Acts 14

[0:00] Growing with children, growing with people. It's an exciting time in the life of Shoreline.! I'm glad that I'm in the country and you're in between series.

[0:14] ! I had the opportunity to come and just share with you. Some of you have been a part of prayer for what God is doing throughout the nations as I head out each time.

[0:27] And I just want to personally thank you, any of you who have joined in in prayer. Some of you say, we don't even know who you are, much less pray for you. And that's okay too.

[0:39] But I just want to thank those who have joined in in prayer. Because this prayer and this men's prayer ministry that's starting up is the powerhouse for the church.

[0:51] It's where the church moves out and moves out with power. So, I praise God for Shoreline and glad to be here. As I look around though, when I saw Rob up here with shorts on, I've got a sweater.

[1:07] And Matt has short sleeves. We're all in different places in life. And I've got to keep warm. As I'm away in Africa and India, my chemistry actually changes.

[1:20] And I come back here, come back home, and I'm freezing all the time. So, if I ever come back in the next few months, I'll probably have two overcoats and even more on.

[1:33] If we could begin just looking at a map with the first slide. This map is a map of Paul's travels.

[1:46] And the reason I want you to look at it is because this started what we're doing today. Everything that Shoreline is about today, this is where it began.

[1:57] And the world was impacted and is still being impacted. But the way it was impacted in the early church is an amazing thing. If you look at this map, we know that all of really Christianity started in Jerusalem.

[2:15] That's where Jesus was crucified, just outside of Jerusalem. He rose again in a tomb right there in Jerusalem. But quickly, over a period of years, persecution started pushing the church north.

[2:32] And as it pushed the church north, there came an amazing church called the Antioch Church right up here. Roughly 300 miles north of Jerusalem.

[2:45] It was there that the Great Commission actually took force and went out in a forceful way. No longer was it persecution that was driving the church to fulfill the mission of Jesus, but they intentionally went after it.

[3:02] They began with prayer. They were seeking God. They were seeing, just like Shoreline, people coming to faith in Jesus right in their locale.

[3:13] They were also then, as they sought God, sending out people. They were sending out some of their best. It was from Antioch that Paul and Barnabas, two of the key leaders in the church of Antioch, were first sent out.

[3:29] Now, what I want you to see, though, in this map as we begin today, is that when the church sent out Paul and Barnabas from Antioch, how long did it take for the gospel to go from Antioch all the way over to Rome?

[3:47] How long? You know, I ask this question wherever I go, all over the world. I ask, how long do you think it took the gospel to spread from Antioch all the way to Rome?

[4:00] Some people say probably 50 years. It probably took Paul most of his lifetime to get there. I say, no, not quite. And some will say, well, 60 or 70 years?

[4:13] No, we're going the wrong way. Well, it must be 30 years. No. The real answer to this question of how long did it take the church of Antioch to spread the gospel all the way through the known world at the time and to Rome was a little over 10 years.

[4:33] A little over 10 years. That the gospel was making progress all over the world. Now, last week, Jordan here was talking about gospel ministry and how it's a team ministry and how Paul in the end of Colossians was naming people that were on his team.

[4:54] Nobody goes alone. All ministry is team ministry. All ministry is the body of Christ going out.

[5:04] But what I do want you to see is that there was something fantastic happening in the first century that we need to recapture today. Too often, it becomes a matter of church looking inward and just trying to keep everybody here happy or even just looking at the local place.

[5:27] But in the original church, they were going far and they were having lasting impact. So we could have the next slide. Today, what we want to look at is just our ministry of lasting impact.

[5:43] And I'd like to begin with prayer. Father, thank you that you have given us your incredible spirit to do the work of God.

[5:53] And thank you for what you are doing here at Shoreline and what you're doing all over the world. We pray that we could recapture so much of what Paul was about and that this would be a consuming fire, as we've just sung, to send us out to the world.

[6:16] So, Lord, thank you. Holy Spirit, have your way. You're our teacher. May the word of God be alive because you're alive in our midst. In Jesus' name, amen.

