Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
And our memory refresher verses for today are …
John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 28:16-20 which we will read in a few minutes.
Today is Faith Promise Sunday
- Faith promise is the way we support missionaries and missions around the world.
- Faith promise is not a pledge.
- Faith promise is a commitment between you and the Lord.
- With Faith promise you pray about what the Lord would have you to give to support world missions and pray that He will faithfully provide the funds and then you will faithfully fulfill the promise that you made to Him.
- Most of those who give to Missions here at Crossroads would just keep on giving whether we had annual faith promise Sundays or not; they have a heart for those who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Faith promise is not a part of the Tithe, it is giving above and beyond for the cause of Christ.
- Please be praying during the service to see what the Lord would have you to do as a Faith promise.
This past Monday we had a wonderful gathering with the Miller family from South Africa. (show photo)
Ronald was born and raised in South Africa. Rachelle was born and raised in Indiana. As a young adult she felt led to go to South Africa to work in the field office as a volunteer in VIMS; Volunteers In Missions Service.
From there the Lord drew Ronald and Rachelle together and they became the Miller family and together they are serving Jesus in huge areas of the continent of Africa.
Let me just give you a few statistics from their presentation. (use their 3 slides)
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Overall Africa Stats
? Continental
? 1.3 billion people
? 54 independent countries
? 3,000 ethnic groups
? 2,000 spoken languages.
? Church
? 704, 000 Members
? 42 countries (7 Fields)
? 137 districts
? 9009 churches
Growth of Christianity in Africa
• In 1900 the Muslim population of Africa was 34.5 million, compared to roughly 10 million Christians.
• By 1985 Christians outnumbered Muslims for the first time. Of the continent’s total population of 520 million, Christians numbered 271 million, compared to about 216 million Muslims.
• In 2000 the number of Christians in Africa grew to 346 million, with 330 million Muslims concentrated mostly in the Arabic-speaking regions of Egypt and North and in West Africa.
• The projected figure for 2005 was 390 million Christians, with 600 million estimated for 2025. It is a continental shift of historic proportions
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Why did the Lord call Rachelle to go to South Africa?
Let’s look for the answer as we read Matthew 28:16-20
Matthew 28:19-20 NIV
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I also love how Isaiah 52:7 is simplified in the International Children’s Bible
Isaiah 52:7 ICB
“How beautiful is the person who comes over the mountains to bring good news. How beautiful is the one who announces peace. He brings good news and announces salvation. How beautiful are the feet of the one who says to Jerusalem, ‘Your God is King.’”
We could almost read it this way!
How beautiful is the person who comes from a place far away to bring good news.
How beautiful is the one who proclaims spiritual peace and brings good news of salvation.
How beautiful is the one who declares to all who are lost in sin, ‘There is a Savior and His name is Jesus!’
Let me introduce you to a few of those people!
Jon and Shirley Fischer – Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia
After graduating from MidAmerica Nazarene College, Jon and Shirley found themselves settling into normal suburban life - Jon worked as an accountant at a dry wall company and Shirley taught school. Then Jon went on a Work and Witness trip and God started talking to him about missions. Through this trip God showed Jon that He not only wanted his money for missions, but He also wanted Jon’s time and family to be involved. So they "stepped out on faith".
They volunteered as Missionaries in Volunteer Service for what they thought would be one year, but God had other plans. God had a much bigger plan. They volunteered in Venezuela for 8 years.
In 2001 they were appointed Global Missionaries to Venezuela. In December 2007 they moved from Venezuela where they were Work and Witness Coordinators and administrators to Ecuador. Now they serve as the Work and Witness Coordinators for the Andean Field (Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia).
They have two daughters who were both raised in South America until they went to Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, KS. Both of the daughters have graduated and are now serving Jesus in the United States.
Jon says, “Some of the happiest times of our lives were during those eight years of volunteering. There were tough times, but they were times full of learning and growing in faith. We didn't know where the money to live on was going to come from or when it was going to come, but it always came. We could truly see the hand of God at work, and we still see His protecting hand over us. God’s church family is so wonderful and we know that if we didn’t have you partnering with us in prayer the work would not go forth.”
Tomo and Ceny Hirahara - Thailand
Tomo and Ceny Hirahara have been faithfully serving as missionaries in Thailand on the Southeast Asia Field since 1999, and though their hearts are still passionate for the ministry, the time for retirement as global missionaries has come.
Did Missionary Tomo grow up in a Christian family???
Did he hear the call of the Lord on his heart as a young child?
There was no God in Tomoyuki Hirahara's life when he was growing up in Japan. His grandfather was a priest in one of the Shinto cults. His sister believed in Communism. That influenced him at first, but the more Tomo learned about Communism the less it made sense to him. How could something that depersonalized the individual fulfill a search for truth?
Tomo turned to rock music almost as a distraction. He idolized Western rock stars and wanted to be like them. He even started a band in junior high school. What did he need with truth anyway? For a while, he just played his bass guitar and was happy.
As a university student, his search for truth took an intellectual turn. “Good people don't get what they deserve,” he complained. Looking for fairness, he turned to Hinduism. His reading introduced him to the Hindu philosopher Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Tomo dreamed of sitting under Bhagwan’s teaching one day.
In 1979 Tomo graduated from Hosei University as an electrical engineer. He accepted a job in Saudi Arabia, but when he found out that the Bhagwan was living in the United States in Texas, he used his saving for a plane ticket. He settled in Alabama to study English, but getting from there to Texas wasn't as easy as he expected. He had finished a degree in English and was working toward certification to teach English as a second language when he finally made it to Texas. But by then the Bhagwan was no longer there.
