WEBVTT 00:00:00.841 --> 00:00:14.162 Dr Davido Ginde is the chairman of the Kenya Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the official government agency for promoting values, ethics and combating corrupt practices in the nation. 00:00:14.162 --> 00:00:19.089 He is a thought leader on matters, leadership and governance. 00:00:19.089 --> 00:00:31.611 He is the founder of the Cutter Lead Associates, a leadership development firm that runs courses, coaching and consultancy for individuals and organizations. 00:00:31.611 --> 00:00:49.533 He holds a PhD in organizational leadership from Regent University, usa, a master of arts in leadership from Pan-African Christian University and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Nairobi. 00:00:49.533 --> 00:00:54.270 Dr Ginde has a passion for leadership development. 00:00:54.270 --> 00:01:04.870 He has led several training workshops and seminars for corporations, the government and church institutions on various aspects of leadership. 00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:11.572 Every fortnight he runs the popular program, the Leadership Forum, on Hope FM. 00:01:11.572 --> 00:01:18.152 He has published several books and written articles in various leadership journals. 00:01:19.561 --> 00:01:24.150 Dr Davido Ginde is the immediate former presiding bishop of Christ. 00:01:24.150 --> 00:01:26.334 Is the answer ministry is SITAM. 00:01:26.334 --> 00:01:35.715 At SITAM he led several organizational transformation initiatives, placing SITAM as a cutting edge institution. 00:01:35.715 --> 00:01:43.933 Dr Ginde is currently the chairman of the University Council at Mamangina University College. 00:01:43.933 --> 00:01:50.611 He is also the vice chair of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. 00:01:50.611 --> 00:01:58.871 Bishop Davido Ginde is married to Nancy and together they are blessed with two young adults. 00:01:58.871 --> 00:02:06.055 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Bishop Dr Davido Ginde, amen. 00:02:12.409 --> 00:02:13.592 Come on, let's stand up. 00:02:13.592 --> 00:02:19.146 Come on, everybody, Amen, come on, let's give God a big hand. 00:02:19.146 --> 00:02:21.462 This is holy name. 00:02:21.462 --> 00:02:25.355 Amen, amen, karibusana. 00:02:25.355 --> 00:02:31.231 God bless you, sir, amen. 00:02:31.231 --> 00:02:49.313 Just before he speaks, I do want to tell you this Bishop Davido Ginde actually was my chair at the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya. 00:02:49.313 --> 00:03:01.469 We have served in many ways and for many, many seasons we've been trying to get him to come and preach at Parklands Baptist Church, and today he has honored us with his presence. 00:03:01.469 --> 00:03:17.325 Amen, amen, and we are very appreciative for getting time to just come and allow God to use you as you speak to us in this revival season. 00:03:17.325 --> 00:03:21.025 Nine, may the Lord richly, richly bless you and your family. 00:03:21.025 --> 00:03:22.550 Amen, thank you. 00:03:27.002 --> 00:03:36.747 Thank you, pastor Ambrus, for this great opportunity that you have given to me to come and be part of this great meeting. 00:03:36.747 --> 00:03:38.122 Already, I'm so blessed. 00:03:38.122 --> 00:03:39.986 God bless you. 00:03:39.986 --> 00:03:42.393 May be seated, amen. 00:03:42.393 --> 00:03:58.415 It's really a delight to be here and to share the word together with us this evening. 00:03:58.415 --> 00:04:15.493 I understand that great men I don't know whether they were women have stood at this pulpit from Monday to this time and I'm honored to be the fifth one this evening. 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:20.168 As you wait for the great culmination, I'm tempted to come to the dome. 00:04:20.168 --> 00:04:24.163 It's 7 am is rather early. 00:04:24.163 --> 00:04:30.384 You people do things in a great way. 00:04:30.384 --> 00:04:33.011 Thank you, let's pray together. 00:04:33.011 --> 00:04:42.624 Everlasting Father, we want to thank you for giving us opportunity this evening to be gathered in your presence. 00:04:42.624 --> 00:04:47.889 Thank you for the move of your Holy Spirit that we have already experienced this far. 00:04:47.889 --> 00:05:03.389 I pray, jehovah, god, that, as now we look at your word, that you take the written words that you are going to read, that you take the spoken word that I'm going to speak and turn them into the living word. 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:07.764 That would reach the hearts and minds of your people who are here gathered. 00:05:07.764 --> 00:05:23.973 May your voice, so God, be heard, may your hand move among us and may you do as you are pleased this evening to the glory and honor of your name, for we pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen, thank you. 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:27.985 I came with a few friends who are here. 00:05:27.985 --> 00:05:33.120 I don't know where they are, whether they are in here somewhere. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:41.670 I see, yes, there's Julia, there's Arnold, thank you. 00:05:41.670 --> 00:05:46.490 Thank you, these are men and women that we work with. 00:05:46.490 --> 00:05:51.612 Julia, we work together at the catalytic and she was she's here with us. 00:05:51.612 --> 00:05:54.047 Arnold, we work together at ESCC. 00:05:54.047 --> 00:05:59.487 I think Issa is somewhere in the crowd also. 00:05:59.487 --> 00:06:00.509 Thank you, thank you. 00:06:00.509 --> 00:06:02.394 God bless you. 00:06:02.394 --> 00:06:05.269 We bring you greetings from my wife. 00:06:05.269 --> 00:06:06.504 She's not able to come. 00:06:06.504 --> 00:06:12.430 She's a student and they attend class in the evenings such a time as this. 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:24.990 I was asked to come and talk and speak to us on the harvest Very interesting topic see the world. 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:46.709 That's the topic that I was given to share with us this evening and I have looked at the details of what I was asked to consider and I would like to share with us what I've entitled the imperatives for reaching our world today. 