[6:28] Our ministry of lasting impact. If you take a look at Matthew 24, 14. Now, this may have been in your bulletin last week because that was the focus verse.

[6:40] And we'll just read this and make a couple of comments. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to nations.

[6:52] And then the end will come. I find that as people are looking at the violence in our world, the violence in Texas just recently in a small church in a small town, when people are looking at earthquakes and then they're seeing what's happening with North Korea.

[7:11] And are we going to move into World War III? People are all beginning to think about the end. Are we headed to Armageddon? Are we going to be in the last days of history?

[7:25] People are asking that kind of question. But Jesus tells us something in Matthew 24, 14, that the end cannot come until this gospel of the kingdom goes throughout the whole world.

[7:43] Now, we know that that is happening now. But we know that there are still places we must go. What I'd like you to look at in Matthew 24, 14 is the word nations.

[7:58] If you take a look at that word, we often think of that when we see the word translated nations, we think of countries. That the gospel must go to all countries.

[8:11] And that's true. That is true. But the word in the original language for nation is ethnos, where we get ethnic. And what Jesus is saying more than just go and get a few converts in India or go to Kenya and see that a few come to faith, what he is saying is that every people group must be reached.

[8:40] When he uses the word ethnos, he's saying ethnic groups. And that this gospel must go to every ethnic group. And then the end will come.

[8:52] I get the opportunity and great blessing to travel so many places. But one of the craziest places I go is India.

[9:03] And in India, you have over 2,000 people groups with all their languages. And what Jesus is saying, I want all of them.

[9:16] I do not want one left out. I'm going to tell you about a couple of people groups in India that I was just recently trying to reach and ask you to pray that we would reach them.

[9:30] What I want you to see in Matthew 24, 14 is our work isn't done. And that we, as a church, must be both local and global in all that we do.

[9:43] As a matter of fact, that was the very heart of Jesus, as we see in Acts 1, 8. Jesus telling his first followers that they would be filled with power.

[9:55] That word power is dunamis in Greek. And it means dynamite power. That the Holy Spirit would come upon you. And you will have supernatural power.

[10:08] But supernatural power to do what? To come and be witnesses, he says. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

[10:21] And some of you know this passage well. But what I'd like you to see is that the DNA of the Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit.

[10:32] It's not a DNA that causes us to circle together and let the world just fall into darkness. But the Holy Spirit, when it would come upon people, they would have a heart for the world.

[10:48] Now Jesus said that it will move out in progressions. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But what he's really saying with all of them is that I want all of these to be taking place at the same time.

[11:02] He doesn't mean reach Jerusalem the best you can and then forsake it and go on to Judea. And when you've got a few disciples there, move on to Samaria and continue this process until you go to the world.

[11:21] That is not what he's saying. He is saying I want all of these to be going on simultaneously. So God's heart for your Jerusalem right here in New London is that you would have a vital church always that is making disciples of New Londoners.

[11:44] But it is a church that while doing that is going to the ends of the earth. Jesus expects all. Now this is our ministry of lasting impact.

[11:57] If we only consider locally or even globally to the neglect of the others, we will not have lasting impact. Let's look at this.

[12:10] We find in Acts 14 the ministry of Paul with his team. And it is a ministry of lasting impact.

[12:21] What I'd like you to see in these first verses in Acts 14 is that if we're going to have a ministry of lasting impact, it will demand something of us.

[12:34] And it will demand courageous faith. Let's read the word. Acts 14 verses 19 to 20. We see lived out right before us a courageous faith.

[13:11] Courageous faith means somebody is going to get hurt. When I go to countries and we work together in reaching all people groups, we know that someone is going to get hurt.

[13:27] In this process, we are not insulated from the world and insulated from the fallenness of the world. And somebody may get hurt.

[13:38] And as a matter of fact, some people may die. And that's why it demands courageous faith. It's a faith that overcomes this tendency all of us have for self-protection.

