MAN OF THE MILLENNIA

Dr. Lester Sumrall

PUBLICATION
PAUL-Man Of The Millennia
ISBN 0-937580-32-5
Copyright © 1984 by Lester Sumrall
Evangelistic Association, Inc.

Published by LESEA Publishing Company

P.O. Box 12
South Bend, Indiana 46624

CREDITS: Thomas Nelson Publishers for

permission to use the New King James Bible
on the cover.
Kari Mills for the Greek lettering on the cover.
Bruce Weeks for the cover design.
 PAUl
MAN OF THE MILLENNIA
Printed in the United States of America.
All rights reserved under International
Copyright Law. Contents and/ or cover may
not be reproduced in whole or in part in any
form without the express written consent of
the Publisher.
 Contents

Man's Heroes ............................... 9

The Man - Saul .......................... . 13

Religion Is A Killer ........................... 17

Saul Of Tarsus ............................. 19

The Secret Of Greatness ...................... 23

The Religions Of This World .................... 29

The French Banker And The Gospel .............. 33

Be Ready ................................. 41

The Perspective Of Time ...................... 45

We Have Resources To Save The World ............ 49

I Am A Debtor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
 1

MAN'S HEROES
Have you ever heard the saying, "He's the man of the
hour?" Well, that's about how long he lasts. The next hour
they have found another man, and they can't remember who
the man was for the last hour!

Not only do we have the "Man of the Hour," but every

year they come up with the "Man of the Year." That's very
interesting, too, because the next year you can't remember
who the previous "Man of the Year" was. He has not made a
deep enough impression to be known the second year.

But sometimes we have what we call the "Man of the

Decade." He has been a very strong person making history
for a ten-year period, which is a long time to have influence.

Once in awhile in the annals of human history we have the

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

"Man of the Century." I think possibly Winston Churchill

was such a person. The things he said were strong, and the
decisions he made were far-reaching. Likely, Churchill could
be called "A Man of the Century."

Winston Churchill coined some unforgettable phrases in

his lifetime. He was the first to call the invisible wall between
Russia and the West "the Iron Curtain."

While making a speech in a Missouri university, he made

the statement, "We're going to win by blood, sweat, and
tears." You can imagine the deep impact these sayings
made on the whole world. They became golden nuggets in
the history of mankind.

I personally sat in the House of Commons in London and

listened to a Churchill speech. The Labor Party on the other
side of the bench heckled him while he spoke, but it didn't
embarrass him at all. He had bulldog jaws, and he would just
set those jaws and keep rattling on until he wore them out.
Churchill was a man who made a deep imprint upon society
in our time.

However, most of humanity does not live to be a "Man of

the Hour," or "Man of the Year," or "Man of the Decade."
They live to fill their bellies, they live to put clothes on their
backs, they live for a comfortable bed, and then a graveyard.

10
 Man's Heroes

A Better Way

There is another way to live, there is a greater way to live,

there is a mighty way to live, and it is not circumscribed to
certain families, or to certain countries. It does not matter
who you are or where you are, you can live resourcefully,
you can live gloriously, you can live victoriously-if you want
to live that way!

The man I want to draw your attention to is not a "Man of

the Hour," or a "Man of the Year," or a "Man of the Cen-
tury"-he is a "Man of the Millennia"! He is more popular
now than he was 2,000 years ago. No, I'm not talking about
Jesus.

This person did not appear great at first. A dark cloud sur-
rounded him, but he came out of that misery, out of the
darkness, and he began to shine. His light shines brighter
2,000 years from the time he walked on the face of the earth
than it did then.

In this book I wish to show you the secret of his greatness.

And it's going to amaze you because true greatness is in the
grasp of everyone of us! However, we need to learn how to
attain that greatness.

11
 2

THE MAN - SAUL

When this man emerged on the human scene it was a dark
picture. As he entered the stage beginning in Acts chapter 7,
verse 58, he was holding the clothes of the men who stoned
Stephen. Would you expect anybody to become great, when
the first time you hear of him is at an execution? He was
holding the coats of men throwing stones that killed Stephen,
saying "Get him, hit him, kill him." Can you expect
greatness to come out of that?

The Bible says in Acts 7:58, "And cast him (Stephen) out
of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses iaid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul." Acts
8:1 records that "Saul was consenting unto his death."
Anger boiled within him-hatred against the believers in
Christ. These were innocent people who had not harmed
him, had not spoken wrong about him, had done nothing to

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

him at all. He hated people whose names he didn't even

know. No greatness was visible in him at this point.