00:06:46.709 --> 00:06:55.947 First, I want to just point out our harvest field. 00:06:55.947 --> 00:07:48.985 In this season that we find ourselves in in the 21st century, the harvest field has been changing with time, the harvest field that we are working on, or that is committed to us who are here today, on this fourth day of August, is very different from the one that Jesus was facing in his time the apostles were working on, and throughout history, this harvest field has been changing, and with each change it requires new strategy, new thinking, but the gospel remains the same, because the word of God is never changing. 00:07:48.985 --> 00:08:08.230 It is still the same, and so this evening, I have identified three areas that I believe we, as harvesters of our time, may need to consider in this season. 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:16.211 The first I call the child, and I'm going to explain this in a short while. 00:08:16.211 --> 00:08:28.329 The second is the city, and the third one is the cyberspace. 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:53.715 There are many other aspects of the current harvest field that we could talk about and we could consider, but these are three that I thought we may consider seriously in the time that we are in. 00:08:54.860 --> 00:09:07.230 Let's start with the child, and I'll just briefly mention these things, because you are well informed, and then we'll go into the imperatives. 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:14.485 The child I call this the great battlefield. 00:09:14.485 --> 00:09:23.788 Why is the child a great battlefield in our time? 00:09:23.788 --> 00:09:58.773 This a battle to control the mind of the child in our time, and this battle generally refers to the desire, the strategy, the move, the planning by many different groups on how they might capture, captivate and shape the mind of the child. 00:09:58.773 --> 00:10:34.125 The battle is about a competition that exists among institutions, ideologies, influences in society, beliefs, values, behaviors and perspectives that are being given to our children in our time, and when I talk about children, I'm not just talking about toddlers, I'm talking including the young people. 00:10:34.125 --> 00:11:08.687 The battle is primarily focused on influencing their upbringing and their education of our children to align them with specific world views, cultural norms, religious beliefs, political ideologies and social values that would then shape their minds and their thinking, and eventually their lives, towards a particular direction. 00:11:08.687 --> 00:11:26.866 So there are several things that people are focused on when it comes to the matter of children Formation of beliefs and values. 00:11:26.866 --> 00:11:39.004 Children are impressionable and they tend to absorb information very, very quickly, depending on their surroundings. 00:11:39.004 --> 00:11:46.820 Those who control, therefore, the access to their minds are able to shape the way the child think. 00:11:47.001 --> 00:11:54.543 And the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go, and when they are grown up, what will happen? 00:11:54.543 --> 00:11:57.424 They will not depart from it. 00:11:57.424 --> 00:12:19.890 That is a biblical verse, but let me tell you that the world has discovered the truth and reality about that verse, and people are now focusing on the child so that they can train them in the way they want, so that when they grow up, they will not depart from it. 00:12:19.890 --> 00:12:36.677 Finally, there is a long term influence that people are focused on because they want these ideas and these beliefs to be long lasting and have long lasting impact. 00:12:36.677 --> 00:12:42.269 And when you want something that lasts long, you start with a seed. 00:12:42.269 --> 00:13:06.932 So they plant these seeds into the minds of our children so that they can shape them and form them into the way that they want, so that these young people can eventually be the transmitters of these ideologies which they have been given at a very tender age. 00:13:08.481 --> 00:13:10.687 Thirdly, there is cultural transmission. 00:13:10.687 --> 00:13:49.971 Society often seeks to perpetuate their cultural values and norms through generations, and God spoke to the children of Israel and told them that they should work hard towards building the child with the right truths so that as they grow up, they would not forget the Lord, their God, because there is something about culture that has to come while a person is young so that they will continue in the same as they grow up. 00:13:49.971 --> 00:14:09.246 There is the social and political control that people are also seeking to bring upon our children by bringing political beliefs and ideologies so that young people have a particular way of viewing things. 00:14:09.246 --> 00:14:15.591 You will know that in this country, politicians tend to reach out to the young people. 00:14:15.591 --> 00:14:16.472 Why? 00:14:16.472 --> 00:14:26.910 Because these are people that once you win them to your side with your ideologies and your thinking, then they will be your followers for a very long time. 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:29.182 There is the religious. 00:14:29.182 --> 00:14:37.865 That also comes in, and that is where we come in, and other religious communities are doing the same. 00:14:37.865 --> 00:14:43.711 There is also the business people, the economic people, the consumers. 00:14:43.711 --> 00:14:58.552 You will notice that many adverts are directed towards children and young people so that these people are trained while they are young, so that they can consume these goods. 00:14:58.552 --> 00:15:08.926 And you know you have a captive market for a long time if a child buys into your goods, so even goods that are not necessarily for children. 