[Music] i want to welcome especially the men at the men's retreat who are joining us i think sunday morning with this video and all of you who are at the south campus in lakeville and all of you who are downtown sunday morning and sunday evening let's all cross these hours and across these miles pray together lord of the harvest you have told us to pray to you that you would send laborers because the harvest is white and ready for harvest and so i ask now that in these eight services this weekend plus the men's retreat
you would send you would call out for yourself young and old and so give them a compelling sense of your leading cross cultures and long term that they would know i am sent i ask this in jesus name amen well this is my 30th or 29th depending on how you count and last sermon on missions as your pastor and that's not exactly true if you have years to hear because every sermon is on missions in my way of thinking you know what i mean november 13 1983 was my first one and i have preached in
this global focus every year since except i think in 2010 what a privilege to be a part of this bethlehem legacy of world missions to lead bethlehem to lead bethlehem which has been my job these 33 years is to lead a mission agency not just a church but a church with an absolutely extraordinary sending calling on it an organization of sending and supporting like few others to lead this global mission was an inheritance that i received and did not create and it is a legacy or a bequest that i bequeath with joy to jason meyer
it's an inheritance 1890 some of you know the story bethlehem was 29 years old she was downtown where i stand right now this is a parking lot in those days but right over there a few feet away 19 1890 swedish baptist church first swedish baptist minnie and ola hansen were sent were commissioned from the membership of this church to burma and to the kachin people a vengeful cruel treacherous unreached tribe ola hansen was told by the king of burma 112 years ago so you are to teach the kachins do you see my dogs over there
i tell you it will be easier to convert and teach these dogs you are wasting your life the kachin were completely illiterate no written language and over the next 30 plus 36 plus years ole hanson collected 25 000 words and wrote them down wrote a kachin english dictionary in 1911 he published the new testament in kachin in august 11 1926 he completed the old testament and in a letter august 14 that year he wrote this it is with heartfelt gratitude that i lay this work at the feet of my master it's 36 years on the
field i'm conscious of the defects of my work i have tried to master kachin and make a translation intelligible to all pray with us that our divine master may bless this work to the salvation of the whole kachin race today virtually every kachin can read and write kachin and burmese the national language and there are over a half a million christians that's your legacy we a church sent that man that's why he brought this church into being among other thousands of reasons so the legacy at bethlehem goes back over 100 years and has been one
of the highest privileges of my life to inherit and bequeathed without exaggeration to be a part of this and those those names all but four of whom went out under my pastorate is simply breathtaking we are called to hold the ropes often i have thought god if we stumble if we falter if we mess it up if this church explodes or implodes or in any way goes off the rails there are going to be so many many people and peoples that feel the reverberations god don't let it happen help us to keep holding the ropes
and that image of rope holding has been really precious to us it comes from william carey who went out to india you know in 1792 never came back stayed there 40 years and died there and he was talking with his pastor friends before he went about the fact that nobody had gone from their band anyway and he said to john ryland and andrew fuller i will go down into the mine if you will hold the rope and john ryland reports from that meeting he took an oath from each of us at the mouth of the
pit to the effect that while he while we lived we should never let go of the rope that's what i have felt that my hand is on your hand to not let go of the ropes 110 families and singles on the on the field 192 adults 170 children 362 souls go out from us to reach the nations this is amazing this is frightening this is wonderful what a privilege you you bethlehem should feel wonderful that you're a part of this church you should feel wonderful that any dime you give or any effort you make to
contribute to the life and meaning of this ministry and the health of this church is keeping hands on the ropes of so many who've dropped over the cliff down to the minds that are so needy so rejoice that we are not what's amazing about that list i mean there was a time when we had a long list this list every one of those people is part of this church we used to support missionaries from all kinds of other churches and over the years god has done such a work here that we can't even raise enough
money to send all the people from our own church that want to be a part of that movement and what an amazing thing and you should feel really encouraged so as you know on the second sunday or the second saturday of the global focus week we have for i don't know how many years decades invited you who are being called into longer-term cross-cultural missions to walk to the front at the end of this message across all of our campuses and testify outwardly of the wonderful work of god's call in your life and to be prayed
over by by me or by someone else at the other campuses and we're going to do that again in in 30 minutes or so and i tell you that up front because this is totally not about coercion it's totally not about jerking anybody around it's not about emotional highs there'll be no music no head bowed no eye closed when i invite you to walk up here so you can just be getting ready and here's the question you should be asking because i don't want everybody to come and i don't want people who love short-term missions
