Facing the Canon with Andy Economides

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A warm welcome to all my YouTube subscribers.  Welcome to Facing the Canon. My guest this week   is Andy Economides. I'm delighted to have Andy, he  was the one that introduced me to Jesus Christ. Andy Economides welcome to Facing the  Canon. Thank you. It is great to have you.   To all the viewers out there, I came to  faith on the 9th of February 1975, because   this man here introduced me to Jesus Christ. And I  can remember Andy, at my baptism I said these words:   my friend Andy built a bridge from him to me  and when he did Christ Jesus walked over it.  Do you remember those days when we were students? Wonderful days, yeah I do. And you introduced me   to Jesus but you introduced many other  people to Jesus, and then you and I   started the Christian Union. Do you remember that? What  memories do you have of he Christian Union? Well you came to Christ and then you led  another guy called Richard to Christ, and then we started, out of nothing, the Christian  Union with permission and it ran for quite a   while. We had a lot of fun. Now you got the opportunity to go to Nigeria. Tell us a little bit about that first experience of going to Nigeria. Well, someone called Korky Davey from Bristol invited me  to join him and a couple of his friends to Nigeria.   And I thought 'I don't really want to go'.   So I said I'd pray about it, but secretly  I thought 'I'm not going'. So anyway   somehow I ended up going to Nigeria and  we were there for two and a half weeks   and I got back and I thought 'well  that's it, I'm not going to do that again'.   I've gone. I've done it. I don't need to go again.  Why would I need to go again? It's too difficult.   It's too challenging, it's too dangerous, it's too everything, I'm not going. But   we try and do what the Lord wants for us so,  after prayer and reflecting I went back.   How many years ago was that? Well next year,  early next year, it will be 30 years. I've been going   for 30 years. So after this reluctance  to first go, this reluctance to even consider going   back you've now been going and ministering in  Nigeria for 30 years? Nearly 30 years yeah. Right   and what has the Lord led you to do out in Nigeria and where? Well, one of the things that we're doing   is what Jesus said, 'go into the world, or go into your neighbourhood, and proclaim the Gospel   and make disciples'. So our number one thing is to  proclaim the Gospel, to train others to do the same   and to make disciples, teaching them to obey  everything that Jesus says so that's the first   thing and secondly we've built a school out  there, the Soteria Business School which is like a   mission school and we get young people from the  age of about 16 to 30 come, who are vulnerable or   poor, get education, have a scholarship and they can  hear about Jesus, get qualifications and get out   of poverty. So that's one of our projects. We've  also got a church and we've got a children's   project, where many children are sponsored to go  to school. So over the last three decades how many   children and young people have you helped? I think it's  something about 750 children and young people   and some of the children are there for 10 years  or longer. So it's not just two or three years.   Some come to us for many years and  get education, perhaps start a business   go to university and it's a great foundation,  Jesus and education. But the Lord has really like,   put it on your heart and burdened you to do this? Yeah and what we're doing now more and more   intentionally and increasingly is to train others  so that after I've been and gone, it will continue. So   we're training others, other staff out there.  We've got 28 staff there and we want   them to continue the work. That's amazing.  And your website is? SoteriaTrust.org.uk and that tells us about the ministry  that you're doing. But you don't just do   Nigeria you're also very, very focused in the UK.  Tell us about some of the focus of your ministry here? Well some of it is encouraging and training  Christians and churches to share their faith and   evangelism. Some of it is speaking into churches  at their Sunday services or the midweek meetings   or whatever it might be. So we travel up and down  the country when we can, when we're able to, to do   all that and in fact I've been to several other  countries but our focus is the UK at the moment   and Nigeria. Now you mentioned it,  you have an emphasis of training others and   you've certainly trained a lot of Timothy's.  