[0:00] Amen. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to open God's Word with you all this evening.
[0:10] If you would, take your Bibles, go ahead and be turning to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8. And as you turn there, I just want to let you know, the Lord couldn't have timed all of this any better.
[0:23] Just, let's see, it's, okay, so it's 725 right now. Not even like two and a half hours ago, I got some of the most encouraging news that I have heard in a very long time.
[0:35] And it was, oh wow. So, we've got this China conference going on. It starts tomorrow. It's going through Saturday. I'm really excited. We've got some 15 that are going to be there.
[0:50] I'm really excited about that. And this is the third one we've had. And each time, we've spent time praying that the Lord would reopen China's borders. And we're meeting tomorrow and Saturday with the intent to pray that China's borders would reopen, that the Lord would do that.
[1:05] And I found out about two and a half hours ago that on Monday, China started to open up just a little bit. Can you believe that? The Lord answers prayer.
[1:16] And there are a few visa types that are now allowed to go into China. Now, the way they're doing it this go around is a little bit different than the way they did it pre-COVID.
[1:27] They're a lot more strict on some things. And it's actually kind of up in the air who on our team would even qualify to go in right now. But the fact that they are starting to open when they've basically been silent for over two years now is extremely encouraging.
[1:40] And is a testament to the fact that our God hears and answers prayer. It's a testament to the fact that God does love the Chinese people and He desires that there be more messengers of the gospel, more preachers who could go in there and proclaim the gospel to them.
[1:54] And so, I am just so excited that the Lord... We haven't even had the conference yet and the Lord is already answering one of our big prayer requests. And so, please pray that the Lord would continue to open up those doors, that He would make it even easier and easier for missionaries to get into China.
[2:09] On that note, let's pray. Lord, thank You for how You are working behind the scenes when we often don't even know what You're up to, Lord.
[2:25] You hear prayer. You work and You move. And You are doing things. You often do things that we might never know about this side of eternity. And yet, You are in control.
[2:37] You are Almighty God. And we thank You that You do hear our prayers. We thank You that You do desire that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, Lord.
[2:48] And we pray that You would bless our time together tonight. Bless our time in Your Word. We ask all of these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
[2:59] The name above every name. Amen. Amen. December 2007. It was my first time in China. And I, along with about 15 of us from college, got the opportunity to go to China for about three weeks on a short-term missions trip.
[3:19] And we flew in to Beijing. We transferred down to this city in southern China. I had never heard of it before, this city called Guiyang. And we flew in.
[3:30] And we met up with this missionary. And we were actually there. He taught at this university there. And we were under the invite of the Chinese leadership of the university to actually go in to classrooms.
[3:43] Remember, this is December. So, it's around Christmas time to talk about Christmas. So, they have English major students at the university. And to give them an opportunity to have kind of a cross-cultural experience, they invited us to come in and to talk with them about Christmas.
[3:59] Christmas is not celebrated in China. And they don't know much about it. It's not a part of their culture like it is in so many European countries and here in America. And so, as kind of a way to let these students experience what life in America is like, especially during that time of the year, we were allowed to go into their classes and basically lecture on Christmas, to talk about Christmas.
[4:23] And, of course, us being Christians, we were more than excited to go in and to preach the gospel, right? And so, it was a win-win on all sides. And so, we were there. We were having a great time.
[4:33] The first few days, I remember, we had some really good conversations with a lot of these students. And there's one day, maybe three or four days into our trip, we got out of one of the classes a bit early. They let us leave. It was right there at lunchtime.
[4:44] They wanted us to kind of go ahead and kind of beat the crowd down to the cafeteria, one of the many cafeterias that they had there on campus. And as we're walking down and we get into this big courtyard, and if you can imagine, this is a huge university, massive courtyard there in the middle, probably at least five times the size of this auditorium, perhaps much larger than that.
[5:04] Buildings all the way around that are five and six stories tall, and they're all filled with students. And we're walking across the courtyard, and the bell rings. Class is over. And all of those students, they just come pouring out of their classes.
