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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. And now, missionary Matt Allen.

[0:15] We're going to be in Judges chapter 3. And I have to tell you a story about how I met your pastor. And many years ago, I was in Bible college.

[0:27] And it sounds like Miss Betty remembers this. But I was in Bible college. And Brother Gardner came through. And we were at Calvary Baptist in Statesville.

[0:40] And I was a Sunday school teacher there. And the Lord had been working our hearts to go to the mission field. And got to know your pastor as he would come through and give updates about the ministry in Peru.

[0:51] And I just tell you, just from a distance, he kind of became my hero. And then we went on deputation. And Pastor Scott Caudill was our pastor in Statesville.

[1:01] But then he moved to Covington, Georgia. And when he moved to Covington, he moved about the same time that we went on full-time deputation. So for the church, the church lost a pastor.

[1:13] But I was kind of like, cha-ching, I just got a new supporting church. And I was happy about him moving. Nobody else was, but we were happy. And so off he went. And then we were on deputation, came through the church there in Covington.

[1:26] And Sunday school, Pastor Caudill asked me to give a presentation about the ministry that we were going to be doing in New Guinea. And I stepped up into the pulpit. And about the same time I stepped into the pulpit, who should walk in the back door but Brother Austin Gardner.

[1:41] He had just got off the plane from Peru. And he walked in the back door. And I felt about this big as me, nobody, not knowing anything about missions.

[1:52] I'm getting ready to go do it. But then in walks the guy that's done it. And I so wanted to just step off to the side, let him do the Sunday school lesson. And so I did the whole lesson, Sunday school lesson, got done.

[2:03] I came over to sit down right over here. Brother Austin and Miss Betty were sitting over right here. And I went to sit down behind him. Brother Austin turned around. He looked at me and he said, so let me get this right. You're planning on moving to the jungle and you're going to live on the corner of Elm and Maple for the rest of your life.

[2:19] And you're going to reach 100 people. And I just went, whoop. You know what's funny is Miss Betty leaned over to him and said, Austin, be nice to him. Be nice to him. Remember that to this day.

[2:32] And I thought if anybody's going to challenge me about what I'm doing, I'm going to listen to them. A couple of months after that, I heard that he was going to be doing a two-week module in Ohio.

[2:43] And I came, sat for two weeks under Brother Austin and I learned a lot. That was about a month before I went to the field. I went to the field and found me five guys. I got five guys and got them around me and spent my life with them and invested in those five guys.

[2:58] I didn't talk to your pastor for about five, six years. And we just happened to be in Gatlinburg a couple of years ago during the summit. I stopped in one night and came in and just sat in the back corner.

[3:12] I didn't want to disturb anybody. I didn't want to do nothing. But Tyler Masters was a mutual friend. And Tyler Masters said, hey, I want you to come over here and talk to Brother Gardner. And he told Brother Gardner, hey, there's this guy over here.

[3:23] And he went and found five guys. And so that kind of hit off relationship. And I appreciate your pastor. I appreciate a guy that would be willing to tell me, you're going to fall flat on your face.

[3:36] And somebody that's going to do that. I think everybody needs somebody that's going to do that. And somebody to help you with the ministry. And I thank the Lord. I'm not going to show a video presentation.

[3:47] If you want to see it, I'm going to give you the website. You can write it down. You can go to the website. You can watch all the videos you want. You can spend hours on there. Thattheymayknow.com If you want to go to the website, you can look it up.

[3:59] www.thattheymayknow.com And you can read all the articles. Look at pictures. Watch videos. All that sort of thing. But I want to share my heart with you from Judges chapter 3.

[4:10] We're going to read verse 11 down to verse 30. Judges chapter 3 and verse number 11. The Bible says, And the land had rest 40 years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

[4:22] So this is the... They're getting ready to start the second of 13 trips through. Where Israel would come close to the Lord. The Lord would allow them to have a time of prosperity.

[4:35] They would turn their back on God. And then they would fall into sin. The Lord would allow a... A rogue nation would allow a persecuting nation to come.

[4:48] Drag them into captivity. They would cry out to the Lord again. The Lord would send somebody to deliver them. This is the second time that this happened. In verse number 12. The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord.

[4:58] And the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel. Because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek. And went and smote Israel and possessed the city of palm trees.

[5:11] So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab 18 years. Verse 15. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. The Lord raised them up a deliverer.

[5:23] Ehud the son of Gerah a Benjamite. A man left handed. And by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length.

[5:34] And he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab. And Eglon was a very fat man. I just love the way the Bible is so descriptive.

[5:46] Verse 18. And when he had made an end to offer the present. He sent away the people that bear the present. But he himself turned again from the queries that were by Gilgal. And said I have a secret errand unto thee O king.

[5:58] Who said keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him. And he was sitting in a summer parlor which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said I have a message from God unto thee.

[6:10] And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand. And took the dagger from his right thigh. And thrust it into his belly. And the haft also went in after the blade. And the fat closed upon the blade.

