Useful for the Master - Part 7

Singing praises to the Lord and preaching the gospel to the unblessed. God has chosen those kinds of things to nullify the things that are. And God has chosen the things that are not to nullify the things that are.

We have run, I don't know if you've heard the whole story of how God has worked in our lives in Hong Kong, but it's always been both on one hand a surprise to me and on the other hand not a surprise at all. Because I always have expected Him to be miraculous. I've always expected Him to be wonderful.

But I am also constantly surprised. But what happened was that after quite a long time, when it was probably about four years, people used to say to me, why are you still here? Why are you still here? Because nobody got saved. Nobody was changed.

I was spending my life with this group of triad members, a kind of mafia, secret society, in a place called the Wall City, which was just a big, awful ghetto. It was without proper electricity or water. There was about 60,000 people in it, about five acres.

And it was very hard for me to imagine that here, because we've got peels and sheep oil on our face. In Hong Kong the children had to play on concrete roofs. There isn't grass to play on.

I think there's a couple of grass football pitches only, but they're reserved for other people. And so the children had to play on concrete roofs. Anyway, one day a young man came to me, and he thought that I was crying.

I mentioned it, and I was crying. I had a meeting, and yet one more time, no one had come to it. I was always in meetings by myself.

Anyway, I was thinking to myself, well, I don't have to stay here. I can go somewhere else. I can walk the lodge.

And he saw me crying, and he said, Hey, you didn't tell me how. Why didn't you leave? He's a smart guy, because I'm obstinate too. And, you know, if someone said, Why didn't you leave? I'd go, No, I didn't.

And he said, Oh, you've been here four years. And you've given us rice, and we always say thank you. And you find us places to live, and we mop them up.

And you register us at schools, and we don't go. And you introduce us to jobs, and we lose them. We cheat you of money.

It's true, isn't it? They've got to be involved in the ministry of the Lord. They've got to be cheating. They're often disappointed with people that say, I want milk, and flour, and I'll cheat them.

They stop ministering. It's children. I mean, look, would you stop praying for sick people, because the first time you pray for them, they're healed? Stupid.

Imagine when they're going to get cheated. Because the priest has discovered it. Why are you going to do it? You think Jesus didn't help from the beginning? He was always going to betray you.

And yet, he extended the same opportunity of salvation to that one? Yep. You will get cheated. You will get cheated.

It's all right. It's all right. Somebody said, we cheat you of money.

We use you. We walk all over you. And he said, why don't you go and find a nice bunch of students? Because they make nice costumes.

And it's true, I could see they did it. I could see how to make the nice costumes, too. You know, because it's quite easy to buy packages for students.

You know, conversion packages for the political process. You know, you get next week's follow-up material. And the next week's follow-up material, and so on.

I'm not saying that these aren't helpful. But you see, they're only helpful when students. They actually know more about other people.

Especially people who can't read. And I have to tell you people, that if you're even half interested in reaching the world, a rather large proportion of the world cannot read. So you have to find other ways than literature, or even share a Bible with them.

Oh, I know that sounds irrational. You also have to translate the word in a different way. If they can't read the page, you also have to flirt so that it stays in your head.

And they remember how they were touched by the living word of Jesus. So he said, find the nice costumes. Because they'll make nice costumes.

And I said, no! I'm coming because Jesus has sent me. And anyway, I'm going to stay because he loved me like that. And I told him what I'd just told you.

He didn't even wait until I said, sorry before you die. He loved me anyway. And he loves you.

And all the things you've ever done. And he said, Nobody would love us like that. Because we cheat and we steal.

They actually used to have parties. In which they invited girls too. Young girls of 13 or 14.

Some of the parties were also in connection with the police. And then they would seduce the girls. And sell them.

Because then they were theirs. Into prostitution and live off them. And they didn't think this was very bad.

They just thought it was their right. It's quite a good way for a young man to make money. He said, nobody would love us like that.

Nobody would die for us. And I said, I know it's very unfair. But that's how Jesus loved me.

And that's why I'm here and he loves me like that. And it's just as if all the wrong things you've ever done. It's just like the dirty clothes.

He's never done anything wrong. He was God. He really was God.

And he never did anything wrong at all. He didn't just kill people and make them poor and poor and poor. But they put him on the cross.

And it's as if he gave you his clean clothes. And put your dirty clothes upon him. And his ten man was shattered.

And he sat there in his dreams. And he began to pray. And he began to weep.

And he said, Jesus, I don't understand why you would do such a thing for me. And that's how he came to know Jesus. And from that time onwards, we learned that if we pray with the people who received Jesus at that time, not later.

To receive the power from the Holy Spirit. After all, it's God who's giving away the power. And I've seen the best woman in the world.

She will heal as soon as possible. And I repeat, I don't want her to have it. But she does.

Every time. And so he was baptized in the Spirit. And that began one to one to one to one to one to one to one.

One brother told another brother. He told another brother. He told another brother.

And so, this was out of my control now. One telling another about Judas. And they're running to find him.

And that's how we began our homes. We found out by accident that people could come off drugs. And he raised capitalists.

But he's got this young man dying and following around.