Classroom: Evangelism/Missions 04-16-07
04-16-07 Martha from USA (Texas)
Evangelism
FIRST: Just a little about Martha. She was born and raised in Texas - comes from a Christian family. Since she was a little girl, she's had it on her heart to be a missionary. She got her masters degree from Wheaton Christian on Biblical Theology. She spent a lot of time in Africa, and then recieved a calling to learn Arabic and reach out to Muslims. She's been living in Jordan for 2 years, now, doing this - and she's fluent in Arabic.
Habakkuk was a prophet, a contemporary with Jeremiah. He lived at about 605 B.C.
Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
The knowledge of the Lord was with the Israelites. They had an understanding of who the one true God is. And I’m not talking about the Israel today, that came in and stole land from the Palestinians and are committing all of these terrible acts.
But this all happened during a dark time. When you work with the Muslims, it’s not a real bright world. There’s still a very big darkness out there. So I’m living for this. Okay? I don’t see it yet, but I see pockets of it, and I’m seeing some things in Amman that’s blowing my mind and I’ll tell you some stories. But this will happen. This is a prophesy of the Lord and is written in scriptures. This will happen. This is my hope and my whole life is dedicated to this right here. I have nothing else to live for, and I’ll share a little bit of my story with you.
You know, they say not to put all of your eggs in one basket in case the basket drops? Well… all my eggs are in this basket – right here. So the Lord better hold it.
Tomorrow, I really want everyone to get a hold of the authority that God has given us to do this task. Are you walking in God’s authority? Or are you walking in the flesh?
And on Wednesday, we’re going to look at this message that you’re supposed to take to the nations. We do a lot of talking as Christians, “We’ll take the gospel to the nations!” We stop and ask a lot of people, “well what is that message?” And then some people say, “uhh, I don’t know. I don’t really know how to share it.”
Because you’re going on outreach, you really gotta know what this message is. Because there’s only one way that people get saved. There’s only one way they move from darkness to light.
Then on Thursday we’re going to have some fun and we’re going to talk about how you can really learn to share this message with Muslims.
Then on Friday, you are going to have little 3 to 5 minute presentations.
So what we’re going to do, is, on Wednesday when we talk about the gospel – I’m going to have you guys to pick a group of people to share this message with. It could be kids, youth groups, friends back home, and I’m going to challenge you to create a mini presentation of the gospel – whether it’s a powerpoint presentation, a drama, a song, a testimony – something. Some tool that you can use on outreach or in your life after DTS. So this might take a little bit out of you. You might have to work, you might have to think, but this is a Discipleship Training School. But don’t worry, I think it’s something that you’ll really find beneficial. And at the end of this week we’ll talk about the power of this message and how it can spread to the ends of this earth.
So that’s how things are going to go.
What do you think of when you hear the word “evangelism?”
Our Answers:
Standing in the street yelling.
Preaching (negative).
Door to door invading people’s lives that don’t want to be bothered
Bringing people to Christ
We are all evangelists in different ways
I could never stand on a street corner pointing at people and imposing my thoughts on others. I just can’t do that. It’s not my personality. I don’t want to do that. I just want to live my life and the rest of the world can make their own choices. I’ve had those same experiences. When I got out of University I wanted to be a missionary. So I went to a place called “Christ for the Nations” in Dallas Texas. Have you heard of it? It’s Assemblies of God Bible school – that’ll give you a little bit of an idea. But I got to Bible college and they were, “Don’t walk on the grass. No boys in your room. Lights out at 10pm. Dresses must be worn every day. (No capris). No movies and no secular music.” And then to top it all off, we had this class called “evangelism” that we all had to take. And in this class we all ahd to go door to door, and we had a little piece of paper. We would knock on the door – and the first thing out of your mouth must be, “if you would die tonight would you know where you would go?” And depending on if they said “yes” or “no” there were two sides of the paper you could go to. And if they said “no” you would share with them. And sometimes this person was in their bath robe… and I felt so awkward! Instead of being personal with this person and loving them, I was spitting a message. And nine out of ten people would slam their doors in our face. And we DID see some fruit from it! We did see some people come to Christ! But we saw a lot of people turned off from Christianity.
Once we had a guy come and teach. He looked like he was stuck in the late 70’s – with curly, big, thick hair and big glasses. And he spent the whole week screaming at us. “How many people have you led to Jesus this week! Have you seen this apartment over here? There are probably 200 people in that apartment! How many of you have spent time talking to them about Jesus?!?” And as the week went by you would get smaller and smaller and think, “Oh God, I am a terrible person! I haven’t brought anyone to you!” And the worst was street evangelism! We would stand in the street and pray first. “Oh Lord, lead us to people. Amen!” Okay – and then we would spread out. And the teacher would go around and call out a name and say, “how many people did you lead to Jesus!?” And the first person would say, “five!” and the next person would say, “three!” And I would be sitting there shaking. And they would say, “Martha, how many people did you lead to Jesus!?” And I would say, “none… but I had a really good conversation…”
All of this – and the goal was how many people you could lead to Christ through this paper prayer. And I couldn’t do it. I was a failure. And at this little school – I couldn’t do it. I left Bible College totally depressed. “How can I be a missionary if I hate evangelism?”
I remember, at that time, something the Lord said to me. “Martha, remember the way I evangelized to you.” And this is the way God spoke to me!
When I was young, I would go out – drinking, dancing, playing pool. That was my life. When you were 14 or 15, you started drinking in Texas. That’s what you did. And in my life – I loved Jesus. I never didn’t love Jesus – he just wasn’t real for me, at that time. Jesus was the religion of my parents.
So when I went to college, I chose the college that was as far from my house as I could get. It was in the panhandle of Texas, called Texas tech.