[6:21] So that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly. And the dirt came out. I'll leave that to your imagination. Verse 23. Then Ehud went forth through the porch.

[6:32] And shut the doors of the parlor upon him. And locked them. When he was gone out his servants came. And when he saw that behold. The doors of the parlor were locked. They said surely he covereth his feet.

[6:44] In his summer chamber. Number of different ways you could take that. One he's taking a nap. And he's got a blanket over his feet. Maybe he's in the bathroom. They want to give him some privacy.

[6:56] Verse 25. And they tarried till they were ashamed. Behold he opened not the doors of the parlor. Therefore they took a key and opened them. Behold their Lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

[7:09] And Ehud escaped while they tarried. And passed beyond the quarries. And escaped unto Seirath. It came to pass when he was come. That he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim. The children of Israel went down with him from the mountain.

[7:20] He before them. And he said unto them. Follow after me. For the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him. And took the fords of Jordan toward Moab.

[7:31] And suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time. About ten thousand men. All lusty. And all men of valor. And there escaped not a man.

[7:42] Verse 30. So Moab was subdued that day. Under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest. Four score years. Let's pray. Father I pray. These few moments that we have together.

[7:53] I pray that your word would be made real in our hearts. And Lord may we. Strike up a pose. Like Ehud. God. Father may we step out.

[8:04] And may we do something for you. That makes a difference for the world. Father I pray that you would be magnified in our lives. In Jesus name. Amen. I want to come back to verses number 13.

[8:18] And we're going to focus. 13, 14, 15 and 16. And I want to just point out a couple of things that Ehud was not. Now I want you to grab this picture. In the morning. They woke up.

[8:29] They'd been under bondage for 18 years. They woke up that morning. They had absolutely no idea what Ehud was going to do that day. And by the end of the day. If you look at verse 29 and 30.

[8:40] Moab was subdued that day. All in one day. They just went and wiped out some 10,000 Moabites. And they've gotten themselves out of bondage. But I submit to you this evening.

[8:51] That it was because one man was determined to make a difference. Now I want to look at a couple of things that he was not. Because it's important for us to see these things tonight. Especially in light of where we're at currently.

[9:02] And our current spiritual condition in America. Let's look at verse number 13. He gathered unto him.

[9:12] This is the fat king, Eglon. King of Moab. He gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek. And went and smote Israel. And possessed the city of palm trees.

[9:23] So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab 18 years. First thing I want you to notice about Ehud this evening. Is that he was not distracted by present circumstances.

[9:36] He was not distracted by present circumstances. I don't know how old Ehud was. Let's say he was 30 years old. That means for the last 18 years.

[9:46] The majority of his life. He's been in servitude. Since he was a little kid. For the majority of his life. He's lived under service. To the fat king.

[9:57] And the fat king's come down. And taken everything they've got. And I don't know. Maybe he was 20. So all of the memorable life. Nonetheless if he's 40, 50, 60 years old.

[10:08] It's been a long time since they've known what freedom is. And he was not distracted by present circumstances. Friend I want to tell you. It's very easy for us to get distracted by present circumstances.

[10:18] Very easy. I'm going to tell you. Let me throw some numbers out. And it would be very easy for us to get upset. And disheartened. And discouraged. And just give up. Some present numbers.

[10:29] Right now. Population of the world. Over 7 billion people. Of those. 2.84 billion. Are headed to hell. And don't have a chance. Of anybody telling them the gospel story.

[10:41] That's disheartening. 2.8 billion people. That live in unreached people groups. 2.8 billion people. That nobody's telling the gospel. Nobody's presenting the gospel to them. 2.8 billion people.

[10:51] That will go to hell. And they don't even have a chance. Of anything else. You realize that 100 years ago. There weren't 2 billion people on the earth. And this generation.

[11:02] We're sending 2.8 billion of them to hell. And it's very easy for us to just go. Well what good am I going to do. Let me give you an illustration. And I don't know pastor. If you've used this illustration. But this is an illustration.

[11:13] That really bothers me. It's an illustration that's used. About some starfish. That have been washed up on the shore. And this gets used a lot. In missions conferences. Here's how it works. So there's a guy. That's walking down the beach.

[11:23] And there's all these starfish. That have been washed up on the beach. And the man's walking down the beach. And he's picking up a starfish. And he's throwing it back in the water. And he walks along. And he grabs another one. And he throws it back in the water. And his friend comes along.

[11:33] And says hey man. Would you look. There's millions of starfish. On this beach. And it does no good. For you to just pick up one. And throw it back in. And he said you're wasting your time. And then the man reaches down.

[11:44] He grabs another one. And he makes this statement. He says at least it made a difference for that one. To which I stay. That's nice. But if you really cared about the starfish.

[11:55] You know what he would be doing. He'd get his cell phone out. And he'd be texting all of his friends. Saying hey come down here. And help me get some starfish. I want all the people that I can. Get down here. We're going to pass the word. And this thing's going to go viral.

[12:06] We're going to grab as many starfish as we can. We're going to throw all the starfish back in. Now I want to stand before you this evening. And say sometimes there are times when I feel like I'm standing out in the fields.

