Tonight, before I open the word of God with you, I want I would love to share my personal testimony with you and my calling to the ministry. Sometimes people say mission work shouldn't be that's not something people should consider because it's not working. But let me tell you that today, our mission fruit is standing in front of you. So I'm a fruit of mission. My grandparents were saved through a missionary that went to Haiti to share the gospel.

And because the gospel was shared and he heard the gospel, he believed. My my grandfather believed and called upon the name of Jesus Christ for salvation. And today, I am standing here as the third generation Christian because of what mission work has done. So I encourage you tonight as church to always get involved in mission work because God is still using the gospel to reach the unsaved. So unlike I mean, when you study American history, there is a fact that you cannot deny, which is the gospel or the bible was in the foundation of this nation.

Of course, not everything from the beginning of this nation would make you proud, but at the same time, you have to understand that the gospel was there from the beginning of this nation. And because people of this nation understood the gospel and the necessity of sharing the gospel, many of them left The United States to go to different nations, different islands with one purpose, to share the saving word of God. And some of them give their life and some of them will not be able to come back to The United States. They died. But they had one purpose.

They they wanted to answer or to be obedient to the commands or commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. And no matter what happened to the life, they didn't care because they give their heart to the Lord, the life to the Lord so that the lives could be used of him for his purpose. So unlike The United States, the Haitian this nation began with voodoo, witchcraft. And because of this foundation, we can see voodoo, witchcraft in Haiti all over the place. That's the part of our culture.

One thing you can say about America, still today, is still number one country that support more missionaries around the world. Do you think that happened by chance? No. Because of the beginning of the nation, people understood that I mean, the Christian understood that it was important to share the gospel, and therefore, they give their finance the life to to share the gospel. And today, America is still number one country that supports more missionaries in the world.

But in Haiti, if you go to Haiti, you will see witchcraft, voodoo all over the place. And that's why you saw in the the the first part of the video, witchcraft, voodoo, that's the life. So the Haitian people would worship the devil all the time. Now you can ask me what do I mean by voodoo because some American friend used to think that when I say voodoo, it's just like a doll or something. No.

Voodoo is the worship of the devil. That's the name of it. It's suck people sacrifice animals to worship the devil, the gods, the spirits, of course, Satan. So they would sacrifice goat, cow, pig, all kind of animals to worship their gods. They are in darkness.

So my grandparents were not exempt of this life because this is what they knew, and they used to worship the devil as well. Until one day, an American missionary went to Haiti to share the gospel. And my grandparents heard the gospel. They believed that they were in darkness, and they called upon the name of Jesus Christ. So the Lord redeemed my grandparents, and later on my father got saved.

And praise the Lord, I was born to Christian parents. Probably if that that that that missionary didn't go to Haiti, I could have been born to a voodoo worshiper family, and I could have been a voodoo priest. But the Lord before the foundation of the world orchestrated everything like that. He would send a missionary to go to Haiti to share the gospel, and my parents, my grandparents would be saved, my parents would be saved, and today, I would be standing here as a foot of mission. So when people practice voodoo in Haiti, they can do they can use it to do anything they want to do.

They can do evil with voodoo, witchcraft. And I can say certain things that might be shocking to you, but it is true. It is right. This is what people do, voodoo people do in Haiti. They can use voodoo to cause you to sick, to be sick.

They can use voodoo, witchcraft, the worship of the devil, or whatever they do to take away your good sense, like your right mind. For instance, you can you can see a bright young man going to school, intelligent, and then couple days later, you see this guy cannot even learn anything. Haitian people can use I mean, voodoo worshiper people can use this satanic power to do a lot of evil in this country, and they even use it to kill other people. So it's sometimes it can be strange for some American friends because probably some of them stay here, and they don't know about other culture, what's going on, or how voodoo or this the worship of the devil is rampant in different countries. And when you mention things like that, it's kind of we don't say no, but no, it is real because the devil is real and the devil is powerful too.

