2 Paths: Fulfillment and Regret E10

Today from Japan, it's episode number 10 of the Word Outreach Podcast

Welcome to a place for encouragement in the Christian walk. Thanks for joining me today. My name is Rudy Vaughn, and today is part five in a series called Enjoying the Christian Walk and Living Without Regret. And while we're finishing up a series, I am so glad that we are starting the new year with this particular episode.

Because the things that you and I are going to be looking at today can have a big influence on the direction that you and I are going to take in this coming year. As Christians, we can walk down two very different paths in life. We can either be on what I call the path of Christian fulfillment. It's a path that we can see in Romans chapter 12.

Or we can be on what I call [00:01:00] the path of regret. This is a path that we get on when we choose to ignore our Christian character. Well, today I want to talk to you about two things. First, how to get off the path of regret and get back on the path of Christian fulfillment. And secondly, I want to tell you about the habit that God has used to change my life.

It's a habit that has helped me to stay on the path of Christian fulfillment for longer and longer periods of time and spend less time on the path of regret. And then I want you to meet Wayne and Nancy Riegel.

For several years now, they have been taking overseas short-term mission trips every year. As a couple, they went to the country of Peru three different times, and they've been traveling over to Sudan now for the last seven years. So that first trip, we came away with such a wonderful experience, only to learn that [00:02:00] this really is not what short-term missions is about.

It isn't about you going and having a missionary experience. It, uh, is not the purpose. The Lord allows you to have that, but that isn't the main purpose. And it took going on more than one trip for me to actually learn that, and He has taught me that, and it's made such a difference. But even though it's a short-term missions trip, they're able to see long-term results because they keep going back and visiting the people in that country every year.

And so in the case of Sudan, we've been to several places in Sudan and have planted churches in these places. And each year we go, we go back, sometimes for a few days, sometimes maybe just for the afternoon, because there are so many places and so short of time. But we get to see the fruit of what's the Lord is doing and how He's multiplying [00:03:00] that situation.

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Well, let's talk about staying on the path of Christian fulfillment

My son and I are part of a Christian outdoor adventure program called Trail Life USA, and one of the things we enjoy doing is going backpacking. And so recently we went on a three-day, 14-mile backpack trip, and one of the cool things we did is we started at night. So we all have our backpacks on, our hiking boots, you know, we've driven an hour and a half or so to get to our place.

And so we get out of our vehicles and get all ready, and we put our [00:04:00] headlamps on, and then we hit the trail. And we hiked for probably four or five miles and got to our campsite, uh, I'm thinking around midnight thirty or maybe one AM and, and set up camp, and I think, uh, we were all asleep by two AM. And so we woke up in the morning, got out of the tents and wow, it was beautiful

We were out in the middle of this beautiful field, uh, close to a beautiful lake, and around us there were these rolling hills. We were out in the middle of nowhere, and there was just this sense of satisfaction and fulfillment because we had worked so hard through the night to get to where we're at And we made it, and it was just beautiful when we got out of our tents that morning.

And the great thing about backpacking is those kinds of experiences [00:05:00] can happen over and over again. Because as we continue down the trail, there are parts of the trail that are kind of difficult and parts that are not so bad, but eventually you might pop out of the woods into this beautiful field and see this beautiful view.

And then you work hard and, and I remember we were in the woods going along the side of the lake for a while, and then went back up in the hills and, and we stopped for lunch by a creek, and we were able to, to just relax and set up the hammock, and some of the guys were playing in the creek. And then several miles later, we finally reach our campsite and have a nice little campfire that night.

And one of the things that made the backpacking trip a great trip, were having those times where we felt that sense of contentment that we have arrived and everything is good and it's beautiful, a sense of satisfaction that our hard work was worth the time. It was worth the hard work in getting up those, uh, steep trails.

Well, when I talk about the [00:06:00] path of Christian fulfillment, I'm talking about a similar experience that a backpacker might enjoy. They work hard on the trail, and then they finally get to this place where they feel like, "Wow, this is beautiful. It was worth getting here. The view is excellent. I'm glad I worked so hard to get to this spot.

It was worth the time." And for the Christian, those moments are the times when we are involved in serving God, when God opens up new opportunities for us to be used by God in an effective way, and we are so excited to see what God has done. Maybe you share the gospel with someone and you see them begin to light up with an understanding in their eyes.

