Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located in
beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship Ministries
with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, discipleship
and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons
from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be your host for this
podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing to you and
bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast. I am
the pastor here in Salmon Arm. My name is David Bickford. Today I have something new and it is
Mitchell Mondays. This is going to be a collection of sermons from our founding pastor, the late
Wayman Mitchell and our current head pastor, his son, Greg Mitchell based out of Prescott, Arizona.
These are powerful messages from our fellowship leaders and I hope that these messages add to
your week. God bless. Praise God. That is very exciting. I was having flashbacks there and I
remember 27 years ago in February, just gone, that Lisa and I stood in a farewell service like this
and went out into the adventure of a lifetime. So I am very excited what God is doing. Turn in
your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 26. The book of Acts chapter 26, 1930, England's King
George V. He was going to give a speech that was supposed to be broadcast by radio all around the
world just before he was due to speak. Someone tripped over one of the electrical wires and
actually it snapped in two and this would have the result that that wire was the one that was
going to be transmitting to the entire American audience. A man named Harold Vidian, chief control
operator, he grabbed the two ends of the wires and he held on to the bare wire and completed the
circuit. Electricity was shocking him but by holding on it meant that the King's speech could
be transmitted and he held on until he was finished. And so think about that. He became the connection
that enabled the message of the King to go out. In the scripture that we are going to read, Paul
is now an old man. He's been in the ministry for many, many years. He's been arrested and his life
now is going to be winding down in ministry in many ways. And he is telling King Agrippa here
after all the things that have happened, he goes back to the beginning and he tells him about a
heavenly vision that he had and Paul is describing how he became the connection for the message
of the King. This is true for disciples. This is true for churches and very, very important what
we're doing tonight in sending out these workers, this is these two couples, this will be the fourth
couple this year from our congregation that we're sending out because there is a vision that has
been imparted and I believe it would do us well as we're doing this. It does us well like we're
doing it well like Paul obviously he would refresh in his memory, why am I doing this?
That would do us well tonight on a launching night of these two couples that we would be
reminded again of the heavenly vision. I want to preach about the heavenly vision connection.
26, we'll just read two verses. You can read all of the vision that he describes in your own time
in chapter 26 but chapter 26 verse 19 of the book of Acts it says, Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not
disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and
throughout all of the region of Judea, then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God
and do works fitting of repentance. The heavenly vision connection. I want to begin, I want to talk
about observing the vision. The scripture that we read just a portion of gives us a Bible pattern
and Paul speaks about the power of vision. Think about this. It has three parts in Paul's mind.
Number one, God has plans for our life. Verse 16, he says that God told him, I've appeared to you
for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness. That word make, make you a minister.
The word make means to grab in advance. And here is the idea that Paul said, God interrupted my life.
Ian said it was not his plan to preach the gospel. That was Paul, wasn't even his plan to be a follower
of God, but God interrupted to grab in advance that God has the right to make choices for our lives.
That is absolutely foundational in serving God and doing anything for God. He has the right to choose
things for us. This has to do with purpose, place and timing. Pastor Mitchell's preached many times,
the will of God is certain people in certain places, doing certain things at certain times.
So he says, I had a vision and God showed me he has plans for our lives. Number two, he says,
the second part of this is that God saves us for a purpose. And when he saves us, it is his intention
that we make impact on other people. And this is what God revealed to Paul. Verse 16 says,
to make you a minister and a witness, to serve people and declare God to other people. Verse 18 says,
to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light. And so here it is, this is the second
part of the vision as Paul sees it, is that God not only chooses or has the right to make choices,
but in our lives, he saves us for a purpose. He intends for you to make impact on somebody else
in life. And the third part of this in the vision, he says, is that the vision is meant to expand
wherever we are right now in the gospel. We are meant to expand God's influence in this verse.
In verse 20, he says, so therefore, when he obeyed this, I preached first in Damascus,
then Jerusalem, throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles. This is the will of God,
is that God's purpose not just be localized in one place, but that it expand. Jesus said in Mark 1,
38, that we should go to other towns so that I can preach there too. That is the reason that I came.
