God's Heart for a Lost World

You know, God's heart beats for missions.

His heart beats for lost and dying worlds. 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. My wife Nancy and I met my guest and his wife, oh let's see, it was in the 70s that we first met, then began working together in the 80s and through the 90s and the early 2000s. He was the first director of our missions department that by God's grace has raised up, sent out missionaries around the world and one of our greatest joys, maybe the highest joy we've had is serving together in foreign nations preaching the gospel. So I believe today's show is really going to minister to you whether you've ever set foot outside the U.S. or not. I believe it's going to help give you God's heart and in the midst of all the political turmoil and tension here in America, I believe this will help give you a bigger perspective and the new book we want to talk about as well written by my friend John Kava, The Church in His Image, The Church in His Image, Unveiling God's Secret Weapon. And if you're called to the mission field or have a question about world missions, maybe a pastor wondering what you could do, an individual feeling called, give us a call 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-87, 884, and we may take some calls as well, right?

Without further ado, my dear friend, colleague of many years, now a PhD, John Kava. Hey John, welcome to The Line of Fire, thanks for joining us today. Hey Mike, it's just a joy to be a part of what you're doing here and we've worked together for decades now and to see, you know, just the synergy that God has released by having worked together, worked in Bible schools, worked in missions, now you're in the network and technical world, and I'm just so happy to bring more of a missions heart into your, I'll call them your fans, but I guess they're everything out there. They're yes-ers and nay-ers and interested parties, but I'm just thankful to be here, really.

Awesome, yeah, our extended online family. So John, let's just take a moment so folks can get to know you a little. Obviously we can only do this in brief, but you're born in Italy and then several years old, you come over to America, so raised in a traditional Catholic home. How did you come to know the Lord for yourself? Well, I had a supernatural encounter with God when I was 22.

That really just shaped my life. I was a typical college graduate and in college I was a typical college goof-off, and one night I encountered God. He manifested in my car as I shut off the radio and just looking for some rock music and I heard a minister say, you need God, you need to be forgiven, and I just shut him off and sat in my car and said, God, if you're real you do something and show me something.

I'll follow you, but if you don't, I'm going to do my own life. And lo and behold, God took me at my word. I guess it was one of those moments in time that everything inside of you is dead serious. And the glory of God came into my car out of stone cold nothing.

And He was a person, God was a person, it wasn't just a force. And I felt incredible waves of love, and at the same time, reverent fear and respect that He's big. And He spoke something into my soul at that night, and He said, Jesus is the key. And it was the beginning of a total turnaround, and I could explain so much more, but that night when I encountered God I was kind of in a euphoria. I wasn't drug-induced, anything-induced, I was just normal.

It was a normal night coming home from work. And He spoke again into my soul some things I needed to hear that answered questions that I couldn't even put into words, you know, God knows us. And it seemed like He knew everything about me from start to finish, and I was for the first time going to serve His purpose because I hadn't been before that.

And that night was a watershed night in 1976. So it's not that many years after that that we first met visiting a church where you and your wife Joanne attended and administered and served there. And then when I was teaching at a Bible school in Long Island you started coming to night classes, and that's how we got to know each other. When God called us to Maryland to launch a school there, you joined the school, first came in and got a master's degree, and then took over a missions department, really launched the missions department, then we worked closely together year after year with a joint heart for missions. When did God put in your heart, though, this missions call?

Because that's who you are, that's what you eat and live and breathe with a legacy of spiritual sons and daughters serving around the world. When did that missions call become real in your life? You know, I had inklings of just always gravitating towards internationals, people that were different than me, but I didn't understand it. Around 89, 90 I took a trip to Guatemala for the first time, a real missions outreach, doing crusade type of trip, and suddenly I was like a duck in water. I felt like I'd been the ugly duckling around town, you know, in Long Island, New York, just always wanting to do evangelism, outreaches, do outreaches to the Hispanic community, reaching out to the Polish community, but that time when I went to Guatemala, it was as if everything burst open, the power of God started showing up in a greater way, and people got healed and saved in greater groups, and I was like, wow, I just didn't understand that, I just thought I'd be kind of a pastor that had a heart for local internationals, and that was the beginning, but really, it was when we were together, and I really thank you for this, Mike, when we were together in Maryland, and I challenge you to take me with you on one of your speaking engagements, and you said, hey, you want to come, you pay for the ticket, come with me. So we went together in 1992, we went to Italy. Yeah, I remember it well. And I had prayed and fasted before that trip, and I asked God, what should I do? Mike has more messages than I can imagine.

