I love the response. I sometimes go to some places and I say to them, good morning and they look at me and nod. And so I have to repeat it to get them to actually wake up. I say, good morning.
I really didn't have to do that, but the singing here, I know you're alive. And so it's certainly a pleasure to be with here, back here again and to hear the joyful singing and to see the fellowship and the joy of being together as we remember the Lord. And so I'm very thankful for having the privilege to be allowed to share with you today from the Word of God. And I want to also give a little bit of an update about the ministry that we do in Vancouver and many other places in sharing the Word of God with the seafarers that are coming into our ports here.
One thing I got to say, Nick mentioned that it was a beautiful spring day. I would agree with Nick for part of that. It's a beautiful day, truly a beautiful day. But since I'm from Vancouver, spring is not minus eight degrees.
I mean, that's dead of winter for us. It truly is, to be that cold. So I would say that while we in Vancouver, we know how to do a beautiful spring. But I tell you, when it comes to potholes, we are amateurs in Vancouver.
And this is a car frame realigning potholes that you definitely have to pay attention to. So there's no putting it on cruise mode and just kind of keeping it between the white lines. You've got to keep it between the lines and avoid the potholes as you go. So it's an experience for me.
I was just wanted to share for a few minutes here from Psalm 119. I would have to say, before I looked into this, I didn't know that much about it, other than it's the longest chapter in the Bible. But it is the psalmist's meditations on the excellencies of the Word of God, his love for the Word of God. Not just to know the Word of God intellectually, but as we meditate to know the mind of God, not just rules, but to know him, to understand him as we seek him, he reveals himself to us.
Psalm 119 affirms not only the character of the scriptures, but it shows that God's Word is a window into the very character of God himself. His prominent theme is a profound truth, that the Word of God is all sufficient. It is complete, it is exhaustive. I am not speaking on this because I feel qualified.
I am speaking on this because I enjoyed it. I'm not like Thomas Manson, a Puritan preacher, a writer who wrote a three volume work on this psalm with a total of 1,677 pages. In his book, there are 190 chapters, more than one chapter for each verse. I will just be stretching the surface for you to dig into yourself.
Let's read a few verses here from Psalm 119. Starting at verse one, blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with a whole heart. Those also do no iniquity.
They walk in his ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently, or that my ways were directed to keep your statutes. Then I would not be ashamed when I look into all your commandments. I will praise you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments.
I will keep your statutes. Oh, do not forsake me utterly. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word, with my whole heart, I have sought you.
Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. Your word, I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me your statutes.
With my lips, I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes.
I will not forget your word. That's all I will read from that right now. Some think that the psalmist just did not sit down and write this all at one time. But it is a collection of his thoughts of the word of God learned by a lifetime of experiences with the word of God, maybe like a diary, his problems, trials, wins, et cetera.
When I read this, I envision the psalmist standing at the door of the word of God and enthusiastically telling people, come and see. Come in. I have found the answer. Come and see.
No, just don't peer in through the window. Just don't peer in from outside. Good, come and see for yourself. Explore it.
Don't take my word for it. Come and live it yourself. In a small way, I am doing that today. I am saying, come and see for yourself.
I'm just scratching the surface for a few minutes. And I say, come and see what God has said. The all-encompassing word of God. This chapter brings all the psalmist love, admiration, and appreciation for the word of God together beautifully.
They said that William Wilberforce and David Libbison had memorized this song. If you grew up in Sunday school, you probably learned some of these verses yourself. It is so deep. And yet it holds gems at every level, like peeling back an onion.
It holds such simple truth at each level and has so much depth. It lists many problems that we face, but still only one answer, the word of God. It talks about good judgment. How do we cleanse our ways?
Direction in life? Value of affliction? Wisdom? Trouble in anguish?
Breaking the cords of the wicked? Persecuted wrongfully? People telling lies about you? Enemies trying to trap you?
Reproach? Cabbagesness? Worthless? Things?
Salvation when I stray? Hope? Heavy hearts? Blessing?
Our safety? Praise? Oppression? Double minded?
Lying? When we cried? Saved me? The answer?
The word of God. This is our answer today. It knits them all together beautifully, showing us the truth. We need to dig into it.