00:15:08.926 --> 00:15:17.111 They use children so that the children can talk to mommy, children can talk to daddy, children can persuade you. 00:15:17.111 --> 00:15:22.625 When you go to the supermarket, as you are walking out through the aisle, they say mom, take this one. 00:15:22.625 --> 00:15:23.388 Why? 00:15:23.388 --> 00:15:29.004 Because they have watched it on TV and it looks like it's a good thing and they will force you to buy it. 00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:30.323 Children have power. 00:15:30.323 --> 00:15:38.091 I normally say that I think that verse should have been written differently. 00:15:38.091 --> 00:15:43.629 Parents obey your children, that it may go well with you. 00:15:43.629 --> 00:15:55.549 Is it only me who experiences that Parents obey your children, that it may go well with you? 00:15:55.549 --> 00:16:04.532 Because children have this tendency of embarrassing you in the presence of your friends, and I have been in those circumstances. 00:16:04.532 --> 00:16:09.726 So they are those people. 00:16:09.726 --> 00:16:15.687 Therefore, they target the young people, whether for good things or bad things. 00:16:15.687 --> 00:16:36.068 Drug dealers and peddlers target young people, target children, so that they get them while they are still young, and then they are assured of a market for the longest haul, because once the children are caught into this, then they are sure of the market. 00:16:36.068 --> 00:16:40.964 And the list goes on and goes on. 00:16:40.964 --> 00:16:47.594 So the child has become a battleground. 00:16:47.594 --> 00:17:07.909 If we are going to maintain the kingdom of God and expand the kingdom of God, it then follows that this is a mission field that we must focus on. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:21.324 Many churches today are just beginning to discover that children are a great resource that must be focused on. 00:17:21.324 --> 00:17:29.087 Many churches, however, children are on the periphery. 00:17:29.087 --> 00:17:39.161 They are taken toward the dome, isn't it so that the adults can enjoy peace with their God? 00:17:39.161 --> 00:17:43.364 Isn't it so somebody keeps them busy? 00:17:43.364 --> 00:17:55.204 I know that is not Parkland, so I'm not going to go into that, because you are serious about children development. 00:17:55.204 --> 00:18:08.971 And so there are many, many groups that are focusing on children and it is going, as time goes on, the battle is going to be stronger and stronger. 00:18:08.971 --> 00:18:16.830 Children only need to be removed from the church and the church is dead. 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:42.287 Many years ago, a friend of mine invited me home to their village and they also had other friends, a family friend that came from one of the Western countries, and so we went for this weekend visit in the village. 00:18:42.287 --> 00:19:01.892 So in the night before we went to broke off to go to bed, they wanted to brief us on their agenda for tomorrow what time would wake up, what time breakfast will be, what we'll do after that, and so on. 00:19:01.892 --> 00:19:03.263 And it was a Saturday evening. 00:19:03.263 --> 00:19:15.471 So they told us tomorrow breakfast will be ready at this time and then after breakfast we will go to church, which is just nearby here. 00:19:15.471 --> 00:19:25.170 After church we'll come back, we'll have lunch together and then I'll take you around to just see our village and our neighborhood, and so on and so forth. 00:19:25.170 --> 00:19:28.426 And so the briefing went on and is finished. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:37.311 So there was this man and this wife and a 12-year-old child, their 12-year-old son. 00:19:37.311 --> 00:19:48.811 So when the briefing ended, the 12-year-old son asked Dad, what is church? 00:19:48.811 --> 00:19:58.705 You could see the man turn red and what is done in church. 00:19:58.705 --> 00:20:12.201 So the mother jumped in quickly and said yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, we have not brought him up that way, because we allow him, eventually he will choose for himself. 00:20:12.201 --> 00:20:33.565 12-year-old did not know what church is, live alone, not having been to church, had not heard about church, had not heard about church. 00:20:33.565 --> 00:20:35.845 So it's like so what is church? 00:20:35.845 --> 00:20:49.372 12-year-old, because they believe in freedom of thinking, they will choose at their own time. 00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:52.672 So the parents were not very keen on going to church. 00:20:52.672 --> 00:20:59.450 But I told you, parents, you obey your children, so that it may go well with you. 00:20:59.450 --> 00:21:05.028 So this child said mom, are we going? 00:21:05.028 --> 00:21:13.311 And you know they were kind of thinking no, I want to go and see what happens in church. 00:21:13.311 --> 00:21:26.390 The curiosity was so high that these parents had no otherwise but to release their child, or rather to accompany their child to come and see church. 00:21:26.390 --> 00:21:38.507 Now, the only unfortunate thing this was in the village, so the service was in the local language, so we were just there listening. 00:21:38.507 --> 00:21:48.192 So I'm sure this I don't know what the child thought If this is what goes on in church, I don't know whether they were going to go back in church. 00:21:48.192 --> 00:22:00.932 I wish they came to Parklands Baptist, but you can see how we can miss opportunity right there in the home. 00:22:00.932 --> 00:22:13.086 And yet that child at school, in the neighborhood, in different places, is being influenced by other things, other ideologies. 00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:17.846 This is a great harvest field. 00:22:17.846 --> 00:22:20.580 The second is a city. 00:22:20.580 --> 00:22:34.327 Why is a city a harvest field? 00:22:34.327 --> 00:22:43.791 Because urban centers are becoming the greatest frontier for missions. 00:22:43.791 --> 00:22:48.488 Today I know that many of us do village missions. 00:22:48.488 --> 00:22:52.400 I have been part of that for a very, very long time. 