Marks of a Healthy Church 11: Missions 03/27/22

Well good morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to first baptist church this morning we wanted to take just a second before we start to celebrate because norma houston's birthday is this week and she is turning what 96 is that right 96 years old so here we go happy birthday to you [Music] and now we're going to continue to celebrate but we're going to turn our attention to our God and king so please stand with me as we sing all hail the power of Jesus name all hail the power of Jesus name let angels prostrate for bring forth the royal diadem [Music] him ye chosen seed of israel's race he ransomed from the fall [Music] hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord of all let every kindred every [Music] Lord [Music] Lord of all that with yonder sacred long we at his street may fall we'll join the everlasting song and [Music] Lord [Music] he is Lord of all this morning amen you can be seated and what we're gonna watch next is it's a an update video from a church plant that we as a church support it's from the priors who many of you know so here we go hey everyone my name is David pryor I'm

The lead pastor and planter of exalt church which is a church plant in north nampa idaho nampa is located just west of the city of boise which is the capital of idaho and we're excited to be here and planting and we wanted to just give you a quick update on where we are in the process and what we're working on as we get ready to launch this church before I get into the update though I did want to just share with you quickly one of the primary questions we get from people as we prepare to plant a church and that question is why do you want to plant a church and the answer to that is actually very simple you see we don't want to plant a church just for the sake of having a new church but we want to plant a church in nampa idaho to reach the city of nampa with the Gospel of Christ to make disciples who go out and make more so we are here to share the Gospel we're here to reach people for Christ and we want to see a city captivated by Jesus Christ you see we're here because there is such an immense need in nampa idaho for the Gospel at the last census when they asked people here in nampa what their religious affiliation was 58 of people checked none says 58 of the population that has no religious background no faith and the 42 percent that did check something over half of them are either mormon or catholic so there's an immense need for the Gospel in this area this area is less Christian

Than places like los angeles new york seattle and chicago which makes it seem very much like a mission field but see we want these people to know Jesus Christ this place is also one of the fastest growing areas in the country nampa idaho currently ranks 10th in the country for fastest growing cities and the treasure valley which is the larger area that nampa is located in is expected to see over 300 000 new residents over the next 10 years so there's an immense need because the current churches can only accommodate roughly seven to eight percent of the population so we need new churches in order to reach these people and so we hope that you'll consider joining us and partnering with us as we reach nampa idaho with the Gospel of Christ I wanted to give you a few updates on where we are in the process if you haven't noticed if you follow us on social media and things like that you may have seen things looking a little bit different we've recently gone through a name change we've chosen to name the church exalt church you may know that we used to go by wellspring but due to a couple of other organizations in the area using similar names we wanted to avoid any confusion and we wanted to be able to stand out to this community and so we chose exalt church because our first and primary focus as a church is to exalt Jesus Christ above all else we do this by equipping believers and extending the Gospel so our goal is to exalt equip and extend

The second thing we've been working on is just getting out into the community and talking with people going to parks and public places trying to share the Gospel sharing with people about what we're doing and inviting them to come to exalt church once we launch we've also been working on meeting with potential team members for our launch talking with couples and individuals who can come alongside us join our team these people will really be the first members and leaders of exalt church and so we're excited to watch this team begin to come together and we ask that you would pray with us as we seek out people to join this team we ask that you would pray that the Lord would bring the correct people that he would bring the team together so that we can accomplish this goal of planning a church the other thing we've been doing is talking with schools and businesses in the area as we begin to search for a place to start meeting we're excited to begin meeting hopefully this fall but to do that we need a location so you can be praying with us as we have these conversations with schools and businesses we hope to be a part of a school in the area because statistics show that church plants who start in a school setting are much more successful and we also want people to know that we are there in their community for them so you can be praying that the Lord would provide a location for us to meet and just continue to pray with us for the people of nampa idaho and the treasure valley as a whole that the Lord would work in their hearts

That he would prepare the harvest for us and that we would be able to reach these people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ we appreciate your partnership we appreciate you following along in this journey with us and we are so excited to share in this journey with you thank you and God bless and that is David pryor many of you know him he used to be one of our worship leaders here and I guess that was back in 2017 or so when all that was happening and they've been out in idaho for the past couple of years since and sorry I'm getting tangled up in my wires there okay and as you guys know they've been praying and seeking the Lord about where to plant a new church in nampa valley you guys heard about the tremendous need that is out there with if all the churches were at max capacity they could only accommodate two maybe three percent of the entire population of that area so there's a tremendous need out there and David he and his wife ali they want to meet that need that we have now today we're talking about the marks of a healthy church today we're talking about missions and we got some we wanted to feature David and ali and their call to plant a church in nampa idaho we also are taking up our special offering at the end of service today to go to josh and christy wolgomet who are serving in africa every dollar that you give to the proceeds is going straight over there and so maybe you're just like cody I didn't bring any cash today that's okay at the end of service during our invitation we're going to be doing a couple of things I'm going to be asking you to come and respond we're going to have