[5:17] They're filing down the stairs. They spill out. They're into the courtyard. And really, before we even got to one of those cafeterias, they were all over the place. And there was so much commotion and chaos, quite frankly, just going on everywhere with students going every which way.
[5:31] Some of them are darting off to their favorite cafeteria to try to find their favorite basket of dumplings or their favorite bowl of noodles. Others are trying to cut back to the dorms. They want to squeeze in a nap before their next class.
[5:42] And there's just so much going on. And, of course, they're all Chinese. And here's our group of about 15 people from America. And we're just kind of there sticking out like sore thumbs. And, you know, we don't speak Chinese.
[5:54] We don't really understand what's going on. And as they begin to notice us, the commotion just grows. And we didn't realize it at the time, but we were in a part of China that didn't get a lot of outside influence.
[6:08] There weren't a lot of touristy spots in this area of China. And so, really, other than what these people would see on television, they had never really encountered many Americans before.
[6:20] And you could see it on their faces. I mean, jaws were dropping, heads were turning. And they're all talking about us. And we don't know what they're saying, but it was something to the tune of, Oh, you see, that's a lot of people.
[6:33] They're so big. They're very big. They're very big. And they're just talking about us. And they keep going and going. And, you know, you say you don't know what they're saying, but at the same time, you don't really need a degree in Mandarin Chinese to know what this means.
[6:49] But what got really scary was the hand motion stopped. And they kept talking. And it's like, well, now what are they saying? Are they talking about how, you know, one of them was in our class, they liked what we were teaching?
[7:02] Are they figuring out that we're there talking about the gospel? Are they going to call the police? Or are they plotting to beat us up? We don't know. And we're just trying to make heads and tails of all that's going on. And with all of this chaos and everyone kind of surrounding us and staring at us as though we are animals in a cage at the zoo, there is this one young man way across the way who we didn't notice him quite yet, but he was probably noticing us and hearing what was being said about us.
[7:27] And I imagine based on what we were about to see of him, he was probably thinking something to the effect of, wow, if I go over there and talk to them, I get to go back to the dorm tonight and tell all the guys that today I got to speak with Americans.
[7:42] And so he got really excited. He starts hustling over. And that's about the time we notice him. He's cutting through the crowd. He has this huge grin on his face. He just seems so excited. And he runs up and he introduces himself to us and we introduce ourselves to him.
[7:55] And we didn't get but a few sentences into the conversation when my buddy Daniel, Daniel, he's one of the Americans there in our group, Daniel wanted to share the gospel with this Chinese student.
[8:08] And he started doing that by asking a very simple question. And the question was this, what do you know about Jesus? What do you know about Jesus?
[8:21] Now, you know, I don't know about you. For me, that's a pretty simple, straightforward question. There's nothing complex about it. There's very basic English, all of those things. But this young guy's response, I will never forget.
[8:39] He said, what is Jesus? What is Jesus?
[8:54] And I froze. Because here am I, Austin Till, I was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. Deep south, way down there on the Gulf Coast.
[9:06] And growing up, everybody around me at least said that they were a Christian. Most everybody went to church. I couldn't remember a time when I met someone who didn't know something about Jesus.
[9:24] I couldn't think of one. And yet, here I am. I'm in China. I'm on the other side of the world from everything that I knew growing up back in Alabama. And looking me right in the eyes is this young man who, at the name of Jesus, doesn't know enough about him to know that he is a who and not a what.
[9:45] And that shook me. And I remember thinking as though the Holy Spirit just began to bring back all of these Bible verses to my mind about how Jesus, he is our Savior.
[9:55] He is God. He is everything. He is Lord of Lords. He is King of Kings. We look at the book of Revelation and we read that he is the Alpha and the Omega, right? He is the first and the last.
[10:06] He is both the Creator and the Concluder of everything that is. He himself testifies that he is the way, the truth, and the life.
