Action4Canada - A4C Pastor Webinar June 20, 2023

00:00:00.000 all right so good morning to some of you out west and good afternoon to those of us that are here

00:00:10.100 in the east it's a great and glorious day and we want to welcome each and every one of you to this

00:00:16.580 final pastor webinar before the summer and i'm going to be making an announcement on that in

00:00:24.200 just a little while but uh so good to have you here with us today and so good to have pastor

00:00:29.680 scott anderson with us here also from my home province here of nova scotia and he's going to

00:00:36.260 be sharing some uh some insightful things with us today as well as um some of the ideas that he's

00:00:43.820 formulated with the guidance of the lord here so i want to welcome all of you some of you i've seen

00:00:48.940 before and some of you are here maybe for the first time so if this is um your first time being here i'm

00:00:56.160 just going to open up in prayer and i just want to take a moment to show you a little bit uh from

00:01:00.940 our our website here uh where you can find some previous recordings to our our webinars so but

00:01:07.400 let's just bow our heads in in a quick prayer and just ask the lord to bless our time so father

00:01:11.700 thank you so much for this great and glorious day it's so good to be in your presence father even

00:01:16.820 though we may be separated geographically we know that we're two or three are gathered together in

00:01:22.400 the name of jesus lord you were there so i pray and ask lord that you will bless our time together

00:01:27.540 and we're grateful to have scott with us today to present and just to share his heart lord amongst

00:01:33.340 friends and pastors and uh we just pray and ask lord that you will anoint him and bless him and uh just

00:01:40.080 help us father to gain some insight from what he has to share and bless us lord for uh for being here

00:01:46.800 today so we ask and pray lord your blessing on each and every one and for those uh that may be joining

00:01:52.140 us in a little bit and uh father we also are thankful lord for the fact that it's because of

00:01:57.420 jesus christ that we can even be together today so thank you for that and uh we give you this time

00:02:03.140 father in jesus name we ask amen amen amen all right so for those of you that are that may be new here i'm

00:02:10.680 just going to share my screen here really quickly and i just want to bring you to a couple of things

00:02:16.120 here so on our main website here on action for canada.com if you go to a page called resources

00:02:23.280 here you'll come down to a section here that says there's church resources but i want to point you

00:02:28.580 out to just this section here that says church webinars and um i just want to uh if you go to the

00:02:35.880 next page here if you click on church webinars you'll see where it says uh you'll see this uh

00:02:41.380 icon over here uh where you can sign up here to for our future webinars but if you just scroll down

00:02:47.120 here uh this particular webinar that we're on here today in the next few days once the edit is done

00:02:53.340 it will be uploaded to a box like this uh to our rumble page and then you can watch the um the webinar

00:03:01.160 and you can also share it from there now two weeks ago we had pastor matt trewella from uh wisconsin

00:03:06.860 that shared from uh some important uh uh things that he had uh from his book um uh defying tyrants

00:03:15.360 and uh so any resources that our guests share will also be on this page as well so uh here is his

00:03:22.740 website here defy tyrants and his testimony how jesus changed my life and then he also alluded to a

00:03:29.840 couple of uh sermon series that he did that can be found on sermonaudio.com so uh and then two weeks

00:03:36.540 before that we had uh pastor george luke from also from nova scotia and i see pastor george is on our

00:03:42.640 call today and so he shared his story here about uh schooling and different things in his testimony so

00:03:48.900 you can find that here so if you keep going down here as well uh you'll see that there's uh previous

00:03:54.960 recordings here as well and then earlier on we didn't have the nice fancy uh graphic here so a few

00:04:01.220 of our others uh that are available here pastor art lucia uh phil hutchings from new brunswick art

00:04:07.300 lucia from uh from british columbia and then um here was when we started with our pastor webinar so

00:04:14.800 uh just uh go ahead and watch these at your leisure and uh you know we may not have a whole lot of people

00:04:21.440 on on our call today but uh you know pastors schedule is just the way things go uh i know

00:04:27.980 pastors are busy sometimes you know when i when i was pastoring full-time uh people used to say well

00:04:32.740 pastors you you only work on on sunday so what do you do the rest of the week you've got all this

00:04:36.820 free time right but i know pastors lead uh and and live a fairly busy life so those videos are there

00:04:43.300 for you to enjoy and then going forward we're going to take the month of july and august off

00:04:48.480 for the summer and we're already all geared up and ready to go for the month of september we've got

00:04:53.400 the guests lined up already so tuesday september the 5th will be our next webinar but during the

00:04:59.940 summer we are going to be sending you a few things uh just to kind of keep you up to date and to keep

00:05:05.440 you busy okay so just want to keep you informed of that and we do encourage you as well if you know

00:05:11.540 of other pastors that may be interested in this uh if when we send out the invite to you to join the

00:05:17.160 webinars feel free to share those invites with other others as well okay so we want as many

00:05:23.820 pastors to be aware of this as well we know that there's a lot of um pastors maybe that have never

00:05:29.180 heard of action for canada and uh we also have pastors packets that we have put together for our

00:05:34.820 chapters and our our folks in our chapters to share out so if that's something that you may be

00:05:40.160 interested in us to pass on to other churches to promote the work that action for canada is doing

00:05:45.680 then we will be glad to do that okay so you can connect with us uh the email address is simply

00:05:51.940 pastors at action for canada.ca all right so all right so i don't want to lose uh take up any more

00:06:00.220 time with this so without further ado i'm going to uh introduce pastor scott anderson uh i've not

00:06:07.240 actually physically met him although i have preached in his church before uh one of my former best friends

00:06:13.540 actually pastored in his church and a really really good friend of mine actually years and years ago

00:06:18.800 uh trying to figure out how many years ago probably 25 26 years ago um was pastoring his church and uh

00:06:26.840 died tragically in a canoe accident as a matter of fact that good friend of mine his son just passed

00:06:33.260 away here last week was found in the woods passed away just a week ago and his funeral was just this past

00:06:38.400 saturday so i do have a bit of a history with the church that uh brother scott is pastoring at but

00:06:44.380 when i got to speak to brother scott there just a few months ago uh dealing with some action for canada

00:06:50.280 things we we got to connect on some things and he's got some very interesting things that have been going

00:06:54.900 on in his area and in his church with the vision that god has placed on his heart and i thought

00:06:59.840 brother we got to get you on to one of our webinars so you can share your vision share what god is doing

