There is Work to be Done

Tara: Greeting and Report of first term Thank you, Pastor  One the highest honors a pastor can give is to allow you to share his pulpit.. because they are entrusting you to speak to the congregation God has blessed them with to shepherd.  So, thank you Pastor for allowing us to share you with you all today. If you have your bible please turn to Nehemiah 4:13-23 Today we will look at this passage of Scripture and then I would like to share 6 key points from it. We will then apply those 6 points to the task before us..  I pray that during our time this morning God would open our hearts to feel His call to boldly take the Good News with a Holy Spirit empowered strategy to the peoples, tribes, and nations who are unreached, unengaged and who are just plain difficult to get too. Pray for Service  Wasn’t worship good this morning? We love to worship As we get started I wanted to share with you a bit of worship to Jesus, from a currently unengaged people group. SILENCE  Introduction to Nehemiah:  Nehemiah was an Israelite who was the royal cup bearer of Persian King Artaxerxes, who is living in Persia away from Jerusalem One day he finds out from his brother that the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem after their captivity are not doing well.  and in fact are in great trouble and disgrace. He learns that the wall of Jerusalem has been torn downand the gates have been destroyed by fire. Nehemiah is deeply grieved by this and is moved to action.   He begins to fast and pray to God Then gets permission from the King to go to Jerusalem rebuild it. After Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem he rallies the Israelites together and they begin the rebuilding process by working on the wall and gates of the city.

But a group of enemies have been opposing them in their building efforts and now plan to attack, but Nehemiah finds out about it.

that is where we pick up in Nehemiah 4:13-23 and this is his response to the coming attack Nehemiah 4:13-23: So I (Nehemiah) stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the vulnerable areas. I stationed them by families with their swords, spears, and bows. 14 After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.”15 When our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated it, every one of us returned to his own work on the wall. 16 From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers supported all the people of Judah, 17 who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. 18 Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building, and the trumpeter was beside me. 19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “The work is enormous and spread out, and we are separated far from one another along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the trumpet sound, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us! ” 

21 So we continued the work, while half of the men were holding spears from daybreak until the stars came out.

22 At that time, I also said to the people, “Let everyone and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can stand guard by night and work by day.” 23 And I, my brothers, my servants, and the men of the guard with me never took off our clothes. Each carried his weapon, even when washing.

1.There is Work to be Done! Work is mentioned 6 times in this small portion of scripture alone and 22 times throughout the entire book of Nehemiah The work to rebuild Jerusalem and repair the wall was their main focus

2. The work is Enormous and Spread Out

In Nehemiah 4:19 it reads the task was enormous and spread out The city and surrounding wall was very large and they had to spread out to do the work 

3. The Task Will Require Us to be Strategic

Nehemiah responds strategically by developing a plan to overcome their vulnerabilities A.  First, He positions whole families who were equipped with weapons and ready to fight in the places with the greatest needs B.  Second, he establishes a way of communicating over the long distances  by using the trumpeters to alert everyone of a need for help.

4. The Completion of the Task will Require our Surrender

In verses 21 through 23 we see Nehemiah and the Israelites surrender and stop everything else in their lives to work extremely long hours at very difficult manual labor They surrendered when they were asked to leave the comfort of their homes and move inside the city so more people could be working 

Nehemiah, his brothers and workers surrendered their personal comforts and refreshment by not changing their clothes in order to always be prepared

5. We Must Understand Who Fights For Us

Nehemiah encourages them repeatedly to remember that God is fighting for them and would bring the victory

6. Because God is the one who fight for us and works through us the Work will Continue Until the Task is finished 

Verse 21: So we continued the work

Now let's take the six key points and apply them to the task we have been given

There is Work to be Done WE have a very important task that has been committed to us.

A. The Ministry of Reconciliation

2 Corinthian 5:18-20 Paul writes  “..God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”

We, who are in Christ, have been giving the ministry of reconciliation and are now to be his ambassadors.  God makes his appeal through us.  and We are to plead to those who are lost “Be reconciled to God!” So we are given the task of evangelism to share about Jesus to everyone

2. The task is Enormous and Spread Out.

In Matthew 28: 18-20 we find what is referred to as “The Great Commission”  where Jesus shares not only the what of the task but the how and the where.