[10:21] No one gets to God but by him. His followers said, There is salvation in none else for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
[10:36] He is highly exalted and been given a name that is above every name and yet there are people on this planet in 2007 and I would say even in 2020 today who don't recognize the term Jesus as a name.
[10:57] How can that be? How can that be?
[11:09] Here we are, the people of God. We are the earthen vessels that the treasure has been deposited into. We are the ones to whom the marching orders have been given to go and teach all nations.
[11:24] And yet after some 2,000 years to get to work on this thing, there are still pockets of people every which way who when they hear Jesus they can't do much more than kind of cock their head to the side, look at you goofy and say, Hold on, what's a Jesus?
[11:46] That young man that day, he continues talking to Daniel. Some of the other guys chimed in here or there. I think I was just in shock. I was like a deer in the headlights after him asking, what is Jesus?
[12:00] They kind of talk a little bit more and his English comprehension was actually very good. He carried the conversation for a little bit but he started having this kind of unnerved look on his face and he was surrounded by 15 Americans.
[12:14] He probably thought we were like the American mafia especially since so many of us are like this and like this and like this and then around us was a growing crowd of other students probably trying to figure out what's going on and he was the center of attention.
[12:27] He felt very uncomfortable and he kind of mustered something, murmured something about I need to go get something to eat and he was off. We didn't get any contact information for him to pass on to the missionary or any of that.
[12:38] But just think about him for a bit. I don't even know how old he was. I mean, a college student average of what?
[12:50] Maybe 20 years old? So 20 years old let's say. Can you imagine being 20 years old before ever hearing the name of your creator? I don't know about you but I don't remember the first time I heard about Jesus.
[13:08] I don't remember the first time I memorized John 3.16. I don't remember my first visit into a church. I don't remember the first sermon that I ever sat under. I don't remember those things and yet I don't know.
[13:21] I mean, here we are almost 15 years since then and I certainly would hope that he's heard the gospel since. I would hope that he's come to know Jesus since then. Perhaps he has but we don't know and the fact that it took him 20 years to hear the first time means that, well, we just can't say.
[13:45] Chinese people need to hear. They need to hear. They need to hear. Here we are in Nehemiah chapter 8 and admittedly, even with China starting to open up, it's still going going to be difficult to get in assuming that we have those who are eligible to get in.
[14:36] Still no tourists are allowed in. No students are allowed in to go and sign up at a university to learn Chinese which was a typical path that we had pre-COVID.
[14:46] and we have this conference and it kind of seems maybe somewhat or at least certainly before I found out this news earlier this afternoon it seems a bit ill-timed.
[15:01] You know, it's before a few hours ago it seemed like, well, we don't know when we can get into China now. It seems like, well, maybe there's a bit of a ray of hope but we're still not really sure how it's all going to work out and China is still taking a pretty standoffish stance towards the rest of the world and visas though they're becoming a bit more prevalent seem to be a bit scarce and, you know, I certainly don't claim to know what all God is up to in all of this but based on some scripture here are some things that we do know and according to what we know from John 3.16 well, God loves the world so that means He loves China.
[15:54] We can say that the Lord desires all Chinese to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth. We learn that from 1 Timothy chapter 2 because God desires all men to be saved.
[16:09] Amen? We know from scripture that the Lord is not willing that any Chinese should perish but that all should come to repentance. We get that from 2 Peter chapter 3.
[16:26] We know that for whosoever among the Chinese shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We know that based on Romans chapter 10. God seems to be opening the door and here's what I know about us who sooner or later might have opportunity to slip through that door.
[16:55] based on the great commission that we find in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 and Luke chapter 20 I'm sorry John chapter 20 and other passages as well we are commanded to go and to teach China to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to teach them to observe all things that Christ has commanded us.
[17:20] According to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 we are Christ's ambassadors and some from among us should be Christ's ambassadors to China because if from among believers there aren't ambassadors to go well then who would go?