What am I going to do? And the Lord spoke to my heart and said, I want you to go out and love people, and I will change my love in you to whatever they need. And I had a kind of a life collision again during that trip. If you remember, I broke out into tears during one of our airline flights. I remember that well.

In the middle of the trip. You saw the faces of the people. I remember you broke down and cried. You said, I see their faces as we were flying away. And because I was really bringing refreshing to the missionaries themselves, and the anointing was strong upon me to help solve life problems that they had. I had lines of people to counsel, but I saw their sacrifice, I saw how they were reaching the world and giving everything. They were doing what Jesus said in Matthew 16, going to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And it was just practical, real, but sacrificial.

And it just shocked my American value system. So after that, the missions call just solidified in those years that we were together in Maryland. And we actually opened up a missions work, if you remember, back then. Yeah.

Yeah. And we were working friends with folks that were on the mission field that had been there for many years, and they lived literally in little tents and trailers because they had no permanent place. They just traveled through the country, through Italy, and they did this for years and years. You say, how long they've been doing it?

Well, somehow close to 50 years, basically lived like that. I mean, it's remarkable, but it's just, they camp out for six months, evangelize the streets, do night meetings, rallies, win people to the Lord, move to another area, six months, nine months, stay there, raise their families there. I mean, we know, folks, John and I, that, you know, they're little babies, little children out there all these many, many years later with their own families and preaching Jesus. But there's something about touching lost people. And friends, if you want to get better understanding of how the church can be changed to be a more effective missions agency, check out John Kava's book, CAVA, John Kava, The Church in His Image. We'll talk more about that in a moment.

But, John, we've got about three minutes before the break. If right now every pastor in America was listening to you and you could share God's heart with them, what would you want them to hear? I would tell them that you have a great opportunity and responsibility to mobilize your community to change the world. And that maybe you don't realize how much power, authority and effectiveness you could have by not only sending people and getting them prepared to go, but going yourself with them and experiencing the power of God and also the love of God for every people group out there and to realize how doable and also how it brings an initial revival back to your own church. Just a church and a group in February locally here from Matthews went to Mexico.

Power of God broke out in Mexico and then it came back and the power of God broke out in their church. And now other churches are inviting them to come and tell their story because there is an anointing with the goer and he brings back that anointing back to the community. So you're actually both serving your local community as you touch the world out there. So maybe just, I know we've got COVID issues right now, but when things are back to normal in that regard, would you recommend that every church gives opportunities for their people to go out on short-term missions trips just to get their feet wet?

Absolutely. Find a good group to go with or some good contacts. We could help you with that and start the experience and you'll see God flame up certain things inside your people and you.

And you can't out bless God. As you bless the people he's going after, he's going to bless you and the community around you. And John, is there a website folks can go to if they want to connect with you, a good way to do that? Yeah, we're at worldoutreachcommunity.com or.org and you can see our website and we offer opportunities and also, you know, some things are bigger than us. We're an agency, but we can also help you where you're at to connect with people that are a little bit more nearby.

All right, worldoutreachcommunity.com. Find out more. And again, the book, The Church in His Image, Unveiling God's Secret Weapon. And John, I remember some of those demonic encounters where demonized people were speaking to you in English that didn't know English. It was that first trip and God was setting them free. The Holy Spirit moving, when you get out in the nations, and we'll talk about when we were in India together for the first time in 93.

Out in these exotic areas, you think, you know, they should be in a National Geographic magazine. You're there telling people about Jesus. There's nothing like it on the planet. We'll be right back. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Oh, let me say something and be very direct. You may not like what I'm saying, but I want you to hear me out. If we had more of God's heart for the whole world, if we had a heart that beat more in tune with Jesus who died for the whole world, we would not be as caught up with American things. Oh yes, as America goes, the world can go, and America has a massive impact on the whole world.

