The Bible is truth and its power to change lives is evident through the millions of people who have come to believe in Jesus Christ.
Dennis Balcom shares his journey as a missionary in China, witnessing the incredible growth of Christianity despite past restrictions. He emphasizes the power of the gospel to transform lives, citing miraculous healings and resurrections as evidence of God's work. Balcom highlights the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, urging listeners to believe in Him for salvation and a new life.
Full Transcript
My name is Dennis Balcom. I'm actually an American, but I went to China about 42 years ago and I've been a missionary in China. I have a church in Hong Kong called Revival Christian Church and I've been so privileged in my 50 years of being a Christian to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I wanted to be a scientist and do something, contribute to humanity, but God saved me and filled me with the Holy Spirit and gave me a vision that he would open the door to China. Now that was 50 years ago in 1961 and China was closed. There was a cultural revolution.
No missionaries were allowed. In fact, the churches and the Christians in China were not allowed to have open meetings, so they met in their homes. Now I went to China in 1969 to Hong Kong and learned Cantonese.
I can speak Cantonese fluently and Mandarin and I prayed for many years that God would open the door to China and in 1978 the doors opened. Well, I've been in China for all these many, many, 32 years now preaching the gospel, some opposition, but China really is quite open compared to what it was before. The amazing thing about China, this was at one time we called the Buddhist nation, it became a Confucius nation, then it became a communist nation and everybody's been taught communism, yet everyone in China wants to know about God.
When you preach the gospel in China, people believe in Jesus Christ. In fact, according to some statistics, there's more Christians in China than all of North America and Europe. We have over a hundred, maybe 110 million Christians in China, but unlike the Christians in the West because of the lifestyle, they're just kind of lukewarm.
In China, they love God, they go to church every day and many times a week they pray and preach the gospel. Without Bibles, without even many church buildings, without television or radio where the gospel is preached, people are coming to the Lord. What is the reason? It's because what Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life.
Now you look at communism, teaches evolution and Marxism and atheism and they have a lot of arguments. A lot of people don't believe in God for various reasons. They say it's not scientific.
They say evolution explains how we came. We're not God creating us. Yet in China, millions of people believe the Bible and believe Jesus Christ because he's the truth.
Now may not make sense to many people, but when you begin to read the Bible and read what Jesus said about himself, he said, I am the way, the truth and the life. He said, if you've seen the father, seen God, you've seen me. He said before Abraham, there was, I was already existence.
He said, I am the only way. Now either Jesus was a crazy man, a deluded man, or else what he is saying is true. You can't have it both ways.
Well today, literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of people in the world believe what Jesus said is true. Now, let me tell you just briefly in these couple of minutes why. First of all, the Bible says so and the Bible is the word of God.
No one has been able to destroy the Bible. They tried to do that in China, the cultural revolution. Yet now the Bible is the most widely read book all over the world and the Bible has been proven true over and over again.
This is a fact scientifically, archeological discoveries, and these things prove the Bible. The more we learn, the more we find out the Bible is historically true. But secondly, even more than the facts of history is the fact of what the Bible says God will do for people happens.
He changes people's lives. He gives people the Holy Spirit. He gives them new life.
I've seen drug addicts that come off of drugs when they believe in Jesus. I've seen crippled people that have been healed just by prayer. We've even actually seen people that have raised from the dead in China.
You may not say, well that's not possible, but it happens all over the world because God is all-powerful. He's the God that gives life and I'm talking about people who've died for a few hours. The doctor has no hope for them, but God brings them back to life and heals them and many other miracles.
The greatest miracle is the changed life that happens when people believe in Jesus Christ and accept Jesus Christ as their savior. And I want you to just believe in Jesus Christ. We don't want religion, not even Christian religion.
We have a relationship with God. The gospel is the power of God and all you have to do is to confess that you're a sinner, believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, make him the Lord of your life, repent of your sins, believe that Jesus rose from the dead and ask him to come into your life. And if you do that, you will be saved.
You will be born again and that's the beginning of a new life. Well, I just want to bless you as you listen to this that you will open your life to Jesus Christ and like me find purpose and meaning in life. God bless you.
Sermon Outline
- The Bible is Truth
- The Bible's Power to Change Lives
- The Gospel is the Power of God
- Confess sin, believe in Jesus Christ, and repent
- Ask Jesus to come into your life and be born again
Key Quotes
“I am the way, the truth and the life.” — Dennis Balcombe
“Either Jesus was a crazy man, a deluded man, or else what he is saying is true.” — Dennis Balcombe
“The Bible says so and the Bible is the word of God.” — Dennis Balcombe
Application Points
- Believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as your savior to experience a changed life.
- Repent of your sins and ask Jesus to come into your life to be born again.
- Open your life to Jesus Christ and find purpose and meaning in life.