[17:34] Who would be those ambassadors? And get this turn with me really quick and we'll come back to Nehemiah 8 turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3 I want to hone in on this briefly this struck me a while back 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9 the Bible says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us were not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance I remember reading this verse previously and by previously I mean before about a year or so ago when I noticed something here in the verse and I always kind of thought when it said long suffering to us that it was kind of this generic God is long suffering to us people he is long suffering to the world he is giving us an opportunity to hear the gospel to believe to repent but there but there was a day a while back that I was meditating on this verse and I realized that the book of 2 Peter is actually written in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1 to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of
[18:58] God and our Savior Jesus Christ so what that means is when we get to 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9 and the Bible says that God is long suffering to us word it means that his long suffering his patience is to us believers and that hit me like a ton of bricks because I suddenly realized God is giving us time to get off our seats and go and preach the gospel to people he is long suffering to us giving us the messengers the time and the opportunity we need to get ready to take the message to those around us to this lost and dying world he's long suffering to us word to us believers he is long suffering to us that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ he's patient with us believers he's giving us an opportunity to get the gospel out okay
[20:04] Nehemiah chapter 8 Nehemiah chapter 8 we know from Romans 10 how should they hear without a preacher and that's what China needs China needs preachers and yes there are preachers there there are actually some missionaries there that never left right when COVID hit they've been there the entire time yes there are pastors there I know a few pastors there both in southern China and a few in northern China I know them and they are faithfully serving and they are faithfully preaching and yet in the face of some one and a half billion people there certainly could be some more gospel witness there and it still wouldn't reach any sort of saturation point but when we talk about a preacher I love what we see here in Nehemiah chapter 8 let's start in verse 5
[21:04] Nehemiah chapter 8 in verse 5 it says and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people hint the book is the book of the law it's the scripture for he was above all the people and when he opened it all the people stood up and Ezra blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered amen amen with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground now look at this in verse 7 we got a long list of names but pay attention here also Jeshua and Bani and Cherubiah and Jamin Atcub Shabbathai Hodijah Maaseah Kelithah Azariah Josabad Hanan Paliah and the Levites and the Levites caused the people to understand the people stood in their place so I went through I counted we've got six I'm sorry 13 names listed here in this verse these 13 men who along with
[22:17] Ezra so 14 plus just the Levites just a broad group so we got 14 people plus the Levites who caused the people to understand the law they did that by preaching and teaching they did that by opening the book reading what it said and explaining it they caused them to understand we get to verse 8 it becomes even more clear so they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading they stood up in front of the people the people stood up as they read and as they preached and they gave the sense they said let me give you the gist of what this passage says and they began to explain and they began to elaborate and they began to give illustrations and then they caused them to understand the reading it was because of the teaching of these 14 men and the Levites that resulted in the people understanding the word of
[23:19] God very simple very straightforward here and that is what China needs they need Jeshua's they need Bonnie's they need Cherubias they need Ezra's they need Levites who will go there who will open up the word of God with them will give the sense of what the scripture says that will tell them about Jesus Christ amen that will preach to them that Jesus the son of God came into this world that he lived the life of sinless perfection that he died upon a cross that he was buried but on the third day he rose from the grave all according to the scripture they need to know that God commends his love to them and that while they are yet sinners Christ died for them and they need that explained and they need that nuanced out because unlike us they didn't memorize that verse in
[24:22] Awana and they didn't have anyone in Sunday school to explain that to them so they're going to need someone to give them the sense of for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life they need explanation and they need preachers Ezra's Levites like these other men who will cause them to understand the scripture that's what they need church family it is my prayer that our family now our family we intend to still move forward with everything with going to Taiwan our plan since pre-COVID has been to work with the Tolsons for a couple of years and so we actually flipped to Taiwan a few months before before COVID even hit wanting to go there for a couple of years work with the Tolsons and then after that go to mainland China and that's still our plan even in light of all these new developments over the last few hours however our desire long term is to go to mainland China and to open up the scripture with