This is what an ordination service or a launching of couples in a service like this is all about,
is that we believe that God has made a choice in our lives and made a choice in their lives,
that God saved them to touch somebody else. He wants us to touch somebody else. And we are going
to obey the heavenly vision by expanding into other places beyond Prescott, Arizona. And so Paul talks
about this heavenly vision that God gave him. But if you read in the book of Acts, there is a pattern
that's formed about vision. God gives individual visions. I preached four weeks or so ago about
that, that God may speak to you individually. But something is shown in the Bible that individual
visions have corporate impact. In Acts chapter 16 and verse 9, Paul gets a vision of a Macedonian
man saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And verse 10, Luke, whose writing says,
and we concluded that God called us to preach there. That is the Bible pattern. God often will
give a vision to someone, but from that vision, other people join in the vision given to them.
And it makes impact on other people's lives. Our fellowship was founded by our pastor,
Wayman Mitchell. And there were things that God did in and through him that he intends for us to
be a part of. And we're going to go back to the beginning tonight. I want you to think about this.
Pastor Mitchell, my father was saved in 1954. And sometime later, he was powerfully filled with the
Holy Spirit. I spoke about that in conference. But one of the things that happens, listen,
if you genuinely have the Holy Spirit at work, it is more than just a tingle or a vibe or an emotion.
A desire is birthed to do something for God. That is how you know that the Holy Ghost is at work,
because there's a desire to be useful for God's purposes. Pastor Mitchell, when he got saved,
that he had a desire to pray. There were no morning prayer meetings. He would in Phoenix, Arizona,
would get in a shed in the backyard in the heat and would pray before going to work. And he was
praying for God to use his life. There was a desire to witness. God involved him in street
preaching in Glendale Park, in Phoenix, and in a Skid Row Mission in downtown Phoenix in witnessing
to people there. There came a desire to preach. He said one morning that he was praying before
work. It was alone in the house. And he said an overwhelming feeling came over him that I feel
what I should do is to preach the gospel. And finally, there was a desire to be a missionary.
They would have visiting missionaries come and speak in the church, and he would be moved by
the stories that they told. He began to read books and saw some films by T.L. Osborne and began to
have a desire that maybe someday I could be a missionary. When he went to his pastors, in those
days, the only options if you wanted to be a pastor was to go to Bible college. And so they
recommended. He ultimately did this, went to Life Bible College in Los Angeles. But that was overall
a disillusioning experience because he's going to school with people who weren't called to the
ministry. Their parents were trying to keep them out of trouble. Many of them weren't saved. Then
he had professors who didn't believe the Bible. Or if they had a curriculum they were teaching,
they didn't teach it. They didn't believe it or it was impractical. And Bible school separated you
from from people in real ministry. Ultimately, he became a pastor in the Foursquare organization.
And that became disillusioning because he had been it had been rammed into him in Bible college that
children's ministry Sunday school is that's how you reach the world. And he began to discover he
could get kids to come and you'd offer games and candy bars. But it didn't mean that the parents
would get saved. He saw politics in an organization instead of life change. And he ultimately quit the
ministry for a time, just worked a job, then went back in the ministry and ultimately came in
disillusionment again. He quit for the second time, called up and quit the church that he was
pastoring in Carson, California, was going to leave the ministry altogether. This brings us to
opening the vision. I preached some time back and I spoke about the five parts of our vision. I'm
not going to give all of that, but I want you to think about this opening the vision. Listen to me,
God is in charge of life. This is what this scripture says when he talks about going back
to the beginning. He learned something. God is in charge. God interrupted. God is able to direct
people who keep their hearts right. God spoke to Saul and told him where to go and who is going
to speak to him. A man named Ananias is going to speak to you. Psalm 37 23 says, the steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. When Pastor Mitchell called his
supervisor and announced that he had quit, they said, no, don't quit. Think of, no, I did quit.
I'm done. I did. It's over. And they said, all right, well, maybe before you quit altogether,
you want to go look. There's a church that's come open in Prescott, Arizona. This was no prize. It
was because of a moral failure. And this became opened. And you know, I've told the story on
numbers of occasions. He and my mom discussed, they said there are two younger families in
particular that are in the church. And if they will stay, this is Bob and Sharon Allen and Dale
and Barb Copeland. We're going to talk to them. If they will stay in the church, then we'll take it.
