[0:00] So I am going to take a quick opportunity. If you guys recognize in your bulletin, there is a quick introduction about our guest speaker.
[0:11] I get the pleasure of introducing you to my friend Gary. Gary and I had the opportunity of meeting at summer camp when he was a bright, bushy-tailed graduate of Trinity Western University.
[0:25] And I was a graduate of Western University. Gary was the tennis instructor at the camp that we served at. Yes, it was a tough Christian camp.
[0:36] And Gary epitomized everything that I hated about tennis players. Tall, always wore white. You know, he just had this way about him. But second year, we got to live together.
[0:47] And I think that solidified our friendship. Because, you know, when you're in Ontario, you really don't like BC people too much. You know that? You guys don't know that. There's a little bit of tension. But he's actually from Ontario.
[0:58] He's got a great love for the Lord. And he's from Oakville, actually. So Ray will be familiar with that. And he married his lovely wife, Marina, who's here as well. She's originally from South Africa.
[1:10] And they have their youngest daughter, Ivy. So they have four children in all. They've got Zachary. Who is, is it Zachary or just Zach? Just Zach. Just quick to the point.
[1:21] He's at the University of Guelph. And that was a bit of a stretch, letting their son go. So just in case you didn't know, they spent many years in Africa and are now presently in Greece.
[1:31] They actually oversee other church planners and missionaries in Africa and in Europe. Big responsibility. So, you know, Gary has certainly embraced that ethos.
[1:44] Gary has always been about evangelism, where he met his wife at their church, where they served, playing tennis, of course. But he certainly passed on that responsibility to his children as well, wanting them to know the truth of the gospel and just as their children walk.
[2:00] So setting Zach loose in the world. And then there's Maya, their second oldest. She's now going to be University of Waterloo. So releasing her to the wild, so to speak. So, you know, that's a, you guys know what it is to release your kids to university.
[2:13] But for them, it's a whole other continent away. And then they have their other son, Silas, who's still in grade 11, and Ivy, who loves dogs. So she's fitting at her house quite well with all the dogs there.
[2:26] So, Gary, I'm going to have you come up. So Gary's a graduate of T, Trinity Western, Regent, McMaster, and Acadia. We share an affinity for peanut M&Ms.
[2:38] And Gary was actually there supporting me at the first time I ever preached. We had a common friend who asked me to come and preach.
[2:48] And Gary was there supporting, and he went on to start ministry. So what's encouraging for me is, I don't know how long. I was at their wedding. And I think after that, we really haven't connected until this weekend.
[3:01] So there's like 22 years. We still remain close over email, phone, but he followed the Lord to Europe. I was down in the States and back in Canada. So I can't tell you how much of a joy it is to have them visiting.
[3:12] Hmm. Security, we need to meet young brothers in the Lord, right? So I'm going to get unemotional now. I'm going to get a little steely. We're going to pray just for him to bring God's word to us.
[3:26] Dear Father, we just thank you for Gary's obedience and his wife's obedience and just following you. They have a love for the grandeur of God. And Gary loves to share that passion with anybody who will listen to him.
[3:40] We give you thanks for his ministry that he had in Kenya and just training church planners and evangelists. And now he gets to go to Greece and do it in a country which has, out of 10 million people, there's only 40,000 Christians that live there as evangelicals and fathers.
[3:55] So he is in the trenches and he loves sharing. He loves seeing his kids grow to be like-minded Christ followers of you. And just as I think back, I give you thanks for the years of friendship and encouragement that we've been to one another just as the Lord has taken us in different directions.
[4:15] But we rejoice that you have continued to grow our faith and our longing to see your name be taken to all the nations. We ask these things in your name we pray.
[4:27] Amen. Just a quick one before I hand it over to him. You guys know Daniel Henderson? He actually comes from the same supporting church. So we have that connection as well. So he's kind of connected to us in a few different ways.