And I can say, come and see. That's what the Psalmist says. Come and see. Hebrews 4 and 12 tells us, for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow.
And it is a discern of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him, to whom he must give an account. I have been trying to call this the word of God instead of the holy Bible. Just as I think about it, a Bible, a book, just doesn't, in my mind, do it justice.
A book is instructions or history or a story, but this is the living word of God. So I try to call it, in my mind, the word of God. It is so much more than just a book. It's living.
It's God's word. Nothing else compares. We have something here more valuable than silver or gold. One thing I noted from somebody copied down from verse 11, and it says this, the best thing, thy word, in the best place, have I hid in my heart, for the best of purposes that I might not sin against see.
Let me say it again. If you're writing any notes, this is the one I would write down. The best thing, thy word, in the best place, have I hid in my heart, for the best of purposes that I might not sin against see. Since sin breaks our fellowship with God, it robs us of his blessings, and we need to run as fast and far as possible from sin.
And yet the truth is we gallably go along, being led astray with cheap little interest, cheap little trinkets, things that are just being dangled in front of us. And we chase after them instead of God to know him. The word of God de-escalates my worries and fears. It softens my heart.
It's quite the opposite of watching the news today. The news today brings me fear, brings me anger. You want to see me get mad? I remember going into our family room one day, and I said to my wife, turn that off.
I don't want to see that guy's face or hear him. Was I right? No, I was not right. But that was the truth.
The news brings anger and fear. The word of God brings peace. It brings joy. It brings hope, not like this world today.
We can have beautiful love relationships with our creator. As we love God more, the more we see how much God loves us and reveals himself to us. It is sitting at his feet and listening in awe of worshiping him. But this does not just start in chapter 119.
This song starts in chapter one. Blessed is a man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. But his delight, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scourner. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. We are reminded of God's promises, his blessings, and how to get them. I was reading a book there.
It was Angola, my beloved, by T. Ernest Wilson. I got it from somebody's library after they had passed away. And I was reading through this book.
And there was an interesting story of Mr. Wilson when he was in Angola. And this had been because many, many years ago. And he had been given three or four Bibles, or maybe the part of the Bible, in the local language.
They were highly valued. And one day he would hire some of the local people. And one day this man came to him and said, do you have any work for me? He says, well, I have a package out at the coast.
Can you go and get my package? And they could run, he said, at an average of eight miles an hour. And he ran to the coast. And back again, that only took him one month.
It would take me one year or more. But he ran all the way to the coast to get his package and bring it back to him. And when he came back to Mr. Wilson, Mr.
Wilson said to him, how would you like to be paid? I think the options kind of were salt or linen for the ladies to make clothes. And before that he had gone there, this man had asked Mr. Wilson for if he could have one of those Bibles, one of those only three or four Bibles.
He asked me to have him. And Mr. Wilson had said to him, I'm sorry. These are so precious, they have to go into the hands of somebody who can read.
He says, you know you can't read. He says, I need to give it to somebody who can read. And so when he comes back from this 30-day run, Mr. Wilson says, what would you like?
He said, could I have that Bible? Mr. Wilson said, how could I not give it to him? How much do we value the word of God?
What should I value the word of God? Would I be willing to run for 30 days just so I could have the word of God? We are so blessed. I got so many Bibles in my home.
We give out so many Bibles. Anybody can have it on the internet. Do we value it? Possession doesn't mean much.
We need to value it. We need to read it. Follow it. When I look at Psalm 119, just trying to cut this real short, I don't have 1,677 pages, but I got more than what time allows for now if I want to talk about Lighthouse.
But in there, we read the many different words in Psalm 119, because every verse refers to the law of God. Every verse has a comment there of the word of God, a description of the word of God. So in there, you will find, if you went through it and underlined it as I did, you will find the word law. You will find word.
You will find judgments, testimonies, commandments, statues, precepts. And there's also another word used for the word word. Every verse, except I believe it's 122, has a reference to God's word. And it's not just a reference to a law like people have the 10 Commandments sitting on the law, and it soon becomes like wallpaper.
