Well, it’s a blessing and an honor to come here and share and talk with you this morning. Excuse me. My name is Archie Hand, and that’s my wife, Annette Hand. We’re from Coleman, Alabama, where we grew up. But I’m going to go ahead and tell you, it’s hard to really talk about the mission field, and I’m not really here today for that, because it’s hard to grasp something. And be passionate about it if you’ve never encountered it. But I want to tell you right now, it’s hard for me this morning. I was about to explode sitting on the back row. And the reason is, is I was getting so, hearing the songs and hearing the words and the scriptures that my brother was sharing this morning, and it’s just hard to keep your emotions in. Saying, if you’ve ever been, and a lot of them think, oh, you’re a missionary. You’re perfect. You did it. I mean, you have it going on, and you was raised that way from birth. But the reason that I was getting so excited was because we were singing, and we were talking about the one that restored me. I was broken. I was depressed. I was so many things and was ready to give up on life. And when you start, and I’ll go ahead and tell you, I get a little bit excited when I talk about Jesus. Because if you’re here, and He has restored you, you’ll know what I’m talking about. And when I get to talking about Him and all the miracles, I just, I get a little bit excited. And so, I want to try to keep it all under control for you this morning, and not get too excited. So, plus my wife will call me down. But it’s a blessing to have her because she does. She prays for me a lot. She keeps me straight. Even in the mission field, I tend to, if God didn’t put her in my life, I would get in trouble. A lot. Because I love going and getting into a lot of problems. But what’s so amazing is, how can someone like me end up in the mission field? I’m telling you, I was brought up in church. I thought I knew all about Jesus, and I was hearing about Him. But I really didn’t have a personal relationship, even though I was in church. When I hit my teenage years, I ran hard. So, how can one end up and do all these amazing things? Simply, one’s helped me. God put person in my life after person in my life to help me find Him. Even my wife was the greatest example. She wasn’t raised in church, and I was. And I saw things in church that hurt me. I saw ones talking about Jesus, but I wasn’t seeing Jesus in no one. And they was living. I was living a life that wasn’t, and I didn’t like it. I was like, you’re hypocrites. You’re saying one thing and doing the other. So, it takes one in your life to help you on this journey. My wife, our marriage wasn’t the greatest. And so, what was truly amazing is, she knew that we needed a change. That I needed a change, and she started going to church. And I was very, oh, I was angry about that. It was a family church. That I was raised in, and all my families, and I didn’t like it. And so, she started inviting me to church. And I’m like, are you kidding? I would never step foot in that church, and I would never be about this. And so, she started praying. And not only did she pray, she started investing. She would ask me to go to church, but she was preparing for what God was going to do. She’d take my clothes out, and she would ask. She’d iron them, and prep them, and get them all perfectly ready. And she’d set them at the foot of my bed, and ask me to go to church.
She did this for a whole year. A whole year, inviting me to go to church. And guilt and shame came over me, and finally, I went for her. And I was still living bad things, and doing bad things. And all of a sudden, my relatives and stuff would come up to me. I would never see, oh, we’re so happy you came. We’ve been messing you, and we’ve been worried about you, and you’re here, and we’re so thankful. Well, my heart would get bitter. I was like, you’re just saying that because I’m here. You don’t care. You didn’t come after me. You’re only saying that because I’m here. You didn’t do your job. So, and the thing is, and I just want to encourage you, that it takes someone. And most of all, if I want you to grab… I’m going to ask this right here, is we need each other, and the lost need you too. Because I was very lost. And if anything, I want to encourage you, you have a job to do. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, and you have got Him in your heart, you have a job. Because, see, I started going to church, and a word started coming alive in me. And a hunger, and a passion, and I started seeking God. See, I want you to know these things about me, so you can see how amazing and powerful what’s happening in Mexico is.
