Rev. Barry Hidey

A Witness by Rev. Eduard Khegay

Good morning, brothers and sisters. It is my joy to be here in the Bel Air United Methodist Church and I bring you greetings from God’s Field United Methodist Church in Moscow and Rev. Feodore Drozhin and their thanks and gratefulness for your support and love and prayers for their ministry in Moscow. I also bring you greetings from our bishop’s office in Moscow and we just returned from the Russian Initiative Consultation and were inspired to work together as partners around the world and fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ.

I want to share a little bit of my personal testimony this morning. I come from a generation which spent about half of my life during the Soviet Union and about half of my life during the new reality in Russia that we now have as we try to build a democratic country. I grew up in a typical Soviet family. My parents were members of the Communist Party and when I was a little boy we never talked about religion. There was nothing in our family tradition that would connect us with spirituality or religion. My image of religion was very shady. I thought that Christians were very strange people who wear black robes and never smile and it was very hard to understand the purpose of the way they live. But then after high school, I went to Moscow to study at the university there and while I was a student I was invited to go to a retreat. My friends didn’t tell me what kind of retreat it would be. They just told me that there would be a lot of young people and it would be free and it would be fun. So I went there and only there I realized it was a retreat organized by the United Methodist Church in Moscow. I was so blessed to see so many good young people who were so open to me, so friendly and so welcoming.

I met a missionary from the United States there. His name is Jonathan Park. He is now a pastor in a Los Angeles church. We had a great time together and we shared our stories and then I asked him why he came to Russia. He came for about a year in 1992 and that time was right after the collapse of the Soviet Union when the economy was just crushing in Russia. Inflation rates were going very rapidly high and there were no products in the stores. We students were all trying to make a living and to have as many jobs as we could to earn money and buy products as they were available in the stores to invest this money in something rather than having it devalued.

And so I met this missionary and asked him why he came to Russia, and he told me that he came to Russia to share the love of Jesus Christ. That was very shocking to me. I thought he was either a CIA agent (laughter) or there is something greater that I do not know. And so he invited me to come to Bible study in the church and I gladly joined that Bible study group. The more I learned, the more I realized God’s love for me and God’s purpose for this life, that God wants me live an abundant life - a life full of meaning and a mission.

So I prayed to God and I dedicated my life to God and I wanted to serve as much as I can with whatever gifts God gave me. The more I was involved in the church ministry, especially with young people, the more I felt the blessings of God and the joy of ministry and I just wanted to spend all the time that I have for the church and for the development of ministry of the church.

I also want to share a little bit about how revolutionary it was for me and for many people of my generation to come to church and to learn the Bible, because during the Soviet Union time the mentality was that you were always told what to think, how to behave and things like that. Now, when I came to the Methodist church, I realized that it was very open. As John Wesley said, “We think and we let think”. And it was amazing for me because we could discuss the Bible, we could ask questions, we were not just told what to believe without any questions. So this was very unusual for many of my friends, and still is. It was just a great blessing that we could come to church, we can sit at the table and we can read the Bible and discuss many questions that we have. And it is a great blessing that we can grow now at our own pace and we can openly share this - God’s Word and the love of Jesus Christ.

Also while I was at the university, we had a special class which was dedicated to the studies of the nuclear weapons. You can imagine during the cold war that the most nuclear missiles we studied were the US missiles. We were taught that the US is enemy number one and they are going to attack us and we need to be ready and as engineers we need to get weapons that will be a lot better than theirs and so with this kind of mentality we grew up. Then when I met the missionary from the US, when I became a Christian, when I visited the US and many of the churches in this country, and when I experienced the love of Jesus Christ, I realized how God has so much grace and love for us. That in spite of the cold war that we had in the past, in spite of all the barriers in politics or anything else, we can be one church together on this earth. Whether we are in Moscow or in Bel Air, we can be one family that worships God and praises God.

Thank you very much. God bless you.

