Our Obligation to the Unreached.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Alright, go ahead and have a seat. Welcome to Village Church. [0:03] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans chapter 1. [0:06] We’re going to be starting in verse 14 this morning. [0:09] But before we get into that, I just briefly want to make mention [0:12] of three things that we have coming up here at Village Church. [0:14] The first one is actually this coming Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

[0:18] We’re doing what’s called the manger build. [0:20] Now, if you were with us last year, this is something that we took part in last year. [0:24] This is a time for fathers to bring their children [0:27] and build actual mangers with their children [0:31] to head into the Christmas season with a realization [0:34] that as followers of Jesus, we take this time

[0:37] to celebrate the birth of Jesus into this world. [0:41] And that’s for fathers with sons and daughters. [0:45] It’s both sons and daughters. I just want that to be clear. [0:47] But if you’re a single parent in here, don’t feel, a single mother rather, [0:51] don’t feel left out by this. But what we want to do is we would like to help you out [0:55] with this and fill that void. And we have lots of fathers

[0:59] that would be glad to help you out. [1:01] And where there’s vacancies in life, we love as a church [1:04] to do our best to fill those voids. [1:07] And so your kids also need to come on out and we can help them [1:10] build mangers as well. Secondly, out there you notice [1:13] that we have the village gift tree again this year.

[1:16] And you don’t need to take a tag, per se, off of the tree. [1:19] But what that is, is it is us gathering together gift cards [1:22] to give to the Nueva Esperanza Church plant. [1:25] And those gift cards will be due next Sunday morning. [1:29] I met with the pastor of that church this past week. [1:32] And this is just a great opportunity that they have

[1:34] in a much lower income area than most of us live in. [1:39] And many of those people don’t even have the finances [1:41] to have Christmas dinner, a legit, full-forced Christmas dinner [1:46] that we would consider that way. [1:48] And what this does, is this helps them to provide that need [1:52] to fill that hole, as well as gives them an opportunity

[1:55] to share the gospel with many in that community [1:57] who don’t even speak English. [1:59] So if you can, please, next Sunday morning, [2:01] bring those gift cards out so we can get those out [2:03] before the Christmas season. [2:05] And then finally, the grand finale is that on December 21st

[2:10] we’re going to be having our Christmas Eve Eve, [2:12] Eve Eve service, that’s Eve cubed, I think. [2:16] It’s been like 20 years since I’ve taken math, [2:19] so I don’t even know why I went there. [2:22] Quadrupled, whatever it is. [2:23] We’re going to edit that.

[2:25] We’re going to have that at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 6 p.m. [2:31] on that day of December 21st. [2:33] And this is going to be a great time to celebrate [2:35] the Christmas season as well. [2:37] For more information on any of those, [2:40] see your handout or go to the website.

[2:43] It’s going to have way more information [2:44] than I’ve got time to give you. [2:46] You know, during Christmas over this season, [2:50] which it really is a season, [2:51] it’s really the only holiday that we have [2:52] that takes a whole month to celebrate.

[2:54] But during Christmas, we specifically focus in [2:57] on the birth of Jesus Christ. [3:00] He came on a mission, God becoming man, [3:04] to save people from their sin. [3:07] And this has been really the theme of the beginning [3:09] of our series on the book of Romans

[3:11] in chapters one and chapter two. [3:13] What we see is that this gospel exists [3:17] because we as people have sinned against him. [3:21] And Jesus’ mission was to come and redeem us from that. [3:25] And his mission impacts the entire world. [3:29] And so during this season, I don’t want us to lose sight

[3:31] of the fact that his mission is not just here. [3:34] It’s not just limited to what he’s doing right among us, [3:37] but rather the scope and the vision for the mission [3:40] of Jesus is every tribe, every tongue, [3:42] every nation, the entire world. [3:45] That is the vision.

[3:47] That is the goal that Jesus came to save everyone. [3:52] And we are people that have that goodness. [3:56] We are people that know the name of Jesus, [4:00] that know the work of him, and for the most part, [4:02] many of us have accepted him as Savior. [4:05] We’ve trusted in him.

[4:07] And the question that we must answer amongst ourselves [4:10] is what do we do with that news? [4:15] Does it obligate us at all to those who do not have the good news, [4:20] those who have never heard the good news? [4:23] What we saw in that video clip is just some pictures of the way [4:26] in which God is working all over the world.