[13:52] I've got it. I don't want to suffer. I don't want anybody to hate me. I don't want anybody to hurt me. But it's a courageous faith inspired by the Holy Spirit that moves forward even in persecution.

[14:09] This is the kind of courageous faith that God is inspiring in our day all over the world. But I want you to see with the Apostle Paul in these verses that he not only was hurt, they stoned him, left him for dead.

[14:26] But when the disciples came around, there was a power to overcome. What did they do when they gathered around him? Well, my dear brother with the men's ministry, I'm sure they prayed.

[14:38] But whatever happened, Paul could have been dead. Maybe he died and was raised again. I've heard of stories like that.

[14:49] In India, near Hyderabad, in a place called Managuru. I've been to places where great persecution has taken place.

[15:01] One man, he was beaten. And then they went out to like a quicksand mud pit. They turned him upside down and put him in to suffocate him to die.

[15:14] As the believers gathered around this man, they prayed for him. And they pulled him back out of the mud after he had been there for a long enough time to be clearly dead.

[15:28] And all of the persecutors had left. And they pulled him out. And they prayed over him. And he coughed and he spit up all of this mud. And he lives even today.

[15:39] What has happened to Paul is happening today. A courageous faith that says, even if you kill me, I will go forward.

[15:51] This is what is happening today. Please take a look at this man in case this is being recorded. I'm only going to call him B to keep his name, his real name, hidden.

[16:05] B, the letter B, is a man like a few I've ever met. I want you to look closely at his face. You would think this is a young man younger than he is because of his features.

[16:20] But this is a man with the face of an angel in the heart of a warrior. I'm going to bring him up a little bit later.

[16:31] But I wanted you to see him now. Because he is a man who came to faith in India. Wasn't easy. Not in that Hindu culture. But he not only came to faith, but he goes after becoming a Christian to Nepal.

[16:47] And he's in prayer before God. He's in the word. And here's what God's spirit said to him. You're going to have to die to self in order to serve me. Well, haven't we heard that message?

[16:59] Of course we have. That's what Jesus said. Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, then you can't be my disciple. And he heard that message very clearly.

[17:11] And so he said, Lord, I am yours. And then the Holy Spirit, speaking through the word and into his heart, said this. I mean more than just a spiritual act.

[17:24] You may die for me. Now, I'm telling him in advance. And he says, I'll still go. So I want you to look at B.

[17:35] And I want you to remember him. I want you to pray for him. He is willing to go to a people group in India. I'll mention them later. And give his life.

[17:46] And I'm telling you. If the Holy Spirit opens the door and he gets there the way he thinks, he may be killed within just a few hours of landing on their island.

[18:01] B. Has a courageous faith. God is calling us who live in America, who do not suffer in the same way, to have this same courageous faith.

[18:13] And we need the Holy Spirit to move upon us. Mike is the worship team with a consuming fire that we would love God more than our own life.

[18:25] That would be a radical change in America. The faith that impacts the world and has a lasting impact is a faith that is courageous.

[18:37] Let's look at this. But it's also, it's a ministry of lasting impact stays connected at home. And that's why I'm here. And not just me, but this Sunday.

[18:52] It's why I'm here. So that I can stay connected with Shoreline. I can stay connected in Connecticut. I can stay connected here where I have gone out.

[19:03] Notice, and this is out of line with the passage in Acts 14, because we're going to come back and spend a little bit more time in some verses.

[19:15] But let's read verses 26 to 28. And this is at the end of the passage we're looking at. And it says, And from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled.

[19:31] And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.

[19:45] Here is Paul and Barnabas finishing their first missionary journey and coming back to the Antioch we saw on the map. Why?

[19:56] To stay connected. That God had sent them out, and God had done miraculous things, and now come back. Why? Because we at home need to share in the great things that are happening in the nations.

[20:16] May I share with you one? Take a look at this. This is the border between Rwanda and Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

[20:27] I was scheduled to cross that border and head into Congo and train leaders and church planters for church planting movements in their country.

