Fully Devoted to the Nations

Update from Fully Devoted to Neighbors — Heard story of someone sharing the gospel with another recognizing he was his neighbor.

THE BIG PICTURE

Romans 10:5–17 (ESV)

Romans was written by Paul to the church in Rome in hopes they would be instrumental in helping Paul spread the gospel all the way to Spain.

The Context of the Gospel (5-8)

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

Romans 1-4- God has revealed Himself to everyone: therefore, everyone stands guilty before God.

- the insufficiency of works and the Law of Moses to save.

Romans 3:21–25 (ESV)

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

The Content of the Gospel (9-13)

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Not works — belief

Belief in resurrection

Not statement of mouth but statement of life (Jesus is Lord)

Paul then moves into a set of rhetorical questions that describe for us the call of the gospel.

The Call of the Gospel (14-17)

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Don’t miss the urgency in these verses.

“How then. . .” — Answer is “They can’t”

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Paul reminds us that ‘hearing’ the gospel is a necessary thing but it is not the complete thing. Hearing must be accompanied by belief for it to be saving faith.

(Even today you have heard the gospel — if you have never believed —TODAY IS THE DAY!)

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

THE FOCUS

We are Fully Devoted to the Nations because God is fully devoted to the nations.

“We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.”

— John Stott (British theologian)

Psalm 67:1–7 (ESV)

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

2 that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

6 The earth has yielded its increase;

God, our God, shall bless us.

7 God shall bless us;

let all the ends of the earth fear him!

cf John 3:16 — God so loved the whole world

What is near and dear to your heart? Your children?

ILLUST - Playland tubes — my girls getting lost in the maze of tubes — needed to send another child in to lead my child out — what if that child ignored me — refused to lead my child to me and simply continued to enjoy the tubes by himself? The question is do we do the same when we ignore the unreached?

Currently 3.23 billion unreached people in the world with 7,414 unreached people groups.

We are Fully Devoted to the Nations because it is our responsibility.

This is not a warm fuzzy statement, but it is true.

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The question is not “If I will be a part of missions?” The question is “How will I be a part of missions?”

Matt 28 — The Great Commission is our marching orders. Because of this, when we get to heaven, Jesus is not going to ask us how we liked out church service.

He’s not going to ask me how many people I had seated in this church. He will likely ask me how many people we sent from this church to make disciples of all nations.

The responsibility for the mission is given to the church. The power to accomplish the mission is given through the Spirit.

We are Fully Devoted to the Nations because we have God’s ability.

Following the Great Commission of Jesus what were the disciples told to do? Acts 1 - Wait.

Go. . . and wait.

Wait for what?

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

They all received the power of the Holy Spirit — Why? For cool party tricks? No — to be witnesses around the world.

What would you do if you knew you would not fail?

This is one thing we know will not fail.

You are given means to get the gospel to the unreached.

Praying, Sending, Going

Every one reaches everyone.

Praying

John Piper in his book Let the Nations Be Glad—2nd ed.:

Probably the number one reason prayer malfunctions in the hands of believers is that we try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom. Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission. It is as though the field commander (Jesus) called in the troops, gave them a crucial mission (go and bear fruit), handed each of them a personal transmitter coded to the frequency of the General’s headquarters, and said, “Comrades, the General has a mission for you. He aims to see it accomplished. And to that end he has authorized me to give each of you personal access to him through these transmitters. If you stay true to his mission and seek his victory first, he will always be as close as your transmitter, to give tactical advice and send air cover when you need it.” . . .

Satan’s aim is that no one be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. And one of his key strategies is to start battles in the world that draw our attention away from the real battle for the salvation of the lost and the perseverance of the saints. He knows that the real battle, as Paul says, is not against flesh and blood. So the more wars and conflicts and revolutions of “flesh and blood” he can start, the better, as far as he is concerned.

Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

ILLUST - Ajibola - in bringing the gospel to a village he encountered spiritual warfare - how did he deal with it? “I simply prayed.”

Pray for more workers:

Matthew 9:37–38 (ESV)

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Pray for boldness:

ILLUST - Ezekiel Ango - when he visited us - told us the story of how, when he was sharing the gospel in a Muslim country, he and his son were attacked - had many items stolen. You provided immediate help. When he was here we asked how we could pray for him — he asked for boldness.

Ephesians 6:18–20 (ESV)

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Pray for open doors:

Colossians 4:2–3 (ESV)

3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ,

ILLUST - Last week I met with a young man who came to know Christ in a dramatic way, as people who were sent came to his college and shared the gospel with him. He is now serving the Lord with a missions group. He shared with me stories of opportunities to share Jesus to a group of Muslims in mosque — A Middle-Eastern man who was once an enemy of the Jews having a vision to receive Christ and minister to the Jewish people. This young man described his method of evangelism, “We just pray and ask God to open doors.”

Sending

Missionary is our middle name and we have had the joy of sending missionaries from these pews to places around the world.

Sending can be found in giving.

WHAT CHRISTIANS EARN: Annual Income of all Church Members: $42 trillion.  [1] (Annual income of Evangelical Christians is approximately $7 trillion.)

WHAT PEOPLE GIVE: Given to any Christian causes: $700 billion. [1]

That's also how much we spend in America on Christmas.

“Americans have recently spent more money buying Halloween costumes for their pets than the amount given to reach the unreached.

HYPOTHETICAL OBSERVATIONS:

Evangelical Christians could provide all of the funds needed to plant a church in each of the 6,900 unreached people groups with only 0.03% of their income.

The Church has roughly 3,000 times the financial resources and 9,000 times the manpower needed to finish the GreatCommission.

If every evangelical gave 10% of their income to missions we could easily support 2 million new missionaries.

Given to Missions: $45 billion That's only 6.4% of the money given to Christian causes of any kind (2015). [1]  

*5.6% reported in 2010, GAC [2]That's also how much we spend in America on dieting programs.

 For every $100,000 that Christians make, they give $1 to the unreached.

(http://www.thetravelingteam.org/money-and-missions)

We are not a typical church. You are the most generous and giving church I have ever seen.

Supporting missionaries

Starting missions projects in India — Victory School

Obliterating our faith-minded goal for the Tom Murphy India Initiative (recent photos of motorbikes)

Not to mention the generosity in giving to care for our own.

DON’T STOP! We are going to do more ministry in 2021 than ever before!

Every one reaches everyone.

Going

Is God calling you to GO?

Short-term

Long-term

We always think God may call someone else — Be available

“Here am I. Send me.”

— Isaiah

Every one reaches everyone.

We are Fully Devoted to the Nations because it is for God’s glory.

It is not a dull duty it is a fulfilling joy.

We do not exist for our own glory. That is a losing battle. Name me one person Who has been able to enjoy his glory in definitely. It always comes to an end either in this life or when this life ends

John Piper “– God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” We can also believe the reverse we are most satisfied when God is most glorified in our lives and around the world.

This is not a must do as much as it is a get to do!

“The evangelization of the world waits not on the readiness of God but on the obedience of Christians.” 

— Bill M. Sullivan (Director of director of USA / Canada Mission / Evangelism)

Every one reaches everyone.