Missions...A Great Adventure

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One of the hottest mission fields in the world and in America is on the college campus. Kids are being baptized. Sunday morning, yesterday, I was in a church and I was watching a young athlete. a basketball star who plays in college Be baptized by one of his teammates. It was sensational.

It was encouraging. And so what we've done is our our regular Monday host is on a college campus where a bunch of kids are on fire for Jesus Russ East, I mean, it was just not even a week and a half ago where Greg Lorry came and you did a harvest crusade on a college campus. Thousands heard the gospel. All kinds of people came forward. Tell our listeners what God is doing, my friend.

Well, God is doing wonderful things. I've been in Virginia here at the Liberty campus. Who, and I got to tell you, the Lord just led me to a gentleman here. His name is Michael. Amen E Yee, and he is the director for a mission agency in the UK.

It's called Mission it's called On Mission.

So www.onmission.uk. He's right here. He's willing to share about a mission trip that he took to an island called Tenerife. And I'd love to have him just share it with you because he's trying to make connections here at Liberty University. Can I just have him share about what God did in his life?

And maybe we can ask our listeners: how did a short-term mission trip? That you've taken changed your life? Yes, absolutely. Michael. How has a short-term mission trip changed your life?

And what are you seeing? Give us a positive report out there in the field. What are you hearing from your kids? About what God's doing on the college campus right now and then around the world. The toll-free number is 86634-TRUTH, 866348-7884.

We got some lines open. Russ East, put Michael on. We got to hear this, man. Yes.

So lovely to be with you today and all your listeners. It's really providential that we're having this conversation because you're right, I'm in Liberty right now, but I am from London, if folks can't detect the accent. And something like ten years ago, I was just a nominal Christian in a university And you know, I believed in Jesus, but I just felt like I was missing something from my life.

Now, the word I always use is adventure. There was no real adventure in my Christian life. I was just going to church, going back home, trying to be a good guy. And I remember praying to God and feeling very led to go on a missions trip. And at the time, I knew that Tenerife was this Place, an island just off Spain, which is sort of like a modern-day Nineveh.

You know, people go there to drink and to find joy at the end of a bottle. And I just felt God stirring me to go there and share the gospel.

So I rallied around ten friends. We went to Tenerife. We were outside the clubs, outside the bars, offering prayer, talking to people about Jesus, engaging with them. We saw tears, we saw people make decisions for Christ. And we were telling them: listen, the joy you're looking for, you're not going to find it at the end of that bottle.

You're going to find it in Jesus Christ. And some received. And that was 10 years ago. When we came back home, our life changed forever. We felt like this.

is it. This is what we want to do for the rest of our lives. We started a charity called Onmission. And for the last ten years, we've been going to college campuses, engaging people. And listen to this, there is a silent revival happening in the UK right now, where lots of young people are asking deep questions about about purpose, about meaning.

They are looking for something much deeper than what culture and society can offer them. And they're showing up in our churches. They're showing up at our events and they're asking questions like, hey, listen, I'm looking for joy. I've heard that Jesus can provide it. Tell me about him.

So we're seeing a massive revival right now in London. It's very quiet. It's not it's not on social media. It's people showing up at churches asking questions about purpose and faith. Wow, now now, Mike, we noticed that you have you seem to have a deep southern accent.

Where are you from? You sound different than the rest of us. London. Oh, my. You're from the southeast.

From the southeast of London. I love it. How about that?

So, you grew up there. How'd you get saved?

So I got saved. I was actually on the show talking about this the other day, so I've been reminiscing. I got saved when I was 13. When I was 13, I would call myself a sort of. Atheist, I would I would say, you know, I was kind of really attracted to the academic sort of argument for God.

So I was reading Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. And for those who don't know, these are people who are called the four horsemen of new atheism. There's about four of them.

So I was really attracted to their sort of intellectual What would you call it? Arguments against God. And I remember being sat in a church one day, and a pastor came to the front and he preached the gospel, the explicit gospel. It was the first time I've ever actually heard the gospel. Would you believe it?

And it pierced right to my heart. It moved, it didn't go to my head because my head was polluted with all sorts of things. It got right to my heart. He spoke about how God was pure and holy, and how I was sinful, and there was no way I could build a ladder tall enough to get to him. And he said, The only way the bridge or the gap can be bridged is through the man of Jesus Christ.

Would you believe in him today? And I didn't know what was happening, but my eyes were well enough. And I was like, you know what? I don't think in and of myself I can save myself. And even though my mind was polluted, my heart just felt tugged towards him.

