The Lord's Timing (Ep. 305)

It’s been said, “Timing is of the Lord.” What would happen if we took advantage of the daily movements the Lord gives us to share the Love of God with those around us? Join Ed and Wayne as they open the word to talk about the leading of the Lord to bring about opportunities to reach out with our faith.  We’ll do this through a classic listener story of a Chinese woman who found Jesus through amazing acts of kindness throughout her life. As we celebrate FEBC’s 80 years of ministry we’ll focus on how important it is stay ready to embrace new ways of reaching out with the Gospel along with a commitment to the old goal of following the Great Commission…Until All Have Heard

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Come join us now for Until All Have Heard from the Far East Broadcasting Company. I'm Wayne Shepherd with Ed Cannon. Ed is president of FEBC. Ever think about the timing of the Lord, Ed?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Yeah, actually all the time. It's interesting. There's so many scriptures that I will talk about during this podcast that point to timing being key.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Well, I'll tell you why it's on my mind. I probably haven't mentioned enough that this is our 2026 is our 80th year of ministry for the Far East Broadcasting Company now. Neither one of us were around eighty years ago. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Some people say maybe I have have been around that long, but no, I have not. Eighty years. And the the Lord birthed this ministry at just the right time, at the end of World War II, with just the right men who were in just the right place and had just the right experience to make this happen. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

And even the idea that they had first to launch the ministry inside China, God pushed us away from by the communist revolution there. Trevor Burrus But they had another plan. Aaron Ross Powell But they had another plan, and it turned out a far better plan than they had originally designed because of timing.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Trevor Burrus Well, let's talk about the timing of the Lord here today, because I all of us have experiences in our lives where we look back and say, well, you know, but for the Lord, right? And uh we're going to hear a great story here today to start with.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Aaron Ross Powell This story, Wayne, I have been listening to. It's an old story from FEBC, but it's a treasure. And I have played this little recording for so many people who have an interest in FEBC. What is FEBC all about? And I've listened to this myself. It still puts a lump in my throat when I hear this. And it's about timing. Listen to this testimony from the perspective of what are the little events that just happened at the exact right moment in this young woman's life so that she'd be prepared to hear the gospel and come to faith.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

This is not made up. This is an actual letter that came to us, and it is going to be read by one of our staff. So let's listen.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

My father died when I was young, and my mother later remarried. I refused to call him dad. So my mother's husband beat me severely. I sometimes didn't go home, but instead drifted in the streets. As winter set in, I was freezing. I went two days without food. In the middle of the falling snow, I saw an elderly woman carrying a basket and slowly walking towards me. She handed me the basket containing two buns and a coat. Thank you, Grandma, I said. Don't thank me, she said. Thank Jesus. Who is Jesus? I asked. He is the one true God, she answered. Then she hurried away without further explanation. During that time, my mother died. Life seemed so unfair. Other kids had parents, but now I was an orphan. I grew up amidst pessimism and hopelessness. One day I happened to hear the name of Jesus mentioned on a radio program. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Just then the broadcaster said, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. So I prayed. If what I heard on the radio is true, Jesus, please let me know who you are. An innocent prayer, but Jesus heard it. Minutes later, the Holy Spirit let me recall that wintry night years ago when that elderly woman gave me the two steaming bonds. I started searching for a church. The first time I stepped into a church and saw the kindly smiling faces, I felt comforted. When I opened the Bible for the first time, the Holy Spirit directed me to Psalm chapter 27, verse 10. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. I had never cried before, even when I was in great pain, even when my mother died, even when I was stabbed during fights. I never blinked an eye. Holy Bible, holy Bible, what kind of book are you? You even knew my parents deserted me. Jesus, Jesus, what power do you have to cause tears stream down my face, washing away all the pain, worry, sadness, and despair. I didn't expect Jesus to use that elderly woman, the radio and the Bible to introduce me to him. Lord, I praise you. You found me and you picked me out of the mass of humanity. Since then, I have listened to your radio program almost every night. I bought a Bible and read it voraciously. I prayed to God that I would give him my life to use it any way he wants. I was baptized in year 1987 and attended seminary in year 2000 and became a full-time missionary. I want to thank the elderly woman sent to me by Jesus, and I want to thank your radio station. God uses your programs to help many people. I pray the Lord will use your station to reach even more people with the gospel just like me.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

No, you first heard that several years ago. You've never forgotten it, have you?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

