Followed By Mercy

From Brazilian Struggles to Spiritual Triumphs in Mission Work

• W. Austin Gardner • Season 1 • Episode 11

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As we venture into the heart of God's calling for His glory to envelop the earth, I, W Austin Gardner, invite you to stand shoulder to shoulder with believers who are responding to this call with vigor. Numbers 14:21 isn't just a verse; it's our battle cry in the mission for world evangelism. In today's episode, we tackle the hard truths of aligning our lives with our values and the teachings of the Bible, while embracing the qualities that every missionary needs: empathy, transparency, and the agility to adjust to ever-changing mission fields. Prepare to be emboldened to take up the torch and spread the Gospel, as we dissect the urgent global vision that should pulsate through every church and the heart of every leader.

Brace yourself for a stirring narrative, woven with the threads of Brazil's societal fabric, imprinted with struggle but drenched in hope through earnest intercession and the transformative power of the Gospel. We delve into stories of relentless faith and divine purpose, from the life of Mr. Pensotti to the influential teachings in "The Master Plan of Evangelism" by Robert Coleman, which has notably sculpted my ministry approach. These tales are not mere echoes of the past; they are the fuel that ignites the spirit of our youth, urging them to immerse in Scripture, prayer, and church life, readying themselves for the extraordinary ways in which God seeks to write them into His grand narrative. Join us, as we share these profound journeys and reflect on how they shape our continuous mission to reveal God's glory across the globe.

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

W. Austin Gardner:

Hey there, welcome to the World Evangelism Podcast with yours truly W. Austin Gardner. Today, we're diving into good stuff. We have our Bible verse of the week, a country we all need to pray for, a book that's been challenging and encouraging to me over the years, a person that God has extensively used to carry the gospel around the world and, of course, my favorite part, a particular challenge for missionaries, senders, supporters and young people considering working in world evangelism, considering your call. Your presence here is invaluable and I'm excited to share these insights with you. So get ready to be inspired, challenged, equipped for world evangelism. It's not just a journey. It's a thrilling adventure that is going to ignite your passion. I'm thrilled to have you along for this exciting ride. My greatest desire is to inspire missions, world evangelism and empower you to be all that God has called you to be for His causes and His purposes. I want to add value to you and your life.

W. Austin Gardner:

So let's dive right in with our Bible verse of the week, our Bible verse of the week. That's where you always start. It's all based on God speaking to us through His Holy Spirit, using His Word, and I want to take you all the way back to Numbers, chapter 14 and verse 21. The Bible says but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Numbers 14, 21. All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. So from the day he created us until the day he takes us home in, this world is put in an end. His goal is that his name will be magnified and his glory will be everywhere. Go with me. Through the verse he says as truly as I live, that means he's faithful, he's powerful, he's able and he's certain. Then he says all the earth. That's the universal reach of God's glory that encompasses every nation, every culture and every people group. It refers to God's presence, his majesty and his splendor being manifested throughout all the world. God will win. The assurance comes from the living God, highlighting his omnipotence, his sovereignty, his Lord, god Almighty, over all of his creation. It implies in the book of Numbers, chapter 14, verse 31, that God's going to carry out his plan. He's on the move. He's drawing all of creation back to him. The earth will become filled with the glory of God, a global witness and acknowledging of his greatness and goodness all the way back in Numbers, under the work of the Israelis under the work of the Jewish people. This points to the impact, evangelistic impact, of God's glory, drawing people from every corner of the earth to him to recognize him and honor him as our creator, the source of life, and it's to remind us of God's ongoing work.

W. Austin Gardner:

God is at work in this world. This ought to inspire a missionary mandate in our hearts to mandate God's glory to every people, to proclaim it to every group, in every nation. It ought to encourage us to pray. It ought to get us involved in caring more about getting the gospel out. We ought to be participating actively in the work of missions and getting the gospel to the world. We ought to proclaim the word of God. We ought to be developing in our church, in our personal life, in our family, a global vision of preaching the word of God everywhere to the world.

