SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: You look great today.
SPEAKER_00: You sound wonderful as well.
SPEAKER_00: As we turn our attention to the word this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Before we read the scripture today, I feel like I need to open with a confession.
SPEAKER_00: How many guys know confession is good for the soul?
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that don't know, confession is good for the soul.
SPEAKER_00: Sometime back, the Lord convicted me by how I talked about other drivers on the road.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody remember that?
SPEAKER_00: Vanessa, I know you remember that.
SPEAKER_00: That was something real specific that you needed to get a hold of for your life.
SPEAKER_00: Thursday evening, we drove to Nashville to be with mom and dad for a couple of days before school starts and everything begins.
SPEAKER_00: And I just have to confess, I lost my religion on the road a number of times.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what I'm talking about this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, people just have lost their ever-loving mind.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know how to drive.
SPEAKER_00: And for the love of God, get out of the left lane.
SPEAKER_00: The left lane is meant for passing people.
SPEAKER_00: It's not your lane.
SPEAKER_00: And when you go to get in the left lane and pass somebody, get on it so you can get around them.
SPEAKER_00: Am I preaching yet to anybody this morning?
SPEAKER_00: People, I'm telling you, I'm over and over stupid idiot, can't drive.
SPEAKER_00: And Meg's over in the passenger seat eating popcorn, watching me, laughing at me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh Jesus, forgive me.
SPEAKER_00: I know these are your sheep, and I know that these are your children, and I shouldn't talk about them, but you made them.
SPEAKER_00: It's your fault they can't drive.
SPEAKER_00: So I just I need to confess this morning that I spoke of ill of some of God's children.
SPEAKER_00: Will you forgive me?
SPEAKER_00: Forgive me for how I spoke about some of these drivers.
SPEAKER_00: Does that resonate with anybody else's heart?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Just need to get that off my chest this morning.
SPEAKER_00: This one guy.
SPEAKER_00: We're in Gar Gardendale going north.
SPEAKER_00: And he's, he's, I don't know what he's doing, but he's all over the road, changing lanes, and then he's speeding up and slowing down, and I look at Meg, I said, I got to get around him.
SPEAKER_00: And so I get up by him, and he's got a lighter and a cigarette in his hand, and he's trying to light this cigarette so that, and I'm I yell at him, like that cig and get out of the way.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just about to lose.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all forgive me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody relate to me.
SPEAKER_00: The mercies of God are new every morning, and I need them when I'm on the road with you idiots.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus help us, amen.
SPEAKER_00: I just now let's get to the work.
SPEAKER_00: Will you stand with me where you are?
SPEAKER_00: Turn with me to Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: We for several weeks have been in a series on mission, and I'm gonna I'm gonna bring that to a conclusion today.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus said, You will be my what?
SPEAKER_00: Let's try that one more time.
SPEAKER_00: You will be my witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judean Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: We've looked at our Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Noah preached about our Samaria last week.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't he do a phenomenal job?
SPEAKER_00: What a great word.
SPEAKER_00: That there's a there's a region, there's a place we gotta go through to reach it for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Today I want to talk about the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 13 and verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: It says now in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and and teachers, Barnabas and Simon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manion, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetriarch and Saul.
SPEAKER_00: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, I want you to get that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them.
SPEAKER_00: So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
SPEAKER_00: The two of them sent on their way, carried on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Cilicia and sailed from there to Cyprus.
SPEAKER_00: And when they arrived at Salmos, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.
SPEAKER_00: John was with them as their helper.
SPEAKER_00: Church, this is God's word, and the title of my message this morning is simply this From here, from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: From here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Say that after me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: From here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your neighbor and say, from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to the other neighbor and say, from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Turn around the person behind you and say, from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you this morning for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path.
SPEAKER_00: It shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, Lord, this morning we would hear and respond to your call to take your word from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: May we not just be hearers of your word, but doers of it.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' mighty name.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Caleb.
SPEAKER_00: On September 5th, 1977.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody in the house remember 1977?
SPEAKER_00: A few few few folks in the house remember 1977.