Saul further " ... made havoc of the church, entering into
every house, and haling men and women committed them to
prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every
where preaching the word" (Acts 8:3, 4).

Then came the turning point of his life in Acts 9: 1-6. Saul
mounted his horse and rode a hundred miles to the great city
of Damascus breathing threats toward the Christians. "I'm
going to put them all in jail up there, too, and I'm going to
bring them back in chains to Jerusalem. I will erase from the
face of the earth this group that calls themselves Christians."

In a way you have to admire Saul. He wanted to take the

body of Christ off the face of the earth when Jesus had
already said in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell cannot
prevail against His Church. Of course, nobody had yet told
Saul what Jesus had said. In ignorance you can do a lot of
strange things. Saul was a one-man army to destroy the
Church.

Jesus looked down upon him and thought, Saul, if you

got saved you would be all right! If you would put all that
energy into saving souls, you could change the world! I
believe I'll take care of you. And Christ knocked Saul off his
beast like a bolt of lightning and he became blind. What a
humiliation.

Saul was led into the city of Damascus and for three days

14
 The Man - Saul

he thought things over, and then Jesus sent His servant

Ananias to visit him. He laid hands on Saul to get him heal-
ed, get him baptized, and on the road of going with God, and
no doubt received the Holy Ghost.

That was the beginning of a new career, of a new life,

which eventually made him "A Man of the Millennia."

A Pharisee of the Pharisees

There were dramatic situations in Saul's life. For example,

within his veins flowed religious blood. He could boast and
say, "I'm a Pharisee of the Pharisees," just like some of you
might say, "I'm a Baptist of the Baptists." Saul was relating
how super-religious he was - a Pharisee of the Pharisees. At
that time the Pharisees were the orthodox believers; they
were strict observers of the Law of Moses-and Saul was
more zealous than any of them. His mother taught him the
Ten Commandments as a child, and his father read to him
Deuteronomy, chapter 28. They brought him up in what he
called "the strictest of the sect of the Pharisees."

Those who grow up in Christian homes are indeed for-

tunate. The greatest heritage any person can have is a Chris-
tian heritage. To receive instructions from your father and
your mother from babyhood about God, the Bible, and eter-
nity, is a treasure greater than gold, greater than silver, and
greater than jewels!

15
 3

RELIGION IS A KILLER
If Saul was brought up in a religious home, why was he
killing all those people? Religion will do that. Look at
Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. He will kill his own people or
anyone else. Khomeini prays faithfully to his god Allah and is
very religious, but religion without Christ can be a killer.
When missionaries go to foreign countries, it's not the
political authorities that cause them the most trouble, it's the
religious leaders who persecute them.

Religion has always been that way. Saul was full of

religion, but he didn't have God in his heart. It was normal
for him to act religious because he had religious blood in his
veins. But when he received Jesus Christ as his Saviour, his
life was transformed.

Many times when Protestants or Roman Catholics get

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

turned on to Jesus, their religious backgrounds make it easy

for them to believe in miracles. They have always believed
that if miracles don't happen, they ought to, and so they are
looking for them from the beginning. They have a built-in
religious desire-reaching out for the miracles of God-and
they move into them so much easier than a person who has
been an infidel before he gets saved.

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 4

SAUL OF TARSUS
Saul was an urbanite, born into high society. He could
boast and say, "I am Saul of Tarsus," just like you would
say, "I am an American." Either his family or the city in
which he lived was so important to the emperor in Rome that
he was considered a free-born Roman even though he was a
Jew born in Tarsus. Being a free-born Roman gave him
prestige.

Tarsus at that time was a thriving city of commerce and

Saul understood early what business was all about.

Tarsus, besides being a city of commerce, was a city of

culture. Saul was reared in this cosmopolitan atmosphere
where he learned to appreciate men of success. He inter-
mingled and he grew up with them. It would seem that Saul
was born for the hour in which he lived.

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

Further, Saul of Tarsus, from an early age was exposed to

many nationalities and had come to understand various kinds
of people.

Saul was born in a strategic city geographically. Tarsus

was a gateway between East and West where men moved
back and forth, boats moved back and forth, and business
moved back and forth. The Roman army would come dress-
ed with all their regalia; the soldiers wore bright, exciting
helmets and uniforms, and they carried spears, swords, and
shields. If you want to get a little boy excited, let him see a
soldier in full gear. He wants to fumble with everything from
the boots up. And when the soldiers would come to town and
as they marched and made the earth to shake, you could see
Saul running along beside them saying, "Hey, where are
you from?"

