Thank you so much, Pastor. It's a wonderful honor for my wife and me to be here with you. The last time that I was here, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And what a wonderful sight to see all these fantastic young people. And I think every one of them ought to surrender to be missionaries tonight. It's thrilling to me to see what a tremendous ministry that you have here with these young people. And Pastor Dignan, I thank God for him, his family, and I truly thank God for a church like this. I say thanks to the Mitchell family for accommodating my wife and me. That's tremendous. We are very grateful for that. Then I'm so thankful for my two nephews and their families that are here tonight. They don't live nearby, but their father served in Korea. When we were missionaries, he was in the military and he faithfully served his country. Then after retirement, he went home to be with the Lord. Last year when I was here, I think it was, that was when their precious mother went to be with the Lord. They've honored my wife and me by being here tonight. Thank you so much for being here. I'm very grateful to you. You know, when Pastor told me that the theme of the conference was capitalized, I said, what a fantastic theme. And you know what that means to me? That means that take advantage of your opportunity. That's what it means. Take advantage of your opportunity and it speaks of urgency. You remember the Apostle Paul said, redeeming the time for the days are evil. And you remember the Lord Jesus Christ said, he said, I must work while it's day for the night comes when no man can work. As we look into the Word of God, I'd like to direct your attention to Mark Chapter 8, if you would turn there, please. And in Mark Chapter 8, and I'll let you remain seated as we read these few scriptures, because I've got a bunch more. But in Mark Chapter 8, beginning in verse 1, you notice the Word of God says, In those days the multitudes being very great, and have nothing to eat, Jesus calls his disciples unto him and said unto them, I have compassion. I have compassion on them. Sherry and I have brought some Gospels of John in Arabic. There are plenty of these. I can get as many as you want. You may be working with Islamic people, and they will accept these because they are curious, just as our previous speaker said. And so those are yours. It's in Arabic and also in English. And then I'm wondering tonight, do you carry any tracts in your pocket? You know, everybody ought to have some Hispanic, some Spanish tracts, don't you think? Don't you think? And then, I've dropped mine, and you men, your wives love to go to the nail shop. Once in a while you treat her. Now those people that are operating the nail shops, they are Vietnamese. And these are Vietnamese tracts. And so we'll have some of those available to you. And we have several of the Hispanic tracts that need to put the church stamp on them for this area. Jesus said, I have compassion. I have compassion on the multitude because they've now been with me three days and have nothing, have nothing to eat. And if I send them away, fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for divers of them have come from far. Now, also you remember the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 19 and verse 41 said, and when he was come near, when he was come near, he beheld the city and he wept over it saying, if thou hadst known, Think about that little phrase, Claus, for a moment. If thou hast known. And then he said in verse 3, or verse 44, he said, thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. Now your pastor said the theme of the conference is capitalized. Too many people fail to capitalize on the moment, take advantage of that opportunity, maybe that once in a lifetime opportunity to witness or to bring somebody the message of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, you didn't know. I remember as a young missionary in the land of Korea, one day the chief of chaplains came to me He was a Presbyterian. I had served in the Korean War, had come home and gone to school, and took my family back to the land of Korea. In those days, the country was totally shattered by the war. Four million refugees had fled to the South. They were building their army, and one day the chief of chaplain just showed up at my house. And he said to me, he said, I understand that you can tell people how to get saved. Now, preachers don't like to tell about their faults and their failures. We like to talk about our successes, but this is partially successful and partially not. You'll understand in just a moment. But I remember so well talking with Chaplain Moon that day, and he said, I want you to come and preach to our army. And I said, Chaplain, how many are you talking about? And he said, I cannot tell you. because that's a secret. But he said, we know, it's known publicly, that we have 600,000 in the army and that's public knowledge. And I said, I said, and you want me to come and speak to them? And he said, I really do. I'd like you to give them a gospel tract, something for them to read. And so I started preaching every day, early in the morning. I would preach to a company or a battalion, and then move from there to another company or battalion. And oftentimes, when I would give the gospel message, tell