SPEAKER_00: 1977 was a phenomenal year.
SPEAKER_00: It was the year that my wife was born.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: September 5th, 1977.
SPEAKER_00: NASA did something that they had never done before.
SPEAKER_00: They launched a spacecraft about the size of an automobile from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: They had just one mission.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted this spacecraft to fly by Jupiter and Saturn and just take some pictures.
SPEAKER_00: What happened beyond that blew everybody's mind that had participated in the project.
SPEAKER_00: Forty-nine years later, that spacecraft is still traveling through space.
SPEAKER_00: It currently is 16 billion miles from Earth.
SPEAKER_00: It is the only thing that is man-made that has entered interstellar space.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing that man has ever done has reached this far out into the universe.
SPEAKER_00: It's so far from Earth that its radio signal takes a full day at the speed of light to reach Earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's 186,000 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_00: A full day at 186,000 miles an hour does it take its radio signal to reach Earth.
SPEAKER_00: Mind-boggling what this spacecraft is doing.
SPEAKER_00: Why it matters to us this morning is what they attach to the side of it.
SPEAKER_00: As they were preparing this spacecraft and not necessarily sure all that it would do.
SPEAKER_00: They were pretty sure that it would get to Jupiter and Saturn, but they they weren't sure if it would keep going beyond that.
SPEAKER_00: They sure did not imagine that it would be 16 billion miles from Earth 49 years later.
SPEAKER_00: But with the hopes of maybe it going past Jupiter and Saturn, they attached a golden record to it.
SPEAKER_00: Like one of the vinyls.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody remember vinyl records?
SPEAKER_00: If you remember 1977, you probably remember vinyl records.
SPEAKER_00: They recorded music from a multitude of cultures across the earth and loaded it onto this record.
SPEAKER_00: 55 different people in 55 different languages recorded a greeting on this record.
SPEAKER_00: They did all of this for the hope of one day it might reach someone somewhere with a message from Earth.
SPEAKER_00: Church, this is not the first time that someone has gone to great lengths and great personal cost to send a message with a hope of it reaching someone somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Two thousand years ago, God, at great personal cost and sacrifice to himself, sent his one and only son to earth with the hope of reaching someone somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Antioch, two thousand years ago, is worshiping and they're praying and and and they're ministering unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden the Holy Spirit shows up and speaks a word of direction, a word of instruction.
SPEAKER_00: And so this church gathers around Barnabas and Paul, lays their hands upon them, prays for them, anoints them, and sends them out with the message of the gospel with the hope it might reach someone somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your neighbor and say, Someone, somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: That is the challenge before us today.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge before us today as the people of God is that will we be like so many that have gone before us and take the message of God from here to everywhere with the hope that it might reach someone somewhere?
SPEAKER_00: That is the challenge.
SPEAKER_00: Will we be the people of God who consume our faith?
SPEAKER_00: Or will we be the people of God who contribute to its forward progression?
SPEAKER_00: Will we be people who take salvation as a gift for ourselves and forget our neighbor?
SPEAKER_00: Or will we understand that the gift of salvation, though it is for us, we benefit with it.
SPEAKER_00: It isn't just for us, it's for everyone around us.
SPEAKER_00: That we have been called and commissioned by God to take the message of the gospel from here to everywhere, so that all may benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Three ways, show you three ways that mission always moves.
SPEAKER_00: From beginning to end of scripture, the Bible shows us three ways that mission moves, that the gospel advances from where it is to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this here in Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: The three ways that mission always moves.
SPEAKER_00: It always moves through communion, through commission, and through community.
SPEAKER_00: It always moves through these three mediums.
SPEAKER_00: It always moves through communion.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say communion.
SPEAKER_00: Commission.
SPEAKER_00: Community.
SPEAKER_00: The mission of God always flows through these three mediums.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about these for a moment this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, communion.
SPEAKER_00: The mission of God always flows from encounter, not ambition.
SPEAKER_00: We need to understand that if we are going to be a part of the mission of God in the earth, and we're not just going to be takers, we're going to be givers.