The first week, I had my little refrigerator. We went out and bought some beer and stocked the fridge. We partied every night – you know what I’m saying? We didn’t need to wait until Friday anymore. And I was thinking, “this is the life! I’m free from my parents! I have my own life! I can do what I want!” And those of you that know about college life in America… a lot of bad stuff is happening. I would come in my dorm room and my roommate would be sniffing lines of cocaine on her desk. Her boyfriend would spend the night in our room. This is the kind of life that I was in the middle of. Parties, boys, everything I swore I would never do – I found myself in these things. And I had this weird thing going on inside of me. On the outside, I was the party girl – everybody loved Martha. I was with the beer and in the middle of the crowds. But on the inside I was remembering my life as a little girl, how badly I wanted to be a missionary, and how I loved Jesus. And in my car, I had two things hanging from the mirror. I had a cross, and a Hawaiian lei. And as the years went on, I got more and more depressed in my soul. How many of you have felt that? That heaviness? That emptiness? And the more I tried to do things the heavier it got. And there was this time when I just got so depressed… well I was a runner. So I went running. And I ran and ran and ran and I got out into the open fields of Texas. And instead of jogging I just started to run as fast as I could – as fast as I could, until I got so tired that I just fell face down. And I said, “Oh, Lord, if you’re real, things have to change. These things that are in my life, I keep trying to fill myself with and fill myself with, and I never get full!And that was jut one day. Those days pass. But it was the beginning of something.
So one summer, I was driving with my parents. We were on vacation, and I received something. It was a word, saying, “You are going to tell your parents everything you’ve done. Everything you’ve been into.” And I thought this was the craziest thing I’d ever heard!!! Why would I tell my parents? That would be stupid. I would be kicked out of college, they would take my money away. So I turned up the car radio and continued living. But a few weeks later – the heaviness got to be more and more and more. And one morning, I sat across from my dad, and my mom was making lunch – and I just started crying, weeping uncontrollably. The kind where you’re shaking – and my dad just kept eating. There was no response from him. So I said, “dad, I need to talk to you.” And he looked up at me and said, “I know.” And I got scared and thought, what does he know?!? And we went into the other room and he said, “talk.” So I sat there and told my dad the things I had done. And in the middle of this conversation – he reached over to me and put his hand around me. And he said, “Martha, you need to get this out. So say it. But I want you to know that nothing you say is going to change how I feel about you. My love for you is a steadfast love.” And what I heard was the voice of God then. And what I heard from God was, “Martha, my calling on your life is eternal! You think you’ve ruined it? You have not ruined it! I can do anything! And I love you! And there is hope, and forgiveness in my name!” And they said, “Martha, at the beginning of the summer when we came home, the Lord spoke to us. He told us everything you had done. And when we saw you, we knew. And we were ready to confront you.
He draws us through cords of loving kindness. It says His kindness leads us to repentance. It is this incredible love of a Holy God that pulls us to Him when we are dirt, we are less than dirt! And that day, my parents prayed over me the forgiveness of the Lord. They prayed I would be filled with the Holy Spirit. And something changed that day. I went back to college – and I had this hunger for the Bible that I had never had! It’s just a book! I would be sitting on this couch, it’s a Saturday night! And all my friends would be getting ready to go out… and I would read and say, “hey, guys! Look at this!” And I would read part of the Bible! And they would look at me and say, “are you crazy?!?” You have to understand, in my dorm, we had a bowl of hash sitting on the table. And they would look at me and say, “Martha what has happened to you?!? You are not the same person we knew a month ago.” And instead of going out – they pulled up a chair and they would say, “well what is it?” And I would say, “I don’t know!!!”
You see, I didn’t have the paper yet. I didnj’t know how to explain what was going on inside of me. But I had the Holy Spirit within me. You see? One Spirit was being replaced by another. And I didn’t know! I love dancing. I love boys… but I didn’t want to go. And they would say, “well… teach us what you’re learning… teach us about this!” And I didn’t even know where Acts or Romans was… I didn’t know! So we all went over to the Christian book store and found some Bible study help. So we would all sit around a picnic table and smoke cigarettes and drink beer and say, “check this out… what do you think about when he said this?”
I’ll never forget the first girl I led to Christ. It was my roommate Jean.
“Martha, how do I get what you have?” and I said, “I don’t know, but lets just start praying and ask God to give it to you.
She came to Christ, not because of a paper – she saw something real. And it was so real it pushed us onto the streets. We didn’t think “let’s go to the streets” – we just went to the places we normally went. We went to 6th street in Austin Texas – famous and known for the bars.
This girl, one of our friends, was an incredibly heavy smoker. She had a cigarette in one hand and she was handing out tracks. I’ll never forget this one man, she handed him a track. He looked at it and said, “you’re handing me this?!? You’re standing there handing me tracks and smoking?” And her answer was, “God ain’t finished with me yet!” It wasn’t about us. It was about Jesus. It’s not about your talents, or how well you preach or how well you sing. It’s about His power. Not about your power. It’s about His power.
And get this – evangelism is really God’s responsibility. We can’t save people. But you see, God was chasing some people like he was chasing me that summer. And when we’re falling in love with Jesus and we meet those people that god was chasing – and we have a real conversation with them, and we say, “you’re on a journey? I’m on a journey too. Can I share with you what happened on my journey?” We partner with God. And He blesses them with His Holy Spirit and He saves them!
Imagine this – we’re walking down the street with God. Right next to each other, and God leans over and whispers in your ear, “hey look at this guy. He’s hurting today. Go talk to him.”
You see, it’s not about messages and screaming and yelling. It’s about God and how incredible He is. And He just wants to use us, and He wants us to be a part of this. This is how simple it is – this thing called “evangelism.” I’m not here to yell at you or tell you what to say. I’m just here to help you fall in love with Jesus all over again.
Me: There’s one thing I’ve always struggled with about evangelism, and that is balance. I’ve been on both extremes of the spectrum. One is going to spend time with somebody and having an agenda with them, you know? Putting the person on the side and your agenda first – which is to share the gospel with them, and I know this is wrong. Then I’ve been on the other side, which is to put the person in the spotlight and ignore the gospel to the point where – even when a lot of good opportunities come up, I don’t take the opportunity.