They're beginning to have a realization of what it means to come to Christ. Or maybe you actually see them get saved, and you look at that and thinking, "Wow, that is beautiful. What a great view. It was worth the time to get here to see this view." The path of Christian [00:07:00] fulfillment has attached to it a sense of satisfaction in life because we know that we are not wasting our life.

We are living to our fullest potential because we know that we're living out the plans that God has for us. This path of Christian fulfillment is filled with wonderful places in life where you have the opportunity to be used by God, and you look at those places and you say, "Wow, this is bigger than Hollywood.

This is bigger than what's important at my job. This is about eternity. This is wow, and I get to be a part of this." These are the things that make the path of Christian fulfillment truly a path worth being on. Now, the path of Christian fulfillment begins with dedication. Its progress is made as we embrace the lifestyle of renewing our mind.

And fulfillment is actually enjoyed and experienced as we are involved in serving God in the way that He wants [00:08:00] us to serve. So the path begins with dedication, and we talked about it in episode six when we looked at Romans 12:1. It's important to understand that dedicating my body to God, as it says in Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice," dedicating my body to God is not the same as salvation.

I became a Christian when I was six years old, but I did not become a Christian by dedicating my body to Christ. I became a Christian by depending on Christ dying on the cross for my sins and being risen from the dead. And along with that, there was a heart attitude of humility, where I was turning away from being my own boss, and I was going to turn and follow Christ as my master.

I was turning to Christ. When Paul writes about presenting your body a living sacrifice in Romans 12:1, he is writing to people who have already become Christians. In fact, one area that he spoke about salvation was two chapters earlier, when he says in Romans [00:09:00] 10:9, "If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

So I just wanted to make it clear, salvation comes first, and then God wants every Christian to come to this place in their life When they dedicate their body to God. This is an important place to be because it puts us on the path to enjoying real fulfillment in our Christianity. Well, the path of Christian fulfillment begins with dedication, but progress down the path is made through having a lifestyle of renewing the mind.

We looked at this in episode seven when we read Romans chapter twelve, verse two. One thing we learned is that renewing the mind means to renovate the mind. I'm replacing the wrong way of thinking about things with the right way of thinking about things, and the result is I become a transformed Christian.

And when I'm a transformed Christian, then I see things from a new perspective. And Romans twelve two [00:10:00] teaches us that this transformed person will be able to discern the will of God. So if you're not familiar with this, I want to invite you to check out episode seven where we talked about renewing the mind.

So this path of Christian fulfillment begins with dedication. Progress down the path is made as we embrace this lifestyle of renewing the mind. And then finally, fulfillment is experienced through serving God in the way that he wants us to serve. Now, this is something we talked about in episode eight when we looked at Romans chapter twelve, verses three through eight.

God wants us to serve with a big picture perspective, and he wants us to serve in the way that he has gifted us to serve. And so our life is satisfied. Part of our satisfaction in Christ comes from the fact that we are involved in serving in the body of Christ. We are serving the interest of Christ. And so this is what the path of Christian fulfillment looks like.

I'm living a lifestyle of renewing my [00:11:00] mind, and then I have an opportunity to be used by God. Wow, this is a great thing to see. This is very fulfilling. And then I continue through life renewing my mind, and I have another opportunity to enjoy fulfillment in being one of God's servants. And I continue through life renewing my mind, and God brings me another opportunity to spend my life on the things that matter.

These are those great experiences on the trail. These are those great moments where you feel like it is worth being a Christian, because I get to be a part of something that is bigger than myself. And after you have a few of these opportunities to be used by God, finally it dawns on you that this is more than me serving God.

This is a gift. I thought I was just getting a home in heaven when I got saved. When I became a Christian, I was getting more than a home in heaven. When I became a Christian, I was getting more than freedom from the slavery of [00:12:00] sin. When I became a Christian, I was also getting a chance to use my life for the things that matter.

What a gift. What an opportunity So this is the vision that God has for our life, that we would not just become a Christian, but we would become a dedicated Christian. That we would become the kind of Christian who is living on the path of Christian fulfillment, enjoying these grand opportunities where we are involved in serving in the kingdom of God

Well, there is another path. The second path is the path of regret. And just like the path of Christian fulfillment has a starting point, so does the path of regret. The path of regret begins when I decide to ignore my Christian character. And we talked about [00:13:00] this in the last episode, episode nine. We looked at Romans 12:9-21, and we looked at two areas of our Christian character that we should not ignore: the way we treat other people and the way we treat our personal walk with God.

