[Milan Bizic] We all share the message of hope for all of mankind that the Feast of
Tabernacles pictures.
The mission of preaching the gospel to all the world is built on this hope.
The United Church of God is working in some new and exciting ways to preach that message
and care for God’s disciples, no matter where they are.
Peter Eddington will update us on our expansion to streaming services.
And then, finally, we’ll take a look at the challenging and inspiring work being done
to preach the gospel in India.
But first, we’ll talk to Gary Petty about the impact of Beyond Today Live events.
[Steve Myers] “You see, when you understand God’s purpose for your life, it changes
everything.”
[Gary Petty] “This is about having God come into your life to change you – to make you
into His child.”
For about a year now, we’ve been doing this Beyond Today Live seminars and just traveling
all over the country.
It’s been very exciting to go meet different people.
You know, Mr. Kubik had a very definite concept of what he wanted to achieve.
And that is, to be a link between people who watch the program, or get the magazine, or
think of the hundreds of thousands of people who come onto the Website...well, we have
to connect them to the church.
How do we make that jump?
And how do we make a personal connection?
In this way, we give them the information, and then we try to hand them off to the local
pastor.
Everything we do in media is to draw people into God and the information.
But the relationships…that happens one on one.
The relationships – the real discipling – happens inside a congregation.
The purpose is a connection between what we do in media and the local church.
And that’s what we’re trying to accomplish.
You know, one of the things that has been encouraging to us is, every place we have
gone, local members have come and been incredibly supportive.
They’re there to help and to serve.
And to talk with them – how excited they are – and to watch them interact with people
that they know are new – “Hey, that’s not a member of my congregation” – and
to see that people realize that they’re a part of this, too.
This isn’t just, “Oh, these guys do this,” or “these writers do this,” or “these
presenters….”
No, no, no.
We’re all involved in this.
Preaching the gospel is something we all do.
Every member of the congregation is involved.
And to see them involved, to see them talking to people and answering their questions…I
think, personally, that this is an important lesson.
It’s an exercise in reaching out beyond ourselves.
Because if we just get to be congregations that are inward, we’ll die.
We have to be looking outward to where God is working and what God is doing.
And we’re supposed to bring this message to people, even if they don’t respond.
We’re supposed to give it.
And to watch people do that, for me, has been encouraging and makes me want to keep doing
Beyond Today – because of what people in the church are doing.
[Peter Eddington] “It’s looking good so far.
We’ve got a lot of sign-ups.
We’ve got a lot guests tonight and praying that our presenters will nail it.”
[Gary Petty] You know, one important thing we’re trying to do is, we’re trying to
reach people where they are.
Sometimes we expect people to come to us where we are, and we forget that the process we
all went through, where God called us, and the steps we took.
We see the apostle Paul – perfect example of a person who went where people were.
He went to Rome.
He went to Athens.
He stood up on the street corners at times, and said, “Look, I have a message.”
The preaching of the gospel is something everybody is supposed to be involved in and it’s active.
It’s not just sitting back and waiting.
And that’s what makes these events so important.
[Rudy Rangel] “Yeah, we’re setting up a camera here tonight.
Jamie’s going to get some promo shots tonight.
We have two screens – they’re kind of like set pieces.
We’ll have America, The Time is Now logo on there.
Also, there’ll be some of the slides from the guys’ presentations.
Yeah, we’ve got a good team.
Setup is going smooth so far.”
[Gary Petty] The crew spends a lot of time and effort and work – setting up, taking
down, running the slides, and so forth.
And there are times when I’ve admitted…I thought, “We’re going to have to travel
eight hours to get there, and eight hours back.”
But every time I’ve gone to one, I’ve come away with a positive feeling – God’s
doing something!
In the end, that’s what this is all about.
We’re not supposed to bring people to us.
We’re supposed to bring people to God.
And when you see people come, and they ask questions, and they’re excited, you see
where God is touching their lives.
That’s what it’s all about.
We’re preaching the gospel and then we’re trying to care for the people that God calls.
And this is all about preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God until Christ returns.
[Milan Bizic] While Beyond Today Live reaches people in an intimate setting, we’re also
developing ways to reach people in their homes more easily.
Now that more and more people are moving away from cable TV, streaming devices are in millions
of homes.
Let’s take a look at how we’re making Beyond Today and the Bible’s message of
hope available on demand any time of day.
[Peter Eddington] The number of Internet users worldwide is right around 3.4 billion people.
So, around 44% of the world’s population uses the Internet regularly.
And so that’s why we, at the United Church of God, are putting a lot more emphasis on
streaming technology and online video.
We’ve developed apps that are available on ROKU, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and on
a whole host of smart televisions, like Samsung TVs, for example.
And what these do is, enable viewers to watch us right on their television sets, as before,
but in a much more flexible way than is possible just through satellite TV, or cable TV, or
even over-the-air broadcast TV, where the program comes on at just one particular hour
on one day of each week.
Now it’s on demand and people can watch it when it’s convenient for them.
One lady told me she watched ten Beyond Today programs in a row, and then called our pastor
to get more information about the church.
And so, you can binge-watch religion, too, if you want.
The message that changed our lives is the same message that can change other people’s
lives.
The message of God’s Kingdom is a message that brings hope to people who are looking
for answers.
