Transcript
Much of the last 15 years of my life has been spent in Eastern Europe, in meetings with believers and little farm communities in the big cities. A lot of that time has been in Romania, but for about five years I visited Czechoslovakia, and especially Slovakia, where there was a large Catholic underground movement, Catholics that decided that they could no longer be part of the registered church, but that wanted to exercise their faith, and they formed underground
samizdat groups, they printed literature, and they were very dynamic in their faith, and they were supported by other Christians, and there was not all, certainly not the registered church didn't come to their support at all, but there were a few, and a few of these people helped with literature, a few of these people helped with their evangelization and distribution of Bibles, and there were also Christians in Czechoslovakia that cared about the Soviet Union, and after 1968
you can imagine there was not a lot of Slovaks and Czechs that really wanted to be too kindly affection towards the Soviet Union, but yet believers had a deep love for the Russian people, and one is here with me today, my dear brother František Gebera from Kosice, which is right on the border of the Soviet Union, and Mike for years carried on the work, not only for the Soviet Union, but for Slovakia, all of that in
Czech, but he's a triumphant Christian, his testimonies are amazing, he was one of the first that went to evangelize the Gypsy communities in Slovakia, Eastern Slovakia, and the Gypsy leaders would attack him with knives and run after him and chase him out of town, but many hundreds of Gypsies became Christians at that time and formed churches, and as we mentioned all through this conference, how things change, the fact that he can be with us here today
is certainly a wonderful blessing, there's been no end to the times where I thought it would be the last I would ever see my brother, yet he's here with us today, so I'd like to give you, let's have a warm welcome for František Gebera from Kosice, Czechoslovakia. At first I must apologize myself, I cannot speak so well in English, but I will try to explain what is in my heart, maybe you have a patient to listen
to me, I will use my watch, so maybe you know I come from Czechoslovakia, I am an assistant pastor in this community that belongs to the Pentecostal Church in Kosice, and just now we have 170 members in my church, I have three children, five, two and a half, and seven months, and God bless me and my family, and I just want to share what is in my heart, like I found the Lord, like I found the
happiness in my life, really because I am a happy man, because I found the happiness, and you know that you are able to find happiness in Jesus Christ, it's really true, and in my heart is a really gladness that I can be here, I can see so wonderful and wonderful man and woman, all we belong to the one family, all we are decided to follow Jesus Christ, doesn't matter what will cost for that. At first I
will read a verse from the Bible, from Matthew 28, there is some important words that should be done, there is a Jesus proclaim for us who believe in him, I will read 28, verse 18, Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age. There is a word about Jesus Christ, when I became a Christian, that was very important for me, and from the very time when I came to him, those words are in my heart, in my mind, I have before my eyes, that my first aim here on earth is to proclaim the gospel to every nation, not only
for me, I believe and I hope that everybody, you are ready to I will give you a short story about my life, maybe it will help you understand what I want to express, I come from a family, my parents moved from Romania after the second world war, to the south of Bohemia, they are still, they are Slovak people, they were, they belong to Catholic, traditionally Catholic church, they move after all from the south of Bohemia to
the east Slovak country, where they are still living, you know, my life condition was very bad, I have twelve brothers and sisters, I will give you a picture, for example, I remember what it means if I have a daily bread, I remember and I thanks to God day by day that I am able to eat, I have a cup of water, we have our own house in the village and we have only two rooms to live,
fourteen people, my parents and twelve brothers and sisters, and we use one bed for four persons, so I know what it means, if God is giving me, God is supporting me, he is giving me all what I need for my family, for my children, for day by day I praise him, maybe I hope that we are doing the same. So and in spite of this problem and difficulties, my parents was live in, they were not in
unity, they were belong to Catholic church traditionally, but they have no love to each other, there are many struggle between them, I just I see my mother like was suffering so much, twelve children, they were not love from father's side, they were no love, usually she went to the work for the whole weeks and she stayed at home with twelve children and take care all of them, and all this situation after that my mother started to
find Jesus Christ, because they were small community believers who was living so beautiful life, they were so loved, and my mother wanted to have this life like she saw, so she started to visit the small community and at last she decided and she received Jesus Christ, it was first in all family she became a Christian, after all, except just now this day except three my two brothers and one sister, all we are belong to Jesus Christ,