Well, when the staff got together back in November and December and planned this special series on the Jesus Journey, I was really excited when they picked the theme out for this service, Tell About Your Trip. When I talked to Doug about that he explained to me that we should use a trip that I had taken and talk about it. So Geoff, do you have those pictures that I brought from our trip last year? Thank you ushers. So you know, we went to Istanbul on this trip, and so I just thought I’d show you all the pictures that we took on the trip this morning.

So here we started at Istanbul on June 11, 2004. Go ahead Geoff, go to the next one. Here we went to the Blue Mosque here in Istanbul. And then we went through the Hagai Sophia which was actually a Christian temple that was created in 300, but the Turks came along in 1400 and converted it to a mosque, so they still have the pictures, the mosaics in there that have been covered over with plaster. Here’s a Turkish man learning about the history of Christianity and the conflict with the Muslims.

Go to the next one. Of course, you can’t go though Turkey without buying a rug. So we went to this demonstration, we didn’t buy one, but we got asked about 8,000 times. Let’s keep going, Goeff.

Here’s the ship that we were on, the Windspirit. Keep going there, Geoff, we’ve got a lot to go through. Go back to that one, because that was the most important one. (Laughter) There I am, the Captain saying, “You should have gone to the left or starboard.” I didn’t know my left or right.

Here we came to Ephesus and went to the ruins. We just have some great pictures. Keep going Geoff. This is the Celsius library about 100 A.D. that was created. It’s just amazing. There’s all kinds of Christian symbolism. Here we are where they believe that St. John was buried there. They built this huge basilica there about 300 A.D. Keep going. This is the baptismal font they had.

St. Paul’s Bay in Rhodes where Paul did one of his missionary journeys. Here’s the castle in Rhodes. Next is - that’s a Maryland hat on top to that armor from the Rhodes knights (laughter).

OK. Another island we went to. We ended up on Mykonos. Just some of the great – there’s a little Orthodox church there in the background. We went inside. It was just neat to see all the religious symbolism.

Then we got to Santorini – a great, beautiful island. We just really loved being on Santorini. We went around touring … all the great pictures, and then ….

(Doug, clearing his throat) Excuse me Barry.

(Barry) Doug, I’m almost finished …only about a hundred to go.

(Doug) Time out. Time out. Is this your whole sermon?

(Barry) Yes, you said to tell about my trip.

(Doug) No, your trip with Jesus. We’re on the Jesus journey, remember?

(Barry) But, but, I just have all these wonderful pictures.

(Doug) Well, that’s nice, but we want to hear about the most important trip.

(Barry) O.K. All right. He always takes the fun out of this, you know. I’ll tell you. O.K. You can turn on the lights. Actually, you can leave them down a little bit, because now we can use the screen, now that we’ve got it down, for the sermon notes. Just leave me enough light to read this. Actually, I think I can pull this off still.

This passage from 1 Thessalonians really ties into - how do we tell about the trip that we’re on?

The context here is Paul on his missionary journeys, maybe when he stopped on one of those islands, was on the way to Thessalonica. We never quite got there on our trip, but about 51 A.D., he established this church and wrote this letter a couple years later to the really young church. And so he is sharing with them some things that were happening, some good things. He is affirming the faith of the Christians there at Thessalonica and I want to affirm your faith this morning, but he also challenged them to continue to share it and I want to do the same thing this morning.

A Proclaimer, we know, conveys the transforming power of God. What it means for us to convey the transforming power of God, means that we talk about it, we witness to it, we share it. The image that best helps us figure that out is the idea of a trip. We need to start talking about what this trip is all about. Because really our journey is a trip. It’s a walk with Jesus. It’s a “come follow me”. So let’s answer the question:

1. What is the trip all about?

It’s begun to be answered in I Thessalonians 1:9-10, where we find, if you have your sermon notes out, there are three key things that happen in the passage:

a. Turning (1:9)
b. Serving (1:9)
c. Expecting (1:10)

How do you become a Christian? We turn. Eduard shared with us about how he had been part of this Communist lifestyle and he talked about these two halves of his life. And that’s what becoming a Christian is. We turn from what was once and we follow Jesus in the same direction. And so we understand that turning is this accepting of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It’s this idea, as we call it, of Justifying Grace.