And when you and I choose to ignore our Christian character, that's like making the decision to turn off of the path of Christian fulfillment and turn on to the path of regret. And let me explain why this is called the path of regret. Because while I'm on this path, while I'm doing my own thing, I'm ignoring Christian character, doing whatever I want to do, during the time that I'm doing this, life goes on.

Relationships suffer. Bad decisions are made, and they have consequences. There are missed opportunities in ministry And finally, when I come to my senses and I look at these suffering relationships, when I see the [00:14:00] consequences of these poor decisions, when I realize that there were opportunities to be used by God in ministry in an effective way and I missed the opportunities.

When I look back and I see these things, it is at that point that I realize that this is not just any path that I'm on. This is truly a path of regret. So how do I get off the path of regret and get back onto this path of Christian fulfillment? Well, the first thing we should understand is that you and I should not try to take a shortcut.

I'm talking about trying to get back on the path of Christian fulfillment and acting as though we had never gotten off. Here is a simple example. Maybe you and I have hurt someone in our family. Maybe it's something we did, maybe it's something we said, maybe it's the way we said it. So we have hurt the relationship with some people in our family.

And finally, after a few days, we [00:15:00] decide that we want everything to be fine again. So we begin interacting with this family member as though everything is fine. We begin interacting with them as though we had never said these things to them before that hurt them. We are trying to get back on the path of Christian fulfillment, acting as though we never got off in the first place.

That's like taking a shortcut. The only way to go back to the path of Christian fulfillment is to go back to the place where I got off. Here are two passages of scripture that can help. The first is a familiar one, First John one, nine. It says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Before trying to get back on the right path, I need to first get things right with God. It says, "If we confess our sins." This word confess means to agree with God. I'm agreeing with God that my sin is as bad as He says it is. If we confess our sins, He is [00:16:00] faithful. He's there waiting for you. He is faithful and He is just.

He has the authority to forgive. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This word cleanse means to purify. So if I come to God broken over my sin, over what I've done, He will purify my life. Now, I think one of the most exciting words in this verse is the word to forgive.

It means to send away. He sends us away cleansed or purified. If you've ever seen a dog get scolded before because the dog did something bad, you know that sometimes a dog will go away with his tail between his legs and his head down, and the dog just looks so sad. Well, that is not the way that God sends us away.

God doesn't send us away like that. If we come to Him agreeing with Him that our sin is as bad as He says it is, if we come to Him [00:17:00] with this heart attitude of being broken in our spirits, then He will send us away, not like that dog. But He will send us away head high in forgiveness because He has cleansed us, He has purified our life.

So this is the first step to getting back on the path. Get things right with God. The next passage is Matthew chapter five, verses twenty-three through twenty-four. It says, "So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift." So the idea here is if I am bringing my worship to God and then I realize that there is a problem with someone else and myself because of the way we have talked, the way I've treated them, I need to stop what I'm doing. God does not want my gift at this time.

He [00:18:00] wants me to go and get things right with this person. That means I go to them and, and I tell them, "I am sorry that I have done this to you. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?" We need to get it right with the other person, and then, then God wants our gift. So the wrong way to try to get back on the path of Christian fulfillment is to take a shortcut, act like everything is fine and nothing happened.

That's the wrong way. The right way is to first go to God, First John one, nine, and get things right with God. And then if I have hurt someone else, then I need to go to them. Matthew chapter five, verses twenty-three through twenty-four. I need to go and I need to get it right, and now you and I can get back to serving God.

But here's a question. What if you and I could stay on the path of Christian fulfillment instead of getting on the path of regret over and over again? Wouldn't that be great[00:19:00]

I'm not talking about perfection. The Apostle Paul was not perfect. But when you read about his life and when you read his letters, it becomes obvious that he had long periods in his life when he was on the path of Christian fulfillment. He was living with this attitude that his body belonged to God. He had a lifestyle of renewing his mind, and he was enjoying the fulfillment that comes from being involved in ministry.

Paul was not perfect, but living on the path of Christian fulfillment was something normal for Paul, and it ought to be something normal for you and I. So let's talk about staying on the path of Christian fulfillment. I'm so excited to share with you about the habit that God has used to change my life

You know, we all have different habits in our life, and all of [00:20:00] us should adopt certain habits because there are certain habits that can keep us from having regret in our life. Uh, for example, when I'm driving, a good habit is not to follow too close to another car. Another good habit is when I'm crossing the road, we learned this when we were kids, is we should look both ways before we cross the road.