00:07:05.120 in your heart because it's inspiring and that's what action for canada is all about inspiring others

00:07:10.880 to see the vision that god has for us so brother scott thank you so much for being with us today

00:07:15.560 and god bless you as you share oh thank you thank you dan and it's nice to be a part of this today

00:07:21.500 and uh i certainly don't feel in any way qualified to uh to be here but i guess that's the way the

00:07:29.760 kingdom works god just uses ordinary people um my story is very ordinary um but

00:07:36.660 highlights an extraordinary god so i just want to open with psalm 37 do not fret because of those

00:07:46.980 who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong for like the grass they will soon wither and like

00:07:52.480 green plants they'll soon die away trust in the lord and do good dwell in the land and enjoy safe

00:07:58.380 pasture take delight in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart commit your way to

00:08:04.440 the lord trust in him and he will do this he'll make your righteousness shine he'll make your

00:08:10.440 righteous reward shine like the dawn your vindication like the new dane sun be still before the lord and

00:08:17.140 wait patiently for him do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked

00:08:22.380 schemes refrain from anger and turn from wrath and do not fret it only leads to evil for those who are

00:08:28.340 evil will be destroyed but those who hope in the lord will inherit the land i love that uh passage of

00:08:35.800 scripture it's uh very important to myself and my family uh it's uh a lifetime verse i have a few and

00:08:43.460 that certainly is one of them and and uh i'm gonna basically the format today is just uh through share my

00:08:50.100 testimony of what god's been doing what god has done and what god we believe wants to do in our area

00:08:57.120 and then just follow that up with a few encouraging principles that i can say i can i i've drawn from

00:09:04.700 and and learned in this season and so i'm i'm 53 years old i'm from nova scotia and my wife is from

00:09:12.720 the toronto area we met in ontario at bible college and we moved after graduation got married and moved

00:09:20.640 to nova scotia and we've always been in nova scotia we feel called here and and i love this province we

00:09:27.520 have two daughters 21 and 19 and um god's been good i was uh saved at the age of 12 in 1982 and

00:09:37.400 i i came to christ through the gospel message i remember i remember as i look back and think about it

00:09:44.720 often i heard the gospel message it was very clear that i was a sinner and god loved me and that christ

00:09:53.420 died on the cross took my place and if i repent and make him lord of my life he'll come and wash me

00:10:01.640 clean by his precious blood and uh come in and pitch his tent in my heart uh filling me with the holy

00:10:10.080 spirit and i remember that night hearing the gospel message and just at the age of 12 having such a

00:10:17.420 weight of sin i felt my guilt my sin i truly did and and it was a crying out to the lord just help me

00:10:27.360 i i'm guilty before you and i went to the altar and the overwhelming love of god i just

00:10:34.520 just just sensed his grace and his mercy come like a wave and i believe that's one of the aspects of

00:10:41.160 the gospel that there is a an understanding first and foremost of our sin and what why christ died

00:10:46.660 on the cross and the weight of that sin and and our need of a savior and the conviction of the holy

00:10:54.740 spirit the convicting power the holy spirit convict us convicts us he convicted me and yet he also

00:11:01.600 then poured out the love of christ into me and i believe the gospel is essential uh six months later

00:11:08.620 we were at a youth group there was a a move of god in our church um in 1982 and we were at a youth

00:11:16.100 ministry meeting and i was baptized in the holy spirit and i speak of that in terms of there's

00:11:22.980 different ways that we relate to that but from a pentecostal uh context uh being spirit filled and

00:11:29.600 um i i spoke in tongues and i can say that first six months was life-changing i remember i delivered

00:11:37.960 papers as a boy and i remember the next day after i gave my life to the lord um just feeling like

00:11:44.460 i've often said this that somebody took a toothbrush and took a cleaner and cleaned every aspect of me out

00:11:51.020 it was just i felt completely different and as i continued to walk with the lord um later in my

00:12:01.160 early 20s i just sensed a need and a time to really press in the lord in the closet um i've never i never

00:12:09.700 really pursued god with such intentionality um in prayer and i began to really set aside serious time

00:12:18.460 seeking the lord i was single at the time and and uh there was no um there were there were no ties

00:12:26.700 to that it wasn't like i was pursuing or in need of anything i i can honestly say i just wanted to know

00:12:32.820 him more and out of that came some extraordinary um closeness with the lord he drew close to me and

00:12:43.700 i began to really hear his voice and i certainly had throughout the years but there was a maturity

00:12:50.320 taking place there and out of that came a call to ministry i could feel it stirring in my heart and

00:12:56.080 and i began to pursue that and ask the lord you know if this is truly him and i remember i was at a

00:13:03.620 church camp in one summer i think it was 93 and a speaker by the name of ken bombay was preaching and

00:13:12.140 and anyway it was just a confirmation that god wanted me to go into ministry full time so i went

00:13:19.240 to bible college in peterboro ontario for four years and back to nova scotia and those first few years i

00:13:26.600 certainly enjoyed um but there was there was just a a need a deep need in my heart um just for a deeper

00:13:36.700 encounter with the lord that nearness that i experienced that salvation and that nearness

00:13:41.760 that i experienced in my early 20s um it just wasn't there so in 2012 uh something began to change

00:13:51.400 i had been in ministry now for some time i'm presently in um muscadab at harbor nova scotia i came

00:13:58.800 we came here in 2006 and um i guess i was here for about five five years or so six years at that

00:14:08.500 point and i could see the changes in in in our country in the world and i could see some of the

00:14:15.760 changes that were taking place even within the within the church circles and i i i first and foremost

00:14:22.800 looked internally at my own life and i remember i was just uh in the church one day praying and just

00:14:29.240 seeking the lord uh help help and i don't know where to go i know that the direction that ministry is

00:14:39.520 taking is doesn't feel right and it not wasn't just feelings based but um there's just just some

00:14:47.360 things that weren't uh right in many ways and and i could see challenges coming in our culture

00:14:53.940 and i just felt i'm not prepared our church is not prepared and i just knew i need to go back where

00:15:00.340 i've gone back different points in my life and that is just go into the closet and seek the lord

00:15:05.320 it's almost like um going back to the slate and just washing the slate clean um we certainly draw

00:15:12.780 from each period of time in our lives but there are those moments that i believe moments may be

