[Jess Hodder] Lots of young people, lots of Maori young people are turning to Islam.
[Graham Hodder] Yeah and so if we don't go folks there are other people who will, so my word is don't put it off any longer. Come and see us. Come out and give it a try. If you can't come out on a Saturday night I'll come out on a Monday night with you. I'll take you down and we can have a go and I'll show you how to do it. But our heart is that our church should rise up. We can do a lot better than we are doing.
[Pastor Mike Connell] Yes, [very good. 00.20.16]
[Graham Hodder] We've got to get serious on this matter of the great commission. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, He said you'll be filled with power after you're filled with the Holy Ghost and you'll be My witnesses. A witness is someone who provides evidence. That word witness also comes from the same word martyr, so to be a witness for Jesus it means that we're willing to put our life on the line to go out and provide evidence for Jesus in our own town. So folks, we just hope and pray that as time goes on more and more people will come out onto the streets to get right onto the coalface. You'll get your hands dirty. People will hug you who you sort of don't want to hug, but they will listen and often times it's always sowing the seed. It's always sowing the seed and the rest is God's responsibility. For the ones who come and open their life to the Lord, some of them have come to the church but they haven't stayed.
A young couple we met under the clock one Saturday night, it was time to go home and we saw this young couple cuddling up on the seat. I think it was about quarter past eight, I can't remember the time, but it was a bit cold and they were shivering. I said come on, let's go and have a chat to this young couple, young Indian couple - and [Buvnesh, 00.21.49] the husband, he's right here at the moment now. And so we shared the good news about Christ and Buvnesh is Hindu and his wife Jess is Sikh. Over the months we got to know them and we wanted to extend our friendship to this young couple, and now they live with us in our little sleep out and we have a Bible study every week. We've gone right through the Gospel of John chapter by chapter; we've gone through the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7, and right now we're going through 1 John, the Letter to 1 John.
Our aim is to tell them about Jesus and about what Jesus expects of us, His commands, because He said go into all the world and preach the gospel, baptising them and teaching them those things that I have commanded you. And so this is what we have done and it's wonderful just to see how they've learned to appreciate the Lord, and how that by taking it a step at a time there's no pressure, they're just taking it a step at a time. But we know that the Lord is showing them and dealing with them.
[Pastor Mike Connell] Very good. Is there anything else you'd like to say?
[Graham Hodder] [Okay. 00.23.02]
[Pastor Mike Connell] Why don't we just close our eyes for a moment. I'd just like to ask you this question: what is God saying to you right now that you've listened to this? Has God spoken to you in your heart? Why don't you just meet Graham and Jess afterwards and just say I'd love to become a part of it all, at least give it a try or come along. I felt stirred in my heart today. Father, we just pray for a fire of evangelism to ignite in the hearts of every believer in this church, to reach the lost for You in Jesus' name. Amen. Well thank you Graham and Jess, it's been fantastic. [Applause] Absolutely wonderful [unclear 00.23.50]. Did you enjoy that? Let's give them a great clap shall we? [Applause] Wonderful, wonderful. Why don't we just hold hands, let's begin to pray for our city. As you pray for our city let's stand together and let's begin to think of people that you know that don't know Jesus Christ.
If you're here today and you're from another church, another place, that's fine. Why don't you begin to think of people that don't know Jesus; let's begin to hold them in our heart, name them before God. Let's begin to pray for them together right now. Thank You Lord. Let your voice rise up to heaven. Father in heaven, we come before You right now. Father, we ask for Your grace to come upon people that we know and love. Father, we pray for opportunities to share with them. Father, we pray the things that hold them back, the things that blind their eyes, the things that cover them, Lord that they would break from their eyes where they would see and respond to the gospel. Father, we pray for a change, a shift in our hearts, our lives, towards sharing You, sharing Your life with others. Lord, we look for the power of Your spirit to flow mightily.