We¡¦ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
A Call to Missions
Acts 1:8
February 8, 2004
Introduction
A few months ago, Rev. Keith Nash, the senior pastor at the Mitchell Wesleyan Church issued a challenge for every Wesleyan church in the Dakota district to designate one Sunday in February as Missions Sunday, when we discuss the call to missions.
We originally chose February 29, but then when we decided to do the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, we needed to move the date.
The plan was to feature our three missionaries from our congregation, and I wanted to give them the opportunity now.
Later, during the 40 Days we will revisit this theme, but I didn¡¦t want to make them wait any longer, so we chose today.
My thought in preparing this message was that I could be brief in my remarks, but it¡¦s not gonna work that way, so you can forget any thoughts of beating the Baptists to Steak and Buffet, okay?
Missions is a key part of who I am. I thought I was called to missions earlier in life, but while God had other plans for where I would serve Him, He has not let me forget about my heart for missions.
And my hope is that after today, some of you will be touched with a desire to be involved in missions, in one form or another, and maybe God will actually move in such a way that He calls someone here today to be a full-time missionary somewhere.
The text for our message is found in Acts 1:8, which is printed at the top of your note-taking guide.
Please read this aloud with me, okay? Here we go.
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."
From this passage, and from a couple others, I want us to look at the call to missions, by looking at 3 types of missions, 2 ways to be involved, and 1 main reason for missions.
My prayer is that not only will you be blessed with this information, but that you will open yourself up to the heart of God for those who haven¡¦t heard the name of Christ.
Let¡¦s pray.
Let¡¦s get started by looking first at¡K
3 Types of Missions
„Y Jerusalem ¡V local.
There are lots of people in the Brown Co. and Aberdeen areas that need to hear the message of Jesus.
Many have heard it before, others haven¡¦t.
We cannot assume that just because they are in the area that they know their need for the Savior.
Many churches teach a false doctrine of salvation, trusting in their religious activities and rituals to save them rather than Christ.
They need to hear the message.
Others are disadvantaged because of economic, social, or other reasons, and may be being ignored because of their status, or may actually avoid the efforts of those who would reach them with the good news of Christ.
Our church is part of the Christian Outreach to the Heartland, an association of evangelical churches in the area who work together to expose as many people as possible to Christ.
If you wish to be a part of some sort of local missions efforts, come talk to me. If there is no one doing that particular ministry yet, it could be that God would have you do that through AWC.
„Y Judea and Samaria ¡V national.
Did you know that while at one time the U.S. was one of the nations sending out the most missionaries, it has now become a mission field itself?
One statistic I saw a few years ago lists the U.S. as the fifth largest mission field in the world.
Isn¡¦t it amazing that some countries are actually sending missionaries here?
Believe it or not, there are pockets of the U.S. filled with people who have not yet heard of Christ.
Immigration, both legal and illegal, continues to skyrocket, and many of these are from nations where the contact with the gospel is limited or not allowed.
Also, there are mission agencies geared to specific target populations such as the homeless, or ethnic groups such as Native Americans.
We have groups such as Campus Crusade for Christ, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the Navigators, through whom I came to Christ at SDSU, on college campuses, in communities, and even on military bases throughout the country to help spread the gospel throughout our land.
I mentioned before that just people are in our area, we cannot assume they¡¦ve heard the gospel.
Years ago, a Muslim friend and I were talking, and it became apparent that he was of the opinion that if you were an American, you were a Christian.
I had to explain to him that while one could be born a Jew or a Muslim, one is not born a Christian. One becomes a Christian by placing their faith in Jesus.
Unfortunately, my Muslim friend is not the only one with that notion of Christianity.
You probably know a number of people who believe it, simply because they are not Jewish or Muslim, and they attend a church.
There is still a need for missions work within our borders.
„Y Ends of the earth ¡V international.
Obviously, there are billions of people outside the United States, and most of them do not know Christ.
According to the latest edition of Operation World, only about 32.5% of the world¡¦s population would be considered Christian, and that includes such cults as the Mormons and Jehovah¡¦s Witnesses.
And only about 5% of the world has copies of the entire Bible in their native language. A full 60% of the world¡¦s population has no portion of the Bible whatsoever in their native language.
Folks, people are dying all over the world without Christ. And they will be punished for their own sins, because they have not been able to call on Christ.
The need is tremendous. Jesus called us to make disciples of ALL nations, not just our own. And it is the height of arrogance for us to just sit back and watch it happen without doing anything we can to help the news of Christ go forth.
So in light of that, let¡¦s take a look at¡K
2 Ways to be Involved
„Y Going.
Listen to these words of Jesus from Matthew 28:18-20.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 20 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 just mentioned that we have a job to do, and that job includes going forth to the ends of the earth with the news of Jesus Christ.
Jesus expects and commands His gospel to go out to the ends of the earth.
We need people to go. There is no question about it.
There was a time I thought God was calling me to missions. My heart was breaking for Indonesia, a Muslim country that was ¡§closed¡¨ to missionaries, so you had to go in as a teacher or something along those lines.
And I began preparing myself by going on other missions events, including a 2 month missions trip to the Navajo reservation in Arizona. In the summer.
God has since shown me that He has other plans for me, but I have not ruled out some short-term missions work in the future.
