 What I wanted to share with the body of Christ tonight I think that a Lot of believers Have a desire to walk with the Lord and guys But they don't really know exactly what to do or how to do it and there are some essential things that over the many years I've walked with Christ that I I know are essential to your walk with the Lord and one is knowing the voice of God knowing the will of God and Understanding how God speaks to you One of the things that we teach and I think it's a very important thing for all of the people that we deal with And I shared I call its obedience is the safety net for the believer the very active obedience moves the hand of God in a Very powerful way and tonight guys We're gonna get in a little bit of talking about how to hear and know the voice of God in your own personal walk with the Lord One of the things that you have to realize though is your pastor David Rosales are your teachers can give you great Teaching, but unless you're willing to apply it to your life It really does not matter and one of the things that we have to do is have a heart That's willing to listen to the Lord and allow the Lord to speak to our hearts. You know guys I've been in the southern Sudan now for 26 years our ministry is now operating in 38 different countries around the world and We have about a thousand missionaries and chaplains that are Supported by our organization a hundred percent around the world and to put that in perspective You know if you are a missionary in Afghanistan or Pakistan and you're making a salary of $300 a month. That's considered a very good salary. So these are the type of people that we have on the mission field It's about the same maybe around a couple hundred dollars for chaplains in the South Sudan army But over the years the Lord has really expanded the ministry and I really tell people people will often come up say How did you guys grow so fast? How were you able to do this and I tell him it was obedience just obeying the voice of the Lord And guys you don't understand sometimes how the smallest areas of obedience can radically change your life, you know Before being in South Sudan for 26 years I was in Russia for five years and Russia was always the first love You know, I had prayed for the former Soviet Union for 13 years before God actually sent me over there And I'd spent five years in Russia traveling and preaching the gospel all across the nation And it was one of the greatest times in my life And I'll never forget that when I was traveling I would take teams into Russian prisons and it was very open for the gospel back then I mean we would go into a city and Have a theater and it there would not be a single seat open in the theater You know, you hear these stories about well, you'd set up a street meeting and Over 2,000 people would show up and people say was that really true? Why was there? It was true I remember going into one city and we were doing an outreach in a prison and I got back that evening And there were about Seven eight nine young boys outside of what was supposed to be our hotel It really wasn't a hotel, but it was the best they had and I remember them saying to me we hear that you're doing a Play in the prison. I said yes, we are they go will you do it for us? I said well guys, we can't do it tonight It we're gonna go out tomorrow when we get back tell your buddies and friends And we will do this play for you now I think probably the oldest kid there might have been 11 probably more about the age of nine But by the time we got back there were over 2,000 people waiting for us and that's what happened back then in the early days of when the Soviet Union collapsed But guys the Lord has taught me over the years that often he'll speak to us about things that we're supposed to do But if we don't listen to him, we won't know the fruit of that And I think one of the greatest lessons that God ever taught me in my life was When I was in Russia, I would take teams into the prisons that I would have I remember I had a young girl That was on several my teams I think she went on three different outreaches over the course of a year with me and After the third hour each he asked if she could sit down and talk to me And I said of course and I thought maybe she wanted to talk about missions or being a missionary or giving Because that's what people did, you know, they would get Affected by what they saw and they'd want to talk about that and I sat down with her And I asked her what she wanted and she said you know us if God would ever want me to be more than a sister to you Some days she goes I would really like that and guys I was utterly stunned when she said this to me one. She was about ten years younger than me She was a tiny petite little thing. I've always been a big lug of a guy, you know And her testimony was she was in the chocolate chip cookies and swing sets and at the age of six She decided to give up that reckless life of sin and turn her life over to Christ And so she had a very innocent life. She told me she'd never been with anyone and At first I really thought that I was gonna marry this girl and she was a wonderful Christian woman Very very sweet had a real heart for the Lord But as I prayed and I sought the Lord the Lord really spoke very clearly to me He said you're not to marry this woman and and She told me she'd backslid once in her life and smoked a cigarette and you know And so I said Lord I think we can move past that cigarette thing and go ahead with this relationship and the Lord said you know Well sure not to marry this girl and I remember the day that I told her guys It was a very difficult conversation because she broke down and she started to cry and there was just nothing I could do to fix it, you know I couldn't say the Lord actually really spoke very clear to me says don't tell her