[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Well, William Carey preached a message from this passage, and for all the church, he had two points.
[0:13] Point number one was expect great things from God. And if you'll read verse 2, it says, Enlarge the place of your tent, enlarge, stretch forth, spare not, lengthen, strengthen.
[0:25] One, William Carey wanted the church to believe that God could and would do great things. We believe that God loves everyone and wants everybody to be saved.
[0:38] We believe that God can save. We believe that God can do a great work in India. We believe that if Jesus is preached to those who have never heard, they can and will be converted.
[0:50] We believe that God can and will build his church in India. The second thing he preached to them was attempt great things for God. They were to enlarge.
[1:00] They were to stretch forth. They were to spare not. And the expecting God, God was going to cause it to break forth. On the right hand, on the left hand, they would inherit. The Gentiles in desolate cities would be inhabited.
[1:13] And raising your support was a great attempt to do something for God. Getting together all you need to go to the other side of the world and taking your family, that's another great attempt. Learning a culture so foreign to ours would be a great attempt.
[1:26] Can't wait to see you and have you bobble in your head and we can't figure out what you're saying, yes or no, because that's the Indian way. When they shake their head, you have no idea if it's yes, no, or maybe you're in between. Witnessing in a place that is illegal, that will be a great attempt.
[1:40] Stepping out by faith and trusting God as you go is showing great faith and a great attempt. Paul and Amber, I'm excited about how you are doing just what Kerry did before you.
[1:52] And Kerry is one of my heroes. And I thought tonight, or as I was preparing to speak to you, I thought what a wonderful thing to consider William Kerry and some of the things about him as I talk to you. You are believing that God has shown himself in your lives.
[2:07] And I have seen you grow and learn and give and serve and live for others. You may not know it. Paul is a very disciplined, determined young man. He's a very generous, quietly generous man who has given and blessed many people.
[2:21] And I want you to know that you know God and God is all you're going to need. I also know that you will work like a crazy man to make things happen.
[2:32] So I challenge you to expect great things from God while you attempt great things for him. I'd like to say to Paul, but I'd like to say to our church, when William Kerry was going to be a missionary, there was great resistance to anybody being a missionary to India or anywhere.
[2:49] One of the men in the preacher's meeting, when he was meeting with the preachers and talking about being a missionary, one of the men said, sit down, young man. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it with or without your aid or mine.
[3:02] And so there was this belief in England at the time that God was going to do what God was going to do and don't worry about it. Others said it would be impossible to make a difference in India if God didn't give the gift of tongues.
[3:15] Others said God would save the elect with or without preaching. Other leading Christians in England, when he made the statement, made fun of him and made fun of his plan. They made fun of a man that would be a missionary.
[3:29] There was no money to speak of. No one expected that God could or would do anything. And people will say that you're only going to India because you have a desire for adventure. They will say that you only want money and the good life that being a missionary can give you with such good support.
[3:45] People will say that the people in India have their own religion and you shouldn't disturb them. Today, many do not understand your heart for carrying the gospel to faraway lands.
[3:56] Most people, even in our church, may not understand what would possess a young man to uproot his family, move to another side of the world, learn another language, and cross a cultural divide to carry the gospel.
[4:07] They will think that you only want the adventure, that you're hungry to live in another country, that they can't understand how anyone would love another people from a totally different culture, but God put something in your heart.
[4:20] We know that God is able to do great things. Do not let all that God has done in your life go to waste. Work harder than all of them. Go expecting God to prove that he has called you and sent you there.
[4:34] God will prove that. Well, I say to you, Paul, there were great heartbreaks for Cary and his team. I studied William Cary for quite a while yesterday just for the fun of it.
[4:45] I've always loved him. One of his co-workers, Dr. Thomas, in fact, it was in the night when everybody was kind of, when everybody was kind of, the pastor's meeting went on for hours, and he was feeling beat down, and Dr. Thomas showed up, and he jumped up, and Dr. Thomas was talking great about India, and he hugged Dr. Thomas.
[5:05] But Dr. Thomas would get in financial trouble and bring embarrassment to the work. And there he was, William Cary's hope, messing up. Tragedies happened that caused William Cary to get his ministry to a certain point and have to start completely over.
[5:21] Cary lost two wives and one son. Cary made a big mistake in his family life. You've heard me say this before, but I challenge you not to make the William Cary mistake.
[5:33] He didn't take into account what his wife wanted. Their marriage lasted 26 years, but there's no record they ever loved each other. She was illiterate, but she had been submissive as a pastor's wife.