Nobody even notices it. But it's actually listening to the word of God. And that's what I want to be challenged with, to be actually listening to what God says. You know God only wants the very best for us.
God is not trying to destroy our lives. He's trying to bless our lives. But too many times we try to take control and do things our way. And what do we do?
We make a mess of it. I believe following the Bible, the word of God, is counterintuitive. You know, even in Proverbs 3, it says, lean not on your own understanding. It's not making decisions the way that you think you should.
Don't lean on your own thinking. But in all your ways acknowledge Him. And He will direct our paths. And that's a little bit hard to take sometimes.
And yet when we read many things of what the Lord instructs us to do, whether it's the Beatitudes, God gives us these things not to cripple our lives, not to put a wall around us, but to free us. God knows best. I am slowly starting to appreciate adding to the end of my prayers. I pray sincerely wanting God's best.
And I would pray what I consider humanly calculated, because that's what I am. But at the end I say, but God I want your will. Because I know your will is best. And so that is what I want for my life.
Not my own way, Lord, but your way. In verse 113 it says, I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your law. You know, compared to God's holy view on things which is white and black, I think you would agree that a lot of times the best we can say is we are gray. What's a more biblical name for gray?
lukewarm. lukewarm. We don't want to be lukewarm. We know what God thinks about people that are lukewarm.
We want to be following God's word and we need His direct help along each step. Do we fear God? Verse 136, my eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law. Because I was out with John and others there, Warren and others are downtown on Friday night.
You see the people that are searching for some sort of satisfaction. Are they finding it? They will never find satisfaction. They may find some sort of entertainment for a little while, but they'll never find satisfaction.
And so I am privileged to be able to share the gospel. And with different people we all are privileged. It's a real blessing and we need to do it. So as I consider what is important in God's eyes and what should be there for important in my eyes, I got to keep going back to the Word of God, meditating on His Word and following His Word.
Your clock is fast. I know you don't leave in your clocks here, but you just wanted to give an update on the work on board the freighters with the seafarers. I was thinking here, I've not been here since 2019. It's been a long time and of course a lot of water has gone under the bridge since and a lot of situations have arisen since then.
And I can tell you that COVID was very, very hard on the sailors. Some of them were stuck on board. I talked to one captain one day just as things were lightning up, the flights were not lightning up and he said, I'm signing off today. He says I've been on 14 months on board that ship.
Never gone ashore in 14 months. I tell you that is prison. They got way more freedom in prison than they do on a ship. But I say at least he had a job.
Because for every person that was delayed in getting off the ship, there's somebody at home having an extended vacation, which means no money. Those poor people, I think mainly the Filipinos, which is 50% of what we deal with, those poor Filipinos. So many, all the sailors, so many people depend upon them. It's not that their paycheck does not go to their pocket.
It goes to their mother and father. They're putting a cousin through school. They're helping out an ant. They're helping out somebody and not being able to continue to provide for them.
Just does not put them in a bad situation. It puts all their family in a terrible situation. I'm very thankful to say that we never stopped visiting the ships. There was a time there where we were only going up onto the deck of the ship.
But we would have wonderful conversations. Yes, we were wearing our mask and our gloves and carrying hand sanitizer everywhere we went. But we had wonderful times with them. And I would say there was a softening of their hearts, as we would share with the sailors.
But sadly, I would say that since then, there has been a hardening of the hearts. For those that did not repent. I should better back up a second here. For those who do not know me and never met me, I work in Vancouver.
On board the big freighters, as you see coming into your port here. And we have them, I go on board and visit with a crew. We also have two Siemens missions, like a man cave with pool and ping pong. And you'll see some slides here.
I remember I didn't click to that now. Which way do I point? There we go. You can see just I think our Siemens clubs are beautifully decorated, very welcoming to the crew.
But as I think of the crew that finally started coming back into our centers and that. So we have a two in the Vancouver area that are open every night of the year, from 6 PM till 10 PM. And we invite them to this. So we kind of got two sides to the ministry.
One in our centers, one on board. And so we have port passes. Transport Canada actually allows us to go on to the end of the port. They consider us seafarers welfare organizations.
And they allow us to go into the port and up to the ship. But it is a captain who allows us on to the ship. And you know, 95, 98% of the time, there's no problem going into the ship. And sitting down with the crew there.
