Imagine embarking on a personal 'Apollo Program', a mission filled with commitment, dedication, and one that shapes your priorities. Join us as we draw inspirational parallels from JFK's 1962 speech at Rice University and Jesus' teachings in John 17. We delve into the global and local mission of Jesus, highlighting how everyone can play a pivotal role in spreading the gospel. Equipped with the powerful tool of salvation, we're tasked with the mission to represent Jesus in our own backyards, just as Jesus wants everyone to hear and respond positively to his good news.
Matt Armstrong, a transformative British YouTube star, teaches us to see potential and value in the things that others deem worthless. Just as he breathes new life into old, discarded cars, we ought to see the worth and beauty in people amidst their brokenness. The church carries the gospel message and represents Christ, even in a world that's often dismissive. As we explore this profound notion, we're inspired to consider how our lives can contribute to a mission greater than we could ever conceive on our own. So, buckle up and join us on this spiritual journey, as we discuss the global and local mission of Jesus, the beauty hidden in brokenness, and the incredible opportunity to represent Jesus in our everyday lives.
Imagine embarking on a personal 'Apollo Program', a mission filled with commitment, dedication, and one that shapes your priorities. Join us as we draw inspirational parallels from JFK's 1962 speech at Rice University and Jesus' teachings in John 17. We delve into the global and local mission of Jesus, highlighting how everyone can play a pivotal role in spreading the gospel. Equipped with the powerful tool of salvation, we're tasked with the mission to represent Jesus in our own backyards, just as Jesus wants everyone to hear and respond positively to his good news.
Matt Armstrong, a transformative British YouTube star, teaches us to see potential and value in the things that others deem worthless. Just as he breathes new life into old, discarded cars, we ought to see the worth and beauty in people amidst their brokenness. The church carries the gospel message and represents Christ, even in a world that's often dismissive. As we explore this profound notion, we're inspired to consider how our lives can contribute to a mission greater than we could ever conceive on our own. So, buckle up and join us on this spiritual journey, as we discuss the global and local mission of Jesus, the beauty hidden in brokenness, and the incredible opportunity to represent Jesus in our everyday lives.
Hi, it's Pastor Jonathan and thanks for downloading the FBC Elderado Sermon Podcast. We hope today's message will challenge and help you take the next step as you follow Jesus. Houston, texas. In the fall of 1962, a crowd of 40,000 people gathered on the campus of Rice University. President John F Kennedy was in town. He was scheduled to make a landmark address to the nation. Standing in the shadow of NASA, kennedy would describe and try to kind of earn and garner support from the country for his Apollo space program. So before this crowd of 40,000 people inside the football stadium at Rice, kennedy would excite the audience with statements like we choose to go to the moon not because it is easy but because it is hard. He was trying to remind the country that the most important things sometimes in life, the things we really need to accomplish in life, they are the hard things. If it were easy, everybody would do it, but because it is hard, we will be the one nation that does it. And then the crowd just kind of erupts in applause and the energy of the crowd continues to grow. Kennedy describes the Apollo program this way he says that it is the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. And then, at the conclusion of the speech, it all comes to this great crescendo, as actually John F Kennedy prays for the Apollo space program and he says this. He says we ask God's blessing on this most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked. With those carefully crafted words, john F Kennedy presented the United States of America and every one of its citizens with a mission that he hoped we would undertake, and pretty soon. That mission that he laid out in 1962 in Houston, texas, began to set the priorities for our country. A $25 billion was invested in the Apollo space program. Hundreds of thousands of people worked in all levels of trying to see that mission of the Apollo space program completed. The Apollo program is now remembered in history, books and documentaries, museums.
Speaker 1:Here's the fact Each of us in our own personal lives have our own personal Apollo program. Each of us in our life has a mission that we want to achieve, missions in each of our lives. They do set our priorities and it's something that we know is hard. It's something that we're going to have to give tireless effort in order to achieve. I just think about it. It's the high school student who already pulls all nighters because they want to earn the college scholarship. It's the college student who never misses class, studies all night, forgoes all fun on the weekends because their dream is to be accepted into medical school. It's the business owner who pours their entire life savings into a new venture. It's the teacher who comes early, stays late, never thinks twice about spending their own money to buy supplies because they just want to see the lives of children changed. The parent or grandparent who invests all their time and energy and resources into the children that have been entrusted to their care. Each of those people I just named has a clearly defined mission in life, and having mission is so important because having a clearly defined mission makes sure that a person makes the most of every moment of every day. Our mission is what brings together a purpose and passion. Now listen, whatever your mission might be, no matter how noble that mission might be in the world, your mission must be secondary to his mission.