00:15:18.880 of transition that we just need to just lay ourselves before the lord and and and admit that

00:15:24.660 we don't know where to go next and that we need more we need more of him and and i came home that day

00:15:30.280 in tears um and said to my wife the lord spoke to me today in a way he hasn't in a long time

00:15:36.940 and what ended up happening was it was i just went into a season of of uh repentance and a couple

00:15:45.760 passages of scripture um ezekiel 34 woe to the shepherd and first corinthians uh chapter four

00:15:54.220 every man should be careful how they build for on that day capital d and basically it says that

00:16:01.580 god will test what we've done the works and um some will be burnt up like wood stubble and hay and

00:16:08.140 others will be precious stones and and uh so i just just began to cry out to the lord lord help me help

00:16:16.400 me and i would say that initially the main thing that i felt from the lord was daniel um dan would just

00:16:26.100 start to pray three times a day and i just felt the lord say that just pray read the word a lot more

00:16:31.020 um and so i began to uh read the word uh i remember a passage of scripture um uh basically man does

00:16:39.920 not live by bread alone but on by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god so i i made a routine

00:16:45.160 that when i when i ate when the morning went before breakfast of course but throughout the day and even

00:16:51.060 at night i just began to just read the word constantly and pray and i studied the old testament

00:16:57.020 through for a two-year period and uh god just began to speak in 2014 i um i took some of that

00:17:07.360 direction and i was at a hunting camp um i took all the information i guess i've been making notes and

00:17:14.060 as i talked to the lord and things in my heart i i could see cult what i call cultural christianity

00:17:20.640 the bible's term is lukewarm christianity i could see this church growth movement and and some of the

00:17:26.440 tools were good but i just did not set well so my heart had to be reset and i felt that the direction

00:17:34.180 that the church was on on a whole not all of its course but on a whole that was off and of course i

00:17:41.940 could just see the changes taking place in the world and realizing that you know um taking a business

00:17:47.980 approach to to the to to the world and to try to draw people through say attractional ministry to

00:17:56.880 our churches uh drawing them you know like a make you comfortable and more of an entertainment type of

00:18:04.320 drawing was going to have no impact for what was around the corner and so i i just began to take

00:18:12.900 these ideas and it was very simple a model ministry came out of that um and i just wanted something

00:18:18.820 uh not attractional or seeker sensitive but just biblical and uh you know through the leadership of

00:18:26.080 the church and process um basically put a model ministry in place uh disciple equip and send you

00:18:33.680 know that's our that's what our target is disciple and equip and send and then there were three main

00:18:39.560 components uh i call them the marks of a healthy church but the three main components with the first

00:18:44.540 dealing with the word sound doctrine the gospel the second component a healthy church biblical life

00:18:50.520 discipleship um you know membership spiritual leadership correction all those things and then

00:18:56.220 the third component was mission uh spirit and power mission uh doing the gospel and so i knew it was

00:19:03.860 going to be a bit of a season to walk through this it wasn't going to be like a three-week study

00:19:08.920 and in fact it took like five six years um and so just began to like take a two-year period just

00:19:16.420 really changed the way i preached uh mostly expositional drew from some of the reformers um

00:19:23.360 they're just identifying the gospel i just really felt to reaffirm the gospel and really just base

00:19:30.180 everything on the word really just set everything first and foremost on the word and then uh as we did

00:19:37.300 that there were some challenges i remember a series i did on true christianity um and so there were

00:19:43.240 some challenges as we began to really investigate biblically what is a biblical christian versus

00:19:48.460 a cultural christian and that's challenging you know that was challenging um and then we began to walk

00:19:56.420 through you know healthy church stuff and and just a few years ago um as we got closer we um really

00:20:03.200 began to say hey we need to go out um with the gospel and fulfill the great commission in our

00:20:09.840 community but we need to do that with spirit empowerment so that was sort of the the timeline

00:20:15.820 of what god's doing here and as i just began to seek him i mean god is so gracious he just began to draw

00:20:22.240 close and some things began to happen um one um i was on a canoe trip in 2014

00:20:28.940 in the other end of the province the southern end of the province it's a small province but it is

00:20:35.020 the biggest wilderness area we have so you can literally go through take a week and not see the

00:20:39.820 same water it's not like british columbia or the arctic or labrador places that are so vast but it is a

00:20:47.180 for for the maritimes it's our largest wilderness area and so you can you can disappear in there for a week

00:20:52.800 very limited cell reception and i spent a lot of time in there and i was on a trip with a few and

00:20:58.940 we had some bad storm a bad storm and um i was uh we we had a we had a guy a sort of a little bit of

00:21:08.640 of um oh he had a little bit of hypothermia and anyway we had to make camp and we made camp

00:21:17.660 on a point and no cell reception and i was just in the tent that night reading the word and i'll

00:21:25.460 never forget it in a really bad wind storm is probably gusting 70 80k i heard a loon call way

00:21:32.780 up in the head of the lake and and uh it just echoed in the wind i'll never forget it and i turned on my

00:21:39.900 headlamp and i opened the bible and there it was psalm 19 the voice of the lord hovers over the

00:21:48.520 waters it talks about the power of the word and and god spoke to me and i i don't say that lightly

00:21:54.720 um i've always been one sort of a conservative person um and like to discern things at the same

00:22:03.060 time i know god is real and intimate and he speaks um and i just knew god spoke to me and he said scott

00:22:11.640 some storms are coming and you're going to be very very afraid and all you'll have is my word and then

00:22:17.660 we went through a series of what we call storms multiple situations one after the other illnesses and

00:22:25.180 and uh flood in the the home and multiple things some conflict in relationships and it was very

00:22:34.780 difficult and i realized as we were going through these that um god was stripping us down and he was

00:22:42.940 dealing with fear uh the first storm really dealt with the fear of man and god really began to deal

00:22:49.840 with that and i i really believe that i had i i struggle with fear and i had a lot of fear of of man

00:22:56.180 and ministry and so sometimes what you're doing is you're doing things um almost politically driven

00:23:01.820 um to protect your own self first and foremost and and uh you know to to sort of keep people happy and

00:23:11.400 and you know so fear can if we fear man more than god it can be poisonous and so

00:23:19.720 god began to stretch me there and put me in places to make a choice so you need to make a decision and

00:23:25.280 this this will cause some challenges and um and conflict but you need to stand stand firm and so