And I decided to follow him that day. And pretty much the way I call it is from that day when I was thirteen, I'm now thirty-one. It's just been a journey of just falling in love with Jesus, understanding all that's available for me at the cross. And honestly, we've seen the same thing with some of the young people that have come to us. They come to us with this with their head really polluted with all sorts of things they've read online, they've consumed.

But the one thing you can't deny is the transformative power of hearing the explicit gospel and how it deals with everybody at their heart. At the heart level, it just starts this transformation.

Sometimes they can't explain, they're crying. You know, I remember of a story in Tenerife where this guy is sort of really confident, he's talking a lot. And we share the gospel with him, and he just sort of stands silently for a minute or two and just bursts out into tears. And he goes. I like this is what I've been waiting to hear, that there's a God out there who knows me, who cares about me, and who's been calling me home.

And we've seen so many stories like that. It really is fantastic. That's tremendous.

So you're seeing God at work, and sometimes it just takes someone. What is it what does it take to get someone, maybe a Western Christian, who, like Russ and myself, Just to kind of rattle us a little bit to get us to take that first step to go on a missions trip. Mike, what do you see it takes for people listening out there? Because for some people, it just seems like an insurmountable deal. Yes, that's a great, great question.

And really, that's where we begin. We recently did a massive I mean, we do a lot of work with churches, training them to reach this generation, to stand on the streets. The the word is adventure. when people hear about evangelism, we've unfortunately made it professional, where we every church is trying to hire a sort of head of evangelism to and they want to sort of just push all the evangelical work to him. He'll do it, he's a professional, he's called.

Whereas in reality, whether it's Matthew twenty eight, nineteen or it's Mark sixteen, God has called all of us to be folks who proclaim the gospel.

Now you're right, it seems very scary, but here's how I reframe it. A lot of our Christian lies you know, i'm missing color. It's missing fun, it's missing adventure because we don't step out and actually, you know, start talking to people. Because essentially, here's what happens when we start thinking of evangelism. We we start asking ourselves this question, I wonder I wonder all the interesting and fantastic ways God is going to connect my life with all these random people on the streets, because that's what God does.

And so evangelism really is about offering your life like a thread to God. And he takes your life, which is a thread, and he weaves it into a tapestry that displays his glory.

So so so evangelism really is about saying, God, would you just use me? And again, yes, some of us have been called to go on missions, but even in your local neighborhood, there is a God My life is a thread. I know a thread isn't much by itself. It's just a random piece of string, right? But when that thread is in a master weaver's hands, it becomes really powerful because he can use it to make amazing things.

So what I tell people to do is don't think about yourself as having to be an expert and to be having done a master's in apologetics or in biblical theology. All you need to do is say, God, here is my life. I'm offering it to you. Would you use it and do something with it? I'm willing to stand up for you, Lord.

Hey, that's such a good word. Our life is a thread. How are you connected to the tapestry of what God's doing in the world? He's doing amazing things. We're calling everyone out to an adventure that will change your life.

We got Michael Rush and a special surprise guest from Liberty Mountain who's just called in. Wait to hear from this guy. Stay tuned. More coming up right after this. Are you ready to answer that call?

The goal of this program is to create a bunch of FOMO, fear of missing out. Are you feeling it? How about what these guys are talking about, what God's doing on the college campus? It's about to get amped up even more before we get into this more with our amazing guests and special testimonies.

Well, I just want to tell you, this is a huge week for this program because we are going to be broadcasting live. Starting tomorrow, Grayson, Lord Willing. St. Nick will be back in the chair. Grayson's doing a great job in the chair today from the Holy Land.

From Hebron from the Temple Mount, all these places. Robbie Dilmore is there right now. They just landed. Nikita Koloff, Dr. Carson, Andy Bauer Sox.

It's going to be sensational. This program, they've got all the equipment from the Holy Land.

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So, thank you for supporting our ministry partners, keeping this show going. Thank you to all our amazing affiliates. That stands with us in the show, Russ East. Michael from Southeast London Guys, are you still with me? Because we've got another special guest.

I got to introduce him. Yes, we are, Stu, but we're looking forward to also hearing from Dr. Derek Idle from Liberty University. Awesome.

So I want you, Russ. Rush, where are you on the campus right now? Like, are you at the quad? Are you up at the Museum of the Bible? Where are you?

Yeah, yeah, we're at the Liberty Tower.

Okay, so Ryan Shea, are you in your office? You know, two stories above? He's not in the office, but what's that, Ryan?

Sorry.

Okay, Ryan, say hello to Russ East. You guys are blocks away from each other. Hey Russ, how you doing? Russ Ryan. Ryan just wrote a new book, Counterfeit Christianity, and I wanted him to say hello to you know Dr.