[20:40] But something happened. While we're there in the border of Rwanda and Congo, I'm denied access. You cannot go.

[20:52] The Rwandan brother can go, not you. And then they looked over at my Zambian, my African brother from Zambia, and they said, you too can't go. We were denied access.

[21:04] So here we are. I took this picture, and we were quickly asked to leave. You know, you're not allowed to take pictures at borders. Any travelers here know that.

[21:16] But I quickly snapped this shot with my telephone. And it was a reminder to me. This border is closed.

[21:27] I can't get into Congo. But as we stood there, we prayed, and we reminded Jesus of something He said. He said, and I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[21:42] But this gate has prevented us. Lord, how do you fulfill your promise? How will this gate keep us from progressing the kingdom?

[21:54] And so we prayed. We didn't know what God would do. But I want to tell you, the gate didn't fly open, and the immigration officer didn't run and embrace me and say, oh, we'll let you go.

[22:07] As a matter of fact, he came quickly out and said, get out of no man's land. No more pictures. You get out of here. And here's what happened. Let's look at the next slide.

[22:18] The people came to us. Because they have freedom to move between Congo and Rwanda, they came out and met with us. And this is only a handful of the leaders we worked with.

[22:30] All of these hungering for the word of God said, we're not going to be denied. And so we had our training right there on the border between Rwanda and Congo.

[22:46] God has his ways. And the gates of hell will not prevail against him. Why? Because Jesus promised, I will build my church.

[22:58] Who's going to stop him? No one. And no gate at a border. Our ministry of lasting impact must have courageous faith, must stay connected.

[23:12] And so I bring you to Congo. I bring you to Rwanda to bring back the good things that God is doing. But now let's look at the passage that I really want us to look at about our ministry of impact.

[23:24] That advances the gospel locally and globally. Acts 14 verses 21 to 22. And when they preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.

[23:44] And what were they doing? Strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in their faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

[23:58] So I just want you to note two things here. Preach the gospel. Strengthen those who come to faith. Let's look at how the ministry continued.

[24:09] Acts 14 verses 23 to 25. And when they appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

[24:23] Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italia. Note two things. Appointed elders.

[24:36] Leadership development. And then they moved on. They went to new places. I've mentioned four things in Paul's strategy for ministry that is the ministry of lasting impact.

[24:52] So let's just look at these a little closer. Here's what it looks like. Now, I give this to you up front and then we'll just try to break it down in just a few minutes and peel back and unpack some of it.

[25:06] We call this the Antioch model because it was the church that sent them out. And this Antioch model had four phases in it. If we start at the top, the first thing Paul would do would be evangelize.

[25:21] We'll talk about that in a moment. And then he would go back to the other one for a moment, please. And then he would establish them in the faith, equip leaders for work, and then expand.

[25:34] That is our ministry method here. It's got to be. Now, most of us aren't going to go anywhere. Some of us are. But we all are involved in this kind of global and local ministry that advances the gospel.

[25:54] As Jordan preached, it will take a team. But all of us are moving in the same direction. Now let's look at this a little closer.

[26:06] The first thing when Paul and Barnabas would go into a place, or you're here in Shoreline, is they would evangelize. The first thing that they would do is lift up the name of Jesus Christ.

[26:23] They would preach Him and Him crucified. You know, it's amazing today that when we see churches growing on television, often they start with their audience and say, I want to tell you how you can have a more comfortable life.

[26:41] Or I want to tell you how to be successful in this or that. And I want to tell you. And it starts with us rather than, as Paul, it always starts and ends with Jesus.

[26:53] It's about Him. And as we lift Him up, Jesus said, If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. You see, the purpose of the gospel is not preaching how we can get along a little more comfortably.

[27:11] The gospel is Jesus. Right? Let's look at it. 1 Corinthians 2.2 When Paul showed up in Corinth, he said, I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

[27:30] Now, would you think about that a moment? Nothing else. This is my message. They were known for debating philosophy and psychology.