They came and spoke to them and they agreed that they would stick with the church if my parents
came. And so the very first service in January of 1970, they had 29 people and seven of those were
our family. And so this is where it begins. I want you to think about this. God began to reveal
his vision in stages. This was not a master plan that he arrived in Prescott with a blueprint,
but God revealed, I want you to think about three of those that are very important for us as we're
launching couples out. Number one, the first part is that evangelism is our purpose. This is what we
were birthed in a church that was 29 people, but God began to save people. And two young couples
came in and got saved. And one of them was a member of a rock band called Eden. And they began to tell
Pastor Mitchell, you know, with his lime green suit and orange socks that that rock and roll music,
their young people would come out. He had no clue what all was involved, but hired the boys club
downtown in downtown Prescott. We, Mimi Grant ran off a few hand-drawn flyers and at the very first
concert outside the four walls, 250 young people came out and over 50 people got saved. Kathy
Garfield got saved that night. She's still saved today. Thank God. And this is what God,
listen, he leads people who keeps their heart right. As we stumbled into that, that was better
than giving away chocolate bars to kiddies. Sinners came in and we began to minister. In fact,
this is what we exist for is for the laws. Our church is built around being a witness.
That is what this scripture says. I will make you a witness. And we aim for decisions. One thing I
can guarantee in our church, I don't care what the service is. We had a funeral up on the Saturday
and you knew there would be an altar call. The gospel would be declared. We have weddings and
the gospel is declared. I don't care what it is. We have the altar calls around here because that
is what we are about. We take the gospel outside the four walls. Our motto is find a crowd or
create a crowd so that we can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1970, we began having concert
ministry and we started after that initial success in the boys club. Ultimately, we rented a building
on Granite Street and we began a concert ministry and we've not stopped doing that for 43 years.
You heard the report on Sunday morning on our concert ministry that now is on Gurley Street
downtown. Oh, it's got a few more bells and whistles, a few more lights, and now it's got video
and little fancier. But listen, you heard on the weekend, eight people were saved and four of those
were in church the next morning because that is our purpose. We're sending Ian and Priscilla,
we're sending Paul and Amy and we expect that in Fountain, Colorado and Marion, Illinois,
you are there to evangelize. You are there to find sinners and declare the gospel because that is
our vision. Second part of the vision is making disciples. Making disciples is our purpose.
From the beginning of our church, Pastor Vichal had young men, he ran the outreach ministry.
When we had the concert, he refused, he would not do the altar call. He would not, you know,
he kept out the, you know, the crazies and all the kinds of different things, but he insisted
that young men, you will run the outreach ministry. And part of that was that they could relate,
but part of that is that is the only way that you develop is you have to hands-on,
you have to wrestle through problems and develop. This is what happens. And so he began to see that
the same desires that he had as he preached under anointing, he had young men desire was birthed in
their heart, just like him. I want to do something for God. And initially the same advice, all he
knew was go to Bible school. We had two young men go to Bible school and almost completely ruined
them. They came back ruined, they had lost the fire and now they believe some strange things by
going to Bible school. And he began to see that is not going to work. We cannot have good young men
that are on fire and then send them with funky professors who's going to kill everything good
in them. That's not going to work. And he began to see that the Bible method is discipleship.
That is hands-on instruction in relationship to a man of God, imitation of a godly example,
emphasis on the heart and character more than book learning, and thirdly involvement in real ministry.
These two young men as they were were testifying, I'm thinking back when they first began to express
a desire in ministry in both of these couples that I have spoken to them and they were wrestling,
working with new converts and the frustration pastor these people got saved but they're doing
stupid things and they're not making good decision. What do you do? That is ministry.
Learning how to pray people through and learn how to not strangle some people. That's a very good
lesson. You would not learn that if I just gave them a test on people skills. But there is something
making disciples is our... Listen, what we're doing, these are the fourth couple that we've had
actually in the last six months that we're sending out tonight because that is who we are.
Disciples raising up young couples to send out in the ministry. The third part that we look at
of the vision is that the local church is the key. The local church is something powerful. See,
most Christians they don't believe that. They don't believe the local church is enough. You
have to go outside the church. Send them away to Bible school. Get a para church organization
to come help you. Whether that's to raise money or whatever it might be. They don't believe the local
church is enough to carry out the will of God. But Pastor Mitchell began to get the revelation
God's plan is the local church. That is his whole purpose. Ephesians 1 22 and 23 says,
God placed all things under his feet appointed him to be head over everything for the church.
The church is his body. The fullness, that means completeness of him who fills everything in every
way. That means everything that God wants to do in the earth comes through the church. That is
God's plan and that is the power. And so what that means folks is that what God wants to do,
this is not about two young men or even two couples or two families that somehow that
they have arrived in their calling. But rather this is something that God chooses for a church.