00:23:32.440 i began to walk through the fear of the lord um versus the fear of man and god stripped me down and

00:23:37.460 then the second storm had to do with the fear of the unknown there was a lot of death in our family

00:23:41.800 and loved ones lost and there was a multiple things that happened i won't get into all the details but

00:23:46.680 if i if i shared just in that two-year period a lot of people just look at me and say whoa you know it

00:23:52.780 was it was it was a lot and uh that second storm and the fear of the unknown i remember you know god

00:24:01.020 god has been speaking to me um on occasion but that storm he didn't say a whole lot it was quite a storm

00:24:08.420 and i remember just laying in his presence one day listening to a song abba father and knowing that i just

00:24:14.900 need to rest in him and give give that heart over to him and surrender even to the unknown not knowing

00:24:23.920 what's next i was going through an illness at the time too and all kinds of things so it's interesting

00:24:29.620 because uh something else happened at the end of that two-year period i um i was burned out i guess i

00:24:36.380 just low energy very tired and i came home from a camp church christian camp and across from where we live

00:24:46.600 there's a ocean a harbor it's like a lake because it has a very narrow entrance and it looks a lot like a lake

00:24:52.700 so you don't have big ocean swells so often i'll jump in my canoe and paddle around and i started doing that

00:24:58.140 and the lord's presence just came upon me for the week i never experienced anything like it um i can

00:25:07.080 say that i wasn't sleeping a whole lot i was praying a lot reading the word there was a fresh joy and

00:25:15.240 excitement and um yeah i'll say i don't want to sound too mystical but i felt the lord saying to me i did

00:25:24.920 i felt the lord just saying to me i didn't even know if god does those things but came home and i

00:25:31.060 would say to my wife and my kids the lord's singing to me and it was about trust just trust and it was

00:25:38.880 quite a week um and i called a board meeting and i said you know there's more than the model of

00:25:45.020 ministry i believe the lord spoke to me and because i had uh he spoke to me about dreams trust and dreams

00:25:50.980 and i had a a book that i journal and write and and i had a list of different goals and

00:25:59.040 some of that is the outdoors which i love the outdoors and have a passion for it and connecting

00:26:04.240 people and i had some dreams of you know going further on the eastern shore as a church could

00:26:09.640 impact it in a greater measure rather than just just to sort of try to you know to hold firm and

00:26:16.920 not lose what we have i just really felt to we can gain if we we just step out in the lord we

00:26:23.220 could take territory rather than just trying to protect our little bit of territory that we're

00:26:27.240 we have and hold on um that we can we can take territory so i won't get into all the details of some

00:26:34.040 of those specific dreams but i felt the lord said dream and i've put these in your heart for example

00:26:40.120 i remember when i graduated baba college i went to one of my favorite places to fish and hunt

00:26:45.160 fish and canoe and i remember i almost cried because i thought well i'm going into full-time

00:26:50.260 ministry and i won't be back here i felt that was the end of of spending time in the outdoors but

00:26:56.120 as time unfolded in ministry the lord didn't take it away in fact i felt his pleasure over it and that

00:27:03.440 him and i would connect in fact i would say that my time of solitude in the outdoors

00:27:09.340 saved me many times from great boats of depression and challenges in ministry and life and it was those

00:27:18.200 places that i drew from that god would refresh me and so he he didn't take it away in fact i began to

00:27:25.340 see a different angle of god's heart in his mind and his intention that maybe he put that desire in my

00:27:30.740 heart um was his doing and that he had other plans that wasn't just for my pleasure and um my refreshment

00:27:41.800 but he had other plans concerning the land and so we began to then step into the next next season and

00:27:51.000 more challenges came we had another storm um but something extraordinary happened i had another

00:27:59.440 experience where the lord's presence i went to prayer in the morning and it started again

00:28:06.020 and this time it went on for over a week and i was uh during this time i was again praying a lot

00:28:14.780 hardly sleeping excited and god speaking and i would this time i was stepping out into ministry in

00:28:21.700 different ways that i had before and speaking into people's lives the lord would lay things on my heart

00:28:26.280 there was even more boldness than before and and i was to take a group of of hikers in the in a

00:28:35.500 wilderness area on the eastern shore in the winter and uh i was at the church waiting for them

00:28:41.100 and they there was a miscommunication and it was they thought the next day when it was supposed to be

00:28:48.280 the day i friday so i was there in the church waiting and we connected and nope they can't make it so

00:28:54.660 i thought well what i'm gonna do and i felt yeah go down and go do the hike by yourself and i was in

00:29:00.120 the woods just enjoying the lord had a little campfire at one point just praying and praising

00:29:04.700 the lord and reading the word thinking of things that god's gonna do and making plans and and i felt

00:29:12.060 the lord very strongly say take them take those group of hikers tomorrow i had a hockey day in

00:29:18.800 canada event at noon planned and and uh thought wow how am i gonna do this so basically put a four

00:29:26.180 hour hike in in a closer area to where we live there's another wilderness area and basically you

00:29:31.360 go from lake to lake the lakes are frozen the firm and and we began to uh we met at eight o'clock and

00:29:37.260 we did a nice hike beautiful four hour hike and i knew i had a time frame and when we came out

00:29:42.080 we came out to this gated road a piece of property that i had been frequenting for quite a few years

00:29:48.800 my family as well hiking and going back canoeing fishing and there was a lady there with a dog and

00:29:56.040 i said oh you're going for a hike and she said no i'm a real estate agent and she said basically that

00:30:01.820 this land's for sale and it was extraordinary i won't get into any of the details but um god uh

00:30:09.080 god wanted us to buy it and we bought that piece of property is uh over 100 and around 130 acres

00:30:15.640 and uh and that wave i guess i call them waves of god's presence well that continued through this

00:30:23.280 period and so uh you know almost three weeks and out of that came this this land i knew the enemy did

00:30:31.640 not want us to have it there was a whole bunch of challenges but it happened and it was just mind

00:30:36.960 blowing and i did a hike on the land after i had the deed in my hand and four or five hour prayer

00:30:43.640 hike and the lord just began to speak about what he wants to do um with this land and all i can say

00:30:52.160 is we have a particular name we've given this we call it a key aruca a key is wampanoag for land and

00:30:58.500 aruca is hebrew for restoration and we believe that you know god wants to use this property to take 0.94