"We have just come up out of Africa where we wiped out

all standing armies."

"Soldiers, where are you from?"

"We're from India and we are conquerors-we rule the

whole land."

"And where is your army from?"

"We're from the great North and there are no standing ar-
mies up there-we have defeated them all. We have even
been to the place called Jerusalem and we have conquered
the Holy City and it is ours!"

20
 Saul of Tarsus

When young Saul would hear the soldiers say that there
were no more standing armies in the world, he would say,
"You know, I'm going to be a conqueror someday. I'm go-
ing to be a fighter and maybe even a general."

Yes, Saul would be a general some day, but not in the

Roman army; it would be in the army of the King of kings,
and Lord of lords!

The Forming of a Leader

Young Saul learned to be a conqueror from the Romans.

He had a feeling of superiority and learned how to think big.
That was the reason he was not afraid to stand before kings,
governors, or anyone else. Saul grew up with leadership and
the spirit of conquest inside of him. No wonder they said,
" ... These that have turned the world upside down are come
hither also" (Acts 17:6). He was a "world-upside-down
turner"!

Saul of Tarsus not only got his spirit of conquest from the
Romans, but when he went to school the language of that
day was Greek, and the university professors taught Greek.
They taught the wisdom of the Greeks which is still unsur-
passed. They trained his mind to be sharp as a pin. He
became a logician, always thinking how he could manipulate
circumstances and people so he could get what he wanted.

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

You are now wondering if I'm telling you the greatness of

this man? No, I'm telling you what he buried.
In Philippians 3:7-9 he said, "But what things were gain to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

The things that previously seemed so important to him are

what he buried, counting them as dung, that he might be
what God wanted him to be. His former goals and ambitions
became as nothing.

22
 5

THE SECRET
OF GREATNESS
"I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both
to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1: 14-16).

What was the secret of Paul's greatness?

It was the decisions he made!

When Channel 40 in Indianapolis went up for sale, I heard

about it and drove down to look into it. I talked to as many
people as I could about television and this particular station.
One was a pastor of a well-known church in the area with a

23
 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

congregation of over 3,000. I thought he might be interested

and said to him, "Why don't you buy the TV station? You
have over 3,000 people to help you, and I don't have
anybody to help me."

"I'm afraid to," he said.

"In that case," I replied, "I'll buy it."

As I got in my car and drove away, I mused, "Now isn't

that interesting. With 3,000 people in his audience on Sun-
day, no doubt he has some very wealthy men in his con-
gregation. And he said he was afraid to take on the challenge
of a TV station." I decided right then I wou Id own the station.

Possibly he has wished a thousand times he had bought it,

but he didn't because he was afraid to make the decision.

Decisions Are Mighty

You make decisions and decisions make you! When you

back off and say, "I can't do it," God writes it down - he can't
do it.

You can look in your mirror every morning and say,

"Good morning, Mr. Decision," because you do become
what you are - depending on the decisions you make each
day.

One reason the 4-billion 700-million people living on

24
 The Secret of Greatness

planet Earth today are all different is because they don't

think alike. Do you know the way you hold your face during
the day is one reason you look like you do?

Saul of Tarsus - what made this unusual person great? It

was the decisions he made. His conversion made him so dif-
ferent that even his name was changed from Saul to Paul.
During his lifetime he made many great statements and stood
by them. The three statements quoted from Romans
1 : 14-16 were just preliminary ones. He made others that
were tremendous and profound. But here are three that tell a
story.

I Am Not Ashamed

Paul said, " ... I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus

Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one
that believeth ... "

Are you ready to say that? We could save the world if we

only took time to talk to people about Jesus. We could save
our city, our state, our country, if we were not ashamed of the
gospel of Jesus Christ!

Nobody forced Paul to this decision. He was revealing his

inner man when he said, "I am not ashamed."

Did you know there were things Paul could have been
ashamed of? No doubt he felt a part of the First Church in
Jerusalem. He was associated with that church. Two of its

25
 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

prominent members fell dead at the altar for lying.

Aren't you glad God does not kill all the liars in the church-
es today? Paul could have said he was a member of a church
where some members fell dead by the judgment of the Holy
Ghost. They were taken out and buried without ceremony
and without flowers - for lying!

Another church Paul was a part of was the church in Cor-

inth. The people of that church had favorite preachers. When
Peter came to town, the rugged members came to church -
he was a man's man. If Paul came to town, the scholars
came to church because he was an intellectual and a teacher.