See, so I was in church one day, and was watching ones hold nothing back, and they was worshiping God, and they had their hands in the air, and they was crying. And I’m like, God, I don’t have that. I’m here. I’m believing. I got saved. I was 32 years old when I got saved. And because I was having all of these problems, I was like, did I not do it right? What’s going on? I was just showing up on that Sunday, and that was it. I was waiting for that pastor to give that message to give me peace, and the Holy Spirit to move in my life, and nothing was happening. I was sitting there being still and waiting on God. But now I know God was waiting on me. And I thought it was Him. He’d been waiting on me my whole life. So amazingly, I was like, Lord, there’s got to be more than this. There’s got to be more than this. I’m just going to church and to come in here. I need that personal relationship, Lord. I need it. I don’t need to live my life through others to get to You. I need to have it with You, God. And so I started searching with God all my life, hard as I could, giving everything I had. And all of a sudden, a Scripture came into my heart. It was burning in my heart. I couldn’t get away from it. It was Romans 12.2. Be not conformed to this world, but renew your mind. Your mind is crossed. And so I was doing that. And next thing you know, it took another. Somebody came up to me that very morning. I’m like arguing with God. Like, God, I’ve got to work. How can I not be conformed to this world? What must I do, God? And I came in. And another one, he invested. He said, hey, Archie, we need you. I’m like, okay, what do you need? He said, well, nobody wants to go. And we need some help building a church in Nicaragua. Well, in a jungle, will you go? And I’m like, man, here’s my answer, God. I’m going to go on a mission trip. And I never thought about it. I got on a plane. I went down there in that jungle. It was harsh. It was miserable. Hot, bugs, you name it. But in that jungle, I found an indescribable peace. I found something, and I encountered God for the first time. And all of a sudden, I’m like, God, if it wasn’t for my wife and children, I wouldn’t have got out there on that boat and went home. But what happened, it put such a passion in me. When I went home, I’m like, God, help me. Help me return. I need to go back, God. I want to do this. And amazingly and mighty as God is, strangers and people just come up, said, I don’t know why I’m doing this, but God’s putting it on my heart and would give me money. And I’m like, oh, my. So amazingly,
what I was talking about, I was waiting on God, but God was waiting on me, is when I accepted calling into the mission field.
It was powerful. And you can actually go to our website and read the full story. I don’t have time to share all these miracles and all the things that God had and did. But I will share this. I was angry because I saw things that I should not, that I’ve sung. And I had ones come up to me and they said, hey, I know you’re a Christian. Will you pray with me? I’m a Christian too. I need God to help us financially to get out of this situation. And it destroyed me because they was in very bad problems. And I was on the rooftop and I was praying to God. And I was arguing with God. And my wife was with me and she knew something was wrong. She said, you need to find, find yourself because this is not you. And I said, and now I’m angry at God because I don’t understand why all these things are happening. And so I was on the rooftop and I was asking God, I said, God, I’ve been asking for three days. Why is no one, why are you doing nothing, sending no one to take care of these people? And as I was asking God, all of a sudden a volcano started erupting and lava was shooting in the air and it was just beautiful and the sky looked like it was on fire, like a river of fire. And I’m like, wow, God, this is amazing. And I started worshiping God. And then all of a sudden I was like, no, God, you’re distracting me. You have not answered me. Why are you doing nothing? And all of a sudden a brother came up on a rooftop and he started worshiping God. And see, I messed it. He had a t-shirt that we did as a fundraiser three years before that. And I was watching it. And I was watching him and all of a sudden I read the back of that t-shirt that we had done years ago. And it said, Isaiah 6-8. Here I am, Lord, send me.
And it just broke me. And I’m like, God, I’ve been wanting to know why you didn’t send no one and I’m here. You sent me here to do a job and I need to do the job. Okay, God, I get it. It’s time for me to go into the mission field, but there’s one problem. My wife is not ready. And this ain’t going to work, God. But I believe in you being a mighty God and I’m not going to say nothing, God. That’s your job. And so I went home and we went home on a Saturday and we had church that very next morning. And there’s a special speaker, kind of like me today. And he came up. He came all the way from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, sent him for me. Me and my wife, we’re sitting in there in church and all of a sudden he came in and he started preaching and he stopped. He said, you know what? I can’t do this. He said, when I was coming from Tuscaloosa this morning, he said, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me that there was one that was having a special calling and I need to anoint that calling and lay hands on him and pray on him. He said, I don’t know who it is, but it’s somebody in this church. And I’m sitting there and I’m like, really, God? You’re going to pull that on me? And all of a sudden, Annette reached over and grabbed my hand. She squawked. Crawling. And I’m looking at her and I’m like, what’s happening? She said, it’s time. We need to do something. We stood up and we got anointed and it was just powerful and amazing and I was on fire and I’m like, I’m going in the mission field. I’m ready. All of a sudden, I was praying for three months. Nothing. I’m like, what’s going on, God? My prayer is, you only send me where I need to go, God. My prayer is only where I can make a difference and I’m giving up my life and my family. God, why are you not sending me? We’re ready. And all of a sudden, it hit me. I’m waiting on God to do everything. I want God to do it all and me to do no sacrifice or nothing. And all of a sudden, I’m saying, God, I’ve got to prepare. I know you’re going to bless me supernatural. So I’ve got to prepare for the rain, God. And so I started selling. I didn’t have money. I sold everything I had just to pay lawyers and to get sympathy. Send me refuge all established and to do a 501c and to be a non-profit. And my friends, I was reaching out to them in the mission field like, hey, I’m feeling I need some advice. And they’re just like, really, Archie? I was in the mission field for eight years before I did a non-profit. You don’t even know where you’re going and you’re doing it in the beginning. I’m like, yeah, God’s going to bless me supernatural. So amazingly, when I did that and started to do things for myself, and preparing for God, all of a sudden, when we got the letter from the IRS, I was scared to death. I thought I was in trouble. And it was the approval for the non-profit. It only took 10 days. And I’m like, wow, God. Well, amazingly, and this is why you need to probably go read this story.