W. Austin Gardner:

So keep all this in mind as you go through today's podcast, as you go through it. It's based on the Word of God. We start out with Numbers, chapter 14 and verse 21. I'll repeat the verse to you before I go on, but as truly as I live. The God Almighty says all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

W. Austin Gardner:

Now that ought to thrill and ignite something in our hearts, and so I'd like to talk to every one of you that are in some form of leadership. I'd just like to take just a minute, and all of us are in some form of leadership. If we're honest, you're leading in some way, and so you know. One of the things you want to do is to know yourself, to make sure you are where you want to be. So have you worked on identifying what your personal values and beliefs are? Have you thought about what's influencing you, how you're being motivated to make decisions, and all Is it the world? Is it social media? Is it based on your values? Is it based on the Word of God? Is it based on human prejudice? Is it based on a political view? Is it based on the Word of God and the Holy Spirit? What are you doing to help you better communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world?

W. Austin Gardner:

Now, every one of us missionaries, pastors, young people, sunday school teachers and disciples we've all failed. We all mess up. I mean, we are a fallen race, but you know what we can learn from our mistakes and we get up and we go back to work and we start saying I want to serve and honor God like I. Should we make a mistake and we get back up. So make sure you're living out what you believe, make sure you're living out who you are and don't be afraid to question yourself. Don't be afraid to say am I doing right? Don't be afraid to have a little time of self-evaluation and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and work in your heart. Then I'd like to ask you are you emphasizing with other people? Do you feel what other people feel? Do you ever imagine what it must be like to be born in a place with no gospel witness?

W. Austin Gardner:

As a leader, have you set clear boundaries, boundaries for your family, boundaries in your relationships with people of the other sex? Are you working at being transparent and honest? Are you flexible? Well, that's a missionary question, because missionaries have to learn to be flexible to the point I used to say fluid. You got to be willing to go with the flow, whatever's happening, because so much is going on and we have to be careful that we don't let our pride overrule our willingness to learn. We have to stop and say I need to learn. A man I heard preach one time said every man is my teacher. That ought to be our goal Now. What's your purpose in life? Who are you? What's your dream? Do you? Here's another question. We're working on us as leaders.

W. Austin Gardner:

Do you practice active listening, you know? Do you really pay attention? Did you know that most people, when they're listening, they're not listening? They're preparing what they're going to say. I'm not hearing what you got to say because I got to get rid of what I'm going to say. I don't care what you say. We need to say I really care about you. We need to see the person look into their eyes and say I see you, I recognize you. Do you hold yourself accountable, or are you the kind that deflects the blame, tries to find somebody else to blame? Are you living in a place of vulnerability? I just challenge you to think about all of that, because we're going to get the job done for Jesus and carry the gospel around the world. We are definitely going to have to work on who we are and know that we are. Boy. I have to keep fixing me Good night, I mess up so much and I just welcome you to the club. We are all going to have to work on that. Well, that brings us to the country of the week. Well, that brings us to the country of the week, and our country this week is Brazil. Now, my future grandson-in-law is from Brazil. He's half Brazilian, half North American, and so I'm always going to be thinking about Brazil because of Gabe, and I love him and I'm excited about that.

W. Austin Gardner:

Now, what I'd like to remind you of is that this is a country of 217 million people, and 87% of them live in an urban area. Their language is Portuguese and they are 91.4% Christian, but only 26% of that is evangelical. So there's a great need to get the gospel to this country Now. Right now, poverty is ransacking the country, infecting tens of millions of people. There's crime everywhere you turn. There is terrible discrimination and exploitation. They have a thing going on there that I'm not sure you're as up to date on it as you should be, and I know I wasn't. I even looked it up. This is all coming from, you know operationworldorg. You can go there in Brazil.

W. Austin Gardner:

By the way, today, as I prepare this for you, china was my country to pray for. It might have been my country for days because it's such a large country, but Brazil has quite a bit of what's called debt slavery. That's where people are forced to work because of debt. It's like they're in debt. It's like being an indentured servant. It's like the company store owns them. And that's still taking place, and up to a quarter of a million people there are suffering from that, especially those on the Amazon River. Crime is a massive problem in Brazil. Brazil is the world's second highest consumer of illicit drugs. We need to pray for Brazil. We need to pray that the gospel would run and God's word would continue to be preached. Nearly 120 people a day are murdered there, and policemen are known for being heavy-handed and very corrupt. So we need God to work in their lives, to work in that country for an unprecedented spiritual breakthrough.

W. Austin Gardner:

I'd like to remind you where I get this information and I challenge you all always to go there OperationWorld. org man. I'm excited. I'm so excited to get to talk to you. This is a thrill of my week to get to share with you, because we are both interested, you and me. We're interested in world evangelism. I know you're sitting there with your friends around a table and you're thinking, or you're sitting there with your book open in front of the map and you're praying about what does God want me to do. You're a young person. You don't know what to do. This is the purpose I'm here for you today. Now can I talk to you about the book of the week? Oh, my goodness, one of my favorites, all-time favorites.