We cannot deny that. I want to give you an example. Let's go to Egypt with me right now, and we're gonna go to Pharaoh's court. You see Pharaoh and now Moses is going to Pharaoh and he has a stake in his hand. But the Lord commanded him to drop the stake and when I mean, the stake the the stake that he had in his hand, Moses' hand, it became what?

A serpent. This did what that was God's sign. That was God in action. But what did Pharaoh do? Pharaoh said, oh, I can do that.

Where are my magicians? Come here. Show your power as well. And they did have some stake too, and they dropped them. They became what?

That's that's bible story. That's bible fact. You can read it. It's in the bible. I'm not making it up.

It's in the bible. They became what? Serpent. And that was not God in action. That was the devil in action.

When Pharaoh's magician dropped it, then they become snakes. So I use this to share to tell you that the devil is powerful, and it has power to do a lot of harm to people. And a lot of Haitian are going through this kind of life right now. It's it's a difficult life when people are worshiping the devil. And when those people are worshiping the devil, they ask the the devil to go toward their family, to do harm toward their family, to do evil toward their family.

And that happened a lot. So that's not part of your culture. You don't get it. But this is what voodoo culture is doing. This is what satanism is doing in this in in the world.

So that's where my my parents, my grandparents, this is what they used to do. That was their situation. That was their life until God says, no. The gospel must be preached to them. And it was preached.

They heard the gospel. And because of this missionary, my parents got saved, and I was born to a Christian family. Now how did I come to the Lord? My parents who was a deacon used to share the gospel with their family almost every night. He he used to share the gospel every night before he go to sleep, and in the morning before we he leaves the house, he would wake everybody up to pray.

But I was the last child of my family. I didn't like it. I wanted to sleep in the morning, but he would wake everybody up just to pray. That was his life. I mean, still.

You know what? He understood something. He understood that it was important to take care of us, to work hard, to take care of us, and to send us to school. But he understood that having a good education or social status and everything in this world, but you lose your your life. What's the meaning of all this thing?

And that is why he used to spend time every night to share the gospel with us. And in the morning, he would pray with us because he wanted us to know the gospel, to know Jesus Christ. Yes. We can have great education. Yes.

We can have money. We can have great social status, but all this thing will pass away. And if you die without Christ, you're gonna go to hell. And that is why he wanted to share the gospel with us. And one night, he was talking about heaven and hell, and he described heaven, and he described hell, and he made a statement that was striking to me at the time.

And he said, though I am a Christian and I am a deacon, I cannot save you. And if you die right now without Jesus Christ, you won't go to heaven. You can imagine being a child understanding that without Jesus Christ, you're gonna go to hell, and you're gonna be with Satan forever. You're gonna be burned forever with Satan. It was not a good teaching that night, and I was thinking about it.

And that was the moment I said, Lord, if I die right now, I'm I'm not going to go to heaven because I've never accepted you in my life though I've been going to church. And I asked the Lord to come into my heart to save me, to give me eternal life. And that was the moment I was turning eight years old. That was the moment I gave my heart to the Lord. And just to make sure, I asked my dad to pray with me.

Of course, his prayer didn't save me, but I was under his authority. Ambuela is the one sharing the gospel with the family. I asked him to pray, and he did. And I'm so grateful for what he has done for us, especially with the gospel. And when I was growing up, I was given a bible, and I used to to read my bible, a small bible.

I used to read it all the time, and my bible would be in my pocket. Wherever I go, it's there. I had the passion to read the bible. Even when I was a child, people used to call me pastor Jimmy, pastor Jimmy, because the Lord saved me and he was working in my heart. And that was vivid.

People used when I was a child, people say, one day you're gonna be a pastor. One day you're gonna be in ministry. One day so that's the way people used to talk because God was working in my heart, and I used to read the Bible. And growing up, I become a became a teenager. In high school, I used to read my Bible in in class.