[25:33] Chinese people to give the sense of the scripture to give the sense of the gospel and to cause them to understand and it sounds so simple and it sounds so elementary and in one sense it very much is it is opening up the scriptures with people and explaining what God says church family would there be others from among us who would be willing to go to China to take this book with them to arrive there to open this book with an audience of Chinese people to give the sense and to cause them to understand that's what China needs and they need as many preachers like that as they can get who among us will go who among us will take up the cause you say well it can't be that simple it can't be that that straightforward well what else is there to do well turn with me let's go back a bit let's go to Ezra chapter 7 Ezra chapter 7 it's interesting I found it interesting maybe you'll find it interesting that in the book of
[27:08] Ezra the name Ezra is not mentioned until Ezra chapter 7 in the first six chapters he does not appear in fact this is the very first time he's mentioned in all of the scripture is in Ezra chapter 7 in verse 1 and that's basically explaining that he is a descendant of of Aaron and that he is in the priestly line and it says in verse 6 Ezra chapter 7 in verse 6 this Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses he was a ready scribe he was prepared he knew the law of Moses probably forwards and backwards he was he was ready he was prepared he he knew the scripture and we get down to verse 9 for upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him he had about a four-month journey from Babylon to
[28:15] Jerusalem but look at this in verse 10 four because Ezra had done what he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments this Levite this scribe is preparing to go into Jerusalem to go into Israel and to teach the people there as they are going about the the reconstruction of the temple he is he is getting ready to do that but it says in verse 10 that he had prepared his heart he got himself ready he made adequate preparations to go and how did he do that well he prepared his heart to do three things one to seek the law of the Lord to to do it and three to teach in Israel statutes and judgments which those are just really fancy ways of saying he prepared his heart to seek the word of
[29:16] God do the word of God and teach and preach the word of God Ezra was preparing himself and look it says for Ezra had prepared his heart he had prepared and he's just now getting these permissions from King Artaxerxes to go so before he had the permission and before the door was open he was already preparing himself to go he said I might not can go now but I have faith that the God who said that one day we'll be going back and that that land is ours he's gonna let us back in sooner or later and when he does I'm gonna be ready I'm gonna be ready with this right here because when that door opens I'm gonna rush through it but right now before the door opens what do I have to do seek
[30:19] God's word do God's word and prepare to teach God's word friends brothers young preachers young preachers young men would you prepare your hearts would you prepare your lives to seek the word of God to do the word of God and would you prepare your heart to teach in China the word of God so that one day when China's busted wide open and they're giving out all kinds of visas work visas student visas tourist visas we will have the manpower to go in Bibles in hand and with groups of Chinese people open it up read it give the sense and cause them to understand that there is a God and he loves them and he showed them that love he commended that love to them in a man named Jesus let's pray Lord
[31:53] China needs you they need the truth of the gospel there are so many Chinese people who would ask what is Jesus there are Chinese people who would confusedly exclaim that Jesus is some sort of myth there are Chinese people who face with the name of Jesus resist and insist that they believe in Mao Zedong there are Chinese people who would mock the name of Christ who would scoff at his name who would say that he is just the name of of people who have some sort of underhanded anti-government sentiments and yet Lord we know that Jesus is the way the truth in the life and if they are ever to have hope of getting to you the father they are going to have to get through him and so Lord I pray that you would raise up many more laborers from among this church family from among those who attend the conference tomorrow and Saturday that would ready themselves prepare their hearts that they would study out your word and prepare themselves so that when they can get into China when China is open back up completely that they would be able to go in and hold high the name of Jesus
[33:19] Christ that they would highly exalt his name there and make the name of Jesus famous throughout that country that he would become more famous than Confucius more famous than Buddha more famous than Mao Zedong and that he would get the praise and the honor and the fame that he deserves because he alone is worthy Lord we love you and we ask all of these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ amen