Janna Shoultz: Hello, I'm Janna Shoultz, and welcome to episode fifty two of Faith Talks. And I am excited about this episode. We're just going to be sharing some different testimonies from our teens. And just a little bit of an update from, um, a trip that we went on taking our teens to Hamtramck, Michigan, working with the Muslims there, and also just, um, a passage that Judson's been burdened about. He actually preached on Sunday just from Deuteronomy about crossing the Jordan and just taking steps of faith. So we're going to focus on those couple things in this podcast, and I hope it'll be an encouragement to you. So first, Judson's just going to share a little bit about taking that step of faith from the book of Deuteronomy.

Judson Shoultz: I guess to introduce it. Here's a question. If someone told you that you were going to walk into a mosque, a Muslim place of worship, and you were going to sit down with their top teacher and give them the gospel, Would you be scared? I'd be scared. Would you be scared?

Janna Shoultz: We were all pretty scared, right?

Judson Shoultz: But that's what our teens did, which is actually amazing, if you think about it. Walked into a Muslim place of worship and gave the gospel. I mean, to me, even as an adult, that sounds impossible. And the teens were scared. A couple of them were telling me they were very scared because they didn't know what to say. So we looked at Joshua yesterday when I preached, and God told Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan River. And I actually didn't get to mention this in my message, but in Joshua chapter three, verse fifteen, there's this little parenthesis. It says, the Jordan overfloweth all his banks, all the time of harvest. So I actually don't know how wide the Jordan River was typically, but if you think about it, there was probably two to three million people and they had to get across a river, which getting any amount of kids across the river, kids or adults is hard. I mean, think about our teens trying to get our teens across the river. Any river, that'd be a task. They're getting three million people across this river. And this verse tells us that the river was overflowing its banks. It just seems to say that God knew this was going to be absolutely impossible.

Janna Shoultz: He didn't. He didn't choose the easiest time. Like, oh, there's been a drought. Okay, the river's down. Let's, let's choose this time to do the miracle to get the people across.

Judson Shoultz: It's like the worst time.

Janna Shoultz: Mhm.

Judson Shoultz: The next chapter, after they crossed the river, it says Joshua chapter four, verse eighteen. The waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. So God says it twice because I think he wants us to know, like you're saying, this is maybe the worst time to cross the river humanly, but God was the one who had to do the miracle. And the whole point of the story of the nation crossing the Jordan River is You have to do things that God calls you to that are impossible. Crossing the Jordan River with three million people is not possible. Crossing the Jordan River with three million people. You could say it's absurd from a human perspective, but God said, this is what you're going to do. And the principle of the Jordan River is God told the people to put their foot in the river, and that's what parted the waters. Obviously, it was God. But he said, you put your foot in the water, the water will part. And just like at the Red Sea, the river split and the people walk through. But this time God said, if you're not willing to put your foot in the water, then there's only so much I can do on your behalf. And they obeyed, crossed the river, and there was a lot that God blessed them with the promised land. But thinking about our teens, a lot of them really took took the plunge to put their foot in the water. And spiritually speaking, you're going up to Hamtramck, Michigan was one of the cities we went to. The other is Dearborn and both of these cities outside of the Detroit area are Muslim majority cities in America. So Dearborn is just over fifty percent Muslim. Hamtramck is eighty percent Muslim in the in the state of Michigan. It's unbelievable how many Muslim people there are in such a concentrated area in the United States. And we knew going in that we were going to be witnessing the Muslims. I was honestly a little bit intimidated because I'd never really witnessed to Muslims before. But our teens were. They were scared, but we knew that God had called us there. And so it's kind of like the Jordan River where like, how do you witness to a Muslim? And they told us, oh, we're going to go visit some mosques. What I thought was cool is we went to the mosques to get a burden for the culture and the religion. And we didn't tell the kids really to witness. They just did. I'm. Unless I'm remembering wrong, it's like we walked in and the kids said, these people are lost. Let's ask them questions. And then they just start giving them the gospel. And that was kind of a Jordan River moment for some of these. Absolutely impossible. We went to, would you say, maybe five mosques up in the Detroit area.

Janna Shoultz: And some Hindu temples.

Judson Shoultz: Some Hindu temples, just strongholds of religion. Mhm. And our teens really, by the Holy Spirit's leading, put their foot in the water, the flooded river. And God did some miracles. It was it was amazing. It was impossible. Looking back, you really can't explain how fifteen, sixteen year olds went into a mosque and debated with the teachers, ultimately gave them the gospel. That doesn't happen, you know. And, um, three million people don't just cross a river. Obviously God was involved.