[4:29] But what I want to focus in on this morning is something [4:31] that many churches all over the nation, [4:33] probably a few thousand churches, are joining together, [4:37] partnering together to preach a very similar message. [4:39] I got an email a few weeks ago from the International Mission Board [4:43] inviting us to take part, December 7th today,

[4:46] in just telling people about this great season [4:50] and this great opportunity that we have to take up [4:52] what’s called the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. [4:55] So I want to take a time to really focus in on why. [4:59] Included in that email was this outline of a sermon [5:02] that the new president, David Platt, had written.

[5:04] It was just some bullet points. It wasn’t a full sermon. [5:07] And said that this is something that you can use to tell your church. [5:12] In probably 15 or more years of preaching, I’ve never done that. [5:16] I’ve never taken somebody else’s outline. [5:19] It’s hard. It’s not easy because it didn’t come from me. [5:22] I’ve never done that before, but it was something that I looked at for just a moment,

[5:27] and I said, I’m not going to do that. [5:28] Because I was just like, I don’t do that. [5:30] Then I thought about it some more, and it was interesting [5:32] because the title of it was just the book of Romans. [5:36] And if you’ve been with us, well, we’ve kind of been in the book of Romans. [5:40] And the outline specifically focuses in on Romans 1 through 3.

[5:43] And we’ve covered two-thirds of that over the past few months. [5:47] And so as I just kind of read it and just went through it, I said, we need this. [5:53] It’s a great opportunity. [5:55] And so I took the skeleton that he had written, and I filled in the in-between. [6:00] And so the meat of the sermon I wrote, but the outline is something that David Platt wrote. [6:05] And it’s to help us to understand the obligation that we have to get the gospel to the whole world.

[6:14] Look in Romans chapter 1, starting in verse 14. [6:17] Here’s how the apostle Paul saw his life. [6:22] He says, I’m under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. [6:27] So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. [6:32] For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, [6:39] to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[6:42] For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, [6:47] as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. [6:52] When Paul writes this, he explains the mission that he has for his life. [6:58] And what it is, it is a restatement of the mission that Jesus had for his life. [7:04] There is a God in heaven who was under no constraint, who needed nothing, was fully sufficient in himself, [7:12] was fully righteous, fully holy, fully satisfied in the life of God.

[7:17] And then there was us who were sinful.

[7:21] He had no constraint to bring himself to us, yet he constrained himself. [7:27] He obligated himself, God becoming man, to save us. [7:33] And Jesus came with a mission from his birth to save us, to bring a good news to us.

[7:44] There was someone else in the 1800s, a time when it was far more complicated to go overseas than it is now. [7:52] A very small in stature woman, her name was Lottie Moon. [7:58] You are going to hear a lot about her over the next few weeks probably. [8:01] And then understand she is this tiny, tiny woman. [8:04] She was obligated as Paul was. [8:08] He understood the mission of Jesus.

[8:09] And she said there are people in this world that don’t have the news of what Jesus has done for us. [8:16] So from the years 1873 to 1912 she went overseas to the unreached people in China. [8:25] Spent her life taking the gospel of Jesus to those who needed it. [8:28] And during her missionary work she wrote a series of letters home, [8:33] which were then turned into articles pleading for others to answer the call to mission. [8:40] Because she was seeing first hand the great need.

[8:44] And after her death on the mission field in 1912 she never returned home.

[8:52] In 1918 churches began to partner together to yearly in her memory take out what is called now the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. [9:03] And what this is, is this is us banding together with thousands of other churches to pool resources [9:09] and to take up an offering that 100% will go to supplying needs and sending others like Lottie [9:17] who understand what Paul is talking about here. [9:20] Who understand that as you receive the news of the gospel there is an obligation for you to then give that news to others. [9:31] The gospel is not about what you have done.

[9:34] It doesn’t come and then say, Steve, here’s what you need to do. [9:37] Here’s what you have done. [9:40] What it says is no, here’s what Jesus has done for you. [9:45] Taken my sins onto the cross, paid the penalty for me and then rose from the dead to give me a new life. [9:52] And so Christianity, understand, it is a confessional faith. [9:56] It is news that is confessed to us about what Jesus has done on our behalf and then we receive it.

[10:03] Because that’s the way Christ works. It’s something that you receive. It’s a gift. [10:06] And then you have that and it does something to you. It gives you a new life. [10:11] It connects you to the life of God and then you confess it out to others. [10:16] Not because of you. It’s never about you. It’s always about Jesus. [10:19] News that he has done.

[10:24] And so the obedience that we saw or we see rather and what Lottie Moon did with her life and the clear call of Jesus through Scripture. [10:35] It tells us two things about the mission of taking the gospel to the world. [10:42] First, it tells us that we need to give sacrificially. [10:47] And then secondly, it’s going to tell us that we must go willingly. [10:53] Friends, our ownership of the gospel, the fact that you have heard the gospel. [11:04] It creates in you an obligation with the gospel.