When Apollos came to town, the artistic gentlemen would

come. If you wanted to hear rhetoric, this was the man to
hear because Apollos was an orator. But Paul shamed them
all. Were they going to church because of a man or because
of Jesus Christ? he demanded. After all, it's the church of
Jesus and not the church of a preacher.

For sure, Paul could have been ashamed of certain condi-

tions, but he was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He knew it changed harlots into angels, drunkards into
beautiful people, and thieves into honest and honorable men
and women. The power of God could take the "down-and-
outer" and make him into a profitable citizen. The gospel is
God's dynamite that changes and transforms human beings
and nations. It makes families stick together, loving one
another rather than quarreling and fighting or grumbling at

26
 The Secret of Greatness

each other. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to

anyone that believes! God doesn't want any of us to be
ashamed of the gospel of Jesus. The reason the Church
hasn't evangelized the world is because we are ashamed.
The devil tries to frighten us so that we feel intimidated about
witnessing.

Paul was a man with a brass face. You just could not em-
barrass him. He knew where he was going and he would not
let anybody stop him. Whether he was talking to a king or a
governor, he held nothing back - because he was not asham-
ed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

27
 6

THE RELIGIONS
OF THIS WORLD
I've observed most of the religions of the world and I have
not felt attracted to any of them. While in Indonesia I visited
the rajah's palace. It was a magnificent palace with walls
around it. Inside was his special temple with all of his gods of
Buddhism. They were interesting to behold. One had fangs
hanging out of the sides of his mouth below his cheeks as if
to frighten his worshipers into giving a good offering so he
wouidn't get you.

There was another god with arms and hands coming out
all over him that captured my interest so I asked my inter-
preter to call the temple priest. The priest came over, and I
said, "Sir, in all my travels I've never seen a god like this god
with arms coming out of his arms and his belly and his

29
 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

chest." The priest was very happy to hear that.

I told my interpreter, "Would you tell him that this is the

handiest god I've ever seen. However, I want him to listen to
me real carefully. Tell him that back in the corner one of the
hands is broken off and I'm expecting a miracle to happen
when that hand jumps up and reattaches itself to an arm of
this god."

He interpreted what I had said and the old priest replied,

"No, that won't ever happen because I made this god and
painted him like you see him there. I see that hand has
broken off and I'll take him back in the workshop and repair
him."

Imagine, repairing your god! I reached over and touched

him on the shoulder and said, through my interpreter, "I'd
like to tell you something. My God in heaven made all the
materials on this earth including the materials in your god; in
fact, He made everything that ever was."

The priest shuddered to his toes. Was there a god who

made everything and he didn't need any images of any kind
in order to worship him?

Truly, I would have been ashamed to worship such gods.

When we see the superstitions of the heathen and their gods,
we are thankful we don't' have to bow down to worship gods
of clay, stone, gold, silver, or jewels.

30
 The Religions of This World

I will not bow down to that which belongs to this earth, but
will worship the mighty and glorious God who fills the
heavens!

He created all that ever has been created.

31
 7

THE FRENCH BANKER

AND THE GOSPEL
After visiting Tibet some years ago, we came back down
through lndo-China, or Vietnam. We came to the port city of
Hanoi and boarded a boat going to Hong Kong - about two
days' journey.

In those days we traveled mostly by boat and often it would

take days to get where you wen:: going.

Traveling by boat, you were assigned a place to sit in the

dining room. When I received my table assignment I found
across from me a very handsome French banker, whom I
later learned owned banks in France, Hong Kong, lndo-
China, and other parts of the world. He looked at me and in-
quired, "Might I ask your business?" When you are traveling

33
 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

in those parts of the world, most likely you are a business-

man.

"I am a missionary," I replied.

You should have seen the look on his face. He hit the table
with his fist and said, "Well, I'll be damned," and walked out
of the dining room. I knew I didn't look very good having
spent three months in Tibet-I probably needed a haircut and
my clothes weren't the best, but once I got to Hong Kong I
would get cleaned up-but I wasn't there yet!

He, on the other hand, looked handsome and well-

groomed. But being an international banker gave him no
right to treat me as a second-class citizen. He had no right to
cuss God because I was religious.

After dinner I walked out on the deck of the ship. I looked

for the man who had insulted me at the table and eventually I
found him with his arms resting on the railing of the boat,
looking down into the South China Sea.