Yeah, that’s hard. I understand, and I even fluctuate from one side to the other on occasion. Keeping that balance, being somebody’s friend first and being able to take advantage of opportunities they give you when they’re looking for answers is hard. I laughed because we talk about friendship evangelism. And what we do is we have a friendship. There isn’t any evangelism in it.
In England, you can’t sit at a pub and talk to people about the Bible or Jesus – nobody wants to talk about religion because they believe it’s the cause of problems.
Once you get into Christian circles, you never see that – smoking and studying the Bible.
I remember this girl who would go around from door to door and invite everyone to a Bible study – and nobody would ever go! But after I became a Christian, I went and sought that girl out because I would go to Bible study and they would say, “turn to Galatians” and I wouldn’t know where it was!
There’s a rule: No religion, no politics. So we would talk about relationship. “You know God, right? You love God?”
LIVES ARE AT STAKE
[Martha pulls out a little mini wooden tent stake]
In English, we call this a stake.
God’s call has really been going out from the beginning. What is the first question that God asks in the Bible?
“Adam, where are you?”
God comes to him. When Adam comes out, is he still naked? Is he still ashamed? This is what God does. He calls out to us, and we come as we are.
The Bible begins with missions, “Adam where are you?” Evangelism and missions is actually the theme of the whole Bible – God reconciling people to Himself. And the book of Revelations says what’s going to happen in the end. What’s happening in Revelations 5. What’s happening in that picture? Okay let’s look.
Revelations 5:6-14
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Pretty powerful picture for the end of time. Who’s there? Who’s present? Creatures. Elders. People from every tribe and nation and tongue. God is present, and the lamb. And what is happening here? They’re worshipping God. It’s a big worship service! So there’s people from everywhere here. How did this happen???
There’s no way that everyone could have gotten to heave unless they heard something. So in the Bible, there’s missions and evangelism all the way through, and then that’s what’s happening at the end of time – and then they’re no longer doing evangelism. What do they do? They’re worshipping?
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.”
- John Piper
A comparison between evangelism/missions and worship. Where is the focus of evangelism/missions? It’s here on this earth. Who are you targeting with missions and evangelism? Who is the focus of your communication? With people. With worship – where is your focus in communication? With God.
Now let me tell you something, and this is true, John Piper agrees.
Where worship is weak, missions is weak. If a church is weak in worship, they will also be weak in evangelism. But where worship is strong, missions and evangelism will often be strong as well. Worship is the fuel of missions. So when you worship God, you’re filled – you’re satisfied – you’re caught up in another place! And in that place, God begins to be revealed from you!
Remember this in your own life and remember this when you’re choosing a church.
So how does God get the nations back to Himself? He does it through people, doesn’t He? He could snap His fingers and allow everyone to be saved. Or, He could have created everyone to worship Him. But He didn’t. He gives us a choice. If we don’t have a choice, it’s not real, is it? If I am created to be Ellie’s friend, then I have no choice. I will always be her friend. But then it’s not real, is it? I need to have the choice.
Okay, I want to ask you a question. Who was the first missionary in the Bible? Who was the first to leave his own culture and go to another place for God?
Okay, let me ask you another question. What was Abraham’s father’s name?
Genesis 11:31-32
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
Now something compelled Terah to move – nobody knows what that was, but we do learn later that from this family would come something special.
Nobody knows the history of Malkizadek – from Salem (Jeru-salem). We don’t know this man! But there is a witness of the one true God on earth! From before the Jewish people!
Now what does it say that Terah did in Haran? He died, but what did he do before that? There’ another verb. He settled. What was his target? Salem. Palestine. But he didn’t go there. He settled. He may have been tired. He may have taken the safe option. He had a destiny, he had a calling, but for whatever reason, he stopped. Maybe it was easier to stay in Haran. He probably had sheep and there was water there. Maybe he was just tired. But for whatever reason, he had a calling and he just stopped.
Let me give you some statistics. 9/10 missionaries never make it to the mission field. This statistic is from Troy McCloud. He’s a famous YWAMer. He said nine out of every ten missionaries don’t make it! Why do you think that is?
Maybe lack of faith?
Job security? This is the number two reason.
Money? This is a part of job security.
Family? Okay, the number one reason fits in this category. The number one reason is relationships. People who don’t fit this calling, coming together. Some people have a stirring, they have a destiny, they have a sense, and somewhere along the way they meet somebody! And instead of making this calling a priority, they let their emotions get involved and they make the choice.
I had a friend who was younger than me, her name was Mandy. She had a strong calling to Cuba. It was SO strong that she majored in Spanish in college to prepare herself for this calling! She was a Godly woman! And she went to a Christian college! She met a guy named Andy – you know, Mandy and Andy. And they started dating, as we do in the western culture. And they decided to get married. So they went to my brother for counseling to see what they should do. And my brother said, “Mandy, do you still feel you have this calling for Cuba?” And she said, “yes! Yes! I still have this calling for Cuba!” And he turned to Andy, “Andy, do you have a calling for missions?” And he said, “Well… no, not really. I’m open, and I love her, but I’ve never had that calling for myself.” And my brother did something unusual. You don’t hear about this happening now-a-days. He said, “I counsel you not to marry. I’ve known Mandy for a long time and this is really in her life. This is a strong calling on her heart.” And they left that counseling session angry. I didn’t get involved. They went ahead and got married. Five years later- Mandy kept pushing Andy, “come on! Let’s get ready for the missions field! Let’s do a DTS!” And he would say, “oh, I don’t know, I need a new job, I need money, we’re still young.” And this carried on and on. After five years of marriage, Andy ended up having an affair. His relationship with the Lord went down and he had a relationship with another woman. Mandy called me on the phone, crying. And she said, “you know Martha, if I had to do it all over again, I would not have married him.” But she’s committed to him. She stayed with him. And he said, “I won’t go to the missions field, but we can adopt some kids from another country, and that’s as far as I’ll go.” So they did that. It’s a good life. Andy has come back to the Lord – and they have a baby, but they’re living in Haran. And unless a miracle happens, they’ll die here – and Mandy was meant to make it to Cuba but she won’t make it.