W. Austin Gardner:

You got to get a copy of this book. If you haven't, you've got to read it over and over. It's called the Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman. Now I'll be honest with you. Most of the time I read books introducing to people. But I was in Ida Kipa and one day one of the pastors came up to me and he was holding a book in his hand and he's looking at me and he says hey, I know where you learned everything you know and I know how you learned to do what you do. You're not fooling me. I said what in the world? And he held up the master plan of evangelism and he said you read it, hadn't you? And I said no. He said you did. I said no, I didn't. He said Robert Coleman. I said never heard of him. He said it's your plan, it's exactly what you do. And I said you know. Honestly, god, just let me stumble on that. But that book is so great. Can I challenge you to read it, because the Holy Spirit taught me and he's teaching you. He's working on us right now.

W. Austin Gardner:

He says in his book that Jesus's concern was not with programs to reach multitudes, but with men that multitudes would follow. Jesus's program was men, finding and training men. Men were to be the method of Jesus Christ for evangelizing the world. By the way, he didn't start with the best of men. They were impulsive, temperamental, easily offended, prejudiced. He picked people that were just like normal people. That's why I know he can use you. That's why I know he can use you. That's why he can use me.

W. Austin Gardner:

One person cannot transform the world, except as individuals are transformed. As the Lord changes me, he begins to do a work in the lives of others. He begins to do a work in the lives of others. So the question that Robert Coleman asked in the book well, you got to read this book why then did Jesus not capitalize on his ministry, on enlarging a mighty army of believers to take the world with storm? Now, isn't that amazing? Why didn't Jesus look for a mighty army he could use to take the world by storm? Now, isn't that amazing? Why didn't Jesus look for a mighty army he could use to take the gospel to the world Because he meant to train men that could lead the multitudes. That's where we become leader trainers. That's why we work at discipleship and mentorship and training other people. It requires a lot of concentration and a lot of time to spend so much time on fewer people, but we will be able to raise up a people that can do the work of the ministry and make a difference. Here's what's great. Jesus didn't share his knowledge by classroom style. It wasn't communicated like in laws and dogmas, it was more. He lived with them, they knew him, they saw the truth, lived out in him. And that's where we want to head to in our ministry. There's simply, robert Coleman says, no substitute for getting with people and to realize that it takes a miracle to train somebody into spiritual leadership. Evangelism is not optional, it's a heartbeat.

W. Austin Gardner:

I hope you get a hold of that book, master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman. I'll put the link in the show notes and you can look that up and go find it. You can just go straight to Amazon master plan of evangelism and you'll find that book. And if you're watching or listening, here is a little booklet I've done, called, are you called? And it is ready. I've even actually improved it since this first copy came out and it's available for you, but I want to send it to you free of charge. I'm doing five people a week. The first five people that are willing to post in some form of social media that I follow a link saying you like the podcast and inviting people to come to it. I'll send you a free copy of the little booklet and I really believe it can be a blessing to you. So I hope you'll do that.

W. Austin Gardner:

Help me, help me share this. Don't you know God wants the world evangelized? Don't you know he wants people to be hearing the gospel message of Jesus Christ? Would you help me? Would you get involved in helping me, help others like this? Now let me take you to the oh boy. Hang on, you are not going to believe the missionary of the week, Francisco Penzotti

W. Austin Gardner:

Francisco Penzotti, he was a Methodist coal porter. In other words, he sold Bibles and Christian literature, but it was really just a way to evangelize. He was born back in 1851, and he was born in Italy, and he arrives at the age of 13. He arrives in Montevideo, Uruguay, and finally, in 1870, what is that? 19 years later, he gets married. He had a big family, he had eight children and he got saved at a Methodist church under a man named Thomas Wood. We'll talk about him later. What a great man. I know this isn't the time to put this in here, but there's a book by Kessler, k-e-s-s-l-e-r, on the conflict and mission. It's one of my favorite books and if you're working at reaching people in Latin America you definitely need to read it.