also my father, also my father who was baptised in water when he was fifty six year old, he was baptised, just all we belong to Jesus Christ, situation was rapidly changed, just there is a love, there is a peace, because there is a Jesus Christ, it is very important, it was my life, my really bad condition, but just I am able to understand everybody who suffer, who needs the daily bread of life, so I became Christian
when I was fourteen years old, I was baptised in the water, I was baptised with the Holy Spirit, it was a time of revival in my republic when God was pouring in the Holy Spirit and thousand and thousand people came to Jesus Christ, I remember those days when I was praying with a small group of teenagers and we spent all night to pray and pray and pray and really God was giving his glory, giving his joy
and peace, but you know there was some problem in my life, like teenagers, I left my God, I started to live in sin, I went to the army and you can imagine this life in army when the men, they were not Christian, every kind of sin they are, we are able to find, it was not satisfying my spirit, after when I returned to home I started to find, I started to find the way again to the
Jesus Lord, because I know that there is a peace, there is a joy, there is a good life you can want to have, so in summer 1971, I went to the army and I was present in the summer camp where young Christians were sharing with each other, giving testimony and at the very time I returned to Jesus Christ, I found the peace and from that time I am serving to my Lord day by day, I gave
my life to him like a holy sacrifice, because all what I have, what I feel, it belongs to him forever, so I started to work in church, in among the gypsy, among young people in my country, God bless this work, because all what I have done was for his glory, I was looking for not my own glory, I was looking for the glory of those who died for me, who died, who is still alive and one
day I will see him face by face, I believe they will come again, so just now I am working in church, situation in my country just now is really changed, I have a picture like for example, if you open the window, the wind is blowing, but still the door is closed, I hope also the door will be open and the fresh wind will be blowing through the room, there is picture I have before my eyes, but
God is presenting himself in all nations, we have one generation, young generation who was growing up with some knowledge on God, you are able to find the men, young men and women in my age, who never heard about the name Jesus, who is a Jesus, who is a Jesus Christ, and such situation is very good for us, for the people of God who can give a testimony, I bless the Lord, maybe if you listen to my
testimony it will be strange for you, but I bless God for all and freedom we had just now, till science, when the situation changed in 1948, but people started to find the God, they are not satisfied with the official ideology, they wanted something new, there is no peace, there is no blessing, and in such situation church of God are able to give testimony, they are still alive, the one who gives a peace in his life, in
this situation we are in trouble, we are suffering, but it is very good because all belong to us who believe in Jesus Christ, sometimes we can use only what is good, but all belong to us who believe in Jesus Christ, also to suffer, to be persecuted, all belong to those who believe in Jesus Christ, so in such situation there is a very good time to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, and many thousand people are coming
to Jesus Christ, also in my church we have no room, we are overcrowded, there is no room for gathering, we started to build up the new house, new place because there is no room, people wanted to hear the gospel, and I pray day by day, and also I pray for my church, for my country, there is also a situation very good, just a little more freedom like before, we have the opportunity to share the gospel in
the public meetings, public places, for example for the next year we have a promise from the government to prepare a big conference in Brno, a big town, and we rent a big stadium, football stadium for the first in the communistic country that is allowed for us to do, and all is done through the God, all is done, we are standing, I don't know what will be in the future, we don't know, nobody knows, God knows what
will be, but we must be ready, we must be ready to proclaim the gospel, to give what is given to us, here I read in the bible that all authority in heaven is given to you, to me, who belong to Jesus Christ, it's our duty to proclaim the gospel of God, there is no excuse, you must proclaim the gospel of God, because the people are hungry, they have no peace, they are struggling between them, in the
world, in the nation, in the family, there is no peace, but where is the God, there is a peace, there is a happiness, and what is my purpose, God has sent me to proclaim the gospel, and I pray God that he is able to do more than I ever can imagine, he is able to do, because Jesus wants to be saved, all nations, everybody, everybody, and just I praise you here in America, you have a freedom,
you have everything what you want to have, just we have a time also, we have all what we need for daily life, but pray day by day, if you are able to support, support the churches in Europe, they need your prayers, they need your help, I believe that you will not forget, you will pray, it will stay in your mind, in your heart that we are still alive in Czechoslovakia, in my country, there are people who
loved God, there are many people who are prepared to receive the Holy Spirit, who are prepared to receive the gospel from God, because it's time that all will be finished, and I believe that God who has begun his work in the territory, today's Czechoslovakia will finish his work, Amen.