you're gonna pray about it you know don't don't leave a road to come back to you need to cut this off right now and You know there was just a point I had to say to you're gonna make somebody an incredible wife Unfortunately, it's not going to be me and I don't want you to think that I don't care about you because I do care about you But I know the voice of the Lord and the Lord has told me that we're going in different directions You can't see it now and I can't see it But in the future we will see it and that's was the impression the Lord had given me well guys Probably about six months to a year later. God called me to the southern Sudan and The ministry has now been around going on its 24th year I've been in Sudan for 26, but it was about two years after I got there that we started the ministry Over the last 24 years we are an extremely large organization We have built two castles in Africa One is a school for children and the reason for the castles is because you have Islamic terrorism And you have to have a fortified fortress to protect people the other one is the chaplain's Training base both can hold about 700 people on them. They can actually live there eat there and go to school there and You know right now we're feeding 15,000 people a month in the Ukraine. We're building a hundred homes We've got about 70 of them done And we have works in Mexico last year We built probably about a dozen homes for women that have either been abandoned or abused for them and their children And many many more works were planning churches all over the world But maybe about six months to a year after I got into the south Sudan this young girl called me on the phone And she goes West I need to say something to you. She said when you were a missionary in Russia I would have loved to have been your wife But when I heard that you were called to the southern Sudan she said I had a real fear in my heart She goes I knew the way that God made you and I knew that he made you for something like this And she goes I have to be completely honest I could have never handled being your wife in the southern Sudan and guys I think about the fact that had I been disobedient and not obeyed the Lord Would I ever have known what I missed all the ministry that's taken a replace around the world and It's interesting because I met my wife Vicky in Africa and Vicky has been an absolute tremendous helpmate to me people find it very hard to believe But in all the years that we have been married, we've never had a serious argument I mean all couples are going to disagree and they're going to argue But we've never had one of those knockdown drag-out arguments and the reason why is because both of our hearts are set upon ministry There's not a day that goes by that my wife doesn't tell me four or five times how much she loves me and She is an absolutely fanatical student of the word She just came off the field after 23 years of serving in the South Sudan With all the work exploding around the world She felt it was time to come home and help in other areas and at the time she had 13 women's Bible studies going a week Every single study was a different study. I would say Vicky. Why don't you teach the same one? You've got 13 different groups of women. They haven't heard it and she goes no That's not the way the Lord so she's in the word about seven eight hours a day and guys I really know what it means to have a tremendous helpmate now The other girl probably would have been a wonderful wife and probably been a wonderful helpmate But she wasn't designed to serve where I was at and had I disobeyed the Lord I would have never known another situation that happened to me many years ago was Before we started far reaching ministries, I worked for another mission organization It was called safe harbor run by Pastor Dick Gary Kuzanoki and guys my job in the early days of the ministry Sudan was a very radical war zone and Because of my military background They would fly me into the bush about two weeks before packed pastors and doctors would go in and they would drop me Into the bush and I would go out and I would do a reconnaissance of the area I'd find out where the enemy was how many of them there was what their troop strength was what the danger element to our people was When I knew it was safe I would radio out and tell them to me bring in The main body of the team and then I would continue to run patrols to make sure that we did not get attacked while we were on the ground and One of the times I was over there. I came down with a case of malaria and it wasn't Overly severe, but I've probably had malaria between 35 and 40 different times three times it's put me in ICU and almost killed me and But you know, I had malaria and I wanted to go home. I was very tired You know Sudan is an extremely hot country. It's not only hot. It's extremely humid and you you know You sleep out of exhaustion. You don't fall asleep feeling comfortable You literally sweat all night long and I hated being in there and you know when you're in the Sudan and you're among the tribes of Sometimes they bring you food that's cooked and dead and sometimes they bring you food. It's not dead and I remember one night they brought us a basket of live bugs for dinner And I know that God speaks to people because I was with five Calvary Chapel pastors And every one of them told me that God told them they were supposed to pray and fast that evening You know, so God really does speak to people And I prayed about it. I said Lord, do you want me to pray and fast and the Lord said no I want you to eat the bugs and you know You pick they they're called flying ants But you they look like kind of like the wings of a dragonfly you pick them up and you pluck the wings off And you put them in your mouth and they kind of walk around inside, you know And you