[12:16] The fields are white unto harvest. Jesus Christ said the laborers are few. So there are times when I'm standing in the harvest. Literally watching the harvest fall to the ground. And I'm.

[12:27] We believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. We believe that Christ could come back any day now. The harvest bells are ringing. And I'm standing in the harvest field.

[12:38] And there are times when I feel like I'm the only one that's out there. And I'm doing everything that I can to scoop up the harvest. And so what am I doing? I'm back here in the states. And I'm texting everybody that I can. I'm saying hey please would you come over and help me.

[12:49] And I'm asking please Americans. Sleepy American Christians. Would you wake up. And would you look on the fields. They are white unto harvest. And I would encourage you this evening. Don't be distracted by present circumstances.

[13:01] It's a job that can be done. And he said Mark 16 15. Go ye into all the world. Preach the gospel to every creature. He said all. He said every. I believe he meant it. And so I would pray with you this evening.

[13:12] Would pray that you would look on the fields. And would you say God would you allow me. Would you. That's where I'm going with this invitation. I'm praying that you would ask God.

[13:23] God would you allow me. To go to the mission field. God would you allow me. To get rid of present circumstances. Would. We get to the point in our preaching.

[13:34] Especially in independent Baptist churches. We get really good at getting down on the government. And the government's got nothing to do with. What's going on. With reaching people for Christ. I mean we think we had it.

[13:45] We have it bad because of. Who's raising taxes. I mean somebody. Somebody look at the New Testament. And read all those books that were written by the guy that was in prison. I mean.

[13:57] We don't have it bad. It's not that bad. Really. So I would pray that you would. Be like Ehi. Don't look at the present circumstances. Don't be distracted by present circumstances.

[14:08] I want to tell you this evening. God is not dead. We had a preacher. One of our preachers. Tony Tenandi. Tony and his wife had been married for a couple of years. Our people do not know and understand.

[14:20] And they don't grasp ideas like birth control. And abortion is just a foreign concept to them. We have people come to my mom. My mom runs a clinic.

[14:31] People come to my mom. And ladies they say. They say I'm pregnant. And we've already got like eight kids. Is there any way that you can help us not have another one?

[14:43] To which a lot of people would go. Oh my goodness. That's abortion. And they don't understand it. They just don't want to have a ninth kid. That's the deal. And they don't understand. And here's Tony and Jacinda.

[14:54] The two of them. Tony's in Bible school. His second year. And Tony and his wife. They hadn't been able to have a baby for a couple of years. And then all of a sudden the Lord blessed. And the Lord gave them a baby. Little guy.

[15:04] They named him Progen. I have no idea where the name Progen came from. I asked Tony. Where'd you get that name? He said you used it in Bible school. You said it was a Bible name. I did not. I don't know this name Progen. Anyway.

[15:15] He said we named that kid Progen. And he was the nicest, cutest little kid you've ever seen in your life. And so here's little Progen. I'm talking about just smile. Tony and his wife would bring Progen to Bible school.

[15:26] They're sitting in Bible school class. And they'd lay a little sheet out on the floor. Progen lay down on it. And he'd just lay there and just smile at me. And I mean. My kids weren't like that. Your kids probably weren't either.

[15:39] All right. This little kid Progen just smiling this thing. And Progen got a fever one day. And we thought it was about that time for him to be breaking teeth. And we thought it must just be him breaking teeth. Whatever my wife gave him.

[15:50] Gave the family some children's Tylenol. Next couple of days. He started getting a couple of sores in his mouth. They took him up to the hospital. The next valley over. This was before mom had the clinic go in there.

[16:01] And they took Tony over to the next hospital over. About two hours walk away. Got him up there. And I looked at the health record. The health record said this is a very healthy child.

[16:14] Probably some kind of a thrush or something in his mouth. Nothing. They brought him back. Giving him medicine. Long story short. The next day he died. Here's my Bible.

[16:24] One of my Bible school students just lost a child. I remember maybe about a year old. My wife had just given Tony and Jacinda this little green onesie outfit.

[16:34] With little footy things on it. And I remember going down to Tony's village. We took the baby down to Tony's village to bury the baby. And we went down there.

[16:45] And Tony had dug a hole. Maybe three, four feet deep. And he'd been gathering offcuts from our sawmill. We've got the only sawmill in the area. He'd been gathering offcuts from the sawmill.

[16:55] And he was going to use those to build a house. And instead he used some of those offcuts to make probably one of the first coffins ever for the Kamea people. He made a little coffin.

[17:05] A little thing about like that. And I remember right before they put the lid on the coffin. I looked in it. And there's little Progen wearing that little green outfit my wife had just given him. As Tony nails the lid on.

[17:17] They buried him. A little hole there. And they're filling in the hole. And Tony was sitting next to the hole. And he's just bawling his eyes out. And I came up beside Tony and put my arm around him.

[17:28] And I asked him, Tony, what are you going to do? My thought and my question was, you need to take a week off. Two weeks off. You need to take a month off from Bible school.

