SPEAKER_00: Well, I have some good news this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm actually super, super excited for this good news.
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, apparently some of you are excited as well for this news.
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
SPEAKER_00: You want to hear the good news?
SPEAKER_00: Because I love you all so much.
SPEAKER_00: I actually got you something today.
SPEAKER_00: I come bearing gifts.
SPEAKER_00: I brought cookies for everybody in this room today.
SPEAKER_00: How cool is that?
SPEAKER_00: And just because I'm a good guy, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I love you guys.
SPEAKER_00: So the cookies, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to actually give out the cookies during the service.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, you don't even have to move.
SPEAKER_00: I deliver.
SPEAKER_00: So stay where you're at and uh let's enjoy some cookies.
SPEAKER_00: You guys ready?
SPEAKER_00: All right, sweet.
unknown: Okay.
unknown: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Start over here.
SPEAKER_00: All right, go for it.
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
unknown: There you go.
unknown: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: One for the baby, Lindsay?
SPEAKER_00: You can get another one.
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
SPEAKER_02: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: These are my favorite.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Good so far?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody eat them?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, let's get started this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to jump into the message.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning we're going to look at a passage from the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a passage that some of you know really well.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe others don't.
SPEAKER_00: It's Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 through 10, famous passage.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read it, it'll be on the screen, and then we'll kind of jump in.
SPEAKER_00: So the passage is this: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
SPEAKER_00: And they cried out in a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: This is our text today.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we're going to focus the majority of our time and attention, at least in the beginning part of the message.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you want to see this passage and specifically this morning, how this passage relates to missions, which is going to be our focus today, then I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to Revelation chapter 7 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 7 is where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: If you came here today and brought a Bible, wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: We open our Bible every single Sunday here.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't, we've got you covered.
SPEAKER_00: There's a Bible in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: You can just use that today.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't own a Bible, take that Bible home with you.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love for you to have that.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're looking for the book of Revelation, uh I'll just let you know we've made it real easy on you today.
SPEAKER_00: It's the very last book of the Bible, very last book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We're in Revelation chapter 7, Revelation chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning we are digging deep into another passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_00: This is part of a series that we launched at the beginning of summer, where we take passages that are well known for many of you and we try to revisit them and dig deeply because we firmly believe that some of the verses that you need to hear the most are the ones that you know the most.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the reason we've chosen to do this is because it's kind of funny.
SPEAKER_00: I know for me at least this is part of the case, but if you grew up with any context for the Bible, and maybe there are verses you learned when you were young, maybe those verses became familiar to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: But when they become really familiar, sometimes they also become common.
SPEAKER_00: And when they become common, we tend not to think about them or we tend to overlook them.
SPEAKER_00: And so for us, we have this belief that, you know, we want to look back at those things that maybe have become common to you and with fresh eyes begin to mine these amazing truths from these passages.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're digging deep each and every Sunday throughout the summer.
SPEAKER_00: Uh today, as I mentioned, we're in Revelation chapter seven.
SPEAKER_00: I want to just clarify, I didn't say Revelations chapter seven.
SPEAKER_00: There's no S at the end of this book, just Revelation chapter seven is where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: And uh little uh warning.
SPEAKER_00: So today is different.
SPEAKER_00: Typically for the series, we have taken these verses and we have kind of exposited the text.
SPEAKER_00: We've dug deeply into what the text means and really focused on that.
SPEAKER_00: Today I'm using our text.
SPEAKER_00: I'm digging a little bit in the beginning, but I'm also gonna kind of launch from that, and it's gonna be a little bit more of a topical message.
SPEAKER_00: I have an agenda today, and that agenda uh leans into the topic of missions a little bit, and so um just giving you full transparency, it's a little different than our other messages, but we're gonna be in this and we're gonna see what this verse has to say about missions.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh, as we jump in, we'll kind of dig our feet into uh what we do every week.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at some things about what we're reading.
SPEAKER_00: We want to orient ourselves to where we are in our Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So we're in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: So to set the scene, it's always really important when you read a book of the Bible to know the context.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what are we reading?