the story of the Lord Jesus Christ, oftentimes, when I started the invitation, there would be maybe 100 men leap to their feet and say, we're turning from every philosophy, every idol, we're trusting Jesus Christ as Savior. And as I was doing this, going on, I don't even recall how long that it took place. And I don't know how many men that I preached to. But I recall an older missionary. An older missionary said to me, he said, they're just staging that. they're not really receiving the gospel. And being a young man, I began to listen to that and the forces of Satan pounding my ears saying, it's not real, it's not real. And then the older missionary said to me, he said, You know, those soldiers will just take those gospel tracts and they will turn them into toilet paper or into cigarette paper and they'll use them for that. I became so defeated and so discouraged that I said, maybe he's right, maybe it's wrong for me to spend my time on something like this. And so I stopped. I stopped going. I hate to confess a failure like that, but for the benefit of the missionaries that are here and for all of these young people that are going to surrender tonight, you listen to an older missionary that will tell you when God opens a door, capitalize on it. When God tells you to go, don't wait, don't ponder, don't even think, just say, here am I, Lord, send me. And then, of course, go about doing it. Too many people are like the man in Mark chapter 8. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ found a man that had been born blind? or had become blind, and the Lord Jesus Christ healed his eyes. And he asked the man, what do you see? And the man said, I see men as trees, as trees walking. I see men, a distorted vision, a distorted vision. We have a distorted vision here in the United States. Our country, yes, is being flooded by refugees. Doesn't make any difference what you think. God is allowing them to come to this country for you and me to win and to give the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to them. And so as you think about capitalizing, taking advantage, Now, what's it like when you really capitalize? I'll tell you another story from Korea. When you actually capitalize, I remember one time I had my young people. in the ancient city of Mokpo. Mokpo was a city in Korea that existed during the days of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had the young people there singing, and I told them, I said, now kids, when I get up to preach, you keep your eyes open, you look in the faces of the people, but all the while, you inwardly be crying out to God for his power, and for the moving of the Spirit of God. And over there we start at the book of Genesis and we take them all the way to the cross of Calvary. We try to always find what we call in missions of redemptive analogy. And that is, for instance, in the Muslim world recently, I led a Muslim man to Christ over in New York City. And he said, I want to know what the Bible teaches. We started back in the book of Genesis, the slaying of the lamb. And Mr. Ali, I said, Mr. Ali, why do you all kill lambs? Why do you kill lambs? And he said, I have no idea. It's a tradition. And I said, well, let me explain it. And so from the book of Genesis all the way through, that river of blood that flowed was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then one day, John the Baptist stood there and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. And after I'd explained the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, I said, Mr. Ali, will you today, will you turn from your ways? Will you trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? And Mr. Ali dropped his head, and he thought for a moment. And then he looked up and looked me straight in the eye and he said, Jack, with all my heart, I'm taking Jesus Christ as my lamb today. And he said, now who is going to guide me? And I told him, I said, I know an attorney, a city attorney. that will guide you. He's versed in the Word of God, and he will guide you from this point on. And as far as I know today, he's still teaching Mr. Ali the Word of God. But what I'm saying, what I'm saying, we went to that, to go back to Korea, we went to that ancient city of Mokpo. At this public school, God had closed the door now to the army. And now he was opening the public schools. And there was, I suppose, 1,200, 1,500 young people that came out on the ball field, and they were listening to the Word of God while our singers, after they'd finished singing, they started praying. And I remember that day as I explained the wonderful plan of salvation. I came to the end. And I said, now, if you're ready to turn from every idol, every philosophy, you're ready to trust Jesus Christ, the person, and Him alone as your Lord and Savior, I want you to stand to your feet in the presence of all of your friends. Hundreds of those young people stood at their feet. And then I heard kind of a gasp from our singers. And I turned and looked at them, and I saw that they were looking. There was a house down there about 50 yards. A woman had been listening through a window to the gospel message, and she came running out on the porch, waving her hand. Not old, not old, me too. I take Jesus Christ as my Savior. And then, and then, sitting over on the hillside were