[5:47] While he was pastoring in England, she was willing to leave her Puritan background and get re-baptized as a Baptist. It seems from the history that he didn't even tell his wife that he was going to be a missionary until after he had announced it in the Baptist pastors meeting.
[6:03] Dorothy said she wouldn't go. She changed her mind when he insisted that if she didn't go, he was still taking their oldest child, Felix, with him. Dorothy finally agreed to go if he would let her sister go, and so he took his sister-in-law and his wife so they would go.
[6:20] They lived in near poverty in India while the Thomas family lived in great affluence. Cary didn't care about disciplining his children. And had it not been for William Ward who worked with him, his children would have turned out completely different.
[6:36] Felix was becoming a wild and rebellious kid, and William Ward discipled him and disciplined him. Cary married very soon after Dorothy died, and all of his own team got upset and couldn't understand how he could get married so quickly.
[6:51] He is considered a hero among missionaries, but at a great cost to his family. So I want to remind you, you're going to have a lot of heartbreaks. There are going to be disappointments with your surroundings.
[7:04] Right now, India probably seems like an exciting place to go, but I can promise you culture shock will affect you more than you think. You'll have differences with other missionaries.
[7:14] There'll be problems in your family. So take time for your wife. Take time for your children. Do not be so consumed with the work that you do not meet the needs of your family.
[7:25] Remember, you're in a spiritual war, and you will be under constant attack. So as you go, I challenge you to take care of the things God wants you to do. I love William Cary, but were he a missionary today, I personally as a pastor could not recommend to our church that we would support him because he wouldn't take care of his family.
[7:45] Take care of your family. Just some special words. Paul, stay focused on the Lord Jesus. That means do not neglect your time of prayer and Bible reading.
[7:59] You'll get busy. You'll be learning the language. Everything's exciting. Everything smells different. The air feels different. Everything's different. You don't even know how different it'll feel until you've been there after that first month or two, and all the newness is worn off.
[8:13] I promise you, you're going to wonder, what am I doing in this strange place? So read your Bible constantly. Read your Bible constantly.
[8:24] Stay close to the Lord. Don't get caught up in other books. Let the Bible work in you. Be honest with yourself, with your wife and your coworkers. Don't pretend.
[8:35] Missionaries are often pretenders. Be who you are. Be willing to learn. Be teachable. Be careful not to think that you know. Be careful not to try and prove that you're the smart one, the good one, the capable one.
[8:50] Be a servant. Die to yourself, and live for others. The last thing I'd like to say to you, you know, here I teach a lot about being a leader, but you realize in the Bible, there's almost no teaching about being a leader.
[9:02] In the Bible, when Jesus meets with his apostles, he walks into a room, and a slave girl should have washed their feet. A slave girl should have gotten down and taken their sandals off and wiped their dirty feet and cleansed their feet.
[9:14] No one had done that. Jesus didn't get angry and say, call somebody to take care of my feet. Jesus took off his outer garment, his robe that was his outer robe.
[9:25] He took that off. He put a towel around his waist and knelt down on his feet, and he washed feet. Great leaders are great servants. Amber, I hope you know that Paul needs your love and admiration.
[9:39] I remind you of that. I can't explain to you what it feels like, but there will be many times when he will feel so alone. He may be able to pick up the phone and talk to other people.
[9:51] Jim may be in the same city. Others may be there to help. God's there, of course, but he is going to need you to believe in him. He is going to need you to love him and admire him. Be careful to be focused on the Lord, though, not your husband or your children, because the truth is we serve Jesus, and that's who you keep your eyes on.
[10:11] Remember, you are being sent to be a helper to your husband in all that God has for him. God called Paul. God's given him a special job. Be sure to be a helper. Be teachable.
[10:22] Be a servant. I love you both more than I could ever tell you. I believe in you. I love you. I'm fully expecting God to do great things with you, and I'm here for you in any way I can be, and I'm excited for you.
[10:35] In many ways, I wish I was the one that was leaving again. Everybody else is sad to see you go, and I'm sad to see you go, but if I were sitting where you are, I'd be so stinking excited. I can remember when we were at the airport and we were getting ready to leave for Prue, and there were probably 55 people back then.
[10:51] In those days, you could go all the way to the back and be at the gate, and there were about 55, I think, people there with us to see us off, and everybody was crying and weeping and wailing, and everybody was hugging people's necks, and every picture, I've got a big smile on my face, and all I keep thinking is they're calling me.
[11:06] I've got to get that Betty's tore up because she's leaving. I'm excited because I'm going, and because God's got something big for you to do. It's going to be wild. It's going to be fun. You're going to have a blast, and I'm excited for you.
[11:18] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.