[17:39] You need to spend some time with your wife. You guys need to get away. You need to go do something. That's where I was going with that question. Tony, what would you like to do? And Tony told me these words.

[17:49] He said, I'm not going to give up on God. God's never given up on me. Friend, I want to tell you this evening. Don't be distracted by present circumstances. There are things that come up in our lives. But don't allow those things to stop you from serving God.

[18:02] Next thing I want you to notice. Look at verse number 15. When the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer. Ehud, the son of Gerah, a Benjamite, a man left-handed.

[18:18] The Bible points out the fact that he was a Benjamite. And this is very important. See, he was not distracted by present circumstances, but he was not destroyed by past problems.

[18:28] And what do I mean by that? Why don't you hold your place right here in Judges chapter 3 and look over at Judges 20. There's a story that happens in Judges 19, 20, 21 that's very important in impacting this story.

[18:40] Let me just lay this out. The book of Judges starts off in chapter 1 and runs through about chapter 13. It's all chronological. And it gives the Judges in chronological order.

[18:51] You've got Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, right down the list of 13 of them. Come down to Samson. And right after the story about Samson, the end of the book of Judges, there's about three stories that are tacked on there at the end.

[19:03] Now, those stories at the end of the book of Judges do not happen chronologically at the end of the book. Those stories at the end of the book of Judges happen scattered throughout the book of Judges. They just don't fit in there.

[19:15] Something that the Lord wanted us to know, but it's put on there at the end. The way we know that is from Judges chapter 20. I think it's somewhere about 28.

[19:26] Verse 28. Judges chapter 20, verse 28. It says that Phinehas was the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. So Phinehas is Aaron's grandson. He's the high priest at that time. In order for this story to have happened all the way chronologically, the end of the book of Judges, we're talking about Phinehas has got to be close to 400 years old.

[19:43] So this story, more than likely, it looks like, happened between Othniel and Ehud. This story, and I'll just give you in a nutshell, chapter 19 lays it out.

[19:54] There's a fellow that's traveling. He's got his concubine with him, and they're traveling from his father-in-law's place. As they're traveling, they come to the town of Gibeah. And when they get to the town of Gibeah, they want to stay the night there, and it's a lot like the Genesis story with the Sodom.

[20:11] He comes into the town. They're looking for a place to stay. He's going to stay in the street. The guy says, no, don't stay in the street. Come in my house. The men of the city come and beat on the house, just like Sodom.

[20:22] And instead of the angels being there to blind these guys, this guy does the unthinkable, and he sends his concubine out into the streets. And the men do unspeakable things there. As a side note, men, would to God that we would have a little bit of integrity and honor and character to us.

[20:39] They do wicked things to the woman. The next morning, the man opens the door and goes to leave. And there's his concubine. For modern terms, let's say there's his wife laying on the front porch of the house.

[20:53] And he says, up, woman, let us be going. And she's dead. He takes her body and cuts it into 12 pieces. This is a Bible story. Cuts it into 12 pieces and ships it off to the different tribes, the nation of Israel.

[21:09] And it's a wake-up call. I mean, I can't imagine. They open a box, and inside the box is a head or a foot or a hand or whatever it is. And it wakes up the nation of Israel, what's going on down in Gibeah.

[21:20] The nation of Israel sends a message to the tribe of Benjamin. Gibeah's in Benjamin. They send a message to the tribe of Benjamin. This is not a godly thing. This is not what you need to be doing. You guys need to straighten this up.

[21:31] And Benjamin pretty much thumbs their nose at the rest of the nation and said, You guys, get out of our business. And so they go before the Lord, and that's where Phineas came into it. Lord, what would you have us to do?

[21:42] And the Lord says, send Judah up first. And they go down and they fight. And I want you to look. Chapter 20, verse number 44. They're fighting. Verse 44. And there fell of Benjamin 18,000 men.

[21:54] All these were men of valor. And they turned and fled toward the wilderness under the rock of Rimon. And they gleaned of them in the highways 5,000 men and pursued hard after them unto Gidom. And slew 2,000 men of them.

[22:06] So that all that fell that day of Benjamin were 20,000 and 5,000 men that drew the sword. All these were men of valor. These guys weren't wimps in the fight. 25,000 of them just died. Verse number 46.

[22:19] So that all that fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men that drew the sword. All these were men of valor. But 600 men turned and fled to the wilderness under the rock Rimon.

[22:31] And abode in the rock Rimon four months. And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin. And smote them with the edge of the sword as well. The men of every city as the beast and all that came to hand.

[22:43] Also they set on fire all the cities that they came to. So here's the tribe of Benjamin just got wiped out. 25,000 men all wiped out. Nation of Israel turned on the cities of Benjamin.

[22:56] Killed the women, the children. Destroyed their houses. And there's only 600 guys that are hiding off in this rock. The rock Rimon. And they're hiding there. And the next chapter, chapter 21, talks about how the nation of Israel decides, Hey look, we can't give our children, we can't give our daughters to marry these men.