only to come here's the here's the the group it won't be a huge group i want you to come if you have a growing [Music] sense a compelling sense that god has been at work in your life to lead you sooner or later to cross cultures in longer term and i seem to mean like two years or more don't want to be picky there but i love short-term missions i love what brad's doing i love that folder i love that my daughter loves it i love that i've been on them but this is about the
people who are sensing this is my life if god keeps leading me this way so that's that's how you should be praying in the next 30 minutes should it should i be among that number that walks up there and and if you're a sender you should have the total clear conscience not to walk up here and just rejoice in those who who do so that's where we're going and what we've done for these many many years this is part of my series of 30-year theological distinctives so i'm i'm going to unfortunately totally ignore the text
that was read i arranged for this early i said i love this text todd but would it be okay if i if i just gave the big picture of what has driven us for these 30 years and he was merciful to me and said go ahead and so maybe maybe another time i'll do the exposition of titus because that's a magnificent foundational text in every way but where we're going now is that i'm going to give you ten biblical convictions that have been the driving force of the mission vision of this church and what what
you should be doing i think is asking the lord okay i probably heard a lot of these now is there a fresh burning in my soul that you will do with this message because you know a lot of you have asked over the years how do you know if you're called well i'll tell you one way god does it i was lying in a hospital bed in 1966 listening to harold john ochen gay preach what in the world is that my phone i've got a clock going here but i've never heard that so i'll turn
the clock off and ignore the time no idea what that is it's what you get for buying a new phone sorry what was that what was that saying here oh yes i was in a hospital and i heard this man preaching and i don't remember what he was preaching about but what i knew was my heart burned with what he was doing doing he was doing exposition and my heart from that moment never ceased to burn that was my call i couldn't turn back there was no way i could walk away from what was happening
so that's what what might happen while i'm preaching that as i talk about missions and give you biblical foundations god would be doing something that he's he probably didn't just begin to do in these services he's been doing it perhaps maybe 20 years 20 days weeks 20 minutes he can do it any way he wants and you just can sense this is what i am this is where i am at home now this is what i'm called to do and you don't have to have absolute certainty about that you just you just take your steps
as they come okay so that's where we're going and here's the ten biblical convictions one god is passionately committed to the fame of his name and that he be worshipped by all the peoples of the world and this is not egomania so that's just last what two weeks ago sermon no three weeks ago that god has a passion to be worshipped by all the peoples and this is not egomania it's love missions is joining god in his passion to love the world by giving himself to the world for the joy of their praise declare his
glory among the nations his marvelous works among all the peoples make known his deeds among the peoples proclaim that he is exalted god sends jesus on on the earth in order that the gentiles might glorify god for his mercy romans 15 9 he does his mighty works in history that his name might be proclaimed in all the earth he's passionate to have his name proclaimed and we join him in that passion that's what missions is we join him in the passion he has for his fame number two therefore worship is the goal and the fuel
of missions missions exist because worship doesn't missions is our way of saying the joy of worshiping jesus is not tribal it's not ethnocentric it's global the joy of worshiping the creator of the universe is a joy to be spread and so when it is spread those people begin to rejoice in worshiping so it's driven out of our joy in worshipping into their joy in worshiping so we talk about being the fuel and the goal of missions you can't commend what you don't cherish you can't proclaim what you don't prize and therefore prizing christ is the
the well out of which missions is bubbling and what it's aiming at is prizing christ in others so worshipping him is the is the fuel and worship is the gold and the reason it exists is because there's so many peoples where there is no true worship of the living god and we have that joy and we mean to share it number three people must be told about jesus because there is no salvation there's no worship where the gospel of the crucified and risen son of god is not heard and believed people must be told god
has not set it up any other way he doesn't save people by the arrivals of spaceships but the arrival of missionaries that's how he does it in unreached peoples there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved x4 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of christ there's no other way romans 10 whoever has the son has life whoever does not have the son does not have life no serious muslims have the sun no serious hindus have the sun
no serious buddhists have the sun billions and billions of people without the sun and without life and we have the sun go therefore and make disciples of all nations because there'll be no salvation without your going number four god is committed to gathering worshipers from all peoples not just all countries we have a mission statement spreading a passion for the supremacy of god in all things for the joy of all peoples and there's an s on the end of peoples for a reason when the bible says make disciples of all nations it doesn't mean usa
japan argentina it means fulani cherokee han and there are 12 to 16 000 of them not 192. worthy is the lamb who was slain to take the scroll and open its seals for by your blood you ransomed people for god from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and you made them a kingdom priest to our god and they shall reign on the earth the point of that breakdown tribe tongue people nation is not that they're precise mutually exclusive entities but to cover the whole gamut of the breakdown of humanity into these significant ethnolinguistic