Vern who's going to be over here to pray with them pray for our missionaries that are over there we're going to have a pj up here that's David's father-in-law he'll be up here to pray for them we'll also have the shimongas who are going to share after I get finished with announcements where you can pray for that we'll also have a qr code where you can actually scan and give online to that mission's effort so if you didn't bring cash you can give online in that way if you're writing a check please make the checks out to fbc camdenton that way we can get that in just one check and it's there a couple of announcements for you really quick we've got a youth camp meeting right after service today right in here right okay so it's gonna be right in here if you've got children or grandchildren and they want to go to camp be sure to stick around afterwards if you want to maybe even help go to camp the dates for camp are june 6th through the 10th right and so those are the dates it's in sherman texas with a group called mfuch it's a lifeway camp and so we're really excited about that tonight we've got service that's going to be starting at 6 00 p.m with all the craziness in the world today maybe you don't typically come to a sunday night service what I would encourage you to do is maybe pray tonight because we're going to be talking about what Christians should believe about war as there's all that kind of stuff happening in our world today it's probably a topic that we need to brush up on and have a Biblical understanding of what God's word says about this topic also we've got the sbc annual meeting is in anaheim and our church is allowed to nom to nominate messengers to go we are allowed 12 and

At the business meeting at the end of this month which will be on april 24th we are going to be nominating messengers at that meeting and so if you want to go it's time for you to maybe start making some financial preparations and maybe just saying hey I'm interested in talking to some people and say a volunteer is a tribute kind of deal that's okay the dates for that are june 12th through the 15th and of course you'll have to cover your own flights and hotels as well we also have potluck because we're baptist and it's gonna be great that's next week april 3rd we're going to have potluck church is not providing meat so do your best baptists your name is at stake okay and I hope that's a great time we're going to be down the gym celebrating just being together because that's what churches should do churches should be known by their love for one another amen and we are all about loving God and loving each other loving our community and our world and what I want to do is I want to introduce to you guys Christian and betsy they're going to come up and this is going to be their last sunday with us because they are going off to another country to establish a new missions effort and so if you guys would welcome betsy and Christian to the stage [Applause] or just Christian betsy is a little shy good morning church yeah my name is Christian chamonga I don't know do we have that picture of our family okay it's all good so you guys have seen us around here we've been attending the church for about two and a half years and as pastor said we're planning

On going overseas and the country we're going to is congo so we're planning on doing that so a lot of you have seen us around here you know some about us you may have seen us in the childcare room with the toddlers like caring for your toddlers which was pretty awesome place to be at but yeah so I asked pastor if we could share today and he graciously said that we could and thank you well thank you pastor thank you pastor for just this opportunity and as I asked him to share I also asked him if we could sing one of a song that became one of my favorite songs and the song is called his mercy is more and we're going to be singing that later but in this song I it's because it became like one of my favorite songs because of just the words that the words of the song and so some of the word says praise the Lord his mercy is more stronger than darkness new every morning my sins there are many but his mercy is more it's an amazing thing that you and I can sing that with all confidence knowing that the Lord of all creations sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to take on our iniquity to take on our shame to take on our sins and all of those things and die on the cross on our behalf and we can praise him for it because of that is such an amazing thing amen and so it is with all confidence that we are able to say praise the Lord because his mercy is more the Bible tells us that and the Bible

Tells us that God created everything and at the end of his creation he said he said it is very good and then and then through adams Adam's disobedience sin entered the world and as man started filling the world and sin also became more but thanks to his abundant grace and his abundant mercy he sent someone to you and I whoever that person was our parents a preacher or whoever that person was he sent somebody to you and I to tell us about Jesus Christ tell us about this beautiful love story of this king who came and died for us because he loved us so much but there are still many people out there in the world that do not know of this Jesus Christ that do not know of this story they are not able to say praise the Lord his mercy is more as the apostle Paul says in romans 10 chapter four and romans chapter 7 verse 14 how then can they call on him whom they have not believed and how can they believe in him whom they have not heard and how can they hear without someone preaching to them and how can anyone preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news how beautiful are the feet of those people that brought that news to us how beautiful are the feet of the person who left where he was to come to congo and tell the people there about Jesus Christ and consequently my mom believed in Jesus Christ and that is the reason why I'm able to stand before you today and tell you to tell you that I want to go back to my country to fall to further the Gospel of Christ there congo is home of about 89 million million people about 38 million of those people are unreached