I understand that. But suddenly, when you travel around the world, when you see God moving in the nations, when you see that these are all precious souls in a sight, when you see how in one month you can lead more people to Jesus and impact more leaders that'll go out, lay down their lives to make disciples than you could maybe in 10 or 20 or 30 years in America, it changes your perspective. And I believe that's one key thing that we need to regain as the American church is a heart for the whole world, a heart that beats with God's heart for missions.

This is Michael Brown. I'm joined by my good friend, old friend for decades, John Kava, his new book, The Church in His Image, unveiling God's secret weapon. So John, we were together in India. For both of us, our first trip there in 93, I've been able to go back 26 times since then. I know you've been to Italy dozens and dozens and dozens of times. Do you know how many countries you've been to if you ever counted? Oh, 40, 50. I don't count.

I'm not a counter like you. I just enjoy the ride. You know, I'm enjoying the journey, but there's been so many countries. I mean, we used to go to Russia quite often in China and, you know, Japan and Philippines. I mean, numbers, Colombia.

I mean, Brazil, I could keep going as I think of the many European nations. And every place you walk into the heart of God for those people. This is something that is a revolutionary thing to experience. It's like when I went to Guatemala the first time, I was a young man back then. I said, oh, I'll just give my life to Guatemala because I feel God's heart. I could just live and do the rest of my life. And then God just said, no, that's just my heart for those people.

And then I would go to Italy or Mexico or Spain or Germany or, you know, India. And I would feel God's heart for those people. And I'm like, we need to raise up an army. Yes.

Yes. And that's what Jesus prayed for. You know, he prayed. He said, the harvest is great. You know, the labors are few. Pray, you know, the Lord of the harvest. And that is still needed today.

Yeah. And look, the fact is there's still well over 2 billion people that if you talk to them about Jesus, they have no idea who you're talking about or if that's a place name or village or don't know anything about it. It seems unreal that that's the case when we have infinite number of biblical resources and everything on our fingertips.

And people still don't even know who Jesus is. And they're waiting for us to go ring the message. You know, John, as we have our, we have our missions emphasis weeks here at Fire School of Ministry, which is now online at fireschoolofministry.com. And you and Josh Peters would be leading the way and pouring into students missions vision.

I would tell the new students that had never been through it. I said, by the way, you're going to be called to 10 different nations this this week because whoever gets up and talks, you're like, oh, yes, I want to give the rest of my life to that country. And John, I can't tell you how many trips traveling overseas. You're tired. You're like thinking, I don't think I can do this much longer.

It's just weary. And once you get there, it's like, God, I will do this until I die. Because you get God's hearts. Give me an example of God revealing Himself to somebody.

Maybe something in India, re-chatting during a break. Tell our listeners a story about God coming and telling people He's real. You know, we did so many outreaches to different villages in India.

And I remember one group, and I think we weren't together on this one, but it was around 97. And I had a group with me and God had poured out and the crowds had increased by 50 to 100 percent every night. We did four-night crusades with our good friend, Yesuparam. And the people with me were like, they just couldn't believe that thousands of people that were Hindu-based people would come to Jesus Christ. Now, on that trip, I have people that today, they're ministers. They spent time in the Philippines.

They went to Russia. From these trips, they just experienced that instead of, like you said, trying to bring one or two people to the Lord a year, all of a sudden, in an evening, thousands would come. And the next day, the same thing. And that they could do the same thing what, quote, the big ministers did if they just showed up. I often would tell people the difference between me and you is that you weren't there, you know? Yeah, that's it. Because it was just your average person called the Jews. Yeah. And I remember taking a group from the Maryland days to Mexico and the power of God broke out.

Actually, this is wild because I got a little bit of what they call Montezuma's revenge, and I wasn't feeling well. So I got up and I said, well, anybody want to preach? And they were all terrified. We had old friends that you would remember from the Beth Messiah days.

In Maryland, yeah. Okay. And I just said, somebody preached. I said, I could barely stand. I'm not feeling well. No one volunteered.

I said, what kind of group is this? Anyway, I got up that morning and just preached for maybe 20 minutes holding onto the pulpit because I just felt weak because of the food. I guess the food. And the power of God fell and people began to fall out underneath the tent all over the place. And so I sat down and then they went out. They wouldn't even get to the people, and the people with their eyes closed would experience the anointing coming off their bodies because God needs people to be there. And then when they show up, He works through them in a way that they just hadn't experienced before because we're kind of in a post-Christian era here, you know, in America.