00:31:04.740 people to connect um and uh and basically it's symbolic we believe of a possible spiritual

00:31:14.060 restoration on the eastern shore i know it sounds high and lofty but we just really felt that that

00:31:19.200 was what the lord was saying and so we stepped out and and walked into some risk and unknown and

00:31:24.720 there is some property that we can uh sell uh we can develop lots on the front and and uh recuperate

00:31:32.540 some money and we want to eventually build our own home on it and and uh you know use use it perhaps

00:31:39.480 down the road for um you know uh we can put a large garden in it uh you know for others that we can all

00:31:47.540 join in so we have a vision of a of a farm down the road um small hobby farm the lord spoke to us

00:31:56.660 to um you know when we did buy that land and he said there's another piece that i want you to buy so

00:32:02.360 we weighed it and two years later we bought the next adjacent piece it equals about 200 acres and

00:32:07.580 there's a property that we feel he wants us to eventually open up into a center on the community

00:32:13.220 in the community so connecting people to land but a center that can be used for coffee shop prayer

00:32:18.360 meetings all kinds of things and so all that to say that in the midst of that um and there's been

00:32:26.020 extraordinary things happen with the land of provisions there's there's a picture behind me

00:32:30.300 of a portion of it um it's basically a gateway to a large 6 000 hectare wilderness area 17 lakes and

00:32:37.740 rivers abundant fishing phenomenal fishing and there's camps back there i've had i've had boats canoes

00:32:45.060 camps given to me i have use of camps um i remember the day that i walked the land and

00:32:53.760 the day i got the deed and walked the land there were so many things coming to us

00:32:58.140 the name and god's intention but there was a bridge and that bridge was over a large brook um was

00:33:06.880 dilapidated and i looked at it and i said lord that's a that's that's a big job that's a costly job

00:33:12.180 it's expensive and he said that's nothing for me and last year a company came in free of charge i

00:33:19.040 didn't i wasn't even allowed to lift a shovel just take pictures and watch and they came in

00:33:22.580 and they built a beautiful bridge um i there's a gentleman i i give access to to uh i have a two

00:33:30.340 we have a two kilometer road going back to the wilderness area and there's folks that have camps

00:33:34.880 generation camps and um they have access through my property to go to those camps and you know we

00:33:42.060 built friendships and uh one of the one of the camp owners has done very well in life a great

00:33:47.320 businessman and and builds roads and different things that he has and uh in his in his company

00:33:52.220 and he came in for free uh we have a our annual chopper that comes in and does lifts and so

00:33:58.060 there's so many extraordinary things and blessings that's come out of that but ultimately i'll say

00:34:03.220 that you know this was this was something that i felt the lord uh you know had in his heart i didn't

00:34:10.300 read or we didn't plan any of these things we just felt it came from the heart of god and it was

00:34:17.080 extraordinary to see his plans unfold and him just saying you keep following you keep trusting you keep

00:34:21.620 walking along i know some of these things you don't understand but i'll show you so i i've come to

00:34:26.760 understand that the land is very important even the physical land and there's it represents something

00:34:31.620 i believe that god is doing here and he's going to do in the future um meantime um you know the

00:34:38.700 churches is is we have our ups and downs but you know there's a movement there's some growth

00:34:44.280 happening in our congregation particularly the last year um as you emphasize the gospel as we've

00:34:50.780 emphasized those things it's challenging to some but it draws others and it brings power

00:34:55.720 and um you know we don't want cultural christianity we want biblical christianity we believe biblical

00:35:02.160 christianity is what will thrive and the statistics are that the churches that are growing there

00:35:07.660 in in the west are churches that have held firm to the gospel and depend on the power of the holy spirit

00:35:13.920 and so we then um we then had a indication from the lord um i'll say this certainly there are signs all

00:35:24.460 around us but um i had a dream and i've only had about six of my life and i had a dream from the lord

00:35:32.180 i called former bible college teachers some leaders called people and i said i had a dream from the lord

00:35:39.860 that something very challenging is coming and that was on uh the last day of 2018 so the beginning of

00:35:48.480 january 1st 2019 it was new year's eve we came home from friends in the church and i had a dream

00:35:54.380 and it was a it was from the lord i really believe and i knew something challenge was coming

00:35:59.800 and a year later covet hit and so i had been preparing the congregation you know of course with

00:36:06.100 the gospel and the you know expositional preaching and a call to really uh strengthen our all of our

00:36:13.220 lives but also uh you know indicating at times that there's challenging things coming on the horizon

00:36:19.600 you know and they're here we we're we're not living in um in the same culture we the church lived a

00:36:27.580 generation ago we need to prepare ourselves and we want to we want to prepare ourselves well and we want

00:36:32.740 also be effective in the challenging times that are coming and so that was just that was just that

00:36:41.120 dream was just the final indication yes get ready get ready it's coming and so long story short we

00:36:47.560 walked through covet um we had a storm in that in that be very brief but basically um i could see the

00:36:54.520 lockdown coming i contacted uh friends and family i did about three days of research as i knew it was

00:37:01.100 coming and i i you know walked away from the media and did some research and realized like when you

00:37:06.700 look at asia and what was coming out of italy that the mortality rate was going to be low it was

00:37:10.980 primarily amongst uh the the sick and the elderly and one of the things that really stood out to me

00:37:16.600 was they were saying about a five percent mortality rate but they were also saying that up to

00:37:21.380 twenty percent of the population has it more than we understand and so you know it was clear to me

00:37:26.700 that the population the mortality rate was going to be a lot lower and so some things just did not

00:37:32.400 sit well with me um i'd been watching things on the media where there was uh which even back in 2012

00:37:38.460 some things stood out to me that um yeah there's some issues going on in our media and in all kinds of

00:37:45.080 places so i just prepared the church i prepared my family um don't fear um this is uh you know

00:37:52.320 much much much to do about nothing and so uh we uh we could see some lockdowns coming you know we had

00:38:01.800 to approach it a certain way in our congregation because you know you have different views um

00:38:07.280 and so we ordered a radio transmitter from the states it came and uh i made a proposal to uh to the

00:38:16.080 i contact our our government and different agencies and basically that we could do drive-in um we went

00:38:23.820 online and uh but i did not like the idea of the church not gathering physically at all and so i said

00:38:31.680 well let's try uh drive-in and so we basically proposed that and with the dr strang and a few others