bite down on them and they're kind of crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside And they don't taste anything like chicken at all, you know And but I'd come out of the Sudan and I had malaria and I wanted to go home guys I really did all I wanted was clean sheets. I wanted Something that was cold like a cold Coca-Cola and something that resembled American food And I remember that when I got into Nairobi, Kenya to our guest house The water heater was broken. So we had no water for hot showers. We had no water for clean sheets and and and I Had a brother coming in by the name of Bill ages Bill served with us in those days and Bill knew my job And so I was gonna go and I was gonna ask Bill would you mind finishing in the last two weeks for me and And I started to do that But the Lord told me to go and read the book of Colossians and I read the book of Colossians I get to the second to last verse and it says tell Archepheus to finish the work for which the Lord has sent him to do and guys when I read that verse It came off the pages and I knew what the Lord was saying. He's saying don't leave finish this work well on the trip Because of my security thing they flew in four men From America and you know, my job was to make sure that we knew how to get him out in case we got attacked and One day They told me to take these four guys and fly to the city of a yay Yay was under siege by the northern army and they wanted to get video and Testimony and then bring it back and hopefully get it on the news stations to tell the world what was happening in the southern Sudan and As we were flying towards the city of yay The navigator came back and he said they're bombing the city as we're coming in We're gonna turn around and fly to Loki Choke. Oh now Loki Choke. Oh was in northern Kenya And for those of you who saw the movie Lion King when you were young or you watched it with your children If you remember seeing Pride Rock, that's actually Loki Choke. Oh Kenya. It really exists But there's a big you in base there and you know, they have these nice Tents they have hot showers. They have a buffet every night They have clean sheets and they actually have a fan in your room So you can kind of keep cool a night and I was actually pretty excited about the fact at least I was gonna get a hot shower And get my clothes washed and as when we flew in and landed One of the brothers that was on the team and they'd give me a briefing about this guy And I remember what they actually said to me they go They were kind of telling me about each person and they got to this guy. They said well He's kind of a computer nerd Which I didn't know exactly what that was supposed to mean, you know And so when we landed he came up to me and he said Wes Can I room with you tonight because we had to have two men to attempt and in all honesty guys I really did not want to room with this guy. I wanted to be able to Be alone with Michael Michael was a Sudanese brother and the early days of being in Africa Michael and I went all across the Sudan together up mountains down mountains. We got shot at we got bombed together We ran into crocodiles. We ran into lions. We did everything together. We were good friends and But I felt like I had to be polite and I kind of go Yeah, you can room with me. Well guys something had happened just before we got there I'd had a guy come in one day and He asked me to come and share with the soldiers and I did and we went out we shared and I won't get into the story It's a long story, but we let about 150 South Sudanese soldiers to the Lord and I'd gone to the mission director and I said I know what's the problem with this Country they do not have a moral compass. So I said we need to start a chaplaincy So we can train the soldiers how to fight because what the Arabs are doing to them They're doing right back to the Arabs, you know They're doing all the atrocities and we need to make them understand that fighting and killing is a part of warfare But murder rape pillaging and plundering is not and they had said to me They go west We do not feel led to work with the military if you want to work with the military you have to leave our organization and You know guys we left on good terms. I said guys. I'm not against you I love you this isn't a split for the sake of having a split But I really feel like the Lord is telling me that I'm supposed to start a chaplaincy program Well when I got in the tent with this night that guy, you know guys we stayed up to probably midnight talking We had a lot in common Actually much more than I thought nothing about computers, but other areas. We had a lot in common And around midnight he says West, you know anything about my life And I said well, I know you're into computers. He goes no not bad He goes I was in investments and I retired at the age of 40. He goes I would like to write a check For you and your children for twenty thousand American dollars now guys when he said that to me I Didn't know what to say at first and I looked at him. I said brother. I need to say something to you said There's a lot of myth about my name. I said, uh, you know people Call me a crocodile Dundee in Indiana Jones, and I said there's no truth in it I said at the time I said I'm a 40 year old man And I'm probably 40 years old overweight, and I call this my hope chest someday I hope it'll be my chest and And I said I want you to go home, and I want you to pray about it And if the Lord tells you that you made a mistake Then don't even call me just don't send the check and guys one of things It's really important a lot of Christians. I've noticed manipulate things they go out there and Tell people their needs in the hope of getting something well if you do that You'll never know if it's the Lord and I and I needed to know it was the Lord Well right after