Speaker 1:Listen to what Jesus tells to his disciples in John, chapter 17. Jesus says this. He says, in the same way that you have gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. Jesus knew the temptation that his disciples would face. They would be tempted. After he returned to the father. They would be tempted to let their mission in this world be limited to what they already knew that one of them would just want to have the biggest fishing boat, another one of them just the most profitable tax booth. So Jesus tells them I was sent by the father. Now I'm sending you your mission, the mission you set for your life. Your thought of purpose and passion has to be secondary to my mission. That is the most important thing you can live for in this earth. And those words that Jesus spoke over his very first disciples, he continues to speak over each and every generation of disciples. Just praise those words over us so that his friends and followers, his church, would join in, participate in, be a part of his great global mission.
Speaker 1:Global I first heard that term about 15 years ago when I was attending a conference. Global it's a word that is a combination of two words First word global, second word local. The Glocal means this that Jesus' mission unfolds around the world. Jesus' mission unfolds in some of the densest, most remote jungles in the world. Jesus' mission unfolds in caravans of Bedouins who are crossing deserts. Jesus' mission unfolds in some of the high-rises, in some of the world's largest cities, in most populated slums, and Jesus' mission unfolds locally. Jesus' mission unfolds in our own backyard. It unfolds among people who live in Mystic and the Thunder Zone. It unfolds in lives of wildcats and Trojans, and warriors and buckaroos. Jesus' mission unfolds both globally and locally. We know that Jesus' mission is global because we know and understand the heart of God.
Speaker 1:1 Timothy, chapter 2 says this. It says God, our Savior, wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth, for there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity the man, christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time, and I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I'm not exaggerating, just telling the truth. The truth of the gospel is this the saving power of Jesus Christ is available to every man, woman and child who has lived on this earth, who will live on this earth and who currently lives on this earth. Jesus wants everyone to hear and to say yes to his gospel message. That's why we know that his mission is global.
Speaker 1:Over the next couple weeks we're going to examine those two fronts of Jesus' mission. Next week we'll look at why Christ's global mission requires us to give and to go. But today we're going to start the series by thinking about how Jesus' mission is unfolding in our own backyard. We're going to study from 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 and learn that, for you and I, if you're a disciple of Jesus, a friend and one of his followers, if you want to participate in his mission unfolding in El Dorado, in Union County, in Parker's Chapel, in Smackover, in Norfolk, if you want to participate in it, you have to come to this single realization I am redeemed by Christ to represent Christ. I am redeemed by Christ to represent Christ. So open your Bibles with me, if you would, to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. We'll read together. I'll read over you verses 14 through 21.
Speaker 1:Paul begins this way 2 Corinthians 5. He says For Christ's love compels us Because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him, who died for them and was raised again. So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded Christ in this way. We do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God made him, who had no sin, to be sinned for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1:Christ's love compels Christ's love. It compels everything that the Apostle Paul, the author of Second Corinthians. Christ's love compels everything that Paul says and everything that Paul does. The love of Jesus is the gust of wind that calls and then carries Paul out to be a missionary in this world. It's the love of Jesus that allows Paul to endure prison for the sake of Jesus, to endure a shipwreck for the cause of the gospel, to invite persecution and hardship into his own life, to even face personal heartache. The Apostle Paul was redeemed by the love of Jesus Christ and he knows. Now I have to share that very same redemptive love with the world.
Speaker 1:Paul cannot ignore the love of Jesus, because Paul can never forget his past. Paul is well aware that all before the love of Jesus found him, he describes himself as the chief among the sinners. So if Paul were this comic villain, he would be something like the sinister super-center. Or if sinning were a college class, paul would have aced every single test. If Paul were a star athlete or a head football coach, his team would be the Sin City Centers. You get the picture right he's the chief among them. Paul's simple past Cannot be forgotten. Nor can he forget the extent it cannot be understated. Yet Jesus still pursued Paul.
Speaker 1:Christ, in all of his glory, met this man named Saul, who then became Paul, while he was walking on the Damascus Road. Christ exhibited the depths of his love for Paul and for the whole world in that moment, because on the cross, jesus died for everyone. Jesus died so that everyone, through his love, might be redeemed by him, and so that is one of the primary reasons we, as a First Baptist family, are so passionate about our global missions offering, while we are passionate about participating and joining in God's mission in this world. We believe that what Christ did through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead on the third day is good news for the entire world, that people need to hear the name of Jesus because what Jesus died for all. So when you think about the mission that sets your priorities each day, if you call yourself a disciple of Jesus, your mission has to begin with Christ and what he did for you on his cross. Now, as Christ's representative, paul says that we are given this new perspective on life. He says we regard no one.