Think about this! Today, we know God! One of His titles is “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!” But He could have been the God of “Terah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” The whole title of God could have been changed! Different! You’re here at a DTS. Don’t settle for something less than your calling.
Keith **** - you have to be called to stay. It’s clear from the Bible that everybody’s called to go! (The Great Commission) – so if you stay, be called to stay! And people ARE called to stay! My dad was called to stay in America! But here’s the difference! My dad asked the question! Lord, where do you want me to invest my life!
Can the calling be to a person?
My opinion – I think it’s very possible for one person to have a calling, and the other person to be willing and go along with that person. Now, it’s usually easier when the man has this calling. Because of his nature and who God created him to be, he’s usually the leader. Now I’m speaking generally. In general, it’s usually in the woman’s nature to follow the man and say, “I’m committed to you and your calling and I will go with you and do what you do.” So in once sense, guys, you have it easier than we do as ladies. So to answer Chris’s question, men? If you make a good choice in marriage, and you make clear your calling – she will go with you.
I would say, if you’re a woman, it’s more important that you marriage somebody that already has the calling, because he will ultimately probably lead the direction of the marriage.
So if Mandy and Andy’s roles had been switched, they probably would be on the missions field.
So are you punished if you don’t make the right choice?
Well I would say that there’s a difference between the consequence of your choice, and punishment from God. God is big enough to send somebody else in place of you if you don’t follow your calling. I think God is grieved when we don’t follow our call, but He never gives up. And in the end – I don’t know if there is punishment.
I think God sometimes takes years to prepare people for their ultimate calling! I had the call to missions, and I knew it since the time I was a little girl. But I didn’t know where. I had no nation in particular on my heart. I was 25, I had a Bible, and I said, “okay God. I don’t know where to go. Where do you want me to go? I’m ready. Take me.” And a guy came into town. He was speaking on Africa. And I was sitting in a meeting with a heart full of remissions, and I heard God saying, “I want you to go serve this man in Africa.” So I spent 4 years here in Africa. Then I got engaged and that didn’t work out so I had to leave Africa. So I went back to Texas and said, “what do I do?” And God said, “try YWAM.” At this time I wasn’t with YWAM. So I did it. I tried. I ended up in Europe. And my DTS ended up in Yugoslavia on outreach, and on our outreach we were able to see a church get planted. And I ended up staying there for 6 years. I ended up in Kosovo, which is full of Muslims from Albania. This is the first time in my life I thought about missions to Muslims. Very, very few missionaries – impossible language called Arabic. Nobody wants to go. Arabs are not the most popular people in the world right now – neither are Americans if it makes you feel any better!
Right now, my life is in fruition – and only now do I really feel like I’m walking in exactly what God created me to walk in and do. Your 20’s and your 30’s are very much for ministry experience and character building. Almost all leadership books will tell you. There’s kind of this point where your character and your experiences come together and you’re walking with this depth of understanding. Anyway, that’s a whole other subject.
Okay, I have to finish up. Let me end with a story.
Back to Abraham and Tarah. You have a choice. You receive a calling. You can stay or you can go. Abraham had the same calling as his dad. He went. And everywhere he went he set up altars and worshipped God. And he had children and these children became prophets and priests – and eventually through Abraham, Jesus was born. Jesus went to the cross and died for the world.
The choices we make effect humanity. One life given to God, and nations changed. It wasn’t just Abraham. It was all the rest of the prophets too. And then it was guys like William Carry and Hudson Taylor. One life given in obedience.
One more story.
I’m going to tell you the story about the stake – because lives are at stake. Abraham put down the stakes. I’m going to tell you the story about a lady who put down a stake. I heard this story in Africa from a pastor. He told me it’s a true story. Back in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, there was a tribe in Africa. They never heard anything about God. They worshipped idols and things made with hands – the rocks, the trees. One day, this young lady was walking in the mountains, and a cloud came and rested over the place where she was standing on the mountain, and she felt the presence of a supernatural being. And she fell on the ground and she said, “whoever and whatever you are, what do you want with me?” And for about 6 hours, she felt the presence of something so holy and pure and powerful that she could not describe it. It was full of justice. And in that place, in reflection of this being, she became so aware of the sin and filth in her heart. And for about 6 hours she was in this place of utter desperation in the presence of this being. After about 6 hours, something changed. The presence changed and began to reveal aspects of mercy and forgiveness. And she became so filled with this – that she began to dance on the mountain. She was so filled because she knew she was loved. She was so thrilled that she wrote the date on a stake and hammered it into the mountain so the day would never be forgotten, and she went and told everyone about it! And over a period of about 20 years, everyone in the tribe knew the story and knew the lady. And then a man came from the United States. His job was to take the Gospel to this tribe that had never heard it. So, he learned the language, and after a period of about 3 or 4 months, he began to explain to them who God was and what He was like – that He was Holy and Pure and no sin could be in his presence, but that he so loved people that He sent His son to die on the cross to pay for those sins, so we could enter eternal life with Him. And this lady just began jumping around, and said, “this is true! We know this is true! Because for 20 years we have had this revelation!” And the entire tribe accepted Jesus as their God at the word of this man’s testimony. Now that’s a pretty good first missionary experience, isn’t it? And it happened because God had prepared these people and their hearts. The tribe asked the man if they could take him to see the place on the mountain where the stake was and he agreed; so they took the man to the place and they showed it to him. And the date on that stake… the date was the exact day that this missionary was born. Can you imagine that? Seeing your birthday on a stake in a mountain in Africa? Knowing that from the day you were born, you had a calling.
God’s not going to give up, but are you going to see the stake that was meant for you? Do you know what I’m saying?