SPEAKER_00: We're not just going to be consumers, we're going to be contributors.
SPEAKER_00: That we're going to understand that what God does in us is never just for us, but for the world around us, we have to understand that it first begins with communion with God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 2 for just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to notice the setting here.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice the activity here.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice the context in which the Holy Spirit speaks.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says they were worshiping the Lord and fasting.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It means this is a prayer room, not a boardroom.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a strategic committee that's trying to figure something out.
SPEAKER_00: No, this is the men and women of God setting their hearts on things above and saying, God, we love you, we want you, we want to represent you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in that context that all of a sudden the Holy Spirit speaks.
SPEAKER_00: And the Spirit says, Set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have called them.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Spirit of God speaks in that context and gives direction.
SPEAKER_00: I find it interesting that it is an encounter with God that releases the instruction of the Spirit of God that points us to toward the work of God.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get this this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you're wrestling with the direction that you have for your life, quit trying to figure it out and just start worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: Far too often, I think, we try to get a pen and pad and we rationalize our way around a problem or a direction.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe what we need is less strategizing and more prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe what we need is to set aside our agenda and just minister in worship unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And as we minister unto the Lord, all of a sudden the Spirit speaks and gives direction.
SPEAKER_00: See, we need more encounters with the presence of God if we really want the direction of God for our life.
SPEAKER_00: We want, God, we pray, God, I want your will.
SPEAKER_00: I want your will.
SPEAKER_00: And what you need to understand is God wants you to walk in his will, but he wants you to be fruitful in it.
SPEAKER_00: And in order to be fruitful in it, you've got to stay connected to the vine.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am the vine, and he who stays connected to me will bear much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not about more strategy, it's about more connection.
SPEAKER_00: I need an encounter with God.
SPEAKER_00: All throughout scripture, we find that it's encounter with God that launched the men and women of faith into the destiny of God.
SPEAKER_00: Moses encountered God in a burning bush and was launched into ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob wrestled with God in the middle of the night, and all of a sudden his name got changed and he got launched into the destiny of God for his life.
SPEAKER_00: Gideon's just going about his daily business, and all of a sudden he is visited by God and launched, and the disciples are launched into ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah saw the Lord, and out of seeing the Lord, this encounter, he says, Here am I, send me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, church, we don't necessarily need more knowledge, we need more encounter.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, we probably are stuffed with knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: We got more knowledge than we can actually live already.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe what we need is an encounter with the glory of God that launches us into the destiny of God for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is clear.
SPEAKER_00: This is our greatest need if we're going to live on mission.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be connected to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And as I'm connected to Jesus, direction and instruction flow and release me towards his destiny for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: I want to correct something in our Christian language.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about mission, we use language similar to this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take the gospel there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go there and plant a church.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go there and start a small group.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to bring the kingdom of God there.
SPEAKER_00: Let me qualify, clarify something for you.
SPEAKER_00: We don't ever bring God where He's not already there.
SPEAKER_00: We are not initiators of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We're joiners of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: What our job is, is to see what God's doing and join into his activity.
SPEAKER_00: That's why strategy will get us in trouble sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: We'll strategize about what we think would be a good idea, and then we work ourselves up to fulfill that idea.
SPEAKER_00: But if God's not in it, it don't matter if it's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes God will lead you to involve yourself into something that on the rational side, it doesn't add up.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't R O I.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work out.
SPEAKER_00: But where God is, that's all that matters.
SPEAKER_00: We don't bring God where He's not.
SPEAKER_00: No, I I want to see.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I only say what I hear the Father saying, and I only do what I see the Father doing.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe if we have an encounter with God like that, then our activity and our words will just join up to what he's already doing.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening here in Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: They're worshiping the Lord, they're fasting and praying, and all of a sudden there's a there's a release of instruction, a release of direction.
SPEAKER_00: A destiny is made reality in a couple of guys' lives.
SPEAKER_00: This reminds me of a story of a really a people that I read about a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00: There's a group of people from Saxony, Germany that lived about 300 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: That are some of the most important modern-day Christians that you've probably never heard about.