[23:12] We've got to figure out some way to do this. It's such a mess. We've got to mop up this mess. And we've got to clean it up. But what are we going to do? And there's 600 guys that are just absolutely shamed. And can you imagine as those 600 guys come out from their hiding in the rock Rimon.

[23:27] Can you imagine the shame that's just all over them as they come out. The people of Israel are very proud that they're people of Israel. And can you imagine as this guy comes out.

[23:41] Ehud comes out. He's one of the Benjamites. One of these surviving 600. Can you imagine as he comes out. And he wants to get a job. And he wants to work for Josiah. Josiah the guy that runs a vineyard.

[23:53] Hey Josiah I'd like to get a job. Okay I need to know your credentials. What's your name? What's your father's name? What tribe are you of? And when he finds out that he's from Benjamin. Can you imagine the shame that goes with that?

[24:04] But Ehud was not distracted by present circumstances. And Ehud was not destroyed by past problems. Friend this evening there are folks that would say. God has been working in my life about me going forward for him.

[24:19] But there's stuff in my past. That man if anybody ever knew about my past. I couldn't go anywhere. I can't do anything for God because of what I've got in my past. Friend I want to tell you this evening.

[24:30] If you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. What's in the past is under the blood and it's in the past. Allow it to be in the past. Give it up and go forward for Jesus Christ. You don't know Jesus Christ your Savior tonight friend.

[24:44] There's wonder working power in the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Let me break that down.

[24:57] Unrighteousness. All of the sins that are in our lives. Jesus Christ can take those things and wash them away. Just get rid of them. That's Bible words. He can wash them away. Jesus Christ can take those sins from your past and get rid of them.

[25:11] Take them upon himself. 2 Corinthians 5.21 God has made him Jesus Christ to be sin for us. He knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[25:22] God took our sin. Put it on Jesus Christ. And took God's own righteousness in Jesus Christ. And put it upon us. Friend I want to tell you. Those things that are in the past are in the past.

[25:35] Don't be destroyed by past problems. I want you to move quickly. Let's go with me to Judges chapter 3 again. And I want you to see. He wasn't distracted by present circumstances.

[25:46] He was not destroyed by past problems. He was also not deterred by public opinion. Look at verse number 15. Chapter 3 verse 15. But the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

[25:57] And the Lord raised them up a deliverer. Ehud the son of Gerah. A Benjamite. A man left handed. And by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

[26:09] I want you to see how this works. For 18 years. Eglon the fat king and all of his army has been coming down here and looting our towns.

[26:21] He's been coming down here. You know we've got these fields. Acres and acres and acres of corn. And all of these fields. And we plant them. And we look after them.

[26:31] And we weed them. And every time it comes just about time to harvest. Ehud. Sorry Eglon. And all of his soldiers come down here. And they take everything that they want.

[26:42] And so the nation of Israel has resorted to hiding the fatted calf. When it comes time for us to raise our cattle. We've got to go find some place that we can. And as soon as those cows start to looking good.

[26:52] We've got to hide them. Because man somebody's going to come and take them away from us. And so what they've decided to do is they're going to. Look at the wording. The children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. Their idea is that we're going to load up some.

[27:05] We're going to load up some carts. We're just going to fill them up. We'll take up a big love offering for king Eglon. We're going to just load it up. Put silver. Put gold. Put the kill a cow and throw it on there.

[27:15] We're going to get a bunch of corn. We're going to just load these trolleys up. Fill up these carts. We're going to send them to Eglon. We're going to keep them out of our backyard. And if we can just appease him.

[27:26] That's the public opinion. And we'll just try to keep him happy there. So he won't come down here and take the fatted calf that we hid back behind the barn. And I can only imagine.

[27:37] And when it came time. They've got it all loaded up. It came time. What are we going to do with this? How are we going to get it up there? Man, who wants to walk up to the king and give him this stuff? Because the king could be having a bad day today.

[27:48] What are we going to do? I can only imagine. As they begin to look around. Who are we going to send this with? And then, oh, there's Ehud. That Benjamite. Hey, Benjamite, you come over here. I want you to grab this stuff and take it up to the king.

[28:00] And so they hook him up. But Ehud was not deterred by public opinion. And the public opinion. Honestly, the public opinion of today towards missions.

[28:11] Is we'll just toss a couple of bucks at it. We'll let somebody else go do it. Let's pay some national preachers. And let the national preachers handle it. Or we'll take up a love offering.

[28:25] We'll give it to the missionary. And the missionary, he'll go handle it. And I'll continue to live my life. Friend, we're not even reaching our own people. We're not even reaching our own people. You realize that this generation has the ability to live their whole life.

[28:39] And never even meet a lost person. This is mind-boggling. You can live your whole life. You get up in the morning. You go out.

[28:49] Get in the car. You push a button. The garage door opens. You back out of your garage. You push the button again. The door closes. You drive. You go to your cubicle. And you do whatever it is you do inside your cubicle.