And 6.7 million people are unengaged and unreached these people are dying and going to a christless eternity because there is no one around them to tell them about this beautiful message in acts in acts chapter 1 verse 8 our Lord Jesus Christ says but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes comes on you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem in judea in samaria and the ends of this earth this is your jerusalem and your judea and your samaria here in the u.s I was born in the congo congo is my judea my jerusalem my samaria and to you congo may be your ends of the earth but that is my judea I was born in the congo in 1988. My family and I fled to the u.s as under political asylum in 2001. We fled war there I believed in Christ in 2005 and in 2010 God called me to oversee his mission and now I'm standing before you telling that we are planning on going to congo in january of 2023 and we are asking you to really pray and ask the Lord if this is something that he would like for you to be part of however that looks like we're asking you to please be praying and ask the Lord hey God you are already doing something in the congo this is not our mission this is not something that we are doing it's something that the Lord is doing and we are privileged enough and blessed enough to walk with him in what he is doing and we are asking you to do the same to ask the Lord if this is something that he has for you so we have so much more to share that I can't share right now we have a table out there with so much more information and we would love for you to stop over there with us and just talk to us and we

Would like to answer any questions you have because we know that you have questions we'd love to answer any questions that you have and yeah as you say there's a lot more information there thank you [Applause] and thank you so much yeah I should just let him preach there because you know it's good it's good stuff but as you guys know we're gonna be laying hands on this beautiful family that the Lord has allowed for us to minister to over the last you know three years or so and we're going to pray over them and as he said these are these are not missionaries that our church we've got so many students that come here in and out that we just can't partner with every single one of them and so we are going to first be prayer partners with them but the Lord might be moving you as people that the schmongas have built relationships with to come alongside of them and say hey guys we want to be a blessing to you in this way because we have to send people and we're serious about missions we're serious about loving our world and you can pray right where you're at about how the Lord might commission you to give in that way now church as has been our habit over the past several months we're going to continue our service maybe in this attitude of prayer just quieting our hearts as we've heard a little bit about the tremendous need in the congo we've heard about the need in idaho we know that there's a need in our community maybe right now right where you're at you can spend some time asking the Lord how you might be able to fulfill this commission that he has called each of us to so right where you're at if you would

Just bow your heads and close your eyes and ask the Lord to speak to you today maybe right where you're at you know you came in you didn't know that we were talking about missions and you don't really know what missions is maybe ask the Lord to open up your mind today to what the great commission is and how you might be able to help fulfill that calling to go into all the world and to share the Gospel make disciples maybe you've come in today and you quite honestly missions is the last thing on your mind you got things that are vying for your attention in your heart Jesus he beckons us to come to him with our labors and our burdens and that he will give you rest believe that today because he cares for you Lord open our hearts this morning open our hearts to worship not just as we sing but Lord also open our hearts into worship as we live God we ask that you would you would help us all to fulfill our great calling which is to live missionally to live to spread your Gospel Lord we believe and we will sing about how we believe that is absolutely our goal in life and Lord we ask that you would help us to live it out because it's only by your grace and it's only by your power that we're able to live for you Lord we praise your name this morning amen please stand with me as we sing praise the Lord his mercy is more [Music] his mercy is more [Music] what love could remember no wrongs we

Have done [Music] his mercy is more praise the Lord his mercy is more [Music] his mercy is more [Music] what patients would wait as we constantly roam what father so tender is calling us home he welcomes the weakest the vilest the poor our sins they are many his mercy is more praise the Lord his mercy is more [Music] stronger than darkness [Music] his mercy is more what rich is of highness he lavished on us his blood was the payment his life was the cost we stood beneath a debt we could never afford our sins they are many his mercy is more praise the Lord his mercy is more [Music] stronger than darkness new every morn our sins they are many his mercy is more praise the Lord his mercy is more [Music] [Applause] his mercy is more our sins they are many amen as we continue to worship through song this morning we're gonna we're gonna simply sing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for a mission sunday that may seem a little bit odd to you at first but I mean what is missions but sharing the good news that Jesus came and died and beared the guilt and punishment for our sins amen [Music] something we're going to continue talking about is that the Gospel flows or missions flows out of a love for the Gospel

And our singing it also flows out of a love for the Gospel and so that's that's why we gather this way that's why we sing this way I mean think about it we look kind of crazy to outsiders standing up and chanting together the glories of our God it's a little bit odd for those of us who haven't grown up in the church but the reason we do it is because we affirm together that there is nothing greater there is nothing more important than the Gospel of Jesus Christ so join me as we sing come behold the wondrous mystery in the dawning of the king he the theme of heaven's praises robed in frail humanity in our longing in our darkness now the light of life has come look to Christ to condescended to conflash to ransom us come behold the wondrous mystery he the perfect son of man in his living in his suffering never trace nor stain of sin see the true and [Music] the better man Christ the great and sure fulfillment of the law in him we stand [Music] come behold the wondrous mystery Christ the Lord upon [Music] see the price of our redemption father's plan unfold bringing many sons to glory grace undead