But as is we have continued on and there's so many opportunities. And even though there's a heart in the heart, there's a great need. There is such a great need. And we run into all types of people like they do downtown.
Some are interested. Some mock. Some laugh. Some will give you not even the time of day.
Some of them will literally turn their back on me. There are some nationalities. That's their way of telling me go away. They just turn their back on me.
But we have so many wonderful rewarding conversations. And our practice is there, our purpose is to love and honor God by serving the seafarers of the world in word and deed. If you said, I'm only allowed to go on board and take the Bible and preach from the Bible to them, I would say, I don't want to do that. I want to help these people.
I want to, you know, take them to Walmart if they need to go. Help them to find something. Help them to have a micro vacation. Even if it's only four hours to go ashore off the ship.
And so we want to serve them in word and deed. And if you told me, I can only go and drive them around and be a friend to them. But not allowed to share the Bible. I'd say, no, I'm not doing that either.
I want to do both. Help them with their temporal needs. Help them with their eternal needs. I was taking some crew ashore and just kind of taking them part way to the train to go down to Vancouver.
And the weather was starting to turn a bit. And I said to one of the fellas, I said, I hope you have a good time. It looks like it's starting to spit out now. In Vancouver, we know how to do rain.
And I said, I hope you can still have a good time. He said, I'm already having a good time. I'm off that ship. It's just a present for these guys.
So to be able to go ashore and live like a normal person is a big deal to them. The crew in general are very friendly to us, very welcoming. They see us as their friend. As soon as I tell them I'm from the scene of his mission, they will start to ask his questions.
How do we get to Walmart? Where can I find this? I want to go to Best Buy. Can you get a package for me?
And they treat me automatically as a friend, willing to help them. And that's what we are there for. Because there are seafarers ministries around the world. And so they know that we are there for them to help them.
But I would say now since COVID there is more distractions. The ships have more and more Wi-Fi on board. And they just get stuck like everybody else on their phone. I don't know about you, maybe not you.
But me, I spend too much time on my phone. Probably don't on the East Coast. But I'm looking at my phone too often. And that's what these sailors are doing.
They will often be going to their cabin instead of hanging out in the mess room. They're going to their cabins. And they're just on their phone. And it's not all good.
And yes, they're talking to their family a bit. But they're losing that human interaction by just being glued to their phones. And so we actually from the port they have given us portable Wi-Fi units, Wi-Fi units. And I'm reluctant to even give them out knowing that it's actually going to do them more harm than good.
If they need it for an hour to contact family, if their ship has no internet for them, then that's a good thing. But to give them eight hours of Wi-Fi in a row, I don't see. Nobody needs that. And it's not helpful for anybody.
So we have to be carefully how we give it out. But sometimes we're on ships. And we are treated rudely. And I get very upset with that.
I've come to be your friend. I've come to help you. And even if I just want to drive you somewhere to help you. But they take it upon themselves to treat us rudely.
And I think next time the next ship comes back, I'm not going on it. But I realize how wrong I am. Who else is going to tell these men the gospel? Who else is going to bring the gospel to them?
They're probably not going to hear it in their own country. But God is bringing them to us. God is bringing them to me to share the gospel with them. And I pray and repent before God.
I am sorry for my attitude, getting in the way of your word. And Lord, help me to continue to go on. And so I'm going on ships. There's a couple of lines that come in every six weeks into our port.
We're going back and forth to Asia. And we're back in our port. I know the ships. I know many of the crew.
And I get treated the same way. But I just keep trying to focus. Lord, they need you. And I ask myself this.
Do I love the gospel or do I love the souls of men and women? I know many people that love the gospel. They could listen to it day in and day out. I was raised in the gospel hall.
I actually have, I think, a personal world record of going to gospel meetings. I love the gospel. But do I love the souls of men and women? What's the difference?
Well, with the souls of men and women, I tell you I'll be praying. I'll be caring. I won't just be trying to warm a seat. I'll be doing something about it.
I won't be just sitting there. I will be earnestly praying because it's only the work of the Holy Spirit. And yet when we go on board, we meet many people. And we know the Lord has prepared us.