Evangelism
FIRST: Just a little about Martha. She was born and raised in Texas - comes from a Christian family. Since she was a little girl, she's had it on her heart to be a missionary. She got her masters degree from Wheaton Christian on Biblical Theology. She spent a lot of time in Africa, and then recieved a calling to learn Arabic and reach out to Muslims. She's been living in Jordan for 2 years, now, doing this - and she's fluent in Arabic.
Habakkuk was a prophet, a contemporary with Jeremiah. He lived at about 605 B.C.
Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
The knowledge of the Lord was with the Israelites. They had an understanding of who the one true God is. And I’m not talking about the Israel today, that came in and stole land from the Palestinians and are committing all of these terrible acts.
But this all happened during a dark time. When you work with the Muslims, it’s not a real bright world. There’s still a very big darkness out there. So I’m living for this. Okay? I don’t see it yet, but I see pockets of it, and I’m seeing some things in Amman that’s blowing my mind and I’ll tell you some stories. But this will happen. This is a prophesy of the Lord and is written in scriptures. This will happen. This is my hope and my whole life is dedicated to this right here. I have nothing else to live for, and I’ll share a little bit of my story with you.
You know, they say not to put all of your eggs in one basket in case the basket drops? Well… all my eggs are in this basket – right here. So the Lord better hold it.
Tomorrow, I really want everyone to get a hold of the authority that God has given us to do this task. Are you walking in God’s authority? Or are you walking in the flesh?
And on Wednesday, we’re going to look at this message that you’re supposed to take to the nations. We do a lot of talking as Christians, “We’ll take the gospel to the nations!” We stop and ask a lot of people, “well what is that message?” And then some people say, “uhh, I don’t know. I don’t really know how to share it.”
Because you’re going on outreach, you really gotta know what this message is. Because there’s only one way that people get saved. There’s only one way they move from darkness to light.
Then on Thursday we’re going to have some fun and we’re going to talk about how you can really learn to share this message with Muslims.
Then on Friday, you are going to have little 3 to 5 minute presentations.
So what we’re going to do, is, on Wednesday when we talk about the gospel – I’m going to have you guys to pick a group of people to share this message with. It could be kids, youth groups, friends back home, and I’m going to challenge you to create a mini presentation of the gospel – whether it’s a powerpoint presentation, a drama, a song, a testimony – something. Some tool that you can use on outreach or in your life after DTS. So this might take a little bit out of you. You might have to work, you might have to think, but this is a Discipleship Training School. But don’t worry, I think it’s something that you’ll really find beneficial. And at the end of this week we’ll talk about the power of this message and how it can spread to the ends of this earth.
So that’s how things are going to go.
What do you think of when you hear the word “evangelism?”
Our Answers:
Standing in the street yelling.
Preaching (negative).
Door to door invading people’s lives that don’t want to be bothered
Bringing people to Christ
We are all evangelists in different ways
I could never stand on a street corner pointing at people and imposing my thoughts on others. I just can’t do that. It’s not my personality. I don’t want to do that. I just want to live my life and the rest of the world can make their own choices. I’ve had those same experiences. When I got out of University I wanted to be a missionary. So I went to a place called “Christ for the Nations” in Dallas Texas. Have you heard of it? It’s Assemblies of God Bible school – that’ll give you a little bit of an idea. But I got to Bible college and they were, “Don’t walk on the grass. No boys in your room. Lights out at 10pm. Dresses must be worn every day. (No capris). No movies and no secular music.” And then to top it all off, we had this class called “evangelism” that we all had to take. And in this class we all ahd to go door to door, and we had a little piece of paper. We would knock on the door – and the first thing out of your mouth must be, “if you would die tonight would you know where you would go?” And depending on if they said “yes” or “no” there were two sides of the paper you could go to. And if they said “no” you would share with them. And sometimes this person was in their bath robe… and I felt so awkward! Instead of being personal with this person and loving them, I was spitting a message. And nine out of ten people would slam their doors in our face. And we DID see some fruit from it! We did see some people come to Christ! But we saw a lot of people turned off from Christianity.
Once we had a guy come and teach. He looked like he was stuck in the late 70’s – with curly, big, thick hair and big glasses. And he spent the whole week screaming at us. “How many people have you led to Jesus this week! Have you seen this apartment over here? There are probably 200 people in that apartment! How many of you have spent time talking to them about Jesus?!?” And as the week went by you would get smaller and smaller and think, “Oh God, I am a terrible person! I haven’t brought anyone to you!” And the worst was street evangelism! We would stand in the street and pray first. “Oh Lord, lead us to people. Amen!” Okay – and then we would spread out. And the teacher would go around and call out a name and say, “how many people did you lead to Jesus!?” And the first person would say, “five!” and the next person would say, “three!” And I would be sitting there shaking. And they would say, “Martha, how many people did you lead to Jesus!?” And I would say, “none… but I had a really good conversation…”
All of this – and the goal was how many people you could lead to Christ through this paper prayer. And I couldn’t do it. I was a failure. And at this little school – I couldn’t do it. I left Bible College totally depressed. “How can I be a missionary if I hate evangelism?”
I remember, at that time, something the Lord said to me. “Martha, remember the way I evangelized to you.” And this is the way God spoke to me!
When I was young, I would go out – drinking, dancing, playing pool. That was my life. When you were 14 or 15, you started drinking in Texas. That’s what you did. And in my life – I loved Jesus. I never didn’t love Jesus – he just wasn’t real for me, at that time. Jesus was the religion of my parents.
So when I went to college, I chose the college that was as far from my house as I could get. It was in the panhandle of Texas, called Texas tech.