00:38:38.780 organizations we um dr strang's uh office and a few other organizations we we put together some policy

00:38:46.860 and uh we put a policy together of a drive-in and and uh we were contacted and we um were you know we

00:38:55.240 were given permission to have a um a drive-in on easter sunday and we did that the news showed up

00:39:02.320 and we had a drive-in and we thought it went well and there was a lot of media backlash uh um social

00:39:10.740 media backlash and it blew out blew up anyway i won't get into all the details but it was a very

00:39:15.820 very difficult time and so basically basically um you know we move into covet and then a lot you know

00:39:24.800 the previous year we saw um just some of the societal changes and even recently with some of the

00:39:30.800 challenges that we're seeing with uh gender ideology and and different things that are

00:39:35.880 happening in our education system so you know i look back at uh the beginning of 2019 and just

00:39:43.240 things move so quickly with covet and all kinds of other things and things are increasing so rapidly

00:39:48.820 and so basically um you know we we as a church are moving forward we have plans to use the land more

00:39:59.000 and eventually maybe open up a center and go out uh there's a theme in our hearts of god on the shore

00:40:05.720 where we're going to go out to several communities and we're going to basically um preach the gospel

00:40:12.640 share testimony have a prayer tent which would offer people to come and and and and see god touch their

00:40:19.400 lives and and and worship and we want to go from community to community and that's going to start

00:40:25.800 in a few months that's been a dream for four years and so we don't want to set back we want to we want

00:40:31.700 to go out into our community and and uh and share the gospel um you know there are challenges ahead

00:40:38.660 um but we're excited at the same time we've gone through challenges but we look forward to what god's

00:40:44.800 going to do i just want to wrap up there's so much more to this story but i just want to wrap it up with a

00:40:51.520 couple uh principles here and uh i would say just number one delight in the lord i think

00:40:59.220 my advice to myself over and over is just keep delighting in the lord or to anyone else where do

00:41:05.840 i start just just delight in the lord get close to him and god will speak god will speak and um

00:41:15.080 biblical christianity is essential uh the gospel you know spirit dependency um third i would say

00:41:23.700 expect opposition and setbacks um we've had a we had a great winter this winter but we've had some

00:41:31.240 challenges this spring and so the last few weeks i've i've been tired so i take an extra day just to

00:41:36.920 rest um you know there are challenges when you uh you move forward with things of god especially in

00:41:44.420 in the day and age which we live so oppositions to be expected in fact i i believe that if we don't

00:41:50.200 experience opposition um we're probably not on the right track in terms of kingdom work um i would also

00:41:58.920 say um allow the lord to lead think outside the box think in terms of god's context uh he has plans and

00:42:07.140 he has ways i think there is a transition taking place globally uh in the church of christ i believe

00:42:14.260 that um you know there's some new wine coming and the old wine skins won't house a new wine um i believe

00:42:21.800 the way that we need to do things in the future needs to change um i believe that with all my heart

00:42:27.620 and you know god can show us you know for our particular region i believe god's you know he's

00:42:34.000 leading and and doing some unexpected things but it's still church um but we have to be careful that

00:42:39.860 we don't try to do things the old way that will be ineffective in the future another principle is

00:42:46.260 just a good salt eschatological framework you know we can go we can watch the news and we can see all

00:42:52.220 the challenges that are around us but the the the eschatology is is primary that you know we understand

00:42:59.240 the day and age which we live that jesus speaks about signs of the times and i believe that that gives us a

00:43:05.720 lot of footy um prepare for persecution you know um and and prepare your heart for being offended

00:43:14.820 and we're spending some time in this as a church right now in our in our small small group life

00:43:21.080 life group um you know dealing with offense and hurts and and knowing that jesus said you know people

00:43:28.320 will hate you you know we can retreat and we can pull back in a safety comfortable zone or we can 0.80

00:43:33.700 continue to do the kingdom stuff um we're we're called to do that no matter what age no matter whether

00:43:39.660 the society is receptive to the gospel or society hates the gospel we're called to do that um and i so

00:43:47.620 i i just believe we need to prepare our hearts for persecution and not to be reactive but to be proactive

00:43:53.780 to step out and and continue to love people and love our enemies um and with the the gospel

00:44:00.740 and i believe um in networking networking is crucial you know connecting with other christians

00:44:06.400 like-minded christians um that are that are on board one of the challenges that i see in the church is

00:44:12.900 that you know there's almost seems to be a remnant issue where there is a portion of the congregation

00:44:18.420 that's aware and strong um in the lord and there seems to be a portion of of our congregations that

00:44:26.000 um uh just seems to be asleep and so we need to we need to network with others that will encourage us

00:44:32.820 and uh you know sometimes you can think like i'm i'm crazy or i'm all alone but networking just

00:44:38.320 just encourages us um i believe uh also just spirit dependency i just really believe words works and

00:44:46.560 wonders i see that principle through scripture the gospel the word of god works loving people caring for

00:44:52.480 people a compassion but also wonders the signs and wonders the supernatural power of the holy spirit

00:44:58.960 i think the book of acts is crucial uh for the church right now as we draw we see that church it's the

00:45:04.960 word um they had opposition but they had the power of the holy spirit and there was boldness and courage

00:45:11.040 and the holy spirit went with them and uh signs and wonders took place and i believe that that's how the

00:45:18.620 church will be effective and and i believe we also have an important role to play in our society

00:45:24.240 to be salt and light i think of action for canada and the important role it's playing i believe that

00:45:30.300 we just you know we the gospel i believe is the primary change because it changes the heart of people

00:45:36.140 right now in the middle east thousands of muslims are having dreams of jesus coming to them

00:45:41.820 and um you know uh the fastest growing church right now is in iran so the the most effective and important

00:45:48.460 change is spiritual and that's what jesus offers the gospel and the transformation through the holy spirit

00:45:53.740 but also we have a role to play as salt and light and to be guardians of our of our brothers and sisters

00:46:00.380 and and those in our culture and so we need to be involved politically and and um and and not just set back

00:46:07.980 quietly so i've taken a lot of time almost 50 minutes or 40 minutes i apologize for for being

00:46:14.000 so lengthy but that's just a little bit of of what god's doing we know there are challenges that lie

00:46:21.000 ahead um and there's often days of great discouragement but trust in the lord that god can do powerful

00:46:28.980 things as we just uh submit our lives to him and take his lead god is definitely in control and um and god