SPEAKER_00: It was a group of Christian refugees from all over the place called the Moravians.
SPEAKER_00: Have anybody ever heard of a group called the Moravians?
SPEAKER_00: A few, few of you are here.
SPEAKER_00: I highly, highly encourage you, if you want to just do a study, just Google the Moravians.
SPEAKER_00: Do a study.
SPEAKER_00: Study into who they are.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tease you with a little bit of their story this morning.
SPEAKER_00: As I said, they were a group of Christian refugees in Saxony, and they were looking for a place that they could call home.
SPEAKER_00: They were outcasts looking for a place where they could worship God free.
SPEAKER_00: There's about 300 of them, and they gathered together in this little place in Germany called Hernhut.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately as they gathered, they started out great.
SPEAKER_00: And by great I mean not.
SPEAKER_00: This was a group that was divided.
SPEAKER_00: There was division, there was bickering, there was infighting from the get-go.
SPEAKER_00: It looked nothing like the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then in 1727, the summer of 1727, a few of them gathered together and said, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Enough of this division and divisiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just start praying together.
SPEAKER_00: So a group of them started praying, and all of a sudden, the presence of the Lord started showing up in their prayer gatherings.
SPEAKER_00: And in August of 1727, they described their Pentecost experience.
SPEAKER_00: Then all of a sudden, in a prayer session, the glory of God showed up and it just absolutely wrecked them.
SPEAKER_00: Their testimony is that people that were a part of their community that were 20 miles away experienced the same thing as those that were in their prayer gathering.
SPEAKER_00: All of the sudden, the glory of God showed up in their lives, and their hearts began to change, their attitude began to change, the love for one another began to change.
SPEAKER_00: And where there was division, now there was unity.
SPEAKER_00: Where there was anger, there was love.
SPEAKER_00: Everything, can I tell you the glory of God changes everything in your life?
SPEAKER_00: A couple weeks after this event, 24 couples covenanted together to pray around the clock 24 hours a day.
SPEAKER_00: Two couples every hour, 24 hours a day.
SPEAKER_00: And so they started praying.
SPEAKER_00: That prayer meeting started in 1727.
SPEAKER_00: Lasted 24-7, 365 days a year for a hundred years.
SPEAKER_00: Within six months of this event in August of 1727, there was this movement, this word from some of the leadership that, hey, we can't keep this to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to go share it.
SPEAKER_00: And so 12 couples volunteered to take the gospel as missionaries to Southeast Asia.
SPEAKER_00: And over the next decades, 300 missionaries were launched out of a group of 300 people.
SPEAKER_00: All began through an encounter with the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, the glory of God isn't for us to consume?
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God isn't just so that we have goosebumps.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God, an encounter with the presence of the Lord, is to launch us into the purpose of God for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It is to release his destiny in us, to fulfill his will in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this in Scripture from beginning to end, this pattern where encounter launches people into the destiny of God for their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second thing that we see in Acts chapter 13 is commission.
SPEAKER_00: What we see here is the spirit sets apart, but the church sins.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit sets apart, but the church, this is the flow of mission.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: So they, who is they?
SPEAKER_00: They is not just Saul and Barnus.
SPEAKER_00: They is the church.
SPEAKER_00: So the church hears the word set apart.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas and Saul set apart.
SPEAKER_00: The church hears the word.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit sets apart, and then the church gathers around them and acknowledges the call that has come upon their lives and that lays their hands upon them and then sends them out.
SPEAKER_00: The church is supposed to be a sending agent in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you the greatest testimony of a healthy church is not how many people come, but by how many people are sent.
SPEAKER_00: How many people are sent out of that church into the city, the region, and the world.
SPEAKER_00: We, church, are called to be men and women of faith who go into all the earth to make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we see happening here in Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: They pray.
SPEAKER_00: There's something really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that in this story nobody is left out of the equation?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the point some go, but all sinned.
SPEAKER_00: That means every person has a part to play in the mission of God in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Some are Saul and Barnabas and they're called to go.