[27:40] They were known for their orators who would give great speeches. Paul said, I didn't even come as an orator. I can't even talk well. I was with you with fear and trembling.

[27:55] So different from the one who dresses for success. And their message seems to show I've made it in this world.

[28:06] I was in Rwanda one time training. Excuse me. It was Kenya. I was in Kenya. And there's this very finely dressed man. And he said, if we don't...

[28:18] I'm dressed down from what I am now. And he says, if we don't dress for success, nobody will ever listen to our message. That's what he said in a group meeting.

[28:28] I said, really? Is that in the Bible? The Bible tells us that Paul was nothing to look at.

[28:40] He was far from worldly success. You know, some of the indications from early writers say he had a hooked nose. Perhaps he had bow legs.

[28:53] And some think his eyesight was bad. And here he comes in preaching the gospel. Oh, you're a success. As a matter of fact, Corinth, where he came and preached Jesus crucified, if we look at 2 Corinthians 10.10, it says that even his preaching amounted to nothing.

[29:13] They didn't even like him. You know, when we make the gospel about us, we lose power.

[29:25] But when it's about Jesus, the power to transform lives happens. I decided, Paul said, this wasn't just floating through life.

[29:41] I made a decision. And the decision, when I was with you, was to know nothing except Jesus and Him crucified.

[29:52] If we read about this in Acts 14, verses 5 through 7, we read, when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they learned of it, and they fled to Lystra and Derbe and cities of Lyconia and to the surrounding country.

[30:15] And notice verse 7. And there they continued to preach the gospel. Now what we read here is that Paul didn't just say, go ahead and kill me.

[30:27] He was practical. But wherever he went, he still continued to preach the gospel. Gospel ministry.

[30:37] It's advancing the kingdom through the crucified Savior and Him alone. Take a look at this. I had to go to a phone kiosk on a dirt road in Uganda.

[30:54] I'm here in Bugiri, Uganda. As I was there, I go to get a SIM card for my phone. Didn't work, so I had to go back.

[31:06] And I had seen Ismail in my previous trip, so months before, and he remembered me. So Ismail and I are talking about my phone and we're sitting there and he's doing things on my phone.

[31:19] Then he says something to me. He says, I have a question for you. He said, my mother was a Christian. My dad, Muslim. And my mother died.

[31:32] And in the Quran, these are his words. I haven't studied the Quran to this nature. Here's what he said. The Quran says you can't pray for an infidel after they die.

[31:44] My mother is known as an infidel because she was a Christian. What does the Bible say? Can you pray for my mom? I said, Ismail, thank you.

[31:56] For sharing this very difficult part of your life. I thank you. And I would like to tell you, my understanding of the Bible is this. We can pray for anybody.

[32:08] But I said, the Bible says something very clear about those who are in Christ. And your mother had faith in him. And it says, absent from the body and present with the Lord.

[32:21] I said, Ismail, would you consider this? Your mom doesn't need prayer. You do. And he looked at me. I said, Ismail, you loved your mother and I believe you want to see her again one day.

[32:38] And I want to tell you how you can do that. And I shared with him the gospel that Jesus died for his sins. It's about him. I mentioned him crucified. And I said, Ismail, God is allowing this circumstance to draw you to him.

[32:55] Would you like to receive Jesus today? He said, how can I? How can one raised his whole life in Islam become a Christian in one day?

[33:07] I said, it's very easy. And I'm not asking you to change all of your activities. That is not the point. The point is putting your faith and having a relationship with Jesus.

[33:22] Ismail said, I would like to, but I can't today. So why do I have his picture before you? So you'll pray.

[33:33] We talked about the prayer sheets that I brought. His name is mentioned. And if you pick up one of these on the table on the way out, just remember to pray for Ismail.

[33:45] I said, Ismail, I understand. Maybe you need to think about this. Why don't you read the gospel of John? And in it, just ask God as you know him, whoever you know God to be, Allah, you ask him, would you show me who Jesus is?

