Saving Souls

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS Well, but you’re doing more than that, Dino. You’re getting involved in bringing medical help to the people through the hospital.  Now I understand your vision because, as you well know, that’s what our vision is, to take medical missions to the nations of the earth.  So I understand what you’re talking about.

SPKM DINO KARTSONAKIS You know, for years people have seen me play the piano and perform and wear all these wonderful outfits, etc., you know, and they say, that guy has got it made and he goes from one auditorium to the next, one church to the next, you know, and perform every night in spotlights and what have you. But there’s so much more to it.  You know, as Christians it’s not just an entertaining element.  We are to minister. We are called as missionaries and I am called.  I am called and I have a burden on my heart.  Glad Tidings Tabernacle, the little church I was born and raised at in New York City, that’s still there on Toidy-toid Street, you know, in New York City.

We had a pastor that had a mission’s heart and I was raised with a missionary heart. And again, not just till recently were we able to go down at the Haitian Community Hospital.  And I flew in midnight last night, took five flights to get here.  I must really love you, Richard.  And, anyway, I got here.  Cheryl and I arrived and we feel refreshed this morning with a victory in our hearts because we handed to them a check for $32,000 to complete the wing of that hospital, the radiation department.  And we praise God for that and for people who have given like this letter right here, it’s so inspiring.  God has blessed the United States of America because of people like this who have given from their hearts, that’s why God has blessed us.  And He will continue to bless us if we continue to give.

SPRR RICHARD ROBERTS And when you open up your heart and when you give, then the Bible says God responds to your giving.  Now He describes how He responds to SR02 your giving.  The Bible says when you give, He will open you the windows of heaven and He will pour you out a blessing where there shall not be room enough to receive it.  And He will rebuke the devourer, the devil, for your sake. I’ve got good news; God does not need the devourer rebuked.  You and I are the ones who need the devourer rebuked.  And whenever I face a situation, Don and Dino, where I need the devourer rebuked, and the first thing I think of is that Scripture where God told me what to do.  He said, “When you give, I will open you those windows of heaven.”  Whenever I feel like my windows in heaven and I’ve got windows up there and so do you and so do you whenever I feel like my windows are shut, I realize that God didn’t shut them, I did.

And I realize if I want them open I’ve got to give.  And then when I need the devourer rebuked, I know that when I give, God’s going to do it because His SR03 Word is true.  God’s Word is true, He cannot lie.  The Bible says, “He is not a man that he should lie.” God has given us a formula and when we work with His formula, then He multiplies it back to us.  And like this person said, I want to double my giving. He said, “I want to double my giving every year.”  And I just got a letter from a man in Philadelphia who had just sown a very large seed for our medical mission’s project.  And he said to me, “I’ve got a problem.”  And I thought, you know, I’m ready to pray.  And he began to laugh.  And I said, “You’re laughing, but why are you laughing, you say you have a problem?”  He said, “I have a problem.

Every time I give money to you, I get money back.”  And I said, “Well, what’s the problem?”  He said, “I just gave you this large gift.”  I said, “Yes, I know.”  He said, “The Internal Revenue Service just contacted me and told me that I have a tax refund for almost three times what I gave you, unexpected.”  He said, “My problem is, when I give you money I get more money back than I know what to do with.”  I said, “Well, I can alleviate you of some of that problem.”  But you cannot out give God.

SPKM DINO KARTSONAKIS You can’t.

DC: But in recent years I believe that famine that we had in 2005, a news person, the media got hold of it and finally started to air, and that’s when it started becoming a forgotten crisis.  But God has not forgotten Niger.

LR: God was raising up a bunch of kids.

DC: We believe there’s more people out there that God has called to Niger that need to answer that call.

LR: The number-one need, Neal, practically and logically speaking, the kind of people you need, the kind of—and I know you’re starting school.  I mean, you are right in the process—

NC:

Well, we need people that have a vision to reach the unreached, that’s the first thing.  But we have opportunities in the area of education.  We’re believing for some medical outreach.  But we need people that are really just ready to come and be available, faithfulness and ability is probably the biggest thing.