[11:10] You should understand this morning. [11:12] There are two billion people in the world who are unreached with the gospel. [11:21] Two billion people.

[11:25] Over sixty five hundred people groups in the world don’t have access to the gospel. [11:33] They’re unreached. The question is, what does it mean? What does that even mean? [11:36] So first this morning, I answer the question. What does it mean to be unreached? [11:39] Well, to be unreached means that you do not currently have access to the gospel. [11:45] You don’t currently have any access to the gospel.

[11:49] That unless something changes. [11:52] If you’re one of these two billion people in the world, you will likely be born, live and die without ever hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[12:12] So to explain that, here’s what I want you to understand. [12:15] That where you work, where you live in your neighborhood, in your family, they are reached. [12:27] You say, no, I don’t think you’ve been to where I work.

[12:31] I don’t think you’ve been to my neighborhood Friday nights and you don’t think you don’t know. [12:37] I don’t think you’ve even been in my family. Have you met my kids?

[12:42] They are reached. Why? Because you’re there. [12:47] Follower of Jesus. [12:50] You see, they have access to the gospel by the fact that you are there. [12:58] Now, the responsibility then for them to hear it is for you to tell it. [13:03] But they have access just by nature of the fact that you exist and you work, live, eat, exist among them. [13:16] That means that your neighbor has access to the gospel because you live next door.

[13:21] Now, whether or not you ever give it to them, you’re there. [13:25] So you could do that. [13:27] What I’m saying right now is that in this world there are two billion people who don’t have anyone like you among them.

[13:38] They’re unreached. [13:41] Even if they wanted to hear a good news gospel message, they couldn’t because there’s no one to give it to them.

[13:49] They have no access. [13:51] It’s the question that we have to deal with about that is if there’s two billion people, no access, [13:57] they’ve never heard completely ignorant of the gospel, what will happen to them when they die?

[14:04] What will happen? Will they, these people who have never heard of Jesus at all, will they go to hell?

[14:14] When I think about that, just when I was thinking about that this week, it just seems like such an off question to me. [14:20] It just seems like something that’s just like, I can’t be.

[14:26] But that is the case because frankly, that’s the basis of our mission. [14:32] Without the hope of the gospel, without the hope of Jesus, they will be separated from him forever.

[14:41] That is hell. Why? How is that true? [14:46] That’s what we’ve been talking about over the past few weeks going through the book of Romans. [14:52] Romans 1, 18, the very next verse after he says that the righteous shall live by faith. [14:57] See how Paul lays it out. He says, I’m obligated to take the gospels, excuse me, the gospel, [15:04] I don’t know why I pluralized it, to the Greeks, to the barbarians. [15:08] Why does he mention them? Because by and large, at that time, those people had not yet been reached.

[15:13] And Paul says, I’m going. Why?

[15:18] Because then in verse 18, he says this, he says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men [15:25] who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [15:28] For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. [15:33] For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, [15:37] have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. [15:42] So they are without excuse. See what Paul’s saying there?

[15:47] He says, there’s no one that doesn’t have access to the existence of God. [15:54] This is God has made himself known. [15:57] He has created a world that is so significant, that is so extravagant that it screams creator.

[16:08] But maybe the response, they haven’t responded with a knowledge of God. [16:15] That’s Paul’s next point in verse 21. He says they’ve rejected God. [16:19] They don’t just know that there is a God. They don’t just have knowledge of God. [16:23] Paul says they do have knowledge of God. [16:26] That’s why you will reach people who’ve never been reached and they have some semblance of a God, [16:31] but it’s always by their own making. It’s not the God.

[16:35] Verse 21 he says,

[17:09] He’s saying that everyone has a knowledge of God in the world, even the unreached. [17:18] He says that with what they have, with the knowledge that they have, [17:22] God’s perspective here is greater than ours and God says from his perspective, [17:27] They have all rebelled against him. [17:31] They’ve created false gods. They’ve worshiped themselves rather than him. [17:35] They’ve worshiped something or someone other than him.

[17:40] And God says this is against creation itself. [17:45] We were created to give God glory and we did not. [17:48] This is the most sobering statement in all of scripture. [17:52] That when you look at the world that does not know of Jesus,

[18:01] we see a people who are headed for destruction and many of them don’t even know it.

[18:07] When I tell you that two billion people are unreached, that can be so daunting of a number. [18:14] I mean that’s so many people. [18:15] I don’t even know how to picture what that crowd looks like, [18:19] but I don’t want you to just be overcome by the vast number that we’re dealing with here. [18:24] What I want you to do is I want you to think of one of that two billion, one person. [18:29] And what I do with that number is I think of one child the same age as my son.