[33:59] Just show me who he is. And what does he want from me? I'll be back in Bugiri probably in, if not in January, it will be March.

[34:16] I'm no longer going to go to the phone booth to get a SIM card. I'm going to see Ismail. I'm going to seek him out. And I pray that this evangelism would bear fruit.

[34:31] And because of your prayers, I'd come back with a great report. Would you join with me in that? You can go with me to see Ismail simply by praying.

[34:41] Paul would lift up Jesus and him crucified. And as he lifted him up, people came to faith. And that would lead him to the next phase of ministry. And that is establish.

[34:55] New converts are like new babies. They need a lot of attention. They need to be built up and encouraged.

[35:06] How do we establish believers? We strengthen and encourage them in the faith. Look at Acts 14 again. Acts 14, verses 21 to 22.

[35:19] Here's what we read. When they had preached the gospel in that city, they made many disciples and they returned. Go back to Lystra, to Iconium, to Antioch.

[35:31] They'd already had one trip evangelizing. Now they return. And what was their purpose? Verse 22. Strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

[35:50] What was their follow-up program like? It was saying that you're going to be challenged and you're going to face hardship.

[36:01] Coming to Christ is not this cloud nine where all of your problems fall away. Through many tribulations, we enter the kingdom of God.

[36:12] Now, I'd like you to think about that just for a moment. Some of you are having a hard time. Your family has rejected you, perhaps for Christian reasons that you've put faith in Christ, or perhaps it's other reasons.

[36:31] There's just tension. You face tribulations of various kinds that have taxed you and pulled you down. And often, people wrestle with, if I came to God, why is all of this happening?

[36:45] That's why Peter would say later, when you go through trials, don't think something strange is happening to you. It's not strange. It's purifying your faith.

[37:01] It's also making you strong. Let's look at the map once more of Paul. And the reason I wanted you to look at it is that this has all of his missionary journeys, all three of them.

[37:14] But I want you just to focus on this area right here. Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe that we're reading about in Acts 14. Notice, in all three, you've got all three colors because every journey he went on, he went there.

[37:30] Every one. He always went further. He didn't just stay there, but he did stop there. And then he would keep pressing on to further fields.

[37:42] This is what we said in Acts 1-8. We continue building up while pressing on into new areas. Every church must adopt a ministry of lasting impact.

[37:56] Paul went one time to preach the gospel and three more times to build up and strengthen the disciples. Too often in evangelism, people are left to their own and we must focus on strengthening them in the midst of their own persecution and trials.

[38:15] Here's what it means to establish. The Greek word for strengthening the disciples is sterizo. Sterizo means to fix or fasten in a place so that it can stand on its own.

[38:32] That's what it means to fix or fasten in a place. So often, God will use a church planter for a group of people. And the church planter is the stake that helps the tree become strong and grow up.

[38:48] It's also the way it works with new believers. But yeah, go ahead. And so to establish means to be that stake until it can stand on its own.

[39:01] That means some of us have a place in a church only for a short period of time. Doesn't mean all of us, but some of us.

[39:14] Sterizo. That's why here in Bugiri, in our dirtiest place, I mean, when we walked into this place, this looks like the Taj Mahal compared to the rooms we actually stayed in.

[39:31] Dirty. I don't even want to go there. I found God in sacred places, in the dirtiest places I've been in the world. And here is my brother Henry up with his hands out expressing training for leaders.

[39:49] This is making, this is Sterizo taking place so that these leaders could do the work of God in the plan that he has for them. Henry is from Zambia.

[40:01] He's the one with me that was denied going into Congo. We work with, the next slide, with men and women. And there are women. This woman, while she was in our training, was fasting for three days.

[40:14] I kept saying to her before I knew that, why don't you eat lunch next day? Come on, we're having lunch. Fasting three days because she was about to go to a women's ministry in a prison and I want to be ready.

