"When Heaven Touches Earth"

I'm going to read a a brief text to you and share something uh from the word of the Lord from John 1 verse one. You can quote it, children can quote it. And then also John 1:14. It says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God." I get thrilled every time I read that. And then when I come to verse 14 and it says, "And that word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.

Hallelujah. I want to speak for a few moments on this and I'm I'm conscious of time. I would like to speak on this subject when heaven touches earth. Praise the Lord. And I asked the question, what makes the incarnation so powerful? a a remote and a distant god first revealed himself to uh his creation in creation and after that through a set of laws the ten commandments that's how he revealed himself in the early times and the ten commandments they were exciting they said thou shalt and thou shalt not how exciting could that be and uh with the incarnation something changed changed.

Hallelujah. That same God of creation, that same God of those ten commandments now had come in the flesh. Praise the Lord. God dwelt among us. He was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. I believe that today Jesus is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He completely understood the people that he had come to reach. The reason we don't reach people many times is because number one, we don't understand them and we don't care about them. But Jesus Christ came to this earth. God manifest in the flesh so that he could be touched with the feeling of our infirmity and he could take our miserable creations and our miserable lives and make something from them.

I ask you a question. Would Jesus be willing to die on a cross for people that he was not touched by? And then that follows and begs the question, are willing to make a sacrifice for something that does not touch us? God, help us today to be moved by the people that are around us. That's why the incarnation is so powerful. God identifying with you and me on a personal level. On every level in fact, spiritual, physical, emotional, God can touch you this morning wherever your need is. Now, the ability of man to travel in space has always fascinated me.

And on July 21, 1969, many of you were not born or even thought of at that time, an amazing event occurred. It opened up a whole new world for the US space program. The Apollo 11 rocket had left the Earth and now was touching down on the moon nearly a quarter of a million miles away. Pretty hard to fathom that. But when this historic event occurred, my parents George and Margaret Sham were living with their family in a remote mountains of India. And at that time, my brother Warren was in grade six.

I was in grade 10 and my brother Allan was in grade 11. There was no internet, no smartphones, no computers. So let me tell you how we connected with the outside world to get the news. First of all, there was an Indian newspaper that came every day and we used to rush home from school to read that one uh Tarzan comic that was in the back page. We would fight over that newspaper just for Tarzan to see how he was making out in Africa. The other news that we got, my father bought he he put together some money and bought the most sophisticated Phillips shortwave radio that you could imagine.

It was absolutely incredible. It had two speakers. That meant it was stereo. and uh he hooked it up with a 100 foot long antenna to the pine tree on the other side of the yard. There was a small dial on it, a phosphorous dial. And as the two came together, that meant the signal was strong. And uh so like 650 million people around the world that would actually tune in and hear or watch the moon landing and hear Nixon talk to the astronauts. Uh we were not going to miss this for anything.

Stuck over in India, we got up in the middle of the night and huddled around the radio. The whole family and uh listened to hear the moon landing. Actually, nobody knew what was going to happen. They didn't know if it was going to blow up. They didn't know had no clue what was going to take place. But uh when Neil Armstrong stepped on off the spacecraft, he uttered those famous words. That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. He placed his footprint on the moon. And many pictures were taken of their moon landing, but that's the one that still stays in my mind is the footprint of man on the moon.

It was the picture of something that had nobody had ever experienced before. The rocket made its journey back to Earth. And as it touched down in the ocean, John Wolfrram, now one of our own UPC preachers, was part of the Navy Seals team that recovered the astronauts from the space capsule. They didn't know if it was contaminated. They had no clue what to expect. It's interesting, but they brought back 47.5 pounds of moon rocks on that first that moon venture. Of interest to me is that Neil Armstrong also picked up a bit of moon dust, put it in a plastic bag, and then put it in a cloth bag.

And that little bit of moon dust sold for a half a million dollars not long ago in Bonham's, New York. right now, youth ministries, AYC teams, hallelujah, that travel to other countries. These are young people that for many of them are traveling to a place they have never gone before. One such team just traveled recently to Vietnam. Many of these young people have not been out of the United States before. And when they return back to the US, they can never go into the same box again. When your vision is opened, when your eyes of understanding are enlightened, you can't go back to where you were.