groupings that matter to god god is not into countries he's into peoples once the somali who live across the street and have so few christians among them to be reached there are according to the joshua project over 7 000 unreached peoples there's work to be done and we exist according to our mission statement to do it and god has blessed that oh how he has blessed it number five therefore there's a critical need for paul type missionaries whose calling and passion is to take the gospel where the people have no access to it no access
there are no churches there there are no christians there you can't talk about the natives evangelizing their own there aren't any paul type distinguished from timothy type then i love both types and the bible loves both types timothy left his home in lystra when god called him into his mission and took him over and planted him in ephesus probably a pretty big culture shock for smaller town timothy to go to ephesus and spend the rest of his life away from his mom and grandmother ministering in a in a foreign place that's timothy type missions because
the church was already there well established by paul and others but paul wrote in romans 15 my eager ambition is to preach the gospel where christ has not even been named i have no more room for work in any of these regions though there be tens of thousands of unbelievers here that's missions talking i don't have any room here why the church is here well i'm talking some of you are going to feel that some of you are going to feel that it won't be many i mean this is an unusual calling we just need
several hundred thousand but that's not a lot really i mean there are hundreds of thousands of churches in the world this is not a lot it won't take any big sacrifice if everybody were doing it if if every church were sending some paul type missionaries from all the peoples and it won't be america probably it finishes this job be brazil and argentina and nigeria mozambique the philippines they have a lot more access than western satan does which is our tragic reputation so widely but we go wherever they'll let us come or places where they won't
we go because paul said of course they're going to take my life but that's no stop paul type missionaries are required to finish this task because there are peoples where there isn't any church planted yet so don't just send your money and not your blood it's cheap so many people talking that way these days we don't need you anymore we need your money that's not true we all should be reading wheeling and ready number six we must send the global partners in a manner worthy of god tom steller wrote the epilogue to my book on
missions on that verse from 3rd john 1 16 and his has beat that trumpet as well as anybody and now todd is picking it up as the pastor for missions here you will do well this is the bible talking now you will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of god which is why we have a mission staff while we have a missions budget while we have barnabas teams while we have a nurture program while we have this in the bulletin we are senders most of us and you know how
we talk here you've got three options go send or disobey there isn't any other option there are those who go down over the cliff those who hold the rope and those who think it's none of their business number seven it is fitting for us to have a wartime mindset in the use of our resources as long as thousands of peoples are without the gospel and we have resources to send it the queen mary was a luxury liner until world war ii in world war ii it was conscripted to be a troop carrier and instead of
three bunks they had seven bunks high instead of an 18 place set of china they had a fork and a spoon and a tin plate with rations for 7 000 soldiers that's the kinds of changes you tend to make in wartime everybody pitches in and does their part and one of the reasons that we are as weak in many areas as we are is because we have a peacetime mentality and not a wartime mentality we just relax in america good grief look at america we just got everything we want here this is this is peace
time it's not afghanistan no no no no no it's not peace time it's wartime our kids are dying you're dying people all around us are being slain by the devil and his lies and being sold a bill of goods about the american way and we have the resources to put people wherever they need to go so one of the implications that we've tried to press here is that there is a wartime mindset there's a wartime life style modeled by the macedonians in second corinthians 8 2 in a severe test of affliction and their abundance of
joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed with a wealth of generosity on their part it is more blessed they discovered to give than to receive god owns everything you have you don't own what you have it's not yours you were bought with a price everything you have is his you are his and he cares about how it goes on the front line it cares about the unreached peoples of the world and whether the troops are making it there and whether the firepower is there to help them he cares about that as he manages your funds
or you manage his funds and so it makes a difference number eight the prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie not a domestic intercom these are all slogans at bethlehem they go back multiple decades prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie not a domestic intercom read you a verse where i got that jesus says i chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit so that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give it to you and when i read that i thought wow that is really strange i chose you and appointed
you to go so that your prayers will be answered i know what does that mean it means i created this thing called prayer for for people are on mission not in their den ringing up the butler for a bigger pillow a little pillow say hello hello hello you wonder why your prayer's not functioning it's not what it's for it's the wrong wavelength i think every request we make should include hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on the earth including all over the unreached peoples and that's why i want healing from