that it happened. We'd had that talk about I had to leave the ministry and I remember the When I got back to America I was in my kitchen one day, and I was thinking about the fact that I had chose to leave them And I thought to myself, what are you doing? How are you gonna start a foreign mission organization? You don't even have enough money hardly to take care of yourself These are the things that are going through my mind, and then I just said in my mind I go it's gonna take at least $40,000 to Get the mission off the ground now guys it would take far more money than that But that was as big as I could think Well, I get a call from this brother that night, and I hadn't talked to him for weeks And he goes I hear that you're having a dinner party at your house I was inviting over some Calgary Pastors and said yeah He goes do you mind if I come over and crash us and I come on over and crash it And so we got out all the cowboy steaks, and we cut them in half and made cowgirl steaks out of them And you know guys don't like cowgirl steaks, but in a pinch That's what you got to do because he brought over about an extra five people with them And guys we had a great night a fellowship but at the end of the night as he was leaving he handed me an envelope and When he handed me the envelope, you know, I thought he probably feels guilty for not giving me that $20,000 in my mind. I really thought there's probably $500 in there I actually didn't open the envelope right away and one of my friends goes West you better open that envelope Well, I opened the envelope and there's three checks in there one is written out to me for 20,000 American dollars But there's two blank checks each for $20,000 and I thought Lord I Prayed for $40,000 this morning, and you've already provided it I was so excited the next morning I got up and I wrote far-reaching ministries on the checks And I went down and I deposited them and right after I deposited on this guy called me up. He said You're probably wondering why I left the two checks blank I said well, I assume they're from the ministry goes. No brother. He goes this is if you want to send your kids to college someday There's $20,000 for each of them and I said well brother. I made a mistake. I said I thought it was for the ministry I've already deposited the money. He goes well, don't worry about it. I'll just send you another $40,000 and About a month later guys. He gave me a quarter of a million dollars The next year he gave me a half a million and in the early stages of the ministry The money that we needed we got now I think about the flag How'd I get on that airplane and had I left and not listen to what the Lord had told me I Would have never known what I missed and many of us We're in a place in life that things aren't going well. We made decisions without trusting the Lord We haven't listened to God's heart and guys I know there are people that are married and they're not happy in their marriage and The the solution isn't to get out of your marriage That's not the solution. The solution is to obey the Lord to seek God and ask him for wisdom about what to do And when you seek the Lord the Bible says if you diligently seek me You will find me, but it's not casually It's not occasionally the Bible says if you diligently seek me you will find me and there's a real truth in that and I've learned over the years that what I don't know what to do just to pray And if I don't hear from the Lord then I'm supposed to wait, you know The Bible says everything with supplication and prayer Make your petitions known to God and the God of peace will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus And so we seek the Lord for wisdom in what we're supposed to do now guys a part of knowing how to know the voice of the Lord is The Bible tells us, you know in first Samuel Chapter first Samuel chapter 3. Let me turn to that we have the first instance of Talking about hearing the voice of the Lord and in verse 1 it says the boy Samuel Minister before the Lord under Eli in those days the word of the Lord was rare There were not many visions one night Eli whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see Was lying down in his usual place the lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the Ark of the Lord was then the Lord called Samuel Samuel answered here am I and he ran to Eli and said here am I you called me But Eli said I did not call you go back and lie down So he went and lay down again the Lord called Samuel and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said here am I you called Me my son Eli said I did not call you go back and lie down now Samuel did not know the Lord the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him The Lord called Samuel a third time Samuel got up and went and to Eli and said here I am here I am you called me then either of Eli realize the Lord was calling the boy So Eli told Samuel go and lie down and if he called you say speak Lord for your servant is listening So Samuel went and lay down in his place now guys. This is the one instance where we have an audible voice of the Lord I have walked with the Lord Jesus Christ for 46 years I've never heard the audible voice of the Lord in 46 years though. I do tell people I know the voice of the Lord I remember speaking up in Washington State a number of years ago Almost 20 years ago and a woman came up to me after where she said you know what when you talk about hearing the voice of the Lord You talk as though you hear the audible voice She goes I've walked with the Lord for 18 years And I don't know that I know what the voice of the Lord is well guys There's a problem in that because the Bible says that my sheep know my voice And a part of being belonging to God is we're actually supposed to know his voice now There are many people that are