And so when that capsule splashed down in a very real sense, heaven for the first time had touched earth. But in the same month of the same year as that moon landing in a little tiny town in South India, my father traveled to a place called Teny. They had never heard the gospel before in that little town. The town was a Hindu town. He began to hold meetings and that became the beginning of a church in Teny. They passed out gospel literature and for the first time the power of God began to move in that Hindu place.

Never heard the gospel before. Today pastor J. Siraj who was converted in that little town has such a remarkable testimony and heaven had touched earth in that little town. I believe that right here in this place in St. Louis 60 years ago or 90 years ago, heaven touched earth here for the first time. I tell you what, folks, God wants to reach into places. He wants to reach into every nook, every cranny. He wants this gospel to go to every place because everybody deserves deserves to hear the gospel at least once.

There are a couple of sayings that really motivate me and propel me forward. One of them is, "What right does any man have to hear the gospel twice until everyone has heard it at least once?" Another one that talks to my heart. It says that we speak so much about the second coming of the Lord when most of the world has not yet heard of his first coming. What we need is incarnation. We need God to come to earth and to reach into every town. Hallelujah. Well, Pastor Jason, who was he?

He was born into a traditional family. At the age of 19, he became a Hindu priest. 19 years old. Talk about devotion. There's a lot of devotion around the world. And at 19, he became a Hindu priest in the little town of of Teni. On Tuesdays and Fridays, he would distribute temple blessings to all of the worshipper worshippers that came and he was actually widely respected as a young man in that Hindu community. He was a servant in the temple but his soul was restless and it was without peace. Now listen to this.

At times he would become angry with foreigners that would pass through and try to give some gospel literature. He had been told that westerners had come there to that country to convert the people to Christianity. So he would throw stones along with others at missionaries. But all the while his soul was restless. And God knew his soul was restless. And when God knows that someone's soul is restless, he's going to start to put in place a plan of action so that person can find a way to find salvation. Hallelujah. Jason Rods told me he said, "Brother Sham, one day I was walking on the road and there was a person that gave me a tract about Jesus Christ."

So I eagerly read the contents and this is what it said. It said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." That verse he said really touched my mind. And I began to think how I had served uh all gods but had never had peace of mind. And it was only then that I felt that Jesus could give me this peace. I had no idea about the Bible. I had no idea about prayer. Did you hear that? He was teaching people in the temple Tuesdays and Fridays helping people to pray.

But he said when he read this track for the first time, he realized he didn't really know how to pray. He said, "One day, several months later, I was walking down a road totally confused and I saw a brand new but a crushed up tract. Obviously, somebody had thrown it by the side." He said, "I picked it up and straightened it up, and guess what? To my surprise, I saw the same verse printed on it, Matthew 11:28." And he said, "The words touched me." He said, "This was a track that was published by the United Pentecostal Church, and I noticed the address and the venue of the gospel meeting that was going to be taking place."

And so, long story short, the the the preacher that night preached on Isaiah 53 and5 and also Acts 4:12. And he said, "Something got a hold of my heart when I found out that this Jesus was wounded for my transgressions. Something got a hold of my heart when he began to preach that there's no salvation in any other except by the name of Jesus Christ." So he said at the closing of the service, the people began to pray and he said, "I closed my eyes and I started to pray. I felt a powerful light rest on my head and I fell down on the floor rolling and crying and asking God to forgive my sins.

He said it was there for the first time that I felt inner peace and it was like a spring flowing from my heart. What had happened? Let me tell you what happened. Heaven had touched earth. And what a great thing it is when heaven touches earth. Do you know what would make a difference in our churches? It's just a slight tweaking of our mindset that when we walk through the doors of this building, we would come with an expectation that heaven is going to come down and visit us in this place.

It's not about our program. It's not about our singing. It's not about the things that we can do and say, "Oh, but if somehow heaven would just come down as we raise our voice in worship to Jesus Christ." Hallelujah. He felt a call to ministry. He was working for the land survey department, but Jiraj, he felt a call to ministry. He didn't know much about it. So, he left his job and he he started to just pray with people. He didn't hardly know how to preach. They lived in a mud hut, he and his wife and children.

And during the rainy season, the thatched roof and it would begin to leak and they lived there with their three small kids. But during that time, but God began to perform many miracles. Don't always look at the outside things. Sometimes we think if we get this right, if we get that in place, if we can get this fixed, we just need to quit figuring things out. That's God's job. We have a job to do and that is to entertain the presence of the Lord so that he can function and move and touch people.