The next thing that happens is that we begin to serve our God and we call this the process of Sanctifying Grace. We live our lives in service to God and try to follow God’s guidance and God’s rules.

And then finally we end up with expecting. We expect Jesus to return to take us home to heaven. We call that Eternal Life.

Well, we need to back up a few verses to really understand how did these folks end up in Thessalonica turning and serving and expecting? We go to the beginning of the passage and we need to answer the question of:

2. How did they learn about the trip?

We have to also realize that there is this grace of God working in people’s lives. And this grace we call Prevenient Grace. It’s this thing that God is doing using people, using us, using events, using books, using experiences in our lives for getting us to this point of figuring out how Jesus is, of learning about faith in Christ.

When I think back to how Holly and I ended up on this trip, because many of you asked us that question when we told you where we were going, you said, “Well, why did you do that? How did you hear about the Windspirit? Why did you decide to go to those places?”

And so the first thing is you learn by hearing and

A. Speaking. Paul says that the gospel came first of all with words. When we think about it that’s true. We begin by hearing something about Jesus or God. It was about a year or two before we went on our cruise, Holly came home from church one Sunday and she shared with me a conversation she had had at church with Margaret Metz. Now, we weren’t here long before Margaret and Howard had befriended us and we learned about all the trips that they had taken. Margaret and Howard are part time travel agents and have been all around the world. We were fascinated, having interesting conversations because we had really not been anywhere in the world too much. But when Holly came home this particular Sunday, there was an excitement in her voice that I noticed as she began to talk, because the Metz’s had just returned from a cruise on the Windspirit and they were telling about the wonderful experience they had, the places they had visited. Now, you need to know that Holly and I had never been on a cruise. As a matter of fact, cruises weren’t really high on our desire list, I mean, who wants to go on this big floating city with about two thousand of your closest intimate strangers?

No that didn’t really work for us, but we went online and began to read about the Windspirit it was exciting and as our interest grew and we had more questions, the Metz’s were always ready to answer and they enjoyed talking about this to us.

We also saw their

B. Conviction. They were not trying to sell us a product, no, there was genuineness about how they shared their experiences. They shared about a dear friend and said, “Well, if you end up in Istanbul, we have this dear friend we have known about 30 years and he can take you around and show you all these places if he’s available.” They began to tell us about Turkey, and Athens and the Greek isles.

We went home and dreamed some more, but we were also realists. We counted the costs and it just didn’t measure up. Maybe you’ve had this experience. You’ve shared your faith story with somebody. They’ve seen your life, your convictions, your example. And so they come to you and say, “You know, it’s great that this works for you, but you’re a good person, you go to church, you pray, you read the Bible, and I’m just not good enough to have this faith in Jesus Christ. It just doesn’t work for me.”

And we’re frustrated by those comments and we realize that the only way that they’re to “get it”, is if they can get some grace in their lives.

C. It takes grace.

So how do you get them to take that step of faith? How do you get them to begin a trip with Jesus?

Well, 2 Thessalonians 2:16 says: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope.” (NIV)

We do all we can with our words and with our deeds and with our conviction, but we know that the only way for someone to come to faith in Jesus Christ is through the love and grace of God. We know that when they “get it” they will accept the gift of God’s love and God’s grace in their lives. We can only take them so far and then they have to accept. We’ve got to put them in the position to receive.

And that is how Holly and I got to take our trip. If you were here on Palm Sunday 2004, you remember the moment when we were surprised and blessed by your love and your love gift that allowed us to go on this trip. You don’t know how much that meant and how wonderful that was for you to do that, to bless us as we received that gift. We know the same is true when someone responds and receives the grace and the gift of the love of God, and they start on their new journey with Jesus. Their life will never be the same.