We know the Lord has prepared the way. He has given us this opportunity. They have an ache in their heart. They are longing for something.
They are searching for something. You can see, yeah, our nicely decorated West Coast themed Siemens clubs there. The crew do love to hang out there and spend time there. And I look at, as I tell the crew, I said, I think being a seafare is a good job, but not an easy job.
You see, it's like golden handcuffs. Nobody likes to be away from their family for nine months at a time. That's hard. And they just don't do it once.
They're home for two or three months and then they're back on board again and they do it to home for two or three months. Home is the ship. Home is not the Philippines or wherever they are from. Home is on board.
That's where they spend most of the time. And so when I look at this, what they face there, they face seasickness. Most get a little hard into it, but you meet cadets. And they're almost green.
And you can see they're losing weight because the oceans are wild, especially in the winter time. The ships can be literally rolling up to 45 degrees. And I'm thinking, is it starts to get here if I was on board, I'd be like, okay, it's not stopping. It's not stopping.
It's not stopping. Okay, it's not stopping. And it's just relentless. How do you sleep?
They get thrown off of their bunks. They take their mattresses and put it on the floor because you can't get thrown off the floor. But you get rolled around, tossed back and forth, sleep-ness-ness. It's very hard.
The stress of the job. There are more and more inspectors coming on board the ships. That's good, but they're not giving time for that. You got to take it out of your sleep time.
It's always very hard on them there. Homesickness is always a big one. They will be talking to me, we'll have you having a great time. And I asked if they're lonely.
They all say, yes. They readily admit the loneliness, the homesickness, the fatigue from the long hours of sleep disturbances, it's not an easy job. It's a good paying job for them, but it's not an easy job. For most of them, even the most junior position pays far more than they would get at home.
One man I talked to, he was the mess man. So that's just kind of the servant clean up the tables and serving the captain and his meal and that. That'd be the lowest paying job on the ship other than a cadet. And he told me he made $1,000 US a month.
All he's on board, that's not 12 months a year, that's well, he's on board, $1,000. And he happened to tell me that his brother was a police officer in the Philippines and I said, how much would your brother make? Oh, $600 US. So even compared to that, he's still making good money, but it does not come easy.
My wife comes down and helps and she changes our house to a home when she is there. She changes our center from a house to a home. The crew like to meet her, to talk to her. My wife is getting better and better at Ping Pong and give them a run for her money.
And so she likes to connect with them and talk to them. And I have to say about my wife, she is not long before she's turning around to the gospel and talking to them about the gospel. So it's normally this is I'll say a man's ministry, but on board it is, I would never send a woman on board alone. But to have a woman along is a good thing.
And in the cruise ship ministry, which we do in Victoria, the women are really important. Because you know on a cruise ship, they will have about 1,000 plus sailors, more than half maybe ladies. It's really the perfect situation for a grandmotherly type woman, somebody that they can relate to. And not just a grandmotherly type, but those are special ones where they can put their arm around them and encourage them.
There's many temptations and trials there. This is on the bridge of a ship. And the fella in the scarf in the middle, he is the captain from Bangladesh. I had a beautiful conversation with him.
Of course from Bangladesh, he's going to be a muscle. And he just thought Canada was the coldest place in the world and it should not be inhabited. It's just too cold to be there in Canada. And it was a little bit chilly for us that morning.
Some of you maybe couldn't relate. I was able to share the gospel with him. And of course, he's a very smart man, very well-spoken, very well-educated. But we had a wonderful conversation.
Did I move his thinking? I don't know. But we tried to sew the seat and we left the Word of God with him. The man in the good head of hair there on your left, he is a chief officer from India.
I had a wonderful long talk with him. He listened really well. His wife was a professor. They have a daughter, I think it was a four-year-old daughter.
But his in-laws have rejected him. And now that they've rejected him, they've also rejected her and her grandchild. So they totally shut them off. And they just can't believe that she would have married this guy.
And I don't know if it was a caste issue or what it was, but it was totally rejected. But he told me this story. He's a Hindu. But he told me this story.
He says, I worked with a Swedish captain who was a strong atheist. And he says, he would try to convince everybody on the ship about atheism. He says, but I seen this one day in a storm. And it was a wild storm.