I used to share the gospel before the people, my classmates. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't ashamed of sharing the gospel with anyone. I wasn't ashamed of reading my bible in class because clearly I understood that if the Lord saves me and I am saved, nothing should stop me from sharing my bible. Nothing should stop me from reading my bible unless it is not true.

That was my reasoning at that time. I said, I since the gospel is true, I will be reading the gospel. And since I am saved by the gospel, I'm not going to be afraid of it, to be ashamed of my gospel. I read my gospel all the time in class, and I would share the gospel with people and had the passion, boldness to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. And I used to go out to share the gospel almost every Saturday.

But people from my church used to tell me, Jimmy, don't you see that God is calling you to be in ministry? Don't you see things like that? And people in high school as well used to tell me the same thing. Don't you see that God is calling you? I knew for sure that God was working in my heart to be in ministry, but I didn't want to be in ministry at all.

And I used to say, well, I can be a Sunday school teacher. I can get involved in ministry, you know, doing something, but me being a spokesman of God, be a evangelist or a pastor of things, no. Didn't want to do things like that. Why? Because I grew up in a country which is poor.

Of course, not everybody's poor. Don't let people fool you to tell you everybody's poor in Haiti, not everybody's poor. But growing up, I was living I used to see some pastors who give their heart to the Lord, and they were passionate about the the word of God, about the ministry, but they were poor. To me at the time, I said, if I say yes to my calling, I will pledge to be a poor guy for the rest of my life because you see this pastor here, this pastor over here, he's serving the Lord, but he's a poor guy. I don't want to be a poor man like him.

I would love to be able to do something else that can sustain me, sustain my family, everything I want to do. I didn't want to be in ministry because I said, no. This pastor is my example. This one is my example. I that was my objection.

I said, don't want to be in ministry. Yes. I can serve. I can do other things, but I don't want to be in ministry. In fact, I wanted to go to France to study electrical engineering.

This is what I wanted to do. It was easier for me with the language. I speak French, and I can go to French. The adaptation would be easier for me. So but the Lord did not allow it to happen.

I wanted to take some courses in Haiti, but the Lord was working in my heart toward ministry. One day I was in choir practice, I couldn't really sing. I was crying as if the Lord was talking to me, I want you to be in ministry. Not really a voice talking to me, but in my heart, I have that burden that on my heart that you I want you to to be to get involved in ministry, to be a pastor or evangelist. I couldn't sing at that moment, and I left the choir.

And the choir director came to me and then he said, Jimmy, what's going on to you? And I told him that God is calling me, wants me to be in ministry, but I don't want to be in ministry because of the same thing I told you. There's poor people. And the pastor said he shared his testimony with me, and he said, Jimmy, if God doesn't call you to ministry, don't go. If you go, you might be the most miserable person because you may not have a passion for it.

You may not want to do it. You might be miserable. And he said, but if God really calls you, go because ministry is the noblest position in the world. If God wants you to labor with him to be his spokesman. Go.

And that was the moment I give my heart to the Lord. I said, Lord, use me. And I said, Lord, since you want me to be in ministry, I would love to be trained ministerially. Please open doors for me to study, and the Lord opened door for me to go to Bluewater Bible College in The US Virgin Islands. And then I went to Bob Jones for seminary training.

So the Lord is giving me a heart for my people, my Haitian people, wherever they are, I want to reach them for the Lord. So before we go tonight, I would love to I would I want you to open your bible. It's okay if we leave that here by 9PM. No. I want you to turn your bible to the book of acts.

Acts chapter one. I would love to start with a question. Who will go for the Lord? The Lord says, go and preach the gospel to the lost. But the question is, who will go?

So the main purpose of God with the gospel is to reconcile sinners with him, to redeem sinners from all group, from all ethnicities, from all social status, financial status, and to give them eternal life, and to turn them away from worshiping the devil, and to bring them to him, to worship him, and to have fellowship with him forever and ever. And that is exactly what God is doing with the gospel. He's reconciling people with him, and he's using only one means to do it, the gospel. So God desires that the whole world would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But again, the question is, who will go for the Lord?

