and God was speaking to them. And God laid on their heart that they wanted to be missionaries somewhere in the world, that he was calling them to go. And to tell And So they began to pray about this and they came to a point where they just had to contact our International Mission Board and see, well, where should we go if we're going to go out in the world as missionaries?
There's so many places in the world to go. Where in the world? Do you want us to go, Lord? And there was a people group, and when I was working with the Middle East. uh North Africa for quite a while.
I came across a people group there. That's a group of people who all speak the same language, have the same culture, have the same value system, who live together. And then others live, other people groups live out there, but. The people group is contained in itself. There was a people group there of a million people.
We did research and research and research among that people group. Not one person New Jesus. Not one. There was not one believer in the whole. million people there.
In in I can't tell the country, but in that area of the world. And This young couple saw that people group. And they realized it's probably one of the hardest places in the world to go. out there, way out. It's it was it was a really tough place to live.
desert and all that kind of thing. But they felt like God wanted them to go there. Since there are not any believers there at all, They could go and live among that people group, learn their language, and reflect this glory of the Lord. And so they did. They went out there.
They spent some time. They moved into the capital city because there were some people from that people group who lived in the city. And they thought, well, we'll find them. And then we can get on out into the countryside where they live and so forth. They did that.
And the as they began to make friends and have these people in their home. And try to speak the language with them and learn that language. They became friends and. uh very close and they sat kind of as a young couple a model for the for the young men in that uh in that people group and they were admired them so much and they made good friends. But two of the men came to them and said, Look, we've been friends with you and all, and you've talked about Jesus.
And we don't know really anything about him. Would you tell us more about Jesus? And they said, oh, yes. That's what I'm here for, I want to tell you. He began to share with them and they said, oh, that's what our heart has yearned for for so long, but we didn't know what it was.
We want Jesus to be our Savior.
Well, it's kind of dangerous in that country because if you convert from Islam to Christianity in that country, the government sentence you to death and they carry that out. And so these two had to keep it a secret, but they began to tell their family and their friends. That they knew very well what they had done and explained to them about what they had learned about Jesus.
So others began to come to Christ until I visited there in the middle of all of that. And the young missionary said, He said, We've got 29. You Christians, you believers here among this people group. And he said, they're meeting in little groups individually because it's secret. And if they meet all together, the government's going to find out, and it'll be really bad.
So this group did not know this group exists. This one didn't know this group exists because they kept it within their little close. friends He said, but you know, we got all these folks and they don't know each other and they could strengthen each other. He said, tonight we're going to have a very special service. It'll be the first time.
that these believers have ever met all together and they realize that they're not alone. that there are others. And so he turned to me and he said, Would would you be willing to to preach to them tonight? That's like waving a red flag in front of a bull, you know. I said, yeah.
So I went. We went down this little dirt road To a very out-of-the-way place, a little house had a fence around it and a gate. And we walked in there and there were these 29 people, actually a little bit more than that, because three of them had not accepted Jesus yet, but were in the family of some of those guys, so they trusted him. And I spoke that night. And of a dimly lit room, just one bulb hanging down from the ceiling.
And it was just very dimly lit in there. And I spoke from 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul. describes what advance, what is the gospel. And you know how he says Jesus was crucified on the cross, and on the third day he rose from the dead, and he appeared to the disciples, and then he appeared to over 500 people, and goes on to define what is the good news. The gospel.
of Jesus. And I preached on that that night to them to help really define and cement in their minds what this good news is. They were so serious. They sat there listening. We had a good interpreter, interpreter, I didn't know that language, and he just seemed to know exactly what to say.
And um So We've I finished the sermon. And the young missionary got up and he said, we're going to do something that you have not learned yet. We're going to have the Lord's Supper.
Well, you know, they looked around. They didn't see any food anywhere. They looked at the table sitting over there. There was no food on it. They couldn't smell any food.
It was a real mystery to them because they hadn't traveled that far. They hadn't gotten that far in the gospel yet, and in the Bible yet, to study that. And he took great care. to explain to them what the Lord's Supper is. how Jesus, on the night he died, he took the bread.
And he broke it. and said, this is my body. It's broken for you. and he took the elements. And he passed it around.
He said this is the blood, this symbol of the blood. of the Lord Jesus shed on the cross. And he did it for our sins. He died there for our sins. And he went through that whole thing so they really understood.
What this Lord's Supper is all about. And they were so serious listening to that. I could just tell there's just a feeling of. holiness in that room. The glory, the glory of God was was...
It was Philly that room. We started. He passed out the elements and they held them in their hand. And they were so quiet and I began to try to see the faces. And I saw this young man sitting over here.