I'm one of those. So over the years tell   us a little bit about how you've managed to  coach and train other younger evangelists? I knocked on a door once of a house, we're doing  door-to-door visitation. And I did a survey  with a large man and then six months later returned to that door, because I made a little note   'go back'. Yes. And then on that night, that  man said to me that he remembered me and I  remembered him. So I went to his house. I got inside  his lounge and said, 'I'd like to invite you and   your wife Barbara to a restaurant meeting with a  speaker called J.John, would you come?' Anyway he   came and that night about 120 people came and  he was one of our guests and you got up to speak   and you spoke about Jesus. So when it was all  finished I turned to him as one of my guests and   said 'well, what did you think of that?' He said 'you people have got something'. I said, 'oh good.'   I said, 'did you pray the prayer? Did you open  the door? Did you say yes to Jesus?' He said 'no'. I said, 'can I come to your house next  week?' So the next week I'm in his house,   we leave late. I give him a little gospel book  called 'Journey into Life' and say to him, 'if you   read this and pray this prayer will you let me  know?' So we left. He read it, he fell on his knees   opened the door to Jesus, became a real Christian, started coming to church with his wife. She became   a Christian, the children became Christians then  he went to a theological college in Bristol.   Became an ordained clergyman in the Anglican  Church and he was very much an evangelist.   And then there's David,  young David. He was a... just got his degree in   Geography at Southampton University and I  said to him, 'I've got a vision for your life. I can see you in full-time Christian ministry, how  about I get some money for you from the   Church and we give that to you and we release you  into ministry?' So he said, 'would you do that for   me?' So I spoke to my minister and he said 'do it Andy'. So we got the financial support for him   and we employed him as a youth worker and he went  into schools and he did youth work in the city and   proclaimed the Gospel and did discipleship himself  and then he went to a theological college and   he became a minister and today he's a Chaplain  in the army overseeing other chaplains.   Amazing, I mean the thing is these opportunities  are out there. The first one you actually knocked   on the door, but you went back. You invited him to a  meeting. He heard the Gospel, then you went back and   as a consequence of that his entire family came  to Christ and then he got ordained into the Church.   I mean we're encouraged, we read that in Peter,  in the New Testament. 'Always be prepared to give   an answer.' Why do you think most of us Christians  are not always ready, we're not always prepared?   We don't always take these opportunities.  I don't know. I think sometimes it might be   that, okay I'm busy. I'm going from  A to B. I'm going to go and do the shopping now.   I'm going to go and do this now. We've got our  own lives to live. We're taken up with that.   We're trying to get through the day and that  might seem quite hard especially at times   at the moment like we're facing. So we just  want to be okay ourselves. So about   stopping and saying hello and being loving and  friendly, it might be challenging. But, I think you   just got to stop and say, 'Lord use me today'. And  if you get that prompting to learn to go with it.   The other day I was walking in the town that I live and I felt,   stop and speak to that man that you've  been saying hello to for about a year.   So I said, 'hello'. So I've just known him and all we've been doing for about a year is 'Hello'. 'Good morning'. 'Nice dog'. And that's  it. No more than that. That day I stopped   and I invited him to a cafe and have coffee  and cake. So we get there about a week or two later   and he sits down. He's 79. His name is Ken. He walks  with a walking stick. I'm sitting opposite him in   this really nice cafe and he looks at me in the  eyes and says to me, 'why have you asked me here?' I said, 'Ken I've got a question for you   that's why I've asked you to ask you the  question'. He's looking at me. 'Yeah what is it?' So I say to him. 'Ken', now I say it and I'm really full  of love I just can't help it, I'm not even trying.   I'm just looking at this dear man. I said,  'Ken, when you die and you stand before God   and he says to you "why should I let  you in?"' I said, 'are you going to heaven, Ken?,  So he spoke to me about that. He said he's  going to heaven because he's been good.   So I don't judge him. I don't knock him down. I  just listen to why he's going to heaven.    And then I need to put the record straight that none  of his or none of my righteousness will get us in.   But what will get us in is our faith in  Jesus. So I talk about the passport that he   needs. So I talk about... I took that postcard  of that famous painting. I showed him it,   Light of the World. I explained he had to  open the door and that by faith in the death   of Jesus, if he puts his faith in Jesus he'll  get to heaven and it doesn't depend on his works.   