Dr. David Jeremiah: END TIMES - BE THE GOOD NEWS | David Jeremiah Sermons [0:00-5:09]

Board of airplanes, many of them for the very first time in their lives. They checked in the hotels to find something they'd never seen before, indoor plumbing. They were called barefoot evangelists. Men and women with little education or training who hacked through jungles, forted rivers, endured rejection, took the good news to huts and hamlets all over the world. Evangelist Billy Graham had raised millions of dollars to bring 8,000 of these local preachers to the Dutch capital for days of training and encouragement. I remember when he did that. Never in church history had such a gathering occurred on this scale. There were representatives at that conference from 180 different nations. And one of the sermons that Billy Graham preached a very unique and yet very common Billy Graham sermon. I can't preach like Billy Graham, but I'm going to read to you what he said. He said, biblical evangelism preaches Christ alone as the Savior of men. Paul told the Corinthians for Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus alone is the way to God. Apart from him, we are spiritually dead and lost. Jesus Christ by his death and resurrection became the gospel. Jesus Christ is the gospel. And sitting in rap detention was one particular barefoot evangelist named Joseph. A converted warrior from the Messiah tribe of Central Africa. During the conference, he asked to see Billy Graham for logistical reasons. As you can imagine, with 8,000 guys there, a lot of people wanted to see Billy Graham. He couldn't meet very many people, but Joseph was given a few minutes to tell a story. As a young man, Joseph had heard the gospel on a dusty African road and he responded instantly by trusting Jesus Christ as his Savior. He soon longed to return to his native village and shared the good news of the kingdom of heaven. So he went from door to door when he got home, telling others what had happened to him. And he expected everybody's face to light up and instead they were filled with rage. According to his report, the men of the village seized Joseph and held him down while the women brutally flogged him with barbed wire. After the beating, he was dragged into the bush and left there to die. He crawled to a watering hole, spent several days recovering and decided he had either left something out of the story or shared the message incorrectly. So he worked on his testimony, rehearsed it, prayed, limped back to the village to try again, saying, Jesus died for you so that you might have forgiveness and come to know the living God. He got another flogging. Recovering a bit, he went back and was whipped a third time. The barbed wire, the third time, was cutting into the old wounds of the first time. By now, one of the women who was beating him started to weep uncontrollably. As Joseph lapsed into unconsciousness, he saw others who were beginning to cry. He awoke in his own bed, his former tormentors trying to save his life. And as a result of his patient witness, the whole village came to Jesus Christ. So Joseph's telling Dr. Graham this story in order to make his point, he pulls us, but sure, so that he could see the scars on his chest and on his back. After he left, the famous evangelist could say, only, I'm not fit to untie his shoes. And he wanted to see me. Have you ever thought of yourself as a barefoot evangelist? Someone who can share the gospel anytime, anywhere, whatever your level of training or education? Regardless of the reaction? Well, that's what you are. The world is filled with those of us wanting to tell others what Jesus has done for us. And that reality reflects another prophecy from Matthew 24. Remarkably, on one of the last days of his natural life, Jesus predicted the time when the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the ends of the earth, heralding the approach of his return. No one in those days could ever dream of it. Jesus was a country preacher from a rural mountain in Galilee. He encountered a lot of skepticism on the rare occasions he came to Jerusalem for the festivals. He spoke in simple parables, pastoral teachings, few people outside of his circles, even knew who he was. People know way more about Jesus now than he did back then. Speaking privately with this disciples shortly before his brutal death, he said that one day his unique message would touch the furthest corners of the globe.