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:59.961 We go out and spend a week in different parts of the country bringing the gospel, and so on. 00:22:59.961 --> 00:23:13.141 The urban centers studies are showing us that they are becoming the greatest centers of mission. 00:23:13.141 --> 00:23:26.712 This means that the body of Christ must seriously equip itself for urban ministries. 00:23:26.712 --> 00:23:43.602 Cities are rapidly becoming that place where people need to hear about Jesus Christ, all the apostles. 00:23:43.602 --> 00:23:50.173 It's amazing how he spent his time focused on urban ministry. 00:23:50.173 --> 00:24:09.361 The book of Acts and his own letters give us records of Paul's life and how he spent time going from one city to another when he was there. 00:24:10.403 --> 00:24:18.181 The cities were not many and they were not as populated as they are today. 00:24:18.181 --> 00:24:36.905 According to a United Nations report, we are told that 50% of the world population today is to be found in the cities. 00:24:36.905 --> 00:24:44.791 50% of the world population today is to be found in the cities. 00:24:44.791 --> 00:24:57.602 By 2050, which is only about 24, 25 or so years from now, 75% of the world will be in the city. 00:24:57.602 --> 00:25:03.608 The fastest growing cities are to be found in Africa. 00:25:03.608 --> 00:25:20.048 It means that there are more people moving into cities, and now for us in this country, cities are getting spread across the country. 00:25:20.048 --> 00:25:39.470 It used to be just Nairobi, mombasa, kisumu, nakuru, but now all the county headquarters are slowly turning into major urban towns that are going to attract people from all over the place, and they are going to find themselves in these spaces. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:49.867 And when people come into the city, something happens, because the homogeneity that we find in the villages and in the rural areas is broken. 00:25:49.867 --> 00:25:59.913 The togetherness, the social cohesion is broken and people become very individualistic. 00:25:59.913 --> 00:26:14.373 People have greater freedom to do things that they would otherwise not do in their own village setting because of that freedom of being on your own and doing whatever you wish to do. 00:26:14.373 --> 00:26:27.361 And so it is projected that many and more and more people, many and more, no, more and more people. 00:26:27.361 --> 00:26:32.229 You know when you are seeing all these eyes, kisumu can disappear. 00:26:32.229 --> 00:26:44.141 More and more people are finding themselves in the cities, but even you find in a congregation like this. 00:26:44.161 --> 00:27:14.928 Let me talk about Sitaam not this one, because I don't know how you do church, but in a place like Sitaam Valley Road, where we sit about 4,000 to 5,000 people in one sitting, we can be parked like this, but you don't know the person who is sitting next to you, but only don't you know the person sitting next to you. 00:27:14.928 --> 00:27:18.085 You can be alone and lonely. 00:27:18.085 --> 00:27:23.064 You are nodding your heads, like it happens here also. 00:27:23.064 --> 00:27:56.313 I thought those are left for old churches like ours out there, so somebody can be alone and lonely in a crowd like this and they will come after jumping and dancing in this place and we have enjoyed a great time of worship and praise and singing and then go home and cry because they are alone. 00:27:56.313 --> 00:28:01.586 Somebody may come from this meeting and go home and sleep hungry. 00:28:01.586 --> 00:28:04.268 Somebody may not have rent. 00:28:04.268 --> 00:28:09.041 Somebody may you know, and you can add to the list Somebody may be sick. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:30.826 Now, those of us who grew up in the villages like myself I grew up in the village there is that cohesion that you can go to your neighbor and borrow Jumvi Jumvi is the list. 00:28:30.826 --> 00:28:34.125 You can borrow a rou. 00:28:34.125 --> 00:28:51.009 I don't know whether you can borrow a rou because you can't return, you will consume but you can go to your neighbor and get salt, you can get flour, you can get, you know, all kinds of things. 00:28:51.009 --> 00:29:00.310 So it is a very communal way of living and so it is very unlikely that somebody will die in the village while the neighbor has. 00:29:00.310 --> 00:29:17.647 But here you can die while your neighbor is throwing away food very easily and a cooler until he can eat no more and then throw away and you, just next door, you have nothing to eat. 00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:25.672 And this brings certain dynamics in our social fabric. 00:29:25.672 --> 00:29:31.705 That therefore leads the society to begin to move in a particular way. 00:29:31.705 --> 00:29:58.891 There's a report recently that because of the high cost of living I know that might be a political statement which I don't want to make, but petty robberies, stillings and so on have been on the increase. 00:29:58.891 --> 00:30:11.250 So there are people who are breaking into homes, getting into compounds and stealing very, very small things. 00:30:11.250 --> 00:30:12.679 Why? 00:30:12.679 --> 00:30:17.685 Because they're hungry and there's no brother, there's no sister who can help you. 00:30:17.685 --> 00:30:26.953 How do we get to tell this person that the Lord loves them and that God can provide for them? 00:30:26.953 --> 00:30:41.588 How do we get this person to know the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, when you are eating nicely and I am sleeping hungry? 00:30:41.588 --> 00:30:57.211 Those are dynamics that are coming into our society, that we need to deal with, and unless we are conscious, we can keep going on with business as usual. 00:30:57.211 --> 00:31:36.471 But from a spiritual perspective, the implication that we have here is that unless we are very deliberate on how we do urban ministry, we may lose so many people, because urbanization also comes with many, many other things, and one of them is the loss of spiritual focus Because people are so busy, even people who used to go to church in their homes back in the village, those who come from the village you may find that they don't go to church. 