Speaker 1:Now, from a worldly point of view, paul's point is this if you've been redeemed by Jesus, you start to see people like Jesus sees them Harder than you might think that should be. Actually, you know, you walk up and down the aisles of Walmart and you're just like, can you not stand in the middle of the aisle? Like get out of my way, why are you such a nuisance? Or it's at work like that person's an enemy. It just feels like they're always working against you when really they have nothing against you at all. Or you're at the four-way stop. That is like my pet peeve here in El Dorado. No one knows how a four-way stop works and I'm just like you're a bozo, what are you doing? But it you know it extends to things that are much more problematic. I guess we also see people who are homeless in our community and sometimes the first thing that crosses our mind is I bet that person's lazy. Or we see an addict on the street corner and we think to ourselves you know, they dug that hole themselves. They got to figure out a way to get out of it.
Speaker 1:In life, whenever we first and foremost perceive people as pest and pains and problems or just punks, we're not viewing them like Jesus views them. We have to see people correctly. The scripture says that from now on, since we represent Jesus in the world, we have to see people as Jesus sees people. Think about it.
Speaker 1:In Luke 19, jesus meets the tax collector named Zacchus. Yeah, no one in the crowd wants anything to do with Zacchus, but Jesus sees something different. Jesus sees someone who's lonely, who needs a friend, who needs unconditional love in their life, and he's like Zacchus. I see you, I'll be at your house later tonight. Make sure dinner's ready. In Matthew 19, this group of children want to approach Jesus and the disciples are like no, no, no, he doesn't have time for you guys Like y'all are exhausting and energetic. Just leave him alone. He's out a long day and he was like pipe down, bring him to me. My kingdom is for them. Or when Jesus sees a crowd, he doesn't see them as a drain, he just sees them with eyes of compassion. They just need someone who will care for them. Jesus sees people in his life different than the world sees those very same people. Jesus died for sinners like Zacchus and energetic and sometimes exhausting children and for crowds of people who have so many real life needs.
Speaker 1:No doubt you've heard it said that one man's trash is another man's treasure. You've heard that before. I stumbled upon this YouTube channel a few months ago. That really brings that proverb to life. It's this British guy named Matt Armstrong, and so Matt Armstrong has like two million followers and subscribers on his YouTube channel, and what this guy does is really quite fascinating is he buys the very cheapest sports cars that he can find. And those sports cars are cheap because they've been flooded, they've been totaled. They are in some ways, almost beyond repair, like you can see, like rebuilding an EX rental Ferrari Audi wanted back in my RS6, so he finished those rebuilds. He's got McLaren's that he rebuilds. They've been flooded by rivers.
Speaker 1:He finds the cheapest ones and so he buys these really cheap cars. They've been totaled out and so these cars have been stripped for parts. Like he buys them. They don't have seats in them, they don't have a steering wheel in it anymore, no transmission shifter. If they have an engine, it's in a million parts, literally in a box in the trunk. If it has a transmission, it's been taken apart, and sometimes you'll have three transmissions all thrown into the same box. And he's got to figure out like what transmission is what? Like these are cars that have sat at like garages for five, six, seven years Because people just thought they were trash.
Speaker 1:But the guy, mad Armstrong, he buys them and then he'll spend six, seven, nine, 12, 18 months rebuilding these cars, piece by piece by piece, you see, because what he sees is this when people see something that is broken, he sees the possibility of something that could be beautiful once again. When the world sees a car that has no value at all, he knows there's something still valuable there. And if you watch one of his videos, they're pretty humorous because he gets overwhelmed by all these anticipated and unanticipated problems. Like things never go as planned, but he never gives up. He keeps working on the car. He works on the transmission. Once again, he figures out like this connected in the wrong place. He keeps working on it and giving this dedication and attention to detail because he still sees their potential, what many of us or all of us would call trash. He still sees that there's treasure.
Speaker 1:So what if you and I, as a representative of Christ, saw people the way they did? Saw people the way that Matt Armstrong sees European sports cars In your life, listen, you are surrounded we are surrounded by people whose lives are wrecked and now their lives are in a box filled with a million pieces. And when you look at them, do you see trash or do you see treasure? Can you see beauty even in the midst of the brokenness? Potential amidst the problems and the pain? Value in that person's life, even though they may be a huge frustration to you day in and day out? As you try to answer that question, here's what you have to remember In the eyes of Jesus, no matter what the world says, that person is a treasure. That person is a treasure because they were knit by the hand of God in their mother's womb. They are a treasure because that person bears the very image of God in their life. They are a treasure because Jesus Christ gave up his life for that person. Gather life is wrecked in a million pieces, but Jesus life was wrecked for them. He was crucified on a cross To represent Christ in this world.
