WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:08.240 We're talking about what God does through our efforts to spread the message of his glory throughout the world. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:20.480 And the reason I wanted to show those pictures of Denver, and the reason I asked John to speak, is because what Pastor Bruce Dewell told us has impacted my view of missions from the first time I worked with him. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:33.759 And it's out of Acts 1.8, and Acts 1.8 says this but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:42.079 See, as a youth pastor, I've had the opportunity to bring kids to various different places for mission trips, and I've had to ask myself, where are we going? 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:47.359 I have to look at budgets, I have to look at travel arrangements, I have to ask myself, who are we partnering with? 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:49.600 What's the work that we're going to be accomplishing there? 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:51.359 How are we going to be sharing the gospel? 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:53.840 Are we going to be doing service projects or teaching? 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:55.439 And I've had to weigh these things. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:05.040 And as I look at these things, I found myself asking questions because what you heard many people share today as they talked about their mission experience is some of the growth that they got out of it. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:06.959 And that's a beautiful, beautiful thing. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:10.000 And so I would ask myself, I want to go somewhere where my kids are challenged. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:19.519 I would say, I want to go somewhere where the students uh come face to face with poverty so that maybe they'll appreciate what God's given them in their life as blessing more. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:29.359 And maybe I want to go here so that they're stretched out of their comfort zone, so that they realize that they have growth still to do in their life and they not get satisfied. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:35.439 And there were all these different things that I wanted to accomplish on mission trips that I went on. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.280 And one time I did a mission trip and we went to Washington, D.C. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:44.640 And we went to inner city, D.C., and when we went there, everything fell apart. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:54.799 There was fighting within our group, there was discord, uh, there were plans that went awry, and the whole trip fell apart, and I came back feeling defeated. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:01.840 And when I evaluated why that was, I realized it was because I had set expectations on the trip. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:10.960 I had set expectations that I wanted to see what God could do in a particular way, and I felt like my goals weren't accomplished. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:15.199 And it left me prayerfully asking, why do I go on mission trips? 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:21.919 And the conclusion I came to was it is not so that my students are stretched out of their comfort zone. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.759 That's beautiful when it happens. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.840 It's not so that they see poverty and greater appreciate the blessing that's in their life. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:29.439 That's beautiful when it happens. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.560 But we go on mission trips for one reason. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:33.919 One reason. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:35.520 I decided. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:40.080 That's it. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:54.240 We point to the Great Commission in Matthew 28, 19, it says, Go into the world, making disciples, baptizing all nations in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:57.280 He said, Go make disciples. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:58.560 And that's it. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.639 We go in obedience. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.599 He'll do amazing things through our obedience. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:10.879 He'll do amazing things through our obedience, but but but those that's just the benefit and the blessing of obedience. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.159 Those don't become the purpose and the goal by which we go. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.120 We don't go so that we're enriched, so that we're blessed. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:23.199 We go so that his name is proclaimed, and if he chooses to bless us in the process, that's beautiful. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:45.120 And then this pairs nicely with Acts 1.8, where it says, You will receive power when my Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, because this is Jesus after his resurrection, coming to his disciples and saying, Go. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.960 Be my witnesses everywhere. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:04:07.360 But the key to understanding this is I think that sometimes we can get in the habit of saying, I'm going to go witness to somebody instead of simply being a witness. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:13.680 And it's a beautiful thing when you get an opportunity to witness to somebody, but we we treat it like a verb. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:21.040 And if you look at the verb in the dictionary, it says, to bear witness, testify, to give or afford evidence. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:21.839 And that's a beautiful thing. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:38.639 And we want to say, we want to bear witness that, but but we kind of, when we look at it as a verb, at an action, and we we take that witnessing, and we say, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go to Denver, I'm gonna go to Czech, I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna go there, and then I've witnessed, and then I'm done. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:55.360 And what happened for me after that DC trip, and as I started to evaluate things, and I started to look at the Great Commission, I started to look at Acts 1.8, and I started to ask myself questions, is that I realized that it doesn't say, go witness about me. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:00.079 It says, you will be my witnesses. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:08.000 See, Jesus doesn't give them an action to accomplish, he gives them a station to fill. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:13.680 It was to be a state of being. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:25.120 We live our lives on mission for God because by nature we are his witnesses. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:39.600 So rather than seeing a verb, we want to be a person that gives evidence and that serves as proof to the love of God and what he has done. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.000 See, you can't go on vacation from being a witness. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.160 See, we we we we we go on trips, right? 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:55.839 And we go on this trip to Denver, or this trip to the Czech Republic, or this trip here, or we go, or we teach at VBS, or we take these moments in time, and and maybe it's what we do with our summer. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:05:59.759 But but then we go, okay, well, now I'm on vacation. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:00.240 Whew! 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:01.199 Now I'm on vacation. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.720 And the idea is that now I don't have to do all of that. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:13.279 But the truth is, I can't take a vacation from being a witness from Christ any more than I could take a vacation from being a father to my children. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.040 No matter where I am, I'm still their father. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:25.360 And I think it's important for us to understand the verb of being here and the importance that it plays in scripture in so many ways. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:32.800 In Hebrew, the verb of being is what God used to give himself a name when he was asked to give a name by Moses at the burning bush. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:34.639 He said, I am that I am. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.560 I am the God that exists. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:38.079 I exist. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:44.800 And that state of being is what gave him a worthiness to be worshipped. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.639 It is identity. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:55.519 And that same verb of being is that you will be my witnesses. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:14.639 It is a state of being, and in the Greek it means to have identity with, to have a specified qualification or characteristic characteristic, to have an objective existence, reality, actuality, to have, maintain, or occupy a place, station, or position. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:23.680 And what I want to ask each and every one of us to consider this morning is do you recognize that you are a witness? 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:48.399 If you know the love of Jesus, if you have been changed by it, if he has come to find his home in the recesses of your heart, if he has changed you to understand your need of him as a savior, if you have experienced his power in any way, whether you've ever been on a mission trip or served in a classroom or done what, you are a witness. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:50.879 You have seen his power. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:57.360 So my question is how do we give testimony to what we have seen? 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:02.879 Well, obviously, all of these trips, those are great, great, great ways. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:08.879 But but there's some categories that Jesus speaks of here that I think can point us in some really neat directions. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:14.959 So I just want to take just a few minutes, just a few, to pick apart what's happening in Acts 1.8. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:23.120 You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:25.439 So I want to look at this map real quick. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:30.800 And and his disciples were in Jerusalem, and you can see maybe the little dot. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:31.759 It's above Judea. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.519 He says Judea, you work your way up to the smaller words, says Bethlehem and Jerusalem. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:37.600 Judea is a nation that they're in. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.360 Jerusalem is the capital. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.080 Above it, you see in red, Samaria. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:46.879 And then let's say everything else is the ends of the earth for the sake of this passage. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:56.080 And what he's saying when he says Jerusalem, he says, right where you are, you'll be my witness. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.080 Right where you are. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.720 And then he begins to work out. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:04.960 So he starts and he meets his disciples where they currently sit. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:07.440 This is your grand forks. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.759 One of the things that Bruce pointed out to us is that we all have a Jerusalem. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:14.080 And for you, this is where you live. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:15.840 This is where you currently are. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:19.840 As he addressed his disciples, he's like, You'll be my witnesses right here. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:28.720 So for you, it says, instead of Jerusalem, you you could put a little note and put what whatever home is for you. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:30.639 That's where you start. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:34.080 That's where Jesus started as he told them where they were gonna be. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:36.399 And I think sometimes we overlook this. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.600 It's the place where we have the greatest amount of time to be a witness. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:50.000 It's the place where we have the greatest potential for impact because we'll have no greater audience than those who live daily life around us. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:54.799 This is your family, your extended family, your coworkers, your neighbors. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.159 You have a Jerusalem and it's home. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:05.039 See, because it's beautiful as it is to go to Denver and the Czech Republic and all the different places that we heard about. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:10.159 We don't take vacation from being a witness. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:13.200 And we have one primary spot. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:18.960 And we're gonna come back to that in a minute, but but it goes out from there and it says Judea. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.440 See, for them, this would have been like saying North Dakota. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:26.320 See, because we live in Grand Forge, North Dakota, they lived in Jerusalem, Judea, right? 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:32.399 So you expand that and say, so so not only just where you live, but that which is right around you. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:42.799 But it would have been a little different than simply the borders, because the assumption was that in Judea not only was it geographically kind of close, but it was also culturally similar. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.399 See, once you cross borders, you ended up with a culturally different environment. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:56.159 So there's lots of places we can think of that are nearby that are culturally similar. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:04.559 There's lots of places we could drive a couple of hours, and and you know, I thought it was funny when we saw a picture in Czech Republic with the hay build up, is it looks kind of like North Dakota. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:11.840 Well, we could we could drive a couple of hours and take a picture, and then drive another two hours and take a picture, and you might not be able to tell you're in a different place. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:18.879 Because there's there's a cultural similarity to this agricultural land that we live in, and there's all sorts of things. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.919 I I come from Texas, I came here. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.000 Hockey is a different world. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:28.799 Let me tell you. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:36.240 And there's all sorts of places we could take short drives to that you could find towns that they value the same things, right? 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:42.480 Agriculturally based, love of hockey. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:46.399 I could describe many places that we could travel to in a short distance. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:59.840 So my question is as we go out from our home, our Jerusalem, and we take our visits to wherever it is, Fargo, Bemidji, whatever, do we recognize that there we're called to be a witness too? 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:01.600 And then Samaria. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:06.639 And I want to spend some time here on us understanding our Samarias. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.399 Because I think it's important. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:15.519 And I think it unlocks a key to some of the things that are right under our noses. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:23.519 See, Samaria was geographically close, but culturally different. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:31.919 If you'll notice on the map, there's places within the borders of Samaria that are actually closer to Jerusalem than parts of Judea. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:37.840 But for the audience Jesus was speaking to, Samaria was a different world. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:43.279 Though it was geographically close, it was very culturally different, and they saw great lines of division. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:49.600 They didn't understand their way of life, they didn't understand the way the parents raise their children, they disagreed with some of it. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.879 And Jesus is going, You have places right under your nose. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:03.200 And he's telling you this morning, and he's telling me in my heart, we have places right under our nose that may be geographically close but or that are very culturally different than us. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:09.279 In Denver, Bruce was explaining this was this was the little neighborhoods we're in. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:17.279 These people, their people live in corners of Denver, that it's the same city, and they could drive 10 minutes and be in a different world. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:25.440 There's people that don't even know the ghettos of Denver exist because they've shielded themselves in luxury communities. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:35.600 And what I'd like to propose to you is there's places all around us right here where we have an opportunity to be a witness and places that are very geographically close but culturally different. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.679 Let me just give you a couple of examples. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:46.159 Maybe it's some of the reservations that are not far from us that we could drive to very easily. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.200 But life would look very different than our life. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:53.759 But that's near for us. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.480 Maybe it's right across the border in Canada. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.240 There's a different land there, eh? 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:06.799 And maybe there's some cultural difference, but it is within our scope of influence. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:11.840 And I would propose to you that it's even parts of Grand Forks. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:17.840 There's a huge difference between the north end of town and the south end of town. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:28.799 There's a huge difference between Thompson, right outside of town, and the downtown area. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:35.200 People are driven by different things and have different needs and different values. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:44.960 And my question to you is when you walk through these spaces, do we close our eyes to the places and the ways in which they need to hear the testimony of God's love? 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.840 And finally he says, You're gonna be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:54.879 To the ends of the earth. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.320 Well, that means everything else. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:01.440 Everything else. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:03.919 So let me ask you this. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:09.600 Raise your hand if you've been to Grand Forks. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.159 This is simple exercise. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.600 We start with the easy ones. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.679 How about if you've been to Fargo? 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:20.399 How many of us have been across the border to Canada? 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.039 And how many have been anywhere else besides that? 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:32.799 All of you who raised your hand, you've just shown that you have had the opportunity to mirror what is spoken of in Acts 1.8. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:39.600 That's your Jerusalem, your Judea, your Samaria, and your ends of the earth. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:53.679 My question is, as you enter those places, have you realized that witnessing is not a verb you've been called to exercise at times, but a state of being and an office that you have been given as a child of God. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.679 Because I gotta confess, I often forget that. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.399 I often forget it. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:07.919 And what we want to highlight on this on mission Sunday is that your entire life is on mission. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:12.960 We wanted to take some time to celebrate those who had a specific call in front of them. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:16.559 And it's beautiful, and we want to continue to do that. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:21.759 But I want to encourage you to look your entire life towards those things. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.039 And so today, when we close, we're gonna do this simply. 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.279 We're gonna close in a minute with a song. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:38.080 And this song gives us an opportunity to not just sing, but to pray, to pray its words. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.960 Because in that song it says, I want to see you high and lifted up. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:54.879 And if we mean that when we say that, if we mean that we want to see God high and lifted up, I will tell you that he has already declared the means by which he intends to raise himself up. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:02.639 And it's through more and more people recognizing his greatness and praising his name. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:09.119 And he has also already set into the motion the means by which he wants to bring people to praise his name. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:11.680 And it is by the lips of his people. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:14.480 And in Acts 1.8, he tells them that. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:16.559 You will be my witnesses. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.039 And ladies and gentlemen, this morning, that is us. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.640 And so as we sing, I want to see you high and lifted up. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.240 I want to encourage you to genuinely pray to God as we sing this. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:38.319 Lord, open my eyes to see people the way you see them, to see your glory, and to see the opportunity to proclaim your name. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:39.599 And it's that simple. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:43.519 Let's pray. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:48.079 Lord, we thank you for who you are. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.039 We thank you for the opportunities you've given. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:58.799 We want to live as your witnesses. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:02.559 And we do want to see your name proclaimed. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:15.599 We thank you for those who have heard your testimony and heard of your great deeds through the work of those who shared the various projects that you had them give themselves to this summer. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:28.319 We ask that you would inspire us as a body to start in our Jerusalem and to proclaim what we have seen you do. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:33.839 Please be glorified in Jesus' name, amen.