00:31:37.539 --> 00:31:55.282 A study that is very, very old I think another one needs to be done, or I don't know whether it has been done showed that only 7% of Nairobi goes to church on a Sunday morning 7%. 00:31:55.282 --> 00:32:04.486 Now, when our church here is full, until we have a mega dome, you think everybody is in church, isn't it? 00:32:04.486 --> 00:32:10.563 No, only 7%. 00:32:10.563 --> 00:32:14.769 Even if you push it, I don't think it's more than 10%. 00:32:14.769 --> 00:32:22.002 The first time I saw that statistic I said no, this can't be true, especially coming from a big church like ours. 00:32:22.002 --> 00:32:25.489 We thought the whole of Nairobi is in church. 00:32:25.489 --> 00:32:35.771 But if you think about it, how many churches of Parkland's Baptist size are in Nairobi? 00:32:35.771 --> 00:32:40.117 How many? 00:32:40.117 --> 00:32:47.832 Just imagine how many churches are in Nairobi of the size of Parkland's Baptist? 00:32:47.832 --> 00:33:00.741 We have thousands of churches in Nairobi, but majority of them have 50 people, 20 people, 100 people is a mega church, it is true. 00:33:00.741 --> 00:33:08.010 So when you sit in this, you think that everybody is in, is in church. 00:33:08.010 --> 00:33:12.486 They are not Just leave church and go out there. 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:17.910 The mall has become the center on a Sunday morning. 00:33:17.910 --> 00:33:23.269 Those of you who are younger you don't know that Sunday used to be closed. 00:33:23.269 --> 00:33:24.442 Everything was closed. 00:33:24.442 --> 00:33:34.969 I grew up in that time faster, when Sunday you knew no shop is open, nothing is open. 00:33:34.969 --> 00:33:39.247 Everything was closed Saturday, everything closed at 12. 00:33:39.247 --> 00:33:42.961 Isn't it Cairo? 00:33:42.961 --> 00:33:44.022 You are there in those days. 00:33:44.022 --> 00:33:52.907 These days we are moving to 24 hours. 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:59.151 So what is that doing to the spiritual factor of the life of people? 00:33:59.151 --> 00:34:16.030 Very soon you are going to find thank God for our religious education in schools, but it is very possible that many, many families are bringing up their children who have never gone to church, who have never entered church. 00:34:16.030 --> 00:34:22.188 12 year olds, possibly 20 year olds, the young generation. 00:34:22.188 --> 00:34:32.661 They are not going to church Sunday morning is to watch sports and watch things, and wake up at 12, go to the mall, have a lunch. 00:34:32.661 --> 00:34:44.722 You know, especially for us in the middle income, where we have a little of resources, we can go out to the mall to play grounds and so on with our children, and that's life. 00:34:44.722 --> 00:34:50.289 And before you know it, this boy, this girl, is a young adult. 00:34:50.289 --> 00:34:51.793 They are getting married. 00:34:51.793 --> 00:34:53.384 They have never gone to church. 00:34:53.384 --> 00:34:55.923 Where will their children go to church? 00:34:55.923 --> 00:34:59.742 They don't know it themselves. 00:34:59.742 --> 00:35:03.271 How will they lead their children to church? 00:35:03.271 --> 00:35:10.288 So it means that this is another great field that we must take care of. 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:23.563 The third one is the cyberspace, the cyberspace. 00:35:23.563 --> 00:35:33.083 The cyberspace is an interesting mission field. 00:35:33.083 --> 00:35:46.594 How many of you are in the social media Facebook, twitter, instagram? 00:35:46.594 --> 00:35:47.416 Why are you so shy? 00:35:47.416 --> 00:35:53.436 Ah, good number, good number. 00:35:53.436 --> 00:35:56.931 How many of you have never entered that space? 00:35:56.931 --> 00:36:01.452 Just, it is not a scene, by the way. 00:36:01.452 --> 00:36:03.891 You have never been in Facebook. 00:36:03.891 --> 00:36:05.556 You don't know what Instagram is. 00:36:05.556 --> 00:36:13.847 You will ask, like a 12 year old, what is TikTok and all those WeChat, never been there. 00:36:13.847 --> 00:36:24.112 Now they are the ones who raise their hands were not everybody, but the ones who didn't raise are not raising. 00:36:24.112 --> 00:36:30.670 Okay, a few of us, a few of us never been there, or you went there and you left. 00:36:30.670 --> 00:36:35.931 You went there but you left. 00:36:36.824 --> 00:36:46.246 Okay, I have been there, but I took a sabbatical last year, just one year. 00:36:46.246 --> 00:36:48.672 So I'm going back this August from August last year. 00:36:48.672 --> 00:36:55.634 It is true, it is true, I took a sabbatical, a deliberate one. 00:36:55.634 --> 00:36:57.731 I was very active on Twitter. 00:36:57.731 --> 00:37:10.172 Those of you who are following me on Twitter, you may know that I was there, but I deliberately took a sabbatical because the Bible says nothing should enslave you and I didn't want to be enslaved. 00:37:10.172 --> 00:37:13.427 Because I wake up and I'm thinking what do I tweet today? 00:37:13.427 --> 00:37:26.655 It was becoming addictive and I had to just say I'm taking a break. 00:37:26.655 --> 00:37:32.396 So, as a sabbatical for one year, last August, I'm getting back this August. 00:37:32.396 --> 00:37:41.128 So, those of you who have been my followers amen, I'm coming back, I'm coming back. 00:37:42.005 --> 00:37:47.206 But this is cyberspace, the cyberspace. 00:37:47.206 --> 00:38:02.811 I'm not a nicety person and I'm not a technology person and so on, but I just want to tell you, to say, from a layman's perspective, the cyberspace is the next frontier for outreach. 00:38:02.811 --> 00:38:18.471 I say perhaps cautiously, but I think that if Jesus was to come today and be born among us, he would most likely be in on Twitter. 