I woke up that night, sit up in bed. You ever sit up? I’m like, well, did I have a dream? What was it? What is this? I had a vision. I’m trying to reach and find out what it was. And I knew it was something. I’m like, what is it, God? And the next thing you know, it just rolled out of my mouth. Kaka-Wa-Tan. I’m like, Kaka-Wa-Tan? What is this? And I guess I’m losing my mind. I went back to bed. And it happened every night over and over and over. Finally, I got up, got the power of Google. And I started Googling it. And I think this is how you, spell it, and it came up Mexico. And I’m like, are you kidding me? I’ve never been to Mexico in my life. So what’s amazing, I’m not going to share with you all the things that happened. But next thing you know, me, my backpack, and Jesus was on a plane.
Nobody. Fear. And I tell ones, I press through fear. And when we press through fear, the reward’s so much greater. And so I ended up in Mexico. And seeing all of these things and all of these miracles. And then the dump. And the next thing, I came home. And me and that was like, this is a place. And all of a sudden, it hit me. I’m like, Lord, how can I minister to these people if I don’t know what they’re going through?
So this is where everybody thought I was losing it. My family. They was persecuting me. What’s wrong with you? This is not God. I’ve been through that over and over. You’ve lost your mind. Now it’s like, how are we going to do this? We don’t have no money. How is this going to happen? And I’m like, Annette, that’s not my problem. That’s God’s problem. And it was so hard for me because one was offering me jobs to go for missionary companies already. And I was struggling with that. I’m like, God, if I follow them and they tell me what to do and how to do this, then I’m following men and I’m not following you. So I made a choice and praise God, I went and lived in that dump. Lived there for two months. Lived in a dirt floor, pilot house, no electricity, no water. But what’s so amazing in the middle of all that
is I found peace. I found a purpose. And I really didn’t want to go home. And Annette, God opened up so many doors and so I had to go home. She booked my ticket. I had to go home. But what’s amazing is how I asked the question, God, why here? There’s already a church in a dump. Why here, God? And amazingly, the pastor was preaching and he came and he said, we’re going to praise God today for answering prayers. Because we’ve been praying for years for God to send one to help us and to rect us. And here you are. Not only did you live here, you built a church. You built a building and don’t even know why. So it’s just amazing in the last five years how all of these miracles and how everything has happened as far as feeding children, building a beautiful town in a dump that does not belong, and seeing kids go from not even being able to read or write or to hold a pencil
to passionately going to school and so worried that they can’t go to… They’ll be late for school that their mother sells a chicken to buy them a watch so they’ll be on school on time. And how God is opening doors and we have three teachers and they’re teaching these kids. And how we know that God is going to send some to college out of a dump. Truly amazing and how we’re building our second feeding center and fixing to feed in. It’s anywhere from 150 to 200 kids a day. And I just wish I had time to tell all the miracles and all the things that God has done and all the times that I have encountered Him. And how just supernaturally I go to a property and God gave me a beautiful orphanage. We have six children in it now. It’s a five acre property that is like a botanical garden. It’s just so beautiful. It’s indescribable that God gave it for free. And the man said, I’ve been waiting on you and been praying for years for you to come. It is just amazing. But here’s the thing is, I want you to grasp this more than anything. I would not be where I am today if someone did not come to me and find me and help me to get me on the right path with God. And so, I just want to encourage that with all my heart for you. And if you’re struggling, I was struggling for years, even in church. God, I hear all these things and I hear them preaching about all these miracles, but I haven’t seen them. I haven’t encountered you or had a personal relationship. Then I want to encourage you to let God be God. Get on a plane. Calm down. Serve one another. Help one another. And so, but what has the mission field done for me? It’s teaching me many things. I learned to walk by faith and not by sight. I have learned to really press into God and to…
So, I just want to encourage you. If you need that, we’re here to help you. And I would love to work with you and help you. Because what happened to me was when I came back from the mission field, I realized my job wasn’t bad. I realized that things in here and my church and everything wasn’t bad. I realized how I took things for granted, but it gave me a passion to go out and to find ones and to help ones and to restore them. I didn’t do that when I was just at home doing nothing, so I want to encourage you that. So, but here’s the thing is, I want to give you the real reason why I’m here. And this is the only thing you can examine yourself, and check yourself as where are you? Where are you at right now in your relationship with God? Are you satisfied and complete? If you’re standing before a holy, righteous God, that I’ve done enough in my life and I’m good where I’m at. If the answer is no, then what is keeping you from getting there? And so, I want to give you a scripture. And that scripture is, it’s in Luke. But before I give you that scripture,
I want you to see this dollar.