Praise the Lord. And so it was that God began to perform miracles. Demonpossessed were delivered. Uh sick were healed. And God had added a lot to the congregation. So much so that a small church was constructed early on. And the congregation grew so rapidly that not too long ago, my wife and I, we went to the little town of Teny. It was our distinct honor. Brother Jerry Dean had provided some funds and they had built a beautiful sanctuary and we were at the dedication and watched 500 people worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a testimony in that Hindu village. for 10 years. That little Hindu priest boy, for 10 years after he was converted, he served as the United Pentecostal Church assistant general superintendent. I'm telling you, we don't know where God's going to call people from. We don't know how God is going to do the work. I don't know how the spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the word, creating faith in him. But I know who I have believed. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. Why don't we entertain his presence just for a moment?

Praise the Lord. Let me just say that one day Jay Suraj um he he was confronted with a real situation. There was a woman in the town who was demonpossessed, but she was also crazy. She was absolutely so full of evil spirits. Absolutely crazy. She would go into the temple grounds, climb up trees, do all kinds of crazy things. She would assault her husband. She would assault anybody that was on the road. And uh when she was demonpossessed, when she would get in her right mind, she was fine. And one day, Pastor Jar and his wife were walking on the road.

They saw her. She was in her right mind. And they confronted her. And they said, and sister Jerro, she said to this lady, she said, when you are in that horrible condition, what happens? Why do you do it? She says, I have no control over my life. I just begin to do things that uh something within me is is doing it. They said to her, when you are in that position, we want your husband to bring you to the church. Now, I think that they probably had it backwards. I would say to the person when you're in your right mind and when you're feeling normal and when we can handle the situation, uh, just come along and we'll we'll pray over you and, uh, do whatever we need to do.

No, whenever you're going wild, whenever you're full of those evil, wild, rampant spirits in you, you get your husband to bring you to the church and we'll pray for you. And that's what happened. The husband brought her in that crazy state and Yu Rods began to talk to her and the woman said, "You used to serve me." The spirit spoke through her and said, "You used to serve me and we used to control your life. We used to cause you to do all kinds of things to provide service for us because we are God.

That woman, she she didn't know what she was saying. The evil spirits were speaking through her. Yes. He just simply spoke directly to her and said, "What is the name of the one true God?" And without a hesitation, the spirits in her said, "Jesus Christ is the one true God." This is a Hindu village. This is a place that didn't know about Jesus Christ, but the devil knew about Jesus Christ and he trembled. Hallelujah. And with that, they rebuked the evil spirits. They fled from her. She fell down and then they got her back on her feet.

She began to worship God. She was filled with the Holy Ghost. Her husband was filled with the Holy Ghost. They were baptized in Jesus' name. And this woman who was barren, she could not have children. God opened her womb and she bore three beautiful children. They're all in the church today. They serve the one true living God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What a great thing it is when heaven touches earth. You know, God is no respector of person. He doesn't care what color my skin is. He doesn't care what language I speak.

He doesn't care if I'm tall, short, educated, or if I'm bond, or if I'm free. God doesn't He's not interested in those things. Those are not criteria for how we come to God. There are other criteria that God has. One, we must humble oursel. Hallelujah. humble oursel in his presence, repent of our sins, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues as the spirit of God gives the utterance. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. My wife and I, we have but one goal, one mission, and that is to bring heaven to the people of Asia.

South America, they're known for the mighty ecosystem that the Amazon River gives to that great continent. North America is known for being the financial capital and and all of the financial resources basically of the modern world. And then you go to Europe and and they have given to the world its cultural diversity. Amazing the cultures, sophisticated cultures in Europe. Then you go to Africa, they're well known for the beautiful animal wildlife. And then you move on over to the Pacific and they're well known for their exotic destinations. But when you come to Asia, Asia has given to the world its people.

There is one intersection in Tokyo, Japan by the uh Shibuya train station. One intersection that every time the light changes, 2,500 people cross that intersection. So at the end of the day, up to 2.4 million people have crossed that one intersection. There is a state in India that has 240 million people. One state. If that one state happened to be a country, it would be the fifth largest nation on the planet. I'm thinking about people that have never one time heard the name of Jesus. And I'm thinking about the power of the gospel.

But why do we contain it like we contain it? And Asia has is known for for people. I just have one project this morning to raise and it's for it's a travel project so that I can help bring heaven to billions of people in Asia. Often my wife, Sister Sham, she doesn't travel with me due to the cost of tickets. For example, I have an important trip coming up to the nation of Taiwan. And did you know that virtually not only does Asia h have most of the world's population but uh it also is the home to virtually every religion in the world.