That's a good habit. And when you and I can make certain habits a part of our life, they can keep us from experiencing a whole lot of heartache. Romans 12:2 says to, "Not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." If we're going to say no to the world's system, if we're going to say no to the world's way of thinking, or you might think of it this way, if you and I are going to be able to turn away from temptation, what we need to do is be a transformed Christian.

The transformed Christian can say no to these things, and if we are going to be a transformed Christian, what we need to do first is renew our mind. Transformation is the result of [00:21:00] renewing our mind. Now, remember what it means to renew the mind. It means to renovate, as if someone was going to an old house and they were gonna renovate the house.

They would take out the old flooring and the old electrical and maybe some of the old kitchen appliances, and they would replace those things so that someone could move in the house. They would renovate the house. So if you and I are going to renovate the mind, what it means that we need to do is we need to replace the wrong way of thinking with the right way of thinking.

We need to replace the wrong thoughts with truth. So here is an important question. When temptation is running high and we are about to say something that we shouldn't say, when we are about to go somewhere that we shouldn't go, when we are about to do something that we know that we shouldn't do, when yielding to temptation is at the forefront of our minds, what is the thought [00:22:00] that needs to be replaced?

When we are seriously thinking about crossing the line, when we are seriously thinking about going down the path of regret, what is the thought in our minds that needs to be replaced?

Imagine for a moment that you are alone and you have been entertaining the idea of doing something that you know you shouldn't do, and you finally come to the place where you are seriously considering yielding to some kind of temptation. You've been thinking about it

And finally, you're on the edge. Or maybe you're not alone at all. Maybe you're with some people. And you're almost there. You are seriously thinking about yielding to temptation, and you know that the people that you're with wouldn't care, and the people who would [00:23:00] care aren't around right now. You're thinking about it.

You're close to a decision. And finally, you've decided to go for it You know it's wrong, but it doesn't matter to you. You've weighed the pros and the cons, and you've decided you're gonna go for it anyway And at that very moment, at the very moment that you are beginning to yield to this temptation, everything stops.

It's just like in some movie where everyone just freezes in their tracks. You look around and nothing is moving. Even the clock has stopped. And then

Whoa. That's pretty weird[00:24:00]

So finally you decide to answer. Uh, hello? What are you doing? Uh, who's this? I thought you were supposed to be a Christian. What are you doing? Hey, listen man, I don't know who you are or how you got this number, but this is none of your business. I can do what I want. It's my life, it's my body. And that is precisely the thought that needs to be replaced When you and I are beginning to consider the fact that maybe our body belongs to ourselves, it is at that moment that we need to have a habit of replacing that thought.

And that's what this habit is about. It's about replacing the thought of who owns my body. So what I wanna do is show you what this habit looks like, and then I wanna give you three reasons why this habit is effective [00:25:00] and why God can use it to change your life

If you have struggled with temptation, I want you to know something. You are not alone. I've struggled with temptation as well, and you and I are in good company with a few other million Christians. But yielding to temptation does not have to be the norm for us. Remember, being tempted is not a sin. Jesus was tempted, yet he was without sin.

What we want to do is turn away from temptation on a regular basis, and that can happen when we build the habit of replacing the wrong thought that says my body belongs to myself with the right thought that says my body belongs to God. So here is the habit. When I face temptation, I can pray, "God, my body is yours.

Help me to honor you with it." [00:26:00] And that's it. "God, my body is yours. Help me to honor you with it." Now, depending on the situation we find ourselves in, it may sound a little differently. "God, my mind is yours. Help me to honor you with my thoughts. God, my eyes are yours. Help me to honor you with my eyes. God, my mouth is yours.

Help me to honor you with what I say. God, my hands are yours. Help me to honor you with what I do." God, my feet are yours. Help me to honor you with where I go. Now, there are three reasons why this is an effective habit, three reasons why this habit has changed my life, and it can change yours as well. The first reason is that when I say, "God, my body is yours," well, what we are doing is we are replacing the [00:27:00] wrong way of thinking with the right way of thinking.

We're replacing the wrong thoughts with the truth. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body." This is not about saying some little magical or lucky phrase that's gonna help me to be good. This is about renovating the way I think about myself, because at the moment that we are choosing to do something that we know we shouldn't do, we are expressing the attitude that says, "My body belongs to me."

