God at Work Across All Boundaries

So good morning again. As you know, we've been studying as a church missions for all of the month of February and we start off in the beginning. We talked a bit about the why of missions and then we looked through the concentric circles mentioned in Acts 1:8 Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the ends of the Earth. We talked about we call E1 that Jerusalem the people around you that are like u e to we talked about last week. That's that ring of people who are either geographically close to you, but culturally different seven additional boundary to go over or somebody's culturally like you but geographically different which is a physical boundary to go over and today we're looking at the farthest ring out III and that is the idea of Crossing multiple boundaries, usually Geographic and cultural. Sometimes it is missions work in a foreign country. Where the gospel Is around but not prevalent at other times. It is Frontier missions where the gospel has not even travelled to yet. And this morning we're going to be looking at a text in Romans 15. So hairy Bibles with you can open to their really looking at Romans 15 18 through 21 where to talk through what Paul's heart was too towards missions as he expressed it to Christians in Rome in this letter and how that same heart may very well apply to some of us who are here in the church this morning. Play read the text to us and then I will pray. And then we will look through the text and ask it some good questions and get some good answers from him Romans 15 18 through 21. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed by the power of signs and wonders by the power of the spirit of God. So that from Jerusalem and all the way around to alyrica Maya filled the ministry of the gospel of Christ and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ is already been named West I build on someone else's Foundation but as it has is written those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand take a moment and pray.

Only father that the fact that we are all here this morning gathered in this church.

in Wisconsin

is because people like Paul felt the call to get the gospel to places where it had not been. We are beneficiaries of that. We know the gospel because people long before us went out to make it clear. And so Lord, we pray this morning as we look through this text. There are many missionaries around the world who have already gathered this morning for worship. There are many who will still gather later today.

pray for them that they What experience you and be able to respond to you in Worship in a unique way today? And we join our hearts with them as we look at your word and seek to hear from you and act in accordance with what we've heard.

The Lord. We also acknowledge that there are some of our missionary friends throughout the world this morning Who could not gather for worship? because either they are not able physically to gather due to restrictions placed on them and they may be gathering at different times and little groups throughout the week. Some who are currently suffering for their willingness to spread the gospel. And so Lord, we unite our hearts with them as well. We pray Lord that you continue to send your spirit to comfort and strengthen your work not just here, but to the ends of the Earth who pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

So one of the things about God that is amazing is the key. Does not just function on a small scale every time we think we've got God pin down well enough we've got him in a box that he just about fits in for us. He just blows the Box up. But the problem is often times we tend to look at. God in his work throughout the world and we forget that he doesn't need a box we start to think about our own local church and what goes on here and the church just gather around us in our community and we hear news coming all the time from sources. That one is to focus in on everything that's going on here in our country and everything matters here. And God says that box is way too small for me. He's the god of the universe and so for him. He has people that he has created and we'll draw from all around the world to himself. His work is gigantic. It crosses every boundary because God transcends every boundary. Now that struggle for us as Believers is how many boundaries are we called to cross to bring the gospel for some of us? We have found firsthand the challenge of bringing the gospel merely a crossed the fence or across the street. We realized that takes a bit of courage to get up and say what needs to be said to my neighbor my coworker my family member my friend.

But some of us have been working on that and growing in our ability to be comfortable telling people the good news. That is the best news that they can hear. And so we start to feel this call to stretch ourselves a little further to looks for some additional boundaries to cross. And so some will be called to go out a little farther or engage people who are not much like them in cultural background but a lot like them and their need for Jesus and share the gospel.

It a wonderful sign up last week for a trip will be taking later this summer to go to a culturally similar but geographically slightly distant area and going to Minneapolis. Also been hearing even this week about those in our own City or reaching out to refugees and others who come from other cultural backgrounds who are geographically close. The Lord is putting them on our doorstep and yet culturally maybe farther away. There's an International Church. That's currently meeting downtown that is part of our association that is reaching out on the University campuses to International students who are here for a short time and getting to bring the gospel to them. It is true. God has placed the nation's on our doorstep and yet For some there is still the call to go. Do not just equip some who may go back to their country that they came here from or go on to a third country to share the gospel with a new group of people, but they feel the need themselves to get up and go Paul was one of those people you may find yourself as you think through this morning empathizing with Paul and his feelings towards engaging other people across all sorts of boundaries. Why did he do that? Why do people have why does anybody have that urge to get the gospel in the people's hands? Will he start talkin Verse 18 and he lets us in on a little bit of a clue as to what he's thinking about. He says I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. To bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed. The first thing we notice here is he says he's not an adventure to speak of anything. Except for Christ is done through him because Paul stays focused on the task. It is very easy. Sometimes especially in our culture to get very distracted by so many things that are going on and church becomes something that you come to on Sunday morning for a couple hours and go to Sunday school and go to church and then go home and you try to fit in quiet time during the week and you you try to make everything happen, but but it's it's too easy to get distracted if there's so many other things calling you Paul says I'm going to limit myself here. There's lots of things I could do. There's lots of things I could talk about. I'm not going to talk about anything except with Christ has accomplished through me now. We all may not be called to that same level of limiting our speech but I think his focus is admirable that attitude that says we will stay on task that God has called us to is an important part of developing a missionary heart.