Uh I've had the privilege to grow up in a Hindu country. I've lived as a missionary in a Muslim nation. I've lived in as a missionary in Buddhist nations. And the overarching desire of sister Sham and I is to bring Jesus Christ to bring heaven so that it can touch earth. We have witnessed absolutely astounding miracles. And the darker the place and the more sin there is, it is amazing how just one little light can illuminate and provide ambience so that you can see how beautiful this gospel is. that just a little bit of truth can shine so bright in a dark place.

I conclude with this and I just ask for for the music if you would come. Would you stand with me? Thank you for allowing us to just share very briefly here today some things. And uh I feel a great spirit in this church. I I've often thought about, wow, I live quite a ways from here or this would be a wonderful home church. I think don't tell anyone I said that. I just kind of have that feeling. But I feel such a wonderful presence of God that is here. You folks know how to entertain the presence of God.

And you've got a harvest rally that's coming tonight. And I have a feeling that God is going to pour out his spirit in such a beautiful way. Do you feel that? Can you sense that when you come in through the doors this evening, just just remember that heaven does want to touch earth and God is going to baptize many with the gift of the Holy Ghost. I've I've worked with brother Doug Klein. Uh he's come to to many places uh overseas where where I have served as a missionary. He's a man of God.

He knows how to listen to God. He's a man of faith and uh he he will electrify. Praise the Lord. But I conclude by saying this. There are some places that are tough. You know, we always talk about burnt over fields. I'm not sure exactly what a burnt over field is because it seems that the crop grows better after the field is burned over. I'm not sure about that. I'm not a farmer. People have called me a farmer, but I am not a farmer. I don't know much about the soil but uh there are some things that that we look at.

There are places that have never ever we've never reached into those places. But one place that God is doing incredible things. I can't share it from from the microphone. But I will say this, I did fly into China uh not long ago with a missionary and his wife. And we flew into Shanghai. From Shanghai, we went to Sean and then we traveled out about three hours. The most hairraising journey you would ever want to go on in a van where I think the guy enjoyed driving on the wrong side of the road more than he enjoyed driving on the right side of the road.

And uh we called on the name of the Lord many times. And I suppose that's one way that the world can hear the name of Jesus. But we traveled three hours by road, got to a little city, and in that city, the pastor had arranged for a service just on the outskirts of the city in a two-story house. The van that we were picked up in uh picked us up about 9:00. We got there at 9:30. The service was to begin at 10. Here's the amazing thing. As we the van door slid open, we just moved into the the house, went up the stairs, and we were met with a sight that was just amazing.

I don't know of any place on the planet where God pours out his spirit so easily as he does in China. It is absolutely astounding. And as we went up those stairs, the whole upstairs was filled with blue chairs, little plastic blue chairs for people to sit on. And they were in closets, they were in the bathtub, they were in the kitchen, they were anywhere that there was floor space, they placed a blue chair. I counted them. 55 chairs. Every chair had somebody seated on it already. 9:30 in the morning, waiting for the 10:00 service.

They were sitting on those chairs. They were bent over like this. Some of them were just literally weeping and crying. And they were entertaining the presence of God. As soon as you walked in, you felt it. You felt the power of God. These were not experienced Pentecostal people. These were people that were hungry for God. And the service began. the pastor's daughter, 13 years old, playing on what would be a $39 uh two octave keyboard. That was the music. And as they begin to sing, it got a little bit loud.

And so they closed the windows and then they closed the curtains and they began to worship the Lord. And then the missionary wife, it she was given the chance to speak. She spoke for 20 minutes and the people just sat there glued. And then the missionary spoke and he spoke about 30 minutes. And uh I thought, Lord, I'm the supposed to be the featured speaker here. I'm not sure how this is going to go down. But they were so glued to their seat, listening to every word that was spoken. And so when it was my turn, I like to say I spoke 30 minutes.

Uh but uh whatever it was, these people were listening so intently. They were so hungry. At the the conclusion, there was no place for an alter call, but there I noticed there were two ladies that were in a uniform. They were on their way to work. They had stopped by for the service and they sold train tickets at the station. And uh as the the preaching wound down, uh they they began to pray and they started to just pray quietly and then it it crescendoed. But these two women just fell on their face on the floor and began to speak in tongues instantly.