I walked up and stood next to him. "Hello," I ventured,

knowing deep down that he wanted to say, "My God, you
again?" He had already missed his dinner because of me.

"Isn't this a beautiful evening?"

It was-that glorious moon was shining and it glistened on

the water-it was gorgeous. The stars were brilliant, it truly
was a beautiful evening.

34
 The French Banker and The Gospel

The banker didn't run off, but if he had, I would have

followed him. Inside I knew he had no right to hate me
without even knowing my name.

I continued, "You know, it's very interesting that you don't

like religion ... " and that was just the thing to say.

He cussed again and said, "I was born and raised Roman
Catholic and when France fought Germany, the priest put a
gun (which he had dipped in holy water) in my hand and told
me to be a victorious warrior for France. I didn't want to fight
anybody. I wanted to be a banker, and I became so angry at
religion that I promised never to go inside a church as long
as I lived and that I wou Id always hate religious people."

My answer startled him, "I understand you because I felt

the same way." He wasn't ready for that!

A Choice Between Life Or Death

I continued, "Let me tell you a story."

I told him how I was healed of tuberculosis when I was dy-

ing. And as I dramatized it, (you have to dramatize to the
French or you don't get to them) standing there on the deck I
told him the whole story of how God healed me. The doctor
had given me two hours to live and in one night th2 bleeding
stopped, the coughing ceased, the tubercular fever left me
and I was healed.

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

His eyes got wide as I shared how God had been so good
to me when I started out in the ministry as a young boy of
seventeen, speaking in small country schoolhouses because
I was afraid to go to the cities. My story seemed to touch his
heart. He hit the rail and said, "Hey, that's great. You went
out to the common people - away out there where they grow
food!"

"That's right," I said, "and after eighteen months of going

from place to place, I saw a vision of the world going to hell
and I knew I had to be what people call a missionary. I knew I
had to go everywhere and tell how beautiful Jesus is."

I was getting closer to his mind as I told him how I had

gone out by faith, without any guaranteed money to pay my
expenses, just to tell the story of how I was healed and saved
and how wonderful it was to be saved and to witness to
others.

He looked right at me. "I've never heard anything like this

in my life. I didn't know there was anybody like you on the
face of the earth. What else have you to tell me?"

I opened my New Testament and read John 3: 16 to him.

He had never even opened a Bible, so I began explaining
what I had read.

"It says that God so loved the world - you're the world."
He agreed, "Yes, I guess that's right."

"He gave His only begotten Son - that's Jesus - that who-

36
 The French Banker and The Gospel

soever - that's you - believeth in Him should not perish - you

can't perish. You're afraid you're going to die now and leave
all your money, but you'll never perish with Jesus in your
heart."

"Tell me some more," he said, and I could see he was

eager to hear what I had to say.

Hours later the sun came up over the South China Sea.
We had talked all night as I answered his questions about life
and spiritual things. Then we held hands, facing one another,
and I led him through a lengthy prayer to Jesus. "Lord, I am
a sinner ... " He repeated every word as the light of day came
over the South China Sea and when I looked up, tears were
flowing down his face.

"Do you feel different?"

"Oh," he said, "I feel as light as the air. I feel so good I

could burst on the inside."

Where Are His Witnesses?

The first question he asked me after his conversion was,

"Tell me, is there anybody else in the world like you?"

"Yes," I replied, "there are quite a few around."

"Why haven't I met one before?"

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

What could I say? No doubt hundreds of born-again Chris-

tians had done business with him, but nobody had gotten
angry enough at him to conquer him for Jesus' sake.

The banker said in Hong Kong he had a magnificent

yacht. "It comes out to meet me just outside the harbor.
Would you be my guest and ride into Hong Kong in my
yacht?"

For the rest of the journey I couldn't keep him away from
me. He followed me around wanting to hear more about
Jesus.

When our ship approached Hong Kong and still an hour

out to sea, here came my friend's private yacht with flags all
over it. It pu Iled toward the side of our ship; they let the plank
down, and he came walking out with all his beautiful lug-
gage. I was following behind him down the steps and you
should have seen what my suitcases looked like! I guess I
really looked like one of his porters, but to him I looked like
an angel. He helped me board the yacht. We moved ahead
of the ship carrying passengers into Hong Kong to his private
dock and he said, "I do business all over the world and I want
to find more people like you. Please help me."

Had I been ashamed of the gospel of Jesus he would never

have been saved. Had I not had a righteous anger rise up in
me that it was not right for him to cuss because I was a mis-
sionary, and angry because I was religious, he would have
missed heaven.