[4:38] So let's give him a warm welcome as he comes to bring his word, God's word. Thank you so much. And what it is to come and visit with BK and Daniela and Jordan and Andrew and to be welcomed by their three dogs.
[4:54] What a, just a thrill to be here in Squamish. There is great beauty on the outside of this building. But from BK and talking to him over the last day, I've come to understand the beauty of the Lord in this place, in Squamish Baptist Church.
[5:11] And he's shared with me your hearts. And so it's such a privilege to be here again with BK. As he has mentioned, I've known him for decades. And those of you who have had friends that have spanned decades know what it is to treasure those kinds of friendships.
[5:26] BK has been a close friend. But more than that, we were coworkers at Muskoka Woods in Ontario. We're friends. But BK has been the kind of friend who is a brother. Closer than a brother.
[5:37] Even though we have been apart thousands of kilometers, we share the love of Jesus Christ. And I can tell you that I've seen that in BK over the decades.
[5:48] His passion for Jesus Christ. That is foremost in his heart and in his mind. And he wants to encourage others towards the same. He has encouraged me in that direction in my life in so many ways.
[6:01] And I'm sure you would agree that he has encouraged you and exhorted you in that direction. And we need more men like that who are willing to continue on even when the going gets tough.
[6:12] I am here with my wife, Marina, who I've known for longer than 22 years. We started dating in around 1997, 98 when she came from South Africa.
[6:25] She was born and raised in East London, South Africa. And then immigrated to Canada with her parents and her sister, leaving two brothers behind in South Africa who eventually followed. But we met at church, as BK said.
[6:38] I was actually a drummer in the worship band. I noticed there was no drummer here today. But that's what I was doing. And then we connected at Chartwell Baptist Church. That's where we met in a church planche at Chartwell when I was drumming in a worship band.
[6:52] And then, as BK said, played a lot of tennis together and got to know each other on the tennis courts. My daughter continues the legacy of drumming, not Ivy, but my other daughter, Maya. She is a drummer.
[7:02] And she is continuing to play drums in church and in worship, but also even on social media. So if you're into social media and following drummers on social media, you can look my daughter, Maya Simbalik, up on Instagram and follow her and see all of the drumming that she does, which is really quite amazing.
[7:19] So I'm the dad who's bragging about his daughter. I can brag about Ivy while she's here. She's a good baker. But I'll also brag about my daughter who is a good drummer. We have been on a around-the-world-in-80-days trip.
[7:30] So in case you're wondering why I don't have my big study Bible with me, it's because we're using carry-ons to the chagrin of my wife to get from Greece to a conference in Southeast Asia to Vancouver to Toronto, then back to Greece in about 80 days.
[7:47] So it's really around the world in 80 days with one piece of carry-on luggage each. So I was not able to bring my study Bible with me, so I'm using my phone. Just in case you're wondering why the speaker doesn't have his Bible with him, that's why.
[8:00] We were limited in terms of weight and space. But around the world in 80 days, and we are looking forward to spending some more time with BK and his family, and then we'll be heading to Ontario in about another week or so to meet and greet some of our supporters who support the work that we do with Avant Ministries.
[8:19] Avant Ministries is our sending organization. They have been around for about 130 years, and they plant and develop the church where it doesn't exist. So as BK has shared with you, the church in Greece did exist at one point.
[8:32] In fact, Acts 16 tells us that Paul responded to that vision, that dream, in the Macedonian call. It went to Greece about 2,000 years ago. It was the first Western nation to receive the gospel.
[8:44] Today, 2,000 years later, Greece needs another Macedonian call. The gospel has come and gone. And if it can happen in Greece, it can happen anywhere. There are less than 2% of people who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ, even though there is a large Eastern Orthodox church there.
[9:02] They do not preach the gospel. People do not attend church regularly. People do not read their Bibles. They do not know Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior. So we need another Macedonian call.
[9:14] And I invite you to come and visit us in Athens, where we live right downtown, and to come and see the church where we worship. It's a Greek evangelical church meeting in a neighborhood called Kipseli.