[18:35] You see my son is reached because I will live for him to come to faith in Jesus. [18:41] That’s my goal. That’s my desire. [18:43] But there are millions of four year olds all over the world who unless something changes,

[18:57] they will grow as my son will grow.

[19:03] And it’s not that their parents don’t want to tell them, [19:05] it’s that their parents can’t tell them what they don’t know.

[19:10] And they will grow and unless something changes, they will never hear. [19:15] They will mature as my son will mature. [19:17] They will marry as my son will marry. [19:19] And they will die as my son will die, never having had access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. [19:28] And because they are standing before God condemned, because they’ve rejected Him.

[19:38] They will be separated from Him for eternity.

[19:43] You may still say, but they’re ignorant. How can that be? [19:45] Friends, if ignorance of Jesus was enough to save someone, [19:50] then we should not take the mission of Jesus to them.

[19:58] If ignorance of Jesus was enough, then it would actually be unloving for us to go and to tell them. [20:10] Because then that would make them responsible. [20:12] But that is not what they’re responsible for. [20:14] That’s not what’s made them responsible. [20:16] They stand before God because of their sin.

[20:23] Romans, Chapter three, verse twenty.

[20:28] Paul explains, he says, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, [20:33] since through the law comes knowledge of sin. [20:35] But you see, we already, if you were with us during the book of Romans, we covered that word law. [20:40] And Paul says it actually has two meanings, because to one group of people, he gave the written law. [20:44] But he says there’s another group of people who were never reached. [20:47] And God says that he wrote the law on their heart, enough of the law for them to have a conscience

[20:52] so their society doesn’t just go into absolute chaos. [20:55] But he wrote the law on their heart and their law on their heart condemns them [20:59] because they haven’t even lived up to their own conscience.

[21:04] And so good works will not save, nor though will ignorance save. [21:10] All have enough, and that is why we are obligated to go.

[21:22] If you’ve never heard the good news about how you can be saved by God, how will you be saved?

[21:31] Carl F.H. Henry once wrote, says the gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.

[21:43] But for many, it won’t get there.

[21:48] So let me ask you this question. [21:49] Is there an obligation on us to tell others about the gospel? [21:55] Yes. Yes. Yes.

[22:00] Here’s how Paul sums it up after Romans 3.20. [22:04] I’m going to skip ahead to verse 23. [22:06] He says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God [22:09] are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus [22:15] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

[22:23] This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [22:30] Do you see what he’s saying in that? [22:32] He’s saying that you have sinned, but in his great grace God has provided a way. [22:37] That’s what propitiation means. [22:39] It means that there is a way through your sin to reconciliation with God [22:44] so that your relationship with him can be made right.

[22:48] You see, he does this how? [22:50] When you receive faith in Jesus Christ. [22:54] There is no other way.

[22:58] But here’s what I want you to see in that. [23:00] How precious you are to God. [23:03] Note that he says we’re justified by grace as a gift, but where did that gift come from? [23:11] He says in verse 24 and 25, he says that Jesus was put forward as a propitiation. [23:16] How? By his blood.

[23:22] Now that is how important this gospel message is that Jesus bled. [23:28] Jesus died. [23:29] He came with no need, yet he obligated himself to us.

[23:38] And here’s what I want you to understand in this, that we are obligated to go. [23:44] We talked last week about regeneration, about being born again and what that means. [23:50] And here’s the key. [23:51] If you hear of this great news of Jesus and it does nothing to you, [23:57] you feel nothing when we talk about the unreached. [24:00] You feel no obligation.

[24:02] You feel no constraint. [24:04] You feel no responsibility to them. [24:06] Then you are not born again. [24:09] Because that is the mission that Jesus came on. [24:12] He came to redeem by his blood. [24:14] So all that I have in me is just, well I’m glad I can have this gift.

[24:23] And you just do nothing with it. [24:25] You don’t want to do anything with it. [24:27] You are going to keep it. It’s for you. It’s not for them. [24:30] You don’t get the gospel. [24:31] You don’t even have it. [24:34] If that’s you.

[24:34] And there are so many among us that I know that is the case. [24:38] That you need to be born again. [24:39] Yet in your sin, yet in your pride, you focus on worthless things.

[24:46] Jesus pleads. [24:47] He says, come to me. [24:48] Be born again so that you can be a part of this mission. [24:50] And I plead to you. [24:52] Please be born again so that you can be a part of this mission. [24:55] God wants to use you.