The first week, I had my little refrigerator. We went out and bought some beer and stocked the fridge. We partied every night – you know what I’m saying? We didn’t need to wait until Friday anymore. And I was thinking, “this is the life! I’m free from my parents! I have my own life! I can do what I want!” And those of you that know about college life in America… a lot of bad stuff is happening. I would come in my dorm room and my roommate would be sniffing lines of cocaine on her desk. Her boyfriend would spend the night in our room. This is the kind of life that I was in the middle of. Parties, boys, everything I swore I would never do – I found myself in these things. And I had this weird thing going on inside of me. On the outside, I was the party girl – everybody loved Martha. I was with the beer and in the middle of the crowds. But on the inside I was remembering my life as a little girl, how badly I wanted to be a missionary, and how I loved Jesus. And in my car, I had two things hanging from the mirror. I had a cross, and a Hawaiian lei. And as the years went on, I got more and more depressed in my soul. How many of you have felt that? That heaviness? That emptiness? And the more I tried to do things the heavier it got. And there was this time when I just got so depressed… well I was a runner. So I went running. And I ran and ran and ran and I got out into the open fields of Texas. And instead of jogging I just started to run as fast as I could – as fast as I could, until I got so tired that I just fell face down. And I said, “Oh, Lord, if you’re real, things have to change. These things that are in my life, I keep trying to fill myself with and fill myself with, and I never get full!And that was jut one day. Those days pass. But it was the beginning of something.
So one summer, I was driving with my parents. We were on vacation, and I received something. It was a word, saying, “You are going to tell your parents everything you’ve done. Everything you’ve been into.” And I thought this was the craziest thing I’d ever heard!!! Why would I tell my parents? That would be stupid. I would be kicked out of college, they would take my money away. So I turned up the car radio and continued living. But a few weeks later – the heaviness got to be more and more and more. And one morning, I sat across from my dad, and my mom was making lunch – and I just started crying, weeping uncontrollably. The kind where you’re shaking – and my dad just kept eating. There was no response from him. So I said, “dad, I need to talk to you.” And he looked up at me and said, “I know.” And I got scared and thought, what does he know?!? And we went into the other room and he said, “talk.” So I sat there and told my dad the things I had done. And in the middle of this conversation – he reached over to me and put his hand around me. And he said, “Martha, you need to get this out. So say it. But I want you to know that nothing you say is going to change how I feel about you. My love for you is a steadfast love.” And what I heard was the voice of God then. And what I heard from God was, “Martha, my calling on your life is eternal! You think you’ve ruined it? You have not ruined it! I can do anything! And I love you! And there is hope, and forgiveness in my name!” And they said, “Martha, at the beginning of the summer when we came home, the Lord spoke to us. He told us everything you had done. And when we saw you, we knew. And we were ready to confront you.
He draws us through cords of loving kindness. It says His kindness leads us to repentance. It is this incredible love of a Holy God that pulls us to Him when we are dirt, we are less than dirt! And that day, my parents prayed over me the forgiveness of the Lord. They prayed I would be filled with the Holy Spirit. And something changed that day. I went back to college – and I had this hunger for the Bible that I had never had! It’s just a book! I would be sitting on this couch, it’s a Saturday night! And all my friends would be getting ready to go out… and I would read and say, “hey, guys! Look at this!” And I would read part of the Bible! And they would look at me and say, “are you crazy?!?” You have to understand, in my dorm, we had a bowl of hash sitting on the table. And they would look at me and say, “Martha what has happened to you?!? You are not the same person we knew a month ago.” And instead of going out – they pulled up a chair and they would say, “well what is it?” And I would say, “I don’t know!!!”
You see, I didn’t have the paper yet. I didnj’t know how to explain what was going on inside of me. But I had the Holy Spirit within me. You see? One Spirit was being replaced by another. And I didn’t know! I love dancing. I love boys… but I didn’t want to go. And they would say, “well… teach us what you’re learning… teach us about this!” And I didn’t even know where Acts or Romans was… I didn’t know! So we all went over to the Christian book store and found some Bible study help. So we would all sit around a picnic table and smoke cigarettes and drink beer and say, “check this out… what do you think about when he said this?”
I’ll never forget the first girl I led to Christ. It was my roommate Jean.
“Martha, how do I get what you have?” and I said, “I don’t know, but lets just start praying and ask God to give it to you.
She came to Christ, not because of a paper – she saw something real. And it was so real it pushed us onto the streets. We didn’t think “let’s go to the streets” – we just went to the places we normally went. We went to 6th street in Austin Texas – famous and known for the bars.
This girl, one of our friends, was an incredibly heavy smoker. She had a cigarette in one hand and she was handing out tracks. I’ll never forget this one man, she handed him a track. He looked at it and said, “you’re handing me this?!? You’re standing there handing me tracks and smoking?” And her answer was, “God ain’t finished with me yet!” It wasn’t about us. It was about Jesus. It’s not about your talents, or how well you preach or how well you sing. It’s about His power. Not about your power. It’s about His power.
And get this – evangelism is really God’s responsibility. We can’t save people. But you see, God was chasing some people like he was chasing me that summer. And when we’re falling in love with Jesus and we meet those people that god was chasing – and we have a real conversation with them, and we say, “you’re on a journey? I’m on a journey too. Can I share with you what happened on my journey?” We partner with God. And He blesses them with His Holy Spirit and He saves them!
Imagine this – we’re walking down the street with God. Right next to each other, and God leans over and whispers in your ear, “hey look at this guy. He’s hurting today. Go talk to him.”
You see, it’s not about messages and screaming and yelling. It’s about God and how incredible He is. And He just wants to use us, and He wants us to be a part of this. This is how simple it is – this thing called “evangelism.” I’m not here to yell at you or tell you what to say. I’m just here to help you fall in love with Jesus all over again.
Me: There’s one thing I’ve always struggled with about evangelism, and that is balance. I’ve been on both extremes of the spectrum. One is going to spend time with somebody and having an agenda with them, you know? Putting the person on the side and your agenda first – which is to share the gospel with them, and I know this is wrong. Then I’ve been on the other side, which is to put the person in the spotlight and ignore the gospel to the point where – even when a lot of good opportunities come up, I don’t take the opportunity.