five men that had been working on a job. They sat down to hear the message, and all of a sudden they leaped to their feet, and I could see them as their lips were moving. Not all, not all. I, too, received Jesus Christ as my Savior. I'm saying capitalize. Take advantage. When God opens the door, When God opens the door, that's the day, that's the time for you to step through that door. This summer, when I was with you before, I told about our work in Cambodia and, of course, Vietnam. I told you about some of the orphanages and some of the churches that have developed over this last 25 years. But from one of our orphanages that was built by our church in Georgia, where my son is pastor, There are eight preachers from that church already starting churches. And not only that, but there is a young man who determined he was not going to be a preacher, but he was going to be a math teacher. So he studied diligently, and he got his bachelor's degree, and now he's working on his master's. And he went into a province went into this province to teach math. And he became so popular because he did such a good job in teaching math that the government made him the director of over 100 schools and 100 math teachers. And this summer, This summer, my wife will be teaching those 100 math teachers and explaining the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the scientific facts of the Word of God. My friends, capitalize, capitalize. That means take advantage, take advantage of your opportunities. My wife and I, You all wonder how in the world that I look so old and my wife looks so young. Well, good plastic surgeon. No. No. I've just worked harder than her. Maybe that's it. But no, my wife, she and her husband had planned to be missionaries in Kenya. They were in school, they were preparing their lives, and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, that dreadful word that the doctor said to her husband, he has cancer. And it wasn't just one cancer, it was two forms. of cancer, and my wife watched over him for four years. They talked about Africa. They talked about what it would be like to go to Africa, but she watched him wilt like a flower, and then at the end, took care of him like a little baby. During that time, she did not know, but during that time, my wife was wilting away. Greg and Mike knew my wife. Very faithful, very loyal. We'd served together in various places. It came to the point where I was carrying her like a child and put her in the car. And both Sherry and I, we thought our lives were over. But are you listening? Capitalize. Next week, next week, we will be in Zambia next Friday. And she will be teaching at least eight times to the pastor's wives on the kind of faith that will sustain you when you walk through the trials, and when you walk through the storms of life, and when you walk down through the valley of the shadow of death. and she will be teaching. She'll be speaking to the African women out in the jungle. Yes, she didn't get to go with her husband, but God brought us together, and now in just The next few weeks, we will be seeing their dreams and their hopes realized. I've been in Zambia on other occasions, and God is doing the work. And I'll tell you, if I was a young person and I wanted to capture Africa, I'd go to Zambia because they're ready to start sending missionaries from Zambia now into other countries. But I'm saying, I'm saying capitalize, capitalize. Now, not only is it time for you, I say it's time for you to capitalize and to literally give your life. You see, in a missions conference, we're talking about missions, we're talking about faith promise, we hear our hearts are stirred, but young people, let me tell you something. Of all the professions of the world, there is nothing, there is nothing that can compare with carrying a suitcase of tracks in one hand, your clothes in another, going into a village, where they've never heard the Word of God, and you can capture that village. And when you walk out, that suitcase of trucks will be empty, and they will be singing praises to God, and they follow you along. I say, give your life. I say, volunteer. Isaiah did. And I say, I say to you, there's not any life that can compare with the life of being a missionary. So it's time. It's time for you to surrender your life. And it's time for all of us to really get involved in faith promise. Faith promise, a lot of people don't understand. Now, people have the idea, well, now the preacher, you know, he just figured out another way to get our money. And we hear all of those things. But I remember I was over in Virginia, and there was an old boy came up to me the second night. He was a retired military veteran, and he had served in Vietnam. And he said, Brother Jack, I want to tell you, I didn't think those people were human beings. I really didn't. And he said, so I gave to missions because the preacher said to, and said, you're supposed to listen to your preacher. And said, you're supposed to obey him. So I would give when he'd take a missions offering. Well, I would give because the preacher said so. Well, that's a pretty good reason. But that's not the reason that you really give. You see, everybody has a responsibility to reach their generation. Everybody has a responsibility. You either go or you give so that others can