[Music] come behold the wondrous mystery slain by death the God of life but no graven him praise the Lord [Music] Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he comes [Applause] [Music] Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he comes [Applause] [Music] Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he comes [Music] you can be seated at this time we're going to move into our time of communion and so if you have not had a chance to pick up the elements at any of the entrances now would be a great time to do so if you have been able to make your way to go receive the elements I would invite you to examine your walk with the Lord if [Music] as a church we do allow for anyone who is in Christ and in other words if you were to die right now you know where you would spend eternity we do allow for you to partake that of the Lord's supper with us he beckons you to join in if you have any unconfessed sin in your life a sin that the Lord has called you to repent of and you just have said no I'm gonna gonna keep

That I would ask that you spend some time dealing with that in your heart between you and the Lord and maybe just not partake this time and until you know that is settled and there is no division between you and the Lord or maybe it breaks your heart and you know that you are ready to take that next step of repentance I would invite you to resolve that as well so wherever you're at just reflect on the elements and I would ask at this time also for any deakin brothers that would like to come up and join me in taking the Lord's supper to come up at this time oh so [Music] so [Music] as you spend time reflecting upon your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ also take time to consider the sure immense cost that it took to redeem your soul [Music] do [Music] Lord we are just so thankful [Music] God that you would do the work that you did for us and redeeming every single person that would that would turn to you in faith God that we would turn from sin and turn to Christ God thank you thank you for that call from death to life from darkness to light [Music] from rebellion to obedience from an enemy to a son thank you for that [Music]

We know that's all through your blood through your body Lord as we prepare our hearts and our minds to partake in these symbolic elements God thank you that you that you invite us to the table to invite us to regularly partake of the Lord's supper as brothers and sisters we are all one in Christ there is no division because we are in you [Music] thank you that we understand this just a little bit more through communion Scripture says in first corinthians 11 verse 23 for I received from the Lord but I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me take and eat Lord we are so thankful for your body that was pierced and beaten Lord that you would look on us [Music] with so much love and compassion that your grace would just be revealed to us so clearly on the cross [Music] or we know that there was no other way to redeem us you prayed that in the garden if there is any other way this cup could pass from me [Music] and not your will you prayed according to the father's will or thank you for this cup that is just a reminder of your shed blood for us on the cross that flowed so freely

From your head all the way down to your feet God you bled you drank the full cup of God's wrath [Music] thank you for doing that [Music] Scripture goes on to say in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me take and drink [Music] for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes Lord we do thank you for all that you've done and we do thank you for the symbol of communion in Jesus name amen so [Music] I'd ask that you once again stand with me as we sing all I have is Christ the victory cry of the redeemed I once was lost [Music] yet thought I knew the way the sin that promised joy in life had led me to the grave [Music] and if you had but as I ran you looked upon my [Music] and heav me to the cross and I beheld God's love displayed you suffered in my place

You bore the wrath reserved for me now all I know is grace hallelujah all I have is Christ hallelujah [Music] Jesus is my life now Lord I would be yours alone and live so all might see the strength to follow your commands could never come from me oh father use thy ransom life in any way you choose and let my song forever be my only [Music] all I have is Christ hallelujah [Music] Jesus is my life hallelujah [Music] all I have is Christ hallelujah [Music] Jesus is my life sing that again church just our voices hallelujah all I have is Christ hallelujah [Music] Jesus [Music] my life

[Music] amen Lord you are our all you are our everything let us lay down everything that would draw us away from you and chase completely after you and your will God help us to love you more because you are worthy you're worthy of all we can give and so much more God help us to be your servants in Jesus name we pray amen sound like heaven in here didn't it if that doesn't get you ready for being in the presence of God you better check your pulse I'm sorry God is good all the time God is good specifically we were talking about international missions today we're going to be in acts 1 I intended to preach on a different passage in acts but as the sermon started getting longer and longer and longer I said I need to shorten and shorten and shorten and so I plead for your forgiveness I try my best one of my heroes in regards to international missions is a baptist missionary his name was william carey how many of you all ever heard of william carey you should he's one of those like top ten Christians that like you should know I probably even put them before billy graham just simply because of the tremendous impact that he has made on missions without william carey there is no billy graham he is the father of modern missions he became a missionary but before that he was simply a shoemaker do we got a picture of william carey up there he's that handsome bald dude there you go there he is yeah