You don’t have to have a lot of qualifications.  If you’re ready to say, “Yes, Lord,” He’s ready to use you.  The harvest is great, the laborers are few.  And that’s because the laborers aren’t willing to go.

And that’s where we’re just telling people, “Come.  It’s time.  You’ve got to answer the call to the mission field.  You’ve got to go out and reach the harvest.”

LR: Is there air-conditioning?

DC: No.

LR: Is it the hottest place in the country, in the world?  Yes.  Is it a mission field?  Yes.  Is it the poorest country in the world?  Yes.  Are people starving?  Yes.

NC: But, you know, it doesn’t matter.  I mean, it doesn’t affect you if you’re hot.  When you’re leading somebody to Christ, you’re fulfilling the purpose that God had for you.  It doesn’t matter how sweaty you are, whatever it is.  You are telling somebody Jesus loves them for the first time.  It’s awesome!

DC: I developed, I guess I would call it maybe a coping mechanism when we first got there.  It is a difficult place to live.  It’s harsh.  It’s a harsh climate.  It’s harsh on your physical body.  It’s harsh on your electronics.  It’s harsh on everything for people there.

And there was a time I felt discouraged, “What am I doing here?  You mean God really called me to this place?”  And it was just a momentary, it wasn’t a long-term.  But, I mean, it was just one of those—and I was hot, you know.

NC: So then we had to say, “Well, you’ve got to get out and go do some ministry.”

DC: I had already committed that day to go out to a village.  I wouldn’t have gone, had I not already made the commitment.  And I went out there, and I was with those people.  I was in a village service.  And it was just like, “This is what it’s all about.”  And I came back so renewed and refreshed after being in ministry.

And Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of my Father.”  And that’s what I realized, so now I know whenever I start felling like that, I need to get out and do some ministry.  And it’s my fix every time.

RR: Dad, I was sitting here thinking back over the years as you were talking. You know, there’s no group of people in the history of this country that have done what the partners of this ministry have done. I remember as a little boy how we had a farm and you’d pitch a tent and our partners would come from all over America and Canada and from foreign nations and how you would say, “We’re going to build a university, will you help me build dormitories, will you help me build classrooms, will you help me start with nothing?” And those partners, somehow, I don’t know how, but somehow that got in their soul. It got down in their gut where they live. And they said, “Yes, I’ll help you. I’ll sponsor a mattress. I’ll sponsor a, I’ll sponsor a door. I’ll sponsor some tiling, some carpet. I’ll sponsor the ceiling. Yes, I’ll help you buy books for your library. Yes, I’ll help you build that Prayer Tower.” You know, here we are this summer, we’ve been remodeling some of those original dormitories. And I was thinking of that. And I thought to myself, where else on the face of this earth are there a group of people like the partners of this ministry who have singlehandedly built a university? And I thought, where else on the face of this earth have partners, have men and women like you stood together to raise the only medical center of its kind where the doctors and the nurses are Spirit-filled, they have great medical abilities but they also know to pray? Where else on the face of this earth? (Applause) And I was thinking, there’s no other group of people, there’s no group of people on the face of this earth. You say, what are you trying to say? I’m trying to say what Paul the apostle said to the church at Philippi when he wrote in the 4th chapter, when he said, “Nobody communicated with me except you concerning giving and receiving.” There’s nobody that’s done what you’ve done. There’s no one who has built a university like what you have built through this family. There’s no one like you who has built a medical research center where prayer and medicine science are being joined together. Nobody has done it. Nobody has built a Healing Outreach Center with the Journey Through the Bible like you’ve built. And the good news is, it’s only in its first phase. There’s lots more to come. When you go through the Journey Through the Bible this summer or this fall or whenever you come to Tulsa, the first part is only done and you only get through Genesis. There’s the whole Bible all the way through Revelation to be done. But my point is, nobody has done what you’ve done. And I believe that the partners of this ministry are going to rise to the occasion because we are on the way now. We are not going to lose. We’re going to go over the top for God and the nations of this earth are going to be reached with the medical missionaries. Hallelujah!