Yeah, that’s hard. I understand, and I even fluctuate from one side to the other on occasion. Keeping that balance, being somebody’s friend first and being able to take advantage of opportunities they give you when they’re looking for answers is hard. I laughed because we talk about friendship evangelism. And what we do is we have a friendship. There isn’t any evangelism in it.
In England, you can’t sit at a pub and talk to people about the Bible or Jesus – nobody wants to talk about religion because they believe it’s the cause of problems.
Once you get into Christian circles, you never see that – smoking and studying the Bible.
I remember this girl who would go around from door to door and invite everyone to a Bible study – and nobody would ever go! But after I became a Christian, I went and sought that girl out because I would go to Bible study and they would say, “turn to Galatians” and I wouldn’t know where it was!
There’s a rule: No religion, no politics. So we would talk about relationship. “You know God, right? You love God?”
LIVES ARE AT STAKE
[Martha pulls out a little mini wooden tent stake]
In English, we call this a stake.
God’s call has really been going out from the beginning. What is the first question that God asks in the Bible?
“Adam, where are you?”
God comes to him. When Adam comes out, is he still naked? Is he still ashamed? This is what God does. He calls out to us, and we come as we are.
The Bible begins with missions, “Adam where are you?” Evangelism and missions is actually the theme of the whole Bible – God reconciling people to Himself. And the book of Revelations says what’s going to happen in the end. What’s happening in Revelations 5. What’s happening in that picture? Okay let’s look.
Revelations 5:6-14
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Pretty powerful picture for the end of time. Who’s there? Who’s present? Creatures. Elders. People from every tribe and nation and tongue. God is present, and the lamb. And what is happening here? They’re worshipping God. It’s a big worship service! So there’s people from everywhere here. How did this happen???
There’s no way that everyone could have gotten to heave unless they heard something. So in the Bible, there’s missions and evangelism all the way through, and then that’s what’s happening at the end of time – and then they’re no longer doing evangelism. What do they do? They’re worshipping?
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.”
- John Piper
A comparison between evangelism/missions and worship. Where is the focus of evangelism/missions? It’s here on this earth. Who are you targeting with missions and evangelism? Who is the focus of your communication? With people. With worship – where is your focus in communication? With God.
Now let me tell you something, and this is true, John Piper agrees.
Where worship is weak, missions is weak. If a church is weak in worship, they will also be weak in evangelism. But where worship is strong, missions and evangelism will often be strong as well. Worship is the fuel of missions. So when you worship God, you’re filled – you’re satisfied – you’re caught up in another place! And in that place, God begins to be revealed from you!
Remember this in your own life and remember this when you’re choosing a church.
So how does God get the nations back to Himself? He does it through people, doesn’t He? He could snap His fingers and allow everyone to be saved. Or, He could have created everyone to worship Him. But He didn’t. He gives us a choice. If we don’t have a choice, it’s not real, is it? If I am created to be Ellie’s friend, then I have no choice. I will always be her friend. But then it’s not real, is it? I need to have the choice.
Okay, I want to ask you a question. Who was the first missionary in the Bible? Who was the first to leave his own culture and go to another place for God?
Okay, let me ask you another question. What was Abraham’s father’s name?
Genesis 11:31-32
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
Now something compelled Terah to move – nobody knows what that was, but we do learn later that from this family would come something special.
Nobody knows the history of Malkizadek – from Salem (Jeru-salem). We don’t know this man! But there is a witness of the one true God on earth! From before the Jewish people!
Now what does it say that Terah did in Haran? He died, but what did he do before that? There’ another verb. He settled. What was his target? Salem. Palestine. But he didn’t go there. He settled. He may have been tired. He may have taken the safe option. He had a destiny, he had a calling, but for whatever reason, he stopped. Maybe it was easier to stay in Haran. He probably had sheep and there was water there. Maybe he was just tired. But for whatever reason, he had a calling and he just stopped.
Let me give you some statistics. 9/10 missionaries never make it to the mission field. This statistic is from Troy McCloud. He’s a famous YWAMer. He said nine out of every ten missionaries don’t make it! Why do you think that is?
Maybe lack of faith?
Job security? This is the number two reason.
Money? This is a part of job security.
Family? Okay, the number one reason fits in this category. The number one reason is relationships. People who don’t fit this calling, coming together. Some people have a stirring, they have a destiny, they have a sense, and somewhere along the way they meet somebody! And instead of making this calling a priority, they let their emotions get involved and they make the choice.
I had a friend who was younger than me, her name was Mandy. She had a strong calling to Cuba. It was SO strong that she majored in Spanish in college to prepare herself for this calling! She was a Godly woman! And she went to a Christian college! She met a guy named Andy – you know, Mandy and Andy. And they started dating, as we do in the western culture. And they decided to get married. So they went to my brother for counseling to see what they should do. And my brother said, “Mandy, do you still feel you have this calling for Cuba?” And she said, “yes! Yes! I still have this calling for Cuba!” And he turned to Andy, “Andy, do you have a calling for missions?” And he said, “Well… no, not really. I’m open, and I love her, but I’ve never had that calling for myself.” And my brother did something unusual. You don’t hear about this happening now-a-days. He said, “I counsel you not to marry. I’ve known Mandy for a long time and this is really in her life. This is a strong calling on her heart.” And they left that counseling session angry. I didn’t get involved. They went ahead and got married. Five years later- Mandy kept pushing Andy, “come on! Let’s get ready for the missions field! Let’s do a DTS!” And he would say, “oh, I don’t know, I need a new job, I need money, we’re still young.” And this carried on and on. After five years of marriage, Andy ended up having an affair. His relationship with the Lord went down and he had a relationship with another woman. Mandy called me on the phone, crying. And she said, “you know Martha, if I had to do it all over again, I would not have married him.” But she’s committed to him. She stayed with him. And he said, “I won’t go to the missions field, but we can adopt some kids from another country, and that’s as far as I’ll go.” So they did that. It’s a good life. Andy has come back to the Lord – and they have a baby, but they’re living in Haran. And unless a miracle happens, they’ll die here – and Mandy was meant to make it to Cuba but she won’t make it.