[40:30] May we adopt their way. You see, when we lift up Christ and we evangelize and we establish, the next thing that we do is equip the body. And equipping the body for the Apostle Paul is more than just let's have a Bible study.

[40:49] It is appointing leaders with prayer and fasting. It's what it means. It means that we've got to have solid leaders here. Matt, thank you for just saying to the church today, we need another elder.

[41:05] Great. May you have all of the leaders that you need. But not just to meet your needs, but to be a church of lasting impact like the church of Antioch.

[41:19] Here's how Paul would equip the church in Acts 14, 23. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

[41:34] church, you already have some very solid leaders here. I pray that you would fast and pray for them and that they would fast and pray for one another and for you.

[41:52] It's what happens with these leaders. These leaders are from South Sudan. Because of genocide, they've been driven out of their country. They are now in refugee camps in Uganda and in Kenya.

[42:09] I want you to remember them. I'm not going to give you their names. I just want you to remember them. I'll be going back there, Lord willing, in January.

[42:22] And we need to build into these appointed elders so that church planting movements can spread in the refugee camps and even into northern Sudan where people are dying.

[42:40] Here's what we do when we equip leaders. We get them in the Word. It's pretty simple. These are Congolese leaders studying the Word of God with a voracious hunger that I am praying even come back home here in America.

[42:55] America. So Paul would evangelize, establish, equip, appoint leaders and all with this purpose. Not to make the club better.

[43:07] Not to have a country club with all of our needs met. To expand. We're talking about spontaneous growth and multiplying of new churches and new converts.

[43:21] leaders. The reason Paul built leaders is so that we can move out. Now not everybody's going to leave. But if we follow the Antioch model you might send out two of your key leaders.

[43:37] Matt, I don't know. This is not a prophetic word. But you're a key leader in this place. Has God called you here for life? Or are you going to expand?

[43:50] I don't know. I just know that when we develop leaders and hold on to them and they're part of us and we're not going to release them we have lost the heart and DNA of the Holy Spirit who says we must expand.

[44:06] And the church in the first century had spontaneous growth. Boom! They moved out. Look at the Antioch church.

[44:20] And I think I'm just about finished. And I want you to see once again they came back to Antioch. They came back.

[44:31] They went and spread the word in other places. But they did it because expansion was the DNA of the Antioch church. The Holy Spirit set apart for me Barnabas and Saul two of their five key leaders.

[44:46] Two of the five. that's amazing. We're going to leave you with three but we're taking two for the work to which I've called them then after fasting and prayer they sent them off.

[45:02] Let's go to the next one. Here's one place that's hard to go to. It's called Andaman Islands. This is where I was in my last trip.

[45:13] And North Sentinel Island. These are islands of India. And on these islands are some of the unreached people groups we must reach in our day.

[45:28] Here's a picture of them. These are the Sinteles people. The Sinteles people are on North Sentinel Island and they are spear throwing demonic filled people.

[45:43] Somebody's got to reach them. I want to tell you that I did not take this picture. There are other people groups like them like the Jarawas that are on Andaman Island.

[45:55] I didn't take a picture and here's why. If you pull out your cell phone while you're near these people and you can't get near them first of all without major things happening.

[46:07] But if you just simply snap a picture they will find you and it's seven years hard labor in prison. The government of India is trying to protect them and won't let outsiders in.

[46:22] So a fair-skinned white guy like me probably is not going to have a major impact there. But I can go and fast and pray and work with those who will go.

[46:36] Here's some that are. This particular pastor right between Tim Bunn, my dear brother and myself, this man here, he was in prison for trying to reach the Jarawas, another people group.

[46:54] This young man right here, I'll call him Jay, just married in May, but he said a year ago God put the Sintelese people on his heart.

[47:06] If he goes there, somebody's going to get hurt. And his wife says, not you. And he's praying, I don't know how to do this. Next. And we're back to B.

[47:18] What I didn't tell you about B earlier was what's in his hand. Take a look. Maybe you can't read it because it's a little small. It's a waterproof Bible.