He is he was a shoemaker he became a baptist around 28 years old before that he was a anglican church of england nothing wrong with that he just found that being a baptist was the best vehicle for his faith he founded a organization called the english baptist missionaries you can go back to showing his handsome face but william carey he started the english baptist missionary society and as the Lord moved in his heart for missions he said you know I'm not content just founding a society here in england what I want to do is I actually want to go to the mission field and so he left england and went to calcutta india but within one year he would actually leave that society to do bi-vocational ministry while he was in india he moved to an area called simerapor which is actually the first university in college that was started in india he was his first professor the guy he could speak six different languages he was fluent in latin in greek and hebrew in english and dutch and french he could also speak several other different languages pretty well including bengali arayah marathi hindi assamese and sanskrit the guy was a genius and let it never be said that Christians are ignorant or stupid we have a long rich history in academia without the church there is no universities there is no college and Christians ought to be on the forefront of the fields we believe that all truth is God's truth therefore we should never be afraid of the truth and so let's tackle it hard and the same goes for the arts

But anyways that's that's a whole nother thing anyways Andrew fuller he was a he was a man who was in england and he listened to william carey's last sermon in england and here's one of the things that Andrew fuller wrote down about william carey's last sermon he said the analogy is thus that the mission to india is like going in deep into an unexplored mind where the souls of lost men are as vast as a mind for the gold of the glory of Jesus Christ kerry seemed to say that he will go down if you will hold the rope for you and I today reminding ourselves of missions in our american context let's let's put it this way okay like when we talk about reached and unreached people groups we're not talking about just simply people who have responded to the Gospel we're talking about people who have access to the Gospel and america is reached people have so many translations of the Bible it ain't even funny we got the y'all ever seen the there's a new one it's called the passion translation it's tpt I'll call it the toilet paper translation it's worthless don't read it as your pastor I'm telling you please don't read it is awful a guy that it I'm not even going there I gotta shorten this thing up but for us we as americans here at first baptist church some of you might be called to international missions and I thank the Lord for that we pray for God to raise up missionaries and ministers to go out and change this world amen we want young men we want young women we want them married we want them single we want anyone that's willing to go and do ministry to go and do ministry for the glory of Jesus Christ

But for many of us our call is to hold the rope this is why we give this is why we give generously we hold the rope so that missionaries are free to devote themselves to the work that God has called them to this is how it's been done and remember that mission work is not something that william kerry invented even though he's known as the father of modern missions he's not the father of in fact it was the command of God from his covenant way back in Genesis I think it's chapter 13. I might be wrong there but where he calls Abraham that through you through your offspring the world would be blessed and now we know that this is in reference to Jesus Christ but we are also children of Abraham by faith and it is through you and I that the world will be blessed because of the mission that we carry forward in Jesus Christ it is by the Gospel that people become Christians and it's through them seeing your life and my life that people will be saved it's your mission it's my mission we are all called to share the message of Jesus Christ to the world in 1900 the world population was 1.6 billion next year it will be 8 billion exponential population growth how many of those people even know the name of Jesus how many people that know the name of Jesus are saved by his grace now the Christian religion makes up 31 of the total global world population that includes every little church and every little cult and church goer as well it includes those of the catholic

Tradition that believe in salvation by sacraments instead of faith alone so how many how many people does that include how many people are actually saved by grace 10 15 maybe we're looking at maybe a billion out of that one point or out of that eight billion that will be here that are here on this earth and will be here next year that leaves 7 billion who are completely lost according to the Joshua project website there are 10 000 people groups in the world who are either unreached or completely unengaged that means there is no work going to reach these people for the Gospel 10 000 people groups there are 1.2 billion hindus half a billion buddhists over 2 billion muslims in the world 87 of those groups have never even met a Christian if you are in those groups but you know who has coca-cola do you know that coca-cola is world's number one most recognizable brand 94 of the world can identify coca-cola that's pretty good of course it's easier to distribute cokes what would it be like if 90 of our world at least heard about Jesus and the true Gospel I'm talking about the real thing but listen to me this all these numbers and the tremendous need for the Gospel is not the fuel that we need to motivate us for missions I've got a friend of mine that's in turkey and he was over there for two or three years and his family came over to visit him and he decided that he

Was going to rent a car he didn't need a car beforehand he was living in a city and he was still learning the language he'd been there for about four or five months he was still learning some of the language he had never really been familiar with automotive language when it came to that language barrier and so he pulls up to what they call the petrol station there and they asked him let's see here it was they asked him benzene or motoring and he didn't know how to respond and so he's like he's trying to find the owner's manual now just fyi this was a brand new bmw like model seven it was like an eighty thousand dollar car and he wanted to be really careful with this thing he had no idea benzene or motoring which one which fuel does it take he didn't even actually know if it was if he needed to say like he didn't even know if ben's in a motor and was at this point and so he's looking for the owner's manual owner owner's manual is gone he's sniffing everything he's trying to figure out what is benson and what is motoring and it wasn't until he and the guy actually were able to start communicate that he could understand that benzene meant gasoline and motoring meant diesel could you could you imagine putting the wrong fuel into a brand new 80 000 vehicle it's it's not the right fuel and if we if we use these numbers and the tremendous need for the Gospel to motivate our missions then we are going to fall short because it's the wrong fuel what I mean is that the motor for missions must be a love for the Gospel and a love for the people in the world

