Topics:<\/b> Attitudes; Cross; Encouragement; Jesus Christ; Missions; Provision; Thankfulness<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Psalm 100:4; Luke 17:18; Ephesians 5:20; Philippians 4:19; Colossians 1:12<\/p>\n
When we started the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) in 1973, we had no money\u2014not a dime\u2014and we were going to start a new denomination. One group gave us $90,000 for world missions. The only two missionaries we had\u2014Dick Dye and a young woman named Ellen Barnett\u2014were down in Acapulco.<\/p>\n
Missionary Dick Dye had been in Acapulco for two months trying to start a church. Whenever he got discouraged, he looked up at a cross he could see on a nearby mountain. That encouraged him. Finally, he drove up the mountain to find out about that cross. And when he did, he found it attached to a big hotel. So Dye asked the secretary, \u201cCan I speak to the man who runs this establishment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have an appointment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo appointment, I just want to tell him something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want to tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secretary got the owner. Dye said, \u201cI\u2019m a missionary from the United States here in Acapulco. I\u2019ve been discouraged. But I see that cross and it encourages me. I want to thank you for having it up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man looked at Dye, put his head down on his desk, and began to weep. He wept and wept. Finally he raised his head and said: \u201cThat cross has been up there for years. All I\u2019ve heard is criticism. You\u2019re the first man who ever said thank you. Now, who are you and what do you need?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a missionary,\u201d Dick answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere do you meet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t meet anywhere. I don\u2019t have any place to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The owner said, \u201cCome with me.\u201d He took Dick to a beautiful chapel and said, \u201cWe have church here at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. From now on, it is yours at 10:00 a.m. You begin services next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the beginning of the first Presbyterian Church in America missionary plant. Within a few years, we turned four congregations over to the Presbyterian Church of Mexico. How did it start? With one guy who said thank you.<\/p>\n
\u2014James Baird, in the sermon \u201cTo Be Thankful,\u201d Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Attitudes; Cross; Encouragement; Jesus Christ; Missions; Provision; Thankfulness References: Psalm 100:4; Luke 17:18; Ephesians 5:20; Philippians 4:19; Colossians 1:12 When we started the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) in 1973, we had no money\u2014not a dime\u2014and we were going to start a new denomination. One group gave us $90,000 for world missions. The only … Continue reading “CHURCH
\n BEGINS WITH THANK YOU”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}