Who will share the gospel to the Lord so that the lost can hear the gospel? Who will share the good tiding of Jesus Christ? In light of scripture, I will show you who should go for the Lord, and I want you to turn to acts chapter one verse eight. Acts chapter one verse eight. But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

So this passage, this verse explains clearly who should go for the Lord. So the question is, who will go for the Lord? From this passage, I will show you why, who should go and why first of all, you should go. So why you should go and who should go? The believers.

The believers should go because here the word says, but you shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost will come upon you, and you have to see this this word, this pronoun, you shall receive power. Here, Christ was speaking to his with his disciples, was talking to them. But the question we ask, who are Christ's disciples? Past Christian, present Christian, and future Christians.

All are Christ's disciples. So the people of the first generation of Christianity, they were Christ's disciples. They were the believers to whom Christ said, go and share the gospel. You will be my witness. And those who came after them, the same words belong to them.

And for us today, who are present in this age, the same word is for us. We are called to go. So why who should go believers and why you should go? You should go because of your because of Christ's empowerment. And I want you to see the verse again, but you shall receive power.

After that, the holy spirit is come upon you. You should go because of Christ's empowerment, and the recipient of this empowerment is believer. So when Christ said the Holy Spirit will come upon you and at the same time the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you are empowered to share the word of God. You are automatically equipped to share the word of God. So God didn't say, Jesus Christ didn't say, go and share the gospel with your mere natural human capacity.

He didn't say that. But after the holy spirit comes upon you, you are empowered now to go out, to do what? To share the gospel, to be a witness unto me. My brothers and sisters, because you are saved and you are empowered by Christ through the Holy Spirit, you are called to share the gospel with the world. So you don't need to say, Lord, give me the power to share the gospel.

No. You already have the power to share the gospel because the Holy Spirit is in you. This is exactly what the text says. As soon as the holy spirit comes, you receive Christ, the holy spirit is in you. And simultaneously you have that power in you and you are capable as Christian enough to share the gospel with people.

And this holy spirit is there to teach you, to guide you, and to help you share that gospel. And he will empower you to reach the lost for him. So quickly, we see why we should go because of Christ's empowerment and the recipient of this empowerment is a believer. And the moment of the empowerment is the same moment you receive Jesus Christ in your life. Because when the holy spirit comes upon you, when does a Christian receive the holy spirit?

I mean, a person receive the holy spirit. When that person receive Christ. So the moment you receive Christ, the holy spirit is upon you, and the moment of that empowerment is instantly the same time. It it's not two actions, three actions. It's one action.

The holy spirit is on you at the same time you have the power of the holy spirit in you to share the gospel. So my brothers and sisters, we do have the power to share the gospel. Why we should share the gospel? We should go because of Christ's empowerment. And secondly, why we should go, you must go because of Christ's command.

So in this passage, verse eight, you see that you shall receive power, after that the holy spirit is come upon you. And the second future tense, and you shall be witnesses unto me. So everything those verbs are future. You will be, you will be. And when you see it that way, it's future is kind of a promise.

You don't have it yet. That's something that will be happening later. But in a broader biblical sense, this is not really a promise. This is a set of reminder because what Christ is telling the disciple here is not something new. Christ is reminding them again about what he told them before he was ascended to heaven because this where you are right now, you are between the the death and the resurrection.

That's Christ resurrected from the death. And now he's talking to his disciples. But before he died, he already commended them. In fact, in Mark chapter 16 verse 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Matthew 10 verse seven, and as you go, preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And in Matthew 28 verse nineteen and twenty, go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost. And you can keep reading it. So Christ already committed the disciples to go to share the gospel to the world. Now Christ died for sinners, and he was resurrected for our for the justification. And before he was ascended, he was talking to to his disciples again.

You will be my witness. But it's a it's a it's a comment I'm reminding you that you will keep continue. You must go. You shall go because I told you already. And now before I am ascended, I'm gonna tell you again, you must go for me.