People have heard everything, and the hunger's not the same. So they would show up and they'd get like a foot and a half from somebody and they'd start shaking. And they were like, this is not me.

This doesn't happen to me. Right. And I remember, I saw my first real lame man healed that walked up, you know, like wobbling and all that. And then he was jumping up and down later on at those meetings.

But there was a group of seven that came with me. They were transformed, and they realized that there's a certain release of God's grace for defeating the darkness when you just go headlong into it in a foreign country. Very often the reason that they don't have victory is that no one challenged the darkness. But when Jesus Christ challenges the enemy, He always wins. Jesus said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell won't prevail against it.

He always wins in a direct challenge. But sometimes people have to carry that Jesus to them. And I remember that group, and they were all middle-aged people. And God had broken out, and I wasn't feeling that great.

And God just used the rest of the team. And so, I mean, I could tell stories. My life was full of stories. Back in the old Brownsville days, you know, they used to say, Mr. Carver, tell your stories, stories, stories.

They didn't want me to teach. They just wanted to hear mission field stories. But really, the story was about what they could do. Yeah, and that's, friends, just think of this for a minute. What is God saying if you, let's say you plant a little garden in your backyard, and you plant it, you water, you plant it, you do everything, and you pray over it day and night for years.

And after 10 years, you get one little tomato, and that's it. And then you go to another part of your yard, and you just don't do that much, but next thing it's thriving, and you think, oh, I guess that's the fruitful part. So, yes, God cares about America, but there's no shortage of churches and preachers and leaders and gospel message in America. But when you think that you go somewhere where they haven't, they've never heard of Jesus, or the Jesus they know is not the real Jesus, and then you go and you bring that message, and next thing, God's moving, and people are being transformed.

And in your experience with things like you've never done before, you think, wow, I guess God does care about this. So, the harvest is super ripe in many nations around the world, and the laborers are still few. Look, you might say, well, my skills are carpentry.

Trust me, there are plenty of places that would use a carpenter. So, John, I asked you to talk to pastors. Just talk to those watching and listening that maybe God's stirring their heart right now.

Just have at it. Well, I was 37 years old when my wife and our four kids decided to leave our home in the business world, and I was doing really well in the New York, near New York City area. I was in computers and banking, and I had had some nice experiences with God, and I was attending night Bible school and trying to move forward in the things of the kingdom, and finally answered a call to leave everything. And I thought at 37, it was too late. And with four children, it was too much overhead. I didn't understand how big God was. It was nothing for him to take mature people, families, and use them. And as a matter of fact, many times I took my entire family, like we spent the summer in Russia one time and did four church plans.

I remember you doing it. Yeah, and we trained in and out of Russia through 93 and 94. I mean, in those years, we were ministering heavily there after it had opened up. And I just want to encourage you that you may think you're stuck. Like right now, there's opportunities that you can get into places by teaching English, and you're there, and you're paid, and you get a room and expenses in a different country, say somewhere in Asia. And next thing you know, you're making disciples like never before because they look at you as a cross-cultural individual and say, why would this person with the ability to come to my country be here? And what is his message or her message? And the next thing you just share what God has done for you. You share what church is. I've been in English corners.

They call them in, I won't even say the country, but people walk up and say, you are from America. I hear you go to church. Tell me about church. Amazing. And they pull the gospel right out of you.

Yeah. Friends, listen, I really feel that some of you need to hear this. And maybe you're a young person and your life's been disrupted by COVID. Maybe let me disrupt a little bit longer.

Maybe look to spend a year or two overseas just serving. And you will be amazed to see what happens. If you want to connect worldoutreachcommunity.com is John Cava's website, his community's website.

If you want classes to be equipped, fireschoolofministry.com and a great book to read. John Cava, the church in his image. We'll be right back. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome friends to The Line of Fire. I am speaking with my dear old friend of decades, John Cava, his important missions book, The Church in His Image, Unveiling God's Secret Weapon. We'll unpack that in a moment. John, during the break, I pointed to our screen where Joanne from Nigeria sent a note, send them here.