Idol, don't you, Ryan? I do. I do work very closely with them. Isn't that cool?

So, Russ, you had no idea. Russ, how can you and Ryan meet later? I want to make sure you guys connect, okay? This is huge. Absolutely.

We would love to do that. And I would love to have him meet Michael. Amen E Yi From England with mission on mission.uk. Just I've I've been just chatting with him and we're like brothers, man. We've just we just barely met here and the Lord brought us here.

We're excited to see what God's doing in mission trip, ministry, like we've been doing in Utah and everything.

So, yes. Ryan, isn't that exciting what God's doing, man? I love it. I love it. Ryan, one sentence on what you're seeing God do on the college campuses around America.

You've spoken, you've played. Baseball. You're at one of them right now and doing a new podcast. One Citizen will bring Dr. Idol on.

Yeah, I think people are finally done with all the worldly facades. I think they've tried them, they've seen them fail, and they're finally coming back to the truth of Jesus Christ and knowing that he's the only thing that could satisfy. I think the world's played its cards too strong, and the enemy showed himself too much, and people are finally seeing the real thing. And so, praise God for all the revival we're seeing around the country. Amen.

It's not a time to grow idle because we've got to talk to Dr. Idol. Rush, set it up. Sure.

Well, Dr. Idle, hey, I appreciate your willingness to share. You teach evangelism at Liberty University and just wanted to bring you on to share what's on your heart and what you're seeing in students and how we can be a prayerful, supportive team to what you're doing here.

Okay, we've got them. We might have him on mute. Ryan? Tell everyone a little bit while we're getting Dr. Idol on about your interaction with him, Dr.

Wheeler, the amazing professors and what God's doing through them. Yeah, they're so great, man. They do a lot for the students here and care so deeply about their spiritual formation and growth. And being able to work with them both has been such a blessing. Just knowing all they do outside of Liberty and then the relationships they've built here, a lot of students look up to them in a lot of different ways.

So we're grateful that they are with us and try to take as much as we can from them while they're while we're still here on campus. Awesome.

What role do you play, Ryan, as a younger man of God who's obviously. Gifted, and you're working with students, you're working with this podcast with Dr. Temple. What role do you play with these guys, Dr. Idol, and all these guys?

Yeah, so I grad assistant for all of the evangelism classes for some of the newcomers that come in here at Liberty. And then I also get to host the podcast that the School of Divinity just started called The Refining Flame. I would encourage anyone to listen to it, but we bring on Liberty faculty, people from all over the world, convocation guests to share their stories of refinement and getting to see what the students have gone through in their own life, whether that's You know, family issues or spiritual issues growing up. They get here to liberty and they're looking for something to hold on to. And so, getting to play into their life and Being trusted by them to shepherd their souls has really been an honor.

So, Russ, you've got a son deposited there at Liberty Mountain Jack. You're there with all these students. I know you're excited to talk to Michael, Dr. Idol. Isn't it cool to hear about Ryan, who's kind of one of those worker bees in the middle of all that, you know, almost creating this.

amazing experience and Even maximizing it for everyone. Russ, isn't that encouraging? Definitely. Yes, being out in Utah where we are Boy, something like a Liberty University, you know, it just doesn't exist out there.

So, whenever we're able to come here and just see. Liberty University with our own eyes and be able to meet people like Michael, With onmission.uk, and then meet Ryan, and it's just encouraging. It gives you that sense of strength. to keep trusting in God and just to be carrying out uh the mission that he's called us to. Amen.

And Ryan, so not to put you on the spot on national radio, but would you be open to taking a team? To Utah to hang out with Russ and just to go to Brigham Young and go to the Temple Mount and just have conversations about Jesus, the true Jesus. Absolutely. Absolutely. We'd love to do something like that.

I'm sure Liberty would get behind that as well. What do you think, Russ? Can we take him up on that? That'd be great. And also this this island of Tenerife.

Off the coast of Spain that Michael's talking about. I mean, I've never even heard of this of this island before. But this sounds just like he explained it in like a modern day Nineveh. And man, so exciting to see what God's doing all throughout the world in missions. And just you know, maybe Michael could share just a little bit about.

Some of the things that they try to do, you know, why they do mission trips. Do you mind if I just have evidence? Put them back on. You know, no man is an island, but there are a lot of lost men on islands, and they need to hear the gospel. Ryan Shea.