00:46:36.740 can do incredible things i've seen i i i say this um i've seen two occasions where through prayer god

00:46:44.000 changed circumstances that were on a very large level um you know as as the bible tells us in the

00:46:51.920 old testament that the king's heart's like water in the hands of the lord like god you know elijah was a

00:46:59.840 righteous man just like us and he prayed that it would not rain for three and a half years you know

00:47:04.680 a prayers of a righteous man availeth much god is powerful i believe as we fast and we pray

00:47:11.100 um and take god's lead the church the church um has an enormous authority and enormous power

00:47:18.180 uh we we we we we should not fear we should not pull back um there there are many forces that want

00:47:26.120 us to be silent and want us to push us in the corner of intimidation and that's the very um direction that

00:47:34.420 we are not to take i've discovered that the safest place to be is in the battle as soon as we run from

00:47:41.280 the battle we're not protected from the things of the enemy and the safest place to be is in the battle

00:47:47.140 it goes against uh my natural inclinations um you know as i've dealt with fear but god has been teaching

00:47:54.720 me do not fear you know trust in me and step into those risky challenging places um and be bold and watch

00:48:02.680 what i will do so i believe this is an opportunity for the church to speak up and to be bold and

00:48:09.120 perhaps witness some of the things that we read about in the book of acts and i'm an optimist i'm a

00:48:15.320 realist as well i know that there's great difficulties coming um but i'm also uh full of faith that god is

00:48:21.800 going to do great things in regions in our nation and we need to expect great things knowing that our god

00:48:28.560 is a great god very powerful and um and we just need it just just to go to him for our strength

00:48:35.880 amen well thank you so much scott i appreciate that so much and uh by the way for those of you

00:48:46.780 watching that photo behind scott is part of his property there and uh so when you just were

00:48:52.500 describing that land well you were describing a little piece of heaven right and uh i live on a

00:49:00.160 river as well and one of my little ringtones on my phone is actually a loon call and i was in the store

00:49:06.060 the other day and there was a i think a grandfather with his children and my phone was going all the

00:49:11.940 time he was like i hear loons loony all the time yeah absolutely but um and you're right brother scott

00:49:20.380 you know and uh when you and i were first talking on the phone some time ago and you were sharing with

00:49:25.360 me you know how you were able to acquire the land and and you know some of the plans that you had for

00:49:30.480 there i'm looking at the comments in the comments section here and others have been hearing the same

00:49:35.600 thing vancouver and out west and that's been the call that people have been receiving as well

00:49:41.560 there's something about going back to the land and uh uh the way we have been doing church for years

00:49:48.880 for decades you know going and into a box and uh and i don't mean that disrespectfully you know but

00:49:55.280 we have built programs for years and years and have expected the people to come you know but

00:50:00.940 scripture tells us go into all the world but you know the way the greek words it it's really while

00:50:07.000 going make disciples you know we don't need to get on a plane or on a boat or on a train it's as

00:50:13.880 you're going about your life make disciples and uh you know going back to nature and you know i live

00:50:19.780 on a river here i've got my prayer bench that oversees the water and that's where i connect with

00:50:24.600 god you know i don't do as much fishing as i used to but i'm i'm an avid outdoorsman i do

00:50:30.160 quite a bit of hunting myself and i'm in the woods in nova scotia all the time and that's where i connect

00:50:36.200 with god in the stillness and the quiet um with the the outdoor nature and that so that's that's

00:50:42.360 where that's where god meets with me as well when i'm still and quiet and i hear his voice so and

00:50:49.260 perhaps some of you on this call you know you're uh it's different for you maybe you know you're in

00:50:54.960 the city and that's that's your environment and that but god speaks to us wherever we can close

00:51:00.120 ourselves in and connect with him and for those of you maybe that live in bc you're thinking oh my

00:51:06.660 goodness pastor scott anderson 200 acres that man must be loaded rich i know what land costs in bc

00:51:13.960 nova scotia it's a totally different story you know the last farm i bought was 200 acres and it came with

00:51:21.200 the farmhouse and with the barn and it was 75 000 now i know that's not what he paid for his land

00:51:26.380 but i mean you know land is a lot cheaper here in nova scotia yeah all right well there's no

00:51:32.840 questions i think you probably answered everyone's questions in that but certainly appreciate all of

00:51:38.500 your insight in that and i think the main point that i i want to reiterate to you as well i'm with

00:51:45.320 my ministry with action for canada looking after the pastoral ministry uh and and again this morning i

00:51:51.020 listened to an incredible sermon by um a gentleman who has been the pastor of a church in salt lake

00:51:58.960 city for 27 years and he has his work cut out for him you know and he was told by the pastor that was

00:52:05.520 leaving um you're you're in the the seat of satan here in salt lake city you know establishing a

00:52:13.320 christian church and he's like you know what if you go where god has called you to go it doesn't matter

00:52:17.780 where you are if you're in god's will you're you're gonna you're gonna succeed when you're in god's

00:52:23.040 place but the main thing that he was talking about this pastor he's like when you open god's word you've

00:52:28.100 got to preach from god's word never mind the fads that come and go uh never mind the popular things

00:52:34.040 and yes it's a broken world that we're in but if you focus on preaching god's word we preach god's

00:52:40.380 word and we leave the results to him but we have to be faithful to his word and when we are broken

00:52:45.380 and when when we are um instruments of god in his hands we do what god has called us to do and we

00:52:53.480 leave the results to him and those moments like you like you said brother scott those moments when god

00:52:58.780 sets us apart and he speaks to us wow those are precious times that god would even speak to us

00:53:04.200 right um some time ago my wife and i went through the book of um of uh joe and you know all of the

00:53:12.300 hardships that joe went through and then finally he did he did come up with some questions for god

00:53:16.360 and then god answers and says have you considered the leviathan and the hippopotamus and i'm thinking

00:53:22.240 what what kind of an answer is that god's basically saying look at my creation joe i don't have to give

00:53:29.180 you an answer about anything i'm god but joe got it joe got it we are nothing but yet that god would

00:53:35.720 speak to us god that god would use us you know god really does love us so all right yeah i believe

00:53:44.020 the land i think there's spiritual significance to it we see throughout the old testament especially

00:53:49.500 about the land and how it relates to even the sin of the sin of people people sin you know it talks