SPEAKER_00: What type of literature is this?
SPEAKER_00: What genre are we reading?
SPEAKER_00: Who wrote it?
SPEAKER_00: Who did they write it to?
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna do that today in this book.
SPEAKER_00: And so the book of Revelation, just as I jump in, I gotta be honest with you, this is a very difficult book.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've read the book of Revelation before and you've been left scratching your head.
SPEAKER_00: That's very normal.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are looking at this book that was written 2,000 years ago by a guy named John.
SPEAKER_00: It was John the Apostle, the follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote this book, and this was written really late into the first century.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote this book after he was exiled to an island called Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: He was preaching the gospel, he got banished to this little island, and while on this little island of Patmos, John received a vision, it was a revelation of Jesus, and he wrote down this apocalyptic vision to show God's people the things concerning what must soon take place.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says in chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: It gives us that whole introduction in chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Moving from chapter one as we move into chapter two and three, very interestingly, John is actually writing some of these letters and he's addressing some of these words, these messages in his book of Revelation, to specific churches.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there are seven churches in chapter two and chapter three that he gives a message to.
SPEAKER_00: He writes to uh the church of Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
SPEAKER_00: Now, these are ancient churches in Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: He's writing to them, these seven churches, he specifically has a message for those churches, but interestingly, that number seven, which is kind of a number meaning totality, the seven churches, I think, in many ways also represent the entire church, us.
SPEAKER_00: He's writing these letters, and it's for our benefit as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's chapter two and chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: When we get to chapter four, now it starts to get kind of weird.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the book gets interesting.
SPEAKER_00: So in chapter four, John has this vision.
SPEAKER_00: He's taken up into heaven, he gets to the heavenly throne room, and there God is being worshipped by all creation.
SPEAKER_00: God is the sovereign creator, he's the one who rules over all things, and everyone's worshiping him.
SPEAKER_00: Moving into chapter five, we see then God is holding a scroll.
SPEAKER_00: And the contents of this scroll nobody can see, but these are the sovereign purposes of the Lord for bringing about all of history to its appointed end.
SPEAKER_00: So in this scroll, it's things like judgment of evil, it's vindicating God's people, it's establishing his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He's holding this scroll, and as they look around, no one is worthy in all creation to open the seal of the scroll and carry out the contents for God's purposes through all his redemption.
SPEAKER_00: No one is able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so John realizes God has a purpose and a plan, he's holding it in his hands, and nobody is worthy to execute the plans of God for all creation.
SPEAKER_00: And so John begins to weep, and it makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: How will God carry out his purposes if no one can open the scroll and begin to carry them out?
SPEAKER_00: He begins to weep, but then all of a sudden he hears that the lion from the tribe of Judah is worthy.
SPEAKER_00: And when he goes to look at the lion, all he sees is a slaughtered lamb.
SPEAKER_00: The lion from the tribe of Judah is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is also the lamb that was slain.
SPEAKER_00: And so in that moment, we realize that Jesus is the one who is worthy.
SPEAKER_00: He alone is worthy to carry out God's purposes precisely because he conquered through his sacrificial death on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so God carries out his plans for redemption through his son Jesus, who suffered, bled, died on the cross, and rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: That is how God carries out his sovereign plans of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: It's through the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Revelation chapter 5 shows us.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then moving into chapter 6, we're almost at chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: The Lamb now begins to open the seals, right?
SPEAKER_00: Open the scroll by removing the seals.
SPEAKER_00: And when the seals are opened, one by one we begin to see that the Lamb start setting in motion God's purposes.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see as these scroll, the scroll is being unveiled, that there are all sorts of judgments.
SPEAKER_00: There's war, famine, death, persecution, suffering.
SPEAKER_00: This whole chapter, chapter six, is a very scary scene.
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of chapter six, we see a question posed to the reader.
SPEAKER_00: In light of the impending judgment that's unfolding upon the earth, the question is: who can stand?
SPEAKER_00: Who can stand before the judgment of God?
SPEAKER_00: Who can remain secure when everything else is shaken?
SPEAKER_00: Well, chapter seven is the answer to that question.