[25:01] And if you care about so many other things and this is just the last of it. [25:04] Then you have not understood it because this is it.

[25:08] This is the mission.

[25:13] Friends, you should be thankful every day. [25:16] That you have heard this gospel.

[25:21] Because someone told you about it. [25:25] Do you ever think about that?

[25:28] Thank God. [25:30] Someone felt obligated to tell you about this. [25:34] Whether it was in a church service somewhat like this. [25:39] Whether it was in a Bible study. [25:40] Whether it was from a friend. [25:42] Whether it was from a family member.

[25:44] Whether it was, you know, I don’t even know. [25:45] Maybe it was on TV. [25:46] I don’t know. [25:46] But you should thank God that that person, whoever it was, felt an obligation to get this gospel to you. [25:54] And my question though is, is did that obligation that they felt, did it not transfer to you? [26:01] And if it did not transfer to you, then why did they feel it, yet you do not?

[26:08] Is the spirit that led them to you, is it not leading you to someone?

[26:17] Is it not constraining you?

[26:22] So the second question that we must deal with is why then must we give and why must we go to the unreached? [26:29] Why?

[26:32] Firstly, because their knowledge of God is only enough to damn them to hell.

[26:38] In Romans 6, 23, we have a verse that is very popular. [26:41] And here’s what it says. [26:42] This is for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [26:49] There’s two parts to that verse. [26:52] The second part is very good news. [26:55] It’s what you have.

[26:57] Very good news. [26:59] But there are two billion people in the world that only have the first part. [27:04] The wages of sin is death. [27:06] That’s all they know. [27:07] That’s all they ever will know.

[27:12] They don’t know the gospel.

[27:16] If we don’t reach them, then the first part of that verse is their future and that’s it.

[27:29] But there is no gift.

[27:34] You know, I want to think about that text and scope of the world. [27:39] Really, culture is outside of our own. [27:41] Because when I talk about the 6,500 people groups that have been unreached, [27:44] that’s what I’m talking about. [27:45] I’m talking about outside of here. [27:47] Because for a great part, we have so much access to the gospel.

[27:50] It’s crazy.

[27:53] There’s two ways that we tend to look at the world outside of us. [27:58] And whether it be because of the 24-hour news cycle that we hear more about what’s going on in the world more than we’ve ever heard before. [28:04] These are really the two polarized sides. [28:08] There really isn’t much in between. [28:10] There’s pity and there’s anger. [28:13] You see what famine has done to certain aspects of the world.

[28:18] And you pity those people.

[28:22] We eat in a breakfast what they eat in a month.

[28:28] They’re bloated and we pity them. [28:32] And then there’s the other side. [28:34] There’s anger.

[28:37] And we see what has happened. [28:41] Even in the Middle East, let’s take the Middle East for example right now, [28:43] where beheadings are taking place, where holy wars are happening, [28:47] and we feel anger.

[28:50] Why are these people like this?

[28:55] We’re just angry. [28:55] We want somebody to go stop them.

[29:00] When I think about those two ways, a few weeks ago my whole mindset was just changed. [29:06] I had a conversation with a guy who was a missionary for many years over in Africa. [29:12] And he wrote a great book called The Insanity of God. [29:15] And his name is Nick Ripken. [29:16] And he wrote this book and I was talking to him. [29:18] He was telling me about some time back in the 90s.

[29:20] And it was issues that were going on in Somalia. [29:23] And some of you are too young to remember that. [29:26] And so the modern day context would probably be what’s going on in Syria right now through ISIS [29:30] and things of that nature. [29:32] And he said, when you consider, because of the Gospel, why these things are happening, [29:37] it changes everything.

[29:39] Because our first thing to do is we look at it and we’re just so mad. [29:43] And we’re furious and we want somebody to go stop them. [29:45] But when you think about it in light of the Gospel, [29:48] they are that way because they have not heard the good news yet. [29:53] Of course they’re destructive.

[29:58] Of course they’ve invented religions. [30:00] Of course they’ve even invented violent religions. [30:03] And I make zero political statement about this whatsoever. [30:07] But what I want you to understand is, is that they have not been reached with the Gospel yet. [30:13] They’re unreached. [30:15] And when you’ve not heard the good news, all that you have is the wages of sin.

[30:19] And we have a front row seat often time to look at the wages of sin. [30:26] And when we see that, don’t feel pity. [30:29] Don’t just feel anger. [30:30] Feel obligation.

[30:36] Feel the great need. [30:37] I must do something. [30:38] I must send. [30:40] I must go. [30:41] I must give.

[30:47] Because the Gospel of God is powerful enough to save them for heaven.