[9:26] Half of the people that live in Kipseli are immigrants and refugees, and half of those people are Africans. So we spent 10 years in Kenya preparing to serve in Kipseli in Athens, Greece, not knowing, only the Lord knew, that there would be Africans that we would be ministering to and reaching out to on behalf of Kipseli Evangelical Church in Athens.
[9:46] The Lord knows, doesn't he? He is omniscient. He is all-powerful, and he can know the future even before we do. So we loved our ministry in Kenya, where we taught, where we trained and equipped church planters and church leaders, and we're doing the same thing in Athens, Greece.
[10:01] I'm involved with the Greek Bible College. So I'm the director of the International Student Program. We run a one-year program for English-speaking people who want to come and study the Bible in a biblical land.
[10:13] So you can study the book of Corinthians and then go for the weekend to Corinth. You can study Revelation and then take a trip to Patmos. So if you know someone, or maybe you are that person, who wants to come and spend a year in Greece, come and see me after the service.
[10:26] I would love to talk to you more about the International Student Program. We're involved in other ministries within Athens, but as BK said, we're also in charge of Africa for our organization, the workers in Africa, and then we are also involved in training and equipping people in East Asia.
[10:41] So that includes Turkey and other East Asian countries. Whenever I ask the classes that I teach, and I teach classes on missions, I teach classes on preaching, all kinds of classes, but whenever I'm teaching a class and I ask them for a biblical basis, a biblical support for God's mission in the world, I ask that question, what would you say?
[11:08] And students always come back to me, you can imagine the number one response I get, and I'm sure it's in your mind right now, even as I'm asking you that question, it's in your mind.
[11:19] You're responding probably with the same thing that my students do, which is Matthew 28 and the Great Commission. That's usually the very first passage that most Christians, most Bible-believing Christians think of when they wonder, why are we supposed to be on mission?
[11:38] And of course, there's nothing wrong with going to that passage, with that particular passage of Scripture. It's well known, and you could probably say it word for word if I was to ask you to do that.
[11:49] Yet, if I was to ask you for another biblical basis for God's global mission, what passage would you turn to?
[12:00] Now, some of my students, when I ask them that, scramble. They're not prepared. I know BK has told me that you would not be those kind of scrambling people, because you would turn probably somewhere in the book of Acts, right?
[12:11] Acts chapter 1, verse 8, perhaps, or other passages in Acts to find support for God's mission in the world. But what other passages are there beyond these two or three that you would find in Matthew and in Acts?
[12:26] Are there any other biblical supports for God's mission in the world? Is the only thing that is said in the entire Bible when it comes to God's mission, God's global mission, just a few New Testament texts?
[12:42] No, there's much more that can be said by the Bible about God's mission. God has chosen to reveal His mission in many biblical passages, not just these few scattered passages in the New Testament.
[13:00] Well, where would you turn? Well, some of you might go look in Genesis 12. And I know BK has shared with me talking about the Abrahamic covenant that we find in Genesis 12, where God says to Abraham, go.
[13:16] And Abraham says, where? And God says, just go. You don't need to know the final destination. And he obeys and he goes. Some of you might turn to that passage in Genesis 12.
[13:27] But we can go further back than that. I tell my students we can go to Genesis chapter 3, when God reveals that He's going to send the seed of a woman to crush the serpent's head.
[13:42] There's going to be something happening that God is going to reveal to His people later on, and there's going to be a powerful force that will defeat evil.
[13:53] But we can go further back than that. We can go to Genesis 1. We can even go further back than that, to the beginning of time. And that's where I want to land with you this morning, talking about who God is, and making who God is the basis for God's mission in the world.
[14:13] We can look at the Trinitarian God, who has existed from all eternity. Before there was anything, there was God.
[14:26] That's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. They were in a perfect, united, one relationship from all eternity.