Michael is uh is at Liberty. With his ministry, you know, inviting kids to go on these trips. Why is it so important that kids leave the comfort zone, even of Bible college or secular college, and go and see what God's doing in all the world? Yeah, I think we get so easily camouflaged by where we are. And we sometimes we need to step out of our bubble to see what God's doing in other places and experience things that we've never seen before here, for sure.

Yeah. Michael, you hear Ryan's heart.

Now, Michael, have you met Ryan yet? Because he's right there in the.

Now, Ryan, you're not on campus right now, but your office is right above that beautiful scripturium, right in the tower at Liberty. Yeah, we're in the office there.

Okay, so Ryan, Michael, you got to meet Ryan before you leave to go back to UK. But tell Ryan a little bit about and answer that question about why it's so critical to get. And or in the water to just take a step. Yeah. Yes.

I mean, this is I mean, that's a good question. That's the first thing people always ask is why do I? Does it take all of that? Do I need to do this? One of the main reasons we take young people on mission trips is because it's an opportunity for them to silence the noise.

Um, you know, this is, I mean, social media is great because it allows people to connect, but for young people, it often leaves them very overstimulated. It's very hard to distinguish good inputs from bad inputs. They're just overwhelmed, is really the word by just a deluge of information online. But when they go on a mission trip, you know, they put their phones away, they're able to just silence noise, and some of them start to speed them out. You know, God's really talking to me.

And I go, all that happened is you put your phone down. Isn't that something? You know, they're like, I've never heard God so clearly. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's what happens when you just pause for a minute and actually say, God, you can have all of my day. You can have all of my week.

I'm open. I'm tuned in, if you like, to hear from you.

Well, don't put your radios down for this quick break. We're going to come right back and talk about the power of missions. We're going to make this podcast available later from London to the islands to Utah to Lynchburg, Virginia on 93.7 FM. Stay tuned. More coming up, and we'll take your calls after this with our special guest.

Hang on. Are you ready for an adventure, a great adventure, a mission? The crazy part about this And the absolute truth about this is, God is saying, go. Those are the first two words, letters of the word gospel. Those are the.

The first part of Christ's final words before he left this earth. to go to heaven to prepare a place for For him, we're to be preparing a way for him, preparing the way of the Lord by going. If you're not growing. You're probably not going, and you're definitely not glowing for Christ because this is part of what the believers do. I'm Stu Epperson.

This is Truth Talk Live. We're so excited talking about missions. A great adventure today. On the show, we have a man who's a full-time missionary to Utah who also runs the Truth Network out there, who's usually the regular host when he's home and in the saddle out there. In Utah, Russ East, Utah Partnerships for Christ, upfc.org, send him some support.

He would love it. Go to that website, click on Donate Now. sent him a year and gift to help his ministry reach people all across Utah. Who might look like Christians sound like Christians, but they're not because they believe in a different Jesus. But they're gracious, sweet people that need the gospel, just like I need the gospel.

Just like you needed the gospel before you came to true saving faith in the true Jesus from the true word. There's only one book. That God wrote called the Bible, 66 books written by over 40 authors over 1,500 years in three different languages, and it's 100% accurate. It is the only true revelation of God. Every other book is false.

And Untenable, unproven, full of plagiarisms, and just Google the movie. Go watch the movie, The Bible and the Book of Mormon. Just go watch it. And you let that movie tell you everything you need to know by former Mormons who decided to look themselves at what the truth is. But you may say, well, I'm not Mormon, I have the Koran.

The Quran is a false A false book. All of the other false books, they don't stack up. But, Russ, we're taking the truth. It's not just a know-that. We're not talking about winning arguments, friends.

On this show, we're talking about winning souls. We're talking about engaging people graciously, Russ. It's not about shouting someone down. Michael, you went to this remote island in the middle of nowhere. You didn't go and shout at everyone and yell at him and hit them over the head with the Bible.

You shared The good news of Jesus, Michael. Tell us about that and tell us about what the DNA of this missions trip adventure is. Give us. Give us a composite sketch of what it looks like to take this great step. Will you, sir?

Oh good. I mean, I love that you mentioned Matthew twenty eight and nineteen there, where Jesus tells us to go. What I always love is going a verse before because before Jesus says that, he says, all authority has been given unto me under the heaven and all and on the earth. Then he says, therefore, go.

So what Jesus is saying is he's given us the search warrant to break into culture and to engage people for him because he owns it all. And so when people go on mission, they go from authority. It's not us going and begging and hoping things happen. It's really us going on territory that Jesus has already claimed and we're just proclaiming his truth.

So when we go out there, we do what we call contextual evangelism, which means we ask people questions. We kind of act in the way Jesus did with the Samaritan women, right? We ask questions, we listen and actually care. And then we review the we reveal the truth progressively to them. People come to us on that trip in very different circumstances.