B. Great Commission

Matthew 28:18-20  Jesus says: 18 “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So we are not only to bring people to Jesus through evangelism but we are also to disciple them by teaching God’s Word and doing life together Also we find the where, all nations The greek word for nations used here his ethnos, which is more of tribe, or ethnic people groups than geographic national boundaries. So the task Jesus calls us too is also enormous and spread out through the whole world. The world population is approximately 7.5 billion Total People Groups: 16,591 with over 3 billion or 42% of those people groups unreached with the Gospel A people group is considered ‘Unreached” if it is less than 2% Evangelical Christian. 

this not the number of lost people, that would be much greater. We are specifically pointing out those with little to no believers or those who are completely unengaged with the Good News of Jesus. Unengaged means there are no missionaries learning their language and culture to share the Gospel Or taking on the incredibly difficult task of translating the bible into their language. They are being born, living their lives, and then dying never hearing an understandable presentation of the Gospel in their heart language. 

3. The Task Will Require US to be Strategic

We as the Church must allow the Holy Spirit to strategically lead us in developing plans, that station and support people, who are ready and equipped, at the places where the need is greatest. For example Papua New Guinea has about 8 million people with only 18% living in cities and the remaining 82% living in geographically very hard to reach tribal areas.  There are very few roads in Papua New Guinea  In fact you can’t drive out of the capital city to any other parts of the country.. You have to fly So there is a tremendous need for church planters with a bit of a crazy hair to drive to the end of the road, put on their backpacks and trek the rest of the way to the remote tribes waiting to hear the Good News This is the ministry we will be engaging in! 

We will be attached to a small bible school where we will do life together with 5 bible students at a time We will walk in discipleship together all through the week  Then every Friday, Saturday and Sunday we will partner with the students to go into the tribal areas Contact a chief and ask for permission to put up a volleyball net for the children and youth then begin to get to know the community As things grow we will ask permission to gather the youth and have a youth service probably under a large tree in their village  and then an open air adult service.   Over time our prayer is as people hear the powerful Word of God we will begin to see them walk out of darkness into the glorious light of Jesus and a small church is planted With the goal that one of the 5 bible students would become the pastor  Papua New Guinea is also the most linguistically diverse place on the planet with over 800 unique languages So there is a desperate need for trained translators to live among the tribes in teams, To learn their spoken language,  create a written form,  teach it to them and then work with them to translate the bible into their tribal language.  Are you gifted by God in languages and linguistics?  Teams are waiting to form now and are looking for you!  You may ask: Should we focus only on the unreached or unengaged? Absolutely not! To do that would remove the sovereign direction and will of God to do what He wants, when He wants and wherever He wants. It would not be wise and I am absolutely not advocating to solely focus on the unreached and difficult to reach areas.. However, we would be amiss if we did not have a grid to evaluate ourselves Former Assemblies of God World Missions Executive Director, Loren Triplett, said “You don't measure yourself by your success, but you measure yourself against the unfinished task.” With such an immense field of over 3 billion souls left unharvested among the unreached  yet the greatest finances, technology, medical advances and most expedient travel capabilities of anytime in history…  We must be compelled to start the terribly uncomfortable task to look deeply and thoroughly at our obedience Our OBEDIENCE in our personal willingness to go,  Our obedience in sending those who are going,  our obedience in our giving and our obedience in praying for harvest  Pastor David Platt stated “It’s not because God is not calling people to go to them. It’s that we are not obeying his call. The reason two or three billion people in the world have little to no knowledge of the Gospel is because we in the church are facing a crisis in obedience.”  I want to share a bit of information that, as I studied for this message, shocked me to the core and broke my heart A Frontier Harvest Ministries report showed that there are over 4 million full-time Christian workers/ministersAnd 95% are working within the Christian world. There are 78,000 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group

Of the over 2 billion professing Christians in the world, you have a better chance of being in a plane crash than being one of the few missionaries to the neglected areas of the world. Of all missions giving only 1% goes to unreached areas To put that in perspective: Americans have recently spent more money buying Halloween costumes for their pets than the amount given to reach the unreached. Please feel my heart today..it is not to scold or condemn My heart is simply to bring awareness to a need, that maybe we didn’t even know existed.  We are missionaries whose hearts beat for the nations and we did not know the extent of the disproportion!