W. Austin Gardner:

Wood then kind of raises up and trains Pensalti and then he sends him as an evangelist to a colony. So you start off small, doing something close to home, and then, in 1883, he goes to Chile and he gets to the city of Tacna, which will become a part of Peru, and he becomes an agent of the American Bible Society, a coal porter, and so he takes off to Lima Peru Adiquipa is always on my mind, you know and he gets there and his daughter dies. But he's in the city of Callao. It's like the constitutional capital of Peru. It's right outside of Lima, it's right beside Lima, basically the same metropolitan area, and he rents a place to hold his first religious services. Quickly, he has 50 people and that jumps to 300. And the English people in town offered him their chapel, but there were some people that did not want him there. A Catholic priest hated him. He was terrified of him, so he started the first Methodist church there working and they rented an old warehouse and Father Vidal y Urias he puts poop excrement on the doors of the meeting place. And then he waited until they were inside having their service and he took a chain and padlocked the doors. There was only one door in See. There was no sign and the doors couldn't be opened because the only way the Catholic Church would allow them to have services was that way and he was following all the rules and they locked the door.

W. Austin Gardner:

But a latecomer. Here's a guy going to be famous in history, Manuel Rubio. He comes late and he goes searching throughout. He can't figure out why the door's locked. From the outside he can hear his brothers and sisters and Christ inside and he opens the lock with a key. He just happens to have a key you know, keys weren't sort of sophisticated back then and he gets the door open.

W. Austin Gardner:

The story is just great. This Pensote guy wow, what a man. He goes south into the country, he goes all the way down to Moyendo that's in Arequipa State and he escapes, getting stoned to death, and they get put in jail and one of the men that are working with him, a couple of them. They spend 19 days in jail but later on they arrest Penn Saudi because this priest says he's been having services illegally, and they take him and they lock him up. They they actually came with four, four uh policemen with bayonets and arrested him and put him in the prison. And uh, but the policeman with bayonets and arrested him and put him in the prison. But the prisoners welcomed him and he came in and his wife made him as comfortable as he could be and he went to preaching. You're not going to believe this, but even the mayor would come and sit outside his cell and hear him preach and he would preach out the windows.

W. Austin Gardner:

I know you heard about John Bunyan, but did you know God was doing it with an Italian that was raised in Uruguay, that was working in Peru? What a tremendous story. Well, he's locked up in jail and the government asked him if you'll sign this paper, we'll let you go Sign a piece of paper saying you'll not preach anymore. He said I'm not signing it. And so they leave him in jail with some liberals political liberals that were trying to fight. The Catholic Church saw it and they put it ran an ad in the paper, in the New York Times or, excuse me, it was the New York Herald. They published it and it embarrassed the government and they let him go.

W. Austin Gardner:

And I should tell you this just before he got let go, his kids came crying and saying there's nothing to eat at home because he's not working, he doesn't have a job, he can't take care of his family, and he sent his sons away. Well, the prisoners in prison, with Mr Pensotti, our brother in Christ. They came to him and said we've collected money, we're going to pay for food for your family. And Pensotti said we've collected money, we're going to pay for food for your family. And Pintoti said I really appreciate that, but first I want to pray and ask God if he'll work a miracle and do it outside of you guys. And in just a few hours a guy arrived and gave him the money that would take care of his family.

W. Austin Gardner:

He was finally freed in 1891. And when he got home, the church was full. What a woman that would love him and care for him and stand by his side. They were averaging over 180 people. And he starts training his converts and sending them out to do the work.

W. Austin Gardner:

And that's year in Peru. He trained six young converts and they all became coal porters and he preached in 110 places and he gave out or sold 7,000 copies of the Bible. He preached fiery sermons and he was greatly used of God. Now he got jeered at and laughed at and mocked, but he didn't care. Serving Jesus was well worth it. And so I say to you there are great people in history that you can study about and read about. Kind of hard to get a book on Pensodi. Maybe I'll get with some other people and we'll try to put something together. I've done that before, but I just want to challenge you because God can use you to do great things. By the way, I don't think he could barely read, and God greatly used him.

W. Austin Gardner:

There's another guy that came to prove we'll talk about later too. His name was Diego Thompson James Thompson, that's where San Diego gets his name St James, san Diego. But he never would separate from religion. He wouldn't separate from the Catholic Church, and so his ministry never lived. It died on him. Do you understand? God's been using people in great ways. God's been doing great stuff. God wants to do that with you. He has a plan for you. He wants to use your life and you need to get a hold of the fact that you can be greatly used of God. Now we've been talking about also those some of us aren't going to go.