He says, I seen that captain on his knees praying. In the bridge, praying to God. He said he wasn't an atheist. He was trying to prove himself that he was an atheist.
But God will come up and shook him up. And that's where I can say God is merciful. These storms that people face, these storms of the sea or storms of life that people face, it's God's mercy. It's mercy that he brings us through.
But he wants us to turn to him. We have many great conversations there. I think you, some of you, many of you, had no wing in. Gone to glory, love wing.
Him and my good friend Ken Rice said, did a lot of work down in El Salvador. And I've always said about the two when they were living. If we have guardian angels, when they're in El Salvador, they need a 10 to keep up with them. The situations that they got into as they were sharing the gospel, I was always surprised they made it home alive.
And they went to, it wasn't for the Lord protecting them. But when he came out to Vancouver, he had messaged me that he wanted to go on a ship with me. So we arranged the day, but he was telling me there that he wasn't feeling so well. But we went into the crew mess and the Lord just brought, well, made us arrive at just the right time because there was like four or five Filipinos plus three Eastern Europeans there.
Normally the Eastern Europeans would not stick around to listen to the gospel, but he did. And so I was able just to chat with the guys where you're from. When you're going home, that's the most important question, how much longer on your contract and your family, your children, and turning it around to the gospel. And then Wayne got up there and if you knew Wayne, he had his three ropes there, his gospel illustration with the three ropes.
And so it was a wonderful time. And I think that was on a Wednesday or Thursday. And I knew he wasn't feeling too well. On Saturday, he was supposed to go over to Vancouver Island to preach on Sunday.
And I messaged him there and I said, did you get over to the island? He says, no, I'm in emergency right now. And at midnight, he messaged me. My phone was not with me and he wrote cancer.
And we know that I think it was like five months that he lived. A very, very short time after. I can tell you this, we need more Wayne Gindens. Bold with the gospel.
Fearless with the gospel. At the front of the table there, we brought in Burger King for the guys. It's my piece, the best price for fast food. And it's not too far from the center, so we'll often pick it up for the guys.
They love a greasy hamburger after eating the ship food, which is normally good, not always, but normally good, but they love the grease once in a while. But the two fellows in the front were both Ukrainians. And it was a Saturday night and I'm thinking they're only passing through. They're waiting for us to call them a taxi because they're going to a bar.
They stayed the whole night. And I found out actually they're both believers. It was a wonderful time. A fellowship there.
As Ruth was there, so we were singing and sharing the word of God with them there. So each night we gather them together at a certain point and bring the word of God to them, sharing a gospel message with them. And giving them gospel to John's Romans, we have a little booklet that we have gotten printed just for us, Gospel to John Romans. And we received three years ago, we received our first batch of 10,000.
And a year ago we had to order more. And we don't just drop 10, 20 around. We want to give it personally and we want to open it with them. And we've given out over 10,000 plus we have our new testaments that we give out.
We just got a reorder of 7,000. So the word of God is going out there, which I am so thrilled about. And I just would pray that they would read it. With the gospel of John Romans, I challenged them.
I said, five minutes a day, you'll read one chapter. In just over a month you'll be finished. I guarantee you'll be blessed. But if you don't open it, you'll never know.
They'll never help you. So we're trying to encourage them. This happened to be on Christmas day a year and a half ago at our center in the North Vancouver area. We even had an Indian captain and his wife.
They were both really into it and active because we had special treats and games and prizes and gift bags for everybody. It's hard to get away from your family on Christmas day, but it is a blessing to be with the sailors. Everybody has a good time. These people are missing home and more so at Christmas or an anniversary or birthday.
But to be able to take them and have games and laughter and fun is a real blessing to them. They like to get my pictures, especially after I share the gospel. And I don't beat around talking about sin and our secrets. I will ask them there.
I said, if you're like me, you have secrets. I mean, we'll squirm, look around in it. We all have secrets. Yeah, we do.
Are they good secrets? No, they're not good. That's why we want to keep them a secret. But I said, you know God knows it.
