Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
Such a simple verse.....just a few words.... but the implications of this verse(as it is with any verse) is enormous as you unpack it
Now we need to qualify who the "You" it is both us as individuals and us and a church.
I know there are times that we don’t feel that this applies to us PERSONALLY .... Think about it... It’s the great commission The "GREAT" Commission. We don’t think of ourselves as being able to accomplish great things....we’re just ordinary folk. This doesn’t apply to us, it only applies to the missionary, the evangelists, the preachers we don’t feel that we have the gifts..... we don’t have the tools. But I have to tell you, it wasn’t just Billy Graham that was there listening. It wasn’t just ....William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Livingstone......BILLY Sunday, DL Moody.
When God says go He is talking to us as individuals and us as the church .....go preach the good news to everyone. ALL of us!
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
No matter where we go , no matter what we do...we are always bearing witness.....whether you know it or folks are watching you. Why do you smile? Why are you content? Why are you able to handle problems and setbacks the way you do?
1 Pet 3:15) "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"
And what is that Hope that lies within you?? JESUS CHRIST
And when you share that with folks you are sharing that good news.... It’s something we ought to be doing everyday naturally
Many time we lose that focus, we lose sight of that goal
ILLUSTRATION OF THE FIREMAN STORY
"I’m the head of the this Committee", that’s what I do, "I take care of the church building" or maintenance, "I do the church’s book work"
So many times we say "I take care of -----. Don’t get me wrong....all these things are necessary but sometimes we take that service that we render, and use that to say that we are too busy...
(John 15:8) "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
I know that it’s a scary thing to do, but God would never send us to do what we are not able to do. God never asks us to do anything that he hasn’t given us the power to do.
(Col 1:28-29) "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. {29} To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me."
We are not to worry ... the message is the Lord’s and the power comes from Him!
Now, we go not only as individuals, BUT THE The body must go
Not only does he mean you as an individual, but you as a body, as a church, as believers, as a unit working perfectly together.
My wife knows me for what I am. She knows that I’m like a little child easily amused by some of the simplest things. I can remember coming back from... Chicago airport??.......long time ago and there was one of these...I don’t know what you would call it... it was enclosed in plexiglass...it was huge it was about 10 feet on each side, It was a series of rails and buckets, and ramps and little Curley ques things and, and what would happen is a little ball would start rolling down the ramp, and ...........
All the parts have to be there...the little up and down guy, the solid part that holds everything together, everything working in perfect harmony, everything moving at just the right time.
Wouldn’t it be neat if that was the way all churches worked? We should! No egos ... no struggles... no disagreements... just keeping the main thing the main thing
(1 Cor 12:12) "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ."
I love Paul’s analogy of the body in I Cor 2, the hand..... the foot... How would it be if the one foot wanted to go here, and head wanted to go there...you’d be walking like me. It’s that beautiful way that Paul puts it.
We are all part of the same body functioning together to accomplish a common goal. And within the body there is a diversity of gifts!
We have preachers, and givers, and encouragers, teachers, many gifts, all working together.
(Rom 12:4-8) "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: {5} So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. {6} Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; {7} Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; {8} Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness
All working together to accomplish a common goal.
Let me lay out three necessary things for a successful missions effort.
1. ONE WHO IS SENT
One that is called .....one that God has laid a passion for souls on their hearts.... and they’re blind about a lot of things.....
My wife and I worked in prison ministry for years, and folks told us we were crazy ....there are criminals in there! Yes ...but we don’t think anything about it.
LET ME TELL YOU WHERE THE REAL HEROES ARE.
Story... ABEL VON BILJON living in a tent in NAMIBIA... Lions, wild animals, snakes. You know what he thinks... doesn’t everyone sleep in tents in the middle of the jungle?
Story about MARK & JOAN WERZINSKI and his plywood table in Zambia. Joan thinks it’s wonderful that she has a 4 x8 sheet of plywood for a table ? Guys, would your wife like you to build her one like that?
2. THE FUNDS TO MAKE THE SYSTEM WORK
I am not going to give you a sermon about money, just don’t be attached to your money.
Christ spoke a lot about money
Spiros Zodiates of AMG Ran a huge ministry on $5-10 gifts.
3. PRAYER
PRAYER IS THE THING THAT MAKES EVERYTHING WORK TOGETHER
We could drown in the passages that talk about prayer.
(Mat 9:38) "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."
(1 Th 5:17) "Pray without ceasing."
(Mat 26:41) "Watch and pray
(1 Th 5:25) "Brethren, pray for us."
(2 Th 1:11) we pray always for you
(1 Tim 2:8) men pray every where
(James 5:16) pray one for another
Missionaries are people of prayer--
Story about Bob Flanders (missionary to
Japan) just
It was John Maxwell that said that the early church prayed for two weeks, preached for 15 minutes and 3000 were saved. Today, we pray for 15 minutes, preach for two hours and 2 get saved.
And we wonder why.
LET ME END WITH A STORY THAT WAS COMMUNICATED TO ME AS TRUE........
A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan... "While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival In the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time witnessed to him of Lord Jesus Christ. I then travel two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident. Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards." At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said "No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone, because were outnumbered."
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day that this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together that day stood up. The missionary wasn’t concerned with who they were--he was to busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.
Many missionaries are in more peril everyday, than we are in a lifetime
LET ME CLOSE WITH THIS,BEFORE WE GO WE MUST FIRST COME.
INVITATION.
