Christmas' Mission

Intro:

How good is your eye-sight?

The human eye at 5 feet off the ground can see 3 miles due to Earth curvature

in pitch black you can see a candle up to 1.6 miles away

Light reflects off an object and passes through the cornea, which is the transparent outer layer of the eye.The cornea bends the light rays to allow them to enter the pupil, or the dark center of the eye. At the same time, the muscles in the iris — the colored area around the pupil — control the size of the pupil, making it smaller in bright light and larger in a darker setting.Light rays then pass through the lens, which sharpens them as they reach the retina, the thin tissue layer at the back of the eye that contains tiny nerve cells known as rods and cones.

Pretty impressive. Did you know that apart from the moon sun and stars - Humans did not know anything about our solar system until 1600 - Alexander the great, Julias Cesar, Columbus - nothing

But in the 1600’s Galieo took the military spyglass made in Netherlands, pointed it at the sky and saw Jupiter's satellites and the moons hills and valleys and ultimatley that the solar system revolves around the sun not the earth.

Through the invention of the telescope Galileos perspective on the universe was changed forever.

Tonight, I pray that God will give you a new lens, and broaden your sight to see what He is doing around the world.

Prop: Be involved in God’s plan of redemption for the world!

Need: Involvement in missions is not optional! Every Christian is to not only be making disciples locally but supporting it globally! EVERY CHRISTIAN! Old & Young, the Senior Citizens and the Senior class.

There are about 7.91 billion people on Earth

12% are church going Christ - followers

20% are under the banner of Christianity (mormon, catholic, JW, nominal Christians)

42% of the global population are what we call “unreached” meaning they live in a place where there is not an adequate amount of belivers to evangelize, an unreached people group is a group where less than 2% know Christ.

26% are what we call “frontier unreached” which means that they have virtually know exposure to Christianity. Over 2 billion ppl will be born, live and die without ever hearing the name of Jesus Christ.

The gates of hell are overflowing with people who never heard about Christ.

This should bother you. This should change your perspective. This should change your life.

"Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved." -- Charles Spurgeon

Be involved in 3 ways:

1. Going

Matt 28:19 ““Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”

Christmas is about what? It’s about the ultimate missionary -Jesus Christ GOING from perfect comfort to sinful humanity, from glory to baby, to seek and save that which was lost.

He gave his entire life to the mission. He lived a perfect obedient life as the God-Man, he endured temptation, he saw that the only way anyone could ever be saved was if he would PAY for their sin, God demanded a sacrifice be made on sinful mans behalf. SO like a lamb going to the slaughter Jesus picked up a roman cross and walked up the hill, he let the men He created, nail him to it, mock Him and spit on Him. Then on the cross he BORE THE WRATH of God for sin upon himself. He died and then rose again.

So that from all 7 continents, any man who turns from their sin, believes in Christ as LORD and SAVIOUR can be saved.

He was the first missionary who completed the ultimate missionary,

then his apostles carried the torch by proclaiming that message until they were killed for it

then men like Polycarp, Ignatius, Jan Huss, William Tyndale, Jim Elliot and many others have died for this message

The Gospel has a history of Christian blood. Because it is worth dying for.

Do not take this lightly - you must continue the history before you and go no matter the cost

If Christ came for you, will you not go for others? No we must be willing to say “Lord, whatever you will have of me, I will do!”

Like Isa 6.8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!””

Thats what is most important - that you have a heart that will say yes to whatever God has of you.

Cory Cramer says that he prayed to God “God, I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll be a dentist in Russia if thats what you’d like”

So whether you go full time (which some of you need to serioulsy consider) or you go on a team, or you go to your school, or you go to your team, or you go to your family - You need to obey the commission to make disciples and to make them of ALL THE NATIONS.

"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" -- Hudson Taylor

2. Praying

col 4:2-6 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Paul, the missionary of missionaries is asking a church thats probably not too big to pray for his mission. Pray that the Lord would provide an oppurtunity for Him to preach and unbelivers to hear and turn from their sin and trust in Christ for forgiveness and redemption

Really, the most impactful and effective step you can take tonight to be involved in God’s redemptive plan for the world is to pray.

Prayer is the means by which God accomplishes His will -he hears and answers prayers

We should bring everything to Him in prayer but think for a moment with me

If you had the ear of the world leaders, you could ask them 1 request an they would do it, what would it be?

It’d be pretty selfish if I said - can you guys make sure my life is comfortable, that I get good grades,

YOU’d be like “YOU IDIOT!” ask for world peice, to address world hunger, something that affects everyone!

You have access to the sovereign God of the universe every single moment, you have his ear, yet how often do you forget to pray for 68% of the world w/o Christ?

"In our lifetime, wouldn't it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions?" -- Dave Davidson

3. Giving

mark 12:41-44 “And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.””

"You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving." -- Amy Carmichael, missionary to India

If you say YES to God and obey His call to be involved you will desire to give whether youre rich or poor

Its not so much about how much you give but how much you want to give

Average salary of homeless in US: $61223

if a homeless person gave %10 of their income they could give $6100 dollars to a missionary a year

that would cover a missionary in Zambias rent for 3 years

You can give. RIGHT NOW!

You w/ Jobs can set aside a certain amount towards missions

You w/o jobs can do chores

You can spend one weekend a month, mowing lawns, washing cars, baby-sitting and give those earning to God’s work overseas.

Some of you are thinking through career paths, you should desire a job that pays EXTREMELY well not for the nice house, car, and comfort but for the Gospel work across the ocean that you can fund

You could make 1 million dollars a year but live a life like you made 70k so that the gospel can reach the unreached.

This is what it means to be a christian, this is what it means to be a part of a church that sends missionaries

"Go, send, or disobey." -- John Piper

Close:

SO will you say YES to going? Fulltime in the future, STM this summer, to your friends on campus, to you unbelieing family. Go!

Will you be faithful to pray?

Will you give? Faith-Bible.net/missions click any of their websites and you’ll find options to give directly to them