And then he said to me a little  bit later, 'what do you want me to do'? Then I told him what to do. It was amazing. Then it  started to rain and we walked out the coffee shop.   And I'm walking through the high street with  my umbrella trying to shield him from the rain.   And he's walking really slowly and I  just left him that day and I prayed, 'Lord, I pray that he will open the door to you and  save him'. That's dear Ken. And all because   you say, 'morning, hello'. But one day you stopped. You  know it reminds me, we read often of Jesus in the   Gospels. He was walking and he stopped and spoke  to somebody. Yeah, but we need to do more of that   don't we in the Church? We do and we can and every  Christian, every person that knows and loves Jesus   can. And it's a lie from the enemy that says,  you can't. Every person that loves Jesus can   do that. It's a choice. Yeah it is a decision  isn't it? It is a choice absolutely, but also it's   a commission from Jesus. I mean he's told us  to do this. All the   years I've ever known you Andy, you have always been intentional in sharing your faith.   What do you feel the Lord is teaching you  now at this moment, what's he been revealing to you? I think Jesus is coming sooner than we think. And I think he wants us who know him already, to be  fully committed in heart, soul and spirit to him.   And if anything comes to mind that we ought to put  right, let's do that. I think he's coming soon   and all the things that he spoke  about and the Bible speaks about   nearing his coming, the end times, they're  fast approaching. More and more of those   prophetic things are being fulfilled and  I think he's saying, 'get ready my people, proclaim the Gospel. I'm coming soon' and we need  to be mindful of the Gospel and of his coming.   We say in some churches, 'Christ has died,  Christ is risen, Christ will come again'.   I think there's an emphasis on 'Christ is coming'.  You know, we go, we celebrate Christmas hugely but   what we don't believe and celebrate enough is;  He is coming. We know the Bible speaks about   two of his comings and there is His  Second Coming. He's coming. Let's be ready.   Let's proclaim the Good News. And let's be like  D.L. Moody who was that famous evangelist that   consecrated himself more so that he  could be used as a greater vessel for God.   In Moody's time no one  had ever spoken to as many people as he did.   This simple man that only had a few years of  schooling. One of nine children from a very poor   background, brought up by a widow. Suddenly  converted from his Sunday School teacher   said, 'no one has yet to see', his friend  said to him, 'a man fully consecrated to God.' So by God's grace, let's be fully given to Jesus. Now with D.L. Moody something shifted and something changed after the Great Fire in Chicago. Tell us about that. Well he just finished his sermon that night. On that very night, I think it was 1871 and the bell started ringing in the town or the city of Chicago and a third of Chicago was  destroyed. 200 people killed and 17,000 people lost their homes in one night. He was never the same. He  vowed to God that thereafter, that he would be even more intentional and that he would always  give people an opportunity to decide for Jesus.   He'd always challenge and invite  people to receive and repent and receive Jesus.   So there was like a real urgency after the fire.  It made him realise that every day counts. Yes, every day counts and he made a promise to God that  he would lead, - not talk to anybody, more than that - he would lead one person to Christ every day and  it said of him, God helped him to fulfil that.    It's a bit like Dixie Dean. Yes I remember.  When he came to our youth group when we were   teenagers and God spoke to him and said Dixie,  I want you to speak to one person every day   about me. And sometimes he'd have to look in the  phone book. Pick a name. Sometimes they'd have to go late at night at eleven and find a down  and out in London and show some love or speak to   them about Jesus. But Dixie Dean, whom we heard  and those are the stories that really affected us   and transformed us, made that promise to God and  he kept it, just like D.L. Moody. Absolutely.   I know there is an urgency, you said earlier  on Andy, we need to be more committed.   Just unpack that more for us in the light of Jesus' coming return. How   committed? In what ways do we need to be  committed? In what ways do we need to surrender?   Well for me, I'm asking the question 'What do you want me to do, Lord, with regard to   the ministry that you've given  me in this country and Nigeria?   I want to follow what you're asking me to  do.' So I want to be committed in that way. I want to   continue what the Lord has asked me to do. Given  my hands to do. To take care of that thing   that God has given me to do. So I want to be  committed to that. I want to be committed to   reading the Word every day. I want to be  committed to praying. I try and read Spurgeon   in the morning and in the evening, his daily devotional. I've been doing that for two years.   