[29:00] And you're there eight hours. Man, it's a long day. You've got nine, ten hours. And there you are. And then you go back out. And you get in your car. And you drive your car back to the house. And before you even get to the house, you push the button. And the garage door opens back up.

[29:12] And in you go. You need to stop for gas. You can just swipe a card. You don't even have to walk in and see anybody. And we live our whole lives not even knowing the people that live next door to us. I remember 2006, I brought Pastor James back to the States with me.

[29:26] Pastor James, my right-hand man. There's anybody in the ministry that I love is Pastor James. National guy. Kamaeth preacher. I brought James back with me. And we'd been here in the United States for about two days.

[29:38] And we're driving into my in-laws neighborhood. And as we turn into the street going into their neighborhood, we're driving in. And there's a little white Honda Civic coming up the hill to go out of the neighborhood.

[29:49] And as we drove in, James asked me this question. He said, who's that guy? I said, man, I don't know. I've never seen him before. Probably never seen him again in my life. He goes, well, who lives in that house?

[30:05] Man, I don't know. He looked at me and he said, do you mean to tell me you don't even know the people that live in your own village? I said, that's exactly what I mean. We live our whole lives and we don't even know the people that live next door to us.

[30:18] Friend, can I encourage you tonight? Make a casserole. Take it next door. All right? Or do a barbecue and invite them over. Do something to step out of that comfort area that we have surrounded ourselves with.

[30:31] And step out and don't be deterred by public opinion. Public opinion would be we come to church and we get all rah, rah, rah. But then we go back outside the doors and we drive back home. And man, tonight, whatever's going to be on TV, 8 o'clock.

[30:44] Or maybe we DVR'd whatever was in church today. Friend, I want to encourage you this evening. Don't be deterred by public opinion. And here's Ehud. I want you to look at verse 16.

[30:55] We're done. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length. He girded up under his raiment upon his right thigh. Here's Ehud.

[31:06] He's not distracted by present circumstances. Not destroyed by past problems. He's not deterred by public opinion. But he was determined to make a difference. The Bible says that he made himself a dagger of a cubit length.

[31:19] That's no pocket knife. It's a cubit length. That dude's that long. And he girded on his right thigh. Now, I've heard people say, it was a good thing that he was left-handed so he could put it on his right thigh.

[31:30] All right? I want you to think about how stupid that is. Because it doesn't matter if it's on your right thigh or your left thigh. You're not going to just walk up to the king and go, Oh, hey, check it out. Nothing. I'm good to go.

[31:41] Man, if anybody has ever tried to get on an airplane here in America, it's this thing called TSA. I can't imagine even trying to sneak by them with a cubit length knife.

[31:54] Now, I doubt that they had that tight of security going on there. But at least somebody, there is quite a big possibility that somebody's going to do a pat-down search on him. And he's going before the king.

[32:05] And his life is in his hands. Because if they catch him, if even just the little tip of it comes out from beneath his suit coat, or just any little thing, somebody notices that he's walking with a little bit of a hobble, he's done for.

[32:20] But he was determined to make a difference. So he took that knife and he put it on his right thigh. And he said, If I perish, I perish. And I want to know, where are the young people like Ehud?

[32:36] Where are the young ladies like Esther that would say, If I perish, I perish. And where are the young men like Ehud that would say, Lord, take my life and let it be. Consecrate it wholly to thee, and if it costs me my life.

[32:46] Where are the men like Paul? Men like Paul that would say, I count my own pedigree as dung. Those are his words.

[32:57] I have all of this background, all of this training. I'm from this tribe. I'm a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And I count it as dung. I want to push it all aside. That I might win some people for Christ.

[33:08] Friend, I want to know, where are men like John Patton? John Patton. 19 years before, James Williams, John Harris had been killed on the beaches of New Hebrides Islands.

[33:21] And here he is, 19 years. This is still fresh in their minds. And he says, I'm going to go to New Hebrides Islands. I'm going to go reach those people. And he talked to a guy, Mr. Dixon. This just stands out in my mind.

[33:32] Mr. Dixon. Mr. Dixon told him, Hey, the cannibals, the cannibals will eat you. And what was his response? It doesn't matter, sir. He said, Mr. Dixon, you are now advanced in years. Soon to be laid in the grave.

[33:43] There you will be eaten by worms. And it does not matter whether I'm eaten by worms or by cannibals. Because in the last day when I am resurrected, my body will be resurrected as fair as yours. Where are the men like that?

[33:56] Where are the men like Paul? I mentioned Paul. Where are the men like Paul when he goes into, it's either Lystra or Derby, one of them. He goes into Lystra or Derby, he goes in and preaches, and they stone him to death. Best we can tell, book of Galatians, he says, there was a point where I was in third heaven, whether it was in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.

[34:13] So the best I can tell, he died. And they dragged his body out of the city and left him there. They thought he was dead. So if he wasn't dead, he was awful close to it. Mostly dead. They dragged him out. They left him outside the city.