I'll get a guest room ready. Joanne is a Jewish woman and single woman and older, meaning she's not a teenager, okay, closer to my age, and she came to faith decades ago, was witnessing to an Orthodox Jewish man. This man raised issues, questions for, it ended up throwing her faith because she wasn't grounded deeply enough. She became an Orthodox, actually an ultra-Orthodox Jew, was involved in counter-missionary work, heard me debate a rabbi in a private setting that was part of God shaking her, bringing her back to the faith, and she's been a sold-out follower of Jesus all these decades, and God called her literally to leave everything, leave her career, sell her home, leave everything, and go to Nigeria to work with the poorest of the poor, to work in Muslim areas teaching children to read and sharing God's love with them and pointing them to Jesus in dangerous areas, and there she is, and she could use some help.

She could use some other young ladies or older ladies that also want to serve. Oh yeah, there's snakes, and it's hot, and it's wonderfully, amazingly rewarding. If you feel that God may be prompting you and you're like, I don't, this is the craziest thing I ever heard, but something's going on in my heart, shoot us a note, info at AskDrBrown.org, and just ask to my attention about Joanne in Nigeria, info at AskDrBrown.org. John, before we get into some of the contents of your book, you talked about when you go overseas, you get God's heart for the nations. Isn't it an extraordinary thing? Either the culture is different, the language is different, you're jet-lagged, everything's different, and then the same Holy Spirit begins to move, and you see the responses on people's faces.

There's nothing like it, is there? No, there's not, and I can only say that our God loves people, and he gave his best when he gave Jesus to win us back, to cover our sins, to make a way for us to come and fellowship with him and become sons and daughters, and he shows up with such power as long as somebody will represent him. He's caused us to be part of his salvation plan for other people. He put us right in the middle of that, that we represent him, and I often talk about the supernatural and the things I've seen, and people love those stories, but we have to remember that it's because God wants people to know him and love him so he could love them back, and he's doing that all over the world. If someone will just explain to them what he's about, and the Holy Spirit anoints that message, and not only that, as it says in the end of the Gospel of Mark, when you preach the Gospel, he makes signs follow that.

He provides all the signs, all the things that they need to convict them, to show them his reality, and we've seen this over and over. By the way, I want to just honor that Joanne out there. Joanne, God bless you, you know, and I just honor you as a hero, a heroine who out there in the field. You're somebody. I'll probably be out there serving you. I'll be serving you lemonade and drinks when you get to heaven.

I'll probably be doing what many Italians do. They're pretty good at just being a servant and serving food to others, but I just want to just say that, you know, I've been to Nigeria. In 99, we spent some time in Wari down in the south, and I have some understanding what it's like there, but at the same time with all the opposition, all the difficulties, all of the different groups, we had a military armed brigade that followed us around to the different places. We visited some local kings and small kingdoms. We did crusades. We saw God break out and things. The king of Ugele back then, who was over a million people, gave his heart to the Lord publicly and told his people to follow this Jesus Christ who me, the preacher, is talking about.

I mean, things happen if you show up, and Nigeria is an up-and-coming nation to be kept up with in the future years, but as I share with the public out there, I want them to know that there's so much more that you're about than just comparing yourself with your local peers. You know, that's not what we're about. We are from another kingdom, and we have an anointing that shows up when we do kingdom business, and kingdom business is not like, you know, just your local job. God, He assigns people anywhere. To Him, the world is small. It says the earth is His footstool. So for us, it's a big deal to go someplace.

Actually, for businessmen, they go all over the world half the time, but suddenly for church people, it's a big deal. But when He assigns you to do something, you will be a blessing. You will be successful, and He'll take care of what you can't figure out. He does, you know, if you don't lean on your own understanding and acknowledge Him, He still directs your ways. He takes care of your needs.

He's your support. So Michael, you and I have been on some trips together, and you know, we got this fire, you know, and actually I want to honor you. You helped me, you know, like that Italy trip was a turning point, and you've always tried to open a door for me to fulfill my calling.

I appreciate that so much, and I just want to tell others that me as a missions mobilizer, I can't be where Joanne, and the Barbers, and the Davids, and the Johns, and the Manuel, and I can't be where you could go. So I'm just saying there's a place, I often would say to people, you have an anointing, you have a calling, it was just mailed to a post office in a different country. That's a good line.