4. The Completion of the Task will Require our Surrender

Nehemiah and all the workers bore the dirt and filth of the work on themselves so they would be prepared and allow the task to be completed.

Will we surrender our time, schedules and ultimately our lives to say “ Yes God, I had plans and dreams, but I lay them aside to see your son Jesus made known among the tribes of Papua New Guinea in unexplored areas.” Will we wear the hardships and difficulties of the harvest on us as Jesus works through us to complete His task of the Gospel going to the most difficult and remote places on earth? Paul said it this way: “I bear the marks of Christ on my body.”The greek word Paul used for marks is “stigmata” Which was a permanent mark or cut used by slaves and soldiers to bear the name or stamp of their master or commander.

So, the marks Paul was referring to was the actual physical scars he bore from severe beatings and injuries he received during his ministry and because he belonged to JesusJohn 12:24 reads “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

Staying connected to this world will leave us empty, and void of purpose. But when we come to faith in Jesus and surrender to him as Lord and Savior, he plunges our old self, and desperately wicked flesh to the earth, like the kernel of wheat, where we are crucified with Christ, buried and dead! Then by the limitless power of God, that raised Jesus from the grave, we are violently and powerfully snatched out of the grasp of the accuser of our souls, sin and death and placed on the Rock of Ages to never be plucked out of his hand, Now fully and truly alive we are disciples of the King who are washed white as snow in the precious blood of the Lamb and will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives!

5. We Must Understand Who Fights For Us 

- Deuteronomy 20 is the passage of scripture that God gives the Israelites their rules for warfare.  It was the most important part of the commands.  When they approached battlefield, the priest was supposed to speak to them and declare the following:

“Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’ We are in a spiritual war with the Accuser and Father of all lies for souls.  We must remember God is the one who fights for us and gives us victory Let that build our faith today.. The fight is not ours alone He is the same God who split wide the Red Sea for the Israelites to come out of bondage He will miraculously split wide what stands in your way to run to the harvest  And when we pray He will move what stands in the way for the lost to come out of their darkness 

6. Because God fights for us and works through us the Work will Continue Until the Task is finished

Matthew 24: 14

14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.

Hallelujah! The task will be finished!

In closing:

November 5, 1858 John and Mary Paton landed on the island of Tanna which is modern day Vanuatu, a country near Papua New Guinea.

Three months after the Paton’s arrival, their son Peter was born.   But just 19 days later, his beloved Mary died from tropical fever Soon to be followed to the grave by the newly born Peter at 36 DAYS of age. John buried his wife and child together, close to their house in Resolution Bay. After their burial he had to spend many nights sleeping on top of their grave to protect them from the local cannibals, who would want to eat them.

Yet, John was undeterred from the harvest field, knowing that God was worthy of praise by this tribe of cannibals and who up to this point had no access to the Gospel And just as the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14, .. Christ love compelled John to never give up. He knew there was work to be done for the Father In his ministry he was strategic and lead by the Holy Spirit He understood the task he was called to required him to surrender and oh how he did! He knew very well that God was the one fighting for him and through him with the most powerful weapon we as Christ Followers are armed with.. Gritty and Relentless Love It is the weapon Satan has absolutely no answer to!

-Because John G. Paton refused to give up, because he was a kernel, that fell to the earth, was buried and died to himself, he was able to write these words: 

“At the moment I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer’s love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces.

I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself.

John continued working until his portion of the task was completed, and the Lord called him home after 82 years on January 28, 1907

Will you join in and be a part of God being glorified through you? 

Simon Peter received a new name of Rock And Jesus built his church and the gates of hell to this day and unto eternity will not prevail against it.

Would you receive a new name also today?  A new name of Access, because you bring the light of Jesus to the darkest demonic strongholds on earth.

We started in Silence, now we will end with the fruit of those who have given their all in Papua New Guinea

One minute and 40 seconds of Celebratory Worship from a Papua New Guinean tribe that has been reached with the Good News of Jesus Christ and now is working to share it with their own.

Thank you.