Janna Shoultz: And we were talking about, like with the Israelites, they had to take a step to do something they had never done before. Yeah. And I feel like that's a lot of times that's in our lives. Like if we're going to have to take a step of faith, it's not going to be like, oh, I've done this before. Let's do it again. A lot of times it's your first, especially if it's your first time. You've never done that before. Maybe you've never tithed or you've never, you know, gotten soulwinning or you've never prayed with somebody at work. Like it could be the smallest thing. Um, but a faith step is something. Yeah. You haven't done before. And it's new uncharted waters. And I know, um, one of the boys in his testimony on the video, um, was just saying, you know, I always hear about people going on missions trips, hear about people witnessing, hear all these things. But this time it was me, you know, this time it was me taking the step, me putting my foot in the water. Um, and Judson brought out the point yesterday just in his message of it wasn't Joshua. You know, if you read it, it's not just Joshua's foot hitting the water and it parted. It was the priest's and it was the people as they each individually put their foot into the water, that that's when God did the miracle. Right.

Judson Shoultz: Which to that point, something that I thought was interesting on the trip. One of the first times that the team really started witnessing, we go into this big mosque, which actually used to be a Baptist church, and there's this lady Muslim lady who's giving us a tour. So she was showing this is the room where you pray and all these things. It's just amazing watching what Muslims do. And then there was this little imam, little like short little guy. He I think he was like twenty three years old, but he's really short. We had some short guys on our team. They were taller than him. I mean, this little guy. But he was very learned in Islam. And the teens got a burden for him. So the missionary actually started talking to the lady who used to be a Christian, and then she started to.

Janna Shoultz: Or some, yeah, some that kind of vein of it.

Judson Shoultz: But so the missionaries going after her and then the boys just start talking. These boys are sixteen, seventeen. They just start talking to this imam and asking him questions. So what does Islam teach? And then say, well, the Bible says they just started going after it. It was kind of funny because I think there was three of them kind of all around the same imam, and he's this short little guy, and he starts backing up like you could tell he was actually uncomfortable. And, um, so I walked over, someone's like, hey, the boys are trying to witness to him. So I walked over. They were doing such a good job. And what actually what impacted me about that was they weren't just trying to debate. They were genuinely concerned that this guy didn't understand the love of God, which is a big thing about Islam. It's not a it's not a religion of love. And these guys said, but don't you know that God loves you? And they kept going over and over again. And like you're saying, I didn't start the conversation with him, his the teens and we walked out and that actually changed the trip because the next mosque, we spent two hours.

Janna Shoultz: Mhm. It was two hours.

Judson Shoultz: With a bunch of Muslim ladies. And we just.

Janna Shoultz: Teenage girls.

Judson Shoultz: Teenage girls, Muslim teenagers. And our teens sat there with their Bibles open in the back of the mosque asking them questions.

Janna Shoultz: It was neat because there was one of the mosques that you couldn't get Wi-Fi connection. And so they couldn't look up like, okay, they have a question about this. Let me look up where in the Bible that is. So they started from that point on, every mosque or, you know, temple we go to, they bring their Bibles. Their Bibles, which they had anyway. But they were they were, you know, you just you see somebody ask a question and all the teens are going through their Bibles. You know, what, what, what truth can we share from the Word of God with them? Um, I think it was impacting as well. When we went into one of the Hindu temples, one of our teenage girls just burst out sobbing. Just, just from the darkness, you could sense, um, I think it meant a lot to me to just I've had a lot of students that I've taught violin and piano to that have been Hindu. Um, and yeah, I've never been to their place of worship. You know, I knew they were been to some other homes, but just to see this is, this is what they believe. Like here's their gods that they're bowing down to here's, you know, here's the apples and different things that they throw at their idols or that they offer up, like to see the darkness that they're in. Um, so I think it was neat to just see the kids get a burden for that. And I would just say, if you're a listener out there and you have an opportunity to take a missions trip, or maybe it's not even overseas, but it's in the United States somewhere besides your state, I would say like one hundred percent do it. You know, you might think like, oh, I'm going to lose money. Like I could work a better job if I didn't do that this summer or, I don't know, maybe it's a sacrifice, but I think it's worth every penny, every, every minute of your time to just go experience and understand what different cultures are. Just the strongholds that you can see, um, just helps you understand when you talk to, you know, when you talk to someone, just knowing their background and all of that.