[14:40] And God did not create in order to meet a need that He had. God created to share what He already had in abundance.
[14:52] And what did God have in perfect abundance? Relationship. A relationship of love is at the core of who God is in His nature.
[15:04] So God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit were loving and serving and deferring and caring and looking to each other. The biblical God is one God in three persons.
[15:19] One God in three persons. There is unity in the diversity of the Godhead. The mission of the triune God must be the center of our understanding of mission.
[15:34] God's mission in the world is based on a Trinitarian understanding of who God is at His core. And once you understand who God is, then you can follow God for what He wants to accomplish in this world.
[15:50] Avant Ministries is who we serve with. And some of you may be familiar with the story of the five men back in the 50s who were killed in Ecuador.
[16:01] These five men all went down together. They formed a pact. They met at Wheaton in the U.S. And they said, we're going to reach these people who are unreachable.
[16:12] One of those five, you may know his name, Jim Elliott. Most people are familiar with his wife, Elizabeth Elliott, and her writing, Through the Gates of Splendor. It's a great book. If you need a summer read, I would encourage you to pick up that book in your church library.
[16:26] If it's not there, I visited BK's office. I'm sure he's got it on his shelf. Go grab that book and read it. You will be inspired. You will be changed.
[16:37] You will be transformed. Jim Elliott, he said this. He said, he is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
[16:48] And he used that as his inspiration to go to reach these people down in Ecuador. And one of the other five men was an avant missionary named Roger Uderian.
[16:59] Roger was also killed alongside of Jim and Nate Saint and the other men, the other five, and made headlines around the world at the time. Now, Roger said this, and he connected it to a Trinitarian understanding of mission.
[17:13] He said this. In all I do, in everything I do on mission, I will be led and taught by God. I will be developed fully by Jesus Christ, God's word, and inspired by the Holy Spirit who encourages me to give myself away.
[17:32] This is a Trinitarian understanding of God declared by a missionary who ultimately was willing to give up his life to give it all in order to accomplish God's mission in the world.
[17:45] Roger's photo is actually in a frame on the wall of our mission down in Kansas City. All the missionaries who take a training program before they join our mission are told the story of Roger.
[17:57] And that is what we are inspired towards. Ultimately, to give it all, to go all in for Christ and for his mission. The Trinity is the core relationship that lies behind all of our relationships.
[18:11] We love other people because God loved us. And in response to the love that God has for us, we love others. We see that love exhibited where?
[18:25] Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, giving his life for you and for me. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again.
[18:35] And because of the work that Jesus did on the cross, you and I know for sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that what happened to Jesus one day, the hope is, will happen to us.
[18:49] And so Mary and, is it mate? He has that great hope today. We do not grieve as someone who has no hope. We grieve, but the hope is that today he is alive in Christ.
[19:02] Christ. That's the same hope that we have, isn't it? And the world needs hope today. More than anything else we can offer is that message of hope that the same thing that happened to Jesus because of the work he did on the cross, and if you put your trust in him, will happen to you one day.
[19:22] You will one day die. You will one day be buried, and there will be a funeral for me and for you. But if you put your trust and your faith and your hope in Christ, that's not the end.
[19:34] It's only the beginning of your life. And if you have that hope, it can work backwards into your life today. So that's not just something that one day will come. It's something that can empower and equip you to have great joy and fulfillment and satisfaction now, today in 2022.
[19:54] And you can walk out the doors of this church, and you can share that hope with your coworkers, with your neighbors, and with other people that you bump into. Not in a way that's, I'm better than you.
[20:07] Not in a way that's judgmental. In a way that's real and honest. I was sharing with BK that one of my great passions is evangelism, both here in Canada, but wherever we serve.
[20:19] And I love to have spiritual conversations that point people to Jesus Christ. If I was to ask you, when was the last time you had a conversation with someone about Jesus?
[20:30] When was the last time you actually talked to someone about a message that BK gave to you? Or the song that we just sang this morning, Behold Your God. Wasn't that powerful? It moved my heart.