You have to go. Yes, this is a future tense, but from a broader biblical understanding is still a command. So we shall we must go because of Christ's command. The author of this command is Christ. Christ said, you shall receive the power, and you will go to Samaria.

You will, and you must go. And the recipient again of this power, believers. Believers who were in his time and believers after those who were in his time and those who are present today, us. We are recipient of this command, object of this command. We have to go to share the gospel to the world.

So I want you to see the content of this comment. It's time, so I have to finish. So the content of this promise. So but you shall receive power. I mean, the the content of this comment, you shall receive power and that the holy ghost is come upon you and this this part, and you shall be my witnesses unto me.

You shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and you you can continue. So when Christ command you to go out to share the gospel, he asked you to do especially one thing. He want you to speak Christocentrically. Everything must be Christ centered. Everything that you're gonna say.

It's not about what you think, what people think, or what people have been saying? No. But you have to say exactly what you've seen. This exactly you will be a witness unto me. So when we share the gospel, what do we do?

We share exactly the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Because only Christ and the work of Christ can save sinners. Christ didn't say, hey, go and go and share philosophy with them, sociology with them, social justice with them, go and share all kind of g with them. No. He say you will be a witness unto me.

I am the center of everything. Therefore, you will say exactly what you have seen, what you have heard, everything about me. And that's the content of your message, my brothers and sisters. But today, people say they are sharing the gospel or they are preaching, but Christ who should have been the center of the message is removed from the message. Christ is not there at all, but they talk, talk, talk, talk for one hour, two hours.

At the end of the day, they say, well, you were talking, but is that you are talking about Jesus Christ or something else? Weak Christian, we are called to talk about Christ because he said you will be a witness unto me. So you are a witness unto Christ. You have to speak about him, about his person, who he is, and what he has done for sinners. Christ died for sinners, and he was again for the justification.

And without justification, no one can make it to heaven. And that's our problem as human being. We are not just to make it to to heaven, and we will never be able to to make it to heaven in our own justice. Christ died, and he was again. He is our justification, and that is why we need to share this justification to the world so that by believing in him, they will have eternal life.

So who will go for the Lord? Believers. Why they should go? Because of Christ's empowerment. Why they should go?

Because of Christ's command. Why they should go? Finally, because of sinners' condition. So I'm not going to say everything, but we know the condition of a sinner. A sinner is lost.

A sinner is condemned, and a sinner is going to hell without Christ. If a person, unsaved person dies without Christ, there is no doubt that the person will face God in hell because hell is God's hell. It's not Satan hell, it's God's hell. People need to know that. Satan didn't create hell.

God created hell. And those who don't believe in Christ and who die without him, they will face God judgment in hell. So this is the condition of sinners, all sinners around the world. And if you are here tonight and you don't know the Lord, and if you die, that's not our wish for you, but if you die tonight or if Christ come back without Christ, if Christ come back and you don't know him, you will not have a wonderful end. Of course, our life doesn't end at all, but you understand if you don't know Jesus Christ, you will never make it to heaven.

If you don't have Jesus Christ in your life, you will never make it to heaven. If you don't believe in him, you will never make it to heaven. So when the gospel is preached, it's preached so that you can hear that you are a sinner and Christ came on earth to save you. And by believing in him, you will have eternal life. You need to hear that.

The people of hate Haiti need to hear that. The whole world need to hear this message. Do you know the Lord in your heart? If you know the Lord, say praise the Lord for this salvation. But if you need people to share the gospel to, you don't need to Miami, to big cities.

You can go right there in your family to find sinners, your your uncle, your mom, your dad, your grandchildren, your brother, your sister probably didn't know the Lord. You can share the word of God with them. Heavenly father, we thank you for sending Jesus Christ to down the quest for our justification. And because of him, we have eternal life. As we are waiting for his coming, we pray that you would give us a burden, passion to go out to share the word, the gospel, the good news, so that sinners can hear the gospel and call upon your name for salvation.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.