And and tears began to come down his cheeks. And I looked over here and there was another man. tears coming down his cheeks. And first thing you know, I saw the whole group. were just moved emotionally.
and they were they were they were kind of weeping. And so they took the Lord's Supper, and it was such a holy... moment. They just sat there for the longest time. Nobody moved.
I could almost touch the Lord's presence in that room. And finally, we're dismissed. And a young man who's just graduated from the university, his English was perfect, really good. He came up to me and he said, Can I talk to you? We went off to the side.
And he said, I want to tell you, he said, All of my life I've wanted something to believe other than what we have. He said, I practically in school, Hedham. practically memorized the whole Quran. He said, tonight you talked about The love of God for me. for the people.
about his forgiveness, his mercy, and his grace. He said, I've read the Koran. I've memorized it. I see nothing in there where anybody loves anybody. It's all about something else.
And he said, I just, as a child, I didn't like that. And he said, I didn't have anywhere to turn. There was nothing else here that the government permits us to have. But he said, I did read in the newspapers sometimes where Christians were being killed. Because of their religion.
And he said, I was thinking, who in the world would die for their religion? I wouldn't certainly wouldn't die for mine. And he said, I just have learned, wanted something else. He said, tonight. I heard.
what I have longed. all of my life to hear. And he said, I want you to know tonight. I want to believe in Jesus. I want to take him.
It's my Lord. And we talked and talked that through. And I said, you know, now you can talk to the Lord. He's your Father. He's your Heavenly Father.
Just, you can talk to him. I said, why don't you just tell him right now? what what you're feeling in your heart. And oh, it was so beautiful to hear that young man. With a Speaking in English.
And he used some of the words that we'd used in the sermon and all, and he verbalized. is hunger. Forgot it to know more. about all of this. I went back to my room after it was all over.
I couldn't go to sleep. And I I got ready for bed and And I and then I I knelt by the bed. I got up and knelt by the bed. And I was so moved inside. And I said to the Lord, Prrrr.
Board. What if that young couple had not herds You call them. to the mission for you. What if they had not obeyed your call? What if they had not chosen this people group?
This million people without Christ. What if they'd not chosen that? These people never would have had any hope. of knowing that there was something far better. than they'd ever known before in life.
They never would have come to know. The glory of God. But this young couple came. And they were filled. With the presence of the Lord so that their eyes their ears their hands, their feet.
Word Worse. We're living in the midst of a people who don't know who God is, and the people could see who God is through that young couple. Because they obeyed God, they went. And what a tremendous. thing God did with those lives.
That's what I think Paul is talking about here. It is Christ in you. The hope that people are going to come to know. and to love and to appreciate. and to follow.
The Lord Jesus.
Well, there's another story that really It sort of tested me out when I I'm king to know the Lord. when I came to give myself to the Lord. I was already on the mission field. I was a Christian. I believed in the Lord and I was preaching His Word and everything.
But something happened that that shook me to my roots. And uh It was like three o'clock in the morning. I woke up. in the bed out in a little village out of Saigon. And I felt something was wrong.
I got up and I went down the hallway there to the, we had a kitchen and living room, all one room. And I looked in there and the back door was cut. Open. Leaning. And I looked and there was nothing left.
Somebody had broken in. and stolen everything we had. Even got frozen food out of the freezer. I hope it makes them sick, you know. I was banging.
I was mad. I was angry. I don't know if you've been stolen from, but it really makes you angry. hurt. disappointed.
Well, about three days later, I went to get in my Volkswagen van and I Sure. Started the engine and it just clicked. I said, oh, my battery's dead.
So I went there and I picked up, I lifted the back of the folks like a van where the battery is, and somebody stolen my battery.
Well Then a few days later, there was a knock at the door about six in the morning and I. I answered the door and it was my students from the seminary. They said, oh, Pastor, you ought to come.
Somebody has broken in the seminary. They've stolen all of our bags of rice, our pots and our pans and our chopsticks, our bowls. And they've broken into your office and they've stolen all of your office equipment. That was stuff I couldn't get in Vietnam. and it was very precious, but it was gone.
You talking about angry. I really was upset. And then I was in Saigon on a Saturday afternoon and My car was broken down and I had to take a taxi because the road was very insecure. There was a lot of fighting on that road, a lot of ambushes and you had to get off of it fairly early. in the uh in the evening.
and before dark. And so I got a taxi to take me home. And I'm carrying all of this anger and this frustration and all this. Got in the taxi and the taxi driver turned to me. And he said, you've been in Vietnam a long time, haven't you?
I said, yes, I have. He said, then you must like the Vietnamese people.
Well, it was a terrible time to ask me a question like that. I didn't know what to say, you know. But you know, I was pretty hypocritical. I said, you know, you're a Christian. You're a pastor of a church.
