I'll never forget,
I had flown into Peru,
and some people had given me some money to buy pastoral libraries.
And I flew into Peru,
and got there real late.
About go to my sleeping quarters about 2am,
after going through customs and everything.
But something just...
I couldn't sleep.
I had to go the book store the next day.
I didn't know why.
'Why should I go to the bookstore in Lima?'
But I just knew.
"I gotta go to the bookstore tomorrow."
Well, you've got several days, you can do that later.
"No, I've got to to go now!"
I remember, I took a taxi there.
And got there too early and the doors weren't even open.
It's the one good bookstore there in Peru.
And I walk near the store and I see this little man.
And I could tell he was from the jungles of San Martín,
because I had worked there before.
And I see him sitting there on the curb,
kinda looking around,
and I set down beside him.
I said, "¿Cómo estás?"
You know, what is going on? Where are you from?
And he started telling me and we started talking
about places I had been, where he'd been.
And I said, "What are you doing all the way in Lima?"
Well, it took me three days to get here.
Back of trucks and buses.
And I said, "What are you doing here?"
He goes, "I'm pastoring, I've become a pastor."
And he goes, "My church gathered up some money,
for me to come buy some books."
When he said that my heart just broke.
Because I knew that the money they gave him
wasn't enough to buy a tract in that store.
I set there and said, "Oh that's good."
So the door finally opened and we went in.
And I went in and I just started,
I knew what pastoral libraries I needed to buy,
and things I needed to get for poor pastors.
So I'm just heaping it all up in piles and going along,
and I think I had two guys helping me there in the store,
get all of the books together.
And I watched that man out of the corner of my eye.
And he'd go to one book shelf and you would see him look.
He'd go to another,
and then finally he went to a little place where they sold Chick Tracts,
and I saw him pick out about four.
And just the look at his face.
You know and he walks up to the counter.
It was like the greatest day of my life.
He walks up to the counter,
he bought them.
He is just kinda standing there and I walked over to him.
I said, "Hey, how is it going?"
He didn't even say anything.
He was just broke.
I said, "What books did you get?"
He goes, "I didn't get any books."
And I said, "Do you know where I'm from?"
He said, "No."
I said, "I'm from the United States."
"Do you know how far away that is?"
He said, "No."
I said, "About six thousand miles."
I said, "Do you know how much my plane ticket cost?"
And he was like looking at me like, 'Why are you saying this to me?'
I said, "Do you know how much my plane ticket cost?"
He said, "No."
I said, "About $800."
"Do you know when I got here?"
He said, "No."
I said, "2am this morning."
"Do you know that I couldn't sleep?"
He said, "No... I didn't know you couldn't sleep."
(Laughter)
And I said, "Do you know why?"
He said, "Why?"
Now you're looking at a man that if he held five dollars in his hand
he wouldn't know what to do.
I said, "A few months ago,
God raised up a group of people in the United States,
and they gave me money
and then I bought a plane ticket for $800,
and I flew in a plane here.
And I landed here last night,
all the way from the United States.
And I couldn't sleep all night,
and so I got in a Taxi this morning
and I made my way down here.
Do you know why?
He said, "No."
"To buy you every book you're ever going to need."
I said, "Do you realize the love of God..."
I love that because if God loves him that much
He loves me that much!
He loves you that much!
Just think about that.
God moved people from an entirely different nation.
God spent all kinds of money,
bought a plane ticket,
for one reason:
a little Indian in the middle of the jungle.
And if you say, "coincidence" you're a blasphemer and a fool.
God did that for him.
Isn't that wonderful?
We've got such a good God!
Wonderful God!
[Clapping]
Just got a wonderful God!
And that's what missions is about.
It seems like we go to the mission field
and we jump completely over the church
to do our own thing with the lost.
You ever realize that?
I see missionaries and mission groups doing this all of the time.
Jump right over the church
to go do something with the lost.
My thing is the bride of Christ.
If we help the bride become beautiful and strong in those countries.
She'll take care of the lost.
We need to pour our lives into the church
because that's the only place God's determined to get glory for Himself.