In fact, my hope is that within the next couple years, I will be able to go to Cambodia with the Wesleyan Church to help other pastors there for a couple weeks.
There are two main types of missions, whether they be local, national, or international.
Short-term, which can mean anything from a few hours to a few months, even up to a couple years.
Long-term missions refers to those we would call ¡§career¡¨ missionaries, who give themselves to that calling for as long as God allows them to be there.
For some, that is decades.
It is my prayer that God will raise up people from this congregation to go on long-term and short-term missions.
Before I move on to the second way to be involved, let me speak to something that I have heard on occasion, from respectable people who love Jesus and want the nations to be evangelized.
Some would say that if God does not call you to stay, then He has called you to go.
In other words, all of us are basically commanded to take the gospel to the world by becoming missionaries, unless God specifically tells you to stay.
I believe that is based on a misreading of this passage in Matthew.
Because you see, the command in Matthew is not to go, it¡¦s to make disciples.
And if you are not willing to make disciples here, then you have no business going overseas to try there!
But I want to challenge you to this: are you willing to ask God if He would have you serve in a cross-cultural setting, even if it means leaving the U.S.?
This is a hard question. And I don¡¦t ask it lightly.
Would you be willing to look at possible opportunities to go on a short-term missions trip to see if God would use you in that effort?
If you would like to look into that, please let me know. I can put you in contact with a number of missions organizations, including the Wesleyan Church¡¦s own Global Partners missions dept.
The first way to be involved in missions is in going. The second way to be involved is¡K
„Y Sending.
What do I mean by sending? I mean that if you cannot go, you provide the resources and prayer for those who do go.
Believe it or not, it costs money to be a missionary.
They need to eat, drink, wear clothes, and live indoors, and guess what! The countries they minister in want money for those things just like here in America!
Has God blessed you with a surplus that you can give after your tithe to the cause of Jesus overseas and here in America?
We bring missionaries in here because we believe God will use them to bring people to Jesus, and to give you the opportunity to support them with more than your good wishes.
They need money. This is why we take a missions offering every month. And you have stepped up to the plate.
Thanks for that. You will never know until we get to eternity just how God used your funds to make it possible for someone to hear the opportunity for heaven.
And while they need money, they also need prayer. Without the servants of God praying for them, our missionaries would be powerless to win people for Christ.
Send them with your money and with prayers. And if you cannot give your money, then you are still able to pray.
They need our money, they need our prayers, and they need the spiritual support from the local churches like ours.
They need to know that we believe in them, and in their missions. And so we pray for them, and we look to how we can support them financially as a church.
You can go or you can send. But now lets turn our attention to another aspect of missions. We have looked at 3 types of missions and 2 ways to be involved.
Now, let¡¦s look at the¡K
1 Goal of Missions
„Y To glorify God.
Surprise! You thought it was to take the gospel to the nations.
That¡¦s true to an extent. But listen first to Revelation 5:9-10 -
And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."
And Revelation 7:9-12 ¡V
9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
Let me ask you a question, and I need you to track with me here for a moment.
Why does God save us? Is it just for our benefit?
No. The bottom-line reason God sent Jesus to die on the cross was that He is glorified when people come to Him.
He is glorified in the worship of His people, and one day He will be glorified when all of creation bows the knee.
God is glorified in the lives of His worshipers.
Creation was made for what reason? His glory. We were made in God¡¦s image for what reason? His glory. We come together on Sunday mornings for what reason? His glory.
And we take the message of Christ to the world, ultimately for one reason. To give God the glory He deserves by helping people become worshippers of God on earth so they can be worshippers of God in heaven.
Conclusion
I really tried to make this message shorter than usual because of the fact that we had our three brave teens sharing with us.
But folks, missions is a heart-beat of mine.
And I have determined that if I cannot be a career missionary, then I would go on short-term when I could, and I would be a sender, with both my money and prayers.
And I also determined that I would do all I could to lead this church to be a sending church.
We are doing well. Aside from sending Nichole, Lindsey, and Ian, we are giving. In fact, our missions giving is up over the last year.
And that does my heart good.
But remember, the job¡¦s not done, so I want to offer you some rather specific challenges this morning.
First, if you sense God moving in you to be involved in the going part of missions, then I want you to get hold of me as soon as possible. This week, if possible.
I want to talk to you, seeing what you think God is telling you.
Second, if you feel that maybe you don¡¦t think God is calling you to go, then I would invite you to consider just how you can be specifically involved in the sending aspect.
We support three people through Wesleyan Global Partners, we support the ministry of Crystal and Jarvis Wipf with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and we also support Child Evangelism Fellowship and Aberdeen Christian High School. And we support the work of the Wesleyan Church in Cambodia.
Won¡¦t you see what God would have you do financially? And won¡¦t you see what God would have you do in prayer for these people?
If you feel that God is asking you to get involved in the sending portion of missions, I would like to know.
I can give you information regarding specific ministries supported by the church, or if you would like to look at other opportunities, you can do that as well.
Folks, we¡¦ve a story to tell to the nations. That Jesus has paid the way to eternal life. And they need to hear it.
Let¡¦s not sit on the sidelines, or even worse, in the bleachers on this one. We need to get in the game, in one way or another.
And may God be glorified in our involvement, here at AWC.
Let¡¦s pray.