born again that have not do not know God's voice Because they don't know how to seek him, but we need to learn how to do that. We have a second instance in King first Kings Chapter 19 Get to that guys In first King chapter 19 now guys you have to read the two previous chapters to get to the story here Which we don't have time for tonight, but basically in the two previous Chapters God is not allowed rain to come on the land and Elijah Is told to go and present himself to the king ahab and ahab his search for Elijah He knows that because of Elijah's prayers There's been no rain and he wants truthfully he wants to kill Elijah and so Elijah goes and he meets Ahab and and A lot and in and ahab says, you know, you've been a trouble of Israel He goes I am a trouble is a you've troubled Israel by following all your false gods Well, what happens after that is they have a contest and all in Elijah says let's do this. I will build a Fire and then you guys build a fire and then we'll cut up a bowl We'll put it on the fire will put on the altar I mean and we'll call it out fire from heaven and the one who God answers will know as God and That's exactly what they did Well, of course God brought fire down and burned up the altar and then all 450 prophets of Belle were put to death Now the interesting thing about this story guys and you really need to go home and read the two chapters Like I said, we just don't have enough time to go over it tonight Was that Elijah just wiped out a dole tree in Israel? But then Jezebel the Queen who is a great and wicked woman sends a message to Elijah and she says she's gonna kill him and All of a sudden he becomes afraid Now if I had just prayed and asked the Lord to bring down fire from heaven to destroy 450 prophets of Belle and Someone contacted me and said hey, I'm gonna come and kill you. That's a trust me. There's more fire up there You know, but and you think this is what should happen But what happens with Elijah? He becomes afraid And guys one of the things I've learned over the years in ministry When we know how to deal with a battle in our skill set we're very comfortable But when we don't know how to do a battle because it's outside of our skill set like one of the things that Took me by surprise when I first became a missionary is that People would make up stories about me. I remember somebody went to my pastor of my home church and told him that I guess there's a movie out there called Lord of War about some guy that was smuggling arms into All over the world and he was telling that my pastor of this movie is based on West's life So my pastor calls me into my his office. He goes I hear that you're smuggling weapons into South Sudan I go I go you're right. He goes what he goes. What are you smuggling? I go Bibles, you know And but at first I didn't know how to deal with it because people I mean just literally make it up lies And it unnerved me a little bit now Other things that are in my skill set Don't unnerve me, but I had never dealt with that before and I think that for Elijah he just wasn't used to this and in Chapter 19 it said now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed the prophets with the sword So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah say may the gods deal with me ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do know make you like one of them Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life when he came to bear sheba and Judah He left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the desert He came to a broom tree set down under and prayed that he might die. I've had enough Lord. He said take my life I am no better than my ancestors Then he laid down under the tree and fell asleep all at once an angel touched him and said get up and eat He looked around and thereby his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water He ate and drank and laid down again The angel the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said get up and eat for the journey is too much for you So he got up and ate and drank Strengthened by the food he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached horror of the mountain of God Then he went into a cave and spent the night and it says in the word of the Lord came to him What are you doing here Elijah? No guys If the Lord comes to you and says what are you doing here? It's a great time in your life to repent But what most Christians do is we make up excuses for the situation we got ourselves into and he replied I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty the Israelites have rejected your covenant broken down your altars and put your prophets to death with The sword I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too The Lord said go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountain apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord But the Lord was not in the wind After the wind there was an earthquake But the Lord was not in the earthquake after the earthquake came a fire But the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire came a still small quiet voice original whisper And my walk with the Lord what I have learned of is that God speaks to the heart He lays an impression upon your heart and Jeremiah chapter 32 I believe let me turn to it And I think this backs up very well what I'm talking about Jeremiah chapter 3 verse it says Jeremiah said the word of the Lord came to me Hanamah son of Shalom Your uncle is going to come to you and say by my field at anath because his nearest relative is your right and duty to buy it Then just as the Lord had said my cousin Hanamah came to me and the courtyard of the garden said by my field at Anath in the territory of Benjamin So this is your right to redeem and possess it by for yourself. I knew that this was the word of the Lord So I