That's a good line. And you have to go there and pick it up. And when you get there, something happens.

There's something of the favor of God. And look, because of COVID and stuff, I've been doing these Zoom conferences. I did one in South Africa. The call yesterday was in, let's see, South Africa, New Zealand, another one in South Africa, Malaysia.

No, Indonesia. And it's beautiful. I mean, you don't have to leave your home, but it's not the same as being face to face in another culture, eating with folks.

And you know, think in India, the first trip we were on together, John, you travel for hours, and you get to some little village in this tiny little hut. And they're going to have a meal with you. And that's, it's a big honor for them and stuff you'd never would have eaten or gone near normally. But you think, wow, this is, this is like a big thing.

And you get to share life together. And then would you just pray for it? Would you bless us?

Because they're, they're the only Christians in their village. Would you bless us? And what can you compare it to? There's nothing like it because there's a reality. It's almost like back to the preciousness of our salvation and this gospel that sets people free. And there's a reality of the main thing of God's task, why he sent Christ, why he mobilized the church, it suddenly hits you that it's not just about what programs we have locally, which are fine for the family.

But there's such a big picture. People need to be eternity minded. You know, often we think about our current situation. Well, why don't we just think about who's going to be in heaven for eternity.

And how you can impact that. You can change people's eternity. God has put this tremendous authority and responsibility in our hands.

But he's given us the tools to do it. We have the gifts of the Spirit. We have, hopefully, which in my book is about, more fruit of the Spirit, you know, character development. And we have a message that is the truth. Jesus is the truth. And the world is waiting for just someone to embody that, to be the living. It's almost like an incarnation of the living Jesus again before them.

But it's in each one of us, you know, saying, he's alive. And I'm here to tell you this. You know, there've been times when we show up and they say, why hasn't somebody told us this before? And you feel like embarrassed.

You know, like, I don't know what to say. I don't know why no one came and told your ancestors. But I'm here today. And they're so thankful. And you can't exchange that. And it's worth often just going and living there.

Because you know what? You can live a lot of places. And you won't die.

You could actually be happy in another country. Yeah, really. And then your life is expanded, your family's expanded through it. All right, the book, The Church in His Image, Unveiling God's Secret Weapon. What's it about?

Why'd you write it? Well, I experienced a lot of strange things in the field. I looked at missionaries that could do some great things. But then often, they were not really able to disciple and be a real representation of the kingdom because they had grown up in the Western Church. And the Western Church had certain limitations and ceilings.

Okay. Many countries are looking for deep relationships, real, really real community, but they can't do it. They steal, they rob, they lie. And this book is really about God in himself, his family. He's a father and son and the Holy Spirit that administrates and releases the power of that relationship. And we were made in his image to be communities that go out and represent this family image of God and can live together well. And very often, I saw missionaries that they hadn't had enough ability to work out the kinks and social relationships in the Western Church.

And the book is really about, let's look at this again and do it better. Because it's not about, you know, how well we can bring an American culture into another country that has Christianity. It's really about, can we bring the image of God into that world in terms of who God really is. And the image of God is a father that loves his son. And the son that only wants to do it pleases the Heavenly Father. And the Holy Spirit that delights to glorifying the Father and the Son. This deference in a culture and learning how to bring it somewhere else so people can look at a group of people in a community and say, they've been with Jesus. Just like they did in the book of Acts. They saw how they love each other. You know, often we think, if I could show them enough of the supernatural, which is, which is, you know, arresting, it does bring a glory to the Lord. They say, if I could just do enough of that, you know, then everyone will believe that things will be changed.

But Jesus said, they'll know you're my disciples by the love you have for each other. Yeah. Wow. Incredible. Suddenly, the relational gets exalted along with the supernatural.

And friends, we've got a break, so we're just going to jump in. It was my privilege to write the foreword to John's book, The Church and His Image. And here's a quote from me about the book, if you're involved in world missions, this is a book for you. If you carry the heart of the Heavenly Father for his earthly family, this is a book for you. If you want to see Jesus glorified to the ends of the earth, this is a book for you. The Church and His Image, John Kava.