So it's not really a secret. I said, the people that tell me they have no secrets, I said, well, you're actually right because God knows. That's the problem. And I take them to the Word of God and I show them how they can have forgiveness.
And even though I don't know where they actually stand or what they did with the message, I appreciate that they wanted my picture. It means to me that I'm a friend. I've given them good news. This here, fella here.
I heard on his ship there was an Indonesian captain but all Filipino crew except one Indonesian. So I go on to the bridge of the ship and there's this young guy there in his sporty clothes and you don't see it there but his white runners and this Filipino guy. And so I'm chatting with him and I said, what's your position, sir? He said, I'm the captain.
No, you're not. The captain is Indonesian. And I had a question again. I'm the captain.
I said, well, I thought the captain was from Indonesia. He said, I am. I've gotten to learn to be able to distinguish a lot of the Asian countries and I can see if someone's Korean or they're Chinese or certainly Filipino. But I thought this guy looked like a Filipino and so I was quite shocked and he was so young and we had a wonderful time talking and he told me, when I first became a captain, he says I had to grow hair on my face because everybody thought I was a boy but he was a very young captain and I think it was like 30 or 31 years old and that's a very high-paying position, a very responsible position.
But he told me, he showed me a picture of him and his wife in Indonesia. Of course, being Muslim, she's got her head all covered in that. And then we somehow got talking about music and he says, oh, he says, I'm a DJ in the clubs and he showed me a picture of his wife singing in the club and him being the DJ and I thought, well, that looks a lot different than the wife you showed me earlier with her head all covered in that. But this was her life there but he listened very well to the gospel message.
The man in the blue there is the chief engineer on board and so I went on board and was just chatting with him in the mess room and he said, we are on standby waiting for Transport Canada to come on for inspection. And after chatting for a while, I said, well, do you want to come down and talk to my crew? We're just on standby. We're just waiting.
So he invites me to come down into the engine room and in the office of the engine room, we're standing there with all the gauges and control. His crew are all there and they're very, you know, it's all really authoritative. And when he says they will do, so he says to the guys, guys, come on, I want you to listen. He pulled them all together for me to share the gospel with them.
And what an opportunity it was. And giving them out the gospel of John and Romans and getting them to read through different stories, it was awesome to be with them. The fella in the front there in the orange coveralls. I've been at his parents home in Philippines.
His father is a believer. He was saved through reading the ABCs of the gospel that was in the front of our Bible. He was a second officer and he was injured on the job and could not continue. So he went and became a pastor in the Philippines, just outside of Manila.
And so I was there visiting with him and I met his son who's a second engineer now. But when I went on board, I seen him there and I was going to take some of the guys to the shopping mall. And I love taking them to the mall because they're a captive audience in my car. They can't get out.
They don't know where else to go. And so they're totally dependent upon me. And I can be like the taxi drivers, take the long way around, you know, before I get there. Well, I started talking to them.
And together we quoted John 3.16. And the fellow with a baseball cap in the middle there on backwards, I said to him, I said, do you believe John 3.16? Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir.
I said, well, here's a little test. Because we had talked about our secrets. I said, if you were to die today, where would you go? He said, oh, I would go to purgatory.
I'd be tried and tested and then I'd go to heaven. I said, oh, are you aware that purgatory is not in the Bible? He looked at me. It's not in the Bible.
No, it's not in the Bible. I said, I've read through the Bible many times. It's not there. And two guys in the backseat spoke up and said, yeah, it's not there.
He was just so bewildered. I said, and not only is it not there, why would we need it? If Jesus Christ paid for all of our sins, why would we need anything else? It's not there and we wouldn't even need it if it was there.
When he got out of the car, I think he would still be wielded. I pray that he reads the Bible because it's got good, good news. You know, we are sowing the seed. And is every farmer that sows the seed of the Word of God?
What's he waiting for? He's waiting for the harvest. He's waiting for the harvest time. Quick last story.
I was on a ship there maybe two weeks ago and talking to different people. And then one cadet was left in the room. And I said to him, do you have a Bible? Yes.
Are you reading it? He gets up and he walks across from me and he says, I'm a believer. He said, I'm a Christian. But he says, sometimes I don't feel like I am.