We need to understand:

D. It is only the power of God who does this heart change in someone’s life.

He says, “Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.” I Thess. 1:5 (NIV)

Really what we’re talking about is what it means to be a Proclaimer. What we are talking about is being travel agents, in a sense. Think about it. We are on this wonderful trip, this journey of faith. All that we want to do is to tell people about where we’re going and to invite them to walk along side with us. It’s a simple idea, a simple understanding. It means that we show our pictures, that we tell our story and leave the rest up to God.

So how do we do it? Paul has some instructions for that. He said that this is what happened in the church in Thessalonica:

3. How do we let others know?

A. Imitate (1:6)

Paul says, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord.” I Thess. 1:6 (NIV)

Paul says the people became Proclaimers by imitating Paul. They saw what Paul was doing and they began to do it. They studied Jesus who said, “Go the second mile,” but He was willing to give and to serve and to give His all. You got here today because someone lived out Jesus in front of you with their words and more importantly, with their actions. So we just need to do the same thing. We learn first by observing. That’s how our children pick up our bad habits. They just watch us doing it. But they pick up our good habits, too, as they watch us doing it. Sometimes the easiest way to learn is by copying someone else’s actions.

And sometimes we need to have some more direction. Maybe there are some areas where we need to learn, where we’re not good, so we observe somebody else. That’s why we have four of our workshops on Saturday really tie into this area of Proclaimer.

The first is: Let Your Light So Shine: Inviting and Welcoming People To Your Church. I sent a letter to all our ushers this week saying, “Hey, I want you to be a part of this.” If you’re a greeter, I want you to be a part of this. If you come to worship, I want you to be a part of this course. John Coleman, former Director of Communications for the United Methodist Church, has a lot of insight into what do you say to folks who are sitting next to you when you’re not sure whether they’re a visitor or a long term member who just happens to be in different service. How do you do that? Well, we can learn from others. Imitate what others are doing.

Joni has a great workshop: Tell His-Story. It helps parents help their children understand who Jesus is. It’s a great resource for Sunday School teachers.

Sharing Jesus Through Acts Of Kindness. Barrett Russell and Cindy Caldwell are saying, “OK, how do you share the love of Jesus without talking?” By doing things, practical things that can make a difference.

And then Tom Hodges, our new Director of Youth Ministries, will share His Mine and Yours: We All Have A Story. He will be giving us some practical ways to have a conversation telling about your trip.

Great opportunities for you to imitate, to learn.

So what happens when we imitate others? We become an:

B. Example (1:7)

That’s what he is saying in verse 7: “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” 1 Thess. 2:7 (NIV)

Not only do we become an example, but next we:

C. Sharing (2:8) we could call this Lifestyle evangelism.

1 Thess. 2:8 (NIV) says: “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”

Who’s dear to you? Who is it that is important in your life and who doesn’t know Jesus yet?

What Paul is saying he did is, he didn’t just talk about it, because sometimes our talk is cheap! But he is saying he shared his life as well. We call this “lifestyle evangelism.” Just being yourself; being honest about where you are – you have some good days and some bad days - but you know that Jesus is the center of your life and you’re seeking to follow Him in all that you do and some days you do it better than others. That kind of honesty goes much further than trying to pretend to be somebody we are not – to be “spiritual” just to impress somebody. It’s just walking with Jesus everyday as a child – that’s what we are. We’re children of the Father and we’re growing up with Jesus on this journey that we’re taking.

So, where does this take us?

4. What are the results of the trip?

Because they were sharing and living out their faith, what was happening in Thessalonica?

I Thess. 1:8 (NIV) says: “The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it.”

Isn’t that amazing? They were making such a dramatic impact that the Word was spreading.