[20:41] I want to talk about it now when I go out from this place and tell people the great hope that I have is based on Jesus Christ. And I believe that the same thing that happened to Him is one day going to happen to me, so that death is not the end.
[20:56] I do not have to fear death anymore because Jesus overcame it. And because He did it, and I believe in Him, I get to do it too. I hope that you know that hope, that great hope today.
[21:09] Jesus is the Son. He was sent by the Father, empowered by the Spirit, so that the Trinity is the foundation upon which we need to base all of our connections and relationships and mission in this world.
[21:26] The Father is the sender. He is the great Lord of the harvest. The incarnate Son is the model. He showed us how to do it. And the Holy Spirit is the divine, empowering presence for all our mission.
[21:42] Once we tie and bond missions to the Trinitarian, everlasting God, then the church recognizes that the ultimate goal of missions is found where?
[21:55] In Revelation 21. Revelation 21 talks about the new heavens and the new earth, the new creation. And so from the beginning, this eternal God, this magnificent God knew.
[22:09] He planned the end from the beginning. He knew that that was His goal. It wasn't an accident to send Jesus. It wasn't plan B to send Jesus. Sending Jesus to die on the cross was plan A.
[22:22] In order to do what? In an order to invite us to participate in the new creation. And because I am convinced that every follower must believe in Jesus Christ, and not only that, must believe that He is part of the Trinity, which makes Christianity unique out of all the religions in the world.
[22:44] We must be committed to the Trinitarian understanding of who God is and His divine mission. And once we understand that, we can join God in that mission.
[22:56] I want to help you to understand what that means. What does that actually mean in practical terms? And I'm going to work through some principles this morning with you.
[23:07] Some biblical principles that are based on that. The first principle is this. This is principle number one if you're taking notes. A radical commitment to missions is not optional.
[23:22] A radical commitment to international missions is not optional. It's not just for me and my wife and my family or all the other missionaries that you support.
[23:33] It's not just for the professionals. A radical commitment to missions is required of everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus Christ.
[23:49] And if you identify as a follower of Jesus this morning, if that's you, then you need to think about how committed you are to God's mission in the world.
[24:00] God's mission here in Squamish. But as we read, as Dave read in Psalm 96, to all nations. Our God is not a provincial God. Our God is not just the God of the West.
[24:12] In fact, more and more, the Christian God is not the God of the West. In fact, if you go to Africa today, there are more Christians in Africa today, more people, Bible-leaving Christians who attend church, than there are in the West.
[24:30] There are about 800 million Christians today in Africa. More people attended church this morning in Kenya than in England and in Canada combined.
[24:44] Think about that for a minute. God has taken the global south, and he has moved by his spirit in the hearts of the people that live in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and it's on the rise.
[24:56] The church is on the rise there. Are you committed to God's mission? Check your heart. Because the New Testament does not know of people who say, I'm a follower of Jesus, and yet I'm not committed to God's global cause.
[25:16] Outside the pages of the Bible, you might find many people who identify as people who fear God, but do not identify with his mission, with his purposes in the world, especially with his global mission.
[25:31] Outside the pages of the Bible, you will find many people who identify as followers of Jesus, but do not do what he says. Outside the New Testament, you will discover thousands of people who with their lips say, Jesus is Lord, but they're not committed to his mission, with their words and their deeds.
[25:55] It's possible, it's possible that outside of the Bible, you might find people who can say, Jesus is Lord, but never do what he says.
[26:06] When we read the Bible, however, we find something completely different. When we read the Bible, we, in Acts 1.8, read this, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
[26:29] At first, this seems like a command. It seems like a command that Jesus is giving to his followers to be his witnesses. But when you look at this text closer, you see that Jesus is actually making a prediction.