you know, that's also in that verse he's talking about accomplishing something that in Christ needed to happen. It was not normal. What I mean by that what would it made sense for Paul as a Jew to minister to the Jews and he says no I'm not going to talk about anything accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to be in so-so in in the Jewish mindset. There are basically two groups of people. There's Jews and everybody else are the Gentiles and Paul says my job is to get the gospel to all of them.

Heart of the missionary says there are people who do not know Jesus who have not had the advantages of growing up in a culture that has put him forward regularly, so I need to help them. Know what is true? Missionary heart is towards people who do not know Jesus. What does he want to see happen for them? But says he wants to bring them to obedience by word and deed and we may look at that at first and go that would make an interesting mission statement. We strive to help people be obedient in word and deed we say well we put it as we want to help people become passionate worshipers and gifted Servants of Jesus Christ. So are we wrong and Paul's right? Is there is there a difference here between the two?

I would venture to say his explanation of it and our explanation of it are both pointing to exactly the same thing. Worship cannot truly happen if we do not understand and follow Christ in what we say and do our worship is fake at that point. We all know what that's like right the idea that you could say certain things and talk about certain things. But when you really have no clue what you're talking about. You're just kind of Faking It. Paul says if people are going to worship if people are going to be rain stuff is worshipper thing need to know how to walk in obedience and what they say and do to Christ that that consistency of life that is a life of obedience through worship is a very valuable thing for people to understand until he puts this forward as the model for them to do. He's going to go to the Gentiles.

Pray that Christ would work hit through him to accomplish obedience by word and deed.

Another way to look at this might be this. You've ever really love someone you may have. Thought at one point or another they could ask me to do anything and I'd say yes. Make a call me at 3 in the morning and say come over and I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'd take a bullet for him right week. We get this understanding sometimes with people we love we would do whatever they asked of us to do and there's a danger in that because any time we have that level of Devotion to a human. There's a chance they could ask us to do something that is contrary to the will of God and we would have to say no, I won't do that. When Jesus calls us. To live life according to his standard. He's basically saying what I tell you is true and for your good because I love you more than you understand and so out of love for him out of the worthiness of Christ that were responding to In Worship when we're declaring the greatness of him. What we're doing is we're saying everything you say. we would say yes to that's really what worship comes down to it is it is saying that God is so great that there is nothing about him that we would want to say no to It's a worship precedes from a heart that understands who it is. That's doing the asking of us and Paul understood very well. Who was calling him. into this ministry So, why did Paul do it? He did it because I did missionaries hard. He knew the focus. He needed to have he knew that there were people who did not know Jesus. He desired them to be obedient by word and deed to truly worship the Living God.

So what do you do when you feel that urge within you that calling to go and and respond and see Christ move through you in the lives of other people? Paul says in verse 19 a very specific description of how he did missions work. By the powers of signs and wonders by the power of the spirit of God. What is the skating at? If you try to do any sort of missions work and you are neglecting the power of the holy spirit that same power that produced the signs and wonders that Paul worked through the same. Holy spirit that saved you by opening your eyes to the reality of Christ Jesus that same Holy Spirit empowers you now to understand his word that gives you the courage to speak the travels with you everywhere you go. It gives you the Assurance of your salvation that promises you the inheritance of eternal life. If you don't go in the power of that Spirit your work will be ineffective. Why? smartest people berewick prail people the holy spirit is not weak. Holy spirit is powerful. And so he goes and does the things that he's called to do with signs and wonders in his cape amazing things were happening through Paul, but he rightly understand it was not because of him that the signs and wonders were happening but it was the power of the spirit of God at work. How do you do missions? You do commissions by full-length leaning on God to accomplish everything he has set out to do.