SPEAKER_00: That's our text today.
SPEAKER_00: It's in chapter seven.
SPEAKER_00: When we arrive at chapter seven, Revelation chapter seven, we find an interlude.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is very customary for John.
SPEAKER_00: There are moments where the story is unfolding, the narrative is unfolding, and there's a pause, there's a break, there's an interlude.
SPEAKER_00: He does it here, he does it in chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: This interlude is given, so we can stop for a moment, and what we can do is we can pull the curtain back and get a glimpse into the future reality of what God will accomplish one day in the consummation of all things.
SPEAKER_00: And so what John is doing is he's pausing in the story and he's pulling back the curtain and giving us a glimpse of the future.
SPEAKER_00: And when we ask the question, who can stand?
SPEAKER_00: What he does when he pulls back the curtain is he shows us the people who can stand under the judgment of God are the redeemed.
SPEAKER_00: Those who can stand are the redeemed.
SPEAKER_00: They're the ones who belong to the Lord because the Lamb that was slain has cleansed them by his blood.
SPEAKER_00: They are the ones who can stand under the judgment of God.
SPEAKER_00: And in this vision, what happens once again is we have a vision of the heavenly throne room in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And what John sees is he sees the redeemed.
SPEAKER_00: And as he looks and sees the people of God, what he sees is a multitude beyond measure that are with the Lord, worshiping the Lord in all his glorious splendor.
SPEAKER_00: And that's really what sets the table for our text today.
SPEAKER_00: With that context now, I want to jump into the message.
SPEAKER_00: John has a vision of the future.
SPEAKER_00: It is the redeemed of the Lord gathering and worshiping before him, worshiping the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're going to see as we jump into the text, number one, I want to focus on the destination of missions.
SPEAKER_00: The destination of missions.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, one day, this present sin-cursed earl world that you live in and that I live in, one day when this comes to an end, we will be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We will be transformed.
SPEAKER_00: And in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, we will be resurrected, raised to be with Christ, to see him face to face, to be like him, to be with him for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: There is coming a day when the redeemed of the Lord will gather together and worship God, and we will celebrate the salvation that the Lamb, Jesus, accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: And on that day, uh, we even read here in this chapter the angels are going to fall on their faces and they're going to worship before the Lord and before the throne and worship the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: John pulls back the curtain, and in the face of judgment, what we see is God's people are vindicated.
SPEAKER_00: We will prevail if we're in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If we're redeemed, we will prevail, because the Lamb who was slain through his death, through his suffering, he conquered sin for us.
SPEAKER_00: And through his victorious resurrection, he also conquered death for us.
SPEAKER_00: And through his victory, we find victory.
SPEAKER_00: We will be victorious, and we will worship before the Lord and before the Lamb for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: This is what lies ahead for those who are redeemed by the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is good news.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you know I'm looking forward to the day when I get to see Jesus face to face and worship him.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you are as well.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's kind of cool is I my mind starts to think like, who's gonna be there?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm a nerd, if you don't know this, so like I think about like the Bible nerd stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm super excited to meet Jesus, but I'm also really excited to meet Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I got questions for him.
SPEAKER_00: I I want to meet Moses.
SPEAKER_00: I have questions for him, I want to meet David.
SPEAKER_00: He's one of my favorite characters.
SPEAKER_00: I got so many questions for David.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm super excited to meet them.
SPEAKER_00: Uh on a personal level, I'm really excited to see my grandparents again.
SPEAKER_00: Super excited about that.
SPEAKER_00: Just had a memorial for my grandmother yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited to meet my great grandfather.
SPEAKER_00: I talked about that a little bit yesterday too.
SPEAKER_00: Just there are people I want to meet and see.
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know everybody I'm gonna see when I'm with the Lord face to face.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know everybody you're gonna see.
SPEAKER_00: But what's interesting is in our passage, John shares some of the guest list of who's gonna be there that day.
SPEAKER_00: When we go to be with the Lord and see him face to face, he begins to unpack for us, broadly speaking, some of the people who are there.