[26:45] He's not giving a command. Jesus is telling them what will happen to them in the future when the Holy Spirit comes on them. They will be his witnesses everywhere, not just in their place where they live, not even just in their region, but to the ends of the earth.
[27:07] This is a description of all followers of Jesus who receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit. They will be his witnesses beginning with where they are and then extending to the whole world.
[27:21] Jesus isn't saying this is an option. Jesus is saying this is a reality if you follow me. It's what all followers of Jesus must do.
[27:32] They are to be part of God's global mission as witnesses testifying to the ends of the earth. Think about the normal answers you get when you ask someone who is a follower of Jesus today, what is your commitment to world missions?
[27:49] What is your commitment to the global cause of Jesus Christ? Well, normally, when I talk to people, they say, well, of course, I'm committed to Jesus' global mission and his global cause.
[28:02] But when I further probe about where people are at, I often find out they're not that committed. Well, what about you? Let me ask you this question.
[28:13] Where are you at with regards to God's global cause, to God's global mission? Are you praying for your missionaries? I know that this church supports missionaries, and I know that they're on your budget, but are you praying for them?
[28:28] Do you regularly pray for your missionaries? Because if you're not going to go on the mission field and you're not praying for your missionaries, then there's a problem because we need prayers, believe me.
[28:44] When we're on the front lines and we're dealing with all kinds of issues facing these people in foreign lands, when we are living in a foreign place and we don't have the support, of people who are part of our home church, we need prayer.
[29:01] You need prayer. On your mission, we need to pray for our missionaries. Are you regularly praying for your missionaries? I want you to be gripped with a passion over the next few months for praying for the global workers that you support here at Squamish Baptist Church.
[29:21] You know, if you say, yeah, I'm committed, but you're not involved in global missions, it's something like this. Someone who's living in the Ukraine right now saying, I'm committed to my country, but I'm not committed to helping my country win the war.
[29:39] Imagine if you were in the Ukraine right now and you had a neighbor that said that. Yeah, I want us to, you know, resist Russia. I want us to win this war, but I'm not going to do anything.
[29:51] I'm not going to be involved. I'm just going to go about my business and do what I have to do. What would you think of that kind of person? You would think that unless they are helping you resist and fight against the enemy, you would think that they're not very committed, wouldn't you?
[30:04] And that's the same thing that Jesus says. He says, why do you call me Lord and don't do what I say? In other words, why do you call me Lord and not obey my command to make disciples of all nations?
[30:19] And why are you not my witnesses to the ends of the earth? Now, before we become witnesses to the ends of the earth, Jesus also implies that we need to be witnesses where we are.
[30:31] Again, I go back to that question. How are you doing with your witnessing here in Squamish, in this area? When was the last time that you had a spiritual conversation with your neighbor?
[30:44] With one of your coworkers? And when you think about that, does it make you nervous? Do you get anxious? I want to encourage you. Talk to BK. Talk to Dave.
[30:55] They would be so glad to help you think about creative ways that you can open up conversations with your coworkers and your neighbors or even your family members who don't know Christ.
[31:08] And once we started to do that and we develop a passion for testifying and witnessing here locally, the next step is to go on mission and to be doing that internationally.
[31:21] We don't make the mistake of going and doing it on a short-term trip somewhere abroad and then coming back and zipping up. We need to make sure that the local work that we're already doing is connected in with the global work.
[31:35] It needs to be one and the same. Jesus says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. You don't have to do this on your own strength. You pray to Christ.
[31:46] You ask him to help you and guess what? He loves to answer that prayer. If you pray to God today and say, God, I haven't been faithful in my witness over the last number of months or years but I want that to change.
[32:03] I want to actually see more people know about the hope that is real, that is founded on your death, burial, and resurrection. And if you pray that prayer, I guarantee you God will answer that prayer.
[32:17] How do I know that? Well, I can testify. My wife and I have prayed that prayer. Our missions verse for the year is in Romans and the beautiful feet of the people who bring the good news.