In Acts chapter 13 listen to this verse one through three. Now in the church at Antioch there were
certain prophets and teachers as they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said,
now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I've called them to. And then having
fasted and prayed and having hands laid on them they sent them away. Right there is the Bible
pattern. It was in the church that God got a hold of young men and revealed his will and God said,
you the church send them to do the what I've called them to do. That is God's purpose is the
local church. Pastor Mitchell saw as we began to do outreaches for other churches that we're going
to have to have men in these cities. If we're going to outreach in other cities we better have
somebody there who has our spirit and believes like us or else we're wasting our time. No point
in us evangelizing getting a bunch of people saved and then turning them over to some cold
dead funky church so they become cold dead and funky or else they're not going to love them at
all. He said that's not going to work and so in 1973 here was the great experiment never been done
by us before is we had a worker who had not gone to Bible school but we found a city close by the
metropolis of Wickenburg Arizona and we sent a couple like all the way down the hill and we
sent them to give them that vision that you're going to evangelize it and you're going to replicate
what you've seen here and in six months that church was self-supporting. That it worked that
what we had done in Prescott it actually worked in another city that later on in short order just
not long later we sent it the second couple Harold and Mona Warner we sent it to Tucson Arizona and
that church began to take off it worked just like it did in Prescott. 1975 we sent the first worker
to a foreign nation all the way across the fence into Nogales Mexico. 1977 in Holland a couple that
Pastor Mitchell had met we released them and they began to put in place in Holland and in 1978 in
Australia for the first time we had in a conference we had a couple stand up and we raised money we
said we're going to send them on the other side of the world to Perth West Australia. You know that
in time Pastor Mitchell that desire to become a missionary that God had put on his heart was
fulfilled. He did go to Australia on three different occasions to fulfill that. It was in
Australia where I went. God got a hold of me. It was in Perth West Australia where I was
discipled and trained in much of what I know about ministry. I learned in a local church
in Perth West Australia and I even use that here to this day. It is a local church that will provide
the finances and the opportunities for evangelism to learn the training of workers the sending of
workers. Our vision is the local church. Let's look at one final thing. Let's talk about obeying the
vision. See this scripture that Paul he reflects back on the vision he says vision requires response.
It's all well and good for us to say the Lord spoke to me or God show me or I saw this or I see that
but you have to choose to obey. Verse 19 he says I was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision. Disciples have to obey their own heavenly vision. God will speak individually.
Ian was saying about here he wasn't expecting what that meant is he told me actually wrote it out
and found in Colorado he gave me demographics and look at that and I agreed I said that's
tremendous called him in and said okay and let's do it. He said I was thinking like five years from now
has a vision that's tied to the larger vision. So what has to happen when God begins to put his
finger on his life every disciple has to decide does God have the right to make a choice about
your life. He said I wasn't expecting to preach but does God have a right to make a choice for
your life. Colossians 1 1 Paul says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.
Second question for disciples is does God have something larger for your life. Matthew 4 19
follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. So I said while I was listening to these young men I
remember I'm looking at how skinny Ian is I remember being a skinny little 12 year old.