00:38:18.471 --> 00:38:57.809 He will be on the social media, because Jesus went where people were and people are on Facebook and people are on Twitter and people are on Instagram and people are on TikTok and people are on Snapchat and people are on WhatsApp, and that's where Jesus would be and would be asking. 00:38:57.809 --> 00:39:04.927 But he says he's the son of God and is on Twitter, isn't it? 00:39:04.927 --> 00:39:11.034 That's how people were surprised in those days when he was eating with sinners. 00:39:11.034 --> 00:39:19.675 So, jesus coming today, I believe he would be in the cyberspace. 00:39:19.675 --> 00:39:29.516 So if we are going to reach the world, behold the harvest and the harvest field. 00:39:29.516 --> 00:39:31.159 It is there. 00:39:34.951 --> 00:39:41.644 When I joined the social media, I went there with a very deliberate and specific purpose. 00:39:41.644 --> 00:39:43.027 Those of you are my followers. 00:39:43.027 --> 00:39:46.994 I didn't do much of Facebook because it is too confusing for me. 00:39:46.994 --> 00:39:56.898 Yeah, but I did Twitter because, first of all, the conversation is very brief. 00:39:56.898 --> 00:39:58.853 It has been extended and extended. 00:39:58.853 --> 00:40:05.635 It's getting bigger and bigger now, but in those days it was 50 characters, not 50 words. 00:40:05.635 --> 00:40:15.920 I found that very useful because you have to think carefully what you want to say and say it in the shortest way possible. 00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:16.889 I loved that. 00:40:16.889 --> 00:40:22.916 So there were no stories, so I did this, I did the other. 00:40:22.916 --> 00:40:25.592 You have to say it in the shortest way possible. 00:40:25.592 --> 00:40:58.512 I found that useful, but I went into that space with a specific purpose that I want to be part of the conversation that is going on and, if possible, I want to bring any small influence that I can within that space, and so there are things that I never engaged in, there are conversations that I was never part of, and there are things that I will never comment on, and I was very clear as to what I wanted to do. 00:40:58.512 --> 00:41:22.414 If you go into that space with a very clear mission on what you want to do and God giving you wisdom on how to use that which God has given you you, this is a big, big harvest field. 00:41:22.414 --> 00:41:28.992 The world is moving into that space. 00:41:28.992 --> 00:41:38.027 The church must move into that space if we are going to remain relevant In 2020,. 00:41:39.309 --> 00:41:56.275 I was speaking in a conference in Addis Ababa and I had been asked to talk about globalization, and as I talked about globalization, I didn't know about globalization in the church. 00:41:56.275 --> 00:41:58.112 You know globalization and the church. 00:41:58.112 --> 00:42:02.775 And I'm thinking how is globalization and the church, and where do you find this in the Bible? 00:42:02.775 --> 00:42:09.615 So I went to scriptures and I began to read and I came to the Tower of Babel. 00:42:09.615 --> 00:42:16.135 The story of the Tower of Babel is about globalization. 00:42:16.135 --> 00:42:28.695 The world was one, they had one language and they had one tongue and I thought to myself this is what globalization is all about. 00:42:28.695 --> 00:42:34.108 And they moved from different places to do business, and the Bible says they moved. 00:42:34.108 --> 00:42:38.416 The people moved to the east and they came to an open space called Shinnah. 00:42:38.416 --> 00:43:00.974 And in Shinnah, that's where, when they found this big open space, they decided they are going to build a tower to the heavens and their purpose was one so that they may build a name for themselves, they may become great, they may not be scattered, they may be united, and so on and so forth. 00:43:00.974 --> 00:43:06.474 And I thought to myself you know what has happened. 00:43:06.474 --> 00:43:29.677 The world has moved into an open space called the cyberspace and we are building there a tower to make a name for ourselves, that we may not be scattered, that we may be connected all over the world, and so on and so forth. 00:43:29.677 --> 00:43:36.445 So another Tower of Babel is coming or is being built Now. 00:43:38.250 --> 00:43:44.192 Tower of Babel had a very bad story, the part we know, because God had to come in and scatter them. 00:43:44.192 --> 00:43:58.331 But that very concept, god transformed it in the book of Acts, chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit came and the people were in the upper room. 00:43:58.331 --> 00:44:00.576 And what were they? 00:44:00.576 --> 00:44:04.494 They were united, they were one. 00:44:04.494 --> 00:44:05.965 Okay. 00:44:05.965 --> 00:44:12.818 And the other thing is that people had come from all over the world into Jerusalem. 00:44:12.818 --> 00:44:45.050 So while they were there gathered that is when God brought the Holy Spirit and poured upon the people in the upper room they began to speak in other tongues and in other languages, and the Bible says the crowd that had come from all over the world, as they were listening to these people, they heard the people speaking in their own language, and so they were surprised. 00:44:45.050 --> 00:44:49.335 These people, how did they come there speaking in my language? 00:44:49.335 --> 00:44:57.510 And the list of languages are given there, so that they were hearing people speaking in this and speaking that and speaking that. 00:44:57.510 --> 00:44:59.210 And what were they speaking? 00:44:59.210 --> 00:45:02.012 They were glorifying God. 00:45:02.012 --> 00:45:05.309 They were glorifying God. 00:45:05.309 --> 00:45:16.253 It is the exact reverse of the Tower of Babel, and that speaking was uniting the people together. 00:45:18.244 --> 00:45:40.514 Now God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit which we can use to go into the new Sheena which is called the cyberspace and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they can hear us speaking in one language which they understand, so that they can see the glory of God. 00:45:40.514 --> 00:45:45.407 It is available to us. 00:45:45.407 --> 00:46:08.965 So now, here is the trick A hundred and twenty people gathered in the upper room, speaking in the different languages, but they are speaking languages that other people can understand. 