[32:32] We've been praying, God, make our feet more beautiful. May we have more opportunities to engage others in spiritual conversations that point them to Christ and the hope that he provides because guess what?
[32:43] People need hope today. They've been through the pandemic. People are struggling. Mental health and depression is at an all-time high. People want answers and they're not finding them anywhere.
[32:57] And if you come along and open up a conversation with someone and point them to Christ, God will use that. So it starts with praying. And we have had more spiritual conversations since we started to pray that prayer to God than we did in the 10 years prior.
[33:15] We've had conversations with world-class flutists who teach at the University of Athens. I had a spiritual conversation with a guy who his PhD was in different cultures of how they did death and he didn't believe in God and he didn't even think anything happened to you after you died.
[33:33] I've had spiritual conversations with the guy who fixed my elevator in my building, handed him a copy of the Greek New Testament. If you pray that prayer, God will answer that prayer.
[33:46] You just need to keep your eyes open and pay attention and then be willing to talk about what you heard in church on Sunday or a song that you sang that really lifted your spirits or something beyond this world, something you read about in your devotions.
[34:01] And if you do that, God will honor that and you will see fruit that remains and you will be blessed. So I want to encourage you, start today.
[34:13] Start by praying that today and if you do, God will honor that and you will become engaged in this war and it is a war that we're involved in right now. It's not like the war in Ukraine, it's bigger than that.
[34:24] It's bigger than World War II. It's bigger than all the wars combined. This battle that we're in and the Bible talks about that. The battle that we're in against the powers and authorities, the thrones and rulers of this age, the God of this world, we are in a battle and we need to pray that our eyes will be open to that and we need to put on the full armor of God and fight that battle.
[34:54] And we can't do it by ourselves. That's the point of the church. BK and Dave are here to help equip you in that and they want to help equip you in that so that you can get involved and it's an adventure and once you get involved in that adventure, you never want to stop.
[35:13] It is the best thing you can be doing with your life. It's the greatest purpose. There's no greater purpose than that. Are you living for something that is worth dying for?
[35:23] If you're not, then what are you living for? I want to encourage you to get involved and become engaged in this great battle.
[35:37] I'm not even done my first point. I'm just getting excited. I'm getting fired up here. Point number one, a radical commitment to missions is not optional.
[35:49] Don't think of it as for the professionals, the pastors, and the missionaries. It's required of everyone who calls himself a follower of Jesus and if you want to check the index on your commitment in your heart on who Jesus Christ is to you, who is he really to you, how involved are you in both local outreach and global missions?
[36:15] And if you can't tell me that you're involved in it or you care about it at all, it's for the professionals. Leave it to BK and Dave. That tells me a little bit about your heart.
[36:27] Because we're not going to win the war if it's just the generals fighting the battle. And we need boots on the ground. We need you involved in this battle.
[36:40] Number two, you can't have a commitment to God's word without a commitment to missions. Theology needs a mission.
[36:55] Mission does not necessarily need a theology. You can't have a commitment to sound theology without a radical commitment to missions.
[37:07] And the equal and opposite truth is that you can't have a commitment to missions without having a commitment to theology. Many people think that only the pastors and the professors of Bible school need to study theology.
[37:25] But the truth is you need to study theology so that you can inform your mission. So that when you go out and talk to people you have a little bit of an idea of what you're talking about.
[37:36] How do you get that? You sign up for a class with Dave or BK. That's how you do that. You equip yourself. Because we need more people who are doing outreach, who are involved in mission, who know what God's word actually teaches.
[37:55] It's common to hear people, and I've heard this in my mission, say, oh, he wasn't a very good student in Sunday school or he went to Bible college. He wasn't a very good theology student, so guess what?
[38:08] We can't give him a church, so he does have a zeal for reaching lost souls. We'll send him to the mission field because it doesn't matter what he teaches over there. It's just Africa. I've heard that.
[38:21] Think about the absurdity of this way of thinking. Who should go to the mission field? We should be sending the best and the brightest we have.