[34:23] And what did he do? Got back up and went inside the city. And thank the Lord that he did. Because the next time he came around for his missionary journey, he picked up a young man by the name of Timothy. Same sound. And I wonder, where are the men like that?

[34:36] Where are the men that would count their lives as cheap for the gospel of Jesus Christ? Where are the ladies that would say, Lord, take my life. And Lord, whether that mean that I get to pair up with a young man on the mission field, or I don't.

[34:52] I pray that God would raise up a generation of young people that would say, God, take my life. Use me for something that's so much bigger than just me. One story and I'm done.

[35:04] Got a young man in our village. His name is Kineas. Kineas is a, he was about 14, 15 years old. Nobody knows their birthday because nobody recorded it. So they don't know how old they are.

[35:17] There are lots of implications to that. We don't do birthday parties. I love it. No Hallmark stuff. Oh, it's Christmas today. That's nice.

[35:27] That's about the way it is. Every day is Sunday. There's Kineas. And Kineas is the first guy in our village to get saved and to get baptized. And we went among, work among the Kamea.

[35:40] There were no believers in Kodidanga. The people among the Kamea, they had no word for God. We invented the word for God. Got to see some amazing things happen among the Kamea over the last eight years.

[35:53] Kineas got saved and Kineas got in, got involved and Kineas, he started inviting his friends. We got this little school there that was just kind of a joke of a school, but he's got school friends and he brings his school friends to church.

[36:08] And I'm just so happy with the way that Kineas is working and the Lord's just raising up a young laborer in Kineas. Kineas got promoted to being an usher in the church. And he was so excited about his first day ushering.

[36:20] And our people, I'm talking about jungle people, they pass a plate. And amazing. I mean, guys that don't have jobs taking up an offering. Our people take up an offering, normal offering on a Sunday morning between $50 and $100 for people that don't have jobs, wear grass skirts and live in the jungle.

[36:36] I mean, just blow my mind. I don't know where the money's coming from, but it ain't coming from the white man. I just, I'm just telling you, it's amazing to watch these guys. And so here's Kineas and he's, our ushers, we get two ushers and the ushers carry a stick about that long.

[36:49] And everybody sits on the ground, sits on the floor and we don't have pews, they just sit on the floor. So the ushers, their job as people are coming in is to keep everybody in line so they use that stick to make people, make sure they're sitting in line so when it comes time for invitation, there's room for people to get out.

[37:04] And they use the stick to keep people awake in service or when the offering plate's going back and forth, they're helping us out. Come on out. Uh, Kineas, just faithful fella.

[37:16] His dad is a guy by the name of Tia, Old Man Tia. Old Man Tia's been growing a beard all his life and if he ever shaved it off, I don't think it would ever grow back. It's just in patches on his face and Old Man Tia.

[37:28] Matches are very important for our people. Fires mean everything for them. They use fires for a lot of stuff and so matches are very important for our people. And Old Man Tia always carried one little wooden match stick.

[37:40] He carries it around in the front of his beard, that one little fluff of hair he's got. And when I first started among the Kamea, it was hard for me to tell apart who was who. Nice thing is, those that had shirts would wear the same shirt every day and so you get to know a guy by this shirt.

[37:55] And I got to know Tia because he had a match stick in the front of his beard. And Tia was just the nicest old man. He'd come. Everybody wants to come and critique everything that you do and they just sit and they watch.

[38:06] What are you going to do today? There were days when I'd be out doing something. My wife's homeschooling the kids and she'd tell me this morning like 20 people came and they just sat in the front yard and watched the house.

[38:18] They were just hoping the white man's going to come out and do something, you know, just stand on the porch and do a little jig for them or something. And Old Man Tia would come and I remember when I was building our house, I was building our house and I'm up on the ladder and I got another guy on the other ladder on the other side and we're putting up, we're doing weatherboard siding and I was putting up the weatherboard siding and I'm nailing this side in.

[38:37] Whoever it is holding on that side, you know, we got a level on there, make sure it's going to be straight. And everybody else is telling us, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're not doing it right. You need to take that down, turn the boards the other way and I'm looking at them and go, you guys don't even, you've never seen sawn timber before ever in your life.

[38:54] This is a nail and your house isn't even square, okay? That's where we're, this is the level we're at but they know better and they want to tell me and so when old man Tia didn't correct me, it really stood out and he'd just sit down and he'd just watch and so many times I'd come down off the ladder and I'd literally go sit down next to old man Tia, just be his friend and Tia tell me about what you remember from when you were little and he'd tell me about the fighting and all the tribal fighting that went on before and so many times I'd go through the plan of salvation with Tia and I'd get right down to the end and ask him, Tia, wouldn't you like to accept Jesus Christ as your savior today?

[39:31] and he'd always answer with the same answer, he'd always tell me this, he'd always say, that's a really nice thing that you're telling me, one day I'm going to do it and I witnessed to him over and over and over and over.

[39:43] There were times when I got Pastor James and we'd go visit Tia at his house, we'd sit down with him, go through the whole plan of salvation, tell him all about Jesus Christ down on the cross for his sins and he'd always say the same thing, that's a really nice thing, one day I'll do that.