We heard what Eduard was saying to us this morning. How he was impressed by the love of these students who invited him to this retreat and as he tried to understand why Jon was coming and sharing his life for a year – not just his words - Eduard couldn’t understand why Jon would leave the comfort of the United States and go to Moscow. Let’s hope people in your workspace are saying, “Why do you go the extra mile to do this for me? That you remember this about me and you’ve done this and you’ve served me?” They don’t understand, but it touches them and the word spreads.

And that’s what happened, the Word rang out:

A. Hearing and Seeing

When we’re living it out, our words and our actions are heard and seen.

And what happens next is:

B. Joy

Joy takes place in the lives of the people we’re talking to because they come to know Jesus Christ and their lives are no longer the same.

Verse 10 tells us that Jesus is returning to earth from heaven. And John 14:3 says that He’s coming back to take us to heaven so that we can have our heavenly home, we can have:

C. Eternal Life and Hope

Now, that’s all you need to write down. Put away your pencils and your notebooks. I just want you to listen to me and understand what this all means for us.

For we know that every trip leads us somewhere. Every trip, even when you go and you come back to the place you started, as we went all around the world and came back, we were different people. We were changed from that experience. As Proclaimers, we want others to be changed. We want others to begin a journey that will transform their lives. As Proclaimers we convey the transforming power of God.

We all want this for those who don’t know Jesus. And we all know people, whatever words you want to use for them, whether they are non-Christian, or they’re lost or struggling, or whatever it might be, we know folks who need to become closer to God, who need to meet Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And yet, despite the fact that we know that, despite that they are dear to us as Paul talks about, we often don’t do much about it do we? Because you’re saying, “Well Barry, you didn’t let that word slip in, but really what you’re talking about this morning is evangelism and I don’t do evangelism.” It’s that word, as soon as you say it, we get this knee-jerk reaction – “Well, that’s those Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on my door on a Saturday afternoon and that’s what I feel like when I’m talking, because I’m interrupting their lives.”

That’s not what I’ve defined Proclaimers doing this morning. But even with that, even if we say, “OK, I understand.” It’s just not doing anything about it.

Something changed last night as I was drawing this sermon to a close. I realized that something happened to me yesterday. Yesterday morning I told Holly that we needed to pick out, we said eight to ten, pictures to start. Well, that didn’t work and we had our photo album and on the computer hundreds and hundreds of other pictures. As we began to sort through to the final twenty-five, and as we got out the books to remember, “What’s the name of this?” and where we did that, as I went through some of the other memorabilia that we have, something happened as I reminisced and reviewed. As I thought about the people we met and experiences we had and what we learned, I got excited again. It had been a while. I hadn’t looked at the pictures and stuff had been put away and I couldn’t wait to tell you the story again this morning. I couldn’t wait to convince any of you to go to those places, to have those experiences.

And I’m wondering if we need to do the same thing ourselves, if we need to take a trip this week, back to remember our first love in Jesus Christ. We need to go back to that time when we were far from God. We need to go back and rethink the time when we realized that grace really was amazing. When we sang that song, tears came to our eyes because a real change had happened in our lives. We need to go back to a time when we were like a doubting Thomas or like the prodigal son or daughter or Adam and Eve outside the Garden – far from God – and to realize, indeed, that God met us, loved us where we were, sent His Son to die for us and we were changed. I think we need to recover that excitement, to realize there are others around us who are in places where we were and we need to love them. We need to live before them. We need to connect to them, because they are dear to us, but even more dear to the God who sent His Son to die for them.

So I want you to go back to your trip. Pull out those pictures. Pull out those memories and re-live where you’ve been so you can take somebody else this week on the journey with you.

I also need to say this, because maybe for some of you there’s no place to go back to. You can’t talk about a trip you’ve never taken and I want to invite those of you today who’ve never taken the trip with Jesus. Oh, you’ve learned about it. You’ve watched and maybe you feel you’ve participated on the outskirts, but you’ve never surrendered your heart and received the free gift. You’ve tried to earn your way into heaven and you don’t measure up. Will you turn your back on your old life and begin a new trip, a new journey, serving Jesus?