You're president of the seminary, and you're coordinating all evangelism in this great city of Saigon. What are you going to tell him? I said to him, oh, I love the Vietnamese people. He turned to me and he said, What do you love about us? I wanted to say, don't push it, brother.
So don't push it. Yeah. I couldn't think of very much. We pulled in the yard and I got out and I went in the house and Rachel had dinner ready. And I couldn't eat.
I had this big lump in my throat. Because you see, I believe that. If you could take the The love of the God. But you you take The love of God in put it in a stove with all that we believe and everything and boil away all of the excess. What you would have left is a pure love of God.
That's that's the essence of who we are. And I had lost it. It was gone. I put things and other things. The loss of those things.
Rob me. of the most of the very region I went to Vietnam. I thought. I lay there that night just rolling and tumbling, tossing. Finally got up at about three o'clock in the morning and I went into the living room there.
And I knelt on the floor And I said, Lord. I'm through. I I've lost my love for the people. And that's why I came. Tomorrow morning, unless something happens, we're just going to start packing up.
Just going back to America. Because I can't stay here like this. And but I couldn't I couldn't believe. And I kept praying. And It was like The Lord really did manifest himself to me.
He just came to me upon me. And he said something that I want to leave with you today if I don't leave anything else. He said, my son. You're not in Vietnam because you love the Vietnamese people. You're here because I love them and I want to love them through you.
That's the only way God could really love them, to have somebody to be filled with His love who would use their body. He could use their eyes, their hands, their feet to express that love which is eternal. You see, human love is so easily broken.
So fragile. One word sometimes we don't want to speak to a person. One look, one gesture of the hand. We don't want to meet them anymore. We don't want anything more to do with them.
Sometimes even in a marriage we get that way.
So the love seems to be gone because of all things that happen. It's just very fragile. But God's love is eternal. You can never lose that love. You can't forget it.
You can't leave it. And as Paul says in Scripture, For neither height nor depth nor Any nor Things present, nor things to come. Nor a thing, any other creature. can separate us from the love of God. which is in christ jesus nothing can separate us from the love of God.
which is in Christ Jesus. And I lay there on that floor realizing that what I need to do. was to totally empty myself.
so that God could take his place in my life. and use the gifts that he gave me. the talents, the abilities. The hands, the feet, the to express His love. which is eternal.
It's you never lose. For I am, Paul said, for I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I didle, I live. Yet not I. But Christ lives in me.
And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And that was the night. He just emptied me. I couldn't empty me. But I lay there just wide open.
And he emptied me. And he replaced all of that. with his presence. And I think that's what Paul is saying here. It is Christ in you.
The hope. of the glory of God being present. among the people of this earth. That's what he was saying to me that night. And From that point on, I was a different person.
I lay there that night and just let the Lord speak to me. And that was the night after seven years on the mission field. I became a missionary. You see, that's the way God works. That's the way he works in us.
And and We have the privilege of being the the very presence insofar as that's humanly possible. We are not perfect, none of us are. But insofar as that's humanly possible. Jesus is in us expressing himself. to the world.
I went on to stay in Vietnam. Until the very end. when Saigon was taken by the communists. and I had to to leave. During that time Boy was I tested in so many ways.
In fact, the very morning after I had that experience that night, I went through, I usually walk through the market in Tuduk on my way to the seminary. And there was a lady who sat there at the entryway. She had leprosy. She sat there. She had.
rags on her arms and on her legs. She would pull herself out in the morning. and put a little bowl in front of her and sit there waiting for somebody to give her a little bit of money.
So she could live. Every morning I'd go by her. And I could see her face. It was the leprosy had really taken her. characteristics.
She had a hole in her middle of her face where her nose used to be. That leprosy had eaten away all of the cartilage and everything in her nose. Just a hole there. Her ears were gone. Just two holes there with No.
Peter Bohm and stuff. She had One tooth coming out at an angle. She was very wrinkled. And she was I always turned my face every time I went by. I couldn't stand to see her.
But that morning When I got To her. My eyes fixed on her. It wasn't me doing that. I think it was that presence of the Lord. Maybe he was showing me what I'm talking about.
with you. He had to show me, I guess. And I looked down at her. And the first question came to my mind. I wonder if anybody loves her.
I've never seen anybody there. I wonder if anybody comes and Puts her hand on her shoulder. It touches her hand. And says, I love you. I wonder if anybody Love someone that hideous.
The face like it is. sitting there just It's like she's frozen. like a cadaver or something sitting up. And I was so moved when I saw her. Tears came to my eyes.
And I sat down on the bamboo mat next to her. And I put my hand on her shoulder. And I told her how much God loves her. I said, you know, these old bodies are temporary. and they get sick and they get Uh worn out and But God wants to take you then and take you home with him.