This dollar has an amazing story. I received this dollar maybe two weeks ago, a few days right before I came home. And I was in the dump and I was working. And I want to tell you a little bit about it. A man came up to me and he said, I’ve been carrying this for a while. And I was like, where did you find it? He said, I was digging in the garbage in the dump. And this dump is about 2,200 miles from right here in Mexico on the border of Guatemala. And he said, I was digging and I was finding some metal and I dug and I got more and I found more prizes and more things. And I’m like, wow, I’ve hit the jackpot. I’m finding all of these things. And all of a sudden, deep down in all of the garbage, I found this dollar. And I looked at it and I’m like, wow, it’s only from 2003. It’s not that old. And so he’s like, I knew it belonged to you. It belonged to your people. It’s from you. It has no value, no meaning to me. It’s from America and I can’t spend it. I can’t do nothing with it. He said, I thought of you when I found it. And he said, I started to do many things with it. I started to just throw it back down. And he said, I started to use it for a fire. I started to use it for bathroom paper. And I’m like, wow. And he said, so here, here you go. And he handed it to me. And I immediately reached into my wallet and pulled out 20 pesos. And when he saw that 20 pesos, he’s like, what is that? I said, oh, that’s what it’s worth. He said, are you kidding me? I’ve been carrying this around and it’s worth 20 pesos? Archie, you know I only make 40 to 60 pesos a day. I had something valuable. And I didn’t even know what it was. And he’s like, hey, give it back. And I’m like, no, God’s got something with this. God’s got a message. And so here is the scripture I want to give you. And it is in Luke 17, verse 12. It goes, as he entered the village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance. Now, here’s the thing, as a missionary, I can show you pictures. I deal with people with, I’m talking about looks like limbs rotting off. And many times I’m like, what is this? Is this leprosy? And fear comes all over me and I have to treat them and take care of them. And all of a sudden I’m like, wow. Could you imagine if somebody had leprosy today? Even in America, they did a colony in Louisiana. They did a colony in Louisiana. And I know that when people got it, they would send them there. They kept them separated from everybody else. And it’s very horrible. And treating these ones, you smell the rotten flesh. It is just indescribable. But they stood at a distance. They wasn’t accepted. They was kept out, away from everybody. And lift up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. See? See, they screamed out to Him. And when He saw them, He said to them, go and show yourself to the priests. And as they went, they was cleansed. See, they’re going off. And what I’m getting with this, and then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he turned back, praising God with a loud voice. And it goes on. And he said, and he fell on his face. At Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. And now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, was there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And He said to him, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well.
See, the reason I’m giving you this message is, the reason I struggle, is because I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
After I got saved, when I was 32 years old, and did I get it right and what’s wrong with me? It’s because, see, my whole life I saw with people in Christianity and how they was blessed and how they had things, and they seemed they had it all right. I really wanted what they had. And as the lepers, you know, they just wanted to sit down with the table and eat with everybody else and feel like everybody else and be normal. But see, in my life, you know, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. My thing is, is I forgot what healed me. I forgot what it was like with my salvation. And next thing you know, I was looking for another thing and another thing. And I’m like, God, I need you to give me a better job. I need you to give me money. I need you to give me this. It’s like I traded one problem. My problem was I needed to get right with Him. And I should have just stayed with Him. But I went into just like the world, and I went and I sat down and I returned to like the world. And next thing you know, I wasn’t satisfied with what Christ did for me. How He paid the price for my sin and me being healed. I wanted more and more and more.
And then when my life changed, is when I made the decision to stay at His feet every day. When I made the decision to stay at His feet every day. When I made the decision to say,
Jesus, I’m not going back to how I used to be. I’ve got to do something for You every day.