In the past, the church capitalized on the emerging media of the time, whether it was
radio, or early versions of print – magazines – black and white television.
Now we have the Internet.
And now, connected to the Internet, are streaming apps.
Time will tell, but we believe that the seeds we are sowing will germinate and will bear
fruit at the right time and as God wills.
We’ve been given a job to do.
Please pray for God to bless the work and effort of His church in caring for the flock
and in preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
[Milan Bizc] From the beginning, the United Church of God set out a two-fold mission – preaching
the gospel and preparing a people.
This mission is global in scope and now we’re going to look at how it’s being accomplished
in India.
[Indian woman]: “So I said in my heart, with tears in my eyes, as I lifted up my eyes,
‘Who is this God?
Seek me and tell me, “Come to Me.”’
The true God…the true God I want, not the god…a false god.”
[Milan Bizic] India is the world’s second most populous country.
It’s size and diversity presents unique challenges for preaching the gospel, as well
as unique opportunities for making new disciples of Jesus Christ.
India has 1.3 billion people – all living in an area one-third the size of the continental
United States.
Of India’s 1.3 billion, only about 2-3% of people identify as Christians.
To put that into perspective, the Christian population of India is still larger than the
total population of Australia.
[Dave Schreiber] We’re here in India.
It’s the Sabbath and we’re on our way to a city called Gudivada.
We’re going to meet a man there, by the name of Joseph Usala, who we’ve seen…probably
this is about our third time that we’ve had a chance to visit with him.
And he’s arranged for a couple of meetings today with some ministers in the region.
So that’s what is going to be happening today.
And we hope and pray that God will inspire everything that takes place.
[Milan Bizic] Dave Schreiber and his wife, Jolinda, along with a few other volunteers,
have been traveling to India, visiting people who have come across the gospel message and
the United Church of God.
[Dave Schreiber] “We’re going to talk about the God of this Bible.
We’re going to be talking about the God of this Bible.”
“…and God says in the next verse – verse 12 – He says, ‘When you call upon me and
pray to Me, I will listen to you.’
[Joseph Usala] In 2005, pastor Dave Schreiber, came to India and I have translated his message
and it was very inspiring.
And he preached on the Sabbath day, and as I have been studying the Bible, I came to
know that the Sabbath day is not on Sunday.
It is on Saturday.”
[Dave Schreiber] We’re here in Visakhapatnam, and we’re about to meet with eleven people
from Jagat pita.
And they’re led by a man who found us on the Website – United Church of God – and
has begun to understand some of our scriptural understandings of the Sabbath and of the Kingdom
of God.
And so we’re looking forward to spending some time with them today – to go into these
topics a little bit further.
[Milan Bizic] India is primarily a Hindu nation.
Since Hinduism doesn’t have a universally recognized weekly day of worship, most businesses
and schools have a six-day work week.
[Prabaka] So the school where my children are studying is a Hindu school and all the
teachers are Hindus.
But here we have a problem – that my children will be at the house or go to church on every
Sabbath day.
So the management will not permit that.
But, according to the commandment of God, I don’t send my children to the school on
every Sabbath day.
[Praisy] I didn’t go to school on the Sabbath day.
And I will go Monday to school, and they give me a punishment for two hours – to stand
outside.
[Milan Bizic] On top of the religious challenges, day-to-day living can be difficult as well.
Many of the people we’re working with have very little in the way of physical wealth.
Their homes are small – many without walls and ceilings.
People rely on God to provide.
For new contacts, many of whom are coming from other Christian churches, are focusing
on some of the basic doctrinal points of the Bible, like the Sabbath, or the festivals.
[Dave Schreiber] “Now, Jesus Christ was baptized.
Why did He have to be baptized?”
[Indian man]: I came from the Sunday keeper….
I went to the conference.
Dave Schreiber explained about part of the Feasts to us.
He was telling us of truth, showing us scriptures.
And he used some books by the United Church of God – Holidays and Holy Days – some
of the booklets, and also some of the topics – he gave us freely.
[Milan Bizic] Many of our contacts have been incredibly helpful to the church in translating
our literature into the local languages.
[Joseph] We want to proclaim, too.
We want to preach the gospel.
So the best way is to introduce the United Church of God, an International Association,
because they have very good study materials.
And we translated a few of their booklets.
And apart from that translating, we also distribute booklets – like these kind of booklets – we
have given to the interested persons.
In that way, we use to proclaim the true gospel of
the Kingdom.
[Milan Bizic] In a country of 1.3 billion people, millions of gods, and countless, insurmountable
social problems, the gospel of the Kingdom of God is alive and it is powerful!
Many of those who are in contact with us explain that the gods of Hinduism don’t offer hope
for the future.
Our God, though, is able to create hope where there formerly was none.
Please pray for the work that is being done in India.
Please pray for Indian brethren and for those who God is still in the process of calling
to Him.
Most importantly, please pray for the coming of Jesus and the kingdom of peace that He
will bring with Him.
[Dave Schreiber] “What are some of the things that it says here in 1 Thessalonians, chapter
4?
It says, ‘There’s going to be what?
– What’s going to happen?
What do we read?
– there’s going to be a shout.’
Okay, so is it going to happen secretly?
No.”