bought the field now guys what happened here. It seems very apparent that Jeremiah had an impression on his heart your uncle is going to come to you and say by my field and Then he says and then my uncle came and said by my field And he said and I knew it was the word of the Lord and in my own personal walk with the Lord I found that's happened quite often that God speaks to us very clearly through the word In the early days of being in Sudan I'd come home from being in the field over the summertime and guys it gets really hot there and I remember that when I came home I called Gary Kuzanoke up. I said Gary. I said I've been in the Sudan for a long time. I'm tired I'm worn out, you know, I said I don't want to go back for at least a couple months And I was very clear about it Well, the very next day Gary called me on the phone. He said hey, can you come down for a meeting? So I got my car and I drove down to meet with him when I got down there. He said I need you to go back to Sudan And I looked at him I go Why do you need me to go back to Sudan Gary? He said the north has launched a massive offensive and they've displaced thousands of people There's a village called Taj and there's nine to twelve people a day that are starving to death And I need you to go back there and run operations and I go when do you want me to go and he goes today? I go Gary. I can't go today. I said, I'll call you tomorrow so I went home that night guys and I Went to sleep and the thought of going back there did not appeal to me at all I next morning I got up and I went in my kitchen. I made a cup of coffee and I Had my Bible closed and I was praying and as I was praying I just you know And I use these exact words. I said Lord, do you want me to go to your hungry and oppressed people? I said, you know how hot it is this time of year and you know how tired I am Well at that moment I opened my Bible and my eyes fell to this verse and it says And if you spend yourself on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed Then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noon day The Lord will guide you always and he will satisfy your needs in a sunscorched land and he will strengthen your frame Well guys, you can't Get much more of a direct answer than that But at that moment I heard somebody slide something under my front door And I and I went over and I looked and there was an envelope under my door There was a young girl that used to come and interviewed me many mere over 25 years ago Our name was Amanda sash very sweet Christian woman And so I went over there and I picked up the envelope and I opened it and inside there was a bookmarker With these exact two verses on it with that point I wouldn't knew it was the voice of the Lord So I got on an airplane and I flew back to South Sudan when I got there I had to drive to to the city of EA and guys For the time you had to drive about five hours On what were semi paved road? There was a lot of potholes very difficult drive and then you would hit a dirt road and we used to call it the badlands because When you would travel down these roads there were destroyed vehicles everywhere the there was a group called the LRA the Lord's Resistance Army and they Massacred people all the time out there Well, I was looking for a guide to take me because I'd never gone up this road and For three or four days, I'd look for a guide and there was a brother by the name of John He was a Ugandan pastor and we could not find any I was paying like two or three months salary for two weeks work nobody would take it because it was too dangerous and So I finally said to John I go John I said I'm leaving tomorrow whether you can find someone or not I've got to leave and I could tell that he was troubled because he was worried for me And so I went to my room in Lillian at 10 o'clock that night There was a knock on the door and when he knocked on the door. I Have to be honest. I was a little bit concerned because there had been a murder in that hotel Like the month earlier some woman had been killed So, you know, I went I had a big old crocodile knife I got the knife and kind of peeking out the door and it was John and he said and I Realized this Johnny goes I've got this brother named Anthony and he's willing to go with you And I said Anthony, you know where we're going. He goes, yeah, I know where we're going And I said, you know how dangerous he goes. Yeah, I know how danger it is. Well, he was willing to go with me I said Anthony, I'm going to leave at five o'clock tomorrow morning. And if you're not here I'm going to leave without you now guys I was actually shocked because He actually showed up. I mean You got in time is kind of like Calvary Chapel time You never nearly know when they're going to show up, you know But sure enough five o'clock in the morning he was there And I go Anthony, do you know the way to southern Sudan? He goes, yeah, I know the way Well 45 minutes after we left our hotel we drove past the front of the hotel again I said Anthony, I don't think you know the way to southern Sudan He goes, no, I made one mistake and that was the one he made Well guys, we finally get to that dirt road and Anthony was sharing about his life He had come down that road a year early. There was a military convoy. They had three buses And they had military vehicles in front and back and they were driving in the middle of the night And he said the first thing that we knew was an rpg hit our bus and exploded He said it hit right in the center of the bus that blew up. He said people were on fire. The bus was on fire He said machine gun fire was coming in from every direction And uh and him and another guy opened the back door of the bus and they just took off into the bush And he said you could hear people dying and everything and he he said we ran about a half