So what we wanna do is we wanna replace that thought. We wanna replace it with truth. And the fact is, for the Christian, according to 1 Corinthians 6:19, our body is not our own. Now, the second reason that this habit is effective is because when I say, "God, my body is yours," well, what we are doing is we are reaffirming our dedication of Romans [00:28:00] 12:1.

If you have come to the place in your Christian life where you have followed what it says to do in Romans 12:1, you have presented your body to God. You have dedicated your life to Him. And so when I tell God in this prayer, "God, my body is yours," I'm not rededicating my life. But what I'm doing is I'm reaffirming the fact that I am still in agreement with my dedication I'm letting God know, "God, I still believe this way.

I dedicated my body to you, and I still feel this way. I'm reaffirming it." So this habit will replace the wrong way of thinking with the right way of thinking. This habit helps me to reaffirm the dedication of my body to God. Because after praying, "God, my body is yours," I make the statement, "Help me to honor you with it."

And the third reason why this is an effective habit is because [00:29:00] this is a prayer where I'm calling out to God for help. I'm letting God know, "God, my body is yours." And then I say, "Help me to honor you with it." I'm asking God for help. You see, it is important that we replace the wrong way of thinking, and it's important that we reaffirm our dedication to God.

But more than anything, we need to ask God for help, because overcoming temptation on a regular basis is not about willpower. No, it is about the supernatural help of God. And God offers that help. God offers that help, and you can live a victorious Christian life. I'm talking about a life where you are having regular victory over temptation.

That can be you. You know, sometimes in life it is helpful to have a habit that can move us into the right direction, that can move us into doing the right thing, [00:30:00] and that's what this habit does. It's not about willpower. This is a habit about helping us to move into an attitude of submission to God.

Because in submitting to God, there is protection, protection from walking down the path of regret.

I want to encourage you to build the habit of praying, "God, my body is yours. Help me to honor you with it." Because the fact is, if this habit can help you and I to live on the path of Christian fulfillment, well then, it is a habit that is definitely worth building

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Thanks a lot

Here is part one of my interview with Wayne and Nancy Rigel. They have been taking overseas short-term mission trips every year for several years. So where did you first [00:32:00] go? We first went to a place called Arequipa, Peru, and, uh, the two years after that in Peru we went to a different location called Chavay in the Andes Mountains, a smaller village.

Now was this your first time outside, uh, the country, Nancy, or had you been out of the country before? No, that was my first trip out of the country. First trip. Well, tell m- tell us a little bit about, uh, who did you go with and what was your plan? What were you planning on doing when you went there? We went with a, uh, a mission board, uh, by the name of E3 Partners which stands for Equip, Evangelize and Establish.

Uh, they're out of, uh, Plano, Texas. And we as a church, we wanted to start doing short-term missions, but we really didn't know how to do it at the time, so we felt that this mission board could help us so down the road at a later time we could go ourselves. So how many people were in this group [00:33:00] when you went on this missions trip?

Is this a big group of 20 to 30 people or is this a small group? I think there were seven or eight that went with us on our, on our first trip, uh, to Arequipa. So how did it go for you? It was a learning process. Um, I know Wayne, his first morning out, uh, we ... Well, the first thing we do is we go out knocking on doors evangelizing.

And, uh, Wayne had an excellent translator that, uh, was a Christian. Um, I had the opposite. I had a young man who did not know the Lord at all and could barely translate English. So my first morning was a disaster, and uh, we just sort of bungled through the morning. And by the time we went back to the house t- the host home for lunch I was so discouraged and I [00:34:00] was saying, "Lord, why am I here?

And what is this? And what is going on?" And, uh, it was just so interesting how He just took over and showed me why I was there. A lady who, whom we had knocked on her door that morning was not home, and so when we went back to the host home for lunch, she followed us because she discovered that we had knocked on her door.

She wanted to know why we had been there. And, uh, so I was able to sit down with her in that home and, uh, talk with her, presented the gospel using Wayne's translator, which helped teach my translator what we were trying to get across- Wow ... what we were trying to do. And so she accepted Christ that morning, and that was exactly what I needed.

The Lord knew that. That was exactly what she needed. The [00:35:00] Lord knew that, and she was ready to receive Him. Of course, there had been so much prayer going on beforehand with just praying for prepared hearts to receive the gospel, and that was just His showing us, showing me, uh, that He had prepared hearts.