[39:57] It was a Tuesday afternoon, about five o'clock in the afternoon, somebody came and told me, Brother Matt, old man Tia is very sick. At that time, we didn't have the clinic going there at our place yet, my mom and dad hadn't moved in yet.

[40:11] They carried old man Tia, what they do is they take a bed sheet and lay the bed sheet down and then the sick person will lay in the bed sheet, they take a pole over it and tie the bed sheet to the pole and two guys will carry the sick person, they put him up on the shoulder and carried old man Tia over the mountain, took him to the hospital the next valley over, got him over there, and I came by five o'clock in the evening and told me, now I know it's about a two hour hike to get there and then a two hour hike back, it's going to be dark in an hour, there's no way that I'm going to be able to go over and come back, you don't hike after dark and it's raining anyway, five o'clock I told him, I said, guys what we'll do is tomorrow morning, Wednesday morning, we're going to go, we're going to visit Tia, I told our Bible school students, guys plan on tomorrow morning, we're spending the morning ministry and so Tuesday night we went to bed, Wednesday morning, seven o'clock, somebody came and knocked on my door again, they said, brother Matt, in the night, old man Tia passed away, there's no doubt in my mind, there's no doubt in my mind that old man Tia went to hell, I know he did, if I can just take a pause in the story there, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your savior, don't keep putting it off, you have no idea, seven o'clock in the morning,

[41:25] I found out Tia was dead, nine o'clock, they carried his body back by, I watched as it went by, they took it down to his village, about eleven o'clock, I got our Bible school students together, I'm going to go down there, and we'll visit the house and pay respect to the dead, and mostly try to be an encouragement to Kennyus, his son, we got down to the house, when we got down there, they have a house cry, anytime anybody dies, they always do the same thing, his house about this size right here, and we walked up to the door, the door's right there in the front, they got a fire in the middle, with stones around it, and we walked up to the door, old man Kenny, sorry old man Tia's body, was over on that side, and he's laying out on the ground, this is normal, there's about thirty people around him, and they're grabbing him, holding him, crying, wailing, if you've never heard a house cry, it's the most blood curdling thing, you've ever heard in your life, and they're screaming, and crying over his body, and shaking him back and forth, and as I approached the house, there was one sound, that stuck out, more than the house cry, I've been to so many house cries, I know what it sounds like, there's one extra sound, that just didn't make any sense, and I thought maybe somebody's fighting, and arguing in that house, and I thought out of respect,

[42:29] I'm going to respectfully, find out who it is, that's causing a problem, I'm going to pull him out, and get off to the side, as I walked in the house, there was Tia, and I saw him, over on the other side, in this corner, I found out who it was, that was making all the noise, I looked, and it was Gineas, fifteen years old, curled up in a ball, on the ground, like a baby, and he was screaming, the tears were just flowing down his face, and the snot coming down his face, and he's just bawling his eyes out, and it took me a minute, to figure out what he was saying, but he kept saying the same thing, over and over and over and over, and he said these words, Daddy, why didn't I tell you, Daddy, I never told you, Daddy, I didn't tell you, why didn't I ever tell you, Daddy, I never told you, and he said it over and over, and over and over, and over, friend I want to tell you, that morning, death and hell were a reality, for old man Tia, but death and hell were a reality, for Gineas as well, and death and hell is going to be a reality, for your granddad, that you never told, and death and hell is going to be a reality, for your cousin or your uncle or the lady that works at the gas station that you so conveniently keep swiping the debit card.

[43:38] Death and hell is going to be a reality for the guy that works in the next cubicle over from you. And death and hell is going to be a reality for 66,000 people a day that die in unreached people groups and nobody's even trying.

[43:51] Death and hell is going to be a reality for you if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior. I want to encourage you this evening, don't be distracted by present circumstances. Don't be deterred by past problems. Don't be deterred by public opinion.

[44:05] Be determined to make a difference. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Nobody's looking around. Invitation is going to be twofold and it's going to be very simple. First half, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, I don't know what you're waiting on.

[44:23] You've grown up in America where the gospel is prevalent. You've grown up in America where more than likely you have heard the gospel and if you have not, you've heard enough of the gospel tonight to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and without Him you are headed to hell.

[44:44] And you need to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's the first half of the invitation. So if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, I would encourage you this evening, I would encourage you to come and talk to somebody that would be able to help you, walk you through the Bible and tell you about Jesus Christ.

[45:02] The second half of the invitation is this. Friend, God could have made the gospel pop out in gospel tracks on trees. God could have printed the gospel story in the clouds so that every day you could read it in the clouds.

[45:16] God could have made the Jesus film play at night in the sky. He could have chosen any way He wanted to but instead He chose men. And it's up to us and there is no plan B and if we don't take the gospel, it will die with this generation.

[45:30] And so I want to ask in the second part of the invitation, are you determined to make a difference and would you ask Jesus Christ, God, how would you like me to be involved in the Great Commission? Head to the Lord.

[45:45] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.