Who need to have that Savior who need salvation the motive will always have to be love or we will fall woefully short of the call of Jesus Christ to go and make disciples what those numbers do is they reveal the need they can cause people to maybe feel guilty and give an extra 20 bucks or something like that but mission work fueled by love and grace will shake the very footholds of hell so what we're going to do today is we're going to ask four questions about missions we're going to look at acts chapter 1 and we're going to read verses 6 through eight and the Scripture says if y'all would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read acts chapter one verses six through eight now a couple of y'all were like oh man almost Scripture says this so when they had come together they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel he said to them it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father is fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the end of the earth and so Lord we do ask that today that you would let the Gospel permeate our hearts give us a Biblical understanding of missions give us a Biblical understanding for what you've called us to and Lord if

There's anything that's outside of your word that happens Lord we pray that it would be decimated that you would destroy it that you would annihilate it until it is brought subject under your authority we know that all authority has been given none to you and so we pray that would be real in our own lives in our church and our families that we would see you as the gracious Redeemer do wonderful and beautiful works we love you in Jesus name amen well today we are looking at this passage in Paul Christ he is with his disciples he's been with him for about 40 days at this point and he's already given them that great commission something that we talk about oftentimes in our own circles and he instructed them he has instructed them to remain in jerusalem he's given them the great commission and he said wait right here wait in jerusalem and why does he say to go teach tell make disciples and then he tells them to wait right here wait in jerusalem he tells them to wait because they cannot go in their own power and in their own strength and in their own education and in their own experience of being with the Savior for the last three years they need to go with the power of the Holy Spirit with them they cannot do this work this holy in this spiritual work apart from the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit working through Christians and so the first question that we have to ask when we talk about how to accomplish the mission that God has given us to is what is the mission what is the mission Jesus he says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

Has come upon you and you will be my witnesses question number one what does it mean to be a witness that word witness in the greek it's the greek word martus or martyr it's where we get the word martyr from it's used in the Gospels not just to describe someone that dies but also someone who bears a testimony or bears witness of what Jesus has done and so when we when we see this here in this passage you and I we are called by God to tell others about what he has done in our lives to share the message of the Gospel to share share our testimonies to bear witness to share that with others we do not do this primarily through humanitarian needs okay that's a secondary thing but we have to proclaim the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ what does it mean to be a witness it means to display the glory to display the glory of God by declaring the Gospel to all peoples to display the glory of God by declaring the Gospel to all peoples this means that Christians are to be indiscriminate of who we minister to it doesn't matter what their race is what their culture is it doesn't matter what their political views are or how they identify they need the Gospel of Jesus Christ it doesn't matter what their personal beliefs are they need Jesus this means that we must be indiscriminate of who we share the Gospel with earlier this I guess it was back in is in november we had some new neighbors move in they are very they're they're very aged

They're in I think the wife her name is rosie and she's 97 I think it is no 87 and her husband's 93 so they're they're up there and I'd stopped by on a number of occasions to just introduce myself their new neighbors stopped by knock knock knock no one's home okay I did that in november then I went on vacation came back in december knock knock knock no one's home christmas is busy you all know how it can be and then I had a baby in january okay and so amber she's out she's walking with her with one of our neighbors heather and they're they're walking and they're talking and it turns out that they had a conversation with us about about us to these other to these older neighbors who is that young man that's over there and I don't know if you guys have ever seen my dog he's like a pit bull he looks like a pit bull he's not he's an american staffordshire terrier just a brute awesome dog best dog ever but he just kind of looks like a pit bull and these these lovely older neighbors they were very concerned for our neighborhood because they thought that amber and I were drug dealers [Laughter] you know at the beginning of january there are people coming and going with all these foiled tins coming and bringing all sorts of stuff to our house new people all the time and thank you church for bringing us food so I got to go over there and meet my neighbors because I'm called to minister to them it doesn't matter apparently I'm so bad at doing that my neighbors think I deal drugs and I try to be good at that but you know I got to go over there 15 20 minutes build a great relationship dropped off my phone number my