He had gone ahead of us, and He was working, and He was ready to work in hearts, and people were ready to receive. So that was such an encouragement, and it went on from there. And the rest of the trip was just like that. People were accepting Christ. We had people coming, looking for us in that neighborhood- Wow

uh, because they had heard we were there. So that first trip, we came away with such a wonderful experience, only to learn that this really is not what short-term missions is about. It isn't about you going and having a [00:36:00] missionary experience. It, uh, is not the purpose. The Lord allows you to have that, but that isn't the main purpose, and it took going on more than one trip for me to actually learn that And he has taught me that, and it's made such a difference.

And, um, just how I see the, everything that's, that He's doing, why He's doing it, um, His purpose, His plan, all of that. And, um, you know, I, I just can't emphasize enough to people who are interested in going on short-term missions that it is His work, it's all about Him, and it's for His glory. Um, I'm kind of intrigued, and some other people might be as well, of the fact that when you went there and had a translator, the translator did not know Christ.

No. So how did this come about? Was he a [00:37:00] paid translator, or he just, uh, wanted to volunteer? Yes, that's part of the plan of, uh, E3 Partners, you know, to reach as many as we can wherever we go. So they originally solicit or, or ask, they, they do hire these translators, and they try to have a mix of both believers and non-believers.

And then of course by the end of the week, you know, normally they're all believers. Wow. So that is the process. The translators? Yes, yes. That's correct. Wow, that was my next question- ... is how often does a translator become a Christian? Yes, my translator that year, by Wednesday Was a believer. Really? Yeah. Wow.

Now that is exciting. Yeah. Yes. I even had a, uh, the, for the following years when we were in, uh, Chivay. Uh, Chivay, um, I had a translator there who was not a believer and- So Chivay, is this, this is Peru also? That's in Peru also. Okay. That's up in the Andes. We're up at a altitude of 12,000 feet. Mm. [00:38:00] Um, where the air is quite thin.

Uh, anyhow, uh, the translator that I had, uh, was not a believer. In fact, uh, he didn't like the conditions we were in and he actually thought about bailing on us, uh, just not showing up and going back home. But he was listening. He was a very good translator, and he had questions. A question here, a question there as we, as we moved along.

And then all of a sudden, one day as we were just walking down the street and not saying anything, we were just thinking about our next stop, he stopped in the middle of the road and said, "We need to talk." Mm. And that's, that's the point at which he became a follower of Christ. Wow. Wow. What a great strategy that E3 is using.

Oh, yeah. I, I, I would wholeheartedly agree with that, yes. [00:39:00] So, uh, one country you've been to is Peru on short-term mission trips, and how many years have you been to Peru? Nancy and I went together on three trips to Peru. Okay. And then in addition to that, I was privileged to go to two leadership development conferences, one in Arequipa and one in Chivay.

Okay. So you're going back to Sudan, and how long before you leave to go on this trip? 12 days. Oh, really? Yes. That's close. 12 days. And how long have you been preparing for this particular trip? Since- As soon as you got back from the last one? Since the day we left last time, yes. Why are you so excited about y- you know, about going back?

What, what happened last time where you felt like when it was time to leave, you know, the work was unfinished, you had to start getting ready to come back? Well, I, what is very significant to me is, uh, [00:40:00] many people are, I, I would think a majority of people go on one short-term mission trip. But we've had the privilege of going back to the places that we were at the preceding year, and we get to see some of the fruit that has, uh, come about from the last time we were there.

And so in the case of, um, of Sudan, we've been to several places in Sudan and have planted churches in these places. And each year we go, we go back, sometimes for a few days, sometimes maybe just for the afternoon, because there are so many places and so short of time. But we get to see the fruit of what's the Lord is doing and how He's multiplying that situation.

And, uh, it also strengthens us from the viewpoint of, we have heard some people say that there's really no significance to short-term missions and they really don't [00:41:00] work, and I'm here to tell you that they work marvelously. And, and, uh, that's probably what we're more excited about than anything, is just going back just to see how the Lord has continued to work and to grow His church.

You can find the show notes for today's podcast by going over to wordoutreach.org/10, as in episode 10. And if you have enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a review. You can just go to the website wordoutreachpodcast.com, and there's a red banner at the top, and just click on the link in that banner, and that will take you right to the review page.

And my name is Rudy Vaughan, encouraging you in this first month of the new year to start the new year off right by building the important habit of letting God know that your body belongs to him and asking [00:42:00] for his help.