No, it still works on me very heavily. What kind of a book are you? No, even my parents deserted me. The timing of the old grandma with the coat and the steamy bonds. The timing of her stepping into a church for the first time. The timing of her opening the Bible to Psalm 27 and reading that very verse to convince her that this is not an accident. The radio broadcasts that were helping her timing is everything. And at the beginning I mentioned how so many verses in the Bible speak to me about timing in Jeremiah 33. It says, In those days, at that time, I will make a righteous branch sprout from David's line in Galatians chapter four. But when the time set had fully come, God sent his son. And when the time was right for that young woman to have a visit from a kindly grandma, to stumble into a church, to hear the radio broadcasts, these things were all set in time so that she would attend seminary, become a missionary, and I'm sure turn many souls to faith in Christ. We're grateful to God for his timing. We're grateful that we have obedient staff around the world who obey God's commands and are patient and don't do things on their own plans and their own time. They wait for God. And as a result, Wayne, over the eighty years that the Far East Broadcasting Company has been using media to proclaim his word, there are millions, if not tens of millions or hundreds of millions who've heard the gospel and come to faith.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Aaron Ross Powell I often say that to listeners, it's no accident that you tuned in at the time that you did to hear what you did. That was ordained of God. And when it comes to Christian radio, you know, listen and you'll you'll hear something that's going to benefit your soul.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Trevor Burrus Yeah. And as we celebrate eighty years of ministry, uh it's our prayer that remembering the faithfulness of God in the past will propel us to stay faithful, sharing the message of Christ in our future. Trevor Burrus Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Is it interesting how the past motivates us?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, it is. And you know, we don't want to dwell in it because things change rapidly. And you know, if Dr. Bowman could come back today and spend half an hour with us, Wayne, um he would say, Wow, I almost don't recognize what you guys are doing. I would love to have that conversation, by the way. But what he would say is that we're still focused on the main thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Aaron Ross Powell He would say I recognize the person you were proclaiming, Jesus Christ. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah. And the fact that our goal is to inspire people to follow him, trust him, believe in him, spend time in his word, and get connected to a local body of believers or church. And that's what FABC has done and will continue to do. Should we be around for another 80 years?

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Aaron Ross Powell So let me ask you personally, what does it mean to be a part of a ministry that's now eighty years old? I mean to be the leader of this ministry today. What does that mean to you, Ed?

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Well, it means holding on to what is important and letting go of those things which aren't. As you know, Wayne, I spent quite a number of years at the Moody Bible Institute, also a fairly old ministry. I think they're getting ready to celebrate a hundred years here coming up real soon. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Yeah. Well, the radio is a hundred years old. The Institute's far older than that.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yeah, well, that's right. Yeah, that's right. But you know, those legacy ministries are tough to preserve. As as you the listeners know, there's many, many organizations which were once solidly Christian, which have drifted off. The colleges, once Christian colleges all around the United States, the Ivy League schools, which uh Harvard's motto was Veritas. Um, they've they've gone apart from their commitment to Christ and the gospel because those are the easy things to do. But what is hard is maintaining your original commitment to be gospel-centered and focusing on the Great Commission. That's what we do, that's what we've done. And as long as you and I are around Wayne, we're not going to let that drift away. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

So as president, you're aware of the past and we celebrate the past. I mean, this year we're celebrating our 80th anniversary. That's something of note, I think, and only proper that we do that. But at the same time, you're not stuck there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

No. We hold on to the things I said before that that really work. The original commissions of FEBC close to the listener, networked with the local church, speaking through indigenous leaders in the native tongue. All those things are solid gold. And we have seen over the years that those things work. There's absolutely no reason to go from those. But things like the fact that we were shortwave broadcasting only, we say, well, the world has moved on from that. We need to be nimble and agile and willing to let go of the things of the past that aren't helping us continue the gospel proclamation that we were once started as. So letting go of those things that don't matter and clinging tightly to those things which have proven themselves to be richly part of our history that inspire people to follow Christ, that's the whole goal. And so whether it's an 80-year-old ministry, a hundred-year-old ministry, or even a five-year-old ministry, knowing what's important and not worrying about those things that aren't is the key to success.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Aaron Ross Powell, we're not celebrating what happened 80 years ago as our best days. They were great days and wonderful days, but we really feel the Lord's best days for this ministry are ahead as we stay faithful to Him.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Trevor Burrus That's my hope. That's my prayer. That's my target. I work very hard to make that happen. I hate to share that with Dr. Pullman, but I'm sure he would celebrate with us.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

I hope he would understand.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

He would celebrate with us to know the number of people now who have access to our content because of technology, because of the the way the world has adapted, and the number of people around the world that are carrying a smartphone in their pocket. I've seen seven-year-old children in rural places in Indonesia that don't have shoes that have a smartphone in their pocket. Very common to see that over there. And to get his word in their language on that smartphone. That's a tool for the gospel.

unknown 13:00

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah, that's a success. And it's those ideas that we celebrate when we look back at 80 years of FEBC. Because honestly, FEBC has always been a company that's right on the edge of being willing to try new things so that we can fulfill our old goal.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Aaron Powell Well, we'll be talking more about the 80th anniversary of FEBC as the weeks go by here. So you stay with us on the podcast. And thanks for listening, by the way. We really appreciate it. We know that you're listening because you care about what God is doing through the Far East Broadcasting Company. And we've got a website, FEBC.org, which is a great resource as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Aaron Ross Powell, you know, Wayne, in closing here, that that story that you listened to about the Chinese young girl so inspires me. And what I think about all the time, and I challenge you to think this same way. Could you be that old woman bringing someone a steamy bun? Or could you be the one opening the door of that church to let that young girl in so that she would be hearing the gospel at the right time, providing that encouragement at exactly the right time, so that she could become a follower of Christ.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Good thought. Thank you, Ed, and thank you for listening. Our producer's Joe Carlson. This has been Until All Have Heard a Production of the Far East Broadcasting Company. And look for the video online, the 80th anniversary video there at febc.org.