Judson Shoultz: So understand where they're coming from.

Janna Shoultz: Totally.

Judson Shoultz: I told our teens when we got back from the trip, the ones that didn't come with us, I said, all of the Muslims that you hear about on the news are scary. But I said all of the ones that we met on the street are nice. And actually, for the most part, the culture of Muslim people is very warm and inviting. Their religion can be hostile. And that's what you see in the news because that's what the news wants to focus on. Um, but that's one thing that, that I think our team realized is these are people, they're real people. Obviously, there are people that God loves and Jesus died for, but you can talk to them. Now it is Islam. So you want to know, but it's like talking to a Catholic person. It's a dark religion. We went to a Catholic church on our trip right after we had been at the Hindu temple. And that's interesting because it's it's dark, you know, and there's people all over our country that are lost in darkness. And obviously we took the trip because we wanted our teens to see that. But I think God did way more than we could have expected in the hearts of our teenagers. And I do think that for some of them, that trip changed their life. Even that was a month and a half ago, or got back about a month ago. And some of those teens, their lives have been different since I was with one of them. Just this evening. And he was talking about opportunities that he's had, but he was even mentioning stands that he he took with his friends. He's burdened about getting the gospel. He's working on discipling a kid. And I know that that trip impacted decision he's making now. You know, another one he, um, his uncle is says he's a professing Muslim, but that's about it. You know, he just claims to be Muslim. But but this guy was able to talk to him, give him the gospel. Uh, this same kid was at the barber shop a few weeks ago, and the barber says, oh, yeah, I'm a Muslim. So he starts giving him the gospel. And he said, I never would have even talked to him had I not gone on that trip. And he's had awesome opportunities since. And he said after the trip, he said, that's the most people I've ever given the gospel to in one week. And it's true. I mean, that's the point of the trip. But I think the teens realize if you just get your foot in the water, God will do so many more things than you could ever even imagine in such a dark place, too.

Janna Shoultz: I was out with one of the girls tonight, and, um, she's talking about she's going to Bible college in the fall and, um, just burdened for missions and like. Yeah, I think the trip really helped her even just see, like, here's what it would look like to be a missionary. And, um, another, another thing that I really felt impressed upon during the trip was just the importance of the Word of God. And, you know, you go up to any family or home in America when you're just out soulwinning a lot of them have Bibles, you know, um, when we would go soulwinning in Milwaukee, a lot of them, you know, they have a Bible somewhere in the house. But that's not really the case with the Muslims. Um, we did quite a bit of Scripture distribution. And when you would go to give them a Bible, like, do you have like, do you have a Bible? Have you ever read this? It's like, no. Nope, I never have.

Judson Shoultz: Which is amazing.

Janna Shoultz: Which is crazy. And so I remember, um, I gave this testimony of this lady. I gave her a Bible and she just looked at me. She's like, I will read this. Um, and just like praying that the Lord would continue to work in her heart through the Word of God. Um, just an encouraging story. There was a teen who recently got saved, um, in May actually and moved to our area. And really her testimony comes from her speaking to the Lord, but also just the Word of God. She got a Bible and she just started reading in Genesis. Um, and highlighting and taking notes and looking. If she didn't understand something, she'd look it up and just absolutely digesting the Word of God. Um, I have never seen someone so fast. Um, just understand Christianity and understand what, what everything is all about and why this is because she's reading her Bible and she's not just reading it. She's taking it one hundred percent literal. Um, she told the Holy Spirit.

Judson Shoultz: And the Word of God, the Holy Spirit's connecting the Word of God to her life.