SPEAKER_00: And notice what John says in verse 9 of chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: He says, After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: You see, one day there will be some from every nation, tribe, people, and language that are gathered before the Lord to worship him in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: This is a glimpse into the future, and this is what we will see one day.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this is the intended destination for missions.
SPEAKER_00: The goal of missions is one day to see people from all around the globe worshiping the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Missions is moving toward this guaranteed future.
SPEAKER_00: An innumerable redeemed multitude from every people group worshiping God and worshiping the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know God will do this.
SPEAKER_00: This will happen.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing can thwart the purposes of God.
SPEAKER_00: This will happen.
SPEAKER_00: The nations will be gathered in his presence, and from every corner of the globe comes people will come and bow before King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But the question I want to ask is how will God bring this about?
SPEAKER_00: How has God chosen, by what means has God chosen to redeem people from all around the globe and to bring the nations to himself?
SPEAKER_00: How has God chosen to redeem individuals from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that now leads to my second point.
SPEAKER_00: So now that we've seen the end goal, we've seen the end of missions, that there are some from every tribe, tongue, people, and language that will gather and worship the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing I want to look at, number two, is the directive for missions.
SPEAKER_00: The directive.
SPEAKER_00: Now before I jump into this next section, I want you to know this morning I've got really good news.
SPEAKER_00: I brought cookies for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: How nice am I?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, honestly.
SPEAKER_00: I brought cookies for every single person here, and I'm gonna deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: How cool is that?
SPEAKER_00: So you guys ready for some cookies?
SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, well played.
SPEAKER_00: Well done.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: You guys liking the cookies?
SPEAKER_00: So cool that I brought cookies for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's keep going.
SPEAKER_00: So to look at the directive for missions, if God is going to gather people from all nations, the question is, how is he going to accomplish this goal?
SPEAKER_00: I would suggest to you that the means that God uses to accomplish this goal is the mobilization of his people.
SPEAKER_00: It's the mobilization of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, before Jesus ascended into heaven, he was there, he had resurrected, he was for 40 days with his disciples, and there on the Mount of Olives, as he was preparing to ascend back into heaven, he was gathered with his disciples, and he was sharing with them his famous last words that's known as the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave his divine marching orders for his church, and there, shortly after he said those famous last words, he ascended into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And what were those words?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he said, This all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I commanded, and behold, I'm with you always, even to the ends of the age.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the Father has given all authority to the Son.
SPEAKER_00: And with the authority that's been given from the Father, the Son is now giving the Church a divine mandate to go and to make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_00: That's the command, that's the task, that's our mission.
SPEAKER_00: We call it the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in order to make disciples of all nations, what the church has to do first is to proclaim the gospel to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: They have to go to the nations, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when people hear the good news and respond in faith and become believers, then those believers are baptized and they're added to the church.
SPEAKER_00: And then those believers are now taught the commandments of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's all part of the discipleship process.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's our task.
SPEAKER_00: That's our calling.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's the mission of the church, to go and to make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_00: Now I will tell you, I firmly believe that that's happening right here in this church, through what's happening in this church here.
SPEAKER_00: By God's grace, people are first of all coming to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We preach the gospel every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: We tell the good news of a God who loves us so much that He sent His one-of-a-kind Son to suffer and die in the cross for our sins and rise for our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And if we trust in Jesus, not trusting in our own righteousness or our own good works, but in the work that Jesus accomplished for us, by God's grace and through faith, we are saved.
SPEAKER_00: We are reconciled to a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: We proclaim that good news regularly, and by God's grace and through the power of the Spirit, that good news is going forth.
SPEAKER_00: It is the power of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Joe doesn't have the power to save anybody.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel has the power to save, but through the power of the Spirit, people's eyes are opened, they're drawn to the Lord, they respond in faith.
SPEAKER_00: And we've seen people, many people in this church, become believers after hearing the gospel and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God for that.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it, and it is a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: And then what we do with those people, once they become believers, is we walk them through a process where we seek to have them baptized, identified visibly, that they belong to the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's a way to proclaim that they are united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, that by faith they're joined to Jesus, they're aligned with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They proclaim it to the church through their baptism.