00:46:08.965 --> 00:46:29.836 This means that if we are going to reach out into the cyberspace, we must learn the language of Twitter, we must learn the language of Instagram, we must learn the language of, and we must learn so that, when we speak, they hear the glory of God, but in their own. 00:46:29.836 --> 00:46:32.864 You know, christians, we have our language. 00:46:32.864 --> 00:46:37.362 We have our language. 00:46:37.362 --> 00:46:53.184 Now, when we speak our language, it will glorify us, but when we speak their language, they will hear the glories of God and the majesties of God in their own language. 00:46:53.184 --> 00:47:07.889 That's the challenge that we have, because we praise the Lord, people, god is good all the time, and all the time God is good. 00:47:07.889 --> 00:47:12.016 Pastor, I even heard you put on your goggles that one. 00:47:12.016 --> 00:47:14.661 I've never heard that one before. 00:47:14.661 --> 00:47:34.702 We need to speak the language of the world so that we can tell them the glories and majesty of God in their language. 00:47:34.702 --> 00:47:40.284 It is the only way to reach the cyberspace. 00:47:40.284 --> 00:47:48.920 So in the cyberspace is the new social melting point, the social connectivity. 00:47:50.114 --> 00:47:57.869 Have you noticed that people go into the cyberspace, in the social media, and somebody says I can't sleep. 00:47:57.869 --> 00:48:02.666 Have you ever seen such posts? 00:48:02.666 --> 00:48:06.300 Yes, that, and there are 7,000 likes. 00:48:06.300 --> 00:48:11.603 Am I the only one? 00:48:11.603 --> 00:48:21.648 Somebody has just said I can't sleep. 00:48:21.648 --> 00:48:24.943 There are 7,000 likes. 00:48:24.943 --> 00:48:27.121 Now, you don't know what people like. 00:48:27.121 --> 00:48:42.237 Is it that I like that you don't sleep, or am I identifying with you that I also am not sleeping, or I don't know when I post there? 00:48:42.237 --> 00:48:43.639 Jesus loves you. 00:48:43.639 --> 00:48:48.737 How many likes? 00:48:48.737 --> 00:48:59.065 Two from Christians, isn't it? 00:48:59.065 --> 00:49:00.836 Sometimes none. 00:49:00.836 --> 00:49:07.219 Jesus went to the cross and died for you. 00:49:07.219 --> 00:49:12.568 None. 00:49:12.568 --> 00:49:15.300 Just say I didn't sleep last night. 00:49:16.815 --> 00:49:17.838 10,000 likes. 00:49:17.838 --> 00:49:31.161 It means, therefore, you need to know how to post that Jesus loves you in a manner that connects with a person that did not sleep. 00:49:31.161 --> 00:49:34.873 Are we together? 00:49:34.873 --> 00:49:47.617 Yes, that's what God did on the day of Pentecost, that these people were glorifying God, but the people who were listening were hearing it in their own language. 00:49:47.617 --> 00:50:07.594 The power of the Holy Spirit, so that we are posting what did you call that thing Empowered. 00:50:07.594 --> 00:50:12.697 Our posts are empowered when it lands there. 00:50:12.697 --> 00:50:15.507 There are 10,000 likes. 00:50:16.128 --> 00:50:18.757 But there are people who want to know how do I know Jesus? 00:50:18.757 --> 00:50:25.418 I know a Lord Now, not the Lord. 00:50:25.418 --> 00:50:27.318 I know a Lord. 00:50:27.318 --> 00:50:32.980 This Lord is a friend of ours. 00:50:32.980 --> 00:50:36.347 Met with him in many forums. 00:50:36.347 --> 00:50:38.860 He actually was born in Kenya. 00:50:38.860 --> 00:50:56.081 He's a UK Lord, gifted man with a lot of money, but at this point I think he's going into 89 or 80, something going towards 90, but he has the mind of a 16-year-old. 00:50:57.875 --> 00:51:06.309 His focus has been on how to reach the world through media, especially the internet. 00:51:06.309 --> 00:51:26.367 So several years ago, when AI was just starting, so he touched a few young people and said how can we reach the world through AI, artificial intelligence? 00:51:26.367 --> 00:51:40.869 And so these young people went to work and came up with a bot and this bot was posted on the internet on the most visited sites. 00:51:40.869 --> 00:51:45.782 Do you know the most visited site on the internet? 00:51:45.782 --> 00:51:53.164 Highest visited pornography? 00:51:53.164 --> 00:52:02.264 Those are the most visited, so it tells you how our field is. 00:52:03.635 --> 00:52:05.300 So they created these bots. 00:52:05.300 --> 00:52:26.480 You know those things that pop up when you get into the cyberspace and before you see what you want to see, it has come to your face and say click me, click me, click me, click here. 00:52:26.480 --> 00:52:37.726 So they created a bot that is like that and they put them in the most visited sites, which one of them is, of course, like pornography. 00:52:37.726 --> 00:52:58.827 So when a person clicks onto those sites, this thing pops up and, depending on which site and which space you are in and which location you are in the world, it comes up with a message that would be of interest to you. 00:52:58.827 --> 00:53:13.280 So it's like it almost determines why you have come to that site and say something that is relevant to you, and you know how those things are tempting. 00:53:13.280 --> 00:53:18.382 You almost forget what you went in for and you click on this. 00:53:18.382 --> 00:53:31.023 You click on this and it begins to lead you to Jesus Christ until salvation Through artificial intelligence. 00:53:31.023 --> 00:53:34.896 So he was telling us. 00:53:34.896 --> 00:53:35.657 He came to us. 00:53:36.139 --> 00:53:50.088 We were meeting in Ethiopia and he was scared because they developed this bot and now set it to just test it. 00:53:50.088 --> 00:54:05.217 So when they tested it, within the first one hour, 600,000 people had clicked on it and gone to salvation. 00:54:05.217 --> 00:54:26.427 Within one hour, 600,000 people who are going into dangerous sites had been led into Jesus Christ, and they had worked it such that it also goes into discipleship and everything. 