SPEAKER_00: But we are all called to be men and women of faith who send others for the advancement of the kingdom of God in this community and around the world.
SPEAKER_00: We all send from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: You have a part to play in the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, we see community.
SPEAKER_00: See, the men, Barnabas and Saul, are sent by the church, but they're also carried by the Spirit into the world.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that they are carried.
SPEAKER_00: The two of them are sent, are carried on the way by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And they go to these cities.
SPEAKER_00: And these cities, they represent real people and real places that need to hear the gospel of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he gathered some men and women around him, and he said, I will go down into the mine of India to reach those people for Jesus, to the extent that you back home will hold the rope for me.
SPEAKER_00: See, you know what we do when we send men and women out of this church to go reach the world?
SPEAKER_00: We're holding the rope.
SPEAKER_00: You know, people can only go as far out as we're willing to hold the rope.
SPEAKER_00: As far as they can go is as far and as long as we're willing to hold the rope so that they can do what God has called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: That means not everyone in this room will move overseas, but every single one of us can hold the rope.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us can hold the rope for somebody else that's been called and commissioned and anointed by God to take the gospel across the street, across the city, and across the ocean.
SPEAKER_00: So the question that I want to ask us today is this What kind of church, what kind of church do we want to be?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like for our church to be an Antioch church where sending isn't something that's a special occasion, but it's a normal outcome of our worship?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like for us as a church to fast and to pray and to release people to go fulfill the word of God over their lives?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like for us to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, for 2,000 years, church, that's what the church of Jesus Christ has been doing.
SPEAKER_00: And let me show you what that fruit has produced.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that for 2,000 years, the Church of Jesus Christ has been growing consistently and substantially because there's men and women of faith down through history, just like you, churches just like this, has said we'll hold the rope so that from here the gospel can go everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Today, there are 2.7 billion Christians on the planet, church.
SPEAKER_00: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00: It happens because of men and women just like you, churches just like this that said, we'll be in Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: We will fast, we will pray, we will hear the direction of the Lord, and we will release the men and women of faith to go where God's called them to go.
SPEAKER_00: Just some incredible information for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that today the majority of Christians live in Africa, Latin America, and Asia?
SPEAKER_00: In 1900, there were about 9 million Christians in Africa.
SPEAKER_00: Today, 700 million.
SPEAKER_00: 9 to 700.
SPEAKER_00: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00: It happens when churches and men and women of faith encounter the presence of the Lord and say, God, here we are, send us.
SPEAKER_00: We'll hold the rope for men and women of faith to do what God has placed upon their life to do.
SPEAKER_00: In 1970, there were 12.6 million Pentecostal believers in Latin America.
SPEAKER_00: In 1970, church, 50 years ago, in 1970, 12.6 million.
SPEAKER_00: Today, 180 million.
SPEAKER_00: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00: It happens when men and women of faith like you, churches like us, say we will hold the rope.
SPEAKER_00: We will go.
SPEAKER_00: We won't be consumers, we'll be contributors.
SPEAKER_00: We understand that salvation isn't just for me, it's for the world.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world.
SPEAKER_00: So they go.
SPEAKER_00: Another amazing piece of information about the church today is that much of the growth that the church has experienced is spirit-filled Pentecostal believers.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: In 1900, there were only a handful of Pentecostal believers on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Today, more than 600 million believers are Pentecostal in their persuasion.
SPEAKER_00: Church, that's us.
SPEAKER_00: That's who we that's who we are.
SPEAKER_00: The church is growing everywhere around the globe.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the fastest growing places are in Iran and China and Sub-Saharan Africa, in places where it's illegal to be a believer, in places where it can cost you your family, your job, and even your life to be a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you it doesn't matter what a government does, nothing can stop the advancement of the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: And why?
SPEAKER_00: Because of believers just like you and just like me, churches just like this who receive the call of Christ, we will live on mission.
SPEAKER_00: I thank God for my salvation, but if I keep it to myself, how selfish can I be?
SPEAKER_00: The church is growing, and even among the hardest of mission fields, Europe has become increasingly anti-Christian over the last many decades.