SPEAKER_00: And so we baptize those new believers.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the cool thing: we've got a baptism service coming up.
SPEAKER_00: August 23rd, we have a service, the baptism of the band shell.
SPEAKER_00: If you gather there at five o'clock, we'll have a meal for you, hot dogs and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And then at six o'clock is when our service begins.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the cool thing.
SPEAKER_00: Um, that service is outdoor in the evening on August 23rd.
SPEAKER_00: So just a reminder: if you show up here on Sunday morning trying to come to church, you'll be locked out.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, no one will be here.
SPEAKER_00: We're all gonna be at the band shell, and at that service, we'll have worship and there'll be teaching, but we're gonna baptize people.
SPEAKER_00: We have at this point, currently, 33 people who are preparing to be baptized.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord for that, that it's Him.
SPEAKER_00: He deserves all the credit and all the glory for what's happening through this ministry here.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God for that.
SPEAKER_00: That people are responding to the gospel and now they're being baptized.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're seeing people come to faith, we're seeing people baptized, and we're also now beginning to teach people the commandments of Jesus through that discipleship process.
SPEAKER_00: We want to form fully devoted disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of our task as a church.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's happening right here through our ministry in Franklin with Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing about us is we actually don't want to just stop right here in this congregation.
SPEAKER_00: We want this to spill over in the communities around us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, our focus here, this is kind of like our Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing ministry here, but we want to see our neighboring communities, our Judea and Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see the gospel spill over into those communities and churches established, campuses established.
SPEAKER_00: So this fall, we're looking at taking some pretty big steps toward that goal of multiplying in new locations.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited about that season.
SPEAKER_00: So we want the gospel to not just impact people here.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just want to see disciples here.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see them move beyond our immediate borders.
SPEAKER_00: And that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the question I want to ask this morning what about the nations?
SPEAKER_00: What about the ends of the earth?
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing to make disciples of all nations?
SPEAKER_00: Now I have the conviction that when Jesus gave these orders, that they're pretty important.
SPEAKER_00: How does he start that whole section by giving us the orders?
SPEAKER_00: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_00: We often treat that as if it's the great suggestion.
SPEAKER_00: It is the great commission.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus authoritatively gave us that.
SPEAKER_00: His message is clear.
SPEAKER_00: We can't just limit the scope of our focus here.
SPEAKER_00: We can't just look to help the surrounding communities.
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing to reach the nations?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's where the focus of missions comes in.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you know that our church has been focused on missions since its inception, since the very beginning.
SPEAKER_00: We've made missions a priority.
SPEAKER_00: And over the years, we have supported and worked with missionaries all around the globe who have advanced the gospel to places, and it's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: It's been great to see that happening.
SPEAKER_00: Most recently, what we've started to do internally is we've really started to laser focus what this effort should look like.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've done a lot of work.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of a number of our staff members as well have worked with the missions team to really focus on like, hey, what are we trying to accomplish here?
SPEAKER_00: And so there's been some recent restructuring, reorganization.
SPEAKER_00: We've recently established new bylaws for our missions ministry here.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read to you the purpose statement of our missions program here at FBC.
SPEAKER_00: It says the purpose of Frankenwood Bible Church mission team is to glorify God by sending and supporting missionaries who labor to multiply the church in locations where God is not glorified and Jesus is not known or worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: The missionaries sent and supported by FBC crossed geographic, cultural, and linguistic barriers for the purpose of preaching the gospel, making disciples, establishing indigenous churches, translating the scripture and laboring with the Holy Spirit toward the church's maturity in faith.
SPEAKER_00: A mature and multiplying church is the end goal.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we're seeking to send and to support missionaries, to go to places where Jesus is not known or worshiped, because we believe that Jesus Christ gave us this divine mandate, these authoritative directives to go and advance the gospel, to make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I will say over the years, when we've talked about missions or I've talked about it personally, there's been times where I've had just a smidge of pushback.
SPEAKER_00: I want to share with you one of the common objections.