If you read Spurgeon for two years you can't  be the same. Now Charles Spurgeon, for those who   don't know, he was a minister in London. Thousands  would flock to his services. Yeah, he had a church   of about up to 6,000. His sermons were  produced in their thousands every week. They were   on the billboards in Scotland on train stations.  He's called even today the Prince of Preachers.   His writing today, he's got more influence  today, far more than when he was alive.   Amazing. And his devotional I found over the  last two years, beautiful and helpful, encouraging,   challenging, inspiring, very insightful and  discerning. If anyone listening Andy today,  they've heard this, they know  about it, they're sitting on the fence. The thing   about sitting on the fence is it's actually very  uncomfortable isn't it? It's not very comfortable   sitting on the fence. A friend of mine, Michael  Green, who was promoted to glory. He said anyone who   sits on the fence, let's electrocute them. Give them a spark! What would you say to anyone   who's sitting on the fence about the Christian  faith? What would your encouragement be to them? Today is the day of salvation. Don't put it off. Make the decision   to give your life as fully as you can. Come  to Him just as you are and give your life to Jesus.   And for Christians, for those that know  Jesus already, say 'you can have it all.   Here I am. I surrender all'. And to those that  don't know Jesus yet. 'Here I am. And I surrender   all. And I open the door. Come into my life by  your Spirit. Do with me what you want, Master.' If anyone would like to say 'yes' to what you've just said Andy, could you please   speak to them now and lead them into a  prayer of commitment. If you'd like to, as   J.John has said, if you'd like to say yes to Jesus now, I'm going to keep my eyes open and pray a prayer.   And if you'd like to echo this then please  do so. This is the prayer, this is the decision. Let's make this decision. Lord Jesus I believe that you are the Son of God. Lord Jesus you died for me. I put my trust and faith in you. Forgive me for all my sins and receive  me. I open the door to you. Come into my life   by your Holy Spirit. Cleanse me. Forgive  me Lord Jesus. I receive you as my Lord.   I receive you as my Saviour from sin and  I receive you as my Master. Even now. Amen If you prayed that prayer  the Lord has heard that prayer   and He has answered that prayer and  there's a new beginning. You've been born   again and I pray for you and I  announce and I pronounce Christ's   forgiveness. May you be cleansed and set free from  the past. May you know His peace and His presence.   May you know the power of His Spirit on you and in  you and with you. And may you know His protection   as you fix your eyes on Jesus the  author and the perfecter of our faith. Amen. Andy, it's such an encouragement hearing  a little bit about your own story, a bit about your ministry and just your  practices of sharing the Good News with others.   This is the book that you mentioned 'True' that  you give out to people. So you carry this   with you. I do. And when you have an opportunity,  you just offer it to people and it contains   the Gospel message and then you've written this  lovely book 'Refreshed And Renewed' which are   like daily devotions to kind of warm the heart  and these resources are available on your website.  Andy thank you for introducing me to Jesus  and introducing so many other people to Jesus.   And all the best, keep on keeping on for the future.   Thank you for joining us on Facing the  Canon. Thank you. How encouraging was that? I like it when you hear someone and  meet someone who doesn't just talk about it   but actually lives it, is a real practitioner. And I'm so thankful that Andy introduced me to   Jesus. In fact, he bought me a Bible. I didn't  have a Bible and he would meet with me once a week   over lunch explaining the Bible to me and  that eventually brought me to Christ and   it transformed my life. It transformed my  my future, it transformed my destiny. So   why don't you do that for someone else. Reach  out to someone else and introduce them to Jesus.   Thank you for joining us on Facing the Canon. Hope today has inspired you. Please join us again.
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Channel: J.John
Views: 1,475
Rating: 4.9183674 out of 5
Keywords: j.john, jjohn, philo trust, philo, just10, just 10, Christianity, Christian, Jesus, God
Id: 5wQ3pOVlAdw
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Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)
Published: Sun Nov 29 2020
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