[47:31] I've never seen a waterproof Bible. Maybe you have. Every one of the pages are plastic, very thin plastic. And I said to B, why a waterproof Bible?

[47:42] And he said, we can't reach the Sintelese. You cannot land a boat there. And so I'm going to try to get on a fishing boat and get as close as I can. And I'm going to strap my Bible to my body.

[47:54] And it's the only thing I'm taking and I'm swimming to shore. Now, I tell you that coming from a man, B, who has no sensation, he's not trying to win a man.

[48:08] Oh, aren't I special? It's because of what went back in Nepal. If B, this sweet looking man, makes it to shore, he'll probably be speared to death.

[48:20] If not, the Indian government may come and arrest him. I wish I could tell you more about B. There's more to his story, but I can't unveil because we've got to protect him.

[48:33] but he's got a calling on his life that says that he would love reaching an unreached people group more than protecting his life.

[48:44] Next. here it is. This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to the ethnos, the people groups.

[49:01] And then the end will come. Next. the one thing we haven't mentioned, and I don't have time to develop it, but you'll take it because you know it.

[49:15] This strategy of lasting impact is from the Holy Spirit and empowered by him. This is why he came at Pentecost.

[49:29] It's the only proven method, if we could go next, it's the only proven method that will break through the walls and go down the roads to hard places. Next. Some of those hard places that are in Africa.

[49:43] And I thank you for praying, but Lord willing, in January I'll be over here in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and over in this area, and then flying over here, once again, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda.

[49:55] We're reaching this area. We've got open doors to Tanzania, and you know from reading the papers, all of the trouble in Zimbabwe, God's taking us there.

[50:09] In Liberia, is my dear brother Abraham. I've shown this picture to you again, but pray for him. Abraham is the leader of leaders and wants to see his country on fire for Christ.

[50:20] Next. These two, Ibrima and Stephen. Ibrima, he is in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Lord willing, January.

[50:34] I just met them in my last training. I don't have a relationship with them. They said, please come to our country. Next. And the South Sudanese, I'll be working with them in the refugee camps.

[50:47] And we're asking God to bust doors open in South Sudan and North Sudan. here's the ministry of lasting impact. Just a summary.

[50:59] It demands courageous faith. It remains connected at home, but it always advances. It doesn't sit still. It advances the gospel locally and globally.

[51:12] Next. And there you have it. It's the only ministry proven to have lasting impact.

[51:23] it's the ministry I want to be a part of until I die. How about you? I want to conclude in prayer.

[51:35] I don't know. Do we have something after prayer? Okay. Just prayer and then conclude, Mike? Yeah. Thank you, Lord.

[51:53] Lord, we with every step we thank you. How good you are. How powerful you are. To make us better than we are on our own, to take us places we would never go in our own decision.

[52:12] Thank you for some of these that we've talked about. Be, Lord, we lift him to you. We pray for an empowerment of the spirit and that you would guide him very carefully.

[52:22] Oh, Lord, we would pray for protection. But we ask, may all the ethnos come to know you in our lifetime.

[52:34] A bold move of God from Connecticut to the world. God, I thank you for Shoreline, Lord, and I pray that this would always be a church of lasting impact and every person in it very vital to the team.

[52:52] I pray you'd send some out. You keep some back. But I pray we would fulfill what is on your heart in the DNA of the Holy Spirit that you would work in us that this would be accomplished, that every ethnic group would be reached and that we would not stop until that happens.

[53:17] Burn like a consuming fire. Work in a God. And Lord, I just wonder if today that you're just working in some key people and you're stirring them and they don't even know where it will lead.

[53:33] But Holy Spirit, I thank you that you guide us. So lead them. But I pray coming from Shoreline would be a ministry of impact for the whole world.

[53:47] And thank you that in some way that we're connected this way. Some going, others staying, but all in the ministry of impact.

[54:02] Holy Spirit, have your way and lead us until all know Jesus, who was crucified and risen again.

[54:14] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.