Wife's phone number if they need anything why is that because I want to know how I can love on them even in that 15 minute conversation I was able to figure out a way that I can serve my neighbors that way I can I can share with them the hope that I have in the Gospel this is this is what the mission is it's to go and to make disciples to share the Gospel I'm not going to just open up with that you know you can't we're not called to make converts we're called to make disciples question number two that we have to ask is how will this mission be accomplished if the mission is to be witnesses by declaring the Gospel to all the peoples then how will that happen Jesus he said it here in acts 1 8 he said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you the mission is to be as witnesses and it's only accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit that word power is the greek word dunamis it's where we get the word dynamic or dynamite from and each believer from the moment of salvation receives this power from God you don't some people will say well you got you got to take another step you gotta be gotta be baptized in the spirit you gotta speak in tongues it's not in Scripture sorry Scripture wins each believer from the moment of salvation they receive this power with which not only do we get to do this mission but we also receive power to serve one another to use our spiritual gifts to fellowship and have that union which is in Christ and to share the Gospel and it's all by the power of the Holy Spirit there's no catchy title here there's no formal process it is power

Power in what powerful power in prayerful dependence this is demonstrated at pentecost that's what they were doing they were praying and they were waiting if you look at acts chapter 1 verse 14 they just simply obeyed the Lord and they prayed together we are all dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God empowering you and I for holy living and we were called to pray like that like our whole entire dependence is or our whole entire existence is dependent upon the Holy Spirit that's how you and I are called to live do you think that you can live the Christian life without the spirit of God for many of us we try we try and we try so hard and we look pretty good at it and you know who else tried that the pharisees did they tried and they tried and they tried and they looked pretty good doing it listen the spirit is he's more necessary than air okay like I do some bushcrafting there's really some things that you need if you're in a survival situation first thing is air right second thing is shelter third thing is water four things food you know he is more necessary than air more satisfying than food more refreshing than water but safer than shelter and we must pray like we depend upon the Lord we also proclaim the Gospel with power the Gospel it's it's powerful on its own but does your life does my life reflect that transforming power of God maybe to put it another way does that tremendous power is it reflected in your life does it look like you've had an encounter with Jesus for me it was

Taken from death to life from darkness to light little gothic kid big old chains and spikes and it's very visible change for me for some of us we didn't get saved out of that maybe we looked pretty good we looked pretty righteous we look pretty moral but does your life reflect the transformational power of God is that love still growing for the Lord your love for the Lord your love for Jesus your love for others that's how the mission goes forward it's by a tremendous overwhelming love for people a love for lost people do you find yourself despising people on the other side of the aisle just simply because of a political sign that's out in front of their their house you can't say amen you better say ouch I'm metal you know I will you cannot but we cannot love someone enough into the kingdom we have to share the Gospel at some point we have to be willing to tell them about their need for the Savior and sharing the Gospel it is the most loving thing that you or I could ever do this mission it also it continues pressing on through Biblical discipleship that's why it's not just like preach the Gospel and you know see how many people can come forward there's a reason why they stopped doing the big rallies it's because people were tired of making converts and people who prayed a prayer and then they never get discipled there's a reason for it we are called you and I each and every single person if you are a Christian you are called to make a disciple of Jesus Christ and we talked about this Biblical discipleship a few weeks ago about how we have to kind of overcome some hurdles and how we have to look for

Opportunities and oversee development and organic growth and an overwhelming success we talked about those things which leads us to the third question who should we send who are the people that we can send to go and share the Gospel in this way we must be sending missionaries into the mission field whether they're in idaho like the priors or the volgamets in africa we must send them and so the question is who can go it's it's you can go you can go to the mission field where are you called to serve you look at acts chapter 1 verse 8 it says that you will be my witnesses maybe God is calling you to do mission work by being a witness in the form field but we should be asking well okay all right that's that's fine but give me some tangible things what are some things characteristics of people that we should send aside from the obvious like Christian that loves God here's three quick characteristics one is scripturally faithful people that love Scripture the church is the universal body of Christ we need more men and women that are willing to stand up and say this is what the Bible says listen to it or to put it more prophetically thus saith the Lord there's too many Christians even here that don't care what the Bible says and it has to stop if we want to see the spirit of God work amen we need men and women that are willing to stand up to lead in the church to lead in the mission field that say bring yourself under the authority of the word of God and to do it with courage to do it with grace to do it with love to do it with gentleness what good is it to send people out if they are not faithful to Scripture

It's no good we also look for people that preach the Gospel now some men may have solid theology but no courage to back it up we never send wimps into war amen if you're not sharing the Gospel now if you're not living on the mission now you won't do it there that's why the great commission is about a lifestyle of missions that every person that the Lord brings in your path is someone that you can minister to that you can share the Gospel with that you can disciple and those are there's we also look for people that are on a mission to love the church there's too many people that say I love Jesus but I don't love Christians well Christ died for that Christian the problem is that Jesus loves his church so much that Paul explicitly said they gave himself up for her if a missionary is ever to be effective then you must also love believers I cannot think of one Christian that was ever effective for the kingdom of God that did not love the church one final question what is the end goal when Jesus came the first message they preached was about the kingdom he inaugurated his kingdom it was in many ways for him a coronation of his kingship that has not been yet fully realized and as ambassadors and as witnesses of that kingdom we must go forth to share this message of peace from the king that so many people are at war with I mean what God does through his people is he asked for us to go as his ambassadors to share with them this message of surrender