SPEAKER_00: I sometimes hear people say, well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful that you guys are focusing on missions, or missions is a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: But I gotta tell you, Pastor, this place right here, America, this is a mission field.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we need to focus on what's happening right next door.
SPEAKER_00: This is a mission field.
SPEAKER_00: I agree with that, but I want to push back.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to push back from what I think is a biblical perspective here.
SPEAKER_00: America is a mission field.
SPEAKER_00: We should focus efforts on America.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: Amen to that.
SPEAKER_00: But if I challenge this perspective for a second, I want to push back.
SPEAKER_00: And to do that, what I really want to do is I want to unpack my third point this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So let's revisit where we've been.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we know the destination of missions.
SPEAKER_00: There's coming a day where all God's people, the redeemed of the Lord, will gather before him, and some from every tribe, language, people, and nation will bow before him and the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: That's the end goal.
SPEAKER_00: We know the directive for missions.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus made it abundantly clear.
SPEAKER_00: All authority is his.
SPEAKER_00: We are to go and to make disciples, not just here, not just next door, of all nations, and baptize those people and train them.
SPEAKER_00: That's the directive.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, I want to talk about the demand, the demand for missions.
SPEAKER_00: I want to suggest to you this morning there is an urgent demand to go to the nations with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to suggest to you that this requires us to not just look in our immediate proximity or the neighboring communities, but to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: I want to suggest to you there's an urgent reason we must do this.
SPEAKER_00: But before we get to that, can I just tell you, I got good news this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I got really good news.
SPEAKER_00: I brought cookies today, guys.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, how nice is that of me.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna give out some cookies, if that's cool.
SPEAKER_00: Let's enjoy some of these cookies.
SPEAKER_00: Man, they smell so good.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start over here.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect.
unknown: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Just one for you.
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: No problem.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy, guys.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: How nice of me.
SPEAKER_00: My goodness.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's keep working through the message.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at this last section now, the demand for missions, I want to suggest to you that the demand for missions centers in the fact that there are still places in the world today where the gospel is not being preached and has not been preached.
SPEAKER_00: In Romans chapter 10, the Apostle Paul says these words for everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
SPEAKER_00: And how are they to believe in him who they have never heard?
SPEAKER_00: And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
SPEAKER_00: And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_00: As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
SPEAKER_00: There are still people in the world today who live in places where nobody is preaching the gospel to them.
SPEAKER_00: There are still language groups out there today who still do not have a Bible that's been translated into their language.
SPEAKER_00: For the Ursu people living in China today, they have no known gospel witness in that people group, no established church that we know of whatsoever, and no Bible in their language.
SPEAKER_00: Who will go to these people sharing the good news of a loving God who sent his son for them?
SPEAKER_00: Who will go and establish a church amongst these people?
SPEAKER_00: For the Bilala people living in Chad today, there's no known Christian workers with that people group, no church planting efforts that we know of whatsoever, and no Bible in their language.
SPEAKER_00: Who will go to them?
SPEAKER_00: Who's going to share the gospel with these people?
SPEAKER_00: For the Maba people of Indonesia today, we don't know of anyone preaching the gospel to these people, no known Christian witness whatsoever, and once again they have no Bible in their language.
SPEAKER_00: Who will go to these people?
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: America is a mission field.
SPEAKER_00: I agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: I agree with that wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_00: But America is a mission field where we already have established churches.
SPEAKER_00: America is a mission field where the gospel is being preached fairly regularly here.
SPEAKER_00: America is a mission field where people are proclaiming the gospel and where we see hundreds and hundreds of different translations of the Bible in our native tongue of English that have already been translated.
SPEAKER_00: So listen, we have access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We have access to the good news.
SPEAKER_00: But today, around the globe, it's estimated that there are over 2,500 unengaged, unreached people groups in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Many of those are unreached language groups with no access to the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Who will go to them?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I mentioned it this morning, but I have some good news.
SPEAKER_00: I got cookies for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: That's great, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't noticed, I'm only giving it to the front row.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we cannot remain content to repeatedly bring the gospel over and over and over and over and over again to the same people when there are clearly some people in this world today who have never heard.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is good news for the world.