Some are broken, some are depressed, some are estranged from their families. And they're they're they're all essentially in one way or another broken and separate from God.

So we just first start by listening to them and really trying to understand where they're at. And then we ask them questions that peer into their soul, just like Jesus did with that woman. And then we reveal the truth. We let them know that, hey, the door you're looking for, the truth you're looking for, the security, the peace, all those things you're looking for. You're only going to find it when you're connected to the true, the one and true living God.

And essentially, we invite them in that way. But it starts by being God's ears, by just listening to people and really having a heart that's pointed towards them because you care. Michael, a UK missionary who got saved at 13 at age 31, he's still on fire for spreading the good news of Christ. He's been on this nonstop adventure. He is in Liberty Mountain right now, Lynchburg, Virginia, home to the new 93.7 FM.

We got listeners all over that area, a great area in Virginia. And Michael's with Russ East, our regular Monday Missions minister, pastor. Host of this program and Russ loves all things missions. Russ is in Lynchburg seeing his son, but also recruiting young missionaries to go on an adventure. And I was going to ask you, Michael, what are questions you ask?

Give us our listeners some questions. This is such a great way. Questions are a great way to get into the gospel. For those of us, don't assume or presume any kind of Cognition of this among all of us listening, including me. Give me some questions to ask.

I want to share my faith. I want to go on an adventure like when I leave here and go home and I bump into my neighbor walking the dog. What's a question to ask someone as you go, whether it's on the other side of the world, around the world, or across the street? Very good.

Well, firstly, you've got to reach out to another branch of relationships.

So I think you always want to start by finding some sort of common ground, right?

So, you know, we always try and bridge the gap by just talking about the weather. In the UK, we are obsessed with the weather.

So we always start with that. Just find something that sort of starts by just observing a similarity you have with somebody. Isn't this, isn't it cult today? Or isn't it whatever? Just start a conversation.

Once you do, you can then engage them with questions that get them thinking. No, what do you think happens when we die? What do you think about Jesus? Have you ever thought about life after death? Would you say you have peace in your life?

Would you say you have joy? I mean, there's just questions that just get people thinking. What do you think real joy is? What do you think the purpose of life is? What really makes you happy?

Because essentially, when you ask people questions, they often reciprocate, which means they'll ask you the same question back. Or say, what about you? Which then gives you the invite to start sharing where your hope is, where your joy is, what you think happens when we die, what brings you satisfaction, what makes you happy. These are really deep questions that once you've started by bridging the gap, by finding sort of common ground, you can start to get into.

So it often happens that we'll kind of start a sort of pretty meaningless conversation about the weather. And at some stage, it gets into, well, like, what really makes you happy? And people talk about, you know, whatever car or, you know, a girlfriend or whatever it is. When they ask you, you can then say, well, actually, yeah, you know, these things bring me a bit of happiness, but my true happiness is found in Jesus and what he did for me. And then that opens up the conversation for you to share the hope and the faith you have.

Wow, great. And, you know, I want to remind everyone that one of the biggest reasons people come to Christ is there is a trauma created in their life. It could be a bad health diagnosis, it could be a death of a loved one. It could be losing something financially. A lot of folks came to the Lord in 2008 when the financial markets belly, you know, the whole floor dropped out on them.

They went belly up. And so, one question that will potentially induce trauma, when you sometimes have to induce trauma, and that is. You're gonna die one day, sir. And I was just talking to a good friend about a buddy he's witnessing to who's got everything. The guy's got all kinds of money.

He's loaded, and he has no financial problems, and everything he's touched has turned to gold in his life. And he's got a big family, and he's got a lot of money. He doesn't need God. And my buddy is saved and loves Jesus and is trying to witness to him. He's on a daily adventure with this guy, trying to witness to him, you know, whenever they're together.

And so one question he asked the guy is, what about? When the day comes when The death happens when you die. And that's a comment, Michael. How's that for asking people? You know, are you prepared for death?

If you die today, remember Evangelism Explosion, Dr. Kennedy? If you die today, Where would you go? How about that approach to almost induce trauma to get someone to think about what's really important? That's so good.

And you know, another way to think about this is Well, th even the rich man is spiritually dead if he doesn't know who Jesus is.

So there's also a way to phrase this that says you're not really living until you're in communion with your Creator. Because He made you with your uniqueness and all your. Know kind of idiosyncrasies, your very particular makeup, he made you. And until you know him, whatever life you're living now is still a grayscale life compared to the vivid life you can have when he makes you alive.