38
 The French Banker and The Gospel

He had been hurt by religion as many others have.

Religion can be very hurtful-people saying or doing the
wrong thing-and it's up to us to heal the wounds of those
who have been hurt.

39
 8

BE READY!
If we, like Paul, would not be ashamed of the gospel, one
of two things would happen wherever we go. There would be
a revival or a riot! That was how strong Paul's testimony was.
The city could not remain neutral with him in town.

This tremendous and remarkable man of the millennia

made a further decision. Paul said, So, as much as in me is,
I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome
also.

The apostle was ready!

Many people sing, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear

Lord - but I won't ever leave town. I won't ever leave my
mama, won't ever leave my daddy - but I'll go where you
want me ... "

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

Now God knows you don't mean it - but when Paul said he
was ready, he was ready!

An angel could talk to him at midnight and at six o'clock

the next morning his bags were packed.

When God speaks to people their answers are often, "Yes,

but ... "

The Lord says, "Go over there."

"Well, I will, but I have two more years of school." Or,

"Oh, I will, but my wife won't like it." Someone else
might say, "I'd like to go, Lord, but I went and talked to the
mi?sions board and they said they didn't have any money so I
can't go."

The truth is that most people, churches, and denomina-

tions have not been ready when God wanted to move. Dur-
ing World War II General Douglas McArthur, in a most
amazing way, conquered the Japanese empire. Japan was an
aggressive nation of fighters and killers, but McArthur was so
benevolent toward them that they fell in love with him. They
would stand in line for hours just to get a four-second view of
him as he went from the big black limousine into the door.
They loved McArthur and practically made a god of him.

General McArthur said to America loud and clear, "Give

me ten thousand missionaries and I'll give you a Christian
country. The people have lost faith in their heathen gods."

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 Be Ready

Not many missionaries responded to his call. The Church

was not ready and Japan is more pagan today than it was
before the war. Some 1 % of the nation accept the Christian
faith, 99% does not. How tragic!

What does "being ready" mean?

We are presently in a multi-million dollar building pro-

gram. Instead of shaking and trembling with fear at the
thought of how much money it will cost, we say, "Build her,
build her." There are millions of people whom God has
commissioned to do great things, but they are fearful and
back off from doing what they were told. That's why I say
decisions make you what you are.

As I travel around the world I listen to people very careful-

ly. Men often have had opportunities to become wealthy
through business, but they wouldn't take the chance. One of
the elders of our church wanted to retire a couple of years
ago and offered to let his staff take over his very large
business. It was one of the largest in the city, but after a few
weeks they gave it back to him even though he offered to
give it to them.

There are not many people in the world who have a steel
backbone that will face the uncertainties of life and say "I'm
ready!"

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 9

THE PERSPECTIVE
OF TIME
Nero, emperor of Rome, made Paul pay the ultimate
sacrifice. He called Paul before him and said, "You little in-
digestible Jew! I'm going to cut your head off today and by
tomorrow nobody will remember you were ever born. Sol-
diers, take him away and cut off his head!"

2,000 years have passed and today Paul is not forgotten.

We often call our sons Paul, but we name stray dogs Nero.
That's what 2,000 years will do for you - from an emperor to
a dog ... and from a martyr to a saint. Don't ever think that a
man who is down will be down forever. The man who looks
down on you might not always be on top - he may end up on
the bottom. Paul was a "Man of the Millennia." Some did
not think much of him, but Jesus saw good qualities in him.

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

He saw that Paul was a ready man - he lived ready, he walked

ready, he could move nations. He didn't wait for cir-
cumstances to be right - he made circumstances to meet his
needs. If you are going to wait for everything to be just right
before you make a decision, it will never be made. You make
decisions when you must have faith in God that everything
will turn out right in the end.

Paul was ready to meet the issues of life and he made

strong decisions. Even in moments of disaster when his boat
was breaking to pieces in a great storm and the crew was
abandoning ship, he stood up before everybody and said,
"They that leave this ship shall die, but they that stay on the
ship shall live. And I say it in the name of Jesus Christ!" It
wasn't the captain talking, it was a prisoner, a man with his
hands locked in irons. He was now the commander-in-chief
and those who tried to save themselves, died. But the Bible
says that all those who stayed in the boat were saved. Paul
was a man of strong decisions.

Paul Was A Debtor

Verse 14 of Romans chapter 1 is a great statement. "I am

debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the
wise, and to the unwise."