I don’t want that no more. This is my testimony now. It’s what Christ does for me every day and what I do for Christ every day. My testimony is not when I was in darkness and all of the sin. It’s what Christ is doing now today.
So, my life changed. My point is,
what happened in my life, it was the small things that was keeping me from God. It was the small things taking me back into the world. So I had to learn this. I had to learn to quit rushing my life and to just go out and run out the door. I learned that how I prepared my day in the beginning was how my day was going to be. So, it was hard. It was hard getting up and going to bed early at night so I could get up and spend time with God and to read my Bible and to pray to Him. And then it’s the small things that I felt like, God, I’m not accomplishing anything. So, I got up every morning. I spent time with Him. And I’m telling you, the small things like spending time with Him and making your bed, getting your house in order before you go outside, praying for your spouse and kissing them goodbye. And all of a sudden, when you go out and you make your bed, and you go out into the world, in the world and you look for one thing after another thing, when you go into the teller and you just greet them and be happy with them and that coworker that is cussing and mad and upset, and you share Jesus with them and embrace them and looking for another and another and another, at the end of the day, you will feel like you have accomplished something. But here’s the thing is, at the end of the day, if your day, you’re like, Lord, I don’t feel like nothing happened. I don’t feel like I did anything. I had any purpose. You’ll return and you know what? You’ll walk into your bedroom and you’ll see your Bible on your bed. You will see your bed made that you made that morning. And you realize, I did accomplish something. And I just want to tell you, it’s the small things. Now, get into this dollar.
I started praying, Lord, how did this dollar end up 2200 miles away in the garbage?
It was once a powerful, powerful.
It was used to buy things and everybody had it and took care of it. Now it has tears and it’s dirty and, Lord, how did this happen. He said, that’s easy. It went from one hand, the dollar, never meant to leave America, but a hand took it. And it went to another hand, and another hand, and another situation, and another situation. Next thing you know, it ended up thousands of miles from where it was created to be. It was created for a purpose, and it was taken away from that purpose. And the next thing, it ended up in a dump where nobody, they stomped on it, rejected it, threw it down as trash. And all of the trash covered it, and it got deeper and deeper, deeper into the trash. And it was laying there, and it felt like it had no purpose, or it would never be restored, or never be taken back. Because it was taken away by others. And he said, and all it took is this dollar. Imagine it. It was in the trash and covered up with all of the sin and all of these things that was on top of it. And it felt like, I will never be used again. I will never have a purpose again. But all it took was the right hand to come find it. And to pick it up. And to bring it back to America where it belongs.
And on the back it says, amazingly, And God, we trust. We trust.
See, just like this dollar. No matter how many people has put pain or did things into your life and taken you away and away and that passion and that fire from God.
He’s just waiting on the right hand to come get it and to bring it back and to restore it. See, I believe with this all my heart. This dollar represents the ones that’s out there in the communities. Your co-workers and your friends and your families and other ones. That’s hurting, that’s broken and that’s lost. And it needs to be restored. Some of you here today may even need to be restored. And to find that personal relationship with him.
So, I just want to encourage you this. Be that hand. That go find someone and encourage them and to lead them back. Because one’s invested in me. And listen to God. And they work for God. Guess what? I went from brokenness to restored. To now, I get to minister and help thousands of people.
So, my question to you today is,
You’re going to be that hand. You’re going to be that hand. And you have a job to do.
You have a job. God has called you to do a job. He wants to bless you and to give you things to go out there and do your job. Our greatest praise that we can do for God is to take what he blesses us with and further his kingdom and help find that lost ones. So, let me pray for you.
Lord, I thank you for this day, Lord.
I thank you for being a good, good father. That no matter how far we get away from you, no matter all the pain of this world that takes us away from you, that Lord, you’re a good father that’s sending a hand to bring us back to you. Lord, I pray for this church here today. For these hearts that heard this message. That they go out and… take what you have given them to do.
They take it into the world, Lord.
And they have the passion and the fire from you and anointing from you.
They’re going into a world to save the one. It feels like they can’t take it no more that the world is crashing down on them and they’re ready to give up.
Lord, I pray. Stir their hearts.
Because, Lord, I often think, what would have happened to me if the one was not a willing vessel?
Lord, I know
you’re waiting on us. You’re waiting on us to be that willing vessel.
To go to the ones and say, don’t give up. Let me tell you about my Jesus. Let me tell you what He did in my life. Let me tell you what He wants to do in your life. I pray these things in your precious Holy Name, Lord. Amen.