No I was not quite I looked like it but I remember standing and and and this thought here God had a
specific city think about that when I was young God knew that I was going to go and pioneer in a
place called Launceston Tasmania on the island of Tasmania in Australia. God knew this God knew that
Paul and Amy were going to go to Marion Illinois. He knew that he knew that in Priscilla we're going
to go to fountain Colorado right next to Fort Carson he was speaking specific cities listen
disciple does God have a specific city for you because that was what captured me is I I had no
intention of preaching the gospel that I began to hear people talking about cities and and I
went I want to see a church there and something began to be birthed on the inside I'm watching
Pastor Mitchell put pins or marks on a map and I'm thinking does he have a city for me
does he have a city for me a specific church maybe Paul and Amy are going to a specific
church to take over specific people you saw Darrell Elliott preach this morning that he is
the product of one of our granddaughter churches we planted that first couple 1978 in Perth West
Australia 19 late 1980 they sent a worker into Geraldton West Australia and and here this is
not just names and numbers and pins on a map Darrell Elliott and Jillian were saved in one
of our granddaughter churches and here 27 years later he's preaching in this church because of
heavenly vision listen to me God has specific people for disciples to reach but if that's true
Paul says I was not disobedient you have to aim your entire life at calling this will take your
time this will dominate your finances your lifestyle your job choices career choices
Mark 1 verse 20 he called them and immediately they left their father Zebedee in the boat with
a hired man and he they went with Jesus but the other part of this is that churches have to be
obedient to the heavenly vision oh I pray that God would put this in your spirit this is not just
yeah it's the disciple thing that they come they do their bid yeah and they they get to go no no
this is what we do as a church that churches have to be obedient to the heavenly vision listen
does God have the right to choose things for your life you might not be called to preach
but the pattern that I told you in the beginning God makes choices does he have the right to ask
you to be part of something larger than yourself in Antioch I read in Acts chapter 13 there was an
atmosphere created in that church where young men could hear the call of God they could they they
could God could make choices in a church and the church could send them listen we have a part in
this and I I was thinking about that this is the fourth couple this year that we've sent just from
our church that's not the international churches all the others and and you know I think we're now
I think we're now supporting 30 missionaries right now I'm not even talking about any of that
four young couples from our church just this year alone an atmosphere that allows workers to be
developed that we let them there are some of you here I thank God for you get what we're doing
some of you've been involved in concert ministry for many many years and you know and we get these
young kids and we let them be in charge and run things but you get what this is about this is not
about whether or not they're going to be perfect you get we are doing something bigger than running
a concert on one night is we are training workers that are going to reach the world
and we have a part in that an atmosphere we're going to provide the finances we handed Paul and
Amy a check I think if I remember right to the sister Allen gave them a check two days ago for
nine thousand two hundred and forty nine dollars and that is just to get them there and to support
them for one month this is not cheap you're looking for a cheap church the potter's house
is not for you it's not a cheap church and we make a commitment it's going to take big money
to plant when the clients get there we're going to rent building that's not even talking about
the equipment that we give and all what we do is incredibly expensive and God needs people who say
listen my finances are available to God and his purposes and most of all that there be spiritual
support it's not merely that we clap and say hey pat him on the back good on your bro that's good
to see you and have fun and go listen to me they're there these people they they have no
idea what they're getting themselves into don't tell them I'm riding in the car yesterday
and one of our workers that stood right there and he looked so free he called me and I said
I said you got scrambled egg brains again don't you the demons of hell are assaulting in
mind and is confident and listen what these couples need to know is that when they're there
they're going to take on the forces of hell but they're not going to do that alone that they're
going to be people who are going to come to morning prayer are going to call out by name
whether that's going to be alphabetical or not I don't know but that we are going to stand because
we are doing this together this vision is not just pastor Mitchell's vision it's not just Paul's or
Ian's vision this is something that God has given us as a church listen we are taking the world you
understand that it's not that we're talking about it we are doing this we have a commitment to
reach the world and we have a reward that we can share in Philippians 4 verse 17 not because I
desire a gift but I desire fruit that will abound or multiply to your account I preached I think
four years ago an expanded version of this on the heavenly vision when I'm preached that at the end
of the sermon I told you that we had at that point in time 430 churches in the U.S. 930 churches in
350 internationally at that time we had 1380 churches in 97 nations of the earth but right now
I'm declaring to you on July 17th 2013 we now have 539 churches in the U.S. 1498 internationally
we have 2028 churches in 112 nations of the earth praise God
and we have that together we have did you see Gordon Porter
Tessie Gordon Porter come on he's one of our own he's a Prescott boy he's from Baghdad isn't he
Gordon Porter is in Kathmandu Nepal can you believe that he sends photos I'm like that's Gordon
is there is there a photo on the bulletin board of Gordon Porter in Nepal
preaching the God I'll never forget I brought him in the office and told him this we got an
opportunity you want to go to Nepal I thought he was going to pass out
but listen the vision works the vision works I've passed it in two different nations besides America
it works it works that's the heavenly vision and we are connected to that
praise God that was another powerful message by one of our leaders in the fellowship I just want
to take this opportunity to quickly you know give you an invitation to Christ if this message
impacted you in some way and you want to you know give your life to Christ you want to know
how to do that it's pretty simple all you have to do is say a quick prayer something simple and
short just like this dear Lord God I know that I'm a sinner and I know that you sent your son Jesus
Christ to set me free from my sin he came to earth to die for our sins and he rose again
so that we might be saved I repent of my sin I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and
I thank you for your salvation for the salvation you give us through grace in Jesus name we pray
amen thank you for listening today and I can't wait for you to come back next time
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