Listen this king he loves you he has sent his one and only son to pay the way for you to come and have a relationship with him quit walking in rebellion and just surrender to the Lord and it is when his subjects you and I his ambassadors go forward with that message asking for people to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we proclaim his kingdom as his witnesses in jerusalem and judea and samaria and to the end of the earth and so we go as missionaries we go as ambassadors we pray for church planters we pray for missionaries and we give generously for the work that God has graciously given to us and he gives us a glimpse into what is what it's all about what is the end goal of missions turn with me to revelation chapter seven revelation chapter seven I'm gonna be wrapping it up here soon revelation chapter seven verses nine through 12. Scripture says this after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could tribe could could number excuse me from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying with a loud voice salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne into the lamb and all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying amen blessing and honor and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and power and might be to our God forever and ever amen this is the end of Christianity worshiping the Lord where we will be with believers from indonesia and ethiopia and latvia and brazil and china and in russian and the ivory coast and the congo

From every tribe every people every language and you will cheer you will jump you will bow you will fall down on your knees before the Lord and you will shout out with all the other believers throughout all the other times in the history salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and we will worship for all eternity you're not going to be satisfied walking on streets of gold for all of eternity you're not going to be satisfied spending time with loved ones for all of eternity you know what you will be satisfied with you will be satisfied with the presence of Jesus Christ this is the end goal of missions and it starts with you it starts with God and starts here are you displaying the glory of God by declaring the Gospel are people seeing God at work in your life by you ministering to them do they see a love through you towards them are they objects of your love do you see God at work in you giving you a greater love for the Gospel and for the people that he's created are you called to go to the nations to see many from every tribe every language every nation in heaven we've got a long way to go we already established that but we also know that God he has enabled us to do immeasurably more than we could ever think or imagine according to the book of Ephesians so what does all this mean for some of you it may mean dedicating yourself to the mission of Christ to be his witnesses locally and abroad I told you at the beginning of service that we're going to have a time of response where we pray for our

Missionaries and we intentionally give to the work of missions especially for the wokements that we know and we love and today we after we talk after I finish this all up the shimongas are going to come up you can lay hands and pray over them vern's going to come up and you can lay hands and pray for the volga myths and for denny pj's going to come up we can pray for the priors and their work in idaho as they plant a new church for the glory of Christ so let's apply this message head hand heart head write this down I want you to know that we are that you are called to be as witnesses we are called but you and I every believer is a missionary wherever they're at some of you're called to the mission field we praise the Lord for that others you're called to hold the rope or it might be prompting you to give more to missions I don't know but we are called to be missionaries to our neighbors around us as well and I want you to pray for God to raise up ministers and missionaries in our church we want young men young women full of love for the Lord and for others to be full of zeal and the power of the spirit to tear down the high places and to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth in heart I want you to believe that God desires to use you to grow his kingdom by praying by preaching by believing by giving by loving we all have roles to play and my hope is that you grow into those roles whether you are here for years or you go abroad

I want to invite the shimongas up at this time I want to invite pj to come up as well as vern and if you have a check or cash that you want to give to international missions there's basket over there but I also want to invite you church to come forward and lay your hands on these missionaries that we know and love and that we would pray that the Lord would commission these people that we love so church come forward at this time [Music] Lord we do just confess that we love these these families that are represented here today or even God we just we love them so much and as they plant churches reach new people [Music] as they are equipped for ministry we ask that you would do amazingly more than what we could ever think or ask or dream Lord that through these ministries that hundreds of thousands would be touched with the Gospel God be with David and ali and exalt church we love them we pray specifically for our facility for them Lord we love and we thank thank you for the shimanga family God just pray that you would just we pray for their support levels to be over and above what they ask as they go to establish a new place to reach people give them exactly what they need give them a vision for even their families God we do also lift up to you the wilgamets who we know and love and we just pray that today that we would be able to give them with more than what we could ever imagine we pray that hospital would be able to meet needs that would give us a platform to share the Gospel for we love we love not just josh and christy but also those boys as well or what a beautiful beautiful family they are may they just display the glory of Christ and as we leave from here today we know that you haven't called us just to simply hold the rope for the missionaries that are abroad but also to be ambassadors for the people that we come in contact with we pray that it would be a time in our lives where we share the Gospel with those that give us an opportunity to and to love them well in Jesus name amen [Music] you