All right, got a few more minutes, some amazing, you know, we'll go back to an Italy story when we return. Stay right here. It's The Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-342.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. And just got a note from a friend of ours, a woman who was a student of John Kava and me. Is that the right grammar there? Anyway, she was one of our students and went on a missions trip, actually to Israel, and she just turned in and was listening. She said, life changed, and this was years ago. These trips impact you, so everybody at least get out on a short-term trip and find out there could be a longer-term vision and plan. All right, John, we didn't talk about me talking about this, but I'm going to because I think it's going to help people. So we were dear friends, worked together for years, cheered each other on, and then whatever it was, chemistry, season, difficulties, we had some clashes, and I thought I was handling things the right way, the best way. It ended up hurting you deeply and, you know, hurting your family in terms of feeling, you know, pushed away, and I thought I was handling the right things the right way, hurt you, difficult for us to kind of reconnect, but we're reconnected, we love each other, we honor each other, we cheer for each other.

It's, I feel, just a great joy having John sitting here with me. I said that to say this, there's got to be relationships out there, John, where there's a breakdown, a breach, a split, something went wrong, something happened. Life's just too short to let that stay.

Life's too short. Humble yourself. Do what you need to do to get things right, and then refocus on a calling, how we can work together, because, John, I'm a better man with you, and you're a better man with me, and we're, you know, the devil wants to divide and destroy.

Jesus prayed for our unity, and John, you know, again, you didn't know I was going to say that, but I just thought people need to hear it. Make things right. Get low. Humble yourself.

Go wash somebody's feet, and let God bring good out of it. Life's too short. Eternity's too long to let these breaches stay in the way. Amen. I can only just applaud what you said, and, you know, we had some years where our relationship was strained, but, you know, one of the things that was beautiful is that we kept reaching out to each other.

Yeah. You know, the Bible says that we are to pursue, you know, we are to pursue reconciliation. We're to pursue each other, you know, pursue relationships, and it was actually a supernatural dream, which is mentioned in my book. I talk about this, because God had to bring a revelation to me that whatever things that we are dealing with that may cause some kind of division, His purpose of oneness and what oneness in Christ could do was so much higher, and we were operating at a much lower level of the Kingdom of God, and our ability just to, you know, to get our hearts back in line with each other, which, once again, was a mutual desire, but we didn't know how to approach it. And when it happened, though, all of a sudden, it's the synergy of the body of Christ, and this is what my book is about. It's about if we come together, there's more anointing on two or three or four or more, and even going into the mission field, there's more anointing on a team, okay? If you look at the early church and the apostolic age, they went out in teams, and if we can make those teams so they understand how to navigate relational reconciliation and hurts and things like that, that's a force, because there's so much division out there, and right now, division's hurting the church, and we need to realize that Jesus was hitting the home run of home runs when He prayed that we would be one, that we would share His glory, that we would know the Father's love like He was experiencing.

He prayed this in John 17 and said in other places. If we can understand the power of when the bride comes together and starts to just emanate that inhabited presence of the Lord, it's revival, okay? That's what we're praying for in all of our cities. We're praying for that kind of breakout.

I've had an opportunity to see, and with you sometimes, Mike, a breakout of the Spirit of God, but suddenly, a people came together and told the truth, preached the repentance and the goodness of God message and the grace of God, and all of a sudden, God says, that's my song. Those are my people, and I'm showing up. And we can do this. We're not knocked out. We've gotten a little bit tired in America because there's been disappointments.

Well, let me tell you, the church is never knocked down that can't get up. We can do this, and we can be a people that change the world. We can be a people that change our area.

My heart is for world missions, and I think everybody should have a piece of it. When Jesus said, go into Acts 1-8, and he said, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts, he didn't say then. He said and. Go and.

Go there, and there, and there, and there. In other words, we can do all of those things, even in our own life, or take a piece of that. And my reconciliation time with you, once again, we never, we need to be a people that change the world. Once again, we never, we never detached all the strings. We always called each other. We always had holiday.

But the point of it is that God, God in two, I guess in Ecclesiastes, two are better than one. Yeah. Three-fold cord. We need this. See, I can't grow without Mike Brown in my life. I can't grow properly. I need other people to mature. It's not just me that has to mature into the image of Christ. It's all of us together. We become one new man, one bride.