SPEAKER_00: But can I tell you, a light is flickering?
SPEAKER_00: A light is growing in some of the hardest places in Britain and in France.
SPEAKER_00: There's a movement, in particular, of young people that are waking up to the gospel message of Jesus and turning to faith in record numbers.
SPEAKER_00: Just a couple of stats.
SPEAKER_00: In Britain, church attendance has quadrupled in the last eight years.
SPEAKER_00: Quadrupled.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys would like your retirement account?
SPEAKER_00: Quadrupled in eight years.
SPEAKER_00: To God be the glory, church.
SPEAKER_00: We're not, and listen, we're not, yeah, a retirement account quadrupling, that you got to be careful how you say that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a tongue twister.
SPEAKER_00: We'd be great.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what would be greater?
SPEAKER_00: Souls.
SPEAKER_00: Men and women coming to the salvation knowledge of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In France, in just the last two years, baptisms have doubled.
SPEAKER_00: Baptisms have dubbed.
SPEAKER_00: In one of the most secular nations in the Western world, Gen Z, church, Gen Z and one of the most secular nations of the world are walking into the waters of baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, church.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is about.
SPEAKER_00: In our own fellowship, I mentioned that we're Pentecostal.
SPEAKER_00: We're a part of the assemblies of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what we're a part of specifically as a church.
SPEAKER_00: In the assemblies of God, there are over 2,500 global workers serving in 153 countries and regions around the world.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we're a part of that.
SPEAKER_00: Over 450,000 churches worldwide.
SPEAKER_00: And listen to this, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that just in our fellowship alone, a new believer is added to the family of faith every 15 seconds?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that by the time this service is over, just in our fellowship, 360 people are added to the faith?
SPEAKER_00: A new church is planted every 62 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: By the time this service is over, another church somewhere in the world has been planted as a testimony to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: 2,000 years ago, Jesus said, I'm gonna build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what he's been doing.
SPEAKER_00: And we are here today as a testimony of that reality.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see this because if you look on the news, you'll think everything's going to hell in a handbasket.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm here to tell you today that Jesus Christ said he would build his church.
SPEAKER_00: And we're witnesses of that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: As exciting as that is, can I tell you, there's still work to do.
SPEAKER_00: There's so much work.
SPEAKER_00: The mission is not finished.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: 3.6 billion people on the planet still live among unreached people groups.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean, Pastor, when you say unreached?
SPEAKER_00: I mean they have little to no access at all to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: How different would your life be if you didn't have access to the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: How different?
SPEAKER_00: How different would your life be if you never had a Bible?
SPEAKER_00: How different would your life be if you didn't have a church that you could go to?
SPEAKER_00: How different would your life be if you had no family around you that know the faith that can share it with you?
SPEAKER_00: Today, 3.6 billion people on the planet are just like that.
SPEAKER_00: Limited to no access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: 7,000 are considered unreached people groups in the world today.
SPEAKER_00: Twenty, five hundred of them still have no known, sustained church planning effort among them.
SPEAKER_00: What would you do?
SPEAKER_00: What would your life look like today?
SPEAKER_00: If somebody hadn't told you about Jesus, given you a Bible, taken you to church?
SPEAKER_00: How different would it be?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to imagine it.
SPEAKER_00: How about you?
SPEAKER_00: The gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the hope of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' words, Matthew chapter nine, still stand today.
SPEAKER_00: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
SPEAKER_00: Pray to the Lord of the harvest that laborers will be sent out because the harvest is plentiful.
SPEAKER_00: The harvest is plentiful.
SPEAKER_00: Last week, Pastor Noah talked about some statistics about pastors in America that 30% of them are next are set to retire in the next few years.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, in order to evangelize the rest of the world, we don't only need pastors in America.
SPEAKER_00: It's estimated that we need 200,000 more missionaries.
SPEAKER_00: 200,000.
SPEAKER_00: In order to reach the unreached.
SPEAKER_00: Church, what will we do?
SPEAKER_00: We sit in our comfortable seats.