This provides some very interesting realities for those who go into overseas missions work. The reality is you will be called at times to do some things that probably seem impossible. For some of you that could be the idea of trying to learn a language you've never spoken before. Eagle I don't know if I can do that I had enough problems as English in school understood. Do you have confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you to be able to sustain you through hard things like learning languages? You say? Well stay not that's not a problem. My mind is sharp. I'm good. But if the Lord calls me to go somewhere.

Is there a Kopp's Custard there? Is it is there someplace I can still get a jumbo burger and the answer is probably no.

Culturally, you will come across all sorts of different things. Are youth ate crickets during the 30-hour famine in response to reaching one of their goals. I saw some of their faces and they were horrified by that thought. Where are the places around the world to be like at school? Used to that. I didn't seem strange.

Do you believe that your palate is so confined that God cannot call you to move somewhere else. You can work on that. I don't understand how they work. How can I get the gospel in that context? I barely can get the gospel understood in my own context it seems Again, the power of the Holy Spirit at work can train you up be culturally understanding to the point where you can actually make connections with people who did not grow up in the same way you did.

Hope there's family. I really left here. I'm going to go there real Christmas. What about Thanksgiving? What do I do on birthdays hubby hand? Do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to maintain your family life as you go?

All these concerns are valid When you pray for missionaries overseas, you can pray through all of those things pray for the the learning that they are doing mentally to be able to engage the culture around them and to learn the language perhaps they need to speak to be able to minister there pray for them and terms of just being able to fit in culturally and understand what's happening and and know where the gospel permeates that particular culture pray for them in terms of their family relationships because many of them gave up a lot to go where they're going.

But even more than praying for those specifics in all of them pray that the Holy Spirit by his power with sustain them through all of those things and hundreds more that you don't even know.

Paul knew that it would be hardship and it was for him as he continued in Ministry, but he never forgot the power of God. That was at work.

Let me get to the last part of this where he's talking about where he wants to go. So he made it all the way from Jerusalem around to alyrica man who fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ in the end of 19. Jerusalem down in the lower part and went on three different missionary Journeys. He made it all the way out to the lyric. I'm up by fessel and Aika long way away through that area and he really had if you look at Paul's missionary Journeys, he had just about every major city. He could find along the way and share the gospel there. And then trusted those who were there to spread it from their place into the area and region around them. He had been faithful with everything. God had given him up to that point. And now the calling was I need to go past this point. I think this is a valuable lesson for us. As we look at what it looks like to do missions work don't get starry-eyed about missionaries. And think if I go over there I can share the gospel of this way and that way with all these people. What's your experience and sharing the gospel here? All I don't do that here. Wait a minute. Missionaries are not people who gained some magical skill when they traveled somewhere else to become a missionary. They were living it and then God said now I don't just want you to live that here. I want you to live that somewhere else and they said okay I'm going and they did what needed to be done to go.

Be faithful in where God has put you now in preparation for anything. God may send your way. It may not be that he sends you overseas, but he might it may not be that he calls you to move to some other part of this country and live with a church planter somewhere and help them get a church off the ground in a place where the church isn't really prevalent.

Are you Faithful in everything God has called you to do so that you're ready for whatever his next step is in your life. That may be the easiest way for every single one of us in this room to walk out of this room with a with a game plan figure out where you're at right now what Ministry has God called you in now, how do I serve Faithfully in that now building my confidence in Christ through this work so that whenever he calls me to the next thing whether it's here or here or way out there. I'm ready for it and I'm able to say yes.

T'pol had done what God had given him to do locally and even stretched himself quite a bit to get all the way up to Elyria come. And now he's made it to them bishan to preach the gospel not where Christ is already been named. But where they don't know. This is a unique heart. This is saying he wants to go where people have never heard the name of Christ. This is Frontier missions. This is going to places. Where they don't know the Joshua Project has been around for quite a few years now looking at people groups that do not have access to the gospel. There's no prevalent Christians within that people group. There's no established church in some cases. There is not even anyone who's gotten to the people group to tell them who Christ is

a feeling leaving a room this size. There are some of you go that would be incredible.

It will be incredibly hard and an incredible blessing.