00:54:26.427 --> 00:54:29.960 So these are not just people who raise up their hands and then disappear. 00:54:29.960 --> 00:54:34.579 He was so scared they withdrew. 00:54:34.579 --> 00:54:40.976 Because they say is this a legitimate way of leading people to Jesus? 00:54:40.976 --> 00:54:44.260 Because it was just too fast. 00:54:44.260 --> 00:54:48.302 That's been developed and it is working. 00:54:50.875 --> 00:54:52.619 Where are the young people of our time? 00:54:52.619 --> 00:55:04.179 Because I said in Ethiopian I say it again a time is coming, pastor, that you will call for this revival meeting. 00:55:04.179 --> 00:55:14.597 You and I may not be around, I hope, and nobody will turn up this happening in Europe. 00:55:14.597 --> 00:55:21.717 Buildings like this are turned into museums and things Nobody's interested. 00:55:21.717 --> 00:55:29.146 Do you know that even now, there are people who have not yet come back from COVID lockdown? 00:55:29.146 --> 00:55:32.838 They are still watching online. 00:55:32.838 --> 00:55:40.039 They are still afraid of COVID-19. 00:55:43.255 --> 00:55:46.461 So how do we get into the cyberspace? 00:55:46.461 --> 00:55:52.443 It is a place of information accessibility. 00:55:52.443 --> 00:55:54.541 People are going there for information. 00:55:54.541 --> 00:55:57.802 It's a place of economic transformation. 00:55:57.802 --> 00:56:01.902 It is a place of cultural revolution. 00:56:01.902 --> 00:56:05.682 It's a place of entertainment evolution. 00:56:06.474 --> 00:56:13.507 Do you know that the cable TV is soon going to be out of business? 00:56:13.507 --> 00:56:25.260 Those people who are in cable TV where you have to subscribe so that you can watch news, you are going out of business. 00:56:25.260 --> 00:56:42.681 Now you can watch news on YouTube for free and the good thing is you can rewind and to end the new day the way I used to run upstairs to our TV room when it gets to nine so that I can catch the news. 00:56:42.681 --> 00:56:54.239 These days, we just talk, we finish and then I go to my TV room and put on news at my own time and I can rewind. 00:56:54.239 --> 00:57:02.463 I can skip the adverts, I can skip people I don't want to hear, isn't it? 00:57:02.463 --> 00:57:03.547 Yeah, it is true. 00:57:03.586 --> 00:57:28.126 That's the world we are going into and I've been telling pastor here knows, I told our pastors in Iyike we have to change our game, because the audience these days is not captive anymore. 00:57:28.126 --> 00:57:41.255 If you are coming here and making noise, blablabla, rolling on the floor and doing all kinds of things, and somebody is sitting there, is this worth my time Next Sunday? 00:57:41.255 --> 00:57:51.664 They are not coming, they are listening to TDJX, they are going to Australia attending service and they will give their offering there too. 00:57:51.664 --> 00:58:10.586 So, unless we pull up our socks, even our congregation is disappearing and we have to be in that space and do our work and do it well. 00:58:10.586 --> 00:58:12.679 That goes for everything. 00:58:12.679 --> 00:58:16.782 So the cyberspace is a game changer. 00:58:16.782 --> 00:58:18.538 It's a game changer. 00:58:18.538 --> 00:58:21.557 Why is this thing turning red? 00:58:21.557 --> 00:58:29.478 It is what it did. 00:58:29.478 --> 00:58:30.501 The same on you. 00:58:30.501 --> 00:58:48.579 Yeah, it's turning red and I have no started preaching. 00:58:48.579 --> 00:58:53.217 That was introduction. 00:58:53.217 --> 00:58:59.637 I will come back next time to finish. 00:58:59.637 --> 00:59:18.003 So let me just quickly say what I think we need to do If we are going to do this thing and reach these spaces. 00:59:18.003 --> 00:59:22.083 We have, the harvest is there. 00:59:22.083 --> 00:59:29.423 The harvesters are few, but the few of us who are there, we need to be very strategic. 00:59:33.554 --> 00:59:41.702 Second Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 18, says therefore, since through God's mercy of this ministry, we do not lose heart. 00:59:41.702 --> 00:59:46.804 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. 00:59:46.804 --> 00:59:51.083 We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. 00:59:51.083 --> 01:00:00.041 On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 01:00:00.041 --> 01:00:07.047 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 01:00:07.047 --> 01:00:18.525 The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 01:00:18.525 --> 01:00:24.123 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ and ourselves as your servant. 01:00:24.123 --> 01:00:25.547 For Jesus' sake. 01:00:25.547 --> 01:00:49.985 For God who said let the light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, but we have this treasure in jars of clay so that this also passing power, rather to show that this also passing power is from God and not from us. 01:00:49.985 --> 01:01:01.945 We are heart pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. 01:01:03.275 --> 01:01:08.505 So what are the lessons we can get out of this text? 01:01:08.505 --> 01:01:15.277 Let me just run through some of them very quickly, because this is now familiar territory for most of us. 01:01:15.277 --> 01:01:31.563 If we are going to reach this new space that I've talked about whether it is children, the city or the cyberspace our conviction must be radical. 01:01:31.563 --> 01:01:43.382 Women and women today will follow anyone who seems to know what they are talking about. 01:01:43.382 --> 01:02:01.864 Let me repeat that Men and women today because there are so many fake people they will follow anyone who seems to know what they are talking about. 01:02:03.391 --> 01:02:08.061 I have told people that I would like to know what Pastor McKenzie was telling his people. 01:02:08.061 --> 01:02:13.755 To convince a person to die is not easy. 01:02:13.755 --> 01:02:22.030 What still? 01:02:22.030 --> 01:02:27.860 To convince a person to die slowly is not easy. 01:02:27.860 --> 01:02:32.934 For you to die of hunger. 01:02:32.934 --> 01:02:36.081 You die slowly over time. 01:02:36.081 --> 01:02:49.655