SPEAKER_00: Say somebody else do it.
SPEAKER_00: Or will we be men and women of faith in this hour that rise up and say, if nobody else will go, I'll go?
SPEAKER_00: Will we be more concerned about our retirement accounts than the Great Commission?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of people will we be?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of church?
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you what kind of church I want to be.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be ascending church.
SPEAKER_00: Ascending church.
SPEAKER_00: Sending men and women from here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: This is our heart.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart as a church, our mission is to see the lost saved, the saved discipled, the discipled empowered, and the empowered sent.
SPEAKER_00: Sending is a part of our DNA.
SPEAKER_00: And it's who God's called us to be, and what He's called us to do.
SPEAKER_00: So I think the question before us today is what has God's glory among us been preparing us to do?
SPEAKER_00: All throughout Scripture and down for history.
SPEAKER_00: Every time God showed up in a miraculous way, it was a launching pad.
SPEAKER_00: For the gospel to go.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you just a few ways this morning you can think about responding to this message.
SPEAKER_00: And what God's called you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is pray.
SPEAKER_00: We have a mandate upon our lives as followers of Jesus to pray for those who leave everything that they've known to take the gospel to people that they've never met.
SPEAKER_00: When you came in today, if you didn't grab one of these worship guides, I encourage you to grab one because inside of them is a listing of all of the missionaries that we support around the world here in Birmingham to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: As a church family, every month we support 60.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say 60.
SPEAKER_00: 60 different missionaries and mission organizations that are doing their dead level best to take the gospel to the place that God's called them to take it.
SPEAKER_00: These are men and women of faith like Voyager 1 that are taking a message to the ends of the universe, to the ends of the earth, with a hope of reaching somebody with the message.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you, church, grab one of these and start praying for somebody on this list every day.
SPEAKER_00: Grab one of these and make it, God, I'm going to hold the rope in prayer for this person or for these people, and I'm going to lay them before you and I'm going to intercede on their behalf, though I can't be where they are, you're there, and I'm going to declare your favor over their life.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us in the room and every person joining us online this morning can pray for somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, church, for the people that God has enabled us to be a part of their sending.
SPEAKER_00: Pray.
SPEAKER_00: Number one.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, you can give.
SPEAKER_00: Every month, this list, we as a church family send out$17,000 a month.
SPEAKER_00: Every month, like clockwork.
SPEAKER_00: This list represents$17,000 that we send as a church family so that these men and women can do what God's called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to invite you to pray about maybe adopting one of these people and say, I'm going to give.
SPEAKER_00: So that everybody has an opportunity to hear the message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Last year, two years ago, I should say, no, last year is fine.
SPEAKER_00: Last year, as a church family, we gave almost half a million dollars away for people just like this.
SPEAKER_00: This year, somewhere around$400,000 that we're giving so that somewhere, someone can have an opportunity to hear the greatest story ever told.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to invite you to start giving to missions.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's 10% I'm going to save.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take those things off the top.
SPEAKER_00: And then I'll work out my expenses.
SPEAKER_00: And when I went through it, I had just, just, just a little bit left over.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, what am I going to do with that leftover?
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, I'll just throw a little bit more in savings.
SPEAKER_00: I was, I'm going to tell you right now, I was 25 years old when this happened.
SPEAKER_00: And that thought hits me.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm working, I'm moving it in my Excel spreadsheet.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else like an Excel spreadsheet?
SPEAKER_00: And I heard the Holy Spirit say, Jeremy, you can put that in your savings account and earn 0.0001% interest on it.
SPEAKER_00: Or you can invest it in missions in my kingdom and get an inheritance in this life and the next.
SPEAKER_00: And from that day forward, I've been giving demissions every month.
SPEAKER_00: Meg and I give demissions every month because I want to store up for myself treasures in heaven where rust and moth and decay do not destroy.
SPEAKER_00: Where thieves cannot break in and steal.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Join with us.
SPEAKER_00: Give.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, I want to challenge today to serve.
SPEAKER_00: Serve?
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: How is that related to missions, Pastor?