00:53:55.380 about the defilement of the land and so you know i believe there's spiritual uh parts of the heart of

00:54:00.860 god that connects the land and just connecting people like like you say um you know there's a

00:54:07.180 lot of witchcraft in our in our area it's growing leaps and bounds and um you know there's a a lot of

00:54:15.100 uh focus on the land but it's uh not gospel oriented and so to come from an angle that god is the creator

00:54:23.140 and to to approach it to through the lens of christ taking people on hikes and different things you

00:54:28.960 know we know that god's going to use it and as well you know a lot of people take time to come

00:54:34.820 to church you know they it's a big step for them to come to the building and so we need to go to

00:54:39.380 people we want to do that with god on the shore you know just believe in that god will you know as we

00:54:44.640 pray for people that will see miracles even in healings and all kinds of things as we go out to the

00:54:49.380 different communities and just raise the banner christ um and the gospel and worship but also just

00:54:56.000 eventually hopefully have in a center here where we can you know connect people to bible studies or

00:55:01.200 coffee shops before they come into the the main gathering um you know and then the other component

00:55:06.920 i really believe what's around the corner you know um just uh just food issues and things that are

00:55:12.160 coming around the corner i believe that's what god's intending as well that uh we would have enough

00:55:17.040 to supply ourselves but also um you know we were you know my heart is to eventually have a community

00:55:22.540 garden and as well and not just for the brothers and sisters of christ but you know i believe there's

00:55:28.820 some hardship that's around the corner and uh as persecution comes i believe you know there may be

00:55:34.260 a day where there could be difficulty uh the way we do church is going to have to change um if if we

00:55:40.000 might possibly see that um and so you know just having your own land and i'm seeing that you're right i'm

00:55:46.360 seeing this all over the globe god seems to be calling people to the land it's very interesting

00:55:51.700 right we're central here on the eastern shore and around us is like 20 to 30 minutes or outlying

00:55:57.980 communities and when we go to those communities with god on the shore our intention is also to

00:56:02.580 establish immediately after invitation so it's not just like a concert thing but we're going to have

00:56:08.520 an invitation to a home bible study for five or six weeks and we want to establish homes in each of

00:56:13.740 those communities that are connected to us or other christian churches that are doing uh bible studies and

00:56:19.160 things houses of hope i guess you want to call them you know just going out there and i you know

00:56:23.940 again i just have a a lot of uh of faith what god's going to do i believe great shaking will continue

00:56:31.180 increase but i believe we're going to see extraordinary things of god at uh at the very

00:56:35.320 same time i believe we're going to see great challenges but extraordinary things of god and in

00:56:39.920 a terrible way this may sound awful but uh you know like 10 years ago there was such a dryness

00:56:45.280 and uh you know i think god's in part of is part of all this shaking and um dryness in our churches

00:56:53.120 too right and if if it if it takes a great shaking to draw us back to the things of god then so be it

00:56:59.700 and so i i just envision a greater dependency as the shaking comes um great things of god ideas of god

00:57:07.300 unfolding and um a church that's a alive like it hasn't been in maybe a generation or two so it's exciting

00:57:14.640 amen all right all right brother scott well thank you so much okay so we're gonna we're gonna call

00:57:27.100 this a wrap today so thank you so much for being with us today and again just uh to reiterate for

00:57:33.640 those of you that maybe joined us a little bit late uh we will not be having any pastor webinars

00:57:38.400 in the months of july and august so september the 5th we will see again but we will be in contact with

00:57:45.160 you throughout throughout the summer and be sharing some uh some news with you so as not to uh um forget

00:57:52.100 about you and you not forget about us so do keep us in prayer there's lots going on and uh we do want

00:57:58.060 to keep each other in prayer so heavenly father thank you so much for being with us this day this was uh

00:58:04.740 not just informative but it was encouraging uh lord thank you for the way that you lead and guide each

00:58:11.360 and every one of us father in our um in our work for you and you use us um i i want to especially

00:58:19.860 thank you lord for brother scott i know that um from the time that you've called him to ministry lord

00:58:28.620 you've set him apart and that place and uh where you have him in nova scotia lord i uh i know that

00:58:36.280 there's different places lord that uh they're difficult to reach sometimes and i know that

00:58:43.360 you've given him vision you've given him purpose and lord i just pray and ask that you will continue

00:58:48.440 to bless this church lord marine drive and that you would continue to open up some new venues for him

00:58:54.420 and uh this beautiful pieces of land that you've given to him lord and those lakes on there and

00:59:00.100 the forestry there lord and i know that through the years of uh of trials that he described and

00:59:07.720 um just the times of testing that you've put him through we know through your word father that those

00:59:14.280 times of testing lord they are uh they're difficult to go through at times but i thank you for the

00:59:20.040 lessons that that we learned from them i thank you lord for how we grow through them i thank you lord

00:59:25.720 that you never leave us nor forsake us lord as we go through them lord and we thank you for your holy

00:59:32.820 spirit that enables us to get closer to you and we thank you lord that at some time um in the future

00:59:41.100 lord we will all be gathered together to you but in the meantime lord we have work to do and you've

00:59:46.760 called us to do your work while it is day and certainly this is day and these are trying times

00:59:51.800 but we do pray and ask lord that you will put people on our path souls lord that's the only thing

00:59:56.700 that we can take to heaven so each of us lord have work to do in in our different places of uh of

01:00:03.440 harvest that you've placed us in it and for those that are in vancouver island and in bc and and here

01:00:09.780 we are in cape breton island lord and in in nova scotia and everywhere in between lord for the work that we

01:00:15.600 are doing for you may we do it all for your glory and for your honor and we thank you lord that the

01:00:21.120 harvest truly is white unto harvest so so send us more laborers father give us the strength that we

01:00:28.200 need father and uh we give you all the praise and the glory and the honor so thank you again lord for

01:00:33.560 this this blessed time and we pray lord that for each and everyone that will watch this reporting

01:00:39.040 may they be as equally blessed as we have been this day and we thank you for that lord and uh

01:00:45.400 we ask all these things now in jesus name amen amen amen so thank you again for being with us god

01:00:53.380 bless you and uh we will uh we will see you in a couple of months have a blessed summer stay safe

01:01:00.980 god bless you we love you all

01:01:09.040 you

Action4Canada - June 22, 2023

A4C Pastor Webinar June 20, 2023

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