And I encourage you to walk with an Incredible God to see where he leaves you in that. Aparri unique calling in that sense. He wanted to go somewhere else. Is it bad to build on someone else's Foundation? No, it's not. Otherwise Northwest Baptist Church would have ceased to exist many many years ago as soon as the founding Pastor left cuz no one would have wanted to come in and build on another man's Foundation. I certainly wouldn't be here. There's been a lot of men who built the foundation here long before me. But for Paul his call was I want to go where it's not yet. I want to be on that that Cutting Edge of where the gospel isn't because I want to not just see something grow stronger. I want to see that seeds sprout.

You look to scripture those who have never been told of him will see. Those who have never heard will understand.

He wants to make sure the passage by the way from Isaiah 52. He wants to make sure.

The gospel continues its Journey. And this is a valuable question for all of us. There isn't a degree to which we need to take the gospel to that next place that place where it hasn't been. But there's also an interesting reality that happens in culture.

If the gospel is not continually put on display verbally and physically for those in the coming generation, it will cease to exist within a couple Generations cuz there will no longer be any witness to it and it will be gone you can look around the world and now at places where the church existed early on and it's almost non-existent now.

Even recently in in Europe the church went through a phase or was very strong and then got very weak and then people reached out as missionaries to start to bring the gospel back in to get it now. It's on an upswing. brothers and sisters if you're sitting here this morning you I don't know if I'm called to do overseas Mission stuff here this Whitehall who wanted the gospel to continue to spread if you do not take the time to do it here it will we will end up needing missionaries to come here eventually because it will die out here. Respectful here. And if the Lord calls you wear every calls you to go. It's not an either-or in most cases is both an for people.

Where does this lead us? Where do we go from here in missions? He spent a month looking at this idea of of these concentric circles of missions in which we said in the beginning missions exist because worship doesn't we want to see worship spread? Where do we go from here? Here's my challenge for all of you. Thanks for your own life right now. And where it is that you have come from. Who is it that share the gospel with you? Who is it the brought it to you. Do you know the history behind who your spiritual parents and grandparents and great-grandparents and so on and so forth War? Men, eventually you work your way back to the apostles cuz they're the ones who started it all. Be thankful for the faithfulness of those who have come before you start there. And then once you once you thought through the best you can and maybe even made some phone calls or written some letters to find out from some folks. Hey, you share the gospel with me who shared it with you and what you've established that lineage of Beth. Ask yourself this question. Who will it be? 20 40 60 years from now when another Pastor in another church gets up and says who are your spiritual parents grandparents and great-grandparents list you in that number? And what would it take now in your life where you're currently serving or what is God calling you to do next in your walk with him that would take you to the place where you could be made by someone. Why is because you really should strive have your name remembered? No, no, that's not it all pointed out to us in the beginning of the passage. He wanted to make sure that the work that Christ had accomplished through him with what he spoke of is centering was on Christ not himself, but he did not want to be left out of Christ's work.

And then thirdly when you've gone back and looked back at with thankfulness to God for who he has put in your life to get you here. When you thought ahead to what you would need to do is next steps to get the gospel into other people pray about boundaries. I don't mean pray about boundaries. Lord can find me here, please now, that's not it pray about boundaries that they would not become boundaries for you pray about how many boundaries it is. The Lord wants you to cross over with the gospel. Does he just want you to have a conversation with the person across the fence do it doesn't call you to move from just your fence to somewhere across town or somewhere across the country do it. Is it calling you to say boundaries? They mean nothing to me cuz I'm following Jesus and he wants me to Cross them all do it. Get connected at whatever level God is calling you to because I guarantee you there is no boundary in front of you that he wants you to cross over the by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is not able to help you get over.

But I like to do is I'd like us to take a few moments and pray. Pray about everything don't wait and go home later on and I'll pray about setting up right now and ask the Lord where the next steps are for you now and then after service ends, what I want you to do over the coming week is not keep it to yourself. If you're in a life group this week, maybe mention it to the folks in your life group. Here's where I feel like I'm at where I think I'm going to be going if you're not currently part of a life group that you're connected with those folks in the church. Let somebody know why because then they can specifically be praying and holding you up in the next steps. You're going to take if you're here this morning, you're like, I think the first I need to take us to acknowledge that I could Jesus doing some work in me. Well, we'll be up front here. We would love us pastors to get to pray with you about that and connect you in with people that can help you move along and whatever stop you're at in your journey with Christ. Get something specific that's on your heart that you needed some prayer for the pastor's will be here for that to get something you'd like to sit down and really pray through and work through with us. Please let us know we'd love to get together with you during the week and be able to pray about it. Let's just take a few moments and when we're done I will close in prayer and then we'll sing.