W. Austin Gardner:

I live in the United States of America right now. I'm kind of strapped down. I have to go to the doctor every six months minimum. You know I'm a cancer survivor, I'm a COVID survivor and I'm on special medications to stay alive. So we can all go that God knows that. But we can all be involved. So I'd like to challenge you that one of the strongest ways you can be involved is prayer. You can pray. The Bible says in Romans 15, 30 that you strive together with me and your prayers to God for me. Now listen to me. The missionaries need your prayer. They're learning another language, they're learning to live cross-culturally, they're adapting to another place. They need you. It's really not about your money, it's about your love.

W. Austin Gardner:

I think one of the sweetest stories of all of my life. There was a lady named Jean Smith. She's old enough to be my mother, but for some reason she took a young preacher under her wing. I was 22 years old and until the day she died, that woman, she gave me all the Oliver B Green books. She gave me a Schofield reference Bible. She sent me money all the time. She was always and when I was in Peru, I think, I got a letter from her every month and her big donation was $10. But she always said I'm praying for you. Big donation was $10, but she always said I'm praying for you.

W. Austin Gardner:

I'm convinced with all of my heart that when I get to heaven, the majority of my ministry that has been done will be credited to Gene Smith and possibly, just to be honest with you, also the guy named Paul Forsythe. I'll talk about him at another time. He was also the best friend I ever had in the ministry as far as loving me, the best yoke fellow who was really, really concerned about me. And you know you can do that. You can be that guy to somebody else. You can help people do things they would have never been able to do without you. Now, are you ready? I want to talk to the. I in no way want to put down pastors and missionaries, but you young people, you're 17, you're finishing high school, you're finishing college, or you've got a job, or you're 25 or 30, but you know God wants to use you. I need you to know that. I want you to hear from me that God's still doing the same things he did with Pensota. He's still doing it today and he wants to do it with you Now. We talked last time, last week. Be sure you're saved.

W. Austin Gardner:

The number two thing that I would tell you is be a student of the Word of God. Get into your Bible. Spend time in your Bible every day. What you want to do is develop that relationship with God. If you can develop the relationship with God up, you'll have a ministry that goes out. God will use you horizontally when you work with him vertically, and so I want to challenge you to be seeking the Lord and spending time with him. Spend time in the word, spend time in prayer, go out and begin now. We'll talk about this other days.

W. Austin Gardner:

But the men that god used overseas he first used at home, and I want to ask you to become the most important person in your church. I want you to be underfoot of your pastor. Love your church, be involved in your church, because god uses the church to get the gospel around the world. Get under the foot of your pastor. Learn all you can. Be involved in getting the gospel to the world. Get involved, because God has a plan for you and he's working in you and he's going to do something big with you. Listen to me Don't you let anybody diminish you. Don't you let anybody despise your youth. Don't you let anybody think you can't be used. All of us were young kids one time and all of us had a hunger to be used of God. And God did it. And God's going to do it with you. He's been doing it and he's going to keep on doing it. And I just want you to know that God's got a plan for you. He's going to do great things. So don't you dare give up, man, I love you. You dare give up, man, I love you.

W. Austin Gardner:

Fact is, if you're a young person and you will contact me and say, hey, you know what I really am wondering what I need to do to prepare, I will send you, free of charge, this book. It's a little big booklet but it's got a checklist in here to help you know everything along the way you want to work on, because I love you and I want to help you. I am here to help you know everything along the way you want to work on, because I love you and I want to help you. I am here to help you and so if this week, within the next seven days, you contact me, I'll send it to you for free Hardback copy Well, not a hardback, paperback copy, but not a digital copy and you can go through here and you can start working on getting yourself ready. See, it's a checklist to discern your calling from God, and I want to help you with that and those of you that will help me promote this. Oh, what a blessing if you do that.

W. Austin Gardner:

I'm just trying to add value. To be honest with you, I'm just trying to make a difference for eternity. I'm using every tool God gave me. So there you have it. We've dived into epic insights, jaw-dropping stories. I hope you're as fired up as I am to take on the world for Jesus. Thanks for tuning in and joining me on the World Evangelism Podcast. It's been a wild ride. I can't wait to see you the very next time for more adventure, inspiration and awesomeness. But for now, w Austin Gardner signing off, keep spreading the gospel, keep being amazing. God bless you. My friends. Thank you so much.

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