RR:  Dad, there’s somebody watching right now that God has been speaking to while you’ve been sharing on this program today.  And they are in a position where they could sponsor an entire medical student at $45,000.  You know you’ve been hearing Oral, Evelyn, Richard, Lindsay Roberts talk, but on the inside you’ve beenhearing God speak. Now you say, but how could I do it?  Well, you could do it all at one time.  You could do it by writing out a check.  You are in position to do that.  Or maybe you have a piece of property that is about to be sold.  You could do it through that piece of property.  Or you may be able to do it through a gift of stock or real estate, something like that.  Or maybe through a life loan agreement.  Or through a gift annuity with this ministry.  If God is speaking in your heart, He has a way for you to do what He’s calling you to do.  You need to be a part of this.  It’s going to be a great miracle in your life and I’m God is speaking in people’s hearts right now to sow a seed of–well, He’s talking to one man right now to sow a seed of $10,000 today on your Master Card, your Visa or your American Express.  And by the way, you can call the Abundant Life Prayer Group at area code 918-495-7777 and you can put a Seed-Faith gift immediately on your credit card and it will be sown into the good soil of the gospel today.  Or you may feel like sitting down and writing out a check for $1,000.  Many people who are watching me right now can give $1,000 this month and $1,000 next month. There are others who are watching who can give $500.  You say, well I can’t give that much.  Well, let me tell you, friend, little is much when God is in it.  Maybe you can give $100. Maybe you can give $50.  Maybe you can give $25.  Maybe you can only give $10.  But every seed sown toward this project will be multiplied. You can be a part of it.  God has something special for you.  And when you do it, when you sow it in this good soil, expect, expect, expect God to multiply it back to you a hundredfold.  Take Him at His word. (Applause)  Give God your best and then ask Him for His best.  Let’s join together and pray.  Mother.

ER:  I wanted to say just a word before we pray, Richard.  I have a feeling that there’s a pastor sitting out there watching this program and he is thinking in his spirit, well maybe I should examine our missions program.  Maybe we’re not giving to good soil where we’re getting people saved and healed.  Maybe I should examine it and see. And maybe that pastor will want to redirect some of the missions money toward a medical student here.  And, you know, I just have a feeling that somebody, some pastor is going to do that today.  I really believe that.

To operate it, to maintain it, John. To operate, Richard Roberts mean we have to have gas to operate our car. And, John, you know, the wonderful thing, the good news is, that we don’t have any debt on the entire university. Every building is paid for. There’s not a dime borrowed on any building on this campus.

I was recently on a university–if I called its name, you’d thought, oh, I thought it was paid for–they owe something like $120 million on this university and it’s a big name university. I was there to speak. But I want to tell you something, when you can hear the kind of statistics that I just spit out and maybe you’re just a person that numbers don’t mean anything. But to those of us men of God who are on the front lines every day, who have to function and move and have our being in this world of business, listen, without first your prayers and your concern and your continually doing it month after month–now where the problem comes, Richard, God showed me, that there had been people that had been blessed by you and Lindsay and Richard Roberts and Evelyn and all the Singers and the university.

There’s alumni out here probably that sort of might have backed off.Thousands,Thousands,Thousands of alumni. 15% maybe for some reason, whatever, become a little disjointed or maybe you said, well you didn’t like what happened. But let me tell you something, take it from this perspective, who do you know that’s doing any more? Who do the know the devil has fought any harder? When have you ever heard of a family going through such insidious deaths, problems? I was here when your first baby died, bless his little soul, singing on the front row of the boy’s choir in heaven.

Heartaches only last for a season, but dreams are forever. And what’s 15%? It ain’t nothing where God’s concerned. And you watch, you watch. There’s some of you watching today that’s saying, “John Wesley, you’ve really got stirred up.” I get stirred up when my friends come under attack. Now when I come under attack I tend to just sit back and maybe somebody will call me and say that’s when we’ve got to come to your aid though, John.