[30:53] Do you believe that the same Gospel that saved you can save anyone?

[31:02] You must believe that. [31:04] You must know that. [31:07] That is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [31:10] It can save anyone. [31:12] Note what Revelation chapter 5 verses 9 and 10 says. [31:16] In the future it says they sing a new song.

[31:20] Saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals speaking of Jesus. [31:27] It says you were slain. [31:29] By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, nation. [31:36] And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. [31:43] See that last part speaking of something that is coming. [31:46] It is not here yet.

[31:47] It is the kingdom of God. [31:48] And it will be here. [31:49] I believe that. [31:51] But before that when he speaks of every tribe, language, people, nation. [31:56] He is speaking of the scope of the Gospel’s power. [31:59] That it can save anyone.

[32:02] More than that it says that it will save people from every tribe, every nation, every tongue. [32:09] Hasn’t happened yet but it will.

[32:14] And if we got behind this it could happen in one generation.

[32:21] We could reach them.

[32:25] There is not a person or a people group beyond the power of the Gospel to save.

[32:34] Not only should we believe that but we must. [32:39] And then if we believe that then we must give. [32:47] And we must go.

[32:50] Or we don’t believe that. [32:53] We have to get there with the good news. [32:56] It must be shared with others.

[33:00] Because the plan of God warrants the sacrifices of his people. [33:09] No what it says in Romans chapter 10.

[33:15] Paul writes how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed. [33:20] How are they to believe in him whom they have never heard. [33:24] How are they to hear without someone preaching. [33:26] And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written. [33:29] How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. [33:32] You see they can’t believe in what they don’t hear.

[33:37] They can’t hear unless someone tells them. [33:39] And no one will tell them if we don’t give and go.

[33:45] Do you know that in the New Testament specifically if you look at the book of Acts. [33:49] Which is really the history of the first century of the church. [33:51] You never see the gospel going forward without a human instrument.

[34:01] You never see the gospel move forward without someone telling.

[34:06] God will even supernaturally take someone to tell someone. [34:11] You say well God could just save the whole world. [34:13] But he has designed it specifically for people to be the tools through which he works. [34:20] So you are to be the tool through which God works to save people. [34:28] That is the agenda of God. [34:30] That is his mission.

[34:32] There is no discipleship apart from that mission. [34:36] There is no following Jesus apart from that mission. [34:41] This is the mission that Paul builds nine chapters of theology for us to understand. [34:47] That for people to hear you must go and you must tell them. [34:53] That is his mission. [34:54] There is no Christianity apart from this.

[35:00] There is no agenda other than this. [35:03] So if you are not making your life about telling people specifically about Jesus. [35:11] The God Savior King who redeems the world from their sins by his work on the cross. [35:17] By the power of his resurrection that you are not following.

[35:22] That is what we must understand. [35:24] The scriptures are that specific.

[35:30] Yet we attempt to muddle it.

[35:35] When we feel that obligation and when we feel that responsibility it changes things for our lives. [35:42] It changes everything. [35:44] It is always going to be the agenda. [35:46] It is always going to be the goal that we live to confess Christ to the world. [35:53] But understand something. [35:55] There are no spectators in this mission.

[35:59] Because I think some of us maybe we have that mentality. [36:04] That we are on the sidelines cheering others on. [36:09] That we are in the stands rooting for others who are living this mission. [36:13] That we ourselves are not living. [36:16] That is not true. [36:19] The mission is for all.

[36:21] You see you may view yourself as being less able than God views you as. [36:28] You may view yourself as having less potential than God views you as having. [36:35] You may view yourself as having less of God’s power than you actually have. [36:40] The Holy Spirit that worked in scripture and maybe works through people that you see working. [36:44] Maybe you think that you have less of that power than that other person. [36:48] That is not true.

[36:51] That God has redeemed you and given you great potential. [36:57] Great ability. [36:59] Great power. [36:59] How much power? [37:02] As much power as anyone else has ever had under the Holy Spirit. [37:05] Because he is still the same Holy Spirit.

[37:09] Therefore your potential where the gospel is concerned is only limited by your willingness to sacrifice for the gospel. [37:16] It is only limited by how intentional you are willing to be for the gospel of Jesus. [37:22] There are no spectators.

[37:26] You see some of you are in this amazing position in life where there is nothing tying you down. [37:33] The world is wide open. [37:35] You have so little responsibility in life that you could literally drop everything tomorrow and do whatever you want.

[37:44] And yet probably for years you have been sitting and saying, I am just trying to find the will of God for my life. [37:51] I don’t know what he wants me to do. [37:54] I will save you any more time. [37:57] There it is. [37:58] Romans 10. [38:00] You are to go and tell and then they will get saved.