Janna Shoultz: Oh, one hundred percent. She'll say all the time, you know, you know, the Holy Spirit told me I shouldn't do this, so I didn't do it. Um, she was listening to some music and she had completely gotten rid of like any type of music that would have wrong lyrics. Um, but she was listening to a Christian song from an artist and, um, she was like, I just felt like the Holy Spirit told me to turn it off. So she's like, I did. She's like, I didn't know why, but she's like, it sounded like the other music. But I had good words. And she's like, I don't really know why he wanted me to turn it off, but I did. Um, and that's what you want. You want someone who's following the Word of God and obeying the Holy Spirit. And, um, another just neat point. She was talking about fasting the other day or doing the Sabbath or even just Old Testament principles, um, that she's applying to her life. Um, and it's crazy. It's like I didn't say anything about that. It's just the Holy Spirit teaching her through the Word of God. Um, so it's been neat all that to say. It's been neat to see her take steps of faith recently. Um, and this past week, she had talked to me about a week and a half ago and just saying, you know, my family is antagonistic. I don't really feel like anybody's listening to me when I share the gospel, whatever. And this past week, I think it was such an answer to prayer and just a miracle. Her grandma came Sunday morning to church. Never had come before. Her mom came Sunday, Sunday night, which is huge. And her mom said, I have never heard the Word of God so clearly presented. And I think that was a huge answer to prayer. And then her stepsister came to her high school Bible study on Tuesday, and all three of them are unsaved. Um, but that they even had the faith, the, the willingness to come. I think that's a huge just answer to prayer and testimony to. If you take a step of faith, even with people who are antagonistic, like God can work, and we're obviously still praying for them that, um, for their souls that that God would save them. But it's been neat to see her take steps of faith and just see God work in that.

Judson Shoultz: And I think where all this comes down to, like the question I asked at the beginning. And so you as the listener think about this. If I came to your house, I said, hey, we're going to go to the nearest mosque and you as a teenager are going to go talk to the Muslim teacher. That's that's scary. Honestly, if you would have asked me that in high school, I would have said, there's no way like, I'll come with you. Maybe, but I'm not talking to them. And I'm telling you, this is what those teenagers did on that trip. Nobody told them to. They just started witnessing to Muslims. This girl gets saved. She invites her family to church. She's reading the Bible. And I think this is the big takeaway, talking about the Jordan River. That faith step for every person is going to be different. So the application of this podcast is not necessarily go find the nearest mosque and start witnessing. If God leads you to do that one hundred percent, do what God shows you to do. But I do believe that even as a teenager, God's going to put massive steps in front of you that are absolutely impossible. A lot of times those are going to be witnessing things where, man, my neighbor is so atheistic, there's no way he would ever believe. But if God leads you to talk to them, talk to him like finances is a big one. You say, oh, I'm a teenager. I don't have a lot of money. Well, don't say that. If God has blessed you, maybe not a lot, but maybe a little bit. Allow God to be in charge of your wallet. You know, trust God with what he's given you and use the resources he's given you to invest back into his work. And I think as, as teenagers, one of the most important decisions you could make is to choose to put your foot in the water, to let God part the river, even when it seems most impossible. Those are life changing moments. They're big moments and they're God moments. And as a teenager, I know personally, those are the defining moments of your life as the decisions you make as a teenager to step out and trust God in the face of every obstacle that marks you, and that is the faith that will sustain you as you continue to trust God.

Janna Shoultz: And just. If you think about the Jordan River in the life of the Israelites, like before the Jordan River, they were in the desert. They were eating manna. It was pretty much a barren life. And you might even feel like, I know I've been there in my life before, even as a teenager, just feeling like I don't like I don't see much of God's power because I haven't taken the step. Um, but then you just look at the promised land after that. Sure, there was fighting, but it was a land of talking about all the different foods and just blessing and, um, abundant miracles and just so many, so many different things. And, um, I can't remember if you brought this point up or someone was talking about how after you take that Jordan River step, the other steps are easier. Um, and I think that's so true. Like I remember some of the first times I witnessed or some of the first times I gave in an offering. I remember even going forward in church to make like a decision that way was a faith step to like, get out of the aisle and, or get out into the aisle and go down. And I remember like, I still remember the first service that I went down and prayed. Um, and that like, I can say every time since then, it's been easier to make a decision. But there are those defining moments. And honestly, most all of those happened in high school. You know, it wasn't if you're waiting to take a Jordan River step until you're married and have a kid. Like that's too late. Like you've really got to take those steps in high school. Um, so I just encourage you as you're, um, just meditating upon this even just go to Joshua chapters three and four and read over the story again, just of the Israelites step of faith and just talk to God about it. And like Judson was saying, the application is going to look different for you. So just talking to the Holy Spirit is key. Just saying, Holy Spirit, if I don't have a faith step right now in my life, would you give me one? I one hundred percent know that he will give you a step to take. Um, but just remember, like our phrase, we always say at the end, faith doesn't just talk faith walks. And that's really what this is about. It's not just, um, you know, saying the right things, being a good Christian. …. It's walking. It's taking those steps. And just because you've never done it doesn't mean you're okay. It means you're the one who needs to take the step. So just remember this week, faith doesn't just talk. Faith walks.