a mile in the bush We came up over this little berm And we ran into a full-grown male lion and the male lion got the other guy And he ran off he could hear the line killing the guy But there was nothing he could do about it And so the moment we hit that road he was Pentecostal and he started speaking in tongues As loud as he could for about the next 45 minutes And after about 45 minutes I said Anthony If you don't shut up It's not the LRA that's going to kill you brother And so we're going up there now guys. There's no gas stations. You're in the middle of nowhere. So we get to this Um Little village called posquotch and we need to get diesel fuel and we purchased diesel fuel What I didn't know Is they'd water down the diesel fuel Now when we'd really drive down these dirt roads guys, it would tear our vehicles to pieces But we would drive 56 miles 50 60 miles an hour on dirt roads And the reason why is because the rebels watch for you and if they see you coming at a distance they'll intercept you But if you're going 50 60 miles an hour, they normally can't Get you well Few minutes after we leave posquotch. I can't get the vehicle to go over 20 miles an hour It's supposed to be a 45 minute drive. It takes me three and a half hours to get to the next city Which was called arousa And that was where we're going to spend the night and we get to arousa and They had a guest house there that you could rent the only guest lodge and I was exhausted and I remember that I went in and we had dinner and I went into my room and I laid down my head It was probably about seven o'clock at night And about 705 the disco started How they have a disco in the middle of the jungle I have no ideal or the african bush But the music just starts blasting and it's outside my door and it goes Literally to about five o'clock in the morning And about five o'clock or four thirty the music went off and I think I fell asleep about four thirty My alarm goes off. I have an hour later and guys. I'm exhausted and I called my mission director gary and I said gary I said, um I don't know what to do about this vehicle now. I was not a mechanical person I didn't know anything about engines And I said, uh, I said I don't know if we're going to go another the next 17 or 18 miles that we were traveled Three people had been shot that week on that road alone One was killed two were wounded one of them was a relative of an anthonies And uh, I said, you know, uh, we can't outrun any rebel patrol and I said, I don't know what to do And he goes west he goes you're going to have to make the decision. I can't tell you what to do And so I got out of I got up at five in the morning. I walked outside. It was light outside And I walked outside and I sat down on a log and I go lord I honestly don't know what to do. I said wisdom I would go back to Kampala and get the vehicle fixed, but it's going to take at least two weeks. Well, we were news We were losing nine to eleven twelve people a day. We're dying of starvation And so if I go back we're talking about at least another 200 lives And I sit down on on this log and I open up my bible and again guys This is only a couple times this has happened in my life I didn't have a place I was looking at but I opened my bible and it fell to ecclesiastics chapter 11 And in chapter 11 verse 1 it says cast your bread upon the water for after many days You will find it again now guys when I read this verse. It was like it came right off the pages at me I knew god was trying to say something to me But I had no clue To what this meant Cast your bread upon the water for after many days you will find it again I mean, what does that mean? You throw a sandwich on the water and a week later you get a wet sandwich, you know And but fortunately there was a commentary in the bottom of my bible and it says Be adventurous like those who accept the risk of seaborne trade Do not always play it safe and what they're talking about is the time of old If you wanted to make a living you had to sell across the seas in the ocean to trade Now there was a risk of your ship sinking and dying But if you didn't do it you couldn't make a living And that's exactly what the verse said you can't always play it safe Well the end of the story is of course we got there We didn't get ambushed And we carried out the operation. We're able to save thousands of lives and This is what I want to share with you guys is that As the word does say if you diligently seek me You will find me guys if you're serious about the lord God is going to be serious with you. He's going to speak to your heart The lord is looking for people that have a heart after god The bible says I look to and fro across the earth to find a man or a woman that has a heart after me In my experience on the mission field I probably get nine women applications forever male that comes Men don't have a heart to minister They don't like hardship I'm amazed at what so many women are willing to do for the gospel and I think it Speaks very much of the times that we're living in we're teaching men To be effeminate to be soft to be weak Men were not designed to be that way. We were never supposed to be like this But because of it, it's really affecting the world and you know, I've had people tell me I was on the mission field once I had a A woman that was pastoring in a certain area and a pat Calvary guy came up to you said west you got a woman doing the man's ministry and I go you're right And I said as soon as you can get a man over here to do it I will replace them But I will not not have someone share the gospel because we can't get a man To come to this part of the world and the truth is nobody ever did come Everybody did and that woman did a great job of leading people to christ You know the bible tells us that all things work together for the good of those