SPEAKER_00: I need you to understand that serving in the local church is not a lesser calling than going overseas.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's the training ground for it.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Serving locally in a local church is the on-route to going globally.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, God will never call you to serve overseas until you serve across your street.
SPEAKER_00: We can't be ascending church if we're not a serving church.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're a part of our church and you're not serving, Pastor Noah gave an announcement just a few moments ago that next Sunday is COC Connect, and that is the on-ramp to serving in our church.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to challenge you to make it a priority to join us for that next Sunday after service.
SPEAKER_00: We have lunch, we have child care provided.
SPEAKER_00: And if you feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit and you know that God's calling you to do more than what you're doing, but you don't know what that looks like yet, start serving.
SPEAKER_00: Because serving is the on-ramp for your destiny.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, number three, excuse me, number four, go.
SPEAKER_00: We got to go.
SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna be missional people and live on purpose and death, we have to go.
SPEAKER_00: And we go a couple of different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I encourage every person here.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never been on a short-term mission trip, you need to go on a short-term mission trip.
SPEAKER_00: It'll change your life.
SPEAKER_00: It'll change your world.
SPEAKER_00: And next year, we as a church are going on three different short-term missions trips.
SPEAKER_00: Two next summer and probably one next fall.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Bulgaria next year.
SPEAKER_00: And you're going to find out more about those trips in the days and the weeks to come.
SPEAKER_00: So please be aware of those things.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to challenge you, make it a priority to get out of your comfort zone and go serve people that are different from you and watch God do something miraculous in your life.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that have done that, can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: It'll change your life.
SPEAKER_00: And number two is this about go.
SPEAKER_00: There are some here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You're wrestling with a call to ministry.
SPEAKER_00: You know that God has called you.
SPEAKER_00: You've heard his voice.
SPEAKER_00: You've heard something similar to what happened at Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: Set apart.
SPEAKER_00: You've been set apart for the call of God to serve his house, to serve his church, to serve his mission in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we need laborers to fulfill the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: 200,000 missionaries are needed.
SPEAKER_00: 200,000 people that'll say yes to the call of God to take the gospel around the world.
SPEAKER_00: That's just missionaries.
SPEAKER_00: Last week, Pastor Noah talked about pastors in America.
SPEAKER_00: We're at an all-time low.
SPEAKER_00: We are getting ready to walk through the greatest leadership transition in ministry that our nation has ever known.
SPEAKER_00: And we need new men and women of faith to step forward and say, I'll answer the call of Christ on my life.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you this morning, this is going to be my response.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to take one of these connection cards in the seat in front of you and write on the prayer section your name and what you feel is the call of God upon your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because I want to know who you are, and we want to connect with you, and we want to minister with you, and we want to mentor you, and we want to prepare you to fulfill your purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Church, will you stand with me where you are this morning, all across the congregation?
SPEAKER_00: It is my heart, it is my desire.
SPEAKER_00: It is not just my heart and my desire, it's the voice of the Lord in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And church, we're called to go.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to be ascending church.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know where these four things hit you, but I'm gonna ask you this morning to allow the Holy Spirit to meet you in these things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask everybody to pray.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask everybody to give.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask everybody to serve and go in some fashion.
SPEAKER_00: There's a purpose on your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to start living in it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: With every head bowed and every eye closed, I just wanna ask the final thing here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You feel a call of God upon your life, and you don't know what to do about it.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, I want to pray for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You're not in ministry, but you want to be in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: You know there's something stirring deep in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just raise your hand right where you stand with every hand bowed?
SPEAKER_00: Every head bowed.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your honesty today.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, church, look at me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The glory that God gives us isn't to be consumed, it's to launch us.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be men and women that answer that call and take the step to fulfill his purpose for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, let's give, let's serve, and let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Can you just stretch your hands towards heaven with me and say this after me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: From here to everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Place your hands on your chest and say, from here to everywhere, we will answer your call, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We will respond to your voice, and we will go where you send.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your spirit, and we respond to your voice today.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' mighty name.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody said.