So, yeah, you're right, absolutely. There is preparation for that day that you meet the Lord. But to your point, I remember evangelizing in Tenerife actually and speaking to one person.

Well, I didn't even get to speak to him. As I walked closer to him and you could see a Bible in my hand, he was like, Oh, I'm not poor. And I thought to myself, That's so funny. He thinks the gospel is for poor people.

Well, he is actually poor. In fact, he's spiritually bankrupt because he doesn't know who the Lord is. And so, when we got a chance to talk to him, I said, Listen. Sure, you've got money and that will inoculate you from a lot of different things.

However, money cannot make you come alive. And the truth is, you are a dead man walking until you are born again and you really connect with the Lord and you know why He's created you and what He wants you to do with your money, not just buying more and more things, but what the power and the potential of your money, until you know Him, you can't know those things. Suddenly, his eyes were opening up to realize that actually this money might inoculate me from certain things. But but but there's certain things that my money can't buy me and purpose. Mission.

You know, a reason to be alive. These are things that money can't buy you. These things belong to the Lord, and you have to know him to really know what he's called you to. Yeah, it's very good. You know, I love what Ray Comfort does.

If you just go to livingwaters.com or livingwaters.org, Ray Comfort, a great evangelist. He's got that cool accent. He's New Zealander. You're a UK guy. But he asked the question: are you a good person?

Now, you could ask that question of a billionaire, a guy who's got everything. Are you a good person?

Well, they say, of course I am. Yes, I am. I give a lot to the poor. You know, I've got a lot of, I've been blessed, this and that. And you say, okay, well, let's see how that works out for you.

Then you go through the Ten Commandments. Are you familiar, Michael, with this particular. Yeah, right. Trump is a hero of my watch.

So you got it.

So, you know, before you can be saved, a lot of folks say, hey, have you been saved? They're like, well, saved from what? What do you mean, saved? You know, I'm doing okay over here. You know, I'm living the American dream.

I got all the money, the wealth, the whatever. You got to be lost before you can be saved. And so, how you get that person to recognize that they're lost, that they're dying. That they're on their way to an eternal inferno called hell, is you start asking them about the Ten Commandments. You just go right through them.

You know, have you ever told a lie? And you just go, and once you get through those 10 commandments, of course, the answer at the end is: well, ah, I'm guilty.

Well, if you stand before God today, you're guilty, you're innocent. They say if they're honest, they'll say, Well, I'm guilty, then heaven or hell.

Well, I'm not sure.

Well, if God's not a good judge, then he's definitely not going to, you know, if he's not a good judge, then he'll allow you in, but he's a good, honest, holy. He's the judge of the universe. But Michael, we got a caller on the line. We got B in Ohio. Jump on in here, sir.

Dayton, Ohio, 106.5 FM. Quick question for our special guest from the UK. Are you ready for the adventure of a missions trip, sir? Oh, this is awesome. This is awesome, Pa Stu.

I do mission strips right where I work. I like that. Yeah, everywhere I go.

Well, so what about that, Michael? Is he allowed to do a mission strip right there? Does he got to hop on an airplane or a Greyhound bus to do something? Michael, what do you say to this gentleman? He is doing it right.

Keep going. That's exactly what you need to do. But sometimes jumping on an airplane or a Greyhound bus or a boat, it'll awaken, it'll stir something in you. And we'll talk to our guest about that. Why it's important to have a world view or a view of to be a global Christian.

Because there are billions who haven't heard. And so I love it when a caller says I do it right here. We'll come back to that caller and to our special guest, and Russ. On this show, The Great Adventure of Missions. You're ready to jump in.

866-34-TRUTH if you want to call in. It's time to go on a great adventure. There's no greater adventure than missions. And we have Michael with a beautiful English, British accent on the line talking about his trips to all over the world, especially to these islands outside of Spain, sharing the gospel with people who are trying to find hope at the end of the bottle. And he's been right there.

Lead them to Christ. And he's challenged you to go. We've got a caller on the line. And before we jump there, I want to remind you: it's not too late to give. You can go by giving.

There's three ways to go, by the way. There's actual going. Then there's praying, which is so important. And then there's giving. And Trans World Radio is partnered with us.

People aren't even hearing this message or any of our great, wonderful pastors that are on all these radio stations that carry the show because they don't have a radio. Radio is a massive media, it's the biggest media in countries like Nigeria. Mozambique, these other countries, Trans World Radio is there, spread the gospel, but they need receivers.

So this is a short-term mission's emphasis, a give back. A great day to do it, by the way, is Cyber Monday. How about it, folks? And Trans World Radio, if you just want to call this number and pledge anything you can, $1,000. I don't know how many they'll send, but they're $50 each.