During his time in Alabama, Tomo boarded at the home of Willene Perkins, a professor at Gadsden Community College and a member of the Gadsden Church of The Nazarene. Willene held a Bible study in her home every Saturday, and Tomo attended out of intellectual curiosity.
About the same time, he met two Mormons who tried to convince him that Mormonism would end his search. One day in the Mormon temple, Tomo cried out to
God, “If You are here, I am liking for the way to truth.” He heard nothing in
reply.
Then one night he attended an intercessory prayer meeting at the Nazarene church. Willene was aware of Tomo's struggle and knew that his future hung in the balance, but he had no idea that she had been praying for him.
Again he cried, “God, if You exist, please reveal the way, I can know for sure who You are.” Willene and others counseled him to confess his sin, believe on the name of Jesus, and turn his life over to God. Tomo did just that.
At first, nothing happened. Then came a quiet exhilaration. And then came tears, tears that emptied him of his emptiness. Tomo tried to stop crying. After all, a Japanese man should not show tears in front of women. Then he looked around and saw that others also were crying. Suddenly he realized that his tears were not a show of shame but of joy. His long search was over.
One piece of unfinished business remained, however. While working in the Middle East, Tomo had visited Thailand and met a girl he hoped to marry. Now he wanted to share the gospel with her. After finishing his English studies in Alabama, he made his way to Thailand and found a job teaching Japanese. He also connected with Nazarene missionary Mike McCarty.
Tomo witnessed to his girlfriend as often as possible, but she showed no interest in Christianity. Finally she told Tomo that if he mentioned the name of Jesus one more time, she would leave. Of course, he couldn't keep silent about his new faith. Tomo came to realize that his life with God would not include her. But God had another plan for Tomo.
Her name was Ceny, a Filipino working with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Thailand. Tomo met Ceny through her work as coordinator of a Christian singles ministry. In time their friendship turned to love, and they were married in Bangkok.
Today the couple serves as missionaries to Thailand. Tomo teaches at Southeast Asia Nazarene Bible College and its coordinator for the JESUS film in Southeast Asia. Ceny is compassionate ministries coordinator and Thailand mission treasurer.
Tomo's search for truth became a passion to share the Truth. With an engaging smile and wisdom gained at too many dead ends, he shares it with any who will listen.
Wow! What a journey!
This next one is not a missionary per se but is how a missionary may start a church in another country among people of their own nationality!
Ukrainian Church of The Nazarene in Spain
Through a series of unlikely – but God-ordained – events, a Ukrainian Nazarene congregation was recently organized in Murcia, Spain. The new church is uniquely positioned to reach other Ukrainian refugees who are moving to the area.
Is certainly not unusual happening. Just on our district we have a Spanish speaking church in Rochester. And, in Buffalo we have one French speaking church and one that worships in Sudanese.
Just as a pastor from the Ukraine came to Spain to pastor a church as a missionary we have missionaries from Africa who come to areas of the United States such as Detroit to tell the Good News of Jesus to ethnic groups who live there.
If you were to look at a map and see what nations are sending missionaries to other nations it would look like a spider’s web. We, as Americans, tend to think we are the senders and other nations are the receivers, but we, ourselves have been designated as a mission field for multiple reasons.
Here are the mission fields of the Church of The Nazarene (pictures with each one)
Africa
Asia-Pacific
Eurasia
Meso-America
South America
US and Canada
All the people on those pictures are happy, smiling faces right?
Here is what the world looks like for those who do not know Jesus …
(several slides of urban mega city streets, people in a bar, rioting, football stadium crowd, African village setting, etc.)
(Show slides with groups of people in foreign lands)
(Video of “People Need the Lord”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KNXixT_vYg
(At this time have ushers pass out Faith Promise Commitment slips)
Most of us are not called to be missionaries. Actually, I sincerely hope that none of us in the past have been called to be missionaries because if the Lord has called us to be missionaries and we are still here then we are living in disobedience.
Of course, I’m talking about long term missionaries. Almost all of us are still physically capable of going on Work and Witness trips if we have the necessary self-discipline to save up the cost of travel.
But today we will be taking Faith Promise Commitments which will go to the World Evangelism Fund to support Global missionaries with support for living, housing, medical care, translated discipleship materials for those who come to know Jesus as their Savior, build Bible colleges and seminaries for those who are saved and called into the ministry in their home countries, medical missions, and so much more.
It is a huge undertaking which takes a huge amount of coordination to have the right people and the right resources in the right places in 162 world areas so that they may hear the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved.
Uncountable numbers of people around the world have to know Jesus because of those who have obeyed the call of Jesus.
Those who have obeyed the call are beautiful ones who bring the Good news to those who are wandering in spiritual darkness.
It is the giving by those of us who are not called to go that makes it possible to send those who ARE called to go.
Now, before you fill anything out on the Faith Promise slips let me go over how to fill them out.
(Three PPT slides showing week/monthly/annual giving for explanation purposes)
I remember one time when Pastor Karenlee and I were first married that our pastor challenged each in the congregation to give one week’s salary in either the Easter or Thanksgiving missions offering.
That was HUGE because it was one lump sum.
Let’s say that for the two of us it would have been $520 back then.
It was indeed difficult to do but how hard is it to do the same thing with Faith Promise?
Examples on PPT slides …
1) $10/week = $520/yr
2) $5/month = $60/yr
3) $100/year = (can you guess it???)
(Prayer for wisdom in commitments)
If for some reason you cannot make a commitment today please pray about it this week and let us know next Sunday.
Closing comments and prayer.