And so, I just want to encourage listeners out there, don't give up. Get a fresh start. Find some people that, you know, want to stoke up the passion. You know, don't, he says, I'd rather you be hot or cold.

Well, we don't want to be cold, and we certainly don't want to be lukewarm. Get a hold of God, get a hold of some people and God, and get hot again. Yeah, and friends, even if just in your own community, you get involved in outreach you've never been involved with. You get involved in serving the poor, the needy. You get involved in pro-life work, in front of abortion clinics, sharing the gospel. You get out of your normal world and start to get in the place of need. It's amazing what happens. It really is. And once you do, and then especially when you think in light of eternity, so many of the things we're fighting about are petty and secondary.

And who won this game, and who won that, and what happened? It's petty and secondary when you get caught up with eternity. Let me encourage you, the book, In His Image, by John Kava, CAVA, A Veil in God's Secret Weapon. Get a copy for your pastor. Pastors, if you're listening or watching, get a copy and read this. If you've got a heart for being on the mission field, check it out.

It's informative, but it's inspiring. So John, we only have a couple minutes, but we started talking about the first missions trip when you went with me to Italy. And we were staying in these little tents, and then they had the big tent where a few thousand people could come. And one night, I went out to preach, but you felt to stay back and pray. We've just got like two minutes, but tell the story.

What happened? Yeah, I almost felt like I was betraying you because I wouldn't be sitting out there with you cheering you on. That's kind of our things.

We're each other's cheerleaders. But I felt to stay in my tent and just stay leaning over my bed and just praying for a move of God. Well, God surprised us. The move of God broke out in the children's ministry. And these kids were in meetings every night for their whole lives.

It's like another meeting, another meeting, another meeting. And all of a sudden, I think one woman decided to pray for the kids. And next thing, the power of God breaks out in the children's tent. And they'd never had it.

They'd never seen it. And they have the baptism in the Holy Spirit fresh going on there. And kids are prophesying and declaring things, starting to lay hands on each other.

And all of a sudden, you know, the adult tent starts leaning their heads into what's going on there. It spread throughout, but it was just a beautiful picture of God's surprises. And we just obeyed God the best we knew. Mike, you've been called to preach. I got on my knees and just prayed, oh God, you know, you're the God of the supernatural. You're the God of the suddenlies.

We need more of you. And guess who gets it first? The kids. Amazing. Like little children, Jesus said to me. The parents were glowing. Because their kids had been supernaturally touched. And again, some were church kids or missions kids.

And they've been in meetings like this just over and over. And God came. And it came not through the preacher that night, but through somebody praying back in a tent. That was John.

And then one of the ladies that had been with the kids month in, month out, year in, year out, just feeling freshly led to pray. There's just, there's, if we could get anything across, there's this amazing, it's like people living in a desert. And there really is an oasis just right on the other side of that mountain. And if you just go over there and check it out, your life will never be the same, right? One minute left, John.

Back to you. Well, there's such a cooperation that can happen. Like we were, at that point, we were the missionary visitors. They were missions teams and local national Italians. And when the different people from different countries come together, there's something beautiful about it.

It starts to fulfill what we see in the book of Revelation, you know, of every tongue, tribe, nation, and language. And you can be there. And you can try these things.

Let's do it locally. I always say, you know, blossom where you're planted. And, you know, that we can make a difference here every day. But plan for those unusual things.

You know, things will break open. Part of this problem is actually, I believe that's anti-Christ around the world, is that it stopped travel. You know, we need to have travel open up. It doesn't help the missions work, but it doesn't stop God, because God's still moving around the world anyway. But it does stop us a little bit. But that's temporary.

It's going to open up again. You know, you can't really stop the person of God with a calling. No enemy can stop that person. But I just want to encourage the listeners out there that God has His hand on your life. And as Jesus said, you can say, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and He has anointed me. And you can go minister to the poor, open prison doors, set captives free. It's in you. The Jesus in you is the same as the Jesus in anybody. And that Jesus has power to liberate people and bring them to the Father. Friends, God wants to use you to touch lives and make a difference in eternity. Just think of the joy you'll have forever and ever. If you step out now, check out the book, The Church in His Image, by John Kava, and respond to whatever God's telling you to do.