Speaker 1:We have to see people as Jesus sees them In our community. Some of the folks that do that the best are our six local partners Hannah Pregnancy Resource Center. They see unwed mothers with eyes of compassion. Those are the eyes of Jesus. Magdalene House. They see women coming out of addiction with eyes of hope and healing. Those are the eyes of Jesus. Eagle Foundation sees children with the eyes of Jesus. They are welcoming them into their midst. Hope planning. They see families with special needs, children with the eyes of kindness and gentleness and encouragement and support. Those are the eyes of Jesus. Liberty Ministry Center, ihs.
Speaker 1:They see people who are hungry, people who need help, assistance with their, with electrical bills. They see them through the eyes of Jesus and they see them at what it's. Just people who have needs and we want to help meet those needs, because Jesus meets the greatest need that any of us have the need of a Savior. So next week could you befriend the person who has isolated themselves from friend and family Because of a decision they've made. May make time for people in your life who the world says are a distraction and the crowds of people at Brookshires at the ballgame just view them with eyes of compassion.
Speaker 1:But a representative listen a representative not only sees the world differently, we also bring a different message than anyone else in the world brings. As Christ representatives, our message is simply this be reconciled to God, be reconciled to God. That message assumes this fact that the world stands in hostility and estrangement from the God who created it. And we say be reconciled to God because God still desires a relationship with his creation. So as Christ representatives, we not only see people differently, we tell people you know what. It's messed up, it's broken, it's hurting, it's painful, as difficult as life is. We want you to know there's a God who loves you, who wants to have a relationship with you and as followers of Jesus, we're willing to stand alongside that person. As long as it takes. Just hold them over and over, as long as they'll welcome us into their life. We want them to know who God is, what Jesus has done for them and how much God loves them. You see, the church is the only group of people in the world that carries with them the gospel message of Jesus Christ. No other club, no other organization, no civic group carries with them the gospel. The gospel is not their founding thought, their founding declaration, and that's why it is so absolutely critical that God's church stay on mission, that we as God's church are redeemed by Christ to represent Christ.
Speaker 1:Fast forward to 1969, july of 1969, and the Apollo space program completes its mission. They put a man on the moon. Neil Armstrong makes a famous statement that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. You've heard that said before. And one day, jesus' great local mission, it too will be complete. Matthew 24 says his gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. His global mission. The gospel must go out around the globe because God desires what is called the end. His global mission. The gospel must go out around the globe because God desires what? That everyone hear the gospel and say yes to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And one day, jesus' great global mission will come to an end.
Speaker 1:But until that day comes, you have the greatest opportunity. Every single day, child of God, when you wake up and get out of your bed, you have the opportunity to participate in Jesus' great global mission right here in your own backyard El Dorado, arkansas, Union County, parker's Chapel, smack Over and Norfolk. You have the opportunity to be a representative of Jesus here in South Arkansas because you have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. You get to live for a mission that is far greater than any mission you could come up with all by yourself. How cool is that, how amazing is that that God wants you to be a part of what he's doing in the here and in the now, right here in El Dorado.
Speaker 1:But there's also the ask like for those of us who have been redeemed to represent. There are still some of us in this room who've yet to receive the free gift of Christ and His salvation. Okay, and we just want you to know, the offer of salvation stands and is open for you to put your faith, your trust in Jesus Christ, to admit your sinner, have your sins forgiven and, trusting that Jesus' Savior and Lord, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is redemption, where you're bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ and brought into a relationship with the God who gave you life and loves you more than you could ever imagine. If you haven't made that decision as we sing in just a moment, would you want to come forward and make that decision today? Let's stand together.
Speaker 1:I want to pray for us. Let's just bow our heads and close our eyes, and would you just pray a simple prayer from where you're standing. Jesus, show me where, tomorrow, you are calling me to represent the good news of your gospel. Jesus, already give me a snapshot of the person I need to see, with eyes of faith, with eyes that are your eyes, eyes that have been redeemed and forgiven. Prepare me for the mission that lies ahead. God, as you prepare us to be your representatives here in El Dorado, I pray for the person in this room who has yet to put their faith, their trust, their hope in Jesus Christ. Draw them close, jesus. Let them hear the truth of your gospel and respond today. In his name, we pray Amen.