[38:32] We should be sending the people who have spent years and years of studying. Your pastor, BK, he spent years studying God's word. He would be a perfect candidate to come serve with us overseas.
[38:46] Okay? We need to study God's word so that when we go out of these doors and we talk to people, we know what we're talking about. You need to invest time in that.
[38:57] You might even need to invest some finances in that and buy a study Bible. It's worth the investment. But who should be going to the mission field? We should be sending people like the Apostle Paul.
[39:10] Who was he? He was trained by the best of the best. Paul knew his Bible of his time inside and out, forwards and backwards. Who else should we be sending?
[39:23] Well, you think about some of the most famous missionaries that you've ever known over the years and you know that someone like William Carey, who was called the father of modern missions, studied for years.
[39:36] He mastered the Greek and Hebrew languages before he went to the mission field. Think of Livingston, Sutcliffe, Judson. These were all frontline missionary workers who were deeply committed to their study of theology and who gave their lives to promote Christian missions globally.
[39:56] The more biblical your understanding of God, the more passionate your commitment to global evangelization. You cannot truly be a student of God's word without having a burning passion for world evangelization.
[40:15] And you can't be a truly effective missionary without having a commitment to sound theology. So let me ask you, how well do you know your word?
[40:25] How well do you know what God's word actually teaches and says? Check your heart. And how well do you desire to know it?
[40:38] I hope and I pray that there is a passion inside of you to not stay where you are but to be getting better every year from today on.
[40:51] May God help you to do that. I'm going to wrap up. I'm not going to get into the other principles. I'm just looking at my time with a story. It's a story of someone if I say his name and you've heard of it before you'll remember it right away.
[41:07] It's Count Nicholas Zinzendorf. Anyone ever heard of Zinzendorf? Okay, I see a few hands. He was a very well known in his day Moravian missionary, Puritan missionary, 1700s.
[41:27] He was from one of the wealthiest leading families in Europe. He grew up very, very rich.
[41:38] That's the best way to say it. He was like the rich young ruler. But he was the rich young ruler who said yes. When he was asked by his brothers and sisters in his mission to give up everything he had, he couldn't say yes right away.
[41:56] He said, I don't know if I can do it. That's too much sacrifice. But then he went on a tour of Europe and he ended up in a museum. And in the museum he saw a painting and the title of the painting was Behold the Man.
[42:12] And as he looked at this painting and it was Christ with a crown of thorns embedded in his skull bleeding. And Zinzendorf saw this painting and he was captivated by it.
[42:27] He couldn't take his eyes off it. And then he looked below the painting on an old brass plaque and said, all this I have done for you. What have you done for me?
[42:41] He read that plaque he left that city went back to where he was living and he said to his brothers and sisters in his mission yes. He divested himself of any right to the inheritance that he would have received and he served the Lord faithfully sacrificially so that at his death there were about 250 full-time Christian workers that he had mentored and discipled.
[43:09] And on his deathbed he said it was the greatest sacrifice that he could have ever made. It was the greatest investment of his life that he could have ever made. Jesus looks at each one of us.
[43:22] He looks at you and he says all this I've done for you. What have you done for me in response to what I've done for you? You see Jesus on the cross and to the degree that you can see what he's done for you that will enable you and empower you to be involved in local outreach and witnessing and getting involved in God's global mission.
[43:52] Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for this day. We thank you for everyone in this church.
[44:03] you from before time began knew who would be here. You know when we sit and rise you know when we get up you know when we sleep and lie down you knew who would be here and you knew who needed to hear these words today.
[44:20] I don't know who it is but you do God. So I pray that you would penetrate deeply into the hearts of the person the man or the woman the young person who needs to hear a wake up call to get involved in your mission.
[44:37] I pray that by your spirit this morning that you would not let them rest that you would not let them be at peace until they respond to what you have called them to be a part of.
[44:52] I ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand together.