There was nobody to lay hands on them. There was nobody to to spit in their ear, to pull their hair, to shout at them. There was just a hunger that was there. And they opened their heart and immediately God filled them with the gift of the Holy Ghost. And it just swept through the place for about 30 minutes. Then the pastor did the most unusual thing. He got a paper sack just kind of like you do at the grocery store and he just passed it out. The people passed it from one to another.

These were day laborers, factory workers, and 55 of them, they just started to give an offering. And I thought, well, this is the morning tithes and offerings. But when it was all collected, they gave it back to the pastor. And he walked up to me and this is what he said. He said, "Sir," he said, "we understand that there are countries in the world that have not yet had a chance to hear the gospel and they are being persecuted. Sir, would you take this money and take it and give it to those people so that they could spread the gospel around the world?"

Here is a man who lives in one of the most restrictive, persecuting nations in the world telling me to take an offering and give it to somebody so they could spread the gospel. I'm telling you what causes heaven to touch earth. What makes God connect with people? It's that hunger that is in the hearts of people that says whatever it is, I just need you, Lord. I need to entertain your presence, Lord. if somehow heaven could could visit earth. And so the Holy Ghost was poured out there. I later learned that they had a little lunch.

They stayed all afternoon in prayer and then they had an evening service. And I it shook me so much that is in my memory till this day how that God moved on those people. I wonder what God can do for us today. I wonder as we entertain the presence of the Lord, as we entertain the spirit of God in this beautiful sanctuary, as we begin to raise our hands and worship God, I wonder what God can do for us in this place. This altar is open today. I don't know what God has in store for you, but I'm going to open this altar for you.

Why don't you make your way to the front? Why don't you entertain heaven? Let heaven touch earth in a way that you have never experienced the power and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't you make that that commitment to the Lord right now? Come and find a place of prayer. Seek the face of God. God wants to pour out his spirit. Why don't you pray for tonight's service? Pray that God will give a great harvest of souls. That God will pour out the Holy Ghost. But before that happens, God can fill you with the Holy Ghost here this morning.

You can receive what you need. If you need healing in your body, heaven is here to connect with you. Heaven is here to touch you, Lord. Hallelujah. Let's worship Jesus. Would you honor the Lord today? Let the presence of God flow in this house. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I feel like somebody needs to make a move right now. God's been dealing with your heart. Somebody needs to make that move. Make that move. Make that commitment. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Pour out of your spirit right now, Lord. We entertain your presence. Jesus, we entertain your presence. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus coned the grave. Savior, he can move the mountain. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to say forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Savior. He can move the mountain. My God is mighty to say. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shine your light and let the whole world.

That's right. Go ahead. God is doing something right now. God's touching lives in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Sing it for the glory of the risen king. Jesus. Shine your light and let the whole world see. Singing for the glory of the risen king. Savior. He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. Oh hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus conquered. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. He can move the bound. My God is mighty to say.

He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conspus. Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see. Sing it for the glory of the risen king. Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see. Singing for the glory of the shine. Hallelujah. Jesus, shine your light and let the Jesus see us for the glory of the risen king. Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to say forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.

Savior. He can move the mountain. My God is mighty to sing. He is mighty to save forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shine your light and let the whole world see. Singing for the glory of the risen king. Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see. Singing for the glory of the risen king. Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen king. Oh savior. He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save.

He is mighty to save. Forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Savior. He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever. Author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. I'd like us to pray right now just a specific prayer, but it may affect multiple people throughout the room. If you're here today and you just need heaven to touch earth or you're desperate for God, you need the Lord in some way anyway, would you just be vulnerable right now and say, you know what, I need a dose of heaven or I need a dose of the presence and glory of God.

Would you raise your hand right now? If you're needing the Lord, if you came needing the Lord today. All right, church family, we feel heaven in this room and we're going to take full advantage of the power and glory of God. If our brothers and sisters across the world have to hide and maneuver to find what we have, we ought to take full advantage of it today and access heaven. I want you to raise your hand again right now if you're here today and you need heaven to intervene on your behalf.

And church family, would you stand right now? And this will allow you to be able to move and to go and to pray with these that have their hand lifted. We've got some that across the room. Keep that hand lifted if you need the Lord to intervene on your behalf. And I'm going to ask that there be no one without someone to pray with them. Would you go and lay hands on these just as James says? And let's agree together for heaven to intervene right now. for heaven to touch her.