go. See, you work a job. A lot of people don't realize when you work a job, you're giving your life. And when you take that money and you bring it, you bring it to church, you've actually given part of your life. See, that's, and so when the final day of reckoning comes, and the missionary stands there, and God says, well done, good and faithful servant, he'll say, now, you from Bible Baptist, step over here too. And you're gonna get the same reward. David established that in the Old Testament. The son of David, Jesus Christ, carried that out, and he said, even if you give a cup of cold water, you'll get the profit's reward. And so that's why we give. Well, this old boy I was telling you about over there in Virginia, he said, but I found out that those people have souls, that God loves them, and said, I decided I'd start giving $50 a month. And said, then you explained that it's not $50 a month that I'm given by faith, but it's $50 a week. And he said, I guess I better do that. And so he moved from $50 a month to $50 a week for worldwide missions. Can you say amen to that? You know, down south we say, can you get a witness? So, capitalize, capitalize. Listen, freely you have received, freely give. That's what Jesus said, isn't that right? Jesus said, you give and it'll be given to you. You give, and it'll be given to you. Now, I love these young people over here, and I've got to ask them a question. Now, don't you adults answer, okay? Now, kids, let me ask you a question. I don't live here in Jefferson City, and there's a lot of banks. Are there any banks here where I can go and write a check and draw money out if I don't have an account there? Any banks you know of? Boy, you kids are in the dark, you know? No banks that I can go and just write a check? Boy, that's a disappointment. But listen to me. If you think you're going to draw interest on returns in the bank of heaven without investing, you're just fooling yourself. God said, lay up treasures in heaven. And in order to have treasures in heaven, you've got to make the deposits. Isn't that right? And the way you do it is through faith promise. Amen. And so now some of you are saying, well, I did last year. Then you know that God has already enabled you to do that. So this year you ought to increase it. Isn't that right? Can I get a witness? Okay. You already know that God has enabled you to do that. So now, this year, you've got to increase it. Now, it's time for you to capitalize. It's time for you to capitalize. And this is what Sherry and I are actually involved in when we're in the United States. It's time for you to capitalize on reaching the mission field that God has brought to your front door. Now, let me repeat that. It's time for you to capitalize on reaching the mission field that God has brought to your front door. You see, I didn't know until Cherry looked it up that there are now 55 million Spanish-speaking people north of the border. That is more people, Spanish-speaking people, than any country in the world except Mexico. And God has brought them here for you and for me. You see, you think about it. There are 3 million Islamic people now in the United States of America. Countries that we couldn't even think about sending a missionary to. And yet, and yet, God has brought them here for you and me to reach. And at least we ought to have a gospel tract to give to them, isn't that right? You see, everywhere I go, preachers will say now, Brother Jack, you find me a Mexican preacher, a Spanish-speaking preacher, and I'll hire him. They're nutty. Very few. Howard Sanderson is now the school that's really emphasizing. Dr. Wilkerson told me that they are launching five Hispanic outreachers of churches in South Chicago. And, of course, there's already a very strong ministry. But most colleges don't even think about something like that. And I think about, you remember that God says that we're to take the gospel to every creature. We're to take the gospel to the uttermost part. Now remember, I read that scripture on the feeding of the 5,000 and of the 4,000. Jesus said, I have compassion. If I send them away, you see, the disciples said, we don't have the money. And the disciples said, the time is far spent. And the disciples said, send them away. But God is saying, bring them, bring them to me. I was recently in a church out in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and we're challenging Anglo churches, we're challenging them to for the pastor or his staff to train laymen. See, a lot of people don't realize that it all doesn't rest, it doesn't even begin to rest on the pastor. It rests on laymen. People that haven't really studied their Bible don't realize that the first great mission movement, the first great mission movement was laymen. You see, on the day of Pentecost, If you want to be saved, if you want to know God before Pentecost, you have to do it in Hebrew and adopt the Hebrew traditions. But God said, I'm breaking that down. And on the day of Pentecost, God said, I want everybody to hear in their own language in which they were born. What we're saying is this, God has brought the mission field to us. We just came in from New Mexico in Las Cruces. We were there last week. Here's what happened in Las Cruces. Brother Max Perkins said, Don, Don Stackpole and I visited Friday. We're going