[38:04] That is the will of God for your life.

[38:10] Stop looking.

[38:12] If you look any further than that, you won’t find it.

[38:20] For some of you, following this call to tell others is going to mean you are going overseas. [38:29] You are leaving the country.

[38:33] For some of you, it means you need to go to work with a different agenda tomorrow. [38:39] It means you need to go home with your kids on a different agenda today. [38:43] It means you need to look at your spouse differently this afternoon.

[38:49] But for all of us, we must understand that the mission of Jesus is urgent. [38:53] The mission of Jesus is an obligation. [38:55] The mission of Jesus to reach those who have not yet been reached is for each and every one of us.

[39:05] We recently commissioned Christy Willis to Mexico. [39:11] In just a few short months, they have already made contact with an unreached people group. [39:19] Do you see that? [39:20] Someone responds to the mission. [39:22] Somebody who is really just floating around saying, what in the world can I do for the mission of Jesus? [39:27] And then she says, okay.

[39:30] I will go. [39:32] And how does God respond?

[39:34] He says, here are some people that have never heard.

[39:38] Now they may hear.

[39:41] In five years as a church, we have been to East Asia.

[39:50] Now we have got someone from our church in southern Mexico. [39:54] And soon we will send the team to southern Mexico. [39:56] And we will go back to East Asia. [39:58] And the question is, what is our vision past that? [40:01] Where is next? [40:03] Who is next?

[40:07] Why do we care? [40:10] Because we need to send and we need to go. [40:14] And we need to sacrifice more. [40:17] Because the Son of God deserves the praises of all peoples.

[40:24] Note how Paul bookends the book of Romans. [40:29] He begins it and how he ends it. [40:31] Look in Romans chapter 1 verse 5. [40:34] He says, we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations. [40:44] Then at the very end, Romans chapter 16 verse 26. [40:46] He says, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all the nations according to the command of the eternal God.

[40:54] To bring about the obedience of faith. [40:57] Do you see the parallels? [40:58] Paul is saying, I am writing this and I wrote this so that the nations may know of God. [41:06] For what? [41:07] In chapter 16 verse 26. [41:09] Because God has commanded it so that they will be obedient to have faith.

[41:16] He begins and ends on the same note the mission of Jesus. [41:20] And he fills everything in between with that same mission.

[41:28] Here’s what I want us to understand this morning. [41:31] God has given us great wealth. [41:37] Great wealth.

[41:40] Not just to buy more stuff. [41:45] But to use it to make him known. [41:49] And more of the world.

[41:52] There’s another thing I know. [41:54] God has given us great knowledge.

[42:03] Most of the world can’t even gather like this.

[42:09] He’s given us great knowledge, not so that we can be puffed up. [42:14] Not so that we can just have it. [42:17] But so that we can tell it to the world.

[42:22] The third thing I know is that God has given us great opportunity.

[42:29] We live in an era where I can hop on a plane today and in 13 hours be all the way on the other side of the globe. [42:40] That has never before been possible in human history except for the window we live in right now.

[42:51] And he has not given us this great opportunity so that we can chase just dreams that have nothing to do with him. [43:01] Careers that have nothing to do with him. [43:03] Leisure ourselves to death with comfort.

[43:10] He’s given us this opportunity so that the nations may know Jesus.

[43:22] His fame must spread to all of the earth. [43:26] And friends, we need to accomplish it.

[43:33] This is why we are obligated for this.

[43:38] What we sacrifice for is what we value.

[43:46] And grasp this. [43:48] What I’m talking about here is the essence of what it means to live the Christian life.

[43:58] It is not extreme. [44:00] I am not this morning talking about the mission for what you may think of as super Christians. [44:06] Or people that, I mean, they’ve just got more Jesus than I have. [44:10] No, I’m not talking. [44:12] What I’m talking about here is what it means to be a Christian. [44:16] What I’m talking about here is just following Jesus.

[44:21] Because if you’re going anywhere other than this, then you’re not on the same path he’s on.

[44:27] You’re not following him. [44:29] Because this is just where he is. [44:32] And where he is going.

[44:38] And finally this morning, and so, [44:40] we give sacrificially. [44:44] And we go willingly. [44:48] This is not an option. [44:50] It is an obligation.

[44:54] It is what it means to follow Jesus. [44:58] There are so many that have never heard.

[45:09] Last year, we took part in the Laudam and Christmas offering. [45:15] And I mean, by God’s grace, we just, we saw him move in wonderful ways. [45:20] And we raised $15,000 to send missionaries out. [45:27] Missionaries like Christie Willis, one of our own, that money went so she could go.