that love the lord Guys the bible also tells us that the footsteps Of the righteous are ordered of the lord It says that god guards a man in his footsteps And I really I have learned to really not only trust that but really believe it in a very deep way When I got out of the United States Marine Corps and guys I had Lot about my age when I was in the 10th grade I joined the United States Marine Corps of volunteer for combat duty in vietnam and I wanted to go fight I was a pretty highly trained soldier. I was a competitive shooter and My coach had said to me west you are so good with weapons. I think you could shoot the olympics And I said I don't want to shoot the olympics. I want to shoot other people, you know And uh, and that was the way I was and uh But I but you know I got out of the Marine Corps. I spent five years in the Marine Corps and I got out and I was still only 21 years old So it tells you how long I was how young I was I wanted to Go to Rhodesia and become a soldier of fortune Fortunately christ got a hold of my life and it changed everything about me But guys one of the things I found out, you know, it's been just within the last few years When I was going to Calvary Chapel back then there was a young lady that was in my church And at that time in my life, I literally thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life I really did. I thought she was stunning. She loved the Lord. She was very sweet She was about two or three years older than me and and uh She actually wrote me this seven page letter and A lot of other things that happened, but God just blinded my eyes. I did not have a clue that that woman was interested in me I would find out 30 40 years later that she wanted to be my girlfriend now the reason I'm sharing that with you had I known that knowledge The chances of me marrying her were probably 100 percent. You know, I thought she was amazing I would have probably married her But then the life that God called me to I probably would have never accomplished I would have never gone to the mission field. I would get up married. I would have had a family And I'm sure it would have been a nice life But it was not the life that God called me to And I think it's very important as believers that We give our lives to the Lord and we not only give them to him. We say Lord, we want you to order our footsteps We want you to be in charge of leading us and guiding us and directing us in the small things of the world And when we do that God really works in a very powerful way to minister to us I think we're going to end up having to Continue this next week guys Um, let me see. Yeah, we're out of time But next week we'll get into it and we'll try to finish this study here But what I want to encourage you over the next week is you go home. We're racing towards eternity We're racing towards it. You know, they just passed a law In spain this last week that people can have sex with animals Now why you need to pass a law for that? I don't know I wouldn't think anybody would want to admit to it But what it tells us is the time that we're headed towards a time of great perversion And What do you want your life to be? What do you want to do with it? See we're running out of time and if you're saving for the american dream you may save and still not get to do it But guys on the other side of eternity all that's going to be remembered Is what was done for jesus christ They're not going to remember what kind of car you owned What how big your house was or how wealthy you were All that will be remembered is how you lived your life for jesus christ And I believe that the lord wants the church To absolutely fanatically sell out We don't train our men to be successful in ministry We train them to die So that others might live So that others might know of the great hope of the gospel Just two weeks ago We lost our 71st chaplain that was killed in action We've lost 71 men in the service of christ in africa The guys all of their lives counted They had great meaning Now I doubt that god will call you guys to a war zone And god works within your gifts I knew that I was going to be a soldier from the time I was six years old And I used to remember when I was a child thinking lord, how am I going to use my gift? I mean, I'm a I'm a soldier. I'm not A theologian. I'm not really a pastor. I'm a soldier And I remember just praying one day and saying lord I'm going to take the gifts you've given me and use them to the best of my ability Now I don't know how that's going to look I don't know how to make that put that together But I'm going to just trust you to do it and guys It's another whole story of how god called me out of russia to south sudan. I never wanted to go to south sudan But The bible says delight yourself in the lord And he will give you the desires of your heart That's a promise from the lord I never thought africa would be The joy of my heart But it is In our ministry we have a lot of former special forces. I have one CIA agent that's on staff with me former cia. I have one former fbi on staff And guys all of these people could go out and make a considerable amount of money somewhere else in the world Luke who's on my staff speaks fluent arabic in multiple dialects He's tested at genius level because he's got five other languages under his belt Shannon spans my husband mike span was the first cia officer killed in afghanistan back in 2001 She can call anybody in the world any news station and they'll interview CNN fox anybody they want to hear from her They have these skills that they could go out and mark it to the world and make a tremendous amount of money But one of the things that I love about them is they realize This is all Wood hay and stubble The things of this world will pass away But what is done for jesus christ will last for all of eternity