to recruit bilingual people. Don will teach them and they in turn will be the bridge to disciple the Spanish speaking. And Sunday, we had a good crowd, many people. When I gave the invitation, And all we did was have a show of hands of how many would be willing to get involved in the Hispanic ministry. Almost everybody there. Some would pray. Some would study the language. Some would submit themselves to training so that they could teach classes, not be preachers, but laymen, laymen. I said the first great movement after the day of Pentecost, the apostles stayed 12 years. teaching, and they did not start one church. Jesus had already started it prior to Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, there was 120, and then the next day, there's 3,000, 5,000, up to 50,000, and James remained as the pastor. The other men kept teaching laymen. And in Acts chapter 8 and verse 4, when the great persecutions swept in, they went from there all everywhere, and read it for yourself, they went everywhere preaching the Word of God. And so I'm saying, I'm saying to you, as a church, the time has come for you to capitalize. Capitalize on the mission field that God has put on your front door. Well, I'll give you one little story and then I'll close. I was down in Florida in a Hispanic church. And after the service, a little six-year-old girl came up to the pastor. And in Spanish, she said, pastor, can I quote my scripture to you? He said, sure. She quoted the scripture. Thrilled my heart. And so I asked her to come over and quote it to me. She stood there and she quoted it to me. And I thought, oh, that's so wonderful. I'm going to give her a dollar. I pulled my wallet out. I thumbed through it. I didn't have a dollar. All I had was five. I said, oh, no. If I give her that five, every kid in this church. And, but I said, I can't fool that little, I can't disappoint that little old girl. So I gave her that five. Now, are you still with me? That little girl walked over to her mama and said, mama, see what the man gave me? Said, can I give this to missions? Are you hearing what I'm saying? This is missions conference. This is faith promise time. Capitalize, capitalize. Everyone ought to be asking God, Lord, what will you have me to do? Will you have me to give my life? Will you have me to increase? Will you have me to double what I did last year? Why not? Go ahead and double what you did last year by faith. You already know that God has enabled you to do what you've done. So why not go ahead and increase or double? But start with first of all, he said, son, give me your heart. As we start the invitation tonight, husbands and wives ought to open this conference by kneeling at an altar and saying, Lord, what do you want our family to do? What do you want us to do this year? Is it our lives? Is it our increase in our faith promise? And there are those young couples and young people that tonight you ought to just slip up here and say, God, I'm volunteering. If you don't want me, you can change my course. But right now, I'm giving my life to be a missionary. Shall we stand together, please? A little hand holding mine Asking me how can I find the one You call Jesus. Every week they come, they ride. They need to find the love of Christ. We tell them of His love. People all around us are searching for the answers. They're lost. They're dying. They're living without hope. That's why we know. That's why we serve. That's why we lift our hands to the needy and the hurt. Hearts are broken. They need the world. Each day we pray, each week we go, year after year so they can know that's why we go. One by one through these doors we see them come, their hearts are torn, they're searching for the healer. Down the aisle they come to us, the young, the old, the weak, the lost. We tell them about Jesus. People all around us are searching for the answers. They're lost. They're dying. They're living without hope. That's why we go. That's why we serve. That's why we lift our hands to the needy and the hurt. Hearts are broken, they need the word. Each day we pray, each week we go, year after year, so they can know that's why we go. Red Moline, we will claim his name. And lives are being mended, souls are being saved. That's why we go. That's why we serve. That's why we lift our hands to the needy and poor. and a herd. Hearts are broken, they mean the word. Each day we pray, each week we go, year after year, so they can know. That's why we go. That's why we go. That's why we go. So they can So many lost and dying. in this world today? Have you heard their crying, or do you turn away? The harvest now is plenteous, but the laborers are few. God needs some willing head souls to be you. I will reach the lost untold. I will give the Lord control. I will tell them of the crimson flow. Is it too late for caring? Does Jesus really save? Are we truly praying for the blind to find their way? Children are falling into a burning hell. Will anyone heed the calling to go and tell? I will go, I will reach the lost untold, I will give the Lord control. I will tell them of the crimson flood For my Savior died on that rugged cross He thought of me when He counted the cost How can I say that I love Him if I don't reply? I will reach the lost untold. I will give the Lord control. I will tell them of the crimson flow.