What kind of credit card had he been using to be in debt to

so many? No, he didn't owe anybody any cash, it was
something different. It's hard to define this debt because it
was a moral and a spiritual and an intellectual debt. It's the

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 The Perspective of Time

kind of debt that Dr. Jonas Salk owed mankind when he

discovered the medicine that would keep little children from
having polio, that awful disease which would cripple and
destroy them. Dr. Salk had to make a decision. He could pre-
vent this disease and save children with an innoculation of
the serum he had discovered or he could have said, "I have
three sons and they are not going to get polio because I will
vaccinate them. I'll put the rest of the serum in my vault in
case we need it later."

But the doctor gave his medicine to the world because he

owed a debt.

What kind of debt did Dr. Salk owe? God had given him a
brilliant mind and knowledge which made it possible for him,
along with others, to create a vaccine that would save our
children from being crippled all through life. Because of this
he owed a debt to the world.

If we, as Americans, would feel that way toward our nation

we would have some patriotic Americans! We live in a coun-
try of freedom and opportunities, and the debt we owe is
enormous.

One important thing about debt - if you don't repay a little

on it every month, you are dishonest. Don't buy something
new for yourself before you take care of the debt you have
already made.

Yes, Paul was a debtor even though he hadn't borrowed

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

any money. It was a debt he owed humanity because he was

born of religious parents and had been the recipient of a
good education. He was born in a place where he could pick
up a martial spirit, an aggressive and conquering spirit.

Also, Paul was a debtor because Jesus met him on the

highway to Damascus and made a new man of him. He was
a debtor because of divine revelation that flowed through him
and because he could share in writing - he wrote half of the
New Testament. He knew he owed a debt and he was ready
to pay it.

The reason we haven't saved the world is most Christians

don't feel they owe anybody anything, and our actions show
it. At least ten thousand times I have heard people say, "I
don't owe anybody anything."

Until God gave me Ezekiel 3: 18, 19, a vision of people

going to hell, I felt the same way. But when God told me that
if I didn't warn the sinner, his blood would be required at my
hands, I got in debt real quick - and I'm not paid up yet. I run
as very few men on the face of this earth run and I work as
very few humans work. Why? Because I'm getting my debt
paid and I am conscious every day that I owe to the wise and
the unwise, the Barbarian and the Greek. I am a debtor to all
of you-whoever you are-to tell you about Jesus!

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 10

WE HAVE THE
RESOURCES TO
SAVE THE WORLD

If we, as Americans, would truly realize that we have a

debt, we could save the world in one year. We have the men
and women who want to do it and we have the resources
available to us. There is nothing to keep us from saving the
world, except we don't feel that we are indebted to anybody.

A teacher from a famous university phoned our television

station and said he wanted to give us a mobile home. I went
over to get it and took a missionary from Mexico with me. As
he was getting the papers ready for transfer, he turned to me
and said, "What are you going to do with this?"

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

"Well, sir," I replied, "if you don't mind I'm going to give
it to this missionary. He is going to Mexico and win many
souls to Jesus!" His countenance changed and he cussed
me. "I'll be damned if you give anything of mine to those
Mexicans. They aren't getting anything from me!"

He broke his word to me because I was going to let the

mobile home be used in Mexico to win souls for Jesus. I had
already had dinner with him and we had been together two or
three other times, but when I talked about Mexicans, he got
angry. He wasn't going to help save Mexicans and he would
no doubt have objected just as much if I would have sent the
mobile home to Africa.

Jesus said that if we want to be His disciples we must do

three things: deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow
Him. (Matthew 16:24)

Did the "Man of the Millennia" do that? Yes, Paul denied

himself because he lived as a pilgrim stranger until he died.
He might have owned a magnificent home in Jerusalem, but
if he did, he never had much time to be there.

Paul took up his cross-not Jesus' cross-and his cross

was heavy. He walked in the bloody footsteps of the Saviour
right to the moment of martyrdom when his head was cut off
in Rome at the command of Nero.

When Jesus was dying, the clergy made a statement in

Mark 15:31, " ... He saved others; himself he cannot save."

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 We Have The Resources To Save The World

Sometimes your enemies know more about you than your

friends do. Your friends can get sentimental, but your
enemies don't.

The enemies of Jesus knew that Bartimaeus had been

blind. He had no eyeballs and they had seen him down by
the roadside begging many times. But when Jesus had
healed him, he had brand new beautiful brown eyes that
matched his skin and hair. God didn't give him blue ones so
he would look funny - God always does it right!