my sore throat this morning which i totally pray about if our prayers have no connection to god's big causes they're probably going to malfunction this is not a domestic intercom this is for this is for people who are under fire help mayday may day i need cover he's talking to god i need the holy spirit i need some protection i need some wisdom i need words god please help me i'm walking i'm going that's what prayer is for and for senders as well send it to them god we got the email bring it down for
them do they need us to come what do they need tell us what you need we will pitch in that's number eight prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie not a domestic intercom and number nine suffering is not only the price of being in missions but the plan that god has for getting the job done this is sobering we're not playing games here it's going to cost your life some of you suffering is not only the price as you walk in obedience here and there it is also the plan of god for getting the job done a
few texts matthew 10 if they have called the master of the house beelzebub how much more will they malign those of his household so just expect to be abused at least verbally expect it it hurts it wounds it makes you sometimes doubt you wonder did i have i done it all wrong because they're going to make me sound like i've done it all wrong or matthew 24 9 they will deliver you up to tribulation put you to death and you will be hated by all nations from my name say could be hated by all nations
how do they know you you went there to be hated while you love them and give your life for them that's what jesus did he came to a foreign unreached people they killed him and he saved them in dying it's what we do behold i am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves matthew 10 16 this is not just the price this is the plan this is the means how do you defeat the devil who holds on to these people blinds the minds of unbelievers i'll read it to you is revelation 12
11 they have conquered him the the serpent the devil satan they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony for they love not their lives even unto death we triumph by his blood our testimony and our death it looks like we're being defeated we're not so expect to suffer some of you expect to die and we will we will love you to the end we will bury you with with thanksgiving and we will send replacements and expect it to happen until jesus comes number 10 the global cause
of christ cannot fail nothing you do in its cause can be in vain therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing that the lord your labor is not in vain never nothing littlest little squeak of good-willed obedience is not in vain you have to be a perfect person for that verse to apply to you jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples i have all authority over iran iraq saudi arabia united arab emirates egypt libya somalia turkey
china india nepal burma vietnam japan indonesia i have total authority in those places they're mine i've made them i hold them in being i've been installed as the messiah ruler of the universe by virtue of my resurrection i will come again and take all to be mine i mean in this age for them to be reached i mean to have a people from them all and i have the authority to get it done i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it that means i will push on these gates
they will give way i'll have my my people from the gates of hell matthew 24 14 this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world not maybe but will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testament to all the nations and then the end will will come he has a people he has ransomed them he means to have them i have other sheep that are not of this fold i must i must i must bring them also they will they will they will they will listen to my voice so there will
be one flock and one shepherd and those are my ten biblical convictions that have taken hold of us for these years and continue to drive this remarkable missionary enterprise called bethlehem there are more well i'd love to go on with more and say anything about the difference between frontier and domestic ministries and maybe maybe maybe tomorrow night we'd do some of those there are more now for some of you who have been listening you have felt okay i've thought about some of those things and now i'm faced again here i have it all rumbling in
my soul again it's all being stirred up again and i just want you to be praying right now in the next minute or two before i have you come let me just define again who i'm going to invite up here now to the reason we do it first of all i think it's really beautiful to publicly testify god has been at work in me to give me as far as i can tell i'm not infallible a compelling desire to do this in other words every person who walks up here is a statement about the work
of god toward missions it's a beautiful thing and second reason is i want to pray over you in a focused way here that god would give you clarity about that and deeper conviction about that and greater courage for that that's what i want to pray over you when you when you come and then we have some materials to give you as well to help you move move forward and todd will be here and others on every campus and at the men's retreat sunday evening sunday morning there will be people appointed when this video shuts down
to finish off what i do here in those places you may be 12 years old you may be 20 55 75 and the question is do i have a compelling sense that god is leading me up to move towards crossing a culture longer term not just short term but longer term and if you're willing to do that as long as he keeps opening doors he could shut him he could keep you from doing it you'll just keep following that inclination so let me pray and then and then i'll invite you to come so father as
we bow our heads there are people who are on all these campuses and in all these services wondering am i at that point of feeling a a compelling sense that's my phrase for how fallible human beings discern a divine call they have a have a compelling sense that you're at work in their lives to lead them into cross-cultural missions two years or longer and i ask you to make it plain enough for them to know what to do lord of the harvest we are we are simply trying to put ourselves in your hand now to
call and to send so i pray that you would answer and do it in jesus name you