So that's like... That'll send like 25 of these awesome radios. They're wind-up, they're solar power. Transworld Radio, they've vetted the best radio, and they know exactly where they're going to be delivered to these villages. And these people get these radio, they cry because they can turn it on with their family and hear the gospel.

They invite their Muslim friends. Muslims have come to Christ through hearing Christian radio in their own language from our friends at Trans World Radio. Here's the number 888-888. 988-5656. Please call them and pledge whatever you can.

Pull your credit card out and give. It's not yours anyway. Maybe God blessed you with some good year-end stuff and you can bless back and give it a head so someone will hear the gospel and you'll see him in heaven one day because of your generosity. 888-988-5656. Or at truthnetwork.com, we've got a simple link, a big splash ad there for Trans World Radio, where you can give there.

And you can be a blessing. Just link and give and donate. It's just a wonderful, wonderful. cause and it's helping people find the gospel. It's an adventure.

And Michael's on the line. We got a caller on the line. You know, I think about Michael. Being from the UK, I'm sure you're familiar with the works of J.R. Tolkien, aren't you?

I am indeed. I am indeed. I'm a literature guy, so yes.

Well, so you think about that scene in the movie or in the book. Where Billy Bo Baggins Hobbit. He's sitting there comfortable in the Shire. He's got his nice fireplace. He's got his nice porridge for breakfast and he's got his nice dinner and supper and he's got his reading glasses and all everything in his very comfortable home.

And suddenly he's invaded by a certain number of dwarfs and a wizard, and they ask him to go on an adventure. And had he said no to that, there would be no story. There would be no Hobbit. There would be no Lord of the Rings trilogy. There would have been none of that.

But he said yes to going on an adventure. That changed the whole shape of Middle-earth in the quest for the ring of power and in the quest in the battle of good versus evil. And I can't help but think. Michael. You're going to be better at this analogy than I am of how a lot of us are like Bilbo.

We're comfortable, we're cozy. You know, we'll pass a track out here and there, and we go to church, and we'll sit on our blessed assurance, but. How many of us are going on an adventure, getting out of our comfort zone, leaving the nice, comfortable. American Western culture and going somewhere where we can bring someone. There are people, Michael, who've never even heard the name of Jesus.

What do you say to us out there, man? Talk to us.

So good. I mean, you're saying I mean all the right things. I'm I'm struggling to even know how much I could say because you're right. I think one of the biggest sort of um traps, if you like, that I think the enemy set for Western Christians is the trap of comfort. Comfort is one of those idols that's almost, you know, it's hard sometimes to even acknowledge and identify as an idol.

But we do live in a world where, you know, at least in the West, that's made an idol. And we worship comfort. We do all we can to ensure comfort is the goal and the focal point of our lives. But, you know, it's hard to serve both God and comfort. That's right.

In some states, you have to pick one. And to serve God, to your point, you've got to be ready for discomfort. But again, it's important people don't think I'm just a masochist that just believes in like, you know, discomfort for the sake of it. No, it's the adventure that comes from discomfort. When you step out of your sort of comfort zone, you open up yourselves to having to trust the Lord to see all the various things you'll do in your life.

So to your point, my random yes, I got to Tenerife 10 years ago totally transformed my life. I've met friends that I never would have met. I've got stories. I can tell you stories for the rest of the program. you know, just so many stories of people just Just being changed and being transformed, and me being changed, and me being transformed.

So, all your listeners, that's available to them as well. If they would step out of comfort and just say yes to the Lord in one area of their life, yeah, amen. And you know, I'm thinking about I was at a college football game. last week And I was, you know, I had my hat on. I was trying to be, you know, I was kind of chilling with a friend at this game.

And I was in a comfort zone. Because I'm like, I don't know if I want to really talk to anyone. I was kind of, you know, I was kind of just, you know, I need some me time. You know, I enjoy the game and I'm with this buddy. And I got a tap on the shoulder.

Guy sitting behind me. Tapped me on the shoulder and he saw my hat. He said, Hey, I just want to know what's the truth network? Right.

So, Russ, and Big B from Ohio, you can't imagine. That kind of like, oh no, I really, Lord, can I not have a day off? But man, well, it did. And here I am, the super Christian radio guy. But you know what?

That led to a 30-minute conversation. This guy was recently saved. His dad's an atheist. We prayed for his dad. We prayed for him.

We were helping him find a good church in his area of North Carolina. I mean, just God just does things to get us out of that comfort zone. But he, Russ East, you've done missions trips. for years. And Michael's been on mission strips, and Big B goes on one every day from Ohio.