Think about this! Today, we know God! One of His titles is “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!” But He could have been the God of “Terah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” The whole title of God could have been changed! Different! You’re here at a DTS. Don’t settle for something less than your calling.
Keith **** - you have to be called to stay. It’s clear from the Bible that everybody’s called to go! (The Great Commission) – so if you stay, be called to stay! And people ARE called to stay! My dad was called to stay in America! But here’s the difference! My dad asked the question! Lord, where do you want me to invest my life!
Can the calling be to a person?
My opinion – I think it’s very possible for one person to have a calling, and the other person to be willing and go along with that person. Now, it’s usually easier when the man has this calling. Because of his nature and who God created him to be, he’s usually the leader. Now I’m speaking generally. In general, it’s usually in the woman’s nature to follow the man and say, “I’m committed to you and your calling and I will go with you and do what you do.” So in once sense, guys, you have it easier than we do as ladies. So to answer Chris’s question, men? If you make a good choice in marriage, and you make clear your calling – she will go with you.
I would say, if you’re a woman, it’s more important that you marriage somebody that already has the calling, because he will ultimately probably lead the direction of the marriage.
So if Mandy and Andy’s roles had been switched, they probably would be on the missions field.
So are you punished if you don’t make the right choice?
Well I would say that there’s a difference between the consequence of your choice, and punishment from God. God is big enough to send somebody else in place of you if you don’t follow your calling. I think God is grieved when we don’t follow our call, but He never gives up. And in the end – I don’t know if there is punishment.
I think God sometimes takes years to prepare people for their ultimate calling! I had the call to missions, and I knew it since the time I was a little girl. But I didn’t know where. I had no nation in particular on my heart. I was 25, I had a Bible, and I said, “okay God. I don’t know where to go. Where do you want me to go? I’m ready. Take me.” And a guy came into town. He was speaking on Africa. And I was sitting in a meeting with a heart full of remissions, and I heard God saying, “I want you to go serve this man in Africa.” So I spent 4 years here in Africa. Then I got engaged and that didn’t work out so I had to leave Africa. So I went back to Texas and said, “what do I do?” And God said, “try YWAM.” At this time I wasn’t with YWAM. So I did it. I tried. I ended up in Europe. And my DTS ended up in Yugoslavia on outreach, and on our outreach we were able to see a church get planted. And I ended up staying there for 6 years. I ended up in Kosovo, which is full of Muslims from Albania. This is the first time in my life I thought about missions to Muslims. Very, very few missionaries – impossible language called Arabic. Nobody wants to go. Arabs are not the most popular people in the world right now – neither are Americans if it makes you feel any better!
Right now, my life is in fruition – and only now do I really feel like I’m walking in exactly what God created me to walk in and do. Your 20’s and your 30’s are very much for ministry experience and character building. Almost all leadership books will tell you. There’s kind of this point where your character and your experiences come together and you’re walking with this depth of understanding. Anyway, that’s a whole other subject.
Okay, I have to finish up. Let me end with a story.
Back to Abraham and Tarah. You have a choice. You receive a calling. You can stay or you can go. Abraham had the same calling as his dad. He went. And everywhere he went he set up altars and worshipped God. And he had children and these children became prophets and priests – and eventually through Abraham, Jesus was born. Jesus went to the cross and died for the world.
The choices we make effect humanity. One life given to God, and nations changed. It wasn’t just Abraham. It was all the rest of the prophets too. And then it was guys like William Carry and Hudson Taylor. One life given in obedience.
One more story.
I’m going to tell you the story about the stake – because lives are at stake. Abraham put down the stakes. I’m going to tell you the story about a lady who put down a stake. I heard this story in Africa from a pastor. He told me it’s a true story. Back in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, there was a tribe in Africa. They never heard anything about God. They worshipped idols and things made with hands – the rocks, the trees. One day, this young lady was walking in the mountains, and a cloud came and rested over the place where she was standing on the mountain, and she felt the presence of a supernatural being. And she fell on the ground and she said, “whoever and whatever you are, what do you want with me?” And for about 6 hours, she felt the presence of something so holy and pure and powerful that she could not describe it. It was full of justice. And in that place, in reflection of this being, she became so aware of the sin and filth in her heart. And for about 6 hours she was in this place of utter desperation in the presence of this being. After about 6 hours, something changed. The presence changed and began to reveal aspects of mercy and forgiveness. And she became so filled with this – that she began to dance on the mountain. She was so filled because she knew she was loved. She was so thrilled that she wrote the date on a stake and hammered it into the mountain so the day would never be forgotten, and she went and told everyone about it! And over a period of about 20 years, everyone in the tribe knew the story and knew the lady. And then a man came from the United States. His job was to take the Gospel to this tribe that had never heard it. So, he learned the language, and after a period of about 3 or 4 months, he began to explain to them who God was and what He was like – that He was Holy and Pure and no sin could be in his presence, but that he so loved people that He sent His son to die on the cross to pay for those sins, so we could enter eternal life with Him. And this lady just began jumping around, and said, “this is true! We know this is true! Because for 20 years we have had this revelation!” And the entire tribe accepted Jesus as their God at the word of this man’s testimony. Now that’s a pretty good first missionary experience, isn’t it? And it happened because God had prepared these people and their hearts. The tribe asked the man if they could take him to see the place on the mountain where the stake was and he agreed; so they took the man to the place and they showed it to him. And the date on that stake… the date was the exact day that this missionary was born. Can you imagine that? Seeing your birthday on a stake in a mountain in Africa? Knowing that from the day you were born, you had a calling.
God’s not going to give up, but are you going to see the stake that was meant for you? Do you know what I’m saying?
posted by CarbonChris at 1:35 PM
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