You live with him forever. He's done that. He's forgiven your sins. And I went through a little bits of the gospel. Not mechanically, but just appealing to God's love that she would know that.
She never moved a muscle. She showed nothing, no response. She just sat there. I didn't know if she was listening or not. But when I got through, I I said, I'll be back.
Next morning I go back and forth. about nine months after that. I went every morning and I sat by her side. Oftentimes I kind of hugged her close.
Sometimes I'd just touch her hand. But I wanted, I think God was saying. I want you to love her. Like I love you. Let her feel that.
And Nine months went by, the war got so much worse. and it wasn't safe on the road at all anymore for teachers to come and teach and anything.
So we moved the seminary in. on the outskirts of Saigon.
so the teachers could come. It was a little bit safer there. And I had to say goodbye to her. And I went and sat by her side and I said, I'm so sorry, but. I won't be coming anymore.
And I just want to bend one more time. with you. And uh I did have tears in my eyes. I was so moved by her. And I looked in her face.
And I saw something that I thought I'd never see. It was a little bitty drop of water that came. right down on her cheek. Sat there for just a moment. Senate.
went on down and dropped in her lab. And I thought. Yes, maybe. She's heard all of this. She just can't respond.
She doesn't know how to respond. She can't. Maybe the muscles are gone. But Maybe. She heard that.
Maybe God somehow got through to her. in a way that I couldn't. And I left there with a heart that was singing. because she was She was responding. You see, so many people are unlovely.
Hard to get along with, even in the church, in your Sunday school class, in your group. There are some people I just don't like much. But you know Those are the people who need love the most. They just chase you away because they won't take it. But They need love the most.
and the most challenged. that we have. is to love them. to love what's unlovely. And Jesus said, And the scripture says, well...
We were yet sinners. God loved you. In all of your ugliness, whatever it is there. God loved you so much. that he sent his only Unique sign.
To die on a cross, taking your sins to that cross and just crucifying your sins.
So that you're freed from that life. And you have a new life given to you. You are raised from that old life of sin and death. toward a new life, of abundant life. Beauty.
and love that God has. And then he fills you with that, and then you turn and go out among the people. and you are their hold. of ever finding out. who Jesus is.
Has God called you yet? Just last September in Vietnam we dedicated our first, our new Baptist Theological Seminary. In Saigon. And I'd had a privilege of designing that Curriculum. administration, all of that.
And I was there for that dedication service. And what a beautiful thing it was in this communist country. that hated Christianity. persecuted so badly. beginning to turn now.
to be a little bit more open.
So they let us open that seminary. And what a wonderful time it was to experience. The clothes Glory of God. filling that Grace Baptist Church in downtown Saigon. with his people.
in the midst of a conversation. Municipal. that didn't want it there, but they went ahead and gave us permission. That's the way God works. How about you?
Has God worked in your life yet? And maybe He's working in your life, but you just haven't said. Yes. They asked me to preach a special sermon. While I was there to call out the call, they said, we've got a lot of people sitting on the fence.
They can't make up their mind whether to be a pastor or not, or a deacon. They need training. They want the training, but they don't want to say. I I'm I'm the Lord's called. Would you preach and call out those who are called and make them come down off the fence?
I did that. And that night, the glory of the Lord filled the temple, filled the church. And the next morning they they said we only have ten 10 people applying for the seminary. And we know that there are so many more here. who would apply if they just make that decision.
The next morning after Everybody came to the altar. The whole church came to the altar to kneel and pray. It was a beautiful sight. The next morning they accepted applications and 42 people applied to become seminary students. gave themselves to the ministry.
And What a tremendous thing it was. They've now finished their first year in the seminary. We didn't lose one of them. and they're staying, they've entered the second year now, and they're all out there planning new churches. wherever they can go.
Not a church. That's the way God works, you see. Once we can get ourselves right. And give that. glory of the Lord shining through us.
There is no limit. to what God can do with your life. Let's pray together. Father. Oh, we're so grateful for.
The love that you have for us. And you've communicated to us here in so many ways over the years. Mm-hmm. And Lord, we sit here this day.
So thankful. that we have a church. We have brothers and sisters in Christ. We have all that we need. But Lord, one thing.
that we lack oftentimes, not everybody but a lot of people. is that decision. That says I'm not sure, Lord, what you want me to do, but I'm all yours. I'm going to live for you. I want that glory.
to be a Pun B. Lord, I pray that you speak to every heart. If there is someone who is debating about what to do, Help them to draw close to you. Draw them close, Lord.
so that they'll make the right decision. And the Lord We just want to do what your will is, not what ours is. And we're going to thank you and praise you. for it all. In the name of Jesus, our Lord.
Amen.