Russ, God is pretty good at coordinating these things. I mean, you can have the itinerary, you can have the agenda, you can have it all choreographed, but isn't the Lord? Pretty effective planner, Russ, for divine encounters. Hello, yes, because for sure, today the Lord allowed us to be on the program with Ryan a bit today, but Due to things that only God could orchestrate, I met Michael today. It wasn't planned.

I have to tell you, he led me to like four different places, and then I came into this room that I'm in right now. here at Liberty, at the Liberty Tower, and we're sitting here and we're like brothers from Like from when we got saved, I mean he has a heart for missions and so do I He doesn't want to be presumptuous. But I'm going to kind of, I have a little more of a maybe prompting to speak on his behalf for a second. Because if you go to onmission.uk. All right, he's looking for partners for training and stuff.

I want him to explain what he's looking for. Like, if you'd like to help support maybe just some ideas, go to their website and say, hey, I heard you on Truth Talk Live. Would you want to share what you're talking about? Maybe send your young person to join him. Maybe send your youth out there, you know, your youth pastor.

Go ahead, Mike, real quick. Hit us, and then we got big bees and say something too. Yeah, you're awfully kind. No, I mean, we know, as God always says, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. We can see all the young people day to day that come to us who have questions.

And the reality is the need is far greater than we have capacity for.

So we are always open as we look to this next chapter where we're training that. We're training so many young people. We've got hundreds of young people in the pipeline that we're trying to train to go and do missions, right? And not just on a mission field, but even to start seeing their workplaces as mission fields. And so we're always open to any kind of support folks want to give.

If they head over to onmission.uk, they can email us, they can connect to us on social media, and just whatever support they can volunteer, we will gladly receive. Because, I mean, again, there's so many young people we decide to disciple and then to commission out to just keep on doing this work of engaging people in the darkest corners of the world. Amen. What you're hearing, friend, look, look, when you hear a mission. Who's truly spreading the gospel?

Invite you to give to them, to pray for them, to join them on a trip. Your eye shouldn't gloss over, oh no, another appeal. All they want is money. Your eye should be, hallelujah, I get to give. to something that is of eternal consequence.

that will change a life forever. And that's huge. And Big B from Ohio, we're almost out of time. But I mean, you can't help but joy overflows in your heart, sir, because you're hearing about missions. You're doing it right there in Dayton.

Absolutely. And all I can say is to everybody at Truth Talk Live that's listening to this broadcast. Just step out in faith. Get a hat or a t-shirt and print on it. It's really cheap that just says Jesus saves on it, and watch the conversation start.

Start. Amen. And it's wonderful. God bless you guys. God bless you.

Thank you, sir. And we appreciate you being on and you're calling in. We love our listeners, this show. You know, everyone can, Russ, everyone can go on an adventure today. Like, literally, your evening is going to turn into an adventure.

If you'll just open your eyes, like Jesus said in John 4, and look, the harvest is plenty. But the labors are few. Russ, we got to blow out of this comfort zone, brother. You've done it. You've inspired me.

You're there in Utah starting conversations. You're there at Liberty Mountain or on a bunch of believers, recruiting kids to come with you. And when they go to Utah, Russ, what happens to them?

Well, just like what Michael is doing in places like this little island of Tenerife. We take young people, high school college students, we take them to the Mecca of Mormonism, and we take them to Brigham Young University, we take them to Weber State University, and we just engage with college students we just we ask them questions about how's how are studies going right now? How's life going at at Lieber State or at BYU? And have you been Mormon for very long? Have you been a member of this Mormon church, the LDS church?

And then they'll start telling you, and then they want to ask you some questions, and you're just prayerfully asking God to open up a door. And then there's that opportunity that you have to To ask them some questions about what they believe about who is Jesus and why does it matter and what did Jesus really do on the cross? You know, what did He do? Why did He do it? And you get into some really in-depth conversations and you realize that this adventure is worth it.

And that the little bit of pain that we might have to endure is worth it. And we have brothers and sisters in Christ. All around the world, like we've discovered here with Michael here from onmission.uk. Man, I just hope that you guys will go to that website and support them, send them a gift. Absolutely.

Yes, sir. Keep praying. Russ, what's your website? Folks want to support your work in Utah and reach out to you too. They want to learn more about you and how they can come there and connect with Michael.

What's your website? Yes, we'd love to help you do that. UPF. Awesome.

Okay, download this podcast later. Grayson's gonna put it up and share it with someone who's ready. for the great adventure of missions. There's no greater adventure.