[45:33] So Christie Willis, one of our own, that money went so she could go. [45:34] Christmas Eve, Eve, between now and then, I want you to pray with your family. [45:39] I want you to pray if it’s just you, by yourself, just you and your spouse. [45:43] Pray with your spouse. [45:45] And I want you to see what you can do. [45:48] What can you sacrifice so that we can give more.

[45:53] I’ve been told by a few people, I don’t think we’ll match what we hit last year. [45:56] I don’t think we can do that. [45:58] And just, what I’m thinking today is, [46:01] did you realize that between two services, if 100 people give $100, that’s $10,000.

[46:13] So, we can do that. Let’s agree.

[46:20] That’s, yeah.

[46:23] That’s easy.

[46:27] But there are some of you who can do more.

[46:35] There are some of you, right now, man, you could stroke a check for $1000 and you wouldn’t miss it.

[46:43] You could, 500.

[46:46] Easy. [46:47] 100? Easy. 50? Easy. 25? Easy. [46:50] 10? Easy.

[46:56] We’ve been talking about the mission of Jesus here. [46:58] Has the word easy been involved?

[47:05] So, if I’m saying that and you’re like, easy. [47:08] Whatever easy is, double that. [47:11] That’s what you do.

[47:15] So, you’re like, 1000. [47:17] We can do that. [47:18] On a byline, a little bit more on tax at the end. [47:22] Uncle Sam won’t take so much. [47:25] Then write, 2000. [47:26] If 500, 1000.

[47:28] If 100, 200. [47:30] If 50, 100. If 20, 40. If 10, 20.

[47:34] If it’s one, two.

[47:39] Let’s just get real here. [47:42] I’ve got some 10 year olds in here. [47:44] If 50, one. [47:46] Since.

[47:52] I’ve got envelopes at all six communion stations. [47:57] If you’re ready today, be ready. [47:59] But I don’t think that’s most of you. [48:00] I think some of you need to get along with your Bible and get along with God. [48:03] And deal with Him. [48:05] Say, what do you want from me right now in my life?

[48:08] Because He knows your bank account. You know your bank account.

[48:14] Now, 100% is going to the IMB. [48:19] And 100% will go to sin.

[48:23] That I promise.

[48:25] On Christmas Eve, we’ll take up the final offering for this. [48:28] But between now and then, you can give. [48:30] Just make sure it’s in that envelope so we know.

[48:35] But friends.

[48:41] I was watching in that video.

[48:47] I’m only going to say this in second service because his family was in the first.

[48:54] But in that video, there was a moment that the IMB caught of me praying.

[49:03] With a man by the name of Paul Daniel.

[49:08] He passed away a few months ago of cancer. [49:11] I was actually praying that day for God to heal him.

[49:16] God saw fit to take Paul home. [49:18] He was a believer.

[49:21] I’m so confident in that. [49:24] But for some reason, I was watching that this morning. [49:28] I thought to myself, there are so many all over the world. [49:34] We’re going to die today. [49:36] And they’ve never heard.

[49:41] And I’ve done nothing.

[49:48] Guys, we’ve got to do this.

[49:52] We’ve got to ascend and we’ve got to go. [49:54] We’ve got to give.

[49:57] I believe that if all churches involved truly believed in the mission of Jesus. [50:01] We could truly do this. [50:02] We could do it together. [50:05] As the band comes up.

[50:12] Every week, we partake in communion.

[50:19] What this is.

[50:22] Is a celebration.

[50:25] That we’ve been reached. [50:28] And in everything that you hear today, don’t lose sight of that.

[50:34] I’ve been reached with the gospel. [50:36] I will never pay for my sins.

[50:41] Because of the cross and because of the resurrection. [50:44] There’s coming a day where I will stand before God in perfect joy. [50:49] Don’t even know what that’s going to be like. [50:50] But in perfect joy, I will worship him forever.

[50:58] If you’re in here this morning and you believe in the gospel, that’s you.

[51:04] So this morning, I want us to celebrate through worship. [51:07] The blood represents, the cup represents his shed blood. [51:11] The bread represents his broken body.

[51:18] Shed and broken for you. [51:19] For me.

[51:22] As you come to celebrate that life that you have been given. [51:24] Because of Jesus Christ. [51:25] Here’s what I want you to do. [51:28] I want you to eat and I want you to drink freely. [51:30] Because Jesus has taken the barriers down.

[51:34] But then I want you to give and I want you to go. [51:37] When you’re ready. [51:39] Come.