The enemies of Jesus also knew that the lame had walked
and crippled people with shriveled arms were made whole
and lepers had been cleansed. They also knew that Lazarus
had been raised from the dead.

Christ's enemies thought it was a mystery that He couldn't

save Himself - but it was no mystery. Legions of angels were
at His disposal, but had He called on them while hanging on
the cross, He could have saved Himself but He would have
lost the world.

Possibly in our generation the Church has saved itself in-

stead of the world. In the last ten years all the older
denominations have cut back their missionary force by some
60%, some even more than that. At the moment when God
needs more workers than ever before, man starts retreating.

Friend, it's time to march forward and not to slide

backwards. The churches of our generation have built temples,

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

mighty and beautiful, with glass windows and gorgeous

carpets, but lost our world. Some churches have not had a
soul saved in the last thirty or forty years.

Like Paul, the "Man of the Millennia," we have to be deci-

sion makers.

It is possible that his statement is one of the strongest ever

made by a human. I AM A DEBTOR and every day I'm
paying on my debt.

The last installment of Paul's debt was paid in full at the

guillotine of Nero.

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 11

I AM A DEBTOR

My wife and I took a trip to Africa. Our plane flew out of

Chicago directly to Munich, Germany. When we got to
Munich, the airline put us in a hotel for a few hours while we
waited for the next flight to go to South Africa. In that hotel
my nose began, not just to bleed, but to hemorrhage. A
tissue paper was not sufficient to wipe the flow, I used a
towel. The blood was spurting out of my nose as if you had
turned on a faucet full force and I felt weak and faint. I had
never experienced anything like that since I was a little boy
and had nose bleeds. Well, it finally stopped and we went on
to Africa, but every few hours the heavy nose bleed would
start again. Strangely enough, I preached a couple times a
day and it would never happen while I was preaching, but
after I had preached my nose would bleed uncontrollably.

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 PAUL-Man of the Millennia

I was very concerned one day when my wife was speaking

at a ladies' meeting and was out of the hotel for several
hours. My nose started to bleed and I became fearful that I
would die and I was alone. The devil kept tormenting me say-
ing, "You have cancer in the brain and that's the cancer
flowing out of you, and you 're going to die."

I rebuked him and said, "I'm not going to die of cancer. I

intend to live to be a hundred and four, unless Jesus comes
and takes me up in the Rapture-it's one or the other-so
I'm not believing you at all!"

The hemorrhaging persisted and I decided to make a

special covenant with God. I said, "Lord, if you heal this, I
will bless Africa."

We visited Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke's headquarters

and learned of his tremendous ministry in Africa. He needed
help financially and when I heard he had received only $50
from America for a whole year because nobody knew him
here, I immediately bought him a round-trip ticket to the
States. I promised him he would get at least $10,000 for
preaching for us on a weekend. I was, of course, stepping
out in faith not knowing if the people would give or not. The
first night's offering for him was $9,500, so I was encourag-
ed and upped my promise to $15,000. But the next night
we had $14,500, and I thought for sure we would get more
than $500 the next two nights, so we increased our goal to
$20,000. The offerings exceeded my expectations and
Reinhard Bonnke went back rejoicing. The offerings totaled

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 I Am A Debtor

$27,000! I told him, "We're not through - when can you

come back?" He promised to return in two or three months.
I made appointments for him in a dozen churches, where
they are liberal in their giving. He wrote me that he had
received over $80,000 in cash and much more in pledges. I
told him to come back so we could bless him some more.

Reinhard needed nineteen Mercedes-Benz tractor trailers

to pull his huge tent, seating 34,000, from Capetown to Cairo
to evangelize Africa. This time our ministry gave him
$40,000. When he returned to Africa, he had all nineteen
trucks, worth $85,000 each, paid in full. He got them for
$40,000 each because the Kadaffi government in Libya that
had originally ordered them was unable to pay, so he bought
them for half price! Reinhard Bonnke and Africa were bless-
ed because I promised God to bless Africa if He would heal
that thing the devil had put on me when I was literally
bleeding to death. It was an awful experience at the time. But
when I made the commitment to God, the bleeding stopped.
Because of my promise, I am obligated to bless the people of
Africa. Reinhard Bonnke has since asked me to return to
Africa and dedicate the largest tent in history.

Do you know that you have a debt to pay?

Your daily decisions will determine your destiny.

It was no accident that Paul became a "Man of the Millen-

nia." But there is greatness built into every human and the
potential is there for each of us to become a man or a woman
of the millennia.

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