SPEAKER_00: Who will go?
SPEAKER_00: Who will proclaim this good news?
SPEAKER_00: The demand for reaching the nations is urgent.
SPEAKER_00: The directive for reaching the nations is clear.
SPEAKER_00: So as a church, we must make it our effort to go to the places where Christ is not known, where Christ is not proclaimed, where Christ is not worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: We must go to the nations and tribes and tongues and peoples that are unreached and unengaged, and we must labor to bring them the gospel and establish indigenous New Testament churches in those places.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_00: Missions is essential for the church.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_00: Now I have to tell you, at the end of our service, I'm going to talk about ways that we're seeking to do that more in the days to come and ways that we've been doing that recently, very practically.
SPEAKER_00: I'll talk about that in a little bit, but before I get to that point, let me just start from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: I firmly believe there's coming a day when we will be face to face with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And on that day we will worship him, and on that day we will gather in his presence, and on that day there will be a multitude that no one can count from every nation, tribe, people, and language who will stand before the throne and bow before King Jesus and worship the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we're headed.
SPEAKER_00: This will happen.
SPEAKER_00: It is certain, it's a guarantee.
SPEAKER_00: But until that day comes, we have a task.
SPEAKER_00: We have a mission.
SPEAKER_00: We have a calling.
SPEAKER_00: We're to go and take the gospel to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that's a calling that we should not ignore.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's essential for us, and I think there's an overarching reason more than anything else why this should be a priority for every church, our church in particular.
SPEAKER_00: And it relates to this.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the text I think really points.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: He is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: He alone deserves the praise of his glory to be on the lips of all peoples.
SPEAKER_00: He alone is worthy of every language uttering his praises for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: So what part will we play in seeing this future reality that's guaranteed come to fruition?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question we need to ask.
SPEAKER_00: How will we be part of this effort?
SPEAKER_00: How will we support?
SPEAKER_00: Who will we send?
SPEAKER_00: Are we a church that has the courage?
SPEAKER_00: More than that, the audacity to pray that our children might have a burning passion for the nations within their heart, and that we might pray that God would raise them up and that we would send them out to go to places that aren't the safest, that are difficult, but to bring the gospel to the nations, a message of salvation to people who are far from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm about to close.
SPEAKER_00: I actually, I gotta tell you good news.
SPEAKER_00: I actually do have cookies for all of you, not just the front row.
SPEAKER_00: On the way out today, you're gonna be handed a cookie.
SPEAKER_00: The only stipulation is if you take a cookie, you're also gonna have a prayer card.
SPEAKER_00: You have to pray for the nation on your prayer card if you take a cookie.
SPEAKER_00: Because there are nations who are far from the Lord who need to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: I want to say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that this morning?
SPEAKER_00: So, what are we gonna do about it?
SPEAKER_00: Easy to say, Amen, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: What are we gonna do about it?
SPEAKER_00: He is worthy.
SPEAKER_00: He is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: And so as I close this message, I want to read from Revelation chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Just go back a couple chapters to the scene in the throne where the Lord is holding the scroll, and the people begin to cry out who is worthy.
SPEAKER_00: They say this, Worthy are you to take the scroll.
SPEAKER_00: You're talking about Jesus there.
SPEAKER_00: Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
SPEAKER_00: And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign upon the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you for today, for the opportunity we have this morning to fix our eyes on this mission that you've given the church.
SPEAKER_00: May we not just vainly with our lips utter the fact that Jesus is worthy of the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: May that actually mean something.
SPEAKER_00: As Jim Elliott once said, we don't need a call, we need a kick in the pants.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that we would be a church that would take this mandate seriously, and that you would challenge young lives in the room to perhaps consider how they might give their life toward advancing the gospel to people who are far from you because Jesus alone deserves the world's worship.
SPEAKER_00: With the breath that's in our lungs, may we labor for your glory.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, I pray that you would do a work through this church, that we would take seriously this task, this calling.
SPEAKER_00: For your glory, for your son.
SPEAKER_00: In his name we pray.
unknown: Amen.