Can you imagine being on board a ship with ungodly men for nine months? He said, I'm not doing good. And as we started to talk, I could relate. I could relate to his struggles.
And I opened up Psalm 51 to him. And he started to read it. He started to cry. He started to sob.
And he says, I feel a burden be lifted. I love Psalm 51. It's the most shared chapter I share with the sailors. Many verses, but the chapter I share, Psalm 51, God's forgiveness.
He told me later, he says, I've been fighting God for a long time. He says, my parents are believers. I went to church. I would go occasionally with him and pretend I was one of them.
But he said, I know I've been a long ways from God. And he said, they knew it too. But he says, I feel this burden being lifted. And I was just, I don't maybe cry outwardly, but I just cry inwardly.
And I think of God's mercy, that he would take us back again. How merciful. After this, very touching time I spent with him. For me it was very touching.
I got to thinking of a song. And I don't know why this song came to my mind. It's a secular song. But it's this song, Ty, a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree.
And if you know that song, you're giving away your age. But it's a wonderful song that I never even, I don't know, won 20, 30 more years ago that I even thought of that song. But it came to my mind. And I realized the beautiful story.
Here's a man. He's been in prison for three long years. And he writes a letter to his wife. Will you take me back?
And he's coming back. He's out of prison. He's on the bus. And he's asked his wife, if you want me, Ty a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree.
And of course, as he's coming towards town, I'm sure his stomach's in a knot. Will he find forgiveness? Does his wife want him back? And he says that if there's no yellow ribbon, I'll stay on the bus.
I'll forget about us and I'll blame it all on me. Well, that to me sounds a man who is sorry. He's repentant. But he needs forgiveness.
For reconciliation, you need repentance and forgiveness. And of course, he can't even look at the tree. And he tells a bus driver, I'm still in prison waiting to see if he will be forgiven. And he tells the bus driver, I can't even look.
Tell me if there's a yellow ribbon in the old oak tree. And if you know the song, there isn't one yellow ribbon. There's 100. 100 waiting for him.
Can you imagine the tears, the joy? And you know what? That's our Lord Jesus Christ. I think of the prodigal son, the father, is waiting for him.
Not to treat him badly. Not to punish him as he deserves, but to take him back. You know, I often let my mind daydream. And I hope only good things.
But I think of what it will be like in heaven around our Savior. Maybe after the first million years of being in awe of my Savior, someone may tap me on the shoulder and say, do you remember me? And I mean, look at him. Lord, this is the man that shared the gospel with me.
Lord, this is my parents. They were faithful in sharing the gospel to me. And maybe I'll see somebody, I can't believe your hair. When I talk to you about the gospel, you weren't interested.
But now you're interested. Oh, I think it's going to be such a wonderful time around our Savior. Our eyes will be focused on him. He will be the center of everything.
But as we were there with those who brought to the Lord, those who have brought us to the Lord, what a joyful occasion it will be. It was joyful to see everybody's greeting each other. But I think it will be even much greater in heaven. What a day that will be.
Don't go to heaven alone. Take somebody with you. We need prayer at Lighthouse. There's a couple men visiting the ships here at the carport in Dartmouth.
There's still many other ports that have nobody sharing the gospel with them that I'm aware of. There's somebody in St. John Steve Bud who is sharing the gospel. They are very thankful.
He goes to one port. But there's other ports. So why am I back here? Somebody asked?
Well, I want to tell other people about the opportunities that are in your back door. These same opportunities that we have, you could have here. So if you're interested, I'd be happy to talk to you further about how to be get involved in going on board. And the open door that we have, for the most part, we are very well received.
They always offer me lunch. They offer me coffee as soon as I come on board. It's an open door for the gospel. And there's a desperate need.
I feel many times we are at the gates of hell and bidding people to turn, to repent of your sins and come to the Lord. I was on a ship recently. And the captain had asked us to come and to pray for the crew because just two weeks earlier they had had a man die on board. He was only in his 40s.
He had only been on board his ship two weeks. He went up for coffee. And after coffee, he didn't report for work. So they're looking for him